that, forty days, Noah opened the vent of the ark that he had made. Then he sent out the raven to see for him what the water had done, but it did not return to him. So he sent out the dove, and it returned to him, having found no place for its feet. He reached out his hand for the dove, took it, and brought it in. He stayed for seven days, then sent it out to see for him. It returned to him at evening with an olive leaf in its beak. Noah knew that the water had diminished from the face of the earth. He then stayed in it for seven days and sent it out again, but it did not return. Noah knew that the earth had emerged.

His saying, the Almighty: "Then We sent after him messengers to their people..." the verse.

10498 - Kathir ibn Shihab al-Madhhiji al-Qazwini told us, Muhammad ibn Sa'id ibn Sabiq told us, Abu Ja'far al-Razi told us, from al-Rabi', from Abu al-'Aliyah, from Ubayy ibn Ka'b regarding His saying: "Then We sent after him messengers to their people, and they came to them with clear proofs, but they were not to believe in that which they had denied before." It was in His knowledge on the day they acknowledged it who would believe in it and who would deny it. 'Isa, peace be upon him, was among those couples from whom the covenant and pledge were taken in the time of Adam.

10499 - Hajjaj ibn Hamzah told us, Shababah told us, from Warqa', from Ibn Abi Najih, from Mujahid, regarding His saying: "in that which they had denied before," the saying of Allah: "But if they were returned, they would return to that which they were forbidden."

10500 - Ahmad ibn 'Uthman ibn Hakim al-Awdi informed us in what he wrote to me, Ahmad ibn Mufaddal, from Asbat, from al-Suddi, regarding His saying: "but they were not to believe in that which they had denied before," he said: "That is on the day He took the covenant from them; they believed out of compulsion."

His saying, the Almighty: "Thus We set a seal upon the hearts of the transgressors"

10501 - Abu Badr 'Abbad ibn al-Walid al-Ghubari informed us in what he wrote to me, Raja' ibn Ishaq Abu Ma'shar told us, from Sa'id al-Maqburi regarding the saying of Allah: "wa tubi'a" (and it was sealed): "Khutima" (it was closed) upon their hearts.

10502 - 'Ali ibn al-Husayn told us, Abu al-Jumahir told us, from Sa'id, from Qatadah, regarding His saying: "wa tubi'a 'ala qulubihim" (and a seal was set upon their hearts), meaning: "by their own deeds."

His saying, the Almighty: "Then We sent after them Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh..." the verse.

10503 - Abu Sa'id al-Ashajj told us, Abu Yahya al-Razi told us, from Musa ibn 'Ubaydah, from Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir, he said: "Pharaoh lived for three hundred years; two hundred and twenty of which he saw nothing that would irritate his eye, and he called [people to] Moses for eighty years."