Blood’s Vital and Inimitable Features

1. Responsibility for Transportation

Substances of all kinds that the body requires are carried to the relevant organs by the blood. Nutrients such as glucose, amino acids and minerals—and most importantly, oxygen—are just a few of these. In addition, the blood works like a waste disposal system, collecting unwanted substances from every cell. And each of the 100 trillion or so cells in the body produces waste products as a result of its daily functions. These waste products, including such potentially toxic compounds as carbon dioxide and urea, are removed from the cells by means of the bloodstream. The blood carries the non-gaseous wastes to the kidneys, where they are distilled. The carbon dioxide produced in the cells is carried to the lungs, from where it is expelled from the body.

It is unconscious blood cells that do all this. However, these cells can, in a very conscious manner, distinguish between waste and useful substances carried in the blood, and know which are to be deposited where. For example, they never carry toxic gasses to the kidneys, nor metabolic by-products to the lungs. Neither do they send waste products to any organ in need of nutrients— an error that would lead to the death of the entire body. The blood cells perform their functions with no confusion, error, misunderstanding or deficiency, in a most conscious manner, indicating the existence of a Mind and Consciousness that controls, regulates and organizes them. That cannot be the human being in question, because people live their entire lives quite unaware of these processes. Yet the circulation system continues to function, and flawlessly. To claim that the blood cells acquired their ability to distinguish, select and decide by chance, and that they do these things of their own will, would be totally illogical and irrational. It is Allah, the Almighty, Who gave the blood these features and created this flawless system.

A most illogical belief, Darwinism claims that millions of random events gave
 life to inanimate substances and gave rise to perfect structures that function quite
flawlessly. The following example will be enough to see
how nonsensical Darwinism truly is.
Albumin, one of the carrying proteins in the blood, attaches to itself fats
such as cholesterol, hormones, toxic bile and drugs such as penicillin.
Moving through the bloodstream, it then deposits the toxins it has
collected in the liver in order to be neutralized, and carries nutrients
and hormones wherever these are required.
Now ask yourself a few questions:

How can a molecule such as albumin, made up of atoms,
 with no intelligence or consciousness, distinguish between fats and toxins,
 drugs and nutrients? Moreover, how is it able to recognize the liver,
bile duct and stomach, never confusing one for the other, and can always deposit
the substances it carries in exactly the right place
and precisely the right proportions?

If you are shown the waste products, drugs and nutrients
carried in the blood, you will be unable to distinguish one from the other
unless you have had medical training. Even then, you will definitely be unable
to determine how much of each one should be deposited at each organ.
The albumin molecule, a compound consisting of a few
non-sentient atoms, knows things that the great majority of people
cannot unless they have received medical training. And albumin
has been performing its functions in all human beings flawlessly,
for millions of years. No doubt, the way that a collection of atoms
can exhibit such purposeful consciousness comes about through
Allah’s infinite might and knowledge.

2. Troop Carrying

Another of the blood’s duties is to carry the cells of the immune system that fight disease. Any foreign bodies like viruses and bacteria that enter the body are neutralized by the antibodies and leucocytes in the blood. In addition, immune system cells patrol the bloodstream and so monitor the entire body. (For more details, see The Miracle of the Immune System by Harun Yahya.)

3. Communications

The blood also constitutes one of the body’s main avenues of communication. There is a magnificent communications system among the cells in the human body. They exchange information with one another, just as if each one were truly conscious. The cells send to one another chemical messages in the form of hormones, carried by the blood. (For details, see the chapter on “Splendid Communication within the Body: The Hormonal System.”)

4. Wound Healing

One of the blood’s most miraculous features is its clotting mechanism. Thanks to this clotting, or coagulation, blood loss from a damaged vessel is reduced to the minimum possible. During the

clotting process, dozens of proteins, enzymes and vitamins serve in regimented order. Because of this feature, scientists have shown the clotting mechanism as an example of flawless planning. (For details, see pp. 41-47)

5. The Regulation of Balances Within the Body

One of the vital cargo packages carried by the blood is heat. Arteries filled with blood spread heat through the body, just like the piping that carries hot water throughout a building. But unlike the pipes in a building, the body’s heat source is not a single boiler, but all the many cells in the body. Thanks to the blood, heat produced by each cell is distributed equally to all the others.

Were there no heat distribution system in your body, you would experience grave problems. As the result of any muscular activity you perform—running for instance, or carrying a heavy load—your legs or arms would overheat, and other regions of your body would remain close to room temperature—an imbalance that would inflict serious damage on your metabolism. For that reason, the equal distribution of heat is of the greatest importance.

In the same way, the blood again goes into action along with the sweat glands in order to reduce excessive heat. Blood vessels under the skin dilate, making it easier for heat carried in the blood to be released to the air. When we engage in strenuous physical activity, therefore, your face grows flushed because of blood vessel dilation. Blood also plays an important role in keeping your body temperature from cooling off. When you feel cold, your skin turns paler, because blood vessels under the skin contract according to the chill in the air. The quantity of blood in those regions close to the air is therefore reduced, and heat loss from within the body is reduced to a minimum.