الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينة ونستغفره، ونعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا، ومن سيئات أعمالنا ، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له ، وأشهد أن سيدنا محمداً عبده ورسوله ، اللهم صلِّ وسلم وبارك على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وأصحابه  ومن تبعه إلى يوم الدين

Today, I plan inshallah to discuss the story that all of you know which is the story of Prophet Nuh (Noah) as revealed to us in the Quran and the hadith of the Prophet (PBUH).  We realize that the stories of the Quran are intended to provide key lessons for us.  When we study the story of Prophet Nuh, we can derive several lessons that include:

1. Success in this life and in the hereafter require following the messenger of Allah.
2. Patience and sincerity are keys to fulfilling the commands of Allah.
3. Patience is a prerequisite when facing the ignorant and fools.
4. Patience and not rushing for the results are essential because the results are controlled by Allah.
5. Seek to apply different approaches when giving advice and guidance to people.
6. Success will always be the outcome for the righteous.
7. Always rely on Allah in all matters and supplicate to Him for help is a key tool.
8. Your responsibility is only to do your best with your family, you are not responsible for their response.
9. Linage alone does not maintain family relationship, association in belief is essential.

But the value of the stories in the Quran goes beyond teaching valuable lessons.  The way the story is narrated in the Quran serves as an educational tool to help expanding the analytical capability and the cognitive capacity of the serious readers.   The process to understand the story is to assemble all the verses related to the key figure in the story and harmonize the verses to derive a coherent story.

The name of Prophet Nuh (Noah) came in the Quran 43 times in 28 Surat.  It came by itself 30 times and came associated with his people 11 times and with his wife 1 time.  

For those who enjoy the analytical models in the Quran, we note that Nuh name is mentioned 43 times.

1. Surat Nuh is number 71 and it has 28 verses, the difference is 43
2. The last time Nuh’s name was mentioned is in Surat number 71 (Surat Nuh). The Quran has 114 Surat, so Nuh was not mentioned is 43 Surat after his last mention in Surat 71.
3. The name Nuh was not mentioned in 43 Surat that are before his last mention in Surat 71.
4. The Name Nuh was not mentioned in 86 Surat which 2 times 43.

The story of the great flood that devastated earlier civilizations is mentioned in many of the world’s cultures. Nearly all these stories indicate that God or the gods sent the flood to destroy the civilization as an act of divine retribution and only a small number of humans survived by being on a ship, and they repopulated humankind.  The widespread of the story among many cultures suggests that the flood happened, through the details reported in every culture has differed and this is attributed to the mix between truth and fables.   

There are widespread differences among the accounts regarding where the survivals landed.   An account says that the survivals were the first inhabitants of Ireland, another says that they landed in Hawaii, a third suggests that they landed in South America, a fourth says that they landed in North America and a fifth says that they landed in Australia.  In addition, there are accounts that say they landed in Europe, in Africa and in the Middle East.  In the Middle East, countries such as Iraq, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are mentioned.

Both the Old Testament and the Quran provide accounts of this great flood and mention Noah as the one who built the ship (generally called Noah’s Ark).  There are however key differences between the Old Testament and the Quran.  For example, in the Old Testament Noah was a preacher while he was a Messenger and a prophet in the Quran. The story in the Old Testament borrowed heavily from the story in the Epic of Gilgamesh (ملحمة جلجامش) which was a well-known story in Iraq where many sections of Old Testament were written over 500 years after Prophet Moses.   Other parts of the Old Testament were written later in Jerusalem. 

Most people are interested in knowing where the Ship landed. 

1. The Epic of Gilgamesh (ملحمة جلجامش) says that it landed in the mountain of Nasir (جبل نصير) which is a mountain in Iraq near the city Al-Sulaymaniyah (القرب من المدينة السليمانية في كردستان i).
2. The Old Testament says that it landed on the mountain of Ararat (جبل أرارات) which is a mountain located in the extreme east of Turkey.
3. The Quran says that it is landed on the mountain of Judi (الجودى) which is a mountain located in North Iraq near the city of Mosel (الموصل).

However, despite many expeditions, this ship, Noah’s Ark, has not been found and many suggest that it is unlikely to be found because its wood must have been deteriorated.

