His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿And he said, 'Embark in it, in the name of Allah, its course and its anchorage. Indeed, my Lord is Forgiving and Merciful.'﴾ ﴿And it was sailing with them in waves like mountains. And Noah called to his son who had separated himself: 'O my son, embark with us and do not be with the disbelievers.'﴾ The meaning is that Noah - when he was commanded to load in the ship - said to those who believed with him: ﴿Embark in it﴾. He feminized the pronoun because it is a ship, since the mentioned vessel is masculine. In the Mus'haf of Ubayy, it is written 'in the name of Allah.' And his saying: 'in the name of Allah' can be correct to be in the position of the state of the pronoun in his saying: 'embark' as you say: 'Zayd went out with his clothes and his weapons,' meaning embark while seeking blessings with Allah, the Exalted. And his saying: ﴿its course and its anchorage﴾ are two adverbials, meaning the time of its sailing and its anchoring. As the Arabs say: 'Praise be to Allah for your secret and your proclamation and the rising of the stars and the arrival of the pilgrim,' so this is an adverbial of time, and the agent in this adverbial is what is in 'in the name of Allah' from the meaning of the action. It can also be correct that his saying: 'in the name of Allah' is in the position of a news and 'its course and its anchorage' is an initiation of two sources as if he said: 'embark in it for indeed by the blessing of Allah is its sailing and its anchoring.' And this sentence - based on this - would be in the position of a state of the pronoun in his saying: 'in it,' and it cannot be a state of the pronoun in his saying: 'embark' because there is no referent in the sentence that returns to it. Based on this interpretation, Al-Dahhak said: Indeed, Noah when he wanted the ship to sail would say: 'In the name of Allah,' so it would sail, and when he wanted it to stop, he would say: 'In the name of Allah,' so it would stop. And Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Abu Amr, and Asim - in the narration of Abu Bakr - and Ibn Amir read: 'its course and its anchorage' with the two mims pronounced, meaning its sailing and its anchoring. This is the reading of Mujahid, Abu Rija', Al-Hasan, Al-A'raj, Shaiba, and the majority of the people. And from that is the saying of Labid:

And I built a guard before the course of Dahis, If only for the stubborn soul there were permanence.

And Hamza, Al-Kisai, and Hafs from Asim read: 'its course' with the mīm opened and the raa broken, and all of them pronounced the mīm in 'its anchorage.' And Al-A'mash and Ibn Mas'ud read: 'its course and its anchorage' with both mims opened, and that is from sailing and anchoring, and this is an adverbial of place. And from that is the saying of Antar:

So I endured a soul at that time, free, It anchors when the coward's soul aspires.

And Al-Tabari chose the reading of 'its course and its anchorage' with the first mīm opened and the second pronounced, and he preferred it by His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿And it was sailing﴾, and no one read 'sailing' which is also the reading of Ibn Mas'ud, narrated from him by Abu Wail and Masruq. And Ibn Wathab, Abu Rija' Al-Uttaridi, Al-Nakha'i, Al-Jahdari, Al-Kalbi, Al-Dahhak ibn Muzahim, Muslim ibn Jundub, and the people of Sham read: 'its course and its anchorage,' and they - based on this reading - are two attributes for Allah, the Exalted, referring back to His mention in His saying: 'in the name of Allah.'

'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿Indeed, my Lord is Forgiving and Merciful﴾ is a reminder to them of the extent of Allah's blessings upon them, His mercy towards them, His covering of them, and His forgiveness of their sins through their repentance and return to Him.

And His saying, the Most High: ﴿And it flowed with them﴾, it has been narrated that the sky rained entirely until there was no part of the air without rain in it, and the earth gushed forth with springs, thus was the meeting of the waters. It has been narrated that the water rose above the mountains and above the land by forty cubits, and it was said, fifteen cubits. Al-Zajjaj and others indicated that the water converged, the water of the earth and the water of the sky, so everything became like the sea.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is weak. Where was the wave like the mountains in this? And how did the life of those in the ship remain upon this?

