Surah Al-Anbya 21:76

Nuh and His People

Allah tells us how He responded to His servant and Messenger Nuh, peace be upon him, when he prayed to Him against his people for their disbelief in him:

(Then he invoked his Lord (saying): "I have been overcome, so help (me)!") 54:10

(And Nuh said: "My Lord! Leave not any inhabitant of the disbelievers on the earth! If You leave them, they will mislead Your servants, and they will beget none but wicked disbelievers) 71:26-27. So Allah says here,

(And (remember) Nuh, when he cried (to Us) aforetime. We answered to his invocation and saved him and his family) meaning, those who believed with him, as Allah says elsewhere:

(...and your family -- except him against whom the Word has already gone forth -- and those who believe. And none believed with him, except a few) 11: 40.

(from the great dis- tress.) meaning, from difficulty, rejection and harm. For he remained among them for one thousand years less fifty, calling them to Allah, and no one had believed in him except for a few. His people were plotting against him and advising one another century after century, generation after generation, to oppose him.

(We helped him against the people) means, `We saved him and helped him against the people,'

(who denied Our Ayat. Verily, they were a people given to evil. So We drowned them all.) meaning, Allah drowned them all, and not one of them was left on the face of the earth, as their Prophet had prayed would happen to them.

Dengan ayat ini Allah mengingatkan Rasulullah dan kaum Muslimin kepada kisah Nabi Nuh a.s., yang disebut sebagai bapak kedua bagi umat manusia. Jauh sebelum Nabi Muhammad, bahkan sebelum Nabi Ibrahim dan Lut, Nabi Nuh telah diutus Allah sebagai Rasul-Nya. Karena keingkaran kaumnya yang amat sangat, sehingga mereka tidak memperdulikan seruannya kepada agama Allah, akhirnya ia berdoa kepada Tuhan:

Dan Nuh berkata, "Ya Tuhanku, janganlah Engkau biarkan seorang pun di antara orang-orang kafir itu tinggal di atas bumi. (Nuh/71: 26)

Dan doanya lagi:

"Sesungguhnya aku telah dikalahkan, maka tolonglah (aku)." (al-Qamar/54: 10)

Akan tetapi doa-doa tersebut diucapkannya setelah 950 tahun lamanya ia melakukan dakwahnya, namun kaumnya tetap juga ingkar dan tidak memperdulikan seruannya kepada agama Allah.

Menurut riwayat, Nabi Nuh a.s. diutus Allah menjadi Rasul-Nya pada waktu itu ia berusia 40 tahun. Sesudah terjadinya azab Allah berupa angin taufan dan banjir besar Nabi Nuh masih hidup selama 40 tahun. Dengan demikian, maka diperkirakan usianya mencapai ±1050 tahun.

Dalam ayat ini Allah menerangkan bahwa setelah Nuh a.s. mengucapkan doa-doa tersebut maka Allah mengabulkannya, yaitu dengan menimpakan banjir yang amat dahsyat, sehingga air laut meluap tinggi dan membinasakan negeri tersebut bersama orang-orang yang tidak beriman.

Adapun Nabi Nuh dan keluarganya kecuali istri dan anaknya yang durhaka, serta kaumnya yang beriman, telah diselamatkan Allah dari malapetaka yang dahsyat itu, yaitu dengan sebuah perahu besar yang dibuat Nabi Nuh sebelum terjadinya banjir atas perintah dan petunjuk Allah.