Do not obey the unbelievers, but strive most vigorously against them with this Qur’an.
He it is who has let free the two bodies of water; the one sweet and thirst-quenching, and the other salty and bitter. Yet between them He has made a barrier and a forbidding ban. And He it is who has created man from water and established for him bonds of lineage and marriage. All-powerful is your Lord. (The Standard, Al-Furqan: 25: 52-54)
We mentioned last week how the Quraysh elders tried hard to suppress the effect of the Qur’an, ordering their subordinates not to listen to it, and speaking about it in a frivolous manner. Indeed, the Qur’an embodies simple and natural facts which link hearts directly to the truth that issues forth with irresistible power. It includes scenes and images of the Day of Judgment, and others derived from the universe around us, historical accounts, scenes of the fate of past communities, and powerful argument, all of which strike basic cords in our hearts. Indeed, we often experience that a single surah affects us so powerfully as to get hold of our whole being. Indeed, the Qur’an is often described as more powerful than great armies. It is no wonder, therefore, that God has ordered His Messenger not to obey the unbelievers, and not to budge from fulfilling his task. The divine order also requires the Prophet to strive against unbelievers most vigorously by means of the Qur’an. Having been given the Qur’an, the Prophet (peace be upon him) is equipped with something much more forceful than any human logic.
The surah again portrays images from the world around us. Having spoken about winds heralding rain and its pure water, now it speaks of the great bodies of water, some of which are sweet and some salty, and how they do not mix. “He it is who has let free the two bodies of water; the one sweet and thirst-quenching, and the other salty and bitter. Yet between them He has made a barrier and a forbidding ban.”
It is God who has created both types and left them to run their courses, meeting at certain points. Nevertheless, their waters do not mix because they have a natural barrier keeping them apart. In most cases, rivers run at a level higher than the sea, which means that at the meeting point, it is the river with its sweet water that runs into the salty sea. It is very rare that a river runs below sea level. Hence, the sea with its much greater body of water does not overpower the river whose water gives life to plants, animals and man. The fact that this is the natural order in practically all cases where river meets sea means that it is certainly not coincidental. It happens by the will of the Creator who made the universe in such a way as to fulfill His purpose and remain subject to His laws of nature.
Indeed the natural laws God has set in operation ensure that the salty waters of sea and ocean do not overrun dry land or overpower rivers. This remains so even during high tide caused by the moon gravity as it affects the earth’s surface water.
In his book Man Does Not Stand Alone, A. Cressy Morrison says:
“The moon is 240,000 miles away, and the tides twice a day are usually a gentle reminder of its presence. Tides of the ocean run as high as sixty feet in some places, and even the crust of the earth is twice a day bent outward several inches by the moon’s attraction. All seems so regular that we do not grasp to any degree the vast power that lifts the whole area of the sea several feet and bends the curst of the earth, seemingly so solid. Mars has a moon - a little one - only six thousand miles away from it. If our moon was, say, fifty thousand miles away instead of its present respectable distance, our tides would be so enormous that twice a day all the lowland of all the continents would be submerged by a rush of water so enormous that even the mountains would soon be eroded away, and probably no continent could have risen from the depths fast enough to exist today. The earth would crack with the turmoil and tides in the air would create daily hurricanes. If the continents were washed away, the average depth of water over the whole earth would be about a mile and a half and life could not exist except perhaps in the abysmal depth of the ocean, where it would feed upon itself till extinct.”
But the hand that manages this universe has let the two bodies of water free, placing between them a barrier that prevents either of them from encroaching on the other. This barrier is erected between them through their very nature and the nature of the universe which demonstrates such balances that testify to the wisdom of its Maker.
As the surah proceeds, it refers to a fluid that is totally different from the water pouring down from the skies, or moving along in seas and rivers. It mentions the sperm that gives rise to human life: “And He it is who has created man from water and established for him bonds of lineage and marriage. All-powerful is your Lord.” It is from this particular fluid that a fetus takes form and becomes a male child related to its ancestors by lineage, or a female one that embodies the marriage relationship.
The human life that comes into existence through this fluid is far greater and more wonderful than life caused by rain. Just one cell, out of a countless number comprised in one drop of man’s semen, fertilizes the woman’s egg to initiate the formation of the greatly sophisticated creature, man, the most remarkable of all living creatures.
It is from practically identical sperms and female eggs that boys and girls come into existence, in a remarkable process that human knowledge has not yet fathomed. None of the many thousands of sperms shows any clear signs that makes it able to produce a male or a female. Similarly, no female egg shows such signs. Nevertheless, one eventually produces a man, while another produces a woman. “All powerful is your Lord.” This amazing phenomenon shows just one aspect of His power.