From the Depths of the Universe to the DNA Molecule
Too small to be seen with the naked eye, DNA serves as the data bank of our cells. Information about all the living things around you is concealed within this miniaturized data bank inside every cell of every organism. All the structural characteristics of a rose, an orange, a sparrow, a tiger or a human being are present in the nuclei of the cells that comprise these organisms. Look at your hand that is holding this book. These data stores exist in the nucleus of every single one of the cells that compose that hand.
Every day, new discoveries are being made about the universe we inhabit. Billions of galaxies lie hundreds of thousands of light years away from one another. Millions of stars that fill those galaxies, whose dimensions defy our powers of conception. Giant planets constantly revolve in a complex order at speeds of thousands of kilometers without ever colliding with one another. Here, on one of the smaller of these planets, we examine the cells, the building blocks of life on Earth, themselves no bigger than a mere speck, under the electron microscope, an invention of the 20th century.
Each of the conditions that makes this planet suitable for life is indispensable to it. The Earth's environment exists and persists by the mercy of Allah.
Albert Einstein, one of the 20th century's most eminent scientists, expressed man's difficulty in comprehending the order in the universe in these terms:
The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books, but doesn't know what it is. 1
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Human beings have been equipped with all the systems they need within this extraordinary environment. The more details that we learn about the body, the more we realize how miraculous our lives are. As they discover the systems concealed inside their bodies, many people--who would otherwise live without reflection, caught up in the daily course of their lives--will reflect on the purpose behind their existence and become aware of their responsibilities to Allah, their Creator. Indeed, various scientists have acquired faith in the existence of Allah by seeing the greatness of His knowledge and the perfections He has created. But some of them continue to refuse to see that they live in need of Allah, even though their consciences may tell them otherwise. Yet their refusal to admit the truth will not alter the facts. Allah reveals some people's approach in the Qur'an:
Do not mix up truth with falsehood and knowingly hide the truth. (Surat al-Baqara, 42)
O Humanity! You are the poor in need of Allah whereas Allah is the Rich Beyond Need, the Praiseworthy. (Surah Fatir, 15)
A Journey from Space to Subatomic Particles
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Human beings occupy not even a single dot in all the vastness of the universe. The pictures below will help provide a better understanding of this. Allah has created a perfect system, extending from space right down to subatomic particles. The most delicate calculations apply in both giant galaxies and in the microscopic cell.
Our Lord, Who brought all things in the universe into being with a flawless creation, manifests His artistry in the most perfect form in our bodies, in atoms and in the stars. Our responsibility is to give thanks to our Lord, Who created such an ideal universe for life.
Bearing in mind that the Milky Way, whichfrom a distance of 10 million light years–resembles just a tiny dot,is just one of the millions of galaxies in the universe, you can better understanding the sheer scale of Allah's creative artistry.
Are you stronger in structure or is heaven? He built it. (Surat an-Nazi'at, 27)
he Milky Way, as seen from some 100,000 light years away. Containing the Sun, the Earth and the Moon, as well as at least 100 billion stars, it is one of the largest galaxies in the universe
He has made night and day subservient to you, and the sun and moon and stars, all subject to His command. There are certainly Signs in that for peoplewho use their intellect. (Surat an-Nahl, 12)
Allah has revealed in the Qur'an as follows:
And I swear by the falling of the stars–and that is a mighty oath, if you only knew.(Surat al-Waqi'a, 75-76)
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| A: 1 nanometer = 1 billionth of a meter 1 picometer = 1 trillionth of a meter 1 femtometer = 10-15 meter = 0.000000000000001 of a meter 1 attometer = 10-18 meter = 0.000000000000000001 of a meter
Those who remember Allah, standing, sitting and lying on their sides, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the Earth: "Our Lord, You have not created this for nothing. Glory be toYou! So safeguard us from the punishment of the Fire." (Surah Al 'Imran, 191)
DNA in the cell nucleus contains all the information regarding the body. There is enough information in one human DNA molecule to fill a million pages of an encyclopedia.
Chromatin exists in the form of minute strands inside the DNA. Because of their minute size, these are invisible even under the microscope. However, chromatin expands during cell division and turns into thicker strands, which can be seen under the microscope.
As these illustrations show, in whichever systems or structures that surround us, from the largest to the very smallest, we are still viewing a great miracle. The important thing is to be aware of these miracles because no matter how great a manifest miracle may be, believers alone achieve an awareness of Allah's greatness.
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The Most Advanced Data Bank Known: DNA
The truth revealed by science as it progresses is that living things possess flawless and highly complex structures that could never have emerged by chance. This is evident proof that our Almighty and Omniscient Lord has created living things. The theory of evolution, which rejects the idea of our Creator and pins its hopes on coincidences, has been dealt one of its most severe blows by developments in the field of molecular biology, which demolishes–with clear and irrefutable evidence, the fundamental of Darwinism, which maintains that life originated based on supposedly simple structures. As scientists discovered the complex structures inside the cell, which some have referred to as a "molecular machine," they also clearly saw that these could never have come into being as the result of chance.
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One such structure is DNA, the cell's data bank, discovered in the 1950s with the invention of the electron microscope. DNA is a giant molecule contained in every cell. On that long molecular chain is encoded all the information that determines the physical and chemical structure of that cell and of the entire organism to which that cell belongs. However, the presence of such a data bank within the cell means nothing by itself.
The information within that DNA must be read as needed, and processes carried out in the light of that information. It is impossible for inanimate substances to write and decipher codes, take progressive precautionary measures, and to establish a system to ensure that the information they possess comes to no harm.
Molecules made up of chemical elements from the earth and air cannot be expected to do these things spontaneously. Yet Darwinists are so blindly devoted to their theory of evolution that, as you shall see in the chapters that follow, they insist on claims that are utterly unscientific, violating reason and logic, solely for the sake of convincing themselves and others that everything is a coincidence. Despite being an evolutionist, Francis Crick–a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist and one of the scientists who discovered DNA–admits the facts in his book Life Itself.
An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that, in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle.2
Richard Dawkins, known for his evolutionist views, describes the complexity concealed within the cell:
Physics books may be complicated, but . . . the objects and phenomena that a physics book describes are simpler than a single cell in the body of its author. And the author consists of trillions of those cells, many of them different from each other, organized with intricate architecture and precision--engineering into a working machine capable of writing a book. . . . Each nucleus . . . contains a digitally coded database larger, in information content, than all thirty volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica put together. And this figure is for each [individual] cell, not all the cells of the body put together.3
If you had found a CD on your desk 25 years ago, and even if you had never seen one before, you would still never try attempt to account for its existence in terms of chance. Despite its being a very thin, flat, round piece of plastic, the regularity of its shape would still make it clear that it had been produced by an intelligent, knowledgeable human being. Even if you never met the person who designed and manufactured that CD, you would still never claim that metals and plastics had assumed such a perfect form as the result of successive accidents.
And what if you learned, through a detailed examination of the CD's structure, that in indentations and protrusions on its surface, there was information coded in the form of the numbers 0 and 1? At first glance it appeared like just a flat plastic disc, but were it enlarged to the size of a football stadium, the indentations on it would be approximately the same size as grains of sand.4 All the CD's indentations and protrusions represent coded data containing text, sounds and images. The fact that dozens of books' worth of data has been compressed into this flat disk makes it obvious that intelligent, knowledgeable minds have had a hand in its manufacture. No one could possibly maintain anything different. On the contrary, the presence here of a highly advanced technology, the processes of recording, coding and compression of data are evidence that this CD was consciously produced, and for a specific purpose.
Yet some people, who see that claims of chance are impossible to account for a flat disk of plastic, fail to employ the same honest logic in the face of DNA's perfect creation. They maintain that the DNA molecules, too small to be seen with the naked eye but containing enough compressed and encoded data to fill thousands of encyclopedias, came into being as the work of chance. Yet the human brain that produced the CD and wrote the information it contains also consists of cells that function thanks to the information contained in DNA. The illogicality here is obvious. In the same way that the information in the CD implies that it has been written there by someone, DNA–a far more comprehensive data bank with a far superior technology–shows the existence of a superior intellect, of a Creator. That intellect is the infinite mind of our Almighty Lord. DNA is a miracle of Allah, the sublime nature of the creation of which we have been able to comprehend through 20th-century technology. Our Lord reveals the purpose of the things He created in one of the verses:
It is Allah Who created the seven heavens and of the Earth the same number, the Command descending down through all of them, so that you might know that Allah has power over all things and that Allah encompasses all things in His knowledge. (Surat at-Talaq, 12)
Aspect of The Cell Discovered In the 20th Century
In the second half of the 20th century, advances in the field of molecular biology entirely altered our perspective on the miniaturized world inside the cell. With today's rapidly developing technology, biologists have become aware of the flawless and complex mechanisms possessed by the cell, realizing that these could not have come into being by chance or spontaneously. Most of the systems that constitute the cell are smaller than the wavelength of visible light. Some details in the cell can be examined only by advanced techniques such as X-ray crystallography. However, at the time when Darwin launched his theory, the level of science was extremely backward. Not even the basic structure of the cell had been revealed, let alone the discovery of the helix structure and data capacity of the DNA molecule, which James Watson and Francis Crick revealed nearly 100 years after the publication of Darwin's book The Origin of Species
Darwin had no means of foreseeing the advances that molecular biology would subsequently make. Clearly, his theory of evolution built on fundamentally flawed knowledge and hypotheses cannot account for the existence of a structure like DNA, which amazes scientists.
The well–known Cambridge University philosopher Dr. Stephen C. Meyer compares modern science with that of Darwin's day:
During the last half of the twentieth century, advances in molecular biology and biochemistry have revolutionized our understanding of the miniature world within the cell. Research has revealed that cells--the fundamental units of life-store--transmit, and edit information and use that information to regulate their most fundamental metabolic processes . . . biologists now describe cells as, among other things, "distributive real-time computers" or complex information processing systems. Darwin, of course, neither knew about these intricacies nor sought to explain their origin. Instead, his theory of biological evolution sought to explain how life could have grown gradually more complex starting from "one or a few simple forms" . . . in the 1870s and 1880s, scientists assumed that devising an explanation for the origin of life would be fairly easy. For one thing, they assumed that life was essentially a rather simple substance called protoplasm that could be easily constructed by combining and recombining simple chemicals such as carbon dioxide, oxygen, and nitrogen.5
However, some scientists, the heirs of Darwin, still consider that atoms spontaneously combined to give rise to complex living things. In the light of the extraordinary advances made in the field of molecular biology especially over the last 50 years, it is quite astonishing that Darwin's claim should have survived this long. This state of affairs is admitted in a statement by Dr. Richard Lewontin, an evolutionist and Harvard University biologist and geneticist:
... evolution is not a fact, it's a philosophy. The materialism comes first (a priori), and the evidence is interpreted in light of that unchangeable philosophical commitment. 6
Because of their devotion to materialism, the inheritors of the theory of evolution are generally unable to accept scientific facts. They therefore insist on trying to carry an outdated 19th-century scientific conception into the present day. However, the facts are too evident to be covered up by any superstitious philosophy.
In the Qur'an, Allah reveals that there will be those who "use fallacious arguments to deny the truth" (Surat al-Kahf, 56). In another verse, He tells us:
Rather We hurl the truth against falsehood and it cuts right through its brain and it vanishes clean away! Woe without end for you for what you portray! (Surat al-Anbiya', 18)
Darwin was Ignorant of DNA
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In advancing his theory, Charles Darwin could not account for the variety of species. In any case, he would have not been unable to, being ignorant of DNA. Darwin knew neither genetics, nor biomathematics nor microbiology–branches of science that emerged only after Darwin's death. He made illusory deductions based on the limited means at his disposal and on visible similarities among living things. Since the above branches of science had not yet emerged, he had no opportunitsy to investigate the cell. The period in which the claims of the theory of evolution were put forward is therefore important in terms of our seeing the dimensions of the ignorance concerned.
