THE SCIENTIFIC
MIRACLES OF THE QUR'AN
BIOMIMETICS: DRAWING
INSPIRATION FROM THE DESIGN IN LIVING THINGS
LOCUSTS
MOVING IN SWARMS
ANT
COMMUNICATION
THE
FOOD CYCLE
THE
EARS ARE ACTIVE DURING SLEEP
THE
IMPORTANCE OF MOVEMENT IN SLEEP
REDUCED
MOVEMENT AT NIGHT
CHEST
CONTRACTION WITH INCREASING HEIGHT
BIOMIMETICS: DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM
THE DESIGN IN LIVING THINGS
There is instruction for you in cattle. From
the contents of their bellies, from between the dung and blood, We give
you pure milk to drink, easy for drinkers to swallow. (Qur'an, 16:66)
And there is certainly a lesson for you in your
livestock. We give you to drink from what is in their bellies and
there are many ways in which you benefit from them, and some of them
you eat; and you are conveyed on them and on ships as well. (Qur'an,
23:21-22)
Before
scientists and research and development experts embark on new projects,
they usually look for models in living things and imitate their systems
and designs. In other words, they see and study the designs created in
nature by Allah and, inspired by these, go on to develop their own new
technologies.
This approach has given birth to biometrics, a new branch of science
that seeks to imitate living things. In recent times, this branch of science
has come to be widely applied in the world of technology. The use of the
word "ibratan," (to learn from, advice, importance, important
thing, or model) in the above verses is most wise in this regard.
Biomimetics refers to all of the substances, equipment, mechanisms, and
systems that people produce in order to imitate the systems present in
nature. The scientific community currently feels a great need for the
use of such equipment, particularly in the fields of nanotechnology, robot
technology, artificial intelligence, medicine, and the military.
Biomimicry was first put forward by Janine M. Benyus, a writer and scientific
observer from Montana. This concept was later analysed by many other people
and began to find applications. Some of the comments made regarding biomimicry
are as follows:
The theme of "biomimicry" is that we have much to
learn from the natural world, as model, measure, and mentor. What these
researchers have in common is a reverence for natural designs, and the
inspiration to use them to solve human problems.146
David Oakey, product strategist for Interface Inc., a company that uses
nature to increasing product quality and productivity, says:
Nature is my mentor for business and design, a model
for the way of life. Nature's system has worked for millions of years
… Biomimicry is a way of learning from nature.147
Scientists who began to favour this rapidly spreading idea accelerated
their studies by using nature's incomparable and flawless designs as models.
These designs represent models for technological research, for they provide
the maximum productivity for the least amount of materials and energy,
and are self-maintaining, environmentally friendly, silent, aesthetically
attractive, resistant, and long-lasting. The High Country News
newspaper described biomimetics as "a scientific movement" and made the
following comment:
By using natural systems as models, we can create
technologies that are more sustainable than those in use today.148
Janine M. Benyus, who believed that models in nature should be imitated,
gave the following examples in her book, Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired
by Nature (Perennial: 2002):
- Hummingbirds cross the Gulf of Mexico on less than 3 grams (one tenth
of an ounce) of fuel,
- Dragonflies outmanoeuvre our best helicopters,
- Heating and air-conditioning systems in termite mounds are superior
in terms of equipment and energy consumption to those made by human
beings,
- A bat's high-frequency transmitter is more efficient and sensitive
than our own radar systems,
- Light-emitting algae combine various chemicals to illuminate their
bodies,
- Arctic fish and frogs freeze solid and then spring to life, having
protected their organs from ice damage,
- Chameleons and cuttlefish change the pattern of their skin to blend
instantly with their surroundings,
- Bees, turtles, and birds navigate without maps, and
- Whales and penguins dive without scuba gear.
These astonishing mechanisms and designs in nature, of which we have
cited only a few, have the potential to enrich technology in a wide range
of fields. This potential is becoming ever more obvious as our accumulated
knowledge and technological means increase.
All animals possess many features that amaze human beings. Some have
the ideal hydrodynamic shape that allows them to move through water, and
others employ senses that appear very foreign to us. Most of these are
features that researchers have encountered for the first time, or, rather,
that they have only recently discovered. On occasion, it is necessary
to bring together prominent scientists from such fields as computer technology,
mechanical engineering, electronics, mathematics, physics, chemistry,
and biology in order to imitate just one feature of a living thing.
