and have realized that rain clouds are formed and shaped according to definite
systems and certain steps connected with certain types of wind and clouds.
One kind of rain cloud is the
cumulonimbus cloud. Meteorologists have studied how cumulonimbus clouds
are formed and how they produce rain, hail, and lightning.
They have found that cumulonimbus
clouds go through the following steps to produce rain:
1) The clouds are pushed
by the wind: Cumulonimbus clouds begin to form when wind pushes some small
pieces of clouds (cumulus clouds) to an area where these clouds converge (see
figures 17 and 18).
Figure 17: |
Figure 18: Small |
2) Joining: Then the
small clouds join together forming a larger cloud1
(see figures 18 and 19).
Figure 19: (A) |
3) Stacking: When the
small clouds join together, updrafts within the larger cloud increase. The
updrafts near the center of the cloud are stronger than those near the edges.2
These updrafts cause the cloud body to grow vertically, so the cloud is stacked
up (see figures 19 (B), 20, and 21). This vertical growth causes the cloud
body to stretch into cooler regions of the atmosphere, where drops of water and
hail formulate and begin to grow larger and larger. When these drops of
water and hail become too heavy for the updrafts to support them, they begin to
fall from the cloud as rain, hail, etc.3
Figure 20: A |
Figure 21: A |
God has said in the Quran:
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 only recently
come to know these details of cloud formation, structure, and function by using
advanced equipment like planes, satellites, computers, balloons, and other
equipment, to study wind and its direction, to measure humidity and its
variations, and to determine the levels and variations of atmospheric pressure.4
The preceding verse, after
mentioning clouds and rain, speaks about hail and lightning:
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 found 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
mountains, as the Quran said, “...And He sends down hail from mountains
(clouds) in the sky...” (see figure 21 above).
This verse may raise a question.
Why does the verse say “its lightning” in a reference to the hail?
Does this mean that hail is the major factor in producing lightning? Let
us see what the book entitled Meteorology Today says about this. It
says that a cloud becomes electrified as hail falls through a region in the
cloud of supercooled droplets and ice crystals. 
liquid droplets collide with a hailstone, they freeze on contact and release
latent heat. This keeps the surface of the hailstone warmer than that of
the surrounding ice crystals. When the hailstone comes in contact with an
ice crystal, an important phenomenon occurs: electrons flow from the colder
object toward the warmer object. Hence, the hailstone becomes negatively
charged. The same effect occurs when supercooled droplets come in contact
with a hailstone and tiny splinters of positively charged ice break off.
These lighter positively charged particles are then carried to the upper part of
the cloud by updrafts. The hail, left with a negative charge, falls
towards the bottom of the cloud, thus the lower part of the cloud becomes
negatively charged. These negative charges are then discharged as
lightning.6 We conclude
from this that hail is the major factor in producing lightning.
This information on lightning was
discovered recently. Until 1600 AD, Aristotle’s ideas on meteorology
were dominant. For example, he said that the atmosphere contains two kinds
of exhalation, moist and dry. He also said that thunder is the sound of
the collision of the dry exhalation with the neighboring clouds, and lightning
is the inflaming and burning of the dry exhalation with a thin and faint fire.7
These are some of the ideas on meteorology that were dominant at the time of the
Quran’s revelation, fourteen centuries ago.
Extract from "A brief
Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam". To view the whole
book online, visit http://www.islam-guide.com
_____________________________
Footnotes:
(1) See The
Atmosphere, Anthes and others, pp. 268-269, and Elements of Meteorology,
Miller and Thompson, p. 141.
(2) The
updrafts near the center are stronger, because they are protected from the
cooling effects by the outer portion of the cloud.
(3) See The
Atmosphere, Anthes and others, p. 269, and Elements of Meteorology,
Miller and Thompson, pp. 141-142.
(4) See Ee’jaz
al-Quran al-Kareem fee Wasf Anwa’ al-Riyah, al-Sohob, al-Matar,
Makky and others, p. 55.
(5) Elements
of Meteorology, Miller and Thompson, p. 141.
(6) Meteorology
Today, Ahrens, p. 437.
(7) The
Works of Aristotle Translated into English: Meteorologica, vol. 3, Ross and
others, pp. 369a-369b.