24. WATER CYCLE

For every nation Allah sent a prophet, and to every prophet Allah gave a miracle as evidence of his prophethood, such as the staff of Prophet Moses (Musa, p.b.u.h.), or the revival of the dead by Prophet Jesus (‘Īsā, p.b.u.h.). But the miracles of earlier prophets were only heard and not witnessed by us. As for the greatest miracle of the last prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.), namely, the Qur’ān, we hear it, we see it, we read it. Its eloquence is inimitable. It is a miracle for Arabs and non-Arabs, for the laymen and the genius.
Until the 16th century, people still believed that the waters of the oceans, under the effect of winds, were driven toward the inner parts of the continents. Then they returned to the oceans through the great abyss called the Tartarus which has been known since Plato’s time. According to Aristotle (Plato’s student) water was condensed in cool mountain caverns and formed underground lakes that fed springs. In the 16th century, Bernard Palissy described for the first time the coherence of the water cycle. Today, we know that it is the infiltrated rainwater that feeds the springs. But the Qur’ān has described it long time ago:
أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ أَنْزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَسَلَكَهُ
يَنَابِيعَ فِي الْأَرْضِ ثُمَّ يُخْرِجُ بِهِ زَرْعًا مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهُ
(الزمر: ۲۱)
“Seest thou not that Allah sends down rain from
the sky, and leads it through springs in the earth?
Then He caused to grow, therewith,
produce of various colours.” 107
In another verse of the Qur’ān, the formation of a cumulus cloud which contains hails and causes rain, storm of thunder and lightning, and which causes pilots as well as those who are near to it to be temporarily blind is mentioned. Allah says:
أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يُزْجِي سَحَابًا ثُمَّ يُؤَلِّفُ بَيْنَهُ ثُمَّ يَجْعَلُهُ
رُكَامًا فَتَرَى الْوَدْقَ يَخْرُجُ مِنْ خِلَالِهِ وَيُنَزِّلُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مِنْ جِبَالٍ
فِيهَا مِنْ بَرَدٍ فَيُصِيبُ بِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَصْرِفُهُ عَنْ مَنْ يَشَاءُ
يَكَادُ سَنَا بَرْقِهِ يَذْهَبُ بِالْأَبْصَارِ
(النور:٤٣)
“Seest thou not that Allah makes the clouds move gently,
then joins them together, then makes them into a heap?—then
wilt thou see rain issue forth from their mist. And He sends
down from the sky mountain masses (of clouds) wherein is
hail: He strikes therewith whom He pleases and He turns
it away from whom He pleases. The vivid flash of
its lightning well-nigh blinds the sight.” 108
The type of the cloud expressed in the above verse is the one that grows vertically. It is called cumulus because of the vertical accumulation of clouds. It can reach the height of 15 km or even more. Therefore it looks like a mountain. It consists of three parts: the higher part consists of white crystal ice; the middle part (layer) consists of the mixture of the falling crystal ice from above and drops of cold water which is below zero; the lowest part consists of mostly drops of water or ice crystals and is on the point of falling down to the earth. This type of cloud, the cumulus, is the only one that contains ice crystals, or hail. This is the scientific interpretation of the verse: “And He sends down from the sky mountain masses (of clouds) wherein hail.”
After the Second World War, scientists used radar to take pictures showing the gradual formation of the cumulus cloud. They found that it started with some small clouds being driven upwards by air currents. Then every two or more small clouds are being bound together. This is the scientific interpretation of the verse: “Seest thou not that Allah makes the clouds move gently, then joins them together, then makes them into a heap?” “Heap” means “accumulation” and this type of cloud is called cumulus.
Strangely enough, this is the only type of cloud that produces storms of thunder and lightning which can temporarily blind our eyes. This is the scientific interpretation of the verse: “The vivid flash of His lightning almost blinds the sight.”
There is another type of cloud which forms itself horizontally so that it covers the sky. It does not produce thunder or lightning or hail. It is called stratus cloud. It is from the word stratum meaning “level”. This type of cloud has been referred to by the Qur’ān as follows:
اللَّهُ الَّذِي يُرْسِلُ الرِّيَاحَ فَتُثِيرُ سَحَابًا فَيَبْسُطُهُ فِي السَّمَاءِ
كَيْفَ يَشَاءُ وَيَجْعَلُهُ كِسَفًا فَتَرَى الْوَدْقَ يَخْرُجُ مِنْ خِلَالِهِ فَإِذَا أَصَابَ
بِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ إِذَا هُمْ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ
(الروم:٤٨)
“It is Allah Who sends the winds, and they raise
the clouds: then does He spread them in they sky as
He wills, and break them into fragments, until thou seest
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!” 109
If you are on board a plane you can easily distinguish between these two types of cloud: one is like a mountain, and the other is like a carpet and is closer to the surface of the earth; planes usually fly above it. The Arabs call this flat cloud the “autumn cloud”.

Footnotes:
107. Qur’ān, al-Zumar [39]:21
108. Qur’ān, al-Nūr [24]:43
109. Qur’ān, al-Rūm [30]:48