 | Noah's Ark: Encyclopedia II - Noah's Ark - The Ark in Rabbinic and Islamic tradition
Noah's Ark - The Ark in Rabbinic and Islamic tradition
(The material in this section is by kind permission of the Jewish Encyclopedia
Noah's Ark - In Rabbinic tradition
According to Jewish Rabbinic literature from the first centuries of the Christian era, Noah planted cedars one hundred and twenty years before the Deluge from which he afterward made the Ark. This lengthy period was partly in order to urge the sinful to amend their ways, and partly to allow sufficient time for the construction of the Ark. The animals were not led in by Noah, but by God, who caused them, as well as the spirits of those whose bodies were yet uncreated, to gather from all sides. Another Midrash says that the angels appointed over the various species brought each his allotted animal to the Ark with its necessary fodder. In order that Noah might not be molested by the wicked, lions and other wild animals were placed to guard it.
The lowest of the Ark's three decks was used as a depositary for refuse; in the second the human beings and the "clean" beasts were lodged; and the uppermost was reserved for the "unclean" beasts. A differing opinion reverses the order, with the refuse deposited in the third story, from which it was shoveled into the sea through a trap-door. For illumination Noah used precious stones, bright as the sun at noonday, which shone by night and were dull by day. Since Noah was constantly employed in feeding the animals, he did not sleep during the year in the Ark. Besides the regular occupants were the giant Og, king of Bashan, and the immense animal "Reëm," neither of whom, owing to their enormous size, could get into the Ark, but held fast to it, remaining alongside.
A beam of the Ark was said to have been found by Sennacherib, who made an idol of it; another was used, acording to one tradition, as the gallows for Haman, the villain of the Book of Esther
Noah's Ark - In Islamic tradition
The Qur'an, in the 7th century AD, speaks of the Ark as an ordinary ship, a fulk or safina, "a thing of boards and nails" (surah 54:14). On its dimensions and plan there was much difference of opinion among later commentators. Abdallah ibn 'Umar al-Baidawi, writing in the 13th century, gives the Biblical dimensions of 300 cubits by 50 by 30, and explains that in the first of the three levels wild and domesticated animals were lodged, in the second human beings, and in the third the birds. Others go much farther. Al-Tha'labi in his "Ḳisaḳ al-Anbiyya" and al-Diyarbakri in his "Khamīs" tell how Noah, under the direction of Gabriel, built a "house" of teak-wood — after having first grown the trees for the purpose — with dimensions of 80 cubits by 50 by 30; or, according to others, 660 by 330 by 33; or, again — on the authority of the prophet Isa (i.e. Jesus), who raised up Shem to give the information to his disciples — 1,200 by 600. On every plank was the name of a prophet, and the body of Adam was carried in the middle to divide the men from the women. When Noah came near the end of his building, he found that three planks, symbolizing three prophets, were missing, and that he could not complete the "house" without them. These planks were brought to Noah from Egypt by Og, son of Anak, the only one of the giants permitted to survive the Flood. Sura 11:43 of the Qur'an says: "And he said, 'Ride ye in it; in the Name of God it moves and stays!'" Baidawi takes this to mean that Noah said, "In the Name of God!" when he wished the Ark to move, and the same when he wished it to stand still.
Surah 11:46 says that the Ark settled on al-Judi, which in Islamic tradition has become a mountain near the town of Jazirat ibn 'Umar, on the east bank of the Tigris in the province of Mosul (northern Iraq). The last of the Ark seems to have been that Noah locked it up and gave the key to Shem. Abd al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn Masudi (died 956) writes that the place where the Ark grounded could be seen to his day, Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179 - 1229) mentions a mosque built there by Noah and still extant in his, and Ibn Batutta passed it on his travels in the 14th century.
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