وَ لَقَدْ And verily اَرْسَلْنَا We sent نُوْحًا Nuh اِلٰی to قَوْمِهٖۤ ؗ his people اِنِّیْ Indeed I am لَكُمْ to you نَذِیْرٌ a warner مُّبِیْنٌۙ clear اَنْ That لَّا (do) not تَعْبُدُوْۤا worship اِلَّا except اللّٰهَ ؕ Allah اِنِّیْۤ Indeed I اَخَافُ [I] fear عَلَیْكُمْ for you عَذَابَ (the) punishment یَوْمٍ (of) a Day اَلِیْمٍ painful فَقَالَ So said الْمَلَاُ the chiefs الَّذِیْنَ (of) those who كَفَرُوْا disbelieved مِنْ from قَوْمِهٖ his people مَا Not نَرٰىكَ we see you اِلَّا but بَشَرًا a man مِّثْلَنَا like us وَ مَا and not نَرٰىكَ we see you اتَّبَعَكَ followed [you] اِلَّا except الَّذِیْنَ those who هُمْ [they] اَرَاذِلُنَا (are) the lowest of us بَادِیَ immature in opinion الرَّاْیِ ۚ immature in opinion وَ مَا And not نَرٰی we see لَكُمْ in you عَلَیْنَا over us مِنْ any فَضْلٍۭ merit بَلْ nay نَظُنُّكُمْ we think you كٰذِبِیْنَ (are) liars قَالَ He said یٰقَوْمِ O my people اَرَءَیْتُمْ Do you see اِنْ if كُنْتُ I was عَلٰی on بَیِّنَةٍ (the) clear proof مِّنْ from رَّبِّیْ my Lord وَ اٰتٰىنِیْ while He has given me رَحْمَةً mercy مِّنْ from عِنْدِهٖ Himself فَعُمِّیَتْ but (it) has been obscured عَلَیْكُمْ ؕ from you اَنُلْزِمُكُمُوْهَا should We compel you (to accept) it وَ اَنْتُمْ while you (are) لَهَا averse to it كٰرِهُوْنَ averse to it 11. Hud Page 225 وَ یٰقَوْمِ And O my people! لَاۤ not اَسْـَٔلُكُمْ I ask (of) you عَلَیْهِ for it مَالًا ؕ any wealth اِنْ Not اَجْرِیَ (is) my reward اِلَّا except عَلَی from اللّٰهِ Allah وَ مَاۤ And not اَنَا I am بِطَارِدِ going to drive away الَّذِیْنَ those who اٰمَنُوْا ؕ believed اِنَّهُمْ Indeed they مُّلٰقُوْا (will) be meeting رَبِّهِمْ their Lord وَ لٰكِنِّیْۤ but I اَرٰىكُمْ see you قَوْمًا (are) a people تَجْهَلُوْنَ ignorant وَ یٰقَوْمِ And O my people! مَنْ Who یَّنْصُرُنِیْ would help me مِنَ against اللّٰهِ Allah اِنْ if طَرَدْتُّهُمْ ؕ I drove them away اَفَلَا Then will not تَذَكَّرُوْنَ you take heed وَ لَاۤ And not اَقُوْلُ I say لَكُمْ to you عِنْدِیْ (that) with me خَزَآىِٕنُ (are the) treasures اللّٰهِ (of) Allah وَ لَاۤ and not اَعْلَمُ I know الْغَیْبَ the unseen وَ لَاۤ and not اَقُوْلُ I say اِنِّیْ that I am مَلَكٌ an Angel وَّ لَاۤ and not اَقُوْلُ I say لِلَّذِیْنَ for those whom تَزْدَرِیْۤ look down upon اَعْیُنُكُمْ your eyes لَنْ never یُّؤْتِیَهُمُ will Allah give them اللّٰهُ will Allah give them خَیْرًا ؕ any good اَللّٰهُ Allah اَعْلَمُ knows best بِمَا what فِیْۤ (is) in اَنْفُسِهِمْ ۖۚ their souls اِنِّیْۤ Indeed, I اِذًا then لَّمِنَ (will be) surely of الظّٰلِمِیْنَ the wrongdoers قَالُوْا They said یٰنُوْحُ O Nuh! قَدْ Indeed جٰدَلْتَنَا you disputed with us فَاَكْثَرْتَ and you (have been) frequent جِدَا لَنَا (in) dispute with us فَاْتِنَا So bring us بِمَا what تَعِدُنَاۤ you threaten us (with) اِنْ if كُنْتَ you are مِنَ of الصّٰدِقِیْنَ the truthful قَالَ He said اِنَّمَا Only یَاْتِیْكُمْ will bring it (on) you بِهِ will bring it (on) you اللّٰهُ Allah اِنْ if شَآءَ He wills وَ مَاۤ and not اَنْتُمْ you (are) بِمُعْجِزِیْنَ one who (can) escape (it) وَ لَا And (will) not یَنْفَعُكُمْ benefit you نُصْحِیْۤ my advice اِنْ (even) if اَرَدْتُّ I wish اَنْ to اَنْصَحَ [I] advise لَكُمْ [to] you اِنْ if كَانَ It was (Allah's) اللّٰهُ (It was) Allah's یُرِیْدُ will اَنْ to یُّغْوِیَكُمْ ؕ let you go astray هُوَ He (is) رَبُّكُمْ ۫ your Lord وَ اِلَیْهِ and to Him تُرْجَعُوْنَؕ you will be returned اَمْ Or یَقُوْلُوْنَ (do) they say افْتَرٰىهُ ؕ He has invented it قُلْ Say اِنِ If افْتَرَیْتُهٗ I have invented it فَعَلَیَّ then on me اِجْرَامِیْ (is) my crime وَ اَنَا but I am بَرِیْٓءٌ innocent مِّمَّا of what تُجْرِمُوْنَ۠ crimes you commit
(11:25) (Such were the circumstances) when We sent forth Noah to his people.29 (He said): 'I have been sent to you to warn you plainly
(11:26) that you may worship none but Allah or else I fear for you the chastisement of a Grievous Day.30
(11:27) The notables among Noah's own people, who had refused to follow him, responded: 'We merely consider you a human being like ourselves.31 Nor do we find among those who follow you except the lowliest of our folk, the men who follow you without any proper reason.32 We see nothing in you to suggest that you are any better than us.33 Rather, we believe you to be liars.'
