How can the two seas in the chapter of ar-Rahman and the two seas in verse 53 of the chapter of al-Furqan be connected to each other?

- There are those who say that the events mentioned in the two chapters of the Quran are not connected to each other. Can it be true?

Dear Brother / Sister,

a) In the verse, “Between them is a barrier which they do not transgress” (ar-Rahman, 55/20), a barrier that protects the two waters from mixing with each other is mentioned.

According to the most obvious meaning of the verse, what is meant is the seas that have fresh and salty water beds. And the barrier in question is the barrier that prevents those two seas, which have different densities, from mixing with each other. Since the verses of the Quran explain one another, we should first look at the places where this issue is mentioned:

“It is He (Allah) Who has let free the two bodies of flowing water: One palatable and sweet, and the other salt and bitter; yet has He made a barrier between them, a partition that is forbidden to be passed (hijr mahjur). (al-Furqan, 25/53)

As it is known, according to experts, fresh water gushes from the seabed in a mind-boggling way on the southern (Morocco) and northern (Spain) sides of the Strait of Gibraltar. These giant channels of water gushing out from the bottom of both coasts at 45-degree angles toward one another form a mutual dam like the teeth of a comb. Therefore, the Mediterranean Sea does not mix with the Atlantic Ocean, nor does the Atlantic Ocean mix with the Mediterranean Sea.

We would like to draw attention to the fact that the functioning of this wonderful barrier is also described in the Quran. Indeed, the phrase “a separating bar between the two bodies of flowing water” is repeated in the Quran in the verses mentioned in the following chapters: (al-Furqan, 25/53), (an-Naml, 27/61), (Fatir, 35/12), (ar-Rahman, 55/19-20). However, its first occurrence is the chapter of al-Furqan both in terms of order and revelation.

Therefore, the statement regarding the issue is detailed in the chapter of al-Furqan whereas it is the form of a summary in the others. Among the detailed information here, we see the phrase “hijr mahjur”. As Qurtubi points out, this phrase means the one that prevents and the one that is prevented, i.e. “a two-way barrier” (al-Qurtubi, XIII/59)

This is a visible interpretation and explanation of this wonderful description of the Quran, which is visible fourteen centuries later, and which experts say is “a dam like the teeth of a comb”. Another reason why this verse first appears in the chapter of al-Furqan is this: As it is well known, Furqan means “the one that distinguishes the truth from the falsehood, the beautiful from the ugly, the true from the wrong, and that sets a boundary between them” and is an infinitive that functions as a doer. Thus, it is fitting that this wonderful subject is first mentioned in the chapter of al-Furqan.

It means Allah Almighty has separated the seas of truth and falsehood with laws of shari’ah and set the measure of wisdom between them; similarly, He has separated these fresh and salty seas with laws of creation.

Therefore, Allah is the owner of both of these books; there is no contradiction between them. It is necessary to act according to the laws of these two books; otherwise, those who obey the laws of the book of the universe but not the Quran will be doomed to drown in the spiritually bitter and salty seas. (see Niyazi Beki, the interpretation of the chapter of ar-Rahman, the verse in question)

- While explaining the verse in question, Badiuzzaman Said Nursi makes some additions to the opinions in tafsir sources and states the following in brief:

“Ranging from the sea of lordship and sea of worship in the spheres of necessity and contingency respectively, to the seas of the World of the Unseen and the Manifest World, and to the oceans of the north, south, east, and west, and to the Adriatic and the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal, and to the freshwater and salt lakes, the various fresh-water lakes under the soil layer and the salt lakes over it and contiguous with it, and to the small lakes called the great rivers, such as the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates, and the salty seas into which they flow. Any of these may be intended or meant, and may be their literal and metaphorical meanings.” (see Nursî, Mektubat, pp. 304-305)

b) It is pointed out in the following verse that the universe is constantly expanding, along with other meanings: “With power and skill did We construct the Firmament: for it is We Who create the vastness of pace...” (adh-Dhariyat, 51/47) (see al-Kattan, Taysirut-Tafsir; Abdulqadir al-Kilani, Kitabul-Maani, the interpretation of the verse in question)

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