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
ḥattā idhā jāʾa amrunā wa fāra'l-tannūru qulnā'ḥmil fīhā min kullin zawjayni'thnayni wa ahlaka illā man sabaqa ʿalayhi'l-qawlu wa man āman, wa mā āmana maʿahū illā qalīl
"Until, when Our command came and the oven boiled over, We said: 'Load into it two of every kind, and your household — except those against whom the word has already gone forth — and those who have believed.' And only a few had believed with him."
This construction is the most repeated structural element in the sūra. It was tabulated in the section on the backbone:
| Narrative | Verse | Expression |
|---|---|---|
| Noah | 40 | ḥattā idhā jāʾa amrunā |
| Hūd | 58 | wa lammā jāʾa amrunā |
| Ṣāliḥ | 66 | fa-lammā jāʾa amrunā |
| Lot | 82 | fa-lammā jāʾa amrunā |
| Shuʿayb | 94 | wa lammā jāʾa amrunā |
I record this as an observation about the word order: in the Noah narrative a process had been told (the building of the ark, the repeated mockery); ḥattā marks the point at which that process ends. In the other four narratives no such process is told.
And the word amrunā (Our command) must be recorded: the destruction is named not by the name of a natural event but by a command. This is the same in all five narratives.
The root ف-و-ر: to boil, to gush, to overflow. The root was treated in al-Muʾminūn and at al-Mulk 67/7 (tafūr) — there it was used of the boiling of the Fire.
تَنُّور — the lexicographers record that the word may have come into Arabic from another language; the English tandoor is the same word. Its common sense: the oven in which bread is baked.
Over what the expression describes there is disagreement in the classical sources, and I give it in a table:
| Reading | What the tannūr is | What fāra is |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A bread oven — the familiar hearth | Water boiled up out of it; this was the sign that the flood had begun |
| 2 | The face of the earth — some of the lexicographers give the word this sense as well | Water gushed out of the ground |
| 3 | A particular place — a geographical point | Water boiled up there |
| 4 | An idiom — a figure meaning "things came to the boil, the oven grew hot" | The rising of anger and the intensifying of the event |
A note, per the rule: in the classical commentaries there are detailed reports about where this oven was, whose it was, from whom it had come down. These are not in the Qurʾān and they are not passed on in this commentary (Method — the prohibition on Isrāʾīliyyāt and on reports without a ground).
And what can be recorded is the function of the expression, and this can be read from the text: fāra'l-tannūr stands in the same sentence as the coming of the command, and serves as a sign. The verse does not describe how the flood came about; it says how it was known that it had begun.
| Reading | Sense |
|---|---|
| min kullin (with tanwīn) | "Two of every [kind]" — the second term of the construct is elided |
| min kulli (in construct) | "Two of every pair" |
Both readings are transmitted in the sources for the variant readings; I do not impose a preference.
The root ز-و-ج: a pair, a mate. The root was treated at al-Shuʿarāʾ 26/7 (min kulli zawjin karīm).
And the construction itself is worth recording: zawjayni'thnayni — "two pairs" or "two of each as a pair". Both words report duality; the repetition reinforces the exactness of the number.
Per the rule: which creatures were taken, and how many, is not enumerated in the Qurʾān. I do not go into the detail.
This exception is one of the most important sentences in the narrative, and it is usually passed over.
The command is this: "load your household — except the one against whom the word has already gone forth."
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the order of the verses: in the forty-fifth verse Noah will say "my son is of my household"; whereas in the fortieth it had been said "of your household, except the one against whom the word has gone forth". There is a gap in knowledge between the two verses, and the forty-sixth will close that gap.
This is a link that can be verified from the text. What it means will be treated in detail at 11/45-47.
Per the rule: in the classical sources figures are transmitted for the number of those on the ark, and they do not agree with one another. Since the Qurʾān gives no number, none is given here either.
And the choice of the word is worth recording, and it is read together with Nūḥ: in Sūrat Nūḥ it is told that the call went on for a long time and that the method was changed again and again. The illā qalīl here is the outcome of that process.