Nouah's Ark

Noah's Ark is the vessel which, according to the (chapters 6-9) and the Quran (surah hud), was built by Noah 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 of Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and others.

God, seeing the wickedness of man, is grieved by his creation and resolves to send a great flood. He sees that Noah is a man "righteous in his generation," And gives him detailed instructions for the Ark. When the animals are safe on board God sends the Flood, which rises until all the mountains are covered And all life is destroyed. At the height of the flood the Ark rests on the mountains, the waters abate, and dry land reappears. Noah, his family, and the Animals leave the Ark, and God vows 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). Although traditionally accepted as historical, by the 19th century growing impact of science and biblical scholarship had led most People to abandon a literal interpretation of the Ark story. Nevertheless, biblical literalists continue to explore the mountains of Ararat, where the Bible says The Ark came to rest.

In Islam
Nouah's Ark

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" 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 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.

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. Modern Muslims, although not generally active in searching for the Ark, believe that it still exists on the high slopes of the Mountain.

In Christian tradition
Nouah's Ark

St. Hippolytus of Rome, (d. 235), seeking to demonstrate that "the ark was a symbol of the Christ who Was expected", stated that the vessel had its door on the east side - the direction from which Christ Would appear at the Second Coming - that the bones of Adam were brought aboard together with gold, Frankincense and myrrh - symbols of the Nativity of Christ - and that the Ark floated to and fro in the Four directions on the waters, making the sign of the cross, before eventually landing on Mount Kardu "in The east, in the land of the sons of Raban, and the Orientals call it Mount Godash; the Armenians and Persians call it Ararat". On a more practical plane, Hippolytus explained that the ark was built in three Stories, the lowest for wild beasts, the middle for birds and domestic animals, and the top level for Humans, and that the male animals were separated from the females by sharp stakes so that there would Be no cohabitation aboard the vessel. From the same period the early church Father Origen (c. 182 - 251), responding to a critic who doubted that the Ark could contain all the animals in the World, countered with a learned argument about cubits, holding that Moses, the traditional author of the book of Genesis, had been brought up in Egypt And would therefore have used the larger Egyptian cubit. He also fixed the shape of the Ark as a truncated pyramid, square at its base, and tapering to a Square peak one cubit on a side; it was not until the 12th century that it came to be thought of as a rectangular box with a sloping roof. Early Christian artists depicted Noah standing in a small box on the waves, symbolizing God saving the church as it persevered through turmoil, and St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430), in City of God, demonstrated that the dimensions of the Ark corresponded to the dimensions of the human body, which is The body of Christ, which is the Church. St. Jerome (c. 347 - 420) called the raven, which was sent forth and did not return, the "foul bird of Wickedness" expelled by baptism; more enduringly, the dove and olive branch came to symbolize the Holy Spirit and the hope of salvation and, eventually, Peace.

In other traditions
Nouah's Ark

He Mandaeans of the southern Iraqi marshes practice a religion that was possibly influenced in part by Early followers of John the Baptist. They regard Noah as a prophet, while rejecting Abraham (and Jesus) as false prophets. In the version given in their scriptures, the ark was built of sandalwood from Jebel Harun and was cubic in shape, with a length, width and height of 30 amma (the length of an arm); its final resting place is said to be Egypt. The religion of the Yazidi of the Sinjar Mountains of northern Iraq blends indigenous and <strong>Islam</strong>ic Beliefs. According to their Mishefa Re?, the Deluge occurred not once, but twice. The original Deluge Is said to have been survived by a certain Na'umi, father of Ham, whose ark landed at a place called Ain Sifni, in the region of Mosul. Sometime after this came the second flood, upon the Yezidis only, Wwhich was survived by Noah, whose ship was pierced by a rock as it floated above Mount Sinjar, then went on to land on Mount Judi as described in Islam tradition. The Bah?'? Faith regards the Ark and the Flood as symbolic. In Bah?'? belief, only Noah's followers were spiritually alive, preserved in the ark of his Teachings, as others were spiritually dead.

The Bah?'? scripture Kit?b-i-?q?n endorses the Islam belief that Noah had a large number of companions, either 40 or 72, besides his family on the Ark, And that he taught for 950 (symbolic) years before the flood