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→The Biblical and Judeo-Christian background literature: Added a section on the verses calling to the Palms. Academic reference given.
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# This description is so basic and lacking any actual science (i.e. God creates a barrier between two seas which stops them merging), it could easily apply to someone sa<nowiki/>iling nearby or over one of these and passing on the descriptions as humans have sailed since ancient times,<ref>''[https://www.bu.edu/archaeology/files/2016/05/Ancient-mariners-may-have-set-sail-130000-years-ago-_-Register-_-The-Times-The-Sunday-Times.pdf Ancient mariners may have set sail 130,000 years ago].'' ARCHAEOLOGY. The Times. Norman Hammond. 2016. Boston University Archive</ref> and the colours are often different (as seen in the image on this page), leading people to assume there was an actual barrier placed by God between the two waters. | # This description is so basic and lacking any actual science (i.e. God creates a barrier between two seas which stops them merging), it could easily apply to someone sa<nowiki/>iling nearby or over one of these and passing on the descriptions as humans have sailed since ancient times,<ref>''[https://www.bu.edu/archaeology/files/2016/05/Ancient-mariners-may-have-set-sail-130000-years-ago-_-Register-_-The-Times-The-Sunday-Times.pdf Ancient mariners may have set sail 130,000 years ago].'' ARCHAEOLOGY. The Times. Norman Hammond. 2016. Boston University Archive</ref> and the colours are often different (as seen in the image on this page), leading people to assume there was an actual barrier placed by God between the two waters. | ||
# This description also seems to imply there is no mixing between them at all, and could just as easily be written by someone believing that someone incorrectly believin<nowiki/>g this. | # This description also seems to imply there is no mixing between them at all, and could just as easily be written by someone believing that someone incorrectly believin<nowiki/>g this. | ||
A deeper analysis can be found on the now defunct and archived former Wikiislam website' page on scientific miracles ''[https://archive.wikiislam.net/wiki/Meeting_of_Fresh_and_Salt_Water_in_the_Quran Meeting of Fresh and Salt Water in the Quran].'' | A deeper analysis can be found on the now defunct and archived former (''more polemical'') Wikiislam website' page on scientific miracles ''[https://archive.wikiislam.net/wiki/Meeting_of_Fresh_and_Salt_Water_in_the_Quran Meeting of Fresh and Salt Water in the Quran].'' | ||
===== Problems with general accuracy ===== | ===== Problems with general accuracy ===== | ||
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* This uses the definite particle ''''al'''<nowiki/>' for 'the' for a specific two seas, not general. | * This uses the definite particle ''''al'''<nowiki/>' for 'the' for a specific two seas, not general. | ||
* '''<nowiki/>'baḥr'''' for large body of water/sea. | * '''<nowiki/>'baḥr'''' بحر for large body of water/sea. | ||
* the dual s'''<nowiki/>'''uffi<nowiki/>x/ending in '''<nowiki/>'ayni'''' means there are two of them, as apposed to singular or plural (3 or more in Arabic). | * the dual s'''<nowiki/>'''uffi<nowiki/>x/ending in '''<nowiki/>'ayni'''' -ين means there are two of them, as apposed to singular or plural (3 or more in Arabic). | ||
# Yet this happens in many places (there are over 1,200 documented estuaries,<ref>''[https://www.seaaroundus.org/about-estuaries-database/#:~:text=Specifically%2C%20this%20database%2C%20the%20first,and%20territories%20(Alder%202003). About Estuary Database].'' Sea Around Us. Jacqueline Alder. Citing: ''Alder J (2003) Putting the Coast in the Sea Around Us Project. The Sea Around Us Newsletter No. 15:1-2.'' | # Yet this happens in many places (there are over 1,200 documented estuaries,<ref>''[https://www.seaaroundus.org/about-estuaries-database/#:~:text=Specifically%2C%20this%20database%2C%20the%20first,and%20territories%20(Alder%202003). About Estuary Database].'' Sea Around Us. Jacqueline Alder. Citing: ''Alder J (2003) Putting the Coast in the Sea Around Us Project. The Sea Around Us Newsletter No. 15:1-2.'' | ||
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Then [Alexander’s cook] came to the spring, which contained the lifegiving water / he came close to it, in order to wash the fish in water, but it came alive and escaped; The poor man was afraid that the king would blame him / that he give back the [value of