Surah Nuh

Ta'awwudh · Seeking Refuge

أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ

A'udhu billahi min ash-shaytani ar-rajim. I seek refuge in Allah from Satan, the accursed.

The Name · Bismillah

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Bismillahi ar-Rahmani ar-Rahim. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

✦

The Surah · Nuh

﴾١﴿ إِنَّآ أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِۦٓ أَنْ أَنذِرْ قَوْمَكَ مِن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌۭ

Inna arsalna Nuhan ila qawmihi an andhir qawmaka min qabli an ya'tiyahum 'adhabun alim

We sent Nuh to his people: warn your people before a painful punishment reaches them.

﴾٢﴿ قَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ إِنِّى لَكُمْ نَذِيرٌۭ مُّبِينٌ

Qala ya qawmi inni lakum nadhirun mubin

He said: my people, I am a clear warner to you.

﴾٣﴿ أَنِ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱتَّقُوهُ وَأَطِيعُونِ

Ani u'budu Allaha wattaquhu wa ati'un

Worship Allah, fear Him, and obey me.

﴾٤﴿ يَغْفِرْ لَكُم مِّن ذُنُوبِكُمْ وَيُؤَخِّرْكُمْ إِلَىٰٓ أَجَلٍۢ مُّسَمًّى ۚ إِنَّ أَجَلَ ٱللَّهِ إِذَا جَآءَ لَا يُؤَخَّرُ ۖ لَوْ كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

Yaghfir lakum min dhunubikum wa yu'akhkhirkum ila ajalin musamma, inna ajala Allahi idha ja'a la yu'akhkhar, law kuntum ta'lamun

He will forgive you your sins and delay you to an appointed term. When the term of Allah arrives it is not delayed, if only you knew.

﴾٥﴿ قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّى دَعَوْتُ قَوْمِى لَيْلًۭا وَنَهَارًۭا

Qala Rabbi inni da'awtu qawmi laylan wa nahara

He said: my Lord, I have called my people night and day,

﴾٦﴿ فَلَمْ يَزِدْهُمْ دُعَآءِىٓ إِلَّا فِرَارًۭا

Falam yazidhum du'a'i illa firara

and my calling only increased them in flight.

﴾٧﴿ وَإِنِّى كُلَّمَا دَعَوْتُهُمْ لِتَغْفِرَ لَهُمْ جَعَلُوٓا۟ أَصَٰبِعَهُمْ فِىٓ ءَاذَانِهِمْ وَٱسْتَغْشَوْا۟ ثِيَابَهُمْ وَأَصَرُّوا۟ وَٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ ٱسْتِكْبَارًۭا

Wa inni kullama da'awtuhum litaghfira lahum ja'alu asabi'ahum fi adhanihim wastaghshaw thiyabahum wa asarru wastakbaru istikbara

Every time I called them so that You would forgive them, they put their fingers in their ears and pulled their garments over themselves, and they persisted and were arrogant with a great arrogance.

﴾٨﴿ ثُمَّ إِنِّى دَعَوْتُهُمْ جِهَارًۭا

Thumma inni da'awtuhum jihara

Then I called them publicly,

﴾٩﴿ ثُمَّ إِنِّىٓ أَعْلَنتُ لَهُمْ وَأَسْرَرْتُ لَهُمْ إِسْرَارًۭا

Thumma inni a'lantu lahum wa asrartu lahum israra

then I announced it to them openly and I spoke to them privately,

﴾١٠﴿ فَقُلْتُ ٱسْتَغْفِرُوا۟ رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ غَفَّارًۭا

Faqultu istaghfiru Rabbakum innahu kana ghaffara

and I said: seek the forgiveness of your Lord. He is always ready to forgive.

﴾١١﴿ يُرْسِلِ ٱلسَّمَآءَ عَلَيْكُم مِّدْرَارًۭا

Yursili as-sama'a 'alaykum midrara

He will send the sky upon you in abundant rain,

﴾١٢﴿ وَيُمْدِدْكُم بِأَمْوَٰلٍۢ وَبَنِينَ وَيَجْعَل لَّكُمْ جَنَّٰتٍۢ وَيَجْعَل لَّكُمْ أَنْهَٰرًۭا

Wa yumdidkum bi-amwalin wa banina wa yaj'al lakum jannatin wa yaj'al lakum anhara

and He will extend you with wealth and children, and make for you gardens, and make for you rivers.

﴾١٣﴿ مَّا لَكُمْ لَا تَرْجُونَ لِلَّهِ وَقَارًۭا

Ma lakum la tarjuna lillahi waqara

What is wrong with you, that you do not attribute to Allah His due grandeur,

﴾١٤﴿ وَقَدْ خَلَقَكُمْ أَطْوَارًا

Wa qad khalaqakum atwara

when He created you in stages?

﴾١٥﴿ أَلَمْ تَرَوْا۟ كَيْفَ خَلَقَ ٱللَّهُ سَبْعَ سَمَٰوَٰتٍۢ طِبَاقًۭا

Alam taraw kayfa khalaqa Allahu sab'a samawatin tibaqa

Do you not see how Allah created seven heavens in layers,

﴾١٦﴿ وَجَعَلَ ٱلْقَمَرَ فِيهِنَّ نُورًۭا وَجَعَلَ ٱلشَّمْسَ سِرَاجًۭا

Wa ja'ala al-qamara fihinna nuran wa ja'ala ash-shamsa siraja

and set the moon among them as a light and the sun as a lamp?

﴾١٧﴿ وَٱللَّهُ أَنۢبَتَكُم مِّنَ ٱلْأَرْضِ نَبَاتًۭا

Wallahu anbatakum mina al-ardi nabata

And Allah grew you from the earth like a growing.

﴾١٨﴿ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُكُمْ فِيهَا وَيُخْرِجُكُمْ إِخْرَاجًۭا

Thumma yu'idukum fiha wa yukhrijukum ikhraja

Then He returns you into it and brings you out again.

﴾١٩﴿ وَٱللَّهُ جَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلْأَرْضَ بِسَاطًۭا

Wallahu ja'ala lakumu al-arda bisata

And Allah made the earth a spread out floor for you,

﴾٢٠﴿ لِّتَسْلُكُوا۟ مِنْهَا سُبُلًۭا فِجَاجًۭا

Litaslukuu minha subulan fijaja

so that you may travel its wide roads.

﴾٢١﴿ قَالَ نُوحٌۭ رَّبِّ إِنَّهُمْ عَصَوْنِى وَٱتَّبَعُوا۟ مَن لَّمْ يَزِدْهُ مَالُهُۥ وَوَلَدُهُۥٓ إِلَّا خَسَارًۭا

Qala Nuhun Rabbi innahum 'asawni wattaba'u man lam yazidhu maluhu wa waladuhu illa khasara

Nuh said: my Lord, they disobeyed me and followed one whose wealth and children increased him in nothing but loss.

﴾٢٢﴿ وَمَكَرُوا۟ مَكْرًۭا كُبَّارًۭا

Wa makaru makran kubbara

And they plotted a great plot,

﴾٢٣﴿ وَقَالُوا۟ لَا تَذَرُنَّ ءَالِهَتَكُمْ وَلَا تَذَرُنَّ وَدًّۭا وَلَا سُوَاعًۭا وَلَا يَغُوثَ وَيَعُوقَ وَنَسْرًۭا

Wa qalu la tadharunna alihatakum wa la tadharunna Waddan wa la Suwa'an wa la Yaghutha wa Ya'uqa wa Nasra

and they said: do not abandon your gods. Do not abandon Wadd, nor Suwa', nor Yaghuth, nor Ya'uq, nor Nasr.

﴾٢٤﴿ وَقَدْ أَضَلُّوا۟ كَثِيرًۭا ۖ وَلَا تَزِدِ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ إِلَّا ضَلَٰلًۭا

Wa qad adallu kathiran wa la tazidi az-zalimina illa dalala

They have led many astray. So increase the wrongdoers in nothing but error.

﴾٢٥﴿ مِّمَّا خَطِيٓـَٰٔتِهِمْ أُغْرِقُوا۟ فَأُدْخِلُوا۟ نَارًۭا فَلَمْ يَجِدُوا۟ لَهُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ أَنصَارًۭا

Mimma khati'atihim ughriqu fa-udkhilu naran falam yajidu lahum min duni Allahi ansara

Because of their sins they were drowned and made to enter a Fire, and they found no helpers for themselves besides Allah.

﴾٢٦﴿ وَقَالَ نُوحٌۭ رَّبِّ لَا تَذَرْ عَلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ مِنَ ٱلْكَٰفِرِينَ دَيَّارًا

Wa qala Nuhun Rabbi la tadhar 'ala al-ardi mina al-kafirina dayyara

And Nuh said: my Lord, do not leave a single dweller of the disbelievers on the earth.

﴾٢٧﴿ إِنَّكَ إِن تَذَرْهُمْ يُضِلُّوا۟ عِبَادَكَ وَلَا يَلِدُوٓا۟ إِلَّا فَاجِرًۭا كَفَّارًۭا

Innaka in tadharhum yudillu 'ibadaka wa la yalidu illa fajiran kaffara

If You leave them they will lead Your servants astray and will father only wicked and ungrateful offspring.

