Article appeared Friday, November 30th, 2018 in The News Today, Bangladesh

The Revelation (549) yousuf mahbubul Islam, PhD

Are you familiar with the story of Prophet Noah (as)? Can we revisit the story and ask ourselves
some pertinent questions? For example, why is God relating this story through the Holy
Scriptures? Does He want us to take lesson from it? Why is taking a lesson and applying to our
day to day situations today important?

First of all, how much importance has been given to it? We find the story of Noah and the Ark in
the Holy Scriptures, i.e., the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Al-Qur’an. As reported
in the Wikipedia {1}, the story is taken up not only in numerous Scriptures, in each it is repeated
a multiple number of times.
“In addition to the Book of Genesis, Noah is mentioned in the Old Testament in the First
Book of Chronicles, and the books of Tobit, Wisdom, Sirach, Isaiah, Ezekiel, 2 Esdras, 4
Maccabees; in the New Testament, he is mentioned in the gospels of Matthew, and
Luke, the Epistle to the Hebrews, 1st Peter and 2nd Peter. Noah was the subject of
much elaboration in the literature of later Abrahamic religions, including the Quran
(Surahs 71, 7, 11 and 21).” {1}

In the Al-Qur’an, Surah or Chapter 71 is named after the Prophet himself. In addition to the
occurrences mentioned in {1}, mentions of his name and purpose appear in Chapters 9, 10, 14,
17, 19, 23, 25, 26, 29, 37, 40 and 42 of the Al-Qur’an. Simplified versions {2} of the story with a
moral are available in children’s books and videos, e.g., the children’s story in Kids Corner {3},
says,
“During Noah's lifetime, people were acting very wickedly. This made God unhappy. It
made Him sad because people seemed to be thinking more about themselves than
about God.” {3}

Despite of Noah’s repeated warnings over a period of 950 years as reported in the Al-Qur’an
[Chapter 29, Verse 14], the people remained busy with their selfish needs {3}, while serving
their egos, and gave no thought to why God had created them and what their duty was towards
Him as His creation. In today’s day and age, can parallels be drawn with regards to our attitude
towards Him? Are we super busy with serving our selfish needs? Do we have time to consider
why God has created each individual and what could be one’s duty towards Him?

Most recently, another reminder of Noah’s story comes in the form of the disputed movie
"Noah," {4} where director Darren Aronofsky's $130 million epic retelling twists the story of
Noah's Ark and the Great Flood, admitting that, "While artistic license has been taken, we
believe that this film is true to the essence, values and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone
of faith for millions of people worldwide." As the movie shows that life forms other than humans
are more important to God, it is widely disputed and also banned in some countries, however,
the fact remains that the story forms a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide!

Second question: why did God decide to cut short everyone’s life by drowning them? Is the
story a demonstration of God’s power and His purpose for human beings? The fact of the matter
is that God has individually created each human with Divine Love from nothing – our intelligent
life is a gift from Him. If we repeatedly annoy Him, does He have the right to do away with us?
The Al-Qur’an directly answers this question in the following Verse.
“And the people of Noah when they rejected the apostles We drowned them and We
made them as a Sign for mankind; and We have prepared for (all) wrongdoers a
grievous Penalty.” [25.37]

So, not only is Noah’s story a “sign”, i.e., a warning for mankind, God has prepared similar
penalties for those who do wrong! Indeed, Noah’s story is a stark example of what He can do if
we remain selfishly busy with the gifts He has given us while ignoring Him and His purpose in
creating us. As part of His mercy He sends warning messages to mankind of His purpose, His
mercy and His wrath.

Third question: are we doing any wrong by ignoring God and His purpose in creating us? We
are enjoying a life created by God for us to derive satisfaction. Is it okay to ignore Him? As a
parallel, would it be okay to ignore the landlord and the rent of the house that we are renting?
Could/should the landlord evict us in such a case and also deny future tenancy?

Noah was chosen by God to reason with his people. The same message was delivered to
peoples before and after Noah. God informs Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in the Al-Qur’an:
“The same religion has He established for you as that which He enjoined on Noah – that
which We have sent by inspiration to you – and that which We enjoined on Abraham,
Moses and Jesus: namely that you should remain steadfast in Religion and make no
divisions therein:….God chooses to Himself those whom He pleases and guides to
Himself those who turn (to Him).” [42.13]

He continued his mission for hundreds of years among his people. In response, however, the
people and those in authority refused to consider his message, ridiculed him, treated him badly
and called him a liar. After patiently enduring the hard times that the people gave him, he finally
cried out to God.
“(Noah) cried, "O my Lord! Help me: for that they accuse me of falsehood!"” [23.26]

What did God do in response?

“So We inspired him (with this message): "Construct the Ark within Our sight and under
Our guidance: then when comes Our command and the fountains of the earth gush forth
take on board pairs of every species male and female and your family except those of
them against whom the Word has already gone forth: and address Me not in favor of the
wrongdoers; for they shall be drowned (in the Flood).” [23.27]

God decided to cut short the blessings of life that He had given the people on earth. As God
was about to save Noah and those with him from the oppression of the disbelievers, He asked
them to acknowledge this fact.

23.28 “And when you have embarked on the Ark you and those with you (should)
acknowledge, "Praise be to God Who has saved us from the people who do
wrong."”
And additionally,

23.29 “And pray, "O my Lord! Enable me to disembark with your blessing: for You
are the Best to enable (us) to disembark."”
Why did Noah and those with him need God’s blessings to disembark? With all the flood waters
God had to create a safe dry place on earth for them to settle. God had to arrange anchoring of
the boat and a methodology to disembark. Do we understand the lesson for us in today’s day
and age?

23.30 “Verily in this there are Signs (for men to understand); (thus) do We try
(men).”
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{Notes}:
{1} https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah
{2} https://www.google.com/search?q=childrens+story+noah&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-
b-ab
{3} https://www.biblewise.com/kids/read/young/noahs-ark2.php
{4} https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/movies/animals-arks-how-noah-movie-compares-
bible-n63926