Page 244 - General Knowledge from the Qur'an

242 GENERAL KNOWLEDGE FROM THE QUR'AN

VARIOUS SOURCES OF WATER
The two seas are not the same: the one is sweet, refreshing, delicious
to drink, the other salty, bitter to the taste. Yet from both of them you
eat fresh flesh and extract ornaments for yourselves to wear; and you
see ships on them, cleaving through the waves so that you can seek
His bounty and so that hopefully you will be thankful. (Surah Fatir, 12)

ALLAH MADE THE SEA SUBSERVIENT TO PEOPLE
It is He Who made the sea subservient to you so that you can eat
fresh flesh from it and bring out from it ornaments to wear. And you
see the ships cleaving through it so that you can seek His bounty, and
so that hopefully you will show thanks. (Surat an-Nahl, 14)

ALLAH BRINGS FORTH CROPS BY WATER
Do they not see how We drive water to barren land and bring forth
crops by it which their livestock and they themselves both eat? So will
they not see? (Surat as-Sajda, 27)

THE METAPHOR OF THE LIFE OF THE WORLD
Know that the life of this world is merely a game and a diversion
and ostentation and a cause of boasting among yourselves and trying
to outdo one another in wealth and children: like the plant-growth
after rain which delights the cultivators, but then it withers and you
see it turning yellow, and then it becomes broken stubble. In the here-
after there is terrible punishment but also forgiveness from Allah and
His good pleasure. The life of this world is nothing but the enjoyment
of delusion. (Surat al-Hadid, 20)
The metaphor of the life of this world is that of water which We send
down from the sky, and which then mingles with the plants of the
earth to provide food for both people and animals. Then, when the
earth is at its loveliest and takes on its fairest guise and its people think
they have it under their control, Our command comes upon it by night
or day and We reduce it to dried-out stubble, as though it had not been
flourishing just the day before! In this way We make Our Signs clear
for people who reflect. (Surah Yunus, 24)