Nabi Nuh (AS) — Rawzat

The Name Nuh — The One Who Wept

The name Nuh (نُوح) is derived from the Arabic root nāḥa — to lament, to weep, to cry out in grief. The Prophet (SAW) is reported in the tafsir tradition to have said that Nuh received this name because he wept so much and for so long — 950 years of watching his people reject the divine message, grieving their hardness of heart.

In the Hebrew and Aramaic traditions, the name Noah comes from a root meaning “rest” or “consolation” — the one who brings rest after labor. Both meanings are present in his story: he is the one who wept longest, and the one who was finally given rest after the most exhausting prophetic mission recorded in the Quran.

His full genealogical name in the Islamic tradition: Nuh ibn Lamak ibn Matushalakh ibn Idris ibn Yared ibn Mahla’il ibn Qeynan ibn Anush ibn Shith ibn Adam (AS).

Nuh’s Position in the Prophetic Hierarchy

“Indeed, We sent Nuh and Ibrahim and placed in their descendants prophethood and scripture.” (57:26)

Nuh (AS) holds a unique position in Islamic prophetic theology:

First Rasul: While Adam (AS) is the first Nabi (prophet), Nuh (AS) is the first Rasul (messenger with a new Shari’a — a new divine law). Adam brought the original covenant; after centuries of human forgetfulness and the spread of polytheism, a comprehensive fresh message was needed. Nuh was sent with that new message.

One of the Five Ulu al-‘Azm: The Quran designates five prophets as possessors of extraordinary resolve: Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Isa, and Muhammad (SAW): “And [remember] when We took from the prophets their covenant and from you and from Nuh and Ibrahim and Musa and Isa, the son of Maryam.” (33:7). The ‘azm (firm resolve) of Nuh was demonstrated by 950 years of unflinching commitment.

Second Father of Humanity: “And We made his descendants those who remained [on earth].” (37:77) — All of humanity today descends from Nuh’s three sons: Sam (Shem), Ham, and Yafith (Japheth). In this sense, Nuh is the second father of the human race — Adam being the first.

Second Natiq in Ismaili Cosmology: The Ismaili doctrine of prophetic cycles (dawrāt) identifies seven major Natiqs (speaking prophets who bring complete Shari’as): Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Isa, Muhammad (SAW), and the awaited Qa’im. Nuh is the second in this chain — the second articulation of the divine word into human law and community.

The Era Before Nuh — Why a New Rasul?

The Quran explains the context of Nuh’s mission:

“Indeed, We sent Nuh to his people, [saying]: ‘Warn your people before there comes to them a painful punishment.’” (71:1)

After Adam (AS), humanity had multiplied and spread across the earth. The original covenant of tawhid, preserved through Shith and Idris, had gradually been overlaid with polytheism. The Quran names five specific idols worshipped by Nuh’s people:

“And they said: ‘Never leave your gods, and never leave Wadd or Suwa’ or Yaghuth or Ya’uq or Nasr.’” (71:23)

The tradition explains that these five were originally names of righteous people — their statues were made to honor them after their deaths, and then gradually, over generations, the statues became objects of worship. This is the Quranic pattern of how shirk typically begins: not with deliberate rejection of the divine, but with the sanctification of human intermediaries until they displace the divine itself.

Nuh was sent to restore the pure tawhid that the polytheism had occluded.

950 Years of Da’wa — The Longest Prophetic Mission

“And We had certainly sent Nuh to his people, and he remained among them a thousand years minus fifty years.” (29:14)

950 years. No other prophet’s da’wa mission is given a duration in the Quran — this number is stated to emphasize the extraordinary nature of Nuh’s commitment and patience. To preach for nine and a half centuries, to watch generation after generation reject the message, to see one’s own children among the rejecters — this is the sabr that earned Nuh the title Shakur (deeply, actively grateful to Allah — the one who persists in thankfulness even under trial).

