| We are going to live with a great sign of Gods’ be he Blessed and Exalted which is reflected in the world of seas and rivers as he says….. |
We are going to live with a great sign of Gods’ be he Blessed and Exalted which is reflected in the world of seas and rivers as he says (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). Verse 53 (Al-Furqan)
It is a great sign as God told us about an existing scientific fact between the river and sea in the area called downstream (which is the mouth of the river into the sea), it’s a very sensitive and important area and scientists didn’t realize its importance except in the last few years.
A few months ago, Scientists from the United States of America had undertaken a new research to study this area, the area where the river pours in the sea, as they brought down their machines into the deepest point in the downstream. And as we know that all rivers pour in seas as each river has got a source from a certain area and it flows till it ends in the sea where it pours this fresh water and this fresh water penetrates the salty water for a few kilometers and throw its water in the salty sea .
The Quran has told us about a phenomenon that despite the influx of fresh rivers in the salty seas none of them can dominate on the other, which means that despite the hugeness of the salty sea it’s not possible for it to dominate the river or makes its water salty.
Of course these facts were unknown in the time of Quran, but it recently drew the attention of scientists after the massive pollution in the environment and in rivers as well, as the downstream area was considered to be the safety valve for this fresh water that God exploited to us.
When scientists have calculated the amount of water on earth they found that 97.5%is salty water, 2.5% is fresh water, and two thirds of the fresh water is concentrated in the frozen areas in the North and South Antarctic, so 69%of fresh water is in the form of frozen water and the remaining third is underground water and water founded in the soil, the air humidity, clouds, and etc,….. The rivers and lakes are less than .003% of fresh water , so all what we see from rivers , lakes and springs form only less than .003% of fresh water and fresh water forms only 2.5% of the total amount of water on the surface of this planet.
During the search of scientists to find sources of fresh water, it was necessary to study the pollution in rivers , the massive pollution that was made by the remnants of modern technology and the most important and sensitive area was the downstream area between river and sea , so those scientists started to study this area very carefully and concluded some results ,we have to know that God be he Blessed and Exalted has gathered all of these results in one verse as he says: (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). Verse 53 (Al-Furqan)
The first result is that a continuous blending occurs between fresh water and salty water in this region, which means that God be he Blessed and Exalted when he said (And it is He Who has let free the two seas (kinds of water) which means that he was the one who created the two seas (the fresh sea and the salty sea) and here we must know why God be he Blessed and Exalted said (And it is He Who has let free the two seas) not (let free the river and the sea).
When scientists studied this area which is the downstream area, they found a continuous merging and mixing of fresh water and salty water occurs. And they found also great differences in temperature, percentage of salinity and density of water specially in that region.
We can observe these differences through the graphic curves drawn by those researchers as they studied the temperature of the downstream region and found big differences and dissimilarities between day and night and from season to another .They found differences in the salinity of this region because of the mixing of fresh water and salty water.
And the new thing founded for the first time by scientists is that the flow of fresh water in salty water is turbulent and not stable, and that the stable flow has no troubles, as the turbulent flow of water means that there are swirling and there are differences in the speed of flow from one point to another.
So we can summarize the research of those scientists in three main points:
- A continuous mixing for fresh water and salty water occurs in the area of the downstream.
- The flow of water is turbulent.
- There are great differences in density, salinity and temperature. And when I returned back to Arabic language dictionaries to search about the meaning of let free in (And it is He Who has let free) I found that this word contains three meanings which are founded by scientists recently, one of the meanings is (blending and mixing), the second is (let free means the difference) and the third is (let freemeans the turbulence). Therefore God said about those skeptical who are confused that they are :( so they are in a confused state)part of Verse 5(Qaf) which means they are turbulent and not stable, as their talking about Quran and their suspicions about Islam looks like a turbulent and unstable human(so they are in a confused state) their status is turbulent. Here human wonders from the accuracy of the divine imaging that Gods’ be he blessed and exalted chose one word to describe the accurate physical reactions which happens in this area when he said (And it is He Who has let free the two seas) as the word let free is top of the scientific accuracy.
But the question: why God said (the two seas) not (the river and the sea) as we said before?
When scientists studied the seas, they found that rivers is not the only source of fresh water and that there are huge reservoirs of fresh water in and under the bottom of the oceans which continuously flows from the oceans’ bottom. And the volume of these huge reservoirs is as many times as what rivers flow into seas.
So, each spring at the bottom of the ocean pumps a huge amount of fresh water which is as many times of what is pumped by that river.
Here, we realize why God be he blessed and exalted said (And it is He Who has let free the two seas) because there is a fresh and hidden sea which we don’t see with our eyes but it exists. This fresh water which flows from the bottom of oceans sometimes reaches the surface of water, goes for thousands of meters till it reaches the surface of water. The picture of oceans and bays taken by satellites show the existence of these springs which usually mix with salty water.
