The Divine Education Model in the Family of the Prophets (Part 27)
Educational Lessons from the Story of Noah (peace be upon him)
The story of Noah (peace be upon him) in the Holy Quran is a rich treasure trove of profound educational lessons for humanity. Beyond a divine message, this story depicts the grueling challenges of patience and perseverance in the face of adversity, especially in the realm of calling and educating generations. Every episode of Noah’s life offers a practical lesson in faith, trust, perseverance, and individual and family responsibility from facing the disobedience and disbelief of those closest to him to enduring natural disasters. This timeless narrative calls us to deep reflection on the various dimensions of education and provides us with unparalleled models for living a life of faith and morality.
The First lesson: The believer is tested to the extent of his faith
A believing servant is tested to the extent of his faith, and the most severe trials are for the prophets, then for those who are like them, and then for everyone according to the extent of his similarity. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was asked: Which people are tested the most? He said: “The prophets, then those who are like them, and after them, everyone is tested to the extent of his religion; if his religion is firm, his trial is more severe, and if there is softness in his religion, he is tested to the extent of his religion. Trials are always with the servant until they leave him while he is walking on the earth and has no sin.”[1]
Yes; Prophet Noah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who is one of the prophets of Allah and indeed one of the Olul Azm prophets, was severely tested in his call; first He was tested with his family, that is, his wife, and after that, his son was also tested. Testing in the family and children is one of the greatest calamities, and the fact that a wife and child are on the front lines of the enemies of man is much greater and more terrible. Nevertheless, Prophet Noah (peace be upon him) was patient in the face of these calamities and did not despair, but tried to prevent his son from rebelling and convince him to abandon disbelief and join the caravan of faith; but this ungrateful son did not respond positively to his father’s call.
The Second lesson: Salvation is through righteous deeds, not through kinship and lineage
After the waves of the sea separated Noah (peace be upon him) and his disbelieving son, and each went in a different direction from the other, a great sadness settled on Noah’s (peace be upon him) heart and a great sorrow overcame him. He was certain that his son had drowned with the drowned. It never left his mind, and his image did not fade from his imagination. As soon as the ark rested on Mount Judi and his family settled in it, the first thing that Noah (peace be upon him) offered to his Lord, before he settled in a place or started doing anything, was to ask Him to shower his body with mercy and forgiveness.
He offered a supplication to his Lord with all his being, which he began with the word «ربّ» A word that includes the meanings of favor, honor, upbringing, constant care and connection, and elevation of status, because his son was from his family and because of his position with his Lord, he asked that Allah look upon some of his family (i.e. his son) with the eye of broad favor and mercy. He did not express this explicitly, but rather said it in a veiled and ironic manner, out of politeness before his Lord and not needing his Lord to know his questions and needs. This is a well-known method among the intelligent people.
Despite all this tenderness and warmth of a burning fatherly affection and the great and growing sorrow, divine training and wisdom came into action to put matters in their proper place. His great and glorious Lord said to him: “قَالَ یا نُوحُ إِنَّهُ لَیسَ مِنْ أَهْلِكَ إِنَّهُ عَمَلٌ غَیرُ صَالِحٍ” Translation: He said: O Noah! Your son is not of your family, because he (due to his evil conduct and the evil deeds he has undertaken) has done an evil deed”. [2]
These divine words and divine decisiveness took him out of the circle of his family and threw him into a deep abyss where he was not remembered and was not taken into account, because he chose disbelief over faith and followed the paths of Satan. Therefore, close kinship was meaningless, and birth and lineage were of no effect.[3] This divine declaration made it clear that a person’s lineage, if its owner is devoid of faith and righteous deeds, is of no benefit to him. The son of Prophet Noah (peace be upon him) undoubtedly enjoyed a noble lineage, because he was the son of Noah, the Messenger of Allah; but this was of no benefit to him, because he was a disbeliever. Allah Almighty rewards people in this world and the Hereafter on the basis of their faith and righteous deeds, not on the basis of their lineage, and He does not favor anyone on account of their righteous fathers and ancestors, even if they are among the prophets. [4]
