We have two different cells in nuclear transfer: an unfertilized egg and a donor cell. The donor cells are grown under special conditions in culture. The induction of a quiescent state in the donor cells seem to be an important factor in the success of the technology. In a normal cell the chromosomes are very active and there is an open structure to some of the DNA to provide access to the cell machinery. When a nucleus from such a cell is transferred into an oocyte it is assumed that development depends on changes to chromosomal structure to inhibit activity from the chromosome and then to re-initiate activity at the appropriate stage of development. The nucleus in quiescent cells is comparatively inactive. It is hypothesised that in that case the recipient egg is more readily able to ‘programme’ gene expression in the new embryos.

The number of donor cells can be increased by several orders of magnitude. It is also possible to make genetic modifications and to select just those cells in which the desired modification has occurred and multiply these up. Before these cells are fused with an unfertilized egg or the nucleus of the donor cell is introduced by cell fusion, the chromosomes are removed from the recipient egg by micromanipulation. Then the nucleus of the donor cell is introduced by cell fusion. The electric current used to fuse the cells also triggers the egg to begin development. The new embryos are then transplanted into recipient sheep and lambs are born naturally.

In Nature (Vol. 380, pp 64-6), the potential practical value of this new technique is explained as follows:

It will become possible to produce a number of genetically identical offspring from a population of cells. This would enable a farmer to have a small group of identical sheep each with the same high level of performance. Uniformity of this kind would offer advantages to the farmer, as the animals will mature at a very similar rate, to the food processor, as they would have a more consistent product to sell, and to the consumer, as they could be more confident of purchasing a consistent, high quality product. It seems more likely that the first uses will be for biotechnology. Sheep and goats are already making, in their milk, proteins that are needed for the treatment of human disease. The new technique will make it possible to obtain proteins that are more like the human protein even than those that are being made at present. In addition, this route may provide a more practical means for introducing change in cattle. Some proteins are required in very large quantities and it would be useful to be able to produce these in cattle, with their larger milk yield, than in sheep or goats. However, in the longer term, as the techniques are improved, then they may be used to modify many aspects of agricultural products. Changes may be made to the composition of cow’s milk. Most of the fat in cow’s milk is saturated and this has implication for the health of the human consumer. The situation arises because of the activity of enzymes in the udder and it may be possible to reduce that activity and so have cow’s milk with more unsaturated fat. It would be important to show that this did not have any adverse consequences for the cow or her calves…

PPL Therapeutics also hopes to use this technique to enable the production of new drugs for the treatment of a range of conditions using its transgenic technology. This could lead to cheaper drugs for currently untreatable diseases.

It is not possible to inhibit scientific advances. For the last few centuries, science has been preparing ‘new worlds’ for the human race. As with many previous ‘victories’ of science, intellectuals and moralists discuss this new step of gene-technology from ethical base. Arthur Caplan from University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia Inquirer, March 4, 1997) writes:

Think of current cloning technology along the lines of the Wright brothers first aeroplane flight. Many argued that human beings would never fly in a machine. The Wright brothers proved them wrong. But it took many years before the first safe, reliable and practical aircraft was up in the air.

The same is true of cloning. The sheep in Scotland and the monkeys in Oregon represent first steps down what is a very long road. They show cloning is possible but they do not prove it is practical. The techniques used are not only not safe to try in humans, they are still not very effective or efficient for use in animals.

There is still time to control cloning technology if that is what we want to do. It will be years before today’s cloning technology could reasonably be applied to human beings. If we do not want it to be then it is up to us to engage in the moral, religious and legal discussion that will make sure human cloning does not happen.

The hysteria over cloning has led many experts to wonder why we should even bother to try and control its use in human beings. After all, once a technology is available its use is inevitable-isn’t it. There is no stuffing the cloning genie back in its bottle. Phooey!

True no one can stop a nut from grabbing a spare embryo at an infertility clinic and transplanting adult genes into it to see if human cloning will work. But, that is a long way from doing anything practical, useful or even very interesting in terms of human cloning. If we really think that it is an offense to human dignity to have people bred by design, if it seems nuts to let anyone create a human being just to have a place to get spare parts, or if we really do not want grieving parents trying to ‘restore’ a lost child by making a physical copy of the child’s body, we really can bring such activities to a grinding halt.

How? Slap stiff penalties on human cloning, let researchers know that experiments on human cloning will not be published and pull all Federal and foundation support for human cloning research. For all practical purposes human cloning will grind to a halt.

The pressures in the past of Western ethical opinion-makers or of the Church on scientific researches give little reason for optimism. Especially in a world where a ‘better’ worldly life is everything and all ‘human’ values are judged according to how much one consumes, and at a time when scientific researches and successes are valued. (and funded) in terms of their marketability, it will be of no use to exert ‘moral’ pressures on scientific studies. What is necessary and important is that first it should be understood that religion and the universe or nature are the two ‘different’ expressions of the same ‘Divine’ truth and then nature should be re-acknowledged its sacredness coming from the fact that nature is the realm where God’s Names are manifested.

Science will continue to advance. However, in order that it is not harmful for mankind, it is not a lethal weapon in the hands of an irresponsible, selfish minority, God-fearing believers should direct scientific studies. The first verses revealed from the Qur’an are enough to illuminate our way in scientific studies. The first revelation to the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, was:

Read: in and with the Name of Your lord who created, created man of an embryo suspended.

Read: And your Lord is the most Munificent, who taught by the Pen, taught man that he knew not. (al- ‘Alaq, 96.1-3)

It is quite significant that the first command of God to His Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, was ‘read’, when there was not yet the Book to read. This means that there is another book or, rather, there are two books, counterparts to the Book which was to be revealed. These two books are the universe and man. A believer should approach the study of universe and man without prejudice. It is also significant that the verses of the Qur’an and the phenomena in the universe and in man-material and psychological-are both called ‘signs’. The imperative ‘Read!’ is followed, not by a direct object or an adverbial, but by ‘in and with the Name of your Lord who created’. This signifies:

1. ‘Reading’ the universe- studying it-has principles of its own, like, for example, observation and experiment.

2. The word translated as Lord is Rabb, among whose meanings is ‘educator, upbringer, giver of a certain pattern, and, one who gives each entity a particular nature. Man’s nature includes free will, whereas every other entity acts according to the primordial nature assigned to it, what modem science refers to in the words ‘nature’ and the ‘laws of nature’. What man is commanded to do is to discover these ‘laws’.

3. Every act of man, including his scientific studies, should be performed in the name of God, and therefore be an act of worship. That is the only limit which the Qur’an or Islam has put on science. Any act so performed cannot be against God’s Commandments. For example, in the pursuit of scientific knowledge as worship, no one could harm mankind, nor put that knowledge in the form of a deadly weapon in the hands of an irresponsible minority. If done only in the name of God, by people conscious of always being supervised by God and who will be called to account before a Supreme Tribunal for all their actions in the world, science could change the world into a garden of Eden.

FURTHER DIMENSIONS OF SCIENCE IN THE QUR’AN

Said Nursi writes (The Words 1, Izmir 1997, pp.316—7; 325—9)): ‘In the wise Qur’an there are many apparently insignificant events behind each of which is hidden a universal principle, and which are presented as the tip of a general law. For example, the verse (He) taught Adam the names of all of them. (al-Baqara, 2.32) mentions that Adam was taught ‘the names’ as a miracle to demonstrate his superiority over the angels in being favoured with God’s vicegerency on the earth—the rule of the earth in the name of God. This is, in appearance, a small and particular event but it constitutes the tip of a universal principle which is as follows: On account of his comprehensive nature, man was taught (or given the potential to obtain) lots of information, and many sciences concerning all aspects of the universe, and extensive knowledge about the Creator’s Attributes and acts, which gave him superiority over not only the angels but also the heavens and earth and mountains in bearing the Supreme Trust, and made him the ruler of the earth in the name of God.

Likewise, the prostration of the angels before Adam by contrast with Satan’s rejection is a small, particular event in the Unseen. However, it is the tip of a most comprehensive, universally observed principle, and suggests a most extensive truth which is as follows: By mentioning the angels’ obedience and submission before the person of Adam and Satan’s haughty refusal, the Qur’an makes understood that most of the material beings in the universe and their spiritual representatives are subjugated to man and are ever-ready to satisfy all the needs and desires of all of his faculties. In addition, the Qur’an warns man against the evil beings and their immaterial representatives and the devilish inhabitants of the earth, who corrupt his potential for perfection and seduce him into wrong paths, and it reminds him what terrible enemies and great obstacles in the path of his progress toward perfection they are. Thus, while narrating a particular matter pertaining to a single individual—Adam, upon him be peace—the Qur’an of miraculous expression holds an elevated discourse with the whole creation and all mankind.

