Part 40

com manded the Messengers who came aftcr him - a ll of whom

were from hi s progeny - to do, as He, Most I-li gh, says, ( And

his progeny, th cm We madc thc survivors (i. c. Shc l11. I-la m and

Japhcth ). ) (SoO/·oil As-S,ifJat 37:77)

I-Ie said rega rding him (Nooh ~~) in SOO/'cdt IbralteclII, (

and We pl aced in the ir oO'sprin g Prophe thood and Scripture.)

(Soorah Ibraheem 57:26) That is, cvery Prop he t who came

after Nooh $:9 is frol11 his progeny and likew ise Ibra hcc m ~ .

A llah, Most Hi gh, says, ( l ie sa id, "0, my people t Ve ri ly, I

am 11 pl a in warner to yo u, that you shoul d worship A llah, Alonc.

be du ti ful to Ili m, a nd obey me. li e (A lla h) w ill forgive you fo r

YOllr sins a nd grant you a respite to an appointcd tcnll . Vcrily.

thc term of A ll ah w hen it comes. cannot be de laycd. if you but

knew.' li e sa id , '0, my Lord ! Veri ly. I have ca ll ed my pcop lc

night and day (i .e. secre tl y a nd opcnly to acce pt thc doc trine

of Islamic Monotheism). But a ll my cail in g added nothi ng but

to (the ir) Right (from the truth ). And verily, every tim e I called

unto thclll that Yo u might forg ive them, thcy thrust thcir fi ngc rs

into thei r ea rs, covered themsc lvcs up with their garm cnt s.

and pers isted (in the ir re fusa l), and magnifi ed th emse lves

in pride. Then verily, I call ed to th cm opcnly (a loud); the n.

ve ri ly: I proc laimed 10 thc m in publ ic and I ha ve appealed 10

thcm in private. I sa id (to th em), •Ask forg ivencss from you r

Lord; Verily, li e is O ft-Forgiving; I lc w ill send rain to you in

abund ance a nd give YOll increase in wca lth and c hil dre n and

bestow on yo u garden s and bestow on you rive rs. What is the

mattc r w ith YO ll , (that yOll fea r not A ll ah [ Ili s pu nishm cnt]

and) you hopc not fo r reward (from All ah or YOll bc licvc not

in I-lis O neness), while I-Ie has c reated you in (dirTere nt) stagcs

(i.c. fi rst a I1l1tfit!l, then an 'alaqah and thcn a mlldhglwh '. )

So Allah menti oned that Nooh ~ called them to A llah in

every possible way, both ni ght and day, in secret and ill publi c,

sometimes through encouragement and at oth er times th rough

intim ida tion. But a ll of this d id not succeed w ith them. On the

co ntrary, most of them persisted in thei r wrong-do ing, tyran ny

and idol worshi p and they displ ayed enmity to ward s hi m at

all times, be li ttl ing him and those who beli eved him. They

threatened th em w ith stoning and expul s ion and Ihey inflicted

harm on th em and tried thei r utmost 10 fru strate th em in matters

perta ining to their Relig ion: ( The leaders of his peop le sa id,

" Ve ril y, we see you in plain error." (Noah) sa id, '0, my peopl e !

There is no error in me, but J am a Messenger from the Lord of

the 'Afameell (mank ind, jinn and all that ex ists), !" ) (Soorah

A/-A ·rcif7 :60 ,6 1). T hat is, J am 110t as YO li c la im , a person who

is astray; rather, J am fo ll ow ing sound guida nce, a Messenge r

fro m the Lord o r the worlds, i. e. I-Ie Who says to a th ing, " Be!"

And it is: ( " I convey unto you the Messages of my Lord and

give sincere advice to you. And 1 know from All ah what you

know not. " ) (Svorah AI-A 'raj 7:62) Thi s is the nature of

the Messenger, that he is an eloquent advise r and th e mos t

kn ow ledgea bl e or peop le rega rdin g All ah, th e Almi ghty, the

Amo ng the th in gs th at they said to him was th is: ( " We see

you bu t a man li ke ourse lves , nor do we see any fo llowing

you but th e meanest am ong us and they (too) followed you

w ithout thi nking. A nd we do not see in you a ny merit above us,

in fa ct we think you are liars." ) (Soorah /-Iood II :27) They

were astoni shed at the idea tha t a human be ing should be a

Messe nger and th ey belittled th ose who foll owed him , holding

them to be th e 1110s t humb le and despi sed peop le among them.

rhe SlOt)' oj Nooh ~ 187

It has been sa id that they were the common cst among the

people and the weakest of them, as Heracl iu s sa id, "They (Le.

the humbl e and wcak) are the fo ll owers of the Messe ngers." (I I

And thi s was only beca use the re was no thing to prevent them

from follow ing the truth.

