Surah Yunus, Ayah 72

The Story of Nuh and His People

Allah instructed His Prophet , saying:

وَاتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ

(And recite to them) relate to the disbelievers of the Quraysh who belied you and rejected you,

نَبَأَ نُوحٍ

(the news of Nuh) meaning, his story and news with his people who belied him. Tell them how Allah destroyed them and caused every last one of them all to drown. Let this be a lesson for your people, lest they will be destroyed like them.

إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِ يَقَوْمِ إِن كَانَ كَبُرَ عَلَيْكُمْ مَّقَامِى وَتَذْكِيرِى بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ فَعَلَى اللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ

(When he said to his people: "O my people, if my stay (with you), and my reminding (you) of the Ayat of Allah is hard on you, then I put my trust in Allah.") Meaning, `if you find that it is too much of an offense that I should live among you and preach to you the revelation of Allah and His signs and proofs, then I do not care what you think, and I will not stop inviting you.'

It was said in the last verse (64) that, for the friends of Allah, there is the good news in the worldly life and in the Hereafter. As for the good news of the Hereafter, it will come at the time of death when the spirit of the deceased will be taken to Allah. At that time, he will hear the good news of Paradise being for him. Then, on the day of Qiyamah, when he rises from his grave, he will receive the good news of being welcome to Paradise. This is similar to what al-Tabarani has reported from Sayyidna Ibn ` Umar ؓ narrates that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: ` People who recite: لا إلہ إلا اللہ (la ilaha illallah: There is no god but Allah) will not experience any fright at the time of death, nor inside the grave, nor at the time they rise from it. This is as if my eyes are seeing the scenario of that time when these people will, shaking the dust off, rise from their graves, saying: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّـهِ الَّذِي أَذْهَبَ عَنَّا الْحَزَنَ (Praised is Allah who has removed from us [ all ] grief - 35:34) '

Noah (Nuh) was a Prophet of the most ancient period. As long as he was silent, his community respected him, but when he came forward as a call-giver of the Truth and started telling the people what to do and what not to do, he became persona non grata in the eyes of his community, so much so that they gave him the ultimatum: ‘Either you give up this call-giving and tendering of advice or else we will not allow you to stay in this land of ours.’ Noah said that they were saying all this because they were treating his message as the affair of a human being, while this was actually God’s own concern. He said that, in order to fight with him, they would have to fight God. He further said, ‘If you don’t believe it, then what you can do is gather your companions and partners and formulate any unanimous plan against me, and then carry it out with all your might. Then you will see that your every plan against me is a failure.’ In the present world, the standard confirming the veracity of a caller for truth is that he fulfills his mission at all costs and nobody succeeds in thwarting him.