The Qur’an states that everything, wet or dry, is found in it. Is that really so? Yes, everything is found in it, but everyone cannot see that everything therein, as the things are found at different levels. The Qur’an contains all things, either in the form of seeds, or of nuclei, or of summaries, or principles, or signs, and they are found either explicitly or implicitly, or allusively, or vaguely, or suggestively. One or other of these forms is preferred according to occasion, in a way fitting for the purposes of the Qur’an and in connection with the requirements of the context. For example: As the result of man’s progress in science and industry, some scientific and technological wonders such as aeroplanes, electricity, motor vehicles, and means of radio and telecommunication have come into existence and taken the most prominent position in the material life of mankind. As it addresses the whole of mankind [at all times], the wise Qur’an certainly does not ignore these. Indeed, it has not ignored them and points to them in two ways: The first is by way of the miracles of the Prophets. The second is in connection with certain historical events, for example: Down with the makers of the trench of the fuel-fed fire! When they sat by it, and were themselves the witnesses of, what they did to the believers. They ill-treated them for no other reason than that they believed in God, the Mighty, the All-Praised One. (al-Buruj, 85.4-8) Likewise, …in the loaded fleet. And We have created for them the like thereof whereon they ride. (Ya Sin, 36.41-2) Verses like these point to trains, while the following verse, besides having many other meanings and connotations, alludes to electricity: God is the light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His light is as a niche where in is a lamp, the lamp is in a glass. The glass is as it were a shining star. Kindled from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the East or of the West, whose oil would almost glow forth (of itself) though no fire touched it: Light upon light. God guides to His Light whom He wills. (al-Nur, 24.35)

As God Almighty sent the Prophets to human communities as leaders and vanguards in respect of spiritual and moral progress, so also He endowed them with certain wonders and miracles and made them the masters and forerunners with respect to man’s material progress. He commands men to follow them absolutely. Thus, just as by speaking of the spiritual and moral perfections of the Prophets, the Qur’an encourages people to benefit from them, so too in presenting their miracles it intends that people should try to achieve the like of them in scientific way. It may even be said that like spiritual and moral attainments, material attainments and wonders were also first given to mankind as a gift through Prophetic miracles. The Prophet Noah, upon him be peace, was the first to build ships, and Joseph, upon him be peace, the clock. Therefore, the ship and clock were first given to mankind as Prophetic miracles. It is a meaningful indication to this reality that so many craft guilds take a Prophet as the ‘patron’ or originator of their craft. For example, seamen take Noah, watchmakers take Joseph, tailors take Enoch, upon them be peace, and so on. Since truth-seeking scholars and the science of eloquence have agreed that each of the Qur’an’s verses contains guidance and instruction, then the verses concerning the miracles of the Prophets, the most brilliant among the Qur’an’s verses, should not be taken as historical events; rather they comprise numerous meanings of guidance. Truly, by mentioning the miracles of the Prophets, the Qur’an shows the ultimate goal of scientific and technological developments, and specifies their final aims. It urges man forward toward those aims. Just as the past is the field for the seeds of the future and mirror to its potential, so too the future is the time to reap the harvest of the past life and mirror to the actual situation.

Now out of many examples, I shall point out only a few: The verse, And to Solomon (We subjugated) the wind: its morning stride was a month’s journey and the evening stride was a month’s journey. (al-Saba’, 34.12) which expresses the subjugation of the wind to Solomon as one of his miracles, says: “The Prophet Solomon covered the distance of two months walk in two strides by flying through the air.” By this it suggests that the road is open for mankind to cover the same distance in the air. “So,O mankind! Since the road is open to you, attain this level and do so!” Almighty God also means by this verse: “O man! A servant of mine did not obey his carnal desires, and I mounted him on the air. If you give up laziness and benefit properly from certain of My laws in nature, you too can mount it.”

The verse, When Moses asked for water for his people, We said: ‘Strike the rock with your staff.’ Then gushed forth there from twelve springs (so that) each tribe knew their drinking place’ (al-Baqara, 2.60) indicates that it is quite possible to benefit with simple tools from the treasuries of Mercy under the earth. In places hard as rock even, the water for life may be drawn with so simple a device as a staff. Thus, through this meaning, the verse says to man, “You can find the finest blessing of Mercy, the water for life, with a staff-like device. Therefore, come on, work and find it!” Through this verse, God Almighty suggests: “O man! Since I gave to a servant of Mine who relied on Me such a staff that he draws with it the water for life from wherever he wishes, you too can obtain a device resembling it provided you rely on My laws of Mercy. So, come and do so!” One of the important results of scientific developments which mankind have achieved is the invention of devices with which water is caused to well up from most of the places where they are applied. The verse points to further goals and limits beyond that, just as the previous one specified further attainments far ahead of today’s aeroplanes.

The verse, I heal him who was born blind, and the leper, and I raise the dead by God’s leave. (Al ‘lmran, 3.49) concerning a miracle of Jesus, upon him be peace, alludes to and encourages the highest level of healing with which the Lord endowed him. It suggests: “it is possible to find cures for even the most chronic ailments. Therefore, O man! O calamity-stricken sons of Adam! Do not despair! Whatever the ailment, its cure is possible. Search for it and you will find it. It is even possible to give a temporary tinge of life to death.” By the verse God Almighty means: “O man! To a servant of Mine who renounced the world for My sake, I gave two gifts, one the remedy for spiritual ailments, the other the cure for physical sicknesses. Dead hearts were quickened through the light of guidance, and ill people who were as though dead found health through his breath and cure. You too may find the cure for all illnesses in My ‘pharmacy’ in nature where I attached to each thing many important purposes. Work and find it! You will certainly find if you seek it!” Thus, this verse marks the final point of medical developments, a point far ahead of the present level, and urges man towards it. In view of the explanations of Said Nursi, we can say that genetics will realize further successes than cloning. The Qur’an tells us that God created the human race from a single ‘soul’— human nature, according to some interpreters, It is narrated from the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, that Eve was created from Adam’s rib. Also, we read in the Qur’an that Adam was created from ‘clay’. Whatever is meant by ‘clay’, it is clear that Adam was created without a father and mother. Again, Jesus, upon him be peace, was created without a father—Virgin Mary gave birth to him—and the Prophets Isaac and John were gave born by old, sterile women. These are examples marking further points of developments in genetics. Besides the Qur’an, we find also in the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, indications to further steps of genetics. For example, as recorded in reliable sources of Tradition such as Sahih al-Muslim (Fitan, 110) and Sunan al-Tirmidhi (Fitan, 59), the Prophet predicted that one day would come when a single pomegranate would suffice for as many as twenty people, with its rind providing shade for them. He also prophesied that the wheat produced in so small an area as a house balcony would be enough for the annual consumption of a family. (Fethullah Gulen, Prophet Muhammad, The Infinite Light, Vol. 1, pp. 77)

There are two major theories about the origin or essence of mathematics. One of these theories is attributed to Plato, and the other to the so-called Formalist school. According to Plato, mathematics exists independently of man. What man does is to discover its objective reality, just as other ‘laws of nature’, which we tend to call ‘Divine laws of nature’, are discovered. The Formalist school by contrast asserts that mathematics is a product of human thinking. In order to understand the difference between these two schools, we may cite as an example their view of prime numbers (that is, numbers like 7, 17, 41 which can only be divided exactly by themselves and the number 1). Platonists argue that the prime numbers exist independently of us: before we discovered their existence, they existed in infinite number. Whereas, Formalists are of the opinion that the prime numbers exist because we have defined them as such, and it is meaningless to think about whether they are of infinite number or not.

The language of numbers

Formalists assert that numbers came into existence when human beings began to count. A well-known account of how this happened is that of a shepherd who used to put a stone in his bag for each of his sheep and by matching a stone with a sheep could find out whether any of his sheep had been lost or not. Later on, people began to call numbers each by a different name and since there were two fingers in the two hands, they found it easier to make calculations by the decimal system. This was followed by the operations of addition and subtraction.

According to the Formalists, even the simplest mathematical operations like the four basic ones consist in some logical rules based on certain axioms. They say that we do mathematics by expressing certain rules with certain symbols. That is, we take, say, 5 and 7, a couple of signs whose meaning in the physical world we do not know, and put between them the plus sign, a third sign whose meaning in the physical world we do not know, followed by an equals sign. And we know we must write 12 after the equals sign because that is a requirement of the axioms and rules of logic we are using. This is just what a calculating machine does, that is, it goes through the operation required of it without knowing what it is doing.

