NOAH.
Arabic Nuh نوح. A prophet to whom Muslims give the Kalimah, or title, of Nabiyu ‘llah, “the Prophet of God” He is not supposed to have been the inspired author of ‘a Book.’
The following is the account given of him and of the flood in the Qur’an (with Mir. Lane’s annotations in italics; see second edition, by Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole): –
“We formerly sent Noah unto his people, saying, Verily I am unto you a plain admonisher that ye worship not [any] but God. Verily, I fear for you, if ye worship any other, the punishment of an afflictive day in this world and the world to come.—But. the chiefs who disbelieved among his people replied, We see thee not to be other than a man, like unto us; and we see not any to have followed thee except the meanest of us, as the weavers and the cobblers, at first thought (or rashly), nor do we see you to have any excellence above us: nay, we imagine you to be liars in your claim to the apostolic commission. He said, O my people, tell me, if I have an evident proof from my Lord and He hath bestowed on me mercy (the gift of prophecy) from Himself which is hidden from you, shall we compel you to receive it it when ye are averse thereto? We cannot do so. And, O my people, I ask not of you any riches for it namely, for delivering my message. My reward is not due from any but God ; and I will not drive away those who have believed as ye have commanded me [because they are poor people]. Verily they shall meet their Lord at the resurreetion, and He will recompense them, and will exact for them [reparation] from those who have treated them with injustice, and driven them away. But I see you [to be] a people who are ignorant of the end of your case. And, O my people, who will defend me against. God if I drive them away? Will ye not then consider? And I do not say unto you, I have the treasures of God: nor [do I say], I knew the things unseen; nor do I say, Verily I am an angel; nor do I say, of those whom your eyes contomn, God will by no means bestow on them good: (God best knoweth what is in their minds:) verily I should in that case be [one] of the offenders — They replied, O Noah, thou hast disputed with us and multiplied disputes with us: now bring upon us that punishment wherewith thou threatenest us, if thou be of those that speak truth. He said, Only God will bring it upon you, if He please to hasten it Unto you, for it is His affair, not mine; and ye shall not escape God; nor will my counsel profit you, if I desire to counsel you, if God desire to lead you into error, He is your Lord; and onto Him shall ye be brought back.” (Surah xi. 27-36.)
“And it was said by revelation unto Noah, Verily there shall not believe of thy people [any] but they who have already believed; therefore be not grieved for that which they have done” (Surah xi. 38.)
“And he uttered an imprecation upon them, saying, O my Lord. leave not upon the earth any one of the unbelievers; for if Thou leave them, they will lead Thy servants into error, and will not beget [any] but a wicked, ungrateful [offspring]. O my Lord, forgive me and my parents (for they were, believers), and whomsoever entereth my house (my abode, or my place of worship), being a believer, and the believing men, and the believing women, (to the day of resurrection,) and add not to the offenders [aught] save destruction?” (Surah lxii. 27—29.)
“And God answered his, prayer, and said, Construct the ark in our sight and according to our revelation, and speak not unto Me concerning those who have offended, to beg Me not to destroy them; for they [shall be] drowned, And he constructed the ark; and whenever a company of his people passed by him, they derided him. He said, If ye deride us, we will deride you, like as ye deride, when we are saved and ye are drowned, and ye shall know on whom shall come a punishment which shall render him vile, and whom shall befall a lasting punishment. [Thus he was employed] until when Our decree for their destruction came to pass, and the baker’s oven overflowed with water (for this was a signal unto Noah), We said, Carry into it (that is, into the ark) of every pair, male and female, of each of these descriptions, two (and it is related that God assembled for Noah the wild beasts and the birds and other creatures, and he proceeded to put his hands upon each kind and his right hand fell always upon the male, and his left upon the female, and he carried them into the ark), and thy family (excepting him upon whom the sentence of destruction hath already been pronounced, namely, Noah’s wife, and his son Canaan: but Shem and Ham and Japheth and their three wives he took), and those who-have believed; but there believed not with him save a few they were six men and their wives: and it is said that all who were in the ark were eighty, half of them were men and half women. And Noah said, Embark ye therein. In the name of God [be] its course and its mooring. Verily my Lord is very forgiving [and] merciful. — And it moved along with them amid waves like mountains, and Noah called unto his son, Canaan, who was apart from the ark, O my child, embark with us, and be not with the unbelievers! He replied. I will betake me to a mountain which will secure me from the water. [Noah] said, There is nought that will secure today from the decree of God [any] but him on whom He hath mercy. And the waves intervened between them; so he became. [one] of the drowned. And it was said, O earth swallow up thy water (whereupon it drank it up, except what had descended from heaven, which became rivers and seas), and, O heaven, cease from raining ;— and the water abated, and the decree was fulfilled, and it (namely, the ark), rested on El -Joodee (a mountain of al-Jezereh, near El-Mosil); and it was said, Perdition to the offending people!” (Surah xi. 39-46.)
