1. It was the Prophet Noah's assignment to warn his people that if they do not mend their ways, their defiance and misconduct will bring upon them divine punishment. He was also to guide them to the path which will save them from God's punishment.

2. The Prophet Noah (peace be upon him) asked his people to accept the three above-mentioned directives: to serve God, to adopt piety, and to obey His Messenger. Serving God meant abandoning all false gods, and worshipping God alone as their only Lord, obeying His commands. Inculcating piety meant avoiding all those misdeeds which incur God's displeasure and leading life in a manner befitting a pious person. As to their following the Prophet Noah (peace be upon him), it required that they should abide by his commands which he proclaimed in his capacity as God's Messenger.

3. The verse does not say that God will forgive some of their sins. It implies that if they accept the three above-mentioned directives given to them, God will overlook all the sins they have committed in the past.

4. If they follow the above three mentioned directives, then God would grant them respite to live until the time He had determined for their natural death.

5. The expression "Allah's appointed term" signifies the time determined by God to send His scourge on a people. In this context, the Qur'an has explicitly stated on many occasions that once God resolves to strike a nation down with His scourge, that nation will not be spared the scourge even if they embrace the faith at the last minute.

6. They should realise it well that after the Prophet Noah's delivery of the divine message to them, they are enjoying a period of respite for embracing faith. Once this moment is over, there is no way they can escape God's punishment. They should therefore accept the message at the earliest and not defer it to their peril.

7. Omitting the history of a long intervening period, the Surah goes straight to the last phase of the Prophet Noah's mission and brings to the fore his entreaty to God.

8. The more he invited them to embrace faith, the farther they moved away from him.

9. The inherent message here is that they should have given up their habit of disobedience and sought God's forgiveness. This was their only way to receive their deliverance.

10. The reason that these disbelievers "wrapped up their faces with their garments" could be that owing to their disgust at his preaching, they could not even stomach looking at him and so kept their faces, including their eyes covered. Another reason for doing so could have been to prevent the Prophet Noah (peace be upon him) from recognising and communicating his teachings to them. The same was the attitude of the Makkan disbelievers towards the blessed Prophet (peace be upon him) in those days. Verse 5 of Surah Hūd recounts their attitude as follows: "Lo! They turn away their chests in order to conceal themselves from him. Surely when they cover themselves up with their garments, God still knows well what they cover and what they reveal. Indeed, He even knows the secrets hidden in the breasts of people." (For details see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. IV, Surah Hūd 11: nn. 5-6, pp. 81-82.)

11. Their arrogance consisted in their refusal to embrace the truth. Moreover, they considered it beneath their dignity to accept the advice of God's Messenger. In doing so, they behaved like an arrogant person who rudely responds to his well-wisher's counsel.

12. This truth is affirmed at several places in the Qur'an, that rebellion to God lands people into misery not only in the Hereafter but also in the life of this world. By the same token, if a community, far from betraying disobedience, embraces faith, piety, and obedience to God's commands, it benefits them not only in the Hereafter, but in this life too they are endowed with numerous bounties. It is recounted in verse 124 of Surah Ţa Hä: "Whosoever turns away from My admonition shall have a straitened life. We shall raise him blind on the Day of Resurrection." Of similar thrust is verse 66 of Surah al-Ma'idah: "Had the People of the Book observed the Torah and the Gospel and all that had been revealed to them from their Lord, sustenance would have been showered over them from above and would have risen from beneath their feet." Verse 96 of Surah al-A'raf affirms the same: "Had the people of those towns believed and been God-fearing, We would have certainly opened up to them blessings from the heavens and the earth." The Prophet Hūd (peace be upon him) told his people: "My people! Ask your Lord for forgiveness and turn to Him in repentance. He will shower abundant rains upon you from the heavens and will add strength to your strength." (Surah Hūd 11: 52) The Makkans were given the same advice by the Prophet (peace be upon him): "You may seek forgiveness of your Lord and turn to Him in repentance whereupon He will grant you a fair enjoyment of life until an appointed term." (Surah Hūd 11: 3) The Prophet (peace be upon him) is on record advising the Quraysh: "If you believe in this true word, you will turn into the rulers of the Arabs and non-Arabs." (For details see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. II, Surah al-Ma'idah 5: n. 96, p. 177; vol. IV, Surah Hūd 11: nn. 3 and 57, pp. 77, 80 and 109; vol. V, Surah Ṭā Hā 20: n. 105, p. 237 and Introduction to Surah Ṣād.)

While acting on the above Qur'anic directive, once during a famine, 'Umar went out to invoke Allah for sending rain but he sought only Allah's forgiveness. When someone queried as to why he did not make a specific supplication for rain, he replied: "I have knocked at the doors in the heavens wherefrom the rain is sent down." He then recited these verses of Surah Nuḥ which are presently under discussion. (Tafsir of Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, 23, 293-294 and Tafsir of Ibn Kathir, 8, 232-233) Likewise, when someone complained about drought to Hasan al-Baṣrī, he directed him to seek forgiveness from Allah. Another person present there related to him his problem of low income, a third one about his childlessness and a fourth one about the low yield of his fields. To each one of them he advised the same - seeking Allah's forgiveness. When people asked him why he gave the same reply to everyone for different complaints, he recited these verses of Surah Nuḥ in order to vindicate his stance. (Kashshäf, 6,215)

13. People are generally cognisant that it is dangerous to say or do anything that is offensive to the majestic sensibilities of even the petty chiefs and nobles of this world, but they are hardly concerned with showing deference to God's majesty. In fact, they do a great deal that may offend Him - they rebel against Him, associate others with Him in His divinity, disobey His commands - and yet they are not at all afraid of His wrath that will befall them as a result of their misconduct.

