WHAT ARE THE REASONS THAT PREVENT THOUGHT?

This subject is crucial,please read carefully.

There are many factors that hinder people from thinking. They may detain a person from thinking and seeing the truth. In this respect, it is necessary that everyone identify the factors that affect them negatively, and rid themselves of these, otherwise, one cannot see the real face of the life of this world, and that might bring great loss in the Hereafter.

In the Qur'an, Allah tells us the situation of those people who are accustomed to think superficially:

They know an outward aspect of the life of this world but are heedless of the Hereafter. Have they not reflected within themselves? Allah did not create the heavens and the earth and everything between them except with truth and for a fixed term. Yet many people reject the meeting with their Lord. (Surat ar-Rum: 7-8)

Following the Majority Causes Mental Numbness

One of the issues that mislead people most is their belief that what the "majority" does is right. Man is usually inclined to accept what he is taught by the people around him, rather than finding the truth by thinking for himself. He sees that things that seem odd to him at first sight are most of the time considered ordinary by people, and after a while, he too begins to become accustomed to them.

For instance, if the majority of the people in a person’s social circle do not acknowledge that they will die one day, if they avoid talking about death, then the person looks around him and says, "Since everybody is like that, there must be nothing wrong with my behaving the same way" and begins to live without remembering death at all. If, however, the people around him had acted with fear of Allah and struggled with due diligence for the Hereafter, most probably this person too would have changed his attitude.

As another example, hundreds of news items of disasters, unfairness, injustice, oppression, suicide, homicide, theft and swindle are covered in the media, and thousands of needy people are mentioned everyday. Yet many people who come across these news items are unaffected. In general, people do not think why there are so many of these kind of news items, or what has to be done and what kind of precautions have to be taken in order to stop them, or what they themselves can do about these problems. Neither do people around them think over those problems. Most people hold others responsible for these problems, employing such logic as, "What can I do about this?"

Mental Indolence

Indolence is a factor that keeps the majority of people from thinking. Because of mental indolence, people do everything the way they have always seen and to which they are used. To give an example from our daily lives, the way people do the cleaning is just how they have seen their parents do it. They generally do not think, "How could things be done in a cleaner and more practical way" nor try to find new methods. Similarly, when something needs repair, people use the methods they have been taught since their childhood. They are generally reluctant to practice a new method that might be more practical and efficient. Such people's styles of speech are also the same. The way an accountant speaks, for example, is just the same as all the other accountants he has seen in his life. Doctors, bankers, salesmen, people from all classes have particular styles of speech. They do not seek to find the most proper, the best, and the most favourable way by thinking about it. They just imitate what they have heard.

The solutions found to problems also reflect indolence in thinking. For example, the manager of a building brings to the building's waste disposal problem exactly the same solution as the one brought by previous managers. Or a mayor tries to solve the traffic problem by looking at what preceding mayors have done. In many cases, because of not thinking he is unable to find new solutions.

Certainly, the examples cited here are issues from which people suffer harm in their everyday lives. Yet there are subjects far more important than these, which, if people fail to think about, may cause them to suffer great and eternal loss. The cause of this loss is one's failure to think about the purpose of existence in the world, and disregarding the fact that death is unavoidable, and that we will definitely meet on The Day of Reckoning after death. In the Qur'an, Allah invites people to reflect upon these crucial matters.

Those are the people who have lost their own selves. What they invented has abandoned them. Without question they will be the greatest losers in the Hereafter. As for those who believe and do right actions and humble themselves before their Lord, they are the Companions of the Garden, remaining in it timelessly, forever. The likeness of the two groups is that of the blind and deaf and the seeing and hearing. Are they the same as one another? So will you not pay heed? (Surah Hud: 21-24)

Is He Who creates like him who does not create? So will you not pay heed? (Surat an-Nahl: 17)

The Conditioned Response that "Thinking Too Much is Not Good"

There is a belief prevalent in society that deep thought is not good. People warn one another saying, "Don't think so much, you will lose your mind". This is merely a superstition invented by people who are distant from religion. People should not avoid thinking; however, they should avoid thinking negatively or being carried away by exaggerations and misapprehensions.

Since those who do not have strong faith in Allah and the Hereafter think without committing themselves to goodness, but instead think negatively, then by their contemplation they achieve outcomes that are not entirely beneficial. They think, for example, that the life of this world is temporary, and that one day they will die, but this causes them to display great pessimism. This is because, conscientiously, they are aware that the life they pass without following the commands of Allah prepares a wretched end for them in the Hereafter. Some, on the other hand, are pessimistic because they believe that they will totally vanish after death.

A wise person who believes in Allah and the Hereafter draws completely different conclusions when he reflects on the fact that the life of this world is temporary. First of all, his realisation that the world is temporary causes him to engage in zealous struggle for his real and eternal life in the Hereafter. Since he knows that this life will sooner or later end, he does not become carried away by the ambition for worldly passions and interests. He is extremely resigned. Nothing in this temporary life annoys him. He always cherishes the hope of attaining an eternal and pleasant life. He also enjoys worldly blessings and beauty but keeps these things in perspective. Allah has created the world incomplete and flawed in order to test people. The intelligent person thinks that if there is so much beauty, which is pleasing to man even in this incomplete and flawed world, then the beauty of Paradise should be unimaginably more attractive. He hopes to see in the Hereafter the "originals" of all the beauty he views here. And he comprehends all of these by thinking deeply.

Therefore, it would be a great loss to worry about "what if I become pessimistic by finally seeing the truth?", and hence, avoid thinking. For a person who always entertains hope by virtue of his faith in Allah, and who thinks positively, there is nothing to be pessimistic about.

Avoiding the Responsibilities that Thinking Brings

Most people think that they might be able to evade various responsibilities by avoiding thinking and setting their brain to work on certain issues. By doing so in this world, they succeed in holding themselves aloof from many subjects. One of the greatest ways in which people are deceived, however, is in their supposition that they can escape their responsibilities to Allah by not thinking. This is the main reason why people do not think about death and life after death. If man thinks that he will die one day and remembers that there is an eternal life after death, he will necessarily have to strive strenuously for his life after death. He, however, deceives himself, supposing that he is saved from such responsibility when he does not think of the existence of the Hereafter. This is a great self-deception and if man does not attain the truth in this world by thinking, he will understand, with death, that there is no escape for him.

The stupor of death will come in truth. (And it is said unto him): "That is what you were trying to evade! The trumpet is blown. That is the day of the threat." (Surah Qaf: 19-20)

Not Thinking Because of Being Swept Away by the Flow of Daily Life

The majority of people spend their whole lives in a rush. When they reach a certain age, they have to work and look after themselves and their families. They call this "the struggle for life" and complain that they have no time for anything as they have to rush around in this struggle. In this so-called "shortage of time", thinking is one of the things for which they cannot spare any time. Therefore, they are swept away wherever the flow of their daily lives takes them. In this way of life, they become insensitive to events taking place around them.

The aim of man, however, should not be to consume time, rushing from one place to another. The main issue is to be able to see the real face of this world and assume a way of living accordingly. No one's sole purpose in life is earning money, going to work, studying at university or purchasing a house. Surely, man may need to do those things during the course of his life, yet there is something that he should always bear in mind while doing them: the purpose of his existence in this world is to be a slave of Allah, to work for Allah's pleasure, His mercy in order to achieve Paradise. All works other than this purpose can serve only as a means to help man to attain his true purpose. Adopting the means to certain ends as the real purpose is a serious deception with which satan misleads man.

Someone who lives without thinking may easily take these means as his real purpose. We can cite an example from our daily lives. It is undoubtedly a good act for one to work and produce beneficial things for society. A person who believes in Allah performs such an act eagerly and wishes for a reward from Allah both in the world and in the Hereafter. If a person, on the other hand, does the same thing without remembering Allah and only for worldly interests such as status and people's appreciation, he is making a mistake. And he will regret this when he faces realities in the Hereafter. In a verse, Allah refers to those who indulge in this manner in the life of this world:

Like those before you who had greater strength than you and more wealth and children. They enjoyed their portion; so enjoy your portion as those before you enjoyed theirs. You have plunged into defamation as they plunged into it. The actions of such people come to nothing in this world or the Hereafter. They are the lost. (Surat at-Tawba: 69)

Looking at Everything with "The Eye of Habit" And Therefore Seeing No Need to Reflect Thereon

When people come across certain things for the first time, they may understand the extraordinary nature of them and this may spur them to further inspect what they see. After a while, however, they develop a habitual resistance to those things and they no longer impress them. In particular, an object or happening they meet everyday becomes ordinary for them.

For instance, it makes a great impression on some prospective doctors the first time they see a corpse, or the first time one of their patients dies. This makes them ponder deeply. It may be that all of a sudden they face the lifeless, almost stuff-like body of a person, who was, just a few minutes ago, full of life, laughing, making plans, talking, taking pleasure, eyes sparkling with life. The first time a cadaver is laid down in front of them for autopsy, they think over everything they see in that corpse: that the body decays so fast, that a repugnant smell comes out of it, that the hair once so pleasant to look at become so unpleasant that it is repulsive to touch, are all subjects they think about. This leads them to consider that the composition of everyone's body is the same and everyone will meet the same end, and that they too will become like this.

Yet, after seeing a few cadavers or losing some patients, these people develop a habitual resistance to certain things. They begin to treat cadavers, and even patients, as if they are objects.

Surely, this situation does not hold true for doctors alone. For the majority of people, the same situation applies in many areas of their lives. For example, when a person who lives in difficulty is granted a pleasant lifestyle, he understands that everything he possesses is a blessing for him; that his bed is more comfortable, his house has a beautiful view, he can buy everything he wants, he can heat his house in winter as he wishes, he can easily move by car, and many other things are all blessings for this person. Thinking of his old state, he rejoices at each of these new things. Yet someone who possesses these means from birth may not think so much about their worth. So, his appreciation of these blessings does not become possible unless he thinks over them.

