Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 71 Nuh, Ayat 4-10

يَغۡفِرۡ لَـكُمۡ مِّنۡ ذُنُوۡبِكُمۡ وَيُؤَخِّرۡكُمۡ اِلٰٓى اَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى​ؕ اِنَّ اَجَلَ اللّٰهِ اِذَا جَآءَ لَا يُؤَخَّرُ​​ۘ لَوۡ كُنۡتُمۡ تَعۡلَمُوۡنَ‏ ﴿71:4﴾ قَالَ رَبِّ اِنِّىۡ دَعَوۡتُ قَوۡمِىۡ لَيۡلًا وَّنَهَارًا ۙ‏ ﴿71:5﴾ فَلَمۡ يَزِدۡهُمۡ دُعَآءِىۡۤ اِلَّا فِرَارًا‏ ﴿71:6﴾ وَاِنِّىۡ كُلَّمَا دَعَوۡتُهُمۡ لِتَغۡفِرَ لَهُمۡ جَعَلُوۡۤا اَصَابِعَهُمۡ فِىۡۤ اٰذَانِهِمۡ وَاسۡتَغۡشَوۡا ثِيَابَهُمۡ وَاَصَرُّوۡا وَاسۡتَكۡبَرُوا اسۡتِكۡبَارًا​ ۚ‏ ﴿71:7﴾ ثُمَّ اِنِّىۡ دَعَوۡتُهُمۡ جِهَارًا ۙ‏ ﴿71:8﴾ ثُمَّ اِنِّىۡۤ اَعۡلَـنۡتُ لَهُمۡ وَاَسۡرَرۡتُ لَهُمۡ اِسۡرَارًا ۙ‏ ﴿71:9﴾ فَقُلۡتُ اسۡتَغۡفِرُوۡا رَبَّكُمۡؕ اِنَّهٗ كَانَ غَفَّارًا ۙ‏ ﴿71:10﴾

(71:4) He will forgive your sins3 and will grant you respite until an appointed term.4 Indeed when Allah's appointed term comes, it cannot be deferred;5 if you only knew!”6 (71:5) He said:7 “My Lord, I called my people by night and by day, (71:6) but the more I called, the farther they fled.8 (71:7) And every time I called them so that You might forgive them,9 they thrust their fingers into their ears and wrapped up their faces with their garments10 and obstinately clung to their attitude, and waxed very proud.11 (71:8) Then I summoned them openly, (71:9) and preached to them in public, and also addressed them in secret. (71:10) I said to them: “Ask forgiveness from your Lord; surely He is Most Forgiving.

Notes

3. The sentence yaghfir la-kum min dhunub-i-kum in the original does not mean that Allah will forgive some of their sins, but its correct meaning is: If you accept and acknowledge the three things which are being presented before you, He will forgive all the sins that you have committed in the past.

4. That is, if you accepted these three things, you would be given respite to live in the world until the time that Allah has appointed for your natural death.

5. “A term appointed”: The time fixed by Allah for sending down a torment on a people. In this regard the Quran has at several places stated explicitly that when Allah’s torment has been decreed for a certain people, they are not pardoned even if they affirm the faith after it.

6. That is, if you come to know that the time which is now passing after you have received Allah’s message through me is, in fact, a period of respite that has been granted to you for affirming the faith and there is no chance of escape from Allah’s torment after the term of respite has elapsed, you would testify to the faith without delay and would not like to postpone it until the torment actually started descending on you.

7. Omitting the history of a long period of preaching, now the Prophet Noah’s petition that he made to Allah in the last stage of his worldly mission is being related.

8. That is, as I went on calling them towards You, they went on fleeing farther and farther away from You.

9. “That you may forgive them”: That they might give up their attitude of disobedience and beg forgiveness of Allah, for in that way alone they could be forgiven by Allah.

10. They covered their faces either because they did not even like to have a look at Prophet Noah’s (peace be upon him) face, not to speak of listening to what he said, or they did so in order to hide their own faces from him as they passed by him so that he could not recognize and address them. This precisely was the attitude and conduct which the disbelievers of Makkah were adopting towards the Prophet (peace be upon him). In (Surah Houd, Ayat 5), their attitude has been described thus: Behold, they turn aside their chests in order to hide themselves from him: Beware, even when they cover themselves up with their garments, Allah knows alike what they hide and what they show. He indeed knows even the secrets they conceal in their breasts. (For explanation, see (E.Ns 5, 6 of Surah Houd).

11. Arrogance implies that they thought it was below their dignity to bow before the truth and accept the admonition of Allah’s Messenger. As for example, if a gentleman admonishes a perverted person and he, in response, shakes his head and walks away haughtily, this would amount to rejecting the admonition with arrogance.