Nuh (AS) “Noah” and the Flood – Part 1

I seek refuge with Allah from the cursed Satan.  In the name of Allah the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.  We praise Allah, thank Him, seek His help, guidance and forgiveness.  We seek refuge in Allah from the evil in our selves and the sinfulness of our deeds.  Allah says what can be translated as, "He whom Allah guides, is the rightly-guided; but he whom He sends astray, you will find no guiding advocate.".

Before we start, I would like to say that the presence of all these young people who are worried about their religion is something that makes you feel delightful and greatly hopeful!  It makes you feel that good still exists although you read in newspapers and see in the streets that young people are quite far from their religion.  Seeing all these young faces that really care about obeying Allah makes one’s faith grow stronger and stronger in his heart!  It makes you believe that Allah will certainly reward this Ummah (Nation).  Good will be existing in this Ummah until the last day, and that is why I ask you to preserve yourselves, stay firm and obey Allah (SWT)[1].  Beware of sins and if you fall, repent!  Never feel helpless.  Try to guide your friends.  I see in front of me young people with pure faces and strong bodies, and that should give you confidence about the future of Islam and the Muslims.  We do hope that Allah (SWT) will use these young people for the welfare of our Ummah and religion.

Let us go back to Prophet Nuh (AS), and before you leave today, you will be loving him and feel quite devoted to him.  He spent 950 years doing Da’wa (an invitation calling people to the path of Allah).  I wonder if any of you has invited someone during this week.  Has anyone put into practice all the things we have previously talked about?  Does anyone feel yearning for his religion as much as Prophet Nuh (AS) did?  He did not do that for just a week – a period during which we forgot and became halfhearted – but he endured for almost a thousand years.  How shameful of us to become halfhearted after a week’s time while Prophet Nuh (AS) persevered for centuries! Non stop work!  Our religion deserves all this endurance and patience.  He had been calling for Allah (SWT) for almost ten centuries while we worry about 30 or 40 years.  You even find a twenty-year-old giving up on people while he/she had just started.  This is the essence of today’s session.

What did his people do to him? 

We said last time that he endured many trials: Physically harming and hitting him, humiliation, mockery, false accusations, once accused of being a liar and another time of being insane.  On other occasions, they threatened to stone him as stated in the Qur’an, Allah says what can be translated as, “They said, “Indeed, decidedly in case you do not refrain, O N‍uh, (Noah) indeed you will definitely be one of the stoned.”  (TMQ, 26: 116) [2].  At other times they would tell him as Allah says what can be translated as, “The chiefs of his people said, “Surely we indeed see you in evident error.”  (TMQ, 7: 60), or, as Allah says what can be translated as, “Decidedly he is nothing except a man (seized) by a madness.” (TMQ, 23: 25), or they would make fun of him as Allah says what can be translated as “…whenever (some) chiefs of his people passed by him, they scoffed at him.” (TMQ, 11:38).

All that happened so many times!  On the other hand, you feel offended quickly when a friend of yours makes fun of you!  You would say, “I was humiliated, I will never talk to anyone about religion!” Days, years and centuries went on and Prophet Nuh (AS) persevered in his call to Allah (SWT) in spite of all the hardships he endured!  His people also persevered in their disavowal, generation after generation, to the extent that a father - at the moment of his death – would will his sons into disavowal!  Can you see how huge the difference is between our situation nowadays and that of Prophet Nuh (AS)?  He was faced with a vehement disavowal while we live among people who love religion!  Our situation is far better than his and hope for us is much greater.

Let us consider together the ayahs (verses) of Surat Nuh in details.  I insist on opening the Qur’an together so that we would learn together how to deal with it.  This is our operator’s manual.  I know how to use it, I even don’t need to look up the index, and I know ‘Nuh’ is in chapter 29.  Let us then read it together and see Prophet Nuh’s endeavor:

In the fifth ayah,  we feel that Nuh (AS) is standing before Allah (SWT) after a thousand years recounting what he did in trying to guide his people saying that he did his best and could not do more than that.  What about you?  Will you be able to find as many good arguments as Prophet Nuh’s while accounting for your deeds before Allah (SWT) on the Day of Judgment?  Listen to what he said, Allah says what can be translated as, “He said, “Lord! Surely I have called my people by night and by daytime,” (TMQ, 71:5).  I was working day and night.  It made no difference for me whether it was day or night nor that others were sleeping while I was awake!  Allah says what can be translated as, “Yet my calling increased them (in nothing) except in flight.”(TMQ, 71:6).  You see the result? Allah says what can be translated as, “And surely whenever I call them that You may forgive them, they set (Literally: made “up”) their fingers in their ears, and enveloped themselves with their clothes, and persisted, and waxed proud (with insolent) arrogance (Literally: in “arrogant” pride).”(TMQ, 71:7).  Consider the word “whenever”, that is I never stopped, I worked continuously, I did not care whether my people were busy or did not listen to me! Can you see the extent of their obstinacy?  In spite of all this, I kept trying and decided to talk to them through gestures.  However, they covered their faces with their clothes so that they would not see me.  Allah says what can be translated as, “and enveloped themselves with their clothes, and persisted, and waxed proud (with insolent) arrogance (Literally: in “arrogant” pride).” (TMQ, 71:7).  Again I did not give up and tried something else, so, I talked in a loud voice with hope that they would listen to me, Allah says what can be translated as, “Thereafter, surely I called them aloud,” (TMQ, 71:8).  Faced to this persevering disavowal, Prophet Nuh (AS) diversified his means of da’wa, this may teach us not to use one single means of da’wa but try to diversify as much as possible.  Allah says what can be translated as, “Thereafter, surely I called them publicly, and I secretly (spoke) to them in private (Literally: in secret “conversation”).” (TMQ, 71:9).  What a perseverance and love for his religion!

Does anyone love Islam in this same way?  Is anyone ready to devote 60 years trying to guide people thus making of da’wa his lifetime cause?  I have previously given you the examples of five categories of religious people and I want to come back to this issue once again today:

The first category, which is rare among religious people, contains people who just listen, who are ready to attend any religious lesson or conference, and have a huge amount of information about religion.  Nevertheless, they do not make good use of all of this.  The only relationship they have with religion is their ears and nothing else.  They do not pray, nor do they reflect on the sins they commits!  Unfortunately, some youth are like this and I hope that none of the people who are present today are from this category of religious people.

A better category than the previous one contains people who perform prayer, fast in Ramadan and do not commit major sins, but their hearts are not with Allah (SWT).  They are quite satisfied with this and do not feel the need to progress.

The third category of religious people perform prayer, fast in Ramadan and avoid major sins just as the second one but exceed them by trying to get nearer and nearer to Allah (SWT).  They are trying to sublimate themselves all the time.  This, of course, has nothing to do with age.  Therefore, this may be the case of a fifty-year-old person and just youth!

The fourth category is the same as the third one in their quest for Allah’s love and their closeness to Him, but with some differences: in addition to their elevated religiosity, these people try to guide others!

The fifth and highest category includes those people whose only desire is to please Allah (SWT).  Therefore, everything they do is intended for the sake of Allah (SWT).  They study, work, make the best homes, raise their children, try to promote themselves into a high social level, earn a lot of money, etc., all with a unique aim: getting closer and closer to Allah (SWT) and gaining His love and satisfaction!  We are telling the story of Prophet Nuh (AS) who fits in the fifth category because we want to aspire to be in this category.  If we want to be the same as the people of the fifth category; the same as Nuh (AS), we have to love our religion beyond anything else!

One of the companions of the Prophet (SAWS)[3] called Bura’ Ibn-Malek (the brother of Anas Ibn-Malek) said, “I will die as Islam is dignified!”  That is, I will devote my entire life to my religion so that when I die I will leave it honored and dignified!  What a statement al-Bara made!

The first lesson we get from these five ayahs is the importance of da’wa!  You may think it is a difficult task since there are a lot of unveiled girls and young people who are beginners in prayer among the people you know.  However, da’wa indeed is quite an easy thing to do. Da’wa means you invite your friends, neighbors and relatives to the call of Allah (SWT).  Have you ever tried to guide them or help them step at least one step towards Allah?  Simply this is what is meant by doing da’wa!

