# Seas Not Oceans

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Moshe Sharon, Seas Not Oceans, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Seas Not Oceans *
> 
> Moshe Sharon
> 
> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
> 
> Why Ocean nor simply sea?
> Reference to the sea is very frequent in the Bahá’í writings. The word baḥr to depict the sea
> is used hundreds of times in the writings of Bahá’u’lláh, and, to a minor extent, the pure
> Persian word daryā. In both cases the translation into English fixed and followed by the
> example of Shoghi Effendi, in what might be called the standard Bahá’í English style, the
> words are almost consistently translated as “ocean.” In my mind it is an incorrect translation,
> and although one may argue that the Arabic with some stretching can turn an ordinary sea,
> into an ocean, this is not the case in classical Arabic or Persian. One can, however,
> understand the choice of the word ocean for the purpose of translating the word which is used
> extensively by Bahá’u’lláh as a simile to describe his station, his revelation, his message and
> many other aspects of his mission and ministry. Later I shall explain why Bahá’u’lláh always
> spoke about the sea and not the ocean. I mentioned above that Shoghi Effendi translated the
> word bahr by the English word "ocean" and not "sea". The reason could well be that the
> English translation of Bahá˒u˒lláh’s writings were intended mainly for the American public.
> Since the United States is encircled by oceans, Americans use the word ocean and not sea as
> the term for these huge bodies of water.
> 
> In Classical use
> Reference to the sea is found in all the monotheistic religions as well as in the religions of the
> Far East (with which I shall not deal on this occasion). This is not surprising, since the sea as
> a physical phenomenon is mighty and has both negative and positive sides. It is a source of
> life and a cause of death and destruction; it can be friendly and frightening at the same time.
> Even when it seems clear on the surface men are aware of the fact that in its depths it
> conceals mysteries. It represents unimaginable strength, and when on it, the dwellers of the
> dry land are totally helpless. A tradition ascribed to prophet Muḥammad says that people
> riding a boat are like “worms on a twig” (dūd ˓alā ˓ūd)
> This attitude to the sea reminds me of a short tale in Persian which runs as follows:
> 
> ‫ﻯ ﺑﺴﻴﺎﺭ ﺩﺭ ﻛﺸﱵ ﺑﻮﺩﻱ ﻭﺳﻔﺮ ﺩﺭﻳﺎ ﻛﺮﺩﻱ ﺩﺭ ﺩﺭﻳﺎ ﭼﻪ ﻋﺠﺎﻳﺐ‬
> ‫ﺷﺨﺼﻲ ﺃﺯ ﺃﻓﻼﻃﻮﻥ ﭘﺮﺳﻴﺪ ﻛﻪ ﺳﺎﳍﺎ ﹺ‬
> .‫ﺩﻳﺪﻱ؟ ﮔﻔﺖ ﻋﺠﺐ ﳘﲔ ﺑﻮﺩ ﻛﻪ ﺃﺯ ﺩﺭﻳﺎ ﺑﺴﻼﻣﺖ ﺑﻜﻨﺎﺭﻩ ﺭﺳﻴﺪﻡ‬
> 
> *
> Originally housed at www.hum.huji.ac.il/english/units.php?cat=3666&incat=3479; retrieved from
> wayback.archive.org for posting to bahai-library.com/author/sharon
> 
> A person asked Plato: “You spent many years in a ship and travelled in the sea, what
> wonders did you encounter in the sea?” He answered: “The real wonder was that I
> arrived safely from the sea to the shore.”
