Quran Universe
26:121

إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَأٓيَةٗۖ وَمَا كَانَ أَكۡثَرُهُم مُّؤۡمِنِينَ

Inna fee thalika laayatan wama kana aktharuhum mumineena

Indeed in that is a sign, but most of them were not to be believers.

Word by word
  1. إِنَّIndeed
  2. فِيin
  3. ذَٰلِكَthat
  4. لَأٓيَةٗۖsurely,(is) a sign
  5. وَمَاbut not
  6. كَانَare
  7. أَكۡثَرُهُمmost of them
  8. مُّؤۡمِنِينَbelievers
Ash-Shu'ara · 26:121Makkah

A whole flood, and still most did not believe.

Nuh's story ends with a sign few accepted

How Nuh's story closed
Nuhcalled them night and day
was threatened with
stoningif you do not stop
then
the laden shipbelievers saved
What a sign does
proof forces beliefshow me and I will follow
a sign invitesmost still choose to look away

Nuh called his people for a very long time, in secret and openly. They answered with a threat to stone him. He asked Allah to judge between them, and he and the believers were saved in the laden ship while the rest drowned. Then comes the line: in that is a sign.

You have seen it happen. A friend survives a crash, a scare at the hospital, a near loss of everything. For a week they pray and call their mother. Then life returns to normal and the lesson fades. The sign was clear. The change did not last.

If I saw something truly clear, I would change for good.

Signs are already everywhere; what is rare is a heart that keeps responding to them.

Try this

Think of one moment this year that shook you. Write down what it was trying to teach you.

Related54:10
Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 26:116)

They said: "If you cease not, O Nuh you will surely be among those stoned. (116)He said: "My Lord! Verily, my people have denied me. (117)"Therefore judge You between me and them, and save me and those of the believers who are with me. (118)And We saved him and those with him in the laden ship (119)Then We drowned the rest thereafter (120)Verily, in this is indeed a sign, yet most of them are not believers (121)And verily your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful (122)

His People's Threat, Nuh's Prayer Against Them, and Their Destruction

Nuh stayed among his people for a long time, calling them to Allah night and day, in secret and openly. The more he repeated his call to them, the more determined were they to cling to their extreme disbelief and resist his call. In the end, they said:

لَئِن لَّمْ تَنتَهِ يَا نُوحُ لَتَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمَرْجُومِينَ

(If you cease not, O Nuh you will surely be among those stoned.) meaning, 'if you do not stop calling us to your religion,'

لَتَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمَرْجُومِينَ

(you will surely be among those stoned.) meaning, 'we will stone you.' At that point, he prayed against them, and Allah responded to his prayer. Nuh said:

رَبِّ إِنَّ قَوْمِي كَذَّبُونِ - فَافْتَحْ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَهُمْ فَتْحًا

(My Lord! Verily, my people have denied me. Therefore judge You between me and them.) This is like the Ayah:

فَدَعَا رَبَّهُ أَنِّي مَغْلُوبٌ فَانتَصِرْ

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

فَأَنجَيْنَاهُ وَمَن مَّعَهُ فِي الْفُلْكِ الْمَشْحُونِ - ثُمَّ أَغْرَقْنَا بَعْدُ الْبَاقِينَ

(And We saved him and those with him in the laden ship. Then We drowned the rest thereafter.) The "laden ship" is one that is filled with cargo and the couples, one pair from every species, that were carried in it. This Ayah means: 'We saved Nuh and all of those who followed him, and We drowned those who disbelieved in him and went against his commands, all of them.'

إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَةً ۖ وَمَا كَانَ أَكْثَرُهُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ - وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ

(Verily, in this is indeed a sign, yet most of them are not believers. And verily your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful.)