The Day Of Judgement

The Day Of Judgement

And the Moon is eclipsed, and the Sun and the Moon are fused together, on that Day man will ask: "Where can I run?" No indeed! There will be no safe place. That Day, the only resting place will be your Lord. (Surat al-Qiyama, 8-12)

Consider the people and events that shape your life. You are working hard to get somewhere, trying to find your place in the struggle for a good life. You are very attentive to some matters and reflect deeply upon them. At the same time, you carefully avoid thinking about other matters and, as it happens, many people close to you do the same. Everyone knows what subjects to avoid in conversation and thought. Death is one of these, perhaps the most important one. For them, death is an end to which there is no solution.

The Day of Judgment, which will bring "death" to the universe just like the death of people, is a matter that people do not like to think about; rather, they consider it as a remote and distant matter. They have a vague idea of what will happen on that Day, but since the thought of it scares them, people are inclined to forget about it. Rather than facing up to it, they just get on with their lives instead.

People are most affected by the final day aspect of this Day for all beings, whether living or non-living. The Day of Judgment is the final day of life on Earth and for the universe. But at the same time, it is the beginning of the eternal life in the Hereafter. On that Day, people will be resurrected, created anew. Believers in Allah and the Hereafter will be hosted in Paradise, whereas unbelievers will be driven to Hell. Therefore, for those who expect such a Day, fully aware of what this event means, it is meaningless to run away from death, the Day of Judgment, and the Hereafter. To the contrary, the reality of death and the events of that Day will lead people to do good in the cause of Allah, direct them to believe in the Hereafter, and bring them closer to Allah. Only the believers will be spared the great fear on that Day, on which previously unseen events will take place, for Allah reveals that they will have no cause for fear or sadness, for:

Not so! All who submit themselves completely to Allah and are good-doers will find their reward with their Lord. They will feel no fear and know no sorrow. (Surat al-Baqara, 112)

Those who believed in this Day and in the Qur'an, as well as that the real life is in the Hereafter, while alive and lived accordingly will be safe. They did not disregard the existence of death and were not too vain to worship Allah. Such people will be received in the most pleasant way in the Hereafter, and Allah's guiding light will be with them on the Day of Judgment. The faithful are given the good news in the Qur'an, as follows:

… on the Day when Allah will not disgrace the Prophet and those who believed along with him. Their light will stream out ahead of them and on their right. They will say: "Our Lord, perfect our light for us and forgive us! You have power over all things." (Surat at-Tahrim, 8)

This book reveals the Day and its events, and warns of its difficulties. What matters most is that the Day of Judgment is a reality for all people and, as such, should not be ignored. This book will help you to think about its existence and reality in the light of the Qur'an's verses.

The purpose here is to warn you of a Day on which you will meet whatever happens, and to guide you to safety and the eternal life in Paradise. The reality of this Day's mind-blowing events is an important factor in driving people to reflect upon it. For this reason, throughout this book we will describe the details of the time leading up to the Day of Judgment and investigate its reality.

THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT IS APPROACHING

And the Hour is coming without any doubt, and Allah will raise up all those in the graves. (Surat al-Hajj, 7)

Death is coming closer by the day. Whether you are young or old, death is a little closer to you every day, even every minute. You cannot resist time or prevent death's approach. Nothing you do can change the fact that you and those close to you are only "temporary" beings. Like every other living being, you are advancing toward the Day on which your life will end.

Humanity is not the only part of creation that is subject to death. All other creatures, Earth itself and the whole universe, have a day of death fixed for them. The Day of Judgment is a day of terror and unimaginable fear. But at the same time, it is most wondrous. Everything on Earth will be flattened, the stars will be extinguished and fall in rapid succession, and the Sun will be wrapped up in darkness. All human beings who have ever lived will be gathered and made to witness this Day. This Final Day will be dreadful for the unbelievers, and its Lord will be Allah, Who owns all that exists.

The Day of Judgment, contrary to many people's belief, is approaching; it is not in the distant future. When it arrives, Earth and everything belonging to it will be destroyed. Ambitions, desires, anger, expectations, lusts, enmities, and pleasures will cease. Plans made for the future will become meaningless, for those who had forgotten that they will be returned to Allah, preferring this world over the eternal life and its misleading wealth, beauty, and pleasures, will have met their end. On this Day, everyone will witness clearly Allah's existence and will come face to face with the death that they had tried so hard to forget. Their attempt to forget Allah and the Hereafter is finished, and a new beginning, one which will be eternal and bring no happiness to the unbelievers, is awaiting them. From the very first moment of this eternal life, the punishment is so fearsome that those who experience it will beg for "death" and "annihilation." The beginning of this life is the Day of Judgment and, "the Hour is coming without any doubt."

LIFE ON EARTH IS TEMPORARY, AND DEATH IS A CERTAIN REALITY

From your earliest childhood onwards, you head for certain goals or are guided by others. You probably will have a family and a job, try to earn more in order to have a better life, educate your children, and hope that they will have a better life than you did. Once a week you meet the other members of your extended family. You take vacations, go to work, and spend the rest of your time at home. Except for a few hiccups on the way, your life progresses orderly and you usually encounter nothing outside the ordinary.

Everything in your life seems to be premeditated, and everyone's life is like everyone else's. You need to work to realize these goals, and you need to have a family to continue your lineage. According to this worldview, what else could you possibly want besides "a good job" and "a nice family?" Having achieved these goals, you expect to lead a happy life. In this way, everything is wonderful and you will live happily ever after.

However, some important changes are happening in your body and environment. Many cells with diverse functions fulfill their purpose and die. As you age, it becomes harder to replace them. Your body is ageing visibly, as seen through your illnesses and weaknesses. Time moves fast, and the impossibility of reversing it becomes clearer every day. Thinking that you were going to live happily and comfortably forever, you are nevertheless nearing death. Thus, this worldly life can never give the sense of contentment and peace you expect. When this "satisfying" life ends, you will come face to face with the real truth. Given this fact, none of your life ambitions should become your true purpose in life. This life is a temporary trial to separate the righteous from the evildoers. Allah reveals this reality in the following verse:

He Who created death and life to test which of you is best in action. He is the Almighty, the Ever-Forgiving. (Surat al-Mulk, 2)

The true purpose of life is not a decent job and a nice family. Rather, everybody has been created for one purpose: to serve Allah. We become attached to our children, rank, and status but with the first instance of death, these worldly pleasures lose their value and importance. Everybody knows this, but many choose to ignore it. And so such things should not be the ultimate goals of life. We must reflect carefully and realize what is the real purpose and the true gain. Allah reveals the true purpose of our creation, as follows:

I only created jinn and man to worship Me. (Surat adh-Dhariyat, 56)

Only by fulfilling this responsibility can we expect the gifts of the Hereafter. Most people have some unfounded expectations and comfort themselves with them. But this is a great error. If one has nothing to expect from the Hereafter, there is only one possibility left: To become nothing with death, a possibility that is scarier than all the others. The unbelievers develop various methods of forgetting this possibility, because they fear it so much. Among these methods are not talking about, discussing, or remembering death, even though it is a certainty for everyone. Everybody acts as if it does not exist. That most people behave in such a way might be reassuring to some extent, but in reality they are all misguided. People know about death, the Last Day, and the Hereafter, but refuse to ponder them. They are satisfied with this worldly life, or at least make themselves believe that they are. However, Allah reveals that death will find everyone:

Say: "Death, from which you are fleeing, will certainly catch up with you. Then you will be returned to the Knower of the Unseen and the Visible, and He will inform you about what you did." (Surat al-Jumu‘a, 8)

The universe and all of its contents, not just humanity, will die on the Day of Judgment, for on that Day the trial will end. Many people will recognize its coming by its signs, and the events leading up to the universe's death will be literally hair-raising. Finally, on that Day, Allah will raise up all those in the graves and all people on the Earth will be called to account. Those who did not expect to experience such a Day will no longer be able to deny it, and so will bow to Allah's will whether they want to or not. Allah has prepared a spectacular end for the universe, and despite most people's attempts to deny this reality, the Day of Judgment will come at its appointed time.

THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT IS A CERTAIN REALITY

People who are satisfied with this world's temporary values and pleasures do their best to ignore such facts as their eventual death, which is just around the corner, and the Day of Resurrection. By not reflecting upon such truths, they tell themselves that they can live only for themselves and forget about their duties to Allah.

The Qur'an graphically depicts the events of the Last Day, and all of the people's accompanying shock, fear, panic, and mental framework. The universe will end in the same spectacular fashion in which it was created. Planets will fall out of their orbits, and mountains will be moved. In the face of such amazing events, those who put their faith in chance and random happenings will realize that only Allah rules over everything. Allah states:

Say: "To whom does everything in the heavens and Earth belong?" Say: "To Allah." He has made mercy incumbent upon Himself. He will gather you to the Day of Resurrection, about which there is no doubt. As for those who have lost their own selves, they have no faith. (Surat al-An‘am, 12)

So when the Trumpet is blown with a single blast, and Earth and the mountains are lifted and crushed with a single blow, on that Day, the Occurrence will occur. (Surat al-Haqqa, 13-15)

THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT'S HOUR IS PREDETERMINED

As time progresses, we are speedily approaching the Day of Judgment. Most people think that this Day is in the distant future. However, they would be well-advised to remember that previous generations had the same attitude. In reality, everyone who has ever lived will witness these events and assemble in Allah's presence; no one will be able to escape. As only Allah knows when the Day of Judgment will come, there is no guarantee that it will not happen while you are making plans for the future and are busying yourselves with your everyday lives, for:

Say: "I do not know whether what you are promised is close or whether my Lord will appoint a longer time before it." He is the Knower of the Unseen, and does not divulge His Unseen to anyone. (Surat al-Jinn, 25-26)

The great order in which Allah created life will terminate at a time unknown to us. Those who doubt this fact and choose not to believe in it may consider themselves reasonable, and so this Day will be a hard and scary one for them. For this reason, it is far more beneficial and positive to believe in it, for it will be of no use to believe in it when the Hour has struck, or to feel remorse for their self-deception. One verse describes such remorse, as follows:

When the Great Calamity comes: that Day man will remember what he has striven for. (Surat an-Nazi‘at, 34-35)

The final hour and the eternal life that follows are the most important realities awaiting people. For this reason, this book has stressed the impermanence of this life. Nothing on Earth, not your career, marriage, wealth, or property, is important enough to waste your eternal life pursuing. The only thing worth pursuing and living for is Allah's good pleasure. Allah will begin the eternal life in the most spectacular way. Everyone who meets this Day will realize that this temporary life has definitely come to an end, and will comprehend the Hereafter's existence with certainty.

Before they meet this Day, every person has to remember the hour of the Day of Judgment and what it brings, even though they may never have contemplated it.

The contents of this book have been designed to help you extract yourself from your everyday occupation and desires for a while so that you can see the true purpose for your life. It seeks to inform you in advance about the Day of Judgment that you will most certainly encounter. This is an important warning, because everybody who ignores this Day and its aftermath will witness unbearable events on the Day of Judgment and experience endless hardship in the Hereafter.

You will most certainly encounter this Day, which the Qur'an describes in great detail. You will see that all of your possessions, even your body, will desert you. And then you will be created anew. You must use the opportunity given to you by Allah to obtain the reward, happiness, and peace awaiting you in the Hereafter, which cannot be compared to anything on Earth. The only thing that you have to do is to believe in Allah and the certainty of the Hereafter and be thankful for all the blessings that He gives to you. If you do not, you will experience all-pervasive regret in the Hereafter, for the Qur'an states that:

Those who deny the meeting with Allah have lost, so that, when the Hour comes upon them suddenly, they will exclaim: "Alas for what we neglected there!" They will bear their burdens on their backs. How evil is what they bear! (Surat an-An‘am, 31)

This is why you should accept that the Hereafter is a certainty and so prepare accordingly. Only then will your actions during this life have a lasting value, and will you receive an unequalled return on Earth as well as in the Hereafter. This reward will be the hospitality of Paradise, where you can have everything that you desire. Remember that on the Day of Judgment everybody will be judged alone in Allah's presence. Therefore, make the right efforts and prepare for death and its aftermath, for you will receive exactly what you deserve. However, the greatest reward is His good pleasure, for:

O you who believe! Heed Allah, and let each self look to what it has sent forward for tomorrow. Heed Allah. Allah is aware of what you do. Do not be like those who forgot Allah so He made them forget themselves. Such people are the deviators. (Surat al-Hashr, 18-19)

The Scientific Collapse of Materialism

The Scientific Collapse of Materialism

Materialism can no longer claim to be a scientific philosophy.
Arthur Koestler, the renowned Social Philosopher
(Arthur Koestler, Janus: A Summing Up , New York: Vintage Books, 1978, p. 250.)

How did the endless universe we live in come into being?

How did the equilibrium, harmony, and order of this universe develop?

How is it that this Earth is such a fit and sheltering place for us to live in?

Questions such as these have attracted attention since the dawn of the human race. The conclusion reached by scientists and philosophers searching for answers with their intellects and common sense is that the design and order of this universe are evidence of the existence of a supreme Creator ruling over the whole universe.

This is an indisputable truth that we may reach by using our intelligence. God declares this reality in His holy book, the Qur'an, which He inspired as a guide for humanity fourteen centuries ago. He states that He has created the universe when it was not, for a particular purpose, and with all its systems and balances specifically designed for human life.

God invites people to consider this truth in the following verse:

Are you stronger in structure or is heaven? He built it. He raised its vault high and made it level. He darkened its night and brought forth its morning light. After that He smoothed out the earth… (Surat an Naziat: 27-30)

Elsewhere it is declared in the Qur'an that a person should see and consider all the systems and balances in the universe that have been created for him by God and derive a lesson from his observations:

He has made night and day subservient to you, and the sun and moon and stars, all subject to His command. There is certainly Signs in that for people who pay heed. (Surat an-Nahl: 12)

In yet another verse of the Qur'an, it is pointed out:

He makes night merge into day and day merge into night, and He has made the sun and moon subservient, each one running until a specified time. That is God, your Lord. The Kingdom is His. Those you call on besides Him have no power over even the smallest speck. (Surah Fatir: 13)

This plain truth declared by the Qur'an is also confirmed by a number of the important founders of the modern science of astronomy. Galileo, Kepler, and Newton all recognized that the structure of universe, the design of the solar system, the laws of physics and their states of equilibrium were all created by God and they arrived at that conclusion as a result of their own research and observations.

Materialism: A 19th-Century Fallacy

The reality of the creation of which we speak has been ignored or denied since the earliest times by a particular philosophical point of view. It is called "materialism". This philosophy, which was originally formulated among the ancient Greeks, has also made an appearance from time to time in other cultures and has been advanced by individuals as well. It holds that matter alone exists and that it has done so for an infinity of time. From these tenets, it claims that the universe has also "always" existed and was not created.

In addition to their claim that the universe exists in an infinity of time, materialists also assert that there is no purpose or aim in the universe. They claim that all the equilibrium, harmony and order that we see around us are

merely the product of coincidence. This "coincidence assertion" is also put forward when the question of how human beings came into being comes up. The theory of evolution, widely referred to as Darwinism, is another application of materialism to the natural world.

We just mentioned that some of the founders of modern science were faithful people who were in agreement that the universe was created and organized by God. In the 19th century, an important change took place in the attitudes of the scientific world with respect to this matter. Materialism was deliberately introduced to the agenda of modern science by various groups. Because the 19th century's political and social conditions formed a good basis for materialism, the philosophy gained wide acceptance and spread throughout the scientific world.

The findings of modern science however undeniably demonstrate how false the claims of materialism really are.

The Findings of 20th-Century Science

Let us recall the two assertions of materialism about the universe:

The universe exists in infinite time and, because it has no beginning or end, it was not created.

Everything in this universe is merely the result of chance and not the product of any intentional design, plan, or vision.

Those two notions were boldly advanced and ardently defended by 19th-century materialists, who of course had no recourse other than to depend upon the limited and unsophisticated scientific knowledge of their day. Both have been utterly refuted by the discoveries of 20th-century science.

The first to be laid in the grave was the notion of the universe existing in infinite time. Since the 1920s, there has been mounting evidence this cannot be true. Scientists are now certain that the universe came into being from nothingness as the result of an unimaginably huge explosion, known as the " Big Bang ". In other words, the universe came into being-or rather, it was created by God.

The 20th century has also witnessed the demolition of the second claim of materialism: that everything in the universe is the result of chance and not design. Research conducted since the 1960s consistently demonstrates that all the physical equilibriums of the universe in general and of our world in particularly are intricately designed to make life possible. As this research deepened, it was discovered each and every one of the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology, of the fundamental forces such as gravity and electromagnetism, and of the details of the structure of atoms and the elements of the universe has been precisely tailored so that human beings may live. Scientists today call this extraordinary design the "anthropic principle". This is the principle that every detail in the universe has been carefully arranged to make human life possible.

To sum up, the philosophy called materialism has been utterly refuted by modern science. From its position as the dominant scientific view of the 19th century, materialism collapsed into fiction in the 20th.

How could it have been otherwise? As God indicates "We did not create heaven and earth and everything between them to no purpose. That is the opinion of those who are disbelievers." (Surah Sad: 27) it is wrong to suppose that the universe was created in vain. A philosophy so utterly flawed as materialism and systems based on it were doomed to failure from the very beginning.

The Philosophy of the Matrix and the True Nature of Matter

Many of the movies that have hit the big screen over the last few years share a common subject as part of their storyline. These films question reality—or the real world, as we know it—pointing out that artificially created dream worlds or worlds produced by simulations can actually be quite realistic.

Movies, sequels and TV series like The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Thirteenth Floor, Harsh Realm, Vanilla Sky, Total Recall, The Truman Show, Strange Days, Dark City, Open Your Eyes, The Frequency, Existenz , and The One all examine the theme of just how seriously wrong we might be about what is reality and what is imagination.

These films also deal with suggestions, thus far represented only as food for thought at scientific gatherings, of how these questions could affect our lives. In The Matrix, for instance, the following dialogue takes place:

What is real? How do you define "real"? If you're talking about your senses—what you feel, taste, smell, or see—then all you're talking about are electrical signals interpreted by your brain.

Doubtless one of the foremost reasons why these films, based on scientific explanations, captivate the attention of millions is the fact that people now question the reliability of the external world's assumptions and preconditions.

These movies' themes had been the focus of philosophical research in the past, though not until the end of the 20 th century did they receive the attention they deserved. But now, science has proven the subject this article discusses to be scientific fact, rather than a philosophical hypothesis.

This article deals with some of the concepts expressed in those films. In this way, we'll reveal once again that this article's explanations describe scientific facts, acknowledged around the globe. People's individual complaints or disapproval can't alter the reality of the true origins of matter.

WE ARE WATCHING A COPY OF OUR LIVES

Right now, the computer you believe you are touching, together with its text and illustrations in bright, vivid colors on its screen, is in reality a three-dimensional image in your brain. Similarly, the keys you feel when you touch the computer's keyboard is something you are "touching" only in your brain.

When you look at the screen, the light reflected from the screen is converted into electrical impulses by the cells of your eye's retina. These signals, carrying details of the computer's shape, color and thickness, are transmitted to your brain's visual center via the optic nerves, where they are interpreted into a concise whole. In this way, the computer's appearance is recreated inside the darkness of your brain. Therefore, statements like, "I'm seeing with my eyes," or, "This computer's in front of me" do not reflect true reality. Your eye only converts the light it receives into electrical impulses. The image of the computer you behold doesn't lie outside you, as you have always thought, but on the contrary, inside your skull. Furthermore, never can you know for certain whether the visualizations in your mind reflect the actual reality "outside," or even if there are material correlates for them.

