71. Surah Nun (Noah) Mecca Period

DEVOTED in its entirety to Noah's preaching to his erring fellow-men, this surah depicts symbolically every conscious believer's struggle against blind materialism and the resulting lack of all spiritual values. The story of Noah as such is mentioned in several places in the Qur'an, and particularly in 1 1:25 ff

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

إِنَّا أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا إِلَى قَوْمِهِ ...

71: 1. We sent Noah to his People (with the Command):

C5705. Noah's mission is referred to in many places. See specially 11: 25-49 and notes. His contemporaries had completely abandoned the moral law. A purge had to be made, and the great Flood made it. This gives a new starting point in history for Noah's People,- i.e., for the remnant saved in the Ark.

... أَنْ أَنذِرْ قَوْمَكَ مِن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ﴿١﴾

"Do thou warn thy people before there comes to them a grievous Penalty."

قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ إِنِّي لَكُمْ نَذِيرٌ مُّبِينٌ ﴿٢﴾

71: 2. He said:

"O my People! I am to you a Warner, clear and open:

C5706. His Warning was to be both clear (i.e., unambiguous) and open (i.e., publicly proclaimed). Both these meanings are implied in Mubin.

Cf. 67:26.

The meaning of the Warning was obviously that if they had repented, they would have obtained mercy.

أَنِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَاتَّقُوهُ وَأَطِيعُونِ ﴿٣﴾

71: 3. "That ye should

- worship Allah,

- fear Him,

- and obey me:

C5707. Three aspects of man's duty are emphasized:

true worship with heart and soul;
God-fearing recognition that all evil must lead to self-deterioration and Judgment;
hence repentance and amendment of life, and obedience to good men's counsels.

يَغْفِرْ لَكُم مِّن ذُنُوبِكُمْ وَيُؤَخِّرْكُمْ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى...

71: 4. "So He may forgive you your sins and give you respite for a stated Term:

... إِنَّ أَجَلَ اللَّهِ إِذَا جَاء لَا يُؤَخَّرُ ...

For when the Term given by Allah is accomplished, it cannot be put forward:

C5708. Allah gives respite freely; but it is for Him to give it. His command is definite and final; neither man nor any other authority can alter or in any way modify it. If we could only realise this to the full in our inmost soul, it would be best for us and lead to our happiness.

... لَوْ كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ ﴿٤﴾

if ye only knew."

قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّي دَعَوْتُ قَوْمِي لَيْلًا وَنَهَارًا ﴿٥﴾

71: 5. He said:

"O my Lord! I have called to my People night and day:

فَلَمْ يَزِدْهُمْ دُعَائِي إِلَّا فِرَارًا ﴿٦﴾

71: 6. "But my call only increases (their) flight (from the Right)."

C5709. When convincing arguments and warnings are placed before sinners, there are two kinds of reactions.

Those who are wise receive admonition, repent, and bring forth fruits of repentance, i.e., amend their lives and turn to Allah.
On the other hand, those who are callous to any advice take it up as a reproach, fly farther and farther from righteousness, and shut out more and more the channels through which Allah's healing Grace can reach them and work for them.

وَإِنِّي كُلَّمَا دَعَوْتُهُمْ لِتَغْفِرَ لَهُمْ جَعَلُوا أَصَابِعَهُمْ فِي آذَانِهِمْ ...

71: 7. "And every time I have called to them, that thou mightest forgive them, they have (only) thrust their fingers into their ears,

... وَاسْتَغْشَوْا ثِيَابَهُمْ وَأَصَرُّوا ...

covered themselves up with their garments, grown obstinate,

C5710. The literal meaning would be that, just as they thrust their fingers into their ears to prevent the voice of the admonisher reaching them, so they covered their bodies with their garments that the light of truth should not penetrate to them and that they should not even be seen by the Preacher.

But there is a further symbolic meaning.

"Their garments" are the adoration of vanities, their evil habits, customs, and traditions, and their ephemeral interested and standards. They drew them closer round them to prevent the higher Light reaching them. They grew obstinate and gave themselves up to the grossest form of selfish arrogance.

... وَاسْتَكْبَرُوا اسْتِكْبَارًا ﴿٧﴾

and given themselves up to arrogance.

ثُمَّ إِنِّي دَعَوْتُهُمْ جِهَارًا ﴿٨﴾

71: 8. "So I have called to them aloud;

ثُمَّ إِنِّي أَعْلَنتُ لَهُمْ ...

71: 9. "Further I have spoken to them in public ...

C5711. Noah used all the resources of the earnest preacher: he dinned the Message of Allah into their ears; he spoke in public places; and he took individuals into his confidence, and appealed privately to them; but all in vain.

