Quran Garden

Session 523

Chapter 3

Verse 190

a continuation

Surely, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day there are signs for the people who possess understanding.  (Chapter 3: Verse 190)

In the previous session, we touched on how God has flooded humanity with countless blessings, from trees that provide beauty, food, and energy to the mountains, which make life on earth possible.  Today, we will explore the blessings of water.  God says,

He Who made the earth a stable dwelling place and appointed rivers flowing through its midst and placed firmly embedded mountains on it and set a barrier between the two seas.  Is there another god besides Allah?  No, indeed, but most of them do not know it!  (27:61)

And in another chapter,

He has let loose the two seas, converging together, yet between them is a barrier, which they do not transgress.  (55:19-20)

Water flows into different paths that God has created underground.  When people dig into the earth, they find fresh water, and in nearby places, they dig and find salty water.  Why doesn't the salty water mix with the fresh even though they are both underground?  This is because salty water has its own paths that differ from fresh water, and one does not overpower the other.  Fresh water comes from above as most rivers and springs start from the mountains then flow into the sea.  As a general rule, saltwater is mostly at ground level.  God did not make the level of saltwater higher than that of fresh so that salinity does not contaminate everything and ruin the soil.  This allows people and plants to quench their thirst before the excess freshwater flows into underground reservoirs or the sea.  Then, evaporation and desalination occur when seawater rises as vapor and becomes rain clouds.  

As you may have noticed, the amount of water God created does not increase or decrease; it is just recycled.  You consume tons of water throughout life, but did all of that water stay in your body, or did it go back to earth out as waste?  The human body is approximately seventy percent water, and you only stores a fixed amount that is currently in you.  After you die, the water returns to the earth.  It, too, is subject to the cycle God has ordained.

We continue with the Lord's blessings.  He says,

Who is it that answers the distressed when they call upon Him?  Who removes their suffering?  Who makes you successors in the earth?  Is it another god beside God?  Little notice you take!  (27:62)

A distressed person is the one who has exhausted all available means and has no more resources to save him or herself out of trouble or preserve life.  Do you want to know one of the shortest paths to Allah?  Those who have true knowledge taught us to measure our supplication against that of the truly distressed, then fill our hearts with what is in their hearts.  Let me explain.  Imagine a man who fell overboard in the middle of a stormy ocean.  He is barely hanging on a piece of wood as the waves crash on top of him from every direction.  How would he supplicate the Lord for deliverance?  That is the supplication of the distressed.  Rest assured that you, in the safety of your home with air conditioning and a fridge full of food, need God's help more than the person in the middle of the ocean.  Why?  Because the man barely hanging to the woodlog has no illusion about his need.  On the other hand, the comforts around you delude you and raise a vail between you and the Lord.  God says,  

When trouble befalls man, he cries out to Us, whether lying on his side, sitting, or standing, but as soon as We relieve him of his trouble, he goes on his way as if he had never cried out to Us to remove his trouble.  In this way the actions of such heedless people are appealing to them.  (10:12)

And in another chapter,

When you are distressed at sea, those you call on vanish – except for Him alone!  But when He delivers you to dry land, you turn away.  Man truly is ungrateful.  (17:67)

A person struck by a major accident or illness does not lie to him or herself.  Even the harshest atheist, when faced with a dire life-threatening situation, would naturally cry out to God, the One, the Creator: O Lord, O Lord help me!  God says,

Who is it that answers the distressed when they call upon Him?  Who removes their suffering?  Who makes you successors in the earth?  Is it another god besides God?  Little notice you take!  Who is it that guides you through the darkness on land and sea?  Who sends the winds as heralds of good news before His mercy?  Is it another god besides God?  Exalted is He above all partners they associate with Him.  He Who originates creation in the first instance and then reproduces it, and Who provides you from the heaven and the earth?  Is there another deity besides God?  Say: "Produce your evidence, if you are truthful!" (27:62-64)

All these verses and blessings are a confirmation of the aya,

Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day, there are signs for the people who possess understanding.  (Chapter 3: Verse 190)