Noah

From Bahai9

Table of contents

1 Noah was a Manifestation of God 2 Noah's rejection by the people 3 Other references 4 Events in Noah's Life 5 Accounting of Noah's years unknown 6 Ark and the Flood symbolical 7 Possible interpretation of the meaning of the destruction of the Flood?

Noah was a Manifestation of God

"...consider that among the Prophets was Noah.  When He was invested with the robe of Prophethood, and was moved by the Spirit of God to arise and proclaim His Cause, whoever believed in Him and acknowledged His Faith, was endowed with the grace of a new life."

(Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán, par. 162)

Noah's rejection by the people

• Kitáb-i-Íqán, par. 7-9
• etc.

Other references

(add the following under separate specific summary headings as possible)

• Qur'án (exhaustively searched for "Noah")
  • Suráh 7:59 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/7.html#Paragraph%2059)-64 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/7.html#Paragraph%2064); 54:9 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/51.html#Paragraph%209)-17 (includes reference to His being driven out); 71 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/71.html) (recounts the opposition of the people, despite His entreaties, and their subsequent annihilation in a Flood)
  • Suráh 11:25-49 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/11.html#Paragraph%2025)
  • Suráh 7:69 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/7.html#Paragraph%2069), 11:89 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/11.html#Paragraph%2089), 14:9 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/14.html#Paragraph%209)(-15), 17:17 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/17.html#Paragraph%2017), 40:5 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/40.html#Paragraph%205), 31 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/40.html#Paragraph%2031), 53:52 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/53.html#Paragraph%2052), 51:45 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/51.html#Paragraph%2045)-46 (brief references to people of Noah's fate)
  • Suráh 6:84 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/6.html#Paragraph%2084), 17:3 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/17.html#Paragraph%203), 19:58 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/19.html#Paragraph%2058)-60 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/19.html#Paragraph%2060), 37:75 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/37.html#Paragraph%2075)-82 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/37.html#Paragraph%2082) (references to descendants of Noah (and Noah))
  • Suráh 2323 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/23.html#Paragraph%2023)-31 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/23.html#Paragraph%2031) (includes reference to the people's insistence on a miracle of angels, the Ark)
  • Suráh 53:52 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/53.html#Paragraph%2052) (before Húd and Sálih--see v. 50-51)
  • Suráh 3:33 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/53.html#Paragraph%2033); 4:163 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/4.html#Paragraph%20163) (a Chosen One)
  • Suráh 21:76 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/21.html#Paragraph%2076)-77 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/21.html#Paragraph%2077) (prayer of Noah and His family heard and they are delivered (others drowned in Flood))
  • Suráh 29:14 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/29.html#Paragraph%2014)-15 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/29.html#Paragraph%2015) (reference to 950 years and deliverance through Flood)
  • Suráh 66:10 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/66.html#Paragraph%2010) (example of the wife of Noah as an unbeliever)
  • Suráh 69:11 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/69.html#Paragraph%2011)-12 (deliverance on the Ark to be a perpetual lesson for mankind)
  • Suráh 42:13 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/42.html#Paragraph%2013) (brief mention as Islám being the same religion as Noah's)
  • Suráh 22:42 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/22.html#Paragraph%2042); 50:12 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/50.html#Paragraph%2012) (brief mention of the denial of the people of Noah)
  • Suráh 57:26 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/57.html#Paragraph%2026) (brief mention of how a few were obedient)
  • Suráh 10:71 (http://bahai-library.com/writings/quran/10.html#Paragraph%2071) (offer made and rejected by the people)

• Bible
  • http://www.blueletterbible.org/ (see the topical collection)

Events in Noah's Life

• Noah and Canaan

Accounting of Noah's years unknown

"The years of Noah are not years as we count them, and as our teachings do not state that this reference to years means His dispensation, we cannot interpret it this way."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, November 25, 1950; quoted in Lights of Guidance, no. 1659)

Ark and the Flood symbolical

"The statement in 'Seven Days of Creation' certainly cannot be considered authoritative or correct. The Ark and the Flood we believe are symbolical."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, October 28, 1949: Baha'i News, No. 228, February 1950, p. 4; quoted in Lights of Guidance, no. 1716)

Possible interpretation of the meaning of the destruction of the Flood?

"The crossing of the Red Sea has a spiritual meaning. It was a spiritual journey, through and above the sea of corruption and iniquity of the Pharaoh and his people, or army. By the help of God through Moses, the Israelites were able to cross this sea safely and reach the Promised Land (spiritual state) while Pharaoh and his people were drowned in their own corruption."

('Abdu'l-Bahá: Daily Lessons Received at Akka, p. 45, 1979 ed.; quoted in Lights of Guidance, no. 1678)