The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 134
CH. 11 HŪD PT. 12 قف وَيَصْحُ الْفُلْكَ وَكُلَّمَا مَرَّ عَلَيْهِ مَلَاً ;And he was making the Ark. 39 مِنْ قَوْمِهِ سَخِرُ وا مِنْهُ قَالَ إِنْ people passed by him, they and every time the chiefs of his mocked at him. He said, 'If now تَسْخَرُوا مِنَّا فَإِنَّا نَسْخَرُ مِنْكُمْ كَمَا you mock at us, the time is تَسْخَرُونَ coming when we shall mock at you even just as you mock now. 1420 people of Our house," because those who are near and dear to a Prophet are also dear to God. Noah was bidden to build an ark with the aid of the people of God's spiritual house (for spiritually the followers of a Prophet belong to God's own house). Taking the word in the sense of one's "protection" or "honour," the sentence would mean, "Make thou the Ark under Our protection," meaning that Noah's adversaries would jeer and mock at the building of the Ark, but he should pay no heed to their mockery, for he would be protected and honoured by God. The verse may also allude to two kinds of arks, the physical ark which was to be built by Noah with the help of his followers, and the spiritual ark i. e. the ark of righteousness which God had bestowed on Noah's followers through him. Truly speaking, it is only the spiritual ark that can help to save a person from the punishment of God. The words, address not Me concerning the wrongdoers, also show that Noah's prayer for the destruction of his people mentioned in 71:27, 28 was not offered by him at his own initiative, for when he 1342 himself was praying for the destruction of the wrongdoers, there was no occasion for God to order him not to pray for their deliverance. 1420. Commentary: Messengers of God are always mocked at because they bring teachings which the people of their time are not prepared to accept. But these people never pause to consider that if heavenly Messengers were not entrusted with extraordinary work, there would be no need for God to send Messengers. It is only because man, in spite of his intellectual attainments, cannot rid himself of his manifold troubles and because the cure which, with the help of his and knowledge, he experience devises brings him no relief that God sends His Messengers for guidance and deliverance, and as the remedy which they suggest is out of the ordinary, it naturally appears strange to him and he begins to ridicule and mock at it. But despite this jeering and ridicule, Divine Messengers and their followers succeed in attaining their goal, while their opponents make fools of themselves and incur God's displeasure. his