Introduction: Our Lives Depend on Electricity

It is God Who created the seven heavens and of the Earth the same number, the Command descending down through all of them, so that you might know that God has power over all things and that God encompasses all things in His knowledge. (Surat at-Talaq: 12)

Without electricity, what would your life be like? You would have to find a way of ascending 15 floors with no elevator and preventing food in your refrigerator from spoiling. You could not watch television, warm your dinner up in the microwave, listen to your favorite music on the stereo, quickly dry your hair, cool down your bedroom by means of air conditioning, brighten that room with the touch of a switch or to operate essential machines like your dishwasher, washing machine and clothes drier. At night, your home would be dark and unsafe, and you would live deprived of the many time-saving technologies such as electric heaters, kettles, table lamps, videos and computers—which all make our life so much easier. On a larger scale, traffic, communications, transport, security systems, workplaces, water distribution, energy production, publishing and the press, all depend on electricity as well.

During the summer of 2003, a power blackout in the USA, which affected an area extending from Detroit to Chicago, was a striking example of electricity's vital importance. Although short-lived, it was reported as a catastrophe. Newspapers ran headlines like "LIFE COMES TO A STANDSTILL." In the absence of electricity, traffic lights, elevators, public transport, and computers all became inoperative. People were unable to go to work, go shopping, or even communicate with one another.

The importance of electricity, whose interruption can bring life to a complete standstill, goes far beyond this. Just as a city's functioning depends on the continuation of the established order, so there is a need for electricity in the human body, in processes analogous to energy production, communications, security, maintenance, and repair. In short, life would be impossible in the absence of our bodies' electrical system, which is even more essential than the power grid in cities.

Few who make use of electricity reflect on the fact that, just like the appliances they depend on, their bodies could not function without electricity. The fact is, however, that the human body has been equipped with a flawless electricity network, along with the presence of intelligent systems that contain the most complex information and know-how to benefit from electrical energy.

Indeed, scientists employ terms commonly used in electronics to describe the body's nervous system: "generate," "circuit," "current," "resistance," "voltage," "insulation," "charge," and so forth. It is next to impossible to describe the system without using these terms. The fact that principles necessary for the functioning of technology, discovered in only the last two centuries, have existed in the human body ever since it was first created, is a clear indication of the superior knowledge of God (God). The details set out in this book constitute just a few examples of His infinite knowledge that we have grown able to comprehend.