Surah Nooh (71) — Ayah 1

It is narrated from Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) that a man asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): "What was the period between Adam and Nuh (peace be upon them)?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: [ عَشَرَةُ قُرُوْنٍ ] "Ten generations." [ صحیح ابن حبان، التاریخ، باب ذکر الإخبار عما کان… : ۶۱۹۰ ] Hafiz Ibn Kathir has declared it Sahih according to the conditions of Muslim. [ البدایۃ والنہایۃ، جلد : ۱، قصۃ نوح ] It is narrated from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them), he said: [ كَانَ بَيْنَ نُوْحٍ وَ آدَمَ عَشَرَةُ قُرُوْنٍ كُلُّهُمْ عَلٰي شَرِيْعَةٍ مِّنَ الْحَقِّ فَاخْتَلَفُوْا فَبَعَثَ اللّٰهُ النَّبِيِّيْنَ مُبَشِّرِيْنَ وَ مُنْذِرِيْنَ ] [ مستدرک حاکم : 546/2، ح : ۴۰۰۹ ] "There were ten generations between Adam and Nuh, and all of them were established upon the true religion. Then, when they differed, Allah sent prophets (who gave them glad tidings of Paradise) and warned (them of punishment)." The researcher Hikmat bin Basheer has said under the verse (213) of Surah Al-Baqarah in Ibn Kathir that this hadith is also in Tabari and its chain is Sahih. From this, it is known that in the beginning all people were established upon the oneness of Allah and there was no existence of shirk and idol worship. Then, as is coming in the explanation of verse (23) of the surah under discussion, idol worship started by the teaching of Satan, so Allah sent Nuh (peace be upon him) to forbid them from shirk and to preach the worship of Allah alone. He is the first messenger of Allah who was sent to the people of the earth, as is mentioned in the hadith of intercession. [ دیکھیے بخاري، الأنبیاء، باب : «ذریۃ من حملنا…» : ۴۷۱۲ ] After receiving messengership, he (peace be upon him) kept advising his people for nine hundred and fifty (950) years. When they did not desist from disobedience, they were drowned by the flood. (See Al-Ankabut: 14) This entire surah consists of the invitation of Nuh (peace be upon him), the response of his people, and the details of their end, and its name is also after this great prophet.

(Ayah 1){ اِنَّاۤ اَرْسَلْنَا نُوْحًا اِلٰى قَوْمِهٖۤ …:} The shirk and idol worship in which the people of Nuh (peace be upon him) were involved, its inevitable result was a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter. But the rule of Allah is that He does not punish without warning and admonition. (See Bani Isra'il: 15) So, to warn them of this painful punishment, Allah sent Nuh (peace be upon him) to his people.

1. Certainly, We sent Nuh ؑ to his people saying, "Warn your people" (and make them aware) before a painful punishment comes to them.
2.

1. We sent Noah to his people [1], saying: "Warn your people before a painful punishment comes upon them."

[1]
Mention of Sayyiduna Nuh (Noah) ؑ:

The mention of Sayyiduna Nuh ؑ has already appeared in many places in the Quran. This entire surah is devoted to his mention. In this surah, not all the events of his life are mentioned. Rather, most of it consists of Sayyiduna Nuh’s complaints and supplications to his Lord. The way his people responded to his preaching after his day and night efforts and after preaching for a full nine hundred and fifty years, Sayyiduna Nuh ؑ expresses this complaint to Allah Almighty. His center of preaching was the region between the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq. There is a long interval of five thousand years between Sayyiduna Adam ؑ and Sayyiduna Nuh ؑ, and in this long period, the only noteworthy prophet mentioned in the Quran is Sayyiduna Idris ؑ. But he too was not a law-bearing prophet. When Sayyiduna Nuh ؑ was sent, the disease of shirk (polytheism) had spread among his people like an epidemic. Therefore, in these initial verses, Sayyiduna Nuh ؑ is instructed to warn his people about the evil consequences of shirk, and if they do not desist, they will certainly have to face a painful punishment.