"Only Allah Knows When it will Rain"

By Zaghlul El-Naggar
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Ibn Umar RA narrated that the Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) said, "The keys of the Ghayb (Unseen) are five and no one but Allah the Almighty knows them: (1) No one knows what will happen tomorrow but Allah; (2) No one knows by how much the wombs fall short (of their time) but Allah;(3) No one knows when it will rain but Allah; (4) No human soul knows in what land it will die; (5) No one knows when the Hour will be but Allah." [AHMED]

These five issues of the absolute Ghayb (Unseen) explains volumes and to emphasize how only Allah, the Omniscient, knows their absolute realities. That is why the author here shall confine his argument to the third case, "No one knows when it rains but Allah."

Rain is one of man's provisions on earth, which is only provided by Allah. Sometimes rain also comes as a punishment, and it is only Allah who sends punishment on humankind. Moreover, the fall of rain is a very complicated process that involves many factors over which man has no control. Several physical and chemical reactions, which are not fully perceived, are involved in the process of rainfall.

Of these reactions are the trade winds, the evaporation of water from surface water (e.g. lakes, streams, oceans, etc.) - and the air masses that gather moisture when passing over warm bodies of water or wet land surfaces and all living organisms. The moisture or vapor is carried upward into the air mass by turbulence and convection. As water vapor rises, the temperature of the air cools and the vapor eventually condenses on particles suspended in the air. These water droplets are gathered together by air, to form clouds, which are again driven by the wind. The wind keeps generating more clouds, joining them together, moving and spreading them out across the sky. Sometimes the wind generates different types of clouds, by driving these rain clouds to accumulate into a heap of layers that keeps forming to reach the uppermost layer of the atmosphere.

Wind keeps driving more water vapor and dust particles (acting as nuclei for vapor condensation) into these clouds, which make moisture droplets grow bigger and bigger until they reach the size suitable for the precipitation in the form of rain, hail or snow. All these reactions take place while clouds are in continuous motion; no one except for Allah the Almighty knows the time, place and the amount of rain it will release. read more

Ek dink dit is omdat Allah weet dat dit dalk vir ons as mense 'n onrustige gedagte kan wees ..." (Meer te lees)

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One day a friend asked, "Why aren't you married? Can't you find a woman who will be a good wife?"

Fred replied, "Actually, there were many women I wanted to marry, but when my parents meet them, my mother doesn't like them."

His friend thinks for a moment and says, "I've got the perfect solution, just find a girl who's just like your mother."

A few months later they meet again and his friend says, "Did you find the perfect girl? Did your mother like her?"

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Fred replied, "My father doesn't like her."