Surah Ash-Shu'ara 26:111

The Demand of the People of Nuh and His Response

They said: "We do not believe in you, and we will not follow you and become equal to the meanest of the people, who follow you and believe in you, and they are the lowest among us."

(They said: "Shall we believe in you, when the inferior follow you" He said: "And what knowledge have I of what they used to do") meaning, `what does it have to do with me if they follow me No matter what they used to do before, I do not have to check on them and examine their background; all I have to do is accept it if they believe in me; whatever is in their hearts is for Allah to know.'

(Their account is only with my Lord, if you could (but) know. And I am not going to drive away the believers.) It seems that they asked him to drive these people away, then they would follow him, but he refused to do that, and said:

(And I am not going to drive away the believers. I am only a plain warner.) meaning, `I have been sent as a warner, and whoever obeys me and follows me and believes in me, then he belongs to me and I to him, whether he is noble or common, upper-class or lower-class.'

Ayat ini menjelaskan sikap kaumnya terhadap seruan Nabi Nuh. Mereka mengatakan bahwa tidak ada alasan bagi mereka untuk mengikuti seruan Nuh karena orang-orang yang cerdik pandai dan berakal di antara mereka tidak ada yang tertarik dengan seruan itu apalagi para pemimpin mereka. Hanya orang-orang yang bodoh dan lemah atau orang-orang yang menginginkan sesuatu yang mau menjadi pengikut Nabi Nuh. Allah berfirman:

Maka berkatalah para pemuka yang kafir dari kaumnya, "Kami tidak melihat engkau, melainkan hanyalah seorang manusia (biasa) seperti kami, dan kami tidak melihat orang yang mengikuti engkau, melainkan orang yang hina-dina di antara kamu yang lekas percaya. Kami tidak melihat kamu memiliki suatu kelebihan apa pun atas kami, bahkan kami menganggap kamu adalah orang pendusta." (Hud/11: 27)