It is Allah Who has subjected the sea to you,(4746) that ships may sail through it by His command, that ye may seek of his Bounty, and that ye may be grateful.
4746 Cf. 16:14 and notes thereon, especially n. 2037. The one encircling ocean of our globe is one of the most significant facts in our physical geography. Its salt water is an agent of global sanitation. The salubrious effects of sea air, with its ozone, are well known to everyone who has recouped his health by its means. Thanks to ships, the sea unites rather than divides: communications are, and have always been, more active between seacoast towns than further inland. They thus further human intercourse, and help us to seek the "Bounty of Allah", not only in a commercial but in an intellectual and spiritual sense. All this is through "Allah's command" i.e., by His beneficent ordering of the universe, and we should be grateful.