(12–14) “The two bodies of water are not alike: this one is fresh and sweet, pleasant to drink, while that one is salty and bitter. From each you eat tender flesh and extract ornaments that you wear. You see the ships cleaving through it, so that you may seek His bounty and perhaps be grateful. He causes the night to enter the day and the day to enter the night, and He has subjected the sun and the moon, each running for an appointed term. That is Allah, your Lord; all dominion belongs to Him. Those whom you invoke besides Him do not possess even the thin membrane of a date stone. If you invoke them, they cannot hear your invocation; and even if they could hear, they would not respond to you. On the Day of Resurrection, they will repudiate your association of them with Allah. None can inform you like the One who is All-Aware.”
This is a declaration of His power, wisdom, and mercy: He made the two bodies of water to serve the interests of all the inhabitants of the earthly realm, yet did not make them alike. Human welfare requires rivers to be fresh and sweet, with water pleasant to drink, so that those who drink, plant, and cultivate may benefit from them. It also requires the sea to be salty and bitter, lest the air surrounding the earth be corrupted by the odors of the creatures that die in the sea. Moreover, since the sea is still and does not flow, its salinity prevents it from spoiling and makes its creatures finer and more delicious. Hence He says, “From each”—from both salt water and fresh water—“you eat tender flesh,” namely fish that can readily be caught in the water, “and extract ornaments that you wear,” such as pearls, coral, and other things found in the sea. These are immense benefits for Allah’s servants.
Another of the sea’s benefits is that Allah Most High has subjected it to carry vessels—ships and other craft. You see them plowing through and cleaving the sea, traveling from one region to another and from one place to another, carrying travelers, their baggage, and their merchandise. Through this, much of Allah’s bounty and beneficence is attained. Hence He says, “so that you may seek His bounty and perhaps be grateful.”
Another of these signs is that Allah Most High causes the night to enter the day and the day to enter the night. Each encroaches upon the other: whenever one arrives, the other departs; one lengthens while the other shortens, and at times they become equal. This secures numerous benefits for His servants in relation to their bodies, animals, trees, and crops.
Likewise, through His subjection of the sun and moon, Allah has provided illumination and light, movement and rest, and the dispersal of people in search of His bounty. They also ripen fruits and dry whatever needs to be dried (1), among other indispensable benefits whose absence would cause people harm.
His words, “each running for an appointed term,” mean that both the sun and the moon travel in their respective orbits for as long as Allah wills them to do so. When the appointed time comes and the end of the world draws near, their motion will cease and their power will be brought to an end: the moon will be darkened, the sun will be folded up, and the stars will be scattered.
After Allah Most High had described these mighty created things and the lessons they contain, which attest to His perfection and beneficence, He said, “That is Allah, your Lord; all dominion belongs to Him.” That is, the One who alone created and subjected all the things just mentioned is the Lord and God worthy of worship, to whom all dominion belongs.
“Those whom you invoke besides Him”—idols and images—“do not possess even the thin membrane of a date stone.” That is, they possess nothing at all, whether little or much—not even that membrane, which is among the most insignificant of things. This is an explicit and comprehensive negation. How, then, can they be invoked when they possess nothing of the dominion of the heavens and earth?
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Moreover, “if you invoke them,” they cannot hear you, for they are either inanimate objects, dead beings, or angels occupied in obeying their Lord. “Even if they could hear”—merely by way of supposition—“they would not respond to you,” for they possess nothing, and most of those invoked are not pleased to be worshipped by their worshippers. Hence He says, “On the Day of Resurrection, they will repudiate your association of them with Allah.” That is, they will disown you and say, “Glory be to You! You are our Protector, not they.”
“None can inform you like the One who is All-Aware.” That is, no one can inform you more truthfully than Allah, the All-Knowing, the All-Aware. Therefore, be certain of this matter of which He has informed you, as though you had seen it with your own eyes; do not doubt it or remain uncertain. These verses thus contain luminous evidence and proofs demonstrating that Allah Most High alone is the God worthy of worship and that nothing besides Him deserves any form of worship. Worshipping anything besides Him is false, directed toward falsehood, and brings its worshipper no benefit whatsoever.
(1) Thus in MS B; MS A reads: “and lightening whatever needs to be lightened.”