Translations:On Altıncı Lem'a/46/en
It is well-known that the sun’s motion is apparent, indicating the hidden movement of the earth and giving news of it. What it intends is not the actual setting of the sun. Also the spring is a metaphor. From the distance a large sea appears to be a small pool. It is most meaningful and apt according to the mysteries of eloquence(*[1])to liken a sea appearing beyond swamps with mists and vapours rising from it due to the heat to a muddy spring, with word ‘ayn, which in Arabic means both spring, and sun, and eye.
- ↑ *In accordance with the mysteries of rhetoric the word “spring” (‘ayn) in “in a spring of murky water” makes a subtle allusion, as follows: after gazing on the beauty of divine mercy on the face of the earth, the eye of the sun in the face of the sky – and after beholding divine tremendousness above, the eye of the sea in the earth – these two eyes close one within the other, and the eyes on the earth close also. Thus, with one miraculous word the Qur’an recalls this, and alludes to eyes resting from their duties.