For a man who ponders, on the other hand, it makes no difference whether he possesses these blessings from birth or whether he attained them afterwards. He never looks at his possessions in a habitual way. He knows that anything he owns has been created by Allah and Allah may take them back from him at any time if He wills. For example, believers say the following prayer when they travel by any means of transport:

... "Glory be to Him Who has subjected this to us. We could never have done it by ourselves. Indeed we are returning to our Lord!" (Surat az-Zukhruf: 13-14)

In another verse, it is said that when believers enter their gardens, they remember Allah and say, "... It is as Allah wills, there is no strength but in Allah..." (Surat al-Kahf: 39). Whenever they enter their gardens, they think that Allah has created and sustains this garden. On the other hand, a man who does not think may be impressed the first time he sees a beautiful garden, but then it becomes an ordinary place for him. His admiration fades for the beauty therein. Some people do not realise these blessings at all since they do not think. They take these blessings for granted and "something that already had to exist". Therefore, they cannot derive pleasure from their beauty.

Conclusion: It is Imperative for Man to Eliminate All the Factors That Hold Him Back From Thinking

As i mentioned earlier, the fact that the majority of people do not think and live heedless of truth cannot be a sufficient excuse for one not thinking. Each person is an independent individual responsible to Allah by himself alone. It is very important to bear in mind that Allah tests people in the life of this world. The indifference of others, people who do not think, reason, and see the truth is, most of the time, a part of this test. A person who thinks sincerely does not say, "Most people do not reflect, and are unaware of all these, so why should I alone think?". On the contrary, he takes warning by thinking about the heedlessness of these people and takes refuge in Allah in order not be one of them. It is clear that the situation of these people cannot be an excuse for him. In the Qur'an, Allah informs us in many of His verses that most people are heedless and do not believe:

Yet no faith will the greater part of mankind have, however ardently you desire it. (Surah Yusuf: 103)

Alif Lam Mim Ra. Those are the signs of the Book. And what has been sent down to you from your Lord is the truth. But most people do not believe. (Surat ar-Ra'd: 1)

They swear by Allah with their most earnest oaths that Allah will not raise up those who die, when, on the contrary, it is a binding promise on Him; but most people do not know it. (Surat an-Nahl: 38)

We have variegated it for them so they might pay heed but most people begrudge aught save ingratitude. (Surat al-Furqan: 50)

In other verse, Allah announces the end of those who have gone astray by following the majority, those who failed to obey the commands of Allah by forgetting the purpose of their creation:

They will shout out in it, "Our Lord! Take us out! We will act rightly, differently from the way we used to act!" Did We not let you live long enough for anyone who was going to pay heed to pay heed? And did not the warner come to you? Taste it then! There is no helper for the wrongdoers. (Surah Fatir: 37)

For this reason, every person should, by getting rid of the reasons preventing him from thinking, sincerely and honestly think over every event and creature that Allah creates and draw a lesson and warning from his reflections.

TECHNOLOGY İN NATURE

Creating technology—all the manufacturing methods and equipment used in a particular branch of industry—is no easy matter, because so many components need to be brought together. In order to produce technology in any given area, first of all we need to possess information. Next, the scientists and technical personnel who are to use this information must be added to the equation. These personnel need the right materials and the facilities in which to make use of them. For all these reasons, producing technology is a difficult business. Indeed, the history of those advances we describe as “technological” is by no means a long one. Even today, though many countries enjoy technology, very few of them actually produce it.

As scientific circles have noted, most of the technological products emerging as the result of investment, information and research have their “originals” and counterparts in nature.

Phil Gates, a well-known scientist and author of the book Wild Technology, expresses this in the following terms:

Many of our best inventions are copied from, or already in use by, other living things. We have only discovered a tiny fraction of the vast numbers of living organisms that share our planet. Somewhere, amongst the millions of organisms that remain undiscovered, there are natural inventions that could improve our lives. They could provide new medicines, building materials, ways of controlling pests and dealing with pollution.

Every niche of our surroundings—from the sky to the land to the depths of the oceans—are full of countless “technological” marvels, each of them a product of creation. Even the simplest industrial product has a designer and place where it was manufactured. That being so, it would be obviously irrational to claim that living things, possessing systems incomparably superior to huge factories with their state-of-the-art machinery, could have arisen through chance, by themselves, as a result of natural conditions.

Every living thing possesses a superior, perfect design that emerged flawless and complete from the very day of its creation, because God is He Who creates flawlessly.

“An instruction and a reminder for every penitent human being.” (Qur’an, 50: 8)

Light Sensors in Plants

Some species of plants are acutely sensitive to changes in light intensity. When night falls, they close up their petals. Some flowering plants even do this in cloudy weather, in order—scientists believe—to protect their pollen from dew and approaching rain. We humans also use sensors that detect light intensity changes, and use them in lamps that go on when it gets dark at night and turn themselves off at dawn.

Some flowers, sensitive to light, close their petals when it grows dark and keep them closed until dawn. Others keep their flowers facing the sun throughout the day.

In a light sensor, the electrical circuit consists of a great many parts. If just one is removed or only one connection altered, the circuit fails to work. The light sensors in plants possess a feature similar to this circuit: The slightest deficiency in the system will make the sensor totally useless.

The Eider Duck and Its Insulation System

Our bodies generate heat energy by digesting the food we’ve eaten during the day. The best way to prevent the loss of this warmth is to keep it from leaving our bodies too soon. That is why we wear varying layers of clothing, depending on the weather. Warm air, trapped between the layers, is unable to reach outside. Preventing energy loss in this way is known as insulation.

The eider duck employs the exact same method. Like many birds, its feathers enable it to fly and also keep it warm. It uses its soft and fluffy chest feathers in building its nest. This down protects the eggs and the emerging featherless chicks from the cold air. Since the eider’s feathers retain warm air, they exemplify the very best form of natural insulation.

Modern mountain climbers keep their bodies warm by wearing special costumes filled with feathers with high heat-retaining properties, similar to those of eider feathers.

Fiber Optic Technology in Living Creatures

Fiber optics are transparent glass cables capable of transmitting light. Since optical fibers can be easily bent and twisted, they can “pipe” light into even the most inaccessible locations. Fiber optic cables also possess the advantage of being able to carry coded messages loaded onto them, much better than other cables can.

The polar bear’s fur is very similar to an optical fiber, carrying the rays of the faint polar sun directly to the animal’s body. Since the fur possesses fiber optic capabilities, the sun’s rays make direct contact with the bear’s skin. So great is its fur’s capacity to transmit light that despite the harsh polar climate, the animal’s skin turns dark, as if sunburned. The light, converted into heat and absorbed, helps warm the bear’s body. Thanks to its fur’s unique feature, the bear is able to keep its body warm even under the freezing polar conditions.

Bears’ fur is not their only feature that we can learn from. They can spend up to six months a year in hibernation, doing so by putting their excretory systems on hold and without suffering toxic buildups in their blood. Discovering how they do this will help in the fight against diabetes.

The polar bear isn’t the only living thing possessing fiber optic technology. Leaves of the Fenestraria plant, which lives in the deserts of South Africa, are nearly entirely buried in the sand. This protects Fenestraria from water loss and grazing animals. The tip of every leaf is transparent: Light enters here and can travel down the leaf. (Phil Gates, Wild Technology, 67.)

Arctic Birds Using Counter-Current Heat Exchangers

In the coldest climates, local birds generally have their feet either in cold water or standing on ice. Yet there is no question of them ever freezing. All of them possess circulatory systems that reduce heat loss to a minimum. In these birds, heated and chilled blood circulate in different blood vessels, but these vessels run close together, however. In this way, warm blood flowing to the extremities downwards warms the cold blood circulating upwards. This also reduces the shock of cold blood returning to the body from the feet. This natural heat exchange mechanism, known as counter-current, is the same as that used in various machines.

In these counter-current heat exchangers, as engineers refer them, two fluids (liquid or gas) flow in opposite directions in two separate but contiguous channels. If the fluid in one channel is warmer than in the other, heat passes from the warm fluid to the colder one.

Can Plants Use an Electrical Switch?

The carnivorous Venus flytrap catches insects that land on its hinged trap and trigger the hairs on it. These hairs act like electrical switches. The instant one is touched, it gives off electrical signals that change the water balance in the plant’s cells, and trigger the flow of water out of cells along the leaf midrib, closing the trap.

The switches controlling the flow of current in electrical circuits operate in much the same way. When the switch is turned off, electric current cannot flow. As soon as it is turned on and the circuit is completed, however, electric current begins to flow along the wire once again. Similarly, animals and plants use a great many biological switches to initiate or halt the flow of electrical signals to the relevant parts of their bodies.

The Venus flytrap’s circuit actually works like two electrical switches connected together in series. Two hairs must be stimulated before the trap to close. This precaution prevents unnecessary closing triggered by such phenomena as raindrops.

Of course, the Venus flytrap knows nothing about electric current or the switches that let these currents flow. Nor is it possible for the plant to receive any kind of training in these areas. That being so, how does it come by this knowledge, which even a human being can’t learn without special instruction, and how is it able to employ it so flawlessly? God, the Ruler of all, teaches the plants what to do. The Venus flytrap acts under His inspiration.

If Nerve Cells Lacked Insulation

Nerve fibers carry messages from the brain to the muscles and other organs, and from there, messages back to the brain. The fibers are coated with a special, fatty substance known as myelin that works just like the plastic insulation around an electric cable. Were it not present, then the electrical signals would leak away into the surrounding tissues, either garbling the message or damaging the body.

Electric cables are designed to protect from injury those who touch them and also to avoid any loss of power due to electricity leakage. Tough and durable plastics are used for this purpose.

Prairie Dogs’ Ventilation Technology

Many animals build underground shelters that require special features to defend them from predators.

In such shelters, the tunnels need to be at a specific distance from the surface and parallel to the ground, or else they may easily be flooded. If the tunnels are dug at a sharp angle, that poses a risk of collapse. Another problem in tunnel construction is meeting the need for air and ventilation.

Prairie dogs are social animals, living in large groups in burrows they construct underground. As their population grows, they dig new burrows, joining them up with tunnels. The space that such complexes occupy can sometimes equal the size of a small city, and thus ventilation assumes a vital importance. Therefore prairie dogs build aboveground towers where their tunnels emerge, rather like volcanoes, which let air be drawn into the city below.

Air travels from regions of high pressure to areas of low. Some of the towers that prairie dogs build are taller than others. Their differences in height give rise to different levels of air pressure in the tunnel entrances. This way, air enters towers with low air pressure above them and emerges through ones with high pressure. Air drawn into the tunnels passes through all the nests, thus establishing an ideal air circulation system.

