"He it is Who sends down water (rain) from the sky -2-

Signs of Creation in Surat An-Nahl

1)    Creation of Heavens and earth with precision, and the confirmation that Allah is the Creator of all and everything.

2)    Creation of mankind from semen, however man always responds to blessings and favors with denial and ingratitude.

3)    Creation of animals (cows, camels, sheep and goats), with many benefits for mankind.

4)    Creation of horses, mules, donkeys, and other means of transportation that were not known at the time of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh). Allah can create what mankind does not know.

5)    Rain falling from the sky for drinking, irrigating plants and trees, most importantly, olives, palm trees, grapes and all other fruits. Allah has made this a sign for those who believe in Him.

6)    Preparing the earth for habitation by creating it in a spherical shape condensing it and rotating it around its axis and causing it to revolve around the sun (so that there is day and night). Allah also prepared the sun, the moon and other planets with His power for the sake of regulating life in the universe.

7)    Spreading various types of living organisms and inanimate objects on earth.

8)    Preparing the seas for the use of mankind, including the marine life with their tender flesh and their skeletons that are used in making jewels. Seas also have the ability to carry ships of various sizes which serve man's welfare while traveling across the waves and wind above the sea.

9)    Fixing earth with huge mountains, acting as pegs, so as for earth not to move or shake.  If not for those mountains, earth would not have been fit for inhabitation. The form of mountains is related to the rivers that source from their peaks.  River water moves from its source to its mouth while breaking up rocks to produce fertilizing silt and clay, and deposit many valuable minerals, gems and other ore deposits and resources. It also helps to pave earth's surface and produce travel routes and mountain canyons.

10)                                    Making different topographic details of earth’s surface as means of guiding people through the earth by day, and making stars a means to guide them by night and at sea.

11)                                   Describing the punishment of some previous nations which is similar in many ways to earthquakes that strike suddenly without leaving the chance for anyone to understand their mechanism. Allah emphasizes that He made earth collapse with those who disobeyed Him in the past, and that He can do this in the present and in the future. This includes an affirmation that, even if man could understand the mechanism and scientific reasons of various natural disasters, these disasters could be part of the assortment of Allah's servants which He employs to punish the disbelievers and sinners, to test the pious, and to give lessons and examples for the rest.

12)                                   Mentioning the earth’s revolving around its axis while orbiting around the sun through the example of elongating and shrinking the shadow. Allah considers this as a sign of prostration in complete humble obedience.

13)                                   Emphasizing Allah’s matchlessness in creating animals and forming milk in their udders from between feces and blood to be drawn clear and pure and ready to be drunk.

14)                                   Making palms and grape vines a legal source for gaining one's living, though some people make bad use of them by making wine.

15)                                    Creating bees, giving female bees the ability to build their homes in mountains, trees and hives set up for them by humans. He also gave them the ability to collect pollen and nectar from various flowers across wide distances without losing their way back home, the ability to produce that unique drink with varying colors from their bellies, wherein is healing for men.

16)                                   Creating mates of the same kind and having, from female mates, offspring.  This is applicable to every living creature in the biosphere. Among those are humans that could die as children, youth or old, or could live to be very old suffering partial or total loss of memory (senility/dementia).

17)                                   Babies are born knowing nothing.  It is Allah who gives them the senses of hearing and sight. In the Holy Qur'an the power of hearing is always mentioned before the power of sight, and science recently discovered that the fetus develops hearing long before sight.

18)                                    Mentioning that Allah is the One who holds birds in flight in the sky and is the One who gives them the ability to fly.

19)                                   Mentioning both heat and cold with the same word “Harr” because both cases are described by eitherpositive or negative degrees of temperature.

20)                                   Prohibiting eating carrion, blood, pig flesh or animals which are slaughtered as a sacrifice for deities other than Allah with exceptions, in what can be translated as, "So eat of the lawful and good food which Allâh has provided for you. And be grateful for the Favour of Allâh, if it is He Whom you worship." (Surat An-Nahl (The Bees):114).

Each item mentioned above needs a special approach but I will confine myself to discuss only the fifth point (concerning verse 10 of this Surah). Before starting, we should first have a quick glance at the interpretations some scholars gave to the tenth Ayah in Surat An-Nahl.

