The Holy Quran on Clouds
Outline: Details pointed out in the Quran about cloud formation over 1400 years ago has only been recently uncovered by science.
Scientists have examined cloud types and are aware that rain clouds are formed and shaped as outlined by definite systems and certain steps associated with certain types of wind and clouds.
One kind of rain cloud is a cumulonimbus cloud. Meteorologists come with studied how cumulonimbus clouds are formed and that they produce rain, hail, and lightning.
They've found that cumulonimbus clouds have the following steps to produce rain:
1) The clouds are pressed by the wind: Cumulonimbus clouds commence to form when wind pushes some small items of clouds (cumulus clouds) to an area where these clouds gather (see figures 1 and 2).
Figure 1: Satellite photograph showing the clouds heading towards the convergency areas B, C, and D. The arrows display the directions of the wind. (The Use of Satellite photographs in Weather Analysis and predicting, Anderson and others, p. 188.)
Figure 2: Small components of clouds (cumulus clouds) moving in direction of a convergence zone close to the horizon, where we can see a large cumulonimbus cloud. (Clouds and Storms, Ludlam, plate 7.4.)
2) Joining: then this small clouds join together developing a larger cloud[1] (see figures 1 and 2).
Figure 2: (A) separated small pieces of clouds (cumulus clouds). (B) As soon as the small clouds join together, updrafts within the bigger cloud increase, so the cloud is stacked up. Water drops are suggested by ·. (The Atmosphere, Anthes and others, p. 269.)
3) Stacking: When the little clouds join together, updrafts inside the larger cloud increase. The updrafts close to the center of the cloud are more powerful than those near the edges.[2] These updrafts result in the cloud body to grow up and down, so the cloud is stacked up (see figures 2 (B), 3, and 4). This vertical growth reasons the cloud body to stretch into cooler areas of the atmosphere, where drops of water and hail come up with and begin to grow larger and larger. Once these drops of water and hail come to be too heavy for the updrafts to aid them, they begin to fall through the cloud as rain, hail, etc.[3]
Figure 3: A cumulonimbus cloud. Following the cloud is stacked up, rain is released of it. (Weather and Climate, Bodin, p.123.)
Figure 4: A cumulonimbus cloud. (A Colour Guide to Clouds, Scorer and Wexler, p. 23.)
Allah has said in the Quran:
“Have you not seen how God makes the clouds move gently, then joins them together, then makes them into a stack, and then you see the rain come out of it....” (Quran 24:43)
Meteorologists have lately come to know this level of detail of cloud formation, structure, and function by making use of advanced equipment like planes, satellites, computers, balloons, and other hardware or equipment, to study wind and its direction, to measure humidity and its variations, and to look for the levels and variations of atmospheric pressure.
The above verse, after mentioning clouds and rain, speaks about hail and lightning:
“....And He sends down hail from mountains (clouds) in the sky, and He strikes with it whomever He wills, and turns it from whomever He wills. The vivid flash of its lightning nearly blinds the sight.” (Quran 24:43)
Meteorologists have discovered that these cumulonimbus clouds, that shower hail, reach a height of 25,000 to 30,000 ft (4.7 to 5.7 miles),[5] like mountain tops, as the Holy quran said, “...
And He sends down hail from mountains (clouds) in the sky...” (see figure 4 above).
This verse may raise an issue. Why does the verse say “its lightning” in a mention of the hail? Does this mean that hail will be the major factor in creating lightning? Let us notice what the book entitled Meteorology Today says relating to this. It says that a cloud ends up being electrified as hail falls through a region in the cloud of supercooled droplets and ice crystals.
