II.2.2.METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA
First of all, we should bear in mind that the Glorious Qur’an was the first book that stated quite openly that there is a direct relationship between the wind and the formation of the clouds. Moreover, it gave such an accurate description of the main types of rainy clouds, and the outstanding characteristics that accompany the drop of each kind of rain. Of course, people in the past and even during the period of the Qur’anic Revelation were not aware of these meteorological phenomena.
Before all, I think that it would be better if we examine ideas that were prevailing at the time of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.). For instance, as Al Zandani (1983, tape 2) reports, ancient civilization, such as the Babylonians and the Iraqi, which lived in the Arabian Peninsula before Islam, believed that the weather has a direct bearing on the donation that the Monarch gave to the god of the weather so as to provide them with clouds, thunder and rain. In what concerns the Chinese, who were not better than their contemporaries, they thought that thunder is but the beating of the gods on the drums.
“In fact, a lot of primitive societies were so frightened and afflicted by thunderstorms that they incorporated them to their religion. In a civilization, such as the Greeks, certain elements of the thunderstorm had a religious significance. Zeus…was not only associated with wind, rain and thunder, but also with flash of lightning; in his wrath against the wicked, he threw his lightning against them.” (Ross: 1968, p.110)
Others, Al Zandani (Ibid.) added, thought that lightning is but a reflection of gods’ mirrors. There was even a belief that rain is stored in the heavens, and when the gods open the doors and the windows of the sky, rain begins to fall. Ultimately, what we should note is that:
“Most of Aristotle’s theories [in what concerns meteorology] have been rejected following the new and most precise observations of meteorological and atmospheric phenomena….Although meteorology was almost exclusively based on Aristotle’s ideas, some Europeans started to be interested in the subject, and tried to explore new ways. But their methods of investigation could not be considered as scientific because they mainly called for astrology in order to interpret the phenomena of the material world.” (Ross: p.14-5)
But nowadays things have tremendously changed. Technology provided man with sophisticated instruments, which can help him understand natural phenomena: radars, telescopes, artificial satellites, etc. All these gave a considerable help to meteorologists to study the meteorological phenomena. Under these circumstances, many mysteries have been revealed and set on a tabla raza. Thus all the superstitious ideas that prevailed in the past faded away.
What is indeed worth mentioning, Al Zandani (1983, tape 2) points out, is that some meteorologists, who attended the first summit conference of the scientific miracles held in Islamabad, showed how the Holy Qur’an gave precise descriptions of the meteorological phenomena more than fourteen centuries ago. They have proved that what really causes the clouds to be formed and displayed is simply wind. Of course, there are many verses, scattered here and there, which refer to this truth. Such is mentioned in the following verses:
{It is He Who sendeth the winds like heralds of glad tidings, going before His Mercy. When they have carried the heavy-laden clouds, We drive them to a land that is dead, make rain to descend thereon, and produce every kind of harvest therewith.}
[VII: 57]
{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 people that are wise.}
[II: 164]
Thus the formation of the clouds is caused by the winds. A cloud, according to Oxford dictionary, is a “separate mass of visible water vapour floating in the sky.” (Cowie: 1989). The water vapour moves from the seas, oceans, rivers or lakes without being seen. So the winds’ role is to drive and stir this vapour. Once it reaches cold air, it grows thicker and forms the drops of the clouds.
{And We send the fecundating winds, then cause the rain to descend from the sky, therewith providing you with water (in abundance), though ye are not the guardians of its stores.}
[XV: 22]
Al Zandani (1983, tape 2) explains that in verse 22, sura [XV] God the Almighty draws our attention to the fact that the wind fecundates the clouds with water vapour until they become pregnant with sufficient raindrops. As soon as the whole process is over, rain descends. It is truly an extraordinary image in which God compares the process of providing the clouds with water vapour via the winds to the action of fecundation wherein the sperm fertilizes the ovum. To put it in a nutshell, the winds make the clouds visible, and at the same time stimulate them. There is a word in Arabic which combines the two meanings; that of making things visible and that of stimulation; this word is “athara”.