“And Noah called upon his Lord, and said, O any Lord, verily my son is of my family, and Thou hast promised me to save them, and verily Thy promise is true, and Thou art the most just of those who exercise judgement. God replied, O Noah, verily he is not of thy family who should be saved, or of the people of thy religion. Verily it (namely thine asking Me to save him) is not a righteous act; for he was an unbeliever, and there is no safety for the unbelievers; therefore ask not of Me that wherein thou heat no knowledge. I admonish thee, last thou become [one] of the ignorant. — Noah said, O my Lord, I beg Thee to preserve me from asking Thee that wherein I have no knowledge: and if Thou do not forgive me and have mercy upon me, I shall be of those who suffer loss.
– it was said, O Noah, descend from the ark with peace from Us, and blessings upon thee and upon peoples [that shall proceed] from those who are with thee in the ark (that is their believing posterity), but people [that shall proceed] from those who are with thee We will permit to enjoy the provisions of this world, then a painful punishment shall befall them from Us, in the world to come; they being unbelievers. (Surah xi. 47-50.)
The commentator al-Baizawi says that Noah went into the ark on the tenth of Rajab, and came out of it on the tenth of Muharram which therefore became a fast; so that the whole time of Noah’s being in the ark according to him, was six months; and that Noah was two years in building the ark, which was framed of Indian plane tree; that it was divided into three stories, of which the lower was designed for the beasts, the middle one for the men and women, and the upper for the birds; and the men were separated from the women by the body of Adam, which Noah had taken into the ark.
Arabic Nuh نوح. A prophet to whom Muslims give the Kalimah, or title, of Nabiyu ‘llah, “the Prophet of God” He is not supposed to have been the inspired author of ‘a Book.’
The following is the account given of him and of the flood in the Qur’an (with Mir. Lane’s annotations in italics; see second edition, by Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole): –
“We formerly sent Noah unto his people, saying, Verily I am unto you a plain admonisher that ye worship not [any] but God. Verily, I fear for you, if ye worship any other, the punishment of an afflictive day in this world and the world to come.—But. the chiefs who disbelieved among his people replied, We see thee not to be other than a man, like unto us; and we see not any to have followed thee except the meanest of us, as the weavers and the cobblers, at first thought (or rashly), nor do we see you to have any excellence above us: nay, we imagine you to be liars in your claim to the apostolic commission. He said, O my people, tell me, if I have an evident proof from my Lord and He hath bestowed on me mercy (the gift of prophecy) from Himself which is hidden from you, shall we compel you to receive it it when ye are averse thereto? We cannot do so. And, O my people, I ask not of you any riches for it namely, for delivering my message. My reward is not due from any but God ; and I will not drive away those who have believed as ye have commanded me [because they are poor people]. Verily they shall meet their Lord at the resurreetion, and He will recompense them, and will exact for them [reparation] from those who have treated them with injustice, and driven them away. But I see you [to be] a people who are ignorant of the end of your case. And, O my people, who will defend me against. God if I drive them away? Will ye not then consider? And I do not say unto you, I have the treasures of God: nor [do I say], I knew the things unseen; nor do I say, Verily I am an angel; nor do I say, of those whom your eyes contomn, God will by no means bestow on them good: (God best knoweth what is in their minds:) verily I should in that case be [one] of the offenders — They replied, O Noah, thou hast disputed with us and multiplied disputes with us: now bring upon us that punishment wherewith thou threatenest us, if thou be of those that speak truth. He said, Only God will bring it upon you, if He please to hasten it Unto you, for it is His affair, not mine; and ye shall not escape God; nor will my counsel profit you, if I desire to counsel you, if God desire to lead you into error, He is your Lord; and onto Him shall ye be brought back.” (Surah xi. 27-36.)
