Explanation

Such an interpretation simply cannot stand. The Almighty says, “But if they break their oaths after making a treaty with you and attack your religion, then fight the leaders of disbelief…” (At-Tawbah 12). The verse concerns those treaty-bound pagans whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had covenanted with; by analogy, its ruling extends to others. It has nothing to do with the meaning these distorters—God protect us—have imposed upon it. Yet they feel no scruple, no shame before Allah, His servants, or anyone at all.

They also allege that the words, “He released the two seas so that they meet” (Ar-Raḥmān 19) refer to ʿAlī and Fāṭimah, and that “out of them come pearls and coral” (Ar-Raḥmān 22) refer to al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn.

Explanation

The verses run: “He released the two seas so that they meet (19); between them stands a barrier that they do not transgress (20). So which of your Lord’s favors will you both deny? (21) Out of them come pearls and coral” (Ar-Raḥmān). If a barrier prevents the two seas from encroaching upon one another, is there, then, a barrier separating ʿAlī from Fāṭimah? Such talk is sheer nonsense. As the shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—once remarked, a learned person can only be astonished at the depth of their misunderstanding and their ill intent. Their commentaries combine two flaws: ignorance of the text and corruption of purpose.

The scholars explain that “the two seas” are the salty sea and the fresh river. The “barrier” between them, some say, is what one observes where a river empties into the sea: the river surges forward with such force that a kind of wall forms before it, preventing the waters from mixing at the point of confluence. Other scholars hold that the barrier is the strip of dry land lying between the bodies of water—a sign of Allah’s power, for the earth is spherical, and yet