> One would expect to find such a wise saying attributed to Plato although one should
> remember that the Greeks attitude to the sea was more sophisticated. The sea encircled their
> country and breaking in multitude of places into it, enabled good refuge for their boats,
> supplied them with food, give them enjoyment when calm, and filled them with awe when
> stormy. The sea was god. Not represented by a god. Tadeusz Stefan Zieliński, the famous
> philhellenic classical philologist who wrote an exciting book on the Greek religion (first in
> Russian 1918) was absolutely right when he described one aspect of the Greek religion as the
> deification of nature. As such, the sea itself was the god Poseidon, and when a storm was
> about to break and the first roars of thunder were heard, these were his sons, the Tritons
> blowing their large conches. It was the time for the sailors to lower their sails and begin to
> row, looking to the dark sky hoping for the appearance of their protectors, the dioscuri, the
> twins Castor and Polydueces. And when they appeared behind the masts this was the time to
> offer prayers and gifts to Poseidon and not forget his consort Amphitrite the queen of the
> mysterious depths.
> We will not mention all the gods of the sea here, but they all figure in the Greek religion with
> their supreme head Poseidon, who came in the end to be the god of the Mediterranean, which
> in the eyes of the inhabitants living around its shores, was the “Great Sea”. This is also its
> name in the Bible: “This is the great and wide sea wherein are things creeping innumerable,
> both small and great beasts. There go the ships; there is that leviathan whom thou hast made
> to play therein.”
> ָ‫ )כו( שָׁם ֳאנִיּוֹת י ְ ַהלֵּכוּן ִל ְוי ָתָ ן זֶה יָצ ְַרתּ‬:‫וּרחַב י ָדָ י ִם שָׁם ֶרמֶשׂ ְואֵין ִמ ְספָּר חַיּוֹת ְקטַנּוֹת עִם גְּד ֹלוֹת‬
> ְ ‫)כה( זֶה ַהיּ ָם גָּדוֹל‬
> (‫שׂחֶק בּוֹ )תהילים פרק קד‬         ַ ‫ְל‬
> However, the Mediterranean is not the ocean. The ocean was also a Greek god. The god of
> the huge river that encircles the world in which, according to one view, Helios, the sun, sails
> from the west through the night to reappear in the east each morning. The word Okianos
> entered in this Greek form into Hebrew, modern Arabic and Persian. However though in
> Hebrew it is a common word like in English, in Persian and Arabic in it is hardly in use, and
> definitely was never used by Bahá’u’lláh. If an Arab writer wanted to use the word depicting
> the ocean he used a term which exactly described it in Greek mythology: al-baḥr al-muḥīṭ,
> the encircling river or in Persian baḥr-i- muḥiṭ. The word baḥr in Arabic, and through it also
> in Persian, means sea and river. Thus, the Nile is called in Arabic to this day Baḥr an-Nil .
> The word yamm is also used to describe the Nile in the Qur˒ān. No doubt it is the Hebrew
> word yamm, sea, which entered into Arabic. Since the term baḥr muḥiṭ defining ocean was
> already used in the Middle Ages by Arab geographers, who copied Greek sources, the fact
> that it was not used in the writings of Bahá’u’lláh means that there was no need for it.
> 
> Let us not forget that when a writer used a natural phenomenon as a simile, that natural
> phenomenon was usually in his mind’s eye in an exceptionally impressive form. All the
> prophets and the scriptures that refer to the sea are influenced by bodies of water that they
> witnessed. Thus, Biblical man knew the Red Sea (Sea of Reeds, Yam Sūf in Hebrew) and two
> major lakes which are called seas: the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee. And above all the
> Great Sea, the Mediterranean. The same bodies of water were known to Jesus, although he
> knew about the Mediterranean and the Red Sea only from tradition and Scriptures, because
> he was never near them. His knowledge of the sea was limited to the Sea of Galilee.
> Muḥammad knew about one sea, the Red Sea, but he heard stories about two legendary
> rivers, the junction of which Moses travelled to observe. He also knew about the Euphrates
> which he never saw as well. He must also have heard about the sweet waters of rivers that do
> not mix with the salty water of the sea. Bahá’u’lláh was acquainted with the Caspian Sea,
> Persian Gulf, the Euphrates and the Tigris, and, after his exile from Iraq also with the Black
> Sea the Aegian Sea and of course the Mediterranean next to which he spent the final 24 years
> of his life.
