Noah (
Nuh) is one of the five principal
prophets of Islam. References are scattered through the
Qur'an, with the fullest account in
surah Hud (11:27–51). As a prophet, Noah preached to his people, but with little success; only "a few"[sup][
11:40][/sup]of them converted (traditionally thought to be seventy). Noah prayedfor deliverance, and God told him to build a ship in preparation forthe flood. A
son(named either 'Kan'an' or 'Yam' depending on the source) was amongthose drowned, despite Noah pleading with him to leave the disbelieversand join him (Surah Hud, 42-43).
In the Qur'an itself, there is no explicit indication that the floodwas worldwide, only that it destroyed all the unbelievers among Noah'speople.[sup]
[16][/sup] Some Muslim authorities have nevertheless adopted the Judeo-Christian view that the flood was global.[sup][
who?][/sup]
[sup][/sup]
As far as why it's more credible, the main gripes I hear are that:
a- a worldwide flood is impossible
b- 2 of every species on a boat is impossible
Neither of these are mentioned in the Islamic version.
There is this concept you might be familiar with called pan-Babylonialism. Because archaeologists anthropologists found ancient sources in modern Iraq describing a huge flood, many use that as an argument that the Abrahamic religions are simply continuations of ancient religions. However, many also argue that a large flood would obviously garner much attention, enough to warrant multiple sources of the same event. So depending on how one interprets that, it may or may not make the story more credible.
Then, as I mentioned earler, the fact that the location of the ark was given in the Qur'an 1400 years ago:
11:44
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
{When the word went forth: "O earth! swallow up thy water and O sky! withhold (thy rain)!" and the water abated and the matter was ended. The Ark rested on Mount Judi and the word went forth: "Away with those who do wrong!"}[/font]
And that the ark was found in that location, confirms the plausibility of the story actually occurring.
How to make a prophet?
-Charismatic man smokes some hallucinagens or possibly suffers from a mental illness that gives him illusions of granduer.
-Man claims he's spoken to God and ventures out to find followers.
-Desperate/ possibly crazy group of people listen to man and consider him a prophet.
It still happens in this day and age, but we know better....see Jim Jones.
Isit at all possible that Noah was a little crazy, and built that ark to"fit two of every animal" and there was no flood. Crazy people do %%#like that all the time.
Undoubtedly it is a possibility, and even then, there are historic sources arguing that.
For example, Pagans who found fault with Muhammad (pbuh) called him one of two things (usually):
-mad
-a poet
But there are also reasons for believing otherwise. Reasons that, in my opinion, far exceed the other side of the argument.
I can post the most usual ones here:
-The coming of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was foretold by Jesus (pbuh) and is available in the Bible
-Anyone who knows Arabic will argue that the level of Qur'anic Arabic is unrivaled by anything ever written
-The number of scientific evidences that are in the Qur'an
-The nature of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The way he conducted himself.
[sup]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah's_Ark#cite_note-16[/sup]
