Stories of the prophets
نوح
Nuh - The Ark
One man, one message, nine hundred fifty years of being told no. Then the sky answers - and even his own son won't come aboard.
September 1, 2026 · Sourced from the Qur'an
Entry 002:
Nuh The Ark
Ten generations after Adam, people still knew their Lord. Among Nuh's people there'd been five good men: Wadd, Suwa', Yaghuth, Ya'uq and Nasr.
When they died, Shaytan whispered an idea to their people.
Set up markers where they used to sit.
And name them with their names.
They did it. And nobody worshipped the stones. Not yet.
Then that generation died. The ones after them forgot why the stones were there. And they started worshipping them.
So into a world that had forgotten, Allah sent Nuh. Not to force anyone. Just to call them back. And he kept calling for nine hundred and fifty years.
My Lord, indeed I invited my people night and day.
They stuck their fingers in their ears and wrapped themselves up in their clothes.
Every generation taught its kids exactly how not to listen. He didn't stop.
The chiefs had their answer ready.
You're just a man like us.
And the only ones following you
are the lowest of us. They didn't think twice.
So bring what you're threatening us with,
if you're telling the truth.
The poor. The ones nobody counted. They were the ones who believed.
Indeed, I am overpowered, so help.
وَٱصْنَعِ ٱلْفُلْكَ بِأَعْيُنِنَا وَوَحْيِنَا وَلَا تُخَـٰطِبْنِى فِى ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّهُم مُّغْرَقُونَ
And construct the ship under Our observation and Our inspiration and do not address Me concerning those who have wronged; indeed, they are [to be] drowned."
Qur'an 11:37
Saheeh International
So he built. On dry land, an old man cut timber, laid planks and hammered in nails.
Every time the chiefs walked past, they laughed at him.
If you ridicule us, then we will ridicule you just as you ridicule.
And he went back to work.
Nine hundred and fifty years. And at the end of it all: one ship, and a handful of believers.
The sky didn't just break open. Allah opened it. Water poured down, and water burst up out of the ground.
Embark therein;
in the name of Allāh [are] its course and its anchorage.
One by one, they climbed aboard. And the two waters met.
The ship was already riding waves as tall as mountains.
And one of his own sons was standing off on his own.
O my son, come aboard with us
and be not with the disbelievers.
I'll go up a mountain. It'll keep me safe from the water.
There is no protector today
from the decree of Allāh,
except for whom He gives mercy.
Then a wave came between them.
وَقِيلَ يَـٰٓأَرْضُ ٱبْلَعِى مَآءَكِ وَيَـٰسَمَآءُ أَقْلِعِى وَغِيضَ ٱلْمَآءُ وَقُضِىَ ٱلْأَمْرُ وَٱسْتَوَتْ عَلَى ٱلْجُودِىِّ ۖ وَقِيلَ بُعْدًا لِّلْقَوْمِ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ
And it was said, "O earth, swallow your water, and O sky, withhold [your rain]." And the water subsided, and the matter was accomplished, and it [i.e., the ship] came to rest on the [mountain of] Jūdiyy. And it was said, "Away with the wrongdoing people."
Qur'an 11:44
Saheeh International
And a father who'd just lost his son asked one question.
My Lord, indeed my son is of my family
and indeed, Your promise is true;
and You are the most just of judges!
He wasn't arguing. He was asking so he could understand.
The answer is the hardest part of the whole story.
قَالَ يَـٰنُوحُ إِنَّهُۥ لَيْسَ مِنْ أَهْلِكَ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ عَمَلٌ غَيْرُ صَـٰلِحٍ ۖ فَلَا تَسْـَٔلْنِ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِۦ عِلْمٌ ۖ إِنِّىٓ أَعِظُكَ أَن تَكُونَ مِنَ ٱلْجَـٰهِلِينَ
He said, "O Noah, indeed he is not of your family; indeed, he is [one whose] work was other than righteous, so ask Me not for that about which you have no knowledge. Indeed, I advise you, lest you be among the ignorant."
Qur'an 11:46
Saheeh International
Nuh asked Allah to protect him from asking about things he didn't know, and he asked for forgiveness.
The promise had been for the believers in his family.
Nuh had put up with his people for nine and a half centuries. And Allah saved a handful with him.
The ship came to rest on a mountain called al-Judi. The water went down. And Allah told him to come down in peace.
Allah made his line the one that carried on. Every single person alive today comes from that ship.
He was the first messenger ever sent to the people of the earth. And he'd kept calling for nine and a half centuries with almost nobody listening.
And that's the whole story.