There are many elements of Nuh’s account in the Old Testament that are used by those who want to discredit the Bible as fables.  Unfortunately, some elements of the biblical account creeped into some books of Tafseer of the Quran.   People who don’t study the Quran try to discredit the Quran on the assumption that it says the same thing as what exists in the Old Testament, and this is completely wrong.

Some of the elements in the story of Nuh (Noah) in the Old Testament that have been justifiably discredited include:

1. The whole earth was flooded and everything on earth perished except those who were in Noah’s Ark while the physical findings of geology, fossilology, and the global distribution of species refute this suggestion.
2. The ship has a pair of all clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground and all species. This is hard to imagine because there is between 8 million to a billion species on earth, what type of ship will be able to carry all of these species and how much food the ship has to carry for all these animals.
3. The biblical story states that only 8 people survived, and they were Noah and his wife and their three sons and their wives and they are the one responsible for repopulating the earth after the flood which according to the Bible the flood occurred 4,126 years ago. It is not logical that in 4,126 years the population of earth increased from 8 to 8 billion.  Extrapolation of population data suggests that one needs at least 25,000 years to grow 8 people top 8 billion. (Note that it took 12,000 years for the population to grow from 1 million to 8 billion)

The attached chart shows the world population from the year 10,000 BC (i.e.,12,020 years ago) when the population was 1 million. The chart shows the exponential fit for the data for the three-growth rates.

In order to understand the true story of Prophet Nuh, we need to only focus on the related verses in the Quran and the Prophet’s hadith because these are the only authentic sources that exist to address key questions such as:

1. When did this event occur relative to Prophet Adam?
2. Did the flood cover the whole earth?
3. Did Prophet Noah take all the animals on the earth with him in the Ship?
4. Did all people drown, and the only survivors were the people with Prophet Noah?
5. Does the ship still exist and if it does, where it is most likely to be located?

Regarding the time between Prophet Adam and Prophet Noah, the Prophet (PBUH) was asked about this time, and He (PBUH) said:

ويذكر الطبراني أن رجلا قال: “يا رسول الله، أنبيّ كان آدم؟” قال: ((نعم))، قال: كم بينه وبين نوح؟” قال: ((عشرة قرون)). قال: “كم بين نوح وإبراهيم؟” قال: ((عشرة قرون)). قال: “يا رسول الله كم كانت الرسل؟” قال: ((ثلاث مئة وخمسة عشر)).

He (PBUH) said: “Between Adam and Nuh was 10 Qoroun”

And He was asked about the time between Noah and Ibrahim.

He (PBUH) said: Between Nuh and Ibrahim was 10 Qoroun

Then he was asked about the number of messengers.

He (PBUH) said: The number of messengers was 315.

Quroun (قرون) means generations as in the following verse:

أَلَمۡ يَرَوۡاْ كَمۡ أَهۡلَكۡنَا قَبۡلَهُم مِّنَ ٱلۡقُرُونِ أَنَّہُمۡ إِلَيۡہِمۡ لَا يَرۡجِعُونَ (٣١)

“Have they not seen how many (Quroun) generations We destroyed before them who will not return to them.” (Ya Seeen 36:31)

The confusion that some people make is thinking that the “Qarn” (قرن) is 100 years as we commonly consider.  But the term Qarn refers to the average age of people at any time and thus can change by time and location.  Therefore, the proper translation of the term “Qarn” (قرن) is generation and the plural “Quroun” (قرون) is generations.

The Qarn is the likely time two people who are born at the same time to be companions because it is related to the word “Qareen” (قَرِينٌ۬) that means an intimate companion as used in the following verse:  

وَمَن يَعۡشُ عَن ذِكۡرِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ نُقَيِّضۡ لَهُ ۥ شَيۡطَـٰنً۬ا فَهُوَ لَهُ ۥ قَرِينٌ۬ (الزّخرُف)

“And whosoever turns blind to the remembrance of the Most Gracious, We appoint for him a devil to be an intimate companion to him” (Az-Zukhruf 43:36)

It appears that at the beginning on mankind on earth the average life of humans was far longer than we witness now.  We were informed that Prophet Noah spent 950 years preaching to his people, so one would expect that he must have lived over 1000 years, so the Qarn in his time would be, say, 1000 years.   It is reported that Prophet Ibrahim lived 175 years so the Qarn in his time may have been about 150 years.  When we project backward to the time of Prophet Adam, it would be reasonable to consider that the Qarn at Prophet Adam’s time is 5,000 years.

