Ash-Shu'ara · Makki · ayah 117 of 227

Ash-Shu'ara 26:117

قَالَ رَبِّ إِنَّ قَوْمِى كَذَّبُونِ

“He said, "My Lord, indeed my people have denied me.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Threatened with stoning, Nuh turns to his Lord and names one wound only: that his own people called the truth a lie.

A reflection

He left the stones out of it

A warehouse supervisor discovers that a colleague has been stealing stock. When he confronts him, the man swears at him, mocks his accent and shoves him against a shelf. That evening the supervisor writes his report to head office. It sets out the missing stock, the dates and the evidence. It says nothing about the shove or the insults. Asked why, he shrugs. 'That part was about me. The report is about the stock.'

Nuh had just been told he would be stoned (26:116). That was a death threat, aimed at him personally. Yet when he turns to his Lord, he does not mention it. He says only: my people have denied me.

Several commentators stop on this choice. Nuh was not informing Allah, who knows the unseen and the seen. One explains what he did mean. I am not calling on You against them because they enraged me and hurt me. I call on You for Your sake and for Your religion, because they denied me in Your revelation. Another adds that he named the denial of truth, not their threats and contempt.

This is a high standard of character. Most of us, wronged, lead with the injury to ourselves. Our complaints are full of what was said to us and how it felt. The principle underneath, if there is one, is buried under the grievance.

Nuh's prayer suggests a quiet test before we complain, to Allah or to anyone. What is this really about? If it is about my pride, I can let some of it go. If it is about the truth, I can speak of the truth without dragging my bruises into it.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.