Part 43

thc length and breadt h of it, its plains, its rugged g round, its

mOll ntai ns, it s desert s and its sa nds. No living thing rema in cd

on th c face ofl he Earth, whethe r g reat or small.

And il was said. "0. earth! Swa ll ow lip your wa te r:' and.

"0. sky! Withhold (your rain)." And the water was dimini shed

and the Decre!.! (or A llah ) was fulfilled (i.c. the destruction of

the pt.:oplc o r Noo h. And it (the ship) res ted o n MOllnt Judi . and

it \\as sai d "Away wi th the people who are =alilllooll , (SoOl'(l1i

Hood II :44). That is, whe n All ah had dea lt w ith th e inh abi tant s

of th e Earth and no nc or those who had wo rshipped oth ers

besides Alla h, the A lmi g hty, the Al l-Powerful relllai ned, Alla h

cOlllma ndcd the ea rth 10 swa ll ow its watcr a nd He co mm anded

Ihc sky to sto p rainin g. ( And th e water was dim ini sht.:d ) - That

is. it dec rea sed from what it had bee n. And th e Decree (o r

Alla h) was fulfi ll ed. ) That is, that which Alla h had prev iously

ordai ned, due to Hi s All-Encompass in g Know ledge was

infli cted upon them. ( And it was sa id "Aw<ly with the peorl!:

who arc =alimmm. ) (Soorall Hood II :44) And a lso All ah,

Most High, says: ~ Beca use of th ei r s ins they were drowiled.

then weve made 10 enter thc Fire. And th ey towund no ne to to

help thcm ins tead of Allah. And Noah sa id: "My Lord! Lca\-c

not o nc oftht:: disbelicvers o n the early If you leave them. Ihe)

w il1m islcad your slaves. and they w ill bege t none but w icked

198 r"e SlOry of Nuu" .' M'

di sbeli eve rs') (SaO/·oh AII·Naah 71:25·27) Allah, Mosl Hi gh

answe rcd hi s supplicati on, nil praise and thank s arc due to Him

and all grace proceeds from H illl and not a sin gle onc of them

Then I-Ie , Most Hi gh, says, ~ It was said , "0, Noo h! Comc

down (frolll the ship) with pcace from Us and b lessi ngs on

you a nd on the people who arc with you (and 0 11 sOlll e of

th cir offspring), but (Lhere wi ll be other) people to whom We

shall grant their pleas ures (for a time), but in the end a pai nfu l

torm enL will reac h the m from Us.") (Soorah !-Iood 11 :48) Thi s

was a command to Nooh ~ when the water subsided from the

face o f the carth and it became possib le to travel across it and to

dwell in it. So he di scmbarked from the ship, which had come

to rest after its longjourney, on the upper portion of a mountai n

in AI-Jazecrah, which is well -known. We have already spoke n

of it when we di scussed the c reati on of the mounta ins. ( Wi th

peace from Us and bless ings ) . That is, disembark in safcty,

wit h blessin gs upon you and upon thc nations that will be born

al1crwards. That is, from yo ur progeny, for All ah did n OI <l ll ow

<lily o f' th e Believers who were with him to produce offs pring,

as ide from Noa h i:J~ .

Alla h, Most Hi gh, says , (A nd , his progeny, them We made

Ihe surv ivors. ) (As·SajJa{ 37:77) So everyone on the faee of

lh e earth today, fro l11 all races of mankind, descended from

Nooh's th ree SOil S. And th ey arc Shem, Ham and Jep hc. Imam

A hmad narra ted 0 11 the authority of Abu Hurairah ...t£. thaI he

said: Th e Prop he t ti passed by some peop le from among the

Jews who we re fasting the day of 'Aslworoh, an d he said to

them , " What is thi s fast?" Th is is the day on whi ch A ll ah saved

Moosa ~ and th e Children of Isra' eel frolll being drowned;

and on that day, He drowned Fir ' awn. And on th is day, the

rile SI01:I' oj Nooll ~ 199

ship landed on ~O Ull t Jood i. Nooh ~ and Moosa ~ Fasted in

orde r to give tha nks to Allah , the A lm ighty, the A li -PowerFul. "

The Prophe t ~ sa id, " I ha ve more c laim over Moosa ~ and

morc ri ght to fast on thi s day (th an you)." T he n he said to hi s

Compan ions J;." " If anyo ne of you ha s bee n 1~l s tiJ1 g since th is

mornin g, let hi m comp lete hi s fast and if anyone o f you has

taken lunc h w ith his Fami ly, let him comple te the rest of th e

day." (I) Th is lrae/eel" is supported by a narration in the Sallee".

