Our compassionate and wise Lord has informed us about the stories of the
people of the past, including the people of Noah, so that we don’t fall into
the same paths that led those people to His wrath. Each of those stories is a
timeless lesson for all until the end of time. Among others, though, the story
of Noah and his people is held special in the Qur’an:
“Yet We saved him and
those who were together with him on the Ark, and We made this a sign for all
worlds.” (Ankabut 29, 14-15)
Our intention in this article is to continue[1] the scrutiny of some strange
elements in the story of the Great Flood. The ultimate aim in this exploration
is to show that the story of the Great Flood currently told in various books is
not able to satisfactorily explain all of the details provided in the Qur’an
and Hadith. In our discussion, we are going to make use of some authentic
hadiths narrated from Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the exegeses of Qur’an by
some famous scholars[2].
Aftermath of the flood
In the aftermath of the
flood, Noah was consoled by God before they went out of the ark after the
flood:
“He was told: ‘O Noah! Get you down in peace and safety from Us, and
with blessings upon you and upon the communities who are with you. Communities
– We will provide for them to enjoy themselves for a term and then there will
visit them from Us a painful punishment.’” (Hud 11, 48)
Looking at this verse, Razi infers
that Noah was worried about how they are going to survive on the land after all
that happened. And so, God consoled Noah telling to go out in peace and
abundance. But, how come such peace and abundance is found on a place that was
totally devastated by the flood?
Also, the mentioning of
other communities is of interest. The word umam (communities) is used
twice in this verse. The first one in the part about the blessings can be
linked to the descendants of the survivors, as some scholars say, since the
verse actually says “and upon the communities from who are with you”. But, can
the same be said about the second usage in the part about future devastations?
Given that this verse is relating a consolation from God to Noah and believers
with him, which implies mercy, why should it suddenly talk about the destruction
of their descendants, which would invalidate the consolation? Can this second reference
to “communities” be about people other than the descendants of the survivors,
as claimed by some other scholars?
The survivors
Noah had come to a full
conviction, after hundreds of years of presence among the unbelievers, that
they are not going to respond to his call and that they are going to raise the
new generations in the same misguided way. So he had implored to God for the
destruction of all unbelievers on earth (Noah 71, 26). This prayer acted as the
trigger for the flood:
“And Noah had implored to Us, to which We had responded most perfectly.
We saved both him and his family from that great torment. And We made his
progeny the survivors.” (Saffat 37, 75-77)
The grammar of the last
verse about the survivors is such that the scholars interpreted it as “Noah’s
descendants were the only survivors.” There is a hadith[3] to
this end, as well. Thus, Noah is considered as the “second father” of humanity.
But if this is the case, then it contradicts with the presence of other
communities discussed in the previous section. Also, same answer could mean a
global flood, which has several complications as provided in the first part of
this article.
Transfer of the Idol Names
One hadith tells that the names of some of the most famous idols among
the Arabs at the time were inherited from the people of Noah.
“The idols among the
people of Noah were later inherited by the Arabs. So, the idol which was called
Vedd was at Devmetu`l-Cendel and was possessed by the Kelb tribe. The idol
called Süva` belonged to Hüzeyl. The idol called Yeğüs belonged to Murad tribe,
then it passed to Benu Gutayf and was stationed at a place called Curf near
Sebe. (...) The names originally belonged to the good people among the people
of Noah. When they died, Satan told people: “In their memory, erect symbols at
the places where those virtuous people resided, and name those symbols after
them.” People heeded this recommendation and did as told. At first, there was
no idol worshipping. But after the initial generation passed and the
information about those virtuous people disappeared, worshipping those idols
came about.”[4]
In fact, when the unbelievers at the time of Noah were trying to evoke a
massive reaction against him, they were calling each other to be loyal to these
idols, as reported in chapter Noah (71/23) of the Qur’an. In the previous
section, we saw that only the descendants of Noah survived the Great Flood.
