Speaker 1: As dark clouds were covering the sky. People were screaming
Speaker 1: in desperation, searching for a place to hide, but the
Speaker 1: shelters they found weren't going to protect them from the
Speaker 1: disaster that was about to begin. On the horizon, a
Speaker 1: tremendous hurricane was approaching, piercing the darkness. The heavy downpour
Speaker 1: of rain that it brought was flooding everything. Even trees
Speaker 1: and mountains could not resist the power of this natural
Speaker 1: disaster and disappeared under the water. But in the midst
Speaker 1: of all these chaos, a ship was floating on the water,
Speaker 1: not being effected at all by this catastrophe. It was
Speaker 1: as if an invisible hand was carefully protecting it and
Speaker 1: insuring the safety of those on board. This was neither
Speaker 1: a coincidence nor chance, for the almighty power who brought
Speaker 1: this flood upon the earth had commanded his profit to
Speaker 1: build this ark and was now protecting it along with
Speaker 1: its passengers. This ark was the hope of the survivors
Speaker 1: and the good news of a new beginning. This was
Speaker 1: the Ark of Prophet Noah. This is probably one of
Speaker 1: the most famous stories of human history, which has been
Speaker 1: the subject of many many movies. You might think that
Speaker 1: the whole world knows this story the way you do. However,
Speaker 1: there are significant differences between the Christian and the Stamic narrative. Today,
Speaker 1: we're going to look at this story from the perspectives
Speaker 1: of the Koran and the Bible and compare the communalities
Speaker 1: and differences between them. What kind of struggle did Prophet
Speaker 1: Noah face, What was the reason for such a powerful flood,
Speaker 1: How did things get to that point, how did those
Speaker 1: on the arcs survive that huge disaster? And what happened
Speaker 1: when it was all over. If you're ready, let's beakin.
Speaker 1: Noah piece pepon him was born in the region called Mesopotamia.
Speaker 1: He was a respected, well known, morally upright person who
Speaker 1: had been living among his people for many years. But
Speaker 1: the society he lived in was very different from him.
Speaker 1: It was a nation whether strong oppressed the weak, where
Speaker 1: people had reached the highest level of immorality, where evil
Speaker 1: and arrogance dominate their hearts. They were making statues of
Speaker 1: wise men from their nation who had died in the past.
Speaker 1: Then their love for them turned into worship, and eventually
Speaker 1: they forgot their actual creator. This was the nation that
Speaker 1: Noah peas peupon him was sent to as a prophet.
Speaker 1: He struggled day and night to warn them about the
Speaker 1: wrong practices that they were doing, and tried to convince
Speaker 1: them to stop them. The process leading up to the
Speaker 1: construction of his famous arc is not mentioned in the Bible.
Speaker 1: The details of this part are generally found in the Quran.
Speaker 1: In the fifty ninth verse of surrotar Arav, God says
Speaker 1: we had certainly sent Noah to his people, and he said, O,
Speaker 1: my people, worship all Llah. You have no deity other
Speaker 1: than him. Indeed, I fear for you the punishment of
Speaker 1: a tremendous day. Noah was trying with all his might
Speaker 1: to rescue his people from the dark and corrupt state
Speaker 1: that they were in. His nation, on the other hand,
Speaker 1: sometimes responded with arrogance and sometimes plucked their ears and
Speaker 1: passed by. They accused their prophet of being deviated and
Speaker 1: tried to intimidate him with all kinds of insult words.
Speaker 1: They insisted on holding on to their false beliefs. They said,
Speaker 1: never leave your gods and never live wed soa Yaruth,
Speaker 1: Yarouk and Nusser. They rejected Noah's imitation, thinking that he
Speaker 1: was only doing it for his personal gain. But the
Speaker 1: answer they got from Noah was quite clear, and I
Speaker 1: do not ask you for any payment. My payment is
Speaker 1: only from the Lord of the world. But still they
Speaker 1: were constantly trying to discredit Noah. They were making fun
Speaker 1: of him and of those who believed in it. They said,
Speaker 1: should we believe you while you are followed by the
Speaker 1: lowest class of people. Despite all the transgressions of his people,
Speaker 1: he was still compassionate towards them and wanted to protect
Speaker 1: them from the punishment that was coming their way. However,
Speaker 1: only a handful of people believed in Noah, while others
Speaker 1: continued to be deviant and increase their persecution day by day.
