A. GOD OFFERS TO GIVE RESPONSIBILITY
Just a few thousand years before the advent of man, God offered to appoint a Viceroy to manage the universe according to His laws. Naturally He offered this opportunity first of all to the spiritual powers. These included angels, Genies, Fairies, and many other forms of spirits who are in the universe. But they, realising its responsibilities, were frightened to assume it ! Then He offered this to the animal kingdom on earth including apes and what scientists have dubbed as the prehistoric man. They also declined as it was beyond their capacity. Finally He offered it to things of nature i e. the deep unfathomable oceans, the high mountains, the widespread lands and the trees, the fruits and the flowers. But they also could not bear such a responsibility. Very surprisingly, MAN accepted it without any hesitation ! [33]
Man had not yet been created ! Everybody asked the question —who is this Man who has accepted this onerous burden ? In reply God announced across the skies in letters shining brighter than the sun :
"La llaha Illallah Mohammadur Rasul-Allah"
Translation :
"There is no god except Allah and Mohammad is the messenger of Allah”.
Thereby making it clear that the "Being of Light" was the man who had assumed this onerous responsibility.
B. THE MATERIAL SELECTED FOR CREATION OF MAN
To implement the creation of the one, who is to teach the Divine laws to all, God selected black potter's clay as the material from which to create man. All the spiritual forces realised that anything created out of such a base material was sure to cause mischief and bloodshed as was happening daily in the animal kingdom, who were also made out of similar mud. When God shaped the hollow statue of man He became the “Musavir" (in Arabic) or the Sculptor or Shaper of man and that which is shaped by a Musavir out of clay is called "Tasvir" (in Arabic). As soon as the Tasvir or the statue of Adam was shaped the spiritual elements protested to God :
"And when they Lord said unto the spiritual dwellers of the Universe Lo ! l am about to place a "Khalifa” (i.e. Viceroy) in the earth, they said : Wilt Thou place therein one, who will do harm therein, will shed blood, while we, we hymn Thy praise and sanctify Thee ? He (Allah) said : Surely I know thatwhich ye know not.” [34].
C. COMPARISON BETWEEN THE FACULTIES OF ANIMALS AND MAN
When Man was being made out of mud, the material out of which animals have also been created it becomes necessary to study the differences between animals and Prehistoric men on the one hand and Adam on the other.
Every scientist and "materialist" will confirm emphatically the amazing complexity of the animal brain. In the highest animals it is only very slightly less in quality as compared to the human brain but much more in size and comparative weight in some cases.
Scientists have discovered that each and every component found in the human brain is also to be found in the animal brain viz :
Medulla, Pons, midbrain
Central Hemispheres
Thalamus
Cerebellum and
Corpus Callosum.
All the functions of the various parts of the human and animal brains are identical and comprise :
Visual
Auditory
Sensory
Motor
Posterior Association Cortex
Frontal Association Cortex
The weight of the brains of the "Capuchin monkey" of South America is 5. 7% of the total body weight as against that the human brain weighs about 1.8% of its body weight. So the brain of the monkey is over 200% more than the human brain-weight/body-weight ratio.
Now let us take the ratio (percentage) of intrinsic cortex to total cortex. This percentage is roughly 10% in rats, 50% in cats, 75% in monkeys, and 95% in men. Recent data indicate that the percentages of intrinsic cortex in a whale and a dolphin are roughly the same as in a monkey i.e. 75%. This means that the whale and the dolphin by weight have a greater amount of intrinsic cortex than man with very close to the same ratio.
Professor E. J. Slijpe in his research "Whales" reports that cetacean brain aside from its size, is remarkably similar to the human brain. He emphasises that cetacean cerebral cortex is exceptionally convoluted just like the human brain and extends so far back that in the common dolphin it completely covers the cerebellum at the rear of the cranial cavity again just like the human brain. Slijpe contends "these convolutions are not only very striking in appearance but are an essential criterion for judging the stage of development a given brain has reached". He sums up his impression by asking : "Must we assume that porpoises, sperm whales and dolphins, by virtue of their highly developed brains have the capacity akin to those of men .. "
Then according to scientific data do animals have a greater brain capacity ? The indisputable answer must be—YES. Why then is the human mind so transcendingly superior to the animal brain ?
