ﱁ ﱂ ﱃ ﱄ ﱅ ﱆ ﱇ ﱈ ﱉ ﱊ ﱋ ﱌ ﱍ ﱎ ﱏ ﱐ ﱑ ﱒ ﱓ ﱔ ﱕ ﱖ ﱗ ﱘ ﱙ ﱚ ﱛ ﱜ ﱝ ﱞ
And not alike are the two bodies of water. One is fresh and sweet, palatable for drinking, and one is salty and bitter. And from each you eat tender meat and extract ornaments which you wear, and you see the ships plowing through [them] that you might seek of His bounty; and perhaps you will be grateful.
Tafsir
Verse range: 35:12
"And the two seas are not alike..."
The two seas—the fresh and the salty—are metaphors for the believer and the disbeliever. Then, by way of digression, He describes the two seas and the blessings and gifts attached to them:
"From each"—meaning from each one of them—"you eat tender meat" (which is fish), "and extract ornaments" (which are pearls and coral).
"And you see the ships in it"—in each of them—"plowing through" (cutting through the water with their movement). It is said: "The ship makhara (plowed) the water." Clouds are also called "daughters of the plow" (banat mukhri) because they plow through the air. The word safina (ship) is derived from a root close to makhr, as it "scrapes" (tasfun) the water, as if peeling it, just as it plows through it.
"From His bounty"—from the bounty of Allah. Although it was not explicitly mentioned in this verse, it was mentioned in the preceding ones. Even if it had not been mentioned, it would not be problematic, as the meaning points to it.
The particle of hope (la'allakum) is used metaphorically to mean intent. Do you not see how it functions like the lam of causation? It is as if it were said: "So that you may seek, and so that you may give thanks."
An alternative interpretation (other than the digression): The two types (believer and disbeliever) are likened to the two seas. Then, the salty sea is shown to be superior to the disbeliever, in that it shares with the fresh sea the benefits of fish and pearls, and ships sail upon it, whereas the disbeliever is devoid of benefit. This follows the method of His saying: "Then your hearts became hardened after that, being like stones or even harder" (Al-Baqarah: 74), followed by: "And indeed, there are stones out of which rivers gush forth, and indeed, there are those of them which split open and water comes out, and indeed, there are those of them which fall down for fear of Allah" (Al-Baqarah: 74).
"He causes the night to enter the day, and He causes the day to enter the night, and He has subjected the sun and the moon—each running for a specified term. That is Allah, your Lord; to Him belongs sovereignty. And those whom you invoke other than Him do not possess [so much as] the skin of a date seed."
