“Until, when Our command came and the oven overflowed, We said, ‘Take aboard it a pair of every kind, together with your family—except those against whom the decree has already been passed—and those who believe.’ But only a few had believed with him.” (40)

“Until, when Our command came”: that is, Our punishment. “And the oven overflowed”: the scholars differed concerning the oven (1). Ikrimah and al-Zuhri said: It means the surface of the earth; Noah was told, “When you see water overflowing upon the face of the earth, board the Ark.”

It is narrated from Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: “The oven overflowed” means that dawn broke and the morning light rose.

Al-Hasan, Mujahid, and al-Shabi said: It was the oven in which bread is baked. This is the view of most Quranic exegetes (2).

According to Atiyyah’s narration from Ibn Abbas, al-Hasan said: It was a stone oven in which Eve used to bake; it then came into Noah’s possession, peace be upon him. Noah was told, “When you see water gushing forth from the oven, you and your companions should board the Ark.”

They also differed regarding its location (3). Mujahid and al-Shabi said: It was in the region of Kufa. [Al-Shabi used to swear: “The oven overflowed only from the region of Kufa.”] (4) He also said: Noah built the Ark within the precincts of the Mosque of Kufa. The oven was on the right-hand side of one entering, near the Gate of Kindah, and the gushing forth of water from it was a sign for Noah, peace be upon him.

Muqatil said: This was Adam’s oven, and it was in Syria, at a place called Ayn Wardah.

It is narrated from Ibn Abbas that it was in India.

Overflowing means boiling up.

His saying, Exalted is He, “We said, ‘Take aboard it’”: that is, aboard the Ark. “A pair of every kind”: a pair consists of two, neither of whom can do without the other. Each one of them may be called a mate, as one says, “a pair of leather socks” or “a pair of sandals.” What is meant here by the pair is the male and the female.

Hafs recited here and in Surah al-Mu’minun, “of every kind,” in the indefinite form; that is, of every kind, two mates—a male and a female. This was stated for emphasis.

It is related in the account that Noah, peace be upon him, said, “My Lord, how can I take aboard two of every kind?” So Allah gathered the beasts and birds before him. He would place his hand upon each species, and the male would fall into his right hand and the female into his left; then he would carry them aboard the Ark.

“And your family”: that is, take aboard your family—your children and dependants—“except those against whom the decree has already been passed”: namely, the decree of destruction,