There are lots of interesting examples of how plants communicate with insects. For instance, in self-defense against insects eating its leaves, a plant emits a volatile chemical that signals other insects, who are predators of those insects eating the plant. A byproduct of such insect communication may allow plants to signal danger to other extremely close, downwind plants. Professor of Entomology, Richard Karban and other researchers from the University of California showed that a cut sagebrush “told” nearby, downwind wild tobacco plants about its injury, and the tobacco plants apparently responded to protect themselves from damage. Over three seasons, researchers clipped leaves of sagebrush plants to mimic insects eating their leaves. The cut sagebrush released volatile chemicals (methyl jasmonate), which the wind carried to nearby downwind plants. The tobacco plants apparently sensed the chemicals-at least the tobacco plants increased production of a defensive agent-that caused their leaves to taste bad to insects. These downwind tobacco plants experienced less than half the leaf damage from grasshoppers and cutworms than control plants (Anon.). In one case study an acacia tree responded to browsing, or being beaten with a stick, by increasing the levels of tannin in its leaves within minutes. Amazingly, the tannin levels then rise in neighboring trees, and, due to its bitter taste, repel the browsers before they can do any further damage (Jacob 2001; Anon.).

What’s more is that plants can also talk to mammals. A study done by Professor Steven Johnson and his research team from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, demonstrated how ground-dwelling mammal pollinators are attracted by a rare parasitic plant’s unique “perfume.” This specific floral aroma is comprised of over 30 compounds, especially ketones, fatty-acid derivatives, mono- and sesquiterpenoids. The three most abundant scent chemicals were 1-hexen-3-one, 3-hexanone, and ethyl butyrate. When the impact of these chemicals was tested on mice, it turned out that mice, like humans, find 3-hexanone to have a pleasant smell. The molecule is routinely used in artificial flavoring to produce a sweet fruity grape-like flavor. In addition, 3-hexanone has also been found in some bat-pollinated flowers, so it may be a general mammal attractant. Remarkably, scent cues are particularly important to plants pollinated by small ground-dwelling mammals because these animals are usually around at night when visual cues are less effective (Johnson et al. 2011; Anon.).

In addition to pests, plants have to deal with numerous microbial pathogens such as bacteria, fungi and oomycetes, and viruses in the natural environment. A proper response to pathogens can lead to resistance mechanisms that enable plants to survive. Plants can recognize potential pathogens by detecting pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). This recognition activates a defense mechanism. A well-organized communication between the pathogen-invaded plant tissues and non-invaded ones is essential for the timely manifestation of defense mechanisms that limit the systemic spread of pathogens (Shah 2009). Salicylic acid, an important mobile signal, is transported from infected tissue to the rest of the plant body. It activates the systemic acquired resistance, which is a “whole-plant” resistance response that occurs following an earlier localized exposure to a pathogen. Plants not only communicate within themselves about a microbial invasion, they also talk to one another. For example, Tobacco plants warn each other against tobacco mosaic virus attack by releasing methyl salicylate, which is then converted to the protective salicylic acid in uninfected plants (Jacob 2001).

In contrast to harmful pathogenic interactions, there are also symbiotic, advantageous interactions between some microorganisms and plants. Establishment of such a beneficial symbiosis (which literally means “living together” in Greek) is complex. For successful infections, a molecular dialogue between partners is essential (Vadassery and Oelmüller 2009). Among these kinds of interactions, legume-Rhizobium symbiosis is of particular importance in agriculture, because by forming the symbiosis, atmospheric nitrogen can be used to sustain the growth of legume crops, such as soybean, pea, and bean, which occupy 12% to 15% of the land that can be used for growing crops throughout the world (Sugiyama, Shitan, and Yazaki 2007). Rhizobia are soil bacteria that fix nitrogen (diazotrophs) after becoming established inside root nodules of legumes such as alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, soy, and peanut.

Rhizobia require a plant host, since they cannot independently fix nitrogen (Anon.). Plant roots secrete signaling molecules (e.g. flavonoids) to attract Rhizobia. When Rhizobia sense these chemicals, they colonize around root tissues of the host legume plant. So, the rhizobial infection in legumes is an invasion by invitation (Murray 2011). The attached rhizobia secrete Nod factors, which are perceived by the plant. This initiates a series of events that leads to the formation of nodule, where Rhizobia fix nitrogen. Thus, Rhizobia make legume independent of soil nitrogen and the legume supplies nutrients to the bacteria. In addition, the legume plant supplies one critical component of nitrogenase, which is the key enzyme for fixing nitrogen. It all happens because the plant can talk to the bacteria.