So, if we assume that the average Qarn between Prophet Adam and Prophet Noah is 2.500 years, we can predict that the time between prophet Adam and Prophet Noah is about 25,000 years.  One would expect that during this time people would have spread far beyond the area in which Prophet Adam first landed which is near Mecca.   (Note: The Hebrew Text of the Torah indicates that the time between Adam and Noah was only 1000 years and the flood occurred 1656 years after creation. This can be questioned because it would mean that Prophet Adam and Nuh saw each other)

 Regarding the relevant question of whether all the earth was flooded and thus only those who were in the Ship with Prophet Nuh (Noah) survived, we note that there is nothing in the Quran that equivocally suggest that the whole earth was flooded.  But the Quran provides us with an insight that Nuh was not the only messenger to his people but there were multiple messengers at the same time; Allah says:

وَقَوۡمَ نُوحٍ۬ لَّمَّا ڪَذَّبُواْ ٱلرُّسُلَ أَغۡرَقۡنَـٰهُمۡ وَجَعَلۡنَـٰهُمۡ لِلنَّاسِ ءَايَةً۬‌ۖ  (٣٧)

“And for the people of Nuh (Noah), when they rejected the Messengers, We drowned them and made them as a sign for mankind.” (Al-Furqan 25:37)

كَذَّبَتۡ قَوۡمُ نُوحٍ ٱلۡمُرۡسَلِينَ (الشعراء (

“The people of Nuh (Noah) rejected the Messengers.” (Al-Shura 26:105)

The presence of multiple messengers during the time of Prophet Nuh suggests that.  the people were spread. Even though they were all called the people of Nuh (قَوۡمُ نُوحٍ).  Having multiple messengers at the same time makes sense because Allah informed that He used to send multiple messengers even to a single village as He says in Surat Yaseen:

وَٱضۡرِبۡ لَهُم مَّثَلاً أَصۡحَـٰبَ ٱلۡقَرۡيَةِ إِذۡ جَآءَهَا ٱلۡمُرۡسَلُونَ (١٣) إِذۡ أَرۡسَلۡنَآ إِلَيۡہِمُ ٱثۡنَيۡنِ فَكَذَّبُوهُمَا فَعَزَّزۡنَا بِثَالِثٍ۬ فَقَالُوٓاْ إِنَّآ إِلَيۡكُم مُّرۡسَلُونَ (١٤)

“And cite for them the example of the people of the village, when the messengers came to them. (13) When We sent to them two Messengers and they rejected both if them, so We reinforced them with a third, and they said: “Verily! We have been sent to you as Messengers.” (Yaseen 36:14)

We also know that prophet Ibrahim and Prophet Lut as well as Prophets Ishaq (Isaac) and Ismael were all present at the same time.  Also, Prophets Musa and Haroun were sent as messengers to the Pharoah at the same time. So having multiple Messengers with Prophet Nuh is not unusual.  But the hadith of the Prophet (PBUH) on the intercession (الشفاعة) in the day of Judgement states that Nuh was the first messenger after Prophet Adam, but this does not mean that there were no messengers with him.  It also does not mean that there were other prophets before him since every messenger is a prophet but not every Prophet a messenger. 

Calling all people as that time “the people of Nuh” (قوم نوح) is reasonable since Nuh was the first messenger and other messengers were sent by Allah to the same people while He was there.   The reason that Allah used to send multiple messengers and prophets at the same time because the means of communication and transportation were not as easy as we have now.    Having multiple messengers with Nuh creates several questions such as:

1. Did the other messengers face the same rejection as Prophet Nuh?
2. If there were followers with the other messengers, were they also in the ship that Nuh built?
3. Did the areas in which the other messengers were present also suffer flood and thus all the area where people were living was flooded?

There is nothing in the Quran that suggest that whole earth was flooded specifically the areas where there were no people.  Nothing indicate that lands such as Japan, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, etc were flooded since Nuh and all people at that time were most likely concentrated in the middle east, the area in around Arabia where Adam was first lived.

