“He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint or advice when it conflicts with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinate, yet capricious and vacillating, … His mind was radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was no longer Gage.”(3)

The damage to his frontal lobes caused Gage to behave like an ill-tempered child.

Another source of information on brain function is derived from the follow-up studies of patients who have had a portion of the brain removed. Frontal lobotomy is the term used for the surgical removal of the frontal lobe in patients with emotional disorders.(4) It may be difficult today to imagine that an invasive procedure like destroying a large portion of the brain can be employed as a therapeutic approach. Yet, in 1949 the Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded to Dr. Egas Moniz for his development of the frontal lobotomy technique. (Strange enough, Moniz himself was shot in the spine and partially paralyzed by a lobotomized patient.) Tens of thousands of people were lobotomized following World War II.

A variety of techniques were used to produce lesions on the frontal lobes. In the techniques shown in Figure 2, a knife was inserted through the thin bone at the top of the orbit of the eye. The handle was then swung medially and laterally to destroy the frontal brain areas. Thousands of people were lobotomized with this technique, sometimes called “ice pick psychosurgery.” This operation benefited patients with a number of psychological disorders and provided them with relief from anxiety and a means of escape from thoughts that were unendurable. Although frontal lobotomy did not significantly alter the patient’s IQ or memory functions, some other profound side effects emerged.

The information presented above exemplify the two main sources of information for our understanding of brain function; accidents that lesion the brain, as in the case of Phineas Gage, and surgical interventions on patients with various psychological disorders or epilepsy. In both cases, certain brain functions become impaired and thereby provide evidence as to which brain functions the destroyed areas are involved with. It is now believed by neuroscientists that although there are only one or two types of information that each brain center is specialized to process, there is extensive communication and information sharing between these areas. The frontal lobe is one of the integrative areas where neural information from many other centers converges. It is a highly developed area where an advanced level of information processing takes place. In light of the scientific data presented above, one cannot help but think that the wisdom that lies behind a number of verses in the Holy Qur’an that refer to the forehead and forelock may be related to the function of the frontal portion of the brain in decision making and its function in the formation of ethical values. In the Qur’an, God says: 

Let him beware! If he desist not, We will drag him by the forelock, a lying, sinful forelock. (Alaq 96:15-16)

The Arabic word nasiyah here can also be translated as forehead or face. Abdullah Yusuf Ali, who translates this word as forelock, in his comments on these verses says that the forelock is located on the forehead, and is thus symbolic of the summit and crown of the human power or dignity. To be dragged by this is to suffer the greatest humiliation.(5)

We also find a reference in the Qur’an to the sinners being seized by their nawasi, the plural of forelock:

(For) the sinners will be known by their marks: and they will be seized by their forelocks (nawasi) and their feet. (Rahman 55:41)

Another reference in the Qur’an is found where the forehead (jabha) is mentioned as a body part that will be punished:

On the Day when heat will be produced out of that (wealth) in the fire of Hell, and with it will be branded their foreheads (jabha), their flanks, and their backs. “This is the (treasure) which you buried for yourselves. Taste, then, the (treasures) you buried!” (Tawba 9:35)

Here the Arabic word jabha literally means the forehead of a person.

Can these verses be indicating the importance of the frontal area of the brain in decision-making and the formation of ethical values? The decision-making that we call “freewill” raises the human being above all other beings and puts on their shoulders the “trust” of their Creator. This is the “trust” by which the human being becomes responsible for understanding the divine purpose in life and conducting their life accordingly as a dignified vicegerent of his Lord on Earth. It is also very interesting to note that the frontal lobes are much smaller in other animals that are lower in the phylogenetic scale. It is the human being that has the largest frontal lobes, larger even than that of the great apes. The Author of the Book knows best, yet, it is the responsibility of humanity, as those who have been bestowed with intelligence and reason, to contemplate and reflect . . . 

References

1. Harlow, J.,M., “Passage of an iron rod through the head,” Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, (1848) 39:389-393.
2. Harlow, J.,M., “Recovery from the passage of an iron bar through the head,” Publication of Massachusetts Medical Society, (1868) 2:329-347.
3. Damasio, H., Grabowski, T., Frank, R., Galaburda, A.,M., Damasio, A.,R., “The return of Phineas Gage: clues about the brain from the skull of a famous patient,” Science, (1994) 264:1102-1105, pp. 339-340.
4. Bear, M., F., Connors, B., W., Paradiso, M., A., “Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain,” second edition, Lippincott Williams&Wilkins, Baltimore, Maryland: 2001.
5. Yusuf Ali, A., The Meaning of The Holy Qur’an, Tenth edition, Amana Publications, Maryland: 1999. 

