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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.