[Parisienne]

Zayd ibn Khalid reported: "The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) led the morning prayer for us at al-Hudaybiyah, following rainfall during the night. When the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) finished, he faced the people and asked: 'Do you know what your Lord has said?' They replied: 'Allah and His Messenger know best.' He said: 'This morning one of my servants became a believer in Me and one a disbeliever. As for him who said: ‘We have been given rain by virtue of Allah and His mercy,’ that one is a believer in Me, a disbeliever in the stars; and as for him who said: ‘We have been given rain by such-and-such a star,’ that one is a disbeliever in Me, a believer in the stars.’” [Bukhari]

The pre-Islamic Arabs believed that the movement of stars caused rain. We no longer believe that it is the movement of stars that causes rain, but that the water cycle is responsible. This hadith draws attention to the fact that whatever be the direct cause of such natural phenomena as rain, all natural laws and phenomena are under Allah’s control and that He is the Ultimate Disposer of all affairs. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) is the One who made the laws according to which ‘nature’ operates. Consequently, it is a disbeliever who will stop at the immediate natural cause of an event and deny Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) being behind the phenomena we see happening in the universe. In describing natural causes, we must acknowledge the fact that it is Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) who is in ultimate control of everything.