“They will say: ‘Our Lord! You have made us die twice, and given us life twice, so we acknowledge our sins. Is there, then, any way to get out?” (al-Mu’min 11)

The verse refers to dying twice. This entails that one has to be alive before each death. Before fertilization, both sperm and ovum are alive, and with fertilization, they complete their functions and die. The duty of the sperm and ovum are to add 23 chromosomes each to make 46. In the zygote phase (nutfah in the Qur’anic description), the sperm and ovum die, only to acquire a new nature [1].

Of approximately 400 million sperms, each having 23 chromosomes, only one can enter one ovum, having the same number of chromosomes. Thus, the lover meets the beloved, but their fusion results in both of their deaths: as the sperm enters the ovum, the process by which two cells die starts. The membrane at the head of the sperm disintegrates upon collision with the ovum, and the sperm uses an enzyme that is secreted upon this collision to pierce through the membrane of the ovum and enter inside. During this short-lived “welcome” ceremony held for only one cell, all border crossings are closed with an electrical activity inside the ovum. There is no room for another lover in the heart of the beloved as it has found its lover.

Multiple pregnancies occur either when several ova are fertilized by a sperm each (dizygotic multiple pregnancies) or when the fertilized ovum or zygote splits into two at an early stage (enzygotic multiple pregnancies).

In the process of this first death, the tail and membrane of the sperm disintegrate. 23 chromosomes, which the sperm is required to deliver to the ovum, are located at its head, which is 4,000th of a millimeter wide. When these chromosomes fuse with the other 23 chromosomes at the center of the ovum, i.e., when the mission is accomplished, the process of death commences.

Sperm cells are produced in a male’s testes, and their journey begins there; they travel a long way to meet the ovum of the mother. The distance an average size sperm travels is proportionately equivalent to almost 2.4 million km for a human with an average height, which means traversing the world’s 40,000-km circumference 60 times. A sperm has a length of 25-350 micrometers [2].

In this voyage, the sperm attains a speed of 40 km per hour. If we compare it with the running speed of a human being, this is like a person running at a speed of 600,000 km per hour—i.e., approximately 500 times the speed of sound [3].

Although some 400,000 ova are produced, only 400 of them are delivered to the womb via tubes from the ovaries.

This voyage culminates in the formation of a zygote. As such, both the sperm and the ovum have performed their duties, i.e., bringing together 23 chromosomes from each, before dying. Meanwhile, some 400 million sperms competing with each other to reach the ovum first secrete certain enzymes to help the winner of the race. In a sense, they die a sacrificial death.

This process, starting with the formation of a zygote, is described in the Qur’an as follows:

“We created humankind (in the very beginning) from a specially sifted extract of clay. Then We made it into a fertilized ovum in a safe lodging. Then We created of the fertilized ovum a clot clinging (to the womb wall), and (afterwards in sequence). We created of the clinging clot a (chew of) lump, and We created of (a chew of) lump bones, and We clothed the bones in flesh. Then We caused it to grow into another creation. So Blessed and Supreme is God, the Creator Who creates everything in the best and most appropriate form, and has the ultimate rank of creativity” (al-Mu’minun, 23:12-14).

We can say that human beings are created in the womb in seven phases:

1. sifted extract of clay (organic and inorganic elements, protein soup)
2. zygote (nutfah)
3. clot
4. chew of lump
5. creation of bones
6. clothing bones with flesh
7. causing it to grow into another creation (blowing of the soul).

Death is not the end; on the contrary, it is the beginning of a new life. The first death, mentioned in the verse, is the death of sperm and ovum after fusing with each other and their clinging as a “clot” to the inner layer of the womb, which can be considered a grave where they can start a new life. This first death is a means for being born to this world. The death at the end of the life in this world is the “second death,” referenced in the verse, and as a result of this death, one will be resurrected for a second time in the eternal world. God knows best.

In Sura an-Najm, there is another subtle coincidence related to human being’s being born twice and dying twice: “And He it is Who (by His Will, Power, and creation) enables to laugh and to weep. And He it is Who causes to die and gives life” (an-Najm, 53:43-44).

