Ash-Shu'araa (The Poets)

116. “They said: ‘If you desist not, O Noah! you shall surely be one of the stoned (to death)’.”

117. “Said (Noah): ‘My Lord! Verily my people have belied me,”

118. “Judge You, then, between me and them, and deliver me and the believers that are with me’.”

One of the most important weapons of the prophets’ opponents is threat,

(... you shall surely be one of the stoned (to death)).

The act of stoning is one of the oldest kinds of torture.

Noah’s complaint was for people's rejecting the religion, not for the threat of stoning. However, in these holy verses, the Qur’an implies that the response of this misguided obstinate group to Noah (as) was the same thing that all the former tyrants of the world had.

They told Noah to stop his call and if he did not put an end to that kind of words and continued darkening the atmosphere of their society with his bitter speeches, they would certainly stone him to death.

The verse says:

“They said: ‘If you desist not, O Noah! you shall surely be one of the stoned (to death)’.”

The application of the Qur’anic phrase: /minal marjumin/ shows that stoning their opponents had been common among them. In fact, they say to Noah that if he continues his call and inviting people to Monotheism and his religion, he will be surely faced with the same thing that their other opponents encountered, i.e. stoning, which is one of the worst kinds of slay.

The Arabic word /rajm/ means stoning someone in a way that he dies.

Noah (as) who sees that this constant sympathetic invitation with that clear logic and suffering patience for a long time has not affected them, except a few, finally he complains to the presence of Allah and, explaining his situation, he asks Him for separation and deliverance from the inimical grips of those irrational cruel people.

The verse says:

“Said (Noah): ‘My Lord! Verily my people have belied me,”

It is true that Allah is aware of everything, but at the time of complaint and as a preparation for his next request, Noah expressed that statement.

It is noteworthy that Noah did not complain about the afflictions and tragedies he had got, but he was inconvenient only for matter that those people had rejected him and had not accepted the message of Allah.

Then Noah implicitly asks Allah, now that there is no other way to guide this group of people, He may put a separation between him and those people, and then He may judge between them.

The verse says:

“Judge You, then, between me and them...”

The Arabic word /fath/, as some philologists have said, originally means: ‘to open’ and ‘to adjudicate in a cause’, and ‘removing a shut’, which has two forms.

Sometimes it has sensible aspect, like /fathul bab/ (opening the door), and sometimes it has spiritual aspect, like /fathul harnm/ (opening the sorrow and wiping sadness), /fathul mustaqlaq mind ‘ulum/ which means revealing the secrets of science, and /fathul qadiyyah/ which means: to judge and put an end to a conflict.

Then Noah adds as follows:

“...and deliver me and the believers that are with me’.”

This statement denotes that the believers are inside the prophet's pray, since prophets always pray that the problems of the people and society to be solved.