Views of scholars:

Explaining Ayah 10, Surat An-Nahl:  "He it is Who sends down water (rain) from the sky; from it you drink and from it (grows) the vegetation on which you send your cattle to pasture." (SuratAn-Nahl (The Bees): 10)

Ibn Kathir

A summary of Ibn Kathir's opinion: after Allah mentioned His great blessings on His creatures such as animals, He mentions the great blessing of rain from the sky which contains benefits for both humans and animals.  Allah says what can be translated as: "from it you drink", as He has made it fresh and ready to be drunk rather than salty. "And from it (grows) the vegetation on which you send your cattle to pasture," means that Allah has sent rainwater that caused the growing of trees and grasslands in which humans herd, guard, and tend their animals.

Ibn Abbass

Ibn Abbass also said: the meaning of the word “pasture” is to guard and keep your animals.

 * The remaining explanations of the Ayah contain similar views that I don't see important to repeat.

Scientific evidences in this verse

First: in the Ayah that can be translated as, "He it is Who sends down water (rain) from the sky; from it you drink and from it (grows) the vegetation on which you send your cattle to pasture." (Surat An-Nahl (The Bees): 10)

 Opening the noble Ayah with the pronoun "He" that refers to "Allah" emphasizes that it is He who sends down water from the sky, and that no creature has any power in this vital process, without which life on earth would have been impossible.

 It has been proved that the earth is the richest planet in water in the solar system. Earth is covered by a water zone (hydrosphere) measured to be about 1.4 billion km³ divided as follows:

1375,000,000 km³ in seas and oceans (97.5% of the water on   earth),

28,000,000 km³ snow over the two poles of earth, and peaks of high mountains (2% of the total water in earth),

6.720.000 km³ held underground (0.48 of total water on earth),

280,000 km³ internal lakes and water streams (0.02% of total water on earth),

140,000 km³ soil moisture (0.01% of total water on earth),

14,000 km³ air moisture (0.001% of total water on earth)

Water covers a total of about 71% of the earth’s surface measured as 510 million km², while snow covers about 9% of the earth’s surface.

It was also proved that all the earth's water originally came from underground through volcanic eruptions. The Noble Qur'an mentioned this truth before in Surat An-Nâzi'ât, in the Ayah that can be translated as, "And after that He the earth, And brought forth therefrom its water and its pasture." (Surat An-Nâzi'ât (Those Who Pull Out): 30-31).  As the water vapor, which consists of over 70% of gases and vapors coming out of volcanic craters began reaching the higher levels of the atmosphere, Allah prepared for it an area with low pressure which causes such vapor to extend, and consequently cool down. In addition to this, the temperature drops on the peaks of such range to -60ú C above the equator.   When the temperature and pressure of the air carrying water vapor drops, its relative humidity increases due to the drop in its density. When its relative humidity reaches 100%, its pressure becomes equal to that of water vapor. This degree of temperature is called saturation or “dew point”. The low temperature of saturated air is only achieved in high altitudes, where it encounters waves of cold air or when it collides with the peeks of high mountain chains. This immediately results in the condensation of vapor in the form of microscopic water droplets. The size of such droplets is less than one tenth of a micron. In this way, clouds are formed and unite at levels from 2 to 8 km above the sea level, though they could be found sometimes beyond these limits.

 These droplets cannot fall in the form of rainwater unless they reach the size and mass that enables them to be pulled down by earth gravity. This can only happen when the clouds carry dust particles or minerals, or by the formation of snow or ice crystals which help water vapor condense more effectively inside the clouds. They also help water droplets to reach the size and mass that cannot be held up in the air and thus raindrops fall. The size of such drops is about two tenths or half a millimeter.

 When water falls onto the earth, a perfectly designed cycle begins to take place around the earth. The water cycle occurs according to a number of rules, which depict Allah’s ultimate power and refined creation. The heat of the sun annually vaporizes about 380 km³ of water that reaches the lower part of the earth atmosphere. This water condenses again in the form of rainwater and falls on earth.  Of this total volume, 320 km³ are vaporized from sea and ocean surfaces, 60 thousand km³ come from the land. This water returns again to the earth in its new order. This time, 284 thousand km³ fall on seas and oceans (losing 36 thousand km³ of the water that had vaporized from them), 96 thousand km³ fall upon the earth (with an excess of 36 thousand km³ over what originally vaporized from them). This additional water returns again to oceans and seas, and the level of water in these bodies of water remains constant.

