Ani oAAbudoo Allaha wattaqoohu waateeAAoon (surah Nuh: 3)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(71:3) that you serve Allah and fear Him, and follow me; *2

Ani`udul laaha watta qoohu wa atee`oon

*2) The three things which the Prophet Noah presented before his people at the outset of his mission of Prophethood were: (1) Worship of Allah, (2) adoption of piety (tagwa) and (3) obedience of the Messenger. Worship of AIIah meant that they should give up worship and service of all others and should acknowledge Allah alone as their Deity and should worship and carry out His commands alone. Taqwa (piety) meant that they should refrain from alI those works which caused Allah's anger and displeasure, and should instead adopt such attitude in their lives as the God fearing people should adopt. As for "obey me", it meant that they should obey the commands that he gave them as Allah's Messenger.