بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ
إِنّا أَرسَلنا نوحًا إِلىٰ قَومِهِ أَن أَنذِر قَومَكَ مِن قَبلِ أَن يَأتِيَهُم عَذابٌ أَليمٌ
Indeed We sent Noah to his people, [saying]: ‘Warn your people before a painful punishment overtakes them.’
EXEGESIS
Arsalnā (we sent) is from arsala: to send, dispatch, discharge, set free, pour forth, and so on. Its root is rasila, which literally means to be long and flowing like hair, and therefore arsala suggests a sending and dispatching that is free-flowing and continuous from its origin to its end. Rāghib also defines arsala as a deliberate dispatching. A messenger is called a rasūl, and the Quran uses this meaning frequently for God’s prophets (3:144, 5:67, 6:48, 13:38, 23:44, 40:78, 57:25) as well as angels (11:77, 11:81, 29:31, 77:1, 43:80, 81:19). When ‘the’ rasūl is mentioned, without a name, it usually signifies the Prophet Muhammad (s), as for example: Whoever obeys the Apostle (rasūl) certainly obeys Allah (4:80), and many others (4:59, 4:170, 5:41, 5:67, 5:92, 9:88, 33:53, etc.).
The verb arsala is not restricted to refer to the sending of prophets and angels, however. It is even used for non-sentient beings, including natural elements such as rain (6:6, 71:11), winds (7:57, 15:22, 27:63, 30:46), pestilence, plague, and chastisement from the heavens (7:133, 7:162, 29:40, 33:9, 41:16, 54:19, 54:31, 54:34, 67:17), thunderbolts (13:13, 18:40), and even humans who dispatch messengers, both good (6:61) and evil (26:53). It is even used when referring to the unleashing of devils upon the faithless (19:83) as if to mean faith restrains the devils but when this barrier is demolished with faithlessness or excessive sinning, they are no longer held back. Or as Lane puts it, We unleash (arsalnā) the devils upon the faithless (19:83) means ‘We leave the devils to do as they please with the unbelievers, not withholding them’, giving the verb arsala in 19:83 the meaning of having authority over or exercising absolute dominion over someone or something. Such a meaning is also supported by verses like: When you recite the Quran, We draw between you and those who do not believe in the hereafter a hidden curtain (17:45), and, Whoever turns a blind eye to the remembrance of the All-beneficent, We assign him a devil who remains his companion (43:36).
Irsāl (dispatching) therefore stands as the opposite of imsāk (withholding), and, in particular, suggests a meaning of subjection or vacating and not holding back when the Quran speaks of the manifestation of blessings or chastisements (35:2). It also denotes a letting go (7:105, 12:12, 12:66).
Warn your people was to warn them against polytheism, which is a great injustice (31:13) and unforgivable (4:48, 4:116). The Apostle of God is also told: Rise up and warn! (74:2). These details of Prophet Noah’s (a) warning are given later, in verse 3: Worship Allah and be wary of Him, and obey me.
As such, all messengers were sent to warn against hellfire (4:165) so the painful punishment in this verse that Prophet Noah (a) is told to warn his people of, can mean one of two possibilities. First, it may be referring to punishment in this world (the deluge) because in 11:39 Prophet Noah (a) warns his people of two punishments: one in this world and another lasting punishment in the hereafter. And the exact same Arabic verb – yaʾtīhim (overtakes) – is used for the chastisement on earth as the verb in the verse under discussion.
And second, there is no reason why the painful punishment cannot be alluding to both punishment in this world and the hereafter, because that is precisely what happened when they failed to heed Prophet Noah’s (a) warnings: They were drowned … then made to enter a fire (verse 25).
In other verses, Prophet Noah (a) is described as warning his people of a tremendous day (7:59) and the punishment of a painful day (11:26).
The first two verses of this surah are summarised as one verse in 11:25 and the first three verses of this surah are also summarised as one verse in 7:59.
EXPOSITION
The command given to Prophet Noah (a) to warn his people is similar to that given to Prophet Muhammad (s) (7:2, 14:44, 21:45, 26:14, 40:18).
The word ʿadhāb (punishment) is qualified with alīm (painful) in this verse. The Quran will often simply speak of ʿadhāb but when it does qualify it with an adjective, alīm is used most frequently – over twenty-three times. Other adjectives used include: ʿadhāb ʿaẓīm (great punishment) (2:7, 2:114, 3:176, 5:33, 5:41, 8:68), ʿadhāb al-akbar (greatest punishment) (88:24), ʿadhāb muhīn (humiliating punishment) (2:90, 3:178, 4:14), ʿadhāb shadīd (severe punishment) (3:4, 6:124), ʿadhāb al-ḥarīq (burning punishment) (3:181, 8:50), ʿadhāb al-khizyi (disgraceful punishment) (11:39, 41:16), ʿadhāb muqīm (lasting punishment) (11:39), ʿadhāb al-hūn (humiliating punishment) (6:93), ʿadhāb al-khuld (everlasting punishment) (10:52), ʿadhāb ghalīẓ (harsh punishment) (11:58), ʿadhāb qarīb (prompt punishment) (11:64, 78:40), ʿadhāban nukra (dire punishment) (18:87), and ʿadhāban kabīra (terrible punishment) (25:19).
