وهو الذي سخر البحر لتاكلوا منه لحما طريا وتستخرجوا منه حلية تلبسونها وترى الفلك مواخر فيه ولتبتغوا من فضله ولعلكم تشكرون ١٤
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى سَخَّرَ ٱلْبَحْرَ لِتَأْكُلُوا۟ مِنْهُ لَحْمًۭا طَرِيًّۭا وَتَسْتَخْرِجُوا۟ مِنْهُ حِلْيَةًۭ تَلْبَسُونَهَا وَتَرَى ٱلْفُلْكَ مَوَاخِرَ فِيهِ وَلِتَبْتَغُوا۟ مِن فَضْلِهِۦ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ١٤
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3

If an iron bar is put into the sea, it will immediately sink to the bottom. But if the iron is moulded in the shape of a ship, it will start floating on the surface and will be capable of carrying heavy loads and going from one country to another. This is a special law of God by means of which He has made as huge a creation as the sea subservient to man’s interests. Similarly, by a wonderful under-sea arrangement, fresh food is provided in the shape of fish and, for the ornamentation of man, valuable pearls are formed in the oysters which live in the ocean. As for the disposition of the world’s natural features, God could have made various other arrangements. For example, there might have been no oceans or seas on the earth; or man could have been made capable of walking on the sea as he walks on land. But this was not God’s way. His purpose was to create in man a feeling of gratefulness. Not being able to walk on the sea, when a man boards a boat or a ship, he experiences a sense of gratefulness; he thinks that since he is unable to traverse the sea with the help of his legs, God has been kind enough to make it traversable by means of a boat or a ship; he again thinks that since he is not able to fly in space, God has created such conditions as now permit him to fly at great speed in an aeroplane. Such divine preferences have been built into the system of nature in order to awaken man’s consciousness and to create in him feelings of gratefulness and obligation towards his Lord, the Sustainer.