Those Who Understand

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,-

Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of ) creation in the heavens and the earth, (with the thought): “Our Lord! not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire.

Chapter 3, Verses 190-191


In this verse, the Quran is inviting us to ponder. It is inviting us to ponder upon the creation of this universe, how it came into existence, what it is made up of, what are its different phenomenon, and the signs of the Existence of God in those phenomenon. This invitation is given to those people who use their intelligence, their intellect to know the truth.

Quran wants that a human should feel the Existence of God. He/She should believe that there is Someone, Who has the supreme authority and He is the Creator of this whole Universe and He is watching us all the time. A human’s intelligence cannot visualize the God into its circle. But a human intelligence can feel The God’s presence, His existence in this universe. This is why the Quran describes to us, different signs in this universe which clearly indicates towards the existence of Our Lord, the God.

Secondly, Quran also wants that a person should realize that he/she has been given tremendous number of boons, gifts and luxuries by the God and therefore he/she should be thankful to his/her God. For this, the Quran points towards different boons of the God in its various verses. Please refer to this post.

In this verse, the Quran describes two important signs of identification of those who use their intelligence and intellect (for those who understand):

1.  To remember The God in every state and condition
2.  To think and ponder over the creation of this universe

The reason for the creation of the human is this that he/she should become the one who makes The God happy and this is not possible for a human without completing his/her “humanity” in real sense. 

When a person remembers his/her God in every state and condition and then he/she ponders over the creation of this universe, he/she then truly understands the purpose of the creation of this universe. He/she then understands, why he/she has been sent into this world. He/she then understands, that the God exists around us, inside us. So both of the above stated conditions should be met simultaneously if we want to make ourselves closer to our Creator, Our God.

Life and death

Thou causest the night to gain on the day, and thou causest the day to gain on the night; Thou bringest the Living out of the dead, and Thou bringest the dead out of the Living; and Thou givest sustenance to whom Thou pleasest, without measure.”

Chapter 3, Verse 27

In the whole year, the duration of of night and days keeps changing steadily and gradually. Sometimes, nights are long and days are short and sometimes days are long but nights are short. Similarly, we can say that the some part of night gets included in the day and some part of the day gets included in the night. This keeps happening throughout the year.

This verse tells us that this changing of durations of night and day is ordered by The God. Our God is the one Who sometimes makes days long and nights short and sometimes nights long but days short.

This verse contains the word “gain”. This means that the inclusion of the part of day into night or a part of day into night happens gradually and steadily. It doesn't happen abruptly.

We see that whenever the morning comes, the daylight slowly enters and the darkness slowly exits. Similarly when evening comes, the darkness slowly enters and the daylight slowly exits.

Why the duration of days and nights keeps changing?

This is because the earth is axially tilted at about 23.50 degrees in its orbit. This is why sunlight falls at different timings in the parts of earth.

But what is the advantage of this night and day duration changing?

It is due to this System of night and day duration changing that we have different seasons on our planet namely Summer, Winter, Autumn and Spring. These seasons affect directly to the minerals, plants and living beings.

The Birth of Living from the dead
Billions of years ago, when life opened its eyes on earth, there were inorganic substances upon earth from which a complex process was started. From this process, the life process was started since then, one living being is extracted or comes into existence from another already existed living being.

The living being’s body is made up of food and the food primarily is made up of a mixture of non-living matter components. A plant absorbs water and other chemical compounds from its roots. It absorbs Carbon dioxide from the air and gathers sunlight with the help of its leaves and other green parts. Then with the help of this sunlight, it prepares “food” by mixing these non-living matter components through a complex and long process.

When a human eats this food, it becomes a part of his/her body after digestion and takes part in the growth and development of living cells.

The Conversion of Living into Dead
When a living being dies, its body undergoes a decay process and splits into the non-living components of matter again.

In every living being (plants, animals and humans), there are two processes which take place. One is called “Anabolism” and the other is “Katabolism”. They are known collectively as “Metabolism”.

In Anabolism, in every cell, non-living components of matter which enters into our body through either digestion or respiration, are converted into living form through a complex process.

While in Katabolism, the living matter in a body converts into non-living form such as water, Carbon dioxide and other nitrogen compounds.

This is the system devised by The God. In this system, the non-living matters are converted into living and the living gets converted into non-living.

In broader meanings, the rule of life and death is followed throughout the universe.  A star is born from dust and gases. It passes through different development stages and in the end it dies.

The rule of life and death is also followed among nations. There are many nations in the world which rise from different parts of the world, pass through different periods of time and then fall one day. This process continues.

So my dear friends, don’t you think that our God is extremely powerful. He is the One who converts a dead piece into living and a living piece into dead. There are many people in this world who consider that this life is the only one they have got. The would never live again once they are dead. But this verse informs us that The God is capable to make us living again even after our death. When we will die, our body will be completely decayed even our bones will no longer exist. But even then The God can convert us back into living just like He did before. We were nothing but the non living components of matter. But He converts us into living from that non living. And therefore we should have faith upon this that our God can repeat it again. He would give us the new life for the “Day of Judgment”. When we will be presented in the Court of God and He will decide our eternal place which will be either Hell or the beautiful heavens (Jannat).

If you think that you want to discuss something over this matter then you can always use the commenting section. Remember the God invites you to first  ponder and then decide what is correct and what is wrong. I hope that you would accept this “Invitation to Ponder”.

Eight Signs of The God

Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the night and the day; in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the profit of mankind; in the rain which Allah sends down from the skies, and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that He scatters through the earth; in the change of the winds, and the clouds which they trail like their slaves between the sky and the earth;-(Here) indeed are signs for a people that are wise.

