While sipping your hot cocoa on a cold winter evening, or enjoying a piece of fruit on a tropical island, you hear a tapping on the window, which then becomes a pitter-patter sound. You move towards the window, draw aside the curtains, and observe those beautiful raindrops greeting you with a smile in droplet from. Without rain, water mediums would dry out, fertile land would wither, plants would die, and ultimately humans too, ending life on Earth. To further understand the value of rain and better appreciate it, let us have a five-dimensional reflection on this phenomenon.

To begin with, rain is liquid precipitation, meaning that it is water falling from the sky. Clouds are made of water droplets. Within a cloud, water droplets condense onto one another, causing the droplets to grow in size. As this continues to happen, the droplet gets heavier and heavier. When the water droplet becomes too heavy to continue floating around in the cloud, it falls to the ground.

In addition to its importance to living things on Earth, it is also responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. It helps provide suitable conditions for many types of ecosystems, as well as water for hydroelectric power plants and crop irrigation. For such reasons, some countries opt for cloud seeding due to lack of rain.

Let us compare rainfall to artificial rainfall, also known as cloud seeding. While rainfall nourishes lands and revives plants, cloud seeding is in fact harmful to the environment. It can lead to acidification of the oceans, ozone layer depletion, and an increase in the levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Moreover, cloud seeding is also a costly method while genuine rainfall is completely free of charge. Although cloud seeding is the work of humans, it relies on certain suitable atmospheric conditions to work. This means that only clouds that are capable of rain are the ones that would respond well to this effort. Here, one realizes that no matter how far science and technology gets, it can never be be a match with the Creator’s creativity.

On a second note, what does it take to induce artificial rain? Can someone without knowledge in environmental science and chemistry contribute to the cloud seeding process? Cloud seeding is a process to create artificial rain. Here, chemicals like silver iodide, potassium iodide, and dry ice are sent to the atmosphere using helicopters or planes. These particles attract the water vapor in the air, leading to the formation of cumulonimbus clouds and finally, rain. It generally takes half an hour to produce rainfall using this method. Modern-day cloud seeding was launched in the lab of noted surface scientist Irving Langmuir at General Electric in 1946. His colleagues Vincent Schaefer and Bernard Vonnegut discovered that silver iodide could transform supercooled water vapor into ice crystals at temperatures of –10 to –5 °C. Do you think it would have been possible for animals to create such a process? How about the atoms themselves? Would they be able to come together in a certain way to cause clouds to rain? Just as the invention of cloud seeding required a great deal of knowledge and experience, natural rainfall too must have a Creator behind it. Nature cannot randomly cause clouds to rain. Moreover, while rain nourishes living things on Earth, artificial rain can alter weather conditions in neighboring regions.

Is it possible that the two hydrogens and one oxygen atom knew that they would result in water if they came together? How could nature on its own cause water to evaporate and condense? In fact, the formation of rain depends on many factors at micro and macro levels. Perhaps, it depends on the entire universe at various degrees of interconnectivity. Thus, there must be a Creator with Infinite knowledge and wisdom to make this happen. There must be a Maker aware of how rain is essential to creatures on earth. In fact, He says:

Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe? - 21:30

Water in its various forms, whether rain or snow, is one of the many signs that point to the Maker’s infinite knowledge and flawless creation. It becomes like a great teacher giving moral lessons. As Rumi says, we shall "Be like the sun for grace and mercy. Be like the night to cover others' faults. Be like running water for generosity. Be like death for rage and anger. Be like the Earth for modesty.”

Our Creator blessed us with eyes to observe those beautiful raindrops on the windowpane, and ears to hear the mesmerizing pitter-patter rain song. He blessed us with skin to feel those droplets, and reflect on them. Isn't it amazing how He made this droplet a reason for plants to grow and for humans to live? Shouldn’t we be grateful to the Maker for these many gifts? Should we not praise the Maker of such amazing gifts? How would you live if your land dried out one day? How would your plants grow if you had no source of water? Indeed, we should show the utmost appreciation for the valuable gift of rain through the use of good words and fine deeds. We should not despise rainy days only because they interrupt our plans. We should appreciate such a wonderful atmospheric phenomenon.