Page 272 - In The Name Of Allah, The All-Merciful And Most Merciful
P. 272
In the Name of Allah, The All-Merciful and Most Merciful
the strain of such movements would be constant. However,
our skeleton allows the body to move with ease, truly a great
mercy. Allah reveals in the Qur’an as follows:
Look at the bones – how We raise them up and clothe
them in flesh. (Surat al-Baqara, 259)
Think of a long piece of tissue. It has the ability to be-
come warm or cool, is strong but beautiful, and can protect
what it covers against every kind of external influence. Our
skin has all of these characteristics. If just one part of it is
damaged, we may die because of significant water loss. If we
remove one centimeter (0.3 inch) of skin, we will see under-
neath it is something not so pleasing to look at: fats, proteins,
and blood vessels. The skin, covering up all of these unsight-
ly things, contributes an important aesthetic quality to our
bodies as well as protecting us from all external influences.
By creating our skin, Allah gave us a beautiful appear-
ance and, because of its underlying material, allowed us to be
aware of our vulnerability. Skin is more important than ears,
nose, or eyes. We can live without the other sense organs, but
we cannot survive without skin, for without skin, the body
could not retain the water that forms a significant part of our
body.
The skin is resilient and flexible. While a significant
number of cells on its upper layer are dead, those on its low-
er layer are alive. The former soon begin to lose their charac-
ter as cells and turn into keratin, a hard substance that holds
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