قَالُوا۟ لَئِن لَّمْ تَنتَهِ يَٰنُوحُ لَتَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلْمَرْجُومِينَ · قَالَ رَبِّ إِنَّ قَوْمِى كَذَّبُونِ · فَٱفْتَحْ بَيْنِى وَبَيْنَهُمْ فَتْحًا وَنَجِّنِى وَمَن مَّعِىَ مِنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ · فَأَنجَيْنَٰهُ وَمَن مَّعَهُۥ فِى ٱلْفُلْكِ ٱلْمَشْحُونِ · ثُمَّ أَغْرَقْنَا بَعْدُ ٱلْبَاقِينَ · إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَءَايَةً ۖ وَمَا كَانَ أَكْثَرُهُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ · وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَهُوَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ
Qālū la-in lam tantahi yā Nūḥu la-takūnanna mina'l-marjūmīn · Qāla rabbi inna qawmī kadhdhabūn · Fa'ftaḥ baynī wa baynahum fatḥan wa najjinī wa man maʿiya mina'l-muʾminīn · Fa-anjaynāhu wa man maʿahu fi'l-fulki'l-mashḥūn · Thumma aghraqnā baʿdu'l-bāqīn · Inna fī dhālika la-āyatan wa mā kāna aktharuhum muʾminīn · Wa inna rabbaka la-huwa'l-ʿazīzu'r-raḥīm
"They said: 'Noah! If you do not stop, you will be among those stoned!' · He said: 'My Lord! My people have denied me. · Open a clear opening between me and them; and save me and the believers who are with me.' · So We saved him and those with him in the laden ark; · then We drowned the rest who remained. · In this there is surely a sign; but most of them were not believers. · And your Lord — He indeed — is the Mighty, the Merciful."
| Verse | Who | Expression | The threat |
|---|---|---|---|
| 116 | The people of Noah | La-in lam tantahi yā Nūḥu la-takūnanna mina'l-marjūmīn | To be stoned |
| 167 | The people of Lot | La-in lam tantahi yā Lūṭu la-takūnanna mina'l-mukhrajīn | To be driven out |
The two sentences are the same but for one word. This is a datum that can be verified from the text and another instance of the sūra's technique of repetition.
The root ن-ه-ي: an end, an extremity, the place where a thing finishes (muntahā — the final point reached). Intahā — to desist, to make an end. Not "be silent", then, but "finish with it".
The root ر-ج-م: to stone, to throw stones. The word is used in the Qurʾān both for stoning in deed and for stoning with words (cursing, driving off). Another use of the root (the stoning of the satans) was treated at al-Mulk 67/5 and in al-Takwīr.
The root ف-ت-ح: to open. And the lexicographers record a second semantic field of the root: to give judgement, to settle a case. From the same root: fattāḥ (the one who judges — the al-Fattāḥu'l-ʿAlīm of Sabaʾ 34/26).
The link the lexicographers make is this: a judgement opens a matter that was closed. The case, that is, stands "closed", and the judge "opens" it.
The root was analysed in al-Fatḥ and I do not repeat it.
And the cognate accusative must be recorded: fa'ftaḥ … fatḥan. The verb is reinforced with a verbal noun from its own root. In Arabic this construction strengthens the verb: "open a decisive opening", that is, "give a decisive judgement."
And the word order of the request must be recorded: Noah does not ask for destruction. He says "open between us" — he asks, that is, for separation and judgement. And immediately after he asks for deliverance: wa najjinī wa man maʿiya mina'l-muʾminīn.
In Nūḥ a prayer of Noah's different from the one in this sūra was treated (rabbi lā tadhar ʿala'l-arḍi mina'l-kāfirīna dayyārā — Nūḥ 71/26). The difference between the two prayers is worth recording:
| Sūra | Prayer | Its content |
|---|---|---|
| Al-Shuʿarāʾ 26/118 | Fa'ftaḥ baynī wa baynahum fatḥan | Judgement and deliverance |
| Nūḥ 71/26 | Lā tadhar ʿala'l-arḍi mina'l-kāfirīna dayyārā | Destruction |
This is a difference that can be verified from the text. In what order the two prayers were made is not said in the Qurʾān; I set up no ordering.
And a point of word order must be recorded: the building of the ark is not recounted. The sūra names the ark for the first and only time already laden. The sūra, that is, gives not the process but the result.
And the same attribute occurs once more in the Qurʾān: wa āyatun lahum annā ḥamalnā dhurriyyatahum fi'l-fulki'l-mashḥūn (Yā Sīn 36/41 — treated in Yāsīn). The same construction, in two sūras.
And the arrangement is the same as in the account of Moses: first the saving (119), then the drowning (120).
| Account | Saving | Destruction |
|---|---|---|
| Moses | 65 — wa anjaynā Mūsā wa man maʿahu | 66 — thumma aghraqna'l-ākharīn |
| Noah | 119 — fa-anjaynāhu wa man maʿahu | 120 — thumma aghraqnā baʿdu'l-bāqīn |
In both accounts the same verb (anjā), the same conjunction (thumma), the same verb (aghraqa). This is an overlap that can be verified from the text.
The difference is in one word: in the account of Moses the drowned are al-ākharīn ("the others"), in the account of Noah al-bāqīn ("those who remained"). The second word announces that no one was left apart from those saved.
بَعْدُ — "afterwards, thereafter". It comes as an adverb with the following genitive elided (baʿdu), that is, "after that".
The fourth seal of the sūra. The mould was treated at 26/8-9; I do not repeat it.