Compiled by Alim S. Currim
This is a small study on the number of
creatures who disagreed with Satan (33:72). They took the opportunity to
kill their egos and submit to God's absolute authority. Of the billions of
creatures that live on earth, which do you think are the largest in
number?
The first reaction would be to say "human beings", of course. Why, our
species seem to be just about everywhere. Well, for all our arrogance we
would be surprised to learn that we are very wrong. And, we would be
astounded to find out that the record for the most abundant organisms on
Earth is held by insects. And even among insects, it is the ants that
dominate. Sura 27 Al Naml - The Ant. Masha Allah.
From the Arctic Circle to the tip of South America, there are over
20,000 species of ants, and those are only the ones that have been
discovered so far. In the rain forests, ants make up ten percent of what
scientists term the biomass. That is, if all the animals, birds and
insects in the forest were to be collected, dried and weighed, for every
100 kgs. of combined weight, 10 kgs. would be made up of ants alone.
Did you know that for every 100 kgs. of people, there are 1,000 kgs of
termites!!!!!! Did you know that a single tree in the tropics can have
more than 1,000 different kinds of insects living on it at the same
time!!!!! No one is quite sure how many species live on our planet.
Scientists believe that less than 5 per cent of the world's species have
been recorded by humans. So far 1.4 million species have been identified.
But scientists estimate that the total number of species could be any
where between 10 and 100 million.
Data from "The Diversity of Life" by E. O. Wilson provide us the
breakup of the 1.4 million species identified:
Bacteria 4,800 species
Fungi 69,000 species
Algae 26,900 species
Trees, shrubs and higher plants 248,400 species
Protozoa 30,800 species
Sponges 5,000 species
Corals and jellyfish 9,000 species
Flatworms 12,200 species
Roundworms 12,000 species
Earthworms 12,000 species
Clams and other mollusca 50,000 species
Seastars and relatives 6,100 species
Insects 751,000 species
Spiders and other non insect anthropods 123,400 species
Fishes 18,800 species
Amphibians 4,200 species
Reptiles 6,300 species
Birds 9,000 species
Mammals 4,000 species
----------------
1402,900 species
And if you think you are beginning to see zeroes instead of stars, how
about this? How many viruses do you think will fit into a teaspoonful of
unpolluted water? Scientists in Norway have estimated that the number
would exceed ONE BILLION!!! That is a teaspoonful of 1,000,000,000 viruses
!!!!
Scientists estimate that the deep ocean floor could be home to 10
million undiscovered species. The tremendous diversity of life is not
limited to those habitats that seem to obviously offer the basics of food,
shelter and space. Scientists have found life in regions which would be
considered uninhabitable. It is the inhabitants that have developed
special features to survive in the harshest of conditions.
Would the unbelievers not realize that there is a SUPREME POWER that
has created and controls this method of adaptation and everyone and
everything else? In the bays of Antarctica, the coldest marine habitats on
earth, where the water is cold enough to turn normal blood into ice,
fishes live and thrive. These fishes generate an anti freeze element in
their own bodies. Around the fishes are host of other marine creatures -
each with their own protective devices to survive the freezing waters.
In the burning heat of the deserts live unique collection of plants,
insects and reptiles adapted to survive the harshest of conditions. In the
perpetual darkness of the world's deepest and dampest caves live numerous
insects, feeding on the fungi and bacteria that grow there, and in turn
being eaten by larger - all of them blind - specialized for a life in the
dark.
And even in the boiling water of hot springs, deep down at the bottom
of the seas, scientists have discovered unique one celled micro organisms
that thrive in waters upto 110 degrees centigrade. Thanks to God,
diversity and adaptability have made life possible in the most remote
regions of our planet.
Imagine that you are on a journey upward from the centre or core of the
earth. You are walking at a leisurely pace. For the first twelve weeks you
would travel through burning rocks and molten lava where no life exists.
Three minutes before you reach the surface, you would encounter the first
organisms in the form of bacteria feeding on nutrients that have filtered
deep underwater. As you reach the surface of the earth, you would be
dazzled by the millions of life forms that you see - micro organisms,
plants and animals - spread right across the earth's surface. Still
walking upwards at the same pace, you would find that only half a minute
later, almost all life has disappeared. Upwards still, two hours later on
your walk, you would only find traces of life very faint - consisting
mainly of people in aero planes etc. The region with all this multitudes of
life makes up only 1 part in 10 billion of the Earth's mass. This layer of
earth which consists of living organisms and their environment is called
the "biosphere". This is the only region of earth where life can exist
naturally and it extends only from the bottom of the sea to the highest
point of the atmosphere.
Finally, let us imagine that all the tremendous variety of living
things on earth are finally discovered and then described. Let us imagine
that we had to put together a compilation of all this information. We then
decided to devote one page per species. The description would contain the
scientific name, a photograph or drawing and a brief description and
information on where the species is found. All this would be compiled in
order to be published as a book. These would be bound in volumes of 1,000
pages making each volume about 17 cms. wide. By the time the information
about all the species were to be compiled, the volumes covering a million
species would occupy 60 meters of space in a library. If we assumed that
there were 100 million species of organisms on earth, the volumes would
extend through 6 kms. of space in a library.
Such is the Greatness of God who made these millions of species by
merely saying to it "
Be and it is "
(2:117; 3:47; 6:73; 16:40; 19:35; 36:82; 40:68) "
without the least effort" ( 46:33 ) and "
no fatigue touched us " ( 50:38 )
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