have dialects peculiar to each group that others do not understand. How, then, could all these languages conceivably have been transmitted from those aboard the Ark? Not all of them left descendants; rather, the surviving descendants were Noah’s alone. All people descend from his three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. As Allah Most High said:

“And We made his descendants the sole survivors.”

Thus He left none surviving except his descendants. It is likewise reported from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “His sons were three.” This was related by Ahmad and others.

It is well known that these three could not possibly have spoken all these languages, nor could all these languages have been transmitted from them. Those who know one language do not know another. If there were only three original transmitters, they would have taught their children, and their children would have taught theirs. Had that been so, transmission would have remained continuous. Yet we find that, among the descendants of a single father, each tribe speaks a language unknown to the others, although their forefather is one and the same.

It cannot be argued that he taught one son one language and his other son another, for a father may have only two sons, while the languages spoken by his descendants are many times that number. The customary pattern Allah has established among human beings is that they teach their children only the language in which they themselves, or others, address them. As for languages whose speakers Allah has not yet created, they do not teach these to their children. Moreover, human beings are found uttering words they have never heard from anyone else.

Scholars of Quranic commentary and others hold two views concerning the names Allah taught Adam, both well known from the early generations.

(The first): He taught him only the names of rational beings. They cited as evidence His words:

“Then He presented them to the angels.”

They said: This pronoun is used only for rational beings, whereas for non-rational beings the wording used is