Sūrat Nūḥ

Meccan, and it consists of twenty-eight verses (revealed after [Sūrat] al-Naḥl).

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

{Indeed, We sent Noah to his people, [saying], "Warn your people before there comes to them a painful punishment."}

{He said, "O my people, indeed I am to you a clear warner,"}

{ "[Saying], 'Worship God, fear Him, and obey me.'"}

{ "[God] will forgive you of your sins and delay you for a specified term. Indeed, the term of God, when it comes, will not be delayed, if you only knew."}

{أن أنذر} (That you warn): Its origin is bi-an andhir (by [the fact] that you warn). The preposition was elided, and the verb was connected [directly]. It is the an (that) which makes the verb subjunctive. The meaning is: "We sent him by saying to him: 'Warn,'" meaning: We sent him with the command to warn.

It is also permissible for it to be mufassirah (explicative), because "sending" contains the meaning of "saying." Ibn Mas‘ūd recited it as (andhir) without the an, implying the command.

{أن اعبدوا} (That you worship): This is like {أن أنذر} in both interpretations.

If you ask: How can He say {ويؤخركم} (and He will delay you) while He has informed [us] that the delay of the appointed time is impossible? Is this not a contradiction?

I say: God decreed, for example, that if the people of Noah believed, He would grant them a lifespan of a thousand years, but if they remained in their disbelief, He would destroy them at the nine-hundred-year mark. So it was said to them: "Believe, and He will delay you until an appointed time," meaning: until a time God has named and set as a limit which you will reach and not exceed. This is the longer time, the full thousand. Then He informed them that when that final appointed time comes, it will not be delayed as this [previous] time was delayed, and you will have no recourse. Therefore, hasten [to believe] during the times of respite and delay.

{He said: "My Lord, indeed I invited my people night and day. But my invitation increased them not except in flight. And indeed, every time I invited them that You might forgive them, they put their fingers in their ears, covered themselves with their garments, persisted, and were arrogant with [great] arrogance. Then I invited them publicly. Then I announced to them and I spoke to them in private. And I said, 'Ask forgiveness of your Lord. Indeed, He is ever a Perpetual Forgiver. He will send [rain from] the sky upon you in [continuing] showers. And give you increase in wealth and children and provide for you gardens and provide for you rivers. What is [the matter] with you that you do not attribute to Allah [due] grandeur? While He has created you in stages. Do you not see how Allah has created seven heavens in layers? And made the moon therein a light and made the sun a burning lamp? And Allah has caused you to grow from the earth a [progressive] growth. Then He will return you into it and extract you [another] extraction. And Allah has made for you the earth an expanse. That you may follow therein roads of broad passages."}