Allah's Art of Detail 01-05

DNA: A Glorious Marvel of Creation

Each person has an average of 100 trillion cells, each of which contains a DNA molecule. Just one of these contains information regarding 3 billion different subjects, enough information to fill approximately 1,000 volumes of books, each one containing 1 million pages. If we were to lay these pages out side by side, they would stretch from the North Pole to the Equator. If we were to read it 24 hours a day, it would take 100 years to finish it. This glorious information belongs to a single DNA molecule, which exists everywhere in our body, such as in a single fingernail or a single hair.

How could such an incredible library have been squeezed into a minute hair too small to be seen with the naked eye? How could it have been packed into all of the cells that constitute that hair and all of the other cells that make up our body? How could so much information, which we could never carry on our own, have been installed in our bodies 100 trillion times? Could human beings manage to do this themselves? Can any known technology achieve such an amazing feat? Could this glorious information be present in the cells by chance?

Clearly, random events, human beings, and technology cannot produce such an astonishing work. This fact has been scientifically proven. This amazing work in our bodies belongs to Allah, Whose might makes all things according to His will:

We created humanity from a mingled drop to test him, and We made him hearing and seeing. We guided him on the Way, whether he is thankful or unthankful. (Surat al-Insan, 2-3)

The Atmosphere: A Perfect Protective Shield

In order for a living thing to survive on this planet, countless details must exist: Earth being located a specific distance from the Sun; a specific temperature range; the carbon, ozone, and water cycles; the minerals produced by micro-organisms; photosynthesis; Earth's particular angle of inclination; gravity and other forces that keep atomic particles together; and many, many more. This world has been created in such a way that all of these conditions are maintained. If the atmosphere that surrounds this miraculous planet and maintains all of these balances were removed, life would end.

A specific range of temperature and light permits human beings to live on Earth. The flaming heat and freezing cold in space, and its deadly rays, only reach us through the filter-like atmosphere at levels sufficient to keep us alive. A single solar burst gives off a level of energy equivalent to a 100-billion-ton bomb of the kind that destroyed Hiroshima. Thanks to the atmosphere, this destructive force reaches Earth in the most ideal form. Were a slightly higher level of infrared and ultraviolet, gamma, and micro rays allowed through, all living things would cease to exist.

1. The exosphere 2. The thermosphere 3. The ozone layer absorbs ultraviolet rays from the Sun. 4. The mesosphere 5. The stratosphere 6. The troposphere 7. The atmosphere reflects back 7% of the Sun's rays. 8. The clouds reflect back 24% of the Sun's rays. 9. Earth's waters and land reflect back 4% of the Sun's rays. 10.Solar radiation from space 11. The atmosphere absorbs 14% of the Sun's rays. 12. The atmosphere re-emits part of the absorbed heat. 13. Earth absorbs 51% of the Sun's rays. 14. Clouds re-emit part of the absorbed heat.

The atmosphere, which surrounds our planet and contains many different balances, is one of the main reasons why life survives on Earth. The atmosphere permits light and heat to reach Earth at levels specially determined for life. This perfect structure is a manifestation of Allah's sublime artistry.

This shield has protected Earth for billions of years from these rays' deadly effects. If the atmosphere were to stop functioning, could another protective shield be established to replace it? Is there any other method of protecting human beings from potentially lethal rays and blazing heat? The answers to both questions is "no," for no human power or technology could devise such a flawless system. This being the case, how could anyone logically expect a new atmosphere to come into being by chance?

Nobody whose powers of reason are fully functional and who has a conscience could even admit the possibility of this flawless work coming into being by chance. There would also be no time for such a waiting period, since life would come to an end in the very first moment. In other words, our planet's atmosphere is part of Almighty and All-Powerful Allah's magnificent artistry, He Who reveals His greatness at all times and in all events:

We placed firmly embedded mountains on Earth so it would not move under them, and put broad valleys as roadways in it so that, perhaps, they might be guided. We made the sky a preserved and protected roof, yet still they turn away from Our Signs. (Surat al-Anbiya', 31-32)

O, sabahı yarıp çıkarandır. Geceyi bir sükun (dinlenme), Güneş ve Ay'ı bir hesap (ile) kıldı. Bu, üstün ve güçlü olan, bilen Allah'ın takdiridir. (En'am Suresi, 96)

Enzymes: A Detail That Permits All Vital Functions

Enzymes accelerate reactions inside the cell by 10 billion times. Everything you do depends on these activities. Enzymes, one of the reasons why life continues, are a perfect detail and an astonishing marvel of creation.

