IN the name of the merciful and compassionate God.
Verily, we sent Noah to his people, 'Warn thy people before there come to them a grievous torment!'
Said he, 'O my people! verily, I am to you an obvious warner, that ye serve God and fear Him and obey me. He will pardon you your sins, and will defer you unto an appointed time; verily, God's
appointed time when it comes will not be deferred, did ye but know!'
[5] Said he, 'My Lord! verily, I have called my people by night and day, and my call did but increase them in flight; and, verily, every time I called them, that Thou mightest pardon them, they placed their fingers in their ears and tried to cover themselves with their garments and persisted, and were very big with pride. Then I called them openly; then I published to them and I spoke to them in secret, and I said, "Ask forgiveness of your Lord, verily, He is very forgiving. [10] He will send the rain upon you in torrents, and will extend to you wealth and children, and will make for you gardens, and will make for you rivers. What ails you that ye hope not for something serious from God, when He has created you by steps 1? Do ye not see how God has created the seven heavens in stories, [15] and has set the moon therein for a light, and set the sun for a lamp? and God has made you grow out of the earth, and then He will make you return thereto, and will make you come forth therefrom; and God has made for you the earth a carpet that ye may walk therein in broad paths."'
[20] Said Noah, 'My Lord! verily, they have rebelled against me, and followed him whose wealth and children have but added to his loss, and they have plotted a great plot, and said, "Ye shall surely not leave your gods: ye shall surely neither leave Wadd, nor Suwâ’h, nor YaghûTH, nor Ya’ûq, nor Nasr 2. and they led astray many."' And thou
303:1 See Chapter XXII, verse 5, p. 56. 303:2 For these five idols, see Introduction, p. xii.