سورة النور

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللهَ یُزْجِی سَحَابًا [Have you not seen that Allah drives the clouds]; the meaning is that He raises up the cloud from the earth. ثُمَّ یُؤَلِّفُ بَیْنَهُ [Then joins it together]; that is, when it becomes thick and dense, Allah sends an angel of wind to squeeze it so that the rainwater pours down from it — and this is the same phrase: فَتَرَی الْوَدْقَ یَخْرُجُ مِنْ خِلَالِهِ [Then you see the drops issuing from within it], which refers to the rain.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) — in a long discourse about the winds — said: "By means of the winds, the scattered clouds are brought together, and the dense clouds are dispersed, so that they may be spread out in the sky however their Manager wishes; then He makes them compact. At that moment you see the drops of rain coming out from within them (Rum/48), in a measure appointed for a determined livelihood, apportioned sustenance, and fixed terms."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Allah made the clouds a sieve for the rain, so that it melts the hail and turns it into water, so that if it strikes anything it does not harm it. The hail and thunderbolts you see [falling] are a punishment from Allah the Exalted, with which He afflicts whomever He wills of His servants.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): When the sky began to rain, Ali (peace be upon him) would go out under the rain until his head, beard and clothes became wet. They said to him: "O Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him)! Put a covering on your head." The Imam (peace be upon him) would reply: "This water has just come down from the Throne," then he would begin to speak and would say: "Beneath the Throne there is a sea of water by which the sustenance of the animals grows; and when Allah the Exalted wishes, out of His mercy, to provide something for them, He reveals to it, and whatever He wishes rains down, from one heaven to another until it reaches the lowest heaven — as I think — and He pours the rain into the cloud, which functions as a sieve. Then it is revealed to the wind: 'Grind it and dissolve it like water. Then take it to such-and-such a place and pour it upon them for a long time.' So the rain, in the way Allah has commanded, falls upon them drop by drop, and with every drop that falls there is an angel who places that drop in its proper spot. Not a single drop of rain descends from the sky except by a determined number and known weight, except the rain of the flood of Nuh (peace be upon him), in which abundant, torrential water poured down without its weight or number being determined."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Do not point at the rain or at the crescent moon, for Allah dislikes that.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Do not eat hail, for Allah has said: فَیُصِیبُ بِهِ مَنْ یَشاءُ [with which He afflicts whomever He wills].