An Ecolinguistic Insight into ‘Dark Green’ Rainwater in the Glorious Qur’an

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to reveal the fact that the language of the Glorious Qur’an is ecofriendly. To fulfill this task, the researcher has chosen to trace the lexical items /ma:?/ and/or /ma:? mina-ssama:?/ (rainwater), (i.e. fresh water falling from the sky, or from Heaven), all its derivatives and synonyms, as well as words/phrases that indicate the falling of ‘rainwater’ in the Qur’an. The paper, first, gives a theoretical background on ecology, the ecology of language, the relation between ecology and linguistics, the eco-philosophy of ecolinguistics, as well as the relation between ecolinguistics and religion. This part also sheds light on the efforts of heavenly religions in protecting the environment, and the eco-system as whole. Second, the paper scrutinizes all Qur’anic verses in which the lexical item “green rainwater”, all its synonyms, and words/phrases that indicate ‘rainwater’, from an ecolinguistic perspective. The investigation, first, reveals that in all occurrences of the various synonyms/lexical combinations of the word ‘rain’ in Arabic, what descends from heaven or from the clouds is “fresh water” proper for all usages and beneficial not only to human beings but also to the whole eco-system. The significance of the scrutinized Qur’anic verses, is that they reveal and emphasize that all types of rain, i.e. light, heavy, excessive, abundant rain, and even dew, are ‘Green’. All types of rain are useful, helpful, beneficial, prosperous and provisional. This helps prove that Islam is basically a ‘green’ religion, and that the language of the Qur’an is eco-friendly.