REVEALING MAPS

In the last issue, you read about Mesopotamia (region between the two rivers). Many eminent prophets were sent to this region. However, the Quran mentions only three of them. One of them is Prophet Nooh ('alaihis salaam) whose story is described at 43 places in the Quran. The Quran makes a beautiful depiction of struggle between the good and evil, the manner of expression of the upholders of truth, the physiology of the gentry and upper-class people, their rejection of the true faith, their arguments and maltreatment with the righteous ones. The dialogues between the believers and unbelievers are full of useful points and guidelines for the preachers of Islam. A study of these dialogues not only enlightens one's heart with emaan but also gives a lesson of sagacity and insight.

The aim of these articles is to highlight the lessons and guidance lying in the Quranic stories. If we explore the historical details and geographical facts concerning these stories without learning the lessons, then it will be against the objectives of Quranic studies and tantamount to exploring the depth of ocean to pick up pebbles instead of pearls.

As mentioned above, Prophet Nooh ('alaihis salaam) carried out his mission of preaching in the region of Mesopotamia, which is located between the twin rivers of Tigris and Euphrates. These two rivers flow from the mountains of Turkey and run separately for several miles to fall jointly in the Arabian Gulf in lower Iraq. These mountains are known as "Ararat". The Torah calls it the Mount of Ararat and the Quran mentions the mount of Jodi, a particular height of this mountain range, where the boat of Prophet Nooh ('alaihis salaam) had stopped in the end. This place is located in the modern-day Turk-Syrian border near the Island of Ibn-i-Omar and can be

seen clearly from Syrian border city Ain Dewar.

The Holy Quran typically mentions the story of Prophet Nooh ("alaihis salaam) more than 40 places but focuses on only those details which were necessary for advice and admonition so that the minds of Quran's readers may not get entangled in secondary details. Advice and admonition is always a burden on the inner-self of man and he takes interest in other details instead of understanding the essence of these stories. The essence of these stories is to tell the people of wisdom

that thousands of years ago a nation refused to accept the orders of Allah, denied the prophets and mocked at the believers, then punishment came from the earth and sky and their destruction is spread on the pages of history and ups and downs of earth as a source of satisfaction for the righteous ones and a warning for the followers of evil. Even today, if anyone does not obey Allah or makes joke of His

obedient people, then he must remember the grip of the Omnopotent Who is the most Eminent and Whose decisions take no time to take effect.

The story of Prophet Nooh's struggle with his nation is very interesting and deterring. The people of his nation had ill-faith. Instead of asking a favour from Allah, they had started adoring the self-made deities. They would make oblations and were all the time busy with different rituals to please their gods in anticipation to receive the attention and favour of their

artificial gods.

In fact, polytheism is based on selfishness. In order to get his heart desires fulfilled and stay protected from the imaginary dangers, the polytheist tries to please his deities who, in his opinion, hold divine powers and can covertly get his desire fulfilled by the Lord of the Universe. If his desire remains unfulfilled, he soon looks for another threshold to bow down.

On the other hand, a true believer remains adherent to Allah whether his prayer is granted or not, whether he lives in good conditions or bad. It is enough for him that he has the

blessing of monotheism. He remembe/s Allah and his contentment remains unaffected even if the whole world gets angry with him.

The preaching by Prophet Nooh ('alaihis salaam) pained the polytheist nation especially the rich and lords who had political and social status. They were proud of their wealth and status and did not want to follow a person who had the

company of poor and ordinary people. It was foolish to think so because spiritualism is not like materialism and success in the Hereafter is not like the success in the world that may be enjoyed by

the rich alone. If it were so, what would be the reward for righteousness, sacrifices and good deeds? The creation of the universe is meant to test as to who is righteous and who is drowned in the filthy sea of sensuality.

The gentry and wealthy class of Prophet Nooh's nation constantly denied his preaching and continued to hate, hurt, humiliate and ridicule the believers and openly ordered their fellowmen to stick to false

gods. Prophet Nooh ('alaihis salaam) was told by Allah that none of them would become believer. Then he prayed Allah to destroy them.

The unfortunate people, instead of requesting the Prophet to pray for them, blundered to incur punishment upon them. The sky sent down torrential rain, the earth plunged into water and the roaring waves turned the dry land into sea, destroying everything.

"انك ان تزرهم يضلو اعبادك"

Bad company proved disastrous for the son of Prophet Nooh ('alaihis salaam). He got deprived of emaan and was killed while seeking refuge in material things. When the deluge enveloped the earth under the layer of water, the arrogant ones who used to feel insulted in sitting beside the poor, began to implore the people on the boat to take them along. But water filled mouths and their voices became silent forever.

Bones of strange creatures have been discovered in the far-flung mountains of Iraq, Syria and Turkey. After examining them, the experts have reached the conclusion that the deluge had occurred on the whole world planet with the result that the dry land at that time changed into sea and vice versa. The Quranic verse

"ففتحنا ابواب السماء "

&

"وفجرنا الارض عيو نا"

indicates that the deluge occurred in the whole world planet.