Commentary on the Koran: Surah 71 (No. Q071)

Pickthall Translation with Bible Quotes from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.

Introduction

This Surah takes its name from the subject matter which is the prophecies of the prophet Noah and the destruction of the world.

It is an early Beccan Surah to induct the early church at Becca to the Scriptures of the Bible.

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71.1. Lo! We sent Noah unto his people (saying): Warn thy people ere the painful doom come unto them.

71.2. He said: O my people! Lo! I am a plain warner unto you

Genesis 6:9, 13 ⁹These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.

¹³And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.

By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

2Peter 2:5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; (NAS)

71.3. (Bidding you): Serve Allah and keep your duty unto Him and obey me,

Luke 4:8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”

Deuteronomy 6:17 "You should diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you. (NAS)

Deuteronomy 11:22 For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the LORD your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him,

Deuteronomy 18:15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. (NAS)

71.4. That He may forgive you somewhat of your sins and respite you to an appointed term. Lo! the term of Allah, when it cometh, cannot be delayed, if ye but knew.

Psalm 130:4 But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. (NAS)

Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

Ecclesiastes 3:17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work

Psalm 90:10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.

James 4:14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Ezekiel 18:21 But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

71.5. He said: My Lord! Lo! I have called unto my people night and day

71.6. But all my calling doth but add to their repugnance;

71.7. And lo! whenever I call unto them that Thou mayst pardon them they thrust their fingers in their ears and cover themselves with their garments and persist (in their refusal) and magnify themselves in pride.
71.8. And lo! I have called unto them aloud,

71.9. And lo! I have made public proclamation unto them, and I have appealed to them in private.

2Peter 2:5 states that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He would have accomplished his mission just like every servant of the Almighty God.

Jeremiah 20:8-9 For each time I speak, I cry aloud; I proclaim violence and destruction, Because for me the word of the LORD has resulted In reproach and derision all day long. ⁹But if I say, "I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name," Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it. (NAS)

1Corinthians 9:16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

Refer to 2Chronicles 36:16 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 21 (No. Q021) at ayat 15.

71.10. And I have said: Seek pardon of your Lord. Lo! He was ever Forgiving.

Acts 3:19 Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. (NLT)

Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. ⁷Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. (NAS)

71.11. He will let loose the sky for you in plenteous rain,

Genesis 6:17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.

Genesis 7:4-5 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” ⁵And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

71.12. And will help you with wealth and sons, and will assign unto you Gardens and will assign unto you rivers.

Deuteronomy 28 verses 1 to 14 tell of blessings that will come upon people that will faithfully obey the voice of the Lord their God, being careful to do all his commandments and his statutes he had revealed to them through His prophets.

71.13. What aileth you that ye hope not toward Allah for dignity

The Prophet is here appealing unto his perverse generation to rise to prosperity by turning from their sinful ways into obedience to the Almighty God by observing the commandments and statutes being revealed unto them by the servants of God.

God is not calling most of humanity during this current age as it is not the right time for them. Their minds and hearts have been blocked and they cannot understand the message. Only the called and chosen can be brought to understanding through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

71.14. When He created you by (divers) stages?

Psalm 139:13-15 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.¹⁴I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. ¹⁵My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Job 10:10-12 Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? ¹¹You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. ¹²You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.

Ecclesiastes 11:5 As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

The foetus passes through many stages before its birth as a child and it goes through various stages in his physical development before he is raised to the spirit level.

71.15. See ye not how Allah hath created seven heavens in harmony,

The Bible talks about 3 heavens and the Koran mentions seven heavens.

From the CCG paper FAQs in Islam (No. 055) - The NT term refers to the classifications of the basic Atmosphere, Solar and Galactic structure of the Earth and the heavenly structure of the Throne of God in the “sides of the North.” The seven classifications of the Koran are developments of these making distinction between the Atmospheres, inner and outer space, the Solar system, the Galaxy and so on.

71.16. And hath made the moon a light therein, and made the sun a lamp?

Genesis 1:16-18 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. ¹⁷And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

71.17. And Allah hath caused you to grow as a growth from the earth,

71.18. And afterward He maketh you return thereto, and He will bring you forth again, a (new) forthbringing.

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 2:7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

See Ezekiel 37:4-6 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 64 (No. Q064) at ayat.7; John 5:28-29 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 21 (No. Q021) at ayat 47 and Ecclesiastes 12:7 Commentary on the Koran: Surah 30 (No. Q030) at ayat 11.

71.19. And Allah hath made the earth a wide expanse for you

71.20. That ye may thread the valley-ways thereof.

Refer to Acts 17:26 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 17 (No. Q017) at ayat 3.

Genesis 11:8-9 So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. ⁹Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

Job 38:18-20 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all. ¹⁹Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof, ²⁰That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof? (KJV)

John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

Matthew 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. ¹⁴For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

1John 1:6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

71.21. Noah said: My Lord! Lo! they have disobeyed me and followed one whose wealth and children increase him in naught save ruin;

Refer to 2Chronicles 36:16 Commentary on the Koran: Surah 21 (No. Q021) at ayat 15, and 1Timothy 6:9-10 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 64 (No. Q064) at ayat 15.

Isaiah 3:12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. (ERV)

Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.

James 5:1-6 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. ²Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. ³Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. ⁴Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. ⁵You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. ⁶You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

James 2:6-7 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? ⁷Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

Mark 4:19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

71.22. And they have plotted a mighty plot,

71.23. And they have said: Forsake not your gods. Forsake not Wadd, nor Suwa', nor Yaghuth and Ya'uq and Nasr.

71.24. And they have led many astray, and Thou increasest the wrong-doers in naught save error.

The deities in verse 23 are the deities of the pagan Arabs at Becca. The leaders plotted to keep their people away from the truth and under their influence and control. The truth will make men free from their bondage to their so called gods and their leaders.

Exodus 20:3-4 You shall have no other gods before me. ⁴You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Exodus 20:23 You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.

Leviticus 19:4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the LORD your God.

Jeremiah 10:5 Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.

2Corinthians 4:3-4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Ephesians 2:2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience,

Isaiah 44:18 They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand.

71.25. Because of their sins they were drowned, then made to enter a Fire. And they found they had no helpers in place of Allah.

Genesis 7:21-24 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. ²²Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. ²³He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. ²⁴And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 146:3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.

Psalm 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust in man.⁹It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust in princes. (NAS)

71.26. And Noah said: My Lord! Leave not one of the disbelievers in the land.

71.27. If Thou shouldst leave them, they will mislead Thy slaves and will beget none save lewd ingrates.

Noah saw all the evil and wickedness during his generation and he would have surely implored God to get rid of all the evildoers as they only brought forth carnal minded people like themselves. The Koran also states that Noah’s fourth son was himself killed.

Genesis 6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Ecclesiastes 9:3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Psalm 37:38 But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

Proverbs 2:22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

71.28. My Lord! Forgive me and my parents and him who entereth my house believing, and believing men and believing women, and increase not the wrong-doers in aught save ruin.

The desire of any prophet would be to be able to see his people as law abiding followers of God.

Numbers 11:29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”

Acts 26:29 And Paul said, "I would wish to God, that whether in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these chains." (NAS)

Romans 10:1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.

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