An intertextuality perspective on Noah's Story in the Quran

Abstract

This study aims to analyse verses from the Quran in relation to Noah's story from an intertextuality perspective. The analysis focuses on three main aspects, namely, unravelling the discoursal meaning of ard 'land' in comparison with alard 'the earth', describing the size of Noah's Ark, and identifying the types of animals which Noah took with him on the Ark. Based on the discoursal meaning of ard 'land', several implications arise in relation to Noah's story in the Quran. Adopting intertextuality as a linguistic-analysis technique provides evidence that Noah's story could have been misinterpreted by Islamic scholars.