The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5) — Page 158
CH. 55 AR-RAHMAN PT. 27 21. Between them there is at present a barrier; they encroach not one upon the other 4060 22. Which, then, of the favours of your Lord will you twain deny? 23. There come out from them pearls and coral. 4061 24. Which, then, of the favours of your Lord will you twain deny? 4060. Commentary: "The two bodies of water" referred to in the preceding verse may be the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea on the one hand and the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean on the other, particularly the former two seas. The verse embodies a great prophecy which was remarkably fulfilled in the latter half of the nineteenth century when the Suez and the Panama Canals were constructed, the former linking the first two seas and the latter the mighty Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The world had to wait for thirteen long centuries to see the fulfilment of this prophecy, in an age of new and great discoveries and inventions in the material world. It was in the fitness of time that, concurrently, equally great discoveries should have been made in the spiritual world, the fulfilment of the above prophecy being one of them. Or (the two bodies of water) may signify the physical and spiritual sciences. In this sense of the بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌ لا يَبْغِينِ ® فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّ بْنِ يَخْرُجُ مِنْهُمَا اللُّؤْلُؤُ وَالْمَرْجَانُ ® فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّ بْنِ word the verses would mean that the two sciences natural laws and Divine revelation, were mistakenly considered to be at logger heads, and a barrier seemed to have kept them apart, till, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the great Divine Reformer of the age, the Founder of the Aḥmadiyya Movement, succeeded in lifting that barrier and by his powerful writings unfolded the mighty truth that, instead of being antagonistic, these two sciences were corroborative of, and complementary to, each other, the one being the Work of God, and the other His Word. In this way the two seas were made to join each other. 3054 4061. Commentary: Curiously enough pearls and corals are found in both the Suez and Panama Canals. Spiritually speaking, the verse would signify that physical sciences and Divine revelation both contain value. treasures of inestimable