And he makes the ship as a narration of a past state. They mocked him and his work, the ship, and he was making it in a wilderness that is vast. [The saying 'wilderness that is vast' means there is no path in it. It is said: the passage is vast, and likewise, the brave man is vast, as stated in the authentic texts.] In the farthest place from water, and at a time when water was scarce, extremely scarce. They would laugh and say to him: O Noah, you have become a carpenter after being a prophet. 'Indeed, we will mock you' means in the future, 'as you mock us now,' meaning: we will mock you with mockery like your mockery when drowning befalls you in this world and burning in the Hereafter. It is said: if you think us foolish for what we do, then we think you foolish for what you are upon of disbelief and exposing yourselves to the wrath of Allah and His punishment. You are more deserving of being thought foolish than us. Or if you think us foolish, then we think you foolish in your foolishness, for you only think us foolish out of ignorance of the reality of the matter, based on the apparent state as is the habit of the ignorant in being distant from the truths. It has been narrated that Noah, peace be upon him, built the ship in two years. Its length was three hundred cubits and its width was fifty cubits, and its height was thirty cubits. It was made of cedar wood and had three decks. He carried in the lower deck: the wild animals and beasts and insects, and in the middle deck: the livestock and domesticated animals, and he and those with him boarded the upper deck along with what they needed of provisions. He carried with him the body of Adam, peace be upon him, and placed it between the men and women. Al-Hasan said: its length was one thousand two hundred cubits and its width was six hundred. It is said that the disciples said to Jesus, peace be upon him: if you would send us a man who witnessed the ship to tell us about it. So he took them until he reached a mound of earth, and he took a handful of that earth and said: do you know who this is? They said: Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: this is Kab ibn Ham. Then he struck the mound [The saying 'he struck the mound' means the narrator of this story, but he is unknown.] with his staff and said: rise by the permission of Allah, and he stood up shaking the dust from his head and had become gray. Jesus, peace be upon him, said to him: was this how you perished? He said: no, I died while I was young, but I thought it was the hour, so I aged from then. He said: tell us about the ship of Noah. He said: its length was one thousand cubits and two hundred cubits, and its width was six hundred cubits, and it had three layers: one layer for the animals and wild beasts, one layer for humans, and one layer for birds. Then he said to him: return by the permission of Allah as you were, and he returned to dust. 'Whoever comes to him in the place of the setting will know.' Meaning: you will know who comes to him with a punishment that humiliates him, and he means them, and he intends by the punishment: the punishment of this world, which is drowning, and it befalls him the obligation of religion and the necessary truth from which there is no escape, a permanent punishment, which is the punishment of the Hereafter.