Let us see what the Quran says regarding whether the flood covered the whole earth.  Allah says:   

وَقَالَ نُوحٌ۬ رَّبِّ لَا تَذَرۡ عَلَى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ مِنَ ٱلۡكَـٰفِرِينَ دَيَّارًا (نوح(

“And Nuh (Noah) said: My Lord! Do not leave on the earth even a single disbeliever.” (Nuh 71:26)

The verse suggests that only the disbelievers were destroyed by the flood and thus there is no reason to assume that areas on earth that had no inhabitants are destroyed.   Also, the mention of “the earth” in Prophet Nuh’s supplication does not imply the whole earth. The Quran uses the term “Al-Ard (ٱلۡأَرۡضِ) that is translated as ‘the earth” or “the “land” in many verses when referring only to a specific area on the earth.  As examples in Surat Yusuf (12), the word “The earth” is used while it was only referring to the land of Egypt: Allah says:

وَكَذَٲلِكَ مَكَّنَّا لِيُوسُفَ فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ يَتَبَوَّأُ مِنۡہَا حَيۡثُ يَشَآءُ‌ۚ

“And thus, We gave Yusuf the power in the earth.  He could settle in it wherever he wished.” (Yusuf 12: 56)

قَالَ ڪَبِيرُهُمۡ أَلَمۡ تَعۡلَمُوٓاْ أَنَّ أَبَاكُمۡ قَدۡ أَخَذَ عَلَيۡكُم مَّوۡثِقً۬ا مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَمِن قَبۡلُ مَا فَرَّطتُّمۡ فِى يُوسُفَ‌ۖ فَلَنۡ أَبۡرَحَ ٱلۡأَرۡضَ حَتَّىٰ يَأۡذَنَ لِىٓ أَبِىٓ أَوۡ يَحۡكُمَ ٱللَّهُ لِى‌ۖ وَهُوَ خَيۡرُ ٱلۡحَـٰكِمِينَ (٨٠)

“The eldest among them said: “Do you not know that your father has taken an oath from you in the name of Allah, and before this you did fail in your duty with Yusuf? Therefore, I will not leave the earth until my father permits me, or Allah decides my case and He is the Best of the judges.” (Yusuf 12:80)

Conclusion 1: Therefore, there is no suggestion in the Quran that the flood covered the whole earth and any claim the flood covered the whole earth is mere speculation.  Therefore, The Quran implies that all the species in the land that was not flooded survived.

Someone may argue that that there appears to be an indication that the whole earth was covered with water at some point.  This will have nothing to do with the flood because the whole land area was under water and through volcanic actives the land mass formed.   The Prophet (PBUH) indicated it two hadith the first land to appear from under the water is area of the Kaaba, in Mecca.  The Prophet (PBUH) said:

“كانت الكعبة خشعة على الماء فدحيت منها الأرض “‏ والحديث ذكره الهروي في غريب لحديث‏(3/362) ,‏ وذكره الزمخشري في الفائق في غريب الحديث‏1/371‏

“The Kaaba emerged from beneath the water as a small hill, and then land formed around it.”

This Hadith is supported by another Hadith in which the prophet (PBUH) said:

وهذا الحديث النبوي الشريف يدعمه حديث آخر أخرجه كل من الطبراني والبيهقي في الشعب عن ابن عمر‏ (رضي الله عنهما‏)‏ : ‏ إنه‏ (أي بيت الله الحرام‏)‏ كان أول ما ظهر على وجه الماء عند خلق السماوات والأرض زبدة‏ (بفتح الزاي‏ ,‏ أي كتلة من الزبد‏)‏ بيضاء فدحيت الأرض من تحته‏

“It (the Sanctified House) was the first thing to come out over the surface of the water in the time of creating the heavens and the earth as a block, then land formed from beneath it.”