And a group read: 'his son' attributing the son to Noah. This is the saying of one who says: he is his son by his lineage. And a group said: he is a distant son to him, and he called him by sonship out of tenderness and kindness. Ibn Abbas read: 'his son' with the 'h' being silent, and this is a dialect of the Azd of Siraat. From it is the saying of the poet:

.......................... ∗∗∗ ∗∗∗ My heart is longing for him.

And Al-Suddi read 'his two sons'. Abu Al-Fath said: This is in the context of calling, and a group went to say that this is in the context of a supplication. And Urwah ibn Al-Zubair, and Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, read: (p-581) 'her son', and they interpreted that as him calling the son of his disbelieving wife, as it was mentioned in his words: 'and his family'. And upon this reading, it includes the interpretation of one who said: 'she was treacherous' in it, and this will be mentioned later. And Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, and Urwah ibn Al-Zubair, as well as Abu Ja'far, and Ja'far ibn Muhammad, read: 'her son' based on the estimation of 'her son', so they omitted the 'a' for ease, and this is a dialect, and from it is the saying of the poet:

As for you leading a sheep with him, then you eat it ∗∗∗ ∗∗∗ or selling it in some of the pastures.

And Ibn Al-A'rabi recited this:

So I am not one to catch what has passed from me ∗∗∗ ∗∗∗ with longing, nor has it perished, nor has it changed.

He means: with longing.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Al-Nahhas criticized Abu Hatim for omitting this 'a', and it is not as he said. And Waki' ibn Al-Jarrah read: 'And Noah called his son' with the 'tanween' being pronounced. Abu Hatim said: This is a bad dialect that is not known.

And His saying: ﴿And he was in a place apart﴾ means: in a side, so it is possible that he means: in a place apart in religion, and it is possible that he means: in a place apart due to his distance from the ship, and the wording encompasses both. And Makki said in Al-Mushkil: And whoever said: 'a place apart' - with a kasra on the zay - intended the location, and whoever said: 'a place apart' - with a fathah - intended the source: he did not specify that it is a reading, but the wording necessitates that.

(p-582) And the seven reciters read "O my son" with a kasrah on the doubled yāʾ. It consists of three yāʾs: the first is the yāʾ of diminutive, and its right is to be silent; the second is the lām of the verb, and its right is to be broken according to the yāʾ of addition since what precedes the yāʾ of addition is broken; and the third is the yāʾ of addition. The yāʾ of addition was omitted either due to its being silent and the rāʾ being silent, or because it is akin to tanwīn in proper nouns, which is omitted in calling out. Likewise, the yāʾ of addition is often omitted in the speech of the Arabs. They say: O boy, and O servants, and the kasrah remains indicating. Then the silent yāʾ was merged into the broken yāʾ. Abu Bakr and Ḥafṣ also narrated from ʿĀṣim: "O my son" with a fatḥah on the doubled yāʾ. Abu Ḥātim mentioned that al-Mufaḍḍal narrated it from ʿĀṣim. Therefore, there are two opinions: one of them is that he substitutes an alif for the yāʾ of addition, which is a well-known dialect. They say: O boya, and O eye, so the yāʾ opened before the alif, then the alif was omitted for lightness and due to its being silent and the rāʾ being silent from his saying: ride. The second is that when the yāʾs gathered, the heaviness of the similarity was felt, so this heaviness was alleviated by the fatḥah since it is the lightest of movements. This is the view of Sibawayh, and upon this, his saying ﷺ: "And my disciple is al-Zubayr" is understood.

And it was narrated from Ibn Kathīr that he read in Surah Luqmān: "O my son, do not associate with Allah" by omitting the yāʾ of addition and making the yāʾ light. He read the second: "O my son, indeed it is" like the reading of the group, and he read the third: "O my son, establish" as silent like the first.

And his saying: ﴿And do not be with the disbelievers﴾ it is possible that it is a pure prohibition while he knows that he is a disbeliever. It is also possible that his disbelief was hidden from him, so he called him not to remain—with him being a believer—among the disbelievers lest he perish with their destruction. The first is clearer.