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The Cell is More Complex Than a Major City
Some four billion years ago, according to the evolutionist scenario, various inanimate chemical substances entered into reactions in the primitive Earth's atmosphere; these then combined with the effects of lightning and earthquakes–and thus the first living cell emerged. The fact is, however, that the structure of the cell is more complex that even the most populous and technologically advanced city. A great many systems operate non-stop with a flawless organization, from power stations that produce energy inside the cell to protein-producing factories, from a freight system that transports raw materials to decoders that translate DNA, and a dense and constant communications system.
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1. Nucleus
2. Centrioles 3. Mitochondria 4. Endoplasmic reticulum 5. Ribosome |
6. Golgi body
7. Micronucleus 8. Chromatin 9. Microvilli 10. Lysosome |
11. Cell membrane
12. Cophula 13. Cell pore 14. Pyroxysome 15. Cell skeleton |
In its complexity, the cell resembles the structure of a large city. Yet the order within it, far too small to be seen with the naked eye, exists in every one of the 100 trillion cells in the human body.
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For evolutionists to believe that the cell came into being by chance is as illogical and nonsensical as claiming that all the buildings, roads, transportation systems, electricity and water networks in a city such as Istanbul, with its almost 15 million population, came into existence spontaneously as the result of such natural phenomena as storms and earthquakes.
Prof. Gerald L. Schroeder, an Israeli scientist working in the fields of physics and biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) describes the order inside the cell:
The human body acts as a finely tuned machine, a magnificent metropolis in which, as its inhabitants, each of the 75 trillion cells, composed of 1027 atoms, moves in symbiotic precision. Seldom are two cells simultaneously performing the same act, yet their individual contributions combine smoothly to form life. 7
Despite being an evolutionist, the late astrobiologist Carl Sagan speaks of the amazing order in the cell as if it were a work of art:
A living cell is a marvel of detailed and complex architecture. Seen through a microscope, there is an appearance of almost frantic activity. On a deeper level it is known that molecules are being synthesized at an enormous rate. Almost any enzyme catalyzes the synthesis of more than 100 other molecules per second. In ten minutes, a sizeable fraction of total mass of a metabolizing bacterial cell has been synthesized. The information content of a simple cell had been estimated as around 1012 bits, comparable to about a hundred million pages of the Encyclopedia Britannica. 8
The nucleus inside the cell bears the DNA, the most important genetic material. Mitochondria inside the cell turn glucose (in the form of food products) into energy packets. Microscopic tubes extend throughout the cell, constituting vital pathways along which proteins and other required substances can be carried to the appropriate location. In addition, the billions of cells in our bodies build all their systems out of molecules, at the same time consistently maintaining and repairing themselves. As well as performing their own tasks, they also renew themselves.9 They also obtain their own energy.
Prof. Werner Gitt, director of the German Federal Institute of Physics and Technology, emphasizes how the cell is far superior to any machinery made by human beings: "The biological energy conversion system is brilliantly and cleverly designed that energy engineers can only watch, fascinated. Nobody has yet been able to copy this miniaturized and extremely efficient mechanism."10
In his book Blind Faith: Evolution Exposed, the science writer Howard Peth states that there is no such thing as a simple cell:
Formerly, it was thought that a cell was composed of nucleus and a few other parts in a "sea"' of cytoplasms, with large spaces in the cell unoccupied. Now it is known that a cell literally "swarms."' That is, it's packed full of important functioning units necessary to the life of the cell and the body containing it. The theory of evolution assumes life developed from a "simple"' cell - but science today demonstrates that there is no such thing as a simple cell.11
In conclusion, cells are not simple sacs of jelly, as was imagined in Darwin's day. On the contrary, as the 20th century physicist and astrobiologist Prof. Paul Davies puts it, they resemble computers with the most highly advanced technology, or complex cities.
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1. Tissue
2. Cell 3. Cell nucleus |
4. DNA strips packaged as chromosomes
5. DNA helix | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All the details of the body are coded in the DNA in every cell of every living thing, whether it be a flower, a chick or a child.
The Source of the Data of Life
DNA, the basic genetic material of all living things, is a long molecule resembling a spiral staircase, whose details we shall be examining in due course. DNA exists in all living things–human beings, flowers, birds, flies, and even bacteria. It contains all the necessary information regarding the features of the living cell and its regular operations. In addition, detailed information regarding a living thing's external appearance, the kind of structure it will have, how it will grow and how its organs will work, are all determined beforehand in DNA. For example, an individual's DNA contains information about such details as height, eye color and physical structure, how the body will defend itself in the face of which dangers, and how it will produce proteins, the building blocks of the cell. The DNA of a rosebush contains millions of pieces of detailed, coded information about its flower's scent and color, the structure of its thorns, the shape of its leaves and the thickness of its stems. DNA molecules are rather like blueprints that determine how a living thing will be constructed and function.
Human beings carry this molecule, which exhibits far greater knowledge than themselves, in every one of their cells. For example, a DNA chain is packaged in every cell in your eyes as you read these lines. There are DNA molecules in every cell in the fingers that turn over the pages of this book, in the cells of your heart and bones, and in every cell that makes up your body. What is more, they are constantly at work to keep the individual alive. The information theoretician Dr. Werner Gitt expresses the extraordinary range of the data in DNA:
As noted by Professor Gitt, the sphere of operation of the DNA's information is very broad. DNA does not determine just physical characteristics; at the same time it plans thousands of different functions throughout the cell, the body's organs and systems. Thanks to the information placed in DNA:
Whole libraries of books could be written about the details in the human body, both known and as yet undiscovered. All are parts of a blueprint recorded in the DNA's data bank. In short, DNA acts as a planning center in every living thing, literally undertaking the responsibilities of architects, engineers, scent experts, botanists, laboratory technicians, interior designers, designers, artists, doctors and countless other experts and scientists. At every moment, Our Almighty Lord creates and controls these molecules that are in constant operation so that you can read these lines, see, breathe, think and in short, remain alive.
This fact is revealed in one verse of the Qur'an:
[Hud said,] "I have put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord. There is no creature He does not hold by the forelock. My Lord is on a Straight Path." (Surah Hud, 56)
As a very simple example, compare the information in DNA with a book. Obviously, no book can write itself. Even if we assume that this was in some way possible, it still will be absolutely impossible for anything written in that book to be meaningful. Based on this analogy, Prof. Phillip Johnson states that random coincidences can have no such power, ability or intelligence:
No doubt that the data recorded in DNA have an incomparable structure more complex than the sentence. In the beginning was the Word, and that this complex structure cannot possibly have come into existence spontaneously or by chance. Moreover, all the trillions of DNA molecules possessed by billions of living things for millions of years have all been encoded with a perfect system, placed within an area too small to be seen with the naked eye and yet used in the most rational manner. That being so, there is a Creator Who plans and arranges human beings, their cells and their DNA in that flawless and perfect manner. That Creator is Almighty Allah. To maintain the opposite is to ignore the facts, reason and logic.
However, many who would quickly agree it is impossible for letters to arrange themselves into even three small words still manage to listen with no objection to the deceit that millions of atoms combined together by chance, one by one, in a specific sequence to create a molecule containing the equivalent of whole libraries of information. The sole reason for this is their blind devotion to Darwinism, which prevents some intelligent people from seeing the evident fact of Creation and leads them into the most irrational beliefs. Everyone freed from this preconception to use his intellect will clearly see that an infinite data bank such as DNA can only come into existence through being created.
When they are told, "Follow what Allah has sent down to you," They say, "We are following what we found our fathers doing." What, even though their fathers did not understand a thing and were not guided! The likeness of those who do not believe is that of the beast which, call out to it as one may, can hear nothing but a shout and a cry. Deaf–dumb–blind. They do not use their intellect. (Surat al-Baqara, 170-171)
DNA's Extraordinary Data-Storage Capacity
Modern technological progress in the field of data storage is truly amazing. Computer hard discs, CDs, diskettes, data sticks and similar products are becoming more advanced and efficient every day. Computer firms are seeking answers to how the maximum amount of data can be stored in the minimum space without being impaired, and how that information can be downloaded in the fastest possible manner. Even though whole encyclopedias of data can be compressed onto a single CD, it is still large enough to cover your hand. The astonishing data-miniaturizing or data-compression ability of DNA, on the other hand, far surpasses modern technology. According to calculations by Leonard Adleman of Los Angeles South California University, just 1 gram (0.0022 pounds) of DNA can contain the equivalent amount of data to 1 trillion CDs.38 This shows that data are concealed in a million, million times more efficiently in DNA than in a CD.39
The volume of a human being's DNA is 3 billionths of a cubic millimeter (3 x 10-9 mm3).40 According to G. G. Simpson, if all the features of all the species that have ever lived were to be loaded onto DNA, the resulting total volume of DNA would fill only a small part of a teaspoon. Enough space would even be left over the rest of the teaspoon to contain all the books that have ever been written.41
Dr. Leonard Adleman, the inventor of the DNA computer, which represents a new sphere of technology, says this about the mechanism in DNA and the cell:
According to Darwinists, however, this giant data bank in the cell –capable of holding the equivalent of tens of thousands of books– came into being spontaneously as the result of chance. In the eyes of Darwinists, who have no qualms about building another total impossibility on top of that one, chance has compressed all the data in a library large enough to fill an entire football stadium, undamaged, into a space too small to be seen with the naked eye. Darwinists still blindly advocate such a total impossibility. Yet neither the cell nor DNA, its data bank, can emerge from the chance combination of unconscious atoms. Even the very smallest components of living things have been created for a specific purpose, and every one of them are far too complex to admit any possibility of chance.
Michael George Pitman, a professor of biology from University of Sydney, uses the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer's words to express how life is not just a collection of inanimate substances:
If we were to express the volume of data in DNA in numerical terms, then a 4-meter (13.12-foot) long DNA molecule has been packaged and compressed into a cell only 3 to 5 microns in diameter (1 micron = 1/1000 millimeter). If the DNA codes in every one of the body's 100 trillion cells were laid out end to end, the resulting length would stretch to the Sun and back 600 times.44 Prof. Jerry Bergman, known for his scientific papers, emphasizes the engineering in DNA in an analogy:
Suppose you were asked to take two long strands of fisherman's monofilament line –125 miles [201 kilometers] long– then form it into a double-helix structure and neatly fold and pack this line so it would fit into a basketball. Furthermore, you would need to ensure that the double helix could be unzipped and duplicated along the length of this line, and the duplicate copy removed, all without tangling the line. Possible? This is directly analogous to what happens in the billions of cells in your body every day. Scale the basketball down to the size of a human cell and the line scales down to six feet [2 meters] of DNA. . . . The DNA packing process is both complex and elegant and is so efficient that it achieves a reduction in length of DNA by a factor of 1 million. 45
The molecular biologist Michael Denton describes the extraordinary nature of DNA's data compression ability:
DNA's ability to hold information is so efficient that all the data concerning to a human being can be compressed into an area weighing just a few trillionths of a gram.47 According to Yale University's Prof. George Gaylord Simpson, the data belonging 1 billion living things can be squeezed with ease into a single grain of salt.48 Prof. Francis S. Collins, a physicist and geneticist and also director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, describes the results of his study of DNA:
The well-known molecular biologist Michael Denton mentions that biological information to be packed into the tiny volume of the cell nucleus seems to be specifically arranged for human beings.50 If DNA did not have this data compression ability, the cell would have to be very much larger in order to hold irregular DNA strips. But it is impossible for cells to be any larger, because the cell's sources of oxygen and nutrients are efficient only given the existing diameter of the cell.51 From that point of view, the cell's size and therefore, its ability to hold DNA, is of vital importance..