Let us suppose that an adding operation consists only in applying axioms or certain logical rules, and has nothing essential to do with the physical world. If we were to take our number signs and apply them to physical objects like stones and sheep, we should be surprised, amazed even, as if by a miracle, that 5 and 7 stones or sheep added together (according to the same rules as 5+7) make 12 stones or 12 sheep. We would come to know that the abstract, conceptual realities in our mind correspond to physical realities in the outer world. According to Paul Davies, the renowned physicist, if we lived in a universe where different physical realities prevailed, in a space where, for example, there were not any countable things, we would not be able to make most of the calculations we make today. David Deutsch claims that counting emerged as the result of experiences. According to him, we can do arithmetic because physical laws allow the existence of physical models convenient for arithmetics.

Richard Feynman, regarded as the greatest physicist after Einstein, says about mathematics that the problem of existence is a very interesting and difficult problem. When you take the third power of certain numbers and then add them with each other, you obtain interesting results. For example, the third power of I is 1, of 2 is 8, and of 3 is 27. The addition of these numbers gives the result of 36. The addition of 1, 2 and 3 is 6 and the second power of 6 is also 36. When you add to this the third power of 4, which is 64, the result is 100. The addition of 6 and 4 is 10 and the second power of 10 is also 100. Added to this the third number of 5, which is 125, the result is 225. 225 is the second number of 10 plus 5, i.e. 15. And so on. According to Feynman, we may not have known this typical characteristic of numbers before but when we do come to know such characteristics of numbers, we feel that they exist independently of us, and that they existed before we discovered them. However, we cannot determine a certain space for their existence. We feel their existence as conceptions only.

Let us take another example. Ibrahim Haqqi of Erzurum, a Turkish Sufi, religious scholar and scientist of the 18th century, discovered a way of checking the correctness of an operation of addition which may still be unknown to modern mathematicians. In order to check or prove the addition, we first add up the digits of each of the two numbers we are going to add up. Let us say, we are going to add 154 to 275, for which we get the answer 429. Adding the digits of each of the first two numbers, we get 1+5+4 = 10 and 2+7+5 = 14. The next step is to subtract 9 from each of these two sums, giving us 1 and 5 respectively. The third step is to add these two results together, 1+5 = 6. Now we do the same thing with the digits of the answer we are wanting to check, namely 429, and again subtract 9: 4+2+9 = 15, 15-9 = 6. The fact that we end up with the same number (i.e.6) means that our addition was correct. This way of checking an addition exists independently of us. We did not create it, we discovered it.

As water had the force of lifting objects of certain weight before Archimedes discovered it and, again, objects thrown into air or a fruit disconnected from its branch fell before Newton discovered the law of gravity so also numbers have many characteristics only some of which have been discovered.

Heinrich Herzt, a physicist, says that we cannot help but feel that the mathematical formulas discovered so far exist out there independently of us. We know that these formulas existed before we discovered them but we cannot determine a space for them. Rudy Rucker, a mathematician, is of the opinion that there is, besides the physical space, a space of mind, which he calls ‘mindspace’ and it is that that mathematician study.

Most of the distinguished mathematicians follow the view of Plato. Kurt Godel is one of them. Before Godel, it was almost a generally accepted view that mathematics is a function of the working of mans brain consisting in the collection of the logical rules which we establish between the symbols of two sets. Godel persuasively argued that there have always been correct mathematical expressions even though their correctness cannot always been proved. Another Platonist mathematician, Roger Penrose, believes that beyond the thoughts of mathematicians there are profound truths or realities in mathematical conceptions. Human thought is directed to extend into these eternal realities and they are there to be discovered as mathematical facts by any one of us. Penrose mentions complex numbers as an example for his argument. According to him, there is a profound, timeless truth in complex numbers. Penrose cites the set of Mandelbrot as another example to prove his argument. The reality this set reveals is the fact that even the lines, twists and shapes of mountains and clouds were or are formed according to certain mathematical formulas. 

What flowers reveal

Almost everyone has heard of the series of Fibonacci. This series, named after the famous mathematician, Leonardo Fibonacci, progresses as 1,1, 2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144, and so on, each term being equal to the addition of the previous two. That is, I and I make 2, and I and 2 make 3, and 2 and 3 make 5, and 3 and 5 make 8, and so on. This is the series found in nature. For example, when we count the spirals formed of the seeds in a sunflower, we find that those arranged clockwise are 55 and the others arranged anti-clockwise are 89. Both of these figures are among the consecutive terms in the Fibonacci series. These figures may vary according to the size of the sunflower: we may find the figures of 34 and 55 in a relatively small flower, and 55 and 89 in a normal sized one, but the arrangement is always as consecutive numbers in the Fibonacci series. The spirals are arranged in pine cones in 5 to 8. We may encounter the same figures in the arrangement of tobacco leaves. Another extremely interesting characteristic is found in the numbers of petals of flowers. A lily has 3 petals, while a buttercup has 5, a velvet 13, a dahlia 21, and a daisy 34 or 55 or 89, varying according to its family. It is impossible to attribute this miraculous arrangement to chance or ignorant nature. If the DNA of a sunflower or a pine cone determines random numbers for its petals or spirals, how can you explain their correspondence with the terms of the series of Fibonacci? The ratio between the consecutive terms in the series of Fibonacci is quite near what is called the golden ratio’ and known in classical art as the ratio most pleasing to human eye. In order to explain the origin of this miraculous reality, you have to either accept that flowers know what is most pleasing to human eye or that the ‘Hand’ of One, the All- Knowing, the All-Wise and the All-Beautiful, is working in nature.

In short, what Fibonacci did is to discover this characteristic in nature. This means that the universe has a mathematical order or mathematics is the branch of science studying the miraculous order of the universe, the order which the Absolute Orderer and Determiner, One Who determines a certain measure for everything, has established.

In the ongoing efforts of the United Nations toward that end, representatives from 50 countries participated in an informal international meeting convened by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), in conjunction with the Earth Council and the Government of Costa Rica, held 29-31 October in San Jose. Specifically, the meeting entitled, ‘New Partnerships to Reduce the Buildup of Greenhouse Gases, discussed cooperation through a range of issues related to the concept of ‘Activities Implemented Jointly’ or AIJ. Among those present were Elizabeth Dodeswell, the executive Director of UNEP, Mr. Maurice Strona, Chairman of the Earth Council, and Dr. Mostafa Tolba, Director of Inter-national Centre of Environment and Development. The forum was opened by the host, His Excellency The President of Costa Rica, Mr. Jose Maria Figueres.

The concept of AIJ (which appears to be a spin-off of the older concept of Joint Implementation) emerged in 1995 at the First Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Berlin. AIJ is intended to provide an impetus to investment and co-development of advanced technologies that reduce the rate of greenhouse gas emmissions while advancing national economic and development goals. AIJ or, simply, any well-thought out Joint Implementation scheme, may be a cost-effective way to achieve the objectives of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change by encouraging technology transfer and co-operation between North and South. An AIJ Pilot Phase was included in the decision which forged the Berlin Mandate.

UNEP’s Executive Director, Elizabeth Dodeswell, in her address to the informal forum in San Jose, said that, ‘Joint Implementation, whether or not it involves credits but most particularly if it does, must be devised with one overriding consideration-it must be fair.’

Opponunities to reduce or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are often more cost-effective in developing countries. As a result, joint implementation strategies might involve a developed country investing resources and technology in a developing country in exchange for emission credits. As Ms. Dodeswell pointed out, it may not however be enough for Joint Implementation agreements to be struck on a willing buyer, willing seller basis, but in addition, will require assessment and brokering through a neutral international process, bringing objectivity to the transaction and monitoring the implementation, to ensure fairness throughout.

At the Second Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Geneva, 8-9 June, 1996, the implementation of the Convention was reviewed. The Ministers and other Heads of delegations present stated, among many other things, that they will: ‘Instruct their represen-tatives to accelarate negotiation on the text of a legally-binding protocol or another legal instrument to be completed in due time for adoption at the third session of the Conference of the Parties. The outcome should fully encompass the remit of the Berlin Mandate…’ In addition, one of the particulars noted is ‘quantified legally-binding objectives for emission limitations and significant overall reductions within specified timeframes, such as 2005, 2010, 2020, with respect to their anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol.’ The goal of all these Climate Change meetings is spelled out in Article 2 of the Convention. Heavily summarized, it calls for, stabilization of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations in a timely manner in order to avoid climate change with dangerous consequences so that economic development may proceed in a sustainable way.