(11:28) Noah said: 'My people! If I base myself on a clear evidence from my Lord, and I have also been blessed by His mercy34 to which you have been blind, how can we force it upon you despite your aversion to it?
(11:29) My people! I seek no recompense from you.35 My recompense is only with Allah. Nor will I drive away those who believe. They are destined to meet their Lord.36 But I find you to be an ignorant people.
(11:30) My people! Were I to drive the men of faith away, who will protect me from (the chastisement of) Allah? Do you not understand even this much?
(11:31) I do not say to you that I possess Allah's treasures, nor that I have access to the realm beyond the ken of sense-perception, nor do I claim to be an angel.37 Nor do I say regarding those whom you look upon with disdain that Allah will not bestow any good upon them. Allah knows best what is in their hearts. Were I to say so I would be one of the wrongdoers.'
(11:32) They said: 'O Noah! Surely you have disputed with us and have prolonged your dispute. Now bring upon us the chastisement that you threaten us with; do so, if you are truthful.'
(11:33) Noah said: 'Only Allah will bring it upon you if He so wills, and you will be utterly unable to frustrate that.
(11:34) If I want to give you good advice that will not profit you if Allah Himself has decided to let you go astray.38 He is your Lord, and to Him will you be returned.'
(11:35) (O Muhammad!) Do they say that he himself has forged this message? Tell them: 'If I have forged this, the guilt of it will fall upon me, but I am not responsible for the crimes you are committing.39
29. It is pertinent at this stage to bear in mind Towards Understanding the Qur’ an, vol. Ill, al-A‘raf 7: 59-64, nn. 47-50, pp. 37-42.
30. Substantially, the same warning was delivered by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) in the first few verses (viz. 2-3) of this surah.
31. This is exactly the same absurd objection which the Makkans raised against the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him). They found it inconceivable that a mortal like themselves who ate and drank, walked and slept, and who also had a family could be designated a Messenger by God. (See Ya Sin 36, n. 11; al-Shura. 42, n. 41.)
32. Again, it is noteworthy that the same objection raised by Noah’s people against him was raised by the Makkans against the Prophet (peace be on him).
The objection being that it is only persons of insignificant position who joined the Prophet’s (peace be on him) ranks. They, thus, tried to belittle both the Message and the Messenger by highlighting that his followers were either a few raw youths, a bunch of slaves, or a group of feeble-minded and superstitious commoners from the lower rungs of society. (See Towards Understanding the Qur’ an, vol. Il, al-An‘am 6, nn. 34-7, pp. 235-7, and Yunus 10, n. 78, p. 57 above.)
33. The believers claimed that they enjoyed God’s favor and mercy, and that those who chose to deviate from their way were subject to God’s wrath.
The unbelievers denied this claim. They contended that there was no evidence in support of such a supposition. The unbelievers further argued in opposition to the believers’ contention, that it was they, the unbelievers, who enjoyed God’s favor. They had riches, political power and influence, and.an army of servants to serve them and to carry out their behests. How could it ever be imagined, therefore, that the believers — whose lot was simply miserable — were God’s favorites?
34. This amounts to virtually repeating the statement mentioned earlier (see verse 17 and n. 17 ff. above). The statement suggested that the Prophet (peace be on him) had reached the stage of affirming the unity of God as a result of his own reflection. Where after, God favored him by designating him a Prophet and providing him with direct knowledge of the truths about which his heart was already convinced.
This also shows that the Prophets attain belief regarding the realm of the Unseen before they are appointed to the office of prophethood. When they are subsequently designated Prophets, they are endowed with faith in the truths belonging to the realm of the Unseen as a result of direct knowledge of those truths.
