“or continue on for ages.” That is, even if it takes a long age or span of time. Its plural is aḥqāb, while ḥiqab is the plural of ḥiqb. ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar said: “A ḥiqb is eighty years.”

They carried bread and a salted fish until they reached the rock at the junction of the two seas by night. Beside it was a spring called the Water of Life: nothing that this water touched would fail to come to life. When the fish was touched by the life-giving essence and coolness of the water, (1) it stirred in the basket, came to life, and entered the sea.

“And when they reached the junction of the two seas, they forgot their fish, and it made its way into the sea through a tunnel.” (61)