The Third Conference of the Parties, referred to in the preceding paragraph, will be held in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. Let us hope that agreement can be reached and carried out in a fair and constructive manner so that talking about the weather in this or future generations may continue to be a pleasant conversation- opener. Recognizing that, in today’s world, it is intolerable for 800 millions to be suffering from hunger and malnutrition and that it is everyone’s right to have adequate food to survive, the United Nations must reorganize itself in order to meet this challenge. The United Nations work in the field of peace and security is no less relevant: more effective conflict prevention and resolution efforts hold the promise of preventing the loss by millions of people of food security, particularly in the poor countries. At long last, very important principles on which to base our future action can be found in the results of previous world conferences and summits, including Rio, Vienna, Cairo, Beijing, Copenhagen and Istanbul. All conferences held so far have confirmed that environment matters all over the world. It matters as a set of interconnecting problems that threaten the quality of life and the sustainability of economic development worldwide. The environment is a global issue affecting people in developing and developed countries alike, and linking them in the need to take immediate action.

Today, there are 1.5 billion people living with dangerous air pollution, 1 billion without clean water, 2 billion without sanitation. Food production has doubled worldwide in the past quarter century- but at the price of loss of crop diversity, increased chemical contamination and loss of natural habitats. Around one-seventh of tropical forests have been lost in the past 25 years. These are not just local problems; their global impact takes the form of growing regional pollution, the spread of epidemic disease, the loss of biodiversity, global climate instability and the likelihood of mass migration from lands that can no longer support their populations.

Fortunately, the old notion of ‘development versus the environment’ has given way to a new view in which economic development and environmentally sustainable practice go hand in hand. Increasingly the idea of environmentally sustainable development is influencing the thinking of policy makers, international development agencies, and corporate executives. At the same time, years of environmentally conscious practice have produced advanced and cost-effective technologies and know- how. There are no longer either intellectual or technological impediments to the environmentally sustainable management of development.

expressing joy and grief, hope and despair.

When consumed with pangs of separation, melting like candle,

man breathes in tears and speaks in tears.

A time comes when man rejoices child-like with tears of joy,

as he sees dawn begin to break all over the world.

At another time he burns with inward sorrow, like a furnace,

when his horizons are clouded over with grief.

Tears are water of life putting out fires,

A membrane protective against the fire of Hell.

By tears ideals find their realization in the outer world;

by tears the arid world changes into gardens.

An eye sincerely tearful is like an eye vigilant at the front.

Eyes shedding tears for god’s sake do not see Hellfire.

The shedding of tears sounds the depths of desire.

Only they perceive this who sense god inwardly.

I am always gloomy with sorrowful tidings;

My loved ones are ‘flying away’ one after another.

My feelings are hurt, my eyes filled with tears,

Springs come only to terminate in autumn!

Life means hardship, and when you reach fifty-five,

desires are no more; ambitions fall like yellow leaves;

limbs and organs become enfeebled for the unknown end,

and you feel the last stop is only a little way ahead.

On the horizon is either blood or an eternal light,

towards which believing souls walk without pausing;

whatever is promised-happy or unhappy-will be revealed:

some faces pitch-dark, and others bright with joy.

I am utterly at a loss, my head between my hands,

for fear that my flowers of hope should be frost-bitten;

I do not know how near I am to the final end,

but feel my spirit whispering to the Angel of Death.

We are, all together, on a way surrendered

to the music of eternity, with our spirits

like butterflies flying upward to eternity,

and yielding to the most pleasant of declines.

The spirit, like a flute, weeps bitterly a whole lifetime;

neither its exile nor period of vanishing comes to an end….

It travels ceaselessly in crazy pursuit of Him, with eyes

strained by sorrows of separation and a heart beating fast.

***

Shed tears, O eyes, so that the sun may rise and set

over the streams formed of the tears you let fall!

Weep so that ‘Niles’ may flow in valleys, and fires enveloping Abraham

may be put out, and spells broken with the Staff of truth!

Weep so that the mountain said to surround the world may sunder

and water of life gush therefrom, and the dead be revived;

Weep so that the chains around the will may be broken,

and the cavalry of dawn come galloping one after the other!

Also, there is an infinite degree of differentiation and compounding within infinite profusion. For example, while seeds and roots exist under earth in extremely confused position, they are amazingly distinguished in growth, and like the particles of food entering the body in confusion being separated and shared out among organs and tissues with perfect measure and wisdom, the particles going into trees in confusion are distinguished and distributed among leaves, flowers and fruits. This shows the necessity of the existence of that absolutely Wise, Knowing and Powerful One and His Unity and the perfection of His Power. Also, it demonstrates the grandeur and perfection of His Lordship that, making the world of particles into a boundless, vast field, He sows and harvests it every moment with perfect wisdom and obtains fresh crops of different worlds from it, and causes those unconscious, powerless and ignorant particles to perform innumerable, systematic functions just as if they were extremely learned, conscious and capable.

Thus a large window is opened onto knowledge of God through these four ways, and they display the All-Wise Maker to the mind on a large scale.

Now you unhappy, heedless one! If you do not want to see Him in this way and recognize Him, free yourself of your reason so as to become like an animal and be saved!

The testimony of all the Prophets, upon them be peace, who are those with luminous spirits among mankind, based on their manifest and evident miracles, the testimony of all the saints, who are those distinguished with their illumined hearts, relying on their wonder-making and spiritual discoveries, and the testimony of all the purified scholars, who with their enlightened minds rely on their researches and quests for truth, to the necessary existence and Unity of One, the Creator of all things, and the perfection of His Power, form a truly vast and enlightening window, through which the position of His Lordship shows itself continually.

O you helpless denier! Who do you rely on so that you do not heed those people? Or, by closing your eyes in the daytime, do you imagine the world to be in darkness?

The worship performed by all beings in the universe evidently demonstrates an Absolutely- Worshipped One. Those who penetrate the world of spirits and the inner dimension of things and meet with the angels and spirit beings, testify that all spirit beings and angels worship an Eternally- Worshipped One in perfect obedience, and all living beings are observed to be performing duties in perfect order in a manner resembling worship, and all inanimate things evidently render services with perfect submission in a like manner. As all this shows the necessary existence and Unity of a True Object of Worship, so too the true knowledge of all gnostics, which bears the weight of consensus, and the fruitful thanks of all the thankful, and the blessed recitations of all those who recite God’s Names, and the praises, which cause the increase of Divine bounties, of all those who praise God, and the pronouncements and descriptions of Divine Unity, based on decisive proofs, of all those who believe in it, and the true love of all lovers of God, and the true will and desires of all those who seek Him, and the earnest searching and inclinations of all those who turn to Him, all demonstrate the necessary existence and Unity of that Eternally-Worshipped One, the One Who is Recognized, Mentioned, Praised, One Beloved, Desired and Sought, and the perfection of His Lordship.

Also, the acceptable worship and supplications of perfected people, and the spiritual radiance, visions and illuminations resulting from them, again demonstrate the necessary existence and Unity of that Everlasting and Eternally-Worshipped One and the perfection of His Lordship.

Thus these three aspects open up a broad, light-giving window onto Divine Unity.

And He sends down water from the heaven and brings forth with it crops and fruits as provision for you, and He has made subject to you the ships so that they sail through the sea by His command, and He has made the rivers subject to you; and He has made subject to you the sun and the moon, both pursuing their courses, and He has made subject to you the night and the day; and He gives you of all that you ask Him. If you were to count God’s bounties, you could not enumerate them.

The mutual helping and solidarity of beings in the universe and the fact that they respond to one another’s call for assistance show that all creatures are trained by a single Instructor, are administered by a single Director, are at the disposal of a single Disposer, and are the servants of a single Master. For through a universal law of mutual helping, the sun cooks the things necessary for the lives of living beings on the earth by the command of the Lord, and the moon acts as a calendar, and light, air, water and sustenance hasten to the assistance of animate beings, and plants hasten to the assistance of animals, and animals and plants together hasten to the assistance of human beings, and even the members of the body hasten to the assistance of one another, and the particles of provision hasten to the assistance of the cells of the body. This most wise and generous mutual assistance among those unconscious beings, and their responding to one another’s needs and their supporting one another under a law of munificence and grace, a law of compassion and care and a principle of mercy, demonstrate, clearly and evidently, that they are the servants, officers, and creatures of a unique One of Unity, a peerless, Eternally- Besought-of-All, an Absolutely Powerful, Absolutely Knowledgeable, Absolutely Merciful and Compassionate, Absolutely Generous and Munificent, Necessarly-Existent One. So, 0 you who are bankrupt of good reasoning and sound judgement because of materialistic philosophy and scientism! How do you respond in the face of this mighty window? Can chance have a hand in this?

