DUE MEASURE IN RAIN
11-And He is the One who sends down water in due measure from the sky, to revive dead lands therewith. Similarly, you will be raised.
43- Vanity, 11
Rain is one of the gifts of God to man. In the verse below, God says that the rain has its own mathematics and that it is sent according to ‘measure’. Water on earth is subject to an impeccable process and passes in due order from the state of liquid to the state of gas and solid. It has a marvelous balancing power, as it balances energy while satisfying the vital needs of the living being.
Were you, a century back, to ask a scientist whose field of interest is rainfall in particular: ”Is there a measure in the rainfall, can it be quantified?” You would not get an answer. Being ignorant of the meteorological phenomena going on in every part of the world, the scientist would not be in a position to say anything on the issue. The Quran spoke 1400 years ago that the rainfall had a certain measure. Research conducted in the last century revealed the process of rainfall, shedding light over the cycling characteristics of water. One of the facts discovered was that rainfall on earth every year was in the same amount. The amount per second varied between 16-17 million tons. Thus, the amount of rain falling was above 500 billions tons a year while an equal amount evaporated. These yearly values remained constant. This constancy was of great significance in establishing the ecological balance of the world.The scientist of a few centuries back could not have estimated the amount of the rainfall in the region where he lived since the precipitation yearly changed according to region. He might have concluded that the rain was not quantifiable.
CALCULATIONS RELATED TO WATER CYCLE
The rainfall and cycle of water involve complicated calculations. To give you an example, researchers were curious to know the reason for the maximum temperature of the upper portion of the tropical ozone layer which was 28 degrees Celsius despite the sun’s continual warming up the water. Their research gave the following result: the factor that prevented the overheating of the ozone layer in warmer regions was not merely water vapor, but at the same time the shadow cast by clouds. In the shade, the temperature dropped. The shield prevented the earth from overheating. Water vapor exerted a greenhouse effect. Along with carbon dioxide, methane and other gases, it brings about insulation layer in the atmosphere invisible. This layer prevents the totality of every radiation coming down on earth under normal conditions from getting lost in the space where cold is reigning. Water vapor forms 60% of the ‘natural greenhouse effect’, making up the basic climate of the earth – relatively – warm. All these things are finely calculated; we can have an insight into this, if we examine the greenhouse clouds revolving around the planet Venus. The dense clouds muffle it up, so that only half of the sun’s rays reach it. The rate of 97% of carbon dioxide creates here a super greenhouse effect and the temperature rises up to 500 degrees Celsius. This temperature is far superior to the temperature range in which a man can live. The water cycle on earth passing through the states of liquid, cloud and water vapor is calculated with precision.
The cloud is formed of suspensions on minute water droplets produced by the condensation of water vapor. In contradistinction with the general properties of water, the clouds do not freeze, even at a temperature of – 30 degrees Celsius. As it is stated in the Quran, there are masses of clouds as large as mountains, but they do not freeze into mountains of ice to fall upon the earth. Had it not been for this precise calculation in the formation of clouds and the rainfall and for the ideal arrangement of the chemical composition of water by its Creator, the system would certainly not function.
When we throw an object of a few kilograms from the balcony, we can follow its falling. If we empty a large pan full of water from the balcony, we can observe splash on the ground. The fall of tons of water from above is so arranged that water coming down in drops from above is a blessing rather than a natural disaster, thanks to God’s programming. The balanced lifting power makes the rain fall softly. This is the wonderful artistry in the physical rules imposed by God. Such a balancing of acceleration is definable in physical formulas. This definability, this calculation is due to God’s creation of rain in due measure.
RAIN IF LIFE
In the same verse, God speaks of the rain’s regenerative power. It is a well-known fact that the dry land is revitalized by rain and the vegetation becomes lush once again. The basic element of the animate being is DNA in which the hydrogen bonds keep changing, perpetuating life. This hydrogen is exchanged with the hydrogen emerging during the ionization of water. God, dehydrated living being is like a frozen skeleton even though it may preserve its DNA and genetic code, it cannot reproduce or move. Only when the water comes up and lends the hydrogen from its disintegrated ions can the code be activated. Such characteristics can be observed in living microorganisms like microbes. The more developed living beings cannot recover their vitality when fresh water is supplied, as their tissue surfaces have already been deteriorated. Rain is then the source of regeneration of plants and bacteria. The last sentence of the verse that reads: “Similarly you will be raised” associates in the mind the following: God sends down rain in amounts predetermined thanks to which plants and bacteria near death are resuscitated. Raising of man from the dead by God who knows the measure of all things is no problem. God who has devised the system of regeneration of plants and bacteria thanks to rain, whose exact measure has been preordained, will raise man from the dead according to the measures and knowledge in His wisdom. The sprouting of vegetation from the dead soil is something our eyes behold. What we see is the evidence of the facility by which our Creator will re-create His creation whose measure, calculation and formula are known only to Him.
WATER FOR BATHING AND FOR DRINKING
41- Remember our servant Job, he called upon his Lord:”The devil has afflicted me with distress and pain.”
42- “Strike the ground with your foot. Here is cool water for bathing and drinking.”
38-Sad, 41-42
We learn, from the above verses, the pain and suffering Job had had to face. We cannot account for them, but read God’s recommendation: “To strike with foot” is used in verses 12 & 13 of the Sura The Prophets in the sense “To run”, so that to the recommendation above, we can also add “to run” or “to walk briskly”.