“Indeed, he was a grateful servant (‘abdan shakūrā*).”* (17:3)

Nuh’s Da’wa Methods

Nuh described his comprehensive strategy to Allah:

“He said: ‘My Lord, indeed I invited my people [to truth] night and day — but my invitation increased them not except in flight. And indeed, every time I invited them that You may forgive them, they put their fingers in their ears, covered themselves with their garments, persisted, and were arrogant with [great] arrogance. Then I invited them publicly. Then I announced to them and [also] confided to them secretly.’” (71:5-9)

Every method of da’wa was employed:

Day and night (laylan wa nahāran)
Public proclamation (jahran)
Private confidential teaching (isrāran)
Gentle invitation (in) and direct warning
Reminder of blessings (dhikr al-ni’am)

And he made them a specific promise:

“[Saying]: ‘Ask forgiveness of your Lord. Indeed, He is ever a Perpetual Forgiver. He will send [rain from] the sky upon you in showers and give you increase in wealth and children and provide for you gardens and provide for you rivers.’” (71:10-12)

The da’wa’s promise was not only spiritual but material: the community that turns to the divine finds its worldly condition transformed — rivers, gardens, abundance. This reflects the Islamic understanding that righteousness and worldly flourishing are not opposed.

The People’s Resistance

The elite of the community (al-mala’ — the chiefs, the aristocracy) led the rejection:

“The eminent among his people said: ‘Indeed, we see you in clear error.’” (7:60)

“Every time a company of eminent ones passed by him, they ridiculed him.” (11:38)

The Quran records the specific accusation they made: “He is not but a man like yourselves who wishes to take precedence over you.” (23:24) — The prophetic message is dismissed not on its merits but as a political power grab. This is the aristocracy’s perennial move: reduce the prophet’s spiritual mission to a worldly ambition.

The aristocracy also accused him of gathering only “the lowest” (the poor, the socially marginal): “‘We see not the followers of you except those who are the lowest of us [and] of obvious lack of discernment.’” (11:27) — Nuh’s response was definitive: “‘And I will not drive away those who have believed. Indeed, they will meet their Lord — but I see that you are a people behaving ignorantly.’” (11:29) The prophet does not curate his community by social rank.

The Refusal of the Son — Family Transcended by Faith

Among the most poignant passages in the Quran is the story of Nuh’s son who refused to board the Ark:

“And it sailed with them through waves like mountains, and Nuh called to his son who was apart [from them]: ‘O my son, come aboard with us and be not with the disbelievers.’” (11:42)

His son’s answer reflects the arrogance of self-reliance:

“[The son] said: ‘I will take refuge on a mountain to protect me from the water.’ [Nuh] said: ‘There is no protector today from the decree of Allah, except for whom He gives mercy.’ And the waves came between them, and he was among the drowned.” (11:43)

Nuh (AS) then called to Allah — this is the human dimension of the prophet, unguarded and raw:

“And Nuh called to his Lord and said: ‘My Lord, indeed my son is of my family; and indeed, Your promise is true; and You are the most just of judges.’” (11:45)

The divine’s answer is among the most important theological statements in the Quran:

“He said: ‘O Nuh, indeed he is not of your family; indeed, he [whose work] was other than righteous — so do not ask Me about that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, I advise you, lest you be among the ignorant.’” (11:46)

The teaching is absolute: True family (ahl) is defined not by blood but by iman and righteous action. A son who rejects the divine truth is not Nuh’s “family” in the sense that matters — not because Nuh must disown him, but because the divine categorizes family by the orientation of the soul, not the accident of birth.

Nuh (AS) immediately accepted this correction: “He said: ‘My Lord, I seek refuge in You from asking You about that of which I have no knowledge. And unless You forgive me and have mercy upon me, I will be among the losers.’” (11:47)

This self-correction is itself a model: even the prophet, in the intensity of grief for his child, can momentarily ask the wrong question — and the mark of his prophethood is the immediacy of his return to divine wisdom.

The Ark — Built Under Divine Eyes

“And construct the ship under Our Eyes and Our inspiration.” (11:37)

The Ark (safīna) was built by Nuh (AS) under direct divine supervision — a miraculous engineering project in what was likely a region without precedent for shipbuilding. The aristocracy mocked him:

“And whenever the chiefs of his people passed by him, they ridiculed him. He said: ‘If you ridicule us, then we will ridicule you just as you ridicule. And you are going to know who will get a punishment that will disgrace him [on earth] and upon whom will descend an enduring punishment.’” (11:38-39)

The sign to board: “Until when Our command came and the oven overflowed.” (11:40) — The tannur (clay oven) gushing water was the agreed sign between Nuh and the divine that the moment of boarding had come.

“He said: ‘Embark therein; in the name of Allah is its course and its anchorage. Indeed, my Lord is Forgiving and Merciful.’” (11:41)

Aboard the Ark: Nuh (AS) took his family (except the son who refused), the believers, and pairs of every living creature:

“[Allah] said: ‘Load upon the ship of every [creature] two mates and your family, except those about whom the word has preceded, and [include] whoever has believed.’ But none had believed with him, except a few.” (11:40)

The Great Flood — The Quranic Account

“So We opened the gates of the sky with pouring rain and caused the earth to burst with springs, and the waters met for a matter already predestined.” (54:11-12)

Water from above (rain) and water from below (springs bursting from the earth) — the flood came from both directions simultaneously, as if the cosmic order itself was rinsing clean. The waters covered the earth, including the mountains that Nuh’s son had trusted in.

The Duration: The Quran does not specify the flood’s duration; the tradition (consistent with the biblical 40 days + 150 days of water + recession) has various accounts. What matters in the Quranic telling is not the duration but the theological meaning.

The Settling: “And it was said: ‘O earth, swallow your water, and O sky, withhold [your rain].’ And the water subsided, and the matter was accomplished, and the ship came to rest on [Mount] al-Judi.” (11:44)

Mount al-Judi — not Ararat (the biblical location) but al-Judi, identified by most Islamic commentators with a mountain in the Jazirah region of modern southeastern Turkey / northern Iraq, near the town of Jazirat Ibn Umar (modern Cizre). The Prophet (SAW) named this mountain specifically.

After the Flood — The Covenant and Descendants

“We said: ‘O Nuh, disembark in security from Us and blessings upon you and upon nations [descending] from those with you.’” (11:48)

From Nuh’s (AS) three sons, the Islamic tradition maps the descent of humanity:

Sam (Shem) → the Semitic peoples: Arabs, Hebrews, Arameans, Assyrians, Babylonians
Ham → the African and certain Near Eastern peoples
Yafith (Japheth) → the peoples of the north and east: Persians, Turks, and eventually the European peoples

Sam (Shem) is the Wasi of Nuh: The Islamic tradition and specifically the Ismaili tradition identify Sam ibn Nuh as the Wasi (legatee) of Nuh (AS) — the one who received the inner knowledge and preserved it through the post-Flood generation. The prophetic chain from Nuh’s dispensation continued through Sam to Abraham’s line, which produced the next Natiq.

In al-Tabari’s genealogical account, the line from Sam runs: Sam → Arfakhshad → Shalakh → ‘Abir → Faligh → Ra’u → Sarukh → Nahor → Tareh → Ibrahim — making the entire prophetic chain from Nuh to Ibrahim a continuous family lineage through Sam.

The Du’a of Nuh (AS)

Nuh’s prayers recorded in the Quran reveal his character:

After 950 years of rejection: “My Lord, do not leave upon the earth from among the disbelievers an inhabitant. Indeed, if You leave them, they will mislead Your servants and not beget except [every] wicked one and [confirmed] disbeliever.” (71:26-27)

After the flood: “My Lord, forgive me and my parents and whoever enters my house as a believer and the believing men and believing women — and do not increase the wrongdoers except in destruction.” (71:28)

At the sight of the mountains: “‘My Lord, I take refuge in You from asking You about that of which I have no knowledge. And unless You forgive me and have mercy upon me, I will be among the losers.’” (11:47)

The du’a of Nuh after 950 years is not the prayer of a bitter man. It is the prayer of a prophet who understands that some situations, after every method has been exhausted and every door of mercy has been closed by the people themselves, require the divine’s decisive intervention. It is an act of tawakkul (complete reliance on the divine) — releasing the outcome to the divine’s judgment after a lifetime of attempting to shape it through da’wa.

The Ark as Da’wa — The Ismaili Ta’wil of Nuh

The zahir of Nuh’s story: a prophet, a flood, an ark, a saved remnant, and the re-establishment of human civilization on a foundation of tawhid.

The batin of Nuh’s story: among the most developed in Ismaili exegesis.

The Flood of Ignorance

In Ismaili ta’wil (preserved in works like al-Sijistani’s Kashf al-Mahjub and al-Kirmani’s Rahat al-‘Aql, and elaborated by Yemeni Dai scholars including Syedna Idris Imaduddin RA in his Zahr al-Ma’ani), the Flood represents the flooding of the world with jahl (ignorance) — the overwhelming of human civilization by the forces of spiritual darkness and polytheism.

The Flood is not primarily a physical catastrophe but a cosmic spiritual condition: when the people of a prophetic dispensation so thoroughly reject the divine guidance that the entire community becomes spiritually uninhabitable for the soul seeking truth.

The Ark as Da’wa

The Ark (safīna) is the da’wa — the divinely-constructed vessel of salvation. Nuh built it under the divine’s direct supervision: no human engineering was sufficient; it required divine instruction. Similarly, the da’wa is not a human institution — it is built according to the divine’s design, its structure given by the Imam’s wisdom, and it alone can carry the believing souls through the flood of ignorance.

The hadith of the Prophet (SAW) — “My Ahl al-Bayt among you are like Nuh’s Ark: whoever boards it is saved, and whoever stays behind is drowned” — is read in Ismaili tradition as the definitive statement of walayah: the Imam is the Ark; joining the da’wa is boarding the Ark; rejecting walayah is staying behind in the flood.

Two Pairs — Zahir and Batin Together

The command to take “two mates” of every creature onto the Ark is the ta’wil of the zahir-batin principle: the da’wa carries every dimension of the divine teaching in pairs — the outer law (Shari’a) and the inner meaning (haqiqa), the Natiq and the Asas, the exoteric and the esoteric. Nothing essential is lost in the passage through the flood of satr.

The Son Who Refused — The Soul That Will Not Board

The son who trusted in the mountain and drowned is the soul that has the opportunity to board the Ark — that hears the da’wa, is called by name (ya bunayya — O my son, the most intimate possible address) — and chooses to trust in its own resources rather than the da’wa’s vessel. The mountain represents human intellect unaided by divine guidance — it looks solid, it looks high, it looks safe. And in the flood of ignorance, it is not sufficient.

The Settlement on al-Judi

The Ark’s settling on al-Judi — the “high place” — represents the da’wa’s arrival at the elevated station after the period of flood: the establishment of a renewed community on a higher spiritual foundation than what existed before the flood.

Burial Place and Duration

Duration of Nuh’s life: The Islamic tradition, following the biblical chronology (Genesis 9:28-29 states Noah lived 350 years after the flood, for a total of 950 years), gives Nuh’s (AS) total lifespan as 950 years according to some traditions, and up to 1,400 years in others (accounting for the period of da’wa before the flood and life after it).

Burial place: The tradition holds that Nuh (AS) was buried in Karak Nuh in Lebanon (a village in the Bekaa Valley that bears his name) — where a traditional maqam (shrine) marks the site. Some traditions also point to Mosul in Iraq (ancient Nineveh) as the burial location. The Shiite tradition places his grave in Najaf, near the shrine of Imam Ali (AS).

Salawat and Du’a for Nabi Nuh (AS)

Arabic: اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى نَبِيِّكَ نُوحٍ عَلَيهِ السَّلَام، أَوَّلِ الرُّسُلِ إِلَى أَهلِ الأَرضِ، الصَّابِرِ الشَّكُورِ، وَاجعَلنَا مِن رُكَّابِ سَفِينَةِ الوَلَايَةِ النَّاجِينَ مِن بَحرِ الجَهلِ وَالضَّلَالَة.

Transliteration: Allāhumma ṣalli ‘alā nabiyyika Nūḥ ‘alayhi al-salām, awwali al-rusuli ilā ahli al-arḍ, al-ṣābiri al-shakūr, wa-j’alnā min rukkābi safīnati al-walāyati al-nājīna min baḥri al-jahli wa al-ḍalāla.

Translation: O Allah, send Your blessings upon Your prophet Nuh, peace be upon him — the first messenger to the people of the earth, the patient and deeply grateful — and make us among those who board the vessel of walayah, saved from the sea of ignorance and misguidance.

Nabi Nuh (AS) — The First Rasul: 950 Years of Da'wa, the Great Ark, and the Covenant of Tawhid