except for a prophet who was killed. He used to call them, as Allah the Exalted said: 'by night and by day, and secretly and publicly' to give them counsel, but that did not increase them in anything but flight. To the extent that he would speak to one of them, and he would wrap his head in his garment and place his fingers in his ears so that he would not hear anything of his speech.

His saying, the Exalted: 'Indeed, I fear for you the punishment of a painful day.'

10811 - ‘Isam ibn Rawwad al-‘Asqalani told us, Adam told us, Abu Ja‘far al-Razi told us, from al-Rabi‘ ibn Anas, from Abu al-‘Aliyah, regarding His saying: 'the punishment of a painful day,' he said: 'Al-alim (painful) means: the agonizing (al-muji‘) throughout the entire Qur’an.' This was likewise explained by Sa‘id ibn Jubayr, al-Dahhak, Qatadah, Abu Malik, Abu ‘Imran al-Nahwi, and Muqatil ibn Hayyan.

His saying, the Exalted: 'So the eminent among those who disbelieved among his people said, "We do not see you but as a man like ourselves."

10812 - Abu Bakr ibn Abi Musa told us, Harun ibn Hatim told us, ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Hammad told us, Asbat told us, from al-Suddi, from Abu Malik, regarding His saying: 'the eminent (al-mala’)' means: the nobles (al-ashraf) among his people.

10813 - Muhammad ibn al-‘Abbas told us, ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Salamah told us, Salamah told us, Muhammad ibn Ishaq told us, from one who is not accused, from ‘Ubayd ibn ‘Umayr al-Laythi, that he used to narrate that it reached him that they would seize him—meaning Noah—and strangle him until he would faint. When he recovered, he would say: 'O Allah, forgive my people, for they do not know.' Until when they persisted in disobedience, and sin became great among them in the land, and the matter dragged on for him and them, and the tribulation from them intensified against him, and generation after generation passed, and no century would come but that it was more evil than the one before it, to the point that the last of them would say: 'This existed with our fathers and with our grandfathers; this is a madman,' and they would not accept anything from him, until Noah complained of their behavior to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and said as Allah related to us in His Book.

10814 - Yunus ibn ‘Abd al-A‘la informed us by reading, Ibn Wahb told us, Ibn Zayd—meaning ‘Abd al-Rahman—told us, he said: 'The people of Noah were not punished until there was no plain or mountain on earth but that it had an inhabitant occupying it and a possessor possessing it.'

His saying, the Exalted: 'at first sight (badi al-ra’y)'

10815 - Al-‘Abbas ibn al-Walid ibn Mazyad informed us by reading, Muhammad ibn Shu‘ayb informed me, ‘Uthman ibn ‘Ata’ informed me, from his father, who said: 'As for "badi al-ra’y," it is what is apparent to us.'