Noah's Flood: Was It Global or Local? The Quran vs the Torah
The Story of Noah (peace Be upon him)
Table of Contents
- Where the Story is Mentioned
- Historical Evidence
- Flood Narratives Across Civilizations
- Between the Integrity of the Quranic Narrative and the Inconsistencies of the Torah Narrative
- A Global or Local Flood?
- Evidence That the Flood Did Not Cover the Entire Earth
- Quran Vs Bible Vs Myths — Detailed Comparisons
- Further Reading
Where the Story is Mentioned
- The Quran: 10 chapters — Al-A’raf, Yunus, Hud, Al-Anbiya, Al-Mu’minun, Ash-Shu’ara, Al-‘Ankabut, As-Saffat, Al-Qamar, and especially Surah Nuh, which speaks entirely about what happened to Noah and his people.
- The Torah: Genesis 6-7-8
Historical Evidence
📌 Historical evidence:
For those who deny the story of the flood, claiming it is linked to mythical events — isn’t its absence from the records of Mesopotamian civilization the more likely source of suspicion? And then consider its subsequent spread throughout the ancient world.
It is possible that some kind of distortion occurred in it, due to the nature of paganism and the doctrinal framework in Mesopotamia after Noah, peace be upon him.
Of course, the preceding and following statements are simply laughable. 😄
Flood Narratives Across Civilizations
Sumerian King List
The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Story of King Acesothros + Discovery of a Novel in the City of Nippur
The Story of Atrahasis (as Brief as possible)
Mayan Flood
In India
In China and Mexico
Between the Integrity of the Quranic Narrative and the Inconsistencies of the Torah Narrative
1️⃣ A Response to Muslims Who Acknowledge the Universality of the Flood
It is clear from the Quranic account of Noah’s flood that it was specific to his people, and thus a flood specific to the region where they lived. And it affected a number of people.
The first evidence for this is the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, as shown in the picture. Dr. Maurice Bucaille acknowledges the same.
Regarding those who cite Noah’s words ﷺ — {My Lord, do not leave upon the earth any of the disbelievers} (Noah 26) — as evidence for the universality of the flood, I say: There are numerous verses that mention the word “earth,” but they do not refer to the entire world, as illustrated in the image.
See also this link from Islamweb:
- The link below contains all the verses in which the word “earth” is mentioned:
https://www.almaany.com/quran-b/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%B6/
And it is possible that humanity at that time was confined to the people of Noah, though this is also possible. Based on these possibilities, the possibility arises that the flood covered the entire globe, and the possibility that it was a flood limited to a large part of the earth. And God knows best.”
The fact that Noah’s descendants survived does not contradict the notion that the flood was localized. It is possible that humanity was limited to the people of Noah, as Ibn Ashur mentioned. This is supported by the fact that the period between Adam and Noah was only 10 centuries, as stated in the hadith:
“Adam was a prophet spoken to by God, and there were ten centuries between him and Noah, and there were three hundred and fifteen messengers.” (Reported by Al-Albani in As-Silsilah As-Sahihah, Volume 6, Hadith No. 2668)
https://www.almaany.com/quran-b/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%B6/
As for those who cite the verse {We said, “Load into it [the ark] two of every kind, and your family, except those against whom the word has already gone forth, and those who have believed.” But none had believed with him except a few.} (Hud 40) — there is no need to respond to you.
A Global or Local Flood?
2️⃣ The Torah’s Inconsistency on the Flood’s Universality
Having shown that the Quranic flood was specific to the people of Noah and their region, we will now demonstrate the Torah’s inconsistency in its account of the flood’s universality, as clearly demonstrated in verses 6 and 7 of Genesis.
Regarding Wally’s research, there is no explicit consensus on it, and on the exact time of the Flood.
Professor Malwan’s Proposal
Evidence That the Flood Did Not Cover the Entire Earth
(To Be Continued)
The Torah also mentions that all the animals of the world were gathered in the ark, and this is sheer madness.
Quran Vs Bible Vs Myths — Detailed Comparisons
The story of the flood — as Wikipedia says — is one of the most frequently mentioned events in almost all religions, heavenly religions, and myths from various civilizations. There are stories of the flood in some societies of the ancient Near East, in India, Burma, China, Malaya, Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, Australia, and in all societies of the Red Indians, the Pacific Islands, the Mayans, and the Aztecs.
Among the most famous mythological stories that mention the story of the flood are the Babylonian story (the Epic of Gilgamesh) and the Sumerian story (the story of Ziusudra).
There is no doubt that the spread of the story of the flood proves its historical occurrence and its fame until it became an undeniable historical heritage.
Atheists have raised doubts after the discovery of Sumerian and Babylonian antiquities — that the Bible and the Qur’an derived their stories from these myths, the time of their writing may go back, as archaeologists trace, to 2700 BC (as in the Babylonian tablets).
