Nuh’s (AS) Preaching
Nuh (AS) was the first rasul (messenger).
He was the prophet who preached for the longest.
He preached for 950 years.
Allah decided to send a messenger (rasul) to the people to bring them back on the straight path and to stop them from worshipping idols. He chose Nuh (AS), as he was a righteous, patient man and a good speaker.
Nuh (AS) went to the people and told them to worship Allah alone and to stop worshipping the idols. He gave many different arguments, and he preached day and night. His words touched the hearts of the weak, poor and oppressed, but angered the powerful and wealthy who were full of arrogance and wanted things to remain as they were. And so the people were divided into two groups.
The disbelievers argued that Nuh (AS) was only human and nothing special, so why should they listen to him? He agreed and told them that Allah had sent them a human messenger, since they themselves were human. When the disbelievers realised that the poor and weak were the ones who followed Nuh (AS), they began to taunt him. They claimed that the rich could not share a religion with the poor. Nuh (AS), however, would not turn away the poor as they were the guests of Allah.
They continued to argue, but eventually the disbelievers ran out of arguments as Nuh (AS) had the knowledge and wisdom of a prophet. And so they began to be rude to him, so much so that they even put their fingers in their ears when he tried to speak to them. But Nuh (AS) didn’t give up, and carried on preaching for 950 whole years! He was the prophet who preached for the longest. However the disbelievers even taught their children to go against Nuh (AS), and so the number of disbelievers only grew while only very few people accepted his message.