Birds, class Aves, are the only animals that have feathers. Aves is a large, highly diverse class with 8,600 species of water birds, songbirds, and birds of prey, including huge flightless runners, deep divers, and migratory species that travel thousands of miles each year. Although most birds have similar body structures, taxonomists, those who classify and name things such as animals and plants in groups, use variations in bone structure, muscles, and internal organs to distinguish one order from another. Variations in the shape and structure of the bills, wings, tails, and feet are also useful for classification and identification. Birds inhabit a wide variety of habitats and can be found on all the continents, most islands, and even on the open sea. They also have a wide range of size. The largest birds are the ostriches of Africa, up to 2m tall and weighing 136kg, and the great condors of the Americas, with wingspreads of up to 3m. The smallest known bird is Helena’s humming bird of Cuba, less than 6cm long and weighing less than 4g.

The skeleton system of birds is highly adapted for flight. In spite of its low weight, a bird’s skeleton is extremely strong. Hollow and fused bones are the two main bone types. Most bones` being hollow lessens overall body weight making flight more efficient. The skeleton of a bird is much lighter than any other kind of warm-blooded animal. However, this is achieved at a cost, and the skull of a bird is thin and susceptible to fracturing. Further lightening of the bird`s head has also been made possible by the absence of teeth. The other noticeable feature of a bird’s skull is the size of the eye sockets, to house the large eyes. This is probably because vision is a bird’s most crucial sense. The skeletal structure of the wing is relatively constant among the different species, but the actual shape of the feathers can be quite variable, depending on the flying capabilities of the species concerned. To provide effective thrust, the bones in the wing move together. As the bird’s wing beats downwards, special bones prevent its chest from being crushed. The thrust of the wing articulates with the scapula on each side of the body. The corocaid and the wishbone also provide reinforcement. The chest cavity is reinforced by the unusual structure of the ribs. The ribs have projections, known as incinerate process, which are directed backwards, overlapping each other. These help to provide support, especially in diving birds. In cross section, the wings are honeycombed. During flight, this lightens the load on the pectoral muscles which, attached to the keel of the sternum, may account for half of the birds body weight.

Flight is one of the most outstanding characteristics of birds. A bird’s body is adapted to meet the two major requirements for flight, which are low weight and high power. Unlike other vertebrates a bird has a skeleton that is very light in relation to body size, e.g. a pigeon’s skeleton accounts for only 4.4 per cent of its body weight. Birds have a compact, streamlined body, and the fusion of many of the bones gives the body the rigidity needed for flying. A birds wing bone is thin and hollow, with criss-cross reinforcements on the inside which provide support while adding little weight. Besides the unusual structure of bones, it is the presence of feathers that distinguishes birds from all other creatures that have conquered flight. Feathers are made of dead cells, and become dehydrated and are exceedingly light. Thus, they can be large and form the flight surface of the wings and tail without weighing much and without being susceptible to water or heat loss. Along with keeping a birds body warm, feathers function for flight. The long overlapping contour feathers streamline the body. These feathers form the wings and much of the tail. Wings made of contour feathers have much surface area and little weight. They are well adapted for fanning the air and for gliding on air currents.

The flight of birds is one of the most beautiful and wonderful things in nature. The make and arrangement of their feathers and bones, and their stream-lined shapes, from beak to tail, are instances of purposive adaptation. They soar with outstretched wings; they dart with folded wings. Their upward and downward mobility, as well as their stability in the air, and when they rest on their feet, have given many ideas to man in the science and art of aeronautics, But who taught or gave to birds this wonderful adaptation? None but God, Whose infinite Mercy provides for every creature just those conditions which are best adapted for its life. This is stated in a verse in the Qur’an (Mulk, 67.19):

Do they not observe the birds above them, spreading their wings and folding them in? None can uphold them except (God) Most Gracious: truly it is He that watches over all things. 

Flying techniques depend on the principles of aerodynamics. Reducing air pressure and friction against the body requires perfect aerodynamic structure. Up to recent times, a rain drop was accepted as the most perfect aerodynamic shape. However, the shape of a bird’s body is now accepted as the most perfect, and aircraft are designed according to the aerodynamic structure of birds. Compared with birds, the latest aircraft are still clumsier and have less agility than birds. Moreover, hypoxia, which is a deficiency of oxygen and results in drowsiness, mental fugitive, headache, and sometimes euphoria, affects pilots severely and can cause them to lose their consciousness on flying upward. But this is not a hindrance for birds because the air between their feathers, their bodies and wings is absorbing and reducing air pressure, Along with this ability, there are some movements which birds can do easily, such as turning sharply, doing somersaults, steep ascents and descents, whereas manmade flying machines face some serious risks in attempting the same movements. Birds can also glide for long periods without beating their wings while aeroplanes cannot sustain flight with stopped engines. Vertical take off and landing is something many flying animals such as bees and birds have been able to do for millions of years. The structure of birds has inspired engineers to design specific modifications in recent models of aircraft, such as the F-14, F-18, and M1G-25, It is true that producing an aircraft requires complex skills and knowledge, improved steadily over a long time. But is it not marvellous that birds have been demonstrating perfect flight for millions of years?

Birds have become adapted to a variety of environments, and various species have very different types of beaks, feet, wings, tails, and behavioural patterns. Although all birds must eat frequently (because they do not store much and yet must maintain a very high metabolic rate), their choice of food varies widely among species-seeds, fruits, worms, molluscs, rodents, rabbits, fish, snakes, lizards, even dead animals. The shape of the bills reflects the birds feeding habits. For example, nectar-feeders have narrow, pointed bills; finches, which consume large quantities of seed, have short, stout bills; and birds that eat insects and berries have a non-specific bill shape and so on.

Birds also lack teeth and this probably reduces body weight for flight. Instead of teeth, their mouths are modified into bills. In addition to this modification, birds have another adaptation for digesting food. A bird swallows small bits of gravel, which act as teeth in the gizzard, mechanically breaking down food. An interesting feature of the bird’s digestive system is the crop, an expanded, sack-like portion of the digestive tract below the oesophagus, in which food is temporarily stored, and where food such as hard seeds is softened with mucus. As a storage organ, the crop allows the bird to feed rapidly and to store large amounts of food. The bird also produces a white secretion, sometimes called crop milk’, which is rich in proteins and fats, and birds use this secretion to feed their young. Birds (except for the ostrich) do not possess a bladder, and so the uric acid passes directly, through the uretors, to the cloaca. After reabsorbing water back into the bird’s body, uric acid is excreted in the form of a semi-solid, whitish concentrate.

Birds often build up high concentrations in their bodies because they consume salty foods or sea water and lose water through evaporation in the urine and feces. To rid themselves of this excess salt, these animals have salt glands, special secretary organs near the eye or in the tongue that remove excess salt from the blood and secrete it in a solution of tear-like drops. Sensors in the wall of a bird’s heart apparently monitor the osmotic pressure of the blood and send nerve signals to the brain that trigger activation of the salt glands. Thus, the animal can drink sea water and yet, by excreting some of the water and all the salts, achieve a net water gain. This is an adaptive mechanism that helps to maintain a light body weight.

Birds have a well-developed nervous system with a brain. They rely heavily on vision; their eyes are proportionately larger than those of other vertebrates. Hearing is also well developed, in striking contrast to most animals, birds have developed the voice. The spoken word in human speech is different from the means of communication which birds have between each other. But no man can doubt that they have means of communication with each other, if he only observes the orderly flight of migratory birds which live in communities. This is also stated in the sacred book, Qur’an (al-Naml. 27.16):

And Solomon was David’s heir. He said: ‘O ye people! We have been taught the speech of Birds, and on us has been bestowed (a little) of all things.’ this is indeed Grace manifest (from God.)

Most birds have short simple calls that signal danger, or that influence feeding, flocking, or interaction between parent and young. Songs are usually more complex than calls and are performed mainly by males; they are related to reproduction, attracting and keeping a mate, claiming and defending territory.

Birds have a special system of air sacs that make fresh air almost continuously available to the sites of gas exchange. This provides the animal with the large quantities of oxygen needed for long distance, high- altitude flights — even a flight over Mt. Everest. A bird’s many air sacs also lower the body weight relative to its size. Air sacs lying between certain flight muscles are squeezed and relaxed on each stroke of the wing and this helps increase the amount of air during inhalation and exhalation. The faster the bird flies, the more rapid is the circulation of air through the lungs.

The paired lungs are relatively small and nine or more hollow air sacs are attached to the lungs and fill much of the body cavity. They are like balloons that lighten the body and serve as reservoirs for air that will later be needed. Experiments show that air flows continuously during both inhalation and exhalation, in one direction through the lungs, and the air is renewed during each inspiration. Therefore, oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange occurs in the lungs’ air capillaries during both inhalation and exhalation. The direction of blood flow in the lungs is opposite to the that of air flow through the parabrocni, tiny, thin-walled ducts in the lungs. This counter current flow increases the amount of oxygen that enters the blood.