the] fish, which had come to life and which he did not stop. So he got down into the water, in order to catch it, but was unable / then he climbed out from there in order to tell the king that he had found [the spring] He called, but no one heard him, and so he went to a mountain from where they heard him / the king was glad when he heard about the spring. The king turned around in order to bathe [in the spring] as he had sought to do / and they went from the mountain in the middle of darkness, but they could not reach it. | Then [Alexander’s cook] came to the spring, which contained the lifegiving water / he came close to it, in order to wash the fish in water, but it came alive and escaped; The poor man was afraid that the king would blame him / that he give back the [value of the] fish, which had come to life and which he did not stop. So he got down into the water, in order to catch it, but was unable / then he climbed out from there in order to tell the king that he had found [the spring] He called, but no one heard him, and so he went to a mountain from where they heard him / the king was glad when he heard about the spring. The king turned around in order to bathe [in the spring] as he had sought to do / and they went from the mountain in the middle of darkness, but they could not reach it. | ||
(Song of Alexander, recension 1, pp. 48–50, ll. 182–92)}} | (Song of Alexander, recension 1, pp. 48–50, ll. 182–92)}} | ||
This also explains why the fish (which was their food, i.e. dead) then takes to the sea in a 'marvellous' way ''(it is worth pointing out the obvious that there is no sea on Earth that can revive dead animals)'': | This also explains why the fish (which was their food, i.e. dead) then comes back to life and takes to the sea in a 'marvellous' way ''(it is worth pointing out the obvious that there is no sea on Earth that can revive dead animals)'': | ||
{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7817/jameroriesoci.135.1.19 | title=Some Cosmological Notions from Late Antiquity in Q 18:60–65: The Quran in Light of Its Cultural Context. Tommaso Tesei. American Oriental Society. Vol. 135, No. 1 (January-March 2015), pp. 19-32}}|When at v. 63 the Quran states that the fish “took its way in the sea in a marvellous way,” it evidently refers to its wondrously being revived upon contact with the miraculous water. In fact, the enigmatic episode acquires sense only if read in light of the dynamic described in the legend of the water of life, and the extreme vagueness with which the Quran describes the episode suggests that its audience was expected to be acquainted with the Alexander tale...}} | {{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7817/jameroriesoci.135.1.19 | title=Some Cosmological Notions from Late Antiquity in Q 18:60–65: The Quran in Light of Its Cultural Context. Tommaso Tesei. American Oriental Society. Vol. 135, No. 1 (January-March 2015), pp. 19-32}}|When at v. 63 the Quran states that the fish “took its way in the sea in a marvellous way,” it evidently refers to its wondrously being revived upon contact with the miraculous water. In fact, the enigmatic episode acquires sense only if read in light of the dynamic described in the legend of the water of life, and the extreme vagueness with which the Quran describes the episode suggests that its audience was expected to be acquainted with the Alexander tale...}} | ||
Similar to other religious near-East sources: | Similar to other religious near-East sources: | ||
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{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://biblia.com/books/kjv1900/Ge1.6 | title=Genesis 1:10}}|(Genesis 1:6-10) 6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. | {{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://biblia.com/books/kjv1900/Ge1.6 | title=Genesis 1:10}}|(Genesis 1:6-10) 6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. | ||
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. }} | 9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. }}Islamic Scholar Angelika Neuwirth notes in her commentary on verses 55:19-22, that the text, along with many other verses, contains calls to the Palms: | ||
