Islam Critiqued "The Oven Boiled: From Eisegesis to History"
The nation of the prophet Nuh had reached such high levels of rejection and animosity towards their prophet, that a revelation informed him that most of his nation will not believe no matter what. He should therefore stop grieving for their sins 11:36.
All prophets, including Moses or Nuh, are sent as relentless reformers of their nations, first and foremost. Not as usherers of destruction. They are repeatedly depicted, as is done throughout the book as regards Muhammad, as grieving for their nations' sins, doing all they can to bring them to the path of righteousness. They remain in that passionate empathy so long as the benefit of the doubt is there, in case their addresses still have a potential to desist from their rejection and reform themselves. But once it becomes clear that they will instead, only increase in rebellion and hatred towards God, the messengers cannot remain empathetic to them. Any believer facing an enemy of God, will treat that person as one's own enemy.
Nuh then prayed for the spiritual blindess to be inflicted on the mischievous elite that kept opposing and leading people astray, so that they can swiftly become worthy of divine punishment. He prayed God to rid the land from them and those who follow them and thus corruption ceases to be spread 71:24-8. The word used for "land" is Al-ard. In the Arabic of the Quran it almost never means the whole globe, rather the land within one's activities. All the verses speaking of the divine punishment concern Nuh's people only, in accordance with the Quranic principle that destruction only befalls a nation of rejecters. Further, in the absence of authentic narrations depicting the scale of the flood, the commentaries endorsing the biblical view cannot be considered authorative.
Nuh's prayer of destruction came after preaching and reasoning for a long time, with signs of sinfulness appearing even among the next generation. He had seen that falsehood would keep being transmitted to children's children despite all his efforts, and hence his request to wipe out all traces of it to prevent it perduring. Strangely, Nuh's tireless warning to his people does not appear in the HB. As if this
Gen7:1"righteous among his generation"
praised by later prophets the likes of Ezekiel for his urpightness Ezek14:14 was never confronted by a whole nation whose behavior was completely different than his, or that he, as a righteous did not go out of his way to admonish them.
Only in the midrash do we find mention of his preaching and reforming efforts. It is even argued that part of the reason it took so long to build the ark was to give people time to ask Noah what he was doing and to repent. The flaw in that assertion is that if the order to build the Ark was issued then it means the fate of the nation was already sealed and the punishement bound to befall them. That it why the Quran states that it was towards the end of his preaching mission, when the prophet Nuh was informed through revelation that
71:1-28,11:25-49"none of your people will believe except those who have already believed..And make the ark before Our eyes and (according to) Our revelation, and do not speak to Me in respect of those who are unjust; surely they shall be drowned".
It is only at that culminating point of disbelief following long, tireless preaching that the command to start building the Ark was issued. The Quran adds that this project was performed under "God's watch" for he now needed protection from the hardenned disbelievers during the time needed. This is the precision of the Quran as it retells ancient stories obscured and confused throughout the ages.
The Quran further adds a subtle detail. Because God leaves room for repentance until the absolute final moments prior to the punishment, Noah had to remain among his people, building the ark as a sign of imminent doom, until just prior to the flood. He could not just leave much ahead of time. That is why he had to receive some kind of signal that the massive deluge was imminent. This would leave him enough time to make the final preparations, such as gathering all pairs of animals within his reach. It would have allowed him to reestablish a sustainable colony elsewhere. Interestingly the Quran, contrary to the HB's depiction of the massive size and strength of the Ark that was needed to carry every kind of living thing in the world, downplays the toughness of that construction 54:13. Noah had no time to accomplish such a task and neither would this embarkation, purposefully belittled as a thing of "plancks and nails" would have been able to carry everything. The signal had thus to be such that Noah would be allowed enough time to gather all that was necessary, and embark along with his family and followers safely into the Ark. That signal was a geological phenomenon, such as of underground water gushing out gently, as a light geiser would. The Quran depicts that natural occurence as an overflowing oven
23:27"and when Our command is given and the oven gushes water, take into it of every kind a pair, two, and your family, except those among them against whom the word has gone forth, and do not speak to Me in respect of those who are unjust; surely they shall be drowned".
The Arabic tannur is used for an underground type of oven, which closely parallels the geiser. This again, was only the signal, not the punishment. And it was a subtle signal as its implications were only obvious to Noah. Noah's people didn't drown in the hot water of that SINGULAR "overflowing oven". But then, when Noah had safely embarked
54:12"We made the land explode with springs, so the water gathered together according to a measure already ordained".
