Water Barriers

[محمد ارسلان]

 

[محمد ارسلان]

Water Barriers
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Allah, the Exalted, says:
“He has let loose the two seas (the salt and freshwater) meeting together. Between them is a barrier which none of them can transgress. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (Jinn and men) deny? Out of them both come out pearl and coral.” (Soorah Al-Rahman, 55:19-22)
“Is not He (better than your gods) Who has made the Earth as a fixed abode, and has placed rivers in its midst, and has placed firm mountains therein, and has set a barrier between the two seas (of salt and sweet water)? Is there any ilah (god) with Allah? Nay, but most of them know not!” (Soorah Al-Naml, 29:61)
“And it is He Who has let free the two seas (kinds of water), this is palatable and sweet, and that is salt and bitter; and He has set a barrier and a complete partition between them.” (Soorah Al-Furqan, 25:53)

Linguistic interpretation
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Ibn Mundhir said in Lisan Al-‘Arab:
Maraja (translated above as “let loose” or “let free”) has two meanings: (i) mixing and (ii) coming and going or uncertain movement.
Ibn Faris said in Mu‘jam Maqayis Al-Lughah:
Meem, Ra’ and Jeem form a sound root which is indicative of coming and going and uncertain movement.
Al-Zajjaj said:
Maraja means mixing, i.e., between the salt water and the freshwater. What is meant is that they do not overwhelm one another, i.e., the salt water does not overwhelm the freshwater and mix with it.
Ujaj (translated as bitter in Soorah Al-Furqan, 25:53) means salty, or it was said that it means bitter, or very bitter. It was also said that it means very warm.
Allah, the Exalted, says: “and that is salt and bitter” which means that which is very salty and bitter, like sea water. Ujaj means salt water that is very salty, and Ajeej Al-Ma’ refers to the sound of water as it pours.
Hijr or Hajr means stopping and restricting. Ibn Munzdhir said, “Laqad tahajjarta wasi‘an” meaning, “You are restricting something that Allah meant to be broad in scope, and made it only for yourself.”
Ibn Faris said in Mu‘jam Maqayis Al-Lughah, “Reason is called Hijr because it prevents one from doing something inappropriate.”

Comments of the Mufassireen
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The barrier between the two seas (in Soorah Al-Naml, 29:61)
Most exegetes are of the view that the barrier which separates the two seas mentioned is an invisible barrier which exists by the will of Allah, Most High. Imam Ibn Al-Jawzi said, “The barrier is a partition created by the power of Allah, the Exalted, which no one can see.” (Zad Al-Maseer 6/90). This was also stated by Al-Zamkhashari (Al-Kashshaf 3/96), Al-Qurtubi in his Tafseer (Jami‘ Al-Ahkam, 13/58) and Al-Baqa’i (Nuzum Al-Durar 13/406).

A barrier between the freshwater river and the salty sea
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Al-Tabari said, what is meant by “sweet and palatable” water is the water of rivers and rain, and “salt and bitter” refers to sea water. What is referred to is that by His Blessing to His creation, He mixes the sweet and palatable river water with the salty and bitter sea water, then He prevents the salt from affecting or corrupting the freshness of the freshwater by His decree.
“...and He has set a barrier … between them” means: a barrier which prevents either of them from spoiling the other.
“...and a complete partition” means: He has made it forbidden for either of them to change its counterpart. It was narrated that Mujahid said: i.e., a barrier that no one can see.
“...and He has set a barrier … between them” Mujahid said: “barrier” means that they meet but they do not mix. “...and a complete partition” means that the saltiness of one does not mix with the sweetness of the other, so neither of them prevails over the other.
We should point out that the exegetes of the Qur’an could not have fully understood the details of what is mentioned in the Verses, because they could not see it and examine it. This is why they had different explanations of the words “wave” “barrier” and “complete partition”. That is due to the lack of human knowledge in past centuries.

Historical introduction
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The history of the development of oceanography indicates that there was no scientific information concerning this topic; rather the science of oceanography did not make any progress until the last two centuries, especially in the latter half of the twentieth century. The depths of the sea were unknown to man but there were many legends and myths about them.
Then the science of oceanography began to take its place among modern sciences when the British ship HMS Challenger undertook a journey around the globe during the years 1872-1876. After that there were many more scientific journeys that explored the seas.
In the 1940s, marine studies that were carried out at sea stations discovered that the salty seas are of different types, and that there are barriers which separate one salty sea from another.
The study of the ocean developed further, and satellites played a major role in these developments. Scientists were able to obtain pictures of these barriers, and also of estuaries, differences in temperature, and pollution.

