Early knowledge of Surah Nuh
Surah Nooh is the 71st Surah of the Holy Quran and this Surah which was revealed in Makkah has 28 verses. This Surah has been named after this great prophet because of the discussion about the incident of Prophet Nuh. The events of the Prophet Nuh are mentioned in Surah Shu’ara, Muminun, Araf, Ambiya and Surah Hud.
Surah Nooh is the source of many important teachings. This Surah teaches us that we have to invite the enemy to the truth and for this we have to come up with irrefutable arguments with love and sincerity. And one should not be tired and depressed in calling to the way of Allah. As a strategy to call to the path of truth, one should show on the one hand the encouragement of divine reward and on the other hand the fear or warning of divine punishment. This Surah warns against the stubbornness of the disbelieving polytheists and says that if they do not accept the truth, painful consequences will await them.
The prophets and messengers mentioned in the Qur’an have conveyed God’s message to mankind in times of crisis and they have played an important role in changing the destiny of mankind by playing a revolutionary role. Prophet Nuh (peace be upon him) was such a great prophet and messenger. The heavenly book and the law were revealed to him. In the first two verses of Surah Nooh, Allah the Almighty says:
We sent Nuh to his people, saying: Warn your people before there comes to them a painful punishment. He said: O my people! I am a clear warner to you.
Early knowledge of Surah Nuh
-Warning about a catastrophe means telling people to be prepared to avoid that catastrophe just as people take refuge in a safe place when the alarm goes off. Prophets do exactly the same thing. They warn the disbelievers and the polytheists. They say that your polytheistic, unholy and unjust beliefs are destructive and that you should be cleansed from shirk, oppression and wickedness before you call for that destruction.
Wickedness and iniquity spread in the time of Prophet Nuh. People avoided monotheism and justice and engaged in idol worship. Class inequality and the gap between rich and poor were increasing day by day. The strong trampled on the rights of the weak, and the powerful and powerful deprived the subordinates in various ways. And in such a situation, Prophet Nuh (peace be upon him) was chosen as a prophet. He was given scriptures and rules of life. Prophet Nuh (pbuh) called the people to monotheism and to reject false or false gods. He asked the people to be honest and fair at all times including transactions. In the third and fourth verses of Surah Nooh it is said: He, Nuh said, “Worship Allah, fear Him and obey me.” Allah will forgive you your sins and give you respite till the appointed time. Surely, when the time appointed by Allah or the time of death comes, there will be no respite, if you only knew.
Early knowledge of Surah Nuh
It is clear from the fourth verse of Surah Nooh that man has two kinds of life or death. The moment of death is changeable. This deadline may come or go because of human sin or good deeds. But there is a final and maximum time-limit of death which is inevitable or unavoidable and it is not changed at all. That is, the obvious sin from this verse reduces the life of man. On the other hand, faith and fear of God delay human death. Sin affects the human mind and body. Imam Sadiq (a) said that the number of people who die untimely due to sin is much higher than the number of people who die with divine death and honesty. On the other hand, the number of people whose life expectancy increases due to honest work is much higher than the number of people who have extended life expectancy due to various natural causes.
In the next few verses from the fifth verse of Surah Nooh, the Prophet Nuh has spoken. He complains to Allah Almighty about his nation:
That is, Nuh said: My Lord! I have invited my people day and night; But my invitation only increased their flight.
Every time I have invited them to forgive you, they have put their fingers in their ears, covered their faces, insisted, and been very arrogant.
-Those whose hearts are not ready to accept the truth, when they hear the call of truth, they do not become soft or flexible, they show arrogance and reject the call of truth and build resistance against the truth! As a result, they turned away from God and the roots of disbelief and hypocrisy became strong among them. So it is seen that in response to Nuh’s call for truth and his apology to the court of Allah for them, the disbelievers of that nation put their fingers in their ears and covered their heads with cloth so that the voice of truth could not be heard! They didn’t even want to look at the prophet Nuh! Opposition to the truth makes people stubborn and blind!
