Where could Noah’s Ark be found today?

Most likely nowhere any more. The Holy Qur’an says only that the Ark came to rest on al-Judi, and a wooden ark from so long ago is hardly likely to have survived. It is not entirely ruled out, for God can preserve whatever He wills.

Again and again, expeditions climb high, snow-covered mountains in search of Noah’s Ark. There are two reasons for this. According to the Bible, the Ark landed on a mountain peak when the whole world was under water. And wood from such an early age could best survive where it is always very cold. In permanent ice many things remain intact for a long time.

The Holy Qur’an, however, tells the story differently. It does not speak of a flood that covered the whole earth above the mountain peaks. Noah (as) was sent to his own people, and that people perished. It does not describe a flood reaching from the Middle East to America or Japan. Had the Ark come to rest on a peak in eternal snow, it would surely have mentioned this.

That is why it is very unlikely that the Ark will be found today. A wooden vessel from such a distant age normally decays unless it lies in lasting cold.

Still, it should not be ruled out altogether. God knows nature better than any human being. Sometimes special conditions come together in one place and preserve something for a long time, such as the kind of soil or the kind of wood. In this way bodies are sometimes found that have survived without any embalming. God could have preserved the Ark in a similar way. But the chances are very slim.

More important than any discovery is what the Holy Qur’an itself emphasises. God made the rescue of Noah (as) and those in the Ark a sign for all peoples. That sign works through its lesson, not through remains of wood on a mountain.