Will Noah's flood happen again?

The greatest flood disaster ever recorded  in human kind happened during the time of the Prophet Noah, 4000 years BC (BC) ago. Sami bin Abdullah Al-Maghluts, in  Atlas of the History of the Prophets and Apostles, revealed that archaeological research around the Middle East showed evidence of sediments and old silt deposits, which proved there was a tremendous flood.

In those days, the two great rivers Euphrates and Tigris overflowed. The prophet Noah then prepared an ark to save his people. In the book written by Ibn Katsir titled “The History of the Prophets” it is described, the Prophet Noah was instructed by God to build a great ship. There are scholars who argue the ship came from teak while other opinions say the ship came from the Sanobar tree.

The ship was said to be 600 cubits long by 300 cubits wide. It's height ranged from 30 cubits. The giant ship has three floors: a ground floor to house various kinds of animals, a middle one for human passengers and a third floor to house birds. After the sloop sailed, Allah sent down the flood.

The Quran recounts the greatest flood in all of human history that was able to drown out all human civilization. The magnitude of Noah's flood is depicted as the inundation of the earth's surface and the sinking of the mountains that lasted for a long time, with water falling from the sky as well as emanating from the earth. “Then We opened the doors of the heavens with poured water, and We made the earth gushes out springs, and met the waters, so that [the overflow] brought about the appointed state (disaster). And We carried him (Noah) on a boat made of boards and pegs. (QS al-Qamar verses 11-13).

Allah SWT commanded the Prophet Noah (peace be upon him) to raise on board the ship couples of every species, male and female, as well as their families. All humans on land were then submerged in the water, including the Prophet Noah's son who originally thought he could survive by fleeing to a nearby mountain.

“He (his son) replied, “I will seek refuge in a mountain that can save me from the flood!” (Noah) said, “No one protects from God's torment today but God the Most Merciful.” And the wave became a barrier between the two, so he (the boy) was among the drowned.” (QS Hud verse 43).

One of the things worth seeing in the flood story of the Prophet Noah is that Allah brought together water from the sky (rain) and from the earth. What is the water coming from the earth? According to ABC News, an underwater archaeologist, Robert Ballard, is trying to find answers to the mystery of the Noahs flood, which is also told in the Gospels. During this time, Ballard had a track record of successfully finding things that were considered impossible. In 1985, using a remote-controlled robot, Ballard and his team traced the remains of the Titanic's wreckage. Ballard also used more advanced robotic technology to search for the traces of the Prophet Noah

According to Ballard, the world at 12,000 years ago was covered in ice. However, he was still trying to find the trail of the Prophet Noah. Ballard explained that the Black Sea used to be a freshwater lake surrounded by agricultural areas. Glaciers melted at a time when the Earth's temperature was warming in 5600 BC, resulting in the formation of a number of oceans. This is what caused massive flooding in most parts of the world. The water then flows through the Bosporus Strait from Turkey, to then towards the Black Sea. “We are talking about floods in the history of human life. The question is, is there a master of all the floods that occurred then?” says Ballard.

If one of the sources of Noah's flood came from a glacier, then we should also be aware of that now. The world's glaciers are shrinking and disappearing faster than scientists thought. At least, two-thirds of the glaciers on earth are predicted to melt by the end of this century which is part of the current climate change trend, according to a study. Most small glaciers are heading for extinction, researchers say. The study, published in the Journal of Science, looked at 215,000 landlocked glaciers in the world - in a more comprehensive way than previous studies.

The scientists then used computer simulations to calculate and used different rates of warming. They are looking for an answer to how many glaciers will disappear? How many trillion tons of ice will melt? and how much does it contribute to sea level rise? They also created a video simulation showing that when sea levels rise to the most dangerous levels, it will submerge most areas of the world, including Indonesia, which is an island nation.

This phenomenon has a complex cause-and-effect relationship. If the eternal ice sheet or glacier on Earth that covers 10% of the Earth's soil layer collapses very quickly, it will trigger a chain effect. Imagine, if the entire freshwater perennial ice cap went into the ocean and lowered the salinity of the sea water, what impact would be? The balance of the Gulf Stream which is the warm ocean current in the North Atlantic which is one of the most important currents in the world will be disturbed. This will trigger extreme climatic phenomena, in the form of tropical storms and typhoon anginas. Floods and droughts on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean will be more frequent. Hundreds of millions of people will be affected.

Noah's flood this century may not have drowned the entire earth as it did six thousand years ago. Nevertheless, the melting of glaciers gave rise to a more devastating domino effect. Temperatures at the north pole will rise twice as fast. The giant air-conditioning system that regulates the temperature of Earth will come to be stucked. Hot temperatures not only melt the ice sheet at the poles, but also weaken air currents in the atmosphere called “jet streams”. Easier, bad weather like the one we've been feeling these days is going to be more and more frequent.

Can we hope or just wait for a miracle? The answer lies with us. It is the time that we restore the mission of man's creation as God's caliph on earth. Our hands were created not to ruin but to maintain and care for the nature that was created to accompany us. Hope it's not too late!