(The author can be contacted at saadia@theflash.net)
Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day there are indeed signs for men of understanding. (3:190)
I have only recently begun to pay heed to the wordings of the Qur’ān that urge the believer to look for ‘the signs’ and to ‘ponder’. By God, it is a beautiful realisation! (I pray to Allah that those who have influenced me to this accomplishment, be rewarded immensely. Amen.) ‘The signs’, ever so prevalent, manifest themselves in everything and every event around us. It is the world-oriented person in us that chooses for us the ungratefulness that we extend towards our Creator, our Sustainer, our Cherisher. The ‘I-take-it-all-for-granted’ attitude has landed us all into its domain and is spreading like termites and wildfire. We have chosen for ourselves the impermeable camouflage that keeps us at a considerable distance from reality and realisation; the opportunity cost of which is eternal bliss in the Hereafter:
For indeed it is not the eyes that grow blind, but it is the hearts, which are within the bosoms that grow blind. (22:46)
We fail to recognise the power behind the workings of nature: the beautiful horizons, the picturesque landscapes, the chirping birds -- they are all signs which remind us time and again of a benevolent Creator. However aesthetic the prized paintings or sculptures of the famous artists, can they ever speak? Or if they do, can they ever speak with as much eloquence? By no means! The working of nature remain ever so ‘perfect’ and ‘unmatched’. It is the Almighty who creates as He pleases, and He always creates to perfection.
What impresses me the most is the development and workings of the human body itself. The gestational stage of a baby is evidence of various stages of development that eventually leads to the arrival of the child into this world as its own individual being. Within the first nine minutes of its birth, the baby develops an eight-focus. Nevertheless, psychological studies show that babies have preference for faces although at such minor ages, they can only distinguish between contrasts, shadows and edges. How do babies determine what is pleasing? How do they delightfully acknowledge the presence of faces only? How do they conclude that it is these faces which bring them security even though they have no memory retaining capability? Scientists may provide an answer with their Herculean thesis, but the simple, true, most beautiful and most satisfying answer is that it all comes from Allah.
Before eight months of age, children do not seem to comprehend the fact that things exist until and unless they are within sight. If made to disappear, their memory will not acknowledge any such existence. However, Allah assures that the mother-child bond develops much earlier. God ‘installs’ a program for love in the mother’s heart which receives instant notification from the baby. His wisdom is such that the infant doesn’t require any memory to recognise the mother. A touch will do! A recent UNICEF print add very rightly states:
One of the best ways to touch a child’s life is to touch the child itself. And by God, is the mother so very naturally perfect at this art?! Her skills are but God’s providence. The lobes of the child finally develop into the best, most ingenious video graphics card ever designed. Optimum Resolution! It remains a fact as ever that only the Lord Almighty is capable of perfection and optimality which is quite visibly evident!1
Different portions of the brain control different parts of the body. If a man loses his legs, some other part of his body will improve in performance drastically to compensate for the loss. This is so because Allah has made the brain to function in such a way that if one part of the body is missing at birth or amputated, a portion of the brain controlling some other body part will take over the emptied portion. Such intelligent functioning comes only by virtue of His mercy.
Allah mentions in the Qur’ān (2:285) that He tests us only to the extent that is bearable for us. It so turns out that this condition holds true in the case of spiritual aggravation as well as physical pain.
Consider the pain-gate mechanism in our bodies. In times of extremely unbearable bodily afflictions, the pain-gate does not open or delays its opening to prevent the ‘message of anguish’ from registering itself to the brain. All the agony seems to be beneficently shunned away. David Livingstone writes is his Missionary Travels:
I heard a shout. Startling, and looking half round, I saw the lion just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little height; he caught my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, though I was quite conscious of all that was happening… This peculiar state is probably produced in all animals killed by the carnivora; and if so, is a merciful provision by our benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of death.2
Allah’s mercy, providence and wisdom knows no bounds. He asks of you only and only to become a grateful soul. When times roll on with ‘Good morning sunshine!’, when the skies are ‘Oh-so-beautiful-and-dreamy’, when the Mexican waves go ‘hurrah’ and when it is ‘party time’, the only magic words that He requires (or thoughts, if words are hard to blurt out with so many guys and gals around) are: ‘Praise be to Allah’.
1. Time Magazine, December 25, 2000 to January 1, 2001
2. Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, Murray Publishers, London, 1857