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Report n°5 : "Water : symbolism and culture"
Water in the Qur'an
The Qur'an also makes reference to the Flood. In sura 69 The Reality, ayat 11, it says: "When the water overflowed, we loaded you on the vessel" and adds in sura 7 The Heights (ayat 64): "So we saved him (Noe) and those who were along with him in the Ark.We let those who rejected Our signs drown" and, finally, in sura 11 Hud (ayat 44): "and itwas said:"Earth, swallow your water, and: sky, clear up! So the water receded, the Command was accomplished, and she settled down on (Mt.) Judi."
The Holy Book asserts that water is, by the will of God, the sole basis for the emergence of life: "We have made every living thing out of water." (Sura 21 The Prophets, ayat 30).
The Qur'anic account of the forming of the Cosmos places great emphasis on water, as demonstrated in other ayat in the preceding sura which on the one hand lists heaven, earth, the moon, the sun, night, day etc. as natural factors in the creation of the universe and, on the other, speaks of a single element that infuses life into the universe: water. The Qur'an immediately asserts, however, that water fills the entire inanimate universe with life: "He is the One Who created Heaven and Earth in six days. His Throne rises over the water". For certain commentators (52), this means in effect that water was the origin for both heaven and earth and that Allah drew from it the natural elements as well as all living creatures. Water is even present in the rocks and stones. Sura 2 The Cow (ayat 73-74) says: "...for there are some stones which rivers gush out of and there are others which water comes forth from when they split open, and there are still others which collapse out of awe for God". The Qur'an also teaches that "God has created every animal out of water; some of them walk on their belly, while others walk on two legs and still others walk on four. God creates anything He wishes; God is Able (to do) everything." (Sura 24 The Light, ayat 45). Thus every life on earth owes its existence to the element of water: "Among His signs He sends water down from the sky so He may revive the earth with it following its death." (Sura 30 The Romans, ayat 24). The vivifying property of water is repeated in many ayat: "He sends the winds to bring news so He may let you taste some of His mercy (sura 30, ayat 46)... And any water God sends down from the sky with which to revive the earth following its death and to scatter every kind of animal throughout it. We give it in due measure as a sign to those who are wise (53)" or again "We have sent down blessed water from the sky and We grow gardens with it as well as grain to be harvested and soaring palms which have compact clusters as sustenance for worshippers. We have revived a dead countryside with it; thus will (your) reappearance be".
The Qur'anic account of the Creation is naturally crowned by the creation of man, as confirmed by ayat 54 of sura 25 The Criterion: "He is the One Who crated humanity out of water; and He has grated them blood ties as well as in-laws".
According to Dante Caponera, for the Qur'an: "After humanity, water is the most precious of God's creations (54)" and water, in the Holy Book, is in fact at the service of mankind: "God is the One Who has created Heaven and Earth, and sends down water from the sky. He brings forth produce by means of it as sustenance for you. He has subjected ships to you so they may sail at sea by His command; and subjected rivers to you".
Thanks to water, God gives man plants: "...(since he is the One) Who has laid out the earth as a carpet for you and has traced highways on it for you, and sent down water from the sky. We have brought forth every sort of plant with it, of various types." (Sura 20 Taha, ayat 53) or again "and produced its water and its pasturage from it". (Sura 79 Soul-snatchers, ayat 31).
Jacques Berque shows that sura 86 The Nightcomer -in which ayat 6 calls on man to show humility (55): "He was created from a fluid ejected"- with its reference to the rain, in fact expresses the cyclical pattern of nature and resurrection, and he describes this as an "admirable evocation completed by that of the annual return of the vegetation" in ayat 12.This vegetation is, of course, vital to the survival of the Bedouin Arab's flocks and most especially of his camels.
Given its pre-eminent place in the Qur'an, water is therefore blessed, endowed with purifying powers by its role in the flourishing of all forms of life, and made sacred: "...(II) Thus He caused drowsiness to overcome you as an assurance from Him, and sent down water from the sky on you to cleanse or with and to remove Satan's Blight from you, and to bind up your hearts and brace your feet with it (56)" (Sura 8 The Booty, ayat 11) or as repeated in sura 50 Qaf, ayat 9: "We have sent down blessed water from the sky and We grow gardens with it as well as grain to be harvested, And soaring palms which have compact clusters, As sustenance for worshippers. We have revived a dead countryside with it".
Thus, for the Qur'an, water is the symbol of life. Its absence or scarcity is generally a death sentence.The Holy Book of Islam makes many references to such themes: "God sends water down from the sky and revives the earth with it following its death" (Sura 16 The Bee, ayat 65) or: "You see the barren earth when We send water down upon it, stirring, sprouting and producing every sort of lovely species." (Sura 22 The Pilgrimage, ayat 5).
