Introduction
God has mentioned many of His signs and natural occurrences in the Quran making it easy for us so that we can reflect to them to understand and follow His guidance. For some of them we need to explore to have scientific information to support, while many of them are visible to us to reflect. Sea along with ships like mountains on it is one of the significant visible signs, while there is specific mention of seven seas/oceans to be a great lesson for us to teach us with an exact number of words that we do not seek for any other sources and avoid association of partners with God.
Concept of Seven Seas
Even the number seven has a great deal of historical, cultural and religious significance: lucky number seven, seven hills of Rome, seven days of the week, seven colors of the rainbow, seven notes on a musical scale, seven wonders of the world, seven seas, seven gates of Hell are just a few to name. But our clear concept about seven seas as described below may help us to interpret the message in the Quran referring to it.
The ancient Romans called the lagoons separated from the open sea near Venice the septem maria or seven seas. Most current sources state that “seven seas” referred to the Indian Ocean, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Adriatic Sea, Persian Gulf, Mediterranean Sea, and the Red Sea, while the term “Seven Seas” has evolved to become a figurative term to describe a sailor who has navigated all the seas and oceans of the world, and not literally seven.
The phrase “sail the Seven Seas” has had different meanings to different people at different times in history. The term “Seven Seas” is mentioned by ancient Hindus, Chinese, Persians, Romans and other cultures. The term historically referred to bodies of water along trade routes and regional waters; although in some cases the seas are mythical and not actual bodies of water.
The term “Seven Seas” can be traced to ancient Sumer in 2300 B.C., where it was used in a hymn by Sumerian high priestess Enheduanna to Inanna, the goddess of sexual love, fertility and warfare.
To the Persians, the Seven Seas were the streams forming the Oxus River, the ancient name for the Amu Darya, one of the longest rivers in Central Asia. It rises in the Pamir Mountains and flows northwest through the Hindu Kush and across Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to the Aral Sea.
To the ancient Romans, the septem maria, Latin for Seven Seas, referred to a group of salt-water lagoons separated from the open sea by sandbanks near Venice. This was documented by Pliny the Elder, a Roman author and fleet commander.
The ancient Arabs defined the Seven Seas as the ones they sailed on voyages along their trading routes with the East. They were the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Khambhat, the Bay of Bengal, the Strait of Malacca, the Singapore Strait, the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea.
The Phoenicians were expert sea traders and their sailors set out to in search of markets and raw materials. Their Seven Seas — Alboran, Balearic, Ligurian, Tyrrhenian, Ionian, Adriatic and Aegean being all part of the Mediterranean.
The Greeks and Romans gave rise to the medieval definition of the Seven Seas. During this time, references to the Seven Seas meant the Adriatic Sea; the Mediterranean Sea (including the Aegean Sea); the Black Sea; the Caspian Sea; the Persian Gulf; the Arabian Sea (which is part of the Indian Ocean); and the Red Sea, including the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee.
During the Age of Discovery (1450-1650), after Europeans began exploring North America, the definition of the Seven Seas changed again. Mariners then referred to the Seven Seas as the Arctic Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. Other geographers identify the Seven Seas at that time as the Mediterranean and Red seas, Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, China Sea, and the West and East African seas.
The Colonial era, which saw the tea trade sailing from China to England, gave rise to another description of the Seven Seas: the Banda Sea, the Celebes Sea, the Flores Sea, the Java Sea, the South China Sea, the Sulu Sea and the Timor Sea. Their expression “sailed the Seven Seas” meant sailing to the other side of the world and back.
However, the following oceans are the modern Seven Seas most widely accepted by geographers:
North Atlantic Ocean: the portion of the Atlantic Ocean that lies primarily between North America and the northeast coast of South America to the east, and Europe and the northwest coast of Africa to the west.
South Atlantic Ocean: the southern section of the Atlantic Ocean, extending southward from the equator to Antarctica.
North Pacific Ocean: the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, extending from the equator to the Arctic Ocean.
South Pacific Ocean: the lower segment of the Pacific Ocean, reaching southward from the equator to Antarctica.
Arctic Ocean: the smallest of the Seven Seas, it surrounds the North Pole.
Southern Ocean: also known as the Antarctic Ocean, it consists of the southern portions of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans and their tributary seas. It is the newest ocean, being designated by the International Hydrographic Organization in 2000.
