Nothing like God’s creation

Modern technology especially the fast-moving information and communication hi-tech continues, every now and then, to alter traditional patterns of human life that existed since Allah created mankind. It deploys its wonderful tools to comfort the heart of modern man with everything that his eyes covet at a rate swifter than ever imagined. Technology is not […]

Modern technology especially the fast-moving information and communication hi-tech continues, every now and then, to alter traditional patterns of human life that existed since Allah created mankind. It deploys its wonderful tools to comfort the heart of modern man with everything that his eyes covet at a rate swifter than ever imagined. Technology is not only persuasively impacting on human attitude but also ubiquitously penetrating the psyche of contemporary man including how he perceives God. 

But, no matter how some sophisticated inventions or innovations make us to wonder about the scientific products of human intelligence, man must not lose sight of the Giver of intelligence, Allah, who created something from nothing. The convention, naturally, is for man to invent or create from something that already exists; not from nothing. People talk about wonderful things including Artificial Intelligence (AI) which seems to be the latest breakthrough as if it were the most wonderful thing that has happened in the world of science and technology since the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. Regular readers of this column would recall that this same discourse featured on this page on December 26, 2009. 

But which of all the wonderful things on this planet, if we may still ask, is the greatest of wonders?  Could the greatest wonder be the computer which performs great brain-tasking and dexterous jobs at a blink-of-the-eye speed? Is it the internet because it’s a technology that has turned the world in to a global village; or the  aircraft because of the mysteries in the art of flying in addition to the cargo it carries in the air? Could it be the space shuttle which takes man at a supersonic speed out of this planet to others where life is non-existent and yet brings him back to destination? Or electricity which revolutionized indigenous technology and has today become an indispensable source of comfort and mutual interaction with modern society? Could the most wonderful creation be the ship that sails in the sea with tons of freight; or the train which is never over-loaded? Could it be the ocean which borders are unknown; or the Global Satellite of Mobile (GSM) communication which is wireless and permeates solid matters? Unfortunately, none of these wonders is certainly the most wonderful thing in the world. 

Neither the great pyramid of Giza which is the only wonder of the ancient world that is still in existence nor any of the six other wonders of antiquity makes the greatest wonder on earth. Not even the Great Wall of China or any other wonder of the medieval world can be a plausible answer to the question about the most wonderful thing on earth. Correspondingly, none of the seven wonders of the modern world including the Empire State Building in New York (built between 1931 and 1967), and the Golden Gate Bridge (built between 1933 and 1937) qualifies to be described as the greatest wonder. Even when your search takes you to natural wonders, Mount Everest and Victoria Falls both fall short of what makes the greatest wonder. Your mention of amazing things in the industrial world does not put the Brooklyn Bridge or the London Sewage system close to what can philosophically be termed the greatest wonder.

If a teacher asks a class of  forty or fifty primary school pupils in Nigeria to mention what he thinks is the most wonderful thing, each of them is likely to provide an answer that will be different from all the others mentioned by his classmates; meaning that the teacher could possibly have as many answers as the number of the pupils in that class. Their answers could be amazing, depending on their educational, socio-cultural, and religious background. While some would, for instance, mention Zuma rock located near Madalla at the border of Niger State with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) because of the human face naturally engraved in it, others could refer to the Atlantic Ocean in Lagos as the most wonderful creature.

What, then, is the greatest wonder on earth? It is something nearer to you than all that have been mentioned; something you meet, live with and care for every day. It is you, YOURSELF! The muscles with which you move, the bones that keep them in place, the blood which brings them in to energy, and the network of communication in the central nervous system makes ‘man’ the greatest wonder on earth. Several natural wonders exist but none is like the wonder in the creation of mankind by Allah. The mechanics of human physiology; the mystery in human reproductive system; the economics of the digestive and excretory systems; the central utility of the heart and the miracles of the human brain; collectively make man the pinnacle and a quintessence of numerous wonders; each epitomizing God’s omniscience and omnipotence. May Allah  keep us on the path of those who do not behold other than man created by Allah  as the greatest wonder on earth, amin.