Two Worlds, One Boundary - Surah Ar-Rahman Commentary

Understanding East and West Beyond Our Planet

Last time in this Surah Ar-Rahman series... When I say east and west, what does that refer to? Sunrise and sunset, that's what east and west refers to. But if you're not on this planet, if you have access to beyond this planet, you're chilling on Mars, east and west is a different thing, yes or no? Yeah, and if you can go even beyond this solar system, is east and west a different thing then? So my east and west is restricted to the sun and the moon, which is mentioned in the beginning as الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ. That's where my definition of east and west comes from.

But the angels' definition of east and west, or the jinns' definition of east and west, cannot be limited to my definition of east and west. To help you follow along and reflect more deeply, we've created a companion workbook for this series. Download it at bayyinah.com forward slash rahman.

The Two Seas That Meet

Allah says, مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ, He unleashed two seas that clash against each other. This ayah, I'm just telling you, I'm going to tell you what I think it means after whatever I studied, but I'm going to be very honest with you, I don't know fully what it means. I don't know yet fully what it means, but I'll tell you what I think so far based on the readings that I've done.

Different Interpretations of the Two Seas

One reading of this is salt water and fresh water, they merge with each other and they don't mix together. This is a picture, by the way, if you can see what's going on, there's two different kinds of water, and they're not mixing with each other. This is in Brazil. It's called the two waters. Okay, so you can look it up or go there on vacation if you want, but that's the place. Okay.

I'm pretty sure though that the Quran is not talking about Brazil. That's why I'm just, they call me crazy, but I think that's not the subject. Okay.

Now, what could this be talking about? One place the mind goes is actually as the earth was being formed. This was a large mass of water, and there were massive floods in the history of the world, and then the waters receded, and what was under the water was these large land masses. So what used to be one body of water became two, for example, and separated by continents, separated by land masses, right? So if you actually look at geological history of the world, there were great floods in which actually there were some places that existed in the world that no longer exist, they're underwater, and there are some places that were always underwater, and now they're above water because the water has receded, right? So perhaps Allah is saying that at some point the two seas were actually clashing with each other, and then in the next ayah He's gonna say He put a barrier between them that they don't cross, meaning land emerged between them.

That may be one way to look at what the ayah is talking about. بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌ لَا يَبْغِيَانِ Interestingly, that is something that others have also talked about. In other words, مَرَج is also really important and interesting.

The Word "Maraja" and Its Multiple Meanings

مَرَجَ is used, we just saw مَارِجٍ مِن نَّارٍ Right? One of the cool things in this surah is the same kind of word will be used with totally different meanings. مِيزَان مِيزَان مِيزَان Different meaning, right? Then مَرَج مَارِج, right? And then soon مَرْجَان يَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ اللُّؤْلُؤُ All three different meanings, same similar word but different meanings. So مَرَجَ has to do with mixing.

So one translation could be he mixed the two seas together as they clash against each other or smash against each other. يَلْتَقِيَانِ الْتِقَى is used for forces that crash against each other. Another possible meaning of مَرَجَ is إِرْسَال to release, to let go, which is similar to, you remember when I said he made the sky high? You know, it would be wrong to think he raised the sky.

The idea is Allah left the sky or he allowed the sky to be unleashed. And it's similar language being used here. He allowed the seas to be vast, crashing against each other.

The Meaning of "Bahr" (Sea)

يَلْتَقِيَانِ مَرِجَةِ الْعُهُودِ When things become confused in state because they're fused together. And so مَرَجَ is used for also when people aren't sure, did the contract say this or did it say that? And that becomes an أَمْرٌ مَرِيجٌ for them. But here, the word بَحْرَيْن this is also an interesting observation.

بَحْر is typically translated as the sea. You can even translate it as the ocean. You can do that. However, بَحْر can be used for any large body of water in classical Arabic. So in modern Arabic, بَحْر only refers to the ocean or the sea. But بَحْر can also be used for smaller bodies of water if they resemble to the naked eye larger bodies.

