The Prophet Noah succeeded the Prophet Adam. He was born in the tenth generation descended from Adam. There was an extraordinary happening during the life of Noah—that of the Great Flood. This exceptional event came to pass in accordance with God’s plan. Although it took place in the pre-historical period, it appears that God wanted this event associated with Noah and his Ark to be discovered in the post-historical period, so that it would become a sign for people of future generations, something from which they would learn a lesson in life. No details of this are traceable in recorded history, except for the accounts given in two major works, the Quran and the Bible. The related references from both these sources are given below.

The following is a quotation from Chapter 71 of the Quran, titled ‘Noah’:

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

We sent Noah forth to his people, saying, ‘Warn your people before there comes upon them a grievous punishment.’ [Noah] said, ‘My people! I am but a plain warner to you, that you should worship God [alone] and be conscious of Him. Pay heed to me. He will forgive your sins and will grant you respite till an appointed time. When the time appointed by God arrives, it cannot be postponed, if you only knew.’ He said, ‘My Lord! I have called my people night and day but my pleas have only increased their aversion. Every time I have called to them, so that You might forgive them, they have only thrust their fingers into their ears, covered themselves up with their garments, grown obstinate, and given themselves up to arrogance. Then I called them openly, and spoke to them in public and in private.’ Then I said, ‘Ask forgiveness of your Lord. Surely He is the most forgiving. He will send down abundant rain from the sky for you, increase your wealth and sons; and grant you gardens and waterways. What is the matter with you that you deny the greatness of God, when He has created you through different stages of existence? Do you not see how God has created the seven heavens one above another, and made the moon therein a light, and made the sun a lamp, how God has produced you from the earth and caused you to grow, how He will then return you to it and bring you forth again, how God has spread the earth out for you so that you may walk along its spacious paths?’ Noah supplicated, ‘Lord, they have disobeyed me, and followed those whose wealth and children have only added to their ruin; and they have hatched a mighty plot, and they said [to their followers], “Do not ever abandon your deities: abandon neither Wadd, nor Suwa‘, and neither Yaghuth, nor Yauq nor Nasr!” They have led many astray; so lead the wrongdoers to further error.’

They were drowned and sent to Hell for their misdeeds; they found no one to help them against God. Noah prayed, ‘O my Lord! Do not leave on earth a single one of those who deny the truth—if You leave any,  they will misguide Your servants, and they will beget none but sinners and deniers of truth—Lord! Forgive me and my parents and every true believer who enters my house, forgive all the believing men and believing women; and bestow no increase upon the wrongdoers except in ruin.’ (71:1-28)

Chapter 11 of the Quran also provides a detailed account of Prophet Noah and his mission. The relevant verses are quoted below.

God’s will was revealed to Noah, ‘No more of your people will believe in you than those who already believe; do not grieve, therefore, over what they have been doing. Build the Ark under Our eyes and in accordance with Our revelation. Do not plead with Me concerning the evil-doers. They shall certainly be  drowned.  So he began to build the Ark, and whenever leaders of  his people passed by, they scoffed at him. He said, ‘If you are scoffing at us, we shall scoff at you [and your ignorance], just as you scoff at us: you will soon come to know who will receive a humiliating punishment, and find unleashed against him an everlasting punishment.’ When Our command came, and water gushed forth   in torrents, We said to Noah, ‘Take into the Ark a pair from every species, and your own family—except those on whom the sentence has already been passed, and all the true believers.’ But only a few believed along with him. Noah said, ‘Embark on it. In the name of God, it shall set sail and cast anchor. Truly, my Lord is forgiving and merciful.’ The Ark sailed along with them through mountainous waves. Noah called out to his son who stood apart, ‘O my son! Embark with us and do not   be among the deniers!’ He replied, ‘I shall seek refuge on a mountain, which will save me from the water.’ Noah cried, ‘Today there is no refuge for anyone from God’s command except for those to whom He shows mercy!’ Thereupon, a wave swept in between them, and Noah’s son was among those who were drowned. A voice cried out, ‘Earth, swallow up your waters. O sky, cease your rain.’ The waters receded. The command was fulfilled. The Ark came to rest on Mount Judi. It was said, ‘Away with the wrong-doing people.’ Noah called out to his Lord, saying, ‘My Lord, my son was a part of my family. Your promise was surely true. You are the most just of all judges.’ God said, ‘Noah, he was not one of your family. For, indeed, he was unrighteous in his conduct. Do not question Me about something  of which you have no knowledge; I admonish you lest you become like an ignorant man.’ He said, ‘My  Lord,  I take refuge with You from asking You something of which I have no knowledge. If You do not forgive me and show me mercy, I shall be one of the losers.’ 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.’ (11:36-48)

The story of the Prophet Noah is recounted in detail in the Book of Genesis in the Bible. The relevant verses are quoted below:

This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before (in the sight of) God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. “And this is how you shall make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. “And behold, I Myself am bringing the flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; and everything that is on the earth shall die. “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. “And every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. “Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did. (Genesis, 6:9-22)

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. “You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; “also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. “For after seven more days, I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” And Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was on the earth. So Noah with his sons, his wife and his sons’ wives went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. Of clean beasts, of beasts that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. And it came to  pass  after  seven  days  that  the waters of the flood were on the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of the heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark - they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, every bird of every sort. And they went into the ark of Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in. Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The water prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days. (Genesis, 7:1-24)

Then God remembered Noah and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. Then the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. He also set out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had abated from the face of the ground. But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth. So he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; which did not return to him any more. And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis, 8:1-22)