The Economy Provided by the Body’s Recycling System

The recycling system in the human body has a flawless structure. In your body, a great many processes are carried out every single moment. Harmful wastes, dead cells, and foreign bodies that enter the body are destroyed by the immune system. A great many other unnecessary substances are constantly moving about, yet none of these inflict any harm, because there are systems in the body to expel these substances or to reuse them in the processes within the body.

Take constantly renewed erythrocyte cells, for example. These cells’ lifespan is approximately 120 to 130 days. Old cells die in the liver, the spleen and the bone marrow, and new erythrocytes are constantly produced to replace them. Ten million erythrocytes die every second, and 200 billion new ones are produced every day to replace those, so that all the erythrocytes in the human body are replaced every four months or so.7 The iron molecule inside dying erythrocytes is stored with the recycling system for use in the production of new ones. This is an example of magnificent industrial planning.8 Clearly, such planning could not have come about by itself. It is Allah Who created the erythrocyte together with these features.

Leucocytes: Micro-Trooper

In a single drop of blood, there are some 400,000 miniature soldiers known as leucocytes. Under normal conditions, the number of leucocytes in a cubic inch of blood is between 7 and 10 million, although if a powerful defense is required, this figure can suddenly leap to as high as 30,000.9 The duty of these troops is to defend the body from micro-enemies. The leucocytes are programmed to destroy everything, living or inanimate that does not belong in the body. They therefore seek out, locate, follow and, at the right moment, destroy bacteria, viruses and harmful substances of all kinds that enter the body.

In structural terms, leucocytes are different from the other cells in the blood. For example, erythrocytes have no nucleus, but leucocytes do possess a nucleus as well as all the organelles. But leucocytes live for only a few days, or in the event of an infection, only a few hours. Contrary to what you might assume, such a brief life span is very important from the point of view of protecting the body. Because leucocytes engaged in defense, that is the worn-out ones die. But at that very moment, new healthy ones with a far greater defensive capacity are produced.10 In fact, leucocytes do not consist of only one type of cell, but rather of different kinds of troops, and “leucocyte” is a general term for cells that fight on the body’s behalf.

These are classified under two main groups. The first consists of granulocytes that initially encounter and combat the enemy. The second group is made up of lymphocytes that produce special weapons to wield against the enemy, in the form of antibodies.

Lymphocytes have different properties from those of the other cells in the blood. A much larger number of lymphocytes live in tissues than in the blood. These cells in the tissues, in the body’s depths, construct the equivalent of military bases and defend the tissues from germs. That being so, therefore, what is the reason for the presence of lymphocytes in the blood?

In fact, lymphocytes use the bloodstream as their transportation system. Just like a police patrol, they travel around the body by means of the blood and quickly reinforce tissues containing old and weak leucocytes. It is impossible for such a rational, rapid system to have come about by chance, as evolutionists would have us believe. Clearly, cells consisting of unconscious atoms could not have acquired their selective ability and responsiveness, or the features that allow them to protect the body, all by themselves. The way that this minute entity fights to protect other cells is therefore a very important clue. The way that a cell too small for you to see with your naked eye sacrifices itself on your behalf, and the fact that in your body there are billions of cells possessed of just the same self-sacrificing properties, are just some of the millions of miracles before your eyes.

The perfection in the structure of the leucocytes, their self-sacrifice, martial knowledge and abilities are not the result of their own preferences, but of their creation by Allah. So far, those who seek to prove otherwise have been unable to do so, nor will they have any more success in the future. In Surat an-Nur, Allah has compared those who deny Him to mirage:

But the actions of those who disbelieve are like a mirage in the desert. A thirsty man thinks it is water but when he reaches it, he finds it to be nothing at all, but he finds Allah there. He will pay him his account in full. Allah is swift at reckoning. (Surat an-Nur:39)