كَذَّبَتْ قَوْمُ نُوحٍ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ · إِذْ قَالَ لَهُمْ أَخُوهُمْ نُوحٌ أَلَا تَتَّقُونَ · إِنِّى لَكُمْ رَسُولٌ أَمِينٌ · فَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُونِ · وَمَآ أَسْـَٔلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ أَجْرٍ ۖ إِنْ أَجْرِىَ إِلَّا عَلَىٰ رَبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ · فَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُونِ
Kadhdhabat qawmu Nūḥin'il-mursalīn · Idh qāla lahum akhūhum Nūḥun alā tattaqūn · Innī lakum rasūlun amīn · Fa'ttaqū'llāha wa aṭīʿūn · Wa mā asʾalukum ʿalayhi min ajrin; in ajriya illā ʿalā rabbi'l-ʿālamīn · Fa'ttaqū'llāha wa aṭīʿūn
"The people of Noah too denied the messengers. · When their brother Noah said to them: 'Will you not guard yourselves? · I am a trustworthy messenger sent to you. · So guard yourselves against God and obey me. · I ask you no wage for it; my wage falls only upon the Lord of all the worlds. · So guard yourselves against God and obey me.'"
Five of these six verses are the shared mould of the sūra and were treated in the section above. I do not repeat it.
The only thing peculiar to the account of Noah is that the mould is set up here for the first time — the four accounts that follow are its repetition.
And the second occurrence of the sentence fa'ttaqū'llāha wa aṭīʿūn (110) comes here with only one verse between. What this means was treated in Table 4 of the section "The backbone of the sūra".
The word occurs in four of the five accounts (106, 124, 142, 161) and drops with Shuʿayb (177). The reason was treated in the section on the backbone; I do not repeat it.
What is to be added here is a note on sense: akh here announces not brotherhood of lineage but fellowship of people. In Arabic one of a community is called "their brother" in relation to that community.
And this is a recurring note in the Qurʾān's understanding of messengership: the messenger is from within the community he is sent to. There are two exceptions within the sūra itself: Moses (who goes to the people of Pharaoh from outside) and Shuʿayb (whose addressees are named by a place).
The account of Noah occurs in many sūras of the Qurʾān, and in this commentary the section Nūḥ was given over to it entirely. I do not repeat the findings there.
The part that falls to al-Shuʿarāʾ must be recorded: the sūra does not recount Noah's method of calling (in secret and openly, by night and by day — Nūḥ 71/5-9); it does not recount the ark, the flood, his son, or the length of time either.
| Sūra | What it brings to the front | Where it was treated |
|---|---|---|
| Nūḥ 71 | The method of calling, the length of time, the prayer | Nūḥ |
| Hūd 11/25-49 | The ark, his son, the flood | — |
| Al-Shuʿarāʾ 26/105-122 | The objection "the lowest have followed you" | here |
| Al-Ṣāffāt 37/75-82 | The deliverance and his progeny | al-Ṣāffāt |
| Al-Qamar 54/9-16 | The flood itself | al-Qamar |
Al-Shuʿarāʾ, that is, takes from the account of Noah only one dispute: the question of who has believed. This suits the sūra as a whole — the sūra recounts not events but speeches.