THE WONDROUS BEAUTY IN ANIMALS -5-
THE
WONDROUS BEAUTY IN ANIMALS -5-
A researcher once put a heat-sensing device in the roof of a den, with some very interesting results. When the temperature outside fell to as much as -30° C (-22° F), the air in the den never went below 2 or 3° C (36-37° F).
Of course, it’s impossible that a polar bear could plan such a den on its own, much less ensure that it maintained the proper temperature. It is Allah, with His limitless knowledge and eternal power, Who teaches polar bears to do these things. In the Qur’an, He tells us about His sovereignty over living creatures: Everyone in the heavens and Earth belongs to Him. All are submissive to Him. (Surat ar-Rum: 26)
Shortly after mother penguins lay their eggs, winter comes. The females leave their nests to the male penguins and go back to the sea in search of food. In order to keep her egg from freezing, the father penguin carries it on the tops of his feet. His thick feathers will protect the egg from the cold.
This is a very difficult period for male penguins, since they must remain in the exact same place and cannot forage for food. Tiny baby penguins are born in the spring.
They have not yet developed the layer of fat that will protect them from the cold, so they remain on the top of their fathers' feet. Their first food is the gruel that their fathers have stored in their craw. Although the father penguin has not eaten in three months, he performs a great act of self-sacrifice by not swallowing the food stored in his craw, but keeps it for his offspring. At exactly this time, the mother penguins return from the sea. They have not been idle for those three months, but have been hunting continually and bring back a store of food in their craws for their babies after they hatch. And as soon as they return and feed their young, they return to the sea again-this time, to hunt for the fathers who have been without nourishment for four months now.19 Why a penguin would remain without food for four months and endure the cold for four months for the sake of its young? Proponents of the theory of evolution cannot explain it. Who inspires all penguins to perform such great acts of self-sacrifice? Who makes the males shelter their young on their feet for four months? To these questions, there is only one answer: Allah has created penguins. He has taught them all to perform these extraordinary acts of self-sacrifice in order to perpetuate their species. The females of the musk ox, which lives in Alaska, northern Canada and Greenland, give birth to their young in May. Within one hour after its birth, baby musk oxen can stand up and follow their mothers around. When they encounter an enemy, musk oxen face the aggressor, form a circle and push the young inside it. Each adult musk ox weighs between 350 and 400 kilograms (772 and 882 pounds), and by standing shoulder to shoulder, they form a veritable shield between their babies and any enemy. Every individual making up the circle will attack the enemy and return again to the circle so that it is not broken and the young remain protected. Evolutionists, who claim that nature is rife with cruelty and aggression, cannot explain this self-sacrificial behavior of musk oxen. There is only one explanation for this self-sacrifice: Allah, the Lord of all, in His supreme power has inspired in every creature these acts of self-sacrifice and extraordinary ways of protecting its young.20
All mammal babies spend a period of time in their mother's womb, and when they come into the world, not all are fully developed. A newborn kangaroo is no bigger than a bean, and its legs have only just begun to develop. When first born, baby kangaroos are blind. For this reason, the mother kangaroo's furry pouch is a very important place of security for the babies. This pouch expands as the baby grows and there are special muscles at its entrance that prevents the babies from falling out. When the mother goes into the water, these muscles prevent it from entering the pouch.21
The kangaroo's milk is exactly what her baby needs. Over time, as the baby grows, the proportion of fat and other nutrients in the composition of the milk changes.
When the first baby is born and begins to nurse a second baby kangaroo is born immediately afterwards, and it too receives precisely the kind of milk that it can digest most easily. Then when her third baby is born, the mother begins producing three different kinds of milk, each with different nutrients! Each baby can easily locate the milk especially prepared for it; there is no confusion. Clearly this feeding system is the result of a special creation. No mother kangaroo could possibly organize this system consciousl.22 How is it that these three different kinds of milk are delivered through three different ducts? How can an animal unknowingly calculate the compositions of the milk needed by its three different-sized babies? Even if it could, how could it produce it in its own body? Certainly, no kangaroo can perform any of this on its own; she does not even realize that her body produces three different kinds of milk. This extraordinary production is due to the wonder in Allah's creation of the kangaroos: … No female becomes pregnant or gives birth except with His knowledge. And no living thing lives long or has its life cut short without that being in a Book. That is easy for Allah. (Surah Fatir: 11) When baby raccoons are six months old, they leave their tree nests with their mother in search of food. Following the instructions their mothers give them, gradually they become skilled at hunting. Inspired by Allah, mother raccoons always look after their babies and protect them. Like all other animals, raccoons are under Allah’s protection..
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19. David Attenborough, The
life of
Birds, pp. 290-291. |
THE WONDROUS BEAUTY IN ANIMALS -4-
THE
WONDROUS BEAUTY IN ANIMALS -4-
In the middle of winter when brown bears are hibernating, their cubs are born blind and naked, without fur. They are the size of a chipmunk and have only enough strength to climb to the teats where they can find their milk. The female's milk is rich in calories and fat, and during the winter the cubs grow quickly. When their mother awakens up in the spring, the cubs are strong enough to follow her out of the den.
The cubs are very active and once outside, quite vulnerable. For a year they stay with their mother, who protects them from every danger while they learn how to look after themselves. Because they are fed constantly for a certain length of time, they grow quickly. Always playing games, they try to climb on top of their mother and wrestle with each other. Like other animal parents, mother bears can be very ferocious towards intruders who may want to harm their cubs. For three years, the mother bear looks after and protects her cubs constantly.14
In the regions where seals live, spring temperatures seldom reach -5° C (23° F). But seals do not mind the cold, because their fur and stored body fat keeps them warm. Seals live in large herds, so how can a mother seal recognize her own cub in such a crowded environment? As do many other animals, she smells and fondles her baby after giving birth. Coming to recognize its scent, she never confuses it with other babies.
Baby seals are completely helpless and unable to protect themselves, but their mothers supply their every need. They are born covered with a layer of baby fat that insulates their tiny bodies and helps keep them always warm. The young of very few mammals grow as rapidly as baby seals do. Within three weeks, their weight increases three or four times! This is because seals' milk is twelve times fattier than cows' milk, with four times as much protein. This lets the babies grow very fast, and much of their mother's fatty milk is immediately transformed into a protective layer of fat in their bodies.15
Allah has created every creature in the best way, supplying its daily food and looking after all its needs: How many creatures do not carry their provision with them! Allah provides for them and He will for you. He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. (Surat al-’Ankabut: 60) Beneath the skin of polar bears, a layer of fat 11 centimeters (4.3 inches) thick serves as insulation. This lets them swim continuously for 100 kilometers (62 miles) in icy water at a speed of 10 kmph (6.2 mph). Polar bears are also equipped with a very acute sense of smell; able to smell carrion-a dead whale, for example-from as far as 32 kilometers (20 miles) away, and can sniff out seal dens covered with snow.16 Polar bear babies are usually born in the middle of winter, very small, furless and blind. They need a den to live in order to survive the subzero winter cold. But female polar bears make dens only when they are pregnant or have babies. Under banks of snow, they make their dens-round spaces about half a meter (1.6 feet) in diameter which they enter through a tunnel two meters long (6.5 feet).
Usually polar bears make more than one room in their dens, and typically place them at a level higher than the den's entrance. In this way, the warm air in the rooms, which naturally rises, is prevented from escaping through the entrance-because at the entrance to their dens, the bears always leave a channel open wide enough for air to pass through it.17 A mother polar bear constructs the roof of her shelter to be from 75 centimeters (2.5 feet) to 2 meters (6.6 feet) thick. Because of this special construction design, heat is retained.18 |
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14. Catherine D. Hughes, "Brown
Bears,"
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/kids/creature_feature/0010/brownbears2.html
15. David Attenborough, The Trials of Life, pp. 36-38; Fort Wayne
Children's Zoo,
ZAP, "Bringing Up Baby;"
http://www.kidszoo.com/pdfs/BrUpBaby.pdf
16. "Polar Bears," SeaWorld/Busch Gardens Animal Information Database,
http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/PolarBears/pbadaptations.html;
Stirling, 1988;
"Polar Bear,"
www.wonderclub.com/Wildlife/mammals/PolarBear.htm
17. Thor Larsen, "Polar Bear: Lonely Nomad of the North," National
Geographic,
April 1971, p. 574.
18. International Wildlife, November-December 94, p. 15.
THE WONDROUS BEAUTY IN ANIMALS -3-
THE
WONDROUS BEAUTY IN ANIMALS -3-
On the other hand, a male duck uses his brightly colored feathers to protect his females, diverting the attention of enemies while she is building the nest or sitting on it.
If trouble approaches the nest, the male immediately takes flight, making a lot of noise; doing everything he can to lead the enemy away from the nest. These acts of self-sacrifice, vitally important for baby ducklings’ survival, sometimes end with the death of a parent and provide yet another example of Allah’s creative artistry.
One of the most noticeable characteristics of elephants is their attachment to one another. Acts of self-sacrifice and assistance occur not only among families but throughout the entire herd. For example, when hunters shoot at members of the herd, the other elephants do not flee but hurry toward those in danger.
The young elephants are the reason behind this tightly knit cohesion of the whole group.11 A newborn elephant receives great love and tenderness from adults in the herd. If a mother elephant dies, another lactating elephant will continue to suckle it.12
For the first six months, a mother will follow her baby elephant wherever it goes. Each makes sounds that keep them continually in touch with each other. If the baby makes the indication that it's in any danger, all members of the herd come together to investigate the situation-a tactic that is quite good at dissuading enemies.13
This raises some questions: Why is it that all elephants act in concert on behalf of their young? How can they determine their needs? How do elephants and other animals understand one another since before they are born?