In the 43rd verse, laughing is mentioned before weeping, while in the 44th verse, death comes before life; in other words, laughing is linked to death while weeping is associated with life. When the sperm and the ovum, in a sense, die when it clings as a clot to the womb, this sends a signal to the mother, telling her that her pregnancy has started. The embryo being buried in the grave of the womb is the first death. This news brings happiness to the parents, making them laugh. Nine months later, the child is born, crying.

The sperm and the ovum perform the function of bringing together the sound chromosomes. When they fuse, they die a sacrificial death in order to be resurrected. Just as sound chromosomes brought by the sperm and the ovum are means for the birth of a sound body, the righteous deeds we brought to the Hereafter may be means for us to earn God’s mercy and right to enter the Paradise. Our duty is to be diligent about faith and righteous deeds, safeguard them carefully, and take them safely to the eternal abode. The road is a long and arduous one, with many predicaments, but the destination is very beautiful and worth everything. In all of these processes, God knows every lodging and disposition.

“No living creature is there moving on the earth but its provision depends on God, and He knows its every lodging and disposition (every stage of its life), and the duration of its stay, and the moment of its transition therefrom. All is in a Manifest Book” (Hud, 11: 6). [4]

Ziya Pasha:

“I glorify God, Whose art amazes the minds
and incapacitates the elites of science, art, and virtue.”

Footnotes

1. Nutfah is the water-like liquid reproductive substance. In the Holy Qur’an, nutfah means the single cell that results from the fertilization of the ovum with a sperm. In embryology, this cell is called a “zygote.” In the late 18th century, it was understood that human beings are created from zygotes. Yet, the Qur’an clearly states this fact in this and many other verses. (See Suat Yıldırım, Kur’an-ı Hakim’in Açıklamalı Meali̇ (Annotated Translation of the Holy Qur’an), Istanbul: Define Yayınları, 2007, p. 348).
2. R. Baker and M. Bellis, “Number of Sperm in Human Ejaculates Varies in Accordance with Sperm Competition Theory”, Sperm Competition in Humans, Ed. T. K. Shackelford and N. Pound, Boston: Springer, 2006, pp. 131–134.
3. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe reached a velocity of 532.000 km per hour.
4. Elmalılı Hamdi Yazır, Hak Dini Kuran Dili, Istanbul: Eser Neşriyat ve Dağıtım, 1979, Vol. 4, p. 2757.

Sometimes unexpected things happen to us in life. We encounter situations that have almost no place in probability calculations. It’s like when the evil Star Wars character Darth Vader declares to the heroic Luke Skywalker, “I am your father.” The revelation is unexpected, and audiences are surprised.

Sometimes, life can feel that way.

This scenario can have different connotations for everyone, and it reminded me of a classical physics question. Suppose you pour a glass of tap water into the ocean. If you think about the size of the ocean, you will also imagine that a glass of water will disappear in it immediately. Five years later, fill a glass of water from another ocean shore on the other side of the world. The question is this: how many water molecules in the second glass came from the first glass? Assuming that there are around a billion cubic kilometers of water in all the world’s oceans, a glass of water is nothing compared to this total volume. Or, to put it mathematically, the probability of a molecule from the first glass being in the second glass is two chances in 1 followed by twenty-two zeros.

But then, there are an incredible number of molecules in a glass of water: they can have molecules totaling 1 followed by twenty-five zeros. Assume that a thousand molecules from the first glass are in the second. The probability decreases to only two out of 10¹⁹. That is still practically impossible. Going back to Star Wars, what is the probability that the enemy you encounter in the whole galaxy is your father?

We’d be surprised at the possibility that Darth Vader is Luke’s father, but we wouldn’t be surprised at the birth of a baby. The fact that four babies are born every second all over the world is important here. However, the probability of a baby being born is much lower than that Darth Vader is Luke’s father.