Scientists are amazed when confronted with the incomparable structures
and systems they are discovering with every passing day, and use that
amazement to inspire themselves to produce new technologies for humanity's
benefit. Realising that the existing perfect systems and extraordinary
techniques applied in nature are far superior to their own knowledge and
intellect, they became aware of these matchless solutions to existing
problems and are now resorting to the designs in nature to resolve problems
that have eluded them for years. As a result, they will perhaps achieve
success in a very short time. Moreover, by imitating nature, scientists
are making very important gains with regard to time and labour and also
to the targeted use of material resources.
Today we see the developing technology gradually discovering
the miracles of creation and using the extraordinary designs in living
things, as in the case of biomimetics, in the service of humanity. Benyus
has stated that "'Doing it nature's way' has the potential to change the
way we grow food, make materials, harness energy, heal ourselves, store
information, and conduct business."149
The following are just a few of the many scientific papers to have considered
such subjects:
"Science
is Imitating Nature,"150
"Life's Lessons in Design,"151
"Biomimicry: Secrets Hiding in Plain Sight,"152
"Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature,"153
"Biomimicry: Genius That Surrounds Us,"154
"Biomimetics: Creating Materials from Nature's Blueprints,"155
and
"Engineers Ask Nature for Design Advice."156
In the nineteenth century, nature was imitated only in aesthetic terms.
Artists and architects of that time were influenced by nature and used
examples of the structures' external appearances in their works. Yet the
realisation of nature's extraordinary designs and that these could be
used to benefit human beings only began in the twentieth century with
the study of natural mechanisms at the molecular level. Scientists today
are learning from living things, as revealed in the Qur'an 1,400 years
ago.
LOCUSTS MOVING IN SWARMS
They will emerge from their graves with downcast eyes,
like swarming locusts. (Qur'an, 54:7)
This verse describes all people's situation in the Hereafter as one resembling
swarming locusts. There is great wisdom in this simile.
A
great deal of information was obtained about locusts in the twentieth
century by conducting wide-ranging studies using micro-cameras. Locust
swarms contain huge numbers of individual locusts that behave as a single
body. Coming together in swarms that are kilometres long and wide, they
look just like a dark cloud. It has been established, for instance, that
a single swarm of desert locusts can cover 1,200 square kilometres (460
square miles) and contain between 40 and 80 million locusts per square
kilometre.157
In addition, they deposit their eggs in sandy soils like seeds and, after
the larvae have remained underground for a long period of time, they all
emerge together. After digging a 10-15 cm-long tunnel in the ground, a
female locust lays 95-158 eggs at once. Females can lay eggs at least
three times in their lifetime. When the larvae have matured after 10-65
days, depending on the air temperature, they emerge in a large group.
Up to 1,000 egg pods have been found in one square metre. Locust swarms
are large enough to cover several hundred square kilometres, with the
number of adult locusts per square kilometre varying from between 40 to
80 million.158 Their long
underground existence and sudden emergence in vast numbers all at the
same time may resemble the resurrection of human beings on the Day of
Judgement. (Allah knows best.)
Today, locusts are being studied by special units, which employ remote
control imaging systems. Even NASA satellite data are used to identify
areas in Africa where desert locust colonies have developed. Thanks to
satellite data, it is possible to carry out wide-ranging research on land
and in space over an 18 million square kilometre area.
As we have seen, the fact that the Qur'an made such a comparison at a
time when these technologies did not exist is one of the proofs that it
is the revelation of the Omniscient Allah.
ANT COMMUNICATION
The Qur'an indicates, when recounting Prophet Sulayman's (as) life, that
ants have a communication system:
Then, when they reached the Valley of the Ants, an
ant said: "Ants! Enter your dwellings, so that Sulayman and his troops
do not crush you unwittingly." (Qur'an, 27: 18)
Scientific research
into ants has revealed that these tiny animals have very organised social
lives and that, as a requirement of that organisation, they also have
a very complex communication network. For example, National Geographic
reports that:
Huge and tiny, an ant carries in her head multiple
sensory organs to pick up chemical and visual signals vital to colonies
that may contain a million or more workers, all of which are female.
The brain contains half a million nerve cells; eyes are compound; antennae
act as nose and fingertips. Projections below the mouth sense taste;
hairs respond to touch.159
Even if we are not aware of it, ants use a variety of methods to communicate,
thanks to their very sensitive sensory organs. They use these organs at
all times, from finding prey to following one another, and from building
their nests to waging war. With 500,000 nerve cells squeezed into their
2-3 mm bodies, they possess a communications system that astonishes human
beings.