Speaker 1: The situation was becoming unbearable. Over the years, he realized
Speaker 1: that no matter what he might do, his people wouldn't
Speaker 1: turn from the path of idolatry. As a last resort,
Speaker 1: he called out to his Lord and made this prayer.
Speaker 1: He said, my Lord, in indeed my people had denied me,
Speaker 1: then judge between me and them with decisive judgment, and
Speaker 1: save me and whoever is with me out of the believers.
Speaker 1: Prophet Noah, who struggled for his people for many years,
Speaker 1: who didn't give up on them until the last moment,
Speaker 1: who endured all the oppression and torture, was now waiting
Speaker 1: for the judgment of his Lord between him and his people.
Speaker 1: So what would be the decision of God. We will
Speaker 1: get to all that, but before we move forward, let's
Speaker 1: see how this part of the story is described in
Speaker 1: the Bible. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the
Speaker 1: people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.
Speaker 1: Noah had three sons, Sham, Pam, and Jayfith. Now the
Speaker 1: earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence.
Speaker 1: God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all
Speaker 1: the people on earth had corrupted their ways. The Lord
Speaker 1: saw how great the wickedness of the human race had
Speaker 1: become on the earth, and that every inclination of the
Speaker 1: thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.
Speaker 1: The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on
Speaker 1: the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. According to
Speaker 1: the Bible, the chain of events that led to God's
Speaker 1: regret started when some entities called sons of God wanted
Speaker 1: to marry human women. When human beings began to increase
Speaker 1: in number on the earth and daughters were born to them,
Speaker 1: the sons of God, so that the daughters of humans
Speaker 1: were beautiful, and they married any one of them they chose.
Speaker 1: And with these marriages, evil multiplied on the earth, and
Speaker 1: humans turned into oppressors. So the Lord said, I will
Speaker 1: wipe from the face of the earth the human race
Speaker 1: I have created, and with them the animals, the birds,
Speaker 1: and the creatures that move along the ground, for I
Speaker 1: regret that I have made them. In the Koran, there
Speaker 1: is no mention of God's regret, and in fact can
Speaker 1: never be, because regret is a result of weaknesses, like
Speaker 1: making mistakes and not being able to foresee things. And
Speaker 1: since the concept of God in the Tame is perfect,
Speaker 1: such flawed characteristics can never be attributed to him. Finally,
Speaker 1: after a long wait, God's command has come. So what
Speaker 1: was that command? God addressed Noah, saying, no one will
Speaker 1: believe from your people except those who have already believed.
Speaker 1: So do not be distressed by what they have been doing,
Speaker 1: and construct the ship under our observation and our inspiration,
Speaker 1: and do not address me concerning those who have wronged. Indeed,
Speaker 1: they are to be drowned. In the Bible, however, God
Speaker 1: commanded Noah in the following way. So make yourself an
Speaker 1: ark of cypress wood, make rooms in it, and coate
Speaker 1: it with pitch inside and out. This is how you
Speaker 1: are to build it. The ark is to be three
Speaker 1: hundred cubits long, fifty cub is wide, and thirty cub
Speaker 1: is high. And after giving more and more details about
Speaker 1: the ship. According to the Bible, God said, I am
Speaker 1: going to bring flood waters on the earth to destroy
Speaker 1: all life under the heavens, every creature that has the
Speaker 1: breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.
Speaker 1: But I will establish my covenant with you, and you
Speaker 1: will enter the Ark, you and your sons, and your wife,
Speaker 1: and your sons wives with you. According to the Christian narrative,
Speaker 1: the only human beings to board the Ark were Noah's family,
Speaker 1: but in Islamic narrative, although their numbers were few, all
Speaker 1: the believers would get on board, but not all of
Speaker 1: his family would be allowed to be on the ark,
Speaker 1: which would cause Noah one of the greatest pains of
Speaker 1: his life. Noah peep on him started to build the
Speaker 1: ark upon the order he received from God. When the
Speaker 1: idle worshippers saw him building an arc, they started mocking him.
