Tafseer Ibn Kathir of ASY SYU'ARAA' [116]

116. They said: ”If you cease not, O Nuh you will surely be among those stoned.'' 117. He said: ”My Lord! Verily, my people have denied me.'' 118. ”Therefore judge You between me and them, and save me and those of the believers who are with me.'' 119. And We saved him and those with him in the laden ship. 120. Then We drowned the rest thereafter. 121. Verily, in this is indeed a sign, yet most of them are not believers. 122. And verily your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful. Nuh stayed among his people for a long time, calling them to Allah night and day, in secret and openly. The more he repeated his call to them, the more determined were they to cling to their extreme disbelief and resist his call. In the end, they said:

(If you cease not, O Nuh you will surely be among those stoned.) meaning, `if you do not stop calling us to your religion,'

(you will surely be among those stoned.) meaning, `we will stone you.' At that point, he prayed against them, and Allah responded to his prayer. Nuh said:

(My Lord! Verily, my people have denied me. Therefore judge You between me and them.) This is like the Ayah:

(Then he invoked his Lord (saying): ”I have been overcome, so help (me)!'')(54:10) And Allah says here:

(And We saved him and those with him in the laden ship. Then We drowned the rest thereafter.) The ”laden ship'' is one that is filled with cargo and the couples, one pair from every species, that were carried in it. This Ayah means: `We saved Nuh and all of those who followed him, and We drowned those who disbelieved in him and went against his commands, all of them.'

(Verily, in this is indeed a sign, yet most of them are not believers. And verily your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful.)