This system enables birds to do the intense work of flying, even at high altitudes, and still maintain a high body temperature. Interestingly enough, rapid breathing also contributes to such a high performance; a Venezuela hummingbird, the sparkling violet ear, breathes 330 times per minute at sea level and 380 times per minute at high altitudes. This is a very high heart beat such as no other warm-blooded animal can accomplish.

The very effective respiratory and circulatory systems provide enough oxygen to the cells to permit a high metabolic rate. This is another important adaptation of birds: the maintenance of a high and constant body temperature in spite of changes in the external environment. High metabolic rate is necessary for the tremendous muscular activity required for flying. Some of the heat generated by metabolic activities is used to maintain a constant body temperature (between 35 and 42 degrees C) which permits birds to remain active in cold climates. Birds are among very few animals able to maintain a constant body temperature. Though birds are sometimes called warm-blooded, the preferred term is homeothermic.

One of the most interesting types of behaviour in birds is migration. Migration is the instinctive movement of animals, usually between their wintering grounds and their breeding grounds. Migration provides birds a better chance of surviving. By instinct, migrating birds make their long journeys each year to reach more favourable habitats. Some birds, such as the golden plover and arctic tern, fly from Alaska to Patagonia, South America, and back each year, flying 25,000km en route.

Migration is probably set in by several external stimuli, such as temperature and length of daylight. It is also triggered by the secretion of hormones. For many species the direction of migration is probably based on such factors as the bird’s observation of the sun and stars and even by the earth’s magnetic field. Few modern biological discoveries have been more surprising than the finding, in the 1970s, that bird’s, bacteria, and perhaps many other types of organisms orient their bodies to the earth’s magnetic field, How such animals can have acquired this magnificent ability is a question yet to be answered. How can living things perceive a force as elusive as magnetism?

Many birds and at least one mammal-the porpoise-have a small number of tiny crystals of magnetite (a form of iron oxide) in tissues near the brain. Likewise, magnetobacteria, have magnetite crystals in their cytoplasm and swim toward or away from the poles of an applied magnetic field. How some higher organisms use magnetic particles to sense the direction of the lines of magnetic force generated by the earth’s core remains a subject of research. One hypothesis suggests that the crystals in, for example, a pigeons head, function like tiny compass needless, and mechanoreceptors might detect their relative movement. Other work indicates that in the rat, changes in magnetic yield can alter enzyme activity and levels of melatonin in the pineal gland. Still other work suggests that regularly arrayed layers (also present in pineal glands) undergo certain changes as the head and eyes move relative to the earth’s magnetic field. They could allow the animal to sense magnetic fields, but not by a mechanoreceptor mechanism. Whatever the mechanisms, homing, migration and many other directional animal behaviours depend on detecting magnetic fields.

Birds with their perfect features are wonders in nature to be marvelled at as such. All creation, both animate and inanimate, celebrates Gods praise and bears witness to His power, wisdom and goodness. We can aspire to true knowledge of God through observing the wonders in nature. However, this is possible only if people do not insist on their positivistic viewpoint and see the direct manifestations of God’s Names in His creation:

The seven heavens and the earth, and all beings therein, declare His glory: There is not a thing but celebrates His praise. And yet you understand not how they declare His glory! Truly, He is Off-Forbearing,’ Most Forgiving! (Bani Israll. 17.44)

Every human being is created of 360 articulations. Therefore, whoever glorifies God, praises Him, declares His Unity, asks Him forgiveness, removes stones, bones or similar things from the roads where people walk or enjoins good and forbids evil, and if such good deeds of his amount to 360, he reaches evening freed from Hellfire.

In another of his sayings, the Prophet stated:

Every day man has a duty of thankfulness (to God) for each of his articulations. Judging between two people justly is an act of thankfulness; helping someone mount his horse or puffing his saddle or load on it is an act of thankfulness. Speaking to one gently is an act of thankfulness. Each step you take toward the mosque is an act of thankfulness.

Removing the things causing trouble to people from roads is an act of thankfulness.

These Traditions recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih al-Muslim mean that there is a substantial relation between mans anatomy and individual and collective servanthood to God.

An articulation is the connection between bones or limbs: In medicine, articulations are classified as movable articulations (for example: knee caps, elbows, shoulders, hips. wrists and ankles) or immovable articulations or those moving a little (for example: backbone, carpals and tarsals.) Immovable articulations are also classified as those connected to each other with mesophelial tissue, those connected with cartilaginous tissue and those connected with bone tissue.

It is very difficult for even a trained expert, let alone a layman, to observe and count all 360 articulations in the human body. Many of the articulations are fused joints (there are 90 in a human skull), others are of cartilage or other matter which decays after death so that they cannot be observed at all in a bare skeleton. How then could the Prophet, an unlettered man, upon him be peace and blessings, have known 14 centuries ago, that there are 360 articulations, unless he had been given the knowledge thereof by God through revelation?

The duties the Prophet mentioned as acts of thankfulness in his sayings, quoted or not quoted, for the articulations are as follows:

Glorifying God, extolling and praising Him and declaring Him free from all defects and exempt from having partners.

Enjoining good and forbidding evil.

Performing a prayer of two rak’a in late morning (the time between about forty- five minutes after sunrise and before noon).

Declaring Gods Unity, saying There is no god but God.

Asking God for forgiveness.

Removing obstacles from roads.

Judging between two people justly.

Helping someone mount his horse or puffing his load or saddle on it.

Speaking to people gently or in a way pleasing to them.

Going to the mosque to perform prescribed prayers.

As articulations join the body’s parts to each other, so the acts the Prophet mentioned are of the kind to establish good relations between people and make them near to God. If the members of a society follow the advice of the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, if they do the acts required of them to do as acts of thankfulness for their articulations, they can find such contentment as if they were living in Paradise. God’s good pleasure, which is the source of happiness for man in both worlds, lies in mans servanthood to him both as an individual and as a member of human community.

Biological systematics classifies animals according to its own standards. So far about two million animal species have been distinguished. Each species has distinguishing characteristics and study of a few members of a species gives us general information about the whole of that species. For example, study of a pigeon gives us general information about all birds from nightingales to eagles, from grebes to albatrosses.

Systematic study of a species reveals that the assertions of being more or less developed are of relative nature. Also, study of the general control mechanisms in animal bodies shows a relative complexity in their metabolic and, especially, hormonal and nervous systems from one-celled organisms to mammals. It is difficult to attribute this complexity to chance or coincidences. Determining an entity of such complexity and adaptive effectiveness requires an absolute knowledge, will and power.

The standards by which to determine the degrees of development for animals vary from species to species. For example, with respect to the sense of smelling, sharks, according to our present knowledge, are relatively the most developed among vertebrates. Compared with a shark which can smell a drop of blood in the sea from a distance of about 25,000 feet, man is very much less developed. If we judge the degree of development according to the sense of smell, in place of men or monkeys, sharks will be the first. Whereas, with respect to the sense of seeing, eagles are much more developed than sharks, as well as than men and monkeys. An eagle can see a rabbit on the ground from a height of about 6.000 feet. Also, a bat which catches its prey in the dark with its ultrasonic equipment and a rattlesnake which catches rats with its infra-red eyes are far more developed than human beings in their respective areas of specialization.

Supposing a man was to enter the world of flies, what would flies say about him? ‘How simple and undeveloped that being is! He does not know how to fly. Even with the planes he made, he cannot fly as perfectly as we do. We turn somersaults, alight wherever we wish and take off very easily. Even one-tenth of the subtleties of art in our wings is not to be found in his most elaborate devices. Despite his abilities, skills and knowledge, he is completely unable to make one wing such as ours!

Would it not be true for a honey-bee to say of us:

‘Those clumsy ones can draw with tools and only after calculations the hexagons that I can make so easily and exactly identical to one another. They cannot make so sweet and healing a substance as honey that I produce in great amounts.’ Again, should a microbe or virus not consider itself as more powerful or developed that man seeing that it can cause him to die? With respect to their ability to swim and live in water, are not fish more perfect or developed than us? But then animals living on land are surely more developed than fish in respect of the mechanisms enabling them to live on land.

When we consider the world of insects, we are amazed at the degree of social organization they have achieved: the solidarity in the social life of bees, ants and termites, the communication among them, the absolute obedience of the individual to the commands of the collectivity, and the fulfilment by each individual of its duties to the community- compels us to wonder whether insects or human beings are more developed in this respect. It is for this reason that some socio-biologists tend to think of a society of insects as if it were an individual organism, operated by a single brain, the individuals in the community functioning like separate cells within the larger single organism.

