Sailing of Ships
Out of six Signs of Allah mentioned in Surah Baqrah 2:164 we have covered only two by now. Next one is sailing of ships across the ocean for the benefit of mankind. To understand the Signs of Allah in this case the route is the same as earlier. Praising of Lord in every condition and pondering over His creation – in the present case the sailing of the ships.Utility of sailing of ships is again obvious. But where are the Signs of Allah there? Answer : Every useful thing is from Lord Most High and it is obligatory to thank Him for that. Thanking Him is also a route to recognize His Signs. Not impressed? Would you like to imagine the situation where the ships stop transporting, say oil, across the world? Or suppose you are in ship and in the open waters and the captain declares that the ship can not sail anymore. Isn’t the sailing a blessing – blessing from Lord Most High? A blessing should remind about who is bestowing it on us. How a heavier thing like a ship sails on lighter thing, the water is the main Sign here and it too belongs to science. The science of it is rather simple and that too should remind us about the wonderful design of the matter around us-that a material which should sink is not sinking but sailing. It is there because it has been made so. There is a Creator behind its creation.
On the spiritual side there is this wonderful story of a person asking Khwaja Faridudding Ganj Shakar (RA) about the Great Name (ism-e-azam) of Lord Most High. On his persistence Khwaja Sahab (RA) took him, together with two wrestlers, on a boat ride. In the middle of the waters he ordered the wrestlers to drop the man.into water who, dutifully, did exactly the same. Then they sailed away from this man. He yelled and begged and cried for being rescued but to no avail. Finally he concluded that Khwaja Sahab (RA) must have been hating him secretly and today he got a chance to act upon his designs and so he is taking revenge for some unknown grudge. The person started supplicating to Lord Most High very sincerely. When Khwaja Sahab (RA) heard that the man has completely turned to Allah and disappointed in them then he ordered for his rescue. He told the person that the Great Name of Allah (ism-e-azam) is any name out of beautiful names of Allah that you shall use in utmost distress. That is the life line.
And this life line is from Lord Most High. Sailing of ships is a life line. It should remind us of our Lord who gave us life and maintains it.