وَقالَ نوحٌ رَبِّ لا تَذَر عَلَى الأَرضِ مِنَ الكافِرينَ دَيّارًا

And Noah said: ‘My Lord! Do not leave on the earth any inhabitant from among the faithless.

EXEGESIS

See verse 5 for the significance of rabb in all supplications in the Quran.

The verb tadhar (leave) is from wadhara, which has been explained earlier under verse 23.

The word dayyār, on the verbal form fayʿāl, means inhabitant (sākin)^{‎[1]Raghib, d-y-r.} in the sense of one who abides in a dār (house).^{‎[2]Razi, 30/659; Nemuneh, 25/88; Mizan, 20/36.} One might say, for example, mā fī al-dār dayyār to mean, ‘there is no one in the house’.^{‎[3]Rāzī adds that dayyār is a term used only in negation, such as in this example (Razi, 30/659).} It may also have come from the word dawr (to go around), based on the verbal form faʿʿāl,^{‎[4]Raghib, d-y-r.} yet the meaning of dayyār in this verse would remain inhabitant in the sense of one who goes around the earth, inhabiting it.^{‎[5]Hairi, 11/261.}

EXPOSITION

After Prophet Noah (a) had argued with his people for centuries, and with every proof and logic, and they, fed up, said to him: O Noah, you have disputed with us already, and you have disputed with us exceedingly. Now bring us what you threaten us with should you be truthful (11:32), then he, despairing of them ever changing, cursed them with the words given in this and the remaining verses of this surah. This is a continuation of his prayer against them in verse 24. Verse 25 is an interruption, confirming that his prayer was answered when he lamented against their iniquities.

Other prophets after Prophet Noah (a) also cursed the transgressors from their people, including Prophet David (a) and Prophet Jesus (a) (5:78).

It is also curious that after the previous verse mentions the faithless drowning and entering the fire, the surah continues here with Prophet Noah (a) asking God not to leave any of the faithless on the earth. Sequentially, the previous verse should have appeared right at the end of the surah, as the acceptance and conclusion to Prophet Noah’s (a) laments and supplications. This may suggest that Prophet Noah’s (a) prayers in this verse and the remaining verses in the surah were made aboard the ark, just before or after the commencement of the deluge. In other words, as Prophet Noah (a) and the faithful shut the ark door and settled in, or as the ark sailed and the faithless perished, Prophet Noah (a) prayed to God: Do not leave on the earth any inhabitant from among the faithless. This would also explain why, in the next verse, Prophet Noah (a) continues to plead: If You leave them, they will lead astray Your servants, and will beget none except vicious ingrates. Prophet Noah (a) would not have been concerned about the faithful (Your servants) that were with him on the ark and witnessing the power of Truth, that they might be led astray. He seems concerned for those who come after, should the faithless survive the flood and beget more vicious ingrates (verse 27) to mislead the descendants of the faithful.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. From Imam al-Ṣādiq (a), that the people of Prophet Noah (a) would beat him so severely that he would at times remain unconscious for three days, bleeding from his ears. That was three hundred years after the start of his preaching. Then he would preach again. Every time he intended to curse them, angels would descend and ask him to defer his prayers and he would wait for another three hundred years. This happened thrice until nine hundred years had elapsed. Even when his prayer was finally answered, the flood came fifty years later.^{‎[6]Daqaiq, 13/450-2, from Kamal, pp. 133-134, h. 2.}

Note: The apparent intent of this tradition is to showcase the need for perseverance when standing up for the truth, and not to despair of God’s help, regardless of how long it takes to manifest.

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

This is the only verse in the Quran where the words on the earth can be used to argue that the flood was a universal event, concurring with the Biblical narrative (see Insights from Other Traditions), meaning that the entire planet was inundated with water. Qurṭubī, for example, amongst other past exegetes perhaps relying on this verse, believed Prophet Noah (a) was sent to the entire world just as Prophet Muhammad (s) was and therefore, when the faithless were drowned, it covered all of them on the earth.^{‎[7]Qurtubi, 18/298.}

More plausible however would be the argument that earth (arḍ) here simply refers to the land in which Prophet Noah (a) lived and not the entire planet. There would be no reason for a prophet to curse a people he did not know and had never met. Numerous examples can be found in the Quran where the term arḍ is used to mean land (5:33, 17:76, 17:104) rather than the entire earth.