... وَأَسْرَرْتُ لَهُمْ إِسْرَارًا ﴿٩﴾

... and secretly in private,

فَقُلْتُ اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفَّارًا ﴿١٠﴾

71: 10. "Saying,

'Ask forgiveness from your Lord; for He is Oft-Forgiving;

يُرْسِلِ السَّمَاء عَلَيْكُم مِّدْرَارًا ﴿١١﴾

71: 11. "'He will send rain to you in abundance;

C5712. They had perhaps been suffering from drought or famine. If they had taken the message in the right way, the rain would have been a blessing to them. They took it in the wrong way, and the rain was a curse to them, for it flooded the country and drowned the wicked generation. In the larger Plan, it was a blessing all the same; for it purged the world, and gave it a new start, morally and spiritually.

وَيُمْدِدْكُمْ بِأَمْوَالٍ وَبَنِينَ وَيَجْعَل لَّكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ وَيَجْعَل لَّكُمْ أَنْهَارًا ﴿١٢﴾

71: 12. "'Give you increase in wealth and sons;

and bestow on you Gardens and bestow on you Rivers (of flowing water).

C5713. Each of these blessings-rain and crops, wealth and man-power, flourishing gardens, and perennial streams-are indications of prosperity, and have not only a material but also a spiritual meaning.

Note the last point, "rivers of flowing water".

The perennial springs make the prosperity as it were permanent: they indicate a settled population, honest and contented, and enjoying their blessings here on earth as the foretaste of the eternal joys of heaven.

مَّا لَكُمْ لَا تَرْجُونَ لِلَّهِ وَقَارًا ﴿١٣﴾

71: 13. "'What is the matter with you, that ye place not your hope for kindness and long-suffering in Allah --

C5713a. An alternate translation would be "... that ye fear Allah's Message"

i.e., why don't you fear Allah's Majesty, His greatness and consequent punishment for your sinfulness, and hope for His mercy, kindness and reward for your faith and good deeds. The words of the verse contain the twin strands -fear and hope- simultaneously.

وَقَدْ خَلَقَكُمْ أَطْوَارًا ﴿١٤﴾

71: 14. "'Seeing that it is He that has created you in diverse stages?

C5714. Cf. 22:5, and notes 2773-2777;

also 23:12-17, and notes 2872-2875.

The meaning here may be even wider. Man in his various states exhibits various wonderful qualities or capacities, mental and spiritual that may be compared with the wonderful workings of nature on the earth and in the heavens. Will he not then be grateful for these Mercies and turn to Allah, Who created all these marvels?

أَلَمْ تَرَوْا كَيْفَ خَلَقَ اللَّهُ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ طِبَاقًا ﴿١٥﴾

71: 15. "'See ye not how Allah has created the seven heavens one above another,

C5715. See n. 5559 to 67:3.

وَجَعَلَ الْقَمَرَ فِيهِنَّ نُورًا وَجَعَلَ الشَّمْسَ سِرَاجًا ﴿١٦﴾

71: 16. "'And made the moon a light in their midst,

and made the sun as a (Glorious) Lamp?

C5716. Cf. 25:61, where the sun is referred to as the glorious Lamp of the heavens:

"Blessed is He Who made the Constellations in the skies, and placed therein a lamp, and a moon giving light."

وَاللَّهُ أَنبَتَكُم مِّنَ الْأَرْضِ نَبَاتًا ﴿١٧﴾

71: 17. "'And Allah has produced you from the earth, growing (gradually),

C5717. Cf. 3:37, where the growth of the child Mary the Mother of Jesus is described by the same wordnabat, ordinarily denoting the growth of plants and trees.

The simile is that of a seed sown, that germinates, grows, and dies, and goes back to the earth.

In man, there is the further process of the Resurrection.

Cf. also 20:55.

ثُمَّ يُعِيدُكُمْ فِيهَا وَيُخْرِجُكُمْ إِخْرَاجًا ﴿١٨﴾

71: 18. "'And in the End He will return you into the (earth),

and raise you forth (again at the Resurrection)?

وَاللَّهُ جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْأَرْضَ بِسَاطًا ﴿١٩﴾

71: 19. "'And Allah has made the earth for you as a carpet (spread out),

C5718. Cf. 20:53.

لِتَسْلُكُوا مِنْهَا سُبُلًا فِجَاجًا ﴿٢٠﴾

71: 20. "'That ye may go about therein, in spacious roads.' "

C5719. Fijaj implies valley-roads or passes between mountains.

Though there are mountain chains on the earth, Allah's artistry has provided even in such regions, valleys and channels by which men may go about. Mountain roads usually follow the valleys.

