25. Surah Al Furqan
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَهُوَ
الَّذِي
مَرَجَ
الْبَحْرَيْنِ...
25: 53. It is He Who has let free the two bodies of flowing water:
C3111. Maraja: literally, let free or let loose cattle for grazing.
Bahrain: two seas, or two bodies of flowing water; for bahr is applied both to the salt sea and to rivers. In the world taken as a whole, there are two bodies of water, viz.:
- the great salt Ocean, and
- the bodies of sweet water fed by rain, whether they are rivers, lakes or underground springs:
their source in rain makes them one, and their drainage, whether above-ground or underground, eventually to the Ocean, also makes them one.
They are free to mingle, and in a sense they do mingle, for there is a regular water-cycle: see n. 3106 above: and the rivers flow constantly to the sea, and tidal rivers get sea-water for several miles up their estuaries at high tide.
Yet in spite of all this, the laws of gravitation are like a barrier or partition set by Allah, by which the two bodies of water as a whole are always kept apart and distinct. In the case of rivers carrying large quantities of water to the sea, like the Mississippi or the Yangtse-Kiang, the river-water with its silt remains distinct from sea-water for a long distance out at sea. But the wonderful Sign is that the two bodies of water, though they pass through each other, remain distinct bodies, with their distinct functions.
... هَذَا عَذْبٌ فُرَاتٌ وَهَذَا مِلْحٌ أُجَاجٌ...
one palatable and sweet, and the other salt and bitter;
... وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخًا وَحِجْرًا مَّحْجُورًا ﴿٥٣﴾
yet has He made a barrier between them, a partition that is forbidden to be passed.
C3112. In Allah's overall scheme of things, bodies of salt and sweet water, which are adjoining and yet separate, have significant functions. Weaving a harmonious fabric out of these different fibres shows both Allah's power and wisdom.
Incidentally, this verse points to a fact which has only recently been discovered by science. This fact relates to the oceans of the world: they meet and yet each remains separate for Allah has placed "a barrier, a partition" between them. (Eds).
Asad’s Version:
25:53
AND HE it is who has given freedom of movement to the two great bodies of water" - the one sweet and thirst-allaying, and the other salty and bitter - and yet has wrought between them a barrier and a forbidding ban."
[[Asad’s notes - 41 The noun bahr, usually signifying "sea", is also applied to large agglomerations of sweet-water, like rivers, lakes, etc.; in the above context, the dual al-bahrayn denotes 'the two great-bodies [or "kinds"] of water" - the salty and the sweet - existing side by side on earth.
42 I.e., has caused them - as if by an invisible barrier - to remain distinct in kind despite their - continuous meeting and mingling in the oceans: an indirect reminder of God's planning creativeness inherent in the cyclic transformation of water - its evaporation from the salty seas, followed by a formation of clouds, their condensation into rain and snow which feed springs and rivers, and - its return to the seas. Some Muslim mystics see in this stress on the two kinds of water an allegory of the gulf - and, at the same time, interaction - between man's spiritual perceptions, on the one hand, and his worldly needs and passions, on the other. ]]
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55 Ar-Rah Man (The Most Gracious)
Period Uncertain
Asad’s Version:
55:19 He has given freedom to the two great bodies of water, so that they might meet: (55:20) [yet] between them is a barrier which they may not transgress. 8
(55:21) Which, then, of your Sustainer's powers can you disavow?
[[Asad’s note-8 See 25:53 and the corresponding notes 41 and 42.]]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
مَرَجَ
الْبَحْرَيْنِ
يَلْتَقِيَانِ
﴿١٩﴾
55: 19. He has let free the two bodies of flowing water, meeting together:
C5185. See 25:53, and n. 3111, where it is explained how the two bodies of water, salt and sweet, meet together, yet keep separate, as if there was a barrier or partition between them.
This is also one of the favours of Allah. Sea-water is a sanitating agent, while fresh water is sweet and palatable to drink.
For the allegorical interpretation, see notes 2404 - 2405 t0 18::60; also note 5186 below.
بَيْنَهُمَا
بَرْزَخٌ لَّا
يَبْغِيَانِ
﴿٢٠﴾
55: 20. Between them is a Barrier which they do not transgress
فَبِأَيِّ
آلَاء رَبِّكُمَا
تُكَذِّبَانِ
﴿٢١﴾
55: 21. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny?
Yuksel’s Version:
55:19 He merges the two seas where they meet.
55:20 A barrier is placed between them, which they do not cross.*
55:21 So which of your Lord's favors will you deny?
[[Ruby’s note – I think the reason this particular verse is included as God’s favor is that if two bodies of water would trespass each other then salty ocean water would infiltrate the sweet water of the rivers and ruin vegetation fish and drinkability etc. of the sweet water.]]