The other main question is whether all the earth population were destroyed by the flood except those who were with Prophet Nuh in the Ship.  There is a verse in the Quran that may suggest this, though not unequivocally, because Allah says:

وَلَقَدۡ نَادَٮٰنَا نُوحٌ۬ فَلَنِعۡمَ ٱلۡمُجِيبُونَ (٧٥) وَنَجَّيۡنَـٰهُ وَأَهۡلَهُ ۥ مِنَ ٱلۡكَرۡبِ ٱلۡعَظِيمِ (٧٦) وَجَعَلۡنَا ذُرِّيَّتَهُ ۥ هُمُ ٱلۡبَاقِينَ (٧٧)

“And Nuh (Noah) invoked Us, and We are the best to respond. (75) And We saved him and his family from the great distress (i.e., drowning), (76) And, made his progeny, the survivors.” (Al-Saffat 37:75-77)

If we assume that the verse implies that only those with prophet Nuh in the ship survived, this will mean that those who survived with Prophet Nuh were the ones who repopulated the earth.  This also suggests that all the people who were on earth at that time were near where Prophet Nuh was. But there is an issue that remains unclear, what happened with the other messengers and their followers who were serving at the time of Prophet Nuh.  The Quran does not provide details, but it leaves the door open that the flood may not have covered their area and thus the focus of the above verse is on the people whom Prophet Nuh was their messenger.

If only those in the ship survived and were responsible for repopulating the earth, how many people were with prophet Nuh in his ship.   There is no authentic hadith that can give the number but the number that exists in the Muslim literature is 80 and among those 80 were the 3 sons of Nuh.  (Nuh had 4 sons, one of them did not ride with Nuh as he was disbeliever are clearly indicated in eth Quran). 

Many interpreters of verse 77 in Surat Al-saffat (وَجَعَلۡنَا ذُرِّيَّتَهُ ۥ هُمُ ٱلۡبَاقِينَ) (And, made his progeny, the survivors) suggest that all the world population came from the 3 sons of Prophet Nuh.  But, how about the other people on the ship, didn’t they also have progeny, or all their progeny came thru intermarriage with Nuh’s children?   The answer to this question is not clear.  But it may be feasible to assume that the verse refers only to those people whom Prophet Nuh was their direct messenger.  Regarding the followers of the other messengers who existed at the same time as Prophet Nuh and may not have been impacted by the flood but heard of it, they may have also continued to populate the earth and spread to other areas beyond the middle east.   

Since the Quran did not provide clear answer to this question of who repopulated the earth after the flood, those who are interested can seek the answer through serious study of anthropology.   This is encouraged by Allah as He said:

قُلۡ سِيرُواْ فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ فَٱنظُرُواْ ڪَيۡفَ بَدَأَ ٱلۡخَلۡقَ‌ۚ

Say: “Travel in the land and see how He (Allah) originated the creation.” (Al-Ankaboot 29:20)

The question that creates confusion because what is included in the Old Testament regarding the numbers of animals that Prophet Nuh carried with him in the Ship.  The Quran suggests that not all the earth was flooded and thus the only animals to be saved are those in the area where the flood occurred.  The command to Prophet Nuh was as follows:

حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا جَآءَ أَمۡرُنَا وَفَارَ ٱلتَّنُّورُ قُلۡنَا ٱحۡمِلۡ فِيہَا مِن ڪُلٍّ۬ زَوۡجَيۡنِ ٱثۡنَيۡنِ وَأَهۡلَكَ إِلَّا مَن سَبَقَ عَلَيۡهِ ٱلۡقَوۡلُ وَمَنۡ ءَامَنَ‌ۚ وَمَآ ءَامَنَ مَعَهُ ۥۤ إِلَّا قَلِيلٌ۬  (هود(

When Our command came to pass and “Al Tanour” gushed, We said: Load in it from every pair two and your family, except those against whom the word has already been pronounced, and take those who have believed. And there were only few who believed with him.” (Hud 11:40)

In this verse there are two phrases that need explanations, the first is the phrase “gushing or overflowing of Al-Tanour” (وَفَارَ ٱلتَّنُّورُ) which was the sign to start loading the ark and the second phrase is “from every pair two (مِن ڪُلٍّ۬ زَوۡجَيۡنِ ٱثۡنَيۡنِ).  In the first phrase, what is the meaning of Al-Tanour” and in the second phrase what does it mean from every pair two. 

I am going to stop here and will continue Inshallah next time because in addition to explaining this verse, we still need to address what is the most likely location where the ship landed and whether the ship is still there.

DUA