- The Constituents of the Divine Assignment
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- The first constituent
Some tangible Signs to ponder over:
There are great Divine Signs in the life of each one of us which denote Allah's Greatness. One of these Signs and the closes to us is our body. Every one of us has 300.000 hairs, and each hair has a vein, an artery, a nerve, a muscle, sebaceous glands and a pigment.
In the retina there are 10 layers, and it has 140 million rods and cones as photoreceptors. There is a nerve that connects the eye with the brain, and it consists of 500.000 nerve fibers.
The ear, has 30.000 auditory cells to transfer even the slightest sounds to the brain. When the brain receives a sound from both the right and left ears it makes it easier to locate the direction, but how? The brain uses the time difference between the sound which comes from the right ear and the one which comes from the left ear and which is down to one fraction out of 600 fractions of one second in order to determine the direction from which the sound comes.
9.000 taste buds cover the surface of the tongue. Taste buds are collections of nerve-like cells that connect to nerves running into the brain to differentiate between the common tastes; sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. The tongue enables us to articulate a letter with the help of 17 muscles.
In the mouth we have mucous membrane that contains 500.000 cells. Half a million cells die every five minutes to be replaced by half a million new ones.
If we place the red blood cells in a row, the length would exceed six times that of the perimeter of the earth. Furthermore, in every cubic millimeter of blood there are 5 million red blood cells, and each blood cell travels 1.500 rounds in the body, and it crosses 1.550 kilometers.
The heart pumps throughout an average human's life what fills the biggest skyscraper in the world, and it beats 60 to 80 beats per minute, the heart beats a 100.000 times during a day; it pumps 80 cubic meters of blood every day, and while you may consume one cubic meter of fuel in a whole year, your heart pumps 80 cubic meters of blood every day which makes it pumps 56 million gallons through the lifetime, given one gallon equals 5 liters.
Man uses 120 million cells every second. In the human brain there are 14 billion neurons in the cerebral cortex, and there are 140 billion cells of the cerebral grey matter whose function has not been discovered yet. Although the brain is the most complicated part in the human body, it is unable to know all its functions.
In the lungs we have 700 million alveoli, which look like the grape cluster, and if the alveolus were stretched, they would occupy 200 square meters; the lungs breathe 25.000 times per day, and they inhale 180 cubic meter of oxygen.
In the liver there are 300 billion cells which have the ability to regenerate completely every 4 months. The functions of the liver are so many, and they are crucial and amazing. In fact, man cannot live without a liver more than 3 hours.
In the wall of the stomach there are a billion cells, and they secrete several liters of hydrochloric acid per day. Scientists have been trying to answer the critical question, "Why does the stomach not digest itself? This indicates the miraculous nature of the stomach.
In each square centimeter in the intestines there are 3.600 villi. These villi regenerate every 48 hours which means that your intestines are regenerated completely every 48 hours.
In the kidneys, there are 2 million functioning units; each kidney contains around a million units called nephrons, each of which is a filter of blood. These units are about 100 kilometers long, and the blood passes through the kidneys 5 times a day.
Under the skin there are 15 million sweat glands which function as temperature regulators; in hot weather the sweat glands secrete sweat from the body to regulate the body temperature, and when you sweat the moisture in your body evaporates and provides cooling effects for the body.
Our body is the closest Divine Sign to us, and the aforementioned facts were proven and known by physicians tens of years ago, and they are non-negotiable facts. Allah says:
﴾And also in your ownselves. Will you not then see?﴿
The eye is one of the Divine Signs:
Allah the Almighty says:
﴾And Allah has brought you out from the wombs of your msh3er while you know nothing. And He gave you hearing, sight, and hearts that you might give thanks (to Allah).﴿
Allah also says:
﴾Then He fashioned him in due proportion, and breathed into him the soul (created by Allah for that person), and He gave you hearing (ears), sight (eyes) and hearts. Little is the thanks you give!﴿
In another Ayah, Allah says:
﴾Say it is He Who has created you, and endowed you with hearing (ears), seeing (eyes), and hearts. Little thanks you give.﴿
Allah says:
﴾Have We not made for him a pair of eyes?﴿
Eyes help us see the three dimensions of things
Have you given any thought to how you see with your relatively small eye the things in their real dimensions? The best camera gives you a shot as small as your palm! How can you see the mountain as a mountain, the sea as a sea and the sun as the sun? How can your eye see things in their real sizes? This answer could not be answered by any scientist. One more thing, every color has 800.000 shades, so if we take the green color as an example, the human sound eye is able to differentiate between these shades. Allah says:
﴾Have We not made for him a pair of eyes?﴿
Think about the answer to this question, how can the human eye see the third dimension? The third dimension is the depth of things, so the human eye can see the length, the width and the depth of things. If Allah gave us only one eye, we would see things flat, and not in 3 dimensions. Hence, we can estimate the distances in front of us by using the two eyes, whereas the distances on the side of the eye can be estimated by using that eye alone.