The
reactions in their communications have been divided into several specific
categories: alarm, recruitment, grooming, exchange of oral and anal liquid,
group effect, recognition, caste determination…160
Ants, which establish an ordered society by means of these reactions,
live a life based on the mutual exchange of information. To bring about
this exchange, they sometimes exhibit more flawless communication in areas
that human beings often cannot resolve through speech, such as coming
together, sharing, cleaning, and defence.
Ants mainly communicate on the chemical level. These
semiochemicals, known as pheromones, are chemical compounds that are perceived
by smell and secreted by internal glands. In addition, they play the most
important role in organising ant societies. When an ant secretes a pheromone,
the other ants receive it by means of smell or taste and duly respond.
Research into ant pheromones has revealed that all signals are emitted
according to the needs of the colony. Moreover, the intensity of the pheromone
emitted also varies according to the urgency of the situation at hand.161
As we have seen, ants require a profound knowledge of chemistry to do
what they do. The fact that the Qur'an emphasized this fact 1,400 years
ago, a time when there was no such knowledge about ants, is another one
of its scientific miracles.
THE FOOD CYCLE
Allah splits the seed and kernel. He brings forth
the living from the dead, and produces the dead out of the living.
That is Allah, so how are you misguided? (Qur'an, 6:95)
As shown in the diagram, dead plants and animals are broken down
by bacteria and transformed into minerals. This organic waste absorbed
into the soil constitutes the basic foodstuff of plants. This nutritional
cycle is therefore of vital importance for all living things. |
In the above verse, our attention is drawn to a food cycle of which people
at the time of the Qur'an's revelation could have known nothing.
When a living thing dies, micro-organisms quickly cause it to decompose.
The dead body is thus divided up into organic molecules that mix with
the soil and form the basic source of food for plants, animals, and, ultimately,
humanity. Were it not for this nutritional cycle, life would not be possible.
Bacteria are responsible for meeting all living things'
mineral and food needs. Plants and some animals, which remain almost dead
(hibernation) throughout the winter, revive in the summer and meet all
of their mineral and food requirements through the activities of bacteria
during the winter. Throughout the winter, bacteria separate organic wastes
(i.e., dead plants and animals) and turn them into minerals.162
Thus, when living things reawaken in spring, they find food ready and
waiting for them. Thanks to bacteria, a "spring cleaning" has been carried
out in their environment and the necessary amount of food has been prepared
for nature as it returns to life in the spring.
As we have seen, dead creatures play a vital role in the emergence of
new ones. This transition, indicated in the Qur'an as "He
brings forth the living from the dead, and produces the dead out of the
living," is carried out in the most perfect manner. This is one
of the proofs that the Qur'an is the Word of Allah.
THE EARS ARE ACTIVE DURING SLEEP
So We sealed their ears [with sleep] in the
cave for a number of years. (Qur'an, 18:11)
The original Arabic of the phrase "We sealed their ears" in the Qur'an
is the verb daraba. This bears the metaphorical meaning of "We have made
them sleep." Used in reference to the ears, daraba means "preventing the
ears from hearing." The fact that only the sense of hearing is mentioned
here is very significant.
According to recent scientific discoveries, the ear
is the only sensory organ active while a person is sleeping. This is why
we need an alarm clock to wake up.163
The wisdom of the phrase "We sealed their ears" is, in
all probability, that Allah closed the hearing of the young people in
question, for which reason they remained asleep for many years.
THE IMPORTANCE OF MOVEMENT IN SLEEP
You would have supposed them to be awake, whereas in
fact they were asleep. We moved them to the right and to the left,
and, at the entrance, their dog stretched out its paws. If you had looked
down and seen them, you would have turned from them and run, and have
been filled with terror at the sight of them. (Qur'an, 18:18)
The
above verse refers to the People of the Cave, who remained asleep for
hundreds of years. In addition, Allah also reveals that He moved their
bodies to the left and right. The wisdom of this was only discovered in
recent times.
People who remain lying down in the same position for
long period of time encounter serious health problems, such as circulation
difficulties, sores, and blood clotting in that part of the body in contact
with the surface on which they lie.164
The resulting sores are known as "bed sores" or "pressure
sores." Due to the constant pressure on one part of the body when one
is not moving for a long period of time, the blood vessels become constricted
and can close altogether. As a result, the oxygen and other nutrients
carried by the blood fail to reach the skin, and the skin begins to die.
