Let us for a moment think of an aspirin; you will immediately recall the mark in the middle. This mark is designed to help those who take a half dose. Every product that we see around us, even if not as simple as the aspirin, is of a certain design, from the vehicles we use to go to work, to TV remote controls.
Design, in brief, means a harmonious assembling of various parts in an orderly form designed for a common goal. Going by this definition, one has no difficulty in guessing that a car is a design. This is because there is a certain goal, which is to transport people and cargo. In realization of this goal, various parts such as the engine, tires and body are planned and assembled in a factory.
However, what about living creatures? In every creature, there are examples of extremely well-conceived design. If we continue further on this quest, we discover that we ourselves are also a part of this design. Your hands that hold these pages are functional as no robot hands could ever be. Your eyes that read these lines are making vision possible with such focus that the best camera on earth simply cannot achieve.
Hence one arrives at this important conclusion; all creatures in nature, are of a design. This, in turn, shows the existence of a Holly Creator, Who designs all creatures at will, sustains the entire creation and holds absolute power and wisdom.
One can easily recognise how Allah "gives sustenance" to all living things once one looks around oneself conscientiously and with wisdom. All our food and drink are things that are "made" and "created". The water we drink, the bread, fruits and vegetables we eat are all the results of a special creation. Just as Allah sustains human beings, so does He sustain the animals. It is by no means difficult for one to understand the might and omnipotence of Allah if one conscientiously examines, within the boundaries of wisdom and logic, the systems with which animals are endowed to get their food. Each animal is one of the great examples Allah has spread out on the earth.
Unity, cooperation, self-sacrifice, devotion… These are regarded as exemplary qualities in all societies. Every human being would hope to live among individuals who possess these virtues. But these proper moral values can be observed in the world of animals.
Honeybees sting, even kill any animal that threatens their hive. But in stinging, they will have committed suicide. The barb of their sting breaks off in the adversary, taking with it part of the bee's lower abdomen and some of its internal organs. As we see here, the bee sacrifices its own life for the survival of the rest of the hive.
Male and female penguins protect their young even to the death. Both parents are totally devoted to their young. The male penguin shelters its baby between its legs for four months and during this period, it cannot feed. The female penguin goes in the sea, hunting for food for the baby and transports it back in its gullet.
The crocodile is one of the most ferocious animals, but the female crocodile shows astonishing devotion to her offspring. Once they hatch from their eggs, she carries them to the water in her jaws. From then on, she will keep them either in her mouth or on her body until they become self-sufficient. When the baby crocodiles encounter danger, they instantly seek refuge in their mother's mouth.
The crocodile is not just ferocious, but also an animal devoid of reason and logic. It would not be surprising, therefore, if she were to eat her young for food instead of protecting them.
Some animal mothers are forced to leave their own communities until their offspring are weaned, which exposes them to great dangers. Many species look after their young after they are born or hatched for many days or months and, in some cases, even years, providing them with food, shelter, warmth and protection from predators. Many species of birds feed their fledglings between four and 20 times an hour throughout the day. Mammal mothers have a different set of problems to deal with, for while suckling their babies, they need increased nourishment and therefore, need to hunt for more food. While her baby gains weight, she continues to lose it.
Animals without foresight or reason could be expected to desert their offspring at birth, because they could not be aware that those tiny creatures signify the survival of their species as a whole. Yet instead, they take all the responsibility of caring for their young entirely upon themselves.
We must not disregard one important point: None of these animals possesses the intelligence or awareness to make such decisions or to create such a protocol. How is it, then, that they can set a common goal to which they all adhere—and that their chosen aim can be the most effective of all?
No doubt it is God, the Lord of all the universe, Who created these creatures, inspires them to the most befitting behavior, and guards them at all times.
God reveals His protection over all His creation as follows:
There is no creature on the Earth which is not dependent upon God for its provision. He knows where it lives and where it dies. They are all in a Clear Book. (Surah Hud: 6),
It is not easy to survive in the hot, barren land of Middle East. But tiny Arab Birds manage to survive in these difficult conditions. Because they display amazing solidarity and cooperation among themselves. They do everything together. Even bathing. As they dry their feathers, they clean each other. All the food they find is later shared out equally. The defense of the flock is also shared out equally. Every bird takes its turn to stand guard in a tree top. When the time comes for the changing of the guard, the new sentry brings a quantity of food to the bird he is to replace, and then takes over.
Why should an animal stand guard over its friends? One would expect it to fly off and look for something to eat. But what it actually does is a great sacrifice. It stands guard like a soldier, seriously and determinedly, eating nothing. Who taught these creatures about altruism? Who tells them to endanger their own lives for the sake of their friends? There can be no question that it is the Almighty God, their Creator, who instilled these feelings of unity, cooperation and sacrifice into these tiny birds. Thus, a believers compassion towards animals is a reflection of his/her love of Allah. When a sincere Muslim examines such cooperation and solidarity in animals, he praises the creation of Allah. That is because God created living things. And it is God Who gives them feelings of affection, self-sacrifice and sharing that the theory of evolution can never account for.