> I am mentioning this because the usage which is made by the reference to the “sea” in all the
> monotheistic religions reflects the actual nature of these bodies of water in one way or
> another. In none of them is there any mention of anything that resembles an ocean. The
> prophets usually referred to the seas or rivers with which they were acquainted. Thus, for
> instance, Bahá’u’lláh, is fond of the simile of the pearls that are to be found in the sea, to
> which we shall soon return. Although the sea as the source of pearls is common knowledge it
> is a real phenomenon for anyone familiar with shallow shores, such as the Persian Gulf, and
> the pearls found in it. In addition to the reality of the sea, there were also legends and
> traditions about it transmitted by the storytellers which became absorbed into the folklore and
> the scriptures and were used and reused by one generation of prophets and transmitters after
> the other. This is why we find from time to time, stories about legendary bodies of water and
> legendary creatures living in the seas.
> The rich Greek mythology is almost totally absent from the literature of the monotheistic
> religions but on the other hand we find residues of ancient eastern legends and lore there.
> Thus, for instance, we find a detailed description of the Leviathan in the book of Job which is
> not a whale as the word is used today but a mythical sea monster originating in the 5000
> years old Sumerian tradition.
> Let us now turn and examine the treatment of the sea in the Biblical and Qur˒ānic traditions.
> 
> In Judaism
> In both these scriptures the sea is the real physical sea. Either calm or stormy the sea is part of
> God’s creation; it is a testimony to God’s omnipotence, and it is a tool used by Him at His
> will and for His purposes. The story of Creation in the Bible establishes the fact that by order
> 
> of God the water receded, the dry land appeared and God gave the bodies of water their name
> – “seas” (in Hebrew yammīm. Gen. 1:10). God’s total control over the sea is represented in
> the parting of the Red Sea where Moses played the role of God’s messenger in the event.
> He “ made the sea dry land and the waters were divided” (Ex. 14:21).
> The same event is reported in the in the Qur’ān (Q, 2:5; 6:128; 10:90). The poem in the Book
> of Exodus exalts God who displayed His great power in this event:
> “And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together. The floods stood up
> straight as an heap. And the depths were congealed into the heart of the sea." (Ex. 15:8)
> The aim of the Bible is to extol the absolute authority of God over his creation. Fire and
> flood, wind and storm, mountains and rivers, forests and deserts, the deep sea and its
> abundance of water are all tools in the divine planning. God uses them to punish his enemies
> and to impose His will on his servants. The story about the prophet Jonah is probably the best
> representative of this idea. God ordered Jonah to go to Nineveh “the great city” and prophecy
> to its people, all sinners, that they were to be destroyed unless they repent. They were given
> forty days to consider the warning. Jonah decided that he was not going to fulfill this mission.
> He knew very well that God is merciful, and that in case the people of Nineveh repent, God
> would surely forgive them. Jonah feels that his mission is futile. He is human and he does not
> want to be ridiculed as a liar once the city is saved. He also believes that he can escape God
> by embarking on a ship taking a long voyage away from the eastern shores of the
> Mediterranean. God causes the sea to storm and the ship in a danger of sinking. Through the
> chain of events which follows, Jonah is compelled to carry his original mission to his great
> vexation. The prophet wanted the long time sinners to be punished this is a simple justice, but
> God, the story tells us, is ready to accept those who repent. “His hands are outstretched to
> those who return unto him” says a Jewish prayer. This is the message of the whole book of
> Jonah, but it could be demonstrated with the help of the storming see used as a divine tool.
