The signal system that communicates diseases: The Sense of Pain

Pain is a vital part of the body’s defense system. This sense points that a condition has formed that may negatively affect the health of the body, institutes precautions against this and helps decrease the physical defects that may occur in the body. However, if a person is feeling pain in any condition, a precaution to eliminate the pain is taken and in this way the harm caused to the body is prevented. For example, a person whose hand is burned with hot water prevents his skin from being injured by pulling his hand away with the pain caused by burning; in the case of the pain being continued he takes protective precautions using medical methods. Or he can go to the doctor due to pain and the doctor may detect a disease that can cause serious troubles before the disease is fully developed.

Even though aches and the sense of pain are very disturbing feelings, if Almighty Allah had not given us this sense, the body would not react to situations like aches and pain and even greater health problems could form. The fact, which reminds that this feeling is in truth a great blessing, is a disease called “congenital analgesia ” defined as insensitivity to pain.

As Almighty Allah reveals in the verse “…It may be that you hate something when it is good for you and it may be that you love something when it is bad for you. Allah knows and you do not know.” (Surat al-Baqara, 216), the sense of pain, which seems like a bad thing and which most people find disturbing, is actually a great good for people contrary to popular belief.

Lack of a Sense of Pain is a Serious Disease

The disease of insensitivity to pain called “congenital analgesia” is the condition of not feeling physical pain that comes from external stimuli. These people do possess the senses of touch and sensation, but the brain and  nervous system distorts information flow in a way as if filtered, and prevents the body from reacting to situations such as temperature changes and injury. This situation is one of the best examples that Almighty Allah creates every system in our body with perfection.

A defect in the communication of the nervous system may cause serious problems. However, as in this disease a signal about pain is not communicated to the brain, pain is not felt and in some cases, the pain is felt, but the source of pain in the body cannot be detected. There is no doubt that both situations cause a great risk for the individual Bbecause it is as vital to detect the source of pain as it is  to feel the pain. For example, a person who is about to have a stroke, and feels sudden pain in his body but does not know the source of the pain, may befaced with a life-threatening situation, as medical care cannot be provided.

How Does Congenital Analgesia  Form?

This disease takes place as the result of a defect in the gene called “SCN9A”. Even the slightest defect in this gene could render it completely useless and prevent the signals transmitted to the brain from being interpreted correctly. This is similar to pushing an electric switch to light a lamp. If there is a defect in the switch that  activates the wires, which transfers electricity to the lamp, the lamp will not be turned on. Thus, a defect in the gene called “SCN9A” does not allow electrical signals transmitted from the outside world about pain to be correctly interpreted. Of course, this situation is an important evidence that Almighty Allah, Who creates everything with very sensitive balances, can destroy these balances and that no one could re-establish these. Almighty Allah reveals that He holds all things, small and large, in the world under His Might in one verse of the Qur’an as follows:
 

“Allah keeps a firm hold on the heavens and earth, preventing them from vanishing away. And if they vanished no one could then keep hold of them. Certainly He is Most Forbearing, Ever-Forgiving.” (Surah Fatir, 41)
 

Why Is It Dangerous Not To Feel the Sense of Pain?

There are three types of pain, called skin-deep pain, deep pain (bone, muscle, rib and knuckle pain) and visceral organ pain. Skin-deep pains occur when there is pressure applied to the skin, or when one confronts temperatures more than 45 degrees Celcius. If this feeling did not exist, a person may lose a lot of blood when his skin is cut as he did not feel any pain. In the same way, if the sense of pain were not formed when his skin is burned, he would not apply any cure as he continues with his daily tasks in spite of the burn on his skin. This would cause the upper skin that protects us from microbes to become more prone to infections and thus cause serious diseases.

In the case of not having any sense of pain, a person may harm oneself unintentionally or get hurt by not recognizing something that is harmful. For example, when a bone in his foot  is cracked after an accident, he may not realize this and continue walking on the cracked bone, and thus cause it to get fractured more, and this may even lead to permanent disabilities.

If pain did not warn us beforehand, many diseases may progress and cause serious results by getting progressively worse. Therefore, pain is the first and only indication of many diseases. For example, if our stomach did not hurt, we would not understand that we may have appendicitis, or if we did not feel a pain or pressure in our heart, we could not understand that we are about to have a stroke. If we did not feel pain, for instance when we fall down or lift something heavy, we would continue to force our knuckles or lower backs, forget to take a pause  and thereby increase the degree of damage.

Conclusion: Everything Has a Purpose of Creation and Wisdom

Almighty Allah creates everything for a reason and with goodness. The disease of not feeling any pain is also one of the best examples of this perfect creation; if Almighty Allah had not created such a disease, no one would know that pain is actually a great blessing for the protection of the body. Therefore, we would be unaware of a very important detail that would cause us to give thanks to our Lord Who makes us live in a flawless manner. The examples of Almighty Allah creating everything with goodness are, of course, not limited to these mentioned here. Our Lord makes this defect in the bodies of some people, and thus creates an important source of inspiration for the medical world of the future. As the scientists who study the causes of this disease understand the connections between warning and reaction, and the small details in these connections, they can produce medicines that can decrease pain in certain diseases or relieve pain in cases of bodily injury to a great extent.

Almighty Allah reveals in one verse of the Qur’an that everything He created has a purpose as such:
 

“We did not create heaven and earth and everything in between them as a game. If We had desired to have some amusement, We would have derived it from Our Presence, but We did not do that.”(Surat Al-Anbiya’,16–17)