To construct a ventilation system such as employed in prairie dogs' tunnels, knowledge of tunnel building, of high and low air pressure, and how they change with altitude are all essential. All these considerations require consciousness, and all these activities indicate the presence of reason and judgment. Therefore, we need to examine the source of this intelligence in the prairie dogs, since clearly it does not belong to the animals themselves—and, contrary to what evolutionists claim, cannot have resulted from blind chance.

God, Who provides countless examples in nature for mankind to ponder upon, created prairie dogs, like all living things on Earth. Every rational person needs to think, listen to the voice of his conscience and turn to God whenever he encounters an example of beauty; because God is the All-forgiving, the Lord of infinite justice. In the Qur’an, God gives glad tidings to servants who believe in Him:

Your Lord knows best what is in your selves. If you are righteous, He is Ever-Forgiving to the remorseful. (Qur’an, 17: 25)

Wasps and the Paper Industry

A series of chemical processes turn logs of wood into a kind of pulp that can later be made into paper. However, the natural inventors of paper are actually wasps.

To build their nests, wasps use paper that they make by mixing their saliva with shreds of chewed wood. Our furniture industry makes chipboard in exactly the same way, although using glue instead of saliva.

Any wasp resembles a particularly efficient tree-processing and paper making factory. However, all of the processes carried out by large industrial complexes, wasps perform within their own tiny bodies. The paper industry still has a lot to learn from wasps!

This diagram shows the various processes in paper manufacturing. If just one of these stages were skipped, no paper could be produced. The equivalent to all these processes is carried out in the tiny body of the wasp, just a few centimeters long.

A Robotic Arm Inspired by the Elephant’s Trunk

As scientists tried to design a robotic arm, one of the worst problems they faced was achieving freedom of movement. In order for a robot’s arm to serve any useful purpose, it must be able to perform all the movements required by that particular task. In nature, God has created all creatures with the ability to move their limbs in such a way as to meet all their needs. An elephant’s trunk, with its 50,000 or so muscles, is one of the most striking examples.

Left: A robotic arm with six degrees of freedom. Middle: A robotic trunk, modeled on the elephant’s, has 32 degrees of freedom. Elephants’ trunks have incomparably greater abilities and freedom of movement. If they had to use these artificial trunks instead of their own, they’d encounter severe difficulties.

The elephant is able to move its trunk in any direction it wants and can perform tasks requiring the greatest care and sensitivity.

One robotic arm constructed in the U.S. at Rice University clearly reveals the elephant trunk’s superior design. There is no single skeleton-like structure in the trunk, thus endowing it with enormous flexibility and lightness. The robotic arm, on the other hand, does have a spine. The elephant’s trunk possesses a degree of movement which allows it to move in any direction, while the robotic arm is comprised of 32 degrees of freedom in 16 links.

This only goes to show that the elephant trunk is a special structure, whose every particular feature reveals the nature of God’s flawless art in creation.

Conclusion

Scientists are continually amazed at the incomparable structures and systems they discover in nature—and they express their wonder by copying them to create new technologies for mankind’s benefit. They’ve realized that those impeccable systems and extraordinary techniques that nature employs, far superior to their own knowledge and capabilities, offer incomparable solutions to existing problems. Accordingly, they’re now resorting to natural designs in a great many areas where, after years of effort, they’ve been unable to come up with solutions. As a result, they’ve been able to produce successful results within very short spaces of time. Furthermore, by imitating nature, scientists have saved considerable terms of time and effort, and applied material resources far more effectively.

Recognizing the superior nature of natural designs, evolutionists are suffering yet another disappointment, another loss of hope. Once again, their unscientific claims that living things develop gradually, from the simple to the complex, and that the designs of living things came about through chance has been demonstrated to be untrue. Also, they’ve had to accept, albeit unwillingly, that the incomparable art that has so astonished them—that the knowledge and reason they so greatly admire—cannot be the work of chance, but only of our Almighty Creator.

It is God, the Lord of the worlds, Who creates the flawless and unmatched systems in all living things; He Who creates everything flawlessly. Those who refuse to accept this fact will suffer an irreparable sorrow on the Day of Judgment. In the Qur’an, God describes how such people waste their time in this world. The Qur’an describes in these terms the impeccable nature of our Lord’s artistry:

He, Who created the seven heavens in layers. You will not find any flaw in the creation of the All-Merciful. Look again—do you see any gaps? Then look again and again. Your sight will return to you dazzled and exhausted! (Qur'an, 67:3-4)

A Topic Evolution Cannot Explain:Harmony And Symmetry

On the earth we inhabit and in the wider universe in which the earth is located great harmony prevails. Even by looking out of the window, we see many examples of this harmony. In the clouds, in the sky, trees, flowers, animals and in similar examples, perfect order and symmetry is apparent.

When we look at nature, we see that every plant and every animal have their own particular colours and patterns exclusive to their kind. Furthermore, each of these colours and patterns have different meanings for living things: an invitation to mate, expression of aggression, a warning against danger and many notions like these acquire a meaning among animals from the perception of colours and patterns.

The theory of evolution, which claims that everything has come into being by random coincidence, has reached a total impasse because of the artistry, diversity of colours and harmony exhibited in nature. Charles Darwin, the founder of the theory in the form in which we have it today, also had to confess the situation he faced because of the design evident in living beings. Darwin stated that he could not understand why the colours of living creatures have particular meanings:

My difficulty is, why are caterpillars sometimes so beautifully and artistically coloured? Seeing that many are coloured to escape danger, I can hardly attribute their bright colour in other cases to mere physical conditions. If any one objected to male butterflies having been made beautiful by sexual selection, and asked why should they not have been made beautiful as well as their caterpillars, what would you answer? I could not answer but should maintain my ground.

Again Charles Darwin expresses the conflict he came into with his own theory as follows:

I value the cases of bright-coloured, incubating male fishes, and brilliant female butterflies, solely as showing that one sex may be made brilliant without any necessary transference of beauty to the other sex; for in these cases I cannot suppose that beauty in the other sex was checked by selection.

Certainly, it is impossible for colours, order and symmetry in nature to have come into being by natural selection. At this point, it would be useful to have a closer look at the concept of "natural selection" put forward by the Darwinian theory of evolution. As is well known, natural selection is one of the imaginary mechanisms of the theory of evolution. It holds that those best fitted to their environment will survive, while those who are weak and unfit for environmental conditions will be eliminated. According to the claims of evolutionists, a beneficial change occurs in a member of a species through a random mutation in its genes. That creature is selected from among all others of that species by the mechanism of survival of the fittest, and thus what was a random mutation is transferred in larger amounts to the next generation.

It is definitely not possible for colours, patterns and the symmetry in the patterns of living beings to have been created through such a mechanism. This is a very obvious fact. Although he is the founder of the theory, Darwin himself had to confess that the imaginary mechanism of natural selection could not be the cause of such an order. Also, British archaeologist J. Hawkes questions the meaninglessness of natural selection in his article "Nine Tantalizing Mysteries of Nature", published in New York Times magazine:

I find it difficult to believe that the extravagant glories of birds, fish, flowers and other living forms were produced solely by natural selection; I find it incredible that human consciousness was such a product. How can man's brain, the instrument which created all the riches of civilization, which served Socrates, Shakespeare, Rembrandt, and Einstein, have been brought into being by a struggle for survival among hunters of wild game in the Pleistocene wilderness?

As understood from those confessions of evolutionists, they know that their theory is in crisis. It is unreasonable to defend the idea that a cell, which supposedly came into existence coincidentally as a result of lightning and rains on the earth, turned into multicoloured living things over time. Suppose a scientist to take a single cell of a bacterium for instance, provide the most suitable laboratory conditions, use all the equipment required, spend effort on having this cell evolve over millions of years (though this is not possible, let us suppose it is); what would he acquire in the end? Would he ever transform a bacterium into a peacock with its dazzling colours, or into a leopard with perfect patterns on its skin, or into a rose with its red velvet-like leaves? Of course, intelligent people can neither imagine such a thing nor make such a claim. Yet, this is exactly the claim of the theory of evolution.

The "Colour" Impasse of Evolution

Chameleons are one of the creatures that change colour most rapidly according to their surroundings. It is certainly not possible for a chameleon to make a system so complex as changing the colour of its body cells in such a short time on its own. This system present in chameleons is a product of matchless design. And this design belongs to Allah, the most Wise.

Let us verify with an example that it is impossible for the colours of living beings and systems of transformation of colour to come about by natural selection. Let us take chameleons for an example. Chameleons are animals capable of adapting to the colours present in the environment and changing their colours according to the surroundings. While resting on a green leaf, they assume a green colour, while moving onto a brown branch, their skin changes to brown in a very short time. Let us think together over how this process of colour change takes place.

A living creature changes its colour as a consequence of highly complex processes taking place in its body. It is impossible for a man to change either his own colour or another living being's colour, because the human body is not equipped with the proper systems for such an operation. Nor is it possible for a human to develop such a system on his own because it is not like a piece of equipment to be developed and installed. In short, for a living creature to be able to change its colour, it is imperative for this creature to come into being with such a colour change mechanism.

Let us think about the first chameleon on the earth. What would happen if this creature did not have the ability to change colour? First, the chameleon would be easy prey since it could not hide. Besides, since it would be easily recognised, hunting would be very difficult for it. This would finally cause a chameleon devoid of any other defence mechanism to die or starve and, after a while, to become extinct. Yet, the existence of chameleons in the world today evidently proves that such an event has never taken place. So, chameleons possessed this perfect system from the first moment they appeared on earth.

Evolutionists claim that chameleons have developed this system over time. This would make some questions occur to our minds: why have chameleons chosen to develop such a complex system such as changing colour instead of an easier defence mechanism? Why has it chosen changing colour while there are so many kinds of defence mechanisms? How has such a mechanism, providing for all the chemical processes necessary for colour change, been formed in the chameleon? Is it possible for a reptile to think of such a mechanism and then develop the necessary systems in its body? More, is it possible for a reptile to encode the information necessary for colour change in the DNA present in its cells?

Unquestionably, this is impossible. The conclusion to be drawn from the answers given to such questions as above will be one and the same: it is impossible for a living creature to develop such a complex system that allows it to change its own colour.

