EXTRAORDINARY DESIGN IN THE EYE
EXTRAORDINARY DESIGN IN THE EYE
When
you look around you out in open air and in a broad field,
you can
readily see all objects farthest and closest to you in all
their colors,
shape, and size. This view, which you have obtained without
making
any effort, is produced as a result of numerous complex
reactions
and interactions in your body. Now let us look at these
complicated
operations closer.
The human eye has a fully automatic mechanism that works
perfectly.
It is made up of the combination of 40 different basic parts
and all
these parts have critical functions in the process of
seeing. Any
defect or disability in even one of these parts would make
seeing
impossible.
The transparent layer in the front part of the eye is
cornea. Right
behind lies the iris. Giving the eye its color, the iris
adjusts its
size automatically according to the sharpness of light
thanks to the
muscles attached to it. For example, if we are in a dark
place, the
iris widens to take in as much light as possible. When light
increases,
it shrinks to decrease the amount of light coming into the
eye.
The automatic adjustment system in the iris works like this:
The moment
light comes to the eye, a nerve impulse travels to the brain
and gives
message about the existence and brightness of the light. The
brain
immediately sends back a signal and orders how much the
muscles around
the iris will contract.
Another eye mechanism working parallel to this structure is
the lens.
The duty of the lens is to focus the light coming to the eye
onto
the retina layer at the back of the eye. Thanks to the
movement of
the muscles around the lens, light rays coming to the eye
from different
angles and distances can always be focused on the retina.
All the systems we have mentioned are far smaller yet far
more superior
to the mechanical devices designed by the use of the latest
technology
in order to imitate the eye. Even the most advance
artificial imaging
system in the world remains extremely simple and primitive
compared
to the eye.
 |
The
human
eye has a fully automatic mechanism that works
perfectly. It
is made up of the combination of 40 different basic
parts and
all these parts have critical functions in the process
of seeing.
Any defect or disability in even one of these parts
would make
seeing impossible. |
When we think of the effort and knowledge
that has
been put into developing these artificial imaging systems,
we can
understand with what a superior creation the eye is made.
If we examine a single cell in the eye at the microscopic
level, the
superiority of this creation will be further revealed.
Let us suppose that we look at a crystal bowl full of fruit.
The light
rays coming from this bowl to our eye pass through the
cornea and
iris and are focused on the retina by the lens.
So, what happens in the retina so that the retinal cells can
perceive
light?
When light particles, also called, photons,
strike
the cells in the retina, they produce a cascading effect
like a row
of dominoes carefully arranged one after the other. The
first of these
dominoes in the retinal cells is a molecule called
11-cis-retinal.
When a photon of light interacts with it, this molecule
changes shape.
This forces a change in the shape of another protein,
rhodopsin, to
which it is tightly bound. Now, rhodopsin takes such a form
that it
can stick to another protein, called transducin, which was
already
present in the cell, but with which it could not interact
before due
to its shape's incompatibility. After this union, another
molecule
called GDP also joins in this group.
Now, two proteins-rhodopsin and transducin-and a chemical
molecule
called GDP have bound together.
However the process has just begun. The compound called GDP
now has
the proper form to bind to another protein called
phosphodiesterase,
which always exists in the cell. After this bonding, the
shape of
the molecule that is produced will trigger a mechanism that
will start
a series of chemical reactions in the cell.
This mechanism changes the ion concentration in the cell and
produces
electrical energy. This energy stimulates the nerves lying
right at
the back of the retinal cell. Consequently, the image that
came to
the eye as a photon of light sets on its journey in the form
of an
electrical signal. This signal contains visual information
about the
object outside.
 |
Say: “It is He Who
brought you into being and gave you hearing, sight and
hearts.What
little thanks you show!” (Qur’an, 67:23) |
In order for seeing to take place, the
electrical
signals produced in the retinal cell have to be transmitted
to the
center of vision in the brain. Nerve cells however are not
directly
connected to one another: there is a tiny gap between their
junction
points. How then does the electrical stimulus continue on
its way?
At this point, another set of complex operations takes
place. The
electrical energy is transformed into chemical energy
without any
loss of the information being carried and in this way the
information
is transmitted from one nerve to the next. The chemical
carriers located
at the junction points of nerve cells successfully convey
the information
contained in the stimulus coming from the eye from one nerve
to another.
When transferred to the next nerve, the stimulus is again
converted
into electrical signal and continues its way until it
reaches another
junction point.
Making its way to the center of vision in the brain in this
way, the
signal is compared to the information in the center of
memory and
the image is interpreted.
Finally, we see the bowl full of fruit, which we viewed
before, by
virtue of this perfect system made up of hundreds of small
details.
And all these amazing operations take
place in a
fraction of a second.
Moreover, since the act of seeing takes place continuously,
the system
repeats these steps over and over. For example, the
molecules playing
a part in the chain reaction in the eye are restored to
their original
state every time and the reaction starts all over again.
Of course at the same time many other equally complex
operations are
taking place in other parts of the body. We may
simultaneously hear
the sound of the image we are viewing, and depending on
circumstances
we may sense its odor and taste and feel its touch.
Meanwhile, millions
of other operations and reactions have to continue without
interruption
in our body if we are to go on living.
The primitive science of Darwin's day knew about none of
this. Despite
that however, even Darwin realized the extraordinary design
in the
eye and confessed his despair in a letter he wrote to Asa
Grey on
April 3rd 1860 in which he said:
Iremember well the time when the thought of the eye made me cold all over.1
The biochemical properties of the eye that
have
been discovered by modern science dealt a greater blow to
Darwinism
than Darwin could ever have imagined.
The complete process of seeing that we have summarized in
barest outline
here is even more complex in its details. However even this
summary
is enough to show what a glorious system has been created in
our body.
The reactions taking place in the eye are so complex and so
finely
tuned that it is quite unreasonable to think that these are a
product
of chance occurrences as the theory of evolution claims.
Michael Behe, a recognized professor of biochemistry, makes
this comment
on the chemistry of the eye and the theory of evolution in
his book
Darwin's Black Box:
Now that the black box of vision has been opened, it is longer enough for an evolutionary explanation of that power to consider only the anatomical structures of whole eyes, as Darwin did in the nineteenth century. Each of the anatomical steps and structures that Darwin thought were so simple actually involves staggeringly complicated biochemical processes that cannot be papered over with rhetoric.2
But as we have seen, the theory of
evolution is
unable to account for a single system in a single living
cell, much
less explain life as a whole.
Having utterly demolished the hypothesis that life is
'simple', science
demonstrated to humanity a very important fact.
Life is not the product of unplanned happenings. It is the
result
of a perfect creation.
The perfect creation of a superior Creator, Who brought life
into
being, Who is God, the Lord of all the Worlds.
It is He Who created both humans and all other living
beings. And
man is responsible to our Lord Who created him.
God reminds man of this truth in the Qur'an:
It is He Who has created hearing, sight and hearts for you. What little thanks you show! (Surat al-Muminun: 78)
They said, 'Glory be to You!' We have no knowledge except what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. (Surat al-Baqara: 32)
1 Norman Macbeth,
Darwin Retried: An Appeal to Reason, Harvard Common
Press, 1971,
p. 131.
2 Michael J. Behe, Darwin's Black Box, p. 22