We can see these views were also prevalent in Arabia at the time of Mohammad's preaching as this poem from a contemporary of Muhammad mentions the Earth being settled on the waters: | {{Quote|Neuwirth, Angelika. The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 1: Early Meccan Suras: Poetic Prophecy (p. 371). Yale University Press.|V. 19–22 maraja l-baḥrayni yaltaqiyān / baynahumā barzakhun lā yabghiyān / fa-bi-ayyi ālāʾi rabbikumā tukadhdhibān / yakhruju minhumā l-luʾluʾu wa-marjān] The myth of the division of the waters, to which verses 19–20 allude, is unfolded in detail in Psalms 104:5–9: yasad ereṣ ʿal mekhoneha, bal timmoṭ ʿolam wa- ʿed / tehom ka-levush kissito, ʿal harim ya ʿamdu mayim / min ga ʿaratkha yenussun, min qol raʿamkha yeḥafezun / ya ʿalu harim yeredu veqaʿot, el me-qom zeh yassadta lahem / gevul samta bal ya ʿavorun, bal yeshuvun le-khassot ha-areṣ (“He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved // You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. / But at Your rebuke the waters fled / at the sound of Your thunder they took to flight; // they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them. // You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth.”). On the entire thematics of the sea in v. 19–24, see Barthod (1929) and Zaki (2001). In regard to the rhetorical form of v. 22, it is striking that again a pair of products of the sea—here with contrasting colors—is named. | ||
V. 24 wa-lahu l-jawāri l-munshaʾātu fī l-baḥri ka-l-aʿlām] The perception of the astonishing majesty of the sea (as in Q 55:19–22) transitions also in the Psalm into wonder at the phenomenon of sea travel, see Psalms 104:25–26: zeh ha-yam godol u-reḥav yadayim, sham remesh we-en mispar ḥayyot qeṭannot ʿim gedolot / sham oniyot yehallekhun (“There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number, living things both large and small. / There the ships go to and fro”).}} | |||
==== '''Pre-Islamic poetry''' ==== | |||
The fact that the Qur'an addresses it's audience with the claim of the two (specific not general) seas, without giving more explanation or context about what they are or where, also suggests the initial audience were acquainted with it's meaning. We can see these views were also prevalent in Arabia at the time of Mohammad's preaching as this poem from a contemporary of Muhammad mentions the Earth being settled on the waters: | |||
{{Quote|Poem attributed to Zayd b. 'Amr, as found for example in Ibn Al Jawzi's Al Muntazam,<ref name="IbnalJawzi">https://shamela.ws/book/12406/736</ref> and Ibn Ishaq's biography of Muhammad (as translated from Ibn Ishaq by Guillaume<ref name="Guillaume">https://www.justislam.co.uk/images/Ibn%20Ishaq%20-%20Sirat%20Rasul%20Allah.pdf</ref> and transliterated by Bravmann<ref name="Bravmann">Bravmann, M. M. (1977) Studies in Semitic Philology, Leiden: Brill p.439</ref>)|daḥāhā falammā raʾādā istawat ʿalā l-māʾi arsā ʿalayhā l-jibālā / | {{Quote|Poem attributed to Zayd b. 'Amr, as found for example in Ibn Al Jawzi's Al Muntazam,<ref name="IbnalJawzi">https://shamela.ws/book/12406/736</ref> and Ibn Ishaq's biography of Muhammad (as translated from Ibn Ishaq by Guillaume<ref name="Guillaume">https://www.justislam.co.uk/images/Ibn%20Ishaq%20-%20Sirat%20Rasul%20Allah.pdf</ref> and transliterated by Bravmann<ref name="Bravmann">Bravmann, M. M. (1977) Studies in Semitic Philology, Leiden: Brill p.439</ref>)|daḥāhā falammā raʾādā istawat ʿalā l-māʾi arsā ʿalayhā l-jibālā / | ||
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=== Islamic Literature - The two seas in the story Moses and Al-Khidr === | === Islamic Literature - The two seas in the story Moses and Al-Khidr === | ||
{{Quran|18|60}} states he won't give up until he reaches the two seas, or has progressed for many 'ages', with the word implying this junction is extremely far from land (many translators such as Yusuf Khan, Shakir and Muhsin Khan translate it as 'years'), taking longer than any journey on our actual oceans would take. For example Christopher Columbus's journeys to America in the 1,400's took around 4 weeks to 6 months depending on the wind and weather.<ref>[https://www.royalcaribbean.com/guides/transatlantic-history-crossing-cruise#:~:text=Back%20in%20Columbus'%20day%2C%20sailing,was%20largely%20based%20on%20luck. ''How transatlantic history shaped the world as we know it.''] Royalcaribbean.com. Uploaded by Chantae Reden. 2022. Written by Claire Heginbotham.</ref> This suggests the author thought it was very far away from the | In {{Quran|18|60}} Moses states that he won't give up until he reaches the two seas, or has progressed for many 'ages' (in Arabic huquban حُقُبًا) , with the word implying this junction is extremely far from land (many translators such as Yusuf Khan, Shakir and Muhsin Khan translate it as 'years'), taking longer than any journey on our actual oceans would take. For example Christopher Columbus's journeys to America in the 1,400's took around 4 weeks to 6 months depending on the wind and weather.<ref>[https://www.royalcaribbean.com/guides/transatlantic-history-crossing-cruise#:~:text=Back%20in%20Columbus'%20day%2C%20sailing,was%20largely%20based%20on%20luck. ''How transatlantic history shaped the world as we know it.''] Royalcaribbean.com. Uploaded by Chantae Reden. 2022. Written by Claire Heginbotham.</ref> This suggests the author thought it was very far away from the Middle East where Moses is said to have preached. | ||