Let’s think of an ordinary person; his name is Joe, and Joe has 46 chromosomes like everyone else. Otherwise, there would be an anomaly in Joe, and then Joe would not be an ordinary person. As everyone remembers from basic biology classes, half of Joe’s chromosomes miraculously come from his mother (Mary) and half from his father (Jacob). Let’s not forget that his parents, like Joe, have 46 chromosomes from 23 pairs each. Thus, one of the chromosome pairs of each of his parents was chosen for Joe. Twenty-three chromosomes from both sides form the building blocks of Joe.

If the probability of 23 chromosomes coming from his mother is calculated, the number (0.5)²³ is obtained. How so? Well, the probability of a chromosome being selected is one in two. There are 23 pairs of chromosomes; Since the probability of being selected from the first couple is ½, the probability of being selected from the second couple is ½, the probability of being selected from the third couple is ½, and the probability of being selected from the fourth couple is ½, the probability of 23 independent events is calculated: as 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2…1/2= (1 /2)²³. This calculation means that the probability of being Joe with the chromosomes from his mother is about one in ten million. This probability is equal to a big jackpot for a single ticket purchased in the national lottery.

The same probability applies to the father’s side, too. Then the probability of being Joe by chance drops to one in a hundred trillion this time. 10⁷ x 10⁷ = 10¹⁴ or 1 in 100,000,000,000,000. As such, the probability of Joe being born as the Joe we know is 10⁷ times more difficult than winning the jackpot in a single ticket from the national lottery. In other words, the probability of Joe is ten million times less than winning the national lottery jackpot.

Let’s imagine that Mary and Jacob met in a medium-sized settlement where there is a population of at least 10,000 men and 10,000 women. Then the odds of meeting these two people would be one in ten thousand. The probability calculations for Joe’s birth then fall to one in one quintillion. The fertilization of the mother’s egg can only be achieved through an average of 15 million sperm. This situation gradually decreases the probability of Joe being born: 15 x 10⁶ x 10¹⁸ = 15 x 10²⁴—or, one chance in fifteen septillion.

Joe’s mother did not come down from out of space. The probability of Joe’s mother, Mary, is also one in 15 Septillion. Identically, if we consider that the probability of his father is the same, the probability of being Joe is 225 x 10²⁴ x 10²⁴. One in 225 Kendecillion.

Here I must add: all assumptions take place in ideal circumstances. Before knowing each other, the possibilities of the mother or father’s death, the infertility of one or both, and the like are not included. The probability is very, very low, but must not be ignored.

Mary’s parents or Jacob’s parents and their families—and their families—and all other previous families must have existed since the beginning of human life. When you consider all the possibilities, the probability becomes sooooo infinitesimal. To describe such a possibility, we can only call it a probability in infinity. This possibility is valid for every ordinary Joe. Considering that there are 7 billion people in line, it is not difficult to say that life is a miracle of creation.

The last estimated human population in the world is about 7.7 billion. Considering that four babies are born every second and two people die (according to the data in 2019), it can be predicted that the human population will increase day by day. Thinking of this complicated probability calculations, we can only conclude how precious each human being is.

People have better understood the value of life during these COVID times. Since spring 2020, nearly a million Americans have died from COVID, leaving many millions grieving. A March 2021 poll from the Associated Press–NORC (AP-NORC) Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 20 percent of people surveyed in the U.S. had lost a relative or close friend to COVID. That means a potential bereaved population of about 65 million. That number has certainly increased. Death also reminds us that life is precious, as each birth is a unique gift. Again, considering all the probabilities, the chance of a baby coming into the world healthy is much lower than the chance of coming into the world unhealthy.

The large human population is not evidence of the simplicity and mediocrity of life but rather the perfection in the creation of the universe. When considering this, it is undeniable that there is a hand of power in this magnificent functioning. Is it a coincidence, or are we living and breathing in a superb and controlled system?

And should you attempt to count God’s blessings, you could not compute them. God is indeed All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate (16:18)

Source: https://www.medindia.net/patients/calculators/worldpopulation.asp

Tschauner O. et al. Discovery of bridgmanite, the most abundant mineral in Earth, in a shocked meteorite. Science, November 2014.

