Part 5

the rest are small bones that are surrounded with cartilage. The number is definite: if an extra bone is seen it needs to be extracted, and if one bone is missing, an operation to replace it is needed. When a physician observes the bones and their structure he does so to be better equipped for splinting them if necessary. A thinking person, on the other hand, considers them to find in them an embodiment of the greatness of their Maker and Creator, to better appreciate His wisdom, knowledge and gentleness. Great is the difference between the two reflections!

Then, verily He (Allah) fastened these limbs and _ parts together with fixtures (ligaments) and thereby strengthened them. And He made these connecting pieces like chords to hold these parts together and preserve them. He made them numerous so that their number reaches a total of five hundred and twenty-nine ligaments. They all differ in their tightness, precision, length, shortness, placement and direction, according to their different positioning and locations within the body. From these, He (Allah) made twenty-four ligaments that are tools for moving the eye, opening and closing it and its vision. If a single ligament of these twenty-four were to be absent, the eye would not be able to function properly. Similar is the case of every part of those that are attached by ligaments. These ligaments are like instruments, which are used by these parts to move, perform and carry out actions. All of this is from the creation of the Most Wise Lord and the ordainment of the Most Mighty, the All Knowing, that takes place in a drop of repulsive fluid (i.e., semen). Therefore, woe unto those who deny (faith) and far removed are the rejecters.

Patella (lined with Periosteum)

{ ined with Periostetm) q Tibia (lined with Periosteum)

The Messenger, Muhammad (%) said:

otal py CSh 43 AT Goji st Y Vhs Oly og op ASU Lhe0 JB Cail S256 phe SI JG “Verily, in the human being there is a bone that the earth never devours. From this bone he (man) will be recreated on the Day of Judgement.” They (the Companions) said:

“Which bone is it O Messenger of Allah?” He replied: “The tailbone.” (Reported by Al-Bukhari)

“Verily, the shin bone can withstand pressure of up to half'a ton.” (Quoted from “Scientific Discovery” )

The ligaments, muscles and tendons have numerous different forms. The human body contains more than six hundred muscles and more than two hundred bones. A medium sized muscle has a mass that is made up of ten million muscle fibers. The thighbone (femur) contains more than thirty thousand special calcium cells.

Likewise, the collective work of the muscles ina day is equivalent to the work of carrying twenty tons.

[yt GNI] tet ominioenes dices 9 “And We made for them the (faculties of) hearing (ears), seeing (eyes), and hearts.” (46:26) Allah also says:

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“They are deaf, dumb, and blind, so they return not (to the Right Path).” (2:18)

Verily, the discussion of this has already preceded. Likewise, Allah combines between the heart and the sight, like in His statement:

[VV + Leki] sich aeseit 2185 > “And We shall turn their hearts and their eyes.”

Also, there is His statement concerning the truthfulness of His Messenger, Muhammad (38):

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“The (Prophet’s) heart lied not in what he (Muhammad) saw.” (53:11)

Then, Allah went on to say:

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“The sight (of Prophet Muhammad) turned not aside (right or left), nor it transgressed beyond the limit.”

Similar is the case of the ear, for it is its (the heart’s) messenger that brings (information) to it. Likewise is the tongue, for it is its interpreter (to express itself). In general, all of the bodily parts are its (the heart’s) servants and its soldiers.

The Prophet (3%) said:

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“Verily, there is in the body a piece of flesh, that if it is correct, the rest of the body will be correct due to it, and if it is corrupt, then the rest of the body will be corrupt due to it. Verily, it is the heart.” (Reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim) And Abu Hurairah said: “The heart is a king and the body parts are its soldiers. So if the king does good, then the soldiers. will do good. And if the king does wickedness, then the soldiers will do wickedness.” The lungs have been made as the ventilator for it (the heart) and they constantly blow on it (to keep it cool). This is because the heart is the hottest of the body parts. Rather, it is a spring of heat.

