The Human Brain’s Magnificent Neural Network

The global telecommunications network that enables hundreds of millions of telephone calls to be made simultaneously is something amazing. Yet in comparison to the network found in a person’s brain, it seems quite ordinary. A human brain contains, on the average, 100 billion neurons. We cite the following example to understand this perfect network better: if the brain’s neurons were laid end to end, they would stretch for several hundred thousand kilometers. This extraordinary network is a main reason why scientists describe the brain as one of the universe’s greatest mysteries.

There are around 100 trillion places in the brain, known as synapses, where chemical processes occur. Any bodily cell can establish a connection with 1,000 separate brain cells by utilizing these synapses. The speed of the resulting information processing is truly amazing—one single data byte can reach 100,000 neurons at the same time. As a result, the brain functions hundreds of thousands of times faster than the most advanced computer. Dr Kerry Bernstein, IBM’s director of technology, has said that it does not seem possible to make a similar device with the same speed and characteristics. (Brain Teaches Computers a Lesson,” MSNBC.com, 6 August 2002. (Byte: the name given to the smallest data unit in a computer.)

Of course, it is impossible to build such a comprehensive network, squeeze it into a minute space, construct quadrillions of connections, and then ensure that they all work in milliseconds. Creating this perfect system, which has existed in each human being who has ever lived, is beyond human capability. The brain, this comprehensive and detailed miracle, was created so that people could realize this truth. This great gift belongs to Almighty Allah, Who provides all kinds of blessings without demanding any recompense. The existence of this sublime marvel of creation once again displays our Lord’s greatness and might:

We created humanity from the purest kind of clay, then made him a drop in a secure receptacle, then formed the drop into a clot, formed the clot into a lump, formed the lump into bones, clothed the bones in flesh, and then brought him into being as another creature. Blessed be Allah, the Best of Creators. (Surat al-Mu’minun, 12-14)