Nūḥ

وَقَالُوا لَا تَذَرُنَّ آلِهَتَكُمْ وَلَا تَذَرُنَّ وَدًّا وَلَا سُوَاعًا وَلَا يَغُوثَ وَيَعُوقَ وَنَسْرًا

وَقَدْ أَضَلُّوا كَثِيرًا ۖ وَلَا تَزِدِ الظَّالِمِينَ إِلَّا ضَلَالًا

مِّمَّا خَطِيئَاتِهِمْ أُغْرِقُوا فَأُدْخِلُوا نَارًا فَلَمْ يَجِدُوا لَهُم مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ أَنصَارًا

23. "And they said: 'You shall not leave your gods: you shall leave neither Wadd, nor Suwa‘, nor Yaghuth, nor Ya‘uq, nor Nasr.
24. "And indeed they led many astray. And [O Allah]: Grant no increase to the wrong doers save error."
25. [At last] because of their sins they were all drowned and were made to enter Hellfire and they found none to help them save Allah.

As reflected in the blessed Verse 23 their chiefs asked them to neither abandon their gods and idols nor to acknowledge Noah’s (as) Prophetic call to monotheism, worshipping an imperceptible god. They laid particular emphasis on five idols: Wadd, Suwa‘, Yaghuth, Ya‘uq, and Nasr and bade them not to desist from worshipping them. In the blessed Verse 24, Noah (as) says:

It is noteworthy that increasing error for the wrong doers and tyrants implies their deprivation from Divine Grace which leads them to misery. It may also connote some chastisement as a consequence of their wrong doing thereby God Almighty deprives them of the light of faith substituting it with disbelief. It is noteworthy that error and disbelief are consequences of their misdeeds, though their entanglement with error and disbelief is attributed to God Almighty, since all the acts of His creatures are within His Command and it is not in contradiction with Divine Wisdom concerning belief, disbelief, guidance, and error, as such instances do not impede free will.

Finally, the blessed Verse 25 is indicative of the final Words of God as per which they were drowned consequent to having committed sins and they were made to enter the Fire. They found none but Him to render them assistance against Divine Wrath. The contextual meaning of the blessed Verse in question reflects that having been drowned they immediately were made to enter the Fire. It is a source of surprise that they were made to immediately leave water and enter the Fire which is that of purgatory, since a number of Qur’anic Verses reflect that some people will be chastised in purgatory posthumously.

According to some traditions, "grave" may be either a Garden in Paradise or a pit in Hell. It may also be indicative of the Fire on the Day of Resurrection, but since Resurrection shall indubitably come before long, the Arabic passive verbal form

appears in the past tense.¹⁵ Some Qur’an exegetes have also suggested that reference is herein made to the Fire in this world, such that God Almighty willed that a Fire appeared in the midst of the tempest and devoured them.¹⁶