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See note [47] on 11:27 .
The pagans were accusing the impoverished believers of following Noah (ﷺ) only for personal gain, not out of sincere faith.
The leaders of the people are speaking, as the Quraish leaders spoke in the time of the holy Prophet. "We know that thou hast been trustworthy in thy life. But look at the 'tag rag and bob tail' that follow thee! Dost thou expect us to be like them or to be classed with them?" His answer was: "I know nothing against them; if they have done any wrong, or are only hypocrites, they are answerable to Allah; how can I drive them away from me, seeing that I am expressly sent to admonish all people?"
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This is obviously a retort to the unbelievers' suggestion (elliptically implied here) that those "abject" followers of Noah had declared their faith in him, not out of conviction, but only in order to gain some material advantages. Noah's answer embodies a cardinal principle of Qur'anic ethics and, hence, of Islamic Law: No human being has the right to sit in judgment on another person's faith or hidden motives; whereas God knows what is in the hearts of men, society may judge only by external evidence (az-zahir), which comprises a person's words as well as deeds. Thus, if anyone says, "I am a believer", and does not act or speak in a manner contradicting his professed faith, the community must consider him a believer.
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Cf. xi. 29. All people who have faith have the right to come and listen to Allah's Word and receive Allah's Mercy, whether they are publicans and sinners, "Harijans" and low-caste men, men of "superior" or "inferior" races. The Prophet of Allah welcomes them all, as His Message has to shine before the whole world.
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Lit., "thou wilt surely be among those who are stoned [to death]".
Two other cases occur to me where prophets of Allah were threatened with death by stoning: one was Abraham (xix. 46), and the other was Shu'aib (xi. 91). In neither case did the threats deter them from carrying out their mission. On the contrary the threats recoiled on those who threatened. So also did it happen in the case of Noah and the holy Prophet.
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Or: "decide Thou with a [clear] decision between me and them". My choice of the primary significance of iftah ("lay open", i.e., the truth) has been explained in note [72] on the last sentence of 7:89
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The story of Noah's Flood is told in xi. 36-48. Here the point emphasised is Noah's patience and constancy against threats, and the triumph and preservation of Allah's Truth even though the world was raging against it.
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The story of Noah and his people, as well as of the Deluge, is given in greater detail in {11:25-48}.
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For the message specifically alluded to here, see verses {111-115}, as well as note [50] above.
Ibis and the following verse run like a refrain throughout this Sura, and give the key-note to the subject-matter: how the Message of Allah is preached, how it is rejected in all ages, and how it triumphs at last, through the Mercy of Allah. See xxvi. 8-9, 68-69, 103-104, here (121-122), 139-140, 158-159, 174-175, and 190-191.
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See n. 1040 to vii. 65 for the 'Ad people and their location. Here the emphasis is on the fact that they were materialists believing in brute force, and felt secure in their fortresses and resources, but were found quite helpless when Allah's Message came and they rejected it.
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See 7:65 and the corresponding note [48].
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See n. 3187 to xxvi. 107 above.
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The noun ayah, which primarily denotes "a sign" or "a token", evidently refers here to the ancient Semitic custom of worshipping the tribal gods on hilltops, which were crowned to this end by sacrificial altars or monuments, each of them devoted to a particular deity: hence my rendering of ayah, in this particular context, as "altars" (in the plural).
Any merely material civilisation prides itself on show and parade. Its votaries scatter monuments for all sorts of things in conspicuous places-monuments which commemorate deeds and events which are forgotten in a few generations! Cf. Shelley's poem on Ozymandias: "I am Ozymandias, King of Kings! Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair! .... Boundless and bare the lonely and level sands stretch far away!"
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The meaning could be either "hoping that you might live in them forever", or "that you might gain immortal renown for having built them".
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The term jabbar, when applied to man, as a rule denotes one who is haughty, overbearing, exorbitant and cruel, and does not submit to any moral restraints in his dealings with those who are weaker than himself. Sometimes (as, e.g., in 11:59 or 14:15 ) this term is used to describe a person's negative ethical attitude, and in that case it may be rendered as "enemy of the truth". In the present instance, however, stress is laid on the tyrannical behaviour of the tribe of 'Ad, evidently relating to their warlike conflicts with other people: and in this sense it expresses a Qur'anic prohibition, valid for all times, of all unnecessary cruelty in warfare, coupled with the positive, clearly-implied injuction to subordinate every act of war - as well as the decision to wage war as such - to moral considerations and restraints.
"Without any responsibility or consideration for those who come within your power?"
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