And when he mentioned the blessing of the sea, he mentioned the blessing of what grows in it, as he did with the land. He said, expressing it in the passive form, because both the existence of it in it and the ability to extract it from it are extraordinary without regard to a specific outlet. The blessing is the very act of extraction. For this reason, [the recitation of] 'non-beneficial' and the Basri scholars are in the active form of extraction: ﴿Yakhruju minhuma﴾, meaning: by the mixing of the sweet and salty without an intermediary, or by the intermediary of the clouds. Thus, this became like the male and female. Al-Razi said: The sweet water would be like the fertilization for the salty water. Abu Hayyan said: The majority said: It only comes out from the brackish water in the places where the rivers and sweet waters are found, so it is appropriate to attribute that to both of them. This is well-known among the divers. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, and Ikrimah, his freedman, may Allah be pleased with him, said: These things in the sea occur with the descent of rain, because the shells and others open their mouths for the rain - this has ended.

So the shells are like the wombs for the sperm, and the water of the sea is like the nourishing body. The evidence that it is from the rainwater is as the scholar Hamzah al-Kirmaniy said: It is well-known that when the year is barren, the fish become thin, and the shells and jewels become scarce - this has ended. Then there is no doubt that although they are two seas, they are united by a single description in that they are [water]. Thus, it is permissible to attribute the extraction to both of them as one attributes the extraction of a human to all lands, and it is only that he has come out from a house from which he is attributed, just as the messengers are attributed to the jinn and humans by combining them in a single address, as He said: ﴿Rasulun minkum﴾ [Al-A'raf: 35]. Likewise, ﴿Waja'ala al-qamara fihinna nooran﴾ [Nuh: 16], and similar instances are many. ﴿Al-lu'lu'u﴾, which is the pearl that is in the utmost whiteness, brightness, and purity, and ﴿Wal-marjan﴾, meaning the red corals that are in the utmost redness. So glorified is He who has differentiated between them in color, benefits, and existence - this saying was transmitted by Ibn Atiyyah from Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, and he said: [And] this is the well-known usage - this has ended. And a large number said: [Indeed] the pearls are the large ones of the coral, and the corals are the small ones.