Page 44 - The Truth of the Life of This World

complete systems, especially the immune system that could be described
as a "victorious army" over its enemies. However, despite the body's
strengths and defences, people often fall ill. They little ponder the fact that

having been equipped with such excellent systems, Allah might never have
allowed disease-producing agents to cause suffering. Viruses, microbes or
bacteria might never have affected the body, or these tiny "enemies" might
never have existed. However, still today, anyone may well become the tar-
get of serious disease arising from insignificant causes. For instance, a sin-