His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿He has let the two seas flow, meeting together﴾ ﴿Between them is a barrier, they do not transgress﴾ ﴿So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?﴾ ﴿From both of them comes the pearl and the coral﴾ ﴿So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?﴾ ﴿And to Him belong the ships, raised in the sea like mountains﴾ ﴿So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?﴾ ﴿Every soul upon it will perish﴾ ﴿And there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of Glory and Honor﴾ ﴿So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?﴾

(p-166) "He has let the two seas flow" means: He has sent them forth without bias from one to the other. From this: the creature has flowed, and from this: the matter is mixed, meaning: the mixed that nothing is obtained from it. From this is ﴿from a flame of fire﴾ [Ar-Rahman: 15]. People have differed regarding the two seas - Al-Hasan and Qatadah said: the Sea of Persia and the Sea of Rome. Al-Hasan also said: the Sea of Qulzum, Yemen, and the Sea of Sham. Ibn Abbas and Ibn Jubair said: a sea in the sky and a sea on the earth. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, also said: it is the rain of the sky - He called it a sea - and the sea of the earth. The apparent meaning to me is that His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿He has let the two seas flow﴾ refers to the two types of water: sweet and salty, meaning: their mixing on the earth and He has sent them forth intertwined in their position on the earth, close to one another. The lesson in this interpretation is illuminating, and Mundhir ibn Sa'id recited:

And the mixed waters, neither the sweet is dominant over the salty, nor the salty becomes sweet.

As for His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "meeting together" - on the first two interpretations, their meaning is: prepared for meeting, and their right is to meet were it not for the barrier. On the third saying, they meet once a year. Whoever claims that it is a sea that gathers in the sky, this is a weak statement. Rather, the meeting is directed in it and in the fourth saying by the descent of rain, and in the fifth saying by the rivers in the sea and by the springs near the sea.

And "the barrier": is the barrier in everything. In some of these statements, it is the bodies of the earth, as said by Qatadah, and in some of them, it is the power. The barrier is also the period between this world and the Hereafter for the dead, so it is a barrier. Some people said: the water of the rivers does not mix with the salty water, but it remains in itself. This requires evidence or a sound hadith; otherwise, observation does not necessitate it. Al-Thaalabi mentioned in "He has let the two seas flow" riddles and hidden sayings that should not be paid attention to.

And the people differed regarding His saying, the Exalted: "They do not transgress against one another". Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, and Qatadah said: Its meaning is that neither of them transgresses against the other. Qatadah and Al-Hasan also said: They do not transgress against people and the inhabitants. These two sayings are based on the fact that the term is from transgression. Some of the interpreters said: It is from your saying: transgression when one seeks. Its meaning is: They do not transgress in any state other than the two states for which they were created and made submissive. Ibn Abbas, Qatadah, and Al-Dahhak said: The pearl refers to the large jewels, and the coral refers to the small ones. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, also said, and Murrah Al-Hamdani said the opposite of this, and the description of smallness is the correct one regarding pearls. Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, and others said: Coral is a red stone, and this is the correct view regarding coral. The term pearl is a strange construction that is not preserved in the speech of the Arabs more than five: pearl, jujur, daud, yuy, which is a bird, and bu'bu, which is the original.

And the people differed regarding His saying, the Exalted: "from both of them". Abu Al-Hasan Al-Akhfash said in his book "Al-Hujjah": A group claimed that pearls and corals may emerge from saltwater and from freshwater. The people refuted the poet regarding his saying:

So he came with it, whatever you wish of a slap on her face, the water of the Euphrates is surging.

And a majority of the interpreters said: That only emerges from the brackish water in the places where rivers and fresh waters are located. For this reason, He, the Exalted, said: "from both of them", and this is well known among the divers. Ibn Abbas and Ikrimah said: These things are formed in the sea by the falling of rain, for the shells and others open their insides to the rain. For this reason, He, the Exalted, said: "from both of them". Abu Ubaidah said what means: The emergence of these things is indeed from the saltwater, but He, the Exalted, said: "from both of them" as a figure of speech, as the poet said:

.................. carrying a sword and a spear.

And as another said:

................. I fed her straw and cold water.

So from where they are one type, the emergence of these things is indeed from both of them, even if they are specified in detail by one of them. This is as He, the Exalted, said: "Seven heavens in layers" [Noah: 15] "And He made the moon in them a light" [Noah: 16], and it is only in one of them, which is the world to the earth. And Al-Rummani said: The fresh water in both is like the pollen for the saltwater, as it is said: The child emerges from the male and the female. Nafi', Abu Amr, and the people of Medina read: "It emerges" with a dammed ya and a opened ra in the nominative. Ibn Kathir, Asim, Ibn Amer, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read: "It emerges" with an opened ya and a dammed ra in the active form, and this is the reading of Al-Hasan and Abu Ja'far. And Abu Amr read - in the narration of Hussein Al-Ju'fi from him: "He brings out" with a dammed ya and a broken ra attributing it to Allah, the Exalted, meaning: by His enabling and power, "the pearl" in the accusative, and he also narrated it with a dammed nun and a broken ra.

'And the 'jawaari' is the plural of 'jaariyah', which means the ships. Al-Hasan and Al-Nakha'i read 'al-jawariy' with the yā' being present. Abu Ja'far and Shaiba read it by omitting it. Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Abu 'Amr, Ibn 'Amir, and Al-Kisai read 'al-munsha'at' with the shīn being opened, meaning: Allah, the Exalted, or the people created them. Hamzah and Abu Bakr read differently from him: 'al-munsha'at' with the shīn being broken, meaning: they create the movement of coming and going. And 'the a'laam' refers to the mountains and what runs in their course from the hills and mounds. Mujahid said: What has a sail is from the 'munsha'at' and what does not have a sail is not from the 'munsha'at'.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: His saying, the Exalted, 'like the a'laam' necessitates this distinction. As for the term 'al-munsha'at', it encompasses both the large and the small.

And the pronoun in His saying, the Exalted, 'Every one upon it will perish' refers to the earth, and He alluded to it without having previously mentioned it for the clarity of the meaning, as He, the Exalted, said: 'Until it vanished behind the veil' [Sad: 32] and other such evidences. The reference to perishing applies to all existing things on earth, whether living or otherwise. Therefore, the expression 'who' predominates, and that is why He said: 'who'.

And 'the face' is an expression of the essence because the attribute of being a limb is negated in the case of Allah, the Exalted. This is like saying: this is the face of the saying and the matter, meaning: its reality and essence. The majority of the people read: 'the Lord of glory' in accordance with the wording of 'the face'. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud and Ubayy, may Allah be pleased with them both, read: 'the Lord of glory' in accordance with the attribute of the Lord, blessed and exalted is He.