71:1  BEHOLD. We sent Noah unto his people. [saying:] "Warn thy people ere grievous suffering befall them

71:2  [And Noah] said: "O my people! I am but a plain warner to you, [sent to tell you]

71:3  that you should worship God [alone] and be conscious of Him. "Now do pay heed unto me

71:4  so that He may forgive you some of your sins, and grant you respite until a term known [to Him alone]: but, behold, when the term appointed by God does come, it can never be put back - if you but knew it!"

71:5  [And after a time, Noah] said: "O my Sustainer! Verily, I have been calling unto my people night and da

71:6  but my call has only caused them to flee farther and farther away [from Thee]

71:7  And behold, whenever I called unto them with a view to Thy granting them forgiveness, they put their fingers into their ears, and wrapped themselves up in their garments [of sin]; and grew obstinate, and became [yet more] arrogant in their false pride

71:8  "And behold I called unto them openly

71:9  and, behold I preached to them in public; and I spoke to them secretly, in private

71:10  and I said: "'Ask your Sustainer to forgive you your sins - for, verily, He is all-forgiving

71:11  He will shower upon you heavenly blessings abundant

71:12  and will aid you with worldly goods and children, and will bestow upon you gardens, and bestow upon you running waters

71:13  "'What is amiss with you that you cannot look forward to God's majesty

71:14  seeing that He has created [every one of] you in successive stages

71:15  "'Do you not see how God has created seven heavens in full harmony with one another

71:16  and has set up within them the moon as a light [reflected] and set up the sun as a [radiant] lamp

71:17  "'And God has caused you to grow out of the earth in [gradual] growth; and thereafter He will return you to it [in death]

71:18  and [then] He will bring you forth [from It] in resurrection

71:19  "'And God has made the earth a wide expanse for you

71:20  so that you might walk thereon on spacious paths.’"

71:21  [And] Noah continued: "O my Sustainer! Behold, they have opposed me [throughout], for they follow people whose wealth and children lead them increasingly into ruin

71:22  and who have devised a most awesome blasphemy [against Thee]

71:23  inasmuch as they said [to their followers], 'Do not ever abandon your gods: abandon neither Wadd nor Suwa', and neither Yaghuth nor Ya’uq nor Nasr!

71:24  "And so they have led many a one astray: hence, ordain Thou that these evildoers stray but farther and farther away [from all that they may desire]!"

71:25  And so, because of their sins, they were drowned [in the great flood], and were doomed to suffer the fire [of the hereafter]; and they found none who could succour them against God

71:26  And Noah prayed: "O my Sustainer! Leave not on earth any of those who deny the truth

71:27  for, behold, If Thou dost leave them, they will [always try to] lead astray those who worship Thee, and will give birth to nothing but wickedness and stubborn ingratitude

71:28  "O my Sustainer! Grant Thy forgiveness unto me and unto my parents, and unto everyone who enters my house as a believer, and unto all believing men and believing women [of later times]; and grant Thou that the doers of evil shall increasingly meet with destruction!"