Suddenly and simultaneously, from multiple locations water gushed forth, came together and innundated the land, as a massive flash flood, while from above, heavy rainfall came down incessantly
"So We opened the gates of the cloud with water pouring".
This left the disbelievers no chance at hiding neither in lowground nor in high mountains, as here depicted with the dramatic scene between Noah and his son
11:42-3"He said: I will betake myself for refuge to a mountain that shall protect me from the water. Nuh said: There is no protector today from Allah's punishment but He Who has mercy; and a wave intervened between them, so he was of the drowned".
That nation among whom he was preaching was so corrupt that Nuh's own son would not heed his father's calls. He remained in denial even when the flood almost overwhelmed him, despite his father's pleas. His son was decreed to be of those to be drowned, along with the other rejecters, when the deluge began 11:40. Nuh knew it, but since he still considered his son as family, his instinct as a father took over when he saw his son perishing, cried out for the Lord to forgive his son while humbling himself and his incomplete knowledge in the face of divine justice. The sentence however could not be revoked, God even excluded him at that point from Nuh's family, and Nuh accepted God's all encompassing judgement 11:45-7.
What follows is unrelated to that youtuber's comments, but provides good additional perspective on the story of Noah.
Contrary to the HB which states that Nuh's age was 950 years when he died, the Quran uses a peculiar construction to describe, not his total age, but the time that he spent among his people
29:14-15"And certainly We sent Nuh to his people, so he remained among them a thousand SANA save fifty AAM. And the deluge overtook them, while they were unjust. So We delivered him and the inmates of the ark, and made it a sign to the nations".
However this does not necessarily mean that the whole lifespan preceded the flood or that he died the same year, after being saved. The verse itself says, that this timespan was spent among his people, so this must include a period with those among his people that survived the flood with him. These people are Noah's household, besides his son, who survived the flood, along with an unspecified number of followers from among that very nation that was drowned 11:48. It says in addition that following the flood, Nuh and the survivors were made khalaaif 10:73 from the root kh-l-f meaning to leave behind. Khalifa is one that manages what is left behind, as in a successor. Nuh and those with him made khalaaif means that they were now in control of what those that were destroyed have left and were responsible with properly ruling over it.
Later on, the only group that remained from those that were saved from the flood were his offspring, they survived both Nuh and the followers outside of his household carried upon the ark 37:75-7. It is interesting to note how the account of Noah ends with an emphasis on the fact that its details as recounted in the Quran were unknown to the prophet and its addressees. The story itself was well known all throughout the region, including by the prophet's addressees. The Quran takes the known references, including linguistic and formulates them in a manner that opens different perspectives and conclusions to the story
11:49"these are of the tidings of the Unseen which We reveal unto you. Before this, neither you nor your people knew them. Therefore, be you patient, verily the end is for the pious ones".
This is in accordance with the Quranic pattern of laying stress on the truth of its own version of an event, whenever an alternative version exists, as is here the case with the convoluted Biblical version of Noah's story, more particularily the vile depiction of Noah's own character. As to the expression
"a thousand SANA save fifty AAM"
one cannot do a simple numerical deduction between 2 different units (sana/aam) and arbitrarily decide in which unit the result is to be expressed. This is all the more true if one considers the other instances where the Quran uses a similar construction but never constrasts 2 different units, as in 18:25,28:27,37:147. There is a purpose for this choice of words in the Quran, as is always the case. If the purpose was to retell the straightforward Biblical information, it could have repeated the 950 figure explicitly without the need for such an expression. The purpose cannot be anything else than creating a contrast between 2 concepts sana/aam. Sana denotes a time (not nessarily solar year) of hardship while aam is used for a time of abundance and ease.
Adding to this the fact that the passage itself ends with a mention that what preceded was of parabolic nature 29:43 then this opens the possibility for the understanding that the minute details, such as the specific number of years, is purposefully formulated in a manner so as to convey a concept, rather than factual information; 1000 difficult periods in succession less 50 of ease, ie an extremely long struggle with a relatively short time of rest just as with the prophet Muhammad from the beginning to the end of his call.
The indirect purpose is also to correct the literal interpretation of that figure, as it was orally transmitted through the centuries until put to writing in the biblical account
11:49"these are of the tidings of the Unseen which We reveal unto you. Before this, neither you nor your people knew them. Therefore, be you patient, verily the end is for the pious ones".
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