Nuh (a): Difference between revisions

Based on most historical books such as [[Tarikh Tabari]], [[Tarikh Ya'qubi]], [['Allama Majlisi]]’s [[Hayat al-qulub]], [[Ibn Kathir]]’s [[Qisas al-anbiya]], [[Rawandi]]’s Qisas al-anbiya, [['Abd al-Wahhab Najjar]]’s Qisas al-anbiya and others, it seems that there is no reliable historical source which has records about the life of Noah (a) and the information in these books is hadiths attributed to the [[Prophet (s)]] and [[Imams (a)]], among which there are many conflicts. In some [[hadiths]], the name of Noah (a) is mentioned as " 'Abd al-Ghaffar", " 'Abd al-Malik" and " 'Abd al-'Ali". The reason for naming him as Noah, is his crying and mourning for himself and his mourning for saving and guidance of his people for 500 years. [[Shaykh Saduq]] believed that all the names mentioned for Noah (a) are identical and imply the servitude of God, the All-Forgiving, the Sovereign and the Exalted.

According to most Shi’a scholars and hadiths from the [[Ahl al-Bayt (a)]], his invitation and prophethood was worldwide. Some Sunni scholars believe that his invitation was not worldwide and he (a) was chosen only for his people. Noah (a) lived in [[Palestine]], [[Syria]] and [[Iraq]] and was chosen for Chaldea and Assyria.

[[Prophethood]] of Noah (a) is very similar to prophethood of the [[Prophet Muhammad (s)]]. Similar to him, at the beginning of his prophethood, Prophet Muhammad (s) invited people to monotheism in secret. According to the glorious Qur'an, another similarity of them was their day and night efforts for inviting people to worship God and their passion for it. They were both very patient and tolerant against excessive harassments of their people. Additionally, in interpretation of verses 36 to 49 of sura Noah (a), [['Allama Tabataba'i]] explained disbelievers arguments for rejecting Noah’s (a) invitation and mentioned the similarity between Noah’s (a) arguments against them with prophet Muhammad’s (s) arguments against disbelievers of his time.

The length of Noah’s (a) life is one of disputed issues in Noah’s (a) life. In verse 14 of [[sura al-'Ankabut]], the glorious Qur'an mentions that Noah (a) lived 950 years before flood, but it did not mention his whole lifespan.

Even with many disagreements about Noah’s (a) life, in [[al-Nur al-mubin fi qisas al-Anbiya' wa al-mursalin]], [[Ni'mat Allah Jaza'iri]] mentioned that according to most Shi'a reports, Noah (a) lived 2500 years. [['Allama Tabataba'i]] believed that according to the explicit text of the Qur'an about Noah’s (a) life of 950 years before [[Flood of Noah|the flood]], Noah (a) had a very long life; and, contrary to what some sources mentioned, it was neither a miracle, nor their years were different from the present years. He continues saying that it seems that Noah (a) lived a natural long life; and no reason for impossibility of having a long life is mentioned so far.

=== Differences between Noah’s (a) story in the Torah and the glorious Qur’an ===

According to ‘Allama Tabataba’i, there are several differences between the story of Noah (a) in the Torah and the Qur’an:

* In the Torah, there is no mention of Noah’s (a) wife drowning; but, the Torah says that she entered the ship with Noah (a) and some justified it saying that maybe Noah (a) had two wives, one of whom was drowned and another was saved.

* In the Torah, there is no mention of Noah’s son; while, the glorious Qur’an has mentioned his story.

* In the Torah, the life of Noah (a) is mentioned 950 years in total; while, it can be understood from the glorious Qur’an that the period Noah (a) invited people to his religion before the flood was 950 years.

Some of the issues which are mentioned in the Torah but are not mentioned in the Qur’an are the rainbow which reminded Noah (a) about God, sending crow and pigeon to bring the news about subsidence of the flood, features of the ship such as its width, length and height, having three stories, the period of time the flood lasted and the height of water. Some of these issues have been thought impossible such as the rainbow that God pledged by it. ‘Allama Tabataba’i said that there are many issues similar to these in narrations about the story of Noah (a) transmitted by the companions of the Prophet (a) and their followers and they seem to be forged.

In Shi’a hadiths, some of Noah’s (a) moral characteristics are mentioned such as being a grateful servant who praised God, the Almighty, whenever he (a) put on clothes, ate food or drank water. It is narrated from Imam al-Baqir (a) and Imam al-Sadiq (a) that in the mornings and in the evenings, Noah (a) said, “O God, I take You as witness that any blessing which exists in my religion or in the world in the mornings and in the evenings is from You. You are One and have no partner. Gratitude and praise belongs to You, as much as You are pleased with me.”  

Although some sources mention that children of Noah (a) were born after the flood, but Islamic traditions have mentioned children of Noah (a) before the flood. According to different Islamic traditions, Noah (a) had four sons, Shem, Ham, Japheth and Canaan, all of whom except Canaan believed in Noah (a) and went in the ship with Noah (a), but Canaan is that son of Noah (a) who did not believe in his father and was drowned in the sea; about whom, as mentioned in the glorious Qur’an, God told Noah (a) that, “he is not your son.” According to hadiths, the progeny of Noah (a) continued through Shem and there were prophets in his progeny who were the links for grace between God and people.

There are different hadiths about the place of Noah’s (a) burial:

Nahavand in Hamadan province, Iran: According to a research titled “Nuh (a) and Nuhavand”, the grave of Noah (a) and the resting place of Noah’s (a) Ark are Nahavand.