Challenge to scientists regarding a fly in the Holy Quran
Introduction: In Arabic God is called Allah. In this article we have retained the Arabic word but do please remember that the Verses refer to God, the Only One. Muslims are encouraged to visit Mina, a plain near Makkah and Arafat, a hillock near Mina during the days of the Hajj. Chapter 22 of the Holy Quran is about the Pilgrimage. The Chapter has 78 Verses. The challenge to the scientists is given in Verses 71 to 78. We consider the translation of the Verses by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
Challenge: We list the translation of the Verses before considering the challenge.
Verse 71: Yet they worship, besides Allah, things for which no authority has been sent down to them, and of which they have (really) no knowledge: for those that do wrong there is no helper.
Verse 72: When Our Clear Signs are rehearsed to them, thou wilt notice a denial on the faces of the Unbelievers! they nearly attack with violence those who rehearse Our Signs to them. Say, "Shall I tell you of something (far) worse than these Signs? It is the Fire (of Hell)! Allah has promised it to the Unbelievers! and evil is that destination!"
Verse 73: O men! Here is a parable set forth! listen to it! Those on whom, besides Allah, ye call, cannot create (even) a fly, if they all met together for the purpose! and if the fly should snatch away anything from them, they would have no power to release it from the fly. Feeble are those who petition and those whom they petition!
Verse 74: No just estimate have they made of Allah: for Allah is He Who is strong and able to Carry out His Will.
Verse 75: Allah chooses messengers from angels and from men for Allah is He Who hears and sees (all things).
Verse 76: Allah chooses messengers from angels and from men for Allah is He Who hears and sees (all things).
Verse 77: O ye who believe! bow down, prostrate yourselves, and adore your Lord; and do good; that ye may prosper.
Verse 78: And strive in His cause as ye ought to strive, (with sincerity and under discipline). He has chosen you, and has imposed no difficulties on you in religion; it is the cult of your father Abraham. It is He Who has named you Muslims, both before and in this (Revelation); that the Messenger may be a witness for you, and ye be witnesses for mankind! So establish regular Prayer, give regular Charity, and hold fast to Allah! He is your Protector - the Best to protect and the Best to help!
Even the richest Muslim male attending the Pilgrimage wears just two unstitched garments and thus could not be differentiated with a poor Muslim who also wears two unstitched garments. All Muslims, male and female, are invited to think about the fly, that irritant flying above any open food and might infect the food. From the fly itself God indicates His Power in Verse 73.
There are two aspects: one of creating a life and another overcoming the life so created. We consider the second aspect of overcoming a fly and retrieving a speck that the fly had taken. It involves two actions: one retrieving the speck and two, regenerating the speck in case it was modified by the fly.
Enormity of the challenge: We consider an article published at 11:03 am July 23, 2018, found at https://www.cemag.us/news/2018/07/nanoscale-look-complete-fly-brain .
Scientists have managed to map the complete brain of the fruit fly. They used two high speed Electron Microscopes to take images of 7,062 slices of the brain of the fruit fly. They have captured 21 million images of the brain. A number of scientific teams all over the world have started studying the images and hopefully construct a functioning model of the brain. We are informed that the fly brain has about 100,000 neurons in contrast to about 100 billion neurons of a human brain. Initially the scientists have to develop a neural net with about 100,000 nodes and establish the imaged interconnections between the neurons. We have said imaged neurons because the neurons that survived in the fly brain while the brain was immobilized after the death of the fly need not contain all the neurons of a living fly brain.
Would our scientists succeed in first identifying all the neurons of the fly brain, second locate the interconnections between the neurons and draw the connected digraph? Even if they succeed in developing the digraph how would they model the dynamics of the neurons of the fly brain. A model of the living brain is required to model the dynamics for which purpose a dead brain is of no use.
Conclusion: We wish the scientists God Speed in their effort. At least until the time the scientists take to model the dynamic behavior of the contemptible fly brain, God remains Supreme. It is possible that God would remain Supreme until the Day of Judgment.