Ash-Shu'araa (The Poets)

105. “The people of Noah rejected the messengers,”

106. “When their brother Noah said to them: 'Will you not fear (Allah)?”

107. “Verily I am unto you a trustworthy messenger,”

108. “Then be in awe of Allah and obey me.”

Noah’s name has been repeated forty three times in the Qur’an and Allah has introduced Abraham as from among his party (Shi‘ah), where He says:

“And verily of his party was Abraham.”1

One of the suras of the Qur'an is entitled Noah. The salutation of Allah unto Noah is a private salutation.

He says:

“Peace be on Noah in (all) the worlds!”2

Allah has also sent salutation to Abraham, Moses and Aaron, but it does not contain the phrase /fil-‘alamin/ (in (all) the worlds). Studying the history of the Divine prophets causes man to like them and survives the spirit of patience and perseverance in him.

However, next to the end of the story of Abraham and his statements unto those misguided people, as another instructive event, the Holy Qur’an points to the people of Noah and, through a few verses, reiterates their obstinacy, persistence, and shamelessness which led to their painful destiny.

It first says:

“The people of Noah rejected the messengers,”

It is evident that the people of Noah rejected only Noah, but since the invitations of all prophets basically are the same, the rejection of Noah is counted as the rejection of all prophets; that is why the holy Qur’an says the people of Noah rejected ‘the messengers’.

It is also probable that principally the people of Noah used to deny all the religions and they rejected absolutely all the Divine prophets whether they were before the advent of Noah or after it.

Then the Qur’an refers to this part of Noah’s life which is rather similar to what was formerly mentioned about the life of Moses and Abraham.

It says:

“When their brother Noah said to them: ‘Will you not fear (Allah)?”

The application of ‘brother’ in this verse is a sense which shows the utmost affectionate relationship that is based upon equality. It means, without intending to have any priority over them, Noah invited them to piety with utmost purity and sincerity.

The concept of brotherhood not only has been used for Noah but also it has been applied for many other prophets, (such as Hud, Salih and Lut). This inspires all the leaders of the path of truth that they must observe the utmost love and sincerity in their call while they are far from any self- superiority, so that the annoyed hearts can be attracted by their religion, and no one feels heaviness.

Next to invitation to piety, which is the main factor of any guidance and salvation, he (as) adds:

“Verily I am unto you a trustworthy messenger,” “Then be in awe of Allah and obey me.”

This statement shows that Noah (as) had a long and continued background of honesty among his people and they knew him with this very decent quality, so he says for this reason he is trustworthy in conveying the Divine mission and they would never see any treachery in it.

The Qur’anic phrase /’ittaqullah/ (be in awe of Allah) has occurred prior to /’ati‘un/ (obey me) in order to say that there will not exist any obedience from the messenger of Allah unless there is faith and being in awe of Allah.