Not only systems of colour change, but also the diversities of colour and pattern in living beings deserve focus. It is impossible for the bright colours in parrots, the diverse colours in fish, the symmetry in the wings of butterflies, the fascinating patterns in flowers and the colours of other living things to have been formed on their own. Such perfect patterns, colours and figures, which serve very important purposes in the lives of living things, are concrete evidence of creation. It is obvious that there is a superior design in the formation of the colours around us.

It is Allah Who determines the colours of all living beings in nature.

Let us make it clear with an example: let us suppose that we are designing a product consisting of squares. Even to draw one of them, we need to make a small calculation and make sure that all four sides are linear and equal and the square has 90-degree angles at the corners. We can draw the square only after making some calculations and adjustments. As seen, even drawing a single square requires some knowledge and skill.

Let us apply the same reasoning to living creatures around us and ponder on them. There is perfect harmony, order and plan in living beings. A person who appreciates the necessity of knowledge and skill in drawing a simple square, will understand right away that origination of the order, harmony, colours and design in the universe is also a product of infinite knowledge and skill. Therefore there is no reasonable or scientific ground for claiming that a system such as the universe has come into existence by chance. Allah, the Most Powerful, has created the entire universe. Allah is the One Who fashions everything He creates most beautifully.

The Symmetry in Nature Cannot Originate by Chance

There is perfect symmetry in nature, which could by no means have originated by chance.

One of the most striking points producing harmony in the universe is symmetry. Living things have symmetric structures. Anything we see in nature, a seed for instance, a fruit or a leaf we examine will show us symmetry in their structure. Let us take a leafy plant. Leaves wind around the body of the plant like a spiral. This is a certain type of symmetry. Similarly, an observable order rules in the arrangement of the grains of a seed and in the design of the veins of the leaf.

Butterfly wings are another example of the symmetry in nature. On both wings of a butterfly are the same shades of colour and patterns. A pattern on one wing is also present on the other in exactly the same place.

We can see many other examples of symmetry around us, a few of which we summarised above. The important thing however is that there is a common conclusion to be drawn from all the given examples. There is a matchless order, or to be more exact, a magnificent artistry displayed in living things. One of the greatest evidences of the fact that the universe could by no means have come into being by coincidence is this subtle order and artistry. In his book titled "The Theory of Evolution and Bigotry", Prof. Cemal Yýldýrým states this fact although he is an evolutionist himself:

"It is far from being convincing to attribute this order in living things, which seems to have a particular purpose, to chance or coincidence"

Allah created everything in the universe within a larger order. Allah has control over all things.

Your God is One God. There is no god but Him, the All-Merciful, the Most Merciful. In the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night and day, and the ships which sail the seas to people's benefit, and the water which Allah sends down from the sky - by which He brings the earth to life when it was dead and scatters about in it creatures of every kind - and the varying direction of the winds, and the clouds subservient between heaven and earth, there are Signs for people who use their intellect. (Surat al-Baqara: 163-164)

Basic questions of our lives

Were they created of nothing, or were they themselves the creators? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Surely, they have no firm belief. Or are the treasures of your Lord with them, or have they control over them? (At-Tur, 35-37) The first error a prejudiced person makes is trying to evaluate religion without giving thought to Allah. Sociologists, for example, who do research on religion, can write thousands of books on how religions arose and how they affected societies sociologically. Yet, in spite of all these great academic studies, they cannot understand religion even to a minute extent when compared with those who lead their lives within the boundaries of religion. Such people are not capable of comprehending the reality of Allah’s unity, which is the basis of religion. Anyone who decides to learn about Islam needs first to understand the existence of Allah. If he does not believe in Allah, he will simply be investigating the Qur’an and Muslims in terms of his own limited vision of life. The Qur’an thus expresses disapproval of such people: “They disbelieve what they cannot grasp, for they have not yet seen its prophecy fulfilled.” (Yunus, 39) Islam is not a man-made ideology about which half-baked ideas and baseless conclusions can be put forth from the outside. The individual can understand what Islam is about only when he understands the existence of Allah and lives his life as enjoined in the Qur’an. Essentially, the existence of Allah and the reality that there is no deity other than Allah are crystal clear facts. But in “the society of ignorance” where people fail to use their reasoning due to their habit of indifference and indolence, they grow blind and cannot comprehend this reality. One of the many Qur'anic verses about pondering on the existence of Allah records the Almighty’s advice to the Prophet on how he should address the ignorant: “Say: ‘Think, you, if Allah took away your hearing and your sight, and sealed up your hearts, who - a god other than Allah - could restore them to you?’” The same verse goes on to say: “See how We explain the signs by various symbols; yet they turn aside.” (Al-Anaam, 46) A brief example can help us enrich our views and remove our innate ignorance. Let’s assume that there is a person from whose memory everything, including the knowledge of his self-being and his body, has been wiped out. If he found himself on a place like earth, what would he feel like? He would undoubtedly be so amazed and so astonished as to lose his mind out of curiosity. The first thing he would notice would probably be his body. He would not be aware that his body in fact belonged to him in the first place, thinking of it as an external object, like the other things in the scene. Then it would be very interesting for him to be able to control his body parts and make them do what he wanted them to do. He would probably try to figure out the use of his arm by moving it up and down for a while. He would find very suitable surroundings for his body, the reason for the existence of which would still be unknown to him. There would be safe ground to stand on, a clear image to view, beautiful fragrances to smell, various animals, a proper air temperature exactly suitable to the body, an atmosphere suitable for breathing, and thousands of other sensitive balances. Edible fruits to satisfy his hunger, pure and clear water to cool his parched throat and many more things. For a moment, let us put ourselves in his position and reflect for a while. In a place like this, would we just go and enjoy ourselves, or be wise enough to ask ourselves some very crucial questions? Would we try to understand who we were, why we were there, what the reason for our existence was, what the reason for the existence of the present order was or, would we simply ignore these questions and be concerned with how much we enjoyed our lives? Would not the first questions come to our minds be as follows: Who am I? Who has created me, who has created this perfect body of mine? Who has created this great order which surrounds me? What does He, who created everything, want from me? What does He want to show me? Even an individual with a weak mind would think that there is nothing more important than finding answers to these questions. Someone who pays no attention to them, preferring rather to spend his life in fulfilling his physical needs, amusing himself during the day and sleeping at nights, would undoubtedly be a creature of no understanding at all. Someone must have created his body and his surroundings, and they must have come into being all of a sudden. Once he was created, every second of the rest of his life must also have been dependent on that Superior Being, Who had initially created him. What could be more important than knowing about this Superior Being, Who obviously possesses a great power? Let us continue with our example and assume that he reaches a city after walking through the land for a while. There are various types of people there, most of whom are pretty vulgar, ambitious and insincere. And almost nobody is thinking about his Owner or the place he is living in. Although everyone has a job, an aim or an ideology, the people of the city cannot bring good order to the city, with which everyone would be content. Let’s assume he meets some people whom the denizens of the city dislike, and towards whom they feel rage and enmity. As to what these people are like, he sees that they are significantly different from the others in many ways. He feels that, as human beings, they are amiable reasonable, and trustworthy. They look humble and they speak in a clear, moderate and sensible manner. He can easily see that there is nothing wrong with them, so he becomes confused and has doubts as to why the citizen" think otherwise. Let’s assume he starts a conversation with them and they tell him: “We have a different view of life and think differently from other people because we are aware that there is an Owner of this place and everything in it. We are also aware that His power is above everything and He has created this place and everything else to test and educate us until the day comes when we will leave this place. We have a book which we have received from Him, and we are leading our lives in accordance with this book.” In such a situation, he might not be a hundred per cent sure whether these people were really telling the truth or not. But he would probably understand that what they were talking about was quite important. He would feel there was nothing more important than obtaining further information about these people at that moment, and he would be extremely curious about the book they were talking about, would he not? The only thing that stops us from being as sensible as the person in this example is our having been on this earth for a longer period of time. We have experienced a growth process instead of coming into being as an adult all of a sudden, like the person in the story. Consequently, we have to admit that most of us are in a position similar to that of the town people in the example due to our disregard of such questions in our lives. What we should further bear in mind is that almost none of the people in this city actually thought about the questions cited above, found some consistent answers on their own, and finally turned away from the Superior Being, Who created them. In fact, most of them did not even go through these steps, but simply pushed these questions aside and stopped thinking about them, because of their “collective ignorance”. Are we aware of the fact that the “society of ignorance” we are living in prevents us from answering those crucial questions mentioned above by keeping us occupied with questions like: “What shall I eat tonight, which dress should I wear tomorrow?” or “What is she thinking about me, what should I say to him?”? Unfortunately, this shows nothing but abysmal ignorance although we claim to be living in the “information age”. Now, you have a chance! Think about the complete ignorance you might have been exposed to by such a “society of ignorance” and ask yourselves the following question, which so far you might not have thought over, or might have brushed aside with insufficient explanations: How did I come into existence? In order to be able to answer this question, it would be useful to start with the physical beginning of our existence and think about that extraordinary event - “birth”. The brief history of birth can be summarized as follows: Sperms are produced literally ‘outside’ of a man’s body. The reason for this is the fact that sperm production can occur only in a suitable environment with a temperature of about 35 degrees Celsius, which is two degrees below the average body temperature. Male testicles are the only body parts with this temperature, as they are rightly placed outside of the body. To bring the temperature to the required level, another mechanism is activated. The skin covering the testicles shrinks when it is cold and sweats when it is hot to keep the temperature of this area stable. Approximately a thousand sperms are produced per minute, and they have a special design that eases their long journey from the man’s testicles to the woman’s egg. A sperm comprises a head, a neck and a tail by the use of which a fish-like movement towards the mother’s uterus takes place. The head part, which carries the genetic code of the future human being, is covered with a special protective armour. The benefit of this armor is noticed at the entrance of the mother’s uterus. This place is very acidic to protect the mother from microbes and other alien particles like sperms, but by the use of this armor, most sperms manage to stay alive. Not only sperms are ejaculated to the uterus. Semen is a mixture that consists of many other liquids. These liquids contain sugar that supplies energy to the sperms. Semen, which is a base in its chemical form, neutralizes the acidic environment at the entrance of the uterus and creates a safe environment for sperms. It also makes the environment slippery so that sperms can move along easily. Sperms make a difficult journey inside the body of the mother until they reach the egg. No matter how hard they try to survive, only a thousand sperms out of 200-300 million can make it to the egg. In the light of this brief information, let’s try to find the answers to some questions that cross our minds: How can a sperm make itself so suitable for entry into the mother’s uterus, about which it knows nothing beforehand? How can a sperm be produced in the male body in a way that it can survive and find its way to the egg in the female uterus in spite of the protective mechanisms of the female body, about which the sperm had no previous idea? How can this happen? Since a sperm lacks the ability to adapt itself to an unknown environment in advance, the only possible answer to these questions is that it is actually created that way. Let’s continue with the brief story of birth: An egg is about half the size of a salt grain. The place where an egg and a sperm meet is called the Fallopian tube. The egg secretes a special fluid that leads the sperms to the egg. As they come closer to the egg, their protective armor is melted by another fluid secreted by the egg. As a result, solvent enzyme sachets appear on the cover of the sperms’ heads. By the use of these enzymes, the sperm that is to fertilize the egg, penetrates the membrane of the egg. When the sperms surround the egg, they race one another to enter to the egg. Mostly, only one sperm fertilizes the egg and from that time on, there is no possibility for another sperm to enter it. Before fertilization, the electric charge of the sperms and the egg are opposite, therefore they attract each other. However, after the entrance of the first sperm, the electrical charge of the egg changes, acquiring a pushing effect on the rest of the sperms. Finally, the DNA of the male present in the sperm combines with the DNA of the female. At this moment, there forms a new cell (the zygote), that is, a new human being inside the mother’s womb. After considering this bit of information, a new question comes to our minds: How is it that an egg is prepared to welcome a sperm as if it “knew” that it would meet the sperm? How can this happen? The only possible answer to this question is that the egg is created to be suitable to the sperm by the will of a Creator who has also created the sperms and controls both the sperm and the egg. The extraordinary nature of birth does not finish with all this. The fertilized egg clings on to the womb by its special knobbly surface. The small protuberances on the surface of the egg jut out and penetrate deep into the mother’s womb like the roots of plants in the ground. The zygote starts to develop through hormones secreted by the mother. The egg keeps receiving nutrition provided by the mother. With time, the cells divide and grow in number by the two-four-eight-sixteen model. In the beginning, all cells that are formed by the division of old ones have the same properties as each other. Then, all of a sudden, newly formed cells somehow start differentiating, showing separate characteristics, as they are to form different organs of the fetus. The science of today still lacks the competence to give a satisfactory answer to the question of why and how exactly this differentiation of cells takes place and how they form different organs with such perfect organization. As time passes, a drastic change takes place in the jelly-like fetus. Relatively rough bones start to form inside that soft structure, all of them surprisingly, in their proper places. What’s amazing here, is that while all the cells carry exactly the same characteristics at the beginning, through the differentiating process, some of them turn out to be eye cells sensitive to light, others become nerve cells that perceive heat while yet others form those cells that detect sound vibrations. Finally the fetus’ construction is completed and a new baby is born into the world. At this stage, it is 100 million times bigger and 6 billion times heavier than its initial form when it was a fertilized egg. This “brief history” mentioned above concerns us, because it is the story of how we came into being. For us, what can be more important than finding the ultimate Cause and Owner of that great, extraordinary and complex event of our existence? When we glance at this short history, we come across many other questions to which science, which is under the influence of materialism, has not yet found any answers. But there are still many questions that need to be answered. One of these is: How can cells of the same structure start to gather in groups and form different organs of the body while they multiply? Actually, there is no answer to these questions about birth other than accepting the presence of a Creator. It would be a great mistake to think that all of these complex operations occur on their own or by chance. How can cells agree to form “human organs”? Let’s think about this a little further. Let’s assume that there are two wise adults who come together and decide to work on an engineering project. Even between these two persons, some misunderstandings will unavoidably occur and this will put the success of the project at risk. Then, how can thousands and millions of cells work together to form an absolutely perfect organization without any mishap? Who would dare to say an answer to this question: “It may be possible by chance”? Some atheist “scientists” of today explain this marvelous occurrence as the “magic of nature”. What does this mean? Who or what is nature? Has not nature also been created? Another attempt to answer this question might be to refer to the mother and the father—which would be meaningless. The role of parents in this event is in fact, neglible. Neither mother nor the father is aware what goes on within them in the production of gender cells, fertilization and development of fetus. The exact date of birth is unknown to mother who has no control over delivery. In spite of this, mother and father are seen as the “origin of one’s life”? But are they so? The mother and father are very important to their child, as they play a role in his existence. On the other hand, one never, or only rarely, thinks about ones real Creator. Is not the real Creator, who has the ultimate power and control ones everything including birth, life and death, worth more love and respect? His existence is clear and the existence of any other thing without Him is not possible. No one but Allah can create anyone or any matter on his own, while He neither begets nor is begotten as is stated in the third verse of Al-Ikhlas 3. The creation is explained in the Qur’an as follows; “We created man from a quintessence (of clay); Then We placed him as (a drop of) sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed; Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood; then of that clot We made a (fetus) lump; then We made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh; then We developed out of it another creature. So blessed be Allah, the noblest of Creators!” (Al-Mumenoon, 12-14) This being so, it is clear that there is no difference between ourselves and that man in the story, who was “suddenly” created and become curious about who had created him and everything around him. Of course, he found himself as an adult and without any parents who gave birth to him and raised him. But now that we also know that our coming into existence can in no way be explained by parents, we can consider our situation similar to that of the man in the story. In such a situation, the most important thing to do is to search exclusively for the truth, to listen to those who claim they have knowledge and evidence about the truth and then to think over what we have been told. Take the man in the story again. As we know, he meets some people in the city who tell him that they can make known to him the Creator Who has created himself and everything around and that there is a book from Him. What do you think he would do? Would he listen to them, or would he simply turn away from them and prefer to be involved with such ordinary, everyday questions like: “What shall I wear tonight, what shall I say to him?” that are daily repeated and will one day become meaningless when death comes to him. Which one of these two choices is the more rational, logical and conscientious? You, without doubt, know the correct answer for this man. But, what about yourself? What leads up to the event of creation is specifically described in certain other verses of the Quran; “Does man think that he will be left uncontrolled, without purpose? Was he not a drop of sperm emitted in lowly form? Then he became a leech-like clot; then Allah made and fashioned him in due proportion. And of him He made two sexes, male and female. Has not He, the same, the power to give life to the dead?” (Al-Qiyama, 36-40) “Allah created you from dust; then from a sperm-drop; then He made you in pairs. No female conceives, or lays down her load, but with His knowledge. No man is long-lived, nor is a part cut off from his life, but in accordance with His Decree. All this is easy to Allah.” (Fatir, 11) The human is a being created by Allah and as a created entity, he cannot change this fact. He cannot bring any other explanation to his own existence. Since he has been created, he would not be left uncontrolled and irresponsible as emphasized in the above verses. There is, of course, a purpose for creation. Where then will he find the answer? There is only one answer to this question and that is in the book that Allah has sent down to him.

