فَكَيفَ كانَ عَذابي وَنُذُرِ

So how were My punishment and My warnings?

EXEGESIS

Nudhur (warnings) could be another infinitive for indhār (to warn), or it could be the plural of nadhīr (warner).[1] However, most exegetes maintain that the apparent seems to be the former. The term is clipped at the end for the rhythm, otherwise it is nudhurī.

This rhetorical question is meant to impose a sense of fear and reverence in the audience.[2]

EXPOSITION

Whilst this verse can be considered as a direct threat to the polytheists of Mecca who were well aware of the story of Prophet Noah (a) and the great punishment that befell them,[3] the import of the verse is general and applies to everyone. The universal message alluded to in this verse is that rejecting divine warnings will lead to dire consequences.

Furthermore, some exegetes maintain that because warnings has been used in plural, this indicates that God only punishes a people after giving them several warnings.[4] In this case, Prophet Noah (a) constantly and repeatedly warned his people, on different occasions, in various ways and different styles. He said: ‘My Lord! Indeed I have summoned my people night and day but my summons only increases their evasion. Indeed whenever I have summoned them, so that You might forgive them, they would put their fingers into their ears and draw their cloaks over their heads, and they were persistent [in their unfaith], and disdainful in [their] arrogance. Again I summoned them aloud, and again appealed to them publicly and confided with them privately’ (71:5-9).

This verse is repeated four times in this chapter after the story of every nation who denied their prophet. This may be due to the fact that each story has a different warning and a separate lesson to learn.[5]

[1] Daqaiq, 12/540.
[2] Mizan, 19/69.
[3] Ibn Ashur, 27/180.
[4] Qaraati, 9/353.
[5] Tabrisi, 9/286.