THE WATER CYCLE
In 1580, Bernard Palissy was the first person to
describe the present day concept of ‘water cycle’. He
described how water evaporates from the oceans
and cools to form clouds. The clouds move inland
where they rise, condense and fall as rain. This
water gathers as lakes and streams and flows back
to the ocean in a continuous cycle. In the 7th century
B.C., Thales of Miletus believed that surface spray
of the oceans was picked up by the wind and carried
inland to fall as rain.
In earlier times people did not know the source of
underground water. They thought the water of the
oceans, under the effect of winds, was thrust towards
the interior of the continents. They also believed that
the water returned by a secret passage or the Great
Abyss. This passage is connected to the oceans and
has been called the ‘Tartarus’, since Plato’s time.
Even Descartes, a great thinker of the eighteenth
century, subscribed to this view. Till the nineteenth
century, Aristotle’s theory was still prevalent.
According to this theory, water was condensed in cool
mountain caverns and formed underground lakes
that fed springs. Today, we have come to know that
the rainwater that seeps into the cracks of the
ground is responsible for this.
This is described by the Qur’an in the following
verses:
وَيُنَزِّلُ مِنَ
السَّمَاء مَاء فَيُحْيِي بِهِ الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ
لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ
“He sends down rain
from the sky
and with it gives life to
the earth after it is dead:
Verily in that are Signs
for those who are wise.”
[Al-Qur’an 30:24]
وَأَنزَلْنَا مِنَ
السَّمَاء مَاء بِقَدَرٍ فَأَسْكَنَّاهُ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَإِنَّا عَلَى ذَهَابٍ بِهِ
لَقَادِرُونَ
“And We send down water
from the sky
according to (due) measure,
and We cause it
to soak in the soil;
and We certainly are able
to drain it off (with ease).”
[Al-Qur’an 23:18]
No other text dating back 1400 years ago gives such
an accurate description of the water cycle.
EVAPORATION
وَالسَّمَاء ذَاتِ
الرَّجْعِ
“By the Firmament
which returns (in its round),”
[Al-Qur’an 86:11]
WINDS IMPREGNATE CLOUDS
وَأَرْسَلْنَا
الرِّيَاحَ لَوَاقِحَ فَأَنزَلْنَا مِنَ السَّمَاء مَاء فَأَسْقَيْنَاكُمُوهُ
“And We send the
fecundating winds,
then cause the rain to
descend from the sky,
therewith providing you
with water (in abundance).”
[Al-Qur’an 15:22]
The Arabic word used here is lawaaqih which is
the plural of laqih from laqaha, which means
to impregnate or fecundate. In this context,
impregnate means that the wind pushes the clouds
together increasing the condensation that causes
lightning and thus rain. A similar description is
found in the following verses of the Qur’an:
أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ
اللَّهَ يُزْجِي سَحَابًا ثُمَّ يُؤَلِّفُ بَيْنَهُ ثُمَّ يَجْعَلُهُ رُكَامًا
فَتَرَى الْوَدْقَ يَخْرُجُ مِنْ خِلَالِهِ وَيُنَزِّلُ مِنَ السَّمَاء مِن جِبَالٍ
فِيهَا مِن بَرَدٍ فَيُصِيبُ بِهِ مَن يَشَاء وَيَصْرِفُهُ عَن مَّن يَشَاء يَكَادُ
سَنَا بَرْقِهِ يَذْهَبُ بِالْأَبْصَارِ
“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 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.”
[Al-Qur’an 24:43]
اللَّهُ
الَّذِي يُرْسِلُ الرِّيَاحَ فَتُثِيرُ سَحَابًا فَيَبْسُطُهُ فِي السَّمَاء كَيْفَ
يَشَاء وَيَجْعَلُهُ كِسَفًا فَتَرَى الْوَدْقَ يَخْرُجُ مِنْ خِلَالِهِ فَإِذَا
أَصَابَ بِهِ مَن يَشَاء مِنْ عِبَادِهِ إِذَا هُمْ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ
“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 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!”
[Al-Qur’an 30:48]
Modern data on Hydrology agrees perfectly with the
Qur'anic description on the same subject.
The water cycle is described in several other verses
of the Glorious Qur’an, including 7:57, 13:17, 25:48-
49, 35:9, 36:34, 45:5, 50:9-11, 56:68-70 and 67:30.
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