In His Divine Book, the Noble Quran, Allah, the Omniscient, the All Aware, says,
“And We have made from water all living things. Will they not believe?”
[XXI; 30]
Interpretation of the foregoing Qurnic Verse needs volumes, but let us try to explain one small part of it. Scientists say that water, which Allah, All Mighty, has made as the essence of life, has an odd property without which life on earth would be impossible.
But what is this property?
The answer is: When water becomes colder, it contracts, like any other elements on the surface of the earth: gases, liquids, or solids. Regardless of one or two exceptions, all of the elements, which Allah, All Mighty, created, expand as temperature rises and contract as temperature falls. Water is one of the liquids that follow the same physical Divine Law of contraction and expansion so long as it is above the critical temperature of +4°C.
When water gets colder, it contracts, which is ordinary behavior, until it reaches the temperature of +4°C. After that, as water gets colder, it expands, i.e. its volume increases.
The foregoing fact is something that can be noticed in our daily life. If we have a bottle filled with water, and if we put the bottle in a fridge where it is very cold so that water freezes, we notice that the bottle breaks. This is because the water in the bottle expands, i.e. its volume increases when it freezes, and, therefore, it needs more space. This is common knowledge.
But what is the relationship between this odd property of water and existence of life on the earth?
If water went on contracting down to the freezing point, the colder water on the surface of the seas and oceans would shrink, its volume would become smaller, and it would sink down. This process would go on until the seas and oceans became solid blocks of ice in the end, and evaporation would stop. If evaporation of water stopped, there would be no more rain, and, consequently, all of the plants, animals and human beings would cease to be. In other words, if water did not have such odd property of expansion and contraction, life on earth would be impossible. But the increase in the volume of water and its expansion as it gets colder at the critical temperature of +4°C: such odd property, which Allah, All Mighty, Most Merciful, has given to water, stands behind the continuity of life on earth. What actually happens is that in cold climates, when it is very old, the water on top of the seas and oceans freezes, and when it freezes, it expands. When the frozen water on top expands, its volume increases but its density decreases; therefore, the frozen water becomes lighter than the water underneath, and it remains on top and forms a kind of heat insulator between the water underneath and the cold winter weather. In the frozen Polar Regions, if you break the surface layer of ice, you find lots and lots of sea creatures living in the cold water beneath.
Is this odd property, which Allah, All Mighty, Most Gracious, has given to water, a mere coincidence?!
Once again, without such odd property of water, life on earth would be impossible!
Reflect on these great signs:
In fact, the more we reflect on Allah’s Divine Signs, which He, Glory to Him, has scattered everywhere, the more we know that this amazing universe must necessarily have an Omnipotent Creator, an Almighty Maker, an All Wise Disposer, an All Seeing and All Hearing Lord, and a Most Gracious and Most Merciful Sovereign.
Such is Allah, Lord of all worlds, to Whom all existing things refer! Footprints refer to walking, so how come that the heaven, with all of its constellations, and the earth, with all of its mountains and valleys, seas and rivers, do not refer to the Lord, Allah, the All Wise and the All Aware?!
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of Creations