This story continues where Moses goes with a 'servant of God' at the junction of the two seas, who is unnamed in the Qur'an but called 'Al-Khidr' in the Hadith. This man has extremely accurate foreknowledge of both future events and human nature ([[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Predestination|predestination]]), so he carries out seemingly strange immoral tasks and tells Moses to be patient and not ask him about them; these are making a hole in a boat to sink it, killing a young child, and fixing a wall for free for a town that refused them hospitality. | This story continues where Moses goes with a 'servant of God' at the junction of the two seas, who is unnamed in the Qur'an but called 'Al-Khidr' in the Hadith. This man has extremely accurate foreknowledge of both future events and human nature ([[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Predestination|predestination]]), so he carries out seemingly strange immoral tasks and tells Moses to be patient and not ask him about them; these are making a hole in a boat to sink it, killing a young child, and fixing a wall for free for a town that refused them hospitality. | ||
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However Moses cannot help but ask why they are doing them, so after three events Al-Khidr parts ways with him and tells him why he committed the acts; he made a hole in the boat as it was about to be stolen by a king if they departed at that moment, the child was killed as he would become a disbeliever, hurting his devout parents - so God will replace him with a 'purer' one, and the as for fixing the wall, he built it because it is covering a hidden treasure and two orphan boys will find this later. | However Moses cannot help but ask why they are doing them, so after three events Al-Khidr parts ways with him and tells him why he committed the acts; he made a hole in the boat as it was about to be stolen by a king if they departed at that moment, the child was killed as he would become a disbeliever, hurting his devout parents - so God will replace him with a 'purer' one, and the as for fixing the wall, he built it because it is covering a hidden treasure and two orphan boys will find this later. | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran|18| | {{Quote|{{Quran|18|66-82}}|18:66 Moses said to him, “May I follow you on [the condition] that you teach me from what you have been taught of sound judgement?” | ||
18:67 He said, “Indeed, with me you will never be able to have patience. | 18:67 He said, “Indeed, with me you will never be able to have patience. | ||
18:68 And how can you have patience for what you do not encompass in knowledge?” | 18:68 And how can you have patience for what you do not encompass in knowledge?” | ||
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=== '''Islamic Commentaries''' === | === '''Islamic Commentaries''' === | ||
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Tabari Al-Tabari] also provided an interpretation on this meaning of this verse to mean a 'sea in the sky and earth that meet every year' (with other views in his tafsir on verse:) | [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Tabari Al-Tabari] also provided an interpretation on this meaning of this verse to mean a 'sea in the sky and earth that meet every year' (with other views in his tafsir on verse:) | ||
{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=1&tSoraNo=55&tAyahNo=19&tDisplay=yes&Page=2&Size=1&LanguageId=1 | title=Al-Ṭabarī Tafsir verse 55:19}}|...On the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn Abbas, in his saying: {The two seas meet.} He said: <b>A sea in the sky and earth that meet every year.</b> Others said: He meant the Persian Sea and the Roman Sea...}} | {{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=1&tSoraNo=55&tAyahNo=19&tDisplay=yes&Page=2&Size=1&LanguageId=1 | title=Al-Ṭabarī Tafsir verse 55:19}}|...On the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn Abbas, in his saying: {The two seas meet.} He said: <b>A sea in the sky and earth that meet every year.</b> Others said: He meant the Persian Sea and the Roman Sea...}}And speaks of a cosmic ocean elsewhere. | ||
