Hûd
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[11:40]
[And so it went on] till, when Our judgment came to pass, and waters gushed forth in torrents over the face of the earth, We said [unto Noah]: "Place on board of this [ark] one pair of each [kind of animal] of either sex, as well as thy family – except those on whom [Our] sentence has already been passed – and all [others] who have attained to faith!" – for only a few [of Noah’s people] shared his faith.

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* v.40 : Lit., “the face of the earth boiled over” (fāra ’t-tannūr). This phrase has been subject to several conflicting interpretations, some of which are based on no more than Talmudic legends (Manār XII, 75 f.). The most convincing explanation is that given – among others – by Tabarī, Baghawī, and Ibn Kathīr on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbās and ‘Ikrimah: “At-tannūr [lit., “oven”] denotes the face of the earth.” Rāzī, too, mentions that “the Arabs call the face of the earth tannūr,” while the Qāmūs gives as one of the meanings of tannūr “any place from which water gushes forth.” The verb fāra – which literally means “it boiled over” – describes the raging torrents of water which “turned the earth into springs” (Ibn Kathīr; see also 54:12). This “gushing forth of water over the face of the earth” seems to point to the inundation of the huge valley now covered by the Mediterranean Sea (see sūrah 7, note 47) – an inundation which, augmented by continuous, torrential rains (cf. 54:11), rapidly spread over the land-mass of present-day Syria and northern ‘Irāq and grew into the immense deluge described in the Bible and in the Qur’ān, and also referred to in the myths of ancient Greece (e.g., in the story of Deukalion and Pyrrhea), as well as in Sumerian and Babylonian legends.
* The term zawj signifies, primarily, each of the two parts of a pair, and is also used in the sense of “a pair.” In the present context it obviously has the former meaning; consequently, the expression min kullin zawjayn ithnayn is best rendered as above. – As regards the animals which Noah was commanded to take with him in the ark, it is reasonable to assume that this referred to the domesticated animals already in his possession, and not to all animals, as the Biblical narrative would have it.
* I.e., those who stand condemned in the sight of God because of their persistent refusal to acknowledge the truth. See also verses 42-43 and 45-47.