“The Sinning Forelock” reports the astounding story of Phineas Gage, who survived what should have been a fatal work accident, only receiving a serious wound to the frontal lobes of his brain. Although this accident took place in 1848, Gage remains a mysterious a record in the history of medicine. What is more interesting and what is related to the outlook of The Fountain is that a change-or deterioration, to be more precise-in the personality of Gage occurred after the accident; a man who had been an honest individual with an exemplary character, became irritable and rude. Such changes were clues to scientists that helped to determine what roles the different parts of the brain played.

The Journalists and Writers Foundation, Istanbul, added another link to its successful chain of international organizations. Having first started with domestic nationwide events in Turkey, the foundation has taken giant steps to become the organizers for conferences covering the entire globe. “From Terrorism to Global Ethic: Religions and Peace” was the title of the last meeting of Dialogue Eurasia Platform, which operates under the J&W Foundation. As the meeting was organized together with the Institute of Oriental Studies at Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Moscow was chosen as the venue for an interfaith and dialogue meeting that took place June 7-8. Mehmet Yilmaz reports on this event for us.

We wish you all our readers a blissful and beneficial experience in the Blessed Three Months, which are just around the corner. 

‘He died so young’ they said, and added: He had so many things to do’.

It was true, that I had left a great deal of work half done; I had not set up a good business for my son, completed the payment of the instalment of the car and TV. Winter was around the corner, I had not prepared the leaking roof or bought the fuel. Now the dream to establish a big firm and employ my friends had dispersed to nothing.

Suddenly, I was irritated by a noise, as if coming through a microphone echoed in every remote cell of my brain:

‘It is all over!’

I wished it had not been all over, I did not know why the accident happened. I was a good driver.

As I was trying to recall the events that had taken place, I realized that my friends surrounding the coffin were covering it by putting the lid over me. No matter how much I wanted to shout, I could neither move nor speak. I was in complete darkness and turned my eyes towards the light coming from the gaps in the coffin.

I said to myself in horror:

‘Oh my God! What am I going to do now?’

Seized with fear, I could think of nothing. Later, I was lifted on to their shoulders as they began to carry the coffin. Hearing the noise coming from outside understood that it was raining. The noise of the raindrops mingled with the creaking of the coffin. We must have gone to the mosque for the funeral prayer.

I remembered that although the mosque was so close to my home, I had never paid it a visit. I had planned to start prayers after the age of fifty and I would quit the bad habits everyone complained about. If the accident had not occurred, I would have been a good fellow.

The voice that I heard before repeated, ‘It is all over!’ A little later my funeral prayer was completed. The Imam was asking people’s opinion, as to ‘what kind of character I was’. I knew that among them were some eight or ten persons did not give an opinion. I accepted that I had given them some evil and harm, but if the accident had not occurred, I would have been pleased to make amends and duly compensate them for the equivalent of any harm done. After the prayer in the mosque was completed, I was lifted on to the shoulders again. Due the inclination of the coffin, I understood that we were on the road uphill to the grave. I was aware that it was pouring rain and the rain was seeping through the cracks in the coffin on to the shroud, making it damp. Nevertheless, I tried to listen to the conversations coming from outside. Some of my friends were talking about the stagnation of the market, some were commentating on a Western film they had seen the previous evening on the TV. Another, carrying my coffin whispered:

‘What a bad day the deceased chose to die, we have got wet through and through’.

I could not believe what I heard and I thought that I must have misunderstood. Were they not the ones for whom I had sacrificed my wealth and my health?

A little later my journey finished and my coffin was put down on the ground. The lid was removed again. The arms holding my weak and lifeless flesh put it into the hole where a little water had collected. Lying on the ground, I looked around:

‘Oh my God, was it a grave?’ I did not know why I had not thought until then that I would be buried in a grave. No one heard my silent cries and my best friends seemed to be competing each other to cover my body with thick boards.

I was in complete dark once more, I began to pray with all my cells;

‘Oh my merciful God’ I said, ‘Is there another chance to be a real servant of Yours?’

The same voice repeated,

‘It is all over, everything has finished.’

I was shaken by the noise of the earth, which clammered like thunder as it was been thrown on the boards. With a final effort to get up, I opened my eyes. I was lying on my comfortable bed and it was all a nightmare. One of my neighbours, a doctor, was standing at the bedside.

‘It is all over,’ he repeated, ‘You are all right’.

I sat up slowly from the bed, I was dripping with perspiration, feeling I had lost twenty kilos weights. It was raining heavy in the outside and the whole house was shaken by thunder.

While I was trying to recover myself in front of the bewildered eyes of the others, I whispered:

‘Oh my Lord, a thousand thanks to You. What would I do, if You had not given me another chance to be an obedient servant to You?’