This leads to the appearance of sores on the body. Unless these sores
are treated, fat and muscles can also die.165
These sores, which form under the skin or tissue, can
assume serious dimensions unless treated. If they become infected, they
can even lead to death. The healthiest thing to do, therefore, is to change
the position of the body every 15 minutes in order to reduce this pressure.
Patients who cannot move themselves therefore receive special care and
are moved every 2 hours by other people.166
The fact that these medical facts, only discovered in the last century,
are referred to in the Qur'an is yet another of its miracles.
REDUCED MOVEMENT AT NIGHT
He splits the sky at dawn, and appoints the night as
a time of stillness and the Sun and Moon as a means of reckoning. (Qur'an,
6:96)
The
Arabic word sakanan, which appears in the original of the above verse,
means "repose, rest, time to withdraw to rest, time for a break." As indicated
by Allah, night is the time when human beings rest. The hormone melatonin,
secreted at night, prepares the body for sleep by slowing down peoples'
physical movements, making them sleepy and tired, and functioning as a
natural tranquilliser that eases their minds.167
During sleep, heartbeat and respiration rhythms slow down and blood pressure
falls. In the morning, the production of the hormones stops and the body
is stimulated to awaken.168
At the same time, sleep allows the body's muscles and
tissues to repair themselves and the body to replace old or dead cells.
Since energy expenditure is reduced during sleep, the body stores energy
throughout the night. Several chemicals vital for the immune system and
growth hormones are also secreted during sleep.169
In the event that people fail to get enough sleep,
therefore, the immune system is immediately affected and the body becomes
more susceptible to sickness. If people are unable to sleep for two nights,
they will find it harder to concentrate and their error levels will rise.
If they are deprived of sleep for three nights, they will begin to hallucinate
and be unable to think logically.170
Night is as much a time for rest for other living things
as it is for human beings. This situation, referred to by Allah in the
verse "the night as a time of stillness," indicates a
fact that cannot be observed by the naked eye: Many activities that take
place during the day slow down and rest during the night. In plants, for
instance, perspiration in leaves and photosynthesis begin to rise when
the sun rises. In the afternoon, the situation is reversed. In other words,
photosynthesis slows down and respiration increases, because perspiration
is accelerated as the temperature rises. At night time, as the temperature
falls, perspiration slows down and the plant rests. Most plants would
die if just one night failed to take place. From that point of view, night
means rest and reinvigoration for plants, just as it does for human beings.171
Movement at the molecular level also declines at night.
The radiation emitted by the Sun during the day activates the atoms and
molecules in Earth's atmosphere and causes them to achieve higher energy
levels. As darkness falls, the atoms and molecules fall to lower energy
levels and start to give off radiation.172
These facts are, in all probability, indicated Surat al-An'am 96 and
reveal yet another of the Qur'an's countless miracles. (Allah knows best.)
CHEST CONTRACTION WITH INCREASING HEIGHT
Human beings need
oxygen and air pressure in order to live. Breathing is made possible by
the oxygen in the atmosphere reaching the air sacs in our lungs. As elevation
rises, however, atmospheric pressure goes down as the atmosphere becomes
thinner. Therefore, the amount of oxygen entering the blood stream declines
and it becomes harder to breathe. As the air sacs grow narrow and contract,
we feel as if we cannot breathe.
If the amount of oxygen in the blood is less than the
body needs, several symptoms emerge: extreme fatigue, headaches, dizziness,
nausea, and loss of judgement. When a certain height is reached, it finally
becomes impossible for a human being to breathe at all.173
This is why we need oxygen bottles and special clothing in order to survive
at such elevations.
Someone at 5,000-7,500 metres (16,500-24,500 feet) above sea-level may
faint and go into a coma because of breathing difficulties. That explains
the presence of oxygen equipment in airplanes. There are also special
systems that regulate air pressure when planes fly at 9,000-10,000 metres
(29,500-33,000 feet) above sea-level.
Anoxia occurs when oxygen fails to reach the tissues. This oxygen deficiency
occurs at heights of 3,000-4,500 metres (10,000-15,000 feet). Some people
even lose consciousness at such elevations, but can be saved by immediate
oxygen treatment.
In the comparison made in the verse below, this physical truth, the changes
that take place in the chest with increasing height, is indicated in these
terms:
When Allah desires to guide someone, He expands
his breast to Islam. When He desires to misguide someone, He makes his
breast narrow and constricted as if he were climbing up into
the sky. That is how Allah defiles those who have no faith. (Qur'an,
6:125)
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