Page 125 - Allah's Miracles in the Qur'an

Harun Yahya

Rain clouds are tremendous masses covering 20 to 260 square met-
res (10 to 100 square miles) and reaching great vertical heights of 9,000
to 12,000 metres (30,000 to 40,000 ft.). Due to these extraordinary di-
mensions, the lower part of these clouds are dark. It is impossible for
the Sun's rays to pass through them, because of the large quantities of
water and ice particles they contain. Very little solar energy therefore
reaches the Earth through the clouds, which is why the clouds appear
dark to someone looking up at them. 62

The stages of the formation of thunder and lightning after that
darkness, mentioned in the verse, are as follows: An electrical charge
forms inside the rain cloud. This comes about as a result of such pro-
cesses as freezing, the division of raindrops and charge formation du-
ring contact. The accumulation of such electrical charges, when the air
between becomes unable to insulate them, leads to a great spark, a disc-
harge between the positive and negative fields. The voltage between
two oppositely charged areas can reach 1 billion volts. The spark can al-
so form within the cloud, can cross between two clouds, from a positi-
vely charged area to a negative one, or be discharged from the cloud to
the ground. These sparks form dazzling lightning strikes. This sudden
increase in the electrical charge along the line of lightning causes inten-
se heat (10,000 degrees Celsius [18,030 degrees Fahrenheit]). As a result,
there is a sudden expansion of the air, which in turn causes the loud no-
ise associated with thunder. 63
As has been discussed, dark layers, followed by the electrically
charged sparks known as lightning, and
then the loud noise called thunder,

form within a rain cloud. Everyt-
hing modern science has establis-
hed about clouds, and has to say
about the causes of thunder and
lightning, is in complete accord with the
descriptions in the Qur'an.

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