قَالَ نُوحٌ رَّبِّ إِنَّهُمْ عَصَوْنِي ...

71: 21. Noah said:

"O my Lord! they have disobeyed me,

وَاتَّبَعُوا مَن لَّمْ يَزِدْهُ مَالُهُ وَوَلَدُهُ إِلَّا خَسَارًا ﴿٢١﴾

but they follow (men) whose wealth and children give them no Increase but only Loss.

C5719a. Sinners always resent it as a reproach that righteous men should speak to them for their own good. They prefer smooth flatterers, and they worship power even though the depositaries of power are selfish men, who neither profit themselves nor profit others by the wealth and man-power that they collect round themselves. They forget that mere material things may be a delusion and a snare unless the moral and spiritual factor behind them sanctifies them.

وَمَكَرُوا مَكْرًا كُبَّارًا ﴿٢٢﴾

71: 22. "And they have devised a tremendous Plot.

C5720. Having got material resources the wicked devise plots to get rid of the righteous whose presence is a reproach to them. For a time their plots may seem tremendous and have the appearance of success, but they can never defeat Allah's Purpose.

وَقَالُوا لَا تَذَرُنَّ آلِهَتَكُمْ ...

71: 23. "And they have said (to each other), abandon not your gods;

C5721. For an account of how these Pagan gods and superstitions connected with them originated, and how they became adopted into the Arabian Pagan Pantheon.

See Appendix X at the end of this Surah.

... وَلَا تَذَرُنَّ وَدًّا وَلَا سُوَاعًا وَلَا يَغُوثَ وَيَعُوقَ وَنَسْرًا ﴿٢٣﴾

abandon neither Wadd nor Suwa, neither Yaghuth nor Ya'uq, nor Nasr --

وَقَدْ أَضَلُّوا كَثِيرًا وَلَا تَزِدِ الظَّالِمِينَ إِلَّا ضَلَالًا ﴿٢٤﴾

71: 24. "They have already misled many;

and grant Thou no increase to the wrongdoers but in straying (from their mark)."

C5722. Such Pagan superstitions and cults do not add to human knowledge or human well-being. They only increase error and wrong-doing. For example, how much lewdness resulted from the Greek and Roman Saturnalia! And how much lewdness results from ribald Holi songs! This is the natural result, and Noah in his bitterness of spirit prays that Allah's grace may be cut off from men who hug them to their hearts. They mislead others: let them miss their own mark!

See also last note.

Asad’s Version:

71:1 BEHOLD. We sent Noah unto his people, [saying:] "Warn thy people ere grievous suffering

befall them!

(71: 2) [And Noah] said: "O my people! I am but a plain warner to you, [sent to tell you]

(71: 3) that you should worship God [alone] and be conscious of Him. "Now do pay heed unto me,

(71:4) so that He may forgive you some of your sins, and grant you respite until a term known [to Him alone]: 1 but, behold, when the term appointed by God does come, it can never be put back - if you but knew it! "

71:5 [And after a time, Noah] said: "O my Sustainer! Verily, I have been calling unto my people night and day

(71:6) but my call has only caused them to flee farther and farther away [from

Thee]. 2

(71:7) And behold, whenever I called unto them with a view to Thy granting them

forgiveness, they put their fingers into their ears, and wrapped themselves up in their garments [of sin]; 3 and grew obstinate, and became [yet more] arrogant in their false pride.

71:8 "And behold I called unto them openly;

(71:9) and, behold I preached to them in public; and I spoke to them secretly, in private;

(71:10) and I said: "Ask your Sustainer to forgive you your sins - for, verily, He is all-forgiving!

(71:11) He will shower upon you heavenly blessings abundant, 4

(71:12) and will aid you with worldly goods and children, and will bestow upon you gardens, and bestow upon you running waters. 5

71:13 '"What is amiss with you that you cannot look forward to God's majesty, 6

(71:14) seeing that He has created [every one of] you in successive stages? 7

(71:15) '"Do you not see how God has created seven heavens in full harmony with one another, 8

(71:16) and has set up within them the moon as a light [reflected] and set up the sun as a [radiant] lamp?'

71:17 "And God has caused you to grow out of the earth in [gradual] growth; 10 and thereafter He will return you to it [in death]:

(71:18) and [then] He will bring you forth [from it] in resurrection."

