THE PROPORTION OF RAIN One of the items of information given in
the Qur'an about rain is that it is sent down to Earth in due
measure. This is mentioned in Sura Zukhruf as follows; It is He
who sends down water in due measure from the sky by which We
bring a dead land back to life. That is how you too will be
raised (from the dead). (The Qur'an, 43:11) This measured
quantity in rain has again been discovered by modern research.
It is estimated that in one second, approximately 16 million
tons of water evaporates from the Earth. This figure amounts to
513 trillion tons of water in one year. This number is equal to
the amount of rain that falls on the Earth in a year. This means
that water continuously circulates in a balanced cycle, in a
"measure". Life on Earth depends on this water cycle. Even if
people used all the available technology in the world, they
would not be able to reproduce this cycle artificially. Even a
minor deviation in this equilibrium would very soon give rise to
a major ecological imbalance that would bring about the end of
life on Earth. Yet, this never happens, and rain keeps falling
every year in exactly the same quantity just as revealed in the
Qur'an.
THE FORMATION OF RAIN How rain forms remained a great mystery
for a long time. Only after weather radar was invented was it
possible to discover the stages by which rain is formed.
According to this, the formation of rain takes place in three
stages. First, the "raw material" of rain rises up into the air
with the wind. Later, clouds are formed, and finally raindrops
appear. The Qur'an's account of the formation of rain refers
exactly to this process. In one verse, this formation is
described in this way: It is God Who sends the winds which stir
up clouds which He spreads about the sky however He wills. He
forms them into dark clumps and you see the rain come pouring
out from the middle of them. When He makes it fall on those of
His slaves He wills, they rejoice. (The Qur'an, 30:48) Now, let
us examine these three stages outlined in the verse more
technically.
FIRST STAGE: " It is God Who sends the winds..." Countless air
bubbles formed by the foaming of 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 rise upward in the atmosphere. These particles, which
are called aerosols, function as water traps, and form cloud
drops by collecting around the water vapour themselves, which
rises from the seas as tiny droplets.
SECOND STAGE: ".... which stir up clouds which He spreads about
the sky however He wills. He forms them into dark clumps..." The
clouds are formed from water vapour that condenses around the
salt crystals or dust particles in the air. Because the water
droplets in these clouds are very small (with a diameter between
0.01 and 0.02 mm), the clouds are suspended in the air, and
spread across the sky. Thus, the sky is covered in clouds.
THIRD STAGE: "…and you see the rain come pouring our from the
middle of them" The water particles that surround salt crystals
and dust particles thicken and form raindrops, so, drops that
become heavier than the air leave the clouds and start to fall
to the ground as rain. As we have seen, every stage in the
formation of rain is related in the verses of the Qur'an.
Furthermore, these stages are explained in exactly the right
sequence. Just as with many other natural phenomena on the
Earth, God gives the most correct explanation of this phenomenon
as well, and made it known to people in the Qur'an centuries
before it was discovered. In another verse, the following
information is given about the formation of rain: Have you not
seen how God drives along the clouds, then joins them together,
then makes them into a stack, and then you see the rain come out
of it? And He sends down from the sky mountain masses (of
clouds) with cold hail in them, striking with it anyone He wills
and averting it from anyone He wills. The brightness of His
lightning almost blinds the sight. (The Qur'an, 24:43)
Scientists studying cloud types came across surprising results
regarding the formation of rain clouds. Rain clouds are formed
and shaped according to definite systems and stages. The
formation stages of cumulonimbus, one kind of rain cloud, are
these:
1.STAGE, Being driven along: Clouds are carried along, that is,
they are driven along, by the wind. 2.STAGE, Joining: Then,
small clouds (cumulus clouds) driven along by the wind join
together, forming a larger cloud.9 3.STAGE, Stacking: When the
small clouds join together, updrafts within the larger cloud
increase. The updrafts near the centre of the cloud are stronger
than those near the edges. These updrafts cause the cloud 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 cloud as rain, hail, etc.10 We must
remember that meteorologists have only recently come to know
these details of cloud formation, structure and function, by
using advanced equipment like planes, satellites, computers etc.
It is evident that God has given us a piece of information that
could not have been known 1,400 years ago.
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