Surat al-Rahman: The Two Seas Tradition, more Variant Traditions and Deciphering Q55:19 and Q55:20 Part 1

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Jul 11, 2022 at 08:32

Let us read Q55:19:

مرج البحرين يلتقيان

1. مرج the meaning is unclear but this is how al-Qurtubi defined this word: مرج أي خلى وأرسل وأهمل

Or Marj means vacated, and sent and neglected.

https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/qortobi/sura55-aya19.html

Not much help.

Ghali translates the word as: Merged

https://www.alquranenglish.com/quran-surah-al-furqan-53-qs-25-53-in-arabic-and-english-translation#Dr.-Ghali

2. البحرين means: The two seas. al-Tabari did not know and he provides several possibilities about the names and locations of those 2 seas. This means al-Mufasereen did not know.

https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/tabary/sura55-aya19.html

3. يلتقيان means: They meet

Ibn Kathir fixes this poor syntax by fixing it as: منعهما أن يلتقيا or He prevented them (dual) from meeting.

How was this prevention achieved? Ibn Kathir tells us: جعل بينهما من البرزخ الحاجز الفاصل بينهما Or He placed a Barzkh (see below) as a partition between them (dual or the two seas)

The word Barzkh means, as per Ibn Manzur's Lisan al-'Arab: البرزخ : ما بين كل شيئين ، وفي الصحاح : الحاجز بين الشيئين

Or: al-Barzakh is what is between two things (in this case two bodies of water separated by an "Isthmus" of dry land) and in the Sahihs (Ahadith literature) it is the partition between two things.

Here is a link to Ibn Manzur:

https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&idfrom=434&idto=434&bk_no=122&ID=435

So the verse says: He vacated, sent and neglected the two seas they meet!!!

What does this mean? Only Allahu A'lam

Stay tuned for more

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