Ibn Jarīr and others relate that the Flood began on the thirteenth of the month of Āb, in the blazing heat of midsummer (1).

Allah the Exalted says: “When the water overflowed, We carried you in the coursing vessel”—that is, the ship—“so that We might make it a reminder for you, and so that a receptive ear might hold it in mind” (al-Ḥāqqah 69:11–12).

A group of Qur’anic commentators state that the water rose fifteen cubits above the highest mountain on earth, which is also the figure given by the People of the Book; others say eighty cubits. It blanketed the whole earth, length and breadth, plains and rugged ground (2), mountains, steppes, and sands, and not a single living creature remained upon it—neither young nor old.

Imām Mālik transmitted from Zayd ibn Aslam that the people of that age had filled both the lowlands and the highlands. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd ibn Aslam said, “There was no patch of land on earth but that it had an owner and an occupant.” Both reports are cited by Ibn Abī Ḥātim (3).

“And Noah called to his son, who had kept himself apart: ‘My son, embark with us and do not be with the disbelievers.’ He replied, ‘I shall seek refuge on a mountain that will shield me from the water.’ Noah said, ‘Today there is no shield from Allah’s command except for those on whom He shows mercy.’ Then a wave came between them, and he was among the drowned” (Hūd 11:42–43).

This son was Yām, the brother of Sām, Ḥām, and Yāfith; it is also said that his name was Canaan. He was an unbeliever who had “done an unrighteous deed” (4): he opposed his father in faith and creed, and therefore perished with those who perished, whereas strangers to Noah by lineage were saved with him because they agreed with him in religion and doctrine.

“And it was said, ‘O earth, swallow your water, and O sky, cease!’ The water subsided, the matter was settled, and the Ark came to rest upon al-Jūdiyy, and it was said, ‘Away with the wrongdoing people!’” (Hūd 11:44).

That is: once He had finished with the people of the earth and none remained who worshipped anyone besides Allah, He commanded the earth to swallow its water and the sky to withhold the rain. “The water subsided,” meaning it receded from what it had been; “the matter was settled,” meaning that what He had foreordained in His knowledge and decree took place; and it was proclaimed, “Away with the wrongdoing people!”—a cry issued against them, in the tongue of omnipotence (5), distancing them from mercy and forgiveness.

As He, the Exalted, says: “Yet they denied him, so We saved him and those with him in the Ark, and We drowned those who rejected Our signs; they were indeed a blind people” (al-Aʿrāf 7:64). And He says: “But they rejected him, so We delivered him and those with him in the Ark, made them successors, and drowned those who denied Our signs. See, then, how was the end of those who had been warned” (Yūnus 10:73).

He also says: “We helped him against the people who rejected Our signs; they were indeed an evil people, so We drowned them all together” (al-Anbiyāʾ 21:77), and: “So We saved him and those with him in the laden ship; then, afterward, We drowned the rest” (al-Shuʿarāʾ 26:119–120).

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(1) In the scorching heat of midsummer.
(2) The rugged or uneven parts of the land.
(3) Reported by Ibn Abī Ḥātim.
(4) Alluding to the Qur’anic statement: “He has indeed done an unrighteous deed.”
(5) I.e., by the divine voice of power and decree.