> God’s control of the sea is present throughout the Bible (enabling Jesus walking on the water
> belongs to this category), even in the one place in the Book of Job where the sea is
> represented as an impregnable being. The suffering Job turns to God exclaiming: “Am I a sea
> or a sea monster that thou attest a watch over me?” (Job, 7:12) The ancient myth of the battle
> between the great God and the sea monster (Marduch and Tihamat for example) is echoed
> here, only that in the Hebrew tradition there is no battle; there is no one to contest God’s
> supreme authority, and even the storming Yamm, the Sumerian sea god, becomes in Hebrew
> the noun denoting sea with no supernatural standing, which comes like all creatures under the
> divine watch and command. Job also makes clear that he knows that the sea has no
> intelligence, and as such cannot be deified. Wisdom, he agrees, is unique: “But where shall
> the wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? The depth saith it is not in
> me, and the sea saith it is not with me.” (Job, 28: 12, 14) One may sum up the idea of the
> subordination of the sea to God in two clear examples. In Exodus 20:11 we read in one of the
> Ten Commandments: “For in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth the sea and all
> 
> that is in them …” And the poet in Psalms, 89:8-9) overcome with exhilaration cries: “O
> Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? …Thou rulest the raging of the sea
> when the waves thereof arise, thou stilleth them.”
> Ancient Israel was acquainted mainly with one sea, the Mediterranean, and to much lesser
> extant with the Red Sea in spite of the fact that it figured prominently in its past, and the
> attempts of a few kings to develop the port of Eilat (Etzyon Geber) as a second sea outlet for
> the Kingdom. (1Kings, 22:48) The Mediterranean represented for all the ancient inhabitants
> on its shores in Europe, South west Asia, and North Africa all the characteristics of a great
> sea: calm and beautiful on the one hand angry and raging with storms on the other. It was
> therefore not unusual that it was used metaphorically by prophets and poets to present, power
> and treachery, abundance and prosperity, wisdom and mystery. Thus Isaiah wishing to
> describe the reward awaiting him who hearkens to God commands says: “then had thy peace
> been like a river and thy righteousness like the waves of the sea (Isaiah, 48:18). On the other
> hand the storming see can also be the symbol of evil: “But the wicked are like the troubled
> sea when it cannot rest whose water cast out mire and dirt. There is no peace saith my God to
> the wicked.” (Isaia, 57:20-21) The roaring sea is used by Jeremiah to describe the voice of
> the cruel enemy (Jeremiah, 50:42) and the vastness of the sea is used to describe and to
> portray the extant of calamity that befell Jerusalem: “What things shall I likened to thee O
> daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I equal to thee that I may comfort thee?... For thy breach is
> great like the sea who can heal thee? (lamentations, 2:13)
> The sea is used like in the last example to denote superlatives of plenty and size. Isaiah,
> promising the great final peace, describes a world free of war and weapons and insures the
> certainty of its happening because “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the
> water covers the sea.” (Isaiah 11:9) And in more philosophical spirit (the parallel of which we
> find in Indian sources), the Ecclesiates ponders at the mystery of the sea: “All the rivers run
> into the sea, yet the sea is not full.” There can be only one solution for the riddle: Unto the
> place from which the rivers come thither they return again.” (Eccles. 1:7) The Jewish mystics
> could not miss the challenge of this verse: the rivers, they say, are the rivers of Grace
> emanating from the highest sephirah, that of the Divine Crown, streaming down to fill the
> shekhinah the manifestation of the Divine Being below which is likened to the sea.
> 
> In Islam
> The attitude of the Qur˒ān to the sea is very similar to the attitude of the Bible. For
> Muḥammad the sea is a natural object created and controlled by God. (Q, 2:161
> He also emphasized the miracle that God performed when He parted the Red Sea before the
> people of Israel. This sea is not mentioned by name but by the general noun baḥr, the
> common word for sea and for river as we mentioned above. In a few places the word yamm is
> used as in Hebrew. The sea with which Muhammad was mostly familiar was the Red Sea, not
> 
> the Mediterranean. He marveled about the ships that sail in the sea (Q, 14:32) and for him
> they were proof of God’s might. He causes the boats to sail in the sea sending good wind (Q,
> 31:30), but He also causes the sea to storm and in such case when he hears the supplications
> of the seafarers and their prayers, He causes the sea to calm down (Q, 10:22).