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qurtubi Al-Qurtubi], another prominent Sunni Scholar also provides this view:{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=1&tTafsirNo=5&tSoraNo=25&tAyahNo=53&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=1 | title=Tafsir al-Qurtabi 25:53}}|Ibn Abbas and Ibn Jubayr said: It refers to the ocean of the sky and the ocean of the earth. Ibn Abbas further explained: They meet each other every year, and between them is a barrier decreed by Allah. "And a barrier between them is forbidden to be crossed." It is forbidden for the salty water to mix with the sweet water or for the sweet water to become salty.}} | {{Quote|Al-Tabari, Vol. 1, pp. 207-208|According to Muhammad b. Sahl b. 'Askar-Isma'il b. 'Abd al-Karim-Wahb, mentioning some of his majesty (as being described as follows): The heavens and the earth and the oceans are in the haykal, and the haykal is in the Footstool. God's feet are upon the Footstool. He carries the Footstool. It became like a sandal on His feet. When Wahb was asked: What is the haykal? He replied: Something on the heavens' extremities that surrounds the earth and the oceans like ropes that are used to fasten a tent. And when Wahb was asked how earths are (constituted), he replied: <b>They are seven earths that are flat and islands. Between each two earths, there is an ocean. All that is surrounded by the (surrounding) ocean, and the haykal is behind the ocean.</b>}} | ||
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qurtubi Al-Qurtubi], another prominent Sunni Scholar also provides this 'sky and Earth sea meeting' view:{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=1&tTafsirNo=5&tSoraNo=25&tAyahNo=53&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=1 | title=Tafsir al-Qurtabi 25:53}}|Ibn Abbas and Ibn Jubayr said: It refers to the ocean of the sky and the ocean of the earth. Ibn Abbas further explained: They meet each other every year, and between them is a barrier decreed by Allah. "And a barrier between them is forbidden to be crossed." It is forbidden for the salty water to mix with the sweet water or for the sweet water to become salty.}} | |||
[https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Abbas/18.60 Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs] and [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/18.60 Tafsir Ibn Al Kathir] commentary on verse 18:60, while not stating this comes from a cosmic ocean (but rather a nearby spring), also relate this story to a rock which contains the fountain of life reviving a dead fish, which pulls motifs from the near-East view of a magical cosmic waters with life giving qualities. ''(Once again it is worth pointing out the obvious that there is no magic fountain on Earth that can revive dead animals).'' | [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Abbas/18.60 Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs] and [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/18.60 Tafsir Ibn Al Kathir] commentary on verse 18:60, while not stating this comes from a cosmic ocean (but rather a nearby spring), also relate this story to a rock which contains the fountain of life reviving a dead fish, which pulls motifs from the near-East view of a magical cosmic waters with life giving qualities. ''(Once again it is worth pointing out the obvious that there is no magic fountain or rock on Earth that can revive dead animals).'' | ||
It is also very difficult to imagine how one would know they had reached a junction of two seas, if this was referring to man-made sea boundaries as (such as the Persian and Roman seas) which many later commentaries guess at. However they would be more likely to know by reaching a magical barrier between the Earthly sea and cosmic ocean. | It is also very difficult to imagine how one would know they had reached a junction of two seas, if this was referring to man-made sea boundaries as (such as the Persian and Roman seas) which many later commentaries guess at. However they would be more likely to know by reaching a magical barrier between the Earthly sea and cosmic ocean. | ||
