Noah

Photo: dimitrisvetsikas1969, Pixabay licence

نوح

Nūḥ

Prophet

Noah, the prophet who called his people for 950 years and was saved from the flood in the ark.

What it means

Chapter 71 is named for him. He called his people night and day (71:5–9), and God told him to build an ark (11:37–38). He stayed among them “a thousand years less fifty” (29:14). When the flood came he saved a pair of every kind (11:40). His son refused to board and drowned (11:42–43). The ark came to rest on al-Judi (11:44).

What the sources say

The Quran presents the flood as a punishment for a people who rejected a prophet, and does not say it covered the whole earth, though many commentators took it so. Noah is among the five greatest messengers, and Muslims give him their salutation of peace (37:79).