Okay, so this is why يُشْبِهُ ذَا الْمَاءِ الْمِلْحِ فِي السَّعَةِ وَكَثْرَةِ الْمَاءِ So if it looks like the sea, but it's not quite the sea. So if somebody was standing at Lake Michigan, for example, they could get away with calling it بَحْر in classical Arabic because it's that large, right? So that can be the case. But if you're at some pond in your park, then you're probably not going to call that a بَحْر, okay? Now, why is that important? Because then it may not be talking about two seas colliding or two oceans colliding.

The Seas of Two Worlds

It might even be referring to rivers falling into seas, bays merging into seas, right? There could be some other smaller versus larger bodies of water that come together, like waterfalls pouring into seas, right? So مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ يَلْتَقِيَانِ بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌ By the way, before we go on, and I've told you I don't quite know what this means because Allah just mentioned two dimensions of reality, the jinn world and the human world. Some actually looked at this ayah and said, perhaps there's a sea that the jinns have, and there's a sea that the humans have. And there's the water on this planet, and there's some other body of water somewhere in the heavens also, right, that we don't know about.

Now, there might be some weight to that, that sounds a little wild, but this is found in Qurtubi, you know, بَحْرُ السَّمَاءِ وَبَحْرُ الْأَرْضِ He's actually said the ocean in the sky and the ocean on earth. This came from the notion that the Arsh of Allah is above water, كَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلَى الْمَاءِ It's in the Quran, that Arsh of Allah is on water, right. So there is some reference to water up in the universe somewhere, then maybe that's what it's a reference to.

If they have their own east and they have their own west, then maybe they have their own sea too. And so maybe the world of the jinn and the world of the human beings collide with each other. It's a symbolic way of saying it. It's a symbolic way of saying it, subhanAllah, you know, that the world of the jinn and the world of human beings collide.

The Meeting Place of Two Seas in Surah Al-Kahf

By the way, it's interesting that this kind of language is used in Surah Al-Kahf. You remember when Musa Alayhi Salaam met this mysterious person? You know where he met him? It's called مَجْمَعَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ The gathering place of two seas or two oceans, right. And if you study tafsir of that ayah, there's a lot of really interesting commentary there also, because Musa Alayhi Salaam represents the wahi given to prophets. And Khidir represents the wahi given to non-prophets. Mysterious creatures that have their own instructions that don't follow the wahi given to prophets.

In the wahi given to prophets, you're not supposed to kill anybody that's innocent. But in the wahi given to Khidir, does he kill a child? Yeah, he does. In the shari'ah given to prophets, you're not supposed to damage somebody's property. In the wahi given to Khidir, he damages a ship, right. In wahi given to human beings through prophets, the means don't justify the ends, right. You can't just... or the ends don't justify the means.

You can't say, oh, I was trying to do something good, that's why I'm doing his parents a favor, I killed him. You can't do that in shari'ah. You can't say the ends justify the means. But in the shari'ah, the wahi given to Khidir, do the ends justify the means? Yeah, they do. It's a different system. It's like two... Interestingly, they met in a place where two seas meet, right. And they both represent two different seas of knowledge of Allah that aren't actually supposed to meet. And even when Musa A.S. got a little taste of that sea, he couldn't digest it. He couldn't take it.

Imagine creatures that are meant to be in certain kinds of water, and you put them in the other water, they can't live in that kind of water, right. So that imagery is also majma' al-bahrain, isn't it? And here he says, he brought two seas and he clashed them together. Now, is there some interaction between the two seas? Yeah, is there interaction between human beings and jinn? Yeah, but by and large, what has Allah done? By the way, yaltaqiyan means crashing. And yaltaqiyan is used when armies crash against each other. That's what it's used for.

The Barrier Between Two Worlds

He says, بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌ بَرْزَخ is actually مَعْبَرٌ بَاطِنِيٌّ جَوْفِيٌّ مِنْ خِلَالِ حَاجِزٍ بَيْنَ أَشْيَاءَ It's something that is internal or hidden away that creates a barrier between two sides. It can be any kind of separator. Some say it's internal. Others say that it's exposed. But that's basically what بَرْزَخ means, a barrier. A good English translation of بَرْزَخ is barrier. Okay? Some kind of separator.