This glorious packaging system is made possible by the DNA molecule's ability to coil and form long spirals that bend and give rise to intertwined, regular helixes. This packaging technology evidencing highly advanced engineering, can be seen in the nucleus of every cell. By means of this packaging system that our Almighty Lord created in our cells, millions of kilometers of DNA "letters" remain contained in a volume we cannot see with the naked eye.
The Giant Encyclopedia in the Human Cell
So extraordinary is the amount of information recorded in DNA that a single DNA molecule contains enough information to fill a million encyclopedia pages. To put that another way, 1,000,000 pages of data that control the functioning of the human body have been encoded inside the nucleus of every cell. You can obtain a better idea of this amount when you consider that even the 23-volume Encyclopedia Britannica, has only 25,000 pages. This gives rise to an extraordinary picture. Inside the nucleus, itself far smaller than the microscopic cell in which it is contained; is a data bank 40 times larger than one of the largest encyclopedias on Earth, equivalent to a 920-volume encyclopedia. Research has shown that this giant encyclopedia contains some 5 billion different pieces of information. Let's repeat those two words, "contains information"
We now need to stop and think about what this means. It is easy enough to say that a cell contains billions of pieces of information. However, we are discussing not a computer or a library, but an area 100 times smaller than a millimeter made up solely of protein, fat and water molecules. It would be astonishing for only a single piece of information, let alone millions, to be contained inside this tiny molecule. Moreover, books and encyclopedias are inert and inanimate. Someone possessed of consciousness needs to read the information and act on the instructions it contains. Yet DNA is a living source of information that does not just contain data, but also uses that information and acts upon it.
How can a chain consisting of atoms arranged one behind the other, in a space just a billionth of a millimeter in diameter, possess such knowledge and memory? While each of the 100 trillion cells in your body are capable of learning a million pages by heart, how many pages could you –an intelligent individual– learn during the course of your lifetime? Any rational person will conclude that the cell is the work of a superior mind and superior knowledge. It is impossible, as evolutionists maintain, for DNA to have arisen by chance in one single cell, let alone in an organism consisting of billions. Almighty Allah (is the Creator of all things. Allah reveals in one verse of the Qur'an as follows:
They do not measure Allah with His true measure. Allah is All-Strong, Almighty. (Surat al-Hajj, 74)
The Data Storage Technology in DNA Is Greater Than That of Computers
The computer is the most advanced technology through which large quantities of information can be stored. The information possessed by room-sized computers 50 years ago can now be stored on small discs. Yet the latest computer technology, developed by human intelligence as the result of centuries of accumulated knowledge and many years of effort, comes nowhere near to approaching the data-storage capacity of DNA.
A strand of DNA is only one 2 millionth of a millimeter in thickness. Despite this extraordinary thinness and the fact it is 4 meters (13.12 feet) long, DNA strips never become tangled up with one another. Thanks to its special structure, the DNA is folded up perfectly inside the cell's nucleus - an example of incomparable engineering. One of the main goals of computer engineers is to be able to store as much information as possible in as small a space as possible. At present, the highest level storage capacity on Earth is that belonging to DNA molecule.52 In his book , The Road Ahead, Bill Gates, the president of Microsoft, writes:
The well-known American philosopher Prof. Daniel Dennet describes the density of information contained in DNA in his book Darwin's Dangerous Idea:
The sequencing of the codes in DNA resembles that of the digits in a computer system. The numbers in a computer environment can contain an image, the instructions for a computer game, or the text of a book. The codes in DNA contain information that serves to produce new proteins.55 But no computer engineer can imitate DNA, which contains sufficient information to fill a million encyclopedia pages in a space invisible to the naked eye. To claim that DNA emerged by chance is even more irrational than maintaining that the most advanced computers could have done so. DNA exhibits evident proofs of Allah's sublime creation. Allah reveals this matchless creation in the Qur'an:
He is the Originator of the heavens and the Earth… (Surat al-An'am, 101)
Astonishing Comparisons That Elucidate the Giant Data Capacity in DNA
Instead of using units of measurement, scientists resort to various comparisons to emphasize the vast amount of genetic data in human beings. Here are some examples that stress the breadth of the data capacity in DNA:
*** If the information in the human genome could be written down using the alphabet, it would fill 1,000 books of 1,000 pages each, each page containing 3,000 letters.56
1,000 books times 1,000 pages times 3,000 letters equals 3,000,000,000 (3 billion) letters.
*** If those 3 billion letters in the human genome were written out as a single sentence, it would stretch from the North Pole to the Equator. Someone working at a typewriter at a rate of 300 letters per minute for 8 hours a day, 220 days a year, would take 95 years to complete the task.57
*** For the genetic information to be written out would require 12,000 160-page books. Compared with computer chips with a 16 MB capacity (a megabyte is 1 million bytes, the smallest data units in a computer), the DNA strip in the human genome contains 1,400 times more information.58
*** If a pinhead 2 millimeters (0.078 of an inch) in diameter were stretched out to the thinness of the DNA molecule, it would be 33 times longer than the Equator.59
*** The information in DNA is sufficient to fill a library consisting of 100 sets of a 30-volume encyclopedia.60
*** Were the information in DNA to be placed in books piled one on top of the other, those books would attain a height of 70 meters (229 feet). Alternatively, that information could fill 200 phone books of 500 pages each.61
*** If the DNA in all the cells in the human body were flattened out and laid end to end, they would stretch for some 50,000,000 kilometers (31,070,000 miles.) That distance is enough to go from the Earth to the Solar System. Light would take approximately two days to travel the entire length of the DNA in your body.62
*** According to professor Jérôme Lejeune, a genetics expert, the genetic data belonging to all the human beings on Earth could be contained in a quantity of DNA no larger than a few aspirin tablets.63
***The information in the DNA in a single human cell could fill 1 million encyclopedia pages. Individuals could not live long enough to read their own genetic data. Where they to read the DNA code every day, 24 hours a day, non-stop, it would take 100 years to complete the task.
*** To envisage the density of the data in the DNA molecule, assume that you have enough DNA to cover a pinhead. Now consider that this same information is written down in books of 160 pages each. The data in such a small amount of DNA could fill 15 trillion (15 times 1012) of those 160-page books. If you placed that many books one on top of the other, their height would be 500 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon (384,000 kilometers, or 238,600 miles). Alternatively, if these books were equally distributed among the 6 billion or so people in the world, every individual would receive 2,500 volumes.64
The boundless information that these examples try to express is stored inside every cell nucleus. The presence of DNA, storing the equivalent amount of information to a large library, in some 100 trillion cells, means 100 trillion of these libraries. Were we to compare that level of information with the level so far achieved by mankind, we would be unable to find an example sufficiently large. In addition, if we multiplied that quantity by the 6 billion people currently living on the Earth and the billions of others who lived in the past, a boundless quantity of data would appear before us. Moreover, we are now speaking only of human genetic information. Bearing in mind the genetic information possessed by the millions of living creatures that have ever existed, the level rises to heights that exceed comprehension. The knowledge that our Omniscient and Almighty Lord has manifested in DNA leaves absolutely no room for claims based on chance. In one verse, it is stated that:
Rather We hurl the truth against falsehood and it cuts right through it and it vanishes clean away! Woe without end for you for what you portray! (Surat al-Anbiya, 18)
DNA Is an Example of the Artistry and Intellect of Allah, the Lord of Infinite Knowledge
The basic claims of the theory of evolution are based on blind chance, which cannot give rise to information. If the chemical formula for a drug that cures cancer is written down one day, all the authorities would join forces to identify the discoverers and even give them an award. Nobody would wonder if that formula was the result of ink being spilled on the page, Any rational mind would think that it could have been written only by someone with expertise in chemistry, physiology, oncology (the branch of medicine that studies cancer) and pharmacology (the branch that studies drugs).
Evolutionists seek to account for the origin of the information in DNA in terms of chance, which is even more illogical than claiming that the page you are reading was formed by coincidence. The detailed molecular formula for every one of the 100,000 types of proteins in the body and the instructions to be followed during their production are all encoded in DNA. Also encoded in DNA are the communication protocols to be adhered to in communications between cells, the production of messenger hormones to be used, and countless other varieties of information.
To maintain that DNA and the boundless information it contains came into being spontaneously is a serious collapse of logic. Gene Myers, one expert on the subject from Celera Genomics, the company that carried out the Human Genome Project, expresses the extraordinary nature of the information in DNA:
Evolutionists' claims regarding the origin of DNA quoted in later sections of this book are full of such expressions as "an unsolved secret." Sometimes, as Myers did, attempts are made to account for DNA's this extraordinary nature in terms of a huge intelligence. This intelligence, which some scientists are unable to put into words but which deeply impresses them, reflects the infinite wisdom and knowledge of our Almighty Lord, Allah. One verse from the Qur'an reads:
Allah is the Light of the heavens and the Earth. The metaphor of His Light is that of a niche in which is a lamp, the lamp inside a glass, the glass like a brilliant star, lit from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the east nor of the west, its oil all but giving off light even if no fire touches it. Light upon Light. Allah guides to His Light whoever He wills and Allah makes metaphors for humanity and Allah has knowledge of all things. (Surat an-Nur, 35)
The Cryptography in the DNA Molecule
In every cell in your body lies a glorious treasure house of information, written in a language spoken by nobody on Earth,. The alphabet of this language consists of just four letters, and each letter stands for a chemical molecule known as a base or nucleotide. The genetic "words" known ascodons are made up of these letters. This DNA language of just four letters consists of the molecules adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine, or the letters A, T, G and C for short. All the information contained in the data bank within the nucleus is encoded in this four-letter alphabet. When hundreds of the letters A, T, G and C are taken together, the result is long, meaningful "sentences" known as genes, which describe how the processes in the body should take place and give instructions regarding them. Millions of these "letters" set out in a meaningful sequence one after the other comprise the DNA molecule. In his book Our Molecular Nature, the molecular biologist David S. Goodsell refers to the DNA molecule as. . . perhaps the most beautiful of our molecules, but like a fine book, its true beauty lies not in binding, but in the words written within.66
All of a person's physical characteristics have been encoded by means of this special language and stored in the cell nucleus. An organism's body shape, the vital functions of all its organs and the organization of how those organs function, the genetic codes and amounts of proteins that need to be produced within the cell are all encoded in DNA. This enormous code contains information about a person's entire body, ever since it was no more than a single cell. To put it another way, before the individual even became a human being, a comprehensive blueprint for the entire body was ready in a single molecule.
When referring to the nucleic acids that make up DNA in the cell nucleus, we shall continue to use the letter analogy. These letters, as we explained earlier, come together in specific pairs to form the "steps" on the staircase. By being added one on top the next, these steps then constitute genes. Every gene in part of the DNA molecule controls specific human features. Height, eye color, the structure of the nose, ears and skull, and countless other characteristics all come into being by the commands of relevant genes. We may compare these genes to the pages of a book written with only the letters A, T, G and C.
