So We inspired to him, "Construct the ship under Our observation and Our inspiration, and when Our command comes and the oven overflows, put into it [i.e., the ship] from each [creature] two mates and your family, except him for whom the decree [of destruction] has proceeded. And do not address Me concerning those who have wronged; indeed, they are to be drowned.
Allah tells us that Nuh, peace be upon him, invoked his Lord to help him against his people,
as Allah mentions in another Ayah:
فَدَعَا رَبَّهُ أَنُّى مَغْلُوبٌ فَانتَصِرْ
(Then he invoked his Lord (saying): "I have been overcome, so help (me)!") 54:10. Here he says:
رَبِّ انصُرْنِى بِمَا كَذَّبُونِ
(O my Lord! Help me because they deny me.) At that point, Allah commanded him to build a boat and to make it strong and firm, and to carry therein of every kind two, i.e., a male and a female of every species of animals, plants and fruits etc. He was also to carry his family,
إِلاَّ مَن سَبَقَ عَلَيْهِ الْقَوْلُ مِنْهُمْ
(except those thereof against whom the Word has already gone forth.) meaning, those whom Allah had already decreed were to be destroyed. These were the members of his family who did not believe in him, such as his son and his wife. And Allah knows best.
وَفَارَ التَّنُّورُ (And the oven gushes forth - 23:27). The word تَّنُّور means oven which is used for making flat, round bread, and is also used in the sense of the whole earth. According to some people تَّنُّور is a specific oven in the Kufah mosque, while others believe that it was somewhere in Syria. Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) was informed by Allah that when water began boiling forth from the تَّنُّور (oven) that would be the sign of the coming of the Deluge (Mazhari). The story of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) ، the Deluge and his Ark has been reported in some earlier Surahs (See Volume 4, p. 626 to 643).
Tazkirul Quran
Maulana Wahiduddin KhanOn ayahs 27–29
The Prophet Noah admonished his community for a long time. But his community was not ready to accept his call. At last he prayed, ‘Oh God! I have not been able to make my people accept the truth. Now, You reveal the truth to them!’ But when the outermost limit of human effort has been reached, Divine action begins. It is then the time for reckoning and not for advice or admonition. So, God’s retribution appeared in the shape of a devastating storm, which drowned Noah’s entire community, with the exception of a few believers in Noah. The refusal to acknowledge the Truth is the worst type of transgression. Those who indulge in this transgression are liable to be seized upon by God and then nothing can save them from their fate.
Uthmani text of the Madinah mushaf (King Fahd Complex). Translation: Saheeh International. Tafsir via Quran.com.
