“We did indeed send Noah to his people and he lived among them a thousand years save fifty. Eventually the Flood overtook them while they were engaged in wrongdoing. Then We rescued Noah together with the people in the Ark and made it (i.e. the Ark) a lesson for all people.”
(Al Qur’ān – 29:14-15)
The Flood overtook Noah’s people while they were engrossed in wrongdoing. This horrendous calamity or the great event of Noah’s Ark was made a Sign for coming generations to derive a lesson from. However, the wordings of the ayah 29:15 and ayahs 13-15 of Surah al-Qamar suggest that Noah’s Ark itself, which remained anchored on the mountain top for centuries, was the Sign demonstrating to people that it was stationed there as a result of the Flood. This Ark is also mentioned elsewhere in the Qur’ān in the following words:
“And We bore Noah on the Ark built of planks and nails, which sailed on under Our supervision: a reward for him who had been shown ingratitude. And We left the Ark as a Sign. Is there, then, any who will take heed?” (54:13-15)
Explaining these ayahs, Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarīreports on the authority of Qatādah, that when the Muslims reached al-Jazīrah in the time of the Companions, they saw the Ark perched on Mount Jūdī; and according to another tradition, near a town called Bāqirwā. In our own times too, reports occasionally appear about expeditions dispatched to trace the Ark. This because, while flying over Mount Arārāt, an object resembling the Ark was sighted.