Indian Ocean: stretches for more than 6,200 miles (10,000 km) between the southern tips of Africa and Australia.
References of seas in the Quran
There are many references of seas in the Quran in different contexts. Here are the most relevant ones we can have a great lesson:
- A historical event mentioned in the Quran when Moses went to the place where the two seas meet in order to see the blessed knowledgeable man that he may learn from him, while returning of the cooked fish to the sea was a miraculous event before his meeting with the blessed person:
[18:60] And when Moses said to his young companion, “I will not stop until I reach a meeting point of the two seas, even I am to continue for a long period.”
[18:61] Then when they had reached a meeting point between of them, they forgot their fish, and it had taken its way of slipping into the sea.
[18:62] But when they had passed beyond, he said to his companion, “Let us bring our lunch, we have suffered much fatigue in this journey of ours.”
[18:63] He said, “Have you seen when we had rested to the rock? Then indeed, I had forgot the fish, and it had not made me to forget it except the Satan that I remember it, and it had taken an amazing way of it into the sea.”
[18:64] He said: “That is what we have been seeking!” So they went back retracing their footsteps.
[18:65] Then they found one of our servants, whom we had given him mercy from us and we had taught him knowledge from us.
[18:66] Moses said to him, “Can I follow you on that you will teach me from what you have been taught right?”
[18:67] He said: “Indeed, you will not be able to have patience with me.
[18:68] And how can you be patient of that what you have been given no knowledge of it?”
[18:69] He said, “You will find me patient if God wills, and I will not disobey your order.”
- We can see a great sign of God when He has permitted the ships to sail in the sea (22:65), and of His signs are the ships like mountains on the sea:
[42:32] And of His signs are the ships like the mountains in the sea.
[55:24] And He has made the ships the elevated like the mountains in the sea.
- The Quran is completed with the word of God including truth and justice (6:115) as well as detailed with knowledge of guidance and mercy for a people to believe (6:114, 7:52, 11:1 and 41:3), while He has made it with an exact number of words what we need to do the righteous deeds and to practice Islam being practices of His religion of Monotheism avoiding all kinds of idolatry that we do not accept any information from any man-made sources. Thus God has taught us with an exact number of His words, not less or not more, while He has counted the number of everything:
[18:109] Say, “If the ocean had been ink for my Lord’s words, surely, the ocean would have run out before that my Lord’s words would run out, even if we had brought with like of it as (ink) supplement.”
[31:27] And if that whatever is in the earth of trees were pens, and the ocean were (ink) adding to it after of it to seven oceans, God’s words would not have run out. Indeed, God is Almighty, Wise.
[72:28] That He makes know that certainly, they (messengers) have conveyed their Lord’s messages and He has encompassed of what is with them and has counted the number of everything.
Even we can confirm this piece of information that God has given us an exact number of words to guide to a straight obtaining a fact from adding the relevant verses and surah number being the sum is a multiple of 19 -> 285 (19x15) as shown in the table below:
Mathematical confirmation
15 verses across 5 surahs in the Quran have described the meeting of Moses with the blessed knowledgeable man at the junction of the two seas, God’s signs are the ships like mountains on the sea and His words would not run out even seven seas were ink and the trees on earth were pens, and if the relevant verse and surah numbers are added, the sum is a multiple of 19 -> 1083 (19x43) as shown in the table below:
Note: This mathematical confirmation is an explicit proof that God has guided us with an exact number of words we need to perfect our beliefs and practices establishing a relation with Moses’ learning from a knowledgeable man meeting at the junction of two seas and His signs being the ships like mountains on the sea that we can put trust upon Him.
Conclusion
The review of the historical definition of seven seas and 15 verses of the Quran can open a door for us to reflect that the Quran is a timeless universal message. The references of seven seas as ink and the trees on earth as pens in the Quran being a significant analogy for us to put trust upon God that He has given us as guidance with an exact number of words to find a right path for us. The reference to the historical event of Moses’ meeting with a blessed knowledgeable man at the junction of the two seas and a miraculous event of returning the cooked fish to sea, and the visible signs of the ships like mountains on the sea are proofs to strengthen our hearts as connected to it. Thus, the believers have the opportunity to derive facts from the timeless universal message to better understand it as guidance for the people of any generations at anywhere in the world avoiding innovations and falsehood.
Peaceful Friday, salaam and God bless.
Tafazzal (06/21/2024).