Islam & Modern Science ( Part-4 )
Islam & Modern Science ( Part-4 )
Following are the topics included in PART-4 of this series....
16- FRUITS HAVE MALE AND FEMALE
17- EVERYTHING MADE IN PAIRS
18- ANIMALS AND BIRDS LIVE IN COMMUNITIES
19- THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS
20- THE BEE AND ITS SKILL
16- FRUITS HAVE MALE AND FEMALE:
“And fruit of every kind He made in pairs, two and two.”
[Al-Qur’an 13:3]
Fruit is the end product of reproduction of the superior plants. The stage preceding fruit is the flower, which has male and female organs (stamens and ovules). Once pollen has been carried to the flower, they bear fruit, which in turn matures and frees its seed. All fruits therefore imply the existence of male and female organs; a fact that is mentioned in the Qur’an.
In certain species, fruit can come from non-fertilized flowers (parthenocarpic fruit) e.g. bananas, certain types of pineapple, fig, orange, vine, etc. They also have definite sexual characteristics.
17- EVERYTHING MADE IN PAIRS:
“And of everything We have created pairs.”
[Al-Qur’an 51:49]
This verse lays emphasis on everything. Besides humans, animals, plants and fruits, it may also be referring to electricity in which the atoms consist of negatively – and positively – charged electrons and protons. And many more things!
“Glory to Allah, Who created in pairs all things that the earth produces, as well as their own (human) kind and (other) things of which they have no knowledge.”
[Al-Qur’an 36:36]
The Qur’an here says that everything is created in pairs, including things that the humans do not know at present and may discover later.
18- ANIMALS AND BIRDS LIVE IN COMMUNITIES:
“There is not an animal (that lives) on the earth, nor a being that flies on its wings, but (forms part of) communities like you.”
[Al-Qur’an 6:38]
Research has shown that animals and birds live in communities, i.e. they organize, and live and work together.
19- THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS:
“Do they not look at the birds, held poised in the midst of (the air and) the sky? Nothing holds them up but (the power of) Allah. Verily in this are Signs for those who believe.”
[Al-Qur’an 16:79]
Another verse also touches on birds:
“Do they not observe the birds above them, spreading their wings and folding them in? None can uphold them except (Allah) Most Gracious: truly it is He that watches over all things.”
[Al-Qur’an 67:19]
The Arabic word amsaka literally means, ‘to put one’s hand on, seize, hold, hold someone back,’ which expresses the idea that Allah holds the bird up in His power. These verses stress the extremely close dependence of the birds’ behaviour on Divine law. Modern scientific data has shown the degree of perfection attained by certain species of birds with regard to the programming of their movements. It is only the existence of a migratory programme in the genetic code of the birds that can explain the long and complicated journey that very young birds, without any prior experience and without any guide, are able to accomplish. They are also able to return to the departure point on a definite date. Prof. Hamburger in his book ‘Power and Fragility’ gives the example of ‘mutton-bird’ that lives in the Pacific with its journey of over 24,000 km in the shape of figure ‘8’. It makes this journey over a period of 6 months and comes back to its departure point with a maximum delay of one week. The highly complicated instructions for such a journey have to be contained in the birds’ nervous cells. They are definitely programmed. Therefore, should we not at least reflect on the identity of this ‘Programmer’?
20- THE BEE AND ITS SKILL:
“And thy Lord taught the Bee to build its cells in hills, on trees, and in (men’s) habitations; then to eat of all the produce (of the earth), and find with skill the spacious paths of its Lord.”
[Al-Qur’an 16:68-69]
Von-Frisch received the Nobel Prize in 1973 for his research on the behaviour and communication of the bees. The bee, after discovering any new garden or flower, goes back and tells its fellow bees the exact direction and map to get there, which is known as ‘bee dance’. The meanings of this insect’s movements that are intended to transmit information between worker bees have been discovered scientifically using photography and other methods. The Qur’an mentions in the above verses how the bee with its skill, finds the spacious paths of its Lord.
The gender used for the bee in the above verses is the female gender (fa’slukî and kulî), indicating that the bee that leaves its home for gathering food is a female bee. In other words the soldier or worker bee is a female bee. In fact, in Shakespeare’s play, ‘Henry the Fourth’, some of the characters speak about bees and mention that the bees are soldiers and that they have a king. That is what people thought in Shakespearean times. They thought that the worker bees are male bees and they go home and are answerable to a king bee. This, however, is not true. The worker bees are females and they do not report to a king bee but to a queen bee. But it took modern investigations in the last 300 years to discover this.
