The Arctic Ocean (عَيۡنٍ حَمِئَةٍ)

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حَتّٰٓى اِذَا بَلَغَ مَغۡرِبَ الشَّمۡسِ وَجَدَهَا تَغۡرُبُ فِىۡ عَيۡنٍ حَمِئَةٍ وَّوَجَدَ عِنۡدَهَا قَوۡمًا ؕ ​قُلۡنَا يٰذَا الۡقَرۡنَيۡنِ اِمَّاۤ اَنۡ تُعَذِّبَ وَاِمَّاۤ اَنۡ تَتَّخِذَ فِيۡهِمۡ حُسۡنًا‏ ٨٦

Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it set in a spring of murky water: Near it he found a People: We said: "O Zul-qarnain! (thou hast authority,) either to punish them, or to treat them with kindness."

[Al-Quran 18:86, Translation: A. Yusuf Ali]

As discussed in Dhu al Qarnayn visited the Polar Regions?, ayat 86 of Surah al-Kahf is uniquely describing the Arctic Ocean and the region around it. This post is focused on the two unique words that describe the ocean: a spring of murky water (عَيۡنٍ حَمِئَةٍ) 

عَيۡنٍ

The word  is variously translated as spring and eye, as can be seen in this search: 

[Screenshot of part of the search results from corpus.quran.com]

Now consider this map of the Arctic region: 

[Image downloaded from Marine Ecology: A Wonderland of Marine Activity in the Arctic Night]

Compare it with the image of an eye: 

[Screenshot from An Eye]

Both descriptions of the word عَيۡنٍ fit the Arctic region. 

To quote from Dhu al Qarnayn visited the Polar Regions?: 

What does the Sun appear to be disappearing in? 

‘ainin hamee-atin’ is variously translated as a well or warm spring, or spring with foul fetid mud [2], murky waters, dark mud, and so on [3].

There is no land at the North Pole. ‘The Arctic consists of ocean that is largely surrounded by land. As such, the climate of much of the Arctic is moderated by the ocean water, which can never have a temperature below −2 °C (28 °F).’ [4] 

The lands near the North Pole, in the Arctic Circle, are known for hot springs and geysers, with muddy water spewing out of some [5] [6] [7] [8]. However, such places are also there near the South Pole, though perhaps lesser in number or less discovered [10] [11] [12]. Therefore, hot springs and geysers may not be a uniquely distinguishing feature of the North Pole from the South Pole. Hence, I’m inclined to think that ‘ainin hamee-atin’ refers to the warm waters of the Arctic Ocean.  

حَمِئَةٍ

Going by Abdullah Yusuf Ali's translation:'murky water', the Arctic Ocean itself is fed by the world's largest rivers, and has melting ice making its water murky. 

    _Major rivers flowing into the Arctic [quote from Arctic Change on March 29, 2024]

The Arctic Ocean receives a large amount of fresh water from river runoff relative to its area, compared to other oceans. There are five major rivers that flow into the Arctic, the Mackenzie and Yukon in North America, and the three largest in Asia, the Ob, Yenisey and Lena Rivers.

    _Melting ice causing murky waters [quote from Melting Ice, Murky Waters: Understanding Arctic Ocean Changes on March 29, 2024]

the researchers found that while some locations received increased levels of sunlight due to the loss of ice, other locations received decreased levels of sunlight. They attribute this to increased murkiness in the water from river runoff resulting from the melting ice, as the rivers carry sediments and other land-based materials into the waters, thus blocking sunlight from reaching photosynthetic marine life on the shallow seafloor.

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