Nooh was the second father of all people and the first Messenger (Rusul) to the people of the Earth. This great Prophet lived for a very long time: he invited his people for 950 years to worship only Allaah and to dedicate all acts of worship to Him alone. He never got tired or lost interest in his mission. He called them night and day, in private and in public. Allaah, the Most High, says,
“Indeed We sent Nooh as a Messenger to his people ordering him to warn his people before a painful punishment should come to them. He said, ‘O my People, I am a plain and clear warner to you, that you should worship Allaah alone, avoid disobedience to Him and obey me. If you do so He will forgive you your sins and grant you respite until an appointed term. Indeed when the term decreed by Allaah comes it cannot be delayed, and if you knew you would submit to and obey your Lord.’ Nooh said, ‘O my Lord, I have called my people day and night to worship You alone and warned them of Your punishment but my calling them to the truth only results in them turning away from it.[1] Whenever I call them to worship You alone and to obey You, and to disassociate themselves from the worship of everything but You, so that You may forgive them, they thrust their fingers in their ears and cover themselves up with their garments, so as not to hear. Then they persist in their disbelief and arrogantly and obstinately refuse to follow and submit to the truth. Then I called them loudly and openly, and I called them individually and privately. I said to them, ‘Ask your Lord to forgive your sins and repent to your Lord from your unbelief and association of others in worship with Him, and make your worship sincerely and purely for Him, then He will forgive you, indeed He greatly forgives those who turn to Him in repentance and seek His forgiveness. He will then send you rain in abundance, and grant you increase in wealth and children, and provide you with gardens and rivers. What is wrong with you that you do not have awe and fear of Allaah, when it is He that created you in successive stages? Do you not see how Allaah has created the seven heavens one above the other, and has placed the moon therein as a light and has made the sun a lamp? Allaah it is who created you and brought you from the earth, and He it is who will return you to it, and then resurrect you from it. Allaah – it is Who spread out the earth for you, so that you may travel about upon wide roads.’’ Nooh said, ‘O my Lord, they have rejected my call and opposed it, and have instead followed the call of those whose wealth and children only increase them in error and take them further away from their Lord. Furthermore the leaders have plotted a mighty plot, and they have said, “Do not abandon your gods. Do not abandon Wadd, nor Suwaa, nor Yaghooth, nor Ya’ooq, nor Nasr.” Indeed many have gone astray due to the idols. O Allaah, grant no increase to the transgressors except in error.[2] Due to their sins they were drowned in the Flood and entered into the Fire, and they could find no one to save them from Allaah’s punishment.”[3]
So, what was the message that this noble Messenger, Nooh (عليه السلام), shared with his people for 950 years? It was a sincere and determined call to worship only Allaah and to make all acts of worship purely for Him. Nooh (عليه السلام) put in tireless effort, using every possible way to convince his people. He spoke to them privately, individually, and openly. He encouraged them and warned them, telling them about the good rewards for those who obey and the bad consequences for those who disobey. Nooh (عليه السلام) gave them practical and intellectual proofs from their own lives, from the world around them, and from the clear signs and lessons in the heavens and the earth. But despite all of this, they refused to listen. They stubbornly clung to their idols and false gods. Because of their stubbornness and refusal to accept the truth, they faced destruction in this world and eternal punishment in the Hell-fire in the Hereafter.
When Nooh (عليه السلام) lost hope that his people would ever believe, and they threatened to kill him, persecuting both him and those who believed with him, he had no choice but to pray against them. He said:
“My Lord! Leave not one of the disbelievers on the earth! If You leave them, they will mislead Your slaves, and they will beget none but wicked disbelievers” [Noah 71:26-27]
Allaah responded to the prayer of Nooh (عليه السلام) and destroyed his people by drowning them. He commanded Nooh (عليه السلام) to build a ship of salvation so that he and the believers could be saved by riding in it.
“And it was revealed to Noah : ‘None of your people will believe except those who have believed already. So be not sad because of what they used to do. And construct the ship under Our Eyes and with Our Revelation, and call not upon Me on behalf of those who did wrong; they are surely to be drowned’” [Hud 11:36-37 – interpretation of the meaning]
When Nooh (عليه السلام) finished building the ship and the signs of the impending punishment appeared—water gushing from the ground and falling from the sky—Allaah commanded Nooh (عليه السلام) to take onto the ship one pair, male and female, of every living creature and animal, so that they might continue to survive. He was also instructed to take with him his family, except for those who disbelieved, which included one of his wives and one of his sons. Additionally, Allaah commanded him to bring along those who believed, though they were few in number.
Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“(So it was) till when Our Command came and the oven gushed forth (water like fountains from the earth). We said: ‘Embark therein, of each kind two (male and female), and your family — except him against whom the Word has already gone forth — and those who believe. And none believed with him, except a few.’
And he [Noah] said: ‘Embark therein: in the Name of Allah will be its (moving) course and its (resting) anchorage. Surely, my Lord is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.’
So it (the ship) sailed with them amidst waves like mountains, and Noah called out to his son, who had separated himself (apart): ‘O my son! Embark with us and be not with the disbelievers.’
The son replied: ‘I will betake myself to some mountain, it will save me from the water.’ Noah said: ‘This day there is no saviour from the Decree of Allah except him on whom He has mercy.’ And waves came in between them, so he (the son) was among the drowned” [Hud 11:40-43]
Then Noah was seized with compassion for his son, so he asked his Lord to save him from destruction:
“And Noah called upon his Lord and said, ‘O my Lord! Verily, my son is part of my family! And certainly, Your Promise is true, and You are the Most Just of the judges.’
He said: ‘O Noah! Surely, he is not of your family; verily, his work is unrighteous, so ask not of Me that of which you have no knowledge! I admonish you, lest you should be one of the ignorant’” [Hud 11:45-46 – interpretation of the meaning]
When Allaah had destroyed the unbelievers by drowning them, He commanded the earth to swallow up the water and the sky to withhold its rain. Then the ship came to rest on Mount Judi in Mosul. The matter was settled, and the wrongdoers were destroyed.
“And it was said: ‘O earth! Swallow up your water, and O sky! Withhold (your rain).’ And the water was made to subside and the Decree (of Allah) was fulfilled (i.e. the destruction of the people of Noah. And it (the ship) rested on (Mount) Judi, and it was said: ‘Away with the people who are Zalimun (polytheists and wrongdoing)!’” [Hud 11:44 – interpretation of the meaning]
After the ship had come to rest, Allaah commanded Nooh (عليه السلام) and those who were with him to disembark, surrounded by peace and blessings.
“It was said: ‘O Noah! Come down (from the ship) with peace from Us and blessings on you and on the people who are with you (and on some of their offspring), but (there will be other) people to whom We shall grant their pleasures (for a time), but in the end a painful torment will reach them from Us’” [Hud 11:48 – interpretation of the meaning]
Thus, Allaah helped Nooh (عليه السلام) and those who believed with him, while He destroyed those who disbelieved, making them a lesson for all of mankind.
“And (remember) Noah, when he cried (to Us) aforetime. We answered his invocation and saved him and his family from the great distress.
We helped him against the people who denied Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.). Verily, they were a people given to evil. So We drowned them all” [al-Anbiya 21:76-77 – interpretation of the meaning]
Archaeologists in Turkey have unearthed remnants resembling a vessel similar to Noah’s Ark through their excavation of a geological site.
