يَخْرُجُ مِنْهُمَا اللُّؤْلُؤُ وَالْمَرْجَانُ (22)
(55:22) From these seas come forth pearls *20 and coral. *21
*20) According to Ibn 'Abbas, Qatadah, Ibn Zaid and Dahhak (may AIIah bless them), marjan implies small pearls, but according to Hadrat 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud, this word is used for corals in Arabia.
*21) Literally: "From both these seas come out..." The objectors say that pearls and corals come out only from salt waters. How is it then that they are stated to come out from both the sweet and salt waters ? The answer is that the seas contain both the sweet and the salt waters; therefore, whether it is said that these things come out from the combination of both, or from both kinds of waters, it would be one and the same thing. And it may well be that further investigations might reveal that both these things originate in the sea at the place where springs of sweet water gush outs from the sea bed; and in their birth and development combination of both kinds of the water plays its part. Near Bahrain which has been famous for its pearl-fisheries for centuries, there exist springs of sweet water at the bottom of the Gulf.