﴾٢٨﴿ رَّبِّ ٱغْفِرْ لِى وَلِوَٰلِدَىَّ وَلِمَن دَخَلَ بَيْتِىَ مُؤْمِنًۭا وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنَٰتِ وَلَا تَزِدِ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ إِلَّا تَبَارًۢا

Rabbi ighfir li wa liwalidayya wa liman dakhala baytiya mu'minan wa lil-mu'minina wal-mu'minati wa la tazidi az-zalimina illa tabara

My Lord, forgive me and my parents and whoever enters my house as a believer, and the believing men and the believing women. And increase the wrongdoers in nothing but ruin.

The Tafsir · The Breakdown

What The Surah Means

Overview

Surah Nuh is twenty-eight verses, chapter 71, Makki, and it is a single case file. One prophet, one mission, one report delivered back to the One who sent him. The Quran states elsewhere, in Surah Al-Ankabut, that Nuh stayed among his people a thousand years less fifty. This surah is what that looks like from the inside.

It is also the clearest statement in the Quran of the link between seeking forgiveness and material provision. Rain, wealth, children, gardens, and rivers are all named as the downstream effects of istighfar in three consecutive verses. A man who wants to understand why his provision feels blocked should read verses 10 to 12 before he reads another business book.

Nine hundred and fifty years of calling. The surah is his report, and it is filed as a report, not as a complaint.

Verses 1–9 · Every Method, Exhausted

I have called my people night and day. I called them publicly and I called them privately.

Da'awtu qawmi laylan wa nahara: night and day. The first thing established is coverage in time. There is no hour he did not use.

Fa lam yazidhum du'a'i illa firara: my calling only increased them in flight. The effort produced the opposite of its intent, and he reports that plainly, without softening it.

Ja'alu asabi'ahum fi adhanihim wastaghshaw thiyabahum: they put their fingers in their ears and pulled their garments over themselves. Two acts of physical refusal, done in his presence. They did not argue him down. They covered themselves.

Wa asarru wastakbaru istikbara: they persisted and were arrogant with a great arrogance. The verb is intensified twice, which is the Arabic doing what the situation requires.

Thumma inni da'awtuhum jihara, thumma inni a'lantu lahum wa asrartu lahum israra: then publicly, then openly and privately both. Read verses 5 to 9 as a list of channels: night, day, private, public, announcement, one to one. Every method available to a man was used, and the result is stated without excuse.

He exhausted the channels and reported the outcome exactly. The report contains no defense of himself and no attack on them.

Verses 10–12 · Istighfar and the Rain

Seek the forgiveness of your Lord. He is always ready to forgive. He will send the sky upon you in abundant rain.

Istaghfiru Rabbakum innahu kana ghaffara: the imperative is seeking forgiveness, and the reason given is a name, ghaffar, the intensive form. The invitation is grounded in who He is rather than in what they deserve.

Yursili as-sama'a 'alaykum midrara: He will send the sky upon you pouring. Rain to a people whose entire economy is water.

Wa yumdidkum bi-amwalin wa banina wa yaj'al lakum jannatin wa yaj'al lakum anhara: and He will extend you with wealth and children, and make for you gardens, and make for you rivers. Four things, all of them material, all of them named as consequences of istighfar. Ibn Kathir and al-Qurtubi both carry the report of Umar ibn al-Khattab seeking rain by seeking forgiveness, and reciting these verses when he was asked about it.

Notice what is not here. There is no promise that the seeking will be pleasant, and no requirement that they earn it first. The gate is opened before the behavior changes.

Rain, wealth, children, gardens, rivers. All four downstream of one act, and the act is admitting fault.

Verses 13–20 · The Grandeur You Are Not Giving Him

What is wrong with you, that you do not attribute to Allah His due grandeur, when He created you in stages?

Ma lakum la tarjuna lillahi waqara: waqar is weight, gravity, the seriousness you assign to something. The charge is not disbelief. It is treating Him lightly.

Wa qad khalaqakum atwara: He created you in stages. The evidence for His weight is your own development, which you did not manage and cannot remember.

Alam taraw kayfa khalaqa Allahu sab'a samawatin tibaqa, wa ja'ala al-qamara fihinna nuran wa ja'ala ash-shamsa siraja: the moon a light and the sun a lamp. Two different words for two different bodies, one reflecting and one burning.

Wallahu anbatakum mina al-ardi nabata: He grew you from the earth like a growing. The verb is agricultural and it is applied to human beings without apology. Then He returns you into it and brings you out again.

Wallahu ja'ala lakumu al-arda bisata litaslukuu minha subulan fijaja: the earth as a spread out carpet so you can travel its wide roads. The argument moves from your body, to the sky, to the ground under your feet, and every step is something you use daily without weighing it.

You were grown from the ground, returned to it, and brought out of it. The charge is that you handle all of this lightly.

Verses 21–24 · The Wealth That Increased Only Loss

They followed one whose wealth and children increased him in nothing but loss.

