QURAN ON BARRIER BETWEEN SEAS

Quran on Sweet / Salt Water And Partition

Barrier Between Seas

Just recently, we discovered that the Atlantic Ocean water has entirely different characteristics from those of the Mediterranean Sea. Same is the case with other large water bodies. They all have different characteristics in terms of density, salinity, and other properties. The two seas present different features even though they are adjacent. When Mediterranean sea water enters the Atlantic over the Gibraltar sill, it moves several hundred kilometers into the Atlantic at a depth of hundreds of meters with its own warm, saline, and less dense characteristics. This is because of the surface tension caused by the difference in the density of their waters that prevents them from mixing with one another, just as if a wall is between them. Now, look what the Quran says about this many centuries ago in Surah Furqan, Surah Fatir, and Surah Rahman.

وَهُوَ الَّذِي مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ هَٰذَا عَذْبٌ فُرَاتٌ وَهَٰذَا مِلْحٌ أُجَاجٌ وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخًا وَحِجْرًا مَحْجُورًا

And it is He who has released the two seas, one fresh and sweet and one salty and bitter, and He placed between them a barrier and prohibiting partition. Surah Furqan 25: 53

 ……وَمَا يَسْتَوِي الْبَحْرَانِ هَٰذَا عَذْبٌ فُرَاتٌ سَائِغٌ شَرَابُهُ وَهَٰذَا مِلْحٌ أُجَاجٌ ۖ

And not alike are the two bodies of water. One is fresh and sweet, palatable for drinking, and one is salty and bitter……. Surah Fatir 35:12

١٩ مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ يَلْتَقِيَانِ

٢٠ بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌ لَا يَبْغِيَانِ

He released the two seas, meeting [side by side];

Between them is a barrier [so] neither of them transgresses. Surah Rahman 55:19-20

Miracle In The Use Of Word “بَرْزَخٌ” And Word “مَرَجَ”

In Arabic, the word بَرْزَخٌ means a barrier or a partition while the word مَرَجَ means meet and mix with each other. In past commentators of the Quran were unable to explain the two opposite meanings for the two bodies of water, i.e. they meet and mix, and at the same time, there is a barrier between them. But now from the above example of Atlantic and Mediterranean sea, you can clearly see that despite going inside Atlantic ocean the Mediterranean waters still keep their characteristics and don’t mix with the other water body completely.

Barrier Between Sweet & Salt Water

The above scenario is for two sees not mingling each other. As for sweat and salt water, the situation is somewhat different from that which is found in places where two seas meet. It has been discovered that what distinguishes fresh water from salt water in estuaries is a pycnocline zone. Pycnocline Zone in the oceans where water density increases rapidly with depth in response to changes in temperature and salinity. The pycnocline tends to coincide with the thermocline and halocline and separates the surface-water zone of ocean waters from the deep bottom water. Thus act as partitions “حِجْرًا مَحْجُورً” a barrier and prohibiting partition.

Another Miracle

From another perspective, in the world (Planet Earth) taken as a whole, there are two bodies of water the great salt Ocean, and the bodies of sweet water whether they are rivers, lakes, or underground springs. They are free to mingle yet in spite of all this, the laws of gravitation are like a barrier or partition set by God, by which the two bodies of water as a whole are always kept apart and distinct.