"From the very moment of creation, mankind is on a journey. He is a traveler and is not allowed to halt except when he reaches either Paradise or Hellfire. The wise one among them is the one who knows that traveling is based on hardship and danger. It is usually hard to seek pleasures and relief during it, which are to be acquired after it is completed. Every footstep and every moan made during this journey will not stop him. It is proven that the traveler is preparing supplies, which will take him to his final end. And if he halts, sleeps, or rests, he is doing so while preparing himself to complete his journey, " the Swan continued her story.
"And so, the day turned to dawn when they reached a village. The coachman said, "We stay at a lodge not far from here, young man! Tomorrow, after breakfast, we continue our journey."
Moments later, after performing Isha prayer at a mosque accroos the lodge, when he was about to return to his room, the young wayfarer saw the coachman sitting with a man. The coachman called him, saying, "Young man, come here, this is my brother, he is a physician." They shook hands and then engaged in a light conversation until the physician said, "O young man, know that the first man was first created from clay, and that his seed was made from a draught of despised fluid. That he was created from a handful that Allah collected from all parts of the earth, so that it contains the good and the evil, the easy-going and the intolerant, the liberal and the miserly. It was Jibreel who took this handful, then it was fermented until it turned to mud, then Allah fashioned man as He deemed fit. Then He breathed into him of His spirit, so that he was a human of flesh and blood, talking and reasoning. Later on Allah had His angels prostrate themselves before man, and taught him the names of everything.
That man was blessed with intellect, knowledge, understanding, eloquence and speech. He was privileged with the quality of modesty. He was privileged with two means of expression, the oral and the written. He was endowed by Allah with the power of acquiring knowledge by several means. He was distinguished with certain motives and impulses that serve to accomplish what is good for man. Man was distinguished with strength, desire and will. Man is distinguished from the other creatures in appearance and shape. Man is an indivisible whole: composite of soul, mind and body. He was not created without purpose. Allah's commandments are to be permanently observed until the day man meets His Lord. With all those amazing gifts, Allah has urged mankind, His servants, to reflect upon Him, one will indeed be led to learn about Allah, about His Oneness and attributes of perfection; to learn about aspects of His might as attested by the absoluteness of His power, the infinite nature of His wisdom; by His mercy, generosity, clemency, kindness, justice, grace, anger, reward and punishment - it is through reflection on these facts that He willed His servants to know Him, and it is for this reason that He exhorted them to reflect upon His signs. A human is urged to reflect and ponder.
Now, let us see how Allah has brought together the male and the female and sown love in their hearts. See how with both desire and affection Allah leads them as if on a journey to a meeting that is the cause of the creation and forming of the child. See how the liquids from male and female mingle against all odds, and consider how they run filing from organs and paths that lie far apart until they come together at the same spot; how they settle at a firm lodging (i.e. the womb), protected from infection by the outer air, from the cold weather of the world, and from exposure to a possible mishap or catastrophe that may smite them. Consider then how the Lord transformed this whitish cloudy droplet into a blackish -red dot; how He then transformed it into an embryonic lump, very unlike the previous clot in colour, quality, and shape; how He transformed this into unclothed bones, unlike the embryonic lump in shape, appearance, size, touch and colour.
Now, consider how He caused those apparently homogenous and equal parts to specialize into nerves, bones, vessels, sinews, some hard, some soft, and some partly hard. Sec how Cod has tied them all very firmly in the most compact form; how the bones are covered with flesh that clothes them all and dings to them and protects them; how the bones in turn give the flesh the necessary strength and ability to move - the service is reciprocal: the bones give the flesh solidity, and the flesh gives the bonesprotection! See how Allah formed the human in the best shape, how He placed the ears to hear and the eyes to see, the mouth, the nose, and all the rest of sense organs that serve as channels to the outer world; how He made the arms and the legs, gave them the needed power and extension, how He provided their ends with fingers and toes; how the fingers and toes are further divided into phalanges; how the inside of the body contains organs like the heart, the stomach, the liver, the spleen, the lungs, the womb, the bladder, the intestine, each performing its own task and its own function.
Consider now the exceeding wisdom embodied in the creation of bones to be a framework and bulwark for the body. You can see how the Lord has determined their different sizes and forms; some small, some big; some king, some short; some curved, some circular; some thin, some thick; some solid, some hollow. Consider how bones have been interlocked, some in the form of tendon and mortise, some just touching end to end. See how their forms are varied in a way that is adapted to their functions: the molars for instance are designed to grind, and so they have a flat surface; while the incisors are designed to cut, and so they have a sharp thin edge. Since man needs to move the whole of his body and alternate parts of it carry out whatever work he needs to accomplish, the bones have not been made as one cohesive mass; there are rather many bones with joints that link one to another in a way that facilitates movement. Each joint is of the size and form that serves the task it is meant to perform.
Consider how all these joints and organs are firmly built, and how they are connected with tendons and ligaments that extend from one end of the bone and then reach to the next bone to support the first, and see how the bone has a protrusion that exactly fits a recess in the bone that links to it, so that when the human needs to move that particular pari, the whoie mechanism responds splendidly to his desire, which is only possible because of those joints. Consider the head and the large number of bones that it contains. It is said to contain fifty- five bones, varied in shape, size and function. See how Allah has mounted it on the trunk, rather like a rider mounted on his animal. In its position above the torso Allah has disposed it in the right place to contain four of the five senses: hearing, vision, smell, taste, and touch; and the site of all perception.
Man endowed with senses. The sense of vision has been placed at the front of his head, so that it functions as a sentry, guard, and pilot for the body. He made each eye of seven layers, each layer with a particular quality, size and function. If any of these layers should be missing, or if it were moved away from its place or its shape, then the eye would stop seeing.
Allah created for man the sense of hearing. The ear is indeed a splendid creation! It performs what is required of it to perfection. The outer ear is made hollow, similar to a shell, so that it may collect sound, and then convey it to the outer ear canal The outer ear is also important for feeling the movement of any insect so that a human may quickly remove it. It has convolutions, grooves and windings that enable it to catch incoming air and sound, and funnel it to the outer ear canal after softening it. Its particular shape helps to lengthen the way for an invading insect, so that it may not reach the outer ear canal before the human has taken notice or woken and then checked its progress.
Allah also provided man with the mouth, choosing for it the most suitable location, endowing it with abilities and instruments of taste and speech, and with tools of cutting and grinding that overwhelm an observing person. Look at the tongue, one of the signs that point to the Lord: it is an interpreter of the king of organs (the heart), that expresses what the heart wishes to convey or declare, in the same way that the Lord willed that the ear should be a messenger that keeps the heart briefed and informed. The ear is the courier that conveys the news to the king of organs, a counterpart to the tongue, a courier and messenger that transmits what the heart wishes to make known.
Part 2
