Al-Israa (The Night Journey)

17. “And what a great number (of people) We did exterminate after Noah! And your Lord is sufficient as Knowing and Seeing with regard to the sins of His servants.”

This noble verse, which recounts the extermination of a generation of mankind and the beginning of a new world order in human life, depicts the fact that the era of Noah (as) has been recorded as a turning point in the history of mankind.

The life preceding Noah (as) had been an extremely simple life in nature with a very limited population and was lacking in an adventurous type of history. Moreover, the continuity of the generation of human kind had been made possible with the few believers who were inside the ship with Noah (as).

The verse, while warning the ignorant and the negligent and while being instructive for the people, provides a source of comfort for the Prophet (S), exclaiming that if the pagans do not stop hurting and teasing him, they will face the Divine Wrath.

After Noah’s people, the nations of ‘Ad, Thamūd, Lūt, as well as the companions of Madyan, Pharaoh, Haman, Karun, and the companions of Phil also were entangled with the Divine Wrath.

The verse says:

“And what a great number (of people) We did exterminate after Noah!…”

The nations who throughout history were entangled with the Divine Wrath and fury are numerous, and the Divine Wrath is not exclusive to the Day of Judgment only. It also may take place in this world as well.

This noble verse presents examples of the above issues as a general principle, stating that: What a numerous groups of people who lived after Noah who, according to this way of treatment, were annihilated by Allah.

Then, The Qur’an adds that such is not the case that oppressions and tyranny, or sinfulness of an individual or a group remain hidden from the sharp sight of Allah. This much is adequate that Allah is well aware of the sins of His servants and He has got careful eyes on them.

The verse says:

“…And your Lord is sufficient as Knowing and Seeing with regard to the sins of His servants.”

The fact that the era succeeding Noah has been stressed here, might probably be for the sake that man’s life before Noah had been very simple and so many differences were usually non-existent, in particular the division of the society into the ‘affluent’ and the ‘oppressed’ and, therefore, the people in those societies were hardly entangled with the Divine punishment.