Tafsir of Hud 11:37

Surah Hud (11): Verse 37

{وَاصْنَعِ الْفُلْكَ بِأَعْيُنِنَا} (And construct the ark under Our supervision.)

Know that His saying, the Exalted, {إِنَّهُ لَن يُؤْمِنَ قَوْمُكَ إِلَّا مَن قَدْ آمَنَ} (None of your people will believe except those who have already believed) implied to Noah (peace be upon him) that God would destroy and drown them. It was possible that God might punish them in various ways. Therefore, God informed him that the punishment would be of this specific kind—drowning. Since the means of salvation from drowning was the construction of a ship, God Almighty commanded him to construct the ship and prepare it, revealing to him that he should build it according to the model of a bird's breast/hull (jūjū’ al-ṭā’ir).

If it is asked: Is His saying, {وَاصْنَعِ الْفُلْكَ} (And construct the ark), an obligatory command (amr īijāb) or a permissive command (amr ibāḥah)?

We say: The more apparent view is that it is an obligatory command, because there is no way for him to preserve his own life and the lives of others from destruction except through this means, and preserving life is obligatory. Whatever is necessary for an obligatory act to be fulfilled is itself obligatory. However, it is possible that this command is not one of obligation but rather one of permission, similar to a person building a house for himself to dwell in.

As for His saying, {بِأَعْيُنِنَا} (under Our supervision/by Our eyes), this cannot be taken literally for several reasons:

1. It implies that God Almighty has many eyes, which contradicts the apparent meaning of His saying: {وَلِتُصْنَعَ عَلَى عَيْنِي} (and be constructed under My eye).
2. It implies that Noah (peace be upon him) constructed that ark by those eyes, just as one says, "I cut with a knife" or "I wrote with a pen." This is clearly false.
3. It is established by definitive rational proofs that God Almighty is transcendent above limbs, organs, parts, and fragments. Therefore, interpretation (ta’wīl) must be resorted to.

The interpretations are:

1. The meaning of {بِأَعْيُنِنَا} is: by the eye of the guardian/overseer (al-malik) who knew how he should construct the ship. It is said, "So-and-so is an ‘ayn (overseer) over so-and-so," meaning he was appointed to watch over his affairs and his gaze never left him.
2. When someone has great concern for a matter, they fix their eye upon it. Since fixing one's eye upon something is a cause for extreme caution and care, the word ‘ayn (eye) is used as a metaphor for vigilance/carefulness (al-iḥtiyāṭ). Therefore, the commentators say its meaning is: "We are guarding you, guarding you from one who sees you and has the power to avert harm from you."

The essence of the matter is that his undertaking the construction of the ark was conditional upon two things:

1. That his enemies would not prevent him from that work.
2. That he would know how the ship ought to be assembled, constructed, and how harm should be averted from him.

His saying, {وَوَحْيِنَا} (and We revealed to you), indicates that God Almighty revealed to him how the ship should be made so that the desired outcome would be achieved.

As for His saying, {وَلَا تُخَاطِبْنِي فِي الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا} (And do not address Me concerning those who have wronged), there are several interpretations:

1. It means: Do not ask Me to delay the punishment from them, for I have already decreed this judgment upon them. When Noah (peace be upon him) learned this, he subsequently prayed against them, saying: {رَبِّ لَا تَذَرْ عَلَى الْأَرْضِ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ دَيَّارًا} (My Lord, leave not upon the earth from among the disbelievers a single inhabitant). (Noah 26)
2. It means: Do not address Me concerning the hastening of that punishment upon those who wronged, for since I have decreed that punishment to descend at a specific time, hastening it is impossible.
3. The ones referred to as "those who have wronged" are his wife and his son, Canaan.

{وَيَصْنَعُ الْفُلْكَ وَكُلَّمَا مَرَّ عَلَيْهِ مَلَأٌ مِّن قَوْمِهِ سَخِرُوا مِنْهُ ۚ قَالَ إِن تَسْخَرُوا مِنَّا فَإِنَّا نَسْخَرُ مِنكُم كَمَا تَسْخَرُونَ * فَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ مَن يَأْتِيهِ عَذَابٌ يُخْزِيهِ وَيَحِلُّ عَلَيْهِ عَذَابٌ مُّقِيمٌ}

*(And he constructed the ark, and whenever an assembly of his people passed by him, they mocked him. He said, "If you mock us, then indeed we will mock you just as you mock. So you will know who it is that there comes to him a disgrace from Allah and upon whom descends an abiding punishment.")