Forgiveness according to the morals of İslam and its benefits on health

One of the moral traits recommended in the Qur’an is forgiveness: Hold to forgiveness, command what is right, and turn away from the ignorant. (Qur’an, 7: 199) In another verse Allah commands: “… They should rather pardon and overlook. Would you not love Allah to forgive you? Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Qur’an, 24:22) The repayment of a bad action is one equivalent to it. But if someone pardons and puts things right, his reward is with Allah… (Qur’an, 42:40) ... But if you pardon and exonerate and forgive, Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Qur’an, 64: 14) It has also been revealed in the Qur’an that forgiveness is a superior moral trait: “But if someone is steadfast and forgives, that is the most resolute course to follow.” (Qur’an, 42:43) For that reason, believers are forgiving, compassionate and tolerant people who, as revealed in the Qur’an, “control their rage and pardon other people.” (Qur’an, 3:134) According to recent research, American scientists established that those capable of forgiveness are healthier in both mind and body. Dr. Frederic Luskin, who holds a Ph.D. in Counselling and Health Psychology from Stanford University, and his team, studied 259 people living in the city of San Francisco. The scientists invited the subjects to attend six one-and-a-half-hour sessions, and aimed to instruct the subjects in forgiveness during their conversations. The subjects of the experiments stated that they suffered less after forgiving people who had wronged them. The research showed that people who learned to forgive feel much better, not only emotionally but also physically. For example, it was established that after the experiment psychological and physical symptoms such as stress-related backache, insomnia and stomachaches were significantly reduced in these individuals. In his book, Forgive for Good, Dr. Frederic Luskin describes forgiveness as a proven recipe for health and happiness. The book describes how forgiveness promotes such positive states of mind as hope, patience and self-confidence by reducing anger, suffering, depression and stress. According to Dr. Luskin, harboured anger causes observable physical effects in the individual. He goes on to say that: The thing about long-term or unresolved anger, is we've seen it resets the internal thermostat. When you get used to a low level of anger all the time, you don't recognize what's normal. It creates a kind of adrenaline rush that people get used to. It burns out the body and makes it difficult to think clearly—making the situation worse. In addition, Dr. Luskin says, when the body releases certain enzymes during anger and stress, cholesterol and blood pressure levels go up—not a good long-term disposition to maintain the body in. An article called “Forgiveness,” published in the September-October 1996 edition of Healing Currents Magazine, stated that anger towards an individual or an event led to negative emotions in people, and harmed their emotional balance and even their physical health. The article also states that people realise after a while that the anger is a nuisance to them, and wish to repair the damage to the relationship. So, they take steps to forgive. It is also stated that, despite all they endure, people do not want to waste the precious moments of their life in anger and anxiety, and prefer to forgive themselves and others. In another study involving 1,500 people depression, stress and mental illness were observed to be less frequent in religious people. Dr. Herbert Benson, who conducted the research, linked this to the way religions encourage “forgiveness”, and went on to say: There’s a physiology of forgiveness… When you do not forgive, it will chew you up. According to an article titled, “Anger is Hostile To Your Heart,” published in the Harvard Gazette, anger is extremely harmful to the heart. Ichiro Kawachi, an assistant professor of medicine, and his team scientifically demonstrated this with various tests and measurements. As a result of their research, they established that grumpy old men had three times the risk of heart disease than their more tempered peers. "The tripling of risk," Kawachi says, "involves high levels of anger, explosive anger that includes smashing things and wanting to hurt someone in a fight." Researchers believe that release of stress hormones, increased oxygen demand by the heart’s muscle cells, and added stickiness of blood platelets, which leads to clots explain how anger increases the chance of a heart attack. Furthermore, at times of anger, the pulse rises above its normal level, and leads to increased blood pressure in the arteries, and thus to a greater risk of heart attack. According to researchers, anger and hostility can also trigger the production of proteins linked to inflammation in the blood. The journal Psychosomatic Medicine suggested that the emotion triggers the production of inflammatory proteins, which may in turn be causing the hardening of the arteries, causing heart disease and stroke. According to Associate Professor Edward Suarez of the Duke University Medical Centre in North Carolina, the protein interleukin 6 (or IL-6) is much higher in men who are angry and depressed. High blood levels of IL-6 lead to atherosclerosis, the build-up of fatty deposits in the lining of the walls of arteries. According to Suarez, as well as factors such as smoking, high blood pressure, obesity and high cholesterol, heart disease is also linked to psychological states such as depression, anger and hostility. Another article, titled “Anger Raises Risk of Heart Attack,” published in The Times, stated that a short temper might be a short cut to a heart attack, and that young men who reacted to stress by becoming angry were three times more likely to develop premature heart disease, and were five times more likely to have an early heart attack. Scientists at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, found that quick-tempered men are at risk of heart attack even if there is no family history of heart disease. All the available research shows that anger is a state of mind that seriously damages human health. Forgiveness, on the other hand, even if it comes hard to people, is pleasing, an aspect of superior morals, that eliminates all the harmful effects of anger, and helps the individual to enjoy a healthy life, both psychologically and physically. Forgiveness, of course, is one of a form of behaviour by which a person can stay healthy, and a positive virtue everyone should live by. However, the true aim of forgiveness—as in all else—must be to please Allah. The fact that the features of this sort of morality, and that the benefits of which have been scientifically identified, have been revealed in many verses of the Qur’an, is just one of the many sources of wisdom it contains.

