Commentary on Tafsir al-Jalalayn: “And Noah called out to Us, so We were indeed the best of responders” [10:54]

And for this reason, He said: He said, “My Lord, . So Allah avenged him and answered his supplication. Allah the Exalted said: Water gushing from the earth and water descending from the sky, surging from the earth with a great surge that encompassed the entire earth, even the oven, which is the place where fire is kindled, began to gush with water, and the sky poured down with a great torrent of water. So the water met until it reached the peaks of the mountains, and no one was saved from it except those who were believers, for they were with Noah (peace be upon him) in the ship. And for this reason, He, Glorified and Exalted is He, said: Now, we mentioned that Noah is the first of the messengers; who is the last? Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the last of the messengers. Allah the Exalted said: [Al-Ahzab: 40]. He did not say “and the seal of the messengers” along with His saying “but a Messenger of Allah,” indicating that it is not possible for a prophet or a messenger to come after him. The sentence “And Noah called out to Us” is affirmed by three affirmations, as mentioned before: the oath, the letter lam, and qad. And we say in explaining the affirmation here what we said before. And His saying:
The letter fa is a conjunction that indicates sequence and immediacy, and the letter lam is a preparation for the oath. The intended meaning of the speech is: “By Allah, We are indeed the best of responders.” Al-mujibun (the responders) is the subject of na‘ma, and na‘ma and baysa and their like require a subject and a specified noun that serves as the beginning of a sentence, with the sentence being the predicate about it. This beginning is called the specified noun of praise or blame. So where is the specified noun in this verse? It says: “We are the best of responders.” We are indeed the best of responders. And truthful is our Lord, and We are indeed the best of responders. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, for His response is not like the response of others. The response of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is a realized response, but with the condition that the conditions of response are fulfilled and the obstacles are removed. If the conditions of response are not fulfilled, He, Mighty and Majestic, does not respond, because His response, like all His actions, is based on what? Wisdom. And wisdom is placing things in their proper place. So when the conditions of response are fulfilled, there is a place for the response, and the response occurs. And if they are not fulfilled, there is no place for the response, so the response is not realized. And it is necessary that the obstacles be removed, that there be no obstacle from the obstacles of response. And the mention of these conditions and obstacles will come, if Allah wills, when mentioning the benefits.
The important point is that Allah the Exalted praised Himself by saying that He is the best of responders, and truthful is Allah the Great, for He, the Exalted, is indeed the best of responders. He responds to His servants if wisdom dictates it, by the presence of the conditions and the removal of the obstacles. “To Him, We are the best of responders, meaning, We answered his call against his people and destroyed them by drowning” He called upon his people, and He destroyed them by drowning. They drowned, every last one of them. And it was mentioned that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: A woman who was the mother of a child, and she had a child with her. When she saw the water increasing, she feared for herself from drowning, so she took refuge on a mountain. The water rose until it reached her, then it rose until the water reached her, then she climbed higher until the water reached her, until she reached the peak of the mountain and the water reached her. When she saw that the water had reached her and overwhelmed her, she lifted the child above her hands so that she would drown before him. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, as reported about him: Because this is the most profound thing in mercy: that she makes her death before his, lifting him on her hands so that the drowning reaches her before him. The important point is that these people and others from the nations, their faith does not benefit them when they see the calamity. So look at Pharaoh when the drowning overtook him, he said: But what did that benefit him? It was said to him: No one from the nations was benefited by his faith when he saw the calamity, except the people of Yunus. The scholars said that the wisdom in that is that their prophet left them in anger before permission was given to him, so the word did not become effective against them due to the incompleteness of the warning regarding them. Therefore, when they believed, Allah removed from them the punishment of disgrace in this worldly life, and We gave them enjoyment for a time. And they will find what they deserve of punishment or reward.