‘LOOK AT HIS tiny fingers,’ the children cried out in wonderment comparing their fingers to the new baby’s.
It is amazing. The human hand is a masterpiece of complex engineering. It is incredibly strong- a trained mountain climber can put his entire body weight through a single finger. And yet it is incredibly manoeuvrable- each finger and the opposable thumb gives an incredible range of movements and function. It enables us to manipulate small objects with great precision. What is more fascinating is that most of the muscles that move the hand joints are not even in the hand but are in the forearm.
Not only that but there are four different nerve endings (light and deep pressure, touch, pain and temperature) in the fingertips with an extra layer of fat to cushion them. It gives us the ability to sense things with our fingertips.
Even the fingernails have an important function. Without a rigid structure against which to press we wouldn’t be able to judge how firmly to hold anything.
All these are signs for us to ponder upon. Pointers to a Creator who creates from nothing and without precedent and who fashions in the best way providing both form and function.
سَنُرِيهِمْ ءَايَـٰتِنَا فِى ٱلْـَٔافَاقِ وَفِىٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ ٱلْحَقُّ ۗ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِ بِرَبِّكَ أَنَّهُۥ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ شَهِيدٌ
We will show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that this (Quran) is the truth. Is it not enough that your Lord is a Witness over all things? (Fussilat 53)
It is thus most strange when we hear atheists deny a Creator. They will marvel at the likes of Steve Jobs and the clever people at MIT and other engineering institutes and how they are geniuses who have designed and created this or that. And yet they cannot see the infinitely more complex engineering and design all around us. For them, those things just happened by chance! They are nothing more than random molecules falling into place, that happen to fulfil a purpose, so perfectly. Such arrogance puts man on a pedestal for his limited creation and denies the true Creator (which man tries to imitate anyway).
كَذَٰلِكَ يُؤْفَكُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَانُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ يَجْحَدُونَ
This is how those who used to reject Allah’s signs were (also) deluded. (Ghafir 63)
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