Quran Universe
21:76

وَنُوحًا إِذۡ نَادَىٰ مِن قَبۡلُ فَٱسۡتَجَبۡنَا لَهُۥ فَنَجَّيۡنَٰهُ وَأَهۡلَهُۥ مِنَ ٱلۡكَرۡبِ ٱلۡعَظِيمِ

Wanoohan ith nada min qablu faistajabna lahu fanajjaynahu waahlahu mina alkarbi alAAatheemi

And [mention] Noah, when he called [to Allah] before [that time], so We responded to him and saved him and his family from the great flood.

Word by word
  1. وَنُوحًاAnd Nuh
  2. إِذۡwhen
  3. نَادَىٰhe called
  4. مِنbefore
  5. قَبۡلُbefore
  6. فَٱسۡتَجَبۡنَاso We responded
  7. لَهُۥto him
  8. فَنَجَّيۡنَٰهُand We saved him
  9. وَأَهۡلَهُۥand his family
  10. مِنَfrom
  11. ٱلۡكَرۡبِthe affliction
  12. ٱلۡعَظِيمِ[the] great
Al-Anbya · 21:76Makkah

Nuh called out, and he and his family were saved.

A dua after centuries of patience

Nuh's call
Nuh950 years calling
called
We answered
savedfrom the great distress
How long patience lasts
a few triesthen give up
keep callingand ask Allah for help

Nuh remained among his people for a thousand years less fifty, calling them to Allah, and only a few believed. They plotted against him generation after generation. Then he called on his Lord: I am overcome, so help me. Allah answered and saved him and those who believed from the great distress.

You've been trying for years: with a hard relative, a long illness, a child who has drifted. You feel you have nothing left. Nuh's patience ran for centuries, and then he asked for help. He was answered.

I have been patient long enough; nothing is changing.

Patience and dua go together. Allah answers the one who keeps calling.

Try this

Make a short, honest dua today: my Lord, I am worn out, so help me.

Related54:1011:40
Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir

And (remember) Nuh, when he cried (to Us) aforetime. We answered to his invocation and saved him and his family from the great distress (76)We helped him against the people who denied Our Ayat. Verily, they were a people given to evil. So We drowned them all (77)

Nuh and His People

Allah tells us how He responded to His servant and Messenger Nuh, peace be upon him, when he prayed to Him against his people for their disbelief in him:

فَدَعَا رَبَّهُ أَنِّي مَغْلُوبٌ فَانتَصِرْ

(Then he invoked his Lord (saying): "I have been overcome, so help (me)!")(54:10)

وَقَالَ نُوحٌ رَّبِّ لَا تَذَرْ عَلَى الْأَرْضِ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ دَيَّارًا - إِنَّكَ إِن تَذَرْهُمْ يُضِلُّوا عِبَادَكَ وَلَا يَلِدُوا إِلَّا فَاجِرًا كَفَّارًا

(And Nuh said: "My Lord! Leave not any inhabitant of the disbelievers on the earth! If You leave them, they will mislead Your servants, and they will beget none but wicked disbelievers)(71:26-27). So Allah says here,

إِذْ نَادَىٰ مِن قَبْلُ فَاسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُ فَنَجَّيْنَاهُ وَأَهْلَهُ

(And (remember) Nuh, when he cried (to Us) aforetime. We answered to his invocation and saved him and his family) meaning, those who believed with him, as Allah says elsewhere:

وَأَهْلَكَ إِلَّا مَن سَبَقَ عَلَيْهِ الْقَوْلُ وَمَنْ آمَنَ ۚ وَمَا آمَنَ مَعَهُ إِلَّا قَلِيلٌ

(...and your family – except him against whom the Word has already gone forth – and those who believe. And none believed with him, except a few)[11: 40].

مِنَ الْكَرْبِ الْعَظِيمِ

(from the great distress.) meaning, from difficulty, rejection and harm. For he remained among them for one thousand years less fifty, calling them to Allah, and no one had believed in him except for a few. His people were plotting against him and advising one another century after century, generation after generation, to oppose him.

وَنَصَرْنَاهُ مِنَ الْقَوْمِ

(We helped him against the people) means, 'We saved him and helped him against the people,'

الَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا ۚ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا قَوْمَ سَوْءٍ فَأَغْرَقْنَاهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ

(who denied Our Ayat. Verily, they were a people given to evil. So We drowned them all.) meaning, Allah drowned them all, and not one of them was left on the face of the earth, as their Prophet had prayed would happen to them.