Tafsir of Surah Ash-Shu'ara' - Verse 109

Nuh's preaching to His People, and Their Response

Here Allah tells us about His servant and Messenger Nuh, peace be upon him, who was the first Messenger sent by Allah to the people of earth after they started to worship idols. Allah sent him to forbid that and to warn people of the consequences of idol worship. But his people belied him and continued their evil practice of worshipping idols besides Allah. Allah revealed that their disbelieving in him was akin to disbelieving in all the Messengers, So Allah said:

كَذَّبَتْ قَوْمُ نُوحٍ الْمُرْسَلِينَ - إِذْ قَالَ لَهُمْ أَخُوهُمْ نُوحٌ أَلاَ تَتَّقُونَ

(The people of Nuh belied the Messengers. When their brother Nuh said to them: "Will you not have Taqwa") meaning, `do you not fear Allah when you worship others instead of Him'

إِنِّي لَكُمْ رَسُولٌ أَمِينٌ

(I am a trustworthy Messenger to you.) means, `I am the Messenger of Allah to you, faithfully fulfilling the mission with which Allah has sent me. I convey the Messages of my Lord to you, and I do not add anything to them or take anything away from them.,

فَاتَّقُواْ اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُونِ وَمَآ أَسْـَلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ أَجْرٍ

(So have Taqwa of Allah, and obey me. No reward do I ask of you for it;) means, `I do not want any payment for the advice I give you; I will save my reward for it with Allah. '

فَاتَّقُواْ اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُونِ

(So have Taqwa of Allah, and obey me.) `It is clear to you that I am telling the truth and that I am faithfully fulfilling the mission with which Allah has entrusted me.'

Commentary

وَمَا أَسْأَلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ أَجْرٍ‌

And I do not claim from you any reward for it. - 26:109

It is learnt from this verse that charging and acceptance of wages against religious teachings and preaching is not right. Therefore, the righteous elders have ruled it as forbidden, but the later generations have allowed it under compelling circumstances. Its full details have been given under the explanation of the verse لَا تَشْتَرُ‌وا بِآيَاتِي ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا do not take a paltry price for My signs" - 2:41.

Special note

Here the verse فَاتَّقُوا اللَّـهَ وَأَطِيعُونِ (So, fear Allah and obey me - 110) is repeated twice to make clear that for the obedience of the Messenger and fear of Allah it was enough that the prophet has any one of the two qualities: One, his honesty and integrity, and the second, his teaching and preaching without a fee. But when the Messenger who is personified of all these traits, his obedience and the fear of his God becomes all the more necessary.

Noah’s community rejected him, though his call was fully borne out by the strength of arguments. Besides, his character bore testimony to his truthfulness. The people of his community knew that Noah was a righteous and honest man. They knew that there was no vested self-interest attached to his call for the Truth. Indeed, his personal qualities were enough to prove his seriousness. And a person who is serious about God’s creatures cannot be other than serious about their Creator. Noah’s community rejected his call for the Truth, though they could offer nothing but irrelevant matters to justify this rejection. To say that the companions of a preacher are ordinary people in order to justify rejection of his call, is not a contradiction of the call but amounts rather to self-contradiction. It means that nothing can be found by way of arguments to warrant saying anything against the call of Truth. Such a stance did no credit to Noah’s community.