A team of scientists has identified and characterized the Earth’s most abundant mineral: “Bridgemanite” makes up about 70 percent of the Earth’s lower mantle and 38 percent of its total volume. It is made of a high-density form of magnesium iron silicate and named after 1964 Nobel laureate physicist Percy Bridgman. For decades, scientists knew of the existence of dense Bridgemanite layers in the Earth’s lower mantle (660 to 2890 km beneath the surface) through theoretical and some experimental studies. However, since the mysterious mineral never survived the trip to the surface, no one had been able to prove its existence. Conveniently, shock-compression that occurs in collisions of asteroids creates an identical hostile temperature (2100 C°) and high-pressure (240,000 times greater than sea-level) conditions to those found in deep layers of the Earth. As such, scientists decided to look at meteorites closely, particularly one that had fallen in Australia in 1879. By using a micro-focused X-ray beam in conjunction with electron microscopy, they were able to successfully detect the Bridgemanite grains for the first time. The discovery of the Bridgmanite’s crystal chemistry will have a significant impact on the future studies of chemistry and geology of the Earth’s deep mantle, and perhaps studies on the formation of the universe.

Male smokers lose Y chromosomes

Dumanski et al. Smoking is associated with mosaic loss of chromosome Y. Science, December 2014.

The Y chromosome is one of two sex-determining chromosomes in men, who have one X chromosome and one Y (women have no Y chromosomes, but two X chromosomes). During normal cell division, copies of all of the 23 chromosomes, including X and Y, are synthesized and sorted into the two new daughter cells. This complicated process sometimes goes wrong and chromosomes are lost. Cells with missing chromosomes usually die, but cells can still survive without a Y chromosome. Scientists initially thought that men lose Y chromosomes as they age and this is a part of the normal aging process. But later studies have shown that the age-dependent loss of Y chromosomes can have serious health implications, as it is linked to a shorter life span and an increased risk of dying from cancer. Even more troubling results came from a recent study that screened for associations between behavioral and lifestyle choices, and diseases. Comparison of the DNA in blood cells of over 6000 men suggested that blood cells from actively smoking men are 3-4 times more likely to be missing Y chromosomes than the nonsmokers in the control. These findings may explain why male smokers have a slightly increased risk of death from the majority of cancers than female smokers. The scientists hypothesized that the Y chromosome loss may create defective immune cells that cannot fight cancer and ultimately make the body susceptible to tumors. The study gives some good news to smokers though. Y chromosome damage by smoking is both reversible and dose-dependent, so you are always better off not smoking; it is never too late to quit.

The world’s oldest case of cancer

Lieverse AR et al. Paleopathological Description and Diagnosis of Metastatic Carcinoma in an Early Bronze Age (4588+34 Cal. BP) Forager from the Cis-Baikal Region of Eastern Siberia. PLOS ONE, December 2014.

Cancer is responsible for one in four deaths in the Western world. It is widely assumed that cancer is a disease of modern times. Since people in older eras were exposed to fewer toxins, ate only natural foods, and adapted physically active lifestyles, many people thought that no one in older civilizations would have had cancer. Yet an analysis of a 4500-year-old skeleton from a cemetery in the Cis-Baikal region of Siberia has seriously challenged this idea. Researchers estimated that the Siberian man was about 35 to 45 years old before he died from a severe lung or prostate cancer. The ancient man’s bones, from head to hip and including his upper arms and upper legs, were covered by lesions and big holes. It is almost certain that the deterioration of his bones left him immobile and eventually caused him a very agonizing death. It is also clear that those around him recognized his situation and placed him in a circular grave in the fetal position with some artifacts ,which is completely different from the rest of the burials in the cemetery. Although ancient skeletons with the scars of cancer are relatively rare, scientists suspect that cancer may have been considerably more common in ancient times than is generally predicted, especially when considering other variables such as naturally occurring carcinogens and longer life expectancies.