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 And horses, mules and donkeys both to ride and for adornment. And He creates other things you do not know. (Surat an-Nahl: 8) |
 All That inhabits the night and the day belongs to Him. He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. (Surat al-An’am: 13) |
 Do you not know that Allah is He to Whom the kingdom of the heavens and the Earth belongs and that, besides Allah, you have no protector and no helper? (Surat al-Baqara: 107) |
 To mankind the love of worldly appetites is painted in glowing colors: women and children, and heaped-up mounds of gold and silver, and horses with fine markings, and livestock and fertile farmland. All that is merely the enjoyment of the life of this world. The best homecoming is in the Presence of Allah. (Surah Al ‘Imran: 14) |
 When swift horses, champing at the bit, were displayed before him in the afternoon, he said, “Truly do I love the love of good, with a view to the glory of my Lord…” (Surah Sad: 31-33) |
None of these creatures can manage these accomplishments through their own intelligence and willpower. The fact that elephants in every part of the world assist one another in these ways is an indication that a single Creator created them all; and that Creator is Allah with His limitless power. The amazing acts of self-sacrifice among animals form one of the wonders of His creation. In the Qur’an, Allah says:
The kingdom of the heavens and Earth belongs to Allah. Allah has power over all things. (Surah Al ‘Imran: 189)
A mother zebra will risk her life to save her baby. If an enemy attacks, she uses her body as a shield between her foal and the attacker. Although she can run much faster, she runs much more slowly so that, if a predator animal catches up with them, she will fall victim and not her baby. As a result of one of these dangerous encounters, the mother zebra may expose herself to death and even lose her life to protect her baby-behavior that cannot be explained by the imaginary theory of evolution.
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All animals in the natural world are engaged in a struggle. They hunt to survive and may attack when they have to defend themselves. Evolutionists take only these characteristics into account, disregarding the acts of self-sacrifice that animals employ to protect their young. In addition, behavioral patterns of cooperation, support and concern for the welfare of other creatures are frequently encountered in the animal world.
Because the theory of evolution regards the natural world as a battlefield, it can't explain the instances of self-sacrifice that occur there. The way animals live in the natural world clearly invalidates the basic claim of this theory. It cannot explain why a zebra that had run away to safety from its enemies returns at the risk of its own life and rescues other zebras surrounded by those enemies.
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The self-sacrificial and cooperative behavior exhibited by animals is clear proof of the fact that the theory of evolution is untenable. Allah is the Supreme Creator Who has made the universe and every creature acts by His inspiration:
Allah created every animal from water. Some of them go on their bellies, some of them on two legs, and some on four. Allah creates whatever He wills. Allah has power over all things. (Surat an-Nur: 45)
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It is unthinkable that acts of self-sacrifice by living creatures could result from millions of years of evolution. The intelligent behavior exhibited by animals is not a strategy they have developed over time, nor a solution produced by chance. We can't possibly expect intelligent, self-sacrificial behavior from a creature that is supposedly the product of natural selection, struggling to prolong its own lifespan in a savage world. The evident foresight and planning that animals display destroys Darwinism's basic assumption, that every creature is engaged in a self-centered battle for its own individual survival.
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Creation is the only way to explain all of these animals’ special characteristics. The instances of mutual support and intelligent strategy in every species clearly demonstrate Allah’s dominion over living creatures. All the abilities they possess, as well as their intelligent behavior, are taught to them by Allah, the Creator of all, Who teaches them and shows them how to use their abilities. In His endless compassion and mercy, He protects and looks after all His creatures.
11. Janine M. Benyus, The
Secret Language
and Remarkable Behavior of Animals, p.136
12. David Attenborough, Trials of Life, William Collins Sons & Co.
Ltd, London:
1990, p.50
13. Janine M. Benyus, The Secret Language and Remarkable Behavior of
Animals,
p. 155.
THE WONDROUS BEAUTY IN ANIMALS -2-
THE
WONDROUS BEAUTY IN ANIMALS -2-
In Surat an-Nahl in the Qur'an, God gives the example of the
honeybee
to demonstrate the extraordinary secrets in the behavior of
living creatures.
Not only honeybees, but all living things behave according to
God's inspiration.
It is He Who inspires acts of self-sacrifice in living creatures
and gives
them their wonderful abilities.Lions are among of the strongest
predators
in the African continent. They can be very savage towards their
enemies
and their prey, but very tender towards their own young. When
baby lions
are born, they are very small. They begin to eat meat at the age
of three
months, but the mother and other female lions in the pride
continue to
suckle them until they are six months old.
Lions, leopards and other big cats carry their young by the scruff of their neck, and while they are being carried, their babies stay completely still, allowing their mothers to carry them safely.
The care and tenderness that lions show for their young is only one of the proofs that invalidates the claims of evolutionists. They claim that in the natural world only the strong survive; the weak are eliminated and die off. The world of nature, they claim, is dominated by self-interest and a savage struggle for survival. Of course, creatures in their natural habitats hunt to provide themselves with food, and sometimes may even attack to defend themselves and ensure their security. But apart from this, the majority of animals in nature performs remarkable acts of self-sacrifice for their young, their families, and even for other members of their group, placing their own lives in danger.
Almighty Allah, the Creator of all things, teaches these
creatures to be tender and compassionate towards their young, to
protect other members of their herds or flocks, and to care for them.
When their young are in danger, mother animals behave differently than usual. Deer, for example, are usually timid and excitable creatures, but don't hesitate to use their sharp, cutting hooves against any fox or coyote that threatens their young. If they understand that they cannot repel an enemy threatening their fawns, they immediately throw themselves into the attacker's path, to divert the enemy away from their young.9
Why do these animals put their own lives in danger to protect their young? As stated earlier, proponents of evolutionary theory assert that the world of nature is a battlefield, where creatures are in a constant struggle with one another in which the strong dominate and the weak are killed or die off. But this claim is very erroneous: As is the case with deer, many creatures are willing to risk their lives to protect their young, which fact by itself shows clearly how unreasonable the claims of evolutionists are.
With His supreme power, Allah has created gazelles, antelopes, elephants, birds and every other living thing. He is Lord of everything on Earth and in heaven. For a few days after giving birth, a mother giraffe licks and sniffs at her baby. In this way, she both cleans it and learns its scent, which will later allow mother and baby to find each other in a large herd. If the young giraffe is in any kind of difficulty, it makes various vocalizations to attract the mother's attention. She immediately recognizes her baby's voice and runs to its assistance. A mother giraffe never lets her young leave her side. If they are attacked, she pushes the baby under her body and strikes out at the enemy, hard, with her two front legs.
Giraffes live in small herds and look after their young together, and adults take turns caring for the young. Because of this cooperative system of "babysitting," other mother giraffes can leave their babies and go kilometers away in search of food.10 All the beautiful creatures in the natural world show us the majesty of Allah. And we must always be mindful of His existence and thank Him for all the blessings He has given us. In the Qur’an, Allah has told us that we must be thankful to Him for everything: Allah brought you out of your mothers’ wombs knowing nothing at all, and gave you hearing, sight and hearts so that perhaps you would show thanks. (Surat an-Nahl: 78)
One factor that helps ducks swim so well is their webbed feet. When they push their feet out behind them, the webs spread out to give them more surface area to propel them. Baby ducklings have this ability from the moment of their birth. Allah, with His unlimited knowledge, has created ducks with everything they need to survive. The feathers of a female duck are less colorful than those of the male. This difference in color is an important advantage for the females, who must sit on her eggs in the nest; their lack of bright color makes them less visible to predators as they wait for their eggs to hatch. They blend with their environment, and because of this camouflage it is harder for their enemies to notice them.
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9. Russell
Freedman, How
Animals Defend Their Young, E. Dutton, New York: 1978, p. 57.
10. Janine M. Benyus, The Secret Language and Remarkable Behavior of
Animals,
p.201
THE WONDROUS BEAUTY IN ANIMALS -1-
THE
WONDROUS BEAUTY IN ANIMALS -1-
Newborn kittens are blind and defenseless. They weigh about 100 grams, and their mother cat gets very little sleep as she looks after her tiny babies. She keeps her kittens close beside her so that they are always kept warm and so that she can nurse them when they are hungry. Although their eyes are closed for the first week, her kittens have no trouble finding the nipples where they can get life-giving milk-their mother's milk-exactly what they need in order to live and grow. It is rich in nutrients and contains some special chemical ingredients that protect the kitten from getting sick.
 Is He Who creates like him who does not create? So will you not pay heed? (Surat an-Nahl: 17) |
Nine days later, their eyes open, but the kittens are able to fend for themselves only after eight weeks. Until then, their mothers look after them with great care and carry them to secure places to play and to rest.
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 Allah shows favor to mankind but most of them are not thankful. (Surat an-Naml: 73) |
 Allah is the Creator of everything and He is Guardian over everything. (Surat az-Zumar: 62) |
 The merciful ones will be given mercy by the All-Merciful. Be merciful to those who are on this Earth, and the One in heaven will have mercy on you. (Sahih Bukhari) |
The devotion of these unthinking and unreasoning creatures to their young should make every intelligent individual pause to consider. Their behavior can come only from the inspiration of Allah, the Ruler of all living things:
There is no creature on the Earth which is not dependent upon Allah for its provision. He knows where it lives and where it dies. They are all in a Clear Book. (Surah Hud: 6)
Self-Sacrifice in Nature Proves Darwinism to be False
The theory of evolution claims that the natural world is the scene of merciless competition, and the theory’s supporters try to inculcate this idea into the minds of others. Actually, the erroneous belief that nature is simply an arena of struggle has been a part of the theory since evolution was first proposed. The mechanism of “natural selection” promulgated by Darwin, the theory’s author, proposes that creatures strong enough to adapt to their natural environment are able to survive and reproduce, while those that are too weak die off. According to this idea of “natural selection,” nature is a savage battleground where creatures contend with one another in merciless struggles for survival, and where the weak is killed by the strong.
According to this idea, every creature must be strong enough to overcome others, if its species is to survive. In such an environment, there is no room for self-sacrifice, altruism, or cooperation because these could prove disadvantageous. Accordingly, every creature must be entirely selfish, concerned only for its own personal food, security, and well-being.
But, is the natural world really an environment where creatures engage in pitiless combat with one another, where cruelly selfish individuals strive to outdo everyone else and destroy them?