Some people would say that they could not do da’wa because they know very little about religion, but the Prophet (SAWS) says, “If you know just one verse you have to relay it to others”. (Authentic Hadith, narrated by Bukhari, al-Jamie al-Sahih, 3461).  Take for example, if you know the importance of prayer and the risk taken by those who do not perform prayer, and if some of your friends do not perform it, tell them about it.  If you can not tell them so you are quite far from Prophet Nuh’s way!  The Imam Ahmad Ibn-Hanbal said, “If one hears about something, he has the knowledge of it!”  You are not asked to talk about things you do not know you just relay what you have heard.  Didn’t you come to attend this lecture?  Haven’t you heard about paradise, hell, the Day of Judgment, and Allah’s mercy? Then tell your friends!  This is what is meant by da’wa!

On the other hand, other people say they do not do da’wa because they need to improve their faith.  They say they will do it once their faith is perfect!  Scholars say that a person can not delay doing da’wa until his faith is complete because he may either die before he can reach this end or, he may come one day and say my faith is complete now and I am ready to do da’wa, which is a sign of aberrance and arrogance! Therefore, it is important to do da’wa now; otherwise you will die before your belief is complete!

Others say that they understand they have to do da’wa even if they do not know much about their religion.  However, they are reluctant because they can not get rid of sin!  Experience has shown me that the best way to get rid of sins is calling people to the path of Allah (SWT), because whenever you guide someone this helps you elevate yourself beyond sins.  When you tell your friends to lower their gaze or to perform the fajr prayer (prayer at dawn) you will feel ashamed of yourself and then start performing fajr yourself!  Therefore, it will be a good means for your own elevation.  Many youths ask me how they can get rid of a certain sin, so I tell them do da’wa; that is the best solution for your problem.  You have to know that there is no other way to reach elevation but through da’wa!  You will guide people and get experienced through time, then, Allah (SWT) will make you rise to a rank you will never reach through worship on its own! You may not believe but try and you will see.  Some of you may argue that they can not guide people when they have sins of their own using the following ayah in which Allah says what can be translated as, “Do you command mankind to benignancy and forget yourselves,” (TMQ, 2:44).  Here, the prohibition concerns people who forget themselves when they guide others and have no intention to elevate themselves. 

Therefore, da’wa requires intense passion and great love for your religion.  If you desperately love your religion you will be able to achieve what Prophet Nuh (AS) achieved.  Look at Abu-Huraira, his mother was not a Muslim and he really wanted her to convert into Islam. Whenever he talked to her about Islam, she refused.  He felt bad about it and went crying to the Prophet (SAWS), he said, “Oh Allah’s apostle, I call my mother to the path of Allah but she refuses.  I have asked her today to worship Allah (SWT) but she uttered very bad words about you.  Do supplicate to Allah (SWT), O Allah’s apostle, to guide Um Abu-Huraira.”  Then, the Prophet (SAWS) held up his hands and said, “O Allah, grant the mother of Abu-Huraira guidance.” Abu-Huraira said, “Then, I went home and knocked the door and heard her say from inside, “Wait, Abu-Huraira.”  Then she opened the door and said, “O Abu-Huraira, there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet”!” Authentic Hadith- Muslim 2491. How amazing! Did you notice how passionate Abu-Huraira was about his religion?

I will tell you now an amazing true story!  I know someone who had a friend who was quite astray from the path of Allah (SWT), and I mean really far with many sins, but as he loved him so much, he wanted Allah to grant him guidance.  He told me he did a Umrah (minor pilgrimage) just for the sake of his friend; he wanted to supplicate to Allah (SWT) there to guide him to His path.  Can you imagine this?  Someone doing Umrah for the sake of a friend!  When he came back after a two week’s time, he found his friend completely changed.  He had stopped taking drugs, started praying in the mosque, and memorized five chapters of the Qur’an!  Glory to Allah, who answers supplications.  When the heart is deeply moved, Allah (SWT) responds to people’s invocation!

We need to learn how to love from Prophet Nuh (AS).  We need to learn real concern for our religion.  Let us listen to some ayahs and Ahadith that will make you love guiding people!  Allah says what can be translated as, “You have been the most charitable nation brought out to mankind…” Why?  Because, Allah continues the ayah in what can be translated as, “…you command beneficence, and forbid maleficence, and believe in Allah.” (TMQ, 3:110).  Listen to the Prophet (SAWS), “Religion is advice!” We said, “To whom O Allah’s Apostle?” He answered, “To Allah, His book, His prophet, scholars and the commons.” (Authentic Hadith, Muslim: 55).

