Responses to "It is Truth"

Chapter 18

The Qur'aan on Clouds

One kind of rain cloud is the cumulonimbus cloud associated with thunderstorms. Meteorologists have studied how cumulonimbus clouds are formed and how they produce rain, hail, and lightning. They have found that cumulonimbus cloud go through the following steps to produce rain:

Allah said in the Qur'aan:

Have you not seen how Allah 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...? [Qur'aan 24:43]

There are two problems with using this verse to "prove" the divine origins of the Qur'an.

Problem 1: This is something that can be observed.

Problem 2: The explanation is incorrect.

Small clouds do not join together and "stack" up to form a thunder storm. These clouds form when warm moist air is pushed higher by a cold front. As the warm moist air rises, it cools (at the adiabatic lapse rate), therefore, it appears that the cloud is growing in height as water vapor condenses.

The preceding 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 whoever He wills. The vivid flash of its lightning nearly blinds the sight. [Qur'aan 24:43]

No kidding, did you need a divine revelation to tell you this?

This verse may raise a question. Why does the verse say ...its lightning in reference to the hail?

Honestly, this is an observation which could be made by anyone!

Does this mean that hail is the major factor in producing lightning? Let us see what the book entitled Meteorology Today, says on this. It says that clouds become electrified as hail falls through a region in the cloud of supercooled droplets and ice crystals. As liquid droplets collide with hail, they freeze on contact and release latent heat. This keeps the surface of the hail warmer than that of the surrounding ice crystals.

OK, that is what the textbook says, however, the Qur'an mentions none of this!


Responses to "It is Truth"
Answering Islam Home Page