Historical Proof of the Divine Plan

Noah’s Ark remained preserved under the sheets of glaciers for several thousand years. According to the law of nature, the Ark underwent a metamorphosis and turned into a fossil. Afterwards, by the end of nineteenth century, when the phenomenon of global warming started, glaciers on the mounts started melting. Finally, when these large glaciers melted and their waters flowed down to the seas, the Ark buried under them was revealed.

It seems that daabba in the Hadith refers to this Ark of Noah. The words of one tradition are very meaningful: “When daabba is revealed, its head will appear first.” (Al-Tafsir Al-Mazhari, 133/7)

This is the exact description in symbolic language of the way the Ark came to light. Due to global warming, when the ice started melting, naturally the upper portion of the Ark was exposed first, and then gradually the entire Ark was revealed.

On deeper analysis, the whole matter appears to be a divine plan: the choosing of a great flood to destroy the people, setting the Ark on a specific course towards Mount Judi, the Ark’s becoming overlaid by glaciers, its preservation through the process of fossilization, its exposure in the wake of global warming, the invention of the printing press, modern communications, global tourism and other such factors, all of which made it possible for the Ark to be taken as a point of reference as regards the history of the Prophets and at the same time afforded modern opportunities to communicate the message of the Prophets all over the world.

A divine plan made it possible for the Ark to be taken as a
point of reference as regards the history of the Prophets and
to communicate it to the world.

It is this fact about Noah’s Ark which has been suggested in the Quran in these words: “In the name of God it shall set sail and cast anchor.” (The Quran, 41:11)