And he uttered an imprecation upon them, saying, O my Lord, leave not upon the earth any one of the unbelievers; for if Thou leave them, they will lead Thy servants into error, and will not beget [any] but a wicked, ungrateful [offspring]. O my Lord, forgive me and my parents (for they were believers), and whomsoever entereth my house (my abode, or my place of worship), being a believer, and the believing men, and the believing women, (to the day of resurrection), and add not to the offenders [aught] save destruction.
(lxxi. 27-29.)
And God answered his prayer, and said, Construct the ark in our sight and according to our revelation, and speak not unto Me concerning those who have offended, to beg Me not to destroy them; for they [shall be] drowned. And he constructed the ark; and whenever a company of his people passed by him, they derided him. He said, If ye deride us, we will deride you, like as ye deride, when we are saved and ye are drowned, and ye shall know on whom shall come a punishment which shall render him vile, and whom shall befall a lasting punishment. [Thus he was employed] until when Our decree for their destruction came to pass, and the baker’s oven overflowed with water[198] (for this was a signal unto Noah), We said, Carry into it (that is, into the ark) of every pair, male and female, of each of these descriptions, two (and it is related that God assembled for Noah the wild beasts and the birds and other creatures, and he proceeded to put his hands upon each kind, and his right hand fell always upon the male, and his left upon the female, and he carried them into the ark), and thy family (excepting him upon whom the sentence of destruction hath already been pronounced, namely, Noah’s wife, and his son Canaan: but Shem and Ham and Japheth and their three wives he took), and those who have believed; but there believed not with him save a few: they were six men and their wives: and it is said that all who were in the ark were eighty, half of whom were men and half women. And Noah said, Embark ye therein. In the name of God [be] its course and its mooring.[199] Verily my Lord is very forgiving [and] merciful.—And it moved along with them amid waves like mountains; and Noah called unto his son, Canaan, who was apart from the ark, O my child, embark with us, and be not with the unbelievers! He replied, I will betake me to a mountain which will secure me from the water. [Noah] said, There is nought that will secure to-day from the decree of God [any] but him on whom He hath mercy. And the waves intervened between them; so he became [one] of the drowned. And it was said, O earth, swallow up thy water (whereupon it drank it up, except what had descended from heaven, which became rivers and seas), and, O heaven, cease from raining;—and the water abated, and the decree was fulfilled, and it (namely, the ark) rested on El-Joodee (a mountain of El-Jezeereh, near El-Mósil); and it was said, Perdition to the offending people![200]
(xi. 38-46.)
And Noah called upon his Lord, and said, O my Lord, verily my son is of my family, and Thou hast promised me to save them, and verily Thy promise is true, and Thou art the most just of those who exercise judgment. God replied, O Noah, verily he is not of thy family who should be saved, or of the people of thy religion. Verily it (namely, thine asking me to save him) is not a righteous act; for he was an unbeliever, and there is no safety for the unbelievers; therefore ask not of me that wherein thou hast no knowledge. I admonish thee, lest thou become [one] of the ignorant.—Noah said, O my Lord, I beg Thee to preserve me from asking Thee that wherein I have no knowledge; and if Thou do not forgive me and have mercy upon me, I shall be of those who suffer loss.—It was said, O Noah, descend from the ark,[201] with peace from Us, and blessings, upon thee and upon peoples [that shall proceed] from those who are with thee in the ark (that is, their believing posterity); but peoples [that shall proceed] from those who are with thee We will permit to enjoy the provisions of this world; then a painful punishment shall befall them from Us, in the world to come; they being unbelievers.
xi. 47-50.
´AD AND THAMOOD.
And we sent unto the former [tribe of] ´Ád[202] their brother Hood.[203] He said, O my people, worship God: assert His unity. Ye have no other deity than Him. Will ye not then fear Him, and believe?—The chiefs who disbelieved among his people answered, Verily we see thee to be in a foolish way, and verily we esteem thee one of the liars with respect to the apostolic commission. He replied, O my people, there is no folly in me; but I am an apostle from the Lord of the worlds. I bring unto you the messages of my Lord, and I am unto you a counsellor, intrusted with the apostolic office. Do ye wonder that an admonition hath come unto you from your Lord by the tongue of a man from among you, that he may warn you? And remember how He hath appointed you vicegerents in the earth after the people of Noah, and increased you in tallness of stature. (For the tall among them was a hundred cubits, and the short among them sixty.) Remember, then, the benefits of God, that ye may prosper. They said, Art thou come unto us that we may worship God alone, and relinquish what our fathers worshipped? Then bring upon us that punishment with which thou threatenest us, if thou be of those who speak truth.—He replied, Punishment and indignation from your Lord have become necessary for you. Do ye dispute with me concerning names which ye and your fathers have given to idols which ye worship, concerning which (that is, the worship of which) God hath not set down any convincing proof? Then await ye the punishment. I am with you, of those who await that, for your accusing me of falsehood. And the unprofitable wind was sent upon them. But We delivered him (namely, Hood) and them who were with him (of the believers) by Our mercy; and We cut off the uppermost part of those who charged Our signs with falsehood and who were not believers.