For secular scholars the Great Flood, or the discovery of the Ark on Mount Ararat, is just a subject of history. In fact, this event reminds us that the flood in the times of Noah is a warning in advance of a future great flood, the onset of which will mark the end of the world. This discovery was in the nature of a warning to alert people to the necessity of preparing themselves for that day.
Noah belongs to the pre-historic period. That is why we do not find any reference to him in recorded history. But the Quran states that God will preserve Noah’s Ark, so that it may serve as a sign for the people of later times (54:15). The discovery of the Great Flood and of the Ark on Mount Ararat provides a historical verification of this Quranic statement.
The lesson here is a part of a long tradition, recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari, in the words of the angel: “Muhammad is the separator between men.” In the original Arabic, the word ‘farq’ means to ‘differentiate’ between two things.
This tradition means that the mission undertaken by the Prophet Muhammad will separate the righteous from the unrighteous, so that God may grant His reward to one group and punishment to the other.
This holds true not only for the Prophet of Islam. Rather it is true of all the prophets of God. All the messengers were sent by God to bring about such initiatives as might separate the good people from the bad, so that the decree of awarding heaven or hell might justly be passed.
There are at least two prophets who came in ancient times, who have left behind them such historical evidence as may serve as a permanent historical reminder to the people of the divine plan.
One historical example relates to the Prophet Moses. Moses performed his dawah work in ancient Egypt. As a result, a time came when the good and the evil were separated. The Israelites accepted the message of Moses, while Pharaoh and his people rejected it. Subsequently, according to the divine plan, Moses and his people were separated (from the bad) and saved; while Pharaoh and his people were drowned in the sea. Mentioning this event, the Quran says: “So We shall save your body this day, so that you may serve as a sign for those who come after you.” (10:92).
God’s words came true and the Pharaoh, Moses’ contemporary, was saved in a mummified state inside a pyramid in Egypt. His body lay there, but no one knew of this. At the end of the nineteenth century, a group of western experts brought the body out of the pyramid and carried out investigations by which they succeeded in finding out its exact date through carbon dating. It was scientifically proved that the body was of the Pharaoh who was Moses’ contemporary.
The preservation of the body of Pharaoh was not a simple matter. It symbolizes a historical event. This body of Pharaoh, which remains preserved in the Cairo Museum, mutely conveys what is going to happen with man – that is, according to the divine plan, the righteous will be separated from the unrighteous and then the righteous will be rewarded with an honourable place in eternal paradise, while the unrighteous will be cast into eternal hell to lead lives of humiliation.
Another example of this kind is that of Noah. He lived in the region of ancient Iraq (Mesopotamia). For a long period of time he continued to warn people that they had not been created by God without a purpose. Rather, they were being tested; and were under God’s watchful eye to ascertain who was using his freedom properly or misusing it.
When this period of testing was over, God’s decree would be passed, and the good and the bad would be separated from one another. Then, the good would be ushered into paradise, while the bad would be consigned to hell.
Prior to the flood, God commanded Noah to build an ark. So the ark was built in advance. Noah and the believers boarded this ark which sailed across the waters. Thus, they saved themselves from drowning in the flood. At that moment what God said to them is recorded thus in the Quran: “God said, ‘Noah, go ashore in peace; our blessings upon you and upon the people who are with you and upon some of the descendants of those who are with you. [As for the unrighteous] We shall grant provision for a time, then a grievous punishment from Us shall afflict them.’” (11:48)
This event took place five thousand years ago, when no civilization or technology had been developed, and although this was mentioned in the Bible and the Quran, people regarded it as a religious myth. How strange it is that by the end of the twentieth century these events became known to people. On the one hand, scientific studies have found such evidence in Iraq and Syria as indicates widespread flooding in this region in the past, and on the other hand, Noah’s Ark, which had lain submerged under mounds of ice, stood exposed with the melting of the glaciers. This incident took place on a mount on the eastern border of Turkey. By the middle of the 20th century, the story of the deluge of Noah’s time, so long dismissed as legendary, had at last come to be recognized as a historical disaster for which material evidence was found in the soil of Ur.
(Wooly, Abraham, p. 170)
Archeological evidence has established the reality of the flood. (Marston, The Bible Comes Alive, p.33)
Both Sumerian and Hebrew legends speak of a flood which destroyed the habitable world as they knew it. (Lt. Col. Wagstaff, a distinguished explorer)
The same is the case with Noah’s Ark. In ancient times, Noah’s Ark was also regarded as a religious myth. But now it has become a historical fact.
Anyone can see the Ark if he flies over the hills situated on the eastern border of Turkey. Soon a time will come when this spot will become a major attraction for tourists. It is in the news that the Turkish government is planning to develop the region as a tourist destination. According to the teachings of Islam, when the end of human history approaches, paving the way to the hereafter, the Angel Israfil will blow the trumpet. This trumpet will herald the coming of a new age.
The appearance of Noah’s Ark is an incident of this nature, the only difference being that the reality will be proclaimed in the form of words, while the same reality is being proclaimed by the Ark in silent language.
Two members of the search team that claims to have found Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat in Turkey responded to skepticism by saying that there is no plausible explanation for what they found other than it is the fabled biblical boat that weathered a storm that raged 40 days and 40 nights and flooded the entire Earth. Noah’s Ark Ministries International (NAMI) held a press conference on April 25, 2010, in Hong Kong to present their findings and say they were “99.9 percent sure” that a wooden structure found at a 12,000-ft. elevation and dated as 4,800 years old was Noah’s Ark. Noah’s Ark Ministries International is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Media Evangelism Limited, founded in 1989 which avails of the multi- media to promote evangelizing. “We don’t have anything to hide,” says Ms. Wei, who is a team member. She says that massive wooden planks, some 20 meters long, were found in wooden rooms and hallways buried in the ice atop Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey. People could not have carried such heavy wood to such a height, nor could vehicles have accessed such a remote location on the mountain. Turkish officials from Agri Province, the location of Mount Ararat, also attended this week’s press conference in Hong Kong. Lieutenant Governor Murat Güven and the Cultural Ministry’s Director, Muhsin Bulut, both provincial officials, believe the discovery is most probably Noah’s Ark, according to the announcement posted on the team’s website. The Culture and Tourism Minister of Turkey, Ertugrul Gunay, welcomed the finding and said it could boost tourism, according to Turkish newspaper Zaman. (www.csmonitor.com)