The plant has many interests in being colonized by mycorrhizal fungi. Apart from providing nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, the fungi protect plants from diseases, parasites, and other stresses. Plants even grow as much as 40% more when colonized. In laboratory experiments, carrots that were colonized grew 20 times more than the carrots that were not! In fact, they are such close “friends” that the fungus cannot live without a plant, and between 80-90% of all plants on earth are somehow associated with mycorrhizal fungi. The origin of this incredible friendship is communication (Montréal 2012).

As a result, plants can talk to microorganisms, pests, and mammals, but do they communicate with people? Are they intelligent creatures who can communicate with us? In 1848, Dr. Gustav Theodor Fechner, a German professor, suggested that plants are capable of emotions and that one could promote healthy growth with talk, attention, and affection. An Indian scientist, Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose, conducted experiments on plants in 1900. Bose found that plants grew more quickly amidst pleasant music and more slowly amidst loud noise or harsh sounds (Sir Patrick Geddes and Geddes 1920).

Moreover, according to Royal Horticultural Society, talking to plants helps them grow, especially if the one talking to the plant is a woman. Even though there are lots of divisive experiments done with plants to understand if they can talk to human beings, there is no serious finding about this subject yet. Even if, plant biologists do not currently know how to talk to plants, they strive to comprehend how plants communicate with other organisms in order to use this new and exciting language for improving the resistance of plants against pests or pathogens. Instead of using chemical pesticides, genetically engineered plant defense and communication pathways in crops are a preferred avenue.

Communication of plants with other organisms is such a complex problem. Plants can have a network with so many different creatures. They pass on information to each other or to other organisms that speak other languages. How did they obtain these amazing communication skills? Even the most advanced creatures, human beings, experience problems in communication, how can plants have robust communication systems in a heterogeneous environment?

The next time you hear a strange rustling among your garden plants, maintain distance. They might be having an argument. Plants also talk and they respond to attacks like we do. So, be careful and do not hurt plants as they might even curse or scream to you (Anon.).

Safiye Arslan is a research fellow in the area of molecular biology in Nevada.

References

• Adler, Frederick R. 2011. Plant signalling: the opportunities and dangers of chemical communication. Biology Letters. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=3061173tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract.
• Anon. Do plants talk? What are the chances it’s a boy? – USATODAY.com. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/aprilholladay/2006-07-24-plant-talk-baby-boys_x.htm.
• Anon. jacobson’s organ and the remarkable nature of smell. http://books.google.com/books/about/Jacobson_s_Organ_and_the_Remarkable_Natu.html?id=liKKQgAACAAJ.
• Anon. BBC – Earth News – “Perfumed” parasitic plant lures in pollinating mammals. http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9376000/9376474.stm.
• Anon. What is Rhizobia. http://www.bionewsonline.com/y/what_is_rhizobia.htm.
• Anon. Biotechnology: Plantlinguistic: – “Plants Communicate With Each Other.” http://bioinformations4all.blogspot.com/2009/08/plantlinguistic-plants-communicate-with.html.
• Jacob, Tim. 2001. “The science and myths of smell.” EMBO Reports 2 (10): 880. http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v2/n10/full/embor301.html.
• Johnson, Steven D, Priscilla M Burgoyne, Lawrence D Harder, Stefan Dötterl, and Proc R Soc. 2011. “Mammal pollinators lured by the scent of a parasitic plant Subject collections Mammal pollinators lured by the scent of a parasitic plant.” Society 278 (January): 2303-10. doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.2175. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=3119003&tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract.
• Montréal, Jardin botanique de. 2012. “Chatting with a plant’s best friend – Science +” (June 3). http://www.aucoeurdelarbre.ca/en/thematics-texts/thematics-texts-details.php?id=8.
• Murray, Jeremy D. 2011. “Invasion by invitation: rhizobial infection in legumes.” Molecular plantmicrobe interactions MPMI 24 (6): 631-639. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21542766.
• Shah, Jyoti. 2009. “Plants under attack: systemic signals in defence.” Current Opinion in Plant Biology 12 (4): 459-464. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19608451.
• Sir Patrick Geddes, and Sir Patrick Geddes. 1920. The life and work of Sir Jagadis C. Bose. Longmans, Green. http://books.google.com/books?id=EPtCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA97&q=”continuous”#v=twopage.
• Sugiyama, Akifumi, Nobukazu Shitan, and Kazufumi Yazaki. 2007. “Involvement of a soybean ATP-binding cassette-type transporter in the secretion of genistein, a signal flavonoid in legume-Rhizobium symbiosis.” Plant physiology 144 (4) (August): 2000-8. doi:10.1104/pp.107.096727. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1949875&tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract.
• Vadassery, Jyothilakshmi, and Ralf Oelmüller. 2009. “Calcium signaling in pathogenic and beneficial plant microbe interactions: what can we learn from the interaction between Piriformospora indica and Arabidopsis thaliana.” Plant signaling & behavior 4 (11) (November): 1024-7. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2819509&tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract.

