Microscopic Motors Of The Body: The Muscles

Muscles are the power stations of our bodies. They are in charge of transforming energy into power, which they perfectly perform throughout one's life. We notice this sometimes, but most of the time we are not aware of it. For example, some muscles contract although we do not consciously make any effort. The heart and stomach muscles are of this type. Their action is beyond our control. Muscles that contract by our will are attached to our skeleton. There are 650 voluntary muscles in the human body. As we move, these muscles contract and relax together with the bones they are attached to.

Muscles are operated by blood vessels and nerves. Blood vessels carry oxygen and nourishment to muscles, while nerves drive muscle movement.

What would happen if the control of your muscles were completely left up to you? Suppose, for example, that your heart muscles contracted only with your conscious control from now on. You would do nothing but concentrate on the contraction and relaxation of your heart muscles. That is because if your heart muscles did not contract even for a moment, you would die. And death would be inevitable when you were asleep, since you would not be able to control your heart's functioning. However this never happens since you do not need to think about such things thanks to the perfect controlling system in your body.

What we need to do, above all, is to give thanks to our compassionate Lord, Who makes everything easy for us, and to act in a way that is pleasing to Him. Allah commands us to worship Him alone in the following verse:

That is Allah, your Lord. There is no god but Him, the Creator of everything. So worship Him. He is responsible for everything. (Surat al-An'am: 102)

Muscles operate harmoniously

Did you know that 17 muscles in your face contract simultaneously when you smile? If one of these muscles did not contract or malfunctioned, you wouldn't be able to smile. Furthermore, you would have an empty expression on your face.

There are 28 muscles controlling your facial expression. With the joint contraction of these muscles, you can assume hundreds of different expressions. You can express anger, bewilderment, happiness and amusement as well as many other emotions thanks to these muscles. Besides the facial muscles, other muscles in your body work in harmony too. In order to take a single step, for example, 54 muscles operate at the same time. Thus we can easily make hundreds of movements, which seem ordinary to us. But having read of all this one should stop and think, because people do not contribute anything at all to the functioning of these muscles. If the muscles did not function properly, it would not be possible to take even a step, let alone run, swim or ride a bicycle. Therefore, we should keep a very important truth in mind: Allah created a perfect system in the human body. This is a gift from our Lord. What we should do in return is to reflect on Allah's infinite mercy, to remember His greatness and to give thanks to Him.

The Hands Handle Everything Skillfully

Turning the pages of a book, opening a car door, washing one's hands... These are merely a few of the things that we frequently do using our hands, without experiencing any difficulty. We use our hands in performing hundreds of other acts as well.

A human hand is so strong that it can exert a pressure of as much as 45 kg (100 pounds) on an object without even clenching the fist. Besides such strength, we can also use our hands in very delicate and fine acts, such as threading a needle, whenever we so wish. While one group of actions requires a great deal of strength, the other requires strict accuracy. We, however, do not even realise how remarkable are the achievements which our hands bring about in reality. We never consciously decide to exercise a force of 500 grams (1.1 pound) in order to pick a piece of paper up from a table or to exercise a force of 5 kilograms (11 pounds) in order to throw a ball. We perform all such things automatically without conscious thought, since Allah created us perfectly. The remarkable competence of our hands is the result of Allah's matchless creation.

Did you know that one of the greatest attempts of scientists has been to make an artificial hand similar to a human hand? Robot hands made so far have been equivalent to the human hand in terms of strength, yet have lacked the sense of touch and the capability to perform various tasks at the same time.

You can freely do anything you wish using your hands. You can write, eat food, wash your face, hold a ball and so on. Furthermore, you can do all these things without experiencing any difficulty. Artificial hands, however, which scientists and technicians have produced after years of study, can perform only a limited number of tasks.

As a matter of fact, it is the opinion of many scientists that a robot hand possessing all the functions of a human hand cannot be made. Engineer Hans J. Schneebeli, who has designed the robotic hand known as "The Karlsruhe Hand", stated that the more he worked on robotic hands, the more he admired the human hand. He added that they still need a lot of time to be able to tackle even a few of the jobs accomplished by the human hand.

Our hands, which cannot even be imitated by today's technology, are designed by Allah. They manifest the perfection in Allah's artistry of creation.

There is no other creator besides Allah. In the following verse, Allah informs us that there is no other god besides Him and addresses those who do not see this fact:

Say: "Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth?" Say: "Allah." Say: "So why have you taken protectors apart from Him who possess no power to help or harm themselves?" Say: "Are the blind and seeing equal? Or are darkness and light the same? Or have they assigned partners to Allah who create as He creates, so that all creating seems the same to them?" Say: "Allah is the Creator of everything. He is the One, the All-Conquering.' (Surat ar-Ra'd: 16)