The brain and its relation to the heart

The brain or the cerebrum has been made cool. There has been much debate about the purpose behind this fact. Some have said: The brain is made to be cool to lower the temperature of the heart, so that it balances its temperature and makes it the proper temperature. Some have denied this view with the following argument: If the brain were meant to perform this function, it would have been placed to curve around the heart, in the same way as the lungs, or to be adjacent to it, so that it lowers its temperature. The first group retorted: The brain is far from the heart, but that does not hamper the role mentioned by us. If it were close to the heart, the latter’s heat would have been transferred to it. The distance bars each from spoiling the part the other plays, and so they balance each other. This is not the same for the lung, since this last is a tool for relieving the heart, not for lowering its temperature. A third group has chosen a middle ground, saying: The brain is really warm, or rather lukewarm; and it is cooling in quality, since it is the site of thinking, and thinking requires a place that is calm and stable, free from waste material and disturbance, away from bustle and turbulence, which is necessary to secure efficiency of thought, recall and right deduction. It functions optimally when the body is calm, relaxed from activity, undisturbed by distractions and irritation. All the above conditions are not realized for the heart; it is the brain which is balanced in all these respects. It will be noticed that the brain’s activity is best displayed at night and in isolation, and that it is spoiled by the burning heat of anger, lust, or overwhelming care, by fatigue and the violent movements of physical or psychological powers.

The joints, muscles, and tendons have different shapes. The human body has more than 600 muscles and more than 200 bones. The average muscle consists of more than 10 million muscular fibres, and the thigh bone contains more than 30 thousand special calcium rods.

The collective action of muscles during one day is equal to a load of 20 tons.

Question:Does the action of the senses and thinking start in the brain or the heart?

In answer to the above question some have said it begins in the heart, that it is linked to it, and that there exist. between the heart and the senses channels and paths. They add that each one of the sense organs is linked to. the heart with nerves and other means, that these nerves set out from the heart to reach each of these sites of sense.

The above group adds: When the eye sees an object, it will transmit what it has seen to the heart, via the channels that connect it to the heart. In the same way, when the ear receives a sound, it will convey it to the heart, and that is so with all the senses.

The same group then made this inquiry: It may be asked how it is possible that one particular organ should be a reservoir of all those mixed sensations, receiving messages from the various senses, while the structure of those sense organs is dissimilar, and the kind of energy it deals with is unlike that of any other sense? Their answer to the inquiry is that all the vessels in the body reach the heart, directly or via other vessels. There is no organ or vessel but it is linked to the heart at close quarters or far. And they added: These vessels and canals carry to each organ what fits it and what is adapted to it: to the eyes there goes energy that provides it with good sight, to the ear what secures hearing, to the flesh what gives it the

Carotid artery Left Subclavian artery Right interior eft common Carotid artery jugular vein " Brachiocephalic artery Superior Vena Cava vein ~ Ligamentum arteriosus

Section of right / Chordae Tendineae Ventricle intact if} Papillary muscle

Right ventricle > interventricular Septum Inferior Vena Cava

sense of touch, to the nose what enables it to smell, to the tongue what makes it taste things, and to each organ what gives it its particular function and maintains it. It is the heart, then, that caters for all these organs, senses, and powers. It is right then to deduce that the heart is the first organ to form. This group adds that they do not doubt that the intellectual function emanates from the heart.

The heart has a weight of approximately 312 grams; its size is nearly that of the clenched fist. The pulse of a man’s heart is approximately 60-80 beats/minute, about 40 million beats per year. In every beat, about one quarter pound of blood enters the heart, and it pumps 2200 gallons of blood every day, about 56 million gallons during a lifetime. Can you think of another machine that can perform such a stupendous amount of work for sucha prolonged period, without need of maintenance?

* If the heart were employed as a lifting machine, it would lift a weight of two pounds two feet high with the same effort that it uses to pulsate once.

The blood that is pumped by the heart of a healthy man during strenuous exercise is about 20 litres per minute, and it takes one wave of blood approximately 1.5 seconds to pass through the heart, and the passage of the blood from the heart to the lungs and its return to the heart (the smaller cycle) takes six seconds.

* The heart pumps 8000 litres of blood every day in the whole blood circulation, which extends to about 150 kilometres throughout the tissues of the body, transferring blood loaded with nutrients and oxygen. To appreciate the vitality of the blood supply, it is enough to note that the brain will be irreversibly destroyed by a halt of oxygen supply for only five minutes.