Acid rain does not contradict verses that describe rain as pure water
29-5-2013 | IslamWeb
Question:
Assalaamalaykum One convert while reading Fiqh us sunnah the chapter dealing with pure water asked me the summary of his question "We send down purifying water from the sky" (al-Furqan 48). "And sent down water from the sky upon you, that thereby He might purify you..." these verses indicate that water is pure, and it purifies us but what about the case of ACID RAIN as it causes damage instead of purifying. how to answer him and reconcile these things.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
We do not know about the rain asked about here. If it really exists, then there is no contradiction between the noble verse and what the questioner has stated about it. That is because the verse does not say that nothing is sent down upon us except pure water so that one can say that there is impure water among it; rather, it says that pure water is sent down upon us. There is a difference between the two expressions. The first indicates restriction and the verse did not mean it, but the second does not indicate restriction.
When Allaah The Almighty told us that He sends down upon us pure water, this does not entail that He does not send down another kind of water. That is like when Allaah The Almighty told us (what means): {And sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you.} [Quran 2: 22], He The Exalted did not say that He brings forth fruits from all rains; rather, he may send down rain on a wasteland and thus it does not bring forth fruits and He may send down rain that destroys life and animals and be a punishment with which He punishes whomever He wills among His slaves. It was reported that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, used to say in the supplication of seeking rain: “O Allaah, give us rain that is mercy and do not give us rain that is punishment, calamity, destruction or flooding.” That is because rain may be a punishment.
Another example is that when Allaah The Almighty told that He sends the fertilizing winds, this does not mean that he does not send wind as a punishment; rather, He sent it as a punishment on whomever He willed from His slaves.
Moreover, if one says to a poor person that he will send him two dirhams for food. This does not entail that he will not send him in the future two dirhams for clothing for example. Thus, the contradiction only occurs due to the lack of proper understanding and contemplation.
Allaah Knows best.