(71:19) '"And God has made the earth a wide expanse for you,

(71:20) so that you might walk thereon on spacious paths.'" 12

71:21 [And] Noah continued: "O my Sustainer! Behold, they have opposed me [throughout], for they follow people whose wealth and children lead them increasingly into ruin, 13

71:22) and who have devised a most awesome blasphemy [against Thee],

(71:23) inasmuch as they said [to their followers], 'Do not ever abandon your gods: abandon neither Wadd nor Suwa', and neither Yaghuth nor Ya'uq nor Nasr!" 4

71:24 "And so they have led many a one astray: hence, ordain Thou that these evildoers stray but farther and farther away [from all that they may desire]!" 15

(71:25) And so, because of their sins, they were drowned [in the great flood], and were doomed to suffer the fire [of the hereafter]; 16 and they found none who could succour them against God.

71:26 And Noah prayed: "O my Sustainer! Leave not on earth any of those who deny the truth:

(71: 27) for, behold, If Thou dost leave them, they will [always try to] lead astray those who worship Thee, and will give birth to nothing but wickedness and stubborn ingratitude. 17

71:28 "O my Sustainer! Grant Thy forgiveness unto me and unto my parents, and unto everyone who enters my house as a believer, and unto all believing men and believing women [of later times]; and grant Thou that the doers of evil shall increasingly meet with destruction!" 18

[[Asad’s notes:-

1 Namely, until the end of each person's life - implying that although they might be forgiven all sins committed before their postulated change of heart, they would henceforth, until their death, be held fully accountable for their behaviour in the light of that new-found faith. Cf 4:18 - "repentance shall not be accepted from those who do evil deeds until their dying hour and then say, Behold,

I now repent' " .

2 Lit., "has not increased them in anything but flight".

3 For the reason of the above interpolation - which endows the concept of "garments" with a metaphorical meaning - see note 2 on 74:4; cf. also the expression "garment of God-consciousness" (libas at- taqwa) in 7:26.

4 Lit., "He will let loose the sky over you with abundance" (but see also note 76 on 1 1 :52).

5 The two last-mentioned blessings are an allusion to the state of happiness in the hereafter, symbolized in the Qur'an as "gardens through which running waters flow".

6 I.e., "that you refuse to believe in God" (Zamakhshari). Some authorities (e.g., Jawhari) give to the above phrase the meaning, "that you will not fear God's majesty", which, too, implies lack of belief in Him.

7 I.e., by a process of gradual evolution, in the mother's womb, from a drop of sperm and a fertilized germ-cell (the female ovum), up to the point where the embryo becomes a new, self-contained human entity (cf 22:5): all of which points to the existence of a plan and a purpose and, hence, to the existence of a conscious Creator.

8 Cf. 67:3 and the corresponding note 2.

9 See 10:5, where the sun is described as "a [source of] radiant light" (diya 1 ) and the moon as "light [reflected]" (nur); both these interpolations are explained in note 10 on 10:5.

10 This phrase has a twofold meaning. In the first instance, it alludes to the evolution of the individual human body out of the same substances - both organic and inorganic - as are found in and on the earth as well: and in this sense it enlarges upon the creation of the human individual "in successive stages" referred to in verse 14 above. Secondly, it alludes to the evolution of the human species, which, starting from the most primitive organisms living on earth, has gradually ascended to ever higher stages of development until it has finally reached that complexity of body, mind and soul evident in the human being.

1 1 Lit., "with a [final] bringing-forth ".

12 I.e., "He has provided you with all facilities for a good life on earth" - the unspoken implication being, "Will you not, then, acknowledge Him and be grateful to Him?"

1 3 Lit., "and have followed him whose wealth and children do not increase him in aught but loss" : i.e., people whose propensity and power only enhance their false pride and arrogance, and thus lead them to spiritual ruin. Beyond this, we have here a subtle allusion to the fact that an exclusive devotion to material prosperity must of necessity, in the long run, destroy all moral values and, thus, the very fabric of society.

14 As is evident from early sources, these five gods were among the many worshipped by the pre- Islamic Arabs as well (see the small but extremely valuable work by Hishim ibn Muhammad al-Kalbi, Kitab al-Asnam, ed. Ahmad Zaki, Cairo 1914). Their cult had probably been introduced into Arabia from Syria and Babylonia, where it seems to have existed in earliest antiquity.

15 Lit., "increase Thou not the evildoers in aught but in straying-away", i.e., from an achievement of their worldly goals (Razi).

16 Lit., "and were made to enter the fire" - the past tense indicating the inevitability of the suffering yet to come (Zamakhshari).

17 Lit., "to such as are wicked (fajir), stubbornly ingrate (kaffar)": but since no one - and particularly not a prophet - is ever justified in assuming that the progeny of evildoers must of necessity be evil, it is obvious that the terms fajir and kaffar are used here metonymically denoting qualities or attitudes, and not persons.

18 Lit., "increase Thou not the evildoers in aught but destruction" - i.e., destruction of their aims and, thus, of evil as such.