There are some 30,000 genes in a human cell's DNA. Every gene consists of between 1,000 and 186,000 nucleotides arranged in a particular sequence, depending on the kind of protein to which it corresponds. These genes contain the codes for some 200,000 proteins that operate inside the human body, and also regulate the production of those same proteins. The information contained by these 30,000 genes represents only 3% of the total information that DNA contains. The data in the remaining 97% is still unknown, but it has been established that this portion contains information essential to the activities of the cell. (For more detail, see the Chapter 12, "How the Miracle of DNA Invalidates the Theory of Evolution.")
Genes exist inside chromosomes, and there are 46 chromosomes in the nucleus of every human cell (apart from the reproductive cells). To compare every chromosome to a volume consisting of pages in the form of genes, then we can say that in each cell, there is a 46-volume cellular encyclopedia containing all of a human being's characteristics. As we've already made clear, this cellular encyclopedia contains an amount of information equivalent to a 920-volumeEncyclopedia Britannica.
The arrangement of the letters in every individual's DNA is different. That is why all the people who have ever lived have been different from one another. The basic structure and functions of the organs are the same in everyone. Yet everyone is specially created with such fine differences and in such a detailed manner that although all human beings develop the same basic structure through the division of a single cell, the result is still billions of people with wholly different appearances.
The arrangement of the letters in DNA determines a person's characteristics, right down to the tiniest details. In addition to features such as height and the colors of one's eye, hair and skin color, blueprints for the 206 bones in the body, 600 muscles, a 10,000-component network of hearing nerves, 2 million-part network of optic nerves, 100 billion nerve cells, blood vessels 130,000,000,000 meters (80,780,000 miles) in length and 100 trillion cells all exist in the DNA in a single cell. The Canadian science writer Denyse O'Leary refers to the information in DNA:
Since not even a single word cannot form in the absence of a writer, how did the billions of "letters" in the human genome come into existence? How have these letters been arranged in a meaningful way to constitute the matchless blueprint for such perfect and complex bodies? The slightest alteration to the arrangement of these letters could lead to us having fingers on our feet, eyes in our stomachs or heads facing backwards. Our arms might be longer or shorter than they actually are, or our lips might be sealed together. If we currently exist as normal human beings, that is only through the permission of our Almighty Lord. Allah has made the arrangement in the letters in every human being's DNA the means whereby this comes about. In one verse, He informs us that:
He is Allah-the Creator, the Maker, the Giver of Form. To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. Everything in the heavens and Earth glorifies Him. He is the Almighty, the All-Wise. (Surat al-Hashr, 24)
The DNA Molecule Contains Coded Messages
The sublime creation inside the DNA molecule is able to carry the specific arrangement of its own atoms and the maximum amount of code in the minimum area. Every letter that constitutes this genetic code is written into the cell nucleus by means of a molecule with its own particular chemical features and three-dimensional structure. Arthur Ernest Wilder-Smith, a professor of chemistry, refers to the message in the DNA molecule in one of his books:
As set out above, the information content is independent of its mode of transmission. Therefore, not just the arrangement of the bases in the DNA, but also the coded information, the message that it contains, is noteworthy. The science writer Richard Milton highlights the delicate organization in the coding of messages in DNA:
Professor Murray Eden is an expert from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the subject of information theory and official languages. He says that"No currently existing formal language can tolerate random changes in the symbol sequences which express its sentences. Meaning is almost invariably destroyed. Any changes must be syntactically lawful ones."70 He goes on to state that this rule also applies to the language of DNA that constitutes genetic information.
All these statements show that the information in DNA could not possibly have emerged as the result of chance. In the face of these fictitious claims made by evolutionists, we may cite the mathematical science of coding information to ensure its security, known as cryptology. One aim of this science is let information be read accurately and prevent its being altered. For example, a hacker monitoring the communication between two individuals on the Internet, may make changes to the information they send to one another. Thus the preservation of original information is of great importance. The greater the importance of the information, the greater the importance and difficulty of the coding technique to be employed. That is why special programs prevent information being readily accessible to just anyone. Only specific authorized individuals can read and alter this program's information, whose accuracy is confirmed by means of security systems.
Since genetic information is of direct importance to human life, it too must not be subjected to any alteration. Only within the last 50 years did scientists discover that such an important treasure store of information was concealed inside the cell, but this priceless information has been protected inside the cell nucleus, using a special code, ever since human beings were first created. Every detail regarding this molecule is full of examples of Allah's sublime creation. DNA prompts us to ask the following questions:
These questions, to which hundreds more could be added, lead us to the existence of our omniscient, sublimely intelligent Creator. DNA is "...the handiwork of Allah Who gives to everything its solidity..." (Surat an-Naml, 88) In the Qur'an, Allah reveals the organization in His creation:
O man! What has deluded you in respect of your Noble Lord? He Who created you and formed you and proportioned you and assembled you in whatever way He willed. (Surat al-Infitar, 6-8)
In order to write a work about what is needed for all of an organism's bodily functions, the author must know all the details about that organism's cellular activities will be performed at the atomic and molecular level and to accurately determine its special requirements at every stage of life, from infancy right up to death. Only our Lord knows all this information and "proportioned" humankind. (Surah 'Abasa, 19)
In addition, all other living things on Earth –bacteria, viruses, insects, horses and plants– also have DNA in their cells. Each one's DNA contains detailed information about the needs and body structure of the organism to which it belongs. Recalling the millions of species on Earth, one can better grasp the scope of the information in question. Our Almighty Lord equips every living thing right from the outset with all the information it needs, places that information inside the cells, and creates the separate DNA sequences for each living species.
The Translation From DNA's Four Letters into a 20-Letter Protein
As you saw in earlier sections of this book, the data bank inside the DNA has been encoded in the form of four chemical bases represented by the letters A, T, G and C. But for this 4-letter DNA language to be used, it must be translated into a 20-letter protein language. The information in DNA becomes meaningful for proteins only as a result of this translation process. The well-known chemist Prof. Wilder Smith notes the difficult nature of a system able to translate between these two languages:
As this extract shows, complete and accurate translation between two languages does not appear possible by means of a technical program. In fact, however, the way that DNA language is translated into the protein language is pre-programmed in DNA, so that this system functions in a flawless manner in every cell in the billions of human beings. The Canadian science writer Denyse O'Leary refers to the communication difficulty to be expected between a four-letter gene language and a 20-letter protein one:
Despite this apparent difficulty, however, the coded descriptions written in the DNA language is read properly, translated and used in all the living things on Earth. This intelligence manifested inside the cell belongs to our Almighty Lord, the Lord and Sovereign of all things, Who has created and continues to create living things through His mercy. This is revealed in the Qur'an:
Glorify the Name of your Lord, the Most High. He Who created and molded. (Surat al-A'la, 1-2)
From what thing did He create him? From a drop of sperm He created him and proportioned him. (Surah 'Abasa, 18-19)
Protein Synthesis: The Matchless Production System Recorded in DNA
Proteins are large, complex molecules that perform a great many essential tasks in the body. The proteins that carry out most of the processes in the cell are essential to the formation of the body's tissues and organs and to those organs' ability to do their own jobs. Proteins consist of hundreds or even thousands of smaller units known as amino acids. Twenty different kinds of amino acid are used to give rise to one protein, and every protein consists of a combination of between three hundred and over a thousand amino acids.73 The arrangement of the amino acids determines proteins' unique three-dimensional structures and functions. Thus every organ uses these proteins specially manufactured for it and operates the systems that keep the individual alive.
Inside the human body there are around 200,000 different types of protein, each with its own individual importance. Were the 20 amino acids that comprise proteins to combine together haphazardly, the result would be masses of amino acids in various functionless sequences. Yet these very special arrangements permit proteins to come into existence, essential to human beings' vital functions. Depending on their own particular sequences, proteins are building blocks in the various regions of the body and assume responsibility for different tasks. For example, proteins compose the enzymes that combine to accelerate processes in the body, antibodies that fight disease, and hormones that regulate the functioning of the organs. Each one of these has its own individual, essential importance for the body.
Proteins absorbed in food do not work in the body in their existing form. They are first taken into special laboratories in the cell and broken down into smaller molecules- amino acids. Then, these amino acids are recombined in different sequences to constitute whichever of the 200,000 kinds of proteins encoded in DNA is required at any given time. This mechanism, every stage of which is a miracle in its own right, is known as protein synthesis.
Protein synthesis is the main job of the cells, because proteins carry out just about all the work inside cells. Tens of thousands of different kinds of proteins in the human body are repaired when required and replaced with new ones when they grow old. Blueprints inside the genetic information are noted for the production of a new protein, and the required variety is duly manufactured. The production plan for each protein exists in detailed instructions encoded into DNA.
As an individual goes through daily life, just about all the 100 trillion or so cells in the body are carrying out complex processes at every moment. All cells, apart from reproductive and blood cells, produce around 2,000 proteins a second. The approximately 100 trillion cells in an adult human body flawlessly organize some 150,000,000,000,000,000,000 (150 quintillion) amino acids to give rise to protein chains.75 This process goes on every day, every minute, every second. Prof. Gerald L. Schroeder describes this environment inside the cell:
The system for the flawless production of proteins, so vitally important to the survival of living things, is incomparably more complex and organized than any Earthly analogy that could be cited. In this complex production plant, there is no room for the slightest error. Any disruption at any stage is immediately put right by the security system, ensuring that the proteins that permit the organism to remain alive are produced with no disruption, at exactly the right time, and in exactly the right place and form.
Another miraculous aspect of protein production is that it occurs at very high speeds. A protein molecule carrying 100 amino acids, for instance, is synthesized by the E. coli bacterium cell in five seconds.77 No factory on Earth is able to complete its entire production process, in a flawless manner, at such a speed. This speed is very important, because several proteins are needed in the cells at any time in order for the organism to survive. In his bookThe Machinery of Life, the molecular biologist David S. Goodsell expresses the importance to life of protein synthesis:
It is impossible for evolutionists to answer this question, because their Darwinist preconceptions prevent them seeing the facts- or rather, prevents them from openly stating them. The fact is, however, that the fact of creation is inescapable: it is Almighty Allah Who simultaneously creates proteins and the protein synthesis that takes place at great speed inside the cell. Using the coded information in the DNA as a vehicle, our Lord has permitted such vital processes as protein synthesis to continue without interruption.
During protein production, many proteins work at the same time. All the required components work flawlessly together inside the cell. More than 80 ribosome proteins, a messenger molecule with more than 20 amino acids, more than a dozen helper enzymes, more than 100 enzymes that carry out the final processes, and 300 macromolecules, more than 40 of them being RNA molecules- all play co-coordinated roles in protein synthesis.79 A large engineering team would have difficulty co-coordinating this impeccable production system. Yet it takes place in a space no larger than 1/1000 millimeter, and the intense activity of hundreds of much smaller molecules permits life to continue. The absence of just one of the molecules involved in the production will disrupt the entire chain. A system that functions in such a planned way and with such evident consciousness is possible only through creation by Allah, the absolute Lord of all things.
For a detailed account of how protein synthesis actually takes place, see Harun Yahya, The Miracle of Protein, Araştırma Yayıncılık. This chapter will describe only the general lines of the process as we show how use is made of the information in DNA.
Protein synthesis is carried out in two stages, known as transcription and translation, which permit the information in DNA to be transmitted to RNA, and from there to the proteins.
Transcription, the first step, begins in the cell nucleus. The genetic information in the double strip of DNA is to be transported by means of the single-strip RNA molecule.
Translation, the final step in protein synthesis, takes place in the cell cytoplasm outside the nucleus, where of the genetic information in RNA is transmitted to new proteins.
Let's now look at the general outlines of these stages:
The Wisdom Behind DNA and RNA Molecules Being Different
In cells, nucleic acids are found in two separate forms: DNA (short for deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid), which perform different tasks. The general differences between the two are as follows:
Their sugars are different:
The backbone of the RNA molecule is ribose sugar, instead of the deoxyribose sugar molecule in DNA.
