NOAH DEBARKED IN PEACE (VERSE NO. 48 - 49)

      These are the last verses about the event of Noah in this chapter of Qurän.

      Noah disembarked safely and in peace, but the land was not the former landِAll the building were destructiond and all the orchards and farm lands ruined and no more creature was seen moving! Noah and his disciples trembled and a fear and anxiety of famine and starvation seized them, but Allah promised to bestow on them His Grace and Blessings:ِ

      ``O, Noah! Come down from the Ark with peace from us, and our Blessings upon you and upon those who are with you.''

      The ending of the above verse (NO.48) implies that the sad story of Noah's people was not the first one of its kind nor the last of all:ِ

      ``And there will come nations again that We let them enjoy themselves and have pleasures and fruition, and then a painful punishment from us will touch them for their evil conducts which comes out of their faithlessness.''

      Again and again nations, and races will come to existence, and take no lesson of the past experiences of man. They will waste their respite and unique opportunities in material enjoyments and secular pleasures and plunge in sin and oppression, and then the wrath of God seizes their throats and the history is repeated and renewed.

      The good end always belongs to those who adhere to piety and grasp the chain of God, and in return recieve God's Grace and Mercy.

      Thus, Noah debarked with the promise of God's peace and blessings. Through God's peace, real spiritual calmness and true comfort of mind is obtained, and by His Blessing, all means of spiritual happiness and physical welfare is provided for the blessed. The said Grace and Blessing of God was not only given to Noah and those who followed him. It rather waits for all the righteous people who have faith, and seek the guiding light of God. Of course, we ought to know that the Grace of God is not a family or racial privilege, but rather something that the godly strives and works hard to earn it.

THE FLOOD

      The story of Noah in a much lower class of literature, has also been narrated in the BIBLE, (O.T. GENESIS) with nothing more of details. In the narration no mention is made of Kanaan or other sons of Noah to have been drowned in the Flood. But there is a ridiculous and abused tale forged about Noah and Canaan when they disembarked, which is by no means a becoming conduct for a prophet, and it rather is a real aspersion and abuse.

      For our dear reader to compare the Quränic narration with that of the BIBLE, we beg to bring the following to their kind notice:ِ

EXTRACTION FROM GENESIS 79

7: 11ِWhen Noah was six hundred years old, all the outlets of the vast body of water beneath the earth burst open. All the flood-gates of the sky were opened, and rain fell on the earth for forty days.

   13ِOn the same day Noah and his wife went into the boat with their three sons, SHEM, HAM, and JAPHET, and their wives.

   14ِWith them went every kind of animals, domestic and wild, large and small, and every kind of bird. A male and a female from each kind of living being went into the boat with Noah as God had commanded.

Then the Lord shut the door (OF THE BOAT) behind Noah.

   17ِThe Flood continued for forty days and the water became deep enough for the boat to float.

6: 13ِ When Noah was 601 years old the water was gone. So Noah removed the covering of the boat, looked round and saw that the ground was getting dry.

   15ِ God said to Noah:ِ``Go out of the boat with your wife your sons, and their wives. Take all the birds and animals out with you, so that they may reproduce and spread over all the earth.''

9: 20ِ Noah who was a farmer was the first man to plant a vineyard.

   21ِ After he drank some of the wine, he became drunk, took off his cloths, and lay naked in his tent. When Ham, Canaan's father saw that his father was naked he went out and told his two brothers. Then Shem and Japhet took a robe and held it behind them on their shoulders. They walked backward in the tent and covered their father, keeping their faces turned away so as not to see him naked.

   24ِ When Noah was sober again and learnt what his youngest son had done to him he said:ِ ``A CURSE ON CANAAN!'' he will be the slave to his brothers. Canaan will be the slave of Shem!

      I wish I could have the answers of the priests, either Christians or Jews for the following questions on account of the above mentioned tale:ِ

      1ِ Were Noah and his rescued folk more in need of planting wheat and barley, or wine and vineyards?

      2ِ What was HAM going to prove when he informed his two brothers, of their father being blind drunk fallen naked!? Why did he not cover his father, and where was his mother then?

      3ِ When HAM the father of Canaan did that sin of tale-bearing! Why did Noah cursed Canaan his innocent grandson instead of his own guilty son, if there was any guilt?

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE)