WHO IS HALUK NURBAKİ?

It is widely known that, with his outstanding personality, Haluk Nurbaki is much learned in both exact and spiritual sciences. Some know Nurbaki, an example for society with his personality, through his place in scientific community; some know him through his spiritual speeches and conferences; and some through his written works, through media, journals or newspapers. He went beyond national boundaries with his works; offered his spiritual speeches to the service of humanity; breathed his last breath for this cause but his services didn’t come to and end.

With his love for the divine cause in which he had believed firmly for more than fifty years and his love for our Holy Prophet, he, like a giant projector, constantly projected the light of our Prophet (pbuh) to this century. In the hearts of those who found their way with his Light and through his works, he continues and will continue to reflect this light of love.

Our Lord Allah used Haluk Nurbaki, an example for humanity, as a channel to introduce the real Islam and the examples of real faith to this century and for this purpose, he interpreted both exact and spiritual sciences interrelatedly.

Nurbaki pointed to the fact that all prophets faced various evils and along with his numerous duties, our Holy Prophet waged a war against ignorance. Sharing his sense of unlimited service and all kinds of blessings with our brothers to help Muslim community get delivered from ignorance, he took every opportunity to announce people that we have to get out of the swamp of ignorance. Like our Holy Prophet, who never sat to eat alone, Nurbaki, a good man who adopted the Prophet’s morality and conduct patterns, invited all the hungry and needy people to his spiritual table which Allah endowed with faith and love; and he was a man of love who had been graciously taught to share with others all the blessings of Allah.

Our Lord, the Exalted and the Glorious, may bless so many people and grant them the opportunity to know and love such a good person. Our love for him may be everlasting like his name, Baki, which means everlasting.

A SUBTLETY OF THE KORAN: THE SECRETS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

Then, turning to the nebulous heaven, He said to it and the globe (the earth): "Come, whether willingly or unwillingly." They both said: "We come willingly..."

chapter 41 (detaıled explanatıons), verse 11

Before we begin to interpret this verse, I would like to refer briefly to the Chapter of Detailed Explanations. As everyone knows, the Detailed Explanations Chapter is the second of the chapters in the Koran beginning with the letters "H" and "M", It is an important chapter that was recited frequently by our Beloved Prophet.

The great philosophers and scholars of Islam have informed us in their works that the seven "H-M"s in the Koran contain many secrets relating to the universe. It has been explained that the seven "H-M"s introduce a special secret of interpretation to the seven verses of the Opening Chapter.

This 11 th Verse we shall interpret follows the 10 th Verse explaining the creation of the world, and bears many significant physical subtitles with regard to Genesis. Of course, as with all other verses, this verse also has many interpretations and divine meanings. I shall try to explain the secret this verse contains from the point of view of geophysics.

Let us now try to collate the important points in our minds by reading the verse several times over. In doing so, we must note with care those definitions lying beyond the ordinary in the declarations of the Lord God. I would like to draw the attention of the reader to these points in what follows.

a) "Then He turned to the nebulous heaven."

This expression discloses a special secret. For when the Lord God wishes something, He simply says "Be", and it is, Why does the verse specifically indicate that "He turned to the sky"? It is drawing our attention to the fact that an important scientific insight is about to be revealed.

b) He sends out a call for cooperation to the earth and the heaven. He orders them to "come and cooperate with each other, whether you like it or not." Again, in the power of the Lord God and the certainty of His commands, there can be no such thing as the insubordination of the created. The command "cooperate, even id unwillingly" indicates that there is difficulty in the cooperation of the earth and its heaven. Further, it is indicated that the heaven which harmonizes with the earth is the one closest to the earth.

Let us now investigate the relationship between the earth and its "closest heaven" in terms of the precepts of contemporary geophysics. Until quite recently, it used to be assumed that life would originate on any planet having the proper temperature. In recent years, however, space explorations have revealed that the possession of an atmosphere is one of the most difficult things for a planet to acheve. In other words, there is a baffling opposition between a planet and its atmosphere (which might be called its "nearest heaven"). For the atmosphere consists of gaseous atoms in the "near sky". In alt large planets these atoms are assimilated to the surface of the planet, while in small planets the gravitational force is insufficient to bind the atoms.

These gases then escape, leaving the planet barren.

Now les us reread the sacred verse in the light of this very brief information, and in particular the second sentence:

"Come, both of you, come together willingly or unwillingly."

The molecules and atoms in the atmosphere try to escape into space, while the earth tries to attract and captivate them. In other words, their partnership is unwilling; it is forced.

The scientific magnificence of this sacred verse consists in the fact that it is telling us this secret 14 centuries in advance 50 years ago no one was aware of this fact.

In order to divine the inner meaning of the sacred verse, let us expand our knowledge of geophysics a little further. What are the conditions for the formation of an atmosphere on a planet and so, by implication, on earth?

For the formation of an atmospfere, the motions leading to the escape of molecules have to be counterbalanced by the gravitational attraction of the earth. This is an almost impossibly difficult condition to fulfill. For all planets throughout the universe, the odds may be less than a billion to one. This is the fact that the chapter "Detailed Explanations" expresses.

"And then He turned to the heaven."

This statement contains the secret of how the Lord God mediates this impossibility. From the standpoint of geophysics, these extremely difficult conditions require the preservation of three important balances:

1. Atmospheric temperature,

2. Proportionate gravitational attraction on the part of the earth,

3. The nonviolation of this balance by various radiant energies arriving from space.

1. Atmospheric Heat:

The escape motions of molecules are dependent on heat. The environmental heat should obey the following detailed characteristics:

a) The distance of the earth to the sun. If the earth were closer to the sun, the heat produced in the environment of the atmosphere would cause all the molecules to "boil off" and escape. On the other hand, if the earth were farther away from the Sun, the molecular movements would slow down, the molecules would condense and be assimilated by the earth.

b) The heat the earth receives from the sun must be evenly distributed over the earth's atmosphere. For this the earth has to rotate on its axis with a definite velocity. If it rotated too slowly, sudden cooling would be absorbed by the surface in that region. If it were to rotate too fast, the various regions would not get the chance to be heated evenly.

The earth, therefore, must rotate at its present speed. However, this balanced rotation is likewise insufficient to dispose of the question of heating. For next the equator of the earth, which receives a larger portion of the sun's energy, begins to heat up, while the Poles cool even further leading to the condensation and absorption of the atmosphere at the Poles. So the axis of the earth must remain tilted, balancing the heated regions by continually intercganging them. This is why the axis of the earth is slanted 23,5 degrees.

The declaration "they said, 'we come willingly"' at the end of the sacred verse gives expression to this inner meaning, God's order, "cooperate, come together", points simultaneously to the automatic inclination of the earth and its possession of a moderate rotation. For the earth, too, takes the appropriate physical measures demanded of it by the command.

c) The earth has to retain the heat it gains, to store it for a certain period, In other words, the earth needs a "blanket". This blanket is provided by the gaseous carbon dioxide in the air. But before the atmosphere had formed, where was the carbon dioxide to regulate the heating process? We know from geophysics that the initial atmosphere of the earth was composed primarily of carbon dioxide.

The sacred verse receals this secret as welt. What does "It was a duhan (cloud of smoke)" mean? It is known that in its initial period, the earth possessed an atmosphere consisting mostly of smoke (carbon dioxide). It was thanks to this primordial gas that the earth retained its heat and was able to form the atmosphere of today,

2. The Properly Proportioned Gravitation of the Earth:

Modem physics defines terrestrial gravitation as follows: The sum of the active gravitational forces of the atoms comprising the earth. This means that if the escape of the atmosphere is to be prevented by gravitation and its absorption avoided, the earth gas to possess a definite volume and density. It can easily be seen that when the earth possesses a specific density and volume, the atmosphere can be consitituted without difficulty. Unbelievable subtleties, however, underlie this event. We may list these as follows:

a) The earth has to contain certain materials in a definite proportion. It has to have sufficient metals in reserve to support the existence of life and civilization, and gas to comprise large amounts of nonmetals. This means that the density of the earth is not a crude but rather a very difficult calculation, involving the simultaneous consideration of many essentials.

b) The gravitational balance of the earth has to be constituted in such a way that while the atmospheric molecules are being balanced physically, they must also be chemically inert at the surface of the earth's crust, the soil, the mountains and oceans should not have a structure that would react with the atmospheric gases, which is equivalent to saying that it should not be absorptive of the atmosphere. For instance, if the earth, That is the earth's crust were made of carbon, it would both exhaust the oxygen through chemical reactions and would absorb the nitrogen, whereas in fact the earth's crust is comprised of silicon compounds with structures that leave them inert toward the inner shell of the atmosphere.

c) Two other significant points regarding the earth's gravity relate to matters of physical structure. Firstly, within the material density of the earth, the balanced distribution of magnetic materials such as iron has to be achieved. Further, the molten core at the center of the earth and the semimolten metals surrounding it must maintain equilibrium with the earth's crust.

We thus see that the gravitational balance of the earth requires many calculations; calculations of such magnitude and finesse that they could only be evaluated by the vast program of a giant computer.

3. Inviolability of Atmospheric Equilibrium by Various Radiant Energies in Space;

No matter how harmonized it may be there is such a torrential rain of particles from space that ft can always alter the atmospheric equilibrium: It imparts violent velocities to molecules.

a) A magnetic field (the "magnetosphere") surrounds the earth, with a diameter equal to a hundred earth diameters. This field acts as a vast screen towards all particles and energies coming from space. This insight will be explained in detail in the interpretation of a separate verse.

b) Black holes are thought to be located at various distances to the earth. All excess energies emitted from within the Milky Way galaxy are absorbed by these centers of intense gravitation.

c) Further, the atmosphere protects itself within its own structure from the upper regions towards the lower. The filtering of particles in this protective screen is performed by the ozone layer. Isotopes of nitrogen also contribute to this protection.

It will readily be conceded that there are many things about the atmosphere that we don't yet know. What is important is that science discovers and bears witness to a fresh miracle of our great Creator each new day.

Such are the facts we find when we set out by interpreting the word "heaven" in Verse 11 as the sky of the north in Verse 12.

It is also possible to take the word "heaven" in a general sense, and to approach its interpretation from a different angle. It is known that the Glorious Koran declares the existence of seven different heavens. We know very little about the spatial physics of these heavens; at present, we know nothing whatsoever about the dimensions and spaces involved. I shall explain what we know on this subject while interpreting the verse that deals with the seven different levels of heavens.

Now please reread the verse in the light of all these scientific facts. We are now in a much better position to appreciate what a wonderful marvel of science it embodies.

As for the main characteristics of the atmosphere, the escape velocity for any object or molecule is 11,3 kilometers per second. Normal atmospheric conditions are balanced with care as outlined above, so that atmospheric molecules cannot attain this speed.

According to Prof. De Lymak Spitser, the earth absorbs part of the atmosphere it requires, especially nitrogen. The active and violent nature of the oxygen in the atmosphere is counterbalanced by nitrogen. Furthermore, the gases we call "noble gases" (helium, argon, neon, krypton, xenon, radon), which prevent the combination of nitrogen and oxygen in the course of time and particularly during lightning strokes, are also present in the atmosphere In Trace but optimal amounts. The atmosphere always maintains its nitrogen/oxygen balance in the proportion 5:1.

All these magnificent geophysical systems find their origin in the secrets revealed to us in this verse by God.

UNKNOWN LOCI OF THE UNIVERSE

"No, I swear by the positions (locations) of the stars. And that is indeed a mighty oath, did you but know it.

chapter 56 (the fearful event), verses 75-76

I would first like to present a short definition regarding the Waqia Chapter. Waqia means "fearful event." Wuqu is "occurence", the sudden emergance of something. The majority of the interpretations have taken waqia to mean the Day of Judgement. However, the moment of death or any other awe-inspiring event conforms to the definition of waqia.

The way in which the words are situated and the sentence is formed in the verse are extremely interesting. Its commencement with the word fa grammatically indicates the combination and coverage of the entire verse by this word.

La's meaning here is:

a) Harmony of the Word,

b) Reinforcement,

c) True particle of negation.

In this final sense, the meaning "there is no need for more words" comes through:

"There is no need for more words. I swear by the positions of the stars. And if you but knew, that is indeed a mighty oath."

What we want to underline in this verse is, of course, the expression "positions of the stars." In the old interpretations, there are many explanations in connection with stars. The ones related to astrophysics are as follows:

a) The locations where they rise and set,

b) Their Easts and Wests, their limits and loci,

c) The points where meteors (shooting stars) appear,

d) The points at which a star disappears.

Now, as before, let us summarize the subtleties of this sacred verse:

a) The oath begins with the particle of negation. This kind of beginning indicates that an extraordinarily important secret is about to be revealed, especially when it occurs together with fa.

b) The positions (locations) of the stars are sworn by, and in fact there are oaths of this type in other verses as well. However, an oath by the positions of the stars belongs to this verse alone.

It may be claimed that the Lord God has, in his divine wisdom, willed such an oath, and that there need not be anything out of the ordinary about it. However, the second verse belies such a conclusion:

c) "If you but new how great an oath it is." This expression tells us that if we can but understand the concept of stellar locations, it wilt be seen to possess a very great and important inner meaning.

This is one of the verses that best demonstrate how the Koran can be reinterpreted as science advances in time.

Let us now summarize what the science of astrophysics has discovered in the last fifteen years in connection with the positions of stars.

There are locations in the universe called "star locations" by Russian scientists and "white holes" or "black holes" by "Western scientists. We have teamed about stellar locations during the past fifteen years thanks to advances in the science of astrophysics.

Two kinds of stellar locations are found in the universe that do not have the properties of stars:

1. White holes (Quasars),

2. Black holes.

1. White Holes (Quasars):

This stellar location is a store of incredible amounts of energy. It is as though truly vast energies are emitted to distances of hundreds of thousands light years from certain points in the universe. A quasar possesses enough energy to form a galaxy (an assemblage of billions of stars). Some scientists view quasars as the seeds of galaxies.

2. Black Holes:

The more exciting of the two types are black holes. These holes signify the location left vacant by the demise of a star. But what happens when a star dies? Without knowing the answer to this question, it is impossible to comprehend these holes, i.e., the stellar locations described by the verse.

It is known that stars are composed of immense numbers of atoms. Electrons revolve around the nuclei of atoms and as a result the star possesses a definite volume. The death of a star means that the energy maintaining this volume is exhausted. As the star dies, it is compressed under the influence of its own gravitation until only the nuclei of atoms are left, and the star shrinks and contracts as the nuclei pile on top of one another. A dying star will shrink to several millionths of its original size without undergoing significant change in mass. If the dying star is a small one, say the size of our sun, it becomes a pulsar. A pulsar is an entity that emits X-rays every 0.03 seconds: It takes its name from these pulse-like emissions. The star revolves around itself at speeds of hundreds of millions of kilometers per hour, yet it has shrunk to such a small size that it cannot be seen. It is detectable only by its emission if I pulse-like beam. It thus becomes a perfect stellar location.

If the dying star is large, the gravitational collapse is so intense that it does not shop at the nuclear level, but continues until all the matter and energy is compressed into a point called a "singularity". This singularity constitutes a cosmic black hole. This hole cannot be seen in any way, and can only be recognized by the following properties:

1. It devours all radiation and stars passing nearby,

2. It causes the indirect emission of gamma rays and X-rays,

3. Time is suddenly dilated in its vicinity.

In other words, this black hole is the mysterious tomb of b star. It draws in and hides all material beings, including time, in it sun kniwability.

Prof. Remo Ruffini of Princeton was the first to theorize the existence of black holes. This scientist named these points "star locations". Later, John A.Wheeler coined the term "black holes" for these locations.

From the physical point of view, these points are regions of gravitational shock or collapse. Anything approaching their vicinity is annihilated. Among Einstein's followers, Oppenheimer and Snyder have given these points a scientific interpretation, and have conceived these points as regions of equilibrium in the universe.

The balance of a star is maintained between the expansion due to nuclear reactions on the one hand, and intense gravitation the other. The billions upon billions of stars in the universe are all balanced within an incredibly compyterized order. According to one view, nuclear reactions also serve as the seeds for galaxies in the form of quasars.

Let us now return to verse 75 of the "Event" Chapter.

"No, I swear by the locations of the stars. And that is indeed a mighty oath, did you but know it."

Also, let us recall our Beloved Prophet's saying related to this Chapter:

"Teach the Chapter of the Event to your children, and let them teach it to their children."

Isn't the divine miracle much clearer now? Learn this chapter, and consequently this verse, from generation to generation, and in the end you will see a very important secret of the universe unveiled.

The name of the chapter also has a divine bearing on the interpretation of this verse. We have tried above to interpret the verse only from the astrophysical point of view. The multitude of beings in the universe, the secret of billions upon billions stars which defy imagination, and of the dimensions that shape them are likewise explained in the Koran, sometimes explicitly and sometimes covertly. It is only a question −and secret− of keeping "the Eye of the Heart" open toward the Koran. For instance, we may observe a pure-hearted believer, weeping, shed tears as this 75th Verse is being recites, even though he doesn't know Arabic and has not studied physics. He may himself be unaware of his condition, but a secret has been disclosed to the Eye of the Heart through this divine sentiment by virtue of his purity.

A NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING THEORY'S PLACE IN THE KORAN

“Glory to God, exalted beyond all, Who created in pairs all things that the earth produces, as well as their own selves, and many other things of which you know nothing.”

chapter 36 (yasın), verse 36

As with the preceding verse interpretations, let us identify the messages imparted by the verse by reading the text several times.

a) God, after proclaiming the secret of "the Glorious" once again, declares that creatures embody the secret of paired existence. God Himself is beyond possessing a pair, a likeness, or an equal. The reason the sacred verse begins in this way is to draw attention to the inner meaning of the pain/vise existence of created beings.

Pairwise existence indicates opposition simultaneously with similarity. The most obvious example of this is male and female. The scientific definition of pair creation implies "similar opposites". Heat and cold also constitute a pair. That is, two things may be almost identical, yet opposed in their nature and influence.

b) The most interesting aspect of the verse is the examples of pairs it provides. Saying "We created beings in pairs", God gives three examples:

1. Pairs produced by the earth,

2. Pairs of selves,

3. Many other created pairs of which we have no knowledge.

In order to discover the secret of this verse, let us first see the conclusions science has reached in the light of recent research.

The discovery of the positron by the, physicist Anderson may be regarded as a great turning point on contemporary physics. It was Maurice Dirac who first postulated parity (pairwise creation).

Parity ("parite" in French) is a basic principle of modern physics. Every particle in the universe has a certain charge and/or spin. When a particle is formed, its "opposite twin" or antiparticle is produced together with it, for beings always created in pairs. The most famous of these are:

The positron, antiparticle of the electron;

The antiproton, antiparticle of the proton;

The antineutron, antiparticle of the neutron;

The antineutrino, antiparticle of the neutrino.

One of the basic principles of nuclear physics, therefore, is that every particle exists together with its opposite twin. We shall return to this subject in detail later on.

Hence, the 36th Verse has informed us of the basic law of creation 14 centuries ago in the declaration: “/ have created many unknown pairs.”

Let us now turn to the collective interpretation of the verse. With the expression "Glory to God" in the first sentence verse underlines the fact that God, and God alone, is without equal or likeness. As we shall explain later on is the interpretation of the Chapter of Sincerity, our difficulty in knowing God stems from this secret of unequalled "Glory". The habit of analogy, of discerning a thing through its opposite, is rooted in our comprehension. But all beings that have opposites or similar partners are mortal or finite. God, on the other hand, is "the Glorious": He is without likeness and beyond all. He has, however, created beings in pairs (opposite partners).

1.Those the Earth Produces:

This part of the verse has been interpreted by some scholars as referring to the plant kingdom. This interpretation is, however, incomplete, for had God wished. He would not have said "all things that the earth produces" but "plants" directly. The verse certainly certainly refers to the secret of opposing partners in plants as well, but the information expressed by the verse is not limited to the realm of plants alone.

This first category of the verse defines the limits of the third. If someone were to interpret the sentence: "We have created many more pairs of which you have no knowledge" as referring to electricity or magnetism, for instance, he would be mistaken, for this is a pair produced by the earth.

Pairs produced by the earth, then, may be listed as follows:

a) Similar pairs that differ in their physical and chemical characteristics, e.g. metals and nonmetals.

b) Biologically opposed pairs: The male and female sexes of plants and animals.

c) Physically opposed pairs;

Electrically opposed pairs: Positively and negatively charged ions, and hence the reversal of electric charge (polarity).

Magnetically opposite pairs: The poles of a magnet referred to as North and South, respectively.

d) Phenomena of analysis and synthesis that alter the structure of life in the soil: The vivification of plants by the syntheses, of bacteria that fix nitrogen, the destructive and dispersive effects of bacteria that break down organic materials und cause decay, and similar complementarities.

2. Pairs of Their Selves:

"We created pairs (opposite twins} of their own selves."

Various meanings are inherent in this part of the verse:

a)Man and woman (opposite partners).

b)Complementary personality traits (cruel/compassionate, brave/cowardly, generous/miserly, etc).

c)Fruits which are similar but subject to opposed value judgements, such as barbarism/courge, hypocrisy/ consideration, placidity/naivete, etc. Some of these words are very difficult to explain and translate. For example, "hypocrisy" is to lie in return for some favor, or "flattery" as it is in nowadays called, whereas "consideration" is treating a person gently and making concessions in order to guide that person to the truth. This subject, however, passes beyond the scope of this book and the main theme of our interpretation, so we will leave it summarized as above without further discussion.

3. Pairs We Don't Know Of:

The law of parity covers all concepts of matter and energy, in the sense that quanta and the systems composed of them manifest themselves as opposite twins.

a) Processes of energy emission and absorption which physics and astrophysics have recognized only in recent times. We have yet to fathom the secret of these processes. However, we do know of black holes where energy is drained and annihilated, and of quasars which concentrate unbelievable amounts of energy. These two regions are places which appear as twins, but exert opposing influence with respect to each other.

b) Forces of attraction and repulsion and especially, gravitation counterbalanced by centrifugal force, if the opposition between these forces did not exist, all planets would either fall into their respective suns or be flung into outer space.

Gravitation and rotational motion together support a dazzing system of equilibrium in the universe. We encounter a mind-boggling harmony when we inspect this equilibrium from the standpoint of our earth and the universe. Besides forming the solar system together with the earth, the neighboring planets also strike a similar rotational balance with their own satellites. These smaler systems then complete a further revolution around the sun. Thus, the nine planets and their many satellites all revolve around the sun in different orbits. These heavenly objects thus avoid falling into the sun. In return, the sun balances these planets in their orbits, preventing them from escaping into space. But this is not all. A further rotational motion is on the agenda, for the Milky Way galaxy to which we belong rotates on its axis together with our sun. This journey is completed in about 250 million years for each revolution.

Thus, we have discovered examples within the secret of the Koranic miracle of pairs we didn't know of till yesterday.

Our galaxy in turn is on an immense journey around the center of the cluster of galaxies to which we belong. Hence our earth, in an effort to maintain balance between all these pairs of attractive and repulsive forces, rotates in four different orbits on four different journeys that are finally measurable by a billion years.

THE KORAN FORETELLS OIL

"(Your Lord) who brought forth the pasturage, then turned ut into a black gussa (floodwater).

chapter 87 (the most hıgh), verses 4-5.

Reading these verses, a person who knows geology will immediately perceive that this sentence is describing oil. Of course, the important thing is that this information is provided in the Koran, sent down 14 centuries ago.

Let us once again read the verses several times, and then refresh our knowledge of geology, inadequate though it is. As everyone knows, the first flora on earth were the giant ferns and pastures of algae. These vast pastures, the forerunners of life on earth, were later pushed underground through great geological upheavals, and transformed into oil through a special prfcess of chemical reduction. We shall see the details of this procss in a moment.

The Chapter of the Most High was one of the favorite passages of our Beloved Prophet. It is even claimed that our Prophet recited this chapter in the last Prayer sevice he ever led. The Chapter of the Most High summarizes Genesis in clear and concise terms in its first five verses:

"(Your Lord) who created and gave form, (your Lord) who made everything in measure and showed the way." (Chapter87, Verses 2-3).

These verses are the basic laws of the creation of the universe. It is worth noting that the verses of our present topic immediately follow, for the first period of life on earth is being explained.

Fields of ferns were the first of the vast pastures to be formed on earth. If these pastures had remained as they were, the oxygen in the atmosphere would have increased uncontrolalnly and the atmosphere would have ignited at some point.

In accordance with the measure and preordination explained in Verse 3, all this flora was buried underground after fulfilling its function. It was transformed into gussa (oil) under the influence of great geological events. Hence, objects that could fill volumes have been summarized as major headings in these verses.

I would now like to briefly review some details related to these first geological periods of the earth. In the process, I shall also expose the extent to which atheists, who are adopts at obfuscation, distort facts and foster confusion.

The science of geology accepts that 5 billion years have elapsed since the primeval fireball stage of the Earth. This time has been divided into four classic eras, and these have then been subdivided extensively into various periods. The first, uncrusted, period of the earth is excluded from these four eras. This era (the Precambrian) is believed to habelasted 4.5 billion years.

The first era is estimated at half a billion years. In general, this was the age of giant flora, and petroleum was also formed in this age: There is general agreement that the second period lasted 170 million years and the third, 65 million years. The fourth period is recognized as pertaining to the present form of the earth, with a history of about 2.5 million years. Various methods are used for computing these periods, as I shall explain below.

Oil was mainly formed by the decomposition of coastal ferns and algae trapped between rock strata through the action of various bacteria. Several theories exist about the formation and accumulation of oil, none of which has been proved unequivocally, it has been claimed that seaweed also played an important part in oil formation. Of course, this view would also conform with the sacred verse. These latter views on oil are more significant. According to these views, oil was formed by the decomposition of seaweed and the coastal algae and ferns, and then accomodated itself to the structure of geological strata, flowing as rivers to form subterranean lakes of oil. As a result, the remains of small sea animals can sometimes be found in oil beds.

Let us now reread the sacred verse:

"And then He turned it into black floodwater."

Yes, dear reader: according to conclusions reached only in our time, oil, which is a black fluid, flows in black subterranean rivers. "Floodwater" is the clearest expression describing this underground flow of oil. In addition, flood-water drags residues of humus, and so does oil. Hence, this verse has also informed us of the flow of oil rivers, called 'oil migration' in the industry. 14 centuries ago!

Since our purpose in this book is confined to scientific explanations, I shall not deal with the other verses of the Chapter of the Most High. However, I suggest that my readers should read and reread the "Most High" Chapter many times in its entirety. They will then be able to divine many other insights related to oil. If oil had not existed in Islamic countries and especially in the Middle East, where would Moslems be?

I would now like to speak of certain temporal controversies regarding the formation of the earth.

Various dates have been proposed concerning the unknown ages of our earth. Indeed, I myself have just given examples related to geological periods. The dates relating to these ages, however, are speculative in nature. Some are based on serious scientific investigations, while others are nonsense in the most precise sense of the term, being the vicious lies of confirmed atheists.

The geological dating of past ages is based on several methods. One of these involves the time necessary for the formation of the chemical structures of certain rocks. These are well-intentioned and reasonable estimates. The second method concerns radiocarbon dating. Actually, since comparison forms part of the methodology of physics, the results of radiocarbon dating ought to be definitive. There are, however, difficulties in its application, leading to spurious results. In particular, when the date to be estimated exceeds 50 thousand years, the outcome is guided more by prejudice than by physics.

The basis of this method is the physical decay period of radioactive carbon, also called its "half-life". The date of an underground event can be determined by recourse to the ratio of radioactive carbon remaining in that vicinity.

The half-life radioactive carbon, however, is 5570 years. This means that the carbon-14 remaining after about 22 thousand years is 6 % of the original amount, while this ratio drops to 4 parts in ten thousand for a period of around 63 thousand years. When one arrives at the level of millions of years, even the slightest error or variation in samples can result in discrepancies on the order of millions of years. It is due to this fact that the older chemical method is still preferred in estimating the duration of geological periods. The use of radioactive carbon is confined more to the dating of events in recent history.

No difficulty is involved in the estimation of geological periods. However, I would like to deal with the fictitious tales regarding the myth of human evolution, fabricated by materialists in abuse of the above scientific facts. It is an imperative duty for us to unmask those who pass off as science that which has no place in it; namely, the fictive projection of man's appearance on earth a million years earlier into the past.

Sensible scientists currently estimate man's history on earth at from 10,000 to 50,000 years. It is an atheistic invention to seek a human or ancestral species earlier than this. The clearest example of this in recent years can be seen in the scientific hoax called the Piltdown man.

A human skull was displayed in England's famed British Museum in 1912. An inscription placed below it read: "Piltdown Man". The nameplate indicated that the skull belonged to a humanoid who lived five hundred thousand years ago, and that this humanoid was one of the ancestors of man. For 40 whole years this skull was the subject of debate; conferences were given and books written about; it provided a rich mine for unbelievers. However, after the development of the radiocarbon method, it was discovered that this skull belonged to a man, while its jaw was that of an ape. The man's cranium was 150 years old, whereas the ape's jawbone was 60 years old. This event was actually a scientific scandal of the first order. The skull was removed from the Museum. The diplomas of the professors who gave speeches and wrote books about the skull were not, however, revoked. Many of these or the descendants thereof are busily at work today, inventing new tales about other skulls in Africa.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to discuss several facts regarding time.

It used to be believed that time was simply a date on the calendar or a figure on the wristwatch. Today, two great scientists have brought phisical clarity to the concept of time. Of these, Prof. Nikolai Kozyrev defines time as frozen energy, while Einstein has defined it as a dimension. The flow rate of time is different in various regions of the universe, and for objects moving with different speeds. This fact has been determined using the decay rates of cosmic rays, and comparing these with the distances they have traversed. Hence, even if geological estimates are correct, an important question remains unanswered: Was time flowing at the same rate in past ages, the durations of which are expressed in terms of millions or billions of years?

The answer is that this is very doubtful indeed. It is quite possible to conceive that time was flowing at an accelerated rate in those ages: Perhaps what we now call five billion years was two million years or less when compared to the present rate of flow of time. I shall explain this subject in greater detail when interpreting the miraculous verses of the Koran related to the flow of time.

In evaluating scientific subjects, the results of thought and experiment have to be taken in the context of the specific location in space and time to which they pertain. Atheistic researchers, however, usually take a manifestly scientific result, project it billions of years into the past, and arrive at preposterous conclusions on that basis. This error is frequently repeated in the case of space and the universe. For instance, many tales are invented concerning a star whose light has arrived from a distance of billions upon billions of kilometers, while in actual fact there may be many different circumstances and events extant at that distant point in space. Indeed, it is a well-known fact that a star may appear existent to us because its light is just arriving, even though it has perished a hundred thousand years ago.

In a similar vein, estimates as to when the world was created can never go beyond the level of conjecture. As a result, such pieces of information cannot be classified as theories or even as hypotheses. It is, of course, possible that vast time periods were indeed involved; still, we cannot ascertain the rate at which time flowed in those ages. As an aside, I would like to remind my readers that notions about the time span in which the earth and the universe were created can never contradict the Koran: The duration of the earth's Genesis and the time it took to reach its present condition are two different things. We shall return to these comparisons in future verses.

THE MYSTERIES OF RAIN

(He) sends down from the sky water in due measure; We revived therewith a land that was dead; even so shall you be brought forth."

chapter 43 (gold ornaments), verse 11

This sacred verse is extremely important from the viewpoint of atmospheric physics. A person living fifty years ago would have found nothing extraordinary in this verse.

The materialists of the 19th Century regarded rain as the simple precipitation of water vapor. Indeed, such was their frame of mind that they thought they would be able to produce rain in no time, ridiculing those who would pray for rain. At that time it wasn't known that the phenomenon of rain, i.e. the conversion of a cloud into rain, is not such a simple event after all. Since it was not possible to cross-examine atheistic scientists, the following questions went unanswered:

1) How could vapor, which is regarded as gaseous water, remain in the same form in atmospheric strata, such as the Siberian skies, where temperatures dropped to forty degrees below zero? Why didn't it fall as iceblocks on the heads of those who made such claims?

2) How did rain assume a certain drop size, and in what balance did this raindrop descend to earth? What were the preconditions for the formation of such agreeble, tranquil raindrops?

3) How did a cloud vaporize, and how and whence did the salt in the cloud come to be there, seeing that salt cannot be vaporized at the boiling point of water?

In the lastwenty years, rational —if still only partial— answers have been found to these puzzling questions. Let us now reread the sacred verse, and identify its relevant points:

a) God regards rain as a physical event of the same order of significance as the resurrection of the dead. For this reason. He says: "You will be brought forth from the earth just as I have brought down water from the sky in due measure."

b) In defining rain, the Koran has described it as a carefully measures descent of water, also using the word "measure" in the form biqadarin. This word is the expression of an ordered, calculated measure: It is the definition of a mathematical program.

c) "The rain gives life to a dead land." This expression, which constitutes the central portion of the verse, is likewise no ordinary statement. This is why it is said: "We gave life to a dead land", and not "plants emerge from it". We shall shortly be investigating these inner meanings.

Hence, the sacred verse collectively contains secrets .that are marvels of science on a grand scale.

Let us now summarize the scientific aspects of the miracle of rain. The results of the latest scientific research have shed light on many previously unknown points concerning water, clouds and rain. These results constitute an almost miraculous explication of the verse presented above. We may summarize these points as follows:

1. A study by Vincent J.Schaeffer in the United States has revealed that particles of water do not freeze down to -40 °C when they are very fine and pure. Water has to be impure and formed of large masses in order to freeze at zero degrees centigrade.

A cloud is a special physical structure that is formed of water vapor, but which is immediately converted into minute water droplets. It therefore does not share the properties of ordinary water. Atmospheric clouds do not freeze and descend even at -30 °C.

2. Clouds are formed by the agglomeration of tiny water droplets around particles of salt or cosmic dust. These tiny nuclei constitute the basis for rain. Not only is the origin of cosmic dust unknown, but so is the way in which these dust particles become lodged in the cloud. However, it is believed that the salt water at the. ocean suclace participates in the vaporization process by contributing particles of salt.

3. It is conjectured that there are about one billion water particles per cubic millimeter during cloud formation. There are 50-500 cloud droplets per cubic centimeter in clouds. The conversion of these droplets into raindriops is a matter for great deliberation.

The theory of Bergeron-Findeisen was considered to provide the explanation of cloud droplets up to 1950. According to this theory, the water droplets first form condensation nuclei, and raindrops then coalesce around them.

4. According to studies performed in recent years, the growth of a cloud droplet in time proceeds concomitantly with various circumstances. A drop of water gradually assumes the nuclear state, overcoming conditions even of forty degrees below zero, and produces rain through a very complex equation:

5. As for the production of rain, these minute particle first coalesce around the condensation nucleus. The water particles grow and their surface area increases as they approach the ground. This surface increase allows a raindrop's velocity to be checked by air friction, so that rainfall acquires a gentle descent. This balancing process is a miracle of the Divine: By the time the raindrip reaches ground, it has gained such a mild speed that it makes a soft landing, almost as if by a parachute. The equation for this descent and balanced speedis:

Let us now reread the first sentence of Verse 11 in the light of these scientific facts: "He sends down rain in proper measure."

All this indicates that the descent of rain is a very subtle matter, a matter for calculation. If compared to the last part of the verse, it is a miracle of divine science akin to the raising of the dead.

The atmospheric physics of today has also considered the secret of rain formation and rainfall a scientific wonder, and many volumes have been devoted to this subject. Those who are interested can consult Robert Byers' Elements of Cloud Physics and Louis J.Nin's Cloud Physics and Cloud Seeding.

We now come to the secrets of the second sentence in the verse: "We gave fife to a dead land with it."

a) When the soil is dry, there is a hidden and lifeless domain beneath it. For the soil is actually alive, but its life is activated by rain. What does science have to say about this matter?

There are a million times a million bacteria in a gram of soil. These bacteria lose all activity and become dormant when it does not rain for a long time. It is as if they change into lifeless genetic codes. All these microbes revive when rain falls, and commence a large production campaign beginning with nitrogen fixation. Their activity in turn gives life to thousands of small organisms: It is as if a dead underground city has come to life. Fertilizers form, the seeds of innumerable small plants revive, opening channels under the ground like the roads of a city with their roots. Next, small insects and ants, each with their own nests, burrow under the earth like a large city. This is how a "dead land" is revived.

b) What is the life-giving secret of rain? How does rain vivify biological events, i.e. the life process? This part of the verse directs our attention to the connection of rain, and so of water, with life.

The basic chemical substance of living things is a bridge of hydrogen, lending continuity to the life of an organism, which we call the "hydrogen bond". This hydrogen is changed frequently, forming new bonds and transferring vitality. Now this hydrogen can be replaced only by the hydrogen produced during the ionization of water. This is why water is indispensable for life.

This rule holds for all living things. A dehydrated organism is like a frozen skeleton even if it preserves its DNA mid its genetic code: It can neither reproduce nor move. When water arrives and donates hydrogen from its separating H and OH ions, the code of life Jumps into action. This is easily seen particularly in the case of microbes. In more developed organisms, vitality cannot be restored even when water arrives because the tissue layers have been damaged by dehydration. The "revival of the dead land" brings expression to such profound biological laws. If we had known how to read and comprehend the Koran especially during the last three centuries, the race to be first in discovering countless scientific facts would have been ours for the taking.

We now turn to the last part of the verse: "Even so will you be brought forth." Our resurrection, the verse now declares, is a similar activation by Divine Ordination of our codes remaining in the soil. It declares that just as the rain activates these genetic codes in a dead land and suddenly regenerates life, the codes will be processed and revived with the speed of a computer as soon as the Divine Will gives the order: "Come to life, arise" And finally, its analogy with rain means that God, Who gives life under the ground by sending a hydrogen ion, will doubtless also res­tore us to life when He wills.

Approximately ten billion human beings have lived on earth since Adam. The size of each individual's code is about 1 micron; if you collected them alt, they would not fill a glass. If God were to pour the genetic codes of all the humans He created from a glass into the soil, including those whose codes have been lost, and were to say "Now, Be!", all human beings would be recreated in the twinkling of an eye.

This is the similitude that God provides in this verse, for those possessed of minds and knowledge. In effect, He is declaring: "Just as I have given life to an entirely dead, lifeless land with a raindrop, it is no trouble at alI for Me to reactivate the hydrogen in your biological genetic codes."

THE ATOMIC NUCLEUS

"No! I swear by the hunnas (the descenders), those which sweep along in their kunnas (orbits) ".

(A VARIANT TRANSLATION)

"No! I swear by (those which recede and disappear), those which sweep along in their (orbits)."

chapter 81 (the foldıng Up), verses 15-16

These verses are among the most difficult to interpret in the Koran. They are not easy to understand. The reason for this is that the verses disclose very profound physical truths. On the other hand, the chapter in general presents explanations about the Resurrection that can be comprehended only with difficulty. Verses 1-14 contain descriptions of the Resurrection, while verses 15-16 give the two basic principles of the universe and of astrophysics. In this way, the chapter emphasizes the fact that human beings require a very profound knowledge of physics before the concept of the Ressurrection can be properly appreciated.

As can be seen, the words hunnas and kunnas have to be known before the verse can be comprehended. These are Arabic words. For centuries, however, it has proved impossible to fathom their presence in these sentences by simple recourse to a dictionary.

The first interpretation of these two verses belongs to our Master Omar the Caliph, who also furnished much information on this chapter, and who interpreted the meaning of the verse in terms of planetary orbits. Readings is those days and later to the effect that "birds return to their nests" are ruled out by the divine declaration fa la uqsimu.

"The orbits of planets", also mentioned by Omar, is one of the acceptable interpretations. It is another marvel that this verse, revealed 14 centuries ago and embodying the most fundamental principles of physics, should be explicable with reference to its astronomical signification.

Hunnas: The opposite of flow; to descend, contract, shrink, fold up.

Kunnas: A certain route, orbit, or trajectory; the channel or nest of a moving object.

In evaluating both words, the gravity of the declaration "No, / swear" (fa la uqsimu), which introduces the meaning commen to the two verses, should never be forgotten. The fact that the chain of verses explaining the Resurrection reaches a terminus with Verses 15-16 and God's oath begins, indicates that a very important explanation is about to be made.

Let us now look at the fundamental units of physics. Which of them possess the properties of hunnas and kunnas?

a) Let us take an isolated atom. What is its structure? A nucleus into which a gigantic amount of energy has been 'folded up' or concentrated (hunnas), and electrons that sweep along in their orbits ('nests' or shells: kunnas) around it. This is a dual system which bears both the secrets of hunnas and kunnas within it. What fair person could regard this interpretation as contrived? And how else can this situation be described, except by Verses 15-16?

Of course, God is giving the smallest constituent of ordinary matter, the atom, as an example of the vast destruction that will occur prior to the Resurrection. See how the secrets of hunnas and kunnas balance each other, he declares; If I were to say, unbind and scatter, can you imagine the terror that would ensue?"

b) Let us now look at another unit of physics: Quanta and their dimensional channels. We know from modern physics that the quantum wavicle, the basis of existence, selects a dimensional channel according to its energy. Dimensions are motionless, mysterious, receding (kunnas) directions, while quanta represent energetic, violent motion. But in a specific channel, hunnas is represented by the quantum that occupies this channel ("nest").

In the face of such facts, interpretation of the sacred verse yields the secret: "/ swear by the receding dimensions and by the quanta that occupy them."

c) When examined from an astronomical viewpoint, as indicated in an earlier interpretation, there are the locations of dead stars (black hofes) which have contracted and finally receded beyond an "event horizon" (hunnas}, side by side with quasars and stars out of which gigantic amounts of energy flow, such as supernovae (kunnas). The former are hunnas in the most precise sense of the term: Points which harbor vast energies but which have contracted and become quiescent, almost losing their connection with spacetime altogether. And on the other hand, stellar objects that move along .the trajectories of billions of gravitational hunnas.

In order that we may understand the inner meanings of the Resurrection defined in the Chapter of Folding Up, God enjoins us to look at the stars of this cosmos also from the standpoint of the hunnas and kunnas secrets.

God the Exalted defines the Resurrection within the inner meanings of the Koran in Verses 1-14 of the Chapter of Folding Up, and draws attention to this point by means of an oath.

And what is that point? —Systems defined by the couple hunnas and kunnas. It is essantial that these systems , furin interrelated wholes. The three examples given above consitute such systems.

I would like to underline a significant point at this junc-ture. Which of these three systems does the verse imply? The answer is that it implies all of them, and many other physical realities as well; for the verse constitutes an archetype for physical genesis.

