Surah Nooh (نوح)

In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

BEHOLD. We sent Noah unto his people. [saying:] "Warn thy people ere grievous suffering befall them!

[And Noah] said: "O my people! I am but a plain warner to you, [sent to tell you]

that you should worship God [alone] and be conscious of Him. "Now do pay heed unto me,

so that He may forgive you some of your sins, and grant you respite until a term known [to Him alone]: but, behold, when the term appointed by God does come, it can never be put back - if you but knew it!"

[And after a time, Noah] said: "O my Sustainer! Verily, I have been calling unto my people night and day

but my call has only caused them to flee farther and farther away [from Thee].

And behold, whenever I called unto them with a view to Thy granting them forgiveness, they put their fingers into their ears, and wrapped themselves up in their garments [of sin]; and grew obstinate, and became [yet more] arrogant in their false pride.

"And behold I called unto them openly;

and, behold I preached to them in public; and I spoke to them secretly, in private;

and I said: "'Ask your Sustainer to forgive you your sins - for, verily, He is all-forgiving!

He will shower upon you heavenly blessings abundant,

and will aid you with worldly goods and children, and will bestow upon you gardens, and bestow upon you running waters.

"'What is amiss with you that you cannot look forward to God's majesty,

seeing that He has created [every one of] you in successive stages?

"'Do you not see how God has created seven heavens in full harmony with one another,

and has set up within them the moon as a light [reflected] and set up the sun as a [radiant] lamp?

"'And God has caused you to grow out of the earth in [gradual] growth; and thereafter He will return you to it [in death]:

and [then] He will bring you forth [from It] in resurrection.

"'And God has made the earth a wide expanse for you,

so that you might walk thereon on spacious paths.’"

[And] Noah continued: "O my Sustainer! Behold, they have opposed me [throughout], for they follow people whose wealth and children lead them increasingly into ruin,

and who have devised a most awesome blasphemy [against Thee],

inasmuch as they said [to their followers], 'Do not ever abandon your gods: abandon neither Wadd nor Suwa', and neither Yaghuth nor Ya’uq nor Nasr!'

"And so they have led many a one astray: hence, ordain Thou that these evildoers stray but farther and farther away [from all that they may desire]!"

And so, because of their sins, they were drowned [in the great flood], and were doomed to suffer the fire [of the hereafter]; and they found none who could succour them against God.

And Noah prayed: "O my Sustainer! Leave not on earth any of those who deny the truth:

for, behold, If Thou dost leave them, they will [always try to] lead astray those who worship Thee, and will give birth to nothing but wickedness and stubborn ingratitude.

"O my Sustainer! Grant Thy forgiveness unto me and unto my parents, and unto everyone who enters my house as a believer, and unto all believing men and believing women [of later times]; and grant Thou that the doers of evil shall increasingly meet with destruction!"'