َ قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ إِنِّي لَكُمْ نَذِيرٌ مُبِينٌ ﴿۲﴾ أَنِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَاتَّقُوهُ وَأَطِيعُونِ ﴿۳﴾ يَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ مِنْ ذُنُوبِكُمْ وَيُؤَخِّرْكُمْ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى إِنَّ أَجَلَ اللَّهِ إِذَا جَاءَ لَا يُؤَخَّرُ لَوْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ ﴿۴﴾ قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّي دَعَوْتُ قَوْمِي لَيْلًا وَنَهَارًا ﴿۵﴾

﴾2﴿ Qaala yaa qawmi innee lakum nazeerum mubeen
﴾3﴿ Ani'-budul laaha watta qoohu wa atee'oon
﴾4﴿ Yaghfir lakum min zunoobikum wa yu'akhkhirkum ilaaa ajalim musammaa; innaa ajalal laahi izaa jaaa'a laa yu'akhkhar; law kuntum ta'lamoon
﴾5﴿ Qaala rabbi innee da'awtu qawmee lailanw wa naharaa

﴾2﴿ He said, O my people, indeed, I am a clear warner to you
﴾3﴿ That you worship Allah alone, fear Him, and obey me
﴾4﴿ So that He may forgive your sins and grant you respite until an appointed term. Indeed, when the term appointed by Allah comes, it cannot be delayed, if only you knew
﴾5﴿ He said, O my Lord, indeed I have invited my people (to Tawheed) night and day

[2,3] This is a declaration of his prophethood.
(Mubīn) – The warning is clear because it is in their own language and delivered with sincerity.
Then, three objectives of the warning are mentioned:
First, to invite toward the worship of Allah the Exalted;
Second, to warn against delusions, shirk, disbelief, and disobedience;
Third, to command obedience to the Messenger.
Thus, it becomes clear that the two main goals of the prophets (peace be upon them) are:
1. Monotheism (Tawḥīd)
2. Following the Sunnah (Prophetic tradition).
[4] In this, two great benefits of monotheism (tawḥīd) and following the Sunnah are mentioned: one is related to the Hereafter, and the other to this world.
(Min dhunūbikum) – (Question:) According to hadith, all past sins are forgiven with Islam. But here the word min indicates that only some sins are forgiven.
(Answer:) One explanation is that yaghfir (forgives) here means yukhrij (removes), as mentioned by Qurtubī. Another view is that min refers to a portion—because sins are of two types: those committed before Islam and those after. With faith, the sins before Islam are forgiven, and that is considered a part of the whole.
(Wa yu’akhkhirukum) – This means Allah will grant you a life safe from punishment until death, and He will also grant you worldly benefits, as mentioned in Sūrah Hūd (11:52–53).
(Inna ajala Allāh) – This addresses a misconception: from yu’akhkhirukum, one might think that the promised time (ajal) can be changed. The answer is that regardless of what yu’akhkhirukum refers to, the appointed time fixed by Allah cannot be delayed.
(Law kuntum ta‘lamūn) – This is a warning that your obsession with worldly life has made you heedless of death and the appointed term.
[5] Since the long life of Nūḥ (peace be upon him) passed and his people (except for a few individuals) still did not believe, Nūḥ (peace be upon him) began to complain and supplicate to Allah the Exalted regarding them.
Within these supplications, there is a reference to all of their conditions.