Chapter 2, Verse 164

 

This verse is one of those very prominent verses of the Quran in which the Quran is giving an “Invitation to ponder” to all of those who use their intelligence. Quran is inviting them to ponder upon the universe, its happenings, and the signs of the God. Quran is a book which awakes your sense of pondering and thinking. Quran wants that people should use their intelligence, their thinking to the maximum extent. For example, The Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) once said:

Intelligence is the root of my religion.

In this verse, the God has directed our attention towards at least 8 of His signs:

1. The creation of the universe (heavens and the earth)
2. The system of cycling of the night and the day (one comes after the other)
3. The movement of boat in water (Sea Travel)
4. The rainfall
5. The living of the dead land(the growth of crops and minerals in a land which was once dead and without water)
6. The creation of the living beings and their scattering in the universe
7. The system of the winds
8. The hanging of clouds in the sky and their movement

”Heavens and the earth” are the words which are giving meanings of the word “universe” that we use today which includes milky ways, galaxies, stars and other bodies.

In the universe there are millions of galaxies, in each galaxy there are billions of stars. The galaxy in which we are present is called “The Milky Way”. There are billions of stars in our milky way. Our sun is a medium sized star in this galaxy. There are 8 planets(considering Pluto as a dwarf planet not a full planet)  rotating around the sun.  

In a galaxy, the stars are present at long distances from each other. These distances are so long that even the unit of Light Year becomes too short for their measurement. Light Year is the distance which the light travels in one year considering that the speed of light is 300000 km per second. So now we can get a slight idea how large this universe would be. 

The earth’s structure, its making, its mass, its body, its distance from the Sun, its orbital movement around the sun, its spin upon its own axis, its climatic conditions which are suitable for the living beings, these all aspects include a lot of food for thought for those who want to ponder.

The cycling system of the day and night is one of the greatest boons of the God. The day and night keep coming after each other, the day replaces the night and the night replaces the day.

Without this cycling system, it would not be possible for the life to exist on this earth. If there would be only night, then the temperature of the earth would be very low and all the water upon this earth would be ice. If there would be only day, then the temperature of the earth would be very high and all the water would be in the form of vapors. The earth’s surface would be so hot that life would not be able to exist.

This is a great sign of the God that He has developed such an excellent system for the cycling of the day and night. So that they keeps replacing each other, and thus life can exist.

The earth spins upon its own axis. So the part of earth which comes in front of the sun brings day in that part and the part which is not in front of the sun has night in it. The earth’s spinning speed is so suitable that it supports life upon it. Neither the day and night are too long nor too short.

The movement of the boats and ships upon the surface of water is also a great gift of the God. God has given this skill and thinking power to the humans to think and determine that how he can use these seas, oceans and rivers for traveling and transportation.

The fluidity and the density of water are such that the objects can float over its surface if the density of the object is less than the density of the water. Similarly humans have developed small and big boats and ships and determined the methods to make them float on the surface of water. 

In today’s age, the sea travels and transportation is of high importance. Millions of boats,ships, fleets, submarines are traveling through water today, transporting humans, their goods from one place to another.

Some ships are so large and huge that there are even cities present on them. There are airports making planes to land and take off from the surface of the ships.

”In the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the profit of mankind” are the words which are highlighting the importance of sea travel and sea transportation.

The Rainfall is the sign of the God’s greatness.

The dead, un-watered land when watered, gets green and fertile.

There are seeds of plants present in the land but they cannot grow without water because they are in the dormant state. The land remains dead. When that land gets water from the God’s decision, then the same seeds starts growing as plants and the same land which was once dead converts into green and fertile.

The rainfall is a system of providing that water. This water is then used to fertile the farms, crops thus giving the living beings the gifts of the God.

This should also be taken into account that the main component of the food of the living beings are the plants. For example, human beings eat vegetables, fruits as well as meat.  Vegetables and fruits are obtained directly from the plants but the meat is obtained from the animals which eat different plants. So plants remain the primary component of our food.

There is an atmosphere present around us. Due to the variation in the temperature, a difference in the air pressure is created as a result, the wind blows. But this blowing of winds, this changing of winds, is according to a systematic system devised by the God.

There are many advantages of the changing of winds. It refreshes the environment. It conveys oxygen from the plants to humans and animals and carbon dioxide from the humans and animals to the plants. At some points, it keeps a definite proportion of gases in the atmosphere.

The winds move the clouds from one place to another. Their changing keeps the temperature moderate. It brings the coldness from the colder areas to the hotter areas and the hotness from the hotter areas to the colder areas.

They helps in the pollination process among the plants. The take part in the dispersion of seeds that is transferring them from one place to another.

Clouds are the large reservoirs of water vapors. The water gets evaporated from the water reservoirs (sea, oceans, rivers, lakes) when sun energy falls on it and then it forms the clouds in the sky.

It is a fact of interest that even remaining under the gravitational field of the earth, the clouds remains floating in the sky, traveling from one place to another. This is because their weight is less than the weight of the air.

These all are the great signs of the God. The clouds carry billions of tons of water from one place to another. Without this system, it would not be possible for the living beings to get such a huge amount of drinkable water.

The water molecules are lighter than the molecules of nitrogen and oxygen which are the main gases of the air. Therefore the water vapors rise up and gets collected up in the sky. If we just concentrate over this single point that if air would be lighter than the water vapors that is if there would be an excess concentration of hydrogen or helium gas molecules in the air, then water vapors would not be able to rise up and thus clouds would not be able to form  and would not be able to transfer water from one place to another.

These all are the great signs of the God. Quran invites all of us to ponder, use our intelligence, without any descrimination. If we would ponder honestly over these signs we would get a clear idea of the God’s existence and His oneness.

Please feel free to comment regarding this post and discussion. I hope you would accept the Invitation to Ponder.