Analyzing Qur’an verses in terms of water resources engineering

Water is one of the most fundamental substances needed by all living organisms, including humans. It is an exceptional molecule that creates and modifies biological processes, and it possesses unusual and unique properties, behaving differently from others. Today, many scientific disciplines are dedicated to studying the behavior and properties of water in different situations. Despite such intensive research activities, people still have very limited knowledge about the properties of water. Water resources engineering is an applied field that studies the movement, cycling, storage, quantity, and quality of water resources suitable for human and environment using an engineering approach within the framework of the basic principles of fluid mechanics, hydraulics, and hydrology. The quantity and quality of available water resources are very important both in terms of meeting the needs of living ecosystems and food security on earth, and in terms of social, economic, and sanitary development of civilizations. The main purpose of this study is to examine the relevant verses in the Holy Qur'an and the interpretations and explanations in the exegetical literature in terms of modern water resources engineering. Numerous verses in the Qur'an pertain to issues that fall under the scope of modern water resources engineering, such as the significance of water, its cycle and circulation on the earth, freshwater resources, their limits and measures, the connection between water, food and ecosystem security. It is quite interesting that water is discussed in the Qur'an in so many different aspects and that the meanings derived from the Qur'an by classical interpreters are in close harmony with the observations and findings gradually reached by scientists and engineers in the modern age. Main findings of this study show that the Qur'anic verses and exegesis support the conservation laws and the view that matter and energy are limited, which have a very important place in the engineering perspective, and it is highly compatible with the information about the systems and processes described by modern science within the scope of the hydrological cycle. In the Qur'anic interpretation, hydrologic issues such as rain as being the most basic source of water, the relationship between water-food security, the one-year water cycle, the heterogeneous distribution of resources, evaporation, cloud formation, the collection of water in basins, storage in the ground and atmosphere, placement in the surface and underground environments, flow, feeding the underground, seepage, etc. subjects have been covered, and especially the main commentators who lived in the classical period have made very rich interpretations and inferences on this subject. This study, which has expertise in water science and engineering, is expected to make an interdisciplinary contribution to the literature of Basic Islamic Sciences. It is also argued that today's scientific tafsīr studies should be viewed with a more self-confident and inclusive method by feeding on the rich Islamic literature instead of following the West, positivism, or reductionist perspective.