Tafsir of Surah As-Saffat - Verse 77

Nuh and His People

When Allah tells us about how most of the early people went astray from the path of salvation, He starts the detailed explanation of that with the story of Nuh and the rejection of his people. Only a few of Nuh's people believed in him, despite the long period of time he spent among them. He stayed among them for one thousand years less fifty, and after he stayed among them for so long and their disbelief became too much for him to bear -- for every time he called them, they turned away from him even more -- he prayed to his Lord saying, "I have been overcome, so help (me)!" So Allah became angry because Nuh was angry with them. He says:

وَلَقَدْ نَادَانَا نُوحٌ فَلَنِعْمَ الْمُجِيبُونَ

(And indeed Nuh invoked Us, and We are the best of those who answer.)

وَنَجَّيْنَـهُ وَأَهْلَهُ مِنَ الْكَرْبِ الْعَظِيمِ

(And We rescued him and his family from the great distress.) means, their disbelief and their insults.

وَجَعَلْنَا ذُرِّيَّتَهُ هُمُ الْبَـقِينَ

(And, his progeny, them We made the survivors.) `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, "There was no one left apart from the offspring of Nuh, peace be upon him." Sa`id bin Abi `Arubah said, narrating from Qatadah concerning the Ayah,

وَجَعَلْنَا ذُرِّيَّتَهُ هُمُ الْبَـقِينَ

(And, his progeny, them We made the survivors.) "All people descended from the offspring of Nuh, peace be upon him." At-Tirmidhi, Ibn Jarir and Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from Samurah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet said, concerning the Ayah,

وَجَعَلْنَا ذُرِّيَّتَهُ هُمُ الْبَـقِينَ

(And, his progeny, them We made the survivors):

«سَامُ، وَحَامُ، وَيَافِث»

(Sam, Ham and Yafith.) Imam Ahmad recorded from Samurah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

«سَامُ أَبُو الْعَرَبِ، وَحَامُ أَبُو الْحَبَشِ، وَيَافِثُ أَبُو الرُّوم»

(Sam was the father of the Arabs, Ham was the father of the Ethiopians and Yafith was the father of the Romans.)" This was also recorded by At-Tirmidhi. What is meant here by Romans is the original Romans, i.e., the Greeks who claimed descent from Ruma (Roma) the son of Liti, the son of Yunan, the son of Yafith, the son of Nuh, peace be upon him.

وَتَرَكْنَا عَلَيْهِ فِى الاٌّخِرِينَ

(And left for him among the later generations. ) Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "He is remembered in a good way." Mujahid said this means "An honorable mention by all the Prophets." Qatadah and As-Suddi said, "Allah caused him to be praised constantly by others." Ad-Dahhak said it means "Salam and praise."

سَلَـمٌ عَلَى نُوحٍ فِى الْعَـلَمِينَ

(Salam (peace!) be upon Nuh among the all creatures!) This explains for us the extent of the honorable mention and praise, for he is greeted with peace by all groups and nations.

إِنَّا كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِى الْمُحْسِنِينَ

(Verily, thus We reward the gooddoers.) means, `This is how We reward those of Our servants who do deeds of obedience to Allah. We gave him an honorable mention so that after he died he is still remembered in a manner that befits his status.' Then Allah says:

إِنَّهُ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

(Verily, he Nuh was one of Our believing servants.) meaning, one of the sincere believers in the Oneness of Allah, one of those who had certain faith.

ثُمَّ أَغْرَقْنَا الاٌّخَرِينَ

(Then We drowned the others. ) means, `We destroyed them, and there was no trace whatsoever left of them, and they are only known by this unfavorable description.'

And in verse 77, it was said: وَجَعَلْنَا ذُرِّ‌يَّتَهُ هُمُ الْبَاقِينَ (And [ We ] made his progeny the sole survivors.). According to most commentators, this verse means that the majority of world population was annihilated in the great flood during the time of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) . After that, all races in the entire world originated from the three sons of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) . Sam was one of his sons. His children were the forbears of the peoples of Arabia and Persia. The second son was named Ham. The populations in African countries came from him. Some scholars have included the people of India in the same racial stock. Yafith was the third son. From him came the races known as Turk, Mongol and Gog and Magog. Out of the people who had embarked the ark of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) and had survived the Flood, the three sons of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) were the only ones whose progeny survived later on.

However, some scholars - whose number is very small - hold the view that the Flood during the time of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) was not worldwide, instead, it was restricted to the land of ancient Arabia. In their sight, it was only in that land area where the progeny of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) flourished and survived, and it was through them that the Arab race came. That the race of others spread out in other regions of the world does not go on to contradict this verse. (Bayan-ul-Qur’ an)

A third group of commentators says that as for the Great Flood, it was worldwide, but the universal racial stock did not come from the sons of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) alone. Rather, it spread out from all those people who were on board with Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) . This group of commentators takes the restrictive statement of the Qur'an in the sense of relative restriction, and says that, at this place, the real purpose is to state that the race of the people drowned did not continue. (Qurtubi)

Given the context of the Qur'an, this third view is very weak, while the first view is the best for the reason that it is supported by some ahadith as well which Imam Tirmidhi and others have reported directly from the Holy Prophet under the Tafsir of this verse. In a narration from Sayyidna Samurah Ibn Jundub 4, the Holy Prophet t has been reported to have said: "Sam is the father of the people of Arabia; Ham is the father of the people of Ethiopia, and Yafith, that of the people of Byzantine." Imam Tirmidhi calls this Hadith as Hasan, while Imam Hakim rates it as Sahih (Ruh-ul-Ma’ ani, p. 98, v.23).

When Noah’s own people turned against him, he called upon God to help him in his struggle with them. God helped him to steer clear of his difficulties. This indicates that when a subject of God calls out to Him, he receives a superlative response. But such response succeeds a tireless strife of the implorer. Noah had been trying to spread the message of God for about nine hundred and fifty years, exercising patience, wisdom and all along wishing well for his people. After a long period of time elapsed in this way, Noah finally called out to God for His succour. Noah’s opponents were utterly destroyed in a terrible flood: indeed, the whole race was wiped out. The succeeding generation came into existence through those few individuals who were saved along with him in his ark.