The bases are different:
There is uracil (U) in RNA instead of the thymine (T) in DNA.
RNA is shorter and consists of just a single strip:
RNA is a polymer (a compound formed by a large number of molecules joining together with chemical bonds in a regular manner). It has a structural similarity to DNA and like DNA, it also carries information. But unlike DNA, RNA consists of a single strip.
DNA is a more stable molecule:
RNA has an extra oxygen atom in every sugar molecule and lacks one carbon atom in every thymine base. The absence of oxygen in DNA's sugar molecules –that is, the fact that DNA has a deoxyribose sugar structure-makes it a more stable molecule than RNA. For that reason, DNA is the ideal molecule for information storage and is far better suited to the long– term storage of data in the cell. Indeed, it is DNA's task to carry information that ensures the survival of the organism and the continuation of subsequent generations. The RNA molecule plays temporary roles and serves in the short-term carrying of information. 80
RNA enters into reactions faster:
In addition, since RNA has an extra hydroxyl (OH) group, it enters into reactions more easily than DNA, but which also makes it less stable. This is why RNA is not as well suited as DNA for storing information. Thanks to the way that the single-strip RNA molecule can adapt to complex three-dimensional structures, it's able to engage in catalytic activities that the strong and double-striped DNA helix cannot perform. (A catalytic effect enables a substance to undergo no change, but to effect in a chemical reaction or the speed at which it does so.) Thanks to their catalytic abilities, RNA molecules can alter chemical structures in a most astonishing manner. For example, during the processes in the cell nucleus, they turn a large copy of the DNA sequence into a "messenger RNA" sequence much smaller than themselves. The ribosome then converts messenger RNA into the protein's amino acid sequence.81
The information in DNA can be reached more easily:
If the RNA molecule had a double-helix structure like that of DNA, the structural folds in RNA would not occur, which would prevent its being recognized by proteins. Also a double-helix structure would give, RNA with a deep recess, making it harder for proteins to reach it and for its coded information to be read.82 Proteins could not recognize a double-helix RNA and its base sequences as easily as they do with DNA. Therefore, DNA is better suited for containing genetic information because it is more stable and more easily reached.83
DNA and RNA are the ideal molecules for their own separate tasks.
RNA carries the genetic message it receives from the DNA inside the nucleus to the cytoplasm (that part of the cell that lies outside the nucleus), where the message is translated. The essential differences between these two molecules help them perform their separate tasks. DNA is a stable and approachable data-preservation center inside the cell, while RNA is a variable carrier that enables genetic information to be translated. In his bookNature's Destiny, the molecular biologist Michael Denton notes the importance of these properties:
RNA, with its single strip, is much more flexible than DNA's double helix. As you see, both the DNA and RNA molecules have been specially created for their own functions. The differences in their structures may seem very minor, but are actually exceedingly important in terms of the jobs they perform, and all these details form a highly complex organization. Prof. Gerald L. Schroeder refers to the complexity in the DNA-RNA mechanism:
No human being has any influence on this system. Our Almighty Lord installed this system, too small to be seen with the naked eye, while the individual was still no more than one single cell. Human beings, enfolded by the mercy of Allah, stand in need of Him in all things:
Say: "He is Allah, Absolute Oneness, Allah, the Everlasting Sustainer of all. He has not given birth and was not born. And no one is comparable to Him." (Surat al-Ikhlas, 1-4)
Protein Production According to the Instructions in DNA
Whenever the body needs any kind of protein, a message expressing that need reaches the DNA of the cell where that production is to be performed. There is a very important point here which needs to be borne in mind: when there is a need for any kind of protein in the body it is again certain messenger proteins know where they have to apply, are able to locate those sites in the entire body, and forward the message there in readable form. The protein enabling this communication finds it way without becoming lost in the dark interior of the bloodstream, and deposits its message without any part of it being lost or damaged. In short, we are looking at a considerable awareness and sense of responsibility.
The message reaching the cell nucleus forms the protein as the result of a series of complex and highly organized processes. The way that the demand for protein reaches the correct cells out of all the 100 trillion other cells in the body, how the cells understand what is required of them and immediately goes to work, and produce a perfect result are all phenomena that amaze scientists.
The genetic code in the DNA molecule is so programmed that only the cell itself is capable of knowing its content, its meaning, and how it will affect the body throughout its lifetime. However, these cells are merely masses of unconscious inanimate atoms. Under the direction of our Almighty Lord, Who regulates all things on the Earth and in the skies, processes that human beings are unable to carry out are performed in a perfect manner. In the Qur'an, Allah reveals that:
[Hud said,] "I have put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord. There is no creature He does not hold by the forelock. My Lord is on a Straight Path.' (Surah Hud, 56)
It is Allah Who created the seven heavens and of the Earth the same number, the Command descending down through all of them, so that you might know that Allah has power over all things and that Allah encompasses all things in His knowledge. (Surat at-Talaq, 12)
Protein molecules are produced in blocks, in much the same way that a house is built by bricks placed on top of one another. Every different protein is manufactured according to a specific blueprint. The particular amino acid sequence of each protein is determined according to the data recorded in the DNA. The deciphering of the DNA's genetic code, and protein production based on that information, take place in two main stages:
1- The synthesis of RNA from DNA (transcription):
The first stage in protein production is the synthesis of RNA. This process begins with the opening of the DNA helix. The bases adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine opposite one another in the DNA molecule combine in such a way as to join the two backbones and give rise to a helical structure. During the transcription phase, these bases let go of one another and the double helix of the DNA molecule begins separating, just like the two sides of a zipper.
As the DNA begins to unravel, a special protein known as RNA polymerase begins reading the DNA by traveling along it. During the course of this reading, new RNA is produced by the successive addition of the corresponding bases. This RNA being manufactured is messenger RNA (mRNA). The difference between mRNA and DNA is that instead of the base adenine being opposite thymine, a base known as uracil (represented by the letter U, for short) does so.
These bases are arranged in groups of three. The messenger RNA, whose production is now complete, is then subjected to a series of processes and separated from the DNA. In much the same way that a sculptor adjusts carved a statue right down to the finest detail, the cell directs a string of enzymes to adjust the crude RNA produced.
2- The synthesis of protein from RNA (translation):
The messenger RNA, whose adjustment processes completed, emerges from the nucleus and bonds an organelle known as the ribosome, the cell's energy-production plant. One feature of the messenger RNA molecule is that its bases are set out in groups of three, known as codons. The reading of these three-part groups begins after mRNA has bonded to the ribosome.
Another variety of RNA known as transporter RNA (Trna) which, during protein synthesis carry the amino acids that will make up the new proteins. Unlike the messenger RNA or DNA molecules, transporter RNA is not long, with only 15 to 20 base sequences. Also, its consecutive bases are bonded in such a way as to form a circle. There are two important regions in the transporter RNA link. The first is the region that permits recognition of the amino acids it will transport; the other region, known as the anti-codon, is consists of three bases that will attach to the mRNA.
The anti-codon in the transporter RNA attaches to the triple groups known as codons on the mRNA bonded to the ribosome. One after the other, the transporter RNA anti-codons bond to the codons on the messenger RNA and also bring with them amino acids. As the transporter RNAs attach to the codons, the attached amino acids begin bonding to one another. When hundreds or thousands of tRNAs are lined up alongside one another, the amino acids they bear are also lined up side by side and begin protein synthesis by constructing bonds with one another. At that point, the tRNA, whose work is done and that has discharged its load, breaks the bond with the mRNA and separates from the ribosome.
During production, one single amino acid being added in the wrong place is enough to make a functionless protein molecule. Yet this process is carried out in a flawless manner in all living things. Every tRNA molecule serves as a transporter, carrying every amino acid to the predetermined site and ensuring that there is no impairment in the process. The molecular biologist Michael Denton notes this extraordinary organization:
These actions –requiring immaculate discipline, awareness and responsibility– are a sign that these unconscious molecules have submitted to Omniscient and Almighty Allah and that they behave under His control. In one verse of the Qur'an it is revealed that:
Say: "I seek refuge with the Lord of humanity, the King of humanity, the deity of humanity." (Surat an-Nas, 1-3)
An Evident Miracle: Proteins Perform Protein Synthesis
In the different stages of protein synthesis, hundreds of different proteins and enzymes are needed for the manufacture of a single protein molecule. In addition, a great many molecules and ions (electrically charged atoms) are ready and waiting. That being so, the question of how the first protein came into being represents one of the most severe difficulties facing evolutionists. In an article published in American Scientistmagazine, the evolutionist and biologist Carly P. Haskings expresses their predicament:
As this scientist states, in order for protein synthesis to occur, all the systems in the cell need to be present at once. The absence of even one component of the system will mean that proteins cannot be manufactured and that therefore, life cannot continue. Evolutionists, however, claim that proteins first emerged as the result of chance, and that cells then formed as a result of random combinations of proteins. However, it is perfectly obvious that none of these components can form in the absence of the others. This is clear proof that Allah has created all living things together with all their systems. His flawless creation is revealed in these terms in the Qur'an:
He is Allah-the Creator, the Maker, the Giver of Form. To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. Everything in the heavens and Earth glorifies Him. He is the Almighty, the All-Wise. (Surat al-Hashr, 24)
Since the molecules in question are made up of unconscious atoms, how can a substance devoid of intellect or consciousness possess the abilities to regulate and control something else, and to intervene in processes? How can it send instructions, acting in a systematic manner in line with a specific objective? People who fall under the influence of Darwinist teachings claim that all these things are the work of blind coincidence.
However, it is impossible for molecules, unaware of the presence of cells, to take upon themselves the responsibility of producing the needed proteins they need. It is quite impossible for unconscious atoms to accomplish the various tasks requiring the superior intelligence, knowledge and awareness. All they do is to flawlessly perform the task set out for them, and have submitted to Allah, Who imposes this task on them and Who has created them as part of this system.
In one verse of the Qur'an it is revealed that:
[Moses said,] "Your deity is Allah alone, there is no deity but Him. He encompasses all things in His knowledge."' (Surah Ta Ha, 98)
The World's Most Advanced Copying Technology
Throughout the day, without your ever being aware of it, your cells carry out countless processes with an extraordinary care and sense of responsibility, for you to continue living in a healthy state. One of these processes is cell division, which permits growth and tissue repair. DNA's ability to be copied enables damaged tissue to repair itself by means of cells dividing and multiplying, during the course of which the original genetic information is transmitted to every new cell.
Most of the cells in the human body divide and multiply. During the course of cell division, the replication of the DNA in the cell nucleus is carried out in such an astonishingly organized and disciplined way. Even when the human embryo is no more than a single cell, it divides into two, and progressively, from two to four, to eight . . . and an exact copy of the original DNA needs to be produced for the new cell. In fact, shortly before a cell divides, DNA replicates itself and transmitsit to the new cell.
According to observations of the process, the cell has to reach a specific size before dividing. The moment this particular size is exceeded, the process of division begins in a programmed manner. The shape of the cell begins flattening out, and the DNA replicates itself.
The cell as a whole decides to divide, and the different components within it begin behaving in appropriately. Clear, however, cells by themselves are incapable of managing such a collective task. The process of division begins at Allah's command, and all the components of the cell, especially DNA, act accordingly.
The DNA molecule, with its data-bank of 3 billion letters, resembles a double spiral staircase. When the replication process begins, first an enzyme known as DNA helicase arrives and begins opening up the DNA helix, just like a zipper. As a result, the two strips of the helix, formerly wound around one another, separate. DNA helicase is always on duty at exactly the right time and performs its work flawlessly, never making a mistake that would cause any harm to the DNA.
