29. Surah Al-'Ankabut (The Spider)

Period Uncertain

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا إِلَى قَوْمِهِ...

29: 14. We (once) sent Noah to his people,

...فَلَبِثَ فِيهِمْ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ إِلَّا خَمْسِينَ عَامًا...

and he tarried among them a thousand years less fifty:

C3437. The story of Noah and his Flood is not told here. It is told in other places; e.g., see 11:25-48 or 26:105-122.

It is only referred to here to point out that Noah's period lasted a long time, 950 years. (Cf. Gen. 9:28-29, where his whole age is declared to have been 950 years, of which 350 years were after the Flood).

In spite of this long period, his contemporaries failed to listen, and they were destroyed.

But the story of the Ark remains an everlasting Sign and Warning to mankind-a Sign of deliverance to the righteous and of destruction to the wicked.

...فَأَخَذَهُمُ الطُّوفَانُ وَهُمْ ظَالِمُونَ ﴿١٤﴾

but the Deluge overwhelmed them while they (persisted in) sin.

فَأَنجَيْنَاهُ وَأَصْحَابَ السَّفِينَةِ...

29: 15. But We saved him and the Companions of the Ark,

...وَجَعَلْنَاهَا آيَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ ﴿١٥﴾

and We made the (Ark) a Sign for all Peoples!

Asad’s Version:

29:14

AND, INDEED, [in times long past] We sent forth Noah unto his people," and he dwelt among them a thousand years bar fifty; 12 and then the floods overwhelmed them while they were still lost in evildoing:

(29:15) but We saved him, together with all who were in the ark, which We then set up as a symbol [of Our grace] for all people [to remember].

[[ Asad’s note - 12 Sc, "and despite this great length of time was unable to convince them of the truth of his mission" . The identical figure - 950 years - is given in the Bible (Genesis ix, 29) as Noah's life-span. By repeating this element of the Biblical legend, the Qur'an merely stresses the fact that the duration of a prophet's mission has nothing to do with its success or failure, since "all true guidance is God's guidance" (3:73) - and, as we are so often told in the Qur'an, "God guides [only] him that wills [to be guided]". Thus, the reference to Noah is meant to reassure the believer who may be

distressed at seeing the majority of his fellow-men refuse to accept, all at once, a truth which appears self-evident to him. ]]