Noah and the ark: the cards as text
Stories. Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review.
- Card 1
He stayed among his people 950 years. His own son would not board.
- Card 2
Calling, night and day
Night and day, in public and in private, Noah called his people to worship God alone. They put their fingers in their ears. The Qur'an says he lived among them nine hundred and fifty years.
- Card 3
Qur'an 29:14
وَلَقَدۡ أَرۡسَلۡنَا نُوحًا إِلَىٰ قَوۡمِهِۦ فَلَبِثَ فِيهِمۡ أَلۡفَ سَنَةٍ إِلَّا خَمۡسِينَ عَامࣱا فَأَخَذَهُمُ ٱلطُّوفَانُ وَهُمۡ ظَٰلِمُونَ ١٤
14 We sent Noah to his people, and he lived among them for a thousand years, less fifty. Then the Flood overtook them, while they persisted in wrongdoing.
- Card 4
Lesson: Noah's patience is measured in centuries.
- Card 5
A ship on dry land
God told Noah to build a ship. As he worked on dry land, the chiefs of his people passed by and laughed. He answered: you mock us now; we will mock you as you mock.
- Card 6
Qur'an 11:38
وَيَصۡنَعُ ٱلۡفُلۡكَ وَكُلَّمَا مَرَّ عَلَيۡهِ مَلَأࣰ مِّن قَوۡمِهِۦ سَخِرُواْ مِنۡهُۚ قَالَ إِن تَسۡخَرُواْ مِنَّا فَإِنَّا نَسۡخَرُ مِنكُمۡ كَمَا تَسۡخَرُونَ ٣٨
38 So he started constructing the Ark, and every time some chiefs of his people passed by him, they ridiculed him. He said, “If you ridicule us now, we will soon ridicule you as you are ridiculing us.
- Card 7
Lesson: Noah's faith looked foolish to the chiefs, until the rain.
- Card 8
"My son is of my family"
The waves rise like mountains. Noah sees his son standing apart and calls him to board. The son refuses: I will climb a mountain. A wave comes between them. Noah pleads; God tells him his son is not of his family in faith.
- Card 9
Qur'an 11:42-43
وَهِيَ تَجۡرِي بِهِمۡ فِي مَوۡجࣲ كَٱلۡجِبَالِ وَنَادَىٰ نُوحٌ ٱبۡنَهُۥ وَكَانَ فِي مَعۡزِلࣲ يَٰبُنَيَّ ٱرۡكَب مَّعَنَا وَلَا تَكُن مَّعَ ٱلۡكَٰفِرِينَ ٤٢
42 As it sailed with them through waves like mountains, Noah called out to his son, who had kept himself apart, “O my son, come aboard with us, and do not be with the disbelievers.”
- Card 10
Lesson: Even a prophet, Noah, could not choose for his son.
- Card 11
Noah in Genesis and the Qur'an
Genesis and the Qur'an both tell of a righteous man, an ark and a flood. The Qur'an focuses on his preaching and his people's rejection, adds the son who refused, and does not dwell on the size of the ark or the flood.
- Card 12
Lesson: The Qur'an tells Noah's story for its lesson, not its logistics.
- Card 13
Reflect: Which detail is in the Qur'an's account but not in Genesis?
Answer: Noah's son who refused to board. Noah's son, who refused to board and was lost in the waves.
- Card 14
The end of Noah and the ark.