Al Mu’minūn

إِنْ هُوَ إلاَّ رَجُلٌ بِهِ جِنَّةٌ فَتَرَبَّصُوا بِهِ حَتَّي حِينٍ

قَالَ رَبّ‌ِ انصُرْنِي بِمَا كَذَّبُونِ

25. “He is just a man in whom is a madness, so bear with him for a while.”
26. “He (Noah) said: ‘My Lord! help me against what they Belie’.”

Obstinacy and conceit lead some individuals to attribute madness to their prophet, the wisest of people. The elite among the blasphemers imagine the call of the prophets to be a mental aberration and ask others to wait until he ceases asserting his claims.

(“...so bear with him for a while.”)

These baseless words, however, did not affect the soul of this great prophet, and Noah continued his mission without the slightest sign of self aggrandizement in what was he doing. When they saw that their accusations were not supported by reality they made another accusation, saying that he was insane, a charge that had been leveled upon all Divine prophets and veracious leaders in the course of history. They said:

“He is just a man in whom is a madness, so bear with him for a while.”

It is very interesting that they used the Arabic word /jinnatun/ (a kind of madness) in the accusation they leveled at this great arch-prophet, suppressing the fact that the life and speeches of this prophet were the best indicators of his knowledge and reasonableness. In truth, they intended to say that, granted his behavior might be correct and sound, but madness could have many faces among which is that very appearance of reasonableness and knowledge.

The Qur’anic sentence /fa tarabbasu bihi hatta hin/

(“...so bear with him for a while”)

may refer to the possibility that they were anticipating Noah’s death when they would get peace of mind; or it may mean that they were waiting until he was cured from the sickness of madness that they had attributed to him! At any rate, they made three kinds of unfounded and paradoxical accusations, each of which they advanced as a reason to deny his prophecy:

1) The claim of prophecy by a human being is a lie! Such a phenomenon is unprecedented.

“...And if Allah had pleased, He surely could have sent down angels”

2) He is a man who seeks after self-aggrandizement and uses this claim to gain it.

3) He does not have sound reason and what he says is due to insanity.

Since the answer of these baseless accusations and objections is obvious, and is mentioned in other verses of the Holy Qur’an, no more is said by the Qur’an about it here. It stands to reason that naturally a leader of human beings must himself be a human being, for he should existentially be cognizant of the needs, pains and problems of being human. Moreover, the prophets had always been human in their nature. On the other hand, it is clearly understood from the lives of the prophets that brotherliness, humility, and the absence of any form of self aggrandizement have been of their most outstanding attributes, and their reason, intelligence and insight were not unknown to their foes for they acknowledged them in their own words.

Noah’s enemies did not confine their molestation and annoyance to leveling unjust accusations against him. From other verses of the Qur’an it is understood that they put great pressure on him in other ways as well. Noah tried his best to guide and save them from the clutches of blasphemy and polytheism. When he despaired in his efforts, he asked for Allah’s help, as we read in the verse which says:

“He (Noah) said: ‘My Lord! help me against what they belie’.”

Of course, he asked Allah’s help for the victory of faith over disbelief, not for the victory of himself as an individual over another. Therefore, he said: “Help me against what they belie” and he did not say help me against them.