Part 9

Human organs from an aesthetic aspect

Consider now yourself, and think again of your physique. It will be enough for you just to do that. Contemplate every organ of your body, and consider the adaptation of each organ to the function it serves and the purpose of its existence. The arms are for handling things, grasping, collecting, handing, fighting and defending; the legs are for carrying the body, walking, riding and standing upright; the eyes are for exploring, beautifying, adorning, enchanting, and for observing the signs and miracles of the skies and the earth; the mouth is for eating, speaking, beautifying and other purposes; the nose is for breathing, discharging the waste matter of the brain, and adorning the face; the tongue is for speaking and expressing what you think ‘and feel; the ears are the receivers of information which they deliver to you; the stomach is a store where food settles, so that it processes it and prepares it in a way that is unlike the cooking and preparation that it receives outside: you cook the food and prepare it on the assumption that it has received all the attention it needs to receive, that it no longer needs any further cooking or processing. But the cook inside will undertake an operation of cooking and processing that is concealed from your eyes; it performs an operation that is beyond your comprehension and ability; it exposes the food to a heat that would melt stones, and would even dissolve materials that no fire can melt. Otherwise, what breaks down those very heavy complex foods, until they become flowing liquid? Who made the liver discriminate and extract the purest and softest part of the food, then channel it into paths and ways to drive that food to each and every organ, bone, nerve, flesh, hair and nail; Who arranged gates and stages to admit what is beneficial for you, and bar that which is harmful; Who made various vessels as stores, one for food, one for blood; and arranged them to be

specialized stores, so that none should get mixed up with any other: the gall bladder is independent of the spleen bladder, and again independent of the urine bladder, and of the semen bladder. Consider the case of the food as it reaches the stomach and settles there, how it flows from there to the rest of the body. When food reaches the stomach, it keeps and holds it; it processes it and matures it properly, then forwards it to the liver in fine paths. There is a thin film that separates that matter from the liver, a kind of fine filter; by filtering it no coarse components get to the liver and pierce it, because the liver is delicate, and would not stand tough materials. Once the digested matter settles in the liver, it distributes it to the whole body in _ preset paths, in a way rather similar to the pipes designed to carry water to irrigate land. The rest, which is waste water, is delivered to draining lands and wastelands designed to undertake that job. In the body, the gall is delivered to the gall bladder, the black gall is delivered to the spleen, and the liquid that remains is drained to the urine bladder.

A refutation of naturalists

Who was it who managed all that, perfected it, directed it and controlled it in the best way? Someone might, if he were one of the depraved, say: “It is the work of nature; there are wonderful things in nature.” To such a debater we say: If Allah had led your heart, you would yourself have refuted such a statement by replying: “Tell me about this nature, is it self-sustained, having knowledge, and having the ability to contrive those wonders? Or is it not? Is it not rather just an abstract quality and a display of the visible things around?” If the answer occurs to you: “It is an independent entity with full knowledge, ability, will and wisdom,” say: What you describe is the Creator, the Author and Shaper, so why do you call Him nature? Forget about what the naturalists dictate and turn to what Allah

has taught humans to call Him in the words of His messengers, and if you do you will be one of the happy and wise folk. Why attribute to nature the attributes that belong to Allah ? If, on the other hand, the adversary says: “Nature is an abstract quality, a display in need of an agent, and all that we witness of its accomplishments is brought about without nature having knowledge, will, ability, or even the mere consciousness of what it is producing. All that we see is evidence of nature’s achievements;” then the reply should be that no sane person would accept this reasoning. Do you really believe that the amazing actions and subtle contrivances that we see in the world, that no mind can fathom or fully appreciate, are made by an agent that itself has no thinking, ability, wisdom or feeling? Would anyone believe such reasoning but a madman or an animal? You may further add: “If what you claim were true, it would be clear that such an abstract quality cannot have created itself or originated itself, so Who is its Lord, Maker and Originator? Who enabled it to do all that?” This logic is a most decisive piece of evidence in favour of believing in the Originator and Maker of nature, in the infinity of His ability, knowledge and wisdom. Indeed, this group has gained nothing by denying the Lord and His Attributes and Actions. They merely abolish the intellect and innate intuition. Nature itself would discredit such logic: it in fact contradicts mind, innate intuition, nature and even humanity, and it has caused the most ignorant and deluded attitudes that one can cause. If one does concede what the mind dictates and admits that it is not possible to have wise effects without the agency of a wise, able and knowing entity; that it is not possible to have wellcontrolled effects without there being a maker who is able, autonomous, in control of things, aware of what he is doing, not frustrated or overwhelmed by what he is doing - if one concedes that much then the right answer to such

a person would be: What is the matter with you! When you accept the necessity of a great Creator beside Whom no other god exists, and no other lord, stop calling Him nature or the ‘self-active mind’ or such appellations. Say instead: What I describe is Allah, the Creator, the Originator, the Shaper, Lord of the Worlds, Sustainer of the heavens and _ the earth, Lord of the east and the west, He who made excellent all that He created, and perfected what He crafted. Do not deny His Names and Attributes and Self and attribute His making to another and His creation to someone else. You have to concede His existence, and attribute to Him authorship, creation, lordship and control. There is no other way, praised be Allah, Lord of the Worlds.

The meaning of nature

By reconsidering the word ‘nature’ in this context, you will be led directly to the Creator, the Originator, as the common mind understands the word. That is because this word ‘nature’ (Arabic: tabee‘ah) means that something was made by someone to behave according to a preset plan, and there is no other meaning at all. The word ‘nature’ is of the same class of words as ‘instinct’, ‘disposition’, ‘temperament’, ‘an animal’s or a human’s nature’, and the like. An animal has been made to react to stimuli, a reaction which is ingrained in it. It is selfevident that a ‘nature’ without a ‘nature-maker’ is an impossibility: The very word, then, points to the Maker, the Almighty, just as its meaning indicates. Muslims believe that nature is one of Allah’s creations, that it is under control, tamed, and that this is part of His law operative among His creations; that He manages it the way He wills, and when He wills, so that He may deny it any aspect of its power when He wills, and reverse any of its effects when He wills, so that His servants may see that He alone is the Creator, the Originator, the Shaper, and that

He creates whatever He wills, and in the way He wills. This is the meaning of the following verse from the Qur’an:

AY: 2) CESS HSS AEE SIG)

“But His command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says unto it: Be! and it is.” (36:82)

Nature, which is the utmost that those short-sighted lot can perceive, is no more than a creature of the Lord, equal in that to any of His creations. Considering this, how would a human, with the least bit of humanity or thinking, be blind to its being made to behave as it behaves, and how would he attribute to it making and originating! Time and again Allah halts its power, alters it and reverses it, so that it does the opposite of what it originally did, all to illustrate to His servants that it is His creation and making, that it is controlled by Him. That much can be supported by this verse from the Qur’an:

(ot: GL eVi adc es a YY Sar STp

“His verily is all creation and commandment.” (7: 54)

In the best stature

Have a second look now at yourself, and consider the judgement of the Gentle, the Knower, Who, when He created the body, specified for every organ its position and assigned to it its function. See the stores which He designed to gather the waste material and hold it, so that it does not stay in the body and spoil the rest of the organs. Consider the wisdom of your development and the abundance of your parts, without any looseness or disharmony! If a goldsmith or sculptor had made a statue of gold, silver or copper and then wanted to enlarge it, could he do that without first breaking the statue and recasting it? In contrast, the Lord Almighty develops a

child’s body and its external and internal organs and all its parts, preserving all the time its appearance and shape, not disintegrating, not loosening, and not diminishing. Even more telling is the shaping of the embryo in the womb, where no eyes see it, and no hands touch it and no machines handle it! When he emerges he is a normal human being, with all that is requisite for his survival and progress in life: organs, senses, internal mechanisms, limbs, vessels, nerves, ligaments, membranes, and bones; all of various shapes, sizes, functions and positions; the flesh, fat, and brain with their intricate structure and subtle creation, revealing unfathomable judgement and splendid craftsmanship! It is all developed by the Best Creator from a drop of almost worthless liquid!