> For God , and only God, knows all that is in the sea and the land (‫( ) ﻭﻳﻌﻠﻢ ﻣﺎ ﰲ ﺍﻟﱪ ﻭﺍﻟﺒﺤﺮ‬Q, 6:59)
> as well as what is under the darkness thereof (‫)ﻇﻠﻤﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﱪ ﻭﺍﻟﺒﺤﺮ‬. (Q,7:163)
> 
> From the beginning of creation God fixed the stars in heavens to direct sailors in the darkness
> of the sea and land (‫ﺎ ﰲ ﻇﻠﻤﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﱪ ﻭﺍﻟﺒﺤﺮ‬# ‫)ﻟﺘﻬﺪﻭﺍ‬. (Q, 6:97)
> 
> It should be emphasized that the sea is mentioned in only very few places in the Qur˒ān
> unlike the Bible where there are an abundance of references to it, as there are in the writings
> of Baha'ullah. However, Muhammad also uses the vast sea metaphorically in two places but
> almost in the same words:
> “If the sea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would be spent before the words of my
> Lord are spent.” (Q 18:109, trans. Arberry) A parallel verse presents this idea even more
> decisively:
> “Though all the trees in the earth were pens, and the sea – seven seas after it to replenish it,
> yet would the Words of God spent … (Q, 31:27 Trans. Arberry). Incidentally, the exact same
> idea is also found in the Jewish liturgy)
> 
> In Bahá'í writings
> In contradistinction to Judaism and Islam where the basic attitude to the sea is to the physical
> body of water, in Bahá’u’lláh's writings the word sea is used only figuratively. Apart for a
> few places where he uses the Persian word “daryā,” he usually employs the Arabic word
> "baḥr". The employment of the word baḥr to describe vastness and depth in a figurative
> manner is known in Arabic literature. Thus for instance a scholar famous for his vast
> knowledge, is called al-baḥr. The only occasion in which the word baḥr is translated as sea in
> the official Bahá’í translation is when it appears twice, as in the opening of the Seven Valleys
> when Bahá’u’lláh says:
> 
> ‫ﻭﺍﺻﻠﻲ ﻭﺍﺳﻠﻢ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻭﻝ ﲝﺮ ﺗﺸﻌﺐ ﻣﻦ ﲝﺮ ﺍﳍﻮﻳﺔ‬
> 
> "And I praise and glorify the first sea that has branched from the Ocean of the Divine
> Essence". In this case there is a literary reason for giving a different translation to the same
> word.
> This brings us to the meaning of sea in the Baha'i writings.
> 
> 1. Sea as representing the manifestation of God the prophet, such as in the example just
> quoted. The first sea in this case refers to Muhammad. Instead of repeating the usual
> prayer for the prophet of Islam by saying:
> 
> “and I bless and salute Muhammad and his family” (...‫ ﻭﺁﻟﻪ‬%‫)ﻭﺍﺻﻠﻲ ﻭﺍﺳﻠﻢ ﻋﻠﻰ ﳏﻤ'ﺪ‬
> 
> Bahá˒u˒lláh uses this form of blessing.
> At the same time sea, is also a reference to the Divine Being Himself, and in this way
> the organic connection between the Essence and its Manifestation and described as
> “forking off” from it just as the Persian Gulf branches off from the Indian Ocean.
> Whoever sees the Gulf knows through it the mystery of the Ocean.