So Allah created a separation between the world of jinn and the oceans of the jinn and the oceans of human beings. Or physically the oceans of the Pacific coast and the Atlantic. Or two different bodies of water which I think is the least likely crashing into each other and not mixing. You can find pictures of that here and there. But by and large, I think this has a larger meaning. And that لَا يَبْغِيَانِ means they don't violate it.

تَشْبِيهٌ بَلِيغٌ كُلُّ مَاءٍ مِنْهُمَا خَصَائِصُ تَدْفَعُوا عَنِ اخْتِلَاطِ الْآخَرِ بِهِ One kind of water has its own life. One kind of water has its own temperature. If you go to South Africa, if you go to Cape Town, you'll see two ocean temperatures on the same coast. Two bodies of water are meeting. Two different marine lives. Two different temperatures of water. But they're right next to each other. بَحْرَيْن could also be referring to the currents of the ocean. Because there's a marine biologist will tell you there's the upper ocean and there's the deeper ocean. And they don't mix with each other. The species and the water quality and even the movement of the water underneath is different from the water above. And the two don't mix with each other. So that could also be a reference to the two seas that don't meet with each other.

Geopolitical Implications

وَقَدْ يَكُونُ بَيْنَهُمَا حَاجِزُ أَرْضٍ مَحْسُوسٌ وَقَدْ لَا يَكُونُ It could be there's a barrier between them that can be felt and seen or cannot be. This may be a reference also to like Arabia. Like they have seas on either end, right? And in between they're the Barzakh, right? And by the way, the more you get closer to the seas you get closer to larger civilizations. Because how do nations become superpowers when they have access to the waters, right? The nations that are landlocked are always in trouble. The nations that have access to the sea and access to the oceans, they're the nations that become superpowers, right?

So for example, Afghanistan's biggest problem is that it's landlocked. So it's stuck on all sides between multiple powers, right? There are nations that are, you know, Turkey ends up in trouble all the time because of the Swiss Canal. It's got access to the water. When that contract runs out there's going to be a problem for Europe because they're going to have to pay extra tariffs to Turkey. So, you know, there's not a surprise that Turkey keeps having all kinds of instability and all kinds of stuff happening because there's powers at play and those powers have a lot to do with the passage of the seas.

When great world wars happened in the world, if you study where nations failed is where they couldn't pass through certain sea ports, you know? And where expansion empires couldn't expand when they got to a choke point in the waters, where they could be attacked easily. So actually the Barzakh that doesn't get crossed is actually a pretty big deal.

Now, what does that mean even for the Arabian region? The Arabs were living in this desert land on different sides. There are different large empires that are not interested in fighting the Arabs. Why? Because there's no sea to be gained and there's no treasure to be gained because they don't have oil yet, right? So it's not an issue yet. So nobody's interested in taking over this barren desert.

What did it allow the Arabs to do? It allowed the Arabs to go towards Yemen and do business and trade with and by sea connect to all of Africa, all the way, even Asia and then come back, go towards Syria. And from there, when they get to the coast, they can connect to all of Europe. They can connect to the other continents and they are the Barzakh in between that gets to benefit from the import-export of both of those worlds. They're kind of this barrier between the East and the West. You know, that's what they became. And they were beneficial, Meccans particularly because they were the midpoint. They were the beneficiaries of that trade. So there was kind of, they served as a Barzakh that neither power could cross. And they don't have an army. They live in basically nothing compared to the Roman empire, contemporary Persian empire. What do they have? They have no resources, no military. There's just a bunch of tribes, mud homes. And yet because they're a Barzakh, nobody crosses over. Maybe an undertone of that.