This is indeed true for the Bible, especially if we know that the Torah was lost and rewritten after the Babylonian captivity around 700 BC, which provided the opportunity to be influenced by the myths prevalent in the region.
As for the Holy Quran, it is preserved by the command of God, and what it contains of contradiction to the biblical story and agreement with science, reason and history proves beyond a doubt its divine source, and at the same time proves the distortion of the Bible and its human source.
https://ncse.ngo/yes-noahs-flood-may-have-happened-not-over-whole-earth
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6kb5ypppNPk&t=1s&pp=ygUYc2FwaWVuY2UgaW5zdGl0dXRlIHdoYWxl
1️⃣ Did the Flood Cover the Whole Earth?
As for the Holy Quran, we do not find anything confirming that the entire Earth was submerged in the flood. Rather, there is what confirms that the punishment was only for the people of Noah, to whom he was sent:
(He said, “My Lord, indeed I called upon my people night and day.”) — Noah: 5
(And Noah, when he called before, and We responded to him and saved him and his family from the great distress. And We aided him against the people who denied Our signs. Indeed, they were an evil people, so We drowned them all.) — Al-Anbiya
(And the people of Noah, when they denied the messengers, We drowned them and made them a sign to the people. And We have prepared for the wrongdoers a painful punishment.) — Al-Furqan: 37
Unfortunately, what contradicts this from the sayings of Muslims is merely influenced by the sayings of the People of the Book, and we do not find any evidence for it from the Qur’an or Sunnah.
God was not that angry one whom the Holy Bible depicts — destroying the entire earth and then saying He will not do that again, putting a rainbow mark on Himself so that He does not forget. God forbid, He is far above all things. Rather, His punishment was for the criminal people who denied the Messenger of God, Noah ﷺ, who continued to call them in every way for hundreds of years, while they mocked him and were arrogant.
2️⃣ Did All Animals and Living Beings on Earth Die?
And how did Noah ﷺ bring the species that only live in icy regions? Or the species that only live in tropical regions? Or the species that only live on certain continents?
Not to mention the plant species that were destroyed by the flood, which lasted for about seven months covering the earth!!
The Quran says: {We said, “Load into it two of every kind”} — the word “all” here does not mean all species on the face of the earth, but all the available species or all the species that would benefit Noah and those with him. There are many examples of this in the Quran:
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(Indeed, I found a woman ruling them, and she has been given of all things, and she has a great throne.) — An-Naml: 23. Does this mean she has been given everything on the earth? Or that she has been given what makes her a queen of importance compared to the kings of her time?
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(Would any of you like to have a garden of palm trees and grapevines…for him therein of all kinds of fruits) — Al-Baqarah: 266. Does this mean all the fruits of the earth must be confined to this garden?
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(We opened to them the gates of every [good] thing) — Al-An’am: 44. Al-Qurtubi: meaning blessings and good things — the estimation according to the Arabs is abundance and not the limitation of everything.
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(Strike above the necks and strike from them every fingertip) — Al-Anfal: 12. Does God command them to strike all fingers such that not a single finger is left??
After that, can we imagine that God Almighty commissioned Noah ﷺ to gather all living creatures from the face of the Earth — from the North and South Poles, tropical regions, all continents, crossing to the Americas and Australia???
Our religion is the religion of reason, and there is nothing in the Quran to indicate that the entire Earth was flooded.
3️⃣ What Made God Angry?
4️⃣ Did God Send a Messenger to Guide People?
So how does God hold man accountable when He did not teach him or warn him???
(And We had certainly sent Noah to his people: Indeed, I am to you a clear warner.) — Hud: 25
(And We never punish until We have sent a messenger.) — Al-Isra: 15
5️⃣ Where Did Noah’s Ark Land?
And now it has become clear after the discovery of the ship on Mount Judi (or Cudi) which book is from God and which is from myths and folk tales.
This is the location of the discovered ship photographed by satellite. Glory be to God — the mountain still retains this name Judi.
We note that the mountains of Ararat are located to the north, and sources mention that Ararat is about 250 km away from Judi.
The ship’s anchors were found to the west of Mount Judi, as shown in the picture on the black bow. This means that the ship’s path was from west to east and it did not even pass over Mount Ararat on its way.
6️⃣ How Was the Ark Built?
A Christian website enthusiastic about discovering the ark explains: “Gopher wood” is actually a misreading and scribal error. “Kopher wood” is correct — meaning wood (any wood) covered with bitumen/tar. This is a misprint of a Hebrew letter. Not strange in the Holy Bible.
Ibn Kathir’s commentary: Ibn Abbas, Saeed bin Jubayr, Al-Qurazi, Qatadah and Ibn Zayd said these are nails — and Ibn Jarir chose this view. He said its singular is dasar.
Glory be to God… the Quran described exactly what naval engineers themselves confirmed centuries later.