The full name of prophet Nooh was Nooh ibn Lamech Ibn Methuselah ibn Idrees ibn Yared ib Mahlâ'eel ibn Kinân ibn Enoch ibn Sheeth ibn Adam (Peace be upon them all).
Nooh (Peace be upon him) was born one hundred and twenty-six years after the death of Adam (Peace be upon him), according to Ibn Jareer.
According to what we have mentioned from the Torah, there were one hundred and forty-six years between the death of Adam and the birth of Nooh.
Ibn 'Abbâs (May Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the prophet (Blessings and peace be upon them all) sajd: << There were ten centuries between Adam and Nooh, and everyone (during that time) lived according to Islam.>> (Bukhari)
The Arabic word for century in the text of the hadith is Qarn. If one Qarn is equal to one hundred years, it means that at least one thousand years separate Adam and Nooh since there are ten Qarn between them. However, one Qarn could refer to more than a hundred years. This has been supported by Ibn 'Abbâs ( May Allah be pleased with him), who said that those ten centuries are referring to the time when the people lived according to Islam. These are probably the later centuries, wherein people did not live according to the Islamic teachings and required a messenger to be sent to them.
However, if Qarn refers to a generation of people, as in sometimes mentioned in the Qur'an, then there could be thousands of years between Adam (Peace be upon them all) and Nooh (Peace be upon them all). This is because the generations of people who were before Nooh used to live for a longer period of time. The Qur'an says:
{ And how many generations [Quroon] have We destroyed after Nooh...}
[Qur'an 17: 17]
Similarly, in other verses, it has been mentioned:
{ Then after them, We created another generation[Qarn]. }
[Qur'an 23: 31]
{...and many generations [Quroon] in between.} [Qur'an 25: 38]
{And how many generation [Qarn] before them have We destroyed...} [Qur'an 19: 98]
The Prophet (Blessings and peace be upon them all) used the word Qarn to mean a generation. The hadith says: << The best of the generations is my generation...>>
What is known is that Allah sent Nooh when his people had started worshipping idols and false gods. They had begun to tread the path of darkness and ignorance. Thus, Allah sent him as a mercy for His slaves. Nooh was the first messenger to be sent upon this earth. This is proved from a hadith concerning the situation of people on the Day if Judgement, when they will go yo certain prophets and messengers in order to start the process of accountability.
Ibn Jareer and others have mentioned that Nooh (Peace be upon him) was sent to the people of a tribe called Banu Râsib.
Scholars have differed regarding the age of Nooh (Peace be upon him) when he was sent as a messenger. A number of opinions have been put forward. Among these are that he was fifty years old, or three hundred and fifty, or even four hundred and eighty. Ibn Jareer has mentioned these and stated that all three have been narrated from Ibn 'Abbâs (May Allah be pleased with him) at some point or another.