Wattaba'u man lam yazidhu maluhu wa waladuhu illa khasara: they followed a man whose wealth and children only increased his loss. The crowd follows the man with the assets, and the verse states the true balance of that man's account in the same breath.

Wa makaru makran kubbara: they plotted a great plot. Organized opposition, not passive refusal.

Wa qalu la tadharunna alihatakum, wa la tadharunna Waddan wa la Suwa'an wa la Yaghutha wa Ya'uqa wa Nasra: five idols named individually. Al-Bukhari records the report from Ibn Abbas that these were the names of righteous men among the people of Nuh, and that when they died images were made of them to encourage worship, and after that generation passed the images themselves came to be worshipped.

That is the mechanism worth carrying out of this surah. Nothing began as an idol. It began as a good man being commemorated, and the drift took generations.

Five names that started as righteous men. The idol is almost never built as an idol.

Verses 25–28 · The Drowning and the Prayer

Because of their sins they were drowned and made to enter a Fire.

Mimma khati'atihim ughriqu fa-udkhilu naran: drowned, then entered into a Fire. Water and fire in one verse, and the second one begins immediately.

Falam yajidu lahum min duni Allahi ansara: they found no helpers for themselves besides Allah. The people they organized with are not mentioned again.

Rabbi ighfir li wa liwalidayya wa liman dakhala baytiya mu'minan wa lil-mu'minina wal-mu'minat: my Lord, forgive me and my parents and whoever enters my house as a believer, and the believing men and the believing women. After nine hundred and fifty years and near total refusal, the closing words are a prayer for forgiveness that begins with himself and then widens outward through his household to every believer to come.

The order of that prayer is the lesson. Himself first, then his parents, then his house, then everyone.

The mission produced almost no believers. The closing prayer covers every believer who would ever live.

Structural Summary

Twenty-Eight Verses. One Man's Report.

Verses 1–4The SendingWarn them before a painful punishment reaches them. Worship Him, fear Him, obey me.

Verses 5–9The ChannelsNight and day, privately and publicly. Fingers in ears, garments pulled over heads, and a great arrogance.

Verses 10–12The RainSeek forgiveness. Rain, wealth, children, gardens, and rivers follow it.

Verses 13–20The GrandeurCreated in stages, seven heavens, moon and sun, grown from the earth, and roads laid across it.

Verses 21–24The FollowingThey followed the man whose assets only increased his loss, and refused to leave five named idols.

Verses 25–27The DrowningDrowned for their sins and entered into a Fire, with no helper besides Allah.

Verse 28The PrayerForgive me, my parents, whoever enters my house believing, and all the believing men and women.

Why This Surah Is For You

This surah is the correct definition of a successful campaign. Nuh worked the mission for nine hundred and fifty years, used every channel available to him, and converted almost no one. He is not recorded as a failure anywhere in the Quran. Output was not the measure. Delivery was.

Verses 10 to 12 are the ones to act on. Rain, wealth, children, gardens, rivers, all named as what follows istighfar. Umar ibn al-Khattab is reported by Ibn Kathir and al-Qurtubi to have sought rain by seeking forgiveness. If a season feels blocked, the first instrument in this surah is not a strategy. It is admitting fault.

Verse 21 is the warning for a man who is watched. They followed him because of his wealth and his children, and the verse states in the same line that those assets increased him in nothing but loss. Being followed is not evidence of anything. It is a condition that has to be audited separately.

Verse 23 and the report from Ibn Abbas in al-Bukhari give the mechanism for how a house drifts. Righteous men, then images to remember them, then a generation that never met them, then worship. Nothing in that sequence looks like idolatry while it is happening. Watch what your household is being taught to revere by habit.

The Practice · Daily Integration

Twenty-Eight Verses. Seek It First.

Make istighfar a fixed daily count, not a reaction to guilt. Verses 10 to 12 attach provision to the practice, not to the mood behind it.

Measure your work by delivery, not by conversion. Nuh used night, day, private, and public, and reported the result without dressing it.

Audit what your household reveres by habit. The drift in verse 23 took generations and started with good men.

Close your own prayers the way he closed his, in that order. Yourself, your parents, your house, then every believer after you.

He called for nine hundred and fifty years and finished by asking forgiveness for everyone who would come after him.

آمِين

Prepared with discipline · Ameen

Verse-By-Verse · Test Yourself

The Quiz

Two questions per verse. Translation and a key Arabic word. Walk through it slow. The goal is comprehension, not speed.

Verse 11 / 56

The Verse

إِنَّآ أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِۦٓ أَنْ أَنذِرْ قَوْمَكَ مِن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌۭ

Inna arsalna Nuhan ila qawmihi an andhir qawmaka min qabli an ya'tiyahum 'adhabun alim

What does this verse say?