As fo r Hi s Wo rds: ( withou t thinking ) (SoO/'all Hood II :27),

the mean ing is that simply because you preached to them ,

they fol lowed the first thing that came to their minds, without

thinki ng a nd without refl ecti ng. Thi s accusation which they

made against them is in fact a thing for whic h they deserve

praise - may All ah be pleased with them - because ev ident

tmth does not require reflection or thought or contemplation.

On the co ntrary, it req uires tha t one follows it and submi ts to

il wherever it appears, which is why the Messenger of Allah ~

sa id, when pra ising As-Siddeeq, "Every person whom I ca lled

to Islam hes itated, except Abu Bakr, for he did not hesitate for

a mom ent. " (2) For this reason, th e people also swi ftl y gave th eir

pledge of al leg iance to him on the Day of As-Saqeefah,/J) without

contemp la tion and without reflection, because hi s superiority

over all others was clearly apparent to th e Compan ions i>.

Th is is why when the Messenger of Allah want ed to write a

doc ument regarding the subject or the Ca liphate, he abandoned

it, say ing, "A ll ah and th e Beli eve rs wi ll reject anyone exce pt

Abu Bakr ~ ." {"')As ror what the disbelievers among the peopl e

ofNoo h ~ sa id to him and those who be li eved in him, (" And

(\) Narr:ned by Al-Bukhari (7), Muslim (1723) and Imam Ahmad (2366).

(2) Narrated by Ibn Hisham in his Seerah (219 I).

(3) The Day of As-Saqecfah: As-Saqeefah means The Shetter. On the day of

Ihe Prophet's death, Ihe Muslims gathered togelhcr in a shelter belong-

ing to 8allu Sa'idah to choose a Caliph. The lIame of Ihe house is used

as shonhand for the event, or the gmherillg. which was a cTllcialturning

poilll in the history of Islam.

(4) Narrated by Musl im (2387) and Ahmad (24589).

wc do not see in YOll any me rit above us." ) (Soo rah Hood

II :27) - it means: We do not see that YOll and your fo ll owe rs

have any virtuo us status above us in you r phys ica l <l ppearan ce.

your character, your p rovisions, or your co ndi tion, since YOll

accepted thi s rel ig io n ofyoll rs.

( " In fa ct we think you arc liars."lle said , "0 , my people! Tell

me, i r I ha ve a clear proof fro m my Lord. and a Mercy has come

to me from Ilim , but that (M ercy) has bee n obscured from your

sig ht , sha ll we co mpe l you to .lecept it (I sla mi c Mono thei sm)

when YOll ha ve a strong hatred for itT' ) (Saora ll /-Iood I I :27-

28) T his is an ex p ress io n of co urteousness and gentl eness in

his address to th em , w hen cn ll in g th em to the trut h, as I-Ie, Most

Hig h, says, ( A nd !'peak to himllliidly, pe rh aps he ma y accept

admo niti on o r fear Allah . ) (Soorall Ta I-Ia 20 :44)

He, Most High, says, ( In vite (manki nd, 0 , Mu ham mad,)

to the Way of your Lord (Le. Isla m) with w isdo m (i .e . with

the Di vin e Ins pirat ion and th e Q ur ' an) and fair preach ing, and

argu e wit h th cm in a way th at is bClIe r. ) (5001-011 Au-NoM

Th is is apparent In Noah 's words 10 the m : ( "Oh , my peoplc!

Tc ll me , if I ha ve a clear proof from my Lord , and a Mercy has

come 10 me from I lim," ) (SoO/·"II Nood II :28) The "Merey"

re ferred to is Prophc lhood and the Message_ ( " But that (M ercy)

has bcen obscured from your sig ht. " ) (SoO/·al1 /-Iood II :28)

T hat is, yo u d id not understand it and YOLI were not guided

to it, ( "Shall we compel you 10 accept it ?" ) (Sooral1 Hood

II :28) That is, shall we coerce yo u and fo rce you to believe in

it? ( "When you hn vc a strong hatred for it?" ) (5001-011 Hood

II :28) Tha t is, I have no mea ns to make you do so in sllch

c irclllll stances. ( "A nd 0, my people ! I ask Of YOlll10 weal th for

it , Ill y rewa rd is from none but A llah :' ) (500/·0" Nood II :29)