Fig.1: The water cycle (Internet)
{It is God 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 thou seest raindrops issue from the midst thereof: then when He has made them reach such of His servants as He wills, behold, they do rejoice.}
[XXX: 48]
We notice, as Al zandani (1983, tape 2) explains, that there are several kinds of clouds, but only three are rainy in general. Of course, each of which has a particular way of formation that is different from that of the other clouds. The same can be said about the rain of each cloud, and the phenomena that go along with its formation.
Fig.2 Types of clouds (Internet)
In the previous verse, the Glorious Qur’an gives us a precise description of a particular cloud, meteorologically known as Stratus. This type begins with the formation of the clouds in high regions. They gather together to form a large cloud that goes up and outstretches itself to the extent of 200 kilometres. This type does not rain until it reaches a stage where it turns into fragments (Ibid.).
Fig.3: Stratus (internet)
{It is God 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.}
[XXX: 48]
We notice that the description the Holy Qur’an gives here is really accurate. Al Zandani (Ibid.) explains that the Qur’an does not say that once the clouds are raised up and spread in the sky, rain comes down, but it states that the descending of rain does not occur until the clouds turn into fragments. This is indeed what meteorologists have proved. Another thing stated by the Qur’an and which agrees completely with modern scientific data is that the Stratus is not accompanied by any meteorological phenomena, such as lightning, thunder or thunderbolts. To put it differently, it rains quietly without the slightest upsetting. Besides, this kind of rain does not come out of the whole body of the cloud, but just out of its weak part. This is what the Holy Qur’an states in the following verse:
{Until thou seest raindrops issue from the midst thereof.}
[XXX: 48]
The second kind of clouds is similar to a tower. Al Zandani (Ibid.) explains in one of his lectures how this cloud is formed. In the beginning he gives an example of how the movements of the winds meet with each other until they create a sort of a mill, and then uplift the sand high in the sky. But in the case of the clouds, cold and warm winds meet and form a kind of a mill, which raises vapour water up. Once it is high in the sky, it condenses and forms the clouds from which rain falls. What is noticeable is that rain does not descend continuously, but every quantity of vapour that goes up is squeezed as if by a squeezer. So water comes down in abundance, now and then. Another characteristic of this kind of rain that descends from high attitudes is that the raindrops are big. Thus the earth, which receives this type of raindrops, is made fertile. Consequently, regions, such as the forests of the Equator, wherein this kind of rain falls in abundance are known for their fertile soils, and their numerous and intensive trees. It is to this kind of rain that the Glorious Qur’an refers:
{And do We not send down from the clouds water in abundance, that We may produce there with corn and vegetables, and gardens of luxurious growth?}
[LXXVIII: 14-6]
Ultimately, we will see the third type of clouds that is meteorologically known as the Cumulonimbus or the Cumulus clouds (Fig.1 & 2). God Almighty says:
{Seest thou not that God makes the clouds move gently, then joins them together, then makes them into a heap? Then wilt thou see rain issue forth from their midst. 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 His lightning well nigh blinds the sight.}
[XXIV: 43]
Fig.4:Cumulus (Internet)
Fig.5.1 (Ross: 1968, p.103)
The Cumulus clouds are considered to be the most important of the other types since:
“…they extend vertically to 15 or 20 kilometres, and reach the atmospheric layers which are very cold and wherein the degree of temperature decreases to - 60°C or- 70°C. Thereby hail is formed in the upper regions of the clouds. It is scientifically known that the growth of hail in the upper regions of the Cumulus clouds results in the disunion of negative electric charge or energy. When the hail falls down within the cloud and gets in its base to regions of high degrees of temperature, it melts and brings forth the disunion of positive electric charges. The scientific explanation of the disunion of those charges is that the external energy of the hail turns into an electric energy when the nature of the surface changes by means of growth and liquefaction. On this basis we must take away forever from our minds the idea of the generation of electricity inside the Cumulonimbus by means of friction; this is an erroneous timeworn idea…” (Al Fandi: 1976, p.150)
It is worth mentioning that hail gives birth to thunder and lightning. If it happens that a person closely looks at the vivid flash of lightning, he is surely subject to transient blindness. Pilots have truly experienced this phenomenon (Ibid. p.152).
Fig.6: Lightning (Internet)
Now, we may ask the following question:
“…Could an illiterate person, living in the Arabian Peninsula fourteen centuries ago, possibly bring forth such a set of information by himself, without having God reveal it to him?” (Tabbarah: 1988, p.466)