His calling to his Lord: his supplication to Him, and it is his saying, 'My Lord,' along with what follows it of the obligation of His promise in saving his family.

If you say: If the calling is his saying, 'My Lord,' then how is it that he said, 'So he said, My Lord,' with the conjunction 'fa' (so)?

I say: I mean by calling the intention of calling. If the calling itself were meant, it would have come as it came in the saying, 'When he called his Lord with a hidden call,' he said, 'My Lord,' without the conjunction 'fa.' 'Indeed, my son is of my family,' meaning some of my family, because he was his son from his loins, or he was a foster child of his, so he is some of his family. 'And indeed, Your promise is the truth,' meaning that every promise You make is the established truth that there is no doubt in its fulfillment and in keeping it. You promised me that You would save my family, so what about my son? 'And You are the most just of judges,' meaning the most knowledgeable of judges and the most just among them.

[Muhammad said: 'He said, the most knowledgeable of judges and the most just among them, for there is no superiority of a judge over another except by knowledge...']

Ahmad said: 'Then what happened after Al-Zamakhshari raised from the judges to the chief judge, and what you notice in the elevation of this second over the first is that the first implies the judges share with their chief in description, and that they are added to it. They elevated themselves that no one among them should share in their description from those below them in position, so they turned away from what they share in to what is not so, and they singled out their chief with the title of chief judge: meaning he who judges among the judges and no one among them shares in his description. They made the one following him in rank the chief of judges, except that they mean the chief judge of his time or region. And if it is permissible to refer to the Commander of the Faithful, Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah honor his face, as the chief judge of the companions in his time, as the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, referred to him when he said, 'The most just among you is Ali,' then there is no harm, if Allah wills, to refer to the most just judge of the time or region and the most knowledgeable among them as the chief judge and the chief of judges, meaning the judges of his time and country. Every generation that arises in a time is similar to the time in which this title began.']

For there is no superiority of a ruler over another except by knowledge and justice. And perhaps there is one drowning in ignorance and injustice among the rulers in your time who has been titled the chief judge, and its meaning is the most just of the judges, so consider and take heed. It may be that it is from wisdom, provided that it is built from wisdom as it is said, 'a shield from the shield,' and 'menstruating and divorced' according to the opinion of Al-Khalil. 'Indeed, it is an unworthy deed' is a justification for the negation of his being of his family. And it indicates that the kinship of religion overshadows the kinship of lineage, and that your relative in your religion and belief is among those distant in position, even if he is Ethiopian and you are Qurashi, close to you and special to you. And whoever is not upon your religion - even if he is the closest of your relatives by blood - is farthest from you. And I made his essence an unworthy deed, an exaggeration in denouncing him, like her saying: 'Indeed, it is only a coming and a departing.'

[This witness has been explained in the first part, page 218, so refer to it if you wish, the corrector.]

And it was said: The pronoun refers to Noah's calling, meaning: 'Indeed, your calling is an unworthy deed and not that.' If you say:

So it was said: 'Is it not a corrupt deed?' [Mahrud said: 'So it was said: 'Is it not a corrupt deed?' I said, when he negated it from his family, he negated from it...'] Ahmad said. And for this meaning, and Allah knows best, it was said to him, blessings and peace be upon him, 'And warn your closest relatives.' Although he was commanded to warn in general, when the family of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, was a cause for reliance and slackness in action, he specified his family with the warning as an indication of that, and Allah knows best. And for this reason, when the warning was revealed, the Prophet ﷺ said: 'Indeed, I do not possess for you anything from Allah,' or he said that to each one of them specifically. I said: When he negated it from his family, he negated from it their attribute with the word of negation that retains with it the term being negated. And he indicated by that that he only saved those who were saved from his family due to their righteousness, not because they are your kin and relatives. And when this righteousness was negated from him, your fatherhood did not benefit him, as in the saying: 'They were two wives under two of Our righteous servants, but they betrayed them, so they did not avail them against Allah at all.' And it was read: 'a deed that is not righteous,' meaning he did a deed that was not righteous. And it was read:

So do not ask, with the breaking of the noon without the additional ya and with the heavy noon with ya and without ya. This means do not seek from me a request or a plea that you do not know whether it is correct or incorrect, until you stand upon its essence. And mentioning the matter is evidence that the call was before he drowned when he feared for him. If you say: Why did he call his call a question when there is no question in it? I say: His supplication contains the meaning of a question even if he did not explicitly state it. Because when he mentioned the promise of the salvation of his family at the time of his son nearing drowning, he has sought fulfillment. And making a request for what one does not know its essence is ignorance and foolishness, and he admonished him not to return to it and to similar actions of the ignorant. If you say: He promised him that he would save his family, and what was with him [Mahamud said: 'If you say that Allah promised him to save his family and what was with him... etc.' Ahmad said: 'In the words of Al-Zamakhshari, there is an indication that he believes that Noah, peace be upon him, did something that warranted attributing ignorance to him and rebuking him for that, and the matter is not as Al-Zamakhshari imagined. We clarify the truth in the verse based on its text while exalting Noah, peace be upon him, from what Al-Zamakhshari presumed to attribute to him. We say: When Noah first promised the salvation of his family except for those who had preceded the word against them, and he was not aware of the condition of his mentioned son nor informed about the hidden matter, but believing based on the apparent situation that he was a believer, he remained attached to the general form for the established family and did not oppose it with certainty of his son's disbelief until he exited from the family and entered into the excluded ones. So he asked Allah regarding him based on that, and it became clear to him that he was in His knowledge among the excluded ones, and that he himself had no knowledge of that. Therefore, he asked regarding him, and this is more of a clarification of an excuse than it is a rebuke, for Allah does not burden Noah, peace be upon him, with knowledge that He has kept to Himself in the unseen. As for his saying: 'Indeed, I admonish you not to be among the ignorant,' the intended meaning is to prohibit the occurrence of a question in the future after Allah informed him of his hidden matter. And if he were to ask in the future, he would be among the ignorant. The purpose of this is to maintain his status of infallibility, and the admonition does not necessitate the occurrence of a sin, but the aim is that a sin does not occur in the future. Therefore, he, blessings and peace be upon him, exemplified that and sought refuge with Allah that what he was prohibited from would not occur from him, and Allah knows best.'] that his son is not among them in religion. So when he was close to drowning, the matter became confused for him, because the promise had preceded him, and Allah is All-Wise and it is not permissible for Him to do the ugly and break the promise. Therefore, seeking to remove the doubt is obligatory, so why was he rebuked and his question was called ignorance? I say: Indeed, Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, presented him with the promise of saving his family with the exception of those who had preceded the word against them. So he was to believe that among his family there are those who are deserving of punishment for being unworthy, and that not all of them are saved, and that he should not have any doubt when his son was nearing drowning that he was among the excluded ones and not among those excluded from them. Thus, he was reproached for the confusion that should not have been confused.