It is He who has created hearing, sight and hearts for you. What little thanks you show! (Surat al-Muminun, 78)
When listening to a musical piece or the sound that wind causes on tree leaves, a great miracle happens. The sound vibrations that spread through the air at that moment, reach the ear with a speed of 340 kilometers per hour. And the vibrations, which are only a physical movement up to that point, turn into “sound” as a result of incredibly complex processes. All of these events take place in less than one in one thousandth of a second. Therefore, we can be informed about the developments around us, communicate with other human beings and benefit from a blessing like listening to music.
We hear countless number of different sounds throughout our life. The singing of a bird, the sound of the waves coming ashore at the beach, a beautiful song, people’s conversations; all of these gain meaning for us as a result of a series of processes that take place in our ear.
The World of Sounds
The inner ear, which is the basis of our sense of hearing and the hearing center in the brain, which takes up an amount of space less than one cubic centimeter, (smaller than a cube of sugar) work together to bring the miracle of sound to us. Our inner ear works like a powerhouse that turns mechanical alerts into electrical alerts. Sound waves that are formed outside reach the middle ear through the earlobe and the external ear; and it in turn moves the eardrum and the ossicles. This movement ends with the movement of the endolymph.
The section in the inner ear responsible with hearing is the pea-sized structure called the “cochlea”. The cochlea is covered with a bony channel. The channels inside this helix-like structure is filled with liquid. When the movement of the bones reach the cochlea, this liquid moves and ruffles.
There are tiny hairs, called “cilia”, which are affected by the ruffling of this liquid inside the inner walls of the cochlea. Over one million tiny hairs arranged on top of thirty two thousand cells move with respect to the ruffling of this liquid.
Violinists That Continuously Tune Up Violin Cords: Cilia
The cilia inside the ear continue to vibrate even when there is no sound. This situation can be likened to violinists who continuously tune up violin strings in order to be ready when the conductor gives the sign. Before the concert begins, the cilia are arranged according to a certain vibration frequency. They wait for the notes in line with this frequency in order to vibrate and transmit information through a nerve thread.
Whether a guitar chord or a human voice, the ear transmits all sound signals to the brain. This situation proves that hearing is an wholly active system; also these vibrations are not random but controlled systems which ensure that we can sense music we like or the sound of a plane. These systems are the Works of the superior art of Creation of Almighty Allah:
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)
Tiny “Sound Amplifier” Cilia
Scientists discovered that every cilia is a sound amplifier (a tool used to increase sound signals). And this amplifier is not an ordinary amplifier as it amplifies low sounds more than it does strong sounds. Thanks to this nonlinear amplification, we can hear all sorts of sounds, ranging from 20 Hz to 20.000 Hz, meaning from the rustle of a leaf to the noise made by a plane engine.
Research has shown that even the slightest movement of the cilia, even for half the diameter of an atom, would be adequate to start the reaction in the cell. Thanks to this quality of the ear, man can clearly distinguish the person speaking next to him in a noisy environment, because cilia can synchronize with this sound and send a clear message to the brain, even if the sound is very weak. Specialists who have studied this subject give an interesting example to explain this sensitivity of the cilia If we imagine that cilia are as tall as the Eiffel tower the effect in the cell connected to it can begin with the top of the tower moving onlyr three centimeters.
The answer to the question how much the cilia move is also very interesting. This changes depending on the frequency of the sound. As the frequency increases, the waving of the cilia reaches incredible numbers. For instance, when we hear a sound at a frequency of 20,000 Hz,, the cilia wave for 20,000 times.
Scientists who were able to study cilia in an outside environment, could not hide their amazement when they saw that they reacted to even the tiniest sound. David Corey, who has studied the inner ear for more then twenty years at Rockefeller University, said the following about these qualities of the cilia:
“The mechanics of the cells with cilia are incredible. The movement of a bunch of cilia makes us hear in a magical way. These cells are so incredible that I am never tired of looking at them.” (Hudspeth, A. J., The ionic channels of a vertebrate hair cell. Hear Res 1986, 22: 21–27) While the cells in the inner ear produce electrical signals, they can also reflect the intensity and rhythms of the sound waves coming from the outside. This is such a complex process that science could not have found that the process of frequency decomposition takes place in the inner ear or the brain.