THE MİRACLES OF CORAN-1

Fourteen centuries ago, Allah sent down the Qur'an. This book of guidance and wisdom calls man to the truth and instructs all human beings to adhere to the values which this mighty revelation contains. From the day of its revelation to the Day of Judgement, this last divine book will remain as the sole guide for humanity. The book of Allah states,
“But it is nothing less than a Reminder to all the worlds.” (Qur’an, 68:52)

Ever since the Qur’an was revealed, it has possessed an easily understandable language and tone, accessible to all people and in all times. Allah tells us of this style in the Qur’an:

“We have made the Qur’an easy to remember...” (Qur’an, 54:22)

The perfection of the literary language of the Qur’an, the incomparable features of its style and the superior wisdom contained within it are some of the definitive proofs that it represents the Word of our Lord.

In addition, the Qur'an contains within its words many miracles which prove it to be Allah’s Word. One of these attributes is the remarkable number of scientific truths which are contained in the holy book of Islam. In this book which was revealed over fourteen centuries ago to the Prophet Muhammad (saas), there are innumerable examples of information humanity have only been able to uncover by the technology of the 20th and 21st century.

Of course, we should not view the Qur'an as a book of science for it is primarily a book of moral and spiritual guidance. However, many scientific facts that are expressed in an extremely concise and profound manner, within the verses of the Qur’an, have only been discovered by scientists with the aid of the technological advancement of the 20th and 21st century.

THE COMING OF THE UNIVERSE INTO EXISTENCE

Until the mid-20^th century, the prevalent view across the world was that the universe was infinite, had existed forever and that it will continue to do so for all time. According to this view, known as the "static universe model," the universe had no end or beginning.

In maintaining that the universe is a collection of fixed, static and unchanging substances, this view has constituted the basis of materialist philosophy and has consequently rejected the existence of a Creator. However, as science and technology progressed during the 20^th century, the static universe model has been completely uprooted.

We have now entered the 21^st century and a new dawn is upon us. Through numerous experiments, observations and calculation conducted by some of the world's most prominent thinkers, modern physics has proven that the universe did indeed have a beginning, that it came into being from nothing in a single moment in a huge explosion. Furthermore, it has been established that the universe is not fixed and static, as materialists still stubbornly maintain. On the contrary, it is undergoing a constant process of movement, change and expansion. These recently-established facts all act as nails in the coffin of the static universe theory. Today, all these facts are universally accepted by the scientific community.

The origin of the universe is described in the Qur'an in the following verse:

He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth. (Qur'an, 6:101)

This information is in full agreement with the findings of contemporary scientists. The conclusion that astrophysics has reached today is that the entire universe, together with the dimensions of matter and time, came into existence as a result of a great explosion that occurred a long time ago. This event, known as "The Big Bang," is the catalyst for the creation of the universe from nothingness. This explosion, all parties in the scientific community agree, emanated from a single point some 15 billion years ago.

Before the Big Bang, there was no such thing as matter. From a condition of non-existence in which neither matter, nor energy, nor even time existed-and which can only be described metaphysically-matter, energy, and time were all created in an instant. This fact, only recently discovered by modern physics, was announced to us in the Qur'an 1,400 years ago.

The sensitive sensors on board the COBE space satellite, launched by NASA in 1992, captured evidentiary remnants of the Big Bang. This discovery served as evidence for the Big Bang, which is the scientific explanation of the fact that the universe was created from nothing.

THE EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE

Edwin Hubble with his giant telescope

In the Qur'an, which was revealed fourteen centuries ago at a time when the science of astronomy was still primitive, the expansion of the universe was described in the following terms:

And it is We Who have constructed the heaven with might, and verily, it is We Who are steadily expanding it. (Qur'an, 51:47)

The word "heaven," as stated in the verse above, is used in various places in the Qur'an. It is referring to space and the wider universe. Here again, the word is used with this meaning, stating that the universe "expands." The Arabic word "moosiaaoona" in the term "inna lamoosiaaoona," translated into English as "it is We Who are steadily expanding it", comes from the verb "evsea," meaning "to expand." The prefix "la" emphasises the following name or title and adds a sense of "to a great extent." This expression therefore means "We expand the sky or the universe to a great extent." This is the very conclusion that science has reached today. 1

Georges Lemaitre

Until the dawn of the 20^th century, the only view prevailing in the world of science was that "the universe has a constant nature and it has existed since infinite time." However, modern research, observations, and calculations carried out by means of modern technology have revealed that the universe in fact had a beginning and that it constantly "expands."

At the beginning of the 20^th century, the Russian physicist Alexander Friedmann and the Belgian cosmologist Georges Lemaitre theoretically calculated that the universe is in constant motion and that it is expanding.

From the moment of the Big Bang, the universe has been constantly expanding at a great speed. Scientists compare the expanding universe to the surface of a balloon that is inflated.

This notion was confirmed by the use of observational data in 1929. While observing the sky with a telescope, Edwin Hubble, the American astronomer, discovered that the stars and galaxies were constantly moving away from each other. This discovery is regarded as one of the greatest in the history of astronomy. During these observations, Hubble established that the stars emit a light that turns redder according to their distance. That is because according to the known laws of physics, light heading towards a point of observation turns violet, and light moving away from that point assumes a more reddish hue. During his observations, Hubble noted a tendency towards the colour red in the light emitted by stars. In short, the stars were moving further and further away, all the time. The stars and galaxies were not only moving away from us, but also from each other. A universe where everything constantly moves away from everything else implied a constantly expanding universe. The observations carried out in the following years verified that the universe is constantly expanding.

In order to gain a clearer understanding of this, let us imagine the universe to be the surface of a balloon being inflated. In the same way that the more the balloon is inflated, the further away the points on its surface move from one another, celestial bodies also move away from one another as the universe expands. This was theoretically discovered by Albert Einstein, regarded as one of the greatest scientists of the 20^th century. However, in order to avoid violating the "static universe model" that was generally accepted at that time, Einstein laid that discovery aside. He would later describe this as the greatest blunder of his life. 2

This fact was explained in the Qur'an in a time when telescopes and similar technological advancements were not even close to being invented. This is because the Qur'an is the Word of Allah: the Creator and Ruler of the entire universe.

THE END OF THE UNIVERSE AND THE BIG CRUNCH

The Big Crunch theory proposes that the universe, that began expanding with the Big Bang, will collapse in on itself with increasing speed. According to the theory, this collapse of the universe will continue until the universe has lost all its mass and turned into a single point of infinite density.

As i have stated above, the creation of the universe began with a huge explosion. From this point, the universe has been expanding ever since. Scientists say that when the mass of the universe has reached a sufficient level, this expansion will come to an end because of gravity, causing the universe to collapse in on itself. 3

It is also believed that the contracting universe will end in a fierce heat and contraction known as the "Big Crunch." This would lead to the end of all forms of life as we know them. Renata Kallosh and Andrei Linde, professors of physics from Stanford University, made the following statements on the subject:

The universe may be doomed to collapse and disappear. Everything we see now, and at a much larger distance that we cannot see, will collapse into a point smaller than a proton. Locally, it will be the same as if you were inside a black hole... We have found that some of the best attempts to describe dark energy predict that it will gradually become negative, which will cause the universe to become unstable, then collapse... Physicists have known that dark energy could become negative and the universe could collapse sometime in the very distant future... but now we see that we might be, not in the beginning, but in the middle of the life cycle of our universe. 4

This is how this scientific hypothesis of the Big Crunch is indicated in the Qur'an:

That Day We will fold up heaven like folding up the pages of a book. As We originated the first creation so We will regenerate it. It is a promise binding on Us. That is what We will do. (Qur'an, 21:104)

In another verse, this state of the heavens is described thus:

They do not measure Allah with His true measure. The whole earth will be a mere handful for Him on the Day of Rising the heavens folded up in His right hand. Glory be to Him! He is exalted above the partners they ascribe! (Qur'an, 39:67)

According to the Big Crunch theory, the universe will begin to collapse slowly and will then increasingly pick up speed. At the end of the process the universe will have infinite density and be infinitely hot and small. This scientific theory runs parallel to the Qur'anic explanation of this particular scientific concept. (Allah knows best)

The picture represents the Big Bang, which revealed once again that Allah created the universe from nothingness. The Big Bang is a theory that has been proven with scientific evidence. Although some scientists tried to advance arguments against the Big Bang, scientific evidence has caused the Big Bang theory to be completely accepted by the scientific community.