Then, these idol names (Vedd, Yeğüs, etc.) must have been told to the future
generations by the believers with Noah. But those believers knew that their
people went astray and eventually were devastated due to worshipping these
idols. Then, it is at least questionable that if in fact it was the believers
with Noah who, after all that happened, told these idol names to the future
generations.
If, on the other hand, we assume other people who survived the flood,
which can be supported by the discussion in the first section, then it is more
likely that people other than Noah’s passed these names to the future
generations, which then came into Arabs. And in this case, the threat about
some communities mentioned in chapter Hud (11/48) makes sense with the
existence of these other people. But how are we going to justify this with
Noah’s progeny being the only survivors?
First messenger: Noah?
In a hadith[5]
concerning the state of the people on the Judgment Day, we are told that exhausted
by the toughness of the day, people go to different messengers of God in order
for them to intercede on their behalf. In one of these visits, they come to
Noah (pbuh). When they see him, they address him saying “you are the first of
the messengers to the people of the earth.” This address, by virtue of being
reported in an authentic hadith, bewildered scholars, since Noah is certainly
not the first messenger to the people of the earth. So, they tried to interpret
it in different ways such as Noah being the first and only messenger in the
aftermath of the flood. Although this is one plausible explanation, it requires
some stretching in interpreting the actual text of this hadith. Therefore, a
satisfactory explanation about “Noah being the first messenger to the people of
the earth” is missing.
Meanings of Khalifa
According to the Qur’an, humanity is created as the khalifa on the
earth (2/30, 6/165, 27/62, 35/39). The literal meaning of this word is “successor”.
However, in the context of humanity, it is translated as vicegerent,
giving a hint of dominion.
“When your Lord said to
the angels: ‘I am setting on the earth a vicegerent.’”(2/30)
“He it is Who has
appointed you vicegerents on the earth …” (6/165)
“… and has made you
vicegerents of the earth?” (27/62)
“He it is Who has made
you vicegerents on the earth.” (35/39)
A similar usage of khalifa is for the position of Prophet Dawud
(38/26):
“O David! We have appointed you a
vicegerent in the land; so judge among people with the truth …” (38/26)
Khalifa (or its derived forms) is also used at other places in the
Qur’an with the original meaning: successor. This meaning refers to a
law of God by which He brings forth a people after another.
“… Remember and be
mindful that He has made you successors after Noah’s people and increased you
in stature and power …” (7/69)
“And remember and be mindful
that He made you successors of the people of ‘Ad and established you securely
on the earth …” (7/74)
“Then We made you successors after
them on the earth …” (10/14)
Now, let’s look at the usage of khalifa in the Great Flood story given
in the Qur’an, and compare it to other usages listed above:
“And yet they denied him, and so We
saved him and all who were with him in the Ark, and made them successors, while
We caused to drown those who denied Our Revelations and all other signs …”
(10/73)
For the verses that refer to succession, in all instances, khalifa
is directly and explicitly linked to a previous people. In the case of
believers with Noah, this word is used without any connection to a previous
people. By mere thinking, we can see that the believers with Noah were
successors after the flood; but why is this so obvious fact mentioned in a way unlike
all the rest of the utterances of succession?
For the cases where vicegerency (dominion)
is meant, the word khalifa is juxtaposed with the word ard, which
means earth. The utterance about the believers with Noah, however, does
not have this juxtaposition, either.
As a result of our comparative study of the verses that contain the word khalifa and its derivatives, we see that the
verse that is directly and solely about Noah and the believers with him relates
the word khalifa neither to a previous people nor to the earth. What can
be the reason for this unique usage?
Wonder of the world…
In our study of the verses and hadiths about the Great Flood, as
explained in this article and in its first part1, we came up with several questions. The
most satisfactory scenario for the Great Flood produced by the scholars was the
“small humanity – local flood scenario”, which was introduced in the first
part. However, as discussed there, even that scenario cannot explain all
details of the flood satisfactorily; and the questions raised in this article
exacerbates the situation. For the moment, Great Flood story remains as a wonder
to be discovered. Nevertheless, its lesson about how God saves and rewards the
believers while how he destroys the oppressors is available for every one who
wants to heed.
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