Consider
the following Quranic verses: “He has let free the two bodies Of flowing
water, Meeting together: Between them is a Barrier Which they do not
transgress.” [Al-Qur’aan 55:19-20]
In the
Arabic text the word barzakh means a barrier or a partition. This
barrier is not a physical partition. The Arabic word maraja literally
means ‘they both meet and mix with each other’.
Early
commentators of the Qur'an 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.
Modern
Science has discovered that in the places where two different seas meet, there
is a barrier between them. This barrier divides the two seas so that each sea
has its own temperature, salinity and density.7 Oceanologists are now in a
better position to explain this verse.
There is
a slanted unseen water barrier between the two seas through which water from
one sea passes to the other.
But when
the water from one sea enters the other sea, it loses its distinctive characteristic
and becomes homogenized with the other water. In a way this barrier serves as a
transitional homogenizing area for the two waters.
This scientific
phenomenon mentioned in the Qur’aan was also confirmed by Dr. William Hay who
is a well-known marine scientist and Professor of Geological Sciences at the
University of Colorado, U.S.A. The Qur’aan mentions this phenomenon also in the
following verse:
“And made
a separating bar between the two bodies Of flowing water?” [Al-Qur’aan
27:61]
This
phenomenon occurs in several places, including the divider between the Mediterranean
and the Atlantic Ocean at Gibralter. But when the Qur’aan speaks about the
divider between fresh and salt water, it mentions the existence of “a forbidding partition” with the
barrier.
“It is He
Who has Let free the two bodies Of flowing water: One palatable and sweet, And
the other salty and bitter; Yet has He Made a barrier between them, And a partition
that is forbidden To be passed.” [Al-Qur’aan 25:53]
Modern
science has discovered that in estuaries, where fresh (sweet) and saltwater meet,
the situation is somewhat different from that 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 with a marked density discontinuity separating
the two layers.” 8 This partition (zone of separation) has salinity different
from both the fresh water and the salt water.
References
7 Principles of Oceanography, Davis, pp. 92-93.
8 Oceanography, Gross, p. 242. Also see Introductory
Oceanography, Thurman, pp. 300-301.
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