“They hear. Have they not seen that We drive water to barren land and thereby bring forth crops from which their livestock and they themselves eat? Will they not then see?”
[Surah al-Sajdah: 27]
Barren land does not (1) receive enough rainfall, as in Egypt: if it received the usual rainfall, it would not suffice, for its soil consists of Nile silt (2). Yet if it received heavy rainfall equivalent to a month’s rain, the dwellings would be ruined (3). It was therefore part of the Creator’s wisdom and mercy that He caused rain to fall upon a distant land and then drove that water to Egypt.
These signs (4) furnish evidence of the Creator’s knowledge, power, will, and wisdom. Affirming the material from which He created rain, trees, human beings, and animals likewise points to His wisdom (5).
We do not know of anything whatsoever that was created except from matter, nor has Allah informed us in His Book of any created thing except as created from matter.
Likewise, authentic texts establish that a solar eclipse and other phenomena can cause certain events. It is related through several routes in the Sahih collections that the Prophet—peace and blessings of Allah be upon him—said: “The sun and the moon are not eclipsed because of anyone’s death, nor because