Some scientific facts
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• Between the salty seas there are water barriers that preserve the distinguishing characteristics of each sea.
• There is some mixing between the two seas despite the presence of the barrier, but it is a very slow mixing, so slow that the amount that crosses over from one sea to the other takes on the characteristics of the sea to which it moves without affecting it.
• Marine studies show that coral exists only in sea regions and does not exist in freshwater regions.
• Water may be divided into three types: river water, sea water and estuary water.
• There is no direct contact between river water and sea water in estuary regions because of the presence of the water barrier, which surrounds this region and keeps the two apart.
• The estuary region is regarded as a partition which keeps the creatures that inhabit it separate from the creatures that live outside it.

Scientific explanation
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In the 1940s, scientists discovered that salty seas are of different types. This was only found out after researchers set up sea stations to analyze samples of sea water. They measured differences in temperature, salinity levels, density and oxygen ratio in the water of all the oceans, and realized that the seas differ from one another. Then the scientists discovered the existence of water barriers, which are of two types:

Barrier between two salty seas
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Modern studies have discovered that even though the seas appear to be all the same, there are several differences in their water mass. In the regions where two seas meet, there is a barrier between them. This barrier separates the two seas so that each sea has its own temperature, salinity and density. (Asas ‘Ilm Al-Bihar, Davies, p. 92-93)
The water of the warm, saline Mediterranean Sea has a barrier where it enters the Atlantic Ocean which is colder and less dense. There are similar barriers between the waters of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. What modern science discovered in the last century was clearly stated in the Qur’an in Soorah Al-Rahman, where Allah, the Exalted, says:
“He has let loose the two seas (the salt and freshwater) meeting together.” (Soorah Al-Rahman, 55:19]
The Qur’an speaks of two different salty seas meeting. The evidence for that is what was stated by the scholars of Tafseer, which is that when the Qur’an uses the word Al-Bahr without specifying, it refers to the salty sea. Moreover, if the two seas were similar to one another, they would be a single sea. This differentiation between them in the Qur’anic wording strongly indicates that there is a difference between them, even though both are salty.
Another indication referred to in the Qur’anic Verse is that it says of the two seas that pearl and coral come out of them. Scientists have discovered that pearls and coral can only be found in salty seas; they do not exist in freshwater or in regions where freshwater mixes with the sea.
In 1942, scientific studies of the sea revealed the existence of a water barrier that separates the two seas that meet. This is what is indicated in the Verse: “Between them is a barrier which none of them can transgress” (Soorah Al-Rahman, 55:20). The idea of the barrier is reinforced in the Verse: “...and has set a barrier between the two seas” (Soorah Al-Naml, 29:61). The phrase “none can transgress” means that one of the two seas cannot prevail over the other and change its characteristics. It also became clear to scientists that there is some mixing between the salty seas despite the existence of this barrier, and this is what is indicated by the Qur’an:
“He has let loose (Maraja) the two seas (the salty and freshwater) meeting together” (Soorah Al-Rahman, 55:19)
Maraja means mixing, or coming and going and confused movement. As stated earlier, this mixing is so slow that the amount which moves from one sea to another takes on the characteristics of the sea to which it moves, without affecting those characteristics, because these barriers protect the distinguishing characteristics of each sea, such as its density, salinity, living creatures, temperature and ratio of oxygen in the water.

Barrier between freshwater river and salty sea
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From ancient times man has seen that rivers empty into the sea, and that the river water gradually loses its distinctive color and taste the deeper it flows into the sea.
But with the advances in scientific discovery, scientists have studied samples of water where rivers meet the sea, and they have measured the salinity levels, temperature and density with precise instruments, and collected samples of the living creatures that inhabit these regions, then they classified them and defined the areas in which they live and studied their ability to live in both river and sea habitats, then they concluded that water may be divided into three types:
1- River water, which is very
2- fresh Sea water, which is very salty
3- Estuary water, which is a mixture of fresh and salty, which separates the river and the sea. The salinity increases the closer one gets to the sea, and the freshness increases the closer one gets to the river.
This is what was stated by the Qur’an when it described the two “seas” (the salty and freshwater) as having attributes that scientists did not discover until last century.
It described river water as being “palatable and sweet”; palatable water is water that is not salty and sweet water is that which is very fresh. This description (sweet) excludes estuary water, which may be described as being fresh but not very fresh.
Sea water is described by the Qur’an as being “salty and bitter”. Salty water is sea water and bitter water is very salty. Hence, neither of these two descriptions can be applied to estuary water.
Estuary water is a mixture of palatable, sweet river water and salty, bitter sea water. The Qur’an describes it as “He has let loose the two seas”, meaning the river and the sea.

