Nuh, "Noah," is the seventy-first surah — 28 verses revealed in Mecca.1 After a single line of introduction — "Indeed, We sent Noah to his people, [saying], 'Warn your people before there comes to them a painful punishment'" — almost the whole surah is Noah speaking, first to his people and then to God.
What it is about
Noah reports his efforts to God: "My Lord, indeed I invited my people [to truth] night and day. But my invitation increased them not except in flight... every time I invited them that You may forgive them, they put their fingers in their ears, covered themselves with their garments, persisted, and were arrogant with [great] arrogance. Then I invited them publicly. Then I announced to them and [also] confided to them secretly."2
His message was one of hope: "Ask forgiveness of your Lord. Indeed, He is ever a Perpetual Forgiver. He will send [rain from] the sky upon you in [continuing] showers and give you increase in wealth and children and provide for you gardens and provide for you rivers." He pointed them to creation — made "in stages," the seven heavens, the moon as light and the sun as a lamp, the earth spread out for their roads.3
But they "conspired an immense conspiracy" and told one another, "Never leave your gods and never leave Wadd or Suwa' or Yaghuth and Ya'uq and Nasr." They were drowned. Noah's final prayer asks forgiveness not only for himself: "My Lord, forgive me and my parents and whoever enters my house a believer and the believing men and believing women."4
Why it matters
Nuh is the Quran's portrait of perseverance in calling others to God — every method tried, over a very long time, with little visible success. Its promise that seeking forgiveness brings rain, wealth and children has made 71:10–12 a favorite passage on the blessings of repentance, and Noah's closing prayer for his parents and all believers gives believers words they can make their own. To read Nuh in Arabic with translations and recitation, open it on Quran.com.