One of the fundamental principles of Islamic law is that salvation and victory are not only through kinship and lineage, but through righteous deeds. As Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim have narrated in their Sahihain, with the chain of transmission from Abu Hurairah, that: When the verse: «و أنذر عشیرتک الأقربین» Translation: “And warn your near kinsmen” was revealed, the Messenger of Allah ,peace be upon him and his family, stood up among us and said: “O people of Quraysh, save yourselves from (the punishment of) Allah. I have no benefit for you from Allah. O children of Abd Manaf, I have no benefit for you from Allah. O Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib, I have no benefit for you from Allah. O Saffiya, the aunt of the Messenger of Allah, I have no benefit for you from Allah. O Fatimah, daughter of Muhammad, ask me for whatever you want, (but know that) I have no benefit for you from Allah.[5]
Abu Lahhab, the uncle of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family), was also an unbeliever and because of his and his wife’s disbelief, he will enter a blazing fire, and being the uncle of the Prophet will not benefit him in any way. Allah the Almighty says: “تَبَّتْ یدَا أَبِی لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ * مَا أَغْنَى عَنْهُ مَالُهُ وَمَا كَسَبَ * سَیصْلَى نَارًا ذَاتَ لَهَبٍ * وَامْرَأَتُهُ حَمَّالَةَ الْحَطَبِ * فِی جِیدِهَا حَبْلٌ مِّن مَّسَدٍ” Translation: “Perish the hands of Abu Lahhab, and perish he! His wealth will not avail him, nor will that which he has earned. He will burn in a Fire of blazing flame. And his wife, a carrier of firewood, will have around her neck a rope of palm fiber.”[6]
And Allah the Almighty says that the most honorable people in the sight of Allah are the most pious of them. Allah Almighty says: «إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ» Translation: “Indeed, the most honorable of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you.”[7] Allah Almighty states that the importance of religious kinship, not kinship by blood. Therefore, a Muslim should not have special friendship and affection for those who disbelieve in Allah and disobey Him, even if they are his closest relatives by blood. Almighty Allah says: “لَا تَجِدُ قَوْمًا یؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْیوْمِ الْآخِرِ یوَادُّونَ مَنْ حَادَّ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَلَوْ كَانُوا آبَاءَهُمْ أَوْ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ أَوْ إِخْوَانَهُمْ أَوْ عَشِیرَتَهُمْ أُولَئِكَ كَتَبَ فِی قُلُوبِهِمُ الْإِیمَانَ” Translation: “You will not find a people who believe in Allah and the Last Day, but they take as friends those who are enemies of Allah and His Messenger, even if they were their fathers, or their sons, or their brothers, or their people. Because as for the believers, Allah has written faith in their hearts.”[8]
And Allah Almighty states that righteous deeds are the basis for achieving happiness in the Hereafter, and intercession and kinship have no effect in saving a disobedient person. The Holy Quran emphasizes this point in this verse: “ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا لِّلَّذِینَ كَفَرُوا امْرَأَتَ نُوحٍ وَامْرَأَتَ لُوطٍ كَانَتَا تَحْتَ عَبْدَینِ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا صَالِحَینِ فَخَانَتَاهُمَا فَلَمْ یغْنِیا عَنْهُمَا مِنَ اللَّهِ شَیئًا وَقِیلَ ادْخُلَا النَّارَ مَعَ الدَّاخِلِینَ” Translation: “Allah has set forth an example of those who disbelieve: the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot. They were in the process of marrying two of Our righteous servants, and they betrayed them (by making a pact with their people and reporting their secrets and news to them), and they could not do the least thing for them in the sight of Allah, and (save them from the torment of this world and the severe back-breaking punishment of the Hereafter. At the time of death, it was said to them by the angels: “Enter Hell along with all those who enter it.”[9]
There is an eloquent lesson in the destruction of Noah’s wife and Lot’s wife because of their disbelief and deviation from the path of guidance, the summary of which is that no matter how strong a kinship is, if a person is a bad person, it will not benefit him at all.
Faruq, Hamada, Fathers and Sons: Educational Features in the Holy Quran, Damascus: Dar al-Qalam, 1418 AH, p. 20.
Muhammad, Rashid Reza, Tafsir al-Manar, vol. 12, p. 85.
Muhammad ibn Ismail, al-Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of Interpretation: Surat al-Shu’ara; Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, Al-Nayshaburi, Sahih Muslim, Book of Faith, Chapter on the words of Allah Almighty: “And warn your nearest relatives.”
Al-Massad: 1-5.
Al-Hujarat: 13.
Al-Mujadelah: 22.
Al-Tahrim: 10.
Afif Abdel Fattah, Tabbara, along with the Prophets in the Qur’an, Beirut: Dar Al-Ilm Al-Mala’een, 1983 AD, p. 81.