There is another Hadith of the Prophet (SAWS) that may frighten you and make you reflect on your relationship with your neighbors and family.  How can I guide them?  First of all, I have to improve my relationship with them, I have to love them and endear myself to them; for instance, in your residence, you should try to knock at the doors of your neighbors, get acquainted with them and have a better relationship with them before talking to them about religion!  Get closer to your sister before talking to her about wearing the Hijab (the veil, a head scarf).  Be dutiful with your parents before telling them to do this or that!  The Prophet (SAWS) said, “Command beneficence and forbid maleficence or Allah will send you a punishment that when you invoke him, He won’t respond to your supplications!” (Good Hadith, Albaghawi (Sharh as-Sunna): 357).  Thus, if you notice that you invoke Allah (SWT) and do not receive any response, then know that one of the reasons is that you do not try to guide the people around you!  What is the use of attending lectures if you do not do da’wa?  You have to know that da’wa was the Prophets’ role and that when you try to guide the people around you, you are doing exactly the same job as Prophets! See how merciful Allah is?

Believe me when I tell you that once you succeed in guiding a person, you get a very nice feeling!  One of the succeeding scholars said, “Whenever I helped someone to the path of Allah and He responds to me I would get satisfied and feel no need for food nor drink!   I am quite sure that those who have brought friends with them to this lecture are delighted for they are anticipating their guidance Insha’ Allah.  This is indeed a sign of faith.  On the other hand, those who do not care about whether other people are guided or not, have little faith in their hearts.  If their love for Allah (SWT) was more truthful, they would have certainly cared about guiding people to Allah!

I am telling you all this to make you love helping people around you.  The reward you can get from guiding to Allah is a reason more than enough.  Do you know your reward?  The Prophet (SAWS) said, “O Ali, if one man is guided on the right path (i.e. converted to Islam) through you, it would be better for you than (a great number of) red camels.” (Authentic Hadith, al-Bukhari: 2942).  That is much better than owing expensive cars, houses, etc.

Try da’wa and you will see!  You have to start first with your kinship, your wife, your children and your neighbors.  Gather the family around a lunch, for our families are getting dislocated.  Endear yourself to them and to their children, and take care of them.

Try to imitate Prophet Nuh (AS), who worked for a thousand years.  This does not mean that you go to people and shout at them and force them to do what you want!  Absolutely not, you have to love them first and then guide them according to your capacity.  Sit down and think of how you can guide your friend.  Invoke Allah while prostrating during the night prayer to guide the people around you.  Ask other people to invoke Allah (SWT) for them, you can even make a Umrah, if possible, for this purpose, etc.  Make it the purpose of your life and you will consider life differently, and therefore it will become much more beautiful!

Most people do not understand the reason behind their existence!  We exist in order to be Allah’s vicegerents on earth, to guide people to the right path.  Moreover, if a person is guided to the right path through you, then you will get the equivalent of all his/her good deeds on the balance of your own deeds!  For instance, if you guide someone to salah (prayer), then all his prayers will be counted within your good deeds, even after your death, in addition to the good deeds of all those people he/she might guide later.  Can you imagine the amount of reward you will get? Therefore, although you may not be sure about your good deeds, you can be sure about the good deeds of the person you have guided!  All the good deeds of the people of Egypt - prayer, lectures and all the other acts of worship - are and will be on the balance of the good deeds of Amr Ibnul-`Âs, because he was the one who introduced Islam to Egypt!  Can you imagine how his balance will be?  Of course, you can not.  It is impossible to imagine such a thing!  Don’t feel envy, but wish that other people’s good deeds be on your balance!

Let us go back to Surat Nuh.  We stopped at the tenth ayah, Allah says what can be translated as, “So I have said.” (TMQ, 71: 10). Be careful about what follows, it is a very important passage.  I have been urging you to do da’wa but you do not know what you will be telling people.  The next passage will tell you what to say.  You may think that you are not concerned with what Nuh (AS) told his people because it happened a long time ago.  Of course not, here the Qur’an is teaching you through Prophet Nuh (AS), so, let us understand and imitate what Prophet Nuh (AS) focused on in his da’wa so that we could do the same.  Open the Qur’an at Surat Nuh and let us consider the ayahs part by part!