35. The Prophet Noah (peace be on him) told his people that he had sincerely counselled his people about what was conducive to their well-being.
Noah bore all kinds of hardship and suffering, and all for the well-being of his people. Noah sought to achieve no personal benefit out of his striving to call people to the truth. Noah’s sincerity was too transparent to be the subject of any question or dispute. (See al-Mu’minun 23, n. 70; Yd Sin 36, n. 17; al-Shura 42, n. 41.)
36. The worth of the believers is best known only to their Lord which will become fully evident when they encounter Him on the Day of Judgement. If they indeed are true gems, they will not then become pieces of ordinary rock just because some people in this world had disparagingly thrown them aside.
But if, on the contrary, they are indeed nothing but mere pieces of ordinary rock, their Lord has every right to cast them wherever He pleases. (See By Understanding the Qur'an, vol. Il, al-An‘am 6: 52, and al-Kahf 18:
37. This is a rejoinder to the Prophet Noah’s opponents. His opponents tried to discredit him by saying that he appeared to them to be merely an ordinary human being just like any one of them. In response to this Noah acknowledges that he is indeed nothing more than a human being, and that he has never claimed to. be anything other than that. Hence, any attack on him on the grounds that he was merely a human being was pointless.
Noah (peace be on him), like other Prophets, had claimed no more than what God had intimated to him about the Straight Way comprising right beliefs and sound principles of behavior. His people were free to test him in regard to that claim. It was strange, however, that they asked him about a matter which lay beyond the ken of human perception, something which he had never claimed to know. They also made strange demands of him which suggested that he possessed the keys to God's treasures. They even taunted him on the grounds that like other human beings he also ate and drank and walked around.
All this was meaningless for Noah (peace be on him) had never claimed to be an angel and that as such he could dispense with necessary physical and biological requirements. All that Noah (peace be on him) had claimed was that he possessed the knowledge needed to guide human beings in matters of belief, moral conduct, and social behavior. Now, what sense did it make to ask such a person what gender a cow’s calf would be? By what stretch of the imagination can one establish a nexus between the pregnancy of a cow and sound principles of individual and social conduct? (See also Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. Il, al-An‘am 6, nn. 31-2, pp. 234-5.)
38. Such was their obduracy, mischievousness and absolute disregard for righteous behavior that quite understandably God should decide not to direct them to the right way and instead let them, as they wished, stumble in error.
Once God had made such a decision no one’s effort to direct them to the right way — not even the Prophet’s — could be of any avail.
39. The context seems to suggest how the opponents reacted to the narration of Noah’s story. It seems they would have objected to it on the grounds that the true purpose of narrating Noah’s story was to show how it was applicable to the unbelievers. They presumably pointed out that the Prophet (peace be on him) had invented such stories merely to ridicule and disgrace them; that these stories were merely a means whereby he could malign them.
The main theme of the discourse has been interrupted here in order to respond to this objection.
Petty people are apt to misinterpret things. Their mental baseness allows them only to perceive that which is evil and to disregard those aspects which are good. If someone offers a piece of wisdom, or seeks to convey a piece of good advice, or draws the attention of someone to any of his weaknesses, a wise person will benefit from what is said and will reform himself. But a petty person will always be inclined to see something evil in it. Such an attitude will reduce to naught the wisdom or sincere counsel that was offered. Moreover, such a person will continue to adhere to his evil ways. Not only that but he is also likely to attribute some evil motive to the person who had sought to say a word of wisdom or to furnish him with sincere advice.
Even the best advice goes to waste if someone misunderstands it. For it is possible that someone may construe a piece of advice as arising not out of sincere concern for but out of a desire to taunt. In such instances, instead of dispassionately examining his own life with a view to identifying his flaws and weaknesses, this person is likely to feel offended. Such a person will be wont to assume, and will often go-about saying, that the advice was actuated by ulterior motives and was meant to insult him. Suppose a reformer mentions, for instructive purposes, what is going on in society. It is possible that some of the things mentioned might also be applicable to a person’s case and might seem to allude to some actual flaw or shortcoming in his character. Now, it is quite possible that the reformer did not intend to point an accusing finger at any particular person. Instead, he merely wanted to bring to people’s attention the unhealthy attitudes found in society. If the person concerned is wise, he will not enmesh himself with questions about whether the reformer’s statement was meant to cast a slur on his character. He will recognize instead the worth of the statement, will seize its instructive aspects, and will make an effort to mend his behavior accordingly.
However, if a man has a warped mind and is given only to seeing evil intentions in people’s actions, he is likely to fling accusations at the reformer.
He will go about condemning his statement as a bundle of fabrications concocted with a view to bringing him into disrepute. It is for this reason that the Prophet (peace be on him) was asked to say that if he had fabricated something, he would be responsible for the sin of such a fabrication. This would not, however, absolve others of the guilt and evils they had committed in the past and which they continued to commit.