Hūd

وَيَصْنَعُ الْفُلْكَ وَكُلَّمَا مَرَّ عَلَيْهِ مَلأٌ مِن قَوْمِهِ سَخِرُوا مِنْهُ قَالَ إِن تَسْخَرُوا مِنَّا فَإِنَّا نَسْخَرُ مِنكُم كَمَا تَسْخَرُونَ

38. “And he began making the Ark; and whenever the chiefs of his people passed by him they scoffed at him. He said: ‘If you scoff at us, we (too) shall surely scoff at you, as you scoff ’.”

Let us briefly discuss the situation of Noah’s People. Instead of taking Noah’s call seriously for a moment, and allowing some room for accepting the probability of the truth of his repeated calls which might have had their origins in Divine Providence and that the subject of punishment through storms might be serious, Noah’s people went on mocking and ridiculing as is the case with all arrogant and vainglorious people, however he went on building the Ark.

Whenever some of his people passed by him they would watch Noah and his companions struggle to prepare the timber, nails and other ship-building instruments, and they would laugh and ridicule them. The verse says:

“And he began making the Ark; and whenever the chiefs of his people passed by him they scoffed at him...”

However, Noah pursued his goal with an extraordinary persistence whose origins lay in his faith, and paying no attention to what they said, he made rapid progress in his efforts. Day after day, the structure of the ship came closer and closer to completion. Noah would sometimes raise his head, and told them this short out expressive statement: “You ridicule us today, but we will surely do the same thing to you soon, the day when you are caught, lost and wandering in the storm, terrified, running in all directions with no shelter, crying in the midst of the waves, begging for mercy, the believers then and there will laugh at your negligence, and ignorance.”

The verse says:

“…He said: ‘If you scoff at us, we (too) shall surely scoff at you, as you scoff ’.”