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tion tells us that pair creation and pair annihilation happen in the vacuum at
all times, in all places. (Henning Genz, "Nothingness: The Science of Empty
Space," 205, www.2think.org/nothingness.shtml)
Another example of duality in creation is plants. Botanists only discovered that
there is a gender distinction in plants some 100 years ago. Yet, the fact that plants
are created in pairs was revealed in the following verses of the Qur'an 1,400 years
ago:
It is Allah Who created the heavens with no support-you can see them-
and cast firmly embedded mountains on the earth so that it would not
move under you, and scattered about in it creatures of every kind. And
We send down water from the sky and make every generous plant grow
in it, in pairs. (Surah Luqman: 10)

It is He Who made the earth a cradle for you and threaded pathways for
you through it and sent down water from the sky by which We have
brought forth diverse pairs of plants. (Surah Ta Ha: 53)
In the same way, fruits, are of two types: male or female. As proclaimed in
the Qur'an:
He stretched out Earth and placed firmly embedded mountains and
rivers in it, and made two types [male and female] of every kind of fruit.
He covers over day with night. There are signs in that for people who
reflect. (Surat ar-Ra'd: 3)
The word "zawjayni," translated as "two types," comes from "zawj," meaning
"one of a pair." As we know, fruits are the final product produced by ripening
plants. The stage before fruit is the flower. Flowers also have male and female
organs. When pollen is carried to the flower and fertilization takes place, they
begin to bear fruit. The fruit gradually ripens and starts to release seeds. The fact
that fruits have gender-specific features is another piece of scientific information
indicated in the Qur'an.

THE SEPARATE SEAS

One of the properties of seas that has only recently been discovered is relat-
ed in a verse of the Qur'an as follows:
He has let loose the two seas, converging together, with a barrier
between them they do not break through. (Surat ar-Rahman: 19-20)

This property of the seas, that is, that they meet and yet do not intermix, has
only very recently been discovered by oceanographers. Because of the physical
force called "surface tension," the waters of neighbouring seas do not mix. Caused
by the difference in the density of their waters, surface tension prevents them

218 For Men of Understanding