He said, “What knowledge do I have of what they used to do? Their account rests only with my Lord, if only you were aware. And I am not one to drive away the believers. I am only a clear warner.” They said, “If you do not desist, Noah, you will surely be among those stoned.” (112–116)

“When their brother”—a brother in lineage, not in religion—Noah said to them, “Will you not fear Allah? Indeed, I am a trustworthy messenger to you,” trustworthy with respect to the revelation. “So fear Allah” by obeying and worshipping Him, “and obey me” in what I command you of faith and tawhid (affirming Allah’s oneness). “I ask of you no payment for this; my reward”—that is, my recompense—“is due only from the Lord of the worlds. So fear Allah and obey me.”

They said, “Are we to believe in you when the lowest among us have followed you?” Ya‘qub recited it as: “while your followers are the lowest among us,” meaning the common folk. Ibn ‘Abbas said: the goldsmiths. ‘Ikrimah said: the weavers and cobblers.

Noah said, “What knowledge do I have of what they used to do?” That is, I do not know their deeds and occupations, nor am I responsible for any lowliness in their earnings or circumstances. I have only been charged with calling them to Allah, and I am concerned with nothing of them but their outward condition. “Their account”—that is, their reckoning—“rests only with my Lord, if only you were aware.” If you knew this, you would not have disparaged them because of their occupations. Al-Zajjaj said: “Occupations do not harm one’s religious commitment.” It has also been said that its meaning is: I do not know whether Allah will guide them and lead you astray, grant them success and forsake you.

“And I am not one to drive away the believers. I am only a clear warner.” They said, “If you do not desist, Noah,” from what you are saying, “you will surely be among those stoned.” Muqatil and al-Kalbi said: among those killed by stoning. Al-Dahhak said: among those insulted.