The Quran

Preface

وَهُوَ الَّذي سَخَّرَ البَحرَ لِتَأكُلوا مِنهُ لَحمًا طَرِيًّا وَتَستَخرِجوا مِنهُ حِليَةً تَلبَسونَها وَتَرَى الفُلكَ مَواخِرَ فيهِ وَلِتَبتَغوا مِن فَضلِهِ وَلَعَلَّكُم تَشكُرونَ

Yusuf Ali

It is He Who has made¹ the sea subject, that ye may eat thereof flesh that is fresh and tender,² and that ye may extract therefrom ornaments to wear;³ and thou seest the ships therein that plough the waves, that ye may seek (thus) of the bounty of God⁴ and that ye may be grateful.

We have gone up in a climax of material things from the big to the subtle in the sky and the earth. Here we have another climax as regards the things of the sea. We get the delicate flesh of fishes and marine creatures of all kinds; we get the treasures of the deep: pearls, coral, amber, and things of that kind; and we have the stately ships ploughing the waves, for maritime commerce and intercourse, for unifying mankind, and for reaching the spiritual bounty of God which can best be expressed by the boundless ocean.
Connoisseurs know the delicate flavours of sea fish, such as the pomfret of the Indian Ocean, the herring of the North Atlantic, the mullet of Marseilles, and many other kinds. Tari, translated “fresh and tender,” also refers to the soft moist nature of fresh fish. It is another wonder of God that salt water should produce flesh of such fresh, tender, and delicate flavour.
Diving for pearls?### in both the primitive and the more advanced form?is another instance of man’s power over apparently inaccessible depths of the sea.
After the material benefits which we get from the sea, we are asked to consider things of higher import to the spirit of man. There is the beautiful ship which stands as the symbol of international commerce and intercourse, things that may be of material benefit, but which have a higher aspect in unifying man and making his civilisation more universal. These are first steps in seeking of the “bounty of God” through the sea. But there are higher aspects. Navigation and international intercourse increase knowledge, which in its higher aspects should clean the mind and make it fitter to approach God. The salt water, which covers nearly 72 percent of the surface of the globe, is itself a purifying and sanitary agent, and is a good symbol of the higher bounties of God, which are as boundless as the ocean (Cf. 45:12).