Water barrier surrounding the estuary region
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Scientists have also noticed the existence of a water barrier that surrounds the estuary region and protects its distinguishing features. The river water and sea water do not meet directly in the estuary region, despite the movement of tides. This is due to the presence of this water barrier that surrounds the estuary region and permanently separates them.
Because there is no direct meeting between the river and the sea, scientists noticed that there is gradual mixing even though there is a separate area of estuary water, and the water barrier that surrounds it. The Qur’an points to the existence of this barrier when it says: “...and He has set a barrier … between them”. The barrier, as the scholars of exegesis said, is a barrier that prevents each of them from corrupting the other. Mujahid said, “They meet but they do not mix.”

The estuary region and the characteristics of the partition
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Scientists have noted the differences between the three categories of water (river, sea and estuary) with regard to the degree of salinity or freshness, and they have found that most creatures that live in the sea, river and estuary die if they are taken out of their own environment. That which lives in the river cannot live in the sea or estuary, and so on.
Then they classified the three environments (river, sea and estuary) on the basis of the creatures that live in them, and they found that the estuary region is regarded as a barrier that is exclusive to most of the creatures that live in it, which cannot live anywhere but in an aquatic environment that has a certain level of salinity or freshness, and they die if they go out of the estuary region.
In addition to that, the estuary region is regarded as a barrier that excludes most of the creatures that live in the sea and river, because these creatures will die if they enter this region, which is also due to the water pressure. The wonder is that the Qur’an described the estuary region in these terms and said “a complete partition”. We can understand the word Hijr (partition) here in the light of modern studies which show that living creatures in the estuary region live in a narrow space and are prevented from leaving that space. The estuary region is also described as being forbidden to other living creatures which cannot enter it. So the estuary region, according to the Qur’anic description, is a Hijr that is specific to the creatures that live in it and it is “forbidden” to the creatures that live outside of it.
What we conclude is that the scientists have noticed the essential differences to which the Qur’an referred between the barrier that separates the river and the sea, and the barrier that separates between salty seas.
1- The estuary area is regarded as an area that is exclusive to the creatures that inhabit it and as an area that excludes creatures that live in the river and sea. This is what Allah, the Exalted, describes in Soorah Al-Furqan as: “and He has set a barrier and a complete partition between them”.
2- The second barrier is that which separates salty seas; it does not have that characteristic of preventing creatures from leaving or entering. This is what is referred to in Soorah Al-Rahman where Allah, Most High, says:
“Between them is a barrier which none of them can transgress. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (Jinn and men) deny? Out of them both come out pearl and coral” (Soorah Al-Rahman, 55:20-22)
This barrier is not described as “a barrier and a complete partition”; hence, we find that most creatures can move between the two seas with complete ease. That is because the difference in salinity levels is not so severe as to prevent them moving from one marine environment to another.
So the human mind stands amazed by the miraculous wording of the Qur’an and this amazing system that Allah has created to protect the masses of water from spoiling each other’s characteristics when they meet.
“And say [(O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) to these polytheists and pagans]: All the praises and thanks be to Allah. He will show you His Aayat (Signs, in yourselves, and in the universe or punishments), and you shall recognize them.” (Soorah Al-Naml, 27:93)

Scientific references
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The Encyclopedia Britannica says:
River estuaries are places where the river meets the sea, and they may also be described as places where the ratio of salt in sea water is reduced as it mixes with freshwater.
From a biological point of view, estuaries are more productive than rivers and seas, because estuaries have a special and distinct kind of water cycle which retains plant nutrients and encourages primary production. Because freshwater is lighter than salt water, this leads to the formation of a separate layer that floats on the surface of the estuary.
On the boundary between the fresh and salt water, there is a certain level of mixing that is caused by the flow of freshwater above the salt water and because of the ebb and flow of the tide. Any additional mixing could occur from time to time because of high winds and internal waves that are generated along the interface between the fresh and salt water.
The Encyclopedia mentions elsewhere:
Salinity in the oceans is fixed but it fluctuates along the coast where salt water meets freshwater at the mouths of streams and rivers. This brackish water forms a barrier that separates sea creatures from river creatures.

The miraculous aspect
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The miraculous aspect in these Qur’anic Verses is that they point to the presence of barriers between salty seas that allow slow mixing, whereby the water that moves from one sea to another loses its characteristics and acquires the characteristics of the sea it enters. They also indicate that seas and rivers meet and mix, although there is a barrier that prevents complete mixing between them. This is something that was discovered by oceanographers in the twentieth century about estuaries where rivers meet the sea, and the marine barriers between two different seas. And Allah knows best and is Most Wise.

[from “Scientific Miracles in the Oceans & Animals” by “Yusuf Al-Hajj Ahmad”, published by Darussalam, 2010]