Surah Shuara ayat 111 Tafsir Quran 26:111

﴿۞ قَالُوا أَنُؤْمِنُ لَكَ وَاتَّبَعَكَ الْأَرْذَلُونَ﴾
[ الشعراء: 111]

26:111 They said, "Should we believe you while you are followed by the lowest [class of people]?"

They said ‘Shall we believe in you in your words when it is the lowliest people who follow you?’ wa’ttaba‘aka a variant reading has wa-atbā‘uka ‘when your followers’ plural of tābi‘ ‘follower’ as a subject the riffraff such as the weavers and the shoemakers.

They said to Nuh: Shall we submit to you or believe in you and conform to your desire when it is only the contemptible who espoused your cause

The Demand of the People of Nuh and His Response They said: "We do not believe in you, and we will not follow you and become equal to the meanest of the people, who follow you and believe in you, and they are the lowest among us." قَالُواْ أَنُؤْمِنُ لَكَ وَاتَّبَعَكَ الاٌّرْذَلُونَ - قَالَ وَمَا عِلْمِى بِمَا كَانُواْ يَعْمَلُونَ ( They said: "Shall we believe in you, when the inferior follow you" He said: "And what knowledge have I of what they used to do" ) meaning, `what does it have to do with me if they follow me No matter what they used to do before, I do not have to check on them and examine their background; all I have to do is accept it if they believe in me; whatever is in their hearts is for Allah to know.' إِنْ حِسَابُهُمْ إِلاَّ عَلَى رَبِّى لَوْ تَشْعُرُونَ - وَمَآ أَنَاْ بِطَارِدِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ( Their account is only with my Lord, if you could (but ) know.
And I am not going to drive away the believers.) It seems that they asked him to drive these people away, then they would follow him, but he refused to do that, and said: وَمَآ أَنَاْ بِطَارِدِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ - إِنْ أَنَا إِلاَّ نَذِيرٌ مُّبِينٌ ( And I am not going to drive away the believers.
I am only a plain warner. ) meaning, `I have been sent as a warner, and whoever obeys me and follows me and believes in me, then he belongs to me and I to him, whether he is noble or common, upper-class or lower-class.'

(26:111) They replied, "Should we believe in you, whereas the meanest of the people have become your followers? " *81

They said, "Should we believe you while meaning

*81) This answer to Prophet Noah's message of Truth was given by the chiefs, elders and nobles of his people as mentioned in Hud: 27: " In answer to this, those chiefs of his people, who had rejected his message, said, 'We see that you are no more than a mere man like ourselves, and we also see that only the meanest from among us have become your followers without due consideration, and we find nothing in you that might give you superiority over us'. " This shows that those who believed in Prophet Noah were mostly the poor people, and ordinary workmen, or some youth who enjoyed no position in society.
As for the influential and rich people, they had become his bitter opponents, and were trying by every trick and allurement to keep the common man behind them.
One of the arguments they advanced against Prophet Noah was this: " Had there been some weight and substance in Noah's message, the rich people, scholars, religious divines, nobles and wise people of the community should have accepted it, but none of them has believed in him; the only people to follow him are the foolish people belonging to the lowest stratum of society, who have no common-sense.
Now how can the noble and high ranking people like us join the company of the common people? " Precisely the same thing was being said by the unbelieving Quraish about the Holy Prophet and his followers.
Abu Sufyan in reply to the questions asked by Heraclius had said: " Muhammad ( Allah "s peace be upon him ) has been followed by the poor and weak of our people." What they seemed to be thinking was that Truth was that which was considered as Truth by the chiefs and elders of the community, for only they had the necessary common-sense and power of judgment.
As for the common people, their being common was a proof that they lacked sense and judgment.
As such, if a thing was accepted by them but rejected by the chiefs, it meant that the thing itself was without worth and value.
The disbelievers of Makkah even went further.
They argued that a Prophet could not be a common man: if God had to appoint a Prophet, He would have appointed a great chief to be a Prophet: "They say: why has not the Qur'an been sent down to a prominent man of our two cities ( Makkah and Ta'if )?" ( Az-Zukhruf: 31 ).

 

The Demand of the People of Nuh and His Response They said: "We do not believe in you, and we will not follow you and become equal to the meanest of the people, who follow you and believe in you, and they are the lowest among us." قَالُواْ أَنُؤْمِنُ لَكَ وَاتَّبَعَكَ الاٌّرْذَلُونَ - قَالَ وَمَا عِلْمِى بِمَا كَانُواْ يَعْمَلُونَ ( They said: "Shall we believe in you, when the inferior follow you" He said: "And what knowledge have I of what they used to do" ) meaning, `what does it have to do with me if they follow me No matter what they used to do before, I do not have to check on them and examine their background; all I have to do is accept it if they believe in me; whatever is in their hearts is for Allah to know.' إِنْ حِسَابُهُمْ إِلاَّ عَلَى رَبِّى لَوْ تَشْعُرُونَ - وَمَآ أَنَاْ بِطَارِدِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ( Their account is only with my Lord, if you could (but ) know.
And I am not going to drive away the believers.) It seems that they asked him to drive these people away, then they would follow him, but he refused to do that, and said: وَمَآ أَنَاْ بِطَارِدِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ - إِنْ أَنَا إِلاَّ نَذِيرٌ مُّبِينٌ ( And I am not going to drive away the believers.
I am only a plain warner. ) meaning, `I have been sent as a warner, and whoever obeys me and follows me and believes in me, then he belongs to me and I to him, whether he is noble or common, upper-class or lower-class.'

( They said: Shall we put faith in thee ) shall we believe in you, O Noah, ( when the lowest (of the people ) follow thee) when our most lowly and weak have followed you? We will not believe in you until you repulse them.

They said: "Shall we believe in you, when the meanest (of the people) follow you?"

Page 371 English transliteration