RED SEA

Arabic al-Baḥru ʾl-Aḥmar ( البحر الاحمر‎ ). Mentioned in the Qurʾān as al-Baḥr , “the Sea.” Sūrah i. 47 : “When we divided for you the sea , and saved you and drowned Pharaoh’s people.” Sūrah x. 90 : “And We brought the Children of Israel acro the sea .” In Muḥammadan works it is known as the Baḥru ʾl-Qulzum , or Qalzam . Jalālu ʾd-Dīn, the commentator, says the town of Qulzum is the same as Ailah (the Elath of the Bible, Deut. ii. 8 ), a town at the head of the Arabian Gulf. The Αἴλανα of Strabo (xvi. p. 768). It is referred to in the Qurʾān, Sūrah vii. 163 : “Ask them about the city which stood by the sea.” Elath was at one time a place of importance, but it has now become quite insignificant.