Part 18

right guidance and beneficial knowledge. For example, in

“They are deaf, dumb and blind, so they return not.(to the right path).”

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“Allah hath sealed their hearing and their hearts, and on their eyes there is a covering. Theirs will be an awful doom.”

This, however, has already been discussed in detail. Knowledge and ignorance

Reflect. on the wisdom of the Gentle, the Omniscient, when He endowed man with such knowledge as he may need for optimal life in this world and in the hereafter; while He withheld from man knowledge that he does not need, and which there is no harm in missing. He greatly facilitated the means of acquiring the required knowledge; the more that was required, the more did He facilitate its acquisition. He bestowed on man_ knowledge of and recognition of his Creator, Maker, Originator, the Almighty Lord — the way to such knowledge has been greatly smoothed. There is nothing in the branches of knowledge that compares with this in importance, nor with its

obviousness to the mind and innate nature; no branch of knowledge has as many ways and proofs as_ this knowledge, nothing is equal in obviousness and clarity - all that your eye sees, all that your ear hears, all that your mind thinks of, all that occurs to you, and all that any of your senses receive, is a proof of the Lord. The ways to knowing the Maker are innate and self-evident, so that nothing in the branches of knowledge is as manifest as this knowledge. The most compelling of proofs falls short of the fact it tries to prove. That is the reason the messengers of Allah used to say to their people: “Is there any doubt about Allah?” They addressed them in a tone that meant there should be no doubt whatsoever about the existence of Allah Almighty. He established proofs about His existence, Oneness, the attributes of His perfection of such abundance that no one but Allah can list all their variety or number; then He implanted that in the innate nature, and ingrained it in the mind in a general way; then He sent His messengers to remind people of Him. We find a support of that in the following verses from the Qur’an:

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“Therefore remind men, for of use is the reminder,”

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“Remind them, for thou art but a reminder,” (88: 21);

“Why now’ turn” they away’ from the admonishment,” (74: 49);

and many others. The messengers also elaborated what innate nature and the mind know to be true in general. See how the innate nature has ingrained in it the assertion of the Lord’s existence, His Oneness, the attributes of His Perfection, Highness, and Wisdom as embodied in His creation and injunctions, which assert the truth of His messenger’s message, and the compensation for the righteous with becoming reward, and the fitting punishment for the wrong-doer. If the innate nature were preserved in its original state which it had when created, if it had not been exposed to influences that contaminated it and corrupted it and diverted it from what it was made to be, it would have confirmed the Lord’s Oneness, the necessity of thanking Him and obeying Him, His attributes and Wisdom as embodied in His actions, and the belief in reward and punishment. But because it was corrupted and diverted from the way it was created, it denied things and rejected things. This is why Allah sent His messengers as reminders that appeal to those with uncorrupted and undistorted innate natures. These people responded willingly, of their own volition, passionately and heartily, heeding to the evidence they found in their hearts: indeed some did not even ask for miracles and supernatural evidence; they rather perceived the truth of the call from its content; this alone was sufficient to make them sure of its being a truthful call; being its proof in itself. The messengers also demonstrated their honesty and refuted the claims of those with corrupted innate natures, so that the latter should not complain to Allah that He did not send them guidance and illumination. These latter have been warned, and the proof of their being in the wrong

has been established, so that when Allah tortures them and condemns them, He will not have been unjust to them. This is the purport of the following verses from the Qur’an:

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“And We have not taught him (Muhammad) poetry, nor is it meet for him. This is naught else than a Reminder and a Lecture making plain, to warn whosoever liveth, and that the word may be fulfilled against the disbelievers.”

Reflect, then, how the knowledge about Allah, the testification of His Oneness, the affirmation of His Names and Attributes, the message of His messengers and the resurrection have been shown to be ingrained in the innate nature, although man is often unaware of that. When the messengers called his attention and alerted him, they enabled man to notice that what they told him was in fact well-established in his innate nature, that his mind, and even his senses, and his whole being testify to it. This is the utmost that belief can achieve, the level of belief described in the Qur’an as dwelling in the hearts of Allah’s friends and intimates, as you can see in the following verse:

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“As for such, He has written faith upon their hearts and has strengthened them with a spirit from Him.” (58: 22)

Study again, then, the above chapter, as it is among the treasures of this book; it is worth hoarding and dwelling upon. May Allah be thanked; all good is from Him.

The stages of the creation of a human in the mother’s womb

End of week one: A male’s sperm unites, in the fallopian tube, with a woman’s ovum, or egg, resulting in one cell, ready for division and multiplication. It divides into many cells while travelling down to the uterine wall,

where it becomes embedded = in the uterine wall in the (2) same way that some wild A ue

plants cling to a wall. This stage is described in the Quran with the following words:

“Then fashioned We the drop

End of week two: This lump, the first cells, is divided internally, for -ming three specialized parts: 1) the

blood cycle of the placenta; 2) the embryonic disc; 3) the fluid in which the embryo

swims. About this, the

GG. SA AGIIT CES “then fashioned We the clot a little lump.” (23: 14) The embryo is not visible yet to the naked eye.

End of week three: The embryonic disc divides into three germ layers:

The outer germ layer (ectoderm) from which Almighty Allah creates:

The skin, the hair, the nails, the skin glands, the milk glands, the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland, the enamel of the teeth, the inner ear, the eye lens.

Sensitive cranial nodes and nerves, the kernel of the adrenal glands, the pigment cells, the cartilage of the limbs, the central nervous system, the retina, the posterior part of the pineal gland.

The middle germ layer (mesoderm), from which Almighty Allah creates:

The connective tissue, the muscles of the internal organs of the body and the extremities, the outer membrane of the lungs, the membrane of the heart, the membranes of the intestine, blood cells, the blood circulation system, the lymph system, the spleen, the outer part of the adrenal glands, the urinary-reproductive system, the reproductive organs, with the related ducts and glands, the skeletal muscles, the skeleton, excluding the skull.

The inner germ layer (the endoderm), from which Almighty Allah creates:

The lining of the trachea, the air bronchioles, the endothelial cells of the digestive system, the liver, the pancreas, the bladder, the columnar cells of the pharynx (throat), the thyroid gland, the eardrum cavity, the tube connecting the larynx to the eardrum cavity, the tonsils, the parathyroid glands.

By the end of this week, the brain has formed, the spinal cord has spread, 3 the thyroid gland has begun to form, the tubes of the heart have begun to fill, and side protrusions, called the body bits, have begun to emerge, (see figure). In this connection, we may cite the Qur’anic verse:

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“Then fashioned We the little lump bones, then clothed the bones with flesh.” (23: 14)

End of week four:

The neural folds merge

Eye and ear buds begin to appear

Buds of the upper limbs begin to appear

The embryo is now 4 mm long (equal to a rice grain)

End of week five

End of week six

- Cavities of the eyes appear - Ear buds appear - The nose bud appears

- The outline of the mouth appears

- The palm of the hand palm has appeared, but without the fingers

- The head seems to be larger than the trunk

- Cerebral vessels have formed - Buds of legs have appeared

- The embryo is now 8mm long (equal to a water melon seed)

- The openings for the mouth and the nose are still unseparated

- The foot has appeared, but without the toes

- The upper lip has formed

- The bending at the elbow is seen

- The lines of the fingers are visible

- On day forty-two the embryo is approximately 1.3 cm.

Describing some of these stages, the Prophet 38, says:

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“After an embryo is forty-two days old, Allah sends an angel to it, who shapes it, forming its hearing, sight, skin, flesh and bones. Then he says: “O my Lord! Shall it be male or female? The Lord utters His judgement, and the angel writes it down.” (Reported by Muslim)

In the Qur’an, we read the following about the embryo at this stage:

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“and then [We] produced it as another creation. So blessed be Allah, the Best of Creators!”( 23: 14)

End of week seven

The reproductive system appears, but at this stage it is 7 not clear whether it is a male or a female.

- The trunk is longer and straighter

- The embryo is 1.8 cm