No! The observations made in this regard do not agree with evolution. Nature is not merely the place of competition that evolutionists claim. On the contrary, many species offer countless instances of intelligent cooperation: One animal may sacrifice its own well-being to the point of risking death; yet another may put itself in danger for the sake of the flock or herd, with no possible promise of reward. In his book entitled Evrim Kurami ve Bagnazlik (The Theory of Evolution and Bigotry) Dr. Cemal Yildirim, a professor and himself an evolutionist, explains why Darwin and other evolutionists of his time thought as they did:
Scientists of the nineteenth century were easily misled into adopting the thesis that nature is a battlefield, because more often than not, they were imprisoned in their studies or laboratories and generally didn't bother to acquaint themselves with nature directly. Not even a respectable scientist like Huxley could exempt himself from this error.1
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In his book, Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution, the evolutionist Peter Kropotkin writes about the support that animals give to one another, citing the error that Darwin and his followers fell into:
... the numberless followers of Darwin reduced the notion of struggle for existence to its narrowest limits. They came to conceive the animal world as a world of perpetual struggle among half-starved individuals, thirsting for one another's blood… In fact, if we take Huxley, who certainly is considered as one of the ablest exponents of the theory of evolution, were we not taught by him, in a paper on the "Struggle for Existence and its Bearing upon Man," that, "from the point of view of the moralist, the animal world is on about the same level as a gladiators' show. The creatures are fairly well treated, and set to, fight hereby the strongest, the swiftest, and the cunningest live to fight another day."… [I]t may be remarked at once that Huxley's view of nature had as little claim to be taken as a scientific deduction.2
True; there is a struggle and conflict in the natural world. But along with this fact, there is also self-sacrifice, enough to prove that the idea of natural selection, so basic to the theory of evolution, is totally groundless. Natural selection does not add any new features to any given species, nor can it change existing features to create an entirely new species. These facts stop evolutionists in their tracks; and their stalemate in this regard is discussed in the journal Bilim ve Teknik (Science and Technology):
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The question is, why do living beings help one another? According to Darwin’s theory, every animal is fighting for its own survival and the continuation of its species. Helping other creatures would decrease its own probability of surviving, and therefore, evolution should have eliminated this type of behavior, whereas we observe that animals can indeed behave selflessly.3
These facts about the natural world completely invalidate evolutionists' claim that nature is an arena of self-interested struggle, where the individual who best protects his own interests comes out on top. With regard to these characteristics of living creatures, John Maynard Smith poses a question to his fellow evolutionists:
Here one of the key questions has to do with altruism: How is it that natural selection can favor patterns of behavior that apparently do not favor the survival of the individual?4
John Maynard Smith is an evolutionist scientist and evolutionists cannot give an answer in the name of their theory to the question he has asked. (For examples of the extraordinary self-sacrifice and mutual assistance among creatures in the world of nature, see Harun Yahya's, Devotion Among Animals Revealing the Work of Allah , Global Publishing, Istanbul: 2004)
EVOLUTION CANNOT EXPLAIN INSTINCT
Another deception evolutionists resort to is pointing to the similarities between animal and human behavior. On this basis; they claim that human beings and animals are descended from a common ancestor and that similar behaviors have been passed down from that ancestor to subsequent generations. Some evolutionists, viewing aggressive behavior as a universally inherited impulse or instinct, maintain that we humans have not yet found a way to suppress it in our daily lives. This intentionally deceptive claim rests on no other foundation besides evolutionists' imagination. We must be careful to point out that actually, the impulse or instinct supposed to reside in both human beings and animals brings the theory of evolution to an impasse and is enough to demonstrate its invalidity.
 Your god is Allah alone, there is no god but Him. He encompasses all things in His knowledge. (Surah Ta Ha: 98) |
 Allah. There is no God but Him. Praise be to Him in this world and the Hereafter. Judgment belongs to Him…(Surat al-Qasas: 70) |
Evolutionist scientists use the word instinct to describe certain behavior patterns that animals are born with, but they leave unanswered the questions of how creatures came to possess this instinct, how the first instinctual behavior patterns came about, and by what mechanism they are passed on from one generation to another.
In his book, The Great Evolution Mystery, the evolutionist and geneticist Gordon Rattray Taylor admits that with regard to instinct, there is an impasse in the theory:
If in fact behaviour is heritable, what are the units of behaviour which are passed on-for presumably there are units? No one has suggested an answer.5
Unlike Taylor, many evolutionists cannot make this admission, remain silent on the question, and try to gloss over it, offering answers that make no real sense. Actually, Charles Darwin himself realized that animals' instinctive behavior posed a serious danger to his theory. In his book, The Origin of the Species, he actually admitted as much-several times. Here is one such:
So wonderful an instinct as that of the hive-bee making its cells will probably have occurred to many readers, as a difficulty sufficient to overthrow my whole theory.6
Darwinists commit another error by claiming that their supposed instinctual impulses have been passed down to us from preceding generations. From the scientific point of view, this "Lamarckian" way of thinking was proved to be false a century ago. So even evolutionist scientists themselves admit that instinctual impulses could not have evolved over generations! Gordon R. Taylor labels "pathetic" the claim that behavior patters are inherited by subsequent generations:
Biologists assume freely that such inheritance of specific behaviour patterns is possible, and indeed that it regularly occurs. Thus Dobzhansky roundly asserts: "All bodily structures and functions, without exception, are products of heredity realized in some sequence of environments. So are all forms of behaviour, without exception." This simply isn't true and it is lamentable that a man of Dobzhansky's standing should dogmatically assert it.7
Your Lord revealed to the bees: "Build dwellings in the mountains and the trees, and also in the structures which men erect. Then eat from every kind of fruit and travel the paths of your Lord, which have been made easy for you to follow." From inside them comes a drink of varying colors, containing healing for mankind. There is certainly a Sign in that for people who reflect. (Surat an-Nahl: 68-69)
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 Allah created the heavens and the Earth with truth. There is certainly a Sign in that for the believers. (Surat al-’Ankabut: 44) |
1. Cemal Yildirim, Evrim
Kurami ve Bagnazlik [The Theory of Evolution and Bigotry], p. 49.
2. Peter Kropotkin, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, 1902, Chapter
I.
3. Bilim ve Teknik [Science and Technology] - Turkish Scientific
Journal, no.190,
p. 4.
4. John Maynard Smith, "The Evolution of Behavior," Scientific
American,
December, 1978, volume 239, no.3, p. 176.
5. Gordon R. Taylor, The Great Evolution Mystery, Sphere Books,
London: 1984,
p. 221.
6. Charles Darwin, The Origin of
Species:
A Facsimile of the First Edition, Harvard University Press, 1964, p.
233.
7. Gordon Taylor, The Great Evolution Mystery, p. 221.
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Almost every newborn creature is weak and helpless, unaware of the dangers that surround it. It is very unlikely that it could survive and grow on its own. From the moment it is born it will always have adults nearby to feed it, protect it from danger and, if necessary, sacrifice their own lives for it.
Young animals can survive only if they are looked after by strong grown-ups. A gazelle abandoned at birth or bird’s eggs left uncared for have no possibility of survival. But young animals usually can survive because they have careful parents who do not neglect their responsibilities, even before their young are still in the egg or the womb. Many creatures go to a lot of trouble to protect their eggs, hiding them where they will not get broken, keeping them warm and when necessary, protecting them from too much heat. They will guard over their eggs for weeks and even carry them around in their mouths without harming them in any way.
This book documents the tenderness that creatures have for their young and the conscious acts of self-sacrifice performed throughout the animal world. You will read about the great care taken by animal parents to build comfortable nests for their young. You will learn how they clean their offspring, how hard they work to feed them, protect them from cold, and even how they place their own lives in danger when an enemy is nearby.
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But why do these creatures work so tirelessly on behalf of their young? Why don’t they leave them on their own, instead of dutifully attending to all their needs? Do they do so consciously? For example, is it reasonable to think that a bird can be consciously determined to risk its own death to protect its young? Of course not! An animal cannot possess such feelings of tenderness and compassion on its own. The plain fact is that Allah has inspired in these creatures a wondrous sense of tenderness and parental love. And one of creation’s greatest wonders is the self-sacrifice of parents for their babies.
Another wonder is how cute all young animals are, as some examples in the following pages will show. Babies of most species usually have big eyes and round faces; and an expression that we humans interpret as innocent, helpless, and bewildered. Also, their behavior makes them loveable and awakens in us the instinct to protect them.
These qualities in young animals are manifestations of Allah’s gentle artistry (gentle in this sense also includes the ideas of “lovable,” “friendly,” “tame” and “docile”). As with everything else in the universe, these animals are submissive to Allah, as He reveals to us in the following verse:
… when everything in the heavens and Earth,
willingly or
unwillingly, submits to Him and to Him you will be returned... (Surah
Al ‘Imran: 83)
Intelligent Design, in other words Creation In order to create, Allah has no need to design
It’s important that the word “design” be properly understood.
That Allah has created a flawless design does not mean that He first
made a plan and then followed it. Allah, the Lord of the Earth and the
heavens, needs no “designs” in order to create. Allah is exalted above
all such deficiencies. His planning and creation take place at the same
instant.
Whenever Allah wills a thing to come about, it is enough for
Him just to say, “Be!”
As we are told in the verses of the Qur’an:
His command when He desires a thing is just to say to it, “Be!” and it is. (Surah Ya Sin: 82)
[Allah is] the Originator of the heavens and Earth. When He decides on something, He just says to it, “Be!” and it is. (Surat al-Baqara: 117)
Conclusion
Conclusion
All living entities possess countless perfect details and miracles of creation. There are details in the structure of a micro-organism and an atom, the building block of all things. The sky has been created with extraordinary balances and organization. The universe, the human body, plants, the Sun, flowers, mountains, and the seas contain countless details and properties, all of which are full of His artistry. This is Allah’s art of detail.
However, we must never forget that Allah has no need of design or direct causes when He creates. There is no need for a living thing to have a complex visual system in order to see, for all of our personal information to be recorded in our DNA, for DNA to exist, for hydrogen and oxygen to collide to produce water, for plants to make photosynthesis, for an ant to have a neural network made up of 500,000 cells, for seeds to enable plants to emerge from beneath the ground and for those seeds to store information, or for living things in the depths of the ocean to produce light. Allah creates all of these without being dependent on direct causes, because He, the Creator of the heavens and Earth, is unfettered by such causes.