Once the DNA molecule has assumed the form of two lengthy strips, the work is now handed over to the enzyme DNA polymerase, whose job is to make provide each separated arm of the DNA with a new strip. To do this, it finds and brings in the appropriate data comprising each of the DNA strips. An enzyme made up of atoms, devoid of any consciousness or intelligence, identifies the information needed to complete the two DNA halves, and installs them accordingly. During the course of all of this, it makes not the slightest error, but completes and identifies all the 3 billion letters concerned one by one, with perfect accuracy. At this point, another polymerase enzyme completes the other half of the DNA in exactly the same way. As all this takes place,helix stabilizing enzymes hold on to the ends of the DNA to prevent the two separate strips from winding around one another again.
In this way, the two missing halves of the DNA strip are completed, using materials already found in the surrounding cell, and two new DNA molecules are produced. Expert proteins known as enzymes, working just like highly advanced robots, act in every phase of the operation. During these stages, a great many highly complex intermediate processes occur, which would also provide the subject for a book.
The new DNA molecules that are copied are checked many times by supervising enzymes. Any error –and such errors could have lethal consequences– is immediately identified and corrected. The flawed code is extracted and the correct gene brought in and assembled.
James Watson and Francis Crick, the scientists who discovered the structure of DNA, reduced the replication process they described as a "perfect biological principle," to a very simple form. Today, however, we know that the way DNA copies itself is so complex as to amaze scientists. Twenty separate proteins and enzymes must be present for even the smallest strip of DNA to be replicated.88 Prof. Werner Gitt describes the perfection inherent in this replication:
One of the most miraculous aspects of DNA replication is that unconscious is molecules carry out everything described here. Enzymes consisting of combinations of unconscious atoms identify the missing sections of the DNA helix, obtain the missing parts and install them in the right locations. No doubt, the way such minuscule structures with no consciousness or intelligence flawlessly perform processes requiring all these features exhibits the incomparable nature of Allah's creation. All these elements behave at Allah's command. With the ability bestowed on them by Him, they perform such a vitally important process for human life in the most immaculate way. The organization in Allah's creation is revealed in these terms in the Qur'an:
Does man reckon he will be left to go on unchecked? Was he not a drop of ejaculated sperm, then a blood-clot which He created and shaped,making from it both sexes, male and female? (Surah al-Qiyama, 36-39)
The Matchless Speed in Replication
All the processes involved in the replication of DNA take place at such an astonishing pace that 3,000 nucleotide steps are produced in one minute. Fifty base pairs are copied in only a second.90 Meanwhile, the enzymes responsible check all the steps many times over and make the necessary corrections.
For a better idea of the enormous speed at which the process of DNA replication occurs, the division of a cell lasts between 20 and 80 minutes, during which time the information in the DNA also must be copied and reproduced. All the 3 billion pieces of information in the DNA have to be able to be copied in between 20 and 80 minutes, with no errors, omissions or gaps. This is as miraculous as the copying an entire library of information, or 1,000 books, or a text of one million pages, in that same space of time - again with no errors or omissions.
Moreover, it is not highly advanced technological devices or highly developed photocopying machines that accomplish this, but enzymes consisting of combinations of various atoms.
Due to external factors, a great many errors may be made in the new DNA molecule produced at such a great speed. Ribosomes in the cell now begin manufacturing DNA-repair enzymes in the light of the instruction reaching them from DNA. This means that the DNA has taken the necessary steps to protect itself! Like the human beings they constitute, cells are born, multiply and die. However, the lifespan of cells is very much shorter than that of the human beings. For example, the vast majority of the cells that made up your body six months ago are no longer alive. Yet since they gradually divided and were replaced by new ones, you remain alive and well today. That is why events such as cell multiplication and the replication of DNA are so vitally important to human life and offer no room for even the slightest error.
One astonishing aspect of all this is that the enzymes that ensure the production of DNA and also supervise its structure are proteins produced at the command of that same DNA, under the control of the information contained within it. It is absolutely impossible for it to have assumed this magnificently convoluted system as the result of gradual, random coincidences, because DNA has to exist for the enzyme to appear. But also, the enzyme must exist for DNA, and all the organelles in the cell must be present to permit the existence of both.
As you can see from this summarized information, the elements in your body accomplish all their tasks successfully and completely. Allah has placed countless atoms and molecules, from the very largest to the very smallest, at our service in order for us to be able to live healthy lives. In one verse He reveals that:
… Allah pours out His favor on humanity, but most people do not show thanks. (Surah Ghafir, 61)
To whom actually belongs the intelligence and knowledge that realizes that a replication of the DNA must be made during cell division, which carry out the replication process in such a flawless manner, and which establish such a magnificent system capable of immediately rectifying processing errors? It would be completely illogical to say that such a flawless organization developed as the result of chance. Even were you to combine all the atoms in the universe, providing all the necessary conditions you could still never produce a system that carries out DNA replication by chance. It is abundantly clear that Allah, Almighty and Omniscient, created such a flawless system and has continued to maintain it for millions of years. This fact is also revealed in a verse from the Qur'an:
What is in the heavens and in the Earth belongs to Allah. Allah encompasses all things. (Surat an-Nisa, 126)
The Rectification of Copying Errors
When a cell divides, errors sometimes arise as the chromosomes replicate themselves. To prevent errors in the genetic data accumulating in subsequent generations, every living thing possesses a mechanism that identifies and corrects the great majority of these errors. Did this mechanism not exist, the genetic structure of living things would soon become impaired, and extinction would be the eventual result.
The cell also works as an editor to reduce the number of such errors, though one or two are an acceptable level. Thanks to this control mechanism, a very small level of error –between one in a billion and one in a hundred billion– remains. One error in 100 billion is the equivalent of one mistake in a text of 50 million pages. It would take 100 professional layout staff, working non-stop for their entire lives, to produce 50 million pages.91 The nuclear physicist Gerald L. Schroeder describes the intellect displayed in the quality control system in the cell:
The astonishingly intelligent and precautionary events take place in DNA and in all the systems that work under its instructions cannot possibly be accounted for in terms of chance. These are programmed in an ordered manner that can be explained only by the existence of a Creator, the possessor of the knowledge of all things and the Lord of all things. That Creator is Almighty Allah, Who endows us with life By His mercy, and Whose knowledge enfolds all things.
DNA Enzymes with Their Vital Tasks
When enzymes cause a reaction, an effect arises similar to the difference between rolling a ball uphill and downhill. Enzymes are able to accelerate biochemical reactions by up to 1,000 times.93 93The human body contains more than 3,500 kinds of enzymes. In the event of the absence of even a few of them, the cell's internal activities would become completely confused. The result would impair the order existing within the cell, and the end of life. (For detailed information, see Harun Yahya's , The Miraculous Machine That Works For An Entire Lifetime: Enzyme)
One of the most important jobs of DNA enzymes is to assist with the replication of the DNA molecule. The only difference between the molecule of an enzyme and other proteins is the former's three-dimensional shape. If enzymes did not possess this three-dimensional shape setting out their own characteristics, then processes inside the cell, information sent from the brain to various organs and internal regulation of the cell would not exist. A great many processes needed to keep the cell alive could not take place. Even the absence of the enzyme that corrects errors during DNA replication could lead to the genes losing their functionality, or to flawed production leading in turn to the development of cancer.
The enzymes involved in DNAreplication include:DNA helicase, which opens up the DNA helix like a zipper
As you have seen, when the replication process begins, the enzyme known as DNA helicase is the first to arrive and begins opening up the DNA helix just like a zipper. As a result, the DNA's two entwined arms separate from one another. DNA helicase has the ability to open 1,000 nucleotide pairs a second.
As the DNA arms separate, helix stabilizing enzymes hold both arms to prevent them wrapping round each other once again.
As DNA helicase opens the zipper, it suddenly halts. The points where it stops set the two ends of the required information. Enzymes behave with enormous expertise, just as if they knew where the data began and ended.
DNA polymerase, the maker of new DNA strips
It is now the turn of DNA polymerase whose job, as you saw earlier, is to complete the divided arms of the DNA with a second arm of each. It therefore locates and fetches information corresponding to that one arm of the DNA.
DNA polymerase produces new strips in a complete and flawless manner. Cytosine in the old strip is always combined with guanine in the new one. Adenine is always joined up with thymine, and vice versa. However, during this matching process that takes place at such high speed, a few errors are bound to arise. Opposite adenine in one location, for example, the DNA polymerase may install guanine instead of thymine. Errors of this kind can sometimes represent a lethal danger. For instance, if the sixth amino acid in the structure of hemoglobin is replaced by another known as valine, thread-like fibers will emerge in the protein and prevent erythrocytes from moving about freely, leading to the disease known as sickle cell anemia.94
Just like an editor who corrects written texts, this enzyme identifies errors in the DNA and removes the wrong letter. However, this leaves a gap in the DNA helix. Another enzyme occupies itself with that problem.
DNA nuclease, exceedingly sensitive to errors
Just like an editor who corrects written texts, this enzyme identifies errors in the DNA and removes the wrong letter. However, this leaves a gap in the DNA helix. Another enzyme occupies itself with that problem.
DNA ligase, repairing breaks in the DNA
When the DNA nuclease identifies the mistaken section and extracts it, the resulting gap in the DNA strip is repaired by an enzyme known as DNA ligase. Thanks to the perfection obtained in this very final stage, only one error in a billion nucleotides is permitted - a level of error many times superior to any data system under computer control. One error in a billion is the equivalent of making only one mistake while copying thousands of books.95 This level shows what an extraordinary regulatory mechanism is compressed into a space too small to be seen with the naked eye.
Topoisomerase: enables DNA to be unraveled without knotting
DNA strips are packed into tiny volumes many thousands of times smaller than their length. In functioning in this small space, DNA may encounter several problems because of its shape. For example, as the DNA helix is opened up so that the information in it may be read, the some parts the bottom become increasingly compacted and that pressure needs to be released. This is just like pulling the fibers that make up a thread, one by one, which causes parts of the thread to become compacted. Immediately before the cell divides, an even larger problem may arise as the cell contains two copies of the DNA's 46 strips. Each one needs to be unraveled at once, and then separated and dispatched to the new cell.96.
The DNA enzymes known as topoisomerase overcome this major difficulty. One topoisomerase separates one strip of the DNA helix, thus causing the DNA to unravel and stretch out, thus relaxing the pressure from extreme compacting. This strip is subsequently recombined, reassuming its double helix form. By the mercy of Allah, all these systems carry out their functions to perfection, without us being aware of them, preserving the genetic information concealed in the DNA strips.
The Flawless Cooperation Between DNA and Enzymes
These processes are carried out an average of 20,000 times a day in every one of the 100 trillion cells in the human body.97 Every enzyme knows where it must be and when, and at what stage it has to become involved. Every enzyme has its own place in the progression. Each adheres to the division of labor with immaculate co-ordination. There is not the slightest interruption, deficiency or delay in this system, or else DNA would be just a useless collection of molecules, leading to serious damage to the body.
DNA enzymes are one example that entirely demolishes evolutionist claims of gradual and chance formation, because these enzymes are vitally necessary for DNA to be copied. Yet the information constituting these enzymes is also concealed inside the DNA. Therefore, the presence of DNA is essential for enzymes to come into being; and for enzymes, the prior existence of DNA is essential. The fact that two complex structures have to emerge at exactly the same time is a major difficulty for the theory of evolution, which cannot account for the emergence of either one of them.