Between life and death, water may not only bring prosperity, wealth and opulence, butmay also bring misfortune should it be misused or mismanaged or should we fail to give thanks to God for his bounty, as sura 18 The Cave (ayat 40-41) warns: "perhaps my Lord will still give me something better than your garden... or its water will sink down some morning and you will never manage to find it again", while sura 67 The Sovereignty (ayat 30) is still more explicit: "Say: Have your considered who, if your water should sink into the ground, will bring you any water from a spring?".
The metaphor stems from the contrast between the water of a well disappearing into some crevasse and water springing forth from the very earth, a contrast often dramatically experienced by certain civilisations (57). For Jacques Berque, this verse contains a possible allusion to the drought that fell upon Mecca immediately after the Hijra (16 July 622 AD) when the prophet was obliged to flee with the first of the faithful to Medina, in order to escape persecution and assassination.
In the text of the Qur'an, life is inconceivable withoutwater because in addition to its vital functions, essential to plants, animals and human beings, God has surrounded us with natural beauty in the form of rivers, snow-capped mountains, the ocean and its shores and, as sura 13 The Thunder (ayat 3 and 17) explains: "He is the One Who has spread the earth out and placed two pairs for every kind of fruit on it... He sends down water from the sky so that river valleys flow according to how much there is.The torrent carries along swelling foam".
Radhouane Essaïèd, professor of Islamic philosophy at the Université Libanaise
points out that descriptions in the Qur'an of seas, rivers and stretches of water suggest no fear of desertification, water shortages or of life in an arid climate. Water is one of God's gifts. As a result, its scarcity can only be a sign of divine wrath, a consequence of man's mismanagement of the precious gift or of his ill-conceived projects, since God created all things in due measure, without excess but also without parsimony: "We send down water from the sky in due measure, and let it trickle into the Earth.We are even Able to make it disappear.We have produced date groves and vineyards on it for you;from which you have much fruit to eat..." (sura 23 The Believers, ayat 18). Even today in Islamic countries -and among the Jews- prayers are said in the event of persistent drought and sometimes, as in the case of Tunisia or Algeria in recent years, it is the authorities themselves that take the initiative (58). In pre-Islamic Arabia, during periods of drought, sacrifices were made in Mecca to the rain goddess Manât.
The Qur'an, says Essaïèd, calls for proper governance of water and the equitable sharing of this vital resources when it says: "Announce to them how water must be shared among them; each will have his own special time to drink (59)" (sura 54 The Moon, ayat 28).
For the Qur'an, the supreme mark of divine favour in this earthly world is made manifest in the rain and river water. But God punishes the wicked "their wells have been abandoned" (sura 22, The Pilgrimage, ayat 45). The punishment is severe because water sources in the desert are few and far between and a shortage of water in this arid environment can often prove fatal.
(52) See, for example, Radhouane Essaïèd, Bada'el (Beirut), no.2, Autumn 2004, p.28-29.
(53) For Hamidullah, "the wind is the harbinger of rain which, in a dry or arid land, is one of the most obvious manifestations of divine mercy." Again, in sura 27 The Ant (ayat 63), there is a reference to wind: "Celui qui envoie les vents comme une bonne annonce." But since the wicked do not give thanks for divine bounty such as rain, Allah punishes them: "Et si Nous envoyons un vent puis qu'ils voient tout jaunir, après cela, ils demeurent bien ingrats." (Sura 30 The Romans, ayat51)
(54) "Water management in Islam", edited by Naser Faruqui, Asit K.Biswas and Murad Bino, United Nations University Press, Tokyo, 2001.
(55) A further reminder of this type is found in sura 77 The Emissaries, ayat 20 and in sura 22 The Pilgrimage, ayat 5.
(56) For Hamidullah, the Qur'an is alluding here to the famous battle of Badr (in the year 2 AH, 623 AD), a decisive victory for the new faith, during which it rained. The Muslim army was drawn up on sand, which the rain hardened into a firm footing (and prevented dust from rising in the course of the battle), while the Quraishi enemy took its stand on clay soil that turned to heavy mud, hampering both infantry and cavalry.
(57) The term ma'ïnused in this verse and meaning "spring forth from the earth" reappears in the Berque translation of the Qur'an (Sura 23 The Believers, ayat 50). It is important to note here the unparalleled richness of Arabic in vocabulary relating to water, wells, clouds, etc. Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwich has listed no fewer than 110 terms for "water" in Arabic (Mahmoud Darwich, "Mémoire.... pour l'oubli", Organisation arabe pour les études et l'édition, Beirut, 1990, p. 46 - 47). The Hebrew word for water, maïm, takes the feminine plural.
(58) In Istanbul - which suffered from an unprecedented drought in 1994 - a lively debate arose, however, between partisans of "religious rain" and those of "scientific rain", the latter being triggered by seeding clouds with silver nitrate crystals. (Musa Akdemir, "Thirsty Istanbul implores the heavens", Libération, 11 July 1994, p.15)
(59) Hamidullah's translation differs slightly from Berque's: "Et informe-les que l'eau est à partager entre eux, oui, chacun son tour de boire." The latter adds:"In the Islamic tradition, each of the Twelve Tribes has its passage, as it has its own spring of water in the desert."