Allah says what can be translated as, “So I have said, 'Ask forgiveness of your Lord; surely He has been (The) Superb Forgiver;” (TMQ, 71: 10).   The thing Prophet Nuh (AS) focused on was Allah’s forgiveness.  He focused on Allah’s mercy rather than His punishment!  Which implies that when I talk to people about religion for the first time, I should not mention hell.  Some people understand Islam the wrong way.  They shout at people and talk to them aggressively, arguing that they do this out of concern for religion.  Indeed they are wrong.  Da’wa does not rely upon violence, terrorizing, impelling nor forcing.  On the contrary, it relies on the hope for Allah’s forgiveness!  Talk to them about mercy and hope.  Don’t close all the doors before them and then ask them to respond to you!

I remember once I was talking to two young people about religion and one of them was quite aberrant.  He did not perform prayer and used to commit a lot of sins.  We were standing next to a fair from where we heard a lot of shouting and screaming.  The other young person wanted to guide the aberrant young man, so he told him, “Do you know what this screaming reminds me of?” He answered him, “No, what does it remind you of?” He told him, “It reminds me of the screaming of people in hellfire!”  Of course, the young man’s face reddened and he replied innocently, “I come everyday here to have some fun!”  So our friend told him, “Remember then, when you are having fun here the people in hellfire scream in the same way as you do!”  What a bad approach!

Look at what Allah (SWT) told Musa (AS) (Moses).  Allah says what can be translated as, “So speak (you both) leniently (Literally: say a lenient) to him, that possibly he would remind himself or would be apprehensive.” (TMQ, 20:44).  We are not those who urge people to guide others with violence, but with kindness, clemency and smoothness.  It is Allah’s approach.  It was His approach even with Firaawn (Pharaoh)!  Once there came a man to Harun ar-Rasheed blaming him vehemently, so Harun told him, “I am not worse than Firaawn while you are not better than Musa (AS), and Allah told Musa about Firaawnn what can be translated as, ‘So speak (you both) leniently (Literally: say a lenient) to him…’! (TMQ, 20:44)  Why don’t you talk to me with gentleness?  What an approach!

Therefore, if your parents need guidance, beware of quarreling with them.  On the contrary, be loving with them because Islam is love.  It is a religion that tries to bring hearts closer to each other!  We, as Muslims, have to understand our religion this way.  Furthermore, if your sister does not wear Hijab, never be harsh on her; but endear yourself to her, get closer to her, and try to find out about her problems! Try to understand together why she does not wear Hijab.  Guide her smoothly and invoke Allah (SWT) for her.  This is the right approach of da’wa.  There is no violence, nor rudeness in our religion!

The Imam Abu-Hanifa (leader of the hanafi school of religious jurisprudence) had a drunkard neighbor.  Every night, Abu-Hanifa performed Qiyam (night prayer) while his drunk neighbor was raving all night long repeating the same words, “They caused my forfeiture.”  It was clear that the young man had some family problems.  One day, the police came and arrested him.  Of course, Abu-Hanifa was waiting for an opportunity like this to call him on the right path.  When you want to guide someone you have to always look out for the right time, because some people are hard to convince.  You may do your best to guide them but they do not respond.  However, everyone has moments of his life where he is more vulnerable.  They can be moments of illness or problems; and these moments are most suitable for talking about religion!  After the drunkard neighbor was arrested, Abu-Hanifa went to the police station, begged them to release him and promised he will not do that again.  Abu-Hanifa kept silent all the way home.  Abu-Hanifa kept silent so that the young man would reflect on all what was happening to him.  Once they arrived home, he asked him, “Have I caused your forfeiture.” The young man answered, “I swear you have not, and from now on I will not drink wine anymore.”  Look at the angle from which he came.

Let us go back to the ayah, Allah says what can be translated as, “So I have said, Ask forgiveness of your Lord; surely He has been (The) Superb Forgiver;”(TMQ; 71:10)  After he talked about the sweetness of expiation (asking forgiveness) and the reward we get from it,  Allah says what can be translated as, “He will send down on you (rain) from the heaven showering plentifully, And He will supply you with riches and sons, (Or: seeds) and will set up (Literally: make) for you gardens, and will set up for you rivers.”(TMQ, 71:11-12).  Unexpected blessing is the reward for expiation!  Those who are suffering from social and economic problems, instead of complaining, stick to expiation!  Do you believe it or not?  Does anyone have any doubts?

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