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Sūrat Nūḥ (Noah) is said to be a very early Makkan revelation, likely sent down at a time of heightened animosity and opposition from the disbelieving Quraysh. Like the Messenger ﷺ was doing amongst Quraysh, Nūḥ had also warned his people, but they were ultimately destroyed when they ignored the call to Islam.
When the 71st sūrah of the Quran is organized holistically, it appears to form a mirror structure.
CONNECTIONS
[A]/[A’] – The sūrah begins with Nūḥ warning his people of a painful punishment that could come their way if they don’t believe in Allah ﷻ. The sūrah ends with Nūḥ himself calling the punishment down on his people. He begs Allah ﷻ to destroy his own nation after their years of rejection.
[B]/[B’] – The next section outlines Nūḥ’s call to faith. He exhorted his people to worship and “obey” Allah ﷻ, and in exchange they would have been forgiven their sins, given provisions from the sky, granted “wealth” and blessed with “children,” amongst other favors. The corresponding section informs us of how Nūḥ’s people rejected the invitation to believe. They “disobeyed” Nūḥ and instead followed those who could not give them “wealth” nor “child,” except in terms of loss.
[C]/[C’] – The center is a juxtaposition between the sky and its heavenly bodies, and the Earth and its spacious lands. It also represents the transition between the otherworldly and the worldly messaging of the sūrah. The first half is about Nūḥ calling his people to worship Allah ﷻ in order to benefit their afterlife. The second half embodies the rejection of the hereafter in preference for this earthly life. In return, the disbelievers are punished through means of this world and therefore lose in both this life and the next.
There are also a couple of mini-structures worth sharing from sections [A] and [A’].
CONNECTIONS
[A1]/[A1’] – Section [A] begins and concludes with the warning (andhir/nadhīr) from both Allah ﷻ and Nūḥ.
[A2] – At the center answers what is being warned about.
CONNECTIONS
[A3]/[A3’] – The concluding section of the sūrah has at its beginning and ending a prayer for the total destruction of the disbelievers.
[A4]/[A4’] – We see a contrast between the wickedness of the parents being so intense that it is a vehicle through which disbelief is passed down through the kids for generations, and the apparent goodness of Nūḥ’s parents (such that he prays for their forgiveness), those believers in his family, as well as the general community of believers.
[A5] – The center is Nūḥ’s prayer for himself. He doesn’t neglect his own spiritual state even with the depravity on display around him.
And Allah ﷻ knows best.
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Exploring the Divine Structure and Coherence of the Quran. Join us as we dismantle the myth of the "disjointed" and "random" organization of Islam's Revealed Text.