'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Tafsir of Surah Nuh

It is agreed upon by the interpreters that it is a Makki surah. Ubayy ibn Ka'b said: The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "Whoever recites Surah Nuh will be among the believers who will be reached by the call of Nuh."

His saying, exalted is He:

﴿Indeed, We sent Nuh to his people, saying: 'Warn your people before there comes to them a painful punishment.'﴾ ﴿He said: 'O my people, indeed I am to you a clear warner.'﴾ ﴿'Worship Allah and fear Him and obey me.'﴾ ﴿He will forgive you of your sins and delay you for a specified term. Indeed, the term of Allah, when it comes, will not be delayed, if you only knew.'﴾

Nuh, peace be upon him, is Nuh ibn Lamik. His mention and the mention of his age have already been made. The name 'Nuh' is pronounced with its foreign pronunciation and its definite article due to its lightness and the stillness of the middle letters of it.

His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Saying: 'Warn your people,'﴾ it is possible that 'that' is an explicative and has no place in the grammar. It is also possible that the meaning is: 'to warn your people,' and this, on this, is in the accusative case according to some grammarians, and in the genitive case according to others. In the Mushaf of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, it is: 'to his people, warn your people' without 'that.' And 'the punishment which they were promised' may be the punishment of this world, which is the most apparent and most fitting with what comes after, and it may be the punishment of the Hereafter.

The majority of the seven reciters read: 'Worship,' with a dammah on the noon of 'that,' following the dammah of the ba and disregarding the consideration of the intervening silence due to the lightness of the stillness. It is as if there is no intervening silence. Al-Asim, Hamzah, and Abu Amr, in the narration of Abdul Warith, read: 'Worship,' with a kasrah on the noon. This is the original in the meeting of (p-416) two still letters from two words. And 'He will forgive' is the response to the command. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: 'of your sins,' some said that 'of' is extra. This is a Kufi view. As for Al-Khalil and Sibawayh, they do not permit its addition in the obligatory. And some said: it is for the specification of the type, and this is weak because there is no type to specify here. Others said: it is in the meaning of 'about,' and this is not known in the rulings of 'of.' Others said: it is for the beginning of the limit, and this is a saying that is plausible, as if he is saying: 'He begins the forgiveness from these great sins that they have.' And others said: it is for the partitive, and this is, in my opinion, the clearest of the sayings. This is because if he had said: 'He will forgive you your sins,' this wording would encompass what preceded from the sins and what followed from their faith, and Islam abrogates what came before it. So it is some of their sins. The meaning is: 'He will forgive you your sins.' And some of the interpreters said: He meant: 'He will forgive you of your significant, major sins,' because they are more important to them, and perhaps despair from Allah has occurred to them. And this saying implies that 'of' is for the partitive. And Allah, exalted is He, is the one who grants success. And Abu Amr read: 'He will forgive you' with the merging, and Al-Khalil and Sibawayh do not permit that; because the letter r is a repeated letter, so if it is merged into the lam, the repetition is lost and the sound becomes distorted.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And He delays you to a specified term" is what the Mu'tazilah used as an argument in their saying: "Indeed, for man there are two terms." This is because they said: If there were one specified term, then the delay would not be correct if the limit had been reached, nor would the hastening be correct if the limit had not been reached.

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

And they have no connection to the verse; because the meaning is that Noah, peace be upon him, did not know whether they were among those who are delayed or among those who are hastened. And he did not say to them: "You are being delayed from a term that has come due for you." But it had been decreed in eternity that they are either among those for whom faith and delay were decreed, or among those for whom disbelief and hastening were decreed. Then this meaning was emphasized by his saying: "Indeed, the decree of Allah, when it comes, will not be delayed."

And Makki narrated the saying of the two terms but did not give it its due consideration. And the response to "if" is implied by the meaning, as if he said: How wise and quick you would be to repent if you were to know.