How can the image moves to the brain after it is received by the retina in less than one fifteenth of a second? In fact, 50 images are received by the eye every second, and they are transferred to the brain which decodes them, and this process happens without developing any film (which is the case with cameras). Also, the sound human eye can distinguish two lines which are 20 millimeters apart. There are other things about the eye but the time of this lecture is not enough to mention them all. The retina is about 1 mm and a quarter, and it has 130 million rods for black and white and 7 million cones for colors and the details of images. Allah says:
﴾Have We not made for him a pair of eyes?* And a tongue and a pair of lips?﴿
The human eye has cornea which is an extremely transparent layer, and it is transparent, because it has special properties. The peculiarity of the eye is that the cells of the cornea are fed by lymph (a transparent fluid), not by the capillaries. If the cells were fed by the capillaries, we would see through a net, but Allah has made this layer in the eye purely transparent in order to have a clear vision, and it is nourished through osmosis according to which the outer cells take their nutrition and the nutrition of the neighboring cells. Thus, nourishing the cornea through osmosis keeps the vision sound, clear and transparent.
The colored iris in the eye contracts and expands automatically according to the light brightness, so if the brightness of the light is low, the iris expands, but if the light is bright, it contracts without even man's knowledge (or control). The proof is that when you come from a very bright place to a dark one, you will be unable to see anything until the iris expands automatically. The eye also has the lens which functions in a way that cannot be done by the most brilliant scientist on earth, for the eye automatically changes the curvature of the lens (the process is called "accommodation") in order to change the focus on near or far objects, let alone the aqueous humor which has a special pressure. Allah the Most High, Who has created the heavens and the earth with the truth, says:
The universe:
﴾We will show them Our Signs in the universe, and in their ownselves, until it becomes manifest to them that this (the Qur'an) is the truth.﴿
Al-Haqq (The truth) denotes stability, constancy, exaltedness and transcendence, whereas Al-Batil (falsehood), which is the opposite of Al-Batil denotes evanescence, vanishing, corruption and purposelessness. Allah says:
﴾We will show them Our Signs in the universe﴿
Where are these Signs in the universe? The number of the stars in the sky is proved to be more than the number of the rocks, pebbles and soil particles on earth. Astronomers in the past considered the number of the stars in thousands, but after the observatories have become more complicated and advanced, they have been able to count starts in billions so far. Our galaxy alone (the milky way) has 30 billion stars given its size is medium (comparing to other galaxies), and it is one amongst tens of thousands of millions galaxies whose number is known by Allah Alone. Allah the Almighty has spoken the truth when He says:
﴾Have they not looked at the heaven above them, how We have made it and adorned it, and there are no rifts in it?﴿
This is about the number of stars, but what about their sizes? The earth's volume is about 1 billion cubic kilometers. The sun is one million and 300.000 times larger than the earth, whereas the distance between the sun and the earth is 150 million kilometers. One of the stars of the scorpion constellation can consume the sun, the earth and the distance between the two. Another star called Betelgeuse (the brightest star in the constellation of Orion) is larger than our sun by 100 million times. Allah has spoken the truth when He says:
﴾With power did We construct the heaven. Verily, We are Able to extend the vastness of space thereof.﴿
This is about stars' sizes and numbers, but how about the distances between them? The distances between stars are measured by the light year, and the light travels 300.000 kilometers per second, so in one year the light travels 10.000 billion kilometers. The moon is far from us one light second, whereas the sun is far from us 8 light minutes. The diameter of the entire solar system is 13 light hours, whereas the closest blazing star to earth is 4 light years away.
To know how far the 4 light years are, let us say that we would like to travel this distance from the earth by a vehicle whose speed is like the one of a spaceship. In this case, the journey to the closest blazing star will take more than 100.000 years, but if we travel by a vehicle whose speed is like the one of a car, the journey will take 50 million years, and this is the meaning of having a star that is 4 light years away from us.
Andromeda galaxy is 2 million light years away from us, can you imagine the distance? A Newly discovered galaxy is 20.000 million light years far from us. Allah has spoken the truth when He says:
﴾So I swear by Mawaqi (setting or the mansions, etc.) of the stars (they traverse)* And verily, that is indeed a great oath, if you but know.﴿
We have not discussed the movement of stars, their astronomical speeds, their huge orbits, their bright lights, their power of gravity which connect them together or their stability, but actually, admitting our disability to comprehend all these things is a comprehension unto itself.