Whenever Allah wills something to exist, He merely tells it to Be. Whenever He wills something to come into being with all of its perfections, it is enough for Him to command it to do so:
Does He Who created the heavens and Earth not have the power to create the same again? Yes indeed! He is the Creator, the All-Knowing. His command when He wills a thing is just to say to it “Be!” and it is. (Surah Ya Sin, 81-82)
One of the wise aspects of Allah’s creation of details is that they cause us to think, to see and understand that He has created everything out of nothing and displays the proofs of His own existence. They are made for us to grasp the complexities in the building blocks that comprise us and to realize that we cannot understand the skills and abilities of even a bacterium, which are sometimes superior to our own … for us to see how much we are in need of Allah; to understand that we live on Earth by His will and permission, and that by His leave we will have an infinite life in the Hereafter; and to remind us that we will inevitably return to Him and be asked about what we saw and experienced in this world and about the proofs given to us. Allah created all of these various details for a variety of purposes. Of course, He could eliminate all of them and recreate them in even more perfect states in the Hereafter. Allah is great, Almighty, and Sublime. All things bow to Him. Everyone living today or who has ever lived, including you, the reader of these lines, will one day be raised to His Sight. Before that day comes, everyone must appreciate the proofs of His existence. Allah’s art of detail is displayed in a way designed to remind us of this fact:
Yes, everything in the heavens and Earth belongs to Allah. Yes, Allah’s promise is true, but most of them do not know it. He gives life and causes to die, and you will be returned to Him. (Surah Yunus, 55-56)
Glory be to You. We have no
knowledge except what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, the
All-Wise.
(Surat al-Baqarah, 32)
The Kidneys' Flawless Purification System
The Kidneys' Flawless Purification System
It is no
easy task to invent a machine just 10 cm (4 in) in size and then
establish a system to purify the blood, water, and other fluids inside
it. A whole factory would be needed to accomplish these tasks. Even if
one managed to do this in such a small space, the performance and
results would still be inadequate. One might manage to purify water or
other fluids, but doing so for blood, which is essential for human
beings, has not yet been achieved in such a small device.
However, all human beings are actually perfect examples of this special purification system, thanks to the kidneys, each one of which is about 10 cm (4 in) in size and weighs 100 grams (3.5 ounce). This small space harbors around 1 million micro-purifiers that constantly clean the blood, which carries everything that makes continued life possible, and regulate the density of the water that reaches all of your cells and tissues. The kidneys, which know how much fluid is in your tissues as well as its level of concentration, carry out the necessary adjustments by His will so that we can go on living without difficulty.
Everybody more or less knows what happens when the kidneys fail to function: the person is hooked up to a dialysis machine several times a week until a new kidney can be transplanted. When the machine can no longer fulfill its purpose, the person dies. This example puts into stark relief the importance and miraculous aspect of this extraordinary purification plant. How can any logical person suggest, even though no scientist has ever been able to replicate this perfect organ, that it emerged by chance?
This extraordinarily detailed and flawless system represents the artistry of Allah, Who created humanity with a flawless perfection. This organ alone is enough for a person to see His greatness and turn to faith:
He has given you everything for which you have asked Him. If you tried to number Allah’s blessings, you could never count them. Humanity is indeed wrongdoing, ungrateful. (Surah Ibrahim, 34)
The Superior Detail That Permits Life under the Ice
People seldom wonder why water is transparent, how sand can become transparent glass and play an important role in our lives, or how a giant ship can sail without sinking. So familiar to us are all these things that perhaps no one has ever wondered what would happen if sand did not turn into glass at a sufficiently high temperature. A little consideration of such things will show that they have all been equipped with similar and sometimes vital details.
One such detail is water. At sub-zero temperatures, water turns into ice. This is just one of many natural phenomenon in our lives, and yet this transformation violates the known laws of physics. The special details in water, created by Allah for a specific purpose, are one of the reasons why life on Earth exists.
All known substances contract as their temperatures fall. As liquids contract and lose volume, their densities increase and their cold parts become heavier. This is why matter’s solid state is always heavier than its liquid state. We can cite the liquid and solid states of steel as an example of this. Contrary to all other known liquids, however, water contracts until it reaches a specific temperature (+4°C), after which it begins to expand until it freezes. Thus, water’s solid state is lighter than its liquid state. As a result, according to normal physical laws, ice should sink instead of floating. This is why the lower parts of frozen seas and lakes are covered in water at 4 degrees, which makes it possible for life to survive. If ice did not float, then most of the water on Earth would freeze entirely, no life would be left in any body of water, and the planet’s ecological equilibrium would be irreparably damaged. In other words, life as we know it would come to an end.
This important detail, an amazing blessing for human beings, makes those who are aware of it more sensitive to the blessings created by Allah, the Creator of each physical law. However, He can create without physical causes, if He wills to do so, and is not bound by any law or rule. His sublime, detailed artistry prevails throughout all of creation:
Is He Who creates like him who does not create? So will you not pay heed? If you tried to number Allah’s blessings, you could never count them. Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surat al-Nahl, 17-18)
The Body’s Special Cleaning Unit
Cells are constantly nourished, multiply, and die in a miraculous manner, because each one has been created in such a way that it can copy, feed, and destroy itself. Dead cells need to be gathered and removed from the body. A series of proteins eliminate themselves when cells need to be eliminated. While the cell is useful to the body and fully functioning, these proteins are dormant. When it ages, however, or becomes sick, non-functioning, or malignant, these killer proteins are sent to kill it. The cell takes the right precautions at the right time, with the result that healthy cells remain alive while sick and elderly ones are constantly eliminated. The body always remains healthy, and dead cells are quickly replaced.
A very large number of elements have to combine in order for human beings to remain alive. Yet the individual remains unaware of these elements and the perfect system of regulation. Just when particular cells need to be manufactured and eliminated is decided with perfect timing and order, beyond human will and knowledge, because Allah, Who created them, supervises and controls them.
Each blessing bestowed upon humanity has a special purpose. When people realize that everything has been created with a direct cause and within a flawless system, and then bestowed upon them as a blessing, they will better comprehend His infinite Might and see the surrounding truth and beauty more clearly. The all-important truth is that Almighty Allah has created everything they possess and maintains these by His will. Allah’s mercy on humanity is very great:
Were it not for Allah’s favor to you and His mercy ... and that Allah is All-Gentle, Most Merciful. (Surat al-Nur, 20)
The Brain’s Impeccable Communication Network
Each glance, thought, or detection of a smell begins in our brain. The relevant nerves interpret the transmitted message via an electrical current. When we look at a glass, we recognize it as a glass only because the brain’s nerves interpret it as such. When we think about something, these nerves establish coordination with and pass electrical currents through each other. We imagine that the image of the glass forms in our brain; however, this image reaches the brain solely as an electrical signal. Moreover, the brain does not contain the slightest trace of this image. In other words, we perceive the outside world only through the processes taking place among these nerve cells. This being the case, the facts that 10 billion nerve cells have been carefully placed within the brain, are means by which everything related to us is controlled, and that they allow us to perceive a vivid world are great miracles. Such miracles are simple things for Almighty Allah, Who created humanity as well as the causes in question from nothing.
This system is a great secret that we are still striving to unravel. At a time when no scientist can claim to fully understand the brain and when the whole system points to a sublime creation, how can anyone seriously assert that blind chance is a creative force? With His mercy, Allah continually reminds us of His might and sublime creative artistry by means of the entities He creates. Believers who see and understand all of this will attain salvation in this world and in the Hereafter.
Everyone in the heavens and Earth requests His aid. Every day He is engaged in some affair. So which of your Lord’s blessings do you both then deny? (Surat al-Rahman, 29-30)
The Superior Detail in the White Shark’s Eyes
White sharks, which catch their prey by following it with their eyes, easily move around hot coral reefs. However, cold water causes them great trouble, for it usually retards chemical processes. But its eyes somehow manage to follow its fast-moving prey in cold ocean waters.
As we have seen many times before, Allah created an incomparable and amazing solution to this supposed problem: unlike the white shark itself, its eyes are not cold-blooded. As a result, the heat of its bodily muscles is transmitted directly to the eyes, thereby allowing it to catch fast-moving fish and even seals with great ease.
There are many thought-provoking details related to how a cold-blooded animal that cannot store heat in its body can transmit heat to its eyes. Such an incredible system shows once again that the works and power of Almighty Allah, Who created the animal’s habitat and its special equipment, prevail everywhere. This example of sublime creation is a great blessing for humanity, because all of the proofs in and around people enable them to see and comprehend His sublime existence. The presence in a white shark of such a complex and detailed system, of which the animal itself is unaware, reminds us of His existence.
Every proof of creation is a reason for people to draw closer to Allah and praise Him. The more they reflect upon these clear beauties and blessings, the more they will comprehend His Greatness. Any rational and conscious person can see the blessings that surround them; thus, they should constantly reflect on the fact that these are all reminders from Allah:
It is He Who is Allah in heaven and on Earth. He is the All-Wise, the All-Knowing. Blessed be Him to Whom belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and Earth and everything in between them. The knowledge of the Hour is with Him. You will be returned to Him. (Surat al-Zukhruf, 84-85)
The Flawless System in a Single Cell
Our bodies contain an estimated 30,000 different proteins. Amazingly, the functions of only 2% of them have been fully unraveled; the remaining 98% carry out very important but still unknown tasks. Just a single cell possesses more than 1 billion different kinds of proteins. At a rate of 1 per second, it would take 32 years to count, non-stop and without making any mistakes, all of the proteins contained in just one cell. If we add in such physical needs as sleeping and eating, we would certainly die before we could count all the cell’s proteins.
This complex creation is as it is solely because Allah wills it to be so. Everyone needs to know and see from these examples that Allah is powerful enough to create everything, and that no person has any real power over even a single cell. Every created entity and every flawless detail they possess, and even humanity itself, are great miracles.