Sources
- Qur'an 7:59; 71:1-3 - Nuh sent to his people as a warner
- Abu Umamah, 'ten qurun between Adam and Nuh' - Sahih Ibn Hibban (Ibn Kathir: on Muslim's condition; al-Albani, al-Silsila al-Sahiha 6/359: its chain is sahih); Ibn Abbas, 'ten qurun, all of them on a law of truth' - al-Tabari on 2:213 (no. 4048, through 'Ikrima) and al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak 2:546-547 ('sahih on al-Bukhari's condition, and they [al-Bukhari and Muslim] did not record it'); 'generations' is one of Ibn Kathir's two readings of qurun, the other being centuries; the chapter's opening rests on it
- Sahih al-Bukhari 4920 (Ibn Abbas, Tafsir of Surah Nuh) - the five righteous men, the suggestion to set up markers where they sat and name them, and the worship once knowledge was forgotten; the opening, and the whisper on p02
- Qur'an 71:23 - the five names
- Qur'an 16:35 - upon the messengers is only clear conveyance; 11:28 - Nuh: 'should we compel you to it while you are averse to it?'; the source for 'Not to compel. To call.'
- Qur'an 29:14 - the nine hundred and fifty years
- Qur'an 71:5-9 - Nuh's own report of the call, night and day, openly and in private (p06); 71:7 - fingers in their ears and wrapped in their garments, reported by the narrator
- Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya, the story of Nuh - each father charged his grown son never to believe Nuh; al-Tabari on 71:6 from Qatada - a father brings his son to Nuh and warns him against him; al-Baghawi on 71:27, a close variant; with 71:27
- Qur'an 11:27, 11:32 - the chiefs' answer and their dare (p09 to p11); 26:111 - the same charge about his followers; al-Qurtubi on 11:27 - in his own words the aradhil here are the poor and the weak, after al-Nahhas's 'the poor, those without standing and those of base trades'; the source for 'The poor'
- Qur'an 11:37 - the command to build (the pause page); 54:13 - planks and dusur ('nails' is the leading gloss, from Ibn Abbas)
- Qur'an 11:38 - the chiefs mocked him each time they passed, and his reply (p17)
- Qur'an 11:40 - the sign, the pairs, his family carried, and 'none believed with him except a few'; 37:76 - Allah saved him and his family; 26:119 - Allah saved him and those with him in the laden ship
- Ibn Kathir, Tafsir on 11:40 - his family is his household and kin, excepting the son who refused and Nuh's wife, who disbelieved; 66:10 - Nuh's wife; al-Tabari, Tafsir on 11:38, no. 18137 (Ibn Ishaq, from one he did not suspect, from 'Ubayd ibn 'Umayr) - his three sons, their wives and six who believed carried, then the animals (the number drawn is the studio's); Ibn Abbas on 37:77 - after the ship, those with him died but his children and their wives (al-Baghawi, through al-Dahhak, generally held not to have met Ibn Abbas; al-Qurtubi has 'his children and his women'); the sources for the family boarding, in the hold, at al-Judi and at the hearth; the order on the ramp is the studio's staging
- Qur'an 54:9-10 and 23:24-27 - the plea (p13), after the rejection and before the command to build; 54:11-12 - the gates of the sky opened, the earth burst with springs, the waters met
- Qur'an 11:41 - embark in the name of Allah (p20)
- Qur'an 11:42-43 - the waves like mountains, the son apart, the call, his reply, Nuh's answer, the wave between them (p24 to p26)
- Qur'an 11:44 - the earth and the sky commanded, the water subsided, al-Judi (the pause page)
- Qur'an 11:45 - Nuh's question (p31); Ibn Kathir, Tafsir on 11:45-46 - a request to understand, and 'not of your family' read as not of those promised salvation; al-Tabari on 11:46 - the more correct of the two views: he was his son, and not of the family promised rescue
- Qur'an 11:46 - 'he is not of your family' (the pause page)
- Qur'an 11:47 - Nuh seeks refuge from asking for what he has no knowledge of, and asks forgiveness and mercy; 11:48 - 'descend in peace'
- Qur'an 37:77 - Allah made his descendants the ones who remained; al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir on 37:77 (Ibn Abbas; Qatada) - all people since are Nuh's descendants; Ibn Abbas on 37:77 - those with him died but his children and their wives (al-Baghawi, through al-Dahhak, generally held not to have met Ibn Abbas; al-Qurtubi has 'his children and his women'); the source for 'Every human being alive today comes from that ship'
- Sahih al-Bukhari 4712 and 3340, Sahih Muslim 194 - the intercession hadith: Nuh is the first of the messengers to the people of the earth; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya - the first messenger sent to the people of the earth
- Recitation on the pause pages: Mahmoud Khalil al-Husary, murattal, Hafs from Asim, streamed per ayah from everyayah.com
- Arabic text on the pause pages: the Uthmani text, Hafs from Asim, as quran.com serves it
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