of those who had believed in him, as He says: “and rescue me and those with me who are believers” (al-Shuʿarāʾ 26:118). It is also said that the believers with him numbered seven.

As for Noah’s wife—the mother of all his children: Ḥām, Sām, Yāfith, and Yām, whom the People of the Book call Canaan (1) and who was the son that drowned, and ʿĀbir—she died before the Flood. Some report that she drowned together with the rest who perished and was among those upon whom the word had already been passed because of their disbelief. According to the People of the Book, however, she was on board the Ark; it is therefore possible that she disbelieved later, or that she has been granted respite until the Day of Resurrection. The more apparent view is the first, for Allah says, “Do not leave upon the earth a single dwelling of the disbelievers” (Nūḥ 71:26).

Allah the Exalted says: “When you and those with you are settled upon the Ark, say, ‘Praise be to Allah who has saved us from the wrongdoing people,’ and say, ‘My Lord, grant me a blessed landing; You are the best of those who bring to land’” (al-Muʾminūn 23:28–29). He commanded him to praise his Lord for having subjected the ship to him, thus delivering him, creating a decisive break between him and his people, and gladdening his eyes regarding those who had opposed and denied him—just as He says elsewhere: “It is He who created all pairs and made for you the ships and the livestock that you ride, so that you may sit secure on their backs, then remember your Lord’s favor when you are so seated and say, ‘Glory be to Him who has subjected this to us; we could never have mastered it, and indeed to our Lord we shall return’” (al-Zukhruf 43:12–14).

Accordingly, one is instructed at the outset of every undertaking to invoke blessing and goodness and to ask that its outcome be praiseworthy, as Allah said to His Messenger ﷺ when he emigrated: “Say, ‘My Lord, cause me to enter a sound entrance and to exit a sound exit, and grant me from Yourself a supporting authority’” (al-Isrāʾ 17:80).

Noah—peace be upon him—complied with this directive: “He said, ‘Embark in it. In the name of Allah be its course and its mooring. Surely my Lord is Forgiving, Merciful’” (Hūd 11:41), meaning: by the name of Allah is the beginning of its sailing and its end. “Surely my Lord is Forgiving, Merciful”—that is, while He is indeed Forgiving and Merciful, He is also severe in punishment; His might is not repelled from the guilty people, as He showed when He struck the inhabitants of the earth who had disbelieved in Him and worshiped others beside Him.

Allah the Exalted says: “And it sailed with them amid waves like mountains” (Hūd 11:42). This came about because Allah sent down from the sky a rain the earth had never witnessed before (2) and will never witness again (3), pouring like the mouths of waterskins; and He ordered the earth, so it gushed forth from all its valleys and every quarter, as He says: “He called upon his Lord, ‘I am overpowered, so help me.’ So We opened the gates of the sky with torrential water and caused the earth to burst forth with springs; the waters met according to a decree already set, and We carried him upon planks and nails” (al-Qamar 54:10–13).

The dusr are the dowels (4).

“It sailed under Our eyes,” meaning: under Our protection, care (5), guardianship, and direct watch—“a recompense for one who had been rejected” (al-Qamar 54:14).

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(1) Canaan.
(2) Rain unprecedented before the Flood.
(3) And unmatched thereafter.
(4) Dowels or nails binding the planks.
(5) i.e., under Allah’s constant supervision.