> 2. The word baḥr is used to describe the words of the Manifestation, the texts revealed
> by him. In this case Bahá˒u˒lláh uses the term baḥr al-kalām. This simile enables him
> to carry the allegory one step further and to describe the actual process leading to the
> revealed words of wisdom, laws and ordinances. When the “sea of words” is calm,
> that is when the Manifestation keeps the mystery of his revelation concealed in the
> depth of his being, nothing is revealed. There is the potentiality of revelation in the
> same way that there is the potentiality of storm in a calm sea. When the Prophet is
> stirred up to reveal his message this is compared to the stormy sea. The high waves
> represent the movement of the prophecy from its passive to its active mode or from
> potentiality to actuality. Here is how this dramatic process happens (Aqdas 26:)
> 
> ‫ﻟﺬﻟﻚ ﻣﺎﺝ ﲝﺮ ﺍﻟﻜﻼﻡ ﻭﻗﺬﻑ ﻵﱄ ﺍﻷﺣﻜﺎﻡ ﻣﻦ ﻟﺪﻥ ﻣﺎﻟﻚ ﺍﻵﻧﺎﻡ‬
> 
> "Thus have the billows of the ocean of utterance surged, casting forth the pearls of the
> laws decreed by the Lord of All Mankind" (official translation)
> The verse here recalls the Qur'an 27:6
> 
> ‫ﻭﺍﻧﻚ ﻟﺘ!ﹶﻠﻘﱠﻰ ﺍﻟﻘﺮﺁﻥ ﻣﻦ ﻟﺪﻥ ﺣﻜﻴﻢ ﻋﻠﻴﻢ‬
> 
> “Thou receivest the Qur'an from One Wise Knowing.” (trans. Arberry)
> Bahá˒u˒lláh uses the same ‫ ﻣﻦ ﻟﺪﻥ‬and describes the source of his ordinances as himself,
> being the lord of all mankind. When he wishes to bring forth the words of his
> revelation compared to the pearls at the bottom of the sea it is as if the sea of words
> surges up and breaks into a storm which casts out the hidden pearls.
> If we leave for a moment the canonized English text and attempt a simple translation
> (bearing in mind the Qur˒ānic verse) we arrive at almost the same wording quoted
> above except that following the Qur˒ān we would conclude the verse:
> “And casted the pearls of laws from the ruler of humanity”.
> 
> So whenever the manifestation is in its active state – teaching, directing, decreeing
> and so on, it is likened to the stormy sea. This idea appears very frequently in
> Bahá˒u˒lláh’s writings. His revelation is always a sea and almost always in a stormy
> state and he assures the reader repeatedly that his stormy sea casts forth the pearls of
> his words. Frequently describing himself as baḥr al-a˓zam” the “most great sea” and
> his revelation as baḥr bayānī the “sea of my clear utterance.” As long as he is in this
> world he is “the sea of connection” - bahr al-wiṣāl between him and humanity. In this
> context the prophet also envisages a situation that this direct connection, represented
> by his being in this world as the “sea of connection”, will cease one day to exist. He
> sees his departure from this world as ghayḍ baḥr al-wiṣāl – “the ebbing of the sea of
> connection”.
> 3. Other definitions of sea.
> Beside the depiction of the appearance of the Manifestation and its revealed teaching
> as a stormy sea, there are references to the divine, namely the Manifestation’s, mercy
> as a sea. The believers, God’s servants, can be seen as standing on shore and awaiting
> the overflow of the sea of mercy. In one long passage in the Aqdas the Báb is made to
> beg Bahá˒u˒lláh not to prevent his servants from the fuyūḍat of his mercy (Aqdas,
> 129). The word fuyūḍat, by the way, seems to be a creation of Bahá˒u˒lláh. In Arabic
> the singular fayḍ takes the plural fuyūḍ. Bahá˒u˒lláh created a plural of the plural form
> (which in Arabic is possible eapecially as a poetical license) thereby giving further
> emphasis to the idea of the swelling water of this type of sea. Naturally, Bahá˒u˒lláh
> attributes the qualities of the sea to the Báb and his revelation as well. The Báb’s chief
> creation, the Bayān, is also a sea. It is not stormy but a quiet and deep sea concealing
> many mysteries of learning and wisdom which can be discovered only by Bahá˒u˒lláh
> as a divine manifestation. These mysteries are the pearls in the sea but, unlike the
> pearls of Bahá˒u˒lláh which the stormy sea casts out; these pearls have to be
> discovered by the revealed God.