If we look at these pictures we’ll find that the water of the fresh spring is colored in the picture with another color which indicates that this area contains cold fresh water, here we find that God be he blessed and Exalted is very accurate in his expressions when he said (And it is He Who has let free the two seas) which means that there is a fresh sea other than the rivers we see, there is a fresh sea at the bottom of the oceans and there is a salty sea.
(This is palatable and sweet, and that is salt and bitter) I did a long stop in front of these great words and asked why did God be he blessed and Exalted say (This is palatable and sweet) and did not say( palatable) only and why he said (and that is salt and bitter) and did not say (salt)?
Here we will discover a miracle in these four words: palatable – sweet- salt – bitter.
As rivers water is not 100% palatable but it contains a small percentage of salts, minerals and some chemical compounds .Also seas water contains a superfluous amount of salinity, in each cubic meter of sea water there is around 35 kilograms of salt , there is a superfluous amount of salinity in seas so God be he exalted say :(and that is salt and bitter) .
And about palatable water he did not only say (This is palatable) only but he said (sweet) and the word sweet in the Arabic language means pleasant taste, so if river water is 100% palatable it would be with no taste but when it mix with these salts and minerals, they give it the pleasant taste which we feel during drinking this palatable water.
When god be he blessed and exalted said (This is palatable and sweet, and that is salt and bitter) so Quran dealt with the water issue with a great amount of scientific accuracy, today hydrologists classify water according to the degree of water impurity or salts it contains so the distilled water is 100% palatable water and the sweet water is the water of rivers which contains a few amount of salts which we don’t feel with but it exists, so God be he blessed and exalted said (This is palatable and sweet) and the sea water contains a superfluous amount of salt when nobody knows about that, Quran described sea water to us as (and that is salt and bitter).
- (And He has set a barrier) he created a barrier between salty sea and palatable river: it means an interval distance between those seas to be mixed and none of them is dominates on the other, this area is the very sensitive area which scientists called (downstream area). No one ever know anything about this area, even the word downstream or downstream area , it is a modern scientific term which didn’t exist in the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him and no one knew anything about the barrier or an interval area.
Indeed it is proved that this interval area between salty see and palatable river has different characteristics, properties and advantages than that of the two seas (palatable and salty).
- (And a complete partition between them) as there is a partition that looks like a wall which keeps away river water from sea water, as if there is a fortified area and a complete partition that don’t permit to any of the seas to dominate on the other, and that what was recently founded by scientists, and imbalance entered this area when human contaminated rivers and seas and that caused the imbalance in this area.
Today, scientists are working for rebalancing the downstream area because of it’s environmental sensitivity and importance, and that what Quran has told us as God says (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). Verse 53 (Al-Furqan) which means that human must pay attention to the importance of this area, and not to contaminate it because Gods be he blessed and exalted made it a very sensitive balancing area ,and it is a source for you human and other creatures in this area.
Now we are asking about the aim of mentioning this truth in the holy Quran?
Why God be he blessed and exalted told us about the barrier, sweet water, bitter water, a complete partition, mixing, blending and disturbance, why? If we manage Surat Al-Furqan which contains this verse, we notice that God be he blessed and exalted sometimes tells us about the aim of the scientific fact before telling us the fact itself, as God before telling us about seas, water, winds, etc…..he reminded us with his graces in the previous verse as he says (So obey not the disbelievers, but strive against them with the utmost Endeavour with it) Verse 52(Al-Furqan). What does this verse mean?
It means that every believer is required to strive for the sake of God but with a commensurate way to the era he lives in, as the holy Quran has mentioned Endeavour(jihad) in many places but the only time he mentioned the utmost Endeavour is in this verse.
God be he exalted says (So obey not the disbelievers, but strive against them) which mean the Quran (with the utmost Endeavour with it), (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). Verse 53 (Al-Furqan) as if God be he blessed and exalted wants to send us a message through this cosmic truth that one day the utmost Endeavour (jihad) will be by the use of science and by the truths of Quran as when God talks to us, he says (but strive against them) which means with Quran, how can we strive the non believers by Quran? It will be by introducing the realities of Quran to them.
Since we live in the age of science, scientific technologies and scientific findings so the best way to invite non Muslims to Islam is the language of scientific truths which is included in Quran because when God be he blessed and exalted told us about this fact, it was for one target which is to make this fact as a weapon in Muslims’ hands to invite non Muslims to the way of God be he blessed and exalted .
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By: Abduldaem Al-Kaheel
References:
[1] Rocky Geyer,Where the Rivers Meet the Sea, Oceanus, December 16, 2004.
2- Matthew Charette, Ann Mulligan, Water Flowing Underground, Oceanus, December 10, 2004.
3– What is an estuary, www.estuarylive.org
Reference of Quran translation: king FAHD complex for the printing of holy Qur’an http://www.qurancomplex.org