People need to activate and then use their conscience to see and evaluate Allah’s blessings and understand the message they impart. However, sincere individuals can see and appreciate the sublimity in creation by looking at the countless details surrounding them:
It is He Who has created hearing, sight, and hearts for you. What little thanks you show! It is He Who dispersed you about Earth, and you will be gathered to Him. It is He Who gives life and causes to die, and His is the alternation of the night and day. So will you not use your intellect? (Surat al-Mu’minun, 78-80)
The Perfect Detail in Message-Transmitting Cells
The brain’s flawless system is, by itself, sufficient for us to realize His sublimity. As we stated above, it contains more than 100 billion nerve cells.1 In order for us to perceive, see, and feel our surroundings, communication has to be established among these 100 billion nerve cells. This is done by somehow making a total of 100 trillion connections.
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The brain’s 100 billion cells communicate via 100 trillion connections. By His will, these connections take place by means of various electron-bearing enzymes. |
The means by which this astonishing level of communication is established are exceedingly effective. A special fluid located between the nerve cells contains certain highly specialized chemical enzymes that make electron transport possible. When the electrical signal reaches a nerve ending, electrons are loaded onto these enzymes and then transmitted to other nerves by floating through the fluid between the nerves. The electrical current thus continues to flow by passing on to the next cell. This process takes place in microseconds and with no interruption in the electrical current.
If one of these enzymes fails to perform its function, the transmitted message cannot reach the brain. In other words, although you were looking at your hand, its image would fail to reach your brain.
Moreover, if the enzymes stopped functioning for any reason, the brain’s 100 billion nerve cells would also cease functioning. If these enzymes decided to distribute the massage randomly rather than taking it where it needs to go, the resulting chaos would overturn the entire sensory system and paralyze contact with the outside world.
According to the evolutionists’ logic, which regards everything as purely coincidental, such constant chaos should be unavoidable because conscious entities do not direct this special system. If, as they maintain, everything happens randomly, then countless consecutive chaotic events should occur during any random communication taking place in the cells. However, apart from the most exceptional circumstances, no such mental chaos ever arises and the whole system functions without error. These completely undermine the evolutionists’ logic. Enzymes are always on duty and do not make mistakes. Such a matchless task carried out by unconscious entities made up of proteins can only be inspired by Allah.
Every nerve in the brain and every enzyme, protein, and electron is the work of Allah. The example described here is just one of the countless details created by the One Who controls all entities at every moment and enfolds them with His mercy at all times:
It is Allah Who created the heavens with no support–you can see them–and cast firmly embedded mountains on Earth so that it would not move under you, and scattered about in it creatures of every kind. And We send down water from the sky and make every generous species grow in it. This is Allah’s creation. Show me, then, what those besides Him have created! The wrongdoers are clearly misguided. (Surah Luqman, 10-11)
Snowflakes: An Incomparable Miracle
The molecules and atoms that make up a substance assume their most regular forms when in a solid state. The shapes to which they give rise by bonding with each other are three-dimensional geometrical forms, the angles of which have specific rations in the successive prisms they produce. There is never any error, deviation, or alteration in this. If the atoms in a substance as small as 1 in 1 millionth of 3 cm (1.2 in) possess the perfect and flawless geometrical regularity in question, then that substance must be a crystal.
A snowflake is a crystal that begins forming around a minute dust particle that is just a few microns in size. This microscopic shape is hexagonal, and the crystal that forms grows by extending tiny arms from its corners. The crystal grows as the air chills and the environment changes, and capillary structures soon appear on the emerging structure. A snowflake’s atoms are attached to each other by loose bonds that cause crystals to bind to each other in different shapes. This difference is so great that it is difficult even to imagine the odds of two identical snowflakes falling to Earth.
Let’s consider the number of snowflakes that fall during just one year. We can barely estimate the number of snowflakes that fall during a single snow storm in just one area. Literally trillions of snowflakes falls every year, and all of them have different shapes. How is such an amazing miracle possible? Clearly, Allah creates every detail to display an extraordinary property. Who but Allah, the Creator of the universe, has the power to create such an immense diversity and then display His perfectly delicate artistry in microscopic details? Allah exhibits His might and the beauties He creates by displaying His artistic detail in all snowflakes, which fall as a blessing and source of beauty:
In the alternation of night and day, and in what Allah has created in the heavens and Earth, there are Signs for people who guard against evil. (Surah Yunus, 6)
There are countless proofs of Allah on display. In order to see these, people must turn to Him sincerely so that He may strengthen their sight, understanding, and appreciation. Otherwise, they will become blind and remain unaware of the beauty of the blessings bestowed. If this is the case, they will suffer disappointment in the Hereafter. Such a fate can be avoided only by turning to Allah, the true Lord of all exquisite blessings, with full sincerity of heart.
The Perfect Detail That Protects Ice-Dwelling Polar Bears
The Perfect Detail That Protects Ice-Dwelling Polar Bears
The human body
contains many extraordinary systems. How they work, function
uninterruptedly, take precautions in the face of difficulties,
and never make a mistake is beyond belief. However, all living things
on Earth, from giant whales to ants, from single-celled algae to
tigers, have equally amazing features. It is literally miraculous that
anyone witnessing this extraordinary state of affairs should still deny
His works:
Even if We sent down angels to them, and the dead spoke to them, and We gathered together everything in front of them right before their eyes, they would still not believe unless Allah willed. The truth is that most of them are ignorant. (Surat al-An‘am, 111)
Take the example of polar bears, who live in a cold ice-shrouded environment. By grasping the surface of the ice via a vacuum effect, thanks to the cavities between its toes, a polar bear can travel long distances on ice. This web-like structure between its toes also enables it to walk at a speed of 10 km per hour (6.2 mph) and travel 100 km (62 miles) without resting. The apparently white hairs in its special 5 cm (2 in) thick fur are actually transparent and, because of their fiber optic properties, prevent heat loss and transmit the Sun’s warmth to the black hairs beneath. Immediately under the fur is a 10 cm (4 in) thick layer of fat that provides further protection against the cold. When it swims, its hairs form a protective shield by adhering to one another and serving as a waterproof diving suit. Thanks to all of these features, a polar bear can maintain its 37-degree body temperature under water or on the ice.
Such highly detailed and flawless structures, all of which are of the greatest importance for continued life on Earth, reveal that they could not have come about by chance. Moreover, scientists cannot produce them. Allah flawlessly creates all things. In the case of the polar bear, He places this animal on the ice enables it to survive its harsh environment. This is a constant reminder of the greatness of Almighty Allah, Who creates the states and behavior of all things by His will:
And He has made everything in the heavens and on Earth subservient to you. It is all from Him. There are certainly Signs in that for people who reflect. (Surat al-Jathiyyah, 13)
The Superior Details in a Pair of Eyes
When you look at these lines, an electric current traveling at 500 km per hour (310.7 mph) begins moving from your eyes to your brain by any of its 600,000 nerves. When the current is transmitted, you begin reading the lines before you.
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The eye, which is connected to the brain by 600,000 nerves, receives and arranges 1.5 million signals simultaneously and sends them to the brain at 500 km per hour (310.7 mph). The eye is one of the most important manifestations of Allah’s sublime might and power. |
The eye is linked to the brain by 600,000 nerves, which simultaneously receive and arrange 1.5 million messages at the same time and send them to the brain at 500 km an hour (310,7 mph). When you look at a single point, you actually see hundreds of different details that the eye distinguishes from all of the massages reaching it and then analyzes and forwards to the brain. While this book you are holding is quite close to you, the scene you see in the background is, at the same time, comparatively far away. And yet you see both of them with the same clarity, for not a single point in your line of sight is overlooked or unclear. No matter how detailed the view you are looking at is, even the image of a small ant that happens to be in your line of sight reaches your brain.
No camera or television could provide such a high degree of clearness, and so all man-made technology is inferior to the human eye. If people are deprived of this blessing, they will be unable to see anything until this system is restored. And that can only happen by Allah ’s choosing.
This special blessing, created for human beings while they are still embryos, is a gift from Allah, Who is always needed and from Whom aid may be hoped for at all times:
Say: “It is He Who brought you into being and gave you hearing, sight, and hearts. What little thanks you show!’ (Surat al-Mulk, 23)
The Superior Detail in Taste Perception Cells
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The tongue’s taste cells, which are replaced in a matter of days, are each equipped with their predecessor cell’s knowledge. Thus, the taste of something we ate ten days ago is still familiar to us. Our Almighty Lord creates every cell and the information within it with His infinite might. |
We can remember the flavor of a food we enjoyed ten days ago. If we eat it again, we can perceive the same taste once again and experience the same enjoyment, because its taste is now familiar. However, the tongue’s taste cells are not the same as the ones that existed ten days ago. Every day our taste cells come into contact with acidic foods that are hotter or colder than the body’s temperature. Hot tea, an ice-cold fruit juice, thick coffee, or bitter grapefruit juice all damage these cells to some extent. But by His will, new cells mature in the taste buds to replace those that have completed their life’s work.
Even if people are unaware of them, these processes occur so quickly that the taste cells we use at dinner are not those we use at breakfast. And yet we do not imagine ourselves to be eating that food for the first time. We never confuse an apple’s flavor, because every new cell contains exactly the same knowledge as the old cell. In fact, all of our cells are constantly being renewed, and yet one’s nose never changes shape and one’s hair never changes color. New cells never install themselves in the wrong place, and thus everything always retains the same shape.
If the old taste cells were not renewed, we would be unable to taste anything. A delicious meal or a piece of wood would taste the same. We would forget what sweetness was and be unaware if a piece of food were poisonous or rotten, for only specially created taste cells can initiate this superior process and blessing. In fact, Almighty Allah, the Creator and Lord of all beings, has created these cells with a perfect memory and a sublime renewal system. This and thousands of other similar blessings are His gifts, for He is generous to His servants, forgives unrequitedly, and is all-compassionate:
Praise be to Allah, to Whom everything in the heavens and on Earth belongs. Praise be to Him in the Hereafter. He is the All-Wise, the All-Aware. (Surah Saba’, 1)
Water: One of His Greatest Blessings
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Water has been specially created to keep the human body alive. It reaches every point in the body, carries nutrients to all of its 100 trillion cells, and supplies them with oxygen and energy. Its viscosity level has been specially determined so that it can do all of these things. Water is yet another example of His sublime art of detail. |
Water makes up three-fourths of Earth and around 70% of the human body. It enters each cell and travels through every vein, carries food and gives oxygen and energy to all of our 100 trillion cells. Thus, it is an incomparable blessing for life.