This predicament is admitted by the evolutionist scientists Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe:
The enzymes that accomplish such difficult tasks are not possessed of consciousness and intelligence. Yet how do these unconscious accumulations of molecules perform actions that require conscious intelligence, such as making decisions, implementing those decisions, possessing foresight, preventing confusion, taking precautions within a flawless order, identifying and rectifying errors and carrying out repairs? The concept of chance, behind which evolutionists hide, loses all significance in the face of such a complex mechanism. Therefore, blind chance definitely constitutes no scientific answer to the question of the origin of life. Anyone of intelligence will agree that conscious, planned processes cannot be performed, one after the other, as the result of chance. The resistance of those who deny the existence of Allah in the face of all the facts is revealed in these terms in the Qur'an:
They said, "No matter what kind of Sign you bring us to bewitch us, we will not believe in you." (Surat al-A'raf, 132)
It is apparent that all the flawless elements in this system must have come into being in a single moment. This means that they have been created. These processes, which human beings find difficult to comprehend even as they read about them, are tasks performed, by Allah's choosing, with enormous ease and success by unconscious atoms at every single moment. In the Qur'an, Allah reveals:
He originates and regenerates. He is the Ever-Forgiving, the All-Loving, the Possessor of the Throne, the All-Glorious, the Doer of whatever He desires. (Surat al-Buruj, 13-16)
Darwinist-Materialist Errors Regarding the Human Genome Project
Genome is the name for the entirety of the genetic information possessed by a cell--and thus, by a living thing. Hundreds of scientists in some 20 laboratories have been working for more than a decade to analyze the genetic information in the DNA molecule in each one of the 100 trillion or so cells in the human body. The Human Genome Project, run by an international body consisting of 16 institutions, aims to describe the whole of the genetic data inside the human cell and to read all the DNA texts written in genetic language. The biologists, chemists, engineers, computer scientists, mathematicians and experts in a great many other fields formed part of this international project, working to produce a biological map setting out human beings' physical characteristics. Yet despite all these efforts, the technology for recording the DNA sequence is still very slow, and recording the DNA sequence in a single human chromosome is a very expensive process--so expensive that some $2.7 billion has already been spent on the Human Genome Project,118 far more than was spent on sending man to the Moon and back.
The draft of the human DNA sequence was completed in 2000. However, the project assumed its final form, with the correction of errors and completion of gaps, only in April 2003. The National Human Genome Research Institute, and the U.S. Departments of Energy and Health co-coordinated the 13-year Human Genome Project, some of whose objectives may be summarized:
The gene mapping technique employed in the project is to clarify where genes are located in the chromosomes, thus revealing the anatomy of a person's genome. With the mapping of the relative positions of a great many genes and other genetic markers along a chromosome, it is possible to produce a whole genome map. The mathematical analysis of the genome and a series of complex statistical analyses are employed to determine the location of genes on chromosomes, needed for us to understand the basic functions of the human body. One of the important objectives of the Human Genome Project is therefore the determination of the bases and causes of genetic diseases. It is hoped that with the data obtained from the project, an estimated 4,000 inherited diseases can be identified, and in the near future, therapy will be possible by means of the production of special drugs aimed at high-risk genetic diseases.
The Size of Genes is No Measure of Their Complexity
It is very easy to misinterpret the enormous size of the human genome. The reason why human beings have 25 times more DNA than a fly is not because human beings are larger and more complex. There is no correlation in biological terms between the amount of genetic information and complexity. The single-celled organism Paramecium caudatum, , for instance, has 8.6 billion nucleotides, which is more than twice as many as the human genome. With 670 billion nucleotides, the single-celled Amoeba dubia possesses the broadest known amount of genetic information.119
Scientists working on the Human Genome Project state that they are still only beginning to understand the functions of genes and the relationships among them, because the emerging results were by no means what they had expected. For example, even a mouse or a stalk of wheat has longer DNA than human beings. This again shows that there is no direct correlation between DNA length and an organism's complexity. The biophysicist Dr. Lee Spetner refers to this:
It also emerged that previous estimates of the number of human genes were also incorrect. When their research began, scientists estimated that human beings had between 50,000 and 140,000 genes, but the latest studies established only between 25,000 and 30,000. This came as a considerable surprise to scientific circles. Francis S. Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, explains:
The difficulty here stems from Darwinist scientists constructing their claims on the assumption that humans are the most complex life form, for which reason they should have a greater number of genes. Since the human cell was a great deal more complex, it was expected to have a greater number of genes compared to the 6,000 in a yeast cell, 13,000 in the fruit fly, 18,000 in one species of worm and 26,000 in a plant species. However, the Human Genome Project invalidated the dogmatic logic that the more complex an organism, the larger its DNA and the number of its genes.
Neither gene numbers nor DNA size shows evidence of evolution, though evolutionists are trying to distort this latest development, which really does work against them, and to depict it as proof of their theory! Due to both a lack of information and their prejudiced attitude, some media organizations also imagine that the Human Genome Project is uncovering proof of evolution, or else they seek to give that impression. Yet all the genetic findings obtained from the project have closed the doors field in Darwinism's face, as has happened in other branches of science.
Evolutionists' Distortion of Genetic Similarity
With the production of the human gene map, the findings from the Human Genome Project are being distorted and used as a propaganda tool in some evolutionist publications, claiming that there is a 98% resemblance between human and chimpanzee genes, which is proposed as evidence for evolution. In fact, however, these claims give no support to evolution; on the contrary, they are false evidence based on distortions.
Even if there is a 98% resemblance between the chimpanzee and human genomes, it is illogical to infer that man is 98% chimpanzee. Human beings share specific genes with a great many other living things. For example, according to analyses carried in New Scientist magazine, a 75% resemblance has been determined between human DNA and that of nematode worms.122 However, this hardly means that human beings are 75% worm, or that there is only a 25% difference between them! Some evolutionists even see and speak of the illogicality of such inferences. Prof. Steven Jones issued a reminder if a 50% similarity is revealed between human beings and bananas, that will not mean that human beings are 50% banana. It is known that even if the genes in two life forms are the same, they can still work in entirely different ways. Moreover, genes are sometimes involved in more than one function, and one function is controlled by more than one gene. This broadens the mathematical difference to a very considerable extent.
But analyses of various proteins show that human beings are very close related to very different life forms. In one study, researchers from Cambridge University compared the proteins of various terrestrial life forms. Astonishingly, in just about all the examples used, human beings and chickens turned out to be one another's closest relatives. Our next closest "relative" is the crocodile.123
Another example that evolutionists use to claim genetic similarity between man and ape is the fact that humans have 46 chromosomes, and chimpanzees and gorillas have 48. Evolutionists regard similarity between chromosome numbers as an indication of an evolutionary relationship. Yet if their logic were correct, man would have another relative just as close as the chimpanzee: the potato! The potato has exactly the same number of chromosomes as the chimpanzee and the gorilla: 48. On the other hand, the wild hare has exactly the same number of chromosomes as human beings: 46.124 These examples show that similar numbers represent no evidence at all for the theory of evolution, because genetic similarities do not fit the scenario claimed, but actually produce completely opposite results to it.
The Darwinist media use information selectively, as propaganda tools. Since they claim that man and ape descended from a common ancestor, they emphasize the resemblance between the two species' DNA. Yet there are a number of studies –again carried out by evolutionists!– showing the invalidity of the "98% similarity" claimed by evolutionists for so many years. But these studies are deliberately not reported, or else given only very limited coverage.
A report titled "Humans, chimps more different than thought," carried on the CNN website on 25 September, 2002, reported the findings of this research:
On 23 September, 2002, the website of the British magazine New Scientist reported on the same subject, under the caption "Human-Chimp DNA Difference Trebled":
In conclusion, the genome project has revealed no findings in favor of the theory of evolution. On the contrary, it shows that on the basis of DNA and gene structures, no evolutionary tree of life can be constructed between living things. This deals a severe blow to Darwinism. Living things' DNA codes clearly show that the tree of life, imposed as the truth ever since the 19th century, is actually specious.
The real aim of those sections of society blindly devoted to Darwinism is not to publicize the facts, but merely to propagate Darwinism. However, all the foundations on which their propaganda is built are crumbling away with ongoing scientific discoveries. Confronted by this, increasing numbers of people are realizing that the theory of evolution was a deception perpetrated for ideological reasons. In its place, the fact of creation is spreading rapidly. In the Qur'an, Allah reveals as follows:
Do not mix up truth with falsehood and knowingly hide the truth. (Surat al-Baqara, 42)
Rather We hurl the truth against falsehood and it cuts right through it and it vanishes clean away! Woe without end for you for what you portray! (Surat al-Anbiya, 18)
Scientists Still Have Insufficient Information
Although scientists across the world have been working on the human genome for decades, our knowledge of genetic structure is still very limited. Scientists working for the Celera company, using advanced laboratory technology and computer analysis techniques, identified 26,500 human genes and provided estimated locations for around 13,000 of them. Using a different method, the Human Genome Project estimated that there are 31,778 human genes. What these two methods agree on is that human beings have between 30,000 and 40,000 genes. Given the complex nature of human genes, it is presently impossible to provide an exact number.
According to Human Genome Project estimates, those sections of DNA concerned with instructions for the production of protein represent less than 5% of the DNA sequence. The remaining genetic information consists of genetic control regions regarding chromosomes and DNA segments that are not yet understood.127 A great deal more research is needed before we can fully understand human genetic data.
As scientists seek to reveal how the genetic mechanism functions, they cannot explain how such a perfect system came to be. Under the caption "Messages from the Genome" in the December 2000 issue of Harper's Magazine, Arthur Cody describes the operations within the genome as a series of "triggering processes" and then poses the following questions:
To the writer's questions, there is only one answer, of course: all these things take place under the inspiration of Almighty Allah. By the will of our Lord, billions of atoms combine together in such a way as to comprise all the functions of life. Indeed, with the conclusion of the Human Genome Project, the details of the genetic information that reveals the sublime creation with which Allah brings living things into being have been revealed for all to see. Today, anyone who examines the results of the project and discovers that in a single human cell is sufficient information to fill thousands of encyclopedia pages will see this as evidence of a magnificent creation. One of those who express this fact is the physicist and geneticist Prof. Francis S. Collins, leader of the Human Genome Project and head of the National Human Genome Project Research Institute. In 2005, Prof. Collins was awarded the Allen Prize, regarded as the American Society of Human Genetics' most prestigious award, for his lifetime's study of human genetics. In a speech, Prof. Collins stated that his studies had deepened his faith in Allah:
Any honest scientist will admit that faith and science are compatible with each other and that the universe is full of proofs of Allah. However, the dishonest approach adopted by the Darwinist-materialist media clearly demonstrates their selectivity. The words of this scientist, who headed the Human Genome Project and who confessed his amazement at the superior organization manifested in DNA--and how a single molecule strengthened his faith--appear nowhere in the press. However, the perfection in the order created by Allah is far too apparent to be concealed in any way. In the Qur'an, Allah reveals the attitude of believers:
Those who have been given knowledge see that what has been sent down to you from your Lord is the truth and that it guides to the Path of [Allah], the Almighty, the Praiseworthy. (Surah Saba, 6)
There is an excellent example in them for you to follow that is for those whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day. But if anyone turns away, Allah is the Rich Beyond Need, the Praiseworthy. (Surat al-Mumtahana, 6)
The Successes of the Human Genome Project are Part of the Destiny Created by Allah
In the wake of the conclusion of the Human Genome Project, certain publications began spreading misleading messages to cover up the impasse in which the theory of evolution found itself. One of the subjects brought up under different slogans and captions most frequently by the Darwinist-materialist press is the claim that the discovery of the gene map will supposedly be able to alter people's destinies. It is a grave error to spread messages such as "Man will no longer be a victim of fate" together with information about the human gene map. In fact, the map's completion will definitely make no difference to human destiny, because the map itself is also part of that destiny. Allah reveals this fact in the Qur'an:
But you will not unless Allah wills. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (Surat al-Insan, 30)
Destiny is the way that Allah knows all things in the past and present in the form of a single moment. Allah knows beforehand all things that have not yet taken place. A great many people fail to understand how He knows events that have not yet taken place. But the destiny that a person has not yet encountered is simply an event that, for that person, has not yet taken place. All events described as of "unknown" result are unknown to us alone. Omniscient Allah is unfettered by time and space. For that reason, the past, present and future are all one for Him, for He is the One Who created time and place. In the Sight of Allah, everything we are experiencing at this moment and everything we will experience in the future are all already over and done with. When the time comes, all humans witness the destiny created for them by Him.
