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Surah Hud — 11:40

حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا جَآءَ أَمْرُنَا وَفَارَ ٱلتَّنُّورُ قُلْنَا ٱحْمِلْ فِيهَا مِن كُلٍّ زَوْجَيْنِ ٱثْنَيْنِ وَأَهْلَكَ إِلَّا مَن سَبَقَ عَلَيْهِ ٱلْقَوْلُ وَمَنْ ءَامَنَ ۚ وَمَآ ءَامَنَ مَعَهُۥٓ إِلَّا قَلِيلٌ

Hattaaa izaa jaaa'a amrunaa wa faarat tannooru qulnah mil feehaa min kullin zawjainis naini wa ahlaka illaa man sabaqa 'alaihil qawlu wa man aaman; wa maaa aamana ma'ahooo illaa qaleel

When Our command came, and water gushed up out of the earth, We said, ‘Place on board this Ark a pair of each species, and your own family- except those against whom the sentence has already been passed- and those who have believed,’ though only a few believed with him.

And when our command came and the oven gushed forth, we said, "Load onto it a pair from every kind, and your family — except those against whom the word has already gone forth — and whoever has believed." But only a few had believed with him.

Reflection

Tannūr is an ordinary bread oven, the clay pit in a household floor, and its gushing is what tells Nuh the time has come. Commentators have never settled it: some keep the household oven, some read the word as the face of the earth, some name a particular place. His own household carries an exception in the loading order, and the son it points at appears two verses later.

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