أَفَرَأَيتُمُ الماءَ الَّذي تَشرَبونَ

Have you considered the water that you drink?

EXPOSITION

The third argument discussed in these verses is about drinking water. It is God who directs the winds, sends the clouds, and makes them shower rain as one of His blessings and as a sign of His infinite power and mercy (7:57, 15:22, 24:43, 25:48, 27:63, 30:46-50, 35:9, 78:14). We take this whole system – the processes of evaporation of seawater, creation and condensation of clouds, their movements, and their precipitation – for granted since they occur so naturally and frequently. However, this is an amazing process, a clear sign, and a great bounty of God, upon which one should ponder and for which one should be grateful, for water is the source of life (21:30). The all-mighty God can easily make our potable water bitter or salty like seawater, which would make it very difficult or impossible for us to survive. In that case, water, which is supposed to quench one’s thirst, would only intensify the drinker’s thirst. This is a sign of God’s power and dominance, and at the same time it is a sign of His infinite mercy that He does not do so.