Water, rain, wind and clouds
الماء والمطر والرياح والسحاب
The ontology's weather group has 4 concepts — cloud, rain, lightning and thunder — with 46 mentions. Water (63 times) and wind (29) complete the cycle: winds drive the clouds, rain revives dead land, and from water every living thing is made.
Including related themes: 128 verses across 52 surahs (shown in the chart below).
All figures are computed from the Quranic Arabic Corpus ontology and the Quran 360 theme index.
Take the lesson →Across the 114 surahs
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The QAC ontology's weather phenomena are four: cloud (17 mentions in 16 verses), rain (15 in 13), lightning (12 in 11) and thunder (2) — 46 mentions in 35 verses across 19 surahs. The Corpus morphology adds the words the ontology does not cover: māʾ (water) occurs 63 times in 60 verses across 41 surahs, and rīḥ (wind, winds) 29 times in 26 surahs. With our theme tags for the water cycle, winds, clouds and dead land revived, the study covers 128 verses in 52 surahs.
One passage holds the whole sequence: “Allah drives the clouds, then joins them, then piles them up, and you see the rain coming out of them; and He sends down from the sky, from mountains in it, hail … the flash of its lightning almost takes away sight” (24:43). Water gives life: “We made from water every living thing” (21:30), and rain revives the dead earth, which the Quran gives as an image of the resurrection (35:9).
The same forces can be mercy or punishment. Winds are “bearers of good news before His mercy” (25:48), but a barren wind destroyed ʿĀd (51:41). Surah al-Raʿd is named after the thunder, which “glorifies His praise” (13:13).
Key facts
4 weather concepts, 46 mentions: cloud 17, rain 15, lightning 12, thunder 2 — in 35 verses across 19 surahs.
Māʾ (water) occurs 63 times in 60 verses across 41 surahs.
Rīḥ (wind, winds) occurs 29 times in 28 verses across 26 surahs.
Maṭar (rain) occurs in 5 verses; 4 of them describe the rain of punishment on the people of Lūṭ.
Thunder (raʿd) is named twice: in 2:19 and in 13:13, the verse that gives Surah al-Raʿd its name.
Al-Ṭabarī explains the “fertilising” winds of 15:22 as winds that fertilise the clouds, which then rain, and the trees.
On the hail “from mountains” in the sky (24:43), Ibn Kathir reports two views without choosing between them.
Surahs named after these
Winds that “fertilise”
“We send the winds lawāqiḥ (fertilising), then send down water from the sky and give it to you to drink” (15:22). Al-Ṭabarī explains that the winds fertilise the clouds, which then rain, and the trees. The winds raise the clouds and spread them across the sky (30:48). On the oaths at the start of Surah al-Dhāriyāt, al-dhāriyāt are reported from ʿAlī as the scattering winds and al-ḥāmilāt as the clouds bearing rain (51:1-2). On al-mursalāt (77:1) al-Ṭabarī records a difference: winds (Ibn Masʿūd and others) or angels.
Clouds, hail and lightning
In 24:43 the clouds are driven, joined and piled, rain comes from their midst, and hail falls “from mountains in the sky”. Ibn Kathir reports two views without choosing: there are mountains of hail in the sky, or “mountains” here means the clouds themselves. Lightning brings both fear and hope (13:12; 30:24), and the thunder glorifies Allah, as do the angels in awe of Him (13:13). On al-muʿṣirāt (78:14) al-Ṭabarī records two views: the rain clouds, or the winds that press them.
Water and life
“We made from water every living thing” (21:30): Ibn Kathir explains that water is the origin of every living thing. Rain is sent “in measure” and lodged in the earth (23:18). It falls on dead land and brings it to life, and the Quran makes this an argument for the resurrection: “So will be the raising” (35:9). The sky “that returns” (dhāt al-rajʿ, 86:11) is explained by Ibn Kathir, after Ibn ʿAbbās, as the sky that returns rain.
Mercy or punishment
The word maṭar (rain) occurs 7 times in 5 verses, and in 4 of them it is the “rain” of stones on the people of Lūṭ (7:84; 25:40; 26:173; 27:58); the fifth is about soldiers troubled by rain (4:102). Mercy-rain is usually māʾ (water) sent down from the sky (25:48). ʿĀd saw a cloud and said “this cloud will give us rain”, but it was the punishment they had hurried (46:24).
Every concept (5)
Themes
For reflection and discussion
The Quran compares rain on dead land to the resurrection (35:9). Next time it rains after a dry spell, what will you notice, and what will you remember?