Water Cycle in Islam (1/2)

Water rises high into the sky. Water is almost invisible (vapor). Only 10% of sea water goes inland.

Water Evaporates:

90% from sea; returns directly to sea. Water is released from plant leaves: 20% from evapo-respiration. Water vapor forms clouds: inland, clouds are formed from 20% evapo-respiration and 10% from non-salty sea water. Total: 30%. 

Plant roots absorb water. Part of this water infiltrate underground. Water falls as rain from clouds (precipitation), returns from sea to sea: 90%; 10% from runoff (land).

Water in Islam:

Water is the natural resource maybe the most present in the sacred texts of Islam. Not only it is constantly evoked, but it also evokes several meanings.

But maybe the most interesting feature is the fact that the water’s natural cycles are described in detail in the Qur’an itself.

“(The unbeliever’s state) is like the depths of darkness in a vast deep ocean, overwhelmed with billow topped by billow, topped by (dark) clouds: Depths of darkness, one above another: If a man stretches out his hand, he can hardly see it! For any to whom Allah does not give light, there is no light.” [Qur’an, Surah An-Nur, 24:40].

This verse about the state of people who are not Muslims is a miracle in itself. One should read it over and over again to feel how deep it is. The verse is a miracle in two ways: because of its scientific accuracy and because of the accuracy of the parable (the image that comes up into one’s mind while reading it).

Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) could have chosen the darkness of the night in order to explain how lost unbelievers are, but the comparison with the depth of the sea is even stronger than it is unexpected, especially at the time of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) when nobody was able to dive deep enough into the sea to tell if the sea depths had layers of darkness or not.

Scientists now have explored the sea’s darkness by means of submarines. Human beings can only dive unaided for twenty to thirty meters deep. This darkness is caused by water waves, and also by the absorption of colors at the different levels that are layered one over the other.

The fact to compare the unbelievers moving about the darkness of the sea is a very effective description.

There are many different layers or depths in everybody as far as sins are concerned and also the awareness: some people are completely in the dark about the revelations of life, some others have almost understood what life really is and that only Islam is the way.

For those who are completely lost, it seems that there is almost no hope for them like a person stretching his hand in the dark in a middle of the ocean, reaching for nothing and only concerned about his present desires and safety.

The Qur’an goes on to say:

“And He sends down hail from mountains (clouds) in the sky, and He strikes with it whomever He wills, and turns it from whoever He wills. The vivid flash of its lightning nearly blinds the sight.” [Qur'an, An-Nur, 24:43]

Scientists have studied clouds and noticed that they can predict the weather by looking at them. The shapes of clouds depend on winds.

One kind of rain cloud is the cumulonimbus cloud associated with thunderstorms.

Scientists have found that cumulonimbus clouds go through the following steps to produce rain clouds are pushed by the wind; then they join together forming a larger cloud. When the small clouds join together, updrafts within the larger cloud increase. The updrafts near the center of the cloud are stronger than those near the edges.

These updrafts cause the cloud’s body to grow vertically, so the cloud is stacked up. This vertical growth causes the cloud body to stretch into cooler regions of the atmosphere where drops of water and hail formulate and begin to grow larger and larger. When these drops of water and hail become too heavy for the updrafts to support them, they begin to fall from the clouds as rain, hail, etc.

Meteorologists have found that these cumulonimbus clouds, showering hail, reach a height of 25,000 to 30,000 feet (4.7 to 5.7 miles), like mountains, as the Qur'an says.

So the Qur’an really describes the water cycles in the sky as well as the nature of the waters in the oceans. These examples are but a few in the Qur’an. Most of the time the Qur’an speaks about how the rain falls on the earth and revives it; it tells that there is much wisdom by looking at all forms the water takes, and those who are wise enough to think about it receive a great Benediction.

“Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the night and the day; in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the profit of mankind; in the rain which Allah Sends down from the skies, and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that He scatters through the earth; in the change of the winds, and the clouds which they Trail like their slaves between the sky and the earth;- (Here) indeed are Signs for a people that are wise.” [Qur’an, Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:164]

A great Benediction that was given to Musa (Moses) (Peace be upon him), Ajar (may Allah be pleased with him) and Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and us by our duas, is respectively the splitting of the sea, the creation of springs like the Zamzam spring, and the coming of the rain:

“And remember Moses prayed for water for his people; We said: "Strike the rock with thy staff." Then gushed forth therefrom twelve springs. Each group knew its own place for water. So eat and drink of the sustenance provided by Allah, and do no evil nor mischief on the (face of the) earth.” [Qur’an, Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:60]

(Continued)