There are two main points to this question – this matter has aspects that relate both to the people of guidance who are attached to God, and to those who are not.

It is the duty of the people of guidance to communicate to other people the truth as they believe, the truth they have found and had a taste of; the truth they are satisfied with or a view with which they mature with, and to guide them to peace. First and foremost, this is a debt of conscience we owe to humankind. A person who knows these truths, the content of which has been bestowed to our consciences as a divine favor, should communicate them to those who do not know and open for them the doors leading to God.

Now, let’s have look at how God has commanded about this matter: “The believers, both men and women, they are guardians, confidants and helpers of one another. They enjoin and promote what is right and good and forbid and try to prevent the evil” (Qur’an 9:71). Another verse reads: “O you who believe! There must be among you a community calling to good, and enjoining and promoting what is right and good and forbidding and trying to prevent evil (in appropriate ways). They are those who are the prosperous.” (3:104). God has always referred to those who promote what is right and good as an honorable community: “You are the best community ever brought forth for (the good of) humankind, enjoining and promoting what is right and good forbidding and trying to prevent the evil, and (this you do because) you believe in God” (Qur’an 3:110).

These divine lights considerably clarify this obligation towards humanity. This matter is clarified by many other verses and hadiths and it is so open and clear that it does not require any further interpretation or explanation. Therefore, we can gather from these verses that we are responsible for communicating the divine truths. This is such a compelling responsibility that if there was no one left on earth one day in future, then we will entertain the possibility that there might be people living in a colony near Sirius or some distant planet around some unknown star in the Hercules constellation and somewhere in the Milky Galaxy, and with an urge that is unique to human species to reach out to them, we will build colonies and cities as interim stations on our route toward them, and we will communicate our heart-felt inspirations to the people there (if any). We will intermingle and sympathize with them and we will show them the roads that will lead to God. We will say, “Say, ‘There is no god but God,’ and be saved and be prosperous,” as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, put, and this will always be our main motto. This is our duty. On the other hand, their duty is to lend an ear to this call of ours that invites them to peace and to search for the straight path wherever they are and everywhere they go.

If we do not fulfill our duty, we will fail to comply with our obligation towards God. Then, Almighty God will ask questioningly: “You knew the truth, but you failed to communicate to other people? You knew God, but you did not introduce Him to other people? You could see the straight path, but why didn’t you show it to other people? You were aware of the light, but why didn’t you turn other people to look toward that direction?”

In the light of divine revelations, I can say that on that day, Almighty God will say to them: “Although you satisfied all of your animal drives to the full, why didn’t you search for the way which would provide you with full gratification? Even during your most troubled and distressed times, you did not think for an instant to experiment this way? In other words, you have resorted to all sorts of recipes for your worldly welfare, but why didn’t you consider making the truth which you somewhat heard about even for once?”

In the final analysis, Almighty God will hold every individual against his or her own sins. Since we are responsible only for communicating the truth to them, we will be questioned only for our faults in fulfilling this duty of ours. On the other hand, they will be questioned for failing to search for truth or lend an ear in a sincere manner to the truth, if they have already heard about it. May God save us from falling tumbling down by failing to enjoin and promote what is right and good, and forbid and try to prevent the evil while having capability to do so!

