Verses 25–28
مِمَّا خَطِيئاتِهِمْ أُغْرِقُوا فَأُدْخِلُوا ناراً فَلَمْ يَجِدُوا لَهُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ أَنْصاراً ٢٥ وَ قالَ نُوحٌ رَبِّ لا تَذَرْ عَلَى الْأَرْضِ مِنَ الْكافِرِينَ دَيَّاراً ٢٦ إِنَّكَ إِنْ تَذَرْهُمْ يُضِلُّوا عِبادَكَ وَ لا يَلِدُوا إِلاَّ فاجِراً كَفَّاراً ٢٧ رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِي وَ لِوالِدَيَّ وَ لِمَنْ دَخَلَ بَيْتِيَ مُؤْمِناً وَ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَ الْمُؤْمِناتِ وَ لا تَزِدِ الظَّالِمِينَ إِلاَّ تَباراً ٢٨
- Because of their sins they were drowned, then made to enter a fire. And they found they had no helpers apart from Allah.
- And Noah said: “My Lord! Do not leave on the earth any inhabitant from among the disbelievers.
- If You leave them, they will lead astray Your servants and will only beget wholly disbelieving degenerates.
- My Lord! Forgive me and my parents, and whoever enters my house in faith, and the faithful men and women, and do not increase the wrongdoers in aught save ruin.”
Introduction & Commentary
These verses relate the extermination of Noah’s people, and Noah’s further curse on them.
مِمَّا خَطِيئاتِهِمْ أُغْرِقُوا فَأُدْخِلُوا ناراً فَلَمْ يَجِدُوا لَهُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ أَنْصاراً ٢٥
(71:25) Because of (min-mā) their sins (khaṭīʾātihim) they were drowned, then made to enter a fire. And they found they had no helpers apart from Allah.
The meaning is: “Because of their sins, Noah’s people were drowned—in the storm—and were made—by God—to enter such a fire whose intensity of punishment is inestimable.”
There is a delicate juxtaposition of opposites in this verse, which mentions both drowning in water and entering a fire. This fire is part of barzakh (the intermediate realm between this life and the resurrection), where the sinners will be punished after their death until the resurrection. This verse is among the Qur’anic proofs for the existence of barzakh. Some exegetes have suggested that the verse could be referring to the fire in the hereafter (ākhirah), but that is an unfounded interpretation. The verse does not say that Noah’s people will soon enter a fire upon the resurrection.
… And they found they had no helpers apart from Allah: That is, no helpers to save them from death or punishment. This alludes to their idols and gods.
وَ قالَ نُوحٌ رَبِّ لا تَذَرْ عَلَى الْأَرْضِ مِنَ الْكافِرِينَ دَيَّاراً ٢٦
(71:26) And Noah said: “My Lord! Do not leave on the earth any inhabitant (dayyāran) from among the disbelievers.
Dayyār means “one who settles in a home” (nāzil al-dār; that is, inhabitant, resident, dweller). This verse presents another curse of Noah against his people. The preceding verse—Because of their sins they were drowned… (25)—was rather a side note or parenthetical remark inserted between the two parts of Noah’s curse, meant to show that they were indeed drowned because of their sins, as Noah imprecated. It also sets the stage for the next part of Noah’s curse [in this verse], where he prays for their total extermination. Overall, the verses show that their drowning was an answer to Noah’s curse, and that this punishment wiped them from the face of the earth in their entirety.
إِنَّكَ إِنْ تَذَرْهُمْ يُضِلُّوا عِبادَكَ وَ لا يَلِدُوا إِلاَّ فاجِراً كَفَّاراً ٢٧
(71:27) If You leave them, they will lead astray Your servants, and will only beget wholly disbelieving (kaffāran) degenerates (fājiran, from fujūr).
Fujūr (impiety, evil-doing, decadence) means abhorrent sin. Kaffār means one with an intense degree of kufr (disbelief, ungratefulness). Here Noah justifies his curse for their total extermination. His argument is that their survival will not be of any benefit to anyone: It does not benefit the believers, since their only function is to serve the people astray; nor will it benefit their own children, since they will only give birth to sinful disbelievers. Noah knew these qualities about them based on divine revelation, as we explained in Sūrah Hūd [].
رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِي وَ لِوالِدَيَّ وَ لِمَنْ دَخَلَ بَيْتِيَ مُؤْمِناً وَ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَ الْمُؤْمِناتِ وَ لا تَزِدِ الظَّالِمِينَ إِلاَّ تَباراً ٢٨
(71:28) My Lord! Forgive me and my parents, and whoever enters my house in faith, and the faithful men and women, and do not increase the wrongdoers in aught save ruin.
Whoever enters my house refers to the believers among his people. The faithful men and women refers to all believers until the Day of Resurrection.
… and do not increase the wrongdoers in aught save ruin (tabāran): Tabār means halāk (death, destruction, perdition). Apparently, what is meant by tabār (ruin) here is “that which leads to otherworldly punishment as well as worldly destruction—through drowning,” as he requested both of these previously [in verses and ]. This curse is the last speech of Noah narrated in the Qur’an.
Khaṭīʾāt is synonymous with maʿāṣī (acts of disobedience) and dhunūb (sins). The indefinite form of the word “a fire” (nāran) indicates aggrandizement. The Arabic preposition min (from) [in min-mā] signifies the origin of a movement (called ibtidāʾ al-ghāyah). In the context of this verse it implies justification (because, due to, as a result of). The particle mā in min-mā is zāʾidah (extra, redundant, semantically empty), added for emphasis. (Auth.) ↩︎
This is deduced from the use of the letter fāʾ instead of the word thumma. The former indicates immediate sequence, while the latter indicates delayed sequence. (Trans.) ↩︎
See verse in particular. (Trans.) ↩︎