Hormones are of indispensable importance for our bodies, but how much volume do they occupy in the blood? One liter of blood contains only from a millionth to a billionth of a gram of hormones. 59 Even though they are present in the body in such miniscule quantities, hormones provide communications in almost all processes in the body, and play a catalytic role.
The way that hormones, occupying such an unbelievably miniscule volume in the blood, are secreted in just the right amounts at just the proper time—and the way that secretion stops at just the right time—are of the greatest importance.
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| The illness known as goiter (above) occurs with the growth of the thyroid gland. |
Who regulates all this? Who realizes that too much hormone has been secreted and gives the order to “Halt!”?
If the organs affected by the hormones do more than is required of them, this can endanger the body. An organ that is working more than is necessary sends a message to the gland producing the hormones that set it into operation, saying in effect, I do not need to work any more. Do not produce any more hormones that make me work.
One of the diseases arising from a flaw in this system is hyperthyroidism, which results from an excessive secretion of the thyroid gland. Unless this disease is treated, survival is impossible.
As we have seen, this system works in a flawless manner except in cases of sickness. Every organ knows which gland secretes the hormone that regulates it. If this gland causes it to labor more than necessary, the organ takes action, and establishes communication with the relevant organ, allowing the individual to keep leading a healthy life.
However, the human in whom all this procedure occurs is unaware of any of it, and doesn’t need to undertake any efforts in its fulfillment, which is so important to ongoing health. That is because Allah has made molecules, consisting of inanimate and unconscious atoms, a means whereby a human being can live in a healthy manner. This is a proof of Allah’s infinite compassion for all living things.
Hormone Packaging
Most of the various components of a vehicle produced in an automobile plant—the chassis, windows, engine, and seats—are produced in different factories and assembled later. The same principle applies to the production of some hormones.
The different components produced in the ribosomes, in the light of the instructions in DNA, are brought together in the endoplasmic reticulum region. Later on, these components are sent on to a different region (the golgi body), where the hormone is “assembled” into a form in which it can be used.
Though the hormone is produced in a perfect state, this by itself is not enough. The hormone must also protect its three-dimensional structure throughout the long journey it will undertake in the bloodstream, or else it will be damaged or altered en route and become unable to influence its target organs. However, the necessary precaution has been taken to avoid this danger. The hormone molecule is brought to the golgi body and encased in a special packaging, consisting of a thin membrane. The molecule is now ready for its long journey.
Significantly, the cells engaged in producing the membrane do not use the hormones themselves, but send it on elsewhere. The hormones will be used by totally different cells, which are located too far away for the original cells ever to know. Bearing in mind the cell’s dimensions, the journey made by the hormones it produces is comparable to a distance of thousands of kilometers in human terms. The cell cannot know where or how the substance it has produced with such care and effort will be used. Throughout its life, however, it continues to produce complex products, whose purposes it is unaware of, for the sake of that unknown aim.
For example, one special hormone produced by cells in the pituitary regulates kidney activity. A cell in the pituitary gland cannot know what sort of organ the kidney is, where it is, nor the functions it performs. Then how can it produce a substance with just the right features to suit the structure of the kidney, of which it can never have any knowledge? How can it have such control over the kidney’s operations? It is definitely impossible for all this perfection to take place by the will of the cells themselves. They were specially created by Allah to fulfill this task.
To Whom Does Humanity Owe This Magnificent System?
The theory of evolution maintains that human beings assumed their present form by small stages, over a process lasting millions of years. This implies that at one time, some of the body’s organs did not exist, and came into being only at a later date.
In order to show how such a claim could never be, let’s take another look at some of the hormones we have discussed. For example, to balance the level of calcium in the blood, several independent factors all need to exist at one and the same time. The absence of even one of those factors—parathormone, for example—will render the whole system non-functional. This also applies to the other glands and the hormonal substances they produce. The absence of the aldosterone secreted by the adrenal glands, for instance, will mean death. That being so, it cannot be conjectured that the adrenal glands came into existence gradually, because in their absence, a human being cannot survive.
Similarly, no human can survive without a pancreas and insulin. Imagine what would happen to semi-humans with no pancreas. The answer is simple; they would enter a coma with the first sugary food they ate. Shortly thereafter, they would die and not wander the Earth for millions of years.
Assume that some of them went on a very conscious diet—which is actually impossible since by far the greater part of the foods we consume contain sugar—and managed to survive. We then face the question of how our imaginary ancestors came to possess a pancreas and insulin.
Did some of them one day say, “We need to resolve this sugar problem. How about placing an organ under the stomach to secrete a hormone that regulates the level of sugar in the blood?” And did those individuals then grow a pancreas underneath the stomach? Did they then calculate the formula for insulin and teach that formula to their pancreas?
Alternatively, did a “successful” mutation take place one day, as the result of a flaw in the DNA of one of these imaginary semi-humans, causing the sudden appearance of a fully-formed pancreas and the hormone insulin?
Yet even that “perfect” mutation would not be sufficient on its own. At the same time, in some corner of the brain, as a result of “chance,” a decision-making mechanism would have to form to keep the blood sugar level under constant control, send the pancreas instructions to start producing insulin when necessary, and give the command to stop once sufficient insulin had been produced as the pancreas.
As these unscientific scenarios clearly show, it is impossible for the hormonal system to have come into being by stages, as evolutionists claim. And so it is with all the other systems in the body. It is impossible for coincidences over the course of time to endow cells with being able to analyze the substances in the blood, make decisions on the basis of those analyses, be aware of the status of other organs and set them in motion, or to use special hormones as a means of communication.
It is Allah, the Omniscient, Who creates this flawless system and sets out every detail in exactly the form it needs to be.
HORMONES, LIKE ALL OTHER THINGS, ACT UNDER ALLAH’S COMMAND
Tens of thousands of different hormones are active at every moment in the human body. Thousands of adjustments take place constantly, from the pulse rate to the levels of blood sugar, from the blood pressure in the veins to the intensity of the light reaching the retina. All are regulated by hormones, which are produced in the cells.
During hormone production, an excess or deficiency of just a thousandth of a millimeter can disrupt the body’s delicate balances, and even cause serious consequences including death.
How can unconscious cells know how much hormone they need to secrete, and how do they perform such a delicate measurements?
What we refer to as hormones are actually protein molecules made up of all kinds of strings of different amino acids. These molecules have no sensory organs with which to perceive their environment. Neither do they possess any reason or consciousness with which to make calculations. Yet these molecules find their destinations in the body just as if they were thinking, and transmit the chemical messages to the cells they must reach. In proportion to the microscopic size, they undertake long journeys before they finally reach their intended cells.
How do these molecules, devoid of consciousness and perception, reach the right cells? How do these mute hormones transmit to those cells the messages they carry? How do they know they must hand over those molecules?
The cells understand the hormones’ messages and initiate inside themselves the processes that need to be carried out. They perform the activity or production required of them at just the right level—neither too much nor too little.
How does a cell devoid of reason and consciousness understand the message that reaches it? How can it know what it has to do, and how?
Assume that it does understand all this, why should it obey at once, and in a perfect manner? Why does it never behave irresponsibly, put off a task or forget it?
Clearly, it will be quite irrational and meaningless to look for any answer to these questions in the components of the cells, because they lack the intellect and consciousness to perform any kind of calculation, or to make any decision.
Like all entities, animate or inanimate, these objects obey the commands of Allah, their Creator. Just as at every point in the universe, cells, hormones, molecules and atoms are all inspired with what they need to do by Allah. This is revealed in these terms in one verse of the Qur’an:
During hormone production, an excess or deficiency of just a thousandth of a millimeter can disrupt the body’s delicate balances, and even cause serious consequences including death.
How can unconscious cells know how much hormone they need to secrete, and how do they perform such a delicate measurements?
What we refer to as hormones are actually protein molecules made up of all kinds of strings of different amino acids. These molecules have no sensory organs with which to perceive their environment. Neither do they possess any reason or consciousness with which to make calculations. Yet these molecules find their destinations in the body just as if they were thinking, and transmit the chemical messages to the cells they must reach. In proportion to the microscopic size, they undertake long journeys before they finally reach their intended cells.
How do these molecules, devoid of consciousness and perception, reach the right cells? How do these mute hormones transmit to those cells the messages they carry? How do they know they must hand over those molecules?
The cells understand the hormones’ messages and initiate inside themselves the processes that need to be carried out. They perform the activity or production required of them at just the right level—neither too much nor too little.
How does a cell devoid of reason and consciousness understand the message that reaches it? How can it know what it has to do, and how?
Assume that it does understand all this, why should it obey at once, and in a perfect manner? Why does it never behave irresponsibly, put off a task or forget it?
Clearly, it will be quite irrational and meaningless to look for any answer to these questions in the components of the cells, because they lack the intellect and consciousness to perform any kind of calculation, or to make any decision.
Like all entities, animate or inanimate, these objects obey the commands of Allah, their Creator. Just as at every point in the universe, cells, hormones, molecules and atoms are all inspired with what they need to do by Allah. This is revealed in these terms in one verse of the Qur’an:
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)
51- Eldra Pearl Solomon, Introduction to Human Anatomy and Physiology, s.132
52- Wallace, Sanders, Ferl, Biology, The Science of Life, HarperCollins Publisher Inc.,s. 776
53- Solomon, Berg, Martin, Villee, Biology, s.1012
54- Arthur Guyton-John Hall, Text Book of Medical Physiology Guyton & Hall, s. 933-934
55- Prof. Dr. Ahmet Noyan, Ya?amda ve Hekimlikte Fizyoloji, s. 1012-1015
56- Eldra Pearl Solomon, Introduction to Human Anatomy and Physiology, s.138
57- Solomon, Berg, Martin, Villee, Biology, s.1019
58- Eldra Pearl Solomon, Introduction to Human Anatomy and Physiology, s.138
59- Prentice Hall Science, Human Biology and Health, Prentice-Hall, Inc., U.S.A., New Jersey, 1994, s. 160
52- Wallace, Sanders, Ferl, Biology, The Science of Life, HarperCollins Publisher Inc.,s. 776
53- Solomon, Berg, Martin, Villee, Biology, s.1012
54- Arthur Guyton-John Hall, Text Book of Medical Physiology Guyton & Hall, s. 933-934
55- Prof. Dr. Ahmet Noyan, Ya?amda ve Hekimlikte Fizyoloji, s. 1012-1015
56- Eldra Pearl Solomon, Introduction to Human Anatomy and Physiology, s.138
57- Solomon, Berg, Martin, Villee, Biology, s.1019
58- Eldra Pearl Solomon, Introduction to Human Anatomy and Physiology, s.138
59- Prentice Hall Science, Human Biology and Health, Prentice-Hall, Inc., U.S.A., New Jersey, 1994, s. 160
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