III But the ghareeb pa rt is the mention of Nooh ~ al so. And

All ah knows bett er.

As for what has been said by many ignoran t people, that they

ate from the le fto ve rs of their prov isions and from grai ns which

they had brough t w ith them and they ground th em that day

and applied i'''lI1id 10 th ei r eyes in order 10 stre ngthe n their

sight. because il had beco me cut off by Ihe bri ght light, after

hav ing been co nfi ned in the darkness of the shi p, none of thi s is

au thentic. It is on ly men tioned in incompl ete tradit ions narrated

from the Chi ldren of Ism 'ee l. They are not to be re lied on and

they should no t be fo ll owed. And A llah knows better.

A number of ignorant peo ple from Persia and India ha ve

( I) Narrated by Imam Ahmad (8500). In its i.~lllId is one Abu Ja'far, who

has been condemned as "weak" by a number or scholars, while others

declared him to be tmstworthy. (In stich cases. it is the practice of the

scholars to act upon the negati vc report. since a scholar mi glll declare

a pcrson tmstwonhy because he has heard nothi ng negative about him.

another scholar might know somcthing (ncgati ve) about him which the

other scholar does not know). There is 3150 one' Abdus·Samad. who has

been declared wcak by scholars. In addition , hi s rather is ullkl\olVl\ (0 lhe

scholars. Another person in the chain is Shabeel. who was known to make

(2) Narrated by AI·Bukhari (2004). on the authority or'Abdullah Ibn ' Abbas

4io and by Muslim (1 130). but neither of these two narrntions mentions

200 71le SIOI )' of.""'()O/t ~

denied that the Oood took place, whilc others among them have

accepted it and they sa id, " It was on ly in the land of Babylon

and it did not reach us." They said, "We have conti nlled to

inherit the land fro m generati on to generati on from the time of

Ada m ~ until our time."

What Has Been Mentioned About the Character

A llah, Most Hi gh says, ( Verily, he wa s a grat eful slave. )

(Saarah AI-Ism' 17:3) It was said that he used to thank Allah

for hi s food , his drink and all of his affairs,

Imam Ahmad nalTated on the authority of Anas Ibn Ma lik ...;o

tha t he sa id: T he Messenge r of A ll ah ~ said, "Ve rily, All ah is

pl eased wi th the slave when he eats hi s food and thanks Him

for it and when he drinks hi s beverage and thanks I-lim for it"(I)

Mus lim, At-Tirll1idhi and A n-Nasa ' i narrated li kew ise from the

hadeelll of Abu Usamah '*'.

It is cl ear that a grateful person is the one who performs all

ac ts of obedience, including those of the hea rt, ve rbal ones and

physical ones, because gra lit ude is expressed by a ll of th em, as

the POCI says in AI-Bahr At-Tawee/:

.. YOll gellerolls people have bellefittedfrom three filings from me,

My hand, my tongue and hearl. "

(I) This is an authentic 'llideelh narratcd by Imam Ahmad (11758).

(2) Narratcd by Muslim (2734). At-Tinnidhi (1816) and An-Nasa'i (4/202,

71IL' 05/01'." of NOli" ~ 20 1

His Advice to His Son

Im<l m A hmad na rrated o n the auth ority of ' Abd ull ah Ib n

'A mr ..;:o that he sa id: We were with the Messenger of A ll ah

~ when a Bedo uin Illall ca me to him wearing a fl owing cloak ,

decorated with brocade and he ~ said, "Veril y, this compa ni on

of yours has humil iated ever ho rseman who is the son of a

horse man (or he sai d : wa nls to hum iliate eve r horseman who

is the SOil of a horsema n) and he has elevated every he rdsman,

who is the SOil of a he rdsman." ' Abdull ah ~ sa id : Th en the

Messenger or All ah ~ look hold or the edges o r hi s cloak and

said , " I do not sec upon YOli the garments of a perso n who is

not endowed wilh in te lli gence. " Th en he said, "When death

approac hed the Pro phe t o f Allah, Noah ~, he sa id to his son ,

' I wil l con vey to YO ll Illy adv ice : I o rde r you to d o two th ings

and I rorbid you to do two th ings. I o rder you to be li eve th at

La ita/Ill 111011011 ( none has the rig ht to be wo rs hi pped exce pt

Allah), beca use if the seven heavens and th e seven ea rths were

p laced in o ne hand and La iloilo illal/ah was p laced in the

other hand , La ilaha illallah wou ld outweig h them. A nd if the