Part 7

held by the hardship of your passage through it. If you contemplate your entrance through that gate and then your exit through it, you will have enough to wonder at: Who inspired it to tighten when you were a drop so that you would not be infected, and later had it expand and open wide for you to exit strong and healthy? Then you came out alone, unescorted, weak, without shelter, or clothing, or property, or money: you were the neediest, weakest, and poorest of creatures. But He ordered the nourishment that you received inside to be transformed into milk preserved in two reservoirs hung on the breast of your mother. She bears your nourishment on her breast as she bore you inside her belly. Milk flows to those two reservoirs for you in the subtlest way through paths that have been predesigned to carry it; it pauses in those paths until the milk already in the reservoirs is exhausted, and then a replenishment is provided for you to suck. It is like a well that is never depleted, and is never blocked, running to you through obscure ways, untrodden ways! Who led it to follow those ways? Who purified it and gave it a delicious taste? Who chose its agreeable colour and made it to perfection? It is neither too hot nor too cold, neither bitter nor salty nor foul of scent. It is a feeding that is unlike that of the womb, different in quality and in nourishment. It reaches you when you need it badly, when you are extremely thirsty and hungry. It is a combination of drink and food. You just smacked your lips at the time of birth, and moved your lips seeking sucking, and you found the breast reaching down to you, like a water-vessel, anxious to satisfy your desire with its flowing milk. The teat at its tip is just the right size for your mouth, neither too big for it, nor uncomfortably small. The pore at its tip is just big enough for your convenience, neither big in a way that suffocates you, nor small ina way that you need to exert yourself in sucking at it; it is just the amount that the Great Judge has arranged to fit your convenience. Who

directed the mother’s heart to have all that extraordinary compassion for you and amazing mercy, so that she dedicates to you the warmest, most convenient and the most precious of her devotion. On the slightest crying or complaint you make, she will every time put your pleasure before hers, even if that happens every moment. She would come obediently to attend to your needs, without any call or exhortation but the call of her mercy and the exhortation of her compassion. She wished that any affliction you suffered were inflicted on her body, that not the slightest pain should come to you, that years may be cut off from her life and added to yours. Who made her feel like that? And then, after your body grew robust, your intestine expanded, your bones stiffened, and you needed tougher food, to solidify your bones, and strengthen your flesh, He supplied you with the tool of cutting and grinding, the incisors that cut the food, and the molars that grind it. Who held back the growth of your teeth while you were a sucking infant, out of mercy for your mother, and then let them out at the time you needed them, out of mercy for you, as a blessing and a boon to you? How would it be for your mother if you were born with incisors, canine teeth and molars? And if you lacked the same at the time you needed them what would you have done with the foods that are not digestible before they are cut and ground? Observe how the stronger you grew, and the more you needed teeth to eat various nutrients, those tools in your mouth were increased, until you had canine teeth, that can stand the tearing of meat, the cutting of bread, and the breaking of solid foods. And after you grew stronger, stronger teeth were provided for you, until you had the grinders, the hindmost of the molars. So who bestowed on you all these tools and provided you with them and enabled you to work on all sorts of food?

In His vast judgement, the Lord willed that you emerge from your mother’s belly knowing nothing, a blank that has no intellect, no comprehension and no knowledge. This is really His mercy, since you, in your frailty, would not stand thinking, comprehension and knowledge: they would have shattered you. He rather evolved that gradually in you, step by step, so that it does not overwhelm you should it come in one blow. It grows in you little by little until it is fully grown. You may see an illustration of this in the infant who is snatched into slavery from its parents and from home before it has understanding: you see how it does not mind at all, while the more understanding it has, the more it feels the blow of bereavement. An adult taken into slavery is seen to be like one dazed and obsessed. Consider also that if you were born with your full intellectual power your life would have been one of great misery and vexation, for in that case you would see yourself a newborn, lactating infant, swaddled in some pieces of cloth, confined in your cradle, frail and unable to act, unlike the older people around you. So what would life be like in that state? Besides, you would not in that case have that sweetness, loveliness and appeal to all hearts and the affection that people have for the very young; you would rather be the most unpopular, burdensome, stubborn and curious of creatures, That you entered this world as a dullard who understands nothing, who knows nothing about what people engage in, has been sheer mercy and deep judgement; since you encounter things with your feeble mental power and without prior knowledge of things, and then your mental power and knowledge grow steadily and slowly, until you become familiarized with things. You practice things, and gradually overcome your bewilderment at them; then you stop being surprised and amazed at them; you begin to receive them with confidence, acting on them and taking control of them. There is even more to it than this. Who,

then, is keeping such a close watch over you, keen to attend to your progressive needs, requisites, desires and tools at the time of their arising, not before and not later?

The finger nails were bestowed on you at the time you needed them, for a variety of purposes: they support the fingers and assist them. Since most of a human’s work involves the tips of his fingers, and indeed depends on them, they were provided with nails to aid them. There are other benefits, though, since you use the nail to scratch your skin and remove stains without harming the flesh beneath. And that is not all the benefit of nails.

Look also at your hair, how it adorns your head, improves its look and protects it from heat and cold, the head being the real site of the senses, since all intellectual activity and reflections about the Lord and wisdom find their final station in it. The male is

distinguished by the beard with its extensions, which is agreeable to look at, adds respect and impressiveness to its wearer, signals the growth beyond youthful years and marks the distinction from the female; while the female maintains the same smoothness of face, since this adds to her charm and sex appeal in the eyes of the man.

Duodenal corona Transverse Colon

Pancreas body Tail of Pancreas

There is in the pancreas a cluster of glandular epithelial cells for secreting enzymes that pour into the small intestinc, where three types of food are digested: proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Another cluster of cells, known as Islets of Langerhans, is connected to the blood stream. They number 200.0001.800.000, and have four types of cells, the most important of which are the alpha cells, which secrete the glucacon

hormone which raises the level of glucose in the blood, the beta cells, which secrete insulin, whose main function is to regulate glucose in the body, or at least to facilitate delivering it to the cells, which use it as fuel for energy and heat. It should be observed that the amount of glucose is just one gram in each litre of blood precisely, which amounts to five grams in all the blood in the vessels. It does not stay in the blood more than a few minutes. The main source of supply of blood sugar is the liver, which contains glucogen, a concentrate sugar. The liver is the organ that controls the conversion of sugar, its dissolution, hydration, concentration, and dehydration.

The male and the female Ibn al-Qayyem says:

If you think of the male and the female, you see that the liquid they are made of is the same, the structure is the same, the vessel is the same and the mating is the same. Who then gave maleness to males and femaleness to females? Let us not listen to the claims of ignorant naturalists about the cause of maleness and femaleness, who attribute this difference to natural matters that are seen to be true only occasionally; indeed, they are more false than true. In fact, maleness and femaleness only happen by Divine decree; when His command is executed by the Angel of Shaping, the latter asks the Lord: O Lord, will it be a male or a female? happy or unhappy? What about the earning? What about the span of life? And the Lord reveals whatever He chooses, and the Angel writes it down. If nature had a part in determining maleness and femaleness, it would also have a part in earning, span of life and happiness and unhappiness. It is either all or none, since all these things take place by a decree that is revealed to the angel. We do not deny that there are other

reasons for these things, but they are reasons that are uniquely Allah’s; humans have no control of them. One may cite the following verse from the Qur’an in this connection:

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“Allah’s alone is the dominion over the heavens and the earth. He creates whatever He wills: He bestows the gift of female offspring on whomever He wills, and the gift of male offspring on whomever He wills, or He gives both male and female to whomever He wills, and causes to be barren whomever He wills: for, verily, He is all-knowing, infinite in His power.” (42: 49-50)