Just as gravitation exists as a force both in stars and in atoms, the hunnas/kunnas secret resides at the root of all physical systems. Starting from this viewpoint, we can form a bridge to more interesting physical laws, one of which I would like to explain here.

On the quantum level, many fundamental subatomic particles (electrons, protons, neutrons, etc.) possess a spin. Within spatial dimensions this motion creates a magnetic effect; or, more precisely the dimensions implicit in space are vibrated, thus creating a magnetic field. It is impossible to explain this event in everyday terms, but the verses reveal its truth to us. The secret of these dimensions is a receding, hidden force. The motion of the quantum represents the secret of hunnas, while the magnetic potential of space represents kunnas.

Gravitation itself arises from a kunnas secret. This is why the Lord God swears by this hidden physical law operating throughout the expanse of the univese in Verses 15 and 16.

Verses 15 and 16 harbor very important secrets from the standpoint of the spiritual sciences as well. We shall omit this subject for the present, however, due to the plan of this book.

Every creation has a hunnas and a kunnas condition. One is the flowing state of harmonious motion, while the other is its receding (hidden) state where it is concealed as if dead. In physical terms, we should call these two forms the phase of motion and the phase of latent quiescence. And in fact, the most recent theories of physical cosmogenesis give expression to this fundamental concept:

a) According to the theory of Martin Ryle and Alan R. Sandage, the universe was formed by violent motions proceeding from a point of contraction 20 billion years ago (the "Big Bang" theory). The energies locked in that point and those of the colossal scattering motions that followed are equal to each other.

b) According to the the theory of Andrei Sakharov, the present universe is the antiuniverse of another that has receded and disappeared. That universe is now quiescent, counterbalancing the universe of motion that presently exists.

Yes, dear reader: The magnificence of Verses 15-16 of the Chapter of Folding Up is apparent from the fact that God in effect declares: "In order to comprehend the Resurrection, you must look first at the receding (dormant) and flowing (active) universes." And in transmitting this declaration to us. He begins with an oath; i.e., He declares: "What a great secret of creation that is."

Yes, let us reread the verse:

"No, I swear by the receders, and by those which sweep along their trajectories."

An amazing secret of genesis and physics is thus delivered into our hands, fourteen centuries in advance.

THE SECRET OF DIMENSIONS

"He is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and all that lies between them; He is the Lord of the Easts. "

chapter 37 (the ranks), verse 15

In its first verses, the chapter brings definitions to the concepts of the universe, man, space and angel. Consequently, it is necessary to take the interpretation of the verse in its proper context. The beginning of the verse in its proper context. The beginning of the verse proclaims that God is the only Deity of the heavens, the earth, and all in between.

The concept of the Lord of everything is defined in this setting and within the limits of our knowledge. Since the earth, the sky and all else in between have been mentioned, a different reality and spatial continuum is not in question. The verse does not and here, however, and a new concept is added to this definition: "He is the Lord of the Easts."

So in addition to the earth, the sky and all in between, we have the concept of "Easts." As is known, the plural form is used for three or more things in Arabic. God, therefore, is the Lord of at least three Easts, or of many Easts. What kind of scientific concept does this verse introduce? Before seeking an answer to this question, let us call to mind certain facts of science.

It is a commanplace that we conceive of space in terms of three dimensions. The existence of an object is determined by the space it occupies with respect to the dimensions of length, width and height, in addition to its position.

But is the universe composed of, and space constituted by, these three dimensions alone? Until Einstein's Special and General Theories of Relativity, scientists believed that the universe consisted of three dimensions. The world-famous physicist, however, determined on the basis of mathematical calculations that there are more than three dimensions and that a fourth, fifth or higher number of dimensions would introduce different concepts of space. According to Einstein, the fourth dimension is time: Time is not simply a matter of reading a clock, but a dimension of the same order as height, width and length. It is coextensive with the other dimensions. Our visual perception, however, can see in only three dimensions and no others. In fact, some organisms cannot even see the dimension of depth: Lizards and snakes view their environment in two dimensions, like a photograph or a movie cartoon.

Starting from this milestone of physics, we would have to conceive of spaces other us, and in addition to the physical space we observe in the universe at large. In these spaces, velocity is different, time is different, action is different; and so are translation, convergence and regression. This is why the concept of "worlds" introduced by the Koran is an expression of such diverse spaces. The World of Angelic Beings, Heaven, Hell, and the World of Spirits all lie in the domain of such spatial continua. Our difficulty in conceiving of them stems from our perceptual deficiencies in this world of only three dimensions.

Having noted this fact of science, let us now recall the final part of the sacred verse: "He is the Lord of the Easts." It is a well-known fact that the East is the expression of a direction, a dimension, and this definition arose for the first time in connection with the sun when dimensions were being defined. As the word "orientation" also implies, direction is associated with the Orient or East as the first dimension. Although the expression "Lord of the Easts and of the Wests" occurs in many verses in the Koran, only the Easts are mentioned in this sacred verse. This is why we are dwelling on this point at such length.

The point is that "the Easts" are proclaimed as a set of directions, quite apart from the existents we refer to as the earth and sky. With this verse, God draws our attention to other directrions and dimensions, indicating the existence of worlds and spaces composed of dimensions other than the physical world we are familiar with. In a sense. He says: "I am the Lord of the Easts" in order to introduce the definition of infinite dimensions, which contemporary physics is just beginning to discover. But why only the Easts? Because in the definition of dimensions, the first dimension is the East, whereas the West is simply an extension of the Eastern dimension in the opposite direction. We can say that this verse clearly heralds the existence of thousands of spaces and worlds embedded in an infinite dimensional matrix.

As I have explained earlier, many other meanings derive from the verse besides the meaning intended above. I would like to mention two more of these.

The meaning "births" can also be derived indirectly from the word mashariq. In this case the meaning points to a different scientific truth. The East, which is where the sun rises, also symbolizes the direction in which the earth moves around the sun. Do we have only one East, or only one motion in the universe? No!

While the earth revolves around the sun within the solar system, the sun is also revolving around the Milky Way galaxy together with its family of planets. The Milky Way, in turn, is revolving around the central axis of the supergalaxy or local cluster of galaxies to which we belong. In this way, we are enabled to speak of three different Easts.

This meaning, therefore, is also hidden within the statement "Lord of the Easts" (Rabb'ul mashariq). It affirms these extremely interesting facts about the universe within the edict, "We have many Easts." The fact that magharib (Wests) does not succeed mashariq (Easts) in this verse is a confirmation of this. We shall see while interpreting future verses that there are many statements in the Koran pointing lo the rotation of the earth. For this reason the East, which is related to the earth's revolution, is cast in the plural, indicating that these rotations occur at many levels.

If we take the verse from the standpoint of a direction on earth, the concept of the East differs for each location on the globe. The East of Turkey is in the East with respect to its Western regions, while our East is actually West from the standpoint of Iran, which lies even further East. Therefore, the "East" concept is different at every point on earth, and these concepts form an ensemble of Easts. This concept geometrically defines the surface of a sphere.

Let us now reread the verse in order to discover a further significant obsevation of science: "He is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and all that lies in between; He is the Lord of the Easts."

The heavens, as we shall see in future verses, are very diverse spheres. So is the expression "between the heavens and the earth" mean? It is known that meteors, stars, even angels and various unknown beings, can be encountered at various levels of the sky. What are "those between the earth and the sky" As far as we can tell, they are invisible rays which form the basic building blocks of matter and energy. These rays, earlier lumpeid together under the generic term "cosmic rays", are today differentiated within the broad categories of nucleons, baryons, leptons and fermions in modern physics. These are the subatomic constituents of matter and energy.

With the expression "He is the Lord of all that lies between the heavens and the earth" God explains that all these energetic particles and rays constitute a vast physical order subject to God's attribute of Lordship. Modern physics has viewed these incomprehensible energy dissipations and rays with unease, almost seeing them as dangers threatening the destruction of the universe. The sacred verse reveals that, on the contrary, they form a gigantic physical balance under the superintendence of God.

THE KORAN REVEALS THE ROTATION OF THE EARTH

"You see the mountains and think them jamid (lifless, motionless); yet they progress, just as clouds progress. Such is the handiwork of God, who has disposed of everything in firmness. He is completely aware of all you do.

chapter 27 (the ant), verse 88

As in the case of other verses, let us first identify the points that will guide us to a scientific interpretation of this verse:

1. The mountains appear to-be static, yet are actually in motion.

2. This motion of the mountains is similar to the motion of clouds.

3. The motion of mountains is not an imaginary or relative occurence, but a firm manifestation of God's art.

I have been able to identify two very clear scientific explanations in this sacred verse. Indeed, these are miracles that will astonish any fair-minded scientist, as I hope to demonstrate below.

a) If we look at the geological structure of the earth, we find that the part formed of soil and rock (the "crust") constitutes a restricted layer like the thin rind of an orange. Most of the earth's diameter is constituted of molten metals and rock called "magma". Hence, there is a liquid core inside the earth, surrounded by various solid layers and finally, soil and rock or equivalently, mountains on the outside.

As the sacred verse clearly reveals, this structure is wholly a piece of divine handiwork. Approached from this standpoint, it will be readily comprehended that the earth's crust, for all its firmness, possesses a secret of very slow motion. These motions, which are more pronounced at the borders of the layers we call "faults", leave the door open for volcanoes and earthquakes.

The earth, therefore, has a very firm structure due to divine handiwork, as is clearly explained in the sacred verse; however, its core also possesses a very slow motion which is the subject of fluid statics. The stability and firmness of our world, which consists of various layers with differing structures alf the way down to the core, constitutes a divine miracle in itself.

b) "Yet the mountains progress, just as clouds progress. "

Since clouds move in the sky, mountains must also move in a spatial direction. If the verse is consulted, the first sentence states that "you think them Jamid" Jamid means physically static, inert, lifeless, motionless. How are mountains enabled to move in space like clouds?

There is only one way in which this movement can occur, and that is by way of the motion of the earth. Indeed, a very important miracle of the verse is the fact that clouds moving rapidly in the wind have approximately the same speed as the earth's rotation. Mountains progress like clouds in three dimensions, and this motion is the result of a firm balance, of sacred artwork.

Again, observe the subtlety of its wisdom when the verse, after informing us of the spatial progress of mountains, i.e. the motion of the earth, states that this phenomenon is the firm law of cosmic organization. What is this law of divine art? Here is what astrophysics has to say regarding this question.

All the stars and planets in the universe lead their existence within the harmony of two powerful balancing forces. One of these forces is gravitation, which is an ineluctible law of unity: All masses obey the tendency to become one single mass by attracting each other. The other force needed to continue their existence is the centrifugal force obtained their existence is the centrifugal force obtained by rotational motion. The sacred verse draws attention to this law, pointing out that the spatial movement of mountains similar to that of clouds is a principle of firmness. When God says: "Bring us a like verse, bring us even a like word" in the Koran regarding that Book, He also implies the secret of such marvels.

To summarize this second interpretation of the verse:

1. You think that the mountains are tixed.

2. They progress spatially like clouds,

3. Rotational motion contributes firmness to this process by delicately balancing the gravitational force.

4. This rotational movement, which is one of the basic laws of the universe, is a manifestation and principle of divine handiwork.

How beautifully, dear reader, each word of the verse underlines a different fact of science! —And this, fourteen centuries ago, in an age when people had many strange notions about the world, and additionally without confusing those people in their elementary mentality and landing them in ruin. Here is the art and here, the miracle of the Koran.

As for the final sentence of the verse, it expresses yet another profound law of divine truth: "He is completely aware of all you do."

God, who has created entire worlds with a physical art that defies comprehension, governs alt things at every point of the universe as if by a gigantic network of computers. Such a system implies that every event in the universe is automatically recorded in some mathematical sense.

The phenomena programmed by this means are manifested each instant, and make themselves visible through His will. Yesterday, we had difficulty in comprehending such matters. But today, thanks to recent discoveries and especially the examples provided by electronic brains and computer networks, we are able to reach a better appreciation. Actually, we live in a world of similitudes. When we say "Heaven", we are reminded of flowers, gardens and flowing rivers: We try to comprehend Heaven by analogy with the beauties of this world.

THE VERSE THAT SHOWED COUSTEAU THE RIGHT WAY

"He has let forth the two seas, that they should meet together. There is a barrier between them which they do not overpass."

chapter 55 (the compassıonate), verses 19-20

Two important points are covered in the verse:

1- The necessity of seas to mingle through straits bet­ween them. This, of course, is the normal situation.

2- The fact that the two seas do not come together because of a barrier between them.

Let us first isolate the phenomenon in scientific terms. The French scientist Jacques-Yves Cousteau, famous for his underwater researches, has discovered that the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean differ in terms of their chemical and biological constitution. Captain Cousteau conducted various undersea investigations at the Straits of Gibraltar in order to explain this phenomenon, concluding in effect that: "Unexpected fresh water springs issue from the Southern (Morocco) and Northern coasts (Spain) of the Gibraltar. These mommoth water spouts gush forth towards each other at angles of 45°, forming a reciprocal dam like the teeth of a comb. Due to this fact, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean cannot intermingle."

Indeed, subsequent to this assessment, Cousteau was amazed upon being shown the above verses, was filled with admiration for the Koran, and accepted Islam.

The wonder of the sacred verse as concerns science consists in the fact that the Gibraltar barrier is revealed. Now let us scrutinize the sacred verse once more within the general context of the Chapter of the Compassionate. It is known that this chapter takes divine grace and the infinite wisdom and art of creation as its subject.

The separation of two seas by the straits connecting them has an inner meaning. What is this meaning?

The sea bears more living things than does land. With the almost infinitely numerous tiny organisms we calf plankton, their countiess flora and fauna of all kinds, the seas are a theater of divine handiwork in their own right. It is also obvious that different organisms will inhabit differing environments. This is one of the reasons why divine power does not allow the seas to mix.

This meaning, however, further invites our attention in Verse 22 — especially to the plankton composition of the seas, and to the flora and fish distributions that change with variations in temperature. This verse announces the presence of pearls and coral in both seas. Hence, the reason for separation is not simply the chemical composi­tion of the sea, since pearls and coral exist or disappear in accordance with the chemical properties of the sea.

In this way, the nonmixing seas prepare the living environment of the most beautiful undersea gardens and fish, sources of endless pleasure when viewed in their natural medium.

There are specific flowers covered with squat plants unheard of on dry land and other special flowers under the sea. Some of these (Lepas fasicularis) are lotus-like flowers which are prettier than orchids. On the ocean floor where sunlight cannot penetrate, ornate insects and wonderful spiders living thousands of meters beneath the sea lead their lives by means of the radar systems they are equipped with.

Again, the fish Acantburus triostegus has thousands of fluorescent spots on a red background that both light up its environment and ease its life. Nearly thirty different color hues have been distinguished on a fish living at such light-less depths. These creatures, representing the pure art of the Compassionate Lord, are the manifestation of the inner meaning of the oceans' nontransgression secret. As the sacred verse further imparts, so many varieties of organisms inhabit the corals on both sides of the Straits that we cannot exhaust their number or patterns by enumeration.

Flowers decked out in all the shades of blue, yellowish-red plants resembling cactuses, and amongst these, ocean spiders adorned with fluorescing blue spots on grey-brown patterns (Cypraea tigris), all stagger the imagination.

We have a reason for listing these organisms by name. How do these divine patterns and decorations come to be displayed at the bottom of the sea, normally inaccessible to eyesight? The Chapter of the Compassionate discloses the infinite beauty of our exalted Creator's art by relating these insights in Verses 19 through 25. Then, after 14 centuries have elapsed, atlases showing the creatures of the ocean are published, and the secret of these verses is experienced as you view the thousand and one organisms pictured therein. Within the wisdom of the nonmingling oceans, luminous fish with mouths surrounded by light-emitting organs lead you through this enchanted world as if they were guides on duty.

In the light of recent information, I would like to give a few more details on the question of how life appeared on earth, as well as the more general question of life per se to be found in many verses of the Koran.

Since the 19th Century, the effort to discover the truth about fife has become an obsession with scientists. Initially, the chenical composition of organic structures was investigated, en enabling the determination of the chemical differences between living things and inorganic matter. This is how organic chemistry was born, and it has developed as a separate branch of chemistry.

According to initial results, the most important distincition of organic structures was that the carbon atom bore negative charge. Although carbon is always found with a charge of +4 in nature, it assumes a valence of -4 in organic structures, and can form chains of compounds with hydrogen by virtue of this fact. Later, the significance of nitrogen in organisms was also discovered. In addition, structures called "amino acids" that definitely did not exist in inorganic matter were found in organisms. An amino ticid, however, would just sit there in the test tube and refuse to be alive, although it was no different in structure from its counterparts in living organisms.

All this information was capped by James. D.Watson's discovery of the giant DNA molecule in living matter. It was determined that the bearers of genetic traits in organisms —the chromosomes— were woven from this giant molecule.

The basic structure of life had, therefore, been found. Starting with the 1950's, organic structures underwent a more conscious examination, leading to the discovery that the hydrogen ions in the DNA molecule were bonded to each other by impermanent bridges. There now remained one question: If all organisms, from grass cells to brain neurons and a thousand varieties of bacteria, were composed of the same molecule, why was there such great variety of life?

The answer to this question was initially sought in terms of the connections between molecules and the ordering of these bonds. But these differences of order were likewise insufficient to explain the difference between a cell that makes bile and one that converts light into electricity at the rear of the eye.

In the end, science came to understand that the cell, or in other words life, is a matter of mathematical programming. That is, all kinds of organisms are each loaded with a mathematical computer program. The chains of DNA In their structures form the hardware for this program. Just like a small pocket calculator we might hold in our hands. This is why God frequently declares the decree "We created and prearranged" in various verses in the Koran.

Having acquainted ourselves with life in the context of such a scientific concept, we shall be in a better position to understand the quickening of the soil God, after creating the earth in its material aspect, wilted life in the soil and in water, and programmed the molecules of life.

THE SECRET OF VITALITY IN THE SOIL

"And a sign for them is the way in which we give life to the earth that is dead: We quickened it and brought forth from it grain, of which they eat."

chapter 36 (ya sin), verse 33

As we have done for the other verses, let us first identify the points which bear on science in the verse:

1- The expression "dead earth" is used instead of "dead soil", indicating that all the soil of the earth is implied.

2- One meaning of the expression "this is a sign"' in the verse is divine portent. The presence of this definition at the outset of the verse indicates that the verse will discuss a very important family of scientific laws.

3- We are informed that in its initial and natural condition, the earth was devoid of life in this way, the lifeless-ness of the earth when it was first created is expressed as a geological fact.

4- It is announced that the soil, which appears dead on the surface, is actually alive. Even from this single aspect, the verse constitutes a miracle in its own right. For it is only a hundred years since it was discovered that there are organisms in the soil, while it is scarcely forty years since the discovery that almost all the soil (80 %) consists of bacteria, and thus is a community of organisms.

5- "We quickened it and brought forth from it habba." According to the latter part of the verse, habba signifies seeds of a vegetable nature or, specifically, grain. However, habba in general denotes small, uniform particles, and we shall discuss the verse's inner meaning also from this angle.

6- The verse declares that life is transferred via the soil to plants and thence reflected to us and our lives, which is singularly important from the standpoint of biochemistry.

Again, the verse has used the word habba in the general sense, but mentioned what is eaten from it as vegetative food.

In order to comprehend this verse in all its subtleties, one first has to know the concepts of life and vitality in their true scientific aspect. For the concept of vitality ("the Living") has changed greatly, and has come closer to its inner truth in recent years. The biological knowledge of yesteryear has been left far behind.

Life is a mathematical program coded on a giant chemical molecule. The Koran indicated this fact, which has been discovered only in recent years, 14 centuries ago with the statement: "We created him from a drop ofliquid; we shaped and programmed him''in Verse 19 of Chapter 80

God first created bacteria fixing nitrogen in the soil. In chemical terms, these are laboratories of synthesis; that is, they take nitrogen from the air and prepare compounds with negative valences. These bacteria reduce nitrogen by a method we still cannot fathom, and convert it into a form in which it can combine with hydrogen. They require water and rain for this purpose. This is why we observe that life springs forth from the soil when it rains.

A second type of bacteria in the soil is what might be called the "analytic group" due to the divine program they have received. They break down everything falling to the ground, preparing the way for synthesizing bacteria. The soil consequently resembles a vast chemical factory. If water is excluded, the greatest part of a gram of soil is composed of microbes.

In botanics, soil is regarded as a totally living structure. That is, the soil has been a living being ever since the origin of life on earth. A great miracle of the verse is that it informs us of this fact 14 centuries in advance.

Since the concept of life has been understood thus far, I would like to broach an important subject at this point in our discussion.

You know how unbelievers distort the facts about the emergence of various organisms in order to show confusion in people's minds. According to atheists, organisms have evolved from a single cell, spawning various plant and animal species in the process. This is called "the theory of evolution". I wish to address this issue which bewilders innocent minds. For the secret of "the Living", which gives life to the soil, and the formation of plants from seeds after the soil has come to life, are diametrically opposed to the concept of evolution. The expression in the Koran must, of course, be correct, while any notion opposing it can only be incorrect.

The theory of evolution was propounded toward the end of the 19th Century. As I have just explained, organisms were thought at that time to embody different chemical structures, the smaller organisms having a simpler chemical composition, while a more complex organism had a different one. The mathematical program within cells was totally unknown.

An evolution of structures could, of course, be conceived as a first step. The differences of growth among orfanisms, however, resided in their mathematical programs and the perfectness of these programs is not open to question; nor is it possible to speak of their evolution. Given cell producing bile and a nitrogen-fixing bacterium of Simpler countenance in the soil, for instance, which one of these performs the more difficult task is not subject to debate: Chemically, binding nitrogen to hydrogen is undoubtedly the harder task. Again, bacteria are thought to be the simplest organisms, yet some of their tasks can be accomplished neither by a neuron in the brain, thought to be the most developed ceil, nor by any human intelligence. While DDT, the famed insecticide of yesterday, was wreaking havoc with the environment, the common housefly, considered to be a simple, lowly creature, developed such a prescription in the fluid oil its nerve cells that it proved impossible to exterminate another fly with this chemical. A neuron in the human brain could not produce this prescription and precaution if it were to labor for a thousand years.

Well, now, which cell is the evolving one? Of course, man is the most perfect of organisms, but he cannot do anything outside the program ordained for him, and, as mentioned in the Koran, can even be defeated by a fly.

Thus, it can easily be seen that the concept of evolution is man's own fancy, once the concept of life is examined in depth as above. Fish with luminous organs were swimming at the bottom of the ocean millions of years ago, just as bats equipped with radar were flying in the air, whereas we are just discovering these facts and starting to put them to use.

A most important question concerning life in modern biology is how abilities are to be handed down, even if the genetic codes of species are inherited. That is, even if an organism inherits its entire constitution from its parents, how does it acquire the inscrutable abilities it needs in order to continue its life? From whom does it learn how to build nests, to defend itself against other creatures? If a living organism represents a mathematical computer program, how is this program transferred from generation to generation without fail or distortion?

In seeking an answer to this question, modern biology has accepted that a certain program called the genetic code is inscribed in the chromosomes, and automatically passed on from generation to generation. This genetic viewpoint may be satisfactory for coarse external similarities between cells, but a satisfactory explanation for embryonic cells and cells of the bone marrow cannot be reached starting from this viewpoint.

God declares: "Without divine science no woman conceives, no fruit separates from its rind" (Chapter 41, Verse 47). The scientific meaning of this verse is: "Every cell is given its mathematical program in a continuous fashion."

The meaning that results collectively from the verses is that life, or vitality, has two different spects. The molecules that form the organism are its physical components, while the mathematical program imposed on this structure is akin to the programming of a computer. These programs are, in a sense, the organism's fate.

In the concept of fate, we have .become accustomed to the view that each event is always followed by a consequence. Verse 12 of the "Ya Sin" Chapter, on the other hand, informs us that each creature is recorded in the Guarded Tablet in terms of its individual qualities. This declaration is an invariant law for the more general case of life as welt. Everything a weed cell, a flower or a gall bladder coil will perform is coded and incribed in the cellular com­puter by means of divine omniscience.

The principle of life's continuation is given in the second part of the sacred verse we are trying to interpret, Here, it is declared that after initiating life in the soil and having the organic materials indispensable for life prepared in the soil. God created plants from it which carry the basic structural materials necessary for other organisms.

As everyone knows, the grain mentioned in the verse is the seeds of the plant on the one hand, and on the other hand comprises the matter of a complete ceil; that is, all the organic materials to be used by an organism exist in grain. This fact wasn't known in earlier times —that is it wasn't believed that grain contains carbohydrates, protein, lilts, vitamins and minerals all at the same time- Rather, il was thought that food derived from wheat and similar plants could not provide sufficient nutrition. But the habba (grain) actually represents all the basic materials necessary for life in their entirety.

This also underlines the fact that the plant cell and the animal ceil have common building blocks. The difference lies in their programs of predestination.

One of the most important inner meanings of the verse is that the soil vitalized by God also serves as an incubator 'for organisms. This secret is imparted especially in the second part of the verse.

The fertilized egg develops in three basic ways:

1- Beneath the earth (all plants),

2- Inside an egg shell (most animals),

3- In the mother's womb (mammals).

Actually, from the scientific point of view, all three kinds of development serve the same purpose of instilling life in the organism. The fertilized egg needs a period of incubation and development in order to form the new organism. Biologically, this process is one in which the cells of the seed or the fertilized egg are constantly multiplied until they assume the form of the new organism. The seed needs protection during this period, and must draw certain chemicals and ions we still have not been able to pin point from its environment. In this way, it will be born into life as programmed.

In this verse, the Lord God emphasizes that He has given this characteristic to the soil. Taking only this pro­perty of the soil as an example, the vivification of grain is demonstrated.

Actually, this feature of soil also provides an important insight for the Judgement Day.

When the command for resurrection is issued on the Day of Judgement —and this, too, is a mathematical program— the secret of the verse will be revealed once again, and the dead will be restored to life in that instant.

This verse may also be regarded as bearing on the wisdom of Adam's creation from soil in two respects. As everyone knows, it is the declaration of the Koran that Adam was created from soil with the texture of mud. We shall investigate that verse in detail in the future. In the meantime, the important thing is that God imparts to the soil from the secret of his divine name "the Living". It can be clearly seen from the expression comprising the two sentences of the verse that God has both bestowed life and vitality on the soil, and has made it the vehicle for propagation of other life forms (the secret of "bringing forth grain.")

Since Verse 32 of the same chapter expresses the resurrection on Judgement Day, this verse in a sense also Hunts to a connection between the resurrection at the Judgement and the secret of life in the soil.

We have learned many things about soil biology in Decent years. I would like to summarize this information also from the standpoint of the Judgement.

As mentioned earlier, all the preconditions necessary for the formation of an organism from a seed are present in soil- That is, the soil conveys a fertilized organism to life, just like the mother's womb. Both the fertilized egg and the seed are quite similar in that they both represent a genetic code ready to reproduce. This genetic code is the life and Character program of the organism to be formed. These genetic codes are a millionth of a centimeter in size. Because of this, if for curiosity's sake you were to collect together the genetic codes of all the human beings who nave ever lived, they would not fill a drinking glass.

It should never be doubted that had God willed, He would have developed the human seed in the soil as well. Indeed, when God ordains in this verse that "The way in which we quicken the dead earth is a sign, a scientific law [(portent). We have brought forth from it grain." He is giving expression to the facts of science mentioned above. The sacred verse clearly underlines how deeply the resurrection at the Judgement conforms with the logic of biology.

To summarize the scientific conclusions deriving.from the many biological facts given in the verse;

1- The quickening of the soil by God is no ordinary event, but a most profound wonder of biology. The chain of events we call life stems from the secret of "the Living" in the soil.

2- The Day of Judgement is also closely related to the secret of the Living. Whoever doubts the Judgement will find that his suspicions are baseless if he contemplates the wisdom of God's bestowal of life on the soil together with the secret of the Living.

3- Life is, first and foremost, a preordained mathematical program. The division of organisms as primitive or developed is based on arbitrary claims. Every organism is the representative of a highly perfect program. Because of this, the theory of evolution is merely a fallacy in terms of its fundamental principle.

WASHUP: THE BEST PRESCRIPTION FOR GOOD HEALTH

"O believers, when you stand up for Prayer, wash your faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads, and wash your feet up to the ankles, if you are unclean, bathe your whole body..."

chapter 5 (the table), verse 6.

Here is a grand prescription from among the many marvels of the Koran. The day will come when even unbelievers will imitate the Ablution or Washup, a boon we have been receiving unawares for 15 centuries.

The whole world has learned of the Bodily Ablution or Bath, the bounty of washing one's body, only recently from this verse of the Koran. Societies deeming themselves civilized have been washing their faces and bodies only since the last 70 years. We have learned of the wonderful effects of the Washup, however, exclusively through the discoveries of biologists in the last 20 years.

Let us first investigate what benefits human health derives from the Washup. Washup has three main advantages:

a) The Influence of Washup on the Circulatory System

The circulatory system is based on two main biological principles. The first of these is the heart's duty to transport blood to every part of the body, delivering it to tissue or, more precisely, to cells. The second is the collection of biologically used blood back into the heart. This latter function in particular is of vital concern for the body. Once this reverse circulation is disturbed, diastolic blood pressure increases and aging, even the onset of death, may be precipitated.

What could be the most important issue in this twofold circulatory action?

The answer to this question has been known for many years. It is the healthful functioning of the blood veins and arteries. Blood vessels resemble flexible tubing, dividing into thinner branches as the distance from the heart Increases. If thin tubes in particular become hardened and lose their elasticity, pressure is exerted against the heart. This is known in the medical language as arteriosclerosis.

Various aspects of our lives cause these blood vessels to harden and become constricted. This subject, which is considered to be the basis of aging and deterioration, is a separate field of medicine in itself. Improper nutrition and nervous reactions have serious effects on blood vessels. If we were to observe sclerotic development in a blood vessel, could there be any practical measure that might be taken against this deterioration?

The hardening and narrowing of blood vessels do not form instantaneously, but over a long period of time. Vessels distant from the heart, such as those in the brain, feet and hands, are in a more compromising position. The hardening and narrowing process which starts slowly in these locations continues unabated with the passage of time.

There is an application in our daily life, however, which in a sense 'exercises' blood vessels by alternately, constircting and widening them. Its agent is water, which gives rise to temperature gradients. Water ensures the flexibility and vigor of vessels distant from the heart by dilating them when hot and contracting them when cold. It also forces nutrients deposited in tissues due To sluggish circulation back into the bloodstream by virtue of this temperature difference. In the face of these facts, is it possible to view the verse's counsel to wash the hands, feet and face in the Washup formula as anything short a miracle? And particularly in the latter part of the verse, is it possible not to understantand the secret of the declaration: "We want to complete our favors upon you"?'

God has granted us the boon of circulation. He declares that we should perform the Washup so that that favor should be completed and our circulation should be restored to full health.

This dear reader, is only the first of the many gifts of Washup. It is impossible to ignore how Washup protects against senility —which is the way the hardening of blood vessels reflects on the circulation in the brain— in a person who has performed it since childhood.

b) The Influence of Washup on the Immune System (Lymphatic Circulation)

In addition to the circulation of red blood cells in the body we all know of, there is also the circulation of white blood cells (leucocytes). The vessels of this system are ten times thinner than those which conduct red blood cells. We can observe its colorless fluid oozing from the walls in some small scratches or wounds. Now this tymphatic circulation keeps ali points of the body under the protection of the immune system. A bacterium, alien object, or cancer cell — the cause of which is not known — invading the body is destroyed by the warrior cells or leucocytes in the lymphatic Circulation. The appearance of an infectious disease of cancer in the body is always contingent on the malfunctioning of this immune system.

Exactly how this system of vessels expands and contracts has not been clarified as yet. It is known, however, that heat and cold influence this system. Catching an infeclious disease during a common cold is ascribed to the inability, due to contraction, of these vessels to dispatch leucocytes in sufficient numbers to the afflicted area. Now the proper functioning of this system and its thin vessels, like that of the circulatory system in general, is closely linked with the stimulating effect of the Washup. The structure of the immune system, which provides resistance against all diseases, is reinforced through the Washup, and the divine favor mentioned in the latter part of the verse achieves full realization.

Now suppose someone were to claim that, while the lymphatic system is indeed invigorated by the Washup, this is merely a coincidental and unintended side effect- The form of the command to perform the Washup, however, properly disposes of this incorrect view. I assert that, on the contrary, the way in which the Washup is performed specifically aims at the lymphatic system as well. The reasons are as follows:

1. For the lymphatic system to function properly, even 8 single point in the body must not be neglected, which is assured by the Washup.

2. The most important centres for stimulating the lymphatic system is the nasopharyngeal region behind the nose and the tonsils, and washing these spots is especially enjoined in the Washup.

3. Stimulation of both sides of the neck has great influence on the lymphatic system, and this is also present in the Washup.

Due to the above reasons, no one can come forth and claim that the Washup is not directed at the lymphatic system.

I would like to explain by means of an example how performing the Washup vitalizes the protection of the body, thus completing the divine favor.

The most formidable warrior cells of the body/the lymphocytes, are transported to the farthest reaches of the body and, after passing through intensive biological training, patrol each point in the body ten times a day. If they meet a bacterium or a cancer cell, they destroy the latter immediately. Is this not a divine blessing of the first order?

If a circulatory disorder occurs once in a while and you are able to avert this by means of your habitual Washup, is the Washup anything other than the completion of the divine bounty?

c) Washup and the Static Electricity of the Body

The body normally has a balance of static electricity, and the physiology of a healthy body is closely related to this electrical balance.

Atmospheric conditions as well as plastic clothing and products - a serious problem in our day — adversely affect this balance. Painful illnesses, irritability and facial wrinkles are the best-known results. Most of us have become aware of this electricity while climbing out of a car or sitting in a plastic chair. Stormy weather has a comparable effect. Healing by acupunture and, in certain respects, physiotherapy redress this imbalance of static electricity; but we can avoid this effect entirely simply by taking the Washup several times a day.

There are many psychosomatic illnesses arising from static electricity. I shall not dwell on these at length. I shall only address the question of beauty, which has become a fashionable subject in our day.

The worst influence of static electricity is exerted on the small subcutaneous muscles in muscles continually, finally renders them inoperative, which is why early wrinkles set in starting with the face. Needless to say, this is also valid for the entire body. At this point, many of my readers will have divined one of the reasons for the radiant appearance of those who take a Washup all their lives. Whoever possesses the habit of Washup inevitably has the more healthful, and therefore the more beautiful, skin.

What a miracle it is that in our day, when millions are being spent on beautification, a tenfold increase in expenditures would still not properly substitute for the Washup.

Another question: Does the Washup have anything to do with static electricity?

Of course it does. The part of the verse pertaining to the Substitute Ablution underlines the fact that the favor against this static electricity is completed. For the Substitute, too, disposes of static electricity to a significant extent.

Here we behold another Koranic miracle. For the importance of the Substitute had gone unrecognized for centuries, and no one had been able to explain why it stands in for the Washup.

As the verse clearly explains, the sanitary aspect of the Washup is a medical marvel in its own right. Of course, in our day a person can say: "I already wash my face and hands. "We must not forget, however, that this habit has a history of barely 70 years, even in nations pretending to be the most civilized countries in the world. Moreover, cleanliness based on advice can never be as continuous or valid as the rigorous discipline of worship.

Naturally, the favor and significance of Washup do not end with these medical facts. Our aim in this book, however, is confined to scientific explanations alone.

THE SUBTLETIES OF CONCEPTION

To Him is referred the knowledge of the Hour. No fruit emerges from its sheath, no female conceives nor brings forth, save by His knowledge. The day when He calls to them: "Where are the partners you associated with me?", they will say: "We assure You, there is not even one witness among us.

chapter 41 (detaıled explanatıons), verse 67

We shall try to explain a scientific marvel occuring in the middle portion of this verse:

Without His knowledge, no fruit can separate from its rind, no female can connceive and give birth...

As in the case of previous verses, let us identify the extraordinary aspect of the verse's style. Since every event in the universe takes its origin from and through Divine Omniscience and Divine Will, why does our Dear Lord list these three biological phenomena, emphasizing that they occur only by virtue of Divine Omniscience? In order to discover this secret, it will be sufficient to take a look at the biological aspect of these events.

Let us first investigate the phenomenon of conception, which implies the pregnancy of a female.

Until recent years, the phenomenon of conception (fertilization) was considered a mundane event of biology in which the genes of the father and mother participated with equal share. As the science of genetics developed, it became clear that the event of conception was an exceedingly difficult process.

The egg cell (ovum) of the female is a unit bearing about half the 60,000 biological traits to be found in a human being. Through a special form of cell division called meiosis, the mother's ovum carries half of these 60,000 biological traits in arbitrary sequences. These are loaded on 23 'boxcars' called chromosomes, of which there are 46 in man. 1 would like to outline this extraordinary event by means of an example.

Let us suppose that a human being is represented by a code consisting of 60,000 numbers from 1 to 60,000 appear sequentially, are present in the mother's cell. But the 'cards' of the mother are not ordered from 1 to 30,000: Of the cards bearing 60,000 numbers, an unordered 30,000 are present in the ovum. For example, 30,000 numbers such as the sequence: 1, 2, 3, 81,165, 4340, 11804, 24114, 38111, 47617, 57514... may be present in the mother's ovum. The traits of the child-to-be-born that will resemble the mother are thus quite arbitrary: Its eyes may not look alike while its eyebrows may, on its fingernails may not look alike whereas its fingers may.

But we must not forget one point: For a baby to be born, it is imperative that the missing 'cards' be found. These cards will naturally be donated by the father's sperm cell (spermatozoon). The father's sperms, however, like-wise contain 30,000 cards in various assortments; the difference is that 250 million sperm cells are pitted againts a lie ovum.

Yes, dear reader; it is here that the inconceivable event begins. For the mother's ovum has to be conceived by selecting the one sperm cell with the complementary set of codes out of a marketplace of 250 million sperms, each with a set of 30,000 numbers. It has, furthermore, to accomplish this feat within an hour.

In order to place this grand scientific riddle of life in proper perspective, I want to illustrate it by means of a second example.

Suppose you are given a certain set of cards, thirty thousand of them, each bearing a number between one and sixty thousand. You are next presented with 250 million bags, and told: "The missing thirty thousand numbers from your set are in one of these bags. Find the right bag and complete your set."

What would you do?

Assuming that you could check one card per second, going through the entire encemble would take 250,000,000 x 30,000 seconds, or more that two months.

But the ovum not only has to search for set of numbers while seeking the missing cards: It also has to determine the spatial positioning of the amino acid bases corresponding to these traits, and identify their angular relationships. And at this point we reach such an order of complexity that, if you were to assign a thousand biologists with fully equipped laboratories to the ovum about to be conceived and surrounded by 250 million spermatozoa, it still could not determine the proper sperm cell for years and years; whereas it has to complete its fertilization (conception) in one hour. Here indeed is a riddle that cannot be solved.

But this insoluble riddle is solved thousands of times a day. That is, thousands of females become pregnant.

What is the conclusion to be reached on the basis of this lengthy explanation?

It is impossible, within the bounds of normal biological laws and knowledge, for a female cell to select its missing genetic cards in order to become pregnant. That is, the rational science we all know of tells us that—

No female can become pregnant!

Verse 47 of Chapter 41 makes the same declaration 15 centuries in advance, saying, in effect: "0 Mankind, it is only through My Will and science that the female ovum is able to decipher this incomprehensible riddle."

Faced with this verse, modern science can only nod its assent. Even in the case of this single verse, the science of biology follows in the footsteps of the Koran, having only recently been able to approach the secret declared therein 14 centuries ago.

This miracle of the divine, dear reader, is so important that it displays the existence of the Divine Omnipotence for all to see, while simultaneously demonstrating the scientific portent of the Koranic verses.

The phenomenon of conception is the inevitable acknowledgement of 'the Witnessing' by science.

Here's how:

If God —God forbid— did not exist, science clearly tells us that no female could become pregnant. But thousands, and if all living things are considered, millions of females become pregnant every day. Hence:

“I bear witness that there is no god but God.”

Further, the Koran, revealed 14 centuries ago, announces this fact as a scientific marvel in unequivocal terms. Therefore:

“/ bear witness that Mohammed is the Prophet of God”

I know come to the second secret dealt with in this verse:

"No female can conceive without Divine Omniscience."

For birth to occur after conception, this single fertilized cell (zygote) must be transformed into a baby. What kind of scientific phenomenon is this?

The zygote subdivides in a geometric series of 2, 4, 8, 16..., until a baby consisting of thirty billion cells is reached. However, in this series of divisions, the 60 000 traits have to occupy a definite position in space. When the number of cells reaches 256, for example, the color of the eyelashes and the cartilage of the ear have to determine where in these 256 cells they are going to exist. For instance, the epidermal trait of the tongue and that of the kidneys may coexist in adjacents locations in Cell No.221. If there were to be an error of even 1 Angstrom (ten millionths of a centimeter) in the distance between them, urine would be secreted by the human tongue, or the tongue of an unbeliever might protrude from his belly.

The chanses that these traits will progress free of error within this geometrical order in passing from one cell to 30 billion cells is 6 x 10^-32 Further, the chances that a certain trait will occupy the proper space, position and order in a certain cell at each division are. 6 x 10^-128, which is mathematically equivalent to zero. It is impossible, in other words, for a fertilized egg to become a baby without the art of divine science.

And what of the command to start labor? What scientific committee informs the mother's pituitary that the baby's biological structure is completed when the 40- week pregnancy period is over? Which research laboratory has informed the pituitary in the mother's brain that all the systems of the baby have now matured so that the order for birtsh has been issued?

What else but Divine Omniscience?

Indeed, very rare events such as premature births, malformed babies, and the inability of labor to commence in spite of the completion of pregnancy, are all admonitions and warnings to mankind, reminders of the biologically miraculous nature of pregnancy and childbirth.

WATER AND VITALITY

Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together before We clove them asunder, and of water fashioned every living thing? Will they not then believe?

chapter 21 (the prophets), verse 30

(Have they not considered that) We have fashioned all living things from water? Do they still not believe?

In this section we shall try to interpret the latter part oc Chapter 21, Verse 30. I shall explain the beginning of the verse pertaining to space in another section (Topic 10).

As can be seen, the phenomenon of life has to be known before this verse can be understood.

The definition of an organism has varied inscessantly until the second half of the twentieth century. After James D.Watson's discovery of the role of DNA, the basic unit of organisms was recognized and a more precise definition of an organism became possible. Since 1950, life has become known as the ability to replicate the DNA originally present in an organism.

There is a nuance between life and vitality. Life is a structural characteristic, while vitality is a function of this characteristic. This concept, which is a bit difficult to understand, may be more readily comprehended by means of an example.

Some viruses and certain bacteria in the soil cannot exhibit their functions due to environmental circumstances. That is, they cannot move and do not reproduce, as if in suspended animation. Under appropriate conditions, they regain mobility and begin to reproduce. Now life represents both the dormant and active states of the virus or bacterium, while vitality stands for its period of activity alone.

The word occuring in the verse is 'the Living', which corresponds to vitality- I have earlier had occassion to point out that the words in Koranic verses embody very significant secrets.

Let us now return to the verse. The exact meaning of the verse is: "We have brought forth all living things from water."

Let us identify the significant points in the verse:

a) 15 centuries ago, the concept of life was accepted for animals. Among certain scientific circles, plants were also included in this category. The verse, on the other hand, quite clearly expresses something beyond the concepts of 'animal' and 'vegetable': The definition of "all living things (objects)" points to the fact that vitality covers many varied beings with the concept of "thing (object)". The Koran, with this single expression, has allowed the concept of vitality sufficient breadth to cover viruses and DMA molecules, and had thus expressed a scientific fact 14 centuries in advance.

b) Vitality has arisen from, has gained power from water. The verse does not say "created" (halaqna); but "empowered" (waja'alna).

c) After this, the verse ends with the declaration "How can they still not believe", directed at unbelievers. This is addressed especially to the unbelievers of our age, for it is only thirty years since the indispensability of water to vitality has been recognized.

Let us now investigate why water is the basic condition for vitality within the context of the most recently discovered rules of biology.

We have already seen that the basic unit of life, i.e. its representative, is a molecule known is DNA. Vitality consisted in this molecule alone, and if this molecule had developed from the molecules of water, the verse would have read: "We created all living things from water." Vitality, on the other hand, is the construction of a new and identical molecule using organic chemicals from the original.

Modern biology has determined that this addition is made possible through the H ⁺ an OH ^- ions of water molecules. In particular, the H⁺ ions of water are used to synthesize ATP, a compound of phosphorous, and amino acids and ribose sugar. Experiments performed with radiactive hydrogen (tritium) have shown that DNA molecules take the hydrogen ion exclusively from water. The same experiments have demonstrated that a hydrogen ion we call "mobile hydrogen" creates a continuous electrical field between ribose sugar and amino acid nuclides, thus constituting the basis on which vitality is maintained. As I have also mentioned in the topic of rain, vitality is activated when these electrical fields influence bacteria in a living but dormant (static) state; that is, the bacteria become operational, beginning to move and reproduce.

This principle is the same for all organisms. That is to say, cells can continue their activity only by virtue of hydrogen. Research in cellular chemistry has shown that all electrical processes are sustained through lysosomes and water ions in the cell. Again, all chemical processes are carried out through the medium of water ions in the cellular laboratories we call mitochondria.

Experiments made with "heavy water", where hydrogen is replaced by one of its isotopes, have also established that a water molecule remains in the body for 7-14 days and then is ejected, being replaced by fresh water Ions which will contribute renewed vitality. For this reason, organisms cannot tolerate dehydration.

The relationship between water and vitality, however, does not end at this point. In general terms, energy is needed for the continuation of vitality. This energy is obtained by the exchange of ions. The intake of food leads to an activity akin to the production of electric power by the chemical combination and dissociation of certain molecules, In all these energetic processes, the H ⁺ and OH ^- ions in the cell provide the basic medium of exchange, like money or foreign medium of exchange, like money or foreign currency. A cell is healthy if the water ions within it and surrounding it are balanced. Otherwise, it is either diseased or dead.

Water, therefore, is the basic element not of genesis and life, but of vitality. And the verse expresses this subtlety so beautifully that it is not possible to ignore this Koranic miracle either. It reemphasizes the same fact by stating: "How can they still not believe?"

The respiration of cells ("Krebs respiration"), that is, the consumption of nutrients, is a special phenomenon of ion exchange which is also profoundly tied in with water ions. The profound connection between water and vitality has still not been unravelled satisfactorily. For instance, electrochemistry and biochemistry cannot explain why water molecules become useless after a certain period. Further, the way in which a cell stores water is still not properly understood. We only know that the use of table salt or sodium chloride (NaCI) in the cell is aimed at absorbing and accumulatin water molecules there.

Indeed, each organism uses water just like currency in its tiny laboratory. For this reason, there are special hormones produced by glands in our bodily system which regulate intra- and intercellular water exchange- Many centers of the body are in computerized communication with these secretory glands. Excessive water is ejected prior fofever, which indicates that war is being waged by the body, making life difficult for bacteria. Our bodies do not give microbes a chance to live, as if in consciousness of the secret of this verse.

Such are the profound meanings hidden within the divine ordination, "We created all living things from water."

THE DAY WILL COME WHEN EVERYONE WILL FAST

O believers: Fasting, as it was prescribed for those before you, is prescribed for you for a fixed number of days, that you may be Godfearing, Any of you who is sick or on a journey will make up for the prescribed number of days on other, later days. For those who cannot withstand its hardships, the ransom is to feed a poor man. Whoever does good voluntarily, that good is reglected back on him. And did you but know, fasting is better for you.

chapter 2 (the Cow), verses 183-184.

If you perceive the truth, it is better for you to fast in spite of all its hardships.

We all know that four verses (Verses 183-187) in the Chapter of the Cow enjoin fasting, one of the main observances of our religion, and detail its conditions. We shall explain the truths underlined in the last part of Verse 184 from a medical point of view. This part emphasizes the fact that fasting is a good thing, yielding many beneficial results for us. It is declared that we can comprehend these blessings only if we can perceive the truth.

Until quite recently, fasting was regarded as nothing but a rest for the digestive system. As the medical sciences advanced, it was gradually realized that fasting is a medical marvel. This is why the last sentence of the verse begins with: "If you perceive the truth"

Let us now summarize, as we have done for earlier verses, what fasting contributes to our health in scientific terms.

a) The Influence of Fasting on the Digestive System

The digestive system, as everyone knows, is composed of a crowded family of organs. Important organs such as the salivary glands in the mouth and jaw, the tongue, throat, alimentary canal and stomach, the duodenum, liver and pancreas, and various sections of the intestines are all components of this system. A significant aspect of this system is that all these complex organs are automatically controlled by a computerized order. As one starts to eat, or even with the intention to do so, the entire system is triggered, each part according to its own function . Needless to say, this system is subjected to wear since it is in duty 24 hours a day, and often as the result of nervous strain and malnutrition.

Fasting, then, is a one-month period of rest imposed on the totality of this system. But the truly marvelous effect of fasting is on the liver. For the liver, besides its digestive role, has fifteen other functions. It is worn out just like a guard on duty all life long. Because of this, the secretion of bile for digestive purposes leads to problems of interference with its other functions.

During fasting, on other hand, the liver can rest for 4-6 hours. For the reasons explained above, diets other than fasting are insufficient, because once a food particle as small as the tenth of a gram gas entered the stomach, the computer of the digestive system is activated and the liver immediately starts functioning. From a scientific point of view, it can be claimed that this period of rest should comprise one month per year.

Comtemporary man, placing an inordinately high value on his life, tries to feel secure by having frequent checkups. Yet if a liver cell were endowed with speech, it would surely say: "The best thing you can do for me is to fast."

Another service of fasting to the liver involves the chemistry of the blood. One of the most difficult tasks of the liver is to maintain balance between ingested food and food that is burnt up. It has either to store each morsel, or to supervise its consumption via the blood. In fasting, on the other hand, the liver is relieved of its nutrient-storage duties to a great extent, and can devote its energies to the production of globulins which reinforce the immune system during this spell. The restful effect of fasting on the throat and esophagus, both of which are considered to be very sensitive organs, is likewise a priceless gift.

All of the effects the stomach derives from fasting are beneficial. The secretion of all stomach fluids is tempered. Because of this, acid is not accumulated during fasts even though ordinary hunger results in hyperacidity, for acid secretion is interrupted with the intention to fast. In this way, the muscles of the stomach and its secretory cells are relaxed during the month of Ramadan. Contrary to the claims of those who have never fasted in their lives, a healthy stomach performs successful digestion when the fasts is broken in the evening.

Fasting also provides relaxation to the intestines, both in terms of secretions and of muscular movement. Beneath the endothelium of the intestines are a basic constituent of our immune system, the Peyer plaques. These plaques are subjected to a thorough renewal during fasts. We are thus protected against all the illnesses that assault the digestive tract.

b) The Benefits of Fasting to the Circulatory System

Blood volume decreases during the daytime in fasts. This effect provides valuable relief to the heart. More importantly, the decrease of intercellular fluid results in a reduction of tissue pressure. Tissue pressure, or diastolic pressure as it is more commonly known, is of great importance to the heart. Diastolic pressure is always low during fasts, so that the heart is relaxed. Further, modern man is afflicted by hypertension arising from various living conditions. Fasting for a month every year reduces diastolic pressure in particular.

The most important influence of fasting on the circulatory system is that exerted on the blood vessels. It is common knowledge that one of the main reasons for the attrition and aging of blood vessels is the inadequate burnup of food remnants. In fasting, on the other hand, and especially when the breaking time for the fast approaches, all nutrients in the blood are utilized and no remainder is left. Therefore, fats and similar leftovers are not deposited in the arterial walls to cause constriction. Hence, fasting is also the best precauton against arteriosclerosis, one if the main health problems of our time.

Since the kidneys — which may be considered as part of the circulatory system — are also rested during fasts, another very important organ is restored to health by fasting.

c) The Effect of Fasting on Cells

The effect that has the greatest influence on cells is the regulation of equilibrium in intra-and intercellular fluids.

Since intercellular fluids are reduced to a minimum in fasts, a significant relaxation of cellular functions occurs. Again, the epithelial cells which are responsible for continuous secretion in the body are afforded a significant rest and hence, restored to health during fasts. Speaking in cytolo-gical terms, the pituitary, thyroid and pancreas glands eagerly await the month of Ramadan, at least in order to catch their breath.

d) The Effect of Fasting on the Nervous System

It should clearly be understood that the ill temper and withdrawal reactions observed in some people during fasting has nothing to do with the nervous system. This condition is a reaction arising from the Despotic (or Egotistic) Self. On the contrary, the nervous system is in complete relaxation during fasts. The satisfaction of fulfilling a worship removes almost all our tensions and bad temper, With a more earnest surrender, even our worries are dissipated. In this way stresses, which are a serious problem in our day, are dispelled almost entirely.

Our separation from sexual desires during fasting also removes many negative influences from the nervous system.

The circulation in the brain, which is restored to a rigorous harmony through the joint effect of fasting and Washup, becomes a clear indicator of the healthy nervous system. As I have mentioned earlier, the rest afforded the internal glands — which are influential over the entire nervous system — is another of the benefits of fasting on that system.

The subconscious, which is purged and soothed through the felicity of worship during Ramadan, erases all tensions from the nervous system.

e) Blood Formation and the Subtleties of Fasting

Blood is formed in the marrow of bones. Whenever blood is required in the body, a reflex stimulates the bone marrow. The bone marrow is sluggish especially in lean and anemic persons, as well as in urban dwellers. For this reason, 'palefaces' are on the increase every day.

During fasting, when nutrients in the blood falf to a minimal level, the bone marrow is stimulated. As a result, such anemics produce blood more easily when they fast. (Needless to say, persons with serious blood disorders will consult a doctor and have their medical checkups.) Since the liver is rested in fasting, it can prepare the materials needed by the bone marrow for blood production more easily and in greater quantity.

As a result of these multifaceted biological subtleties of fasting, lean persons gain weight when they fast. On the other hand, obese people lose weight because of the beneficial effects of fasts on overall health.

Yes, kind reader: Let us now recall the last sentence of Verse 184, and experience the joy of the Koran's divine miracle:

"/f you perceive the truth (i.e., if you know the true biology of the body), it is better for you to fast in spite of all its difficulties."

THE THREE DARK ZONES IN THE MOTHER'S ABDOMEN

He has created you from a single Self, then formed his mater; He has sent down for you eight head of cattle in pairs; He has created your mother's wombs in three kinds of darkness, passing from one genesis to the next; such is God, your Lord...

chapter 39 (the crowds) verse 6.

He continually creates you in your mother's wombs in three darknesses, passing from one genesis to the next...

Since this part of the sacred verse expresses an important biological secret, I shall attempt to explain only this section of Chapter 39, Verse 6.

As can be seen, this part of the verse defines three different darknesses for the formation of a human being in the mother's abdomen. Therefore, it expresses the fact that the fertilized egg cell, or zygote, passes through three dark phases. Fifteen centuries and indeed even a century ago, it was thought that the human being developed only in the womb in the mother's abdomen, that is, in a single dark zone.

In order to enable an understanding of this verse, I would like to summarize the development of a human being in the wombs as known to modern medical science.

An egg cell or ovum which matures in the mother's ovaries does not, as might be expected, fall into the womb. On the contrary, it is delivered into the pelvic cavity. There are two thin tubes, called the Fallopian or uterine tubes, to the right and left of the upper part of the maternal womb or uterus. The ends of these tubes bloom like flowers towards the pelvic region, thus surrounding the ovaries. As soon as the ovum falls into the pelvic cavity, the flowerlike orifices of these tubes catch and draw in the ovum tike suckers, admitting it into a tube at its remote end from the uterus. The ovum is fertilized in this tube. After a certain period, it is carried through the length of the tube and arrives in the womb. The internal epithelial lining of the uterus covered with hairlike protrusions called villi. From the standpoint of the ovum, this can be compared to a secluded spot beneath the trees of a forest. The zygote continues its mitotic cell divisions, or cleavages, for a period in this environment, and then forms the embryo within a noncellular capsule (the zona pellucida).

As can be seen, contrary to initial expectations, the formation of a human being in the maternal womb passes through several stages.

We can now decipher the very subtle meaning of the sacred verse. Let us try to identify the three dark regions in the mother's pelvic cavity in biological terms.

a) The First Dark Zone

This is the first phase after the ovum becomes fertilized in the Fallopian tubes (salpinx). The beginnings of corporeal life are experienced by the zygote in this first dark zone.

Exactly why the ovum is fertilized in this tube remains as yet inexplicable. In our conception, as I have explained in earlier verse interpretations, the fertilization of the ovum is an incredible mathematical phenomenon. It is through the choice of the Divine Will that this event takes place in this tube, the most quiescent spot in the mother's abdomen. In addition, the genetic codes of the father and mother are combined here under the same favorable circumstances, and the first bodily form of the human-to-be-born is also assumed in this location. In accordance with the meaning supplied by the sacred verse, our first form arises in this dark region.

This tiny human cell in which everything is ready carries all the details of our adult life. It will henceforth be transported to the second dark zone in order to complete the ordained bodily structure, and will complete the divine code by obtaining whatever materials it needs from the inexhaustible food supplies of the womb.

At this point I would like to comment shortly on "test-tube babies", information about which has been incorrectly received by many.

The uterine tube which is essential for fertilization sometimes happens to be clogged due to an inflammation. For this reason, fertilitzation and hence, pregnancy do not occur. Therefore, fertilization is realized in this case by removing the ovum from the mother's pelvic region and mixing it with the sperm cells of the father in the laboratory. This has become known in the medical language as the "test-tube baby" phenomenon. And in fact, the test-tube baby event is a Koranic miracle in light of the fact that the first dark zone referred to in this verse is thus revealed to humanity.

However, certain unbelievers have abused the test-tube baby concept by propagating the impression that the embryo is developed in the laboratory. This is completely unture. The ovum which has been fertilized outside is again implanted in the uterus and continues its development therein.

Returning to our subject, the baby which has been fertilized in the uterine tubes now arrives in the second dark zone.

b) The Second Dark Zone

The fertilized ovum arrives over the intrauterine epithelium (endometrium), the second dark zone resembling a forest. It becomes implanted in and adheres to a suitable spot. This location is formed into a nutritive tunnel for the future baby by the mother's body.

The zygote performs its first cleavages here. These inital divisions are extraordinarily important, because the rudiments of all organs are formed in the second dark zone during this first phase of the embryo. Indeed, the zygote constitutes the first stage of genesis, while these initial cell divisions constitute its second stage. The most formidable of genetic events, the harmonization of traits, has occurred in the first zone, whereas the first basic structures pertaining to the various organs are formed in the second region.

In the second genesis (organogenesis) in this second zone, the entire human body is represented in the clusters of cells. "Blood-clot tissue" would be a good definition of its present condition, and in fact the Koran refers to this tissue phase as the "blood clot" phase in other verses. We shall touch upon this subject in future verses.

At a certain point in this tissue phase during the development of a human being in this second darkness, a new dark phase begins for the embryo which originally appeared as a single tissue.

c) The Third Dark Zone

A sac, the amniotic sac containing a special fluid, forms around the embryo, and then our organs and physiological systems develop within this sac in a third dark space. Thus, the development of a human being in different locations in the mother's abdomen is a three-fold story. To all external appearances, the differences between these dark locations are indiscernible. However, if we were to explore these locations in the guise of a small cell, we would immediately perceive how different they are. From the point of view of such a cell, the first dark location is reminiscent of a gigantic dark tunnel, while the second dark location is similar to a black, lightless forest, and the third dark location to the bottom of a pitch black sea.

The sacred verse — the verse revealing all these scientific facts which we have only recently discovered as the precise secret of a biological miracle — discloses the secret of genesis in its entirety. And then it ends with the challenge: "How can you deny?" It is surely a sign of the Koran's grandeur that this verse has presented the story of a human being in the mother's body 15 centuries ago, at a time when no fact of embryogenesis was known.

The transport at the human being from one of these locations to another is itself an incomprehensible mystery of genesis. The transfers from the cell phase in the second dark region and from there to the organ phase within the amniotic sac occur as if programmed by a computer. The phase completing its development automatically passes over to the next location- The expression in the verse of "passing from one genesis to another" is a statement of this fact.

THE KORAN FORETELLS OXYGEN

He has produced for you fire out of the green tree, from which you kindle.

chapter 36 (ya sin), verse 80

As we all know, this verse of the Ya Sin Chapter is a divine declaration against the distorted logic and rebellion of man: "Is rotted, shattered nobe going to be resurrected?"

Beginning with Verse 78, the Ya Sin Chapter gives expression to divine miracles and powers. Verse 80 is revealed as divine proof for the Resurrection. As we have pointed out in the interpretation of earlier verses, the commentaries of former times provide various renditions for this verse, all of which command respect. However, we have to search for a marvel equivalent and parallel to the resurrection of shattered bone in this verse.

It was impossible 14 centuries ago for unbelievers to understand the stupendous biological secret this verse contains, for the inside story of combustion was not known. Centuries later, it was discovered that combustion occurred by the combination of oxygen with the carbon in burning material. Subsequently, it was found that oxygen was produced by plants and green trees.

The main substance of combustion is produced by green trees. The event we term 'fire' consists of oxidation: There can be no combustion without oxygen. Fire, therefore, implies oxygen emerging from the green tree.

We can now reread the verse:

"The fire you kindle arises from green trees. "

Even from this single viewpoint, the verse, in an unfathomable miracle, presents oxygen and its creation 14 centuries in advance. It is inevitable that any chemist or biologist having some respect for science should be inspired with faith upon reading Verse 80 of the Ya Sin Chapter.

The verse, however, conceals even more profound scientific truths, for it sheds light on the Resurrection on Judgment Day. I shall now summarize these facts of science.

a) The Verse reminds unbelievers who — looking at bones reduced to dust — wish to make fun of the Judgment, of a very deep fact of science. It says:

"You think everything is over once you burn something, an operation even more drastic than the pulverization of bone, for an organism that burns is reduced to lifeless carbon dioxide. However, the green tree will take that carbon dioxide gas and produce from it one of the basic components of organisms, namely, sugar; and this sugar, being finally transported to another organism, gives life to it. Further, in producing sugar, that plant also yields oxygen for you to burn."

A basic law of biology is unveiled here: God produces fire (oxygen) out of plants, which we burn. This reminds us of the phenomenon of biosynthesis and of the fact that vitality consists in a valence change of carbon, emphasizing that this is accomplished with ease by Divine Omniscience. Thus, the verse says:

"Stop looking at those rotting bones, and perceive the divine secret of biosynthesis. Behold how easy it is for Me to give life."

b) A second insight in giving green trees as an example is its declaration, in effect, that: "Don't you see that when that tree dried up, it is no different from rotted bone? And that I give life to it in spring when I wish, making it produce oxygen for you to burn?"

As a matter of fact, the secret of "the Living" in the soil is the greatest proof for the Resurrection on Judgment Day. As I have indicated while interpreting earlier verses, the soil first analyses each dead organism that it receives in its magnificent laboratory; i.e., it breaks it down into its basic components. The "laboratory technician" in the soil then performs such a synthesis using microbes that new plant life, even life in the general sense, sprouts from it. The example of oxygen-producing green trees is an in-depth course in biology, giving expression to all these facts.

Vitality and resuscitation is a secret of 'the Living' inspired by God in the soil. When the divine command comes, that rotted, pulverized bone, too, will achieve a flawless resurrection.

c) Another subtle insight in answering by trees a question asked for bone is that both carry the basic secrets of vitality. Bone and its marrow possess the secret of producing blood cells and keeping vitality going. As for green trees, they produce fire (oxygen) and thus, one of the basic substances of life on earth.

