EVIDENCE that life did never come from non-living matter is so abundant that the geneticists have held a Principle of Biogenesis that living things come only from living things.
The creation of everything in the primitive origin was as per the plan and the will of God. The scientists have discovered one of the most amazing facts that all beings are composed of cells.
They have found that (a) Cells arise from pre-existing cells; (b) All organisms are composed of cells; and (c) The cells are the structural and functional unit of life. The aforementioned facts are known as Cell Theory. The cell consists of various components, which include outer wall, protoplasm and nuclei.
Nuclei carries within it chromosomes. Much of the DNA (deoxyrebonucleic acid) is localized in chromosomes of nuclei. Each chromosome contains a definite group of genes.
The geneticists have agreed unanimously that the same chemical substance, DNA, in the form of genes accounts for all living matter to replicate itself exactly to its kind and transmit genetic information from parent to offspring.
Scientists say, DNA is like a microscopic computer with a built-in memory. It stores a fantastic number of blue prints and at the right time and place, it issues orders to build all the cells and structures of plants, animals and human beings. This DNA is a chemical compound of which the genes are made. DNA contains a built-in code a blue print, a tape recording that keeps all forms of life within their basic kinds.
The Qur’an pointing to the built-in code in the nucleus of every living cell said: “Our Lord is He Who gave every living thing its constitution then guided it aright.” (20:50). Guided it aright points to the code its cell.
The scientists are unanimous that living cell has retained its shape and form in all the ages after its creation in the body of Adam. Similar is the case of animal and plant cells and they could never be subjected to any change or mutation. DNA molecule contains genes. Each gene contains a thousand or more units; it makes for fantastic variety within a kind. That is why in human family hardly any two men look alike even though there are more than four billion people in the world.
The scientists are unanimous that the system inside the cell is so rigid and constructive that there is not the remotest possibility of any evolution in it. One should see with eyes open that Allah (God) is such an amazing Creator that He in a speck of every living thing has placed capability of procreation in the primitive origin and put a code in the speck to replicate everything to its kind.
The Qur’an says: “For He (God) is well-versed in creation of all life forms.” (36:79)
Writing recently in a book, ‘Did Man Get Here By Evolution Or By Creation?’, the University of Massachusetts Amherst Professor Rutherford Platt, said: “These DNA specks have similar chemical composition, are about the same size and look very much like those in your dog, or in a house fly, a bread mold or a blade of grass. Yet somehow the specks are coded to make every living thing different from every other living thing. They make dog different from fish or birds, bread mold from apple trees, elephants from mosquitoes. (Readers Digest Oct. 1962, p144)
Allah said: “And among the signs that you see the earth barren, but when We send down rain to it, it is stirred to life and growth (of vegetation). Verily He who gives it life, surely is able to give life to the dead. Verily He is able to do all things.” (41:39) In a report of Muslim, Abu Dawood and Al-Nasai, Abu Hurairah said: “Man when buried, his body is eaten away by the earth except a seed in human body known in Arabic as ‘Ajab Al-Zanab.’
Allah will send a (special) rain of life. It will make to grow the green vegetation including the bodies from the graves. When the bodies come out, the Trumpet will be blown; and all the souls of mankind will be blown into their own bodies. “And behold they will be standing waiting.” (39:68)
Bukhari Hadith, quoting Abu Hurairah, says: “Everything in human body is destroyed except the cell, Ajab Al-Zanab, and people will come out as per code in it.
What is Ajab Al-Zanab?
Ajab Al-Zanab is a human cell in everyman’s body. When a man is buried in the grave, his entire body is destroyed but this cell is indestructible.
Polytheists like Hindus burn their dead bodies but this cell still remains intact and unharmed. Before resurrection, Allah will send down a rain, it is called the rain of life, which will give life to all the human cells.
Allah said: “Does man think We shall not assemble his bones. Yes, Verily We are able to restore the tips of his fingers.” (75: 3-4)
The bones of the dead scatter and even turn to dust but Allah will not only gather his bones but even restore the finger tips, which are more sophisticated than bones. In the 7th century, when the Qur’an was being revealed, nobody knew the peculiarity in the fingertips of each man that they totally differ from each other, but the 20th century scientific findings established the difference in finger tips of each person. The verse reveals that Allah has kept a specific distinction in each person with intention to his revival.
It is preceded in cell biology the existence of a system there by everything replicates itself. When the plants die their cells remain scattered in the earth, they do not die. These cells are quickened when nourished by the rain.
It proves that as the cells of plants are revived by rains, in the same way Allah will give life with a rain known as rain of life to human cell in the earth, known as ‘Ajab Al-Zanab’ that contains a built-in code including his shape, form, stature, color and finger tips to replicate every man as he was in this world. All the souls will enter their bodies with the blow of the trumpet of resurrection. Then all the human beings will be gathered on a place for reckoning and Judgment.
Those who question the authenticity of the Qur’an and the atheists who deny the existence of God would do well to study these findings of the science of genetics, which has discovered that even the best laboratories in the world cannot produce a cell. Ruther Platt in his book, “The River of life,” p. 100, states: “So perfect is the original one-cell form of life and so potent both for body-building, for activating nerves and muscles and for procreation, that the cell has never altered its basic size or nature from the beginning of life to this day.”
Allah said: “Did ye then think that We had created you in jest, and that ye would not be brought back to Us (for account)?” (Qur’an, 23:115)
Certainly, Allah has created a cell in the bodies of his slaves to revive or quicken them from their graves to reckon and reward good for their virtues and punish evildoers for their evil.
- Ahmad Wahaj Siddiqui is a Jeddah-based scholar.
