The Quran

هُوَ الَّذي يُسَيِّرُكُم فِي البَرِّ وَالبَحرِ ۖ حَتّىٰ إِذا كُنتُم فِي الفُلكِ وَجَرَينَ بِهِم بِريحٍ طَيِّبَةٍ وَفَرِحوا بِها جاءَتها ريحٌ عاصِفٌ وَجاءَهُمُ المَوجُ مِن كُلِّ مَكانٍ وَظَنّوا أَنَّهُم أُحيطَ بِهِم ۙ دَعَوُا اللَّهَ مُخلِصينَ لَهُ الدّينَ لَئِن أَنجَيتَنا مِن هٰذِهِ لَنَكونَنَّ مِنَ الشّاكِرينَ

Muhammad Asad

He it is who enables you to travel on land and sea. And [behold what happens] when you go to sea in ships:¹ [they go to sea in ships,] and they sail on in them in a favourable wind, and they rejoice thereat until there comes upon them a tempest, and waves surge towards them from all sides, so that they believe themselves to be encompassed [by death; and then] they call unto God, [at that moment] sincere in their faith in Him alone, "If Thou wilt but save us from this, we shall most certainly be among the grateful!"

Lit., "until, when you are in the ships...", etc. As has been pointed out by Zamakhshari, the particle "until" (hatta) which precedes this clause refers to the sudden rise of the storm described in the sequence, and not to the "going to sea in ships". It is to be noted that at this point the discourse changes abruptly from the direct address "you" to the third person plural ("they"): a construction which is evidently meant to bring out the allegorical character of the subsequent narrative and to turn it into a lesson of general validity.