Speaker 1: They were saying things like, you stopped being a prophet
Speaker 1: and became a carpenter. You're building an arc in the
Speaker 1: middle of a dry land. How will we make it sail? Indeed,
Speaker 1: there was no sea where Noah was building the ark,
Speaker 1: so how was the ship really going to move? Noah
Speaker 1: didn't pay attention to any of these things and focused
Speaker 1: on doing what God had commanded him to do. He
Speaker 1: knew very well that his Master, the infinitely Powerful, is
Speaker 1: able to do everything, and that he would never go
Speaker 1: back on his promise, so he continued to construction. So
Speaker 1: it was until when our command came and water gushed
Speaker 1: up out of the earth. We said, load upon it,
Speaker 1: meaning the ship of each creature, two mates, and your family,
Speaker 1: except those about whom the word I e. The degree
Speaker 1: has already been passed, and include whoever has believed. But
Speaker 1: none had believed with him except a few. In order
Speaker 1: to maintain life where the ship was going to land,
Speaker 1: he was ordered to take on board a pair of
Speaker 1: each living creature. A similar command is found in the
Speaker 1: Bible too, but with interesting difference. This command is described
Speaker 1: in two separate passages, but the numbers of the pairs
Speaker 1: of creatures are different from each other. You are to
Speaker 1: bring into the arc two of all living creatures, male
Speaker 1: and female, to keep them alive with you. In the
Speaker 1: seventh chapter, however, the command is given like this, take
Speaker 1: with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal,
Speaker 1: a male and its mate, and one pair of every
Speaker 1: kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and
Speaker 1: also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female,
Speaker 1: to keep them their various kinds alive throughout the earth.
Speaker 1: In the first passage, one pair of creatures, in the
Speaker 1: second passage, seven pairs of creatures. Noah did exactly what
Speaker 1: he was commanded by his Lord, and now the time
Speaker 1: had finally come to signal the coming of the flood.
Speaker 1: God made the water gush out of the earth. At
Speaker 1: the time, Noah was six hundred years old according to
Speaker 1: the Bible, but according to the Koran, until that point
Speaker 1: he had stayed among his people for nine hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty years. The Bible says it was the seventeenth day
Speaker 1: of the second month of that year. Along with Noah
Speaker 1: Pea peupon him. The believers and the animals in pairs
Speaker 1: boarded the ark. Then dark clouds began to appear in
Speaker 1: the sky, bringing an incredibly heavy rain. As the water
Speaker 1: started to rise, the ship that had been standing on
Speaker 1: land slowly began to rise too. Noah's nation, who refused
Speaker 1: to believe in him and gave him a very hard
Speaker 1: time during his entire mission, realized in shock that it
Speaker 1: was time to pay the awful price for what they
Speaker 1: had done. They began to look for a place to escape,
Speaker 1: but it was all in vain, as if the sky
Speaker 1: had been pierced. The waters were heavily pouring down, and
Speaker 1: the springs of the earth were gushing forth. God was
Speaker 1: sending this enormous flood on a name that had persecuted
Speaker 1: his prophet for years, a nation that hadn't changed their
Speaker 1: minds about their denial for such a long time. This
Speaker 1: would become a story to be told as an example
Speaker 1: to future generations. According to the Bible, all of Noah's
Speaker 1: sons were on the ship, but the Koran says one
Speaker 1: of his sons didn't board the ark because he didn't
Speaker 1: believe in Noah. In the Koran, he is not mentioned
Speaker 1: by name, but the account between him and Noah is
Speaker 1: described like this, And so the ark sailed with them
Speaker 1: through waves like mountains and Noah called out to his son,
Speaker 1: who was apart from them, Oh, my dear son, come
Speaker 1: aboard with us, and do not be with the disbelievers.
Speaker 1: But he said, I will take refuge on a mountain
Speaker 1: to protect me from the water. Noah said, there's no
Speaker 1: protector to day from the degree of Allah except for
Speaker 1: whom he gives mercy. And the waves came between them,
Speaker 1: and he was among the drowned. Imagine a father in
Speaker 1: that situation and he doesn't just say my son, He says,
Speaker 1: my dear son. He shows extra love and compassion towards him.
Speaker 1: On top of all the hardships he had gone through,
Speaker 1: he now witnesses his behavior from his son and then
Speaker 1: sees him drowning. Imagine how devastating it might be for Noah.
Speaker 1: As a storm in the skies was getting stronger and stronger,
Speaker 1: the vessel of survival for the people on board was
Speaker 1: able to resist the mountainous waves by the grace of Allah.
Speaker 1: As the leader of the ark that is full of believers,
Speaker 1: Noah continued to fulfill his duty despite the ongoing storms.
