Introduction 13- Agriculture: When agricultural soil is irrigated, water penetrates the pores. The soil “expands” upwards, and the bottom “vibrates” by this movement, as well as by the motion of the roots and of earthworms. These phenomena occur on too small a scale to be noticeable by the naked eye. It was only through modern precise observations of the soils that such expansion and motion could be detected. The Qur’ân describes such phenomena in the verse: § … And you thou see the earth barren, but when We send down water (rain) on it, it is stirred (Arabic: ihtazzat = shaken, to life), and it swells and puts forth every lovely kind (of growth). [22/5] Agricultural soils vary widely in chemical and biological constituents, as well as in physical structure and properties, even from inch to inch. So does the agricultural productivity and crop quality. This fact is referred to in the verse: § And in the earth are neighboring tracts, and gardens of vines and green crops (fields), and date-palm, growing into two or three from a single stem root, or otherwise (one stem root for every palm), watered with the same water. Yet, some of them We make more excellent than others to eat.[13/4] The Qur’ân also refers to a modern scientific discovery, i.e. that the soils of high lands are generally more fertile and productive than low lands: § Is the likeness of a garden, on a height: Heavy rain falls on it and it doubles its yield of harvest. [2/265] |