If water were more fluid than it actually is, living things’ structures would be confronted by its destructive effect and soon collapse. In such a state, water could not support these delicate molecular structures, and so each cell’s delicate structure would collapse. If water were thicker than it actually is, the controlled actions of small organelles and such macromolecules as proteins and enzymes would cease and cell division would become impossible. All of a cell’s vital functions would freeze, and so the cells would begin to die one by one, making the organism’s death just a matter of time.
From the tiniest molecule to the whales in the oceans, everything on Earth needs water, and therefore water has been created with a specific level of viscosity specially designed to benefit all of them: Earth, living things, a living entity’s body, and even that particular body’s smallest molecule. Even with present-day technology, scientists cannot produce another fluid with the same properties and capable of reaching every cell.
Allah has made the glorious details that human beings lack the power to produce essential for all people and has bestowed them in abundance. Doing so reminds people who can think and reflect on His might, and dwelling on just one of these life-giving elements enables them to thank Him for His blessings and appreciate His greatness:
Allah sends down water from the sky and by it brings the dead ground back to life. There is certainly a Sign in that for people who hear. (Surat al-Nahl, 65)
The Human Brain’s Great Energy
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The brain uses enough energy to power a dim lamp. Every memory is the result of the 1,000-500,000 connections made by 100 billion cells at a speed of 400 km per hour (248.5 mph). |
The brain consists of approximately 80% water, 10% fat, 8% proteins, and small amounts of carbohydrates, salt, and other minerals. Each one of its nerves functions by receiving electrochemical signals. Neural networks store memories by weakening or strengthening their many connections, and the result is memory. Encountering unfamiliar situations or looking at a portrait for the first time, for example, causes the cells to make new arrangements among themselves. The relevant nerves immediately strengthen their connections and attempt to define the situation. The data recorded enable the process to be carried out faster when the same situation is repeated, for what was new before will now appear familiar. The brain stores processes repeated throughout one’s life as a general image. Every recorded moment comes about by means of the 1,000 to 500,000 connections that the brain’s 100 billion nerves establish at a speed of 400 km per hour (248.5 mph).
With this superb capacity, the brain uses enough energy to run a dim lamp. Although it constitutes only one-fiftieth of the body’s weight, it consumes one-fifth of the body’s entire oxygen and glucose supplies. So important is the brain that it receives the first blood emerging from the heart; if only a small amount of blood is left, it still seeks to keep the brain alive. The heart, blood vessels, and all other organs are literally aware of this fact.
The slightest brain damage can leave a person handicapped or even dead. In fact, this organ is so delicate that the failure of electrical signals to reach a single cell can cause the loss of one of the senses that enable us to perceive the outside world. No single point in it can come into being by chance, and its perfect organization and equipment cannot be altered in a random manner.
This perfection, a very great blessing, reflects the creative artistry of Allah, Who treats His servants well, the Beneficent Who creates to perfection, The Maker and He Who Reveals His Greatness in All:
It is He Who shows you His Signs and sends down provision to you out of heaven. But none pay heed save those who repent. (Surah Ghafir, 13)
The Atom’s Astonishing Detail
Each atom consists of protons and neutrons bonded together in the nucleus, around which electrons revolve rapidly. Since the neutron carries no electrical charge and the proton has a positive charge, the nucleus is positively charged. The electron, on the other hand, has a negative charge proportional to the proton’s positive charge. If the proton and the electron’s electrical charges were unequal, the proton’s greater electricity would cause all atoms to be positively charged and thus repel each other. As a result, everything on Earth, including human beings, the seas and mountains, and all the planets in the Solar System and all the heavenly bodies in the universe would suddenly break apart into countless minute particles and cease to exist.
Throughout their lives, human beings are unaware of the subatomic particles that attract each other, the electrons spinning rapidly around the nucleus, and their delicate internal balances and forces. Even its minutest components contains such breathtaking details that clearly only Allah, the Lord of absolute will and a force far greater than all known worldly forces, could have brought them into existence.
Despite living in such an exceedingly delicate and sensitive system, human beings never feel any difficulty or concern, because the system’s creation is flawless. And yet the majority of people are unaware of these blessings. If one of them were removed, they would see how helpless they actually are and would become aware of the great compassion that had formerly surrounded them. The important thing in this worldly life, which is no more than a test, is for people to be grateful as they enjoy His blessings and mercy and turn toward Him. One reason for our existence is to see who will appreciate these bestowed blessings and who will be heedless and ungrateful. Sincere believers need to know that only Almighty Allah can bestow these blessings; thus, they should be constantly grateful to Him for them.
Do the unbelievers not see that the heavens and Earth were sewn together and then We unstitched them, and that We made from water every living thing? So will they not believe? (Surat al-Anbiya’, 30)
A Mosquito’s Impressive Heat Receptors
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Giant dialysis machines can carry out the processes that are constantly being performed in the kidneys, just 10 cm (3.937 in) in size, only with great difficulty. |
A mosquito can detect the presence of any living thing due to its highly sensitive heat receptors that perceive the heat given off by a living entity in different colors, according to the heat the entity emits. Since this perception does not depend upon light, a mosquito easily finds blood vessels even if the entity is in a dark room. In fact, its heat detectors are so sensitive that they can determine temperature differences of just 0.05 degrees Celsius.1
Human beings have no such ability; Allah has bestowed it on this tiny creature—it is no larger than 1 cm (0.4 in)—so that it can find food and protect itself. Only Allah can create such a small and flawless heat-dependent mechanism in so tiny a creature and then bring it to life. Clearly, no one can claim that such a remarkable creature could have come into existence spontaneously as the result of chance.
Any thoughtful person knows that a random phenomenon will only damage and destroy a perfect complex system; it cannot bring any system into being. Only Almighty Allah, Lord of the worlds, Who creates the mosquito’s sublime heat perception system, shapes and forms all things, and controls everything at all moments can do this:
What is in the heavens and in the ground belongs to Allah. We have instructed those given the Book before you, and you yourselves, to fear [and respect] Allah. But if you do not believe, what is in the heavens and in the ground [stills] belongs to Allah. Allah is Rich Beyond Need, Praiseworthy. (Surat al-Nisa’, 131)
The Nutcracker’s Superior Memory
The
nutcracker has the most powerful avian memory so far identified. Native
to the large Rocky Mountains in North America and the Grand Canyon, it
lives on pine nuts that are edible for only a few weeks in September.
Therefore, it stores them for later consumption. The distance between
the pine trees and the storage site may sometimes be as much as 20 km
(12.4 miles). It buries the nuts by placing them in the hard soil in a
single movement; sometimes it leaves a stone on top as a marker. Over
the course of three hectic weeks, the nutcracker collects nuts
constantly. As it flies, it remembers the land’s contours, the trees it
has visited, and the rock faces, all of which it adds to its mental
map.
The nutcracker has to remember where it has buried 100,000 nuts along a portion of the Grand Canyon that measures hundreds of kilometers throughout this short but productive period. This is how it survives for the rest of the year. During winter, it has to remember the markers like a photograph, because the snow changes the landscape and renders the markers invisible. Nevertheless, it manages to locate 90% of the buried 100,000 pine nuts.1
It is impossible for a bird to know that the food it needs will not be available after a certain period of time and that it has to collect and hide enough to survive. How did it learn how much food to collect at which time, where to store it, and how to find all of the 100,000 pine nuts again under the snow? Yet it does all of these things flawlessly, for like all other living entities, it acts according to Allah’s inspiration. Only the supervision and assistance of its Creator and the One Who inspires it to do certain things enables it to find its stored food, which has become invisible, without difficulty.
This amazing creation of Allah, Who observes all created entities and showers unlimited, boundless, and unknowable mercy upon them at all times, is plain for all to see. The details exhibited in such a tiny bird once again reveals His Might and greatness in the finest manner possible.
How many creatures do not carry their provision with them? Allah provides for them, and He will for you. He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. (Surat al-‘Ankabut, 60)
The Skin: An Amazing Detail and Blessing
The skin is a flawless casing that gives us a regular appearance; conceals the extraordinary activity going on inside our bodies; and makes touch, one of our most important senses, possible. Countless receptor nerves, circulatory channels, ventilation systems, heat and moisture detectors, and other manifestations of His artistry operate within it. The skin itself is both strong and elastic, two characteristics that are practically mutually exclusive.
Skin covers an area of 2m2 (21.5 ft2) and weights 3 kgs (6.6 lbs). Its cells live for about one week, after which they die and are replaced. During a person’s life, 20 kgs (44 lbs) of skin cells are manufactured. Every square centimeter of skin contains sense cells that permit touch perceptions and assume various tasks, depending on their location. For example, when your hand comes into contact with boiling water, the receptors cause you to feel a sensation of heat and then one of pain. Some 30,000 receptors perceive heat; 3.5 million feel pain.
This perfect casing and special organ, which is unaffected by external factors and has enormous elasticity, can transmit messages from every square millimeter to the nerves and thence to the brain. In fact, it consists of a network of nerves and blood vessels that is constantly being renewed. Allah bestowed this miracle upon each person and endowed even its smallest part with sensation. So perfect is this miracle that modern technology cannot produce a similar structure.
This flawless casing protects us, enables us to touch other things, and gives us a pleasing appearance. A perfect blessing and flawless detail, Allah, in His boundless knowledge, created it and then bestowed it upon us:
It is Allah Who made Earth a stable home for you and the sky a dome, and formed you, giving you the best of forms, and provided you with good and wholesome things. That is Allah, your Lord. Blessed be Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. (Surah Ghafir, 64)
Protein: The Cell’s Most Basic Detail
Proteins, the building blocks of all cells, emerge as the result of sequences of amino acids. Many basic conditions need to be met for a protein to form, among them the following: The amino acids have to be attached by a peptide bond, be left-handed, and be combined in a special sequence. These three conditions cannot form as the result of chance. Scientists who realized this fact performed calculations and determined that the odds were 1 in 10190 against such a series of events happening by chance. Even if a period of time as long as the age of our planet were allowed for this to take place, it would still be impossible for this protein to form by chance. Bearing in mind that, mathematically speaking, a probability of 1 in 1050 is regarded as zero, the fact of the matter emerges very clearly, because the number 10190 represents the number 1050x1050x1050x1040=10190.
