بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Al-Kitab states in ayat 29:14 that prophet Nooh (a.s) remained with his people for 1000 years except 50. Human beings normally don’t live that long. Let’s review further to understand implications of the statement.

In ayat 16:120 prophet Ibraheem (a.s) is mentioned as an أُمَّةً/’Ummat’. In ayat 37:83, Ibraheem (a.s) is said to be of the same group as of prophet Nooh (a.s). If the group is implied for an ‘Ummat’, then this would mean that prophet Nooh (a.s) also signifies an Ummat in addition to be an individual person. In ayat 11:8 the word “Ummat” is used to mean time period/era. This could imply that Ibraheem (a.s) and Nooh (a.s), apart from being individual human beings, also represent eras of time in which their influence and teachings prevailed in their communities. Ayat 25:37 informs about messengers in plural, sent to the people of Nooh. So there were messengers sent to the people of Nooh in an era which is termed as Nooh’s Era.

29:14 وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِ فَلَبِثَ فِيهِمْ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ إِلَّا خَمْسِينَ عَامًا فَأَخَذَهُمُ الطُّوفَانُ وَهُمْ ظَالِمُونَ

“We sent Nooh to his people, and he remained among them a thousand years except fifty, thus the Deluge overtook them while they were unjust.”

Al-Kitab uses different words for 1000 Years (Sana) and 50 years (Aam) in this ayat. While normally people use both these words to mean “years,” there is definitely some technical difference in these two words, not very clearly understood at this time.

16:120 إِنَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ كَانَ أُمَّةً قَانِتًا لِّلَّهِ حَنِيفًا وَلَمْ يَكُ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ

“Ibraheem was indeed an ‘Ummat’, devoutly obedient to Allah, (and) true in Faith, and he was not of the mushrikeen/associaters.”

Prophet Ibraheem (a.s) is declared an ‘Ummat’.

Prophet Ibraheem (a.s) and prophet Nooh (a.s) are in the same group.

37:79-83 سَلَامٌ عَلَىٰ نُوحٍ فِي الْعَالَمِينَ إِنَّا كَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُحْسِنِينَ إِنَّهُ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ثُمَّ أَغْرَقْنَا الْآخَرِينَ وَإِنَّ مِن شِيعَتِهِ لَإِبْرَاهِيمَ

“Peace and salutation to Nooh in all Worlds! Thus indeed do we reward those who do right. For he is one of our believing servants. After that we drowned the others. Verily in his (Nooh’s) group is Ibraheem.”

Ummat in below ayat means time period/term.

11:8 وَلَئِنْ أَخَّرْنَا عَنْهُمُ الْعَذَابَ إِلَىٰ أُمَّةٍ مَّعْدُودَةٍ لَّيَقُولُنَّ مَا يَحْبِسُهُ ۗ أَلَا يَوْمَ يَأْتِيهِمْ لَيْسَ مَصْرُوفًا عَنْهُمْ وَحَاقَ بِهِم مَّا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ

“If We delay the penalty for them for a definite time period (term), they are sure to say, ‘What keeps it back?’ Ah! On the day it (actually) reaches them, nothing will turn it away from them, and they will be completely encircled by that which they used to mock at!”

Many messengers came to nation of Nooh.

25:37 وَقَوْمَ نُوحٍ لَّمَّا كَذَّبُوا الرُّسُلَ أَغْرَقْنَاهُمْ وَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ لِلنَّاسِ آيَةً ۖ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا

“And the people of Nooh, when they rejected the messengers, We drowned them, and We made them as a Sign for mankind; and We have prepared for (all) wrong-doers a grievous Penalty.”

As we know, the life span of a human is not a thousand years. It is not Allah’s practice to grant such long life spans to human beings and Allah does not change his Sunnat/practice (17:77). So a possible explanation could be that Nooh (a.s), in addition to being an individual person, also represents an era of time approximately equal to a millennium. To support this idea we see mention of nations associated with prophet Nooh (a.s) in below ayat, although actually only a few people were with him as stated in ayat 11:40.

11:48 قِيلَ يَا نُوحُ اهْبِطْ بِسَلَامٍ مِّنَّا وَبَرَكَاتٍ عَلَيْكَ وَعَلَىٰ أُمَمٍ مِّمَّن مَّعَكَ ۚ وَأُمَمٌ سَنُمَتِّعُهُمْ ثُمَّ يَمَسُّهُم مِّنَّا عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

“It was said ‘O Nooh! Come down (from the Ark) with peace from Us, and blessing on you and on some of the nations from those with you and (other) nations to whom We shall grant blessings, then a grievous penalty shall reach them from Us.’”

The above ayat mentions nations with prophet Nooh’s which should be indicating the nations in his era, while the actual believing people with him were very few as per below ayat.

11:40 حَتَّىٰ إِذَا جَاءَ أَمْرُنَا وَفَارَ التَّنُّورُ قُلْنَا احْمِلْ فِيهَا مِن كُلٍّ زَوْجَيْنِ اثْنَيْنِ وَأَهْلَكَ إِلَّا مَن سَبَقَ عَلَيْهِ الْقَوْلُ وَمَنْ آمَنَ ۚ وَمَا آمَنَ مَعَهُ إِلَّا قَلِيلٌ

Until when arrived Our command, and the fountains of the earth gushed forth! We said. “Embark therein, of all two pairs, and your people/family – except those against whom the word has already gone forth,- and the believers.” but only a few believed with him.

Notes:

The presence of an individual living for a millennium within a community with a normal human lifespan would undoubtedly create significant social disruption and fear. Such a scenario would only be sustainable if the entire community at that time possessed a similarly extended lifespan. If longer longevity in earlier human history was the case, we would expect to find genetic remnants of such longevity in modern human populations as well, which is not the case. The fossils and DNA of early humans understandably point towards shorter life spans than humans today.

Consider, for instance, the implications for Prophet Nooh, purported to have lived for 1,000 years. Approximately 40 generations would pass within this period. Even with a modest birth rate of 1.5, his direct descendants—children and grandchildren—would number in the hundreds of thousands. Which was not the case described by Quran. Only a few people were in his Ark from the community.

Furthermore, if the wider community did not share Prophet Noah’s extended life cycle, his wife, children, grandchildren, and friends would all have perished long before him. This would leave him as a solitary figure, potentially viewed with extreme apprehension by a community witnessing a supernatural individual live for centuries among them.

These profound social and demographic challenges, arising from such a disparity in lifespans, are notably absent from the Quranic narrative.