1. To make the realm to its activity more spacious for the spirit, one should have a firm religious belief and develop spiritually through regular worship and asceticism. The more refined matter is, the more free and active the spirit. Austere practices-less food, more fasting, less sleep, refraining from all kinds of sins and regular and more frequent worship-are advised in this way. If one has innate capacity to develop one’s spiritual faculties, one can go beyond the limits of this material world, travel in the spirit in other dimensions of existence and, to some degree, get in contact with the past and future. It may be understood by means of the following analogy:

While you are in a room, you can see the things within the confines of the four walls. When you go outside, your viewing range will be broadened and include your immediate surroundings. You can see a still wider area from the top of a hill. As you ascend higher, the area you see is further enlarged. It is the same with time. The more free the spirit is from the imprisonment’ of matter and the body, the broader the realm of its activity is with respect to both time and space.

This way is usually the way of the Prophets and saints. Either through travel in spirit in time and space or through being taught by God, the Knower of the Seen and Unseen, they can penetrate into the depths of time and space just as the light of the sun, although it is a material body, can be present in numberless places at the same time, so the spirit of a Prophet or a saint, especially one belonging to the group called ‘substitutes’ (abdal), can be present in many places at the same time in the immaterial or energetic form of its body. The Qur’an points to this: the Spirit (many interpreters of the Qur’an are of the opinion that it was the Archangel Gabriel) was seen before Mary the virgin, mother of Jesus, in the form of a human being. There are many authentic narrations about some saints who were seen in different places at the same time. This is, as pointed out above, like the sun being reflected in innumerable transparent things at the same time.

The spirit of a saint which has acquired enough enlightenment or luminosity comes across symbols or signs of past or future events while it is travelling in time. The saint interprets those visions of his and gives news of certain past or future events. This is comparable to interpretation of dreams. However, the saint may sometimes err in his interpretation. However, a Prophet, since he receives revelation and is directly taught by God Almighty, the Knower of the Unseen, never errs in his interpretations and predictions. Whatever the Prophets predicted always came true. For example, the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings predicted numerous future events. Most of his predictions have already come true, while others are waiting for their time to come true. (For many of his predictions, see, Said Nursi, The Letters, vol. 1, pp. 111-130; F. Gulen, The Infinite Light, vol. 1, pp. 67-82).

Muhy al-Din ibn al-’Arabi is a Muslim saint who lived in the thirteenth century. Although he died about half a century before the foundation of the Ottoman State at the beginning of the fourteenth century, he predicted numerous important events of Ottoman history. His work Shajarat al-Nu’maniyah, manuscripts of which are available in libraries in Edirne and Istanbul in Turkey, is like a history of the Ottoman State written in symbols. For example, he predicted that his burial-place would be discovered when Salim entered Damascus, and it happened as he predicted. Again, he predicted that despite nine months of siege, Hafiz Ahmad Pasha would not be able to capture Baghdad and Murad, the Sultan, would conquer it in forty days. He also predicted that Sultan ‘Abd al-’Aziz would be dethroned and killed. All these predictions of his came true.

Similarly, Mushtaq Dada of Bitlis, who lived in the first half of the eighteenth century, predicted that, following a war, Ankara would be made the capital of Turkey by one named Kamal. It happened exactly as be predicted. His Diwan, the book containing his poems, where this prediction can be found, is available.

It is certain that these beloved servants of God, whether Prophets or saints, make predictions only by God’s leave and power. God Almighty enables and allows them to make predictions. He declares: My servant can draw near unto Me in no safer and better way than performing his obligatory religious duties. He becomes nearer to me through supereregatory prayers. Once he becomes near to Me, I become his eyes with which he sees, his ears with which he hears, and his hands with which he holds.

2. The second way to travel in spirit in time and space or to penetrate into further and deeper dimensions of time and space is to follow the guidance of the relevant Divine Name or Names. All existence depends on the manifestations of Divine Names. We see because, as the manifestation of His Name the All-Seeing, God Almighty has made us able to see; as the manifestation of His Name the Self- Subsistent and the One Causing to Subsist, we are able to continue to exist. If He were to cease the manifestation of His Name, the One Causing to Subsist, in connection with existence, the universe would go to ruin all instantly.

Similarly by following the guidance of God’s relevant Names, spirit beings, like angels and jinn can take on the form of another being by God’s leave; for example, they can assume the form of an animal or human being. Especially jinn can enter the body of an animal and govern its actions. Likewise, they can even take a human being under their influence. So, by discovering the Divine Name which gives one the ability to penetrate into farther dimensions of time and space and to follow the guidance of that Name in a particular affair, one can travel by God’s leave in time and space and see and hear certain things which others cannot.

