Integrating Qur'anic Texts with Malawian Folklore in Conceptualising Water Metaphors for Rethinking Science in the Humanities

The importance of religious literature and folklore in amplifying scientific thought
concerning water has been ignored and not adequately integrated with modern
science. This is even though from time immemorial, water has been, and still is, the
most common natural resource that the poor and affluent use daily. This study
explores how water and water-related metaphors are loaded with scientific thought in
Qur’anic texts and Malawian folklore. The study employs ecosemiotics and
geocriticism to explore water-related natural and scientific phenomena. The use of
eco semiotics and criticism to read religio-cultural literature is a quandary that this
study conveys since other studies have focused only on analyzing water-related texts
in the Bible and the Qur’an without integrating folklore. The study provides a
qualitative and descriptive analysis of water metaphors in selected Qur’anic texts and
Malawian proverbs to unearth scientific thought. The findings show that the selected
Qur’anic texts and the Malawian proverbs converge in depicting earth-centered
scientific thought. The findings also concretize the postulation that thinking in terms
of science is entrenched in humans insofar as they reflect on natural phenomena and
the laws of nature. Observational and experiential knowledge about the behavior of
water builds into verifiable scientific data. Humans are ineluctably integral to nature,
and using metaphors, parables, and proverbs involving water illustrates not only its
usefulness in sustaining life but also the knowledge generated from water.