And when He, glorified and exalted is He, began with Thamud, who are the closest to destruction near the honored Mecca, because the warning of the closest is more impactful, and He concluded with the people of Noah, peace be upon him, because they were all the people of the earth and their matter was not feared by anyone after them. He explained the choice of saving them by the ship over others by saying: "Let us make it" meaning these great deeds of saving the believers in such a way that none of them perishes by that punishment and the destruction of the disbelievers in such a way that none of them escapes. Likewise, the ship in which we carried Noah, peace be upon him, and those with him, by keeping it as a sign of His signs and a wonder from His clear marvels and something strange in time from His wonders. "For you" meaning, O mankind, "a reminder" meaning a great cause for remembering the first creation and the admonition by it so that you may deduce from that the perfection of His power, glorified and exalted is He, the completeness of His knowledge, the greatness of His mercy, and His might, which leads you to Him and you accept with your hearts towards Him. "And let it be retained" meaning to preserve the story of the ship and others from what has preceded, with a stable and settled preservation as if it is contained in a vessel.

And when the one who benefits from what he hears is very few, this is indicated by the unification of the ear. He said, unifying and denying while indicating its greatness: "An ear" meaning one of great benefit, "retaining" meaning it is capable of preserving what should be preserved from divine sayings and actions and divine secrets for the benefit of the servants of Allah, just as Noah, peace be upon him, and those with him were few, a cause for the continuity of offspring and blessings in it until the earth was filled with them. And awareness is preservation in the self, and retention is preservation in the vessel. In this is a reprimand for the people due to the scarcity of the aware among them, and an indication that if the single ear is heedless of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, it is the greatest darkness, and what is besides it Allah does not care about at all - this was said by the people of Isfahan, Al-Zamakhshari, and others.