The Skin: An Amazing Detail and Blessing

The skin is a flawless casing that gives us a regular appearance; conceals the extraordinary activity going on inside our bodies; and makes touch, one of our most important senses, possible. Countless receptor nerves, circulatory channels, ventilation systems, heat and moisture detectors, and other manifestations of His artistry operate within it. The skin itself is both strong and elastic, two characteristics that are practically mutually exclusive.

Skin covers an area of 2m² (21.5 ft²) and weights 3 kgs (6.6 lbs). Its cells live for about one week, after which they die and are replaced. During a person’s life, 20 kgs (44 lbs) of skin cells are manufactured. Every square centimeter of skin contains sense cells that permit touch perceptions and assume various tasks, depending on their location. For example, when your hand comes into contact with boiling water, the receptors cause you to feel a sensation of heat and then one of pain. Some 30,000 receptors perceive heat; 3.5 million feel pain.

This perfect casing and special organ, which is unaffected by external factors and has enormous elasticity, can transmit messages from every square millimeter to the nerves and thence to the brain. In fact, it consists of a network of nerves and blood vessels that is constantly being renewed. Allah bestowed this miracle upon each person and endowed even its smallest part with sensation. So perfect is this miracle that modern technology cannot produce a similar structure.

This flawless casing protects us, enables us to touch other things, and gives us a pleasing appearance. A perfect blessing and flawless detail, Allah, in His boundless knowledge, created it and then bestowed it upon us:

It is Allah Who made Earth a stable home for you and the sky a dome, and formed you, giving you the best of forms, and provided you with good and wholesome things. That is Allah, your Lord. Blessed be Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. (Surah Ghafir, 64)