Surah Al-Mu'minun, Ayah 30

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).

In an environment fraught with idolatory, the few who had faith in Noah had that very day, in both the literal and the figurative sense, entered the Divine ark. When they boarded the wooden ship at the time of the storm, it marked the completion of the first stage of their decision. While they had intellectually saved themselves from evil, God saved them from the grim consequences of the Flood which would have been their fate, had they rejected the truth. A man of faith attributes his every success to the blessing of God. Therefore, with each success he thanks God. And the relief afforded from Noah’s flood was clearly an instance of God’s help. At this juncture, the words that spontaneously came out of a believer’s mouth have been recorded in this verse. He admits the grace of God bestowed upon him and solicits His further blessings in future, because he is sure that the present and future are both in the hands of God.