You could be thinking that this computer lies outside you simply because you can feel the smoothness of its surface under your fingers. But this sensation of smoothness, just like the phenomenon of "seeing," is formed in your brain. When the touch-sensitive nerve cells on your fingertips are stimulated, they transmit stimuli to your brain in the form of electrical signals. Receiving these messages, your brain's touch center interprets them into such sensations as touch, pressure, softness or hardness, coldness or warmth. And you, inside your brain, come to sense the hardness of the computer, the smoothness of its surface or its keys when your hand touches them. In reality though, you never can touch the actual computer. When you think you're doing so, in reality you're only pressing its keys in your brain and—again, in your brain—feeling the hardness and smoothness of its surface.

The same is true for all your other senses. In the air, the vibrating string of a guitar creates pressure waves, which then stimulate the hairlike structures in the inner ear. The vibrations thus created are converted into electrical signals, which are then transmitted to the relevant center in the brain and interpreted there—whereupon you experience the sensation of hearing the sounds of the guitar.

Likewise, your sense of smell is formed in the brain. Chemical molecules, escaping a lemon's peel stimulate receptors in the nose, are converted into electrical signals that are transmitted to the brain for interpretation.

In short, all that you can perceive—what you see, hear, taste, touch and smell—is all recreated specially for you in your brain. Therefore, when we speak of our perception of the surrounding environment, we are talking only about our inner "copies" of those same colors, shapes, sounds and smells.

We perceive the world in so perfect a way that we believe in an external reality. But that "reality" is not so very different from the dreams we experience at night, inside our heads. In dreams, we are aware of the external events, sounds and sights; even our own bodies. We think and ponder. We feel the emotions of fear and anger, pleasure and love. We speak with other people, whom we believe we are observing the same things as they are, and even discuss them with them. Even in our dreams, we are convinced that a material world exists around us. But upon awakening, suddenly we realize that everything we thought we experienced took place only in our minds.

When we wake up and say, "It was only a dream," we mean that our experiences were not physical or "real," but only the products of our minds. While awake, on the other hand, we believe that there's a one-to-one correspondence between our perception and the physical world. But in fact, the experiences in our wakeful state are lived out in our minds, just as our dreams are.

Why do you think that you are awake now? Probably because you feel this computer when you touch it with your hands. You can comment on what you see on the screen; and everything around you displays a consistent continuity. But these perceptions—the hand with which you hold this computer, the screen you're looking at, the furniture surrounding you and your location in the room— all these are only replicas observed within your brain. Were you asked, "Right now, are you awake or are you dreaming?" surely you would answer, "Of course I'm awake!"

Possibly you've asked yourself this question in your dreams, many times. Of course, the answer you gave then—"Of course I am!"—would be exactly the same as you'd give right now. But only now, when you're truly awake, do you realize that your answer then was wrong.

So could it be that you're making the same mistake now? Who can guarantee that you're not actually dreaming right now—or even that your entire life has not been a dream? How can you be at all certain of the reality of the world in which you live? No matter how realistic our perceptions, they are our minds' interpretations. Therefore, we can never be sure that the images we perceive are not created by artificial signals. In other words, we can never distinguish between reality and imagination. When we examine some movies that deal with the scientific facts revealing this "reality", we face the same truth that this certainty can never be possible.
No matter how realistic our perceptions, they are our minds' interpretations. Someone watching dolphins perform in the sea is, in reality, watching the vivid and colorful three-dimensional images in his brain.

THE ONLY ABSOLUTE BEING IS GOD

With the examples from films and developments in science and technology, this reality deepens people's world view and exerts a positive influence on their spirituality. It demonstrates that we live without interacting with matter itself and that we live out our lives as if we were watching a film on tape. It also proves that we are the spectators as well as the actors of this film.

Matter, whether we see it or not, exists outside us, but we will never be able to reach it. For us, therefore, it exists only as an illusion. To believe that we deal with real matter external to us, despite clear facts to the contrary, is a situation comparable to a film's or computer game's virtual characters believing that they're living in the real physical world. That approach would have you believe that people and objects in your dreams have their material originals.

So, what do the facts about matter show us? First of all, they should make us reflect on the following:

Who is the one who can see in utter darkness, without requiring an iris, pupil, retina, optic nerve and enjoy electrical signals as a colorful garden?
Who is the one who can hear inside the soundproof brain, without requiring an ear, and enjoy electrical signals as a beloved melody?
Who in the brain, can feel velvet without the need for muscles, a hand, or fingers?
Who experiences the sense of touch and coolness, measure, shape, depth and distance?
Who is inside the brain, which no smell can penetrate, distinguishing between the scents of flowers and the smells of his favorite meal?

Who watches the visions forming inside of his brain, as on a TV screen, and feels happiness, sadness, excitement, pleasure, worry or curiosity about what he sees? Whose is the consciousness that interprets all that he sees or feels? Who is this being who thinks, concludes, and decides?

Obviously, the being who perceives all this and forms the consciousness, cannot be the brain, consisting only of molecules of water, fats and proteins formed by unconscious atoms. Every person of common sense and conscience will realize straightaway that the soul, inside the brain, watches everything that happens through life. Every human being possesses a soul that can see without requiring an eye, can hear without needing an ear, and can think without a brain. The world of perceptions with which the soul interacts has been created, and continues to be created, in every moment by Almighty God.

Co-Ordination in Human Body

In the human body, all the systems simultaneously work in a co-ordinated way and in full harmony for a definite purpose, namely, to keep the body alive. Even the smallest movements we do everyday, such as breathing or smiling, are outcomes of perfect co-ordination in the human body.

Inside us is an incredibly complicated and comprehensively co-ordinated network that operates without stopping at all. The purpose is the continuance of living. This co-ordination is particularly visible in the locomotive system of the body, because, for even the smallest movement, skeletal system, muscles and nervous system must work in perfect collaboration.

In order to perform a co-ordinated act, first, the organs involved in this act and their inter-relations should be known. This information comes from the eyes, the balance mechanism in the internal ear, muscles, joints and skin. Every second, billions of pieces of information are processed, evaluated and new decisions are taken accordingly . Man is not even aware of the processes accomplished in his body at dizzying speed. He just moves, laughs, cries, runs, eats and thinks. He spends no effort in performing these acts. Even for a faint smile, seventeen muscles have to work together at the same time. In order to be able to walk, fifty-four different muscles in the feet, legs, hips and back must work in co-operation.

The perfection of the co-ordination of the body will be better understood with the following example. In order just to lift the hand, the shoulder has to be bent, the front and rear arm muscles - called "triceps" and "biceps" - should be contracted and relaxed, and the muscles between elbow and wrist have to twist the wrist. In every part of the act, millions of receptors in the muscles pass on information immediately to the central nervous system about the position of the muscles. In return, the central nervous system tells the muscles what to do in the next step. Of course one is not aware of any of these processes, but just wishes to lift one's hand, and does it right away.

What happens in case of a problem in this co-ordination? Different expressions might appear on our faces when we want to smile, or we might not manage to talk or walk when we want to. However, we can smile, talk, walk anytime we want and no problems occur, because everything mentioned here is accomplished as a result of the fact of Creation which logically requires " infinite intelligence and power ".

For this reason, man should always remember that he owes his being and life to his Creator, God . There is nothing for man to be arrogant or boastful about. His health, beauty or strength is not his own work, and it is not given to him eternally. He certainly will become old and lose his health and beauty. In the Qur'an, this is stated as:

Anything you have been given is only the enjoyment of the life of this world and its finery. What is with God is better and longer lasting. So will you not use your intellect?" (Surat al-Qasas: 60)