These are all besides the specific mention of hell such as ʿadhāb al-nār (punishment of the fire) (2:126, 2:201, 3:16, 3:191, 8:14), ʿadhāb al-saʿīr (punishment of the blaze) (22:4), ʿadhāb al-samūm (punishment of the infernal miasma) (52:27), ʿadhāb jahannam (punishment of hell) (43:74), and ʿadhāb al-jaḥīm (punishment of hell) (40:7).
It is noteworthy that the verse does not mention that the punishment will be sent by God. Instead, it simply warns: before a painful punishment overtakes them. This is as if to mean the punishment is an inevitable consequence of their actions and Prophet Noah (a) is meant to prevent it. God, in His mercy, is sending an honourable messenger to warn them of that imminent calamity. It also highlights the fact that God never wishes to take revenge; for one who seeks revenge never warns. The warning here is therefore a door of mercy being opened to the profligates.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Prophet Noah (a) is said to have lived in present-day Iraq and specifically in the city of Kufa. Exegetes debate on whether Prophet Noah (a) was sent to his community only or the whole world. Some argue the words to his people in this verse and others prove he was only sent to his tribe or community: none of your people will believe except those who already have faith. (11:36). But others argue that Prophet Noah (a) was the first of five resolute (ulū al-ʿazm) apostles (46:35) sent to all of mankind, and that Prophet Noah’s (a) curse, My Lord! Do not leave on the earth any inhabitant (verse 26) is proof that he was an apostle to all of mankind, otherwise he had no reason to curse those to whom he was not sent. God, after all, does not destroy a nation until it has been warned (6:131, 17:15). The implication of this debate is that whatever we conclude would also determine whether the deluge covered the whole world or only the region in which Prophet Noah (a) lived.
A tradition from Imam al-Sajjād (a) defines the Resolute Prophets as Noah (a), Abraham (a), Moses (a), Jesus (a), and Muhammad (s), and as: ‘Those who were sent for [all mankind] from the east to the west, to men and jinn.’
Ālūsī sees no problem even if the deluge encompassed the whole world (or most of it) for Prophet Noah (a) to be only commissioned to his community, and being sent to the whole world is an honour reserved for the Apostle of God only (34:28). He argues there is also no mention of Prophet Noah’s (a) general prophethood over people even after the deluge, but instead, what is popular is that he lived in the lands of Kufa and it is there that he was told to warn his people.
Nawawī and Ḥāʾirī resolve this issue by saying all the people of the world in Prophet Noah’s (a) time lived in his area, and so the words sent … to his people does not contradict Prophet Noah’s (a) cursing every inhabitant on the earth (verse 26). This would support the notion that Prophet Noah (a) was the last of the antediluvian patriarchs when the world’s population was small and people lived very long lives, a trend that is believed to have radically reversed after the deluge (see the Introduction). However, this view may also be opposed as being counter-intuitive, insofar as it implies that different human races were formed only a few millennia ago. The words on the earth may also mean on the land, meaning the place where Prophet Noah (a) and his people lived, rather than the entire planet. See the Review of Tafsīr Literature for verse 26 for more.
As for the prophetic tradition: ‘Noah (a) was sent specifically to his people and I have been sent for mankind in general,’ Ḥāʾirī explains this by saying it means Noah (a) was sent to all people but only for his era, whereas the message of Muhammad (s) is general for all peoples in all times until the Last Day.
One may even argue the deluge covered the whole world because Prophet Noah (a) was asked to carry in the ark a pair of every kind of animal (11:40, 23:27) to save the world from extinction. But this does not conclusively prove the extent of the deluge either, because Prophet Noah (a) could have been asked to do this only for his region which was threatened with extinction, or, contrary to the Bible, it may not have been about preserving every species (which would seem almost impossible) but rather, only those domestic animals that Noah (a) and his followers would need to rear and breed after disembarking the ark, such as horses, donkeys, cattle, poultry, and the like.
[1] Raghib, r-s-l; Lane, r-s-l.
[2] Raghib, r-s-l.
[3] Lane, r-s-l.
[4] Lane, r-s-l.
[5] Lane, r-s-l.
[6] Jalalayn, p. 573.
[7] Qaraati, 10/239; Nemuneh, 25/88.
[8] Majlisī, Zād al-Maʿād, p. 53.
[9] Alusi, 15/88-9.
[10] Nawawi, 2/566; Hairi, 11/253.
[11] Hairi, 11/253.