> 
> ‫ﺳﺘ"ﺮ ﰲ ﲝﺮ ﻛﻠﻤﺎﺗﻪ ﻣﻦ ﻵﱄ ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻢ ﻭﺍﳊﻜﻤﺔ‬$ ‫ﻝ ﻓﻴﻪ ﻭﻣﺎ‬-‫ﻧﺰ‬$ ‫ﻦ ﻟﻜﻢ ﻣﺎ‬-‫ﺍﻥﻩ ﻟﻮ ﺷﺎﺀ ﻳﺒﻴ‬
> 
> Should he so desire (Bahá˒u˒lláh speaks about himself) he will expound for
> you that which is revealed therein (the Bayān) and disclose to you the pearls of
> knowledge and wisdom.
> But the divine sea of mysteries is not left to a prophet to employ. The sea can be
> reached by the seekers who can abandon the passive state of those who are on the
> receiving side and become active seekers (an idea Bahá˒u˒lláh developed in his Seven
> Valleys and Four Valleys).
> 
> ‫ﺍﻏﺘﻤﺴﻮﺍ ﰲ ﲝﺮ ﺑﻴﺎﱐ ﻟﻌ ﹼﻞ ﺗﻄﹼﻠﻌﻮﻥ ﲟﺎ ﻓﻴﻪ ﻣﻦ ﻵﱄ ﺍﳊﻜﻤﺔ ﻭﺍﻻﺳﺮﺍﺭ‬
> 
> Immerse yourselves in the sea of my words that you may unravel its secrets
> and discover all the pearls of wisdom that lie in its depths (Aqdas, 182).
> In other words the sea of the secrets of the Divine Manifestation is open to human
> investigation, there is much optimism in this statement: the depths are open to
> whoever can dive!
> However, even those who are passive, not only humans but everything, all things,
> were immersed in the sea of purity once the Manifestation appeared.
> 
> ‫ﻗﺪ ﺍﻧﻐﻤﺴﺖ ﺍﻷﺷﻴﺎﺀ ﰲ ﲝﺮ ﺍﻟﻄﻬﺎﺭﺓ‬
> 
> Verily all created things were imeresed in the sea of purification…(Aqdas, 75)
> If this is not sufficiently clear Bahá˒u˒lláh takes the simile of the sea away from
> himself and regards the whole of humanity as drops of one sea, thus combining two
> images – sea and tree – that he liked to depict when he spoke about the unity of
> humanity:
> 
> ‫ﳘﻪ ﺃﻭﺭﺍﻑ ﻳﻚ ﺷﺠﺮﻳﺪ ﻭﻗﻄﺮﻫﺎﻯﹺ ﻳﻚ ﲝﺮ‬
> 
> “You are all the leaves of one tree and the drops of one sea!”
> Once humans were also allowed into the metaphor of the sea, Bahá˒u˒lláh, who
> invited them to dive into its depths, developed the idea of the ideal world of humanity.
> Without saying it in so many words, the metaphor is clear:
> 
> ‫ﺃﻭﺍﻣﺮ ﺍﳍﻴﻪ ﲟﱰﻟﻪﺀ ﲝﺮ ﺍﺳﺖ ﻭﻧﺎﺱ ﲟﺰﻟﻪﺀ ﺣﻴﺘﺎﻥ‬
> 
> The divine commands are like a sea and the people are like fish.
> Just as fish cannot live outside the water so human beings cannot live without the
> divine ordinances!
> As far as I know, unlike the prophets before him Bahá’u’lláh refres to the sea in the
> same way that he refers to other natural phenomena, figuratively and allegorically.
> The difference is that in other cases, particularly when he himself is involved he
> would use an expression which gives the idea of comparison as we have just seen
> “they are like…” but when he, or his prophecy is involved on the whole, particularly
> in the case of the sea there is no expression of comparison: the sea is him, the see is
> the divine mystery, the sea is the prophecy. If there are exception to the rule it is very
> instructive to explore their reason.
>
> — *Seas Not Oceans (Used by permission of the curator)*