Lessons We Learn From Prophet Nouh's Life

Imam Abou Abdellah (Pbuh) said: "Each day and night Nouh used to say: "O Allah, bear witness that every blessing that I have in my faith day and night is from you and only you without any partner. Gratitude and thanks are only for you because of these blessings so that you are content and till after your contentment."

 

Ibn Abbas said: "Iblees said to Nouh: "You did me a favor and so I will teach you three traits." Nouh said: "What favor did I do you?" Iblees said: "You prayed for Allah to doom all your nation and so He did. Never be arrogant. Never be eager and never have envy. Arrogance is what prevented me from prostrating to Adam and so it made me an infidel and a damned demon. Never be eager. It is that Adam was allowed to do anything in heaven but he was prohibited from that tree but his eagerness made him eat from it. Never have envy. The son of Adam envied his brother and killed him." Nouh said: "What are the situations when you have the power to control humans the most?" He said: "When they are angry."

It was narrated that Iblees once came to Nouh and said to him: "You did a great favor to me. Ask me for advice and I will not deceive you." Nouh neglected the words of Iblees. Then Allah inspired to Nouh: "Talk to him. I will make him speak words that will be set as a proof against him." So Nouh said to Iblees: "Speak."

Iblees said: "When we find a human who is stingy or eager or envier or arrogant or rushing we catch him like the ball is caught. When he has all these traits in him we call him .'a student demon'.

Nouh said: "What is the great favor that I did to you?" He said: "You prayed for Allah to doom the inhabitants of earth. Thus he sent them all to hell in an hour. If it hadn’t been for your prayer I would have been occupied with working on them for a long era." 

Imam Ali Bin Al-Hussein (Pbuh) said: "People took three from three. They took patience from Ayyoub. They took gratitude from Nouh and they took envy from the sons of Yaqoub." 

Nouh said:

-"Be an opened book when treating people. Don’t hide or cover any matter. Don’t decide a matter without consultation and without the agreement of all of you. He who tries a matter without knowing its consequences, its consequences will aggrieve him."

Nouh said to the ones who disbelieved in him and in his prophecy when they asked him to stay away from the poor ones who believed in him as they thought that the poor followed him because he is rich and from an honored lineage:

"Do you want me to compel you to attain knowledge. { shall we compel you to accept it}. I can't do that. {I will not evict the ones who believed} as they will meet their lord and He will punish the ones who were unjust to them. If I evict them who would protect me from the torment of my lord. What Allah had prepared for these poor ones in the Hereafter is way greater than what you He had given you in Donia." 

Imam Abou Abdellah (Pbuh) said: "Nouh embarked on the ark on the first day of Rajab Month. Thus he ordered the ones with him to fast." 

Imam Abou Jaa'far (Pbuh) said: "When Nouh prayed for His lord to doom his nation, Iblees came to him and said: "O Nouh, you prayed for your lord to doom your nation and so Allah caused all of them to drown. Thus there is no one left for me to deceive and lure. I'm resting now till Allah creates another nation." Nouh said: "What is my reward for that?" Iblees said: "Remember me in three situations. I'm the nearest to one when he is in one of these three situations. Remember be when you are angry. Remember me when  you are judging between two. Remember me when you are along with a foreigner woman."

The narrations state that when Allah ordered earth: {Earth. Swallow your water.} Earth said: "I was ordered to swallow my water only not the water of the sky." Thus it only swallowed its water and Allah made the seas  around earth and around the skies from the water of the skies.

Imam Abou Abdellah (Pbuh) said: " When Allah caused the entire earth to drown, it all drowned except Kaa'ba. Since then it was called the saved house because it was saved from drowning." One asked: "Was it raised to the sky?" The Imam (Pbuh) said: "it was raised above water. Water didn’t reach it."

Imam Abou Abdellah (Pbuh) said: "When the water was gone and the bones of the dead appeared, Nouh saw it and so he was saddened in the extreme. Then Allah inspired to him: "Eat black grapes so that your sadness is cleared away."