 The distribution of water on the surface of earth is a marvelous cycle that plays – and will always play – a very important role in preparing the earth for life. If not for these large amounts of water, the temperature of the earth's atmosphere would rise to over 100° C in the morning, and drop under 100° C at night.

 The water cycle around the earth causes the formation of mountain canyons and passages, valleys and streams. As a result, the soil is formed and much ore deposits are concentrated. The water flows over the depressions of earth forming lakes, seas and oceans. A portion of such water freezes in the form of masses of ice around the two poles of earth and on the high mountaintops. Some of that water penetrates through porous and semi-porous rocks into the underground to form water reservoirs (aquifers) stored inside fractured and porous rocks of the earth's crust. Some of this water remains in the soil and in the earth's atmosphere in the form of moisture for the benefit of living creatures on earth.  Thus it is clear that Allah and none but Him, orders rain to fall on earth and will always do so. 

 Second, about the Ayah that can be translated as, "… water (rain) from the sky; from it you drink and from it (grows) the vegetation on which you send your cattle to pasture." (Surat An-Nahl (The Bees): 10) It is impossible to find completely pure water on earth. However, rainwater and snow are considered to be the purest forms of natural water. As it reaches the surface of earth, this form of water begins to dissolve minerals of the earth's rocks that are water-soluble. This way, rainwater and snow constantly refresh the earth's water. This process is the only source providing fresh water for humans on earth. For this reason Allah reminds us of His favor saying what can be translated as, "… water (rain) from the sky; from it you drink and from it (grows) the vegetation on which you send your cattle to pasture." (Surat An-Nahl (The Bees): 10) Earth water is constantly purified of whatever pollutants that may exist in it in the form of soluble substances or microbes. This water-purifying process extends from about one kilometer under earth's surface to about 7 - 17 kilometers above sea level.

 The concentration of salts in seawater is about 34,481 thousand parts per million, and it includes 40 types of electrically charged (ionized) elements of which the concentration exceeds one part per million. The concentration of the most common salts in seawater varies between 32 thousand parts per million to 42 thousand parts per million. The level of salt concentration can rise over that level in closed and semi-closed seas, especially in dry areas such as eastern parts of the Arab world. For example, the salt concentration level in the Dead Sea can reach about 285 thousand parts per million.

 Water is considered fresh if the amount of salt is less than a thousand parts per million, while rain water salts do not exceed twenty parts per million. Water is a fundamental element in the formation of all living beings.  All vital activities and their reactions must take place in the presence of water.

 Third: Allah says what can be translated as, He it is Who sends down water (rain) from the sky; from it you drink and from it (grows) the vegetation on which you send your cattle to pasture." (Surat An-Nahl (The Bees): 10)

 Scientifically, water is known to have existed on earth before the existence of all living beings.  Plants existed before animals and they both were created before human beings.  The reason behind this is very obvious.  Plants have played, and still play, the main role in supplying the atmosphere of the earth with oxygen.  Plants are the divine factory where the organic elements necessary for the construction of plants, animals and human beings are made.  Therefore, it became man’s and animals’ chief food.

 The greatness of the noble Ayah made it obvious when Allah says what can be translated as, " He it is Who sends down water (rain) from the sky; from it you drink and from it (grows) the vegetation on which you send your cattle to pasture."(Surat An-Nahl (The Bees): 10)

 Glory be to Allah who revealed the Noble Qur’an to the seal of His Prophets.  He revealed it with His comprehensive knowledge and swore to preserve it in its original form and language of revelation (the Arabic language) word for word, letter for letter throughout the 14 centuries and until the Day of Judgment.  Through such preservation, the Qur’an continues to be the light which guides people, divine as it was revealed, and a witness that it could never be a man-made book.  The Qur’an is the word of Allah, and evidence for the Prophethood of the Messenger of Allah; peace and blessings be upon him and those who followed him to the Day of Judgment.