Appendix A: The Preaching Mission of Noah (sws)
The various stages of the Prophet
Noah’s preaching mission are very compactly set forth in a brief surah
of
the Qur’an: Surah Nuh. A short analysis of it follows:
a. The Propagation Phase
Noah (sws) began his preaching by
warning his nation about the basic truths. The underlined words in clear
simple terms state the three-point agenda which formed the crux of Noah’s
message. These three points are, in fact, the basis of propagation and
preaching of all the Prophets of Allah. Noah (sws) explicitly told his
nation that they would be given a certain amount of time to mend their
ways. If they do not do so, they would be destroyed:
[O Prophet! just as We have sent forth you], We had sent
forth Noah as a Rasul to his people [with the directive]: ‘Warn your people
before there comes to them a grievous penalty’. He said: ‘O my People!
I am to you a warner, clear and open. [I call upon you] to serve Allah
and remain within the limits set by him and obey me. [I inform you
that as a result of this] the Almighty shall forgive your [previous] sins,
and shall give you respite till an appointed time. Verily, the time appointed
by Allah, when it comes, cannot be put off. Would that you understood this!’
(71:1-4)
The Prophets of Allah invest all their
time and effort in trying to warn their people of the punishment which
they would encounter if they do not mend their ways. In this regard, the
Prophet Noah (sws) had the distinction of warning his people for an extremely
long period: almost a millennium. His earnest calls should have melted
their hearts and stirred their souls had they responded properly. However,
the more he called them, the more they ran away from him. The following
verses portray the reaction of the leaders of Noah’s people and spells
out the basic reason for their denial: pride and arrogance:
[He kept on calling them to this message but they did not
pay any heed until at last] he said: ‘O Lord! day and night I have called
my people but my calls have only added to their aversion. And whenever
I called upon them [to show repentance] so that You [O Lord!] may forgive
them, they thrust their fingers in their ears and drew their cloaks over
them and persisted in their denial and bore themselves with insolent pride’.
(71:5-7)
The surah goes on to show that
after sometime Noah (sws), seeing the denial of his people, augmented his
crusade and launched an extensive effort to beseech his nation: for a true
preacher does not get frustrated at the obstinacy of his people; in fact
the more they evade his calls the more he increases his pitch and the more
hostility they show to him the more gracious he becomes:
Then I openly called them and then appealed to them in public
and beseeched them in private: ‘Seek forgiveness from your Lord’ I said.
‘Indeed, He is ever Forgiving. [As a consequence] He shall send down on
you abundant rain from the heavens and shall strengthen you with wealth
and sons and shall make for you gardens and shall bring forth for you springs
of water’. (71:8-12)
Once the truth had been unveiled to his
addressees, they were scolded and reprimanded that their fate is at hand.
It can be seen from the following verses that the earnest pleadings of
Noah (sws) have given way to stern words of rebuke. A nation is often misled
by its wealth and riches in the time of respite allotted to it by the Almighty
according to His laws. They consider this period of reprieve as eternal
and often cite it as a testimony of their own rectitude. The people of
Noah (sws) too had become deeply engrossed in their misdeeds. The surah
prods them that they must not misunderstand the purpose of the freedom
given to them by Allah’s majesty and grace; they must be mindful of the
precious time they are losing and if they continue to be indifferent, the
Almighty shall decide their fate once and for all. The verses state the
reason why must these people, who consider the Day of Judgement as something
unlikely, remain mindful of His grace and majesty mentioned in the previous
verse: if the Almighty has shown such a profound display of His Power and
Grandeur in creating man, He can easily create him a second time:
What has come upon you that you do not fear the Majesty of
your Lord, for He has made you in gradual stages in various moulds. [We
said]: ‘See you not how God has made seven heavens one above the other?
And made the moon a light therein and the sun a lamp? And Allah has grown
you from the earth in such an elaborate way and to the earth He will return
you and then He will suddenly bring you forth from it without any effort.
And Allah has spread out the earth for you as a spreading that you
may walk in its spacious passes [that lie between the mountains]. (71:13-20)
b. The Acquittal Phase
As soon as Noah’s propagation mission
reached its culmination, he announced his acquittal from his people. He
dissociated himself from them so that they could be punished:
Noah said: ‘O Lord! they have disobeyed me and followed those
[leaders of theirs] whose wealth and children only added to their ruin
and they contrived great schemes and said: "Abandon not these Gods of yours
whatsoever and abandon not [this] Wadd nor Suwa‘; and neither Yaguth nor
Ya‘uq nor Nasr." And [in this manner] they misled many. And [now, O Lord!]
only increase these wrong-doers in further error’. (71:15-24)
c. The Judgement Phase
In the final phase, his nation’s fate
was decided and they were wiped out:
And because of their misdeeds they were drowned and then
were cast into a great Fire. Then they found none to help them against
Allah. (71:25)
The verses also refer to the punishment
of the Hereafter encountered by them wherein they will be cast in Hell.
The punishment of the next world has been stated in the past tense to show
its certainty. |