Speaker 1: The flood lasted for days. Each day they spent on
Speaker 1: the ship's rocking deck tested the patience of the believers.
Speaker 1: Although they were physically and spiritually exhausted during this long wait,
Speaker 1: their faith gave them the strength to endure and carry on. Finally,
Speaker 1: the sky brightened up and the great fury of the
Speaker 1: flood calmed down. Allah placed the arcs safely on the
Speaker 1: peak of a mountain. In the Kuran, this moment is
Speaker 1: described as and it was said, O, Earth, swallow your water,
Speaker 1: and a sky withhold your rain. And the water subsided,
Speaker 1: and matter was accomplished, and it came to rest on
Speaker 1: the mountain of Judy, and it was said, away with
Speaker 1: the wrong doing people. And what the Bible says about
Speaker 1: that is the water receded steadily from the earth. At
Speaker 1: the end of the one hundred and fifty days, the
Speaker 1: water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of
Speaker 1: the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the
Speaker 1: mountains of Aerat. But did this flood cover the entire
Speaker 1: earth or did it effect only a certain area. While
Speaker 1: the Bible clearly states that it covered the entire earth,
Speaker 1: the Kuran left it ambiguous. Among the scholars of Tipsi
Speaker 1: of the Koran, some have interpreted that to be a
Speaker 1: general flood on the earth. And others have said that
Speaker 1: it was a regional Evan. But when what we're talking
Speaker 1: about is the creator of the heavens and the earth,
Speaker 1: and one of its greatest miracles, it makes no difference
Speaker 1: how much area was affected, because for God, who has
Speaker 1: infinite power, it is equally easy to do both. What
Speaker 1: we should be focusing on are the messages that are
Speaker 1: given in the story. The events after the ark land
Speaker 1: and on the mountain are described in the Bible like this.
Speaker 1: Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and taking
Speaker 1: some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he
Speaker 1: sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing
Speaker 1: aroma and said in his heart, never again will I
Speaker 1: curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination
Speaker 1: of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never
Speaker 1: again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.
Speaker 1: If you remember, in chapter six of the Book of Genesis,
Speaker 1: it was told that God regretted having created the human
Speaker 1: beings and therefore decided to destroy them. And here in
Speaker 1: chapter eight it seemed like God decided to bring the
Speaker 1: flood in a moment of anger. When it was all over,
Speaker 1: he was calmed down by a nice smell and realized
Speaker 1: that what he had done was wrong. Feeling regret, acting
Speaker 1: impulsibly in anger, making mistakes. How can such things be
Speaker 1: thought about God? Another surprising biblical narrative is in Chapter nine,
Speaker 1: which says Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to
Speaker 1: plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine,
Speaker 1: he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham,
Speaker 1: the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told
Speaker 1: his two brothers outside. But Sham and Jayfith took a
Speaker 1: garment and laid it across their shoulders. Then they walked
Speaker 1: in backward and covered their father's naked body. Their faces
Speaker 1: were turned the other way so that they would not
Speaker 1: see their father naked. To summarize what's going on here,
Speaker 1: when one of Noah's sons, Ham tells his brothers to
Speaker 1: do something about their father's situation, they come and cover
Speaker 1: their father of the garment. But then something very shocking happens.
Speaker 1: This continued when Noah awoke from his wine and found
Speaker 1: out what his youngest son had done to him, He said,
Speaker 1: cursed be Canaan, the lowest of slaves will he be
Speaker 1: to his brothers. He also said, Praise be to the Lord,
Speaker 1: the God of Sham. May Canaan be the slave of Sham.
Speaker 1: May God extend Jayfth's territory, May Jayfith live in the
Speaker 1: tents of Sham, and may Canaan be the slave of Jafith.
Speaker 1: First of all, I want you to notice how inappropriate
Speaker 1: it is to accept things like drinking alcohol and becoming
Speaker 1: naked after getting drunk about a prophet of God. The
Speaker 1: second thing is in this passage, it is apparently Ham
Speaker 1: who made the so called mistake of telling his brothers,
Speaker 1: which is not really a mistake because it results in
Speaker 1: covering an embarrassing scene for his father. But strangely, the
Speaker 1: cursing is not directed at Ham, but rather at his
Speaker 1: son Kanaan, who had nothing to do with the incident.
Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense that a prophet who is supposed
Speaker 1: to be a role model of justice would do such
Speaker 1: a thing, or that God would want to show this
Speaker 1: act as a good example in his revelation to humanity.
Speaker 1: But the worst part of it is the events that
Speaker 1: we witnessed in the Middle Ages related to discurse. Pay
Speaker 1: attention to the words cursed be Canaan, may Caanan be
Speaker 1: the slave of shamp May Canaan be the slave of Jafith.
Speaker 1: From the fifteenth century onwards, a belief spread that discourse
Speaker 1: is the cause of having black skin. This biblical passage
Speaker 1: was even used to justify the enslavement of black Africans.
Speaker 1: It sounds very hard to believe, but it's a historical fact.
Speaker 1: Gomez means. The Zurara, a Portuguese historian, wrote that the
Speaker 1: en chained Africans he had seen were in such a
Speaker 1: wretched state because of the curse which after the deluge
Speaker 1: meaning the great flood, Noah laid upon him, that his
Speaker 1: race would be subject to all the other races of
Speaker 1: the world. Even reading these things makes me feel uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: Or Alexander Crummell, who was an African American pastor and
Speaker 1: an academic who has educated at Cambridge University, wrote in
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two almost universal opinion in the Christian world
Speaker 1: held that the sufferings and the slavery of the black
Speaker 1: race or the consequence of the curse of Noah. Obviously,
Speaker 1: it is not directly mentioned in the biblical text that
Speaker 1: black skin color is because of this curse, and Christian
Speaker 1: clergy of today argued that this is a completely wrong
Speaker 1: interpretation and we certainly cannot judge religion based on the
Speaker 1: mistakes made by its followers. But the crucial point is
Speaker 1: what the religious text actually contains. Here we are talking
Speaker 1: about the great prophet, prophet Noah, who gave such a
Speaker 1: sincere and serious struggle for nation, but what is described
Speaker 1: in the Bible about him is something that can never
Speaker 1: be expected of him. Islam, on the other hand, does
Speaker 1: not accept this kind of narrative or description for any prophet,
Speaker 1: nor can Islam accept the idea that God would send
Speaker 1: this kind of revelation to humanity, a revelation that contains
Speaker 1: contradictions and inappropriate attributions. Remember the number of pairs of
Speaker 1: animals to be taken on the ark in the Book
Speaker 1: of Genesis, two different numbers were given. Is a contradiction.
Speaker 1: How can God make mistakes when sending revelation or some
Speaker 1: of the statements made about God In the Biblical version
Speaker 1: of the story, God is portrayed as someone who regretted
Speaker 1: that he was unable to force the certain things, or
Speaker 1: someone who couldn't control his anger and after calming down,
Speaker 1: became regretful for what he had done. These descriptions can
Speaker 1: never be valid or appropriate for God, because he is
Speaker 1: free from all imperfections. But when we look at the Koran,
Speaker 1: we see that the story is told in an ideal way,
Speaker 1: free from any contradictions or inappropriate attributions. It is described
Speaker 1: a law in a perfect way, in a way that
Speaker 1: before fits his glory. So in light of all this,
Speaker 1: wouldn't it be right to say that by sending the Koran,
Speaker 1: God has corrected the inaccurate narratives in the previous scriptures,
Speaker 1: such as we saw in this story, and told them
Speaker 1: in the most accurate way. Or can we not say
Speaker 1: that by sending the Koran, God has cleansed the Bible
Speaker 1: of the false beliefs that have been mixed into it
Speaker 1: over the centuries. The same Kuran also corrected the false
Speaker 1: beliefs about Jesus that had been introduced to Christianity and
Speaker 1: declared that he was not a deity, but rather one
Speaker 1: of the greatest prophets sent by Allllah. We are all
Speaker 1: traveling in a certain direction on this enormous ship called
Speaker 1: the Earth, and our sea is this fast space. Throughout history,
Speaker 1: thousands of prophets like Noah have captained the people on
Speaker 1: this ship, and Jesus was also one of those captains.
Speaker 1: They all tried to guide people to the truth. But
Speaker 1: when the pure faith that Jesus originally brought was corrupted,
Speaker 1: this ship was handed over to its last captain. In
Speaker 1: light of all these comparisons, don't you also think that
Speaker 1: this final captain is Prophet Muhammad and the compass is
Speaker 1: the holy qur Ann