Water
The compound of oxygen and hydrogen
on which every form of life depends. Of
the four Heraclean elements, water has the
highest number of attestations in the
Qur_ān and appears in the greatest variety
of forms. In its general sense, it is designated
by the Arabic word mā_. It subsists in
the sky as clouds (sa_āb, muzn, mu__irāt,
ghamāma, _ar), falls to the earth as rain (mā_
min al-samā_, wadq, ma_ar), or hail (barad; see
weather) or is condensed from the atmosphere
as dew (_all). It rises from within
the earth as springs (_ayn, yanbū_) and is also
accessible as wells (bi_r, jubb; see springs
and fountains). It fl ows across the land as
rivers (nahr, pl. anhār) and foaming torrents
(sayl). It comprises the great aqueous mass
of the sea ( yam, ba_r, pl. bi_ār), and its
surges are waves (mawj). Often explicit
mention of it is elided (ma_dhūf ) and its
presence indicated by context, through
such verbs as ghasila, “to wash,” or saqā,
“give to drink” (see food and drink).
There is the water of bodily fl uids, such as
semen (nu_fa, mā_ mahīn, mā_ dāfiq; see
biology as the creation and stages of
life) and tears (dam_; see weeping). Finally,
there is in hell scalding water (_amīm) and
putrid liquid (_adīd) among the torments of
the damned (see reward and punishment;
hell and hellfire).
Water in all these forms has a part in the
divine economy of creation (q.v.). The
words that designate it interact with each
others’ meanings, creating what Frithjof
Schuon calls a spiritual geometry that
yields structures of religious meaning characteristic
of qur_ānic rhetoric (see
rhetoric and the qur_An). They occur
individually but are also combined to form
images of power and beauty (q.v.). Water is
a sign of God’s power (see nature as
signs; power and impotence). It reveals
aspects of the dependence of creation on
him, his dealings with it, and its duty to
serve him.
God created water before the heavens
(see heaven and sky) and the earth
(q.v.) — this is how the commentators (al-
_abarī, al-Rāzī, al-Nasafī), understand the
verse “[God] created the heavens and the
earth in six days, when his throne was
above the water (mā_)” (q 11:7), and “He
raised up the dome [of the sky], then perfected
it; he made dark its night and made
bright its day (see day and night), he laid
out the earth, and drew forth from it its
water (mā_) and its pasturage” (q 79:28-31;
see agriculture and vegetation). It is
life-giving. Further God says, “We made
every living thing of water (mā_)” (q 21:30;
cf. 24:45) and, as seminal fl uid, in phrases
such as mā_ mahīn (q 77:20), and mā_ dāfiq
(q 86:6), water passes on life (q.v.) from one
generation to the next.