Monkeys and gibbons have been in existence in Burma for the past 50 million years. When their brain is of similar material, quality and 200% larger in size than the brain of the modern man, then one is indeed puzzled as to why have they, the monkeys and gibbons etc, not acquired those mental achievements which have made man so very much superior to them in spite of all our mental-physical drawbacks when compared to the physical properties of the brain in
animals e.g. :
Animal instinct causes new-born animals automatically, without any teaching or learning to do what they need to do.
— As against that —
A new-born human baby, of itself is utterly helpless. It is born with a human brain—a blank mind devoid of any knowledge whatsoever. It does not come equipped with the same kind of instinct as the new-born animal. On the contrary it must be taught—or learn— everything done by other human beings as he grows up. Certainly not by in-born instinct as in the case of animals.
— Further —
The new born calf is on all fours and walking in a few minutes — It is not taught to walk. It walks by instinct in order to fulfil a need for its mother's milk.
— As compared to —
The new-born human child learns or is taught to walk in about a year. The human baby is quite helpess at birth and must be fed and in course of time even taught to eat.
It is a well known fact that animal instinct is far superior to that found in human beings. A horse can hear and recognise his master's voice from even a mile away. Similarly a dog will smell his master from a mile away and go running to him. A wolf would smell humans from as far as three miles. All of which are quite beyond ordinary human mental capacity.
These simple daily truths bring out very glaringly that at least as far as physical properties and instinct are concerned the animal brain is much better equipped to face the requirements of physical life than the human brain.
Our scientists have found out that for more than 400,000 years, probably atleast half a million years, a prehistoric man whom they have named "Neanderthal" had been in existence with similar capabilities as the descendants of Adam.
In this long period of half a million years why did they not build skyscrapers like the Empire State Building or World Trade Centre, accomplish our Nuclear advance, our huge Hydro-electrical projects for irrigation, navigation and power, our wonderful feats such as space travel and landings upon the moon, our super tankers and bulkcarriers. All of which we the descendants of Adam have now achieved, let us say, in about 6000 years according to Biblical calculations or in only 1/80th of the time that the Pre-historic "Neanderthal" were in existence until about 15,000 years ago when they mysteriously vanished from the face of the the earth leaving the earth void for the next creation of God, which is man. Why is their achievements similar only to that of the monkeys and gibbons etc. in their 50 millions years on this earth ?
Hence there is unimaginable differences for some mysterious reason unknown to scientists between the mental capacities of "Pre-historic Men" and the generations of Adam. This difference is equal to the difference between the human intelligence and the animal brain. All this vast difference exists in spite of all the superior physical qualities and instinct possessed by the animal brain which according to scientific findings is composed of similar matter, size, quality and capacity as the modern human brain.
Some animals have physical brains as large or larger than man's brain, and with similar cerebral powers of intellect, logic, selfconsciousness and creativity.
The physical brain of a dolphin, whale or elephant is larger than the human brain, while a chimp's is slightly smaller. Qualitatively the difference between them and human brain is very little, not
enough to remotely account for the vastly superior intelligence and output of the human brain.
The gap between animal brain and human mind is incredibly vast !—Why ?
One is naturally quite puzzled at the miserable failure of scientists to fathom as to what could be the reason for this glaring difference ? What we now have achieved in as little as 6000 years they—the monkeys and the so-called pre-historic men—did not do even in 50 millions or half a million years respectively—Why ?
What an incredible paradox ! The human mind—so great as to make space ships to take him to the moon and back and yet so helpless that it cannot solve his problems with his fellow beings —Why?
Today the number one problem humanity faces is that of survival ! Yet few seem to understand that the answer to the problem lies in : "Why were you born" ?
Where science and materialism fail, we do not have any option left but to turn towards something else. After all, science and it methods of proving materialism are not the "be all and end all" of our knowledge.
References of Chapter 5 :
[33] Holy Quran, Surah 33 - Al Ahzab - Ayat 72.
[34] Holy Quran, Surah 2 - Al Bakr: Ayat 30.
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