CREATION FROM HOT SMOKE

Scientists today are able to observe the formation of stars from a hot gas cloud. Formation from a warm mass of gas also applies to the creation of the universe. The creation of the universe as described in the Qur'an confirms this scientific discovery in the following verse:

He placed firmly embedded mountains on it, towering over it, and blessed it and measured out its nourishment in it, laid out for those who seek it-all in four days. Then He turned to heaven when it was smoke and said to it and to the earth, "Come willingly or unwillingly." They both said, "We come willingly." (Qur'an, 41:10-11)

The Arabic word for "smoke" in the above verse is "dukhanun," which describes the hot, cosmic smoke in question. This word in the Qur'an, in pinpoint fashion, describes this smoke very accurately for it is a warm body of gas containing mobile particles connected to solid substances. Here, the Qur'an has employed the most appropriate word from the Arabic language for describing the appearance of this phase of the universe. Let us note that only in the 20^th century have scientists discovered that the universe emerged from a hot gas in the form of smoke. 5

The fact that such information about the creation of the universe is given in the Qur'an is nothing short of a miracle of the Qur'an.

THE SPLITTING ASUNDER OF "THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH"

Another verse about the creation of the heavens is as follows:

Do those who disbelieve not see that the heavens and the earth were sewn together and then We unstitched them and that We made from water every living thing? So will they not believe? (Qur'an, 21:30)

The word "ratq" translated as "sewn to" means "mixed in each, blended" in the Arabic vernacular. It is used to refer to two different substances that make up a whole. The phrase "we unstitched" is the verb "fataqa" in Arabic and implies that something comes into being by tearing apart or destroying the structure of things that are sewn to one another. The sprouting of a seed from the soil is one of the actions to which this verb is applied.

Let us take a look at the verse again. In the verse, sky and earth are at first subject to the status of "ratq." They are separated (fataqa) with one coming out of the other. Intriguingly, when we think about the first moments of the Big Bang, we see that the entire matter of the universe collected at one single point. In other words, everything-including "the heavens and earth" which were not created yet-were in an interwoven and inseparable condition. Then, this point exploded violently, causing its matter to disunite.

THE CREATION OF WHAT LIES BETWEEN THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH

The Qur'an contains a great many verses concerning the creation of the earth, the heavens and what lies between:

We did not create the heavens and earth and everything between them, except with truth. The Hour is certainly coming, so turn away graciously. (Qur'an, 15:85)

Everything in the heavens and everything on the earth and everything in between them and everything under the ground belongs to Him. (Qur'an, 20:6)

We did not create heaven and earth and everything in between them as a game. (Qur'an, 21:16)

Scientists state that first of all, a mass of hot gas increased in density. This mass later divided into smaller parts to form galactic matter and later still, the stars and planets. To put it another way, the Earth along with stars around it, are all parts which separated from a united body of gas. Some of these parts brought the suns and planets into being, thus leading to the emergence of the many Solar Systems and galaxies. As we have set out in earlier sections of this book, the universe was first in a state of "ratq" (fusion: combined together, united) and then became "fataqa" (divided into parts). The emergence of the universe is described with the most suitable words in the Qur'an, in such a way as to confirm the scientific accounts. 6

On the occasion of every division, a few particles remained outside the new, fundamental bodies forming in space. The scientific name for these extra particles is "interstellar galactic material." Interstellar matter consists of 60% of hydrogen, 38% of helium and 2% of all other elements. 99% of the interstellar matter consists of interstellar gas and 1% of interstellar dust, which probably consists of heavy elements in small particles of 0,0001 to 0.001 mm in diameter. Scientists regard these substances as very important from the point of view of astrophysical measurements. These substances are so fine as to be capable of being regarded as dust, smoke or gas. However, when one considers these substances as a whole, they represent a larger mass than the total of all the galaxies in space. Although the existence of this interstellar galactic matter was only discovered in 1920, attention was drawn to the existence of these particles, described as "ma baynahuma"-translated as "everything between them"-hundreds of years ago in the Qur'an.7

THE PERFECT EQUILIBRIUM IN THE UNIVERSE

He Who created the seven heavens in layers. You will not find any discrepancy in the creation of the All-Merciful. Look again-do you see any gaps? Then look again and again. Your sight will return to you dazzled and exhausted! (Qur'an, 67:3-4)

The billions of stars and galaxies in the universe move in perfect equilibrium in the paths set out for them. Stars, planets and satellites rotate not only around their own axes but also together with the systems of which they are an integral part. Sometimes, galaxies containing 200-300 billion stars move across each others' paths. Yet amazingly, no collisions take place that might damage the great order in the universe. This miracle is something over which all of us should reflect.

In the universe, the concept of speed assumes giant dimensions when compared to earthly measurements. Stars, planets, galaxies and conglomerations of galaxies-whose numerical properties can only be conceived by mathematicians-weigh billions or trillions of tons, and move through space at extraordinary speeds.

For example, the Earth rotates at 1,670 kmph. If we consider that the fastest-moving bullet today possesses an average speed of 1,800 kmph, we can see how fast the Earth is moving, despite its enormous size and mass.

The speed of the Earth as it orbits the Sun is some 60 times faster than a bullet: 108,000 kmph. If we were able to construct a vehicle capable of moving at that speed, it would be able to circumnavigate the Earth in 22 minutes. These figures apply only to the Earth.

Those for the Solar System are even more fascinating. The speed of that system is such as to exceed the bounds of reason: The larger the systems in the universe, the greater their speed. The Solar System's speed of orbit around the centre of the galaxy is 720,000 kmph. The Milky Way, with its 200 billion or so stars, moves through space at 950,000 kmph.

There is no doubt that there is a very high risk of collisions in such a complicated and fast-moving system. Yet nothing of the sort actually happens and we continue with our lives in complete safety. That is because everything in the universe functions according to the flawless equilibrium set out by Allah. It is for this reason that, as stated in the verse, there is no "discrepancy" in the system.

THE FINE TUNING IN THE UNIVERSE

He Who created the seven heavens in layers. You will not find any flaw in the creation of the All-Merciful. Look again-do you see any gaps? Then look again and again. Your sight will return to you dazzled and exhausted! (Qur'an, 67:3-4)

Do you not see how He created seven heavens in layers? (Qur'an, 71:15)

He to Whom the kingdom of the heavens and the earth belongs. He does not have a son and He has no partner in the Kingdom. He created everything and determined it most exactly. (Qur'an, 25:2)

Materialist philosophy emerged with the claim that all the systems in nature and the universe were like machines that functioned on their own, that the flawless order and balance within them were the work of chance. However, today, the false nature of materialism and of Darwinism, its so-called scientific foundation, has been scientifically demonstrated.

The scientific discoveries of the 20th century that followed swiftly, one after the other, in the fields of astrophysics and biology have proved that life and the universe were created. As the theses of Darwinism collapsed, the Big Bang theory has shown that the universe was created from nothing. Discoveries have revealed that there is a great design and fine-tuning in the material world and this has categorically demonstrated the groundless nature of the claims of materialism.

Considering the conditions necessary for life, we see that only the Earth meets these particular conditions. For an environment suitable for life, there are innumerable conditions taking place simultaneously and unceasingly all around us. There are some hundred billion galaxies, each with-on average-a hundred billion stars. In all the galaxies, there are perhaps as many planets as stars.8 In the face of such overpowering numbers, one can better comprehend the significance of the formation of such an exceptional environment on the Earth.

From the force of the Big Bang explosion to the physical values of atoms, from the levels of the four basic forces to the chemical processes in the stars, from the type of light emitted by the Sun to the level of viscosity of water, from the distance of the Moon to the Earth to the level of gases in the atmosphere, from the Earth's distance from the Sun to its angle of tilt to its orbit, and from the speed at which the Earth revolves around its own axis to the functions of the oceans and mountains on the Earth: every single detail is ideally suited to our lives. Today, the world of science describes these features by means of the concepts of the "Anthropic Principle" and "Fine-Tuning." These concepts summarise the way that the universe is not an aimless, uncontrolled, chance collection of matter but that it has a purpose directed towards human life and has been designed with the greatest precision.

Attention is drawn in the above verses to the measure and harmony in Allah's creation. The word "taqdeeran," meaning "to design, measure, create by measuring," is employed in Qur'anic verses such as Surat al-Furqan 2. The word "tibaqan," meaning "in harmony," is used in Surat al-Mulk 3 and Surah Nuh 15. Furthermore, Allah also reveals in Surat al-Mulk with the word "tafawutin," meaning "disagreement, violation, non-conformity, disorder, opposite," that those who seek disharmony will fail to find it.

The term "fine-tuning," which began to be used towards the end of the 20th century, represents this truth revealed in the verses. Over the last quarter-century or so, a great many scientists, intellectuals and writers have shown that the universe is not a collection of coincidences. On the contrary, it has an extraordinary design and order ideally suited to human life in its every detail. (See Harun Yahya, The Creation of the Universe, Al-Attique Publishers, November 2002 and A Chain of Miracles, Global Publishing, May 2004.) Many features in the universe clearly show that the universe has been specially designed to support life. The physicist Dr. Karl Giberson expresses this fact thus:

In the 1960s, some physicists observed that our universe appears to have been fine-tuned for the existence of human life. 9

The British astrophysicist Professor George F. Ellis refers to this fine-tuning in these terms:

Amazing fine tuning occurs in the laws that make this [complexity] possible. Realization of the complexity of what is accomplished makes it very difficult not to use the word "miraculous" without taking a stand as to the ontological status of the word. 10

Everything in the heavens and everything in the earth belongs to Allah. All matters return to Allah. (Qur’an, 3:109)

The speed of the Big Bang explosion:

The balances established with the Big Bang, the instantaneous formation of the universe, are one of the proofs that the universe did not come into being by chance. According to the well-known Adelaide University professor of mathematical physics Paul Davies, if the rate of expansion that took place following the Big Bang had been just one in a billion billion parts different (1/10¹⁸), the universe could not have come into being.11 In his book A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking recognises this extraordinary precision in the universe's rate of expansion:

If the rate of expansion one second after the big bang had been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand million million, the universe would have recollapsed before it ever reached its present size. 12

The Four Forces:

All physical motion in the universe comes about thanks to the interaction and equilibrium of the four forces recognised by modern physics: gravity, electromagnetic force, strong nuclear force and weak nuclear force. These forces possess extraordinarily different values to one another. Michael Denton, the famous molecular biologist, describes the extraordinary equilibrium among these forces thus:

If, for example, the gravitational force was a trillion times stronger, then the universe would be far smaller and its life history far shorter. An average star would have a mass a trillion times less than the sun and a life span of about one year. On the other hand, if gravity had been less powerful, no stars or galaxies would have ever formed. The other relationships and values are no less critical. If the strong force had been just slightly weaker, the only element that would be stable would be hydrogen. No other atoms could exist. If it had been slightly stronger in relation to electromagnetism, then an atomic nucleus consisting of only two protons would be a stable feature of the universe-which would mean there would be no hydrogen, and if any stars or galaxies evolved, they would be very different from the way they are. Clearly, if these various forces and constants did not have precisely the values they do, there would be no stars, no supernovae, no planets, no atoms, no life. 13

The Distances between Celestial Bodies:

The distribution of celestial bodies in space and the enormous spaces between them are essential to the existence of life on Earth. The distances between celestial bodies have been set out in a calculation compatible with a great many powerful universal forces in such a way as to support life on Earth. In his book Nature's Destiny Michael Denton describes the distance between supernovae and stars:

The distances between supernovae and indeed between all stars is critical for other reasons. The distance between stars in our galaxy is about 30 million miles. If this distance was much less, planetary orbits would be destabilized. If it was much more, then the debris thrown out by a supernova would be so diffusely distributed that planetary systems like our own would in all probability never form. If the cosmos is to be a home for life, then the flickering of the supernovae must occur at a very precise rate and the average distance between them, and indeed between all stars, must be very close to the actual observed figure. 14

Gravity:

- If gravity were stronger, excessive ammonia and methane would collect in the Earth's atmosphere, which would have a most damaging effect on life.

- If it were weaker, the Earth's atmosphere would lose excessive quantities of water, making life impossible.

The Earth's Distance from the Sun:

- If this were any greater, the planet would grow very cold, the water cycle in the atmosphere would be affected, and the planet would enter an ice-age.

- If the Earth were any closer to the Sun, plants would burn up, the water cycle in the Earth's atmosphere would be irreparably damaged, and life would become impossible.-

The Thickness of the Earth's Crust:

- If the crust were any thicker, then an excessive amount of oxygen would be transferred to it from the atmosphere.

- If it were any thinner, the resulting amount of volcanic activity would make life impossible.

The Speed at which the Earth Revolves:

If this were any slower, the temperature difference between day and night would grow enormously.

-If it were any faster, then atmospheric winds would reach enormous speeds, and cyclones and storms would make life impossible.

The Earth's Magnetic Field:

- If this were any more powerful, very strong electromagnetic storms would arise.

- If it were any weaker, then the Earth would lose its protection against the harmful particles given off by the Sun and known as solar winds. Both situations would make life impossible.-

The Albedo Effect (Ratio between the amount of light the Earth reflects and the amount of light that is absorbed):

- If this were any greater, an ice-age would rapidly result.

- If it were any less, the greenhouse effect would lead to excessive warming. The Earth would first be flooded with the melting of the glaciers, and would then burn up.-

The Proportion of Oxygen and Nitrogen in the Atmosphere:

- If this were any greater, vital functions would be adversely accelerated.

- If it were any less, vital functions would adversely slow down.

The Proportion of Carbon Dioxide and Water in the Atmosphere:

- If this were any greater, the atmosphere would overheat.

- If it were any less, the temperature of the atmosphere would fall.

The Thickness of the Ozone Layer:

- If this were any greater, the Earth's temperature would fall enormously.

- If it were any less, the Earth would overheat and be defenceless against the harmful ultraviolet rays emitted by the Sun.

Seismic Activity (Earthquakes):

- If this were any greater, there would be constant upheaval for living things.

- If it were any less, the nutrients at the sea bottom would fail to spread into the water. This would have a damaging effect on life in the seas and oceans and all living things on Earth.-

The Earth's Angle of Tilt:

The Earth has a 23 degree angle of inclination to its orbit. It is this inclination that gives rise to the seasons. If this angle were any greater or any less than it is now, the temperature difference between the seasons would reach extreme dimensions, with unbearably hot summers and bitterly cold winters.

The Size of the Sun:

A smaller star than the Sun would mean the Earth would freeze and a larger star would lead to its burning up.

The Attraction between the Earth and the Moon:

- If this were any greater, the powerful attraction of the Moon would have extremely serious effects on atmospheric conditions, the speed at which the Earth revolves around its own axis and on the ocean tides.

- If it were any less, this would lead to extreme climate changes.-

The Distance between the Earth and the Moon:

- If they were just a little closer, the Moon would crash into the Earth.

- If they were any further, the Moon would become lost in space.

- If they were even a little closer, the Moon's effect on the Earth's tides would reach dangerous dimensions. Ocean waves would inundate low-lying areas. The friction emerging as a result of this would raise the temperature of the oceans and the sensitive temperature balance essential to life on Earth would disappear.

- If they were even a little further away, the tides would decrease, leading the oceans to be less mobile. Immobile water would endanger life in the seas, and the level of the oxygen we breathe would be endangered. 15

The kingdom of the heavens and earth belongs to Allah. Allah has power over all things. In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are Signs for people with intelligence. (Qur’an, 3:189-190)

The Temperature of the Earth and Carbon-Based Life:

The existence of carbon, the basis of all life, depends on the temperature remaining within specific limits. Carbon is an essential substance for organic molecules such as amino-acid, nucleic acid and protein: These constitute the basis of life. For that reason, life can only be carbon-based. Given this, the existing temperature needs to be no lower than -20 degrees and no higher than 120 degrees Celsius. These are just the temperature limits on Earth.

These are just a few of the exceedingly sensitive balances which are essential for life on Earth to have emerged and to survive. Yet even these are sufficient to definitively reveal that the Earth and the universe could not have come into being as the result of a number of consecutive coincidences. The concepts of "fine-tuning" and the "anthropic principle" that began to be employed in the 20th century are further evidence of Allah's creation. The harmony and proportion therein were described with magnificent accuracy fourteen centuries ago in the Qur'an.

THE STRUCTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE SUN, THE MOON AND THE STARS

We built seven firm layers above you. We installed a blazing lamp. (Qur'an, 78:12-13)

As we know, the only source of light in the Solar System is the Sun. With advances in technology, astronomers discovered that the Moon was not a source of light but that it merely reflects the light reaching it from the Sun. The expression "lamp" in the above verse is a translation of the Arabic word "sirajan," which most perfectly describes the Sun, the source of light and heat.

In the Qur'an Allah employs different words when referring to such celestial bodies as the Moon, the Sun and the stars. This is how the differences between the structures of the Sun and Moon are expressed in the Qur'an:

Do you not see how He created seven heavens in layers, and placed the moon as a light in them and made the sun a blazing lamp? (Qur'an, 71:15-16)

In the above verse, the word "light" is used for the Moon ("nooran" in Arabic) and the word "lamp" for the Sun ("sirajan" in Arabic.) The word used for the Moon refers to a light-reflecting, bright, motionless body. The word used for the Sun refers to a celestial body which is always burning, a constant source of heat and light.

On the other hand, the word "star" comes from the Arabic root "nejeme," meaning "appearing, emerging, visible." As in the verse below, stars are also referred to by the word "thaqib," which is used for that which shines and pierces the darkness with light: self-consuming and burning:

It is the star that pierces through darkness! (Qur'an, 86:3)

We now know that the Moon does not emit its own light but reflects that reaching it from the Sun. We also know that the Sun and stars do emit their own light. These facts were revealed in the Qur'an in an age when mankind simply did not have the means to make scientific discoveries of their own accord. It was an age when peoples' knowledge of celestial bodies was severely restricted, to say the least. This further emphasises the miraculous nature of the book of Islam.

ORBITS AND THE ROTATING UNIVERSE

One of the most important reasons for the great equilibrium in the universe is the fact that celestial bodies follow specific paths. Stars, planets and satellites all rotate around their own axes and also rotate together with the system of which they are a part. The universe functions within a finely-tuned order, just like the wheels in a factory.

There are more than 100 billion galaxies in the visible universe and each small galaxy contains approximately a billion stars. Furthermore, each big galaxy contains more than a trillion. 16 Many of these stars have planets and many of those planets have satellites. All these celestial bodies follow the most finely calculated paths and orbits. For millions of years, each one has been moving in its own path in flawless harmony with all the others. In addition to these, there are also a great many comets moving along in their own pre-determined paths.

In addition, the paths in the universe are not restricted to a few celestial bodies. The Solar System and even other galaxies also exhibit considerable motion around other centres. Every year, Earth, and the Solar System with it, move some 500 million km from where they were the previous year. It has been calculated that even the slightest deviation from celestial bodies' paths could have drastic consequences which might spell the end of the entire system. For example, the consequences of the earth's deviating from its course by a mere 3 mm have been described in one source as follows:

While rotating around the sun, the earth follows such an orbit that, every 18 miles, it only deviates 2.8 millimetres from a direct course. The orbit followed by the earth never changes, because even a deviation of 3 millimetres would cause catastrophic disasters: If the deviation were 2.5 mm instead of 2.8 mm, then the orbit would be very large, and all of us would freeze. If the deviation were 3.1 mm, we would be scorched to death. 17

Another characteristic of heavenly bodies is that they also rotate around their own axes. The verse which reads "[I swear] by Heaven with its cyclical systems," (Qur'an, 86:11) indicates this truth. Naturally, at the time when the Qur'an was revealed, people had no telescopes with which to study bodies millions of kilometres away in space, advanced observation technology or our modern knowledge of physics and astronomy. It was therefore impossible to establish that space had "its oscillating orbits," (Qur'an, 51:7) as described in the verse. The Qur'an however, revealed at that time, provided clear information concerning that fact. This is proof that this book is indeed Allah's Word.

Like many other comets in the universe, Halley's comet, seen above, also moves in a planned orbit. It has a specific orbit and it moves in this orbit in a perfect harmony with other celestial bodies. All celestial bodies—including planets, satellites of these planets, stars and even galaxies—have their own orbits that have been determined with very delicate computations. The One Who established this perfect order and maintains it is Allah, Who created the entire universe.