وَلَقَد تَرَكناها آيَةً فَهَل مِن مُدَّكِرٍ

Certainly We have left it as a sign; so is there anyone who will be admonished?

EXEGESIS

The lām in laqad (certainly) is to indicate an oath (lām al-qasam) and thus the verse would read: I swear that We have left it as a sign …[1]

The phrase We have left it as a sign refers to the ark of Prophet Noah (a) that was described in verse 13. It could also be referring to the whole event of the flood which was made to remain in the minds of people and has never been forgotten in the annals of history.[2] Some have suggested that perhaps both meanings are intended – the story and the actual ship are signs of God.[3]

According to Rāzī, the verb taraknāhā (we have left it) gives the same meaning as jaʿalnāhā (we made it) as the latter has also been used for the ark of Prophet Noah (a) (see 29:15).[4]

Muddakir (anyone who will be admonished), originally mudhtakir, is an active participle on the standard of muftaʿil (eighth verb form), in which tāʾ has changed to dāl, and dhāl has followed suit. The root word is dhikr, which means to remind, remember, or mention something. Rāghib defines dhikr as the presence of something in the heart or tongue of a person, be it after a state of forgetfulness or as a continued remembrance.^[5] The eighth verb form, from which muddakir is made, implies active remembrance or mindfulness, meaning those who want to be reminded.

The object of admonishment is to learn lessons from the destiny of the deniers. The question, is there anyone who will be admonished? is meant to serve as a rhetorical tool that encourages people to ponder and reflect on this event.[6]

The preposition min in hal min muddakir is superfluous (zāʾidah), in that it has no independent meaning and serves only to emphasise the sentence.[7]

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Based on the view that the sign being referred to in this verse is the actual ship of Prophet Noah (a) and not the event, many exegetes have accepted that the apparent meaning of the verse is that the actual ship of Prophet Noah (a) was made to survive after the storm and did not decay or rot by natural processes. Just as Allah has promised to maintain the body of Pharoah as a sign (10:92), similarly the ship of Prophet Noah (a) was made to remain as a sign. This begs the question: where is the ship today? The Quran only mentions that the final destination where the ship stopped at was at Mount Judi (11:44). It has been said that this mountain is located near the town of Jazīrat ibn ʿUmar (modern Cizre in south-east Turkey) which is near the border of Syria and Iraq.[8] However, no remains of the ship can be found at the said location.

According to some exegetes, in 1951 a group of Russian archaeologists claimed to have found some ancient pieces of wood on Mount Ararat in Turkey. It had a width of ten centimetres and a length of fourteen centimetres. After several investigations, they concluded that this wood was from the ark of Noah (a). It contained some inscriptions in one of the oldest languages known to man which was then translated by experts into English.[9] The correctness of this attribution and finding cannot be certified although it has been mentioned by some exegetes.

However, assuming such a report cannot be verified and we are not able to observe any of the remains of the ship, those who believe that the sign in the verse refers to the ship argue that the ship of Prophet Noah (a) was a sign at least when the verse was revealed. Therefore, what is necessary is that the remains of the ship must have been observable at the time of the Holy Prophet when these verses were being recited to the polytheists.[10] Thus, it is not necessary for the ship to remain until today for the verse to remain true. In line with this understanding, it has been attributed to Qatādah that the ark of Prophet Noah (a) remained until the time of the Holy Prophet, and the polytheists, who were the direct addressees of these verses, were able to attest to this historical miracle.[11] However, what Qatādah has said cannot be verified and the apparent meaning of the verse is that the pronoun it refers to the whole event and not to the ship.

A different view has been suggested by Ibn Kathīr. According to him, the pronoun it in We have left it as a sign refers to the genus of ships. Based on this meaning, every ship is a reminder of the ship of Prophet Noah (a). He bases this argument on 36:41-42, which he interprets as referring to the ship of Prophet Noah (a): A sign for them is that We carried their progeny in the laden ship, and We have created for them what is similar to it, which they ride.[12]

[1] Mizan, 19/69.
[2] Daqaiq, 12/539; Safi, 5/101; Tabrisi, 9/286; Amthal, 17/312.
[3] Amthal, 17/312.
[4] Razi, 29/298.
[5] Raghib, dh-k-r.
[6] Ibn Ashur, 27/179.
[7] Ibn Ashur, 27/180.
[8] Munyah, 27/195.
[9] Munyah, 27/195; Furqan, 27/487, 29/90.
[10] Mizan, 19/69.
[11] Suyuti, 6/260; Qurtubi, 27/56.
[12] Ibn Kathir, 7/442.