The facts listed in these three items are cemented by the command: "Glory to Him in whose hands is dominion over everything" very clearly in the last verse of the same chapter.

In the light of these scientific facts, we obseve with greater pleasure the reason why the Ya Sin Chapter is recited to the dying and the dead.

As is proclaimed in the 'Detailed Explanations' Chapter, one of the outstanding characteristics of atheists is their unbelief in the Last Judgment. Disbelief in the Day of Reckoning always results from a misinterpretation of the phenomenon of death. The present verse gives utterance to the real truth of death, or biological transformation, by using the example of fire emerging from green trees. In biological terms, death is simply the alteration of the valences of chemical substances forming the basis of organisms.

We observe that the organisms, plants, animals and bacteria seen in the world are always in a process of change or death. But a dying insect, for example, is analysed in the laboratory of the soil, finally being transformed into a flower; and from these flowers many other insects find life and sustenance.

The phenomenon of burning represents the total destruction of an organism; it is destroyed in the 'hard' way by combustion. But the carbon dioxide released by its smoke becomes the symbol of new life in the leaf. In order to express this insight, the subtlest secret of biology. Verse 80 gives the oxygen (fire) produced by the green tree as an example. We must clearly undestand this explanation, which may look like a repetition. In fact, the last page of the Ya Sin Chapter reveals all the secrets of Genesis, of Creation. Indeed, Verse 77 declared, "Does not man see that We have created him from a sprem drop?" expressing human biology from its beginning, and Verse 80 reconstitutes the biological connection with the announcement in Verse 79 that "He is the All-creator, the All-knowing, with infinite knowledge of Creation."

"Therefore, O Man, you view the green tree as a symbol of freshness. But it is a factory of fire, and God makes it produce oxygen, the basic source of energy for life."

No atheistic opinion can survive in the face of this insight. It can neither give any further examples of rotted bones, nor have any further doubts about the Judgment.

After this stupendous revelation. God expresses the creation of the worlds in Verse 81, and then explains His magnificence by declaring: "His command, when He desires a thing, is to say to It 'Be', and it is" in Verse 82.

We can now appreciate much better the meaning of reciting the Ya Sin Chapter to believers approaching the end of their lives.

A person about to pass away into another world begins to perceive many truths. When you present him with the glad tidings of the Judgment within the grand harmony of the Ya Sin Chapter, he will enter that other world with a smile on his lips. What a beautiful aid this is for a person breathing his last! To remind him of life, of oxygen emerging from the green tree, and to dispatch him to the next world and to Judgment with the joy that only Faith can give.

THE MASTER RECKONER: THE BEE

And your Lord suggested to the Bee: "Take unto yourselves homes in mountains, trees and ready-made hives. Then eat of all manner of fruit, and follow the easy paths of your Lord," A drink of diverse colors issues from their bellies, wherein is healing for men. Surely in this is a sign for a people who reflect.

chapter 16 (the bee), verses 68-69

As we know, this long chapter, composed of 128 verses, takes its name from the honey bee (nahl). The subject of bees and honey must, therefore, contain deep scientific insights.

Many such insights are included in this chapter. However, the articulation of milk (Verse 65} and honey (V.69) in close succession in this chapter emphasizes the incomprehensible secrets of these two basic and wonderful foods of man. So, to start with the final sentence of the verse, "There is a sign in it for a people who reflect”

Let us now take a look at the scientific insights provided by bees and honey.

a) The honeycomb: The home of bees, a great work of art constructed of hexagonal prisms, is a masterpoece of architecture that can only be built by divine inspiration. This geometrical choice representes the best utilization of architectural space, the enclosure of the greatest volume with the least material. Further, the resins constituting the basic construction material have been chosen with care to conform within human health.

b) The swarming of the bee is itself an extraordinary tale. By using special and variegated sound waves and their echos, the bee both completes its deployment and finds its way back to the hive. This truth is designated as a special facility in the sacred verse, Books have been written devoted solely to the pathfinding, hive-making activities and lifestyle of the bee, to which interested readers may refer for details.

c) The composition and properties of honey; It is known from its hive architecture what a master reckoner the bee is. The physical subtleties of its life story, carried on by sound waves, are also obvious. But does the bee produce honey for its own sake? No; for even a hundredth of the honey would be too much for it. Is it conveivable that suvh a good engineer and architect as the bee can make an error in producing honey, mistakenly manufacturing it vastlky in excess of its needs?

Some atheists have claimed that fruit is produced by a plant in order to guide animals to its core. We shall address this ignorant view in future topics. However, the case of the bee does not admit of even this untenable view. For the bee is not in need of another organism; why then should it produce excess honey? Therefore, as the verse explains, honey is a gift of the Divine to human beings.

a) The Subtleties in the Composition of Honey

An organism requires sugar and starch as the basic foods for subsistence. It obtains these from various plants, and generally utilizes them as fuel to obtain energy. A small part is used in producing ribose, the basic substance of DNA.

Ribose is a kind of cyclic sugar. It is one of the basic structural materials of the organism, and perhaps the most important. Now among all foodstuffs, it is only honey that contains ribose. When the body is in particualr need of manufacturing new cells — after illnesses, during growth and in blood fabrication — ribose is very valuable for it. The marvel is that since reproduction is prohibited for all bees except the queen bee, the bee has absolutely no use for ribose.

All soluble vitamins are present in honey. More importantly, it contains vitamins B13, B14 and Bt, which are not present in other foods, and are thought to exist in the livers of organisms. These vitamins play some mysterious part in the production of DNA by the cell. Honey also contains other vital substances, such as all phosphorous enzymes and folic acid.

b) Royal Jelly

There is a special growth and synthesis hormone in honey, which is considered to be one of the most enigmatic of biological substances, and is called 'royal jelly' by the public. This hormone is prepared for the queen bee. Upon ingesting it, the queen bee grows to several times its pre­vious size. However, the amount of hormone secreted is several hundred times that required by the queen bee. Furthermore, all other bees are prohibited from eating this hormone. Therefore, the bee produces this extra hormone not because it miscalculates, but in order to serve humanity in accordance with the Divine Will.

Because of the presence of this hormone in honey, the latter is an unsurpassed remedy for all chronic illnesses and for anemia.

At this point, I would like to mention that anemics used to be fed spleen cooked rare as a cure. However, neither spleen nor liver is an effectual cure against anemia. On the contrary, the modern diet for anemia consists of uncooked green vegetables, honey and olive oil (since it contains vitamin E). The latter is itself a miracle of the Koran, since the first verse of Chapter 95 (The Fig) makes explicit mention of the olive.

c) Other Substances in Honey

The bee collects many substances of therapeutic value from various fields and plants, and imparts these to honey. For this reason, the kinds of honey produced in different regions are beneficial against different illnesses. These substances have healing properties especially where nervous and coronary ailments, chronic bronchitis and the stomach inflammation called gastritis are concerned. The remedial secret of honey declared in the verse is closely related to these substances.

Let us now review the subtleties in the sacred verse. I would like to start explaining the hidden insights with the last sentence of Verses 68-69.

a) "Surely in this is a sign (a marvel of science) for a people who reflect."

So we are urged to make an in-depth inspection of the secrets of bees and honey. For man, although he is very curious to learn the mysteries of the universe, reaches wrong conclusions and lands in rebellion on the basis of many events. But if the story of bees and honey is inspected with care, the true insights will concretely manifest themselves. As I have had occasion to mention, it is a marvel that bees produce honey hundreds of times in excess of their needs, despite their computational abilities rivalling those of an engineer and their communication by ultrasonic waves (both of which facts are openly declared in Verse 68). The confusion in the atheistic claims of our day stems from the interpretation of the whole world as one vast coincidence, whereas the fact that God causes bees to produce honey for man is enough to silence the most stubborn atheist. This is why the sacred verse ends with: "There is a sign in bees and in honey for a people who reflect. "

b) The second fact that the verse expresses is found in its emphasis on the healing properties in different kinds of natural honey. The expression: "a drink of diverse hues" in Verse 69 points to the differing chemical substances in honey. Some of these are chemicals with medical properties. Of the substances in honey, the growth hormone (royal jelly) is white, fructose translucent, ribose fight yellow, and vitamin B2 yellow. Certain resins and curative chemicals are orange. Some compounds of phosphorous and certain ferments have the appearence of viscous fluids.

Again, the sacred verse uses the expression: "issues from its belly" in order to underline the fact that the bee does not expel these materials as the are, but that it processes the chemicals it has gathered from flowers,

c) The healing effect of honey: The therapeutic effects of honey are so well-known that they are not the subject of medical controversy. As we have mentioned at the beginning, these effects have multiple aspects, which I would like to summarize below.

d) Effect on Cell Regeneration

Honey is beneficial in all chronic illnesses, and especially in chronic rheumatism, anemia, general weight deficiency, gastric and duodenal ulcers, epidermal illnesses of long standing, and the period following fevers which we call 'convalescence'. This effect of honey is due to ribose, phosphorous, folic acid, and all the soluble vitamins and enzymes it contains. Royal jelly also reinforces this effect, provided it is ingested together with honey.'

e) The Properties and Effects of Honey Collected from Different Regions

In regions where there are pine forests, the bee adds very powerful sedative substances to honey. In other regions, it provides substances that fortify the heart. It should not be forgotten, however, that the group B vitamins and the ribose and levulose sugars that honey normally contains are the vital nutrients of the cardiac muscle. It is also known that the special nervous system of the heart derives extraordinary benefits especially from the group B vitamins and phosphorous. Further, the phosphorous, ribose, folic acid and group B vitamins present in the normal composition of honey provide invaluable food for the brain.

d) A very important point in this verse is the discrimination made between intuition and divine inspiration. Intuition, which I have tried to present in various books as a reflection of Universal Consciousness (or Universal Mind), is the pattern of behavior that organisms obtain from the Universal Mind in order to continue their lives. The bee, however, receives a special, divine inspiration in order to serve man, and with this secret produces honey like a mind-boggling pharmaceutical and biochemical factory.

It is proclaimed in the Koran that various organisms and even nonliving matter are guided by such reflections of divine inspiration. God assigns various tasks to organisms with a special divine inspiration different from the intuition He normally bestows. Divine Omniscience, as a requisite of its sacred art, may thus teach mysterious secrets to a bee — a mere insect — if it wishes, and create unfathomable miracles.

The bee, a source of inspiration to engineers, is one the creatures endowed with this secret. And the verse reveals that Divine Omnipotence possesses a meaning far surpassing the brain of a bee, which is not even the size of a pinhead. This is why this great chapter has been named "The Bee" (nahl). It is as though the honey bee stings the tongues of ail atheists, materialists and unbelievers with its secrets.

ALCOHOL: THE FINAL ENEMY OF CIVILIZATION

They will question you concerning wine and gambling. Say: "In both there is great sin, and some profit for men. But the sin in them is greater than the profit."

chapter 2 (the Cow), verse 219.

One of the most famous hygiene experts in the world, Prof.Hirsch, states in his book on the subject that: "The Prohibition, which the civilized United States could not enforce for 15 years, has been successfully sustained by Islam for 14 centuries, thus saving civilization and humanity from destruction at an early stage."

There are three distinct verses in the Koran prohibiting alcoholic drinks, the first of which is the present verse we shall interpret. The second is Verse 43 of Chapter 4 and the third. Verses 90-91 in Chapter 5. Some commentators are of the opinion that the prohibition against liquor was introduced gradually, while others maintain that these three verses do not differ in their basic sense and that the differences in expression result from special inner meanings.

I, too, share the latter view, for sanction and toleration for spirits is to be found neither in these three verses, nor in any other verse in the Koran. All three verses have, in their different ways, banned alcohol; or rather, the risks of alcohol have been explained separately. The present verse calls to mind especially the material harm of liquor, and since we are presenting a series of explanations in connection with the scientific aspects of the verses, we shall interpret this verse in particular.

In order to comprehend the deleterious effects of alcohol on human health, it is first necessary to learn something of its chemical properties.

We know from chemistry that alcohol is a powerful Solvent; a solvent especially of fats. In nutritive terms, it is a product not of synthesis but of breakdown, being produced as a chemical by-product of a basic food, sugar, during its digestion by bacteria. For these reasons, alcohol is considered as a harmful chemical by the human body and is immediately broken down ('detoxified') by the liver. Alcohol, therefore, has definitely no nutritive value, contrary to the claims of those enamored of it. When ingested, it is metabolized uncontrollably in opposition to all other foodstuffs. This is the apparent benefit cited in the verse.

We can now come to the influence of alcohol in the human body.

a) The Influence of Alcohol on the Digestive System

The damaging effects of alcohol begin with the mouth. Normally, there is a special living environment (flora) in our mouths. This environment makes it extremely difficult for dangerous bacteria to survive. But since alcohol causes the deterioration of this flora, it results in the infection and chronic inflammation of the gums. The teeth of those in the habit of taking alcohol therefore decay rapidly.

After the mouth come the throat and the esophagus. These two organs are the continuation of one another: They serve very difficult tasks and possess a very sensitive inner lining (the mucous membrane). It is this lining that alcohol intimidates, irritating and wakening the insides of these two organs. Alcohol is clearly implicated in cancers of these organs. In fact, institutions fighting against cancer have been taking serious measures against alcohol since 1980.

It is known that alcohol gives rise to chronic gastritis in the stomach, since it dissolves the lipids which form a protective coating against hydrochloric acid and prevent the stomach from digesting itself. Although it has not been established as definitely as for cancers of the throat and the esophagus, the view is prevalent that alcohol also aids in producing stomach cancers.

Alcohol inflicts its most damaging effects on the duodenum, the seat of very subtle chemical processes. It disturbs its secretory order and distorts its chemical sensitivity. In ruining this critical organ of the digestive tract, alcohol also overwhelms the secretion of bile. The duodenum and gall bladder of all alcoholics are ill, or at least in a dysfunctional state. This condition tweaks the nose of every alcoholic in the form of vehement gas.

Since this disturbance also influences the intestines, the entire order, the computerized harmony of the digestive system, is thrown out of kilter. Although the healthy body digests what is needful for it by issuing special directives to the digestive system, this control is removed in persistent drinkers, and digestion proceeds uncontrollably. Obesity is the result, for this indiscriminate digestion cannot go further than storing fat in cell interstices. In fact, this fat accumulation sometimes encroaches on the heart's musculature (myocardiac tissue), creating dangerous coronary problems.

The gravest influence of alcohol is that which it exerts on the liver. The liver is a sensitive laboratory which regards each individual molecule of alcohol as poison. The effects of alcohol on the liver are twofold:

1. The liver cells are occupied solely with the duty of eliminating alcohol, and neglect their other duties.

2. The chemical processes of the liver, each more sensitive than the other, are disrupted by the unchecked interference of alcohol. As a result, the liver has to repeat the same process many times, wearing itself out in this extreme effort.

These effects lead to grave consequences for the liver. The most famous of these is alcohol cyrrhosis, which is living proof that the destruction of the liver has been completed. However, users of alcohol should not find consolation if they don't have cyrrhosis: The more dangerous possibility is that alcohol will disrupt and destroy the functions of the liver one at a time.

The first of these is the production by the liver of substances necessary for the manufacture of blood. Since these cannot be produces by the liver or their production is severely curtailed, ail chronic drinkers are anemic. Even though their faces may appear robust because the facial blood vessels are dilated, the bone marrow is devastated.

In addition, insufficient immunological substances (various globulins and especially, immunoglobulins) are produced by the liver in users of alcohol. As a result, such people have lowered resistance to disease.

Alcohol sometimes causes sudden bankruptcy of the liver, in which case the user dies in coma. There is not one event associated with the liver that is not adversely influenced by alcohol, but I do wish to belabor the point further,

b) The Influence of Alcohol on the Circulatory System

The influence of alcohol on the circulatory sytstem is twofold, both indirectly via its effects on the liver and directly through its effects on myocardiac tissue. The weakening of the liver, which plays the leading role in the consumption of fatty nutrients in the blood, leads to hardening of the blood vessels (arteriosclerosis) and increased blood pressure (hypertension). On the other hand, the fast burnup of alcohol disturbs the pattern of blood flow which we call the blood flow rate, thus tiring the heart. Furthermore, alcohol causes fat deposits to accumulate in the heart, and seriously disrupts cardiac functions through its adverse influence on the nervous system. It is known that alcoholics die either of cyrrhosis or heart failure in the end. For anyone with cardiovascular trouble, imbibing even a drop of alcohol is to have little thought for life or limb.

Again, the view that moderate amounts of whiskey are good for cardiac spasm, as some lovers of liquor are apt to propound and which may on the surface appear as a benefit of alcohol, has no scientific value whatsoever. No such recommendation is to be found in the medical literature, although unfortunately there are many who believe otherwise.

The kidneys, which may be regarded as the termination point of the circulatory system, are also seriously damaged by alcohol. For the kidneys conduct the filtration process at extremely sensitive chemical valences, and alcohol disrupts these delicate processes as well. Paradoxically, drinks with lesser alcohol concentration are more harmful to the kidneys, so that the kidneys of heavy beer drinkers are always impaired.

The lymphatic system — which is one of the most vital systems of the human body — and its blood vessels suffer grave damage at the hands of alcohol. For fatty compounds (lipids) have a very significant place in the structure of this system. The adverse effect of alcohol on lipids wrecks this wonderful protective system.

If God Almighty had not circumscribed human life as mentioned in His verses, we would have seen much more clearly how damaging alcohol can be.

c)The Influence of Alcohol on the Nervous System

Alcohol penetrates the membranes of neurons protected by heavy screens of lipids, and disrupts the electrical communications of this system. This influence manifests itself in two differnet ways, the first of which is the sudden onset of drunkenness.

The chronic effect, however, is by far the more dangerous. Alcohol damages the nervous system day by day, giving rise to countless illnesses. Furthermore, this chronic effect is maintained even if the initial effects of alcohol are mild or undetectable. For this reason, the claims of some people to the effect that: "I don't get drunk, I'm resistant to alcohol" are a vain consolation.

This effect is extraordinarily grave in youth and especially in childhood. Besides well-known illnesses such as plyneuritis, Delirium Tremens and the Korsakoff Syndrome, alcohol inflicts almost irreparable damage on various centers of the nervous system. Amnesia and hand tremors are the harbingers to this damage.

d) The Genetic Effects of Alcohol

Alcohol, with its fat-dissolving properties, also penetrates reproductive cells and wreaks untold damage. The best-known examples are retarded intelligence and muscular dystrophy in future generations. Many studies and surveys continue to reveal the fact that the mothers and fathers of mentally disordered persons were alcoholics. It has been observed that alcohol damages the ovum, or egg cell, more easily. The outcome is that the children of alcoholic mothers nearly always suffer from hereditary shock. An alcoholic father is the cause of trouble in more than thirty percent of the cases.

e) The Psychosocial Effects of Alcohol

It is well-known how injurious alcohol is to social order and stability. I would like to fist the more noteworthy of these effects below.

a) The touchiness caused by alcohol draws the individuals of society into endless fights.

b) Ceaseless divorces that annihilate the family structure and create antisocial children shake the fabric at the entire society.

c) The numbness and laziness induced by alcohol erodes the labor force, reducing the productive talents of society.

d) It creates widespread apathy among individuals. As a result, national concerns, social unity, and resistance against social problems vanish altogether.

The above four items have worried Western sociologists to such an extent that they have informed their respective governments of their fears that national consciousness will evaporate if the use of alcohol becomes widespread.

The Koran has cut off this problem — which no society and no philosopher has been brave enough to tackle, and which grnaws away at society — at its root, thus delivering our society from this curse down through all the centuries.

THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF TIME

He rules all affairs from the heavens to the earth, Then they all go back up to Him in one day, whose measure is a thousand years by your reckoning. He is the Knower of the Unseen and the Visible, the All-mighty, the All-compassionate.

chapter 32 (prostratıon), verses 5-6

The angels and the Spirit ascend to Him in a day, the measure of which is fifty thousand years.

chapter 70 (the ascents), verse 4.

These verses, which express the truth of time in the Koranic context and within which many layers of meaning and insight are to be found, have to be interpreted jointly. The verses, extremely difficult to encompass even by modern physics — let alone the physics of 14 centuries ago— in a sense provide their own commentary.

As with all verses related to physics, let us first try to identify the messages delivered by the verses.

1. In Chapter 70, Verse 4, it is declared that the Spirit and angels traverse a distance which would in human terms take 50,000 years in a day. Two important messages are contrained here. The first is that their 'day' is equivalent to 50,000 x 365 = 18,250,000 of our days. The limiting velocity of physical matter is the speed of light, denoted by c, where c = 300, 000 kilometers per second. If linear extrapolation is possible, this would imply that the limiting speed for angels and spirits is cn =250,000 c.

The second message is that the concept of time is relative. Until very recently, time was simply a matter of consulting the watch. The verse, however, indicates that time can possess varying flexibility for different entities.

2. Chapter 32, Verses 5 and 6, which are very difficult to interpret, contain altogether different messages.

a) The majority of commentators have understood this verse in the sense that the creation and return of the Divine Will occurs in one day — a day which, however, is equal to a thousand of our years. Some commentators take 'thousand' to mean 'thousands of. The concept involved here is quite clearly the very slow passage of time on earth. In both these verses and Verse 4 of Chapter 70, it is explicitly emphasized that the passage of time on our planet is very sluggish.

b) Verse 6 provides an explanation for this retarded flow time: "God is the knower of the unseen and the Visible."

