“O my people, I ask you for no wealth in return for this”—that is, for calling you—for you would find such a payment burdensome.
“My reward rests with Allah alone.” It appears that they had asked him to drive away the weak believers, so he told them: “I will not drive away those who believe.” That is neither something I ought to do nor something befitting me. Rather, I receive them warmly and treat them with honor, esteem, and respect. “They will surely meet their Lord,” and He will reward them for their faith and piety with the Gardens of Bliss.
“Rather, I see that you are an ignorant people,” for you command me to drive away Allah’s devoted servants and distance them from me; you reject the truth because they follow it; and you argue that the truth is false by saying that I am merely a human being like you and that we possess no superiority over you.
“O my people, who would protect me from Allah if I drove them away?” That is, who could shield me from His punishment? Driving them away would incur a punishment and chastisement from which no one besides Allah could offer protection.
“Will you not then take heed” of what is most beneficial and best for you, and reflect upon matters?
“I do not tell you that I possess the treasuries of Allah, nor do I know the unseen, nor do I say that I am an angel.” That is, I am only a messenger of Allah to you, bringing you glad tidings and warning you. Beyond that, I have no control over anything. Allah’s treasuries are not in my possession for me to administer, giving to whomever I please and withholding from whomever I please. “Nor do I know the unseen,” such that I could inform you of your secrets and innermost thoughts. “Nor do I say that I am an angel.” In other words, I claim neither a rank above my own nor a station other than the one in which Allah has placed me, and I do not judge people on the basis of conjecture.
“Nor do I say of those upon whom your eyes look down”—that is, the weak believers whom the disbelieving chiefs despised—“that Allah will never grant them any good. Allah knows best what is within them.” If they are sincere in their faith, abundant good awaits them; and if they are otherwise, their reckoning rests with Allah.
“Indeed, I would then”—if I were to say any of those things to you—“surely be among the wrongdoers.” In this, he—peace be upon him—made his people despair of any hope that he would cast out or detest the poor believers, while presenting them with arguments sufficient to convince anyone fair-minded.
When they saw that he would not desist from calling them and that they could not obtain what they wanted from him, “they said, ‘O Noah, you have disputed with us and prolonged our dispute. So bring upon us what you threaten us with, if you are truthful’”—meaning the punishment. How ignorant and misguided they were to address their sincere prophet in this manner!
Had they been sincere, why did they not say: “O Noah, you have counseled us sincerely, shown concern for us, and called us to something that is not yet clear to us. We therefore want you to explain it to us so that we may follow you. Otherwise, you still deserve our thanks for your sincere counsel.” This would have been the fair response of anyone invited to something that remained unclear to him. Instead, they lied in what they said and behaved insolently toward their prophet. They did not answer his words with even the slightest doubt, let alone refute them with proof.
Because of their ignorance and wrongdoing, they instead demanded that the punishment be hastened and presumed they could thwart Allah. Noah—peace be upon him—therefore replied: “Allah alone will bring it upon you if He wills.” That is, if His will and wisdom require that He send it down upon you, He will do so. “You cannot thwart Allah,” and I myself have no control over anything.
“My sincere counsel will not benefit you, however much I desire to counsel you, if Allah intends to lead you astray.” Allah’s will prevails. If He intends to lead you astray because you rejected the truth, then even if I exerted my utmost effort and offered you the most sincere counsel—as indeed he did, peace be upon him—it would not benefit you in the least. “He is your Lord”: He does with you whatever He wills and judges concerning you as He desires. “To Him you will be returned,” and He will recompense you for your deeds.
“Or do they say, ‘He fabricated it’?” The pronoun may refer to Noah, since the surrounding passage concerns his account with his people. The meaning would then be that his people claimed that he had fabricated a lie against Allah and falsely attributed to revelation what he claimed came from Allah. Allah therefore commanded him to say: “Say, ‘If I have fabricated it, then my crime is upon me, and I am innocent of the crimes you commit.’” That is, each person bears his own burden, and “no bearer of burdens shall bear the burden of another.”
It is also possible that the pronoun refers to the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in which case this verse is a parenthetical passage within the account of Noah and his people. This account is among those matters known only to the prophets. Thus, when Allah began relating it to His Messenger, as one of the signs proving his truthfulness and messengership, He mentioned his people’s denial of him despite the complete clarity of the matter: “Or do they say, ‘He fabricated it’?” That is, they claim that Muhammad composed this Quran himself. This is one of the most astonishing and baseless of claims. They knew that he had neither read nor written, nor had he traveled away from them to study under the People of the Book; yet he brought this Book and challenged them to produce a single surah like it.
If, despite this, they claimed that he had fabricated it, it became clear that they were obstinately rejecting the truth and that there was no further benefit in debating them. What was appropriate in that situation was to turn away from them. Hence He said: “Say, ‘If I have fabricated it, then my crime is upon me’”—that is, my sin ⦗382⦘ and my lie—“and I am innocent of the crimes you commit.” That is, why then do you persist so obstinately in denying me?
“And it was revealed to Noah: ‘None of your people will ever believe except those who have already believed.’” That is, their hearts had grown hard. “So do not be distressed by what they have been doing.” Do not grieve or concern yourself with them or their deeds, for Allah has come to abhor them and has made them deserving of His inescapable punishment.
“Build the Ark under Our watchful eyes and according to Our revelation”—that is, under Our protection and observation, and in accordance with what pleases Us. “Do not plead with Me concerning those who have done wrong”—that is, do not appeal to Me regarding their destruction. “They will certainly be drowned.” The sentence against them has become due, and the decree concerning them has taken effect.