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Separately, in the story of Gog and Magog, also linked to [[Dhul-Qarnayn and the Alexander Romance|Dhul-Qarnayn/Alexander the Great]] and this tale, some Shi'i traditions locate the barrier (of Gog and Magog) either behind the Mediterranean, between the two mountains found there, whose rear part is the encircling sea/ocean of the world (Bahr al-muhit).<ref>van Donzel, Emeri; Schmidt, Andrea. ''Gog and Magog in Early Eastern Christian and Islamic Sources: Sallam's Quest for Alexander's Wall.'' Leiden: Brill. pp. 81. <nowiki>ISBN 9789004174160</nowiki>, 2010. The full book can be read on the ''Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/gogandmagoginearlyeasternchristianandislamicsources/page/n98/mode/1up linked here].''</ref> | Separately, in the story of Gog and Magog, also linked to [[Dhul-Qarnayn and the Alexander Romance|Dhul-Qarnayn/Alexander the Great]] and this tale, some Shi'i traditions locate the barrier (of Gog and Magog) either behind the Mediterranean, between the two mountains found there, whose rear part is the encircling sea/ocean of the world (Bahr al-muhit).<ref>van Donzel, Emeri; Schmidt, Andrea. ''Gog and Magog in Early Eastern Christian and Islamic Sources: Sallam's Quest for Alexander's Wall.'' Leiden: Brill. pp. 81. <nowiki>ISBN 9789004174160</nowiki>, 2010. The full book can be read on the ''Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/gogandmagoginearlyeasternchristianandislamicsources/page/n98/mode/1up linked here].''</ref> | ||
As mentioned in the introductory paragraph, there are many classical scholars who have attributed the 'two seas' verses other than Moses reaching them (in Q18:60-65) as non-literal, in the sense that it is referring to the way that fresh water bodies of water are separate to the salty seas and oceans in general,<ref>Tafsir Ibn Kathir on [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/25.51 Verse 25:51.] </ref>usually by land.<ref>Tafsir Al-Jalalayn on verse [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Jalal/25.53 25:53]</ref> However once again it should be noted that it is not supported by the actual language of the Quran which designates the verse to be talking about two specific large bodies of water, rather than the many, many separate but unconnected bodies of fresh water across Earth. This view for example by Ibn Kathir seems supported by the fact that no-where on Earth has a sea with fresh water rather than a linguistic analysis (let alone there is no-where on Earth a freshwater sea touches a saltwater sea without merging). | |||
{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/25.51 | title=Tafsir Ibn Kathir on Verse 25:51}}|(And it is He Who has let free the two seas, this is palatable and sweet, and that is salty and bitter;) means, He has created the two kinds of water, sweet and salty. The sweet water is like that in rivers, springs and wells, which is fresh, sweet, palatable water. This was the view of Ibn Jurayj and of Ibn Jarir, and this is the meaning without a doubt, <b>for nowhere in creation is there a sea which is fresh and sweet.</b>}} | |||
==== Folklore and maps ==== | ==== Folklore and maps ==== | ||
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* https://archive.wikiislam.net/wiki/Meeting_of_Fresh_and_Salt_Water_in_the_Quran - ''Previous archived Wikiislam page on the former site covering this 'miracle''' | * https://archive.wikiislam.net/wiki/Meeting_of_Fresh_and_Salt_Water_in_the_Quran - ''Previous archived Wikiislam page on the former site covering this 'miracle''' | ||
* [https://www.answering-islam.org/Responses/It-is-truth/chap13.htm Answering Islam - Facts About the Seas and Oceans] | |||
* [https://atheism-vs-islam.com/index.php/scientific-mistakes-in-the-revelation/139-the-rain-model-in-muhammad-s-mind-covering-the-entire-islamic-cosmology,-including-the-flat-earth-concept The Rain Model in Muhammad's Mind] - ''an article on Islam Vs Atheism.com covering this topic and other water cycle related verses in the Quran and hadith'' | * [https://atheism-vs-islam.com/index.php/scientific-mistakes-in-the-revelation/139-the-rain-model-in-muhammad-s-mind-covering-the-entire-islamic-cosmology,-including-the-flat-earth-concept The Rain Model in Muhammad's Mind] - ''an article on Islam Vs Atheism.com covering this topic and other water cycle related verses in the Quran and hadith'' | ||
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9Voh0xLLUw&t=105s Waters that Never mix] - ''YouTube video'' | * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9Voh0xLLUw&t=105s Waters that Never mix] - ''YouTube video'' | ||
== References == | == References == | ||