“And it was said by revelation unto Noah, Verily there shall not believe of thy people [any] but they who have already believed; therefore be not grieved for that which they have done” (Surah xi. 38.)
“And he uttered an imprecation upon them, saying, O my Lord. leave not upon the earth any one of the unbelievers; for if Thou leave them, they will lead Thy servants into error, and will not beget [any] but a wicked, ungrateful [offspring]. O my Lord, forgive me and my parents (for they were, believers), and whomsoever entereth my house (my abode, or my place of worship), being a believer, and the believing men, and the believing women, (to the day of resurrection,) and add not to the offenders [aught] save destruction?” (Surah lxii. 27—29.)
“And God answered his, prayer, and said, Construct the ark in our sight and according to our revelation, and speak not unto Me concerning those who have offended, to beg Me not to destroy them; for they [shall be] drowned, And he constructed the ark; and whenever a company of his people passed by him, they derided him. He said, If ye deride us, we will deride you, like as ye deride, when we are saved and ye are drowned, and ye shall know on whom shall come a punishment which shall render him vile, and whom shall befall a lasting punishment. [Thus he was employed] until when Our decree for their destruction came to pass, and the baker’s oven overflowed with water (for this was a signal unto Noah), We said, Carry into it (that is, into the ark) of every pair, male and female, of each of these descriptions, two (and it is related that God assembled for Noah the wild beasts and the birds and other creatures, and he proceeded to put his hands upon each kind and his right hand fell always upon the male, and his left upon the female, and he carried them into the ark), and thy family (excepting him upon whom the sentence of destruction hath already been pronounced, namely, Noah’s wife, and his son Canaan: but Shem and Ham and Japheth and their three wives he took), and those who-have believed; but there believed not with him save a few they were six men and their wives: and it is said that all who were in the ark were eighty, half of them were men and half women. And Noah said, Embark ye therein. In the name of God [be] its course and its mooring. Verily my Lord is very forgiving [and] merciful. — And it moved along with them amid waves like mountains, and Noah called unto his son, Canaan, who was apart from the ark, O my child, embark with us, and be not with the unbelievers! He replied. I will betake me to a mountain which will secure me from the water. [Noah] said, There is nought that will secure today from the decree of God [any] but him on whom He hath mercy. And the waves intervened between them; so he became. [one] of the drowned. And it was said, O earth swallow up thy water (whereupon it drank it up, except what had descended from heaven, which became rivers and seas), and, O heaven, cease from raining ;— and the water abated, and the decree was fulfilled, and it (namely, the ark), rested on El -Joodee (a mountain of al-Jezereh, near El-Mosil); and it was said, Perdition to the offending people!” (Surah xi. 39-46.)
“And Noah called upon his Lord, and said, O any Lord, verily my son is of my family, and Thou hast promised me to save them, and verily Thy promise is true, and Thou art the most just of those who exercise judgement. God replied, O Noah, verily he is not of thy family who should be saved, or of the people of thy religion. Verily it (namely thine asking Me to save him) is not a righteous act; for he was an unbeliever, and there is no safety for the unbelievers; therefore ask not of Me that wherein thou heat no knowledge. I admonish thee, last thou become [one] of the ignorant. — Noah said, O my Lord, I beg Thee to preserve me from asking Thee that wherein I have no knowledge: and if Thou do not forgive me and have mercy upon me, I shall be of those who suffer loss.
– it was said, O Noah, descend from the ark with peace from Us, and blessings upon thee and upon peoples [that shall proceed] from those who are with thee in the ark (that is their believing posterity), but people [that shall proceed] from those who are with thee We will permit to enjoy the provisions of this world, then a painful punishment shall befall them from Us, in the world to come; they being unbelievers. (Surah xi. 47-50.)
The commentator al-Baizawi says that Noah went into the ark on the tenth of Rajab, and came out of it on the tenth of Muharram which therefore became a fast; so that the whole time of Noah’s being in the ark according to him, was six months; and that Noah was two years in building the ark, which was framed of Indian plane tree; that it was divided into three stories, of which the lower was designed for the beasts, the middle one for the men and women, and the upper for the birds; and the men were separated from the women by the body of Adam, which Noah had taken into the ark.
Based on Hughes, Dictionary of Islam
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