The Barrier Between This World and the Next

This is al-Qurtubi again, some really interesting comments. He says Barzakh is between the sky and the earth. Meaning perhaps the seas is an allegorical reference to the seen world and the unseen world. And between them Allah put a Barzakh. Interestingly, our travel into the next life, right? There's a barrier stage. Then we get into the next life. What's that barrier stage called? Also called Barzakh. الْأَرْضُ الَّتِي بَيْنَهُمَا وَهِيَ الْحِجَازُ Meaning what I was telling you, the seas, the land between those two seas is Hijaz. الْبَرْزَخُ مَا بَيْنَ الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ Would you know that one? Barzakh is between dunya and akhira.

بَيْنَهُمَا مُدَّةٌ قَدَّرَهَا اللَّهُ فَهُمَا لَا يَبْغِيَانِ That Allah created a barrier between these two worlds, the seen and the unseen, that they do not cross. فَإِذَا أَذِنَ اللَّهُ فِي الْقِضَاءِ الدُّنْيَا صَارَ الْبَحْرَانِ شَيْئًا وَاحِدًا Allah, He's saying there's the unseen world and the seen world. And for now there's what in between them? There's a barrier.

But one day Allah will decide that the barrier should not exist. And the two seas shall become one. And the unseen and the seen shall become one. You will see the jinn. You will see the angels. You will see Allah. You will see the unseen. You will see the scroll of your deeds. You will see everything that used to be unseen will become seen. So that those two oceans are about to meet. For now, لَا يَبْغِيَانِ And the verbal form لَا يَبْغِيَانِ is also interesting. It actually means for now they don't cross. They're not crossing at the moment. He doesn't say they'll never cross. He just kind of made it a temporary thing.

بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌ لَا يَبْغِيَانِ Also the word بَرْزَخٌ because it's Nakira could suggest they have some barrier that they don't cross. Which means he's not saying absolutely no crossover happens. Some crossover can happen. You can see a dream from the angels. You can have a, you know, some people may communicate with devils and shayateen. That can happen. It does happen. So that possibility still is maintained. بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌ لَا يَبْغِيَانِ لَا يَبْغِيَانِ also, it means something that's desired but actually means crossing over a limit. So we don't have to dig too deep into that.

Now I'm going to, so now فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ The question is different now. It's not the same question. So what is it that we're supposed to be in awe of now? What are we supposed to wonder about now and not be in denial of? That Allah has created two realities. That Allah has separated the nations of the world by land masses. Had He not done that, can you imagine the scope of wars? Can you imagine the unleashed power? If one nation became powerful and controlled all of the seas, right? And what would have happened in the world? What kind of destruction would have happened in the world? You know, actually the division of land on this planet creates the division of power between human beings. That's actually what it does. SubhanAllah subhanAllah What an incredible system Allah made, you know.

Those of you that are interested in the study of history, again, I remind you, study what happened on the seas and you'll find that what happened on the seas many a times determined what happened with the empire. When the empire started falling, when they started losing not just landmass, more importantly, when they started losing control over the seas. Many of the military exercises and posturing and tension that's happening between superpowers in the world today is not happening over land. You know that, right? It's happening over the seas. All this technology to figure out a way of getting submarines into the enemy territory. And then the naval ship showed up by the coast near, you know, Russian naval vessels near Alaska or whatever, or the Chinese are encroaching into this landmass or that seaport or whatever other seaport. This is the game of the world now, right?

فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ What other wonders of... Like Allah is holding the world together and falling into chaos just the way that He divided the seas.

Pearls and Coral: Hidden Beauty from Unexpected Sources

I'll give you one more and then I'll give you a break. So يَخْرُجُ The translation of this would be pearls and coral. لُؤْلُؤ would be pearls and coral gems would be المرجان. That's one way to look at them. Coral pearls are like red in color, okay? Lots to wonder about here. Notice even now the focus is on beauty, right? On the earth the focus was on beauty and the ocean has endless treasures in it. It has seafood in it, it has trade in it, functional things. But what did Allah decide to bring our focus and attention to in this surah? On pearls and coral which are both symbols of what? Beauty. They're symbols of beauty. They're not necessities. They're add-ons that make life beautiful, right?

