Prophets Ādam, Nūḥ and Hūd: The Patience of the Prophets
Section 18 of 30 · Lives of the Prophets
After 950 Years of Work, the Fruit Is Eighty
حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا جَآءَ أَمْرُنَا وَفَارَ ٱلتَّنُّورُ قُلْنَا ٱحْمِلْ فِيهَا مِن كُلٍّ زَوْجَيْنِ ٱثْنَيْنِ وَأَهْلَكَ إِلَّا مَن سَبَقَ عَلَيْهِ ٱلْقَوْلُ وَمَنْ ءَامَنَ ۚ وَمَآ ءَامَنَ مَعَهُۥٓ إِلَّا قَلِيلٌ
“At last, when Our command came and the oven overflowed, We said, “Take into the Ark a pair of two from every species, along with your family,-except those against whom the Word has already been pronounced-and (also take into it) those who have believed.” And there were only a few who had believed with him.” (11:40)
Ḥattā idhā jāʾa amrunā wa fāra al-tannūr: so it was, till then came Our command. Wa fāra al-tannūr: the springs of the earth started gushing with water, and rain started falling from the sky. Qulnā-ḥmil fīhā min kullin zawjayni-thnayni wa ahlaka illā man sabaqa ʿalayhi al-qawl, wa man āman, wa mā āmana maʿahu illā qalīl.
Allah (swt) says: so it was, till then there came Our command, and the oven gushed forth. We said: embark therein of each kind two, male and female, and your family — except him against whom the word has already gone forth — and those who believed with you. And only a few have believed with Nūḥ. When the water started coming out from the earth, and rain falling from the sky, Allah (swt) instructed Nūḥ to go in the ark, and to take with him the believers, and to take with him his family, and to carry a pair, male and female, of every animal.
The number of the believers with Nūḥ goes from seven till eighty. Eighty is the maximum number narrated. That's the maximum; but then there's seven, and there's eight, and there are different numbers. The maximum is eighty. After 950 years of work, the fruit is eighty.
Brothers and sisters, we need, sometimes, when we listen to this, to reflect. We receive encouragement in our work when we see the fruits of it. When you are studying, and you're receiving good grades, that encourages you to study. When you are doing business, and your business is flourishing, it encourages you to do business. But when you see that your effort is put into something that is not improving — and the more work you do, the worse the situation becomes — it is very, very difficult, extremely difficult, to go on.
Nūḥ for 950 years is not seeing anything happening in front of his eyes. Nobody's believing. But because he had trust that Allah (swt) is the one who rewards — he's not waiting for reward in dunyā; Allah (swt) is the one who gives the ajr — he kept on, and persisted in doing this for 950 years. That is the yaqīn, and tawakkul, and īmān in Allah (swt).