Hence, the dilatory flow of Time is closely related to the phenomenon of visibility and invisibility. I shall presently explain how this insight represents a very recent law of physics.

c) From the preceding verse of the same chapter, it can be seen that the 'days' pertaining to the creation of the world are not the ordinary calendar days we know of. In all Holy Books, the statement occurs that the world was created in 6 days. With the present verse, the Koran expresses the fact that the use of the word 'day' here is different from our ordinary concept of a day.

3. When the verses in the two chapters are considered together, we can derive the following scientific messages:

a) Spirit and angels are invisible, for their speeds are much higher than those of physical matter.

b) The flow of time is different at various locations in the universe,

c) When God wills the creation of something, it is reflected and returns back to Him.

d) The visibility (observability) of objects and beings is a matter of speed. On earth, where a retarded flow rate of time is obseved, the border of visibility is the limiting velocity of light (32:6).

Now, after all these preliminaries, what does modern physics have to say about time, speed and physical appearance?

Einstein and Lorentz have determined the speed limit of matter as 300.000 kilometers per second in a fundamental physical law. This fact has led some materialists to the hubris of defining boundaries for the universe. Dirac and Heisenberg, however, checked this game of boundary definition,

The reason for the limitation on the speed of matter arose from the fact that the mass of an object tends to grow infinitely large as the object approaches the speed of light. However, Prof.Gerald Feinberg, professor of physics at Columbia University, has theorized that this speed limit peculiar to matter in the universe can, intact, be exceeded. Research in astrophsics has yielded examples of matter whose energy is exhausted and energies whose matter has been exhausted. Feinberg demonstrated theoretically by the use of mathematical equations that there can be rays not subject to our concept of mass. These rays are called 'tachyons'. Because the speed of these rays exceeds the limit, cannot be classified as ordinary matter. If they lose speed, they would have to gain mass, revert to material form, and become visible or observable. Similarly, particles that move faster than light in material media excite the emission of photons, a phenomenon which is named 'Cerenkov radiation' in honor of its discoverer.

Denoting the speed of lifght by c, the velocity of these rays can be, for example, 2 c or 10 c, in which case time would be dilated for them by comparable factors- As a matter of fact, investigation of cosmic rays has shown that the flow of time is different — either slower or faster — in various regions of the universe.

Tachyons have two modes of existence. The first is pointlike, where the tachyon emerges into physical space at various points stringed along a line. In the other mode, it would appear to be spread out across the entire complex plane. This physical approach is not dissimilar to the concept of 'angels' in the Koran. The invisibility of angels must be due to their infinite velocity, as, in fact, the verses appear to express quite clearly.

Let us now review the messages of the verses in the light of these most recent concepts of physics, and behold ,.with admiration the scientific miracles of the Koran.

1. What Do The Verses Say?

Angels cannot be seen. Their velocity is (possibly) given in terms of material speeds as cn = 18,250,000 c. Time, which flows slowly and sluggishly in our physical world, has no meaning for them.

What Does Science Say?

Entities with velocities greater than 300,000 km/sec cannot be observed. The flow rate of ordinary time has no meaning for them, and this rate may itself differ throughout the universe.

This scientific acknowledgment also confirms that the movements of angels and the Spirit are not subject to spatial limitations.

2. What Do The Verses Say?

"The Divine Will is reflected through the unbelievable speeds of unseen powers, and returns in the interval of a day that to you would appear as a thousand, or thousands of, years."

What Does Science Say?

Tachyon beams with mind-boggling velocities represent invisible forces. They become manifest in the physical realm, and then return to whence they came.

The most recent discoveries and conjectures of physics have only just had the honor of catching up with the verses of the Koran, which enlightened the worlds 14 centuries ago.

These verses in Chapter 32 and 70 are so full of insights that they shelter many other unfathomable secrets of Creation. More importantly, these two verses make the necessity to believe in unseen angels an inevitability of physics.

The concept of 'angels' which we accept at the beginning of our creed ('I believe...'), has been abused for years by atheists. Atheists in the East and West have scoffed at the belief in angels- But today, science has begun to understand the possibility of such entities, declared as a , iracle in the Koran, by means of the concept of velocity in physics. The unfolding of this comprehension in our time is itself a separate miracle of the Koran.

THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE

The heavens are almost rent asunder above them. And the angels proclaim the praise of their Lord, and wish forgiveness for those on earth. Surely God is the All-forgiving, the All-compossionate.

chapter 42 (counsel), verse 5.

Do not unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were ratq (united) before We fatq (rent them asunder), and of water fashioned every living thing? Shall they still not believe?

chapter 21 (the prophets), verse 30.

Since these verses are mutually explanatory, I shall interpret them in a joint fashion. They shed light on many problems about the universe which physics itself has been unable to resolve. In commenting on these verses, we shall find ourselves involved in the most extraordinary and dazzling of Koranic revelations. These I bequeath to astrophysicists, for we shall find that some of the implications of these verses, spanning a gulf of 14 centuries, land not in our present day but actually in our future: They deal with topics which are only Just being encroached by astrophysics, and will probably become fully comprehensible only within a couple of decades.

Careful inspection of the verses yields the following main themes:

1. All the levels of heavens and the earth were united. God created the heavens and the earth by sindering them from each other in stratified form.

2. The heavens (the successive spatial strata of the universe) have not only been created by a tremendous tension or potential difference, but it is the same tension that still maintains them in existence. This tension is imposed by Divine Omnipotence on the spacetime continuum.

The other facts related to the verses will be dealt with below. We shall see that the "rending asunder" by which the universe is created in fact implies not one but several different kinds of tensions.

A) After decades of deliberation, physicists and astrophysicists have decided that the 'big bang' theory, developed by Martin Ryle and Allan R.Sandage, best accounts for the creation of the universe, in this view, the universe exploded into existence from an incredbly dense and hot point called a 'singularity'. In the first instants of creation, the singularity was so hot that it is meaningless to speculate about it. By the first hundredth of a second, the singularity had expanded into a primordial fireball, and its temperature was one hundred billion degress Kelvin. Protons and neutrons had not yet congealed out of this 'primordial soup', and neither had the four known physical interactions. Matter and energy were constantly being converted into each other in this soup, and the four inte­ractions were united as one highly symmetrical interaction.

As this extremely hot and dense fireball expanded, it began to cool, and the perfect symmetry began to break. First the gravitational force or interaction separated out, and this was followed by the strong, weak and electromagnetic interactions, in that order. The "rending asunder" of the heavens and the earth thus began with the process of symmetry breaking where the inital symmetrical interaction separated into the spectrum of the four known interactions of physics. In other words, not only was the initial singularity torn apart to form the universe, but its laws were also differentiated in a similar manner.

God, then, in His infinite magnificence, distended the universe from a single point. The tension by which this was effected is the subject of 42:5. God set apart the heavens

and the earth by this tension, creating both the observable universe and its laws in this way.

Another significant point in this connection relates .to the initial union of the heavens and the earth as described in 21:30. Not only did Einstein, in his Theory of Relativity, demonstrate that matter and energy were one and the same thing, matter being condensed energy and energy, 'liberated' matter: He was also able to show that space and time are inseparable, the two being joined into a single space-time continuum. Furthermore, his findings revealed that gravity, and therefore mass, was simply the curvature of this spacetime continuum. In other words, matter was formed by 'bending' the spacetime continuum, a process involving a tension which almost literally split the heavens and the-earth asunder.

B) Once the universe was created, it continued to exist through the maintenance of the same tension that created it. One way in which this tension manifested itself was through attraction and repulsion. In electricity, it is a well-known fact that opposite charges attract and like charges repel each other, a fact to which the atom, and therefore alt matter, owes its existence. Moreover, the balancing of the gravitational force by the centrifugal force describes a locus which enables planetary systems to exist. Thus, the survival of everything from atoms to planetary systems is assured through the existence of such tensions.

Now in the Opening Chapter, after God declares the ordering of the worlds physically and mathematically through His attribute of Lordship, the immediately succeeding expression is His "Compassionate" attribute. "The Lord looking down in pity" has compassion for all His creatures and therefore on all worlds, and included in this attribute of Compassion is the concept of tender and merciful protection.

Gravitation, in which all things attract each other, is an expression and symbol of divine love. On the other hand, the rotational motion of objects — whether they be planets circling a sun or electrons orbiting around a nucleus — prevents the concentration and annihilation of all matter in the universe by gravitation. And this rotational motion is none other than the way in which these entities glorify God, offer praise and thanks to Him, and iterate His name. Hence, the projection of Love in the material universe is the gravitational force, whereas the secrets of Compassion and its counterpart, Thanksgiving, are reflected in all rotational motions in the microcosmos and macrocosmos.

C) As hinted in connection with Relativity above, empty space is considered not as a vacuum but as a plenum in modern physics. Due to Heisenberg's Principle of Uncertainty, the vacuum itself fluctuates in time. Within the constraints of the uncertainty imposed by Heisenberg's principle, the laws of conservation of matter and energy can be transcended, and quanta can be created out of nothing, to be annihilated an instant later before conservation can be violated. Such a particle that enters reality and then instantaneously returns to nothingness is called a 'virtual particle.' If sufficient energy could be imparted to these 'ghost' particles, on the other hand, they could be actualized. Such creation of real from virtual quanta has actually been observed in the laboratory.

Similar to Dirac's earlier notion of a vacuum 'sea' where an antipaticle is regarded as the 'hole' left behind by a particle — a clear case of fatq or rending from its location — the vacuum in the present view, although uniform and featureless from afar, when viewed microscopically is a seething, churning ocean of particles and antiparticles being produced as pairs and annihilated every instant. This incredible notion was physically vindicated when Willis Lamb discovered what has since become known as the 'Lamb shift' in physics.

Lamb was able to measure small shifts in the spectre of hydrogen atoms. It turned out that these shifts were being caused by the creation and annihilation of virtual particle pairs in the empty space between the nucleus and the electron. The electric field that binds the electron in orbit can sometimes create an electron-positron pair out of the vacuum ocean, and the pair then immediately annihilates. This effect, called vacuum plarization, lasts long enough to create a shift in the orbital energy of the electron. Thus, it is the tension of the electric field that pulls a pair of virtual particles into existence in this case.

Turning to the exotic black holes of astrophysics, the English physicist Stephen Hawking has discovered that a black hole is unstable and causes the indirect emission of radiation. The intense gravitational field near the 'event horizon' of the black hole causes pair production from virtual particles, and the annihilation of these results in the emission of electromagnetic radiation which is expected to be observable. In the present case, then, it is the intense tension of the gravitational field that causes the split of the vacuum into matter and energy. In a recent book titled God and the New Physics, physicist Paul Davies of the University of Newcastle has indicated that the decay of the free vacuum, or the creation of being out of nothingness, could not occur without the mediation of God.

In the light of the above facts, then, I want to suggest that just as with the electric and gravitational fields, an intense magnetic field tension will also cause particles to pop into existence. It is this field, present at all points in the universe, which orders, structures, stratifies and maintains the latter. As we shall see in Topic 1 of Book 3, what I have in mind here is especially the segregation of heavenly strata — the seven heavens are supported and held in existence by this field tension.

D) Black holes are the points where the tensions implied in 42:5 and 21:30 reach their ultimate values. The gravitational field is concentrated at such locations to such a density that escape from them becomes impossible. On a less dangerous but more aesthetic level, the protons and electrons driven by the magnetic storms occuring on the sun (the 'solar wind'), upon reaching earth, spiral down to the Poles in a phenomenon of great beauty called the 'Aurora Borealis'. Thus, both the origin and the culmination of this phenomenon reside in the tension of the magnetic field.

How, as 21:30 asks, can one still continue in unbelief when faced with such compelling evidence? I have mentioned earlier that each of the 'H-M' chapters articulates a differnet law of Genesis, and Chapter 42, Verse 5 gives expression to this tension. As we shall see in the topic on seven heavens, the same tensions that "split the heavens and the earth asunder" also serve to balance, temper and maintain the various heavens with respect to each other. Thus, the verse that announces fatq (rending} also points to differentiation.

Atheists have long viewed Chaos as the origination of Cosmos. What they fail to understand is that without an Organizer, Chaos can never be transformed into Cosmos; it must always and forever remain Chaos. Moreover, if the Supreme Organizer were not present to sustain Cosmos each instant at every point, the latter would degenerate into Chaos within billionths of a second. The tension imposed by God, then, serves to manifest an incredible order at every point of the universe, and the selfsame tension of 42:5 is used by God to hold power over every point in space. It is the splendor of this order and power manifest throughout the universe which is implied in Chapter 67 (The Kingdom), Verse 4: "Look, then look again; each time your gaze will return to you, bewildered and dazed."

How, then, in the query of 21:30, "can they still not believe?" God is clearly declaring that unbelief is incompatible with even a little knowledge, and can be the result only of total ignorance. The fact is that in our day, the discoveries of physics and astrophysics have obviated all possibilities of denying the Koran and the existence of God: the atheist has no sanction to enter the City of Science.

THE SEVENFOLD HEAVENS

It is God who created the seven heavens, and of the earth a similar number.

chapter 65 (dıvorce), verse 12.

In many of its verses, our Glorious Book speaks of seven heavens in the universe. Science has been dealing with the cosmos for more than 200 years, yet it has been unable to obtain any information on this subject. Only in the last 25 years have extremely interesting discoveries been made in astrophysics and the miracle of the Koran been vindicated. What science has discovered is, of course, as yet only a drop in the ocean; but at least it is beginning to realize its mistakes of the last two centuries.

Let us first take a collective look at the verses in the Koran concerned with the seven heavens, and then review both their scientific explanation and the synthesis they afford.

a) The Kingdom, 67:3.

"It is He who created the seven heavens, one above another (tibaqan)." (Please refer to the explanatory section.)

b) The Cow, 2:29.

"...He lifted Himself to heaven, and levelled them seven heavens with order and perfection; and He has per­fect knowledge of all things. "

c) The Night Journey, 17:44.

"The seven heavens and the earth, and all beings there in declare His glory. There is nothing that does not proclaim His praise and thank Him, yet you do not understand how they declare His glory. He is All-Clement, All-Forgiving. "

d) Noah, 71:15.

"Have you not regarded bow God created the seven heavens, one above another (in harmony)?"

e) The Great News, 78:12.

"We have built above you seven firm heavens (flor-maments)."

f) The Believers, 23:17.

"We have created above you seven paths, and We are not heedless of creation."

Let us now review the intimations of modern astrophysics regarding space and the cosmos.

Until comparatively recent decades, scientists assumed that there were 2 million stars in the universe. But this view has dissolved in the face of astrophysical discoveries. Modern scientists describe cosmic regions as follows.

The cosmos represents diversified concentric magnetic layers. The central band consists of galaxies and clusters of galaxies composed of vast numbers of stars. Outside this, there is a second field with different magnetic properties containing quasars (the 'hatcheries' of star 'seeds'), and surrounding this, a third magnetic band encompassing the nethermost regions of the universe.

The innermost circle, and particularly our own solur system with its family of planets, is the easiest region to observe. The inner structure of such a system consists of three separate magnetic fields.

First of alt, each planet possesses a magnetic field and — if present — an atmosphere. This refers to the vicinity of the planet. Next, the planets form a second magnetic field in combination with their solar system. Further, each solar system within a galaxy — and there are at least a hundred billion stars, or suns, in our Milky Way galaxy alone — constitutes a separate magnetic region. And on a higher level, galaxies close to each other are subject to another magnetic field within clusters of galaxies.

Hence, when you look at the sky or into space from the earth or any other planet, you are surrounded by seven magnetic fields receding into the infinity of space. Looking at the cosmos from the earth, these are:

1. The spatial field we constitute together with the solar system (the 'First Heaven').

2. The spatial field of our galaxy (the 'Second Heaven'). (The magnetic field sculpting the core of the Milky Way has only Just been discovered).

3. The spatial field of our 'Local Cluster' of galaxies (the Third Heaven').

4. The central magnetic field of the universe repre­sented by the collectivity of galaxy clusters (the 'Fourth Heaven').

5. The cosmic band represented by quasars (the 'Fifth Heaven').

6. The field of the expanding universe represented by

the receding galaxies (the 'Sixth Heaven').

7. The outermost field representing the limitless infini­ties of the universe (the 'Seventh Heaven').

Here, then, are the sevenfold heavens declared by the Koran 14 centuries ago.

The miracle that really blows the mind is the light shed by other verses in the above facts already established by science. We have already mentioned some of these. To recapitulate,

a) The Counsel, 42:5: The different heavens are under a tremendous strain or tension due to intense magnetic fields. (Book 2, Topic 10.)

b) Scattering Winds, 51:47: "We expand the heaven." (This verse will be interpreted in Topic 10.)

c) The Prophets, 21:104: "We created the universe like the pages of a book, which we fold." (See Topic 4.)

d) The Prophets, 21:30: "We rent asunder the heavens and the earth, which were united." (Book, 2, Topic 10.)

The separate interpretations of these verses will be presented later. For the time being, the important thing is that the Koran does not simply mention the seven heavens and leave it at that, but broaches the most advanced physical explanations in accordance with the concepts of modern astrophysics.

In order to reach a better understanding of the concept of seven heavens, I would like to summarize some further information related to astrophysics.

The layers of heavens listed above involve unimaginable distances. The first heavenly layer is approximately 6,5 trillion kilometers in thickness. The second layer, or the diameter of our galaxy, is 130 thousand light years. The third heaven, or that of our Local Cluster, spans 2 million light years. The fourth heaven, which is the collective field of the clusters of galaxies forming the central core of the universe, is 100 million light years in diameter. The fifth heaven is at a distance of 1 billion light years and the sixth, at 20 billion light years or about 193x10²¹ km. Physical transport from one heaven to another is impossible, both because of the speeds involved and because the magnetic potentials cannot be transcended. In order to pass into these heavens, it is necessary to exceed the speed of light; that is to say, to pass beyond the world of matter.

As we have mentioned in the first book, the Glorious Koran has revealed this subtle secret of distances as well ⁽¹⁾. According to some scientists, black holes at the centers of galaxies (families or collections of stars) facilitate 'Jumps' from one galaxy to another. A black hole is though to exist in the galaxy M 87 ⁽²⁾ This insight, too, has been mentioned in the Event Chapter in the Koran. The Koran, therefore, in describing the seven heavens, has also presented all the facts related to astrophysics.

Let us now examine the principles of the sevenfold heavens in the fight of the verses given at the beginning of this section.

It can be seen that the harmonious order and physical firmness of the sevenfold heavens are the first point emphasized in the verses. The second important point is fact all creatures in these seven heavens praise God, giving thanks to him. The third is that God Almighty has approa­ched the heavens in his capacity as Creator and with Omnipotent Will, that is, has turned to them and shaped them with His power. This fact is an expression of Divine Omnipotence, which initiated the magnetic potential of the heavens.

As for Verse 17 of The Believers (Chapter 23), the definition of sevenfold heavens, i.e. seven paths, occurs there. All commentators are agreed that the seven paths stand for seven heavens, and this is indeed the case. The subtlety here is that the seven heavens are defined as seven 'paths' (tariaq) so that we meight understand seven fields. Hence dimensions, spatial distances and infinite velocities also find expression in the language of the Koran in connection with 'paths'.

I now pass over to the definitions in the verses that will really shed light on the concept of seven heavens.

Sab'a Samawatin Tibaqan

a) The word tibaqan means "conforming or agreeing with each other."

This meaning indicates that the seven separate magnetic fields are in harmony with each other. However, this harmony also implies structural variation, for if the seven heavens were of the same structure, there would be no sense in mentioning that they are in conformity.

In physical terms, this conformity implies that these fields with different magnetic potentials take on congruent values at their boundary points. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier. Verse 5 of Chapter 42 (The Counsel) proclaims that the potentials of these heavens are more intense at their upper boundaries. Approached from this angle, the harmony of spherical or elliptical magnetic lines of force is also indicated. For this verse precludes the possibility that the system of heavens can be disturbed by the extreme forces present at the upper boundary points of the normal magnetic potential, because harmony is present at every point in the seven heavens.

In passing from one heaven to another, this harmony exhibits different characteristics. That is, the seven heavens exhibit harmony among themselves, but passage from one heaven to another is possible only through black holes or similar 'wormnoles' in space.

b) Tibaqan may be a play on 'layer' (tanaqa). The verse would then emphasize the stratified nature of the heavens. Although the ancient commentaries have been disinclined to favor this derivation of tibaqan from tabaqa, the magnetic strata and fields space were not known in those times.

Whether the word derives from the meaning 'harmony' or 'layer', the important thing is the congruity, seriality and accord between the magnetic fields of the sky. The sense of the verse indicates that these three properties exist between the seven layers of heavens.

One of the most important of the verses dealing with seven heavens, and one which reveals quite different secrets, is the verse of this topic: "ft is God Who created the seven heavens, and of the earth a similar number. (His) is the Command. " ⁽³⁾

Atoms, as everyone knows, are the basic building blocks of the world. To summarize the structure of atoms briefly, they consist of a nucleus surrounded by a cloud of electrons in motion. The electron cloud represents the energetic nature of a specific electron. The structure of the atom used to be compared to that of the solar system, but it was later discovered that this analogy is rather misleading, for this system resembles the system of seven heavens rather than the solar system. The reason for this is that the electrons cannot select an orbital shell at random, but have to conform to the precisely defined energy levels surrounding the nucleus.