Proteins, the basis of your body and of all life, represent both the cells’ building material and highly complex machinery. Although a single protein cannot come into being by chance or spontaneously, this perfect structure still represents the basis of the cell. Thus, many proteins combine together and are constantly being reproduced—an important proof that fundamentally invalidates the theory of evolution.
By introducing this perfect raw material, Allah shows the sublime nature of His creation. By reflecting for just a few seconds on the existence of the countless proteins that comprise our body, we can see that He creates miracles at every moment. Thus, we should always be grateful to Him:
(It is) so that He may know that they have indeed transmitted the Messages of their Lord. He (Allah) encompasses what is in their hands and has counted the exact number of everything. (Surat al-Jinn, 28)
The Perfect System That Perceives Scent
The Perfect System That Perceives Scent
When you take a deep breath, you simultaneously perceive various smells, for example, from the coffee you are drinking, the food cooking in the kitchen, the flowers in the vase, and the smoke outside. And yet you perceive them all individually, because your nose can analyze each smell it detects in thirty seconds and thus can distinguish among 3,000 scents.
Messages arriving
from billions of scents are transmitted within a matter of minutes to
tens of thousands of cells. The speed involved here is extraordinary.
Several million pieces of data move from one cell to another in as
little as one-thousandth of a second, never making a mistake.
These processes allow you to identify a smell very quickly. In
addition, the identification and organization of the transmitted data
further increases scent sensitivity. The distinguishing and recognition
of smells further increases scent sensitivity in the nose.1
We can explain the extraordinary nature of the flawless transmission as follows: Let’s assume that a specific piece of data is carried along a million telephone lines and that the number of these lines is suddenly reduced to a thousand. In that event, it is very likely that no matter how advanced the technology being used is, a loss or error in the original data will take place. Yet scent cells carry out the same task without error for as long as we live. The fact that we come into contact with a large number of scents at the same time does not prevent us from telling them apart; no matter how numerous they may be, we can distinguish one from another quite easily.
The fact that each person has such an amazing system may never have seemed surprising to us. A person finds nothing odd in recognizing the scent of a rose or of coffee and may never have wondered about the different stages involved in recognizing a particular fruit’s smell. Yet the complex systems in the nose’s olfactory area, which exists only because Allah wills it to and controls its flawless operation, make this possible throughout one’s life:
… that is the Knower of the Unseen and the Visible, the Almighty, the Most Merciful, He Who has created all things in the best possible way. He commenced the creation of humanity from clay. (Surat al-Sajdah, 6-7)
The Superior Details in Bacteria
Life on Earth could not survive in the absence of bacteria. All of the wastes we throw into the ground, certain that they will be broken down and rot away, disappear because of bacteria. Thus, all of our waste products can be processed and recycled. Bacteria break down each part of a dead substance into small minerals that living things can use as food. They purify our water, make our soil fertile, synthesize vitamins in our intestines, convert what we consume into useful sugars and polysaccharides (a carbohydrate group), and combat the harmful bacteria we ingest with our food.
The nitrogen cycle, which is of vital importance to Earth, depends entirely upon bacteria to take nitrogen from the air and convert it into nucleotides and amino acids, our own building blocks. This literally amazing process cannot be carried out by any other living thing, including humanity. Bacteria effortlessly carry out a process that can be achieved only at a temperature of 500 degrees Celsius and at a pressure 300 times greater than normal by using industrial techniques in a matter of seconds.
More important, bacteria provide us with the oxygen we breathe. In fact, much of Earth’s breathable oxygen is supplied by micro-organisms through photosynthesis. Cyanobacteria, algae, and other micro-organisms that fill the oceans, release some 150 billion kilos (331 billion lbs.) of oxygen every year.1
Bacteria, just one of the countless reasons why life exists on this planet, completely discredit Darwin’s theory of evolution. Darwin imagined, mistakenly, and therefore based his entire theory on the assumption that these life forms were primitive. However, twenty-first century technology clearly reveals that these life forms are perfect entities with such complex features and abilities that they could never have come into being by chance or spontaneously. In fact, the theory of evolution cannot account for the supposed random emergence of bacteria.
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All of these things are manifestations of Allah’s artistry, for He created and brought together these awesome complexities, perfect structures, and flawless abilities. This example shows just how complex a single cell, described as the simplest form of life, can actually be and what superior characteristics it can actually possess. Allah reminds us that we live in need of a single-celled life form. Those who learn from this will strive to attain His mercy and Paradise and appreciate Him as is His due, for He created everything for a purpose:
The keys of the Unseen are in His possession. No one knows them but Him. He knows everything in the land and sea. No leaf falls without His knowing it. There is no seed in the darkness of the ground, and nothing moist or dry that is not in a Clear Book. (Surat al-An‘am, 59)
The Beauty in Earth and Sky
The universe’s dimensions and distances far surpass human understanding. Numbers that are very large in earthly terms are, in fact, minute when the universe as a whole is considered. For example, the universe is estimated to contain some 300 billion galaxies. Our own Milky Way galaxy, which is just one galaxy, contains about 250 billion stars. The diameter of the Sun, an average-sized star, is 103 times greater than Earth. Alpha Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun, is some 78,000 km (48,467 miles) distant from it.
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The universe contains an estimated 300 billion galaxies. The Sun, just one of 250 billion stars in the Milky Way, is just one of these galaxies. All of the giant planets and specks of dust in the boundless universe are under His control: |
Space and the billions of galaxies contained within it, the secrets of which are still a mystery, move in their determined courses and influence each other by means of enormous gravitational forces. With the giant scales involved in this magnificent universe, all of its contents act according to a destiny that has been determined for them. Each one’s movement, rotational speed, temperature, and distance has been determined in the Sight of Allah, Who creates a tiny creature, invisible to the naked eye, in the depths of the ground. The One Who appoints its destiny is also the One Who perfectly creates the giant stars and keeps them, as well as all that exists, constantly under His supervision. Allah demonstrates His might and greatness in both instances.
No matter what we may study on Earth and in the skies, we will always be confronted by His sublime and impeccable artistry. No entity can acquire any attribute by chance or maintain the existing order and balances by chance, for all of these are under the control of a sublime and boundless intelligence: Almighty Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
The Ant’s Glorious Nervous System
A tiny ant, which has around 500,000 nerve cells, is a great sign leading to faith. Even in such a creature as this, which has almost no other aim in life than to survive by gathering food, Allah has created a perfect structure, a superior communication system, and a miraculous neural network. Thanks to this extraordinary neural network, ants use various modes of communication to find their prey, follow each other, build their nests, and fight their enemies. Thanks to their superior abilities, they are able to survive in a perfect way without any need for assistance.
Yet the ant is
completely unaware of its 500,000 nerve cells. Neither scientists nor
random events can endow it with this comprehensive equipment so that it
can continue to live. The random mutations envisaged by Darwin cannot
produce a single cell in this magnificent system; chance cannot know
what a living thing needs to sense and from where, and thus cannot give
rise to a new bodily system. Given that the evolutionists’ proposed
evolutionary mechanisms can only harm the existing complex system in
question, unconscious chance cannot be the reason behind this special
system.
Ants have always had this comprehensive neural network, because they, like all other living things, are the work of our Lord, Who reveals His greatness in every detail, gives life to all things, and exhibits His Almighty artistry in the most perfect form even in a single form:
Blessed be He Who placed constellations in the sky and put a blazing lamp and shining Moon among them. It is He Who made night and day succeed each other for those who want to pay heed or to give thanks. (Surat al-Furqan, 61-62)
The Size of the Earth
When people stand up and begin walking, they feel no pressure in an upward or downward direction. Sitting, walking, and running are exceedingly mundane activities. Yet each time people engage in such activities, they are completely unaware that they are resisting a very powerful gravitational force.
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Human beings constantly exhibit resistance to the force of gravity. The reason for this delicate and accurate force is Earth’s size, which He willed to be specially determined so that life could survive on this planet. |
The most important reason for this is the size of Earth. If it were just slightly smaller, gravity would be far weaker, the planet’s atmosphere would fragment and disappear, and we would be unable to remain stable in the world. If the Earth were larger, gravity would increase considerably and various poisonous gases would make our atmosphere lethal. Even if we managed to protect ourselves from these gasses, we would be unable to move.
Yet such a problem never arises, because Earth’s size has been determined in a manner that makes human life possible. The conditions that combine are so delicate that there is no way even one of them could have come about by chance. Scientists have calculated the odds of such an event as 1 in 10123.1 Clearly, the accidental formation of an environment suited to life is impossible.
Were Allah willed so, He could make each star and planet suitable for life, arrange matters so that human beings had no need to eat or drink, breathe gasses in specific proportions, or gravity or the Sun. But Allah, Who created all that exists, willed to bring together all of the astonishingly detailed conditions necessary for life to remind people that He created and controls everything and to give us the opportunity to appreciate His infinite might and turn to Him:
He to Whom the kingdom of the heavens and Earth belongs. He does not have a son, and He has no partner in the Kingdom. He created everything and determined it most exactly. (Surat al-Furqan, 2)
The Perfect and Astonishing Details in the Human Eye
Even when you look at the pen in your hand for just a few seconds, hundreds of billions of processes take place in your eye. Light passes through its cornea and pupil and then the lens, where light-sensitive cells convert it into electrical signals to be transmitted to the nerve endings as impulses. The image reaching the retina is reversed and upside down, and yet the brain can interpret it and provide a normal image by collecting the separate images from both eyes, identifying all of the object’s features, and combining the images from both eyes into a single picture. It also determines the object’s nature, color, and distance. The eyes do all of this in as little as a tenth of a second.
