14وَلَقَد أَرسَلنا نوحًا إِلىٰ قَومِهِ فَلَبِثَ فيهِم أَلفَ سَنَةٍ إِلّا خَمسينَ عامًا فَأَخَذَهُمُ الطّوفانُ وَهُم ظالِمونَMuhammad AsadAND, INDEED, [in times long past] We sent forth Noah unto his people,1 and he dwelt among them a thousand years bar fifty;2 and then the floods overwhelmed them while they were still lost in evildoing:This passage connects with verse 2 above, "We did test those who lived before them". The story of Noah and of his failure to convert his people occurs in the Qur'an several times, and most extensively in 11:25-48. In the present instance it is meant to illustrate the truth that no one - not even a prophet - can bestow faith on another person (cf. 28:56 - "thou canst not guide aright everyone whom thou lovest"). The same purport underlies the subsequent references, in verses 16-40, to other prophets.Sc., "and despite this great length of time was unable to convince them of the truth of his mission". The identical figure - 950 years - is given in the Bible (Genesis ix, 29) as Noah's life-span. By repeating this element of the Biblical legend, the Qur'an merely stresses the fact that the duration of a prophet's mission has nothing to do with its success or failure, since "all true guidance is God's guidance" (3:73) - and, as we are so often told in the Qur'an, "God guides [only] him that wills [to be guided]". Thus, the reference to Noah is meant to reassure the believer who may be distressed at seeing the majority of his fellow-men refuse to accept, all at once, a truth which appears self-evident to him.