Al Islam

1317. The verse shows that the place where Noah lived was surrounded by mountains. The word Jabal used as a common noun points to the fact that there was a chain of mountains on one of which Noah’s son might have sought shelter. In fact, the place appears to have been a valley with mountains rising on all sides. That such a place should become quickly flooded with heavy rain is not extraordinary. (close)

1317A. The mountain Al-Judi is, according to Yaqutul-Hamwi, a long chain of mountains on the eastern side of the Tigris in the province of Mosul (Mu‘jam). According to Sale, "Al-Judi is one of those mountains which divide Armenia on the south from Mesopotamia and that part of Assyria which is inhabited by the Curds, from whom the mountain took the name of Cardu or Gardu, but the Greeks turned it into Gordyoei … The tradition which affirms the Ark to have rested on these mountains must have been very ancient, since it is the tradition of the Chaldeans themselves (Berosus apud Joseph. Antiq...). The relics of the Ark were also to be seen here in the time of Epiphanius... and we are told, the Emperor Heraclius went from the town of Thamanin up to the mountain Al-Judi and saw the place of the Ark. There was also formerly a famous monastery, called the 'Monastery of the Ark.' Upon some of these mountains the Nestorians used to celebrate a feast-day on the spot where they supposed the Ark had rested; but in 776 A.D. that monastery was destroyed by lightning" (Sale, pp. 179, 180)... 'Judi (Djudi) is a lofty mountain mass in the district of Bohtan, about 25 miles N.E. of Jaziratu ibn-e-‘Omar in 37°,30´ N.Lat.. It owes its fame to the Mesopotamian tradition, which identifies it, and not Mount Ararat, the mountain on which Noah’s Ark rested... Older exegesis identified the mountain now called Judi, or according to Christian authorities the mountains of Gordyene, as the apobaterion of Noah' (Enc. of Islam. vol. I. P. 1059). Babylonian traditions also place the mount Al-Judi in Armenia (Jew. Enc. under "Ararat"), and the Bible admits that Babylon was the place where the descendants of Noah lived (Gen. 11:‌9). (close)

1318. According to this verse only those persons were considered members of Noah’s family who had established true relationship with God through him. The pronoun hu in inna-hu may also refer to Noah’s prayer for his unrighteous son which act of his was Ghairu Salih i.e. out of place. (close)

1319. ‘Amalun (lit. a deed) here means Dhu ‘Amalin, i.e. the doer of a deed. The use of the infinitive as active participle when an intensified sense is intended is in harmony with Arabic idiom. See also 2:178, where Birr (lit. righteousness) means a righteous person. An Arab poet says of his she-camel: Innama hiya Iqbalun wa Idbaru, i.e. she is so restless that she has become the very act of moving forward and backward, meaning the embodiment thereof. (close)

a. 7:24. (close)

1320. Noah had committed no sin by saying that his son was included in his family. It was only an error of judgment which is human, yet he offered Istighfar which shows that the offering of Istighfar is not necessarily a proof of one’s sinfulness. It may also be offered for protection against the evil consequences of human weaknesses or those of errors of judgment. (close)

1321. The verse shows that apart from the progeny of Noah the progeny of those believers who were with him in the Ark also were saved from the Deluge and that they prospered and multiplied. Scholars now subscribe to the view that most of the inhabitants of the earth are descended from Noah.

The story of the Deluge with some variations is to be found in the traditions and literature of different countries (Enc. Rel. & Eth.; Enc. Bib. & Enc. Brit. under "Deluge"). The catastrophe seems to have taken place somewhere near the dawn of human civilization. It is a well-known historical fact that whenever a people, comparatively more advanced in culture and civilization, have come to settle in a country, they have either blotted out of existence the less civilized inhabitants of the land or have greatly weakened them. Thus it appears that when the descendants of Noah and those of his companions who were the founders of human civilization spread to other lands, because they were more powerful than the people already living there, they either exterminated them or absorbed them. Thus they must have introduced into all the countries they subjugated their own traditions and customs; and consequently the tradition about the Deluge must also have come to be introduced into other lands. With the lapse of time however, the immigrants ceased to have any connection with their original home and the catastrophe consequently came to be regarded as a local occurrence, with the result that local names of persons and places came to be substituted for the original names. So the Deluge was not a universal visitation, nor should the traditions of different lands be taken to point to separate floods. (close)

1322. The Quranic accounts of the various Prophets are not meant as mere stories. They are given in the Qur’an because they contain a prophetic allusion to the analogous events that were to occur in the life of the Holy Prophet himself. (close)

a. 7:66. (close)

1323. Some European critics have denied the very existence of the Adites. They say that none of the inscriptions that have so far been discovered in Arabia mention ‘Ad as the name of any people in that country, and therefore they allege that the Qur’an has only quoted one of the popular legends that were current among the Arabs in the Holy Prophet’s time. This objection is based on a misunderstanding. In fact, sections of the human race are generally known by two sets of names, one representing the whole race and the other some particular group thereof. ‘Ad was not the name of a single tribe but of a group of tribes, whose different sections rose to power at different times. They left behind them inscriptions bearing the name of particular groups. But they all belonged to the main ‘Ad family. The fact that this name is found in ancient books of geography also shows that a people of the name of ‘Ad did indeed live. The geographical works compiled in Greece state that in the pre- Christian era, Yemen was ruled by a tribe called Adramitai who were none other than the ‘Ad who have been called ‘Ad-e-Iram in the Qur’an. The termination of the Greek name is a noun-suffix, the real name being ‘Adram which is a corruption of ‘Ad-e-Iram (Al-‘Arabu Qablil-Islam). The ‘Ad tribe mentioned in the Qur’an was called Iram. This Iram section of the Adites possessed a powerful kingdom which lasted up to 500 B.C. Their language was Aramaic, which is akin to Hebrew. The Aramaic Kingdom was established after the fall of the Semitic Kingdom and it included in its boundaries the whole of Mesopotamia, Palestine, Syria and Chaldea. Archaeological researchers have discovered traces of this Kingdom. See also "The Larger Edition of the Commentary."

The ‘Ad tribe lived immediately after the people of Noah (7:70). They built monuments on elevated places (26:129). There still exist ruins of big buildings in Arabia. The history of these people has now become wrapped in obscurity and only some remains of their buildings are to be seen (46:26). The territory in which these people lived is called Ahqaf (46:22), which, literally meaning meandering and zigzag sand-hills, is the name given to two parts of Arabia, one in the south, known as the Southern Ahqaf, the other in the north, called the Northern Ahqaf. These tracts are fertile, but as they lie near the desert, sand-hills are caused there by the sand of the desert being heaped up by the wind. These sand-hills may have been formed when ‘Ad were punished by a sandstorm. Their destruction was caused by the blowing of a violent wind burying their chief cities under heaps of sand and dust (69:7, 8). (close)

a. 26:128. (close)