The same processes
take place in the brain whether you look at a tiny dot or a large ship,
and the resulting image forms in a 1 mm (0.0393 in) point. You can
never be sure that the pen in your hand is close to you or that a
far-off ship is larger than a pencil, for the size of the place where
these images form is exactly the same. Yet there is a sense of distance
in everything you look at, for how else could you so easily stretch
out your hand to pick up a glass? Allah, Who created this flawless
organ, has equipped it with unimaginably fine detail and enabled the
brain see an object where it is and in full detail. The
extraordinarily complex human eye is just one of His sublime works.
No human technology can duplicate such feats. Constant research is being carried out to unravel how the eye can do such incredible things, and scientists are attempting to understand just how it shows us a brightly colored world. Of course, neither the eye, which is just a few centimeters in size, nor the millimeter-sized region in which the image forms have the power to form a colored world. It is the soul that sees all of the matter existing on the outside and that reinterprets this inside the brain. Allah, the Almighty, enables people to see, perceive, and sense by breathing His own spirit into them at birth and makes these things dependent upon extraordinary conditions. The image created, the astonishing eyes that perceive it, and the countless systems involved in all of this exist only because Allah so wills it.
The Brain’s Superior Nerve Cells
Everything that you do, think, say, or feel takes place inside the brain. Nerves belonging to the brain, known as neurons, make such communication possible.
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The human brain’s magnificent communication network contains 100 billion neurons. Damage to even its smallest part can lead to serious losses in our sensory systems. How could such a perfect structure have come about by chance? |
An average neuron is 10 microns in size, and a micron is equivalent to .001 millimeter. They are so small that 50 average-sized ones could fit into the period at the end of this sentence. The brain contains an average of 100 billion neurons. It would take us 3,171 years to count all of them; if we laid them out end to end, they would stretch for 1,000 kms (621.4 miles). The presence of such an extensive communication network in an organ that represents only 2% of a human being’s body weight is certainly a wondrous miracle.1
Even if we were to bring together all man-made communication networks in the world, we could never obtain such a systematic, complex, flawless, and rapid system. This system must function in an incredible state of activity to produce even the smallest movement that we wish to make. Each person was given this flawless communication system while in the womb. No technology in the world can compare with the sublime, complex co-ordination displayed in the human brain.
If even a small component of this perfect system is damaged or if a single neuron fails to function properly, the brain’s electrical transmission may be damaged, which leads to losses of feeling and sensation. In that event, any random event that occurs in this extraordinarily delicate system could do away with the majority, or even all, of its cerebral functions. Given this fact, how could such an incomparable communication network, the secrets of which have still to be unraveled, come into being by chance? This extraordinary structure belongs to Allah, Lord of Majesty and Greatness, Who creates all the living cells and makes them a means by which life is bestowed:
Say: “Travel throughout the land and see how He brought creation out of nothing. Then later Allah will bring about the next existence. Allah has power over all things.’ (Surat al-‘Ankabut, 20)
The Miraculous Atom: The Building Block of All Things
When a living thing dies, its atoms disperse and become components of something else, such as a tree, a bacterium, or a raindrop. These fundamental building blocks of absolutely everything are so minute that 500,000 of them laid one on top of the other could still be hidden behind a single hair. In other words, it is next to impossible to imagine just how small one atom is. The following comparison may be cited to allow us to understand this:
A millimeter is a line this long “- ”. Let us imagine that you have divided that line into 1000 equal parts. Each one of these parts is 1 micron long. This is the size of micro-organisms. A typical paramecium is 2 microns in size. In other words, it is really minuscule. If you wanted to see this organism inside a drop of water you would have to magnify the drop so that it was 12 m (39.4 ft) or so in diameter. Yet if you wanted to see the atoms in that same drop of water you would have to make it 24 km (14.91 miles) in diameter. To put it another way, atoms exist on an entirely different size dimension. In order to go down to the atomic level you would have to take each one of these 1-micron slivers and further subdivide them 10,000 times. The size of an atom is this: One 10 millionth of a millimeter. The following comparison will help us understand this better: The size of an atom compared to a line just 1 mm(0.0393 in) in length is equivalent to that of the thickness of a piece of paper compared to the height of the Empire State Building, one of the tallest buildings in the USA.1
By His will, everything that exists is made up of atoms of this incredible size. Even more amazingly, 99.9999% of each atom is actually empty. The only reason why atoms combine to form molecules is the presence of electrons, which take up only a minute space inside this mass that is 99.9999% empty. That is what lies behind the existence of the universe, suns, lions, rabbits, mountains, skyscrapers, planes, human beings, and everything else.
Is there any possibility that a scientist who investigates his own cells and his own atoms in the laboratory could produce a single atom? Of course not, for scientists are still very far away from discovering all of the details of subatomic particles. That being the case, the sublime might and creative artistry of Allah, Who creates galaxies billions of kilometers in size out of components just one 10 millionth of a millimeter in size, is clear for all thinking people to see.
Almighty Allah creates entities by telling them to Be! and bestows miraculous details upon them. Everything constituted by atoms, meaning all that exists, is a great proof of this wondrous creation:
It is He Who created the heavens and Earth with truth. The day He says ‘Be!’ it is. His speech is Truth. The Kingdom will be His on the Day the Trumpet is blown, the Knower of the Unseen and the Visible. He is the All-Wise, the All-Aware. (Surat al-An‘am, 73)
The Incredible Seed
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The grape seeds shown below give rise to the delicious grapes hanging down from the vines. Allah makes a tiny seed placed in the ground the direct cause of these fruits and creates delicious and sweet-smelling blessings. This is His art of detail. |
The way that plants, with all their different beauties, emerge out of the soil is a great miracle. It is astonishing how a plant turns toward the Sun and reaches upward, how its branches thicken, and how it possesses a system capable of carrying water and minerals upward against the force of gravity. There is something quite extraordinary in how fresh green leaves sprout from a plant’s dry branches, how flowers with stunning colors and matchless perfumes appear from among them, and how fruit specially created for humanity in terms of its taste, smell, and benefit then appears. There is sublime artistry in the way that a seed, just 1-2 cm (0.4-0.78 in) in diameter, causes all of these miracles that occur in each plant.
Allah hides every piece of information about a plant inside the tiny seed from which it grows: each branch and leaf and their shape and color, the thickness of their outer casing, the width and quantity of the ducts that carry food and water, the plant’s height, whether it will bear fruit or not, and that fruit’s taste, scent, shape, and color. Evolutionists, who invent implausible scenarios to explain such miracles away, cannot appreciate His sublime artistry and might and thus fail to understand that He wills such complexities to exist. They seek to ignore that they are unable to create even a single fruit, leaf, seed, or living cell. Only Almighty Allah, Who creates the world, exhibits His artistry within it, and constantly carries out this creation can do this. His knowledge and artistry are everywhere. Faced by the matchless works of the Sublime and Mighty Allah, evolutionists are constantly condemned to defeat:
Have you thought about what you cultivate? Is it you who make it germinate, or are We the Germinator? If We willed, We could have made it broken stubble. You would then be left devoid of crops, distraught. (Surat al-Waqi‘ah, 63-65)
The Striking Detail in Living Things Capable of Perceiving Electricity
Living things emit electricity as well as heat. It may be difficult for you to feel this electricity, because air is an insulator. A conductive environment and special equipment are necessary for this electricity to be felt. Water, a natural conductor, and certain life forms that live in water and use the electrical currents in their bodies are examples of this. A living thing that can detect electricity in water and acts according to that sensation has a very effective sense.
For example, sharks can
detect all vibrations in water, changes in water temperature and
salinity level, and minute changes in the electrical field set up by
moving organisms. In addition, their large number of gel-filled
cavities (Lorenzini ampules) are perfect electricity
detectors. Along with rough rays, they use these detectors to hunt
their prey and can perceive currents as small as one 20 billionth of a
volt, a truly glorious ability. Imagine the batteries in an average
house. Sharks would be able to detect the current emitted by just two
1.5 volt batteries beneath the sea from a distance of 3,000 km (1,864
miles) away.1
The fact that this animal has been equipped with such an exceptionally special system, one that is ideally suited to its environment and crucial to its survival, is only possible by the will of an Almighty Power Who creates it, knows its needs and habitat, and is Mighty enough to create all these. That infinite Power belongs to Allah , the Almighty and Omniscient:
(Hud said:) “I have put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord. There is no creature He does not hold by the forelock. My Lord is on a Straight Path.” (Surah Hud, 56)
The Pituitary Gland: Regulator of the Human Body
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The pea-sized pituitary gland, which weighs 0.5 grams (0.017 ounces), distributes to the body’s countless hormones their tasks and regulates each one without the slightest interruption. It is a blessing that Allah has created and charged this small organ with regulating the human body. |
The brain contains a pea-sized organ that weighs around 0.5 grams (0.017 ounce) and, amazingly enough, supervises and regulates the entire body. Known as the pituitary gland, this most complex, flawless, and vital administrator distributes jobs to countless hormones and monitors each one, all of which have their own appointed tasks, without interruption.
We move our heads and arms, see, hear, smile, speak, and touch all at the same time. We remember what people have said to us and analyze things. All of the sensations that reach us and our movements take place by means of hormones. The pituitary gland enables hundreds of processes to take place simultaneously, flawlessly, and without delay. There is no question of any hormone running late; being unable to transmit the messages that reach them; or, apart from exceptional cases of sickness, of hearing what a person who is talking to us only after several minutes have passed; or of not feeling the sensation of being burned before the burn appears on our hands. This is because the tiny pituitary gland, which consists of protein, water, and fat, flawlessly carries out all of its tasks because Allah, the Lord of the worlds, wills it to do so.
Anything that any entity does occurs only because of His will, for nothing is independent of His power and control. When Allah so wills, He manifests His Own might and greatness as He wills through a particular entity that He has created. Everything we see or do not see, but that we know about, is a separate manifestation of His infinite Greatness:
That is Allah, your Lord. There is no deity but Him, the Creator of everything. So worship Him. He is responsible for everything. Eyesight cannot perceive Him, but He perceives eyesight. He is the All-Penetrating, the All-Aware. “Clear insights have come to you from your Lord. Whoever sees clearly does so to his own benefit. Whoever is blind, it is to his own detriment. I am not here as your keeper.” (Surat al-An‘am, 102-04)