SELECTIONS
What is generally known about gnats is that they are
bloodsuckers and they feed on blood. However, this is not a very correct information,
because not all the gnats but only the females suck blood. Besides, the females do
not suck blood because of their need for food.
The development process is one of the most amazing and
admirable qualities of the gnat. The animal transforms from a tiny larva into a gnat after
passing through many different phases. The story of this development can be shortly
summarised as follows;
The carefully placed white eggs soon start to darken and
turn completely black in two hours. This dark colour provides protection for the larvae by
preventing them to be noticed by other insects and birds.
Gnats are equipped with extremely sensitive heat
receptors. They perceive things around them in different colours depending on their heat
as in the picture on the right. As this perception is not dependent on light, it is quite
easy for the gnat to spot the blood vessels even in a dark room. The heat receptors of the
gnat are sensitive enough to sense heat differences as small as 1/1000 C degrees.
This is surely an extraordinary process and it brings the
following questions to the mind:
1) How does the gnat know that there is an clotting enzyme in the human body?
2) In order to produce a neutralising secretion in its own body against that enzyme, it
needs to know the chemical of the enzyme. How can this be possible?
3) Even if it somehow attains such a knowledge (!), how come can it produce such a
secretion in its own body and constitute the "technical rigging" needed to
transfer it to its sting?
It is noteworthy that the amount of honey stored by
the bees is much more than their actual need. The question which comes to the mind is why
this "excessive production", which seems to be a waste of time and energy is not
stopped? The answer to this question is hidden in the verse which states that the bee is
"taught" so by the Lord.
There is another interesting point to note in the
construction of the honeycomb: The construction of the honeycomb is started from the upper
side of the hive and continued simultaneously in two or three separate rows downward.
While a honeycomb slice expands in two opposite directions, first the bottom of its two
rows join. This process is realized in an astonishing harmony and order.
So how do they achieve this then? An evolutionist
would explain this event to be achieved by "instinct". But what is this
"instinct" that can address to thousands of bees at the same time and make them
perform a collective task?
The term "instinct" used above is in fact
nothing more than a 'futile name' just like mentioned in the Qur'an, the 40th verse of
Surah Joseph. It is of no use to insist on such 'futile names' in order to conceal clear
truths. Bees are guided from a unique source and thus they come to successfully perform
tasks which otherwise they would not be able to. And it is not those namely 'instincts'
that lead bees to that; but the 'teaching' mentioned in Chapter An-nahl of the
Qur’an. What these tiny animals do is to implement the program that Allah has
particularly given to them.
For example; in order to "describe" a
distance of 250 m., it shakes the bottom part of its body 5 times in half a minute. This
way, the exact place of the source is made clear with the details given about distance and
angle.
In the bee’s journey back to the hive, the sun
moves 1 degree every four minutes. Eventually, the bee will make an error of 1 degree
about the direction of the food source it informs to its friends for each four minutes it
spends on the way.
As stated in the Qur'an, honey has a feature of
'healing men'. This scientific fact was also confirmed by the scientists who assembled
during the World Apiculture Conference held on 20-26 September 1993 in China: "During
the Conference, treatments with honey derivatives were discussed. Especially the American
scientists expressed that honey, royal jelly, pollen and propolis (bee resin) had the
property of curing many illnesses. A Romanian doctor stated that he tried honey on
cataract patients, and 2002 out of his 2094 patients recovered completely. Polish doctors
also informed that bee resin helped t cure many diseases like haemorrhoid, skin problems,
gynaecological diseases and many others." (Hurriyet Newspaper, 19 October 1993)
The 17th verse of the Surah Al-Gashiya tells us about an
animal, which has to be carefully examined and thought about, which is the
"camel".
In this section, we will study this animal on which the Qur'an invites us to ponder by
the expression, "Do they not look at the Camels, how they are made?".
The feet are comprised of two toes joined with an elastic
pad. This structure which enables the animal to firmly grasp the earth is consisted of
four fatty balls. It is totally convenient for all kinds of land conditions.
With this system, this animal can live for 3 weeks without
water, whilst it looses 33% of its weight. Under the same circumstances, a human being
would lose 8% of his weight and die within 36 hours, completely loosing the water in his
body.
The Dromedary camel can delay the perspiration by
increasing its body temperature up to 41C. By this way, it prevents water loss.
With its thick fur, camels in Asia can survive high
temperatures rising up to +50C in summer and falling down to -50C in winter.
Its long neck enables the animal to reach and feed on the
leaves, 3 meters high from the ground.
Camels can consume up to 130 liters of water almost in 10
minutes which is around one third of their body weight.
Although a humped camel can take in 30-50 kilograms of
food in a day, in tough conditions, it is able to live for one month with only 2 kg of
grass a day.
Desert camels are not affected by high temperatures up to
70C, and double-humped camels can survive in very low temperatures down to -50C. These
kind of camels can survive even in the high vales, 4.000 meters above the sea level.
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