The Last Stage In Digestion: The Intestines

Deadly Acid Waiting in the Intestines

As you have seen, digestion takes place by means of acids in the stomach. As a result, rather powerful acids remain in the paste reaching the intestines from the stomach, and they might represent a grave danger to the duodenum. Unlike the stomach, the duodenum has no special mucus layer to protect it.

Why, therefore, is the duodenum not damaged by this acid?

To find the answer to this question, we encounter astonishing digestive processes taking place within the body.

Unlike the stomach, the duodenum has no
special layer to protect it from acid. Under the special system
created by Allah, however, the pancreas has been placed
at the service of the duodenum. Bicarbonate molecules
produced by the pancreas neutralize the stomach
acids and thus protect the duodenum.

To the side, a cross-section of the duodenum wall.
All the cells comprising the layers in this section play a role
in the digestion of foods, as if they were all conscious entities.

When the acid reaching the duodenum from the stomach reaches a dangerous level, cells on the duodenum’s wall start secreting a hormone called secretin. There are several aspects of this process. First, secretin exists in the intestinal walls in the form of pro-secretin. Under the effect of the digested food, this hormone turns into secretin, a separate substance that eliminates the harmful effects of the acidic secretions by stimulating the pancreas. 33

Like most other hormones, secretin reaches the pancreas by way of the bloodstream and calls on the pancreas for help in secreting enzymes. Realizing that the duodenum is endangered, the pancreas sends bicarbonate molecules to that region, neutralizing the stomach acid and protecting the duodenum.

How did these processes, so vital to human life, come about? Intestinal cells know that the substance they need can be found in the pancreas. They know how to eliminate the effects of stomach acid by disrupting its chemical formula. They know the substance’s formula by stimulating the pancreas, and the pancreas understands the message from the duodenum and starts enzyme secretion. All these are all matters worth considering.

In reference to the intestinal cells, such terms as “know” and “be aware” are used here to emphasize the miraculous aspect of the processes taking place in the body. Otherwise, as every rational person can realize, a cell can’t possibly think, possess free will and take decisions, be aware of another organ’s features, and to determine formulae.

The way that cells, with no brain or consciousness labor in the dark innards of the body is the result of Allah’s superior creation. It is Allah, with His matchless knowledge, Who creates cells and the characteristics they possess. Such features created by Allah in the human body reveal the limitless nature of His might.

The Final Stage in the Digestive Process

The digestion of food is completed in the small intestine. But the final stage is the absorption of digestion’s products so they can be sent to where they’re needed in the body. Absorption in the mouth and stomach is minimal; absorption occurs wholly in the intestines, to which the structure of the small intestine is entirely suited.

The interior surface of the small intestine is very rough and wrinkled, with microscopic pumps on these wrinkles and protrusions. These pumps are actually absorber cells that trap nutrients the body needs and pump them out to the blood capillaries to which they are joined. These tiny pumps know exactly what our bodies need: broken-down sugar to be used in our brain cells, and amino acid to be used in our muscles. These minute pumps display reason in finding and trapping the nutrients we need. Even as you read these words, millions of these pumps are sending the necessary nutrients to the relevant locations that enable you to do so.

Thanks to the wrinkles and tiny pumps in the intestines, the small intestine in an adult actually occupies a rather large surface area—around 300 square meters (358 square yards), or the approximate equivalent of two tennis courts. 34

In this wide area, the absorption of nutrients takes place. Food is first broken down and turned into a paste, which is then spread out over the interior of the intestine in a thin layer, so that the cells can easily absorb all the nutrients in food.

One of the small intestine’s special features is its ability to absorb just enough of certain needed substances. For example, too much iron can harm the body. Iron reaching the intestines above a particular level is excreted without being digested. Were this not to happen, the result would be serious illnesses.

In addition, as mentioned earlier, regions in a very special part of the small intestine are composed of cells prepared to absorb Vitamin B12. People who have this area of their intestines surgically removed must receive additional vitamin supplements, or they will die.

The selectivity of cells in the intestines needs consideration, to better comprehend the greatness of Allah. The intestines are in lightless area of human body, with neither the intelligence nor the information to distinguish between substances. Even so, they can distinguish beneficial substances from harmful ones, and expel unnecessary matter from the body.

It is just about impossible for people to distinguish between chemical substances, mineral salts or powder metals placed before them. Someone without the relevant training cannot tell aluminum from zinc simply by their appearance. It is impossible for that person to determine which substances will be beneficial or harmful, or in what quantities they are currently present in the body. Although a human cannot tell the difference between these substances, the cells in his intestines have no difficulty in doing so.

As you have seen, it is not enough to possess reason and consciousness to be able to identify a particular substance. One also needs detailed information. So how did the intestinal cells come by this knowledge? How do these cells know what the trillions of cells in the body have too much and too little of? And how do they rectify any problems along these lines?

Cells consisting of combinations of atoms cannot possibly be imagined to have any will of their own. Evidently, this information has been placed inside the cells, and clearly, such a magnificent process cannot occur under the influence of chance or any other such factor. This shows the existence of a mighty Entity Who gives the cells what awareness they possess. That power belongs to Allah, the Creator of all, Who gives all things their form.

He is the Originator of the heavens and the Earth. How could He have a son when He has no wife? He created all things and He has knowledge of all things. That is Allah, your Lord. There is no deity but Him, the Creator of everything. So worship Him. He is responsible for everything. (Surat al-An‘am: 101-102)

Bacteria that Work for You

Most nutrients are absorbed in the small intestines before reaching the large intestine. However, some special nutrients are absorbed in the large intestine. One of the most interesting of them is Vitamin K, which plays an important role in blood clotting, and whose deficiency can lead to serious consequences, and even death. However, Vitamin K is not naturally found in the form that the human body requires. Only if it is refined in a certain way can this vitamin assume a form that the body can use.

But human metabolism cannot perform such refining. So how is it that we do not die from a lack of Vitamin K? What mechanism refines the vitamin into a form that our bodies can use?

The answer is quite astonishing. Special bacteria in the intestines subject Vitamin K to a series of processes and turn it into a form capable of being used by human beings. The Vitamin K, once synthesized by these bacteria, is absorbed by the large intestine and then used in the blood-clotting process. 35

The presence in the intestine of the bacteria that refine Vitamin K is an important detail. Tiny bacteria are in exactly the right place and possess the genetic code to perform the refinery process, yet people are unaware of the name, and even of the existence, of bacteria so essential to their survival. No coincidences can ever produce a bacterium, install it in the human intestines, or enable this bacterium’s genetic code to perform beneficial processes for the body as a whole.

This information is most astonishing—and most important. No doubt, it leads us to a Creator Who plans and regulates all. That creator is Allah, Who has planned everything down to the finest detail. Like all living things on Earth, human beings stand in need of Him; they were brought into being and exist by His will. Allah Himself has no need of anything. In one verse it is revealed that:

Say: “Can any of your partner-deities guide to the truth?” Say: “Allah guides to the truth. Who has more right to be followed—He Who guides to the truth, or he who cannot guide unless he is guided? What is the matter with you? How do you reach your judgment?” (Surah Yunus: 35)