Rain in the Qur’an
By
Harun Yahya
Rain is
indeed one of the most important factors for life on the earth.
Rain is
a prerequisite for the permanence of life in a region. Rain, which
carries great importance for all living things including human beings,
is mentioned in various verses of the Qur’an where substantial
information is given about the formation of rain, its proportion and
effects. The fact that it was not possible for any of this
information to have been discovered at the time of the revelation of
the Qur’an shows that the Qur’an is the word of Allah.
Now,
let us examine the information given in the Qur’an about rain.
THE PROPORTION OF RAIN
In the
eleventh verse of Surah az-Zukhruf, rain is defined as water send down
in due measure. The verse is as follows: “And He who sends
down (from time to time) water from the sky in due measure, and We
raise to life therewith a land that is dead. Even so will you be
raised (from the dead)”. (Surah Zukhruf, 11)
This
“measure” mentioned in the verse has to do with a couple of
characteristics of rain. First of all, the amount of rain that falls
on the earth is always the same. It is estimated that in one second,
16 million tons of water evaporates from the earth. This number is
equal to the amount of water that drops on the earth in one second.
This means that water continuously circulates in a balanced cycle
according to a “measure”. Another measure related with rain is about
its falling speed. The minimum altitude of rain clouds is 1200
meters. When dropped from this height, an object having the same
weight and size as a rain drop, would continuously accelerate and fall
on the ground with a speed of 558 km/h. Certainly, any object that
hits the ground with that speed would cause big damage. If rain
happened to fall in the same way, all harvested lands would be
destroyed, residential areas, houses, and cars would be damaged,
people would not be able to walk around without taking necessary
precautions. What is more, these calculations are made just for
clouds of 1200 meters high, whereas there are also rain clouds at and
altitude of 10,000 meters. A rain drop falling from such a height
could normally reach a very destructive speed.
But
this is not how it works; no matter from how high they fall, average
speed of rain drops is only 8-10 km/h when they reach the ground. The
reason for this is the special form they take. This special form
increases the friction effect of the atmosphere and prevents
acceleration when the rain drops reach a certain speed “limit”.
(Today parachutes are designed by using this technique.)
This
is not all about the “measures” of rain. For instance, in the
atmospheric layers where it starts to rain, the temperature may fall
so low as –40 C degrees. Despite this, rain drops never turn into ice
particles. (This would certainly mean a fatal threat for the living
things on the earth).
The
reason is that the water in the atmosphere is pure water. As known,
pure water hardly freezes even in very low temperatures.
THE FORMATION OF RAIN
How
rain forms remained a great mystery for people for a long time. Only
after air radar were limited, could it have been possible to learn by
with stages rain formed.
The
formation of rain takes place in three stages: First, the “raw
material” of rain rises up in the air. Later, clouds are formed and
lastly, rain drops appear.
These
stages are clearly defined in the Qur’an in which precise information
was given about the formation of rain centuries in advance; “It
is Allah Who sends the Winds, and they raise the Clouds: then does He
spread them in the sky as He wills, and break them into fragments,
until you see rain drops issue from the midst thereof; then when he
has made them reach such of his servants as he wills behold, they do
rejoice!”
Now,
let us look at the three stages mentioned in the verse;
1ST
STAGE
“It is Allah Who sends the winds…” Countless air bubbles
formed by the foaming in the oceans continuously burst and cause water
particles to be ejected towards the sky. These particles which are
rich in salt, are then carried away by winds and move upwards in the
atmosphere. These particles which are called aerosols for clouds by
collecting around themselves the water vapour – that again ascends
from the seas – as tiny drops, by a mechanism called “water trap”.
2ND
STAGE
“… and they raise the Clouds: then does He spread them in the sky as
He wills, and break them into fragments…”
The clouds form from the water vapour that condenses around the salt
crystals or the dust particles in the air. Because the water drops in
these are very small (with a diameter between 0.01 and 0.02 mm), the
clouds are suspended in the air and they spread in the sky. Thus the
sky is covered with clouds.
3RD
STAGE
“… until you see rain-drops issue from the midst thereof.”
Water particles that surround salt crystals and dust particles thicken
and form rain drops. So, the drops which become heavier than air
depart from the clouds, and start to fall on the ground as rain.
The
conclusion to be arrived here is that; Every stage in the formation of
rain is told in the verses of the Qur’an. Furthermore, these stages
are explained in the order they take place… Just like in many other
natural phenomena in the world, it is again the Qur’an that provides
the most correct explanation about this phenomena as well, and more,
that has announced these facts to people centuries before they were
discovered by science.
LIFE GIVEN TO A DEAD LAND
In the
Qur’an, a lot of verses call our attention to a particular function of
rain, which is “giving life to a dead land”. It is
stated in a verse as “… We send down pure water from the sky.
That with it We may give life to a dead land, and slake the thirst of
things We have created, - cattle and men in great numbers.”
(Surah al-Furqan, 48-49) In addition to furnishing the earth with
water, rain also has a fertilisation effect.
Rain
drops that reach the clouds after being evaporated from the seas,
contain certain substances “that will give life” to a dead land.
These “life-giving” drops form on the top level of the sea surface
which is called the micro layer by biologists. In this layer, which
is thinner than one tenth of a millimetre, there are many organic
leftovers caused from the pollution of microscopic algaes and
zooplanktons. Some of these leftovers select and collect within
themselves some elements which are very rare in the sea water such as
phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and some heavy metals like copper,
zinc, cobalt and lead.
These
“fertiliser” laden drops are lifted up into the sky by the winds and
after a while they drop on the ground inside the rain drops. Seeds
and plants on the earth find numerous metallic salts and elements
essential for their growth here in these rain drops. This even is
informed I another verse of the Qur’an as follows: “And We send
down from the sky rain chartered with blessing, and We produce
therewith gardens and grain for harvests.” (Surah Qaf, 9)
Salts
that fall with rain are small examples of some fertilisers (calcium,
magnesium, potassium etc.) used for increasing fertility. The heavy
metals found in these types of aerosols, on the other hand, are other
elements that increase fertility in the development and production of
plants.
Forests
also develop and are fed with the help of these sea-originated
aerosols. It this way, 150 million tons of fertiliser falls on the
total surface of lands every year. If there was not a natural
fertilisation like this, there would be very little vegitation on the
earth, and the ecological balance would be damaged.
What is
more interesting is that this truth, which could only be discovered by
modern science, was informed by Allah in the Qur’an centuries ago.