Tafseer of Hud · Hud · 11:36
And it was revealed to Noah that, "No one will believe from your people except those who have already believed, so do not be distressed by what they have been doing.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the word of Allah the Exalted: وَأُوحِيَ إِلَى نُوحٍ أَنَّهُ لَنْ يُؤْمِنَ مِنْ قَوْمِكَ إِلا مَنْ قَدْ آمَنَ فَلا تَبْتَئِسْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْعَلُونَ ("And it was revealed to Noah that none of your people will believe except those who have already believed. So do not be distressed by what they did.") (36)
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah the Exalted says: Allah revealed to Noah, after the word concerning his people had been decreed and the decree of Allah had encompassed them, that no one, O Noah, will believe in Allah and affirm His oneness and follow you in what you call him to ("of your people except those who have already believed"), and has confirmed him and followed you. ("So do not be distressed") — He says: Do not be downcast and grieved ("by what they did"), for I will destroy them and save you and those of them who followed you. Allah revealed that to him after Noah had invoked a curse upon them and had said: رَبِّ لا تَذَرْ عَلَى الأَرْضِ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ دَيَّارًا ("My Lord, do not leave upon the earth any inhabitant from among the disbelievers") (Sūrah Nūḥ: 26).
It is the "tafaʿʿul" form derived from "al-buʾs" (misery); one says: "So-and-so was distressed about the matter, he is distressed," as Labīd ibn Rabīʿa said:
"In a mourning gathering like the gazelles of Ṣāra, distressed by what has befallen us."
Opinions in agreement with what we have said have been expressed by the interpreters of the Qurʾān (ahl al-taʾwīl).
Mention of those who said this:
18121 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: ("So do not be distressed"), he said: do not be grieved.
18122 — Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid; and al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbdallāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: the same.
18123 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: ("So do not be distressed by what they did"), he said: do not be grieved.
18124 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: ("So do not be distressed by what they did"), he said: do not be sorrowful and do not be grieved.
18125 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the word: ("And it was revealed to Noah that none of your people will believe except those who have already believed") — this was after he had invoked a curse upon them and had said: رَبِّ لا تَذَرْ عَلَى الأَرْضِ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ دَيَّارًا (Sūrah Nūḥ: 26). Concerning the word: ("So do not be distressed") — he said: do not be sorrowful and do not be grieved.
18126 — It was related to me from al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying, he said: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning the word: ("none of your people will believe except those who have already believed") — only then did he curse his people, after Allah had made clear to him that none of his people would believe except those who had already believed.