Almighty Allah’s Glorious Creation: Everyone Likes a Different Type of Music
The existence of scilias reveal the extraordinary features of hearing with the help of vibrations. However, research made has shown that when there are two noises made, the ear hears the lower voices. This is due to the nonlinear process of the cilia; that they sense lower voices stronger than thick voices. In other words, the cilia can sense the voices in between two notes which scientists call “additional frequency”, but as the message is very complicated, the brain cannot distinguish between the two notes.
Because the brain finds it difficult to sense the messages, whether we are disturbed with a noise or not, or whether we like a voice or not, depends completely on the tiny cilia that sense the vibrations caused by vocal inconsistencies and transmits them to the brain. If these cilia did not vibrate and send the additional frequencies to the brain continuously, then it would not be possible to talk about musical pleasure. Allah is the One Who creates our ear to be capable of hearing and creates the music we like. Allah created the human soul in a way that it would admire beauty, and this is one of the situations which evolutionists cannot explain.
In What Conditions Are the Silias Harmed?
Thousands of silias inside the inner ear are very fragile and sensitive. When it is subject to a sound over 85 dB (like in places of entertainment with loud music, or listening to a Walkman), it is harmed and even the nerve tips are damaged. Today, hearing loss is very common among young people under the age of 18. Specialists recommend that people should not listen to loud music too much and when needed, an earplug should be used. If the resonance after listening to loud music continues, one needs to see a doctor as soon as possible. With a treatment performed before 24 hours have passed, the damage to the cilia can be cured; otherwise there could be permanent damages.
Cilia Refute Evolution
Research conducted proves that these tiny cilia in our ear are very sensitive towards sounds. According to evolutionists, for the ear to come to this point, it needs to go through a process of change over millions of years. However, our ear has to exist in a single moment with all of its mechanisms, otherwise, it is not possible to carry out its functions.
Even the tiny cilia inside the inner ear proves the existence of a flawless system that works through scores of complex mechanisms, and yet all working in complete harmony. Modern science and technology can not yet solve the working principles of this system in complete detail. However, the details of the physical mechanism, which has existed since the first day that we were created, have just been discovered by the world of science. Of course, it is impossible for such a complex structure to have come into existence through random coincidences as claimed by the theory of evolution.
The superior structures in the ear once more proves the Existence of Almighty Allah and His infinite power. This truth is revealed in one verse of the Qur'an as such:
“They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah, and also the Messiah, son of Maryam. Yet they were commanded to worship only one God. There is no god but Him! Glory be to Him above anything they associate with Him!” (Surah Yunus, 31)
The sound of music we listen to is composed of the movement of the cilia in our cochleas moving differently according to each note; the formation of different iodine balances in the cells connected to these cilia as a result of these movements and the production of electrical signals by this chemical processes. The cells do this throughout our life, without getting tired for a single second, without getting damaged or deformed.
How Do Cilia Attack Materialism and Darwinism?
The cilia inside our ear are actually lever arms placed on top of twenty thousand separate cells that surround the inner wall of the cochlea. When the cilia sense a vibration, they move and this movement opens the doors underneath the cells. Thus there is iodine flow into the cells. When the cilia lie down in the opposite direction, this time, the cell doors close. This continuous movement changes the chemical balances of the cells, and thus enables them to produce electricity. These electrical signals are transmitted to the brain via nerves, and the brain turns these into sound by interpreting them.
How the brain makes this interpretation, how an organ that is nothing more than a mere piece of flesh turns the electrical signals that reach it into a human voice, the rumble of distant thunder or a musical work, is a dilemma that cannot be explained by evolutionists and materialists. This subject, which is one of the greatest unsolved problem of evolutionists and materialists, is explicit evidence of the truth for believers. This truth is the fact that “everything we hear and sense is being shown to our souls by Almighty Allah, the Creator of all things.” Almighty Allah is the Only infinite being, the Creator of all things, the Lord of all worlds.