In the same way that someone who holds the CD of a film can perceive the film's beginning, middle and end as a single disk, so Allah is aware of everything to come for all the human beings He has created. He Who knows all things as a single moment, shows us the infinite nature of His might by creating limitless infinity of time in that single infinitely small instant. In the face of these scientific developments, believers must be aware that all knowledge belongs to Allah, its real and only owner, as is revealed in the Qur'an:
They said, "Glory be to You! We have no knowledge except what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise." (Surat al-Baqara, 32)
He creates the lives of all human beings who have ever lived, together with all the details thereof. All events that may appear positive or negative and that people will encounter from birth until the moment of their death take place with Allah's knowledge. In Surat al-An'am, we are informed that everything that happens in the world, both great and small, does so at Allah's choosing:
The keys of the Unseen are in His possession. No one knows them but Him. He knows everything in the land and sea. No leaf falls without His knowing it. There is no seed in the darkness of the Earth, and nothing moist or dry which is not in a Clear Book. (Surat al-An'am, 59)
This applies to everyone and everything. Nobody can intervene in the destiny created for them by Allah, nor make the slightest alteration in the course of events. For example, Allah has created everyone and everything with a specific life span; and the moment, place, time, and form of that death are already set out in His Sight. When a person falls ill, that too has been determined billions of years before they were ever born. Whether they will recover from that illness is also set out in their destiny. Everything that can play a part in their recovery--doctors, nurses, hospitals, drugs and therapies--have all been written down beforehand in His sight. Therefore, if a person recovers, that does not mean that they changed their destiny, but that recovery was ordained beforehand. In the verses, Allah reveals:
Your Lord knows you best. If He wills, He will have mercy on you, and, if He wills, He will punish you. We did not send you to be their guardian. My Lord knows best everyone in the heavens and Earth. . . . (Surat al-Isra, 54-55)
One day in the future, if people's lives are extended through direct intervention in their genes, this does not mean that they interfered in their own destiny. What it means is that Allah created them with long life spans, and the production of the gene map is the means whereby their lives can be lengthened. The fact that the person is living at a time of technological advances in genetics, and the prolongation of life through medical means are all a part of destiny: Everything is determined in the sight of Allah long before the person even comes into the world.
Similarly, someone with a potentially fatal disease who is cured as a result of medical discoveries lives his destiny as well, because being cured is also in his destiny. The production of the human gene map and the means of intervening in humanity's genetic makeup do not oppose the destiny created by Allah. On the contrary, humanity is following the course created for it, using information created by Him. If, thanks to these scientific advances, someone lives to the age of 120, that is the age appointed beforehand by Allah, and that is how long the person will live. In one verse, Allah reveals that everyone's life span is determined in a book in His Sight:
Allah created you from dust and then from a drop of sperm and then made you into pairs. No female becomes pregnant or gives birth except with His knowledge. And no living thing lives long or has its life cut short without that being in a Book. That is easy for Allah. (Surah Fatir, 11)
In short, such expressions such as "cheating fate" and "changing one's destiny" are inaccurate terms stemming from ignorance of the fact of destiny. Even the fact that someone will employ these expressions when they speak is determined beforehand in their destiny. It has already been determined in the sight of Allah where, when and under what circumstances a person will use them. Allah is aware of all things.
He has revealed that all things are written in a book in His Sight. We live just what is written in that book, no more and no less.
… Whom not even the weight of the smallest particle eludes, either in the heavens or in the Earth; nor is there anything smaller or larger than that which is not in a Clear Book. (Surah Saba, 3)
Nothing occurs, either in the Earth or in yourselves, without its being in a Book before We make it happen. That is something easy for Allah. (Surat al-Hadid, 22)
Evolutionist Misconceptions About Genetic Engineering
Genetic engineering isolates genetic materials from one living thing, and transfers them into another organism. By this means, scientists are able to clone living things, develop plants resistant to disease and insects, and produce bacteria that digest industrial wastes. However, neither these biotechnological studies nor the genetic research they are based on support the theory of evolution. The main errors of those who claim otherwise can be summarized:
1) Biotechnological research proves that living things are not the result of random, unconscious events, but were intelligently created:
In all genetic studies, genes are worked on with great care. In other words, conscious intervention takes place. Scientists who manipulate genes in line with a specific purpose have learned about the functioning of the cell through many years of training. All the stages of the research are performed with enormous care, and are controlled by laboratories, using technological equipment, in specially regulated environments. Despite being an evolutionist, Professor of Biology William D. Stansfield cites an example of cell synthesis in the laboratory to show that studies of this kind cannot represent proof of evolution:
2) Genetic variations provides no support for the theory of evolution:
Contrary to what is claimed in evolutionist publications, experiments resulting in genetic variation are no evidence for the theory of evolution. The theory of evolution maintains that there are mechanisms in nature that turn living things into more complex ones, by which means one species turns into another. In fact, experiments in the field of genetic engineering and biotechnology have demonstrated that it is impossible for genetic variation to give rise to any change of species. Some evolutionists ignore this, however, playing with words to make unrealistic claims that the theory of evolution has been proven in the laboratory.
3) Organisms developed using genetic engineering are no evidence for the theory of evolution:
Another error is the claim that new organisms developed through genetic engineering confirm the theory of evolution. The methods currently employed in the field of genetic engineering and biotechnology-particularly in such areas as the production of drugs or proteins such as insulin or altering the reaction speeds of various enzymes-are portrayed by evolutionists as evidence for the theory of evolution. In fact, it is impossible for these studies to constitute any such evidence.
Genetic engineering studies proceed through the development of recombinant DNA technology, which recombines various genes that already exist. That being so, evolutionists must first account for the origin of genes, the raw materials of their genetic engineering. (See Chapter X, "How Does the DNA Miracle Invalidate the Theory of Evolution?) Already facing a complete impasse on the subject of DNA's origin, evolutionists placed their hopes in research on genetic engineering. But since the theory of evolution claims that living species came into existence solely through chance mechanisms, evolutionist interpretations of genetic engineering are flawed from the outset. In their claims concerning genetic engineering, evolutionists exhibit a serious contradiction.
Attempts are made to use the fact that genes can be transferred between different organisms, or that genes can be recombined, as evidence of an evolutionary process. But as you have seen in previous sections, genes' highly complex structures are a most powerful proof that no such random process ever took place.
4) Genes show that living things share a common origin, not a common ancestor:
Another of the errors in the evolutionist propaganda regarding this research is that common genes that can be transferred between organisms prove the claim that living things are descended from a common ancestor. After describing how they are able to transfer genes between different species, Darwinist researchers then go on to claim that they can do so because the living things are descended from a common ancestor. People with a superficial knowledge of the subject are misled by the way analysis based on evolutionists' assumptions is portrayed as proof. In fact, a common origin constitutes no evidence for a common ancestor. Nor does the fact that genes can be transferred among different organisms prove that biologic structures evolved by chance, through haphazard natural events. Objectively, the common genes in different organisms may be regarded as an indication of common origin-which clearly supports the fact of creation.
5) Genetic engineering provides no support for atheist propaganda:
Commentaries regarding genetic engineering suggest that this is actually creating. Materialists who deny the existence of Allah use genetic engineering research to support their atheist propaganda and interpret recombinant studies as creation. (Allah is beyond this.)
Atheists refuse to grasp that "creation" means bringing something into being from nothing. Creation belongs to Allah alone. In their genetic engineering studies, scientists make changes in genes that have been created by Allah, or else transfer these between living things also created by Him in the first place. The genetic information used to develop new "hybrids" in these studies already exists in the living world.
For example, scientists can make a zebra fish emit light by implanting a luminous jellyfish gene into it, or to bring about the production of spider silk in goat's milk by implanting spider DNA into a goat. But even though the resulting life forms may appear to possess various new characteristics, no new genetic information has been created; all that has happened is that existing information has changed places among living species.
Even if scientists one day manage to radically restructure a living creature, this will still apply. The molecular biologist Michael Denton expresses this fact:
In conclusion, evolutionist statements about genetic engineering are invalid. On the contrary, research in this field with its planned and controlled environments and deliberate changes, reveals that living things have been created with a perfect organization.
Why Cloning Provides No Support for the Theory of Evolution
During the cloning process, DNA from a cell from the organism planned to be duplicated is placed under the microscope and implanted into an egg of another of the same species. The DNA of the organism whose copying is being planned is employed for this process. Immediately afterwards, an electric shock causes the egg cell to start dividing. The developing embryo is placed inside the womb of a female member of that particular species, and its growth and birth are then awaited.
First off, cloning and evolution are completely different concepts. The theory of evolution is based on the claim that life came into existence from inanimate matter as the result of chance (though there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that this claim might be true). Cloning, on the other hand, is the replication of a living thing by using genetic material from a living cell-a biological process repeated by artificial means in a laboratory environment. In other words, there is no chance process, nor of inanimate matter coming to life-on which the theory of evolution depends.
In fact, the replication process is manifest proof of a biological law that completely undermines evolution. That law is the principle that "Life arises from life" advanced in the late 19th century by the famous scientist Louis Pasteur. The depiction of cloning as evidence for evolution in the face of this evident fact is a major distortion perpetrated by certain sections of the media.
Advances in various scientific fields, particularly over the last 30 years, have shown that it is impossible to account for the emergence of living things in terms of chance. Evolutionists' scientific errors and biased analyses have been documented, and the theory of evolution has become indefensible within the requirements of science. This has propelled evolutionists to look for other solutions, which is the reason for the propaganda around such scientific advances as the "copying of life" and "test-tube babies" being portrayed as proofs of evolution.
Another misconception is the idea that cloning means creating a new life form. The fact is, cloning consists of an already existing reproductive mechanism being joined to previously existing genetic information. No new mechanisms or genetic data are produced during this procedure. Genetic information is extracted from an organism that already exists-a sheep, for example-and is then implanted into the womb of a female sheep. The lamb is thus a "younger twin" of the sheep from which the genetic information was extracted. This has nothing to do with theory of evolution, nor with the concept of creating a living thing from scratch.
Creating a human being or any other living thing-bringing them into existence from nothing-is unique to Allah alone. Scientific progress confirms this by showing that it is impossible for human beings to perform such creation. In one verse it is stated that:
The Originator of the heavens and Earth. When He decides on something, He just says to it, "Be!" and it is. (Surat al-Baqara, 117)
Evolutionists are left with nothing scientific to say, but still attempt to keep their theory alive by hiding behind popular scientific ignorance, thus making that theory's lack of credibility crystal-clear. Like all other important scientific advances, cloning is a very illuminating development revealing that life was created.
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