3. Supranormal phenomena like telepathy and spiritualism are widespread in the world. Millions of people, who seek peace and happiness in a world where technology and materialistic world-view and tendencies dominate human lives, minds and spirits, attend special seances for the sake of so-called transcendental experiences.

Some people are more inclined to and have the innate capacity for supernormal phenomena. For example, a woman medium called Madame Gibson had predicted the partition of India in 1947 and the murder of John Kennedy. Likewise, Fenni Bey from Ordu, Turkey, who fought at the front of Madina during the First World War, relates:

‘We were under siege in Madina. I was unable to communicate with my family in Istanbul. One night in a dream I saw fire and smoke in my house. In the morning I sent for a private of mine, who was a medium. I told him to go into a trance and, travelling to my house-I told him where it was situated-describe to me what he saw. He did what I told him and began to describe: “1 have reached the house, I have knocked on the door and an old woman in a head-scarf has come out with a child in her arms.” I told the private to ask the woman if there was anything wrong in the house? He related to me: “She says your wife died yesterday.”

Spiritualism is one of the more widespread supranormal practices nowadays. Before further explanation, I should point out that my aim in mentioning such supranormal phenomena is to emphasize that existence is not normal phenomena is to emphasize that existence is not restricted to matter. Rather, as in the case with a book or a piece of writing whose main existence lies in its meaning, what is metaphysical or spiritual or immaterial is the essential part of existence; matter is accidental and a changing means for the manifestation of the immaterial. It is true that some great saints like Muhy al-Din ibn aI-’Arabi, are known to have communicated with the spirits of the dead and even of those who had not yet been born-the spirits of all human beings were created long before the first man came to the world and the spirit of each person is breathed into him while he is about a six-month old embryo in his mother’s womb-but those who practise spiritualism in the modern world today communicate, rather than with the souls of the dead, with the unbelieving jinn or satans who appear to them in the form of the dead person with whose soul they wish to communicate. Also, mediums who predict future events usually make contact with the jinn from whom they report what they report jinn are a kind of beings who live longer than humans, are active in broader dimensions (realms) of time and space and act much more speedily than human beings, and who can see some things which normal people cannot. However, they are unable to see the future and we should not believe their predictions even though, very rarely, these may prove true. Actually, it is a known fact that the intelligence services of the US and the Communist Russia competed with each other in making use of supranormal ways of communication like telepathy. As will be explained later, in a not too distant future, world powers will be using jinn in communication and especially in secret intelligence activities. However, it is dangerous to seek to contact and communicate with jinn or satans, because they can easily bring the people who contact them under their influence and govern their actions. And, as was pointed out above, those who practise spiritualism usually communicate with members of the unbelieving party of jinn, who appear to them in the form of the dead ones whose souls they are calling.

A friend of mine, who is a psychiatrist, relates:

‘I was invited to a practice of necromancy in a house in Samsun (a province in Northern Turkey). The youngest daughter of the family arranged cups and letters on a table. One of the friends present invited the soul of his late grandfather. After several calls, a man appeared. When we asked him insistently who he was, he answered: ‘Satan’. We were greatly astonished. A while later, I asked him why he had come although we had not called him. He wrote on the table with the cups: ‘So I come!’ I asked him whether he believed in God. He wrote ‘No!’. When I asked whether he believed in the Prophet, again, he wrote, ‘No!’. I began reading to him some passages from a book concerning the existence of God. When I read, ‘A factory with such and such features points to the engineer who planned and built it’, he wrote, ‘True’; but when I read, ‘So too the universe with all the planets and particularly the world with all plants and animals in it indicate God’, he wrote, ‘No!’. This continued for some time, and I began reciting to him from Jawshan, a collection of supplications to God. While I was reciting, the cups were moving on the table. Meantime he wrote: ‘Give up that nonsense!’ When I continued to recite, he could not endure listening and disappeared.

Like such supernormal experiences, observations of some doctors at the time of death also prove the existence of the spirit and spirit beings. What Bedri Ruhselman reports in Ruh ve Kainat (‘The Spirit and the Universe’) from a doctor is in complete agreement with the observations of a group of doctors from Holland, which were published in newspapers.

A doctor narrates: ‘My wife was ill. When she went into the pangs of death, two things resembling two clouds descended into the room and hovered above her head. Meanwhile a form appeared, which was connected to my wife on the nape of the neck with a cord and was fluttering. This continued for five hours. In the end, the cord broke off and the form, the spirit, rose away. This was the end of my wife’s life.’