Those who classify creatures according to the complexity of their brain structure and faculties assert that the more complex a brain is, the more developed the animal. However, even though the weight of the brain or the ratio of brain weight to general body weight sometimes appears to confirm this assertion, it usually leads on to wrong conclusions. Those who argue that the mammals whose brains are smaller than the human brain are simpler than human beings, forget that the main difference between human beings and mammals lies in man’s memory and capacity of thinking and speaking, and that there are great differences among the intellectual capacities of human beings. Also, every human being is different from others in many ways-in character, ambitions, attitudes, etc. 

It is function which determines the form and type. That is, an architect does not determine the function of a building after he has built it. On the contrary, he builds the building according to the function it will serve. In the same way, the structural perfection of the human brain corresponds to its functional perfection. That is, man did not become man after he had acquired his brain capacity or complexity. Rather, he was given a brain according to his functions with respect to other creatures and to the duties he was expected to perform. Thinking, as evolutionists do, that brains in animals grew more complex and their ‘intellectual capacity’ increased in parallel with the line of evolution, means attributing all the intellectual faculties and activities like thinking, reasoning, imagination, speaking and so on, to the brain as a physical entity. This is the crudest sort of materialism and reduces man’s existence entirely to matter, rejecting the existence of the spirit and spiritual dimension of man. Also, it is not possible by this hypothesis to explain the differences among human beings in their intellectual capacities, desires, ambitions, and character. If it were possible to increase or strengthen man’s intellectual capacities by making him a bigger and heavier brain, rather than educating him, would it not be more reasonable to try to find ways of enlarging his brain or, as some assert, enabling him to use a greater part of his brain?

How can we regard it as simpler or ‘less evolved’ that in the cytoplasm of one-celled organisms many vital activities like digestion and excretion are carried out? As a small watch is usually more intricate and requires more artistry in its production than a big clock, it may well be said that one-celled animals are more complex or difficult to come about than large, multi-celled ones. Again, although it seems at first sight that the more the number of cells increases, the more complex the creature grows, no one can say that an elephant is more developed than a mouse. Both being classed as mammals, with respect to their bodily activities, one cannot be considered more developed or simpler or requiring more artistry than the other. This leads us to reflect on the following Qur’anic verses:

God does not disdain to coin even a gnat as a parable, or a larger creature. As for those who believe, they know that is the truth from their Lord. But those who unbeliever say, ‘What does God wish to teach by such a parable?’ He leads astray many thereby, and guides many. He leads astray only the corrupt. (al-Baqara, 2.26)

O mankind! A parable is set forth, so listen to it: Surely, those whom you invoke, apart from God, will never create a fly even if they combine together for the purpose. And if the fly took something from them they could not rescue it from it. Hence, weak are both the seeker and the sought! (al-Hajj, 22.73)

It is foolish to regard the bony scales of fish as simple while regarding the pituitary glands on the skin of frogs as developed and the scales of lizards as more developed and the feathers of birds as much more developed and the hair of mammals as the most developed. It is no more than a speculative assertion that those protective parts of the bodies of the animals mentioned evolved each from a simpler one by chance. Is it not more reasonable to accept that each species of animals was given a particular body with its particular parts and systems according to the function it would serve among creatures and the environmental conditions to which it would be best adapted and adaptable?

The merchant asked: ‘What gift may I purchase for you, my pretty pet, and carry back for your pleasure and delight, all the way from India?’

The parrot spoke straightaway, as though he knew he would be asked and so had prepared an answer: ‘I will not ask that you bring me back any gift, but I would ask a favour of you, a task to perform for me in India.’

‘Ask, my pretty pet,’ said the merchant, very curious, ‘and if it is in my power to do what you ask, I will do it, God willing.’

‘Well, then,’ said the bird, ‘when you reach India and you see there many parrots like myself, address to them this speech. Say:

“So-and-So Parrot sends you his greetings. He longs to be with you, but he cannot be. He is, by the decree of Heaven, a prisoner of the good merchant who brings you this message, a slave in a cage, locked up.,,

Then convey to those parrots from me. “So-and-So Parrot begs you to remember him. Remember him, imprisoned in his cage, when you fly about freely in gardens of fragrant roses. Remember him, alone and without the company of his fellows, while you go about with one another, cheerful and jolly.”

Add also this plea to your speech, since the one who will understand it may be listening. Say: “What! Have you forgotten your friend so soon, that you can fly about happily in the company of others? It may be that I was at fault in my service of you, and you are punishing me by forgetting me in this way. Is that as it should be? Is it right to answer a wrong with a wrong? Would it not be better to answer a wrong with a right?

“And yet, because it is you, still you, who have turned away from me, your turning away is dear to me. It arouses my love the more. Even your anger, your revenge on me, is dearer to me than my own life. Your anger is fire, and it burns me with love. If that is the affect of your fire, how must your light be? If I ever escape this cage, I swear I shall make straight for your rose-garden. There, I shall sing songs of desire like the nightingale. The nightingale’s songs gather the thorns as well as the roses, the bitter as well as the sweet, in the same joyful embrace. In the songs of the nightingale, love surpasses the pleasures and pains of love, and is entirely and purely itself.”

The merchant listened to every word and promised to deliver his pet’s complaint as best he could.

Towards the end of his journeying in India, he came across a rose-garden in which were a company of parrots like his own pet bird. To them, according to his promise, he faithfully recounted the parrot’s words. One of the parrots who had been listening began to tremble and shake, then fell from its perch in the rose-tree, and lay on the ground, dead. The merchant was deeply upset. He said: ‘I have been the cause of that poor creature’s death!’ and he regretted that he had kept his promise.

On returning home, the good merchant gave to all the servants in his household the gifts that they had asked for. To the parrot, he said nothing. But the parrot demanded of him: ‘What of me? Did you not do what I asked? If you did, tell me what you saw and heard.’

‘I did do it,’ said the merchant, ‘and how deeply I regret that I did. I wish I had kept silent and not conveyed your words.’

‘Why do you repent of keeping a promise and fulfilling a trust?’ asked the parrot. ‘What has caused you to be so remorseful and upset?’

‘I conveyed your complaints to the parrots where I found them, and one was so touched by your pain that she trembled and dropped down dead.’

As soon as he heard this, the merchant’s parrot also began to tremble, then he seemed to lose balance, and fell onto the floor of his cage, cold and senseless.

The merchant was now so struck with grief and despair, he began to tear his hair and clothes. ‘My dear, sweet companion!’ he cried, ‘My singer of sweet songs! Keeper of my secrets! Ah, what shall I do without you? How shall I live without you?’ Then, in his great sadness, not knowing what else to do, the merchant took the corpse (as he thought) of his beloved pet out of the cage and laid it gently on the palm of his hand.

Suddenly, the parrot awoke and flew, through the open window, to the safety of the high branch of a tree in the garden. The merchant was relieved to see his pet well. He looked up into the tree at the bird and said:

‘Dear friend, explain to me the meaning of what that Indian parrot did, which enabled you to devise this trick to escape from your cage.’

‘She gave me excellent advice’, answered the parrot from the tree. ‘By her dying, she conveyed this advice to me: ‘Your own fine voice is the cause of your being in a cage. You are held in that way so that you may entertain people with your singing and your speech. Their praise and the flattering love of your master are the walls of your cage. Renounce your cage-renounce your voice and your master’s affection. Become dead as I am dead, and find freedom.’

‘Go in peace under the protection of God!’ said the merchant. ‘You have shown me the way to a far country to which we must all go, sooner or later. That is the great journey and I must prepare for it.

One of the reasons why some people have doubted the truthfulness of the story of his conversion from Christianity is that many Christians (and also Jews) as well as large numbers of Muslims, are reported to have publicly mourned his passing and claimed him as their own. However, this is not a good reason to doubt his conversion to Islam, albeit the details may have been transmitted without sufficient care and exactness. It is only evidence of the universality the saint had realized through his spiritual quest. He had attained so high a level of generality and fullness in his love of God that the essential unity of the religions of the Book, a unity that is real in virtue of the Reality of their Divine Origin, became evident through him. Thus Christians, Jews and Muslims were all equally glad to claim him as their own, though each community fell short to the extent that their claim was exclusive. In this respect Muslims have the better claim as Islam is, of the three religions, the most inclusive and tolerant of the other two.

Ma’ruf al-Karkhi is remembered through a number of anecdotes illustrating (1) his humility; (2) his moral and spiritual insight; and (3) his transcendence of this world, the constraints of time and space. Discussion of he last is deferred to a separate article which will look at that particular subject in more general terms.

His humility

A governor of the city saw Ma’ruf on one occasion eating bread with a dog. He would break off a morsel of bread and put it in his own mouth; then another morsel which he put into the mouth of the dog seated in front of him.

The governor’s sense of decorum was offended. He asked:

‘Are you not ashamed to be eating bread with a dog?’

The saint replied: ‘Should I be ashamed of sharing my bread with the needy? He then looked up and called to a bird flying above him. As if obeying an instruction, the bird came down and settled by his hand. The bird was not, as might be expected, in a state of nervous agitation. On the contrary, it was completely at ease, just as if it were enjoying the safety of its perch on a tree.

Wild birds are normally afraid of people but Ma’ruf had so far transcended his selfhood that he had lost this intimidating character for the birds: they did not see him as a creature to be fearful of. Ma’ruf explained to the governor that who ever is a shamed before God’s creatures, God’s creation is a shamed before him; conversely, whoever is at ease with God’s creatures, God’s creation is at ease with him.

Humility is an essential stage and strategy in self-transcendence. Its goal is perfect servant- hood before God, manifested as an unaffected compassion for all the creatures God has endowed with life, and practised as caring service of them. This kind of caring, done for God’s sake, expresses gratitude, wonder and respect for His creation and is thereby freed of self-interest. It is very different from the sentimental indulgence of animals, particularly dogs, kept in the home as pets. Such pampering of pets is by no means disinterested: it can indicate an emotional lack satisfied by giving food and affection so as to exercise possession and control over the animal.

His moral and spiritual insight

It is reported that on an occasion when Ma’ruf went down to the river to do his ablutions, the prayer mat and Qur’an he had left in the mosque were taken by an old woman. Happening to see her making off with them, Ma’ruf chased and caught up with the woman. In respect for the conventions of modesty, he did not stare at her directly when speaking to her. He did not express any anger or resentment, nor accused her of theft or any other crime. He asked if someone in her family would recite from that Qur’an. The woman said, No. Ma’ruf then asked her to return the Qur’an and keep the prayer mat. The woman was taken aback by his forbearance and wanted to relinquish both the Book and the prayer mat. But Ma’ruf insisted that she take the prayer mat, adding that it was rightfully hers. The woman obeyed and left.

What does this anecdote teach us? Stealing is obviously a wrong, and therefore not to be condoned. But in this instance, it matters what was taken and from where. Possibly, the woman had taken both items with a view to selling them for the little monetary value attached to them. Yet it is a fact that she had entered the mosque, that she did recognize both the Qur’an and the prayer- mat as items of value. Ma’ruf acted as though, behind the woman’s superficial motives, were deeper motives or needs of which the woman herself was unaware, namely to recite from the Book of God and to do the prayers ordained by Him. Ma’ruf did not assume, because she had acquired these things wrongfully that even this act of hers was wrong in all respects, still less that the woman herself was altogether worthless. He made the effort of running after her; he behaved towards her and addressed her as a Muslim of honour; and in the question he put to her he re-awakened her to the true value of the Qur’an. No doubt, if she had answered Yes to his question, he would have given her the Qur’an also. By giving her the prayer mat as rightfully hers, Ma’ruf was restoring to the woman her right/duty to pray and, more important, restoring her to that right/duty. Also, since nothing so dignifies a Muslim as obedience to the Divine injunction to pray, he was affirming the woman’s dignity as a Muslim. It is difficult to think of a response better calculated to deter the woman from stealing again: what Ma’ruf gave her was the desire (and through prayer, the means) not to repeat the offence.

This incident also sheds some light on the teaching, attributed in the Gospels (in various different wordings) to the Prophet Jesus, upon him be peace, whose meaning is: If a thief steals your coat, give him your cloak also. Some people misunderstand this saying to mean that a legal response to such crimes is irrelevant in the light of Jesus’ teaching, or that it is a morally undesirable response. But the teaching certainly cannot mean that it does not matter if someone has stolen something. Nor can it mean that the whole system and apparatus of the law which protects private property is (at best) a necessary evil, whereas the only true good is not to have property or not to care if someone steals it.

We rarely acknowledge the extent to which the property we hold in fact holds us. We are possessed by our possessions. We may not appreciate the extent of our attachment until something goes missing-this is well expressed in the common saying, You do not grasp the value of a thing until it is lost. If a thief steals your coat, you will feel resentment against the thief and distress at the loss of property. In real life, the thief will not be waiting around to see what your reaction is going to be. Therefore, the instruction, ‘Offer him your cloak’, can only be acted upon figuratively. It teaches you to immediately defeat resentment and distress by relinquishing what you still hold (and what still holds you), namely your cloak, to the thief. In this way, the heart is relieved of the burden of rancour, and of the weight of property in this world, leaving it freer to move onward in its spiritual journeying.

Forbearance and forgiveness, before or after due process of law, are better or fairer than the retaliation or compensation the law can demand from a convicted offender on behalf of the victim. That is the Qur’anic teaching. It means that resort to the law is good and fair; it does not mean that resort to the law is bad or unfair or otherwise undesirable. Even a little experience of the realities and necessities of life tells us that only in a very few cases does a crime result in loss for a single individual who would be in a position to choose the better/fairer way of forgiveness. Typically, a single criminal act will have several victims and, insofar as it may encourage other criminal acts, it will also harm the ethos of the community. Therefore, the process of law is desirable. The truth of the teaching attributed to Jesus, and exemplified in the anecdote related of Ma’ruf, is that even after the law is applied, the victim(s) and the community as a whole need to be rid of resentment and rancour against the offender(s). Retaliation and compensation are the public, outward form of the process of recovering the moral equilibirum shaken by the crime; offering to the one who steals from you, as Ma’ruf did, some part of your own goods, is the personal, inward form.

Dearer than our property is our sense of our own worth, and just as our property is possessed as ours by not being somebody else’s, so too our own worth is sometimes defined in contrast to others’ lack of worth. The fight against self- righteousness is correspondingly more demanding than that against possessive attachment to worldly goods. The following anecdote illustrates this:

While Ma’ruf was out walking by the river in the company of some of his young students, a gang of youths, drinking wine and playing music, came by and pestered them. The youths were noisy, boisterous and insulting. Ma’ruf’s students asked him to pray to God to rid them of the youths’ foul behaviour by drowning them in the river. Ma’ruf asked his students to raise their hands and join him in the prayer he would address to God. They did so. We must imagine, at this solemn moment, the boisterous youths falling silent and listening. Ma’ruf said: ‘O God, You have granted to these youths joy and happiness in this life, grant them likewise joy and happiness in the life to come.’ His students protested that they did not understand at all the meaning of this prayer. But the boisterous youths understood it: straightaway repenting, they poured away their wine and broke their lutes, and joined the saint’s company. Ma’ruf commented to his students: ‘You see that your prayer has been answered in full without anyone being drowned or caused to suffer.

The youths became aware, through the words Ma’ruf uttered (we must imagine the spiritual intensity with which he spoke), of Gods care for them, the reaching out of His Compassion. They understood that the disciplines of religious life (which they had mocked by mocking the saint and his students) were not a barren self-denial for its own sake, but the way to true self-fulfillment; indeed, it was their own vulgar pleasures that amounted, in the larger perspective, to self-denial-just as, in typical practice, such pleasures consist of devices for self-abandonment like intoxication.

For Ma’ruf’s students the lesson was harder. It is the severest temptation, having committed oneself to a journey, to believe one has arrived at its destination. Having elected to be in the saints company, to follow his disciplines, the students were blind to the reality that the Compassion of the One God must embrace all His creatures, even those who would deny Him. They willed to be saved themselves but did not desire the same good for those who opposed them on their path. The practice of the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace, and of his Companions, was to continue to desire the guidance of those who made war on the Muslims, before and after battle. Their guidance was more desirable than their defeat at the hands of the Muslims; that is the reason why, so often, their defeat was followed by their guidance, why victory for the Muslims was victory for Islam. So important is this principle that it became a matter of law that enemies must not be engaged in combat until they had first been offered Islam. As we know from the Qur’an, there are occasions, as recounted of the Prophets Noah and Moses, upon them be peace, when the enemies of religion are so inveterate, so utterly determined, in their enmity, that it becomes permissible to pray for their destruction before their guidance. But it may be that such a prayer is only allowed to Prophets, men whose understanding of and commitment to Divine Will is infallible. The general principle is to desire the guidance of ones enemies, not their destruction. Self-righteousness obscures this principle; it narrows the heart and the religion, making both exclusive in temperament and hardening the enmity of ones enemies. Also, wishing the destruction (rather than the guidance) of those who oppose on the path is to wish that path less difficult than it must be.