Pearls and Coral from Both Worlds

Now يَخْرُجُ could mean that from both of those seas لُؤْلُؤ and مَرْجَان come out. Meaning pearls and coral come out from both seas. If you think of the meaning of the unseen and the seen, remember? That would mean that pearls and coral come out of this world but there's other pearl and other coral that comes out from where? The unseen world. And I started thinking about that. How can I know about the pearls and coral of the unseen world? And then I was like, oh yeah! كَأَمْثَالِ اللُّؤْلُؤِ الْمَكْنُونِ Like in Jannah, the servants are being described as لُؤْلُؤ, like pearls.

And the spouse in this surah later on is going to be described as الْيَاقُوتُ وَالْمَرْجَان كَأَنَّهُنَّ الْيَاقُوتُ Well, but that's not a spouse in this world, that's a spouse in... Ah, this world you have these kinds of pearls and coral. That world will have its own kind of pearl and coral. يَخْرُجُ مِنْهُمَا اللُّؤْلُؤُ وَالْمَرْجَان SubhanAllah, it's so beautiful that he does that. So it's not just about two kinds of water or two seas but it may be the لُؤْلُؤ and مَرْجَان of this world and the لُؤْلُؤ وَالْمَرْجَان of the unseen world, right? So he's the beauty of that world too.

Different Quranic Readings

But there's other things here. يَخْرُجُ can be read يُخْرِجُ also يُخْرِجُ with a dhamma If you read it with a dhamma it means he brings out meaning Allah brings out لُؤْلُؤ وَالْمَرْجَان If you read it يَخْرُجُ it means لُؤْلُؤ وَالْمَرْجَان come out They come out If you read يُخْرَجُ the third reading يُخْرَجُ مِنْهُمَا اللُّؤْلُؤُ وَالْمَرْجَان that actually means that the coral and coral are brought out are brought So if it's brought out meaning people bring them out يُخْرِجُ Allah brings it out يَخْرُجُ they come out They emerge, right? So these are the three meanings that are found inside of one ayah depending on the reading If you say يَخْرُجُ then the لُؤْلُؤ وَالْمَرْجَان would be منصوب So يَخْرُجُ or يُخْرِجُ مِنْهُمَا اللُّؤْلُؤَ وَالْمَرْجَان like the حَرَكَات would change But the thing to ponder This is tafsir But let's do a little bit of تَدَبُّر before I give you a break

The Hidden Reality of Beauty

Why mention these things? Okay, fine, they're beautiful But think a little more deeply You know what pearls are? I mean, let me see if I have a picture This is coral This is coral And oh, I forgot the pearl picture But you know what pearls look like Where are pearls formed? Yes, oysters You know what pearls actually are? Oyster poop It's actually oyster secretion Its waste forms the pearl One species poop is another species treasure Literally Do you know what coral gems come from? These corals, they die And then when they die, they crystallize And they become hard And then we use them as gems And they say they have medicinal properties And they clean blood and all kinds of stuff So one species corpse is another species treasure

The two things that are the most disgusting to human beings Are feces and corpses Feces and corpses And these two treasures are actually feces and corpses Allah is telling us something really profound here Allah decided to take something that has zero value In fact, at its core, it's disgusting But he turned it into something beautiful for who? You, humans He took something that's dead and made it into a treasure That's what Allah did Like what a commentary on beauty To take something that is at the height of ugliness And turn it into something beautiful That's what Allah did

Human Value Systems and Beauty

There's another thing here For our contemplation Human beings put value on things Without realizing what the origin of those things is You know, in the ancient times Pearls were like a show of royal power These are status symbols, pearls and coral Because we have the kind of bling We have the kind of money to pay for sailors to go out to sea And to dive deep and to get those pearls And then get a whole necklace made of pearls That I'm going to walk around in Kings would wear, not just queens Kings would wear pearl necklaces And have a stash of marjan with them Because this wasn't just about beauty This was about a symbol of show and power