14. God has brought man to the present stage of his existence through different phases of the creation process. Initially, he existed in the form of separate reproductive material in the bodies of his parents. Through divine command, there was the union of these reproductive materials, which led to conception. For nine months, the foetus went through various stages of growth. Finally, he received the human form and shape. He was endowed with all the faculties needed for leading life in the world. Then as a baby he was delivered by his mother. The process of growth continued as the baby passed through from one stage to another. He eventually grew into an adult and later an old man. All along, man is totally under God's control. Had He willed, he would not have been conceived in the first place. Or he would have been born as a blind, deaf, dumb, disabled or mentally deficient person. Or it could be a still birth. Even after birth, man is liable to die at any time. At God's behest, he would have lost his life in an accident. Since man is so powerless and totally.at God's mercy, how could he even think of being disrespectful, ungrateful, and rebellious, and do all those with impunity? Has he thought that he will never face any punishment for such heinous activities?

15. Here a similitude is drawn between man's creation out of different elements taken from the earth, and the growth of vegetation. There was a time when there was no vegetation on earth and then God caused vegetation to appear. In like manner, there was a time when man did not exist on earth and then God planted him on it.

16. Reference is to the plots (makr) contrived by the chiefs to mislead the people about the Prophet Noah's mission. Some of their objections were: "We see you as merely a human being like ourselves." (Surah al-A'raf 7: 63 and Surah Hūd 11: 27); "Nor do we find among those who follow you except the lowliest of our folk, those who follow you without any proper reason." (Surah Hūd 11: 27); "Had Allah wanted (to send any Messenger) He would have sent down angels." (Surah al-Mu'minun 23: 24); Had he been a Messenger, he should have possessed God's treasures or access to the Unseen or would have been like an angel, free from all the human wants (Surah Hūd 11: 31); "He has nothing in him to suggest that he is any better than us." (Surah Hūd 11: 27); "He only desires to have superiority over people." (Surah al-Mu'minūn 23: 24); "He is a person who has been seized with a little madness." (Surah al-Mu'minun 23: 25) Almost the same allegations were hurled by the Quraysh chiefs against the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to mislead people.

17. Here only some deities of the Prophet Noah's people are mentioned whom the people of Arabia later on started worshipping. These and their shrines were scattered across the expanse of Arabia at the time of the advent of Islam. It is not unlikely that the survivors of the Flood may have related to their subsequent generations some account of these deities. When ignorance once again penetrated among their children, they made statues of the same idol and started worshipping those deities again.

Wadd was the deity of Bani Kalb ibn Wabrah, a branch of the Quḍā'ah tribe. They had erected its temple at Dūmat al-Jandal. In the ancient Arabian scrolls, it is mentioned as Waddam Abam. According to Kalbī, this idol had the form of an erroneous male figure. Members of the Quraysh tribe looked upon it as a deity and called it Wudd. It is not therefore surprising that one of the Arabs in history was named 'Abd Wudd.

Suwa' was the deity of the Hudhayl tribe and the idol was a female figure. Its temple was at Ruhāt, a place in the vicinity of Yanbü'.

Yaghüth was the deity of the An'um and Madhjih tribes. The latter had installed its idol in a temple at Jurash, a town midway between Yemen and Hijaz. It bore the form of a lion. From this, some of the Quraysh bore the name, 'Abd Yaghuth.

Ya'uq was the deity of Khaywän, a branch of the Hamdan tribe in Yemen. It had the form of a horse.

Nasr was the deity of Al-Dhu al-Kula', a branch of the Humayr tribe. Its temple was located in Balkha', and bore the form of a vulture. In the ancient scrolls of Saba', it is referred to as Nasūr. This temple was known as Bayt- e-Nasûr and its devotees were called the people of Nasur. Many temples of ancient Arabia had the image of a vulture engraved on their doors.

18. As already explained in the introduction to this Surah, the Prophet Noah (peace be upon him) did not invoke this curse simply out of impatience on his part. He did so after he had tried extremely hard to reform his people by constantly preaching his message for centuries and only then reached a point of utter desperation. In almost identical circumstances, the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) had cursed the Pharaoh and his people thus: "Our Lord! Obliterate their riches and harden their hearts that they may not believe until they observe the painful chastisement." To this Allah responded: "The prayer of the two of you is accepted." (Surah Yūnus 10: 88-89) This curse was in accord with the divine plan, as in the case of the Prophet Noah (peace be upon him). The Qur'an states: "It was revealed to Noah that no more of your people other than those who already believe, will ever come to believe. So, do not grieve over their deeds." (Surah Hūd 11: 36)

19. Not only were these culprits drowned, their souls were cast into the Fire immediately after their death. Exactly the same punishment was meted out to the Pharaoh and his people, as is mentioned in verses 45-46 of Surah al-Mu'min (for details see Surah al-Mu'min 40: n. 63). This verse affirms the existence of barzakh (the intermediary stage between this world and the Resurrection) and punishment therein.

20. They did not find any of their idols, whom they took as their patrons and protectors, to come forth to their aid. It served as a warning to the Makkan disbelievers that on being afflicted with divine punishment, their idols in whom they reposed so much trust, will not be of any avail.