CANAAN

Arabic Kanʿān . According to al-Jalālain and al-Baiẓāwī, the commentators, Canaan was the unbelieving son of Noah, but, according to the Qāmūs dictionary, the grandson, who was drowned in the flood, and whose case is recorded in the Qurʾān ( Sūrah xi. 44 ). He is said to be a son of Noah’s wife Wāʿilah, who was an infidel. “And the Ark moved on them amid waves like mountains: and Noah called to his son—for he was apart—‘Embark with us, O my child! and be not with the unbelievers.’ He said, ‘I will betake me to a mountain that shall secure me from the water.’ He said, ‘None shall be secure this day from the decree of God, save him on whom He shall have mercy.’ And a wave pa ed between them, and he was among the drowned.”