That cleanliness is the sine qua non of health and that bath is not only hygienic, but also a refreshing process is generally accepted at present. Those who may not know the antagonistic approach to washing in the Middle Ages may be at a loss to see the miraculous aspect of this verse. That washing was essential for health and that it had prophylactic role were not so evident to the ancients. Before the discovery of the causative agents of diseases like bacteria and viruses, prophylaxis was not known. Washing meant cleanliness and had no hygienic role. At such a time, the Quran’s recommendation to take a bath and to drink were remedies against many ills was significant.
EUROPE HARDLY WASHED FOR 1000 YEARS
At a decisive point in history, cleanliness was ill-considered in Europe and in USA. St. Francis said that an unwashed body was a sign of religiosity. Isabel, queen of Castilla, boasted of having washed but twice in her life. In Pennsylvania and Virginia there had been restrictive legislation against washing. Persons who had washed themselves more than once in a month were incarcerated. The Oghuz tribes that considered water sacred and pure were scared to touch it for fear of polluting it. These attitudes had to do mainly with the cleansing of human body. 1400 years ago, the Quran drew attention to the remedial properties of water used either to cleanse one’s body or to use it as a drink. In the traditions falsely attributed to the Prophet, there were recommendations to drink water in minimum quantities which proves that at the time no connection had been established with the remedial properties of water. The Quran had not been affected by such erroneous prejudices prevalent at the time, and established links between water and its healing properties. This fact has become evident and widely accepted today by medical authorities. Consumption of water is recommended even today against flu. To dispose of elements harmful for our cells and activate our immunity system, water drinking is highly recommended. The amount of water consumed is very important for a proper functioning of our vital organs and cells.
When we turn back and look at the 1400 years of historical evidence, the miraculous character of the Quran’s revelations become more and more manifest. The prophylactic and remedial properties of washing and water drinking have been scientifically acknowledged in the course of the last few centuries. Ablution prescribed for Muslims and the emphasis on prophylactic and remedial properties of water in the Quran led the Muslims to consume water in great amounts. The Muslim-Christian relations in the wake of the Crusades and the settlement of the Moors in Spain influenced the Christians, dispelling their prejudices about using water. The reason for this misunderstanding among the Christians was not inherent in the Christian religion. In Verse 27 of the Sura Hadid emphasis is laid on the false interpretation and practices of Christian priests. Bigots who tried to propagate their fancies did not lack in Islam. The ample use made of water for cleanliness, now widespread in Europe, is due to the direct influence of the contents of the Quran although they are not aware of this fact. Scholars in history will reveal the truth of this statement in due course.
DARKNESS AND INTERNAL WAVES IN THE SEAS
40-… or is like the darkness in a deep sea. It is covered by waves, above which are waves, above which clouds. Darkness, one above another. If a man streches out his hand, he cannot see it. For any to whom God gives not light, there is no light.
24-Light,40
The construction of submarines dates back to the seventeenth century. It was Cornelis Debber who had first contrived in 1620 a vessel that navigated under water. Submarines developed rapidly, and in 1954, nuclear submarines were made. The development of submarines made possible the study of submarine geology and topography, and life in the depths of oceans. Collection of data had been possible thanks to the means developed in recent centuries without which a man could not dive to a depth more than 50 meters.
At a depth of 200 meters from the surface of the sea, darkness reigns, and at a depth of 1000 meters the darkness is absolute. At a depth of 200 meters then, “If a man stretches out his hand, he can hardly see it” as described in the verse. The bottom of seas and oceans are pitch dark. While broad daylight reigns on the surface, 200 meters below it is again completely dark. At the time of the descent of the Quran, there were neither scientific data nor knowledge based on observation about the darkness reigning in the depth of seas. Just like it told about many aspects of heavenly phenomena comprehensible by man without the help of satellites, the Quran provided information about submarine life in the depth of seas and oceans hardly accessible to man without submarines and instruments. The Quran – whose range of information is vast enough to cover everything, from the space high above down to the depth of seas – is a doubtless a God-sent book.
WAVES UNDER WATER
A wave is a disturbance that moves through or over the surface of a liquid as of a sea. In general, we have the impression that the wave takes place only over the surface and that the water underneath is calm and still. That is why the expression in the Quran “by waves above which are waves” may seem puzzling. The density in the depths is greater than on the surface. In oceans, internal waves or boundary waves have been observed at the boundary between layers of light (warm and low-salinity) water and heavy (cold and high salinity) water. These waves were discovered in 1900 and are as described in the Quran. The dark depth of the sea contains these waves topped by the waves on the surface.
In the verse, we also observe the motion of light. Sun’s rays are refracted as they strike the clouds and lose some of their luminescence. The rays that reach the surface of the seas diffract as they continue their journey in the spectrum, the first layer holding on the yellow, while the second holding on the green; in the last layer, the seventh in fact, the blue disappear. Thus, as the journey goes further downward, light vanishes. The sunlight refracted in the clouds, diffracted in waves, the light that vanishes on the levels of seas, completely disappears in the depths of seas and cannot light the bottom. Not even fish can see their way unless by the light they themselves generate. In the verse above, we have observed the simile of God referring to the internal waves in seas. This shows again the omniscience of God who created everything and selected the best of similes in His Book.
6-Say: “ The Quran was sent down by Him Who knows the mystery that is in the heavens and the earth: verily He forgiving, Merciful.
25- The Distinguisher, 6
