Yā Sīn

وَاِن نَّشَأْ نُغْرِقْهُمْ فَلاَ صَرِيخَ لَهُمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يُنقَذُونَ

إِلاَّ رَحْمَةً مِنَّا وَمَتَاعاً إِلَي حِينٍ

43. “And if We please, We drown them, then there shall be none to help them, nor shall they be rescued.”
44. “Save (by) mercy from Us, and enjoyment for a while.”

It is Allah Who has set water in a form that man can move by ship on it, and this merit is among the signs of the Power of Allah. Therefore, for making this great bounty more clear, this verse states the situation which comes into being because of this bounty being changed. It says:

We may order a huge wave to drown their ship; or We may command a whirlpool to take them inside itself; or We may tell a tempest to throw them in the midst of the waves like a blade of straw. And if We please, We can alter the property of water, ship, the regularity of the blow of winds, and the stillness of the sea so that all their things confuse. It is We Who cause this system to continue in order that they enjoy; and if now and then We sent some events of this kind, it is for the sake that, by means of them, they know the bounty they are inside of it.

The Qur’anic term /sarix/ is derived from /sarax/ in the sense of ‘helper’; and the Arabic term /yunqaŏun/ is derived from /’inqaŏ/ in the sense of “to rescue, to deliver”. At last, in order to complete this meaning, in the next holy verse it says:

Yes, by no means they can deliver, except that Our mercy comes to them and Our grace hastens to help them. The Arabic word /hin/ means ‘time’ and in the above verse it refers to the end of the man’s life and his death. Some commentators have rendered it into the end of the world. Yes, those who have embarked a ship (the old small ships or the huge great modern ships which run on the oceans) understand well the depth of the meaning of this verse, that the most gigantic ships of the world are like a blade of straw in the face of great waves of the sea and terrible storms of oceans, and if the mercy of Allah were not upon persons, their deliverance would be impossible.

In this narrow way, which is between death and life, He intends to show His Power to humankind, perhaps the misled ones of the way may find a path toward Him therefrom.