Al-Tufan
Definition
Al-tufan — the great flood — was the catastrophic event through which Allah destroyed the civilization that had rejected Nuh's message across nearly a millennium. Water poured from the sky and surged simultaneously from the earth, with no refuge available anywhere on the surface. Ibn Kathir notes that the flood covered the entire earth — a universal punishment for universal rejection. The total nature of the destruction mirrors the total nature of the rejection: a people who had left no corner of their hearts open to the divine message were met with no corner of safety on the earth. After the floodwaters receded and the ark rested, the earth was clean and the small community of believers began again.
As understood in the classical tradition of Ibn Kathir and the scholars of his school.
How the scholars use Al-Tufan.
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"Sa'd, may God be pleased with him, found no boats at all, and it was altogether impossible for him to obtain any. The Tigris had risen in a great flood, its water had turned black and it threw up foam from the abundance of water in it. Sa'd was informed that Chosroes Yazdegerd intended to carry the wealth and goods from al-Mada'in to Hulwan, and that if he did not overtake him within three days, he would escape him and the matter would be lost."
— Ibn Kathir, Umar ibn al-Khattab
Appears in
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