Home > Surah 23 - The Believers
1. Mythological Co-option:
The detail of a baking oven (tannūr) gushing water is completely absent from the Bible but directly mirrors ancient Mesopotamian folklore. This motif appears in regional versions of the flood story, such as Tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh, exposing a reliance on pagan myths.
2. Folklore Mixing:
By incorporating this bizarre detail from Near Eastern folklore into the Noahic account, the text reveals its human dependencies. The author absorbed and mixed popular regional legends with the older biblical narrative rather than drawing from a transcendent source.
The Quran Verse
Surah 23:27:
So We inspired to him, 'Construct the Ark under Our observation and Our inspiration, and when Our command comes and the oven [tannur] gushes forth, embody therein from every [kind] two mates...'"
The Relevant Source Text (Mesopotamian Myth)
The Epic of Gilgamesh (Tablet XI);
In the Babylonian flood myth, the "oven" or the "surface of the earth" (the tannur) is associated with the commencement of the floodwaters.
The detail of an "oven" (Tannur) boiling over as a sign of the Flood is not found in the Bible. It is a strange, localized detail that appears in Mesopotamian legends and later Persian folklore.
Critics argue the Quranic author absorbed these colorful regional myths, confusing them with the actual biblical record of the Flood.