It was said: فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَأَنجَيْنَاهُ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ فِي الْفُلْكِ وَأَغْرَقْنَا الَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا ۚ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا قَوْمًا عَمِينَ ﴿64﴾ (Then, they belied him [ ignoring his good counsel totally ], so [ as a consequence ], we saved him, and those with him in the Ark, and drowned those who had belied Our signs. Certainly, they were a blind people).
The story of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) and the full account of the drowning of his people and the deliverance of the people in the Ark appears in Surah Hud and Surah Nuh. Given at this place is its gist as appropriate to the occasion. Sayyidna Zayd ibn Aslam رحمۃ اللہ علیہ says: When the punishment of Flood overtook the people of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) they were at the prime of their population and power. The lands and mountains of Iraq were becoming insufficient for their rising numbers. It should be kept in mind that it is a customary practice of Allah Ta` ala since ever that He would keep granting respite to the dis-obedient. He would send His punishment over them at a time when they have reached the highest peak of their numbers, power and wealth, and become, so to say, drunk with this state of their life. (Ibn Kathir)
As for the number of people in the Ark of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) ، reports differ. Ibn Kathir, through a narration of Ibn Abi Hatim, reports from Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas ؓ that there were eighty people. One of them was called Jurhum. He spoke Arabic. (Ibn Kathir)
Some narrations have given the detail that there were forty men and forty women in the Ark. After the Flood, the place in Mosul, Iraq where they came to stay became known as Thamanun (eighty).
To sum up, the introduction of a brief account of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) at this place aims to tell us three things: (1) That the da'wah of all past prophets and their basic articles of faith were one. (2) That Allah Ta` ala supports his appointed messengers in strikingly wondrous ways when they would not have the least danger to their security even after having been surrounded by a Flood rising as high as the peaks of mountains. (3) Then, it was made absolutely clear that belying the noble prophets of Allah, may peace be upon them, amounted to inviting Divine punishment. The warning is still valid. So, let it not be forgotten that the way past communities were overtaken by punishment because of their belying of the prophets, a similar fate could overtake their modern counterparts - on this count, they could do better by not becoming heedless and fear-free.