You know how like people wear brands, right? And they want to make sure that the logo sticks out on the purse You know, women like Some women, not you No women in New Jersey And they're Chanel and they're Louis Vuittons, right? And then when they go to some Eid gathering They have, where's that Chanel? Where did I put it? Where did I put it? And then they have to put it next to the dinner table And then they position it this way So those people get a view Then they position it this way Those people get a view You know, like, you know You have to show it off

But you see the idea of showing it off Where did it come from? Well, I mean, at the end Think about that Chanel bag for a second It is a dead cow Well stitched Gone through a stretching process Well, it's a dead cow is what that is Most of that cow became someone's burger And then it came out the other side And fed the earth And some of that cow You decided to put this much value on Right, at the end of it all That's what it actually is If you accidentally dropped it into the You know, left it somewhere on a farm Over a few, you know, decades It would disintegrate into the sand And return to what its origin is Right, that's what would happen to it

The Power of Beauty in Society

But you know what? Allah created things that are at its core They're actually not in their essence They're nothing But we give them value We give them value Because of their beauty And so we learn something about this life In this life, human beings give value to what? Beauty And then that value becomes a symbol of power Power structures get formed with beauty Entire societies get developed with beauty With the attraction of beauty You'll have, for example, a no-name town And they'll build this huge resort Beautiful resort And guess what happens next? People start moving to the area Other things start coming to the area The whole ecosystem gets formed All because of what? Because of beauty Just because of beauty

Think about every major industry Like the phone industry, for example Technology industry The car industry Every industry How is it that they make their product sellable? Not by making it more functional Actually, what really sells in the end Is the look Is the look Like the 2015 Range Rover And the 2023 Range Rover Is still a Range Rover Essentially the same engine Essentially the same transmission issues Essentially the same vehicle Same tires Same rubber Same metal Same mechanics What's different? Oh the look though, bro So sick on the inside Different kind of cow they kill To make those leather seats Like it's so different

Human value on beauty What is the Mona Lisa? It's a painting In the eyes of some beholders It's beautiful How much value is the original Mona Lisa? Forget the Mona Lisa How much is an NFT Of a monkey With like one lens on it It's an ugly picture But somebody thinks it's got value We can give anything value Human beings give subjective value to things And then entire worlds are impacted By that subjective value Aren't they? Entire worlds are shaped By the value we give to things Allah is teaching us this point Because the value of these things Are actually only inside of our minds The reality of it is They don't actually have value Nor do they have permanence Because we ourselves don't have permanence We ascribed value to them Isn't that the case?

True Value vs. Assigned Value

Allah put in us a desire for beauty So we decided to put value on these things However, there are some things That are beautiful and valuable That we didn't give the value to Allah gave the value to them You know what that is? That is his word That is his guidance The value of Allah's words Did not come from us giving it value It came from Allah giving it value The value given The لُؤْلُؤ and مَرْجَان were made beautiful But who decided to make them expensive? We did We set the price for it We made the expeditions for it That's the difference

Allah is teaching us something About our own tendencies And how we create value How we create value And how Allah wants us to rethink value Not in denial of these things But in harmony with these things You can still enjoy the beauty of these things But only when you truly understand Where actual value comes from And Allah Azza wa Jal give us an appreciation Of things that truly have value

Preview of Next Episode

Coming up next time In this Surah Ar-Rahman series We've turned Islam into consumer religion And when somebody's having a hard time Then somebody's going through a psychological issue Somebody's going through a traumatic issue Or jinn Jinn This business We slapped out on everything And how come jinns are only in Egypt and Pakistan? How come there are no jinns in China? There's no jinns in New Jersey There's no jinns in Florida There's only... The only jinns are just when you go there The jinns don't know how to cross the sea You know? How come they don't get no jinns? French people don't have any jinns You know? But the moment you become Muslim, jinn problems You know?

So we've developed this kind of superstition And we've superimposed it onto our religion Is there such a thing as that Waswasa coming from shayateen? Yes! Is there such a thing as possession? No!