Yes, dear reader: there are seven orbital shells surrounding the atomic nucleus. These are called 'orbitals' (shells) with reference to electrons. An electron can move in one of these orbits, and can exist in one of them only, if it has the proper energy. But in that case, this verse is a scientific miracle in its own right, for it informs us that the seven magnetic field values of the macrocosmos are reflected also in the microcosmos.

These layers or miniature shells are exceedingly important in the tiny electronic world of the atom. Transfer from one orbital to another involves tremendous amounts of energy. Not every nucleus can bind electrons in all seven of these shells. It can maintain electrons in these levels only to the extent allowed by its electromagnetic structure, i.e. its number of protons. The upshot is that had we been condemned to live on an atomic nucleus, we would still have seen seven heavens when we raised our heads to the sky, and observed electrons as if they were planets.

Another concept related to the seven heavens is that of infinite dimensions. If the section on dimensions and differentiated spaces in Book 1, Topic 7 is recalled, it appears that spaces in the cosmos are composed of different dimensions. Many scientists in the West, whom we might describe as belonging to the Einstein school of thought, also accept that there are more than four dimensions.

Now there are various spaces composed of different dimensions in different heavens. In a sense, the concept of seven heavens also includes the concept of seven separate spatial continua. Since we can to conceive of dimensions higher than the fourth (i.e.time), we are unable to give an account of these dimensions in our day. In the works of the great thinkers of Islam, different worlds are mentioned among these dimensions, such as the World of Angelic Beings, the World of Spirits, etc.

We must, within the comprehension of rational science, perceive not only the galaxies and systems related to the material universe, but also other dimensions in the concept of sevenfold heavens. Another rigorous approach would be the various energy bands in atoms. As I have remarked in Book 2, Topic 10 concerning the verses dealing with the Omnipotence that sunders the heavens and the intense tensions they possess, the Koran spreads out the physics of the cosmos before our very .eyes.

(1) Verses From the Glorious Koran and the Facts of Science, Book 1, Topic 2.

(2) Ibid.

(3) The Divorce, 65:12.

PRAYER AND MENTAL HEALTH

Those who believe in the Unseen, perform the Prayer, and spend out of that We have provided them; those who believe what has been sent down to you, and what has been sent down before you, and have faith in the Hereafter: Those are upon true guidance from their Lord, and those are the ones who will be saved.

chapter 2 (the Cow), verses 3-5

As everyone knows, the basic form of worship in our religion is Prayer (salat, namadh).

Prayer is the thanks and supplication of the servant to his God. It is man's journey on the sacred path that leads to God. Prayer is the grace of viewing the infinite world within the secret of the Opening Chapter,

For these reasons, no science has the power to unravel or outline the mysteries of Prayer. In particular, to view Prayer merely as a physical exercise is as ridiculous as believing that there is nothing more to the universe than the air we breathe. In the interpretation of verses in this scientific series, we shall open a window only on the most exoteric aspects of Prayer, affirming its miraculous effects of Prayer, affirming its miraculous effects on mental health. My readers should not, however, be misled into believing that the benefits of Prayer are confined to the contents of these few meager pages. The beneficial effect on psychological health is just one of the thousand-and-one mysteries of Prayer.

"Read the book that has been revealed to you, and perform the Prayer; Prayer restrains from indecent and unjust deeds. Iteration of God's name is without doubt the greatest thing. God knows the deeds that you do. " ⁽⁴⁾

It is common knowledge that there are many verses in the Koran dealing with Prayer. Of these, we have chosen the above verse since we wish to concentrate on psychic health. First, however, I would like to mention an important point before passing to the interpretation of the verses. The branch of science that passes under the name of 'psychology' (the "science of the psyche") in the Western scientific community is not, in fact, concerned with the soul. From the standpoint of Islamic sciences this field, in investigating our behavior, is actually attempting a description of the 'Self’ (nafs).

What we qualify as mental health is slightly different. Although they also rely heavily on the Self, the branches of science among Western sciences dealing with behavioral disorders are psychiatry and mental hygiene as its subdiscipline, which take the response of our total character for their subject.

Our entire personality structure is the end product of the combination of our body, soul and heart, with the Self playing a predominant role. I shall pass over to the explanations without dwelling further on this subject, which is actually very important and should be reconsidered in depth by Islamic scientists. What we have to bear in mind at present is the fact that by mental health, we mean not the traditional concept of the soul, but our self-oriented ('selfish') personality.

The message delivered by the two verses as concerns Prayer are summarized in the following points.

1. Whoever performs the Prayer receives deliverance.

2. Whoever performs the Prayer is protected and removed from evils, excess and immorality.

Let us now take a look at the general appearance of human beings from the standpoint of psychic health.

All human beings in our age have fallen into the cogwheels of a mechanical life under the influence of atheistic and materialistic philosophies, and many of them have lost their mental composure. As a result, unhappiness has become the rule among human beings. The result is that all people have fallen into the following impasses and experience suffering.

a) They are in the grip of psychosomatic illnesses, which are the reflections of mental distress on the reflections of mental distress on the body. The damage inflicted by worries on the endocrine system give rise to stomach ulcers, cardiovascular illnesses, and various digestive disorders. The role of stress and mental distress is painfully evident even in the case of cancer, considered to be the sickness of our age. The majority of human beings, therefore, suffer at the mercy of material ailments due solely to mental disturbances.

b) A fifth of mankiny has been forced into alcoholism and narcotics by mental disorders.

c) Psychic distress has become the rule in developed countries. Nowadays, everyone carries 'sunshine pills' in their pockets which are supposed to be the less harmful among sedative poisons.

d) Again, statistics compiled in the West indicate that the younger generations — a full thirty percent of them — are on the brink of mental instability, and mental illness is easily precipitated.

Even more heartbreaking is the plight of Eastern socie­ties living under oppression and cruelty, and of the underdeveloped countries afflicted by famine. As is stated in the Chapter of Time, "Man is in absolute loss."

In the face of all this, both the ruling: "They have received deliverance" in Verse 5 of Chapter 2 (The Cow), and the call to salvation in the Prayer Cal, constitute an incredible miracle of the Koran. For the Koran declares; "Human beings, you are in loss and miserable. If you want salvation, happiness and spiritual vigor, come to Prayer."

Let us now investigate what kind of salvation Prayer bestows on us. We stand in God's Presence, promise God that we shall leave all troubles and worldly concerns behind, and pronounce the Beginning Call, We dismiss the worries of the world at least for ten minutes. We then recite 'the Praise'; that is to say, we praise God's greatness, and come to the Opening Chapter, or 'Opening' for short.

The Opening is a wonderful balm that razes the anxieties and errors of man's inner world, and creates a new world in its place. Due to this, the Opening is also called the Chapter of Recovery. No matter how hopeless the situation of a man, the Opening is capable of rescuing him from his impasse and placing him on the Straight Path: The path leading to truth and beauty.

Since the Opening is the basis of Prayer, let us briefly describe the Opening.

1. Praise belongs to God, the Lord of the Worlds;

2. He is the All-Compassionate, the All-Merciful;

3. He is Master of the Judgment Day.

4. You only we worship; You only do we ask for help.

5. Guide us to Your Straight Path,

6. The path of those on whom You show favor,

7. Not of those who incur Your wrath, nor of those who go astray.

Can any illness of the mind and heart survive in a person who recites this marvellous prescription in the Divine Presence forty times a day, in the forty bendings ('bends') of Prayer?

With each of its verses, the Opening imparts a magic truth to the human psyche, and erases all errors from our constitution. A brief review will convince us that there is no exaggeration in this claim:

1. Praise belongs to God, the Lord of the Worlds.

O Mankind, praise and thank God, who created the infinite order of the worlds, and keeps it under control every instant (the attribute of Lordship). Do not be afraid of or deterred by any influence at all, for God, whom you praise, is -

2. All-Compassionate and All-Merciful.

That is. He has not only given life to all creatures through His pity and love ('Compassion'), but the thanksgiving, faithful human being becomes the recipient of His special mercy, love and forgiveness ('Mercy'). And don't forget that the whole world is based on love and mercy: Indeed, the planets give thanks by revolving in their orbits, and so do the atom and its nucleus, which are enabled to exist through love (attraction). He who loses his love and praise is destroyed. The verse proclaims and declares that there is no life as long as power is not drawn from the sources (attributes) of 'Compassion' and 'Mercy.'

3. He is Master of the Resurrection, of the Judgment Day.

Do not forget that you will be called to account. And because of this,

4. You only we worship, and You only do we pray for help.

Now this verse will save a person from all the calamities that might befall him in this worldly life. He who is not the slave of money, power or profit wilt assuredly be freed of all errors and delivered from sundry blind alleys. He who prays only to God for help will not be grieved if something goes wrong; he will not torment himself. When faced with difficulty, he will strive with all his power, and leave the outcome to God.

Whoever reads the fourt verse of the Opening is freed of all stress and distress. Whoever recites this verse forty times a day, and especially whoever continues this rhythm for a lifetime — that is, performs the Prayer unfailingly — becomes one of those who attain liberation: He is freed of all excesses and evils.

The passions for which people excuse themselves on the pretext of economic want are actually an error arising from slavery to money.

5-7- "Dearest Lord, we cannot find the true and the right (the Right Path) by ourselves; please help us. Bestow Your grace upon us by showing us the truth. Please do not leave us in troubles and distress like those who go astray."

To be purified of anxieties and cares forty times a day during the five appointed hours...

The esoterica of the bending and prostration in Prayer lied beyond the scope of our subject.

When regarding Prayer collectively, we should also consider the continuous discipline it brings to every aspect of our lives, the necessity of avoiding ethical errors and the like, and the habit of the Washup which always provides material and spiritual vigor.

You will behold how salvation and happiness permanently enters our lives.

Prayer is a divine seal stamped on the inner world and meaning (soul) of man, and we observe its first effect immediately in mental serenity. One would have to be blind not to experience salvation and happiness at this point. If we cannot observe this effect in some people, it is because their is merely an exhibition devoid of sincerity.

It is certain that Prayer provides deliverance to the physical structure of man- This is in fact representive, since it occurs in every respect, as God has declared that "they have found salvation" (liberation, security, healing, happiness). Just as all the joints of a Pray-er achieves health, his mental health and spirit (meaning) are safeguarded in a similar way. Today, even materialists acknowledge that there can be no prescription other than Prayer for the relief of joints. Unfortunately they cannot draw aside the veil, see the salvation provided by this divine grace bestowed 14 centuries ago on our spiritual world, and achieve faith. For faith is a gift, a matter of divine guidance; and its center lies not in the mind, but in the heart.

(4) The Spider, 29:45.

MYSTERIES OF THE CAMEL

Do they hot consider the camel, How it was created?

chapter 88 (the overwhelming event), verse 17

In its first sixteen verses, the 'Overwhelming Event' Chapter declares the abasement of unbelievers at Resurrection and the favors to -be bestowed on the Faithful. Verses 17 through 20 give examples of the divine order and the marvefs of God's creativity. The first of these is the creation of the camel. This implies that some secrets of divine wisdom are present even in the genesis of a camel. Furthermore, these mysteries constitute an open reply to atheists, informing how they will be confronted with their errors on Judgment Day.

What, then, are these secrets in the creation of a camel? And why has the camel been chosen as an example?

1. The camel has a characteristic that refutes the theory of evolution at its very basis;

a) The camel is a large, herbivorous animal. As such, had the camel been a representative of the chain of mammals as the evotutioinists believe, it should have lived in forests. And if it had fallen into the desert by mistake, it should have vanished from the surface of the earth along with the dinosaurs, mammoths and mastodons. For according to the evolutionists, the disappearance of forests where mammoths lived caused the extinction of the latter.

The existence of the camel contradicts the principle of natural selection for large herbivorous animals. Besides, the extinction of dinosaurs and mammoths has to do only with the oxygen balance of the earth, a point which I shall deal with while interpreting another verse (Book 4, Topic 8).

b) According to evolutionists, the defenseless are eliminated in the struggle for survival. But the camel has no natural defences whatsoever, and yet it has coexisted with lions in the desert for thousands of years.

c) Although the digestive system of the camel possesses the ability to convert the cellulose of thorns into carbohydrates, it does not differ in structure from those of other herbivores. If only for this reason, the camel should have migrated to forests long ago.

d) The carnivores living in the desert have a biological function: To survive on other animals that end in the same place. But the camel has no such raison d'etre. The only food it can eat in the desert is thorns. The excuse of 'biological function' advanced by evolutionists to explain the spread of organisms over the globe is not applicable to the camel.

The camel is an agent entrusted with sevice to humanity, This is why it lives in the desert, and in every moment of its existence it turns its large, limpid eyes on the evolutionists in mockery.

2. The camel has very interesting biological properties.

a) All organisms exchange vitamins with each other, animals in particular obtaining vitamins from plants. The camel, on the other hand, produces its own vitamins.

b) Water molecules remain for 7-14 days in the bodies of all animals, and if they cannot be replaced by fresh molecules the organism is condemned to death. Experiments with radioactive tritium have revealed this fact. In the camel, however, the water molecule preserves its inscrutable ionic property for 50 days on end.

c) It has a memory storage system unlike that of any other animal: It never forgets what it sees, producing, as it were, a map of the path life; God has given it this trait just so that it can serve man better.

d) In spite of its large size, it is extraordinarily sensitive and submissive. This peculiarity of creation is at cross-purposes with its desert fife. A creature living in the desert should be harsh and devoid of all sentiment, like buzzards and lions. The camel, created by God for service to human beings, flaunts this property in the faces of atheists and evolutionists down through the ages.

When God, therefore, begins to list the marvels of His creation in the 'Overwhelming Event' Chapter, His prelude: "Do they not consider the camel, how it was created?" is almost a warning to the atheists and evolutionists of our day. He declares, in effect: "Look at the camel and how it has been created. I create any organism with any purpose t wish. Even though that animal longs for verdant fields, it has contentedly settled for a life in the desert in acceptance of its servanthood."

Another reason for bringing in the creation of the came! as an example is that its long journey resembles the story of its life.

Among the many virteus of the camel, there are two important moral qualities:

a. Its patience: Among all animals, the quality of patience can be found only in the camel. The reason why the sacred verse gives the camel as an example right after the section on Paradise is in order to emphasize the importance of the secret of patience.

b. The second quality of the camel is that it has a musical ear: It delights in beautiful sounds coming from the environment, or in the voice of a human being.

God has granted these qualities transcending its animal creation — such as patience, endurance, memory and musical aesthetics — to the camel for its loyalty in servanthood and its service to humanity.

Islam considers that all creatures, and especially living beings, have been created in the service of man. There is a strange trend or current in biology that is difficult to understands. It is as if biological events tend toward a certain aim, from atoms to molecules and from thence to DNA, the building block of life. Materialistic biologists have been unable to acccount for this phenomenon.

The organisms in our world practice such subtle artwork on molecules that the woven tapestry represents a purpose running from atom to man. Since this basic biological insight lies behind the purpose of the camel's service to man, I would like to go into this subject a bit further.

Take an apple. The Vitamin C it contains is exactly the amount required daily by man. In order to preserve it, the apple balances the fruit acids in its composition with carbonate ions. Furthermore, iron with a valence of 2, which is very necessary for man, is again present in a single apple in the daily required amount. All these substances present in the apple's constitution have nothing to do with either the apple or its species. Besides, even if the apple did not have this composition, we would still have raised it since it contains fructose.

We find the same situation in connection with honey (Cf.Book2, Topic?). Again, it is known that many animals providing milk produce 3 to 30 times the amount required by their offspring. What is more interesting, however, is how microbes almost vie with each other in the service of man, The billions of bacteria in our intestines prepare various enzymes and vitamins for our use. Our most vital foods, such as yoghurt, cheese and bread, are prepared by microbes solely for the service of man. For the yoghurt bacterium produces so much of the ferment and vitamins it prepares for man that it kills itself in the process.

And so, when our Glorious Book draws attention to the secrets of the camel's creation, it is also implying various other events pregnant with meaning, and invites men to awake from heedlessness at the same time that they benefit from these divine gifts:

"O Mankind, if the camel had lived its own life, it would have repaired to the forests. Yet it endures the hardships of the desert in order to serve you, assuming a tame and obedient nature in spite of its large size. Why, then, do you disobey the commands of your Lord?

"Why are you in rebellion, when even that animal is a model of patience?"

PAGES OF THE COSMOS

The day that we fold up the heavens like a book:

Just as We produced the first Creation (opened it page by page), so shall We restore it again, This is a promise binding on Us, and surely We shall fulfill it.

chapter 21 (the prophets), verse 104

One of the most difficult verses to fathom in the Koran is this verse that likens the heavens of the universe to the pages of a book. By the universe we here mean the material universe, since the material universe is symbolized by heavens.'

Why does the sacred verse compare the layers of heavens to the leaves of a book? Doubtless there are many reasons for this similitude, some of which we may summarize as follows.

a) Foreordination placed the fate of heavenly spaces on the Guarded Tablet page by page. These pages, tike the tape of a computer, are of course the record of an invariant order.

b) The differences in magnetic potential between heavens are compared to pages. Every space constitutes a separate divine system with its own conditions.

c) Heavenly spaces and strata possess a divine order that can be opened and closed like the leaves of a book. The increase or reduction and elimination of distances is simply a decision for the Divine Will.

d) By comparing the creation of the heavens and physical space to the opening, and the end of the world to the closing, of a book (or rolling up a scroll), the verse, underlines a fundamental precondition of material existence: Namely, extension. In other words, material existence consists of spatial tensions at various distances like opening the pages of a book. And this is the point at which I want to begin the interpretation of this verse. What manner of physical phenomenon is material existence?

It will readily be acknowledged that material beings is the occupation of a certain extension in space. The novelty of the verse lies in the analogy it draws between this definition and opening the leaves of a book. The passage: "Just as in our first creation" in the second sentence of the verse emphasizes this point. Let us now take a look at some examples.

1. How does a planet exist? By occupying space at a certain distance from its center of attraction, right? And it tries to preserve this distance by revolving around it, right? Does not our own world preserve its existence by obeying the same principle? Here is the occupation of a definite place at a definite distance. Just like the leaves of a book.

2. How does the atom exist? Is it not a system where electrons occupy space at a certain distance from the nucleus, the center of attraction?

3. What is the quantam wavicle, considered to be the basis of existence? It represents a standing wave in the fabric of spacetime, the crests and troughs of which resemble the consecutive leaves of a book.

Material beings, therefore, unfold like the leaves of a book by occupying various magnetic potential levels at various distances in space. If the Divine Will calls a halt to extension, matter collapses instantaneously. And if Divine Omnipotence wills, new existences with new distances are formed. It is this physical fact, difficult as it is to comprehend, that the sacred verse reveals.

Let us now take another look at the collective interpretation of the verse. It introduces a decisive clause full of divine portent against the hesitations of men in believing In the Day of Judgment. The Judgment is the transformation of all or part of the universe into another mode of existence. There are many examples and descriptions in the Koran on this subject. From the verses concerned, we understand that the first phase of the Judgment is one of total destruction and annihilation. Subsequently, we shall all be projected to a new continuum. This verse introduces the mathematical and physical reality of that destruction and incomprehensible conversion, comparing the abolition of distances and the folding of space to the pages of a closing book": Conversely, it defines Genesis as the emanation of distance and the unfolding of space, like a book being opened. In this similitude, each space willed into existence is compared to a page in the book. The worlds are composed of nested universes like a book in front of the Exalted Creator: If He wilts, He enables extension, creating the manifold worlds and heavens; and if He wishes, he abolishes distance, and continua are folded over to another page.

Another important concept of the verse relates to Heaven and Hell. Modern man is especially eager to seek Heaven and Hell in a separate corner of the material universe: In another galaxy, for example. The sacred verse, however, informs us that Heaven and Hell are located on another page in the Book of Totally. There are neither near nor far from our location; they are simply on another page. And when God turns to that page, no spatial difference and no distance will remain between us and them.

THE CREATION OF JESUS AND ADAM

The likeness of Jesus in God's sight is as that of Adam; He created him of soil, then said to him:

'Be', and he was.

chapter 3 (The ımran famıly), verse 59

References to Adam's creation occur in 14 verses of the Glorious Koran. Sacred books antedating the Koran also mention that Adam was created from the soil. However, the Koran brings clear explanations to this creation, and I propose to comment on these verses.

"We created man of a quintessence of clay" ^{. (5)}

He (God) has created all thigs well, and He originated the creation of man out of clay." ⁽⁶⁾

"... We created them out of sticky clay. " ⁽⁷⁾

"Your Lord said to the angels: I am about to create a man from clay. When I have fashioned him, and breathed into him of My spirit, prostrate yourselves before him at once." ⁽⁸⁾

"(God) created man of baked clay, similar to pottery." ⁽⁹⁾

"And God has produced you from the earth, as though you grew out of it. " ⁽¹⁰⁾

Let us first derive a general definition from these proclamations of the Koran regarding the creation of Adam and hence of man, and then discuss and explain the subject scientifically in detail. What is the collective decree that emerges from these verses?

a) Adam was created from clay by the Divine Will; God said 'Be', and he was.

b) Adam did not evolve from another organism, just as certainly as Jesus did not have a father.

c) That clay resembles mud; it is sticky and viscid.

d) After creating the body from clay, God breathed into ('in-spirited') Adam of His own soul.

The conclusion that can be reached on the basis of these verses is that Adam, and consequently man, has not evolved from other creatures. He has not undergone evolution; God said 'Be', and he was.

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