Islam and Science – Water in the Quran

23:07

30 Apr 2011

Environment, Miracles / Ijaz

Zaghloul R. M. El-Naggar (An-Najjar)

Zaghloul El Naggar (An Najjar) presents this undated episode of Islam and Science for Peace TV.  The show as a whole advocates for the use of the Qurʾān in order to understand science, a form of iʿjāz.

In this episode, El Naggar discusses how water came to be on Earth, and how its evaporation-rain cycle is described “miraculously” in the Qurʾān.  He begins by stating that all the water on the surface of the Earth came through volcanic processes as the crust of the Earth expanded.  He suggests that like the word “Earth/earth” in English, in Arabic the word aruḍ has three meanings:  the planet as a whole, the continents on which we live, or dirt which composes the continents.

El Naggar states that there are 63 verses of the Qurʾān which mention water, “and each of them includes a scientific fact”, thereby proving for him that the Qurʾān has a divine source.  Although he does not state which verse(s) of the Qurʾān he is explicating, the majority of the show his discusses verses 79.30-31.  He briefly mentions verses 59.68-70 when discussing potable water.

Most of the Qurʾānic passages provided in the show are presented only in Arabic without explanatory references, so those with no Arabic will have difficulty looking up the material in the Qurʾān.

Evaluation:

Although the concept of iʿjāz is within the bounds of what Muslims have historically understood as acceptable, the interpretations of the Qurʾān provided here are non-standard, and are stretching the actual text in order to create evidence for the assertions here.

The presentation of water having come from inside the Earth is one of two theories around which a scientific consensus has formed.  Although El Naggar makes a few small misstatements (the height of the atmosphere is not measured, for instance, from the Equator, and there cannot be plants, animals and humans when the planet does not yet have surface water), the material here generally conforms to contemporary scientific consensus.

The basic outlines of water vapor and condensation were well known long before the life of the Prophet Muḥammad.  The rudimentary outlines about the water cycle provided in the Qurʾān would not have been beyond the knowledge of civilizations in the seventh century.  Part of the construction here is similar to Intelligent Design, suggesting that the water cycle as it arose on Earth could not have happened without intervention from God.  Scientists and others find applying science as “proof” of a religious text problematic.  An example of this perspective among Muslims may be found here.