It takes just a few seconds to read a sentence. Yet if one of the body's enzymes failed to work, it would take 1,500 years to read that same sentence. Enzymes activate cells and initiate and accelerate reactions up to 1010 (10 billion) times. In their absence, those cells that are waiting to go into action and perform many other reactions that keep you alive, even though they are unaware of each other and motionless, would start to die one by one before you even finished reading this sentence. As a result, you would die before you reached the end of this sentence.
Enzymes carry out all of a cell's reactions. If they stopped working, it would be very difficult to restart them in a simultaneous and rapid manner. Despite today's advanced medical science and impressive technology, scientists have failed to produce a comparable system. Evolutionists claim that such a magnificent mechanism came about by chance. But despite all of their knowledge and resources, scientists can neither copy this system nor produce a comparable one. In fact, they have been unable to manufacture a single model that can perform reactions as quickly as enzymes. This shows that it is impossible for all of these miraculous proteins, which initiate and accelerate the body's chemical reactions and perform vital functions (e.g., reproduction, control, and copying) to have come into being spontaneously as the result of unconscious events.

Therefore, one needs to reflect on the fact that Allah, Lord of the universe and all of its details, creates each person and his or her body's enzymes:

Do you not see that Allah has subjected to you everything in the heavens and Earth and has showered His blessings upon you, both outwardly and inwardly? Yet there are people who argue about Allah without knowledge or guidance or any illuminating Book. (Surah Luqman, 20)

A Fly's Incredible Compound Eyes

The fly is a marvel of creation; its wings beat 500 times per second and, as a result, it has a glorious flying ability. Even more amazing are its eyes, each one of which has thousands of extraordinarily complex lenses. A fly has compound eyes on both sides of its head, each of which is divided into 4,000 sections, each of which, in turn, has a lens that perceives an image from a slightly different angle. When a fly looks at a flower, the full image appears separately in each of its 8,000 lenses. When these images reach the brain, they combine together like the components of a jigsaw puzzle. As a result, an image that is highly significant for the fly emerges. (How Come? Planet Earth, Kathy Wollard, Workman Publishing, New York, 1999, sf. 116)

The fly, which has wings that beat 500 times per second and magnificent compound eyes consisting of 8,000 separate lenses, is a flawless marvel of creation displayed and created by Allah.

It is extraordinary that such a small creature should have thousands of lenses in its eyes and a cerebral system capable of interpreting what it sees. We can only acquire this information by studying the animal. Yet all flies have had this perfect structure since they were first created, for, like all the other living things, they are miracles created by Allah, matchless marvels of creation that amaze one the more one researches and studies them.

Scientists lack the knowledge and technology to install 8,000 lenses into an area just a few millimeters in size and to enable each one to see. None of them can produce a nervous system that will permit these lenses to perceive light and then make that perception visible in such a perfect way. Given these facts, could such a flawless structure have emerged by chance?

The answer is "of course not," for chance cannot give rise to even one of a fly's 8,000 lenses or even a single protein of these lenses' countless cells. Only Almighty Allah, Who sees and observes all entities at all times, creates all beings with their perfect details, equips a tiny fly with such miraculous abilities, and bestows reason and conscience on human beings so that they can comprehend and reflect on these matters, can create in such a manner:

O humanity, an example has been made, so listen to it carefully. Those whom you call upon besides Allah are not even able to create a single fly, even if they were to join together to do it. And if a fly steals something from them, they cannot get it back. How feeble are both the seeker and the sought! (Surat al-Hajj, 73)

Humanity's Magnificent Perception of Scent

Eventually, the skin's receptors stop sending signals to the brain about the material touching the skin. Thus, we do not constantly feel the presence of items that are in constant contact with our skin. This is a great blessing created by Allah.

A carnation always smells the same to you. The second time you smell a perfume, you recognize it immediately, because even if you only smell something once in your life, that smell always retains its place in your memory.

The human nose has around 1,000 different scent receptors. Human beings can perceive more than 10,000 different smells through combinations of these different receptors. When you smell a carnation, the molecules that allow you to perceive its fragrance combine with scent receptors and establish the carnation's code. This code, which has long existed in your memory, reminds you that you are smelling a carnation.

What would happen if this system did not exist? Since the perception of taste is closely linked to the sense of smell, it is generally smell that causes you to realize that a piece of food has spoiled and should be spat out. If this sense ceased functioning, you would be unable to perceive the item's full taste and thus would be unaware of this danger. You would not realize a fire had broken out in your home until you saw the smoke, for you would be unable to perceive the smell of burning things all around you.

The information stored in your memory consists solely of molecules. Nobody has the power and knowledge needed to install thousands of smells in your memory or to endow molecules with smells and make them compatible with the relevant parts of the brain. Only Allah, the Lord of all life, can do all of this; only He can create smells, the olfactory system, and the memory with its perfect characteristics:

He laid out Earth for all living creatures. In it are fruits and date-palms with covered spathes, and grains on leafy stems and fragrant herbs. So which of your Lord's blessings do you both then deny? (Surat al-Rahman, 10-13)