Modern Muslim exegetes seem to hold the view that the deluge covered only the land and area in which Prophet Noah (a) lived, arguing that We drowned those who denied Our signs. Indeed they were a blind lot (7:64. Cf. 10:73), those who are wrongdoers: they shall indeed be drowned (11:37, 23:27), and they were indeed an evil lot; so We drowned them all (21:77), all suggest that the punishment only befell the evil, who were deserving of it. Unless of course, we assume the rest of the earth was not inhabited at the time. (See Review of Tafsīr Literature for verse 1.)

Suyūṭī quotes Abū Umāmah as saying: ‘No one ever felt remorse amongst all of mankind like Adam (a) and Noah (a). As for Adam’s (a) remorse, it was when he was taken out of the garden. And as for Noah’s (a) remorse, it was when he cursed his people and everything drowned and perished, except what was with him on the ark. When Allah saw his grief, He revealed to him: “O Noah, do not feel remorse. For your curse agreed with My decree (qadr).”’^{‎[8]Suyuti, 6/270.} This reiterates the understanding that Prophet Noah’s (a) harshest words were quite likely after he had been reassured by God that none besides those who had already believed would now ever embrace faith (11:36). Even when commanded to build the ark, he was told: do not plead with Me for those who are wrongdoers: they shall indeed be drowned (23:27).

Qarāʾatī has commented that this verse is proof that invoking God’s curse against others is permissible if it is not personal and is in support of faith and against the spread of faithlessness. He also notes that people speak according to their nature. The faithless said: Do not abandon (tadharunna) your gods (verse 23) and Prophet Noah (a) used the same verb when he prays to God: Do not leave (tadhar) on the earth.^{‎[9]Qaraati, 10/239.} In the case of Prophet Noah (a), it is also not an unreasonable request because, in a sense, he is articulating the thought that if God is doing away with the evildoers, let it then be a complete and full purging of them, since such an event is unlikely to recur again for his community.

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

The Biblical account of Noah’s (a) flood affecting the entire world include:

1. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.^{‎[10] Genesis 6:17.}
2. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.^{‎[11] Genesis 6:11-13.}
3. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.^{‎[12] Genesis 7:4.}
4. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.^{‎[13] Genesis 7:19-24.}

But the story of Noah’s (a) deluge is also one that shows God in remorse for having created the human being, an idea not found in the Quran:

5. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.^{‎[14] Genesis 6:5-7.}

Other Biblical verses, unrelated to Noah (a), but wherein the righteous invoke God’s curse on the wicked in a similar vein to the verse under discussion, include:

6. Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake. Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.^{‎[15] Psalm 69:22-29.}
7. Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.^{‎[16] Psalm 104:35.}
8. Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth. Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.^{‎[17] Psalm 109:8-20.}
9. Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves. Selah.^{‎[18] Psalm 140:8.}
10. Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again. Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.^{‎[19] Psalm 140:10-11.}

[1] Raghib, d-y-r.
[2] Razi, 30/659; Nemuneh, 25/88; Mizan, 20/36.
[3] Rāzī adds that dayyār is a term used only in negation, such as in this example (Razi, 30/659).
[4] Raghib, d-y-r.
[5] Hairi, 11/261.
[6] Daqaiq, 13/450-2, from Kamal, pp. 133-134, h. 2.
[7] Qurtubi, 18/298.
[8] Suyuti, 6/270.
[9] Qaraati, 10/239.
[10] Genesis 6:17.
[11] Genesis 6:11-13.
[12] Genesis 7:4.
[13] Genesis 7:19-24.
[14] Genesis 6:5-7.
[15] Psalm 69:22-29.
[16] Psalm 104:35.
[17] Psalm 109:8-20.
[18] Psalm 140:8.
[19] Psalm 140:10-11.