وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى مَرَجَ ٱلْبَحْرَيْنِ هَٰذَا عَذْبٌ فُرَاتٌ وَهَٰذَا مِلْحٌ أُجَاجٌ وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخًا وَحِجْرًا مَّحْجُورًا
"It is He who let the two seas run free: this one is sweet and quenches thirst, that one is salt and bitter. Between the two He has set a barrier, a boundary not to be crossed."
مَرَجَ — root م-ر-ج: to let go, to set free (as one lets an animal loose in pasture); and to mix. The lexicographers record both branches of the sense.
The same verb occurred at al-Raḥmān 55/19-20 (maraja'l-baḥrayni yaltaqiyān · baynahumā barzakhun lā yabghiyān) and was treated there. I do not repeat it here.
And at Fāṭir (al-Malāʾika) 35/12 the same two waters had been named with the words ujāj and ʿadhb furāt; there they were compared with al-Wāqiʿa 56/70. Three sūras use the same phenomenon within three different frames:
| Place | Emphasis |
|---|---|
| al-Raḥmān 55/19-20 | Meeting and boundary — yaltaqiyān / barzakh |
| Fāṭir 35/12 | Not being equal, and a shared benefit |
| al-Furqān 25/53 | Letting go, and a boundary not to be crossed — ḥijran maḥjūrā |
بَرْزَخ — the veil between two things, the zone that lies between. In the index the word is analysed here for the first time (if it occurred in al-Raḥmān, the note there is relied on): the lexicographers state that the word is a separator which comes between two things and prevents them from mixing.
حِجْرًا مَّحْجُورًا — two words from the same root (ح-ج-ر): "a forbidden forbidding", that is, absolutely impassable. In Arabic this repetition states emphasis.
The root was treated in al-Ḥujurāt on the occasion of the sūra's name (to forbid, to separate; ḥijr, ḥajar, ḥujra). I rely on that treatment.
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ مِنَ ٱلْمَآءِ بَشَرًا فَجَعَلَهُۥ نَسَبًا وَصِهْرًا (54) — "It is He who created a human being from water and gave him ties of lineage and of marriage."
Two bonds must be recorded: nasab — kinship that comes by birth; ṣihr — kinship established by marriage.
I record this as an observation, and its ground is the order of the verses: the preceding verse described two waters that do not mix; this verse describes two lines that are joined. The two verses stand side by side, the one ordering separation and the other union.