﴾They made not a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him. And on the Day of Resurrection the whole of the earth will be grasped by His Hand and the heavens will be rolled up in His Right Hand. Glorified is He, and High is He above all that they associate as partners with Him!﴿
Among the Signs which denote Allah's Greatness is the following Ayah:
﴾Verily, Allah is not ashamed to set forth a parable even of a mosquito or so much more when it is bigger (or less when it is smaller) than it. And as for those who believe, they know that it is the Truth from their Lord, but as for those who disbelieve, they say: "What did Allah intend by this parable?" By it He misleads many, and many He guides thereby. And He misleads thereby only those who are Al-Fasiqun (the rebellious, disobedient to Allah).﴿
You will not be guilty upon squashing a mosquito on your hand, because it is too trivial in your eye. Even the Prophet PBUH said that:
((Sahl bin Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "Were this world worth a wing of mosquito, He would not have given a drink of water to an infidel."))
After examining the mosquito by the electron microscope, scientists found that the mosquito has 100 eyes in its head, and they look like bee heave, and it has 3 hearts; a central one and one for each of its wings. Furthermore, it has a sophisticated device that aircrafts do not have! It has a thermal receiving device (with the sensitivity of 0.001 degrees centigrade), and with which it can recognize the subjects according to the heat produced by them, not by their shapes, mass or colors. Hence, if the mosquito is in a dark room, it spots only the sleeping person in it because the heat, which comes out of his body, is more than the heat that comes from the body of the awaken person by one part per thousand of one degree centigrade. Moreover, it has a blood testing system, because not all kinds of blood suit it, so if two children are sleeping on the same bed, one of them may have lots of bites by the mosquito on his forehead in the morning, whereas the other would have none.
The mosquito has a sedating ingredient to sedate the skin where it is about to insert its trunk, and when the sedative effect wears off, the sleeping person feels the sting, but at that moment the mosquito will be away from him, flying in the air. Also, it has blood liquefaction system that helps it liquefy the blood it sucks from man, so that it will be able to go through its narrow trunk. The trunk of the mosquito has 6 knives: 4 knives to make a square-shaped cut in the skin, and this cut must be deep enough to reach a vessel, while the other 2 knives join together to form a tube with which it sucks blood.
The flickering rate of the mosquito wings is very high in one second, for it reaches the level of buzzing. The mosquito has claws and lancets in its legs, and it uses the claws when it lands on rough surface, while it uses the lancets when it lands on smooth surface. Furthermore, the mosquito is able to smell man's sweat from a distance of 60 kilometers. Allah says:
﴾Verily, Allah is not ashamed to set forth a parable even of a mosquito or so much more when it is bigger (or less when it is smaller) than it. And as for those who believe, they know that it is the Truth from their Lord, but as for those who disbelieve, they say: "What did Allah intend by this parable?" By it He misleads many, and many He guides thereby. And He misleads thereby only those who are Al-Fasiqun (the rebellious, disobedient to Allah).﴿
Ibn Al-Qayim commented on the following Ayah when it was reauthord before him:
﴾ Verily, Allah is not ashamed to set forth a parable even of a mosquito or so much more when it is bigger (or less when it is smaller) than it. ﴿
Ibn Al Qayim said, "The disbelievers rejected mentioning trivial insects in the Quran, and they said, 'Allah is more Exalted than mentioning flies, spiders and the like of trivial insects in His Quran, so had this Quran been Allah's Words, He would not have mentioned these trivial creatures.' Allah responded to them by this Ayah."
﴾Verily, Allah is not ashamed to set forth a parable even of a mosquito or so much more when it is bigger (or less when it is smaller) than it.﴿
Ibn Al-Qayim went on saying, "Using the mosquito or other insects as examples, for the purpose of revealing Al-Haqq and shedding light on it and of refuting Al-Batil and defeating it, is the best thing at all, and whatever is good should not be ashamed of." The mosquito is as significant as the blue whale which weighs more than 150 tons. Its baby sucks more than 300 kilograms of milk in each nursing, so it nurses close to one ton of milk every day. If the whale wants to eat until it reaches fullness, it needs to eat 4 tons of fish; given this is a moderated meal for it. Hence, the creation of the mosquito is not less importance that the creation of the whale. The proof is in the following Ayah:
﴾You can see no fault in the creations of the Most Beneficent.﴿
Allah says:
﴾ Fir'aun (Pharaoh) said: "Who then, O Musa (Moses), is the Lord of you two?"* [Musa (Moses)] said: "Our Lord is He Who gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright."﴿
It is a complete creation starting with the viruses that cannot be seen but through electronic microscopes (and smaller creatures than the viruses) and ending with the galaxies which are billions light years away from us. This is Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, Who has created the system to be the same and to have the same accuracy whether in the atom or in the galaxy.
﴾ The Work of Allah, Who perfected all things﴿