As liquid droplets clash with a hailstone, they freeze on get a hold of and release latent heat. This keeps the top of hailstone warmer than that of the surrounding ice crystals. As soon as the hailstone comes in contact with an ice crystal, a significant phenomenon occurs: electrons flow from the colder target toward the warmer object. Hence, the hailstone ends up being negatively charged. Similar effect occurs when supercooled droplets are exposed to a hailstone and tiny splinters of positively charged ice break-off. These lighter favorably charged particles are then carried to the upper part of the cloud by updrafts. The hail, left with a negative charge, falls to the bottom of the cloud, thus the bottom part of the cloud becomes negatively charged. These negative charges are then discharged as lightning. We determine from this that hail is the major factor in generating lightning.
This information about lightning was discovered just lately. Until 1600 AD, Aristotle’s ideas on meteorology were dominant. For instance, he said that the atmosphere covers two kinds of exhalation, moist and dry. In addition, he said that thunder is the sound of the collision of the dry exhalation aided by the neighboring clouds, and lightning is the inflaming and burning for the dry exhalation with a thin and faint fire. Here are some of the ideas on meteorology which were dominant at the time of the Quran’s disclosure, 14 centuries ago.
"...I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the prophet, the scrupulous regard for his pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and his own mission. These, and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every trouble." YOUNG INDIA, 1924
"If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great man in modern history with Muhammad? The most famous men created arms, laws and empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled away before their eyes. This man moved not only armies, legislations, empires, peoples and dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and souls... the forbearance in victory, his ambition, which was entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for an empire; his endless prayers, his mystic conversations with God, his death and his triumph after death; all these attest not to an imposture but to a firm conviction which gave him the power to restore a dogma. This dogma was twofold, the unit of God and the immateriality of God; the former telling what God is, the latter telling what God is not; the one overthrowing false gods with the sword, the other starting an idea with words.
"It is not the propagation but the permanency of his religion that deserves our wonder, the same pure and perfect impression which he engraved at Mecca and Medina is preserved, after the revolutions of twelve centuries by the Indian, the African and the Turkish proselytes of the Koran...The Mahometans have uniformly withstood the temptation of reducing the object of their faith and devotion to a level with the senses and imagination of man. 'I believe in One God and Mahomet the Apostle of God', is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by any visible idol; the honors of the prophet have never transgressed the measure of human virtue, and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion."
"He was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without Pope's pretensions, Caesar without the legions of Caesar: without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue; if ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by the right divine, it was Mohammed, for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports."
"It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character of the great Prophet of Arabia, who knows how he taught and how he lived, to feel anything but reverence for that mighty Prophet, one of the great messengers of the Supreme. And although in what I put to you I shall say many things which may be familiar to many, yet I myself feel whenever I re-read them, a new way of admiration, a new sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher."
"His readiness to undergo persecutions for his beliefs, the high moral character of the men who believed in him and looked up to him as leader, and the greatness of his ultimate achievement – all argue his fundamental integrity. To suppose Muhammad an impostor raises more problems than it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so poorly appreciated in the West as Muhammad."
"Muhammad, the inspired man who founded Islam, was born about A.D. 570 into an Arabian tribe that worshipped idols. Orphaned at birth, he was always particularly solicitous of the poor and needy, the widow and the orphan, the slave and the downtrodden. At twenty he was already a successful businessman, and soon became director of camel caravans for a wealthy widow. When he reached twenty-five, his employer, recognizing his merit, proposed marriage. Even though she was fifteen years older, he married her, and as long as she lived, remained a devoted husband.
"My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular level."
“It was the first religion that preached and practiced democracy; for, in the mosque, when the call for prayer is sounded and worshippers are gathered together, the democracy of Islam is embodied five times a day when the peasant and king kneel side by side and proclaim: 'God Alone is Great'... “
“how one man single-handedly, could weld warring tribes and Bedouins into a most powerful and civilized nation in less than two decades?”
“He was the most faithful protector of those he protected, the sweetest and most agreeable in conversation. Those who saw him were suddenly filled with reverence; those who came near him loved him; they who described him would say, "I have never seen his like either before or after." He was of great taciturnity, but when he spoke it was with emphasis and deliberation, and no one could forget what he said...”
“I believe if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring much needed peace and happiness.
Allah has said in the Quran:
