Noah's Ark history.. .
Noah's ark Noah's Ark (Hebrew: תיבת נח Tevat Noach; Arabic: سفينة نوح Safina Nuh) is the vessel which, according to the Book of Genesis and Quran, was built byNoah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from a worldwide deluge. The Ark features in the traditions of a number ofAbrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and others. The Book of Genesis, chapters 6-9, tells how God sends a great flood to destroy the earth because of man's wickedness and because the earth is corrupt. God tells Noah, the righteous man in his generation, to build a large vessel to save his family and a representation of the world's animals. God gives detailed instructions for the Ark and, after its completion, sends the animals to Noah. God then sends the Flood, which rises until all the mountains are covered, and most living things died, except the fish. Then "God remembered Noah," the waters abate, and dry land reappears. Noah, his family, and the animals leave the Ark, and God vowed to never again send a flood to destroy the Earth. The narrative has been subject to extensive elaborations in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, ranging from hypothetical solutions to practical problems (e.g., waste disposal and the problem of lighting the interior), through to theological interpretations (e.g., the Ark as the precursor of the church in offering salvation to mankind).[1] Although traditionally accepted as historical, by the 19th century the changing views of archaeologists and biblical scholars had led most people to abandon a literal interpretation of the Ark story.[2][3][4] Nevertheless, biblical literalists continue to explore the mountains of Ararat, where the Bible says the Ark came to rest. Noah's ark in Islam Noah (Nuh) is one of the five principal prophets of Islam. References are scattered through the Qur'an, with the fullest account in surah Hud (11:27–51). As a prophet, Noah preached to his people, but with little success; only "a few"[11:40] of them converted (traditionally thought to be seventy). Noah prayed for deliverance, and God told him to build a ship in preparation for the flood. A son (named either 'Kan'an' or 'Yam' depending on the source) was among those drowned, despite Noah pleading with him to leave the disbelievers and join him (Surah Hud, 42-43). In the Qur'an itself, there is no explicit indication that the flood was worldwide, only that it destroyed all the unbelievers among Noah's people.[16] Some Muslim authorities have nevertheless adopted the Judeo-Christian view that the flood was global.[who?] In contrast to the Jewish tradition, which uses a term which can be translated as a "box" or "chest" to describe the Ark, surah 29:14 refers to it as a safina, an ordinary ship, and surah 54:13 as "a thing of boards and nails". `Abd Allah ibn `Abbas, a contemporary of Muhammad, wrote that Noah was in doubt as to what shape to make the Ark, and that Allah revealed to him that it was to be shaped like a bird's belly and fashioned of teak wood. Noah then planted a tree, which in 20 years had grown enough to provide him all the wood he needed.[17] Abdallah ibn 'Umar al-Baidawi, writing in the 13th century, gives the length of the Ark as 300 cubits (157 m, 515 ft) by 50 (26.2 m, 86 ft) in width, 30 (15.7 m, 52 ft) in height, and explains that in the first of the three levels wild and domesticated animals were lodged, in the second the human beings, and in the third the birds. On every plank was the name of a prophet. Three missing planks, symbolizing three prophets, were brought from Egypt by Og, son of Anak, the only one of the giants permitted to survive the Flood. The body of Adam was carried in the middle to divide the men from the women. Sura 11:41 says: "And he said, 'Ride ye in it; in the Name of God it moves and stays!'" takes this to mean that Noah said, "In the Name of God!" when he wished the Ark to move, and the same when he wished it to stand still. Noah spent five or six months aboard the Ark, at the end of which he sent out a raven. But the raven stopped to feast on carrion, and so Noah cursed it and sent out the dove, which has been known ever since as the friend of mankind. The medieval scholar Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn Masudi (died 956) writes that God commanded the earth to absorb the water, and certain portions which were slow in obeying received salt water in punishment and so became dry and arid. The water which was not absorbed formed the seas, so that the waters of the flood still exist. Masudi says that the Ark began its voyage at Kufa in central Iraq and sailed to Mecca, circling the Kaaba before finally traveling to Mount Judi (in Arabic also referred to as "high place, hill), which surah 11:44 states was its final resting place. This mountain is identified by tradition with a hill near the town of Jazirat ibn Umar on the east bank of the Tigris in the province of Mosul in northern Iraq, and Masudi says that the spot where it came to rest could be seen in his time. Noah left the Ark on the tenth day of Muharram, and he and his family and companions built a town at the foot of Mount Judi named Thamanin ("eighty"), from their number. Noah then locked the Ark and entrusted the keys to Shem. Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229) mentions a mosque built by Noah which could be seen in his day, and Ibn Battuta passed the mountain on his travels in the 14th century. Modern Muslims, although not generally active in searching for the Ark, believe that it still exists on the high slopes of the mountain
