His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿And those who disbelieved said to those who believed, "Follow our way, and we will carry your sins." And they will not carry anything of their sins. Indeed, they are liars.﴾ ﴿And they will surely bear their own burdens and [other] burdens along with their own burdens. And they will be questioned on the Day of Resurrection about what they used to invent.﴾ ﴿And We certainly sent Noah to his people, and he remained among them a thousand years except for fifty years. And the flood seized them while they were wrongdoers.﴾ ﴿So We saved him and the companions of the ship, and We made it a sign for the worlds.﴾

It has been narrated that the one who said this statement was Al-Walid ibn Al-Mughira, and it was said that it was a common saying among the disbelievers of Quraysh. They said to the followers of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Enter into our matter, acknowledge our deities, and worship them. We are certain that there is no resurrection after death and no return. We guarantee to you the carrying of your sins, and we will carry them for you in what we have called you to if there is any benefit in that as you claim." Their saying, "And we will carry," is an indication that they will carry their sins in the manner of comparison to transfer. However, they expressed it in the imperative form because it is more obligatory and has a stronger emphasis in the mind of the listener than metaphors. This is similar to what the poet said:

So I said, "Call and invoke, for it is better for a voice to be called by two callers."

And since it is a report, it is appropriate to refute them in it. So Allah, exalted and glorified is He, informed that all of that is false, and that if they did it, nothing would be borne for any of those who are deceived by them from their sins that are specific to them.

And the majority read: "And we will carry" with the jasm of the lam. And 'Isa and Nuh the reader read: "And let us carry" with the kasra of the lam. And Dawood ibn Abi Hind read: "from their sin" with the kasra of the ya and the fatha of the ta. And it was narrated from him that Abu Amr read: "from their sins" with the kasra of the ta and a hamza and a ta after the alif. And Mujahid said: The carrying is from the burden, not from carrying on the back.

Then Allah, exalted and glorified is He, informed about those disbelievers that they will carry their burdens and burdens along with their burdens, meaning: burdens of their disbelief that they fabricate and are adorned with. ﴿And burdens along with their burdens﴾ means: what follows them from their supporters and followers. For every caller to misguidance, there is a portion of it according to the famous hadith: "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward like the rewards of those who follow him, without decreasing anything from their reward. And whoever calls to misguidance..." ... the hadith.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And indeed, it was with their burdens because of others, and due to a disbelief they donned. He distinguished between it and their burdens, and did not attribute it to others. Rather, He placed it in another rank. They only bear the burden of their own selves in it. And the carrying of the burdens of others may be established by what has been reported from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "If there remains nothing for the oppressor, he will take from the sins of the oppressed, and thus it will be cast upon him." And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And they will surely be questioned" is in the context of reproach and reprimand, not in the context of inquiry and seeking knowledge. And "they fabricate" means: they create from disbelief and the claim of partners and children and other than that for Allah, the Mighty and Majestic.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And We certainly sent Noah" is a story in which there is consolation for Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, regarding what the previous verses contained of the obstinacy of his people and their trials for the believers and other than that. And in it is a warning to them by likening their affair to the affair of the people of Noah. The "and" in His saying "And We certainly" is a conjunction of one statement to another, and the oath in it is serious. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "We sent" and "he remained" indicates that he remained this duration as a messenger calling. And it may be assumed that the mentioned duration is the duration of his residence from his birth until the drowning of his people. As for the first interpretation, there is disagreement regarding his age at which he was sent. It was said: forty, and it was said: eighty. And Awn ibn Abi Shaddad said: three hundred and fifty. Therefore, it is possible that his death, peace be upon him, occurred shortly after the drowning of his people. It has been narrated that he lived three hundred and fifty years after that, and that he lived one thousand years and six hundred and fifty years. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "So the flood seized them" implies that it seized his people only. There is disagreement regarding that. A group said: Only a portion of the land drowned in the flood, which is the part specific to the people of Noah. And a group - which is the majority - said: The entire inhabited area drowned.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this is the apparent matter; due to his taking the ship, and sending the bird to seek the retreat of the water, and other than that from the signs. It remains to be objected that it could be said: How did everyone drown while the message was to some? The response to that is to say: The specificity of a prophet to a nation does not mean that he does not guide others, nor call them to the oneness of Allah, the Most High. Rather, it means that he does not take to killing others, nor spread worship among them. And the people at that time were not many due to their proximity to Adam, peace be upon him. So it is certain that his call to the oneness of Allah, the Most High, had reached all of them, and they were seized by drowning due to their turning away and persistence.

And "the flood": the great overwhelming one, and this term is used for every overwhelming event that goes beyond the norm, whether it be water, fire, or death. Among them is the saying of the poet:

They were annihilated by the flood of a devastating death.

'And 'Tufan' is a form of 'Fu'lan', a structure of exaggeration from: 'Tafa' yaTuf', meaning to encompass from every direction. However, it has been frequently used specifically in reference to water. And His saying, the Exalted, 'And they are wrongdoers' means: by associating partners (with Allah).

And 'the companions of the ship' has previously been discussed in this surah regarding their number. They are those who built it and a people who believed. The pronoun in His saying, 'And We made it', may refer back to the ship. And 'the sign' here is the lesson and the indication of Allah's power, glorified and exalted is He, in the severity of His might. Qatadah said: He preserved it as a sign on Mount Judi.