The water surrounding our cells must be of a particular density, or the situation could grow very dangerous. To emphasize the importance of the water surrounding the cells, if the cells in a drop of blood are placed into pure water, they will swell up and explode. If placed into a liquid environment denser than tap water, they will fold up on themselves and collapse.
The pure water in the first experiment will enter the denser cells. In the second experiment, the water within the cell will be pulled out into the denser external environment. Developments of this kind in the cells, give rise to deadly consequences in the body. For that reason, it is essential that the body’s internal fluids should remain at a specific density.
The kidneys are created with special systems to ensure that the balance in question is maintained. In addition to filtering and cleaning the blood, this miraculous pair of organs also regulates the quantity and density of the fluid in your tissues and makes the necessary adjustments accordingly.
You may never think about the water level in your tissues in the course of your day-to-day life. Without your being aware of it, however, the kidneys regulate this water level for you—working non-stop, just like the trillions of different cells that work on your behalf.
How Do the Kidneys Regulate the Water Level in the Body?
Investigating the answer to this question, we once again see the incomparable nature of Allah’s creation. An interconnected and perfectly created system functions to maintain the balances in the body.
If you lose a considerable amount of water, through sweating or not drinking water for a while, the density of the water in the blood falls. As blood flows through the brain, special sensors in the region known as the hypothalamus send a signal to the pituitary gland, the commander of the hormonal system. The pituitary, realizing that the water level in the bloodstream has gone down, sends a special message to the kidneys, in the form of the anti-diuretic hormone ADH, signaling the cells that there is a water deficiency in the body, and instructing them to hold back water. The micro-tubes extract more water from the urine and release it into the blood, thus averting any crisis in the body.45
If you drink more water than you require, then there is another communication within that same chain of command. This time, the cells are instructed there is too much water in the bloodstream and do not retain any excess.
What do the cells in the pituitary gland, immediately under the brain, respond? The cells here send a signal to the kidneys, which are far distant from themselves. The kidney cells then obey, unquestioningly and unconditionally, the chemical message that reaches them. And subsequently select water molecules one by one from the liquid urine, thus recycling crystal-clear water back into the body. The communication between the brain and kidney cells and how the kidney cells purify urine to produce pure water is a sure indication of intellect and intention. The existence of this system by itself is sufficient to completely demolish the theory of evolution, which accounts for the existence of all world’s living things in terms of simple coincidences. If the excretory system is to function, it is essential that all of its many independent components should all exist at the same time, and that they should all work in complete harmony.
For example, any lack of the anti-diuretic hormone that carries messages from the pituitary gland to the kidneys could result in a fatal illness: The daily production of urine, which should be 1.5 liters (0.4 gallon) a day, would rise to 25 to 30 liters (6.5 to 8 gallons), and that would be fatal.
THE MAINTENANCE OF
THE WATER BALANCE IN OUR BODIES
There is a great difference between the amount of water lost by a body doing some sort of work and the same body at rest. The amount of water filtered by the kidneys must therefore change. Yet it’s not the kidneys that stipulate this level. Again, the pituitary stimulates the kidneys by secreting the anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) in accordance with the body’s needs. The moment kidney cells receive this command, they slow down their blood-filtering process, and even begin to retrieve water molecules from the filtered-out liquid waste.
There is another method the pituitary applies to regulate the water level in the blood. The ADH gland secretes slows the salivary glands’ production of saliva. The individual then feels thirsty, and is impelled to drink water.
To ensure that we drink something,
first and foremost, the pituitary gland has to know the importance of water. It must also know that when a person’s mouth feels dry, that body needs to replenish the water in its bloodstream.
The pituitary must also know how to halt the working of the salivary glands. Every second of every day, the pituitary glands inside the heads of all the world’s billions of people determine how much water they need to drink, and oblige them to do so.
This system alone is proof of how helpless human beings, and that they were created.
Humans are helpless because using their own intellects, they cannot tell when the water level in their bodies has fallen. Were it not for that small piece of tissue that gives rise to feelings of thirst, people would not realize that their bodies needed water, and most of them would fail even to think of drinking before they fainted from dehydration.
Human beings were created because no coincidence can install a small but exceedingly conscious organ in the brain that when necessary, can exert psychological pressure and oblige a person to take a drink. It is Allah Who has created human beings with the need to drink liquids and Who has taken all precautions to ensure they do so.
WHAT IF YOU WERE NEVER THIRSTY?
There are systems that can perceive even the smallest changes in the level of water that take place in the body over the course of a day. Heading the list of these known as the hypothalamus, which is no larger than a pea in size and lies in a region of the brain.
Immediately beneath the hypothalamus, the 1-centimeter (0.4-inch) pituitary gland secretes the hormone ADH, which journeys through the bloodstream and eventually reaches the kidneys. The kidneys contain special receptors that are compatible with this hormone in the same way as a key fits a lock. As soon as the ADH hormones reach these receptors, the kidneys immediately move to conserve water, and water excretion is reduced to a minimal level.
If the kidney cells did not understand the pituitary hormone’s command to reduce water consumption, then we would have to drink 15 to 20 liters (4 to 5 gallons) of water a day in order not to die of thirst. Since this water would have to be constantly expelled from our bodies, we would be unable to sleep or sit down for very long.
Yet even such an inefficient system wouldn’t be enough to keep us alive. We need to feel our need to drink water, and how much. To that end, Allah has created human beings together with the capacity to feel thirsty.
Imagine that you never felt thirsty. Shortly after birth, you would die from lack of water. Since you had no feelings of thirst, you would be unaware that we were dehydrated and headed for death. The fact is, however, that people knows from birth that they need to drink, and how much, because their thirst is proportionate to their need. This system functions so perfectly that we never drink more or less fluid than we need, but always exactly the right amount.
Allah, Who created us from a drop of water, created these perfect systems to meet our physical needs. He is the flawless Creator:
He is Allah—the Creator, the Maker, the Giver of Form. To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. Everything in the heavens and earth glorifies Him. He is the Almighty, the All-Wise. (Surat al-Hashr: 24)
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