He asks in his first question: Does the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted, “And We said, ‘Load onto it [the Ark] of every pair, two'” (Qur'an 11:40), imply that Noah (peace be upon him) was commanded to take with him two of every living creature to preserve the survival of living beings on earth? If that is the case, why do we see that many living creatures have become extinct, and others are on the verge of extinction?

The questioner : He asks in his first question: Does the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted imply that Noah (peace be upon him) was commanded to take with him two of every living creature to preserve the survival of living beings on earth? If that is the case, why do we see that many living creatures have become extinct, and others are on the verge of extinction?

The Shaykh : The apparent meaning of the noble verse, as the questioner mentioned, is that Allah commanded him to load onto it , meaning two of every thing among things, for the preservation of that species. It is not necessary that this species remains until the Day of Resurrection, for Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) may decree its extinction, or its scarcity, or its extinction in some places and its existence in others, meaning its preservation in some places. This does not contradict the noble verse, because Allah the Exalted did not mention in it that the species loaded onto the Ark would remain until the Day of Resurrection, such that we would say: This contradicts reality. Rather, it is a preservation of the survival of that loaded species until Allah the Exalted permits its extinction.

The questioner : Yes.