Qur'anic Commentary & Analysis Through The Lens Of Modern Science [11]

"The healthiest plantwhich is grew from the true seed to maturity, no grafting on the other plants, no artificial irrigation, no pruning to make it trim was necessary, this plant-QUR'AN! Other plants in the field of religious literature? Let us review them. The seeds were true but ah! Look at them now! How sad! Much deliberate meddling has been done. Perusing through a certain Holy Book[s], I found them to be plants withered, barely being kept alive by artificial watering not at all green-dying!"

---Edward Curtis in his book, "Muslims in America"

The Health Impact of Reading the Qur'an

Vander Hoven, a psychologist from Netherlands, announced his new discovery about the effect of reading the Qur'an and repeating the word, "Allah" both on patients and on normal persons. The professor confirms his discovery with studies and research applied on many patients over a period of three years. Some of his patients were non-Muslims, others do not speak Arabic and were trained to pronounce the word "Allah" clearly; the result was great, particularly on those who suffer from dejection and tension.

Al-Watan, a Saudi daily reported that the psychologist was quoted to have said that, Muslims who can read Arabic and who read the Qur'an regularly protect themselves from psychological diseases. The psychologist explained how each letter in the word "Allah' affects healing of psychological diseases.

He pointed in his research that pronouncing the first letter in the word "Allah" which is the letter (A), released from the respiratory system, controls breathing. He added that pronouncing the velar consonant (L) in the Arabic way, with the tongue touching slightly the upper part of the jaw producing a short pause and then repeating the same pause constantly, relaxes the aspiration. Also pronouncing the letter (H) makes a contact between the lungs and the heart and in turn this contact controls the heart beat. What is exciting in the study is that this psychologist is a non-Muslim, but interested in Islamic sciences and searching for the secrets of the Holy Qur'an. The Great and Glorious Good says: "There is a cure in it [Al-Qur'an]for Mankind?"

The Amazing Miracle in the Human Eye

"And have We[Allah] not made for him a pair of eye?" --- Q-90:5

Analysis: Besides the above verse, the Qur'an mentions eye and sight several times. The eye is the most efficient television station: it takes flawless pictures in color and transmits them without the least burring to the brain. It takes a photographer to appreciate fully the working of the eye. Like any camera it is a small dark box, with an aperture in front fitted with a transparent pane. In front of the pane there is a shutter of variable speed, (the iris) with an adjustable slit and automatic release. Behind, there is the crystalline lens whose curvature is continually adjusted by automatic muscles so that whatever is looked at is always sharply in focus. Six large powerful muscles control the movements of the eye and point it in any desire direction.

The delicate parts of this precision instrument are kept clean by the eyelids which are window-wipers and use a cleaning fluid secreted by the gland at the corner of the eye and poured in through a siphon. A constant temperature is maintained, as in any laboratory with highly sensitive apparatus, by means of a heat regulating membrane, the choroid. The photographic plate of the eye is a small screen at the black, the retina, on to which the images of the things we see are focused. The retina can take 10 different pictures such each second or 800,000 pictures a day, wiping itself clean after each. It is so 'fast' that 30,000 separate points of light can be recorded by a single square millimeter(the size of a nail head) of its surface. All the pictures are in vivid color, with sharp outlines, and delicate shading; they are, besides, movies and in3-dimensions, thanks to the stereoscopic focus of the two eyes.

The Wonders of Human Brain

""It is He(Allah) who brought you forth from the womb of your mothers when you knew nothing; and He gave you...intelligence[brain]that you may give thanks(to Allah)" ---Q-16:78

Analysis: There are several verses in the Qur'an referring to the brain. The Brain is the central office which controls, directs and coordinates the varied activities of all the innumerable organs of the body. It receives messages from each of the senses, interprets them, sends the proper replies to the organs concerned so that the body reacts appropriately (jumps out of the way, of approaching car, for instance), and registers all the information received in the archives of the memory. Think of a huge telephone exchange in continual contact with every man, woman and child on earth, sending and receiving messages to and from each one every few seconds- and you will have a faint idea of the incredibly complex organization of the brain.

In the white and grey matter of the brain there are nearly a thousand million nerve cells, each is, by turns, an electric battery and a small telegraph transmitter. Each cell branches out into a number of fine conducting threads, the nerve fibers, which extend to all parts of the body. A large number of them run down the hollow back-bone, twisted together into a thick cable, the spinal cord, admirably protected by the bony and well cushioned walls of the spine. Through these tiny threads, each of which is covered with an insulating sheath, a current flows at the speed of about 70 m.p.h. carrying messages to and from the brain, with marvelous speed and accuracy. There is an elaborate system of relays, condensers, switches, etc., which permits the transmission of the most unexpected messages between the brain and each of millions of cells it controls, without the confusion or delay.

The most complicated radio station, the most up-to-date telephone exchange is like a tin of sardines compared to the incredibly elaborate maze of the nerve systems of the brain.

A Neuroscientist, David Engelmann once revealed on a BBC interview with Carry Gracie, that: "The Brain is the most complicated thing we found in the universe and it has so many pieces and parts that if you just take a little 10 cubic milliliters of the brain tissue, there are many connections in there as there are stars in the milky way galaxy. So it is an incredibly complicated system and there is a sense in which we are barely just scratching the surfaceand we know so little." Just imagine this description of Engelmann[an atheist] how sensible this complicated and complex structure emerge by chance? Your brain analyzes sounds, so you can recognize people by the timbre[resonance or tone] of their voice. Your brain also measures how many millionths of a second one ear hears before the other and thus calculates precisely where a sound comes from.

These are just two of the features that enable you to listen to one person at a time, even though several others may be speaking. The eyes, the ears, the hands and the feet do whatever the brain determinesIt is the brain that is the messenger to the understanding [and] the brain that interprets the understanding...today scientists know, as much as they know anything, that all of mental life springs from neuronal processes in the brain."

Husseini Yushau BabalWaiz, is the Research & Outreach Coordinator at the Center for Media & Peace Initiatives Inc. New York, Author of three books, including "Not good without God" & Tutor in Arabic & Islamic Studies in New York, [email protected]

Citation:
1- Islam & Modern Challenges, by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan.

2- The Mind & The Brain-Neuroplasticity & The Power of Mental Force,

by Jeffery M. Schwartz, M.D. & Sharon Begley.
3- Awake magazine, March 2010 edition.