Tafsir of Nuh 71:8-9

This means I invited them time after time, and turn after turn, in varying modes and through disparate methods. This represents a generalization of the modes of invitation following the generalization of the times. His saying, "Then, indeed, I invited them publicly," implies that the public invitation was preceded by a secret one, which is more appropriate for one whose concern is their response, as it is closer to achieving that due to the gentleness it contains toward the one invited.

Therefore, the thumma (then) is used here to denote the disparity between the modes, and because public declaration is more intense than secrecy, and combining both is more emphatic than singularizing one. Some eminent scholars have argued that the noble arrangement of the text does not strictly require that the first invitation was exclusively secret; rather, it is inferred from the contrast, the precedence of his statement "by night," the mention of them under the title of "my people," and his statement "and fleeing"—for closeness is appropriate to that.

It is permissible to interpret thumma in its literal sense of temporal delay, but this is with consideration of the inception and conclusion of both secrecy and publicity, and the conclusion of combining them, so as not to contradict the previous generalization of times. It is good to consider this, even if the generalization is understood conventionally, as in the phrase "He does not lay the staff down from his shoulder."

"Publicly" (jaharan) is in the accusative case as a verbal noun (masdar) acting as the object of "invited them," because it is one of the two types of invitation, just as "crouching" (al-qurfusaa) is in the accusative in "I sat crouching" because it is a type of sitting. Alternatively, it may be that "invited them" (da'awtuhum) is intended to mean "I declared to them" (jahartuhum), or it is an adjective for a deleted verbal noun; that is, "I invited them with an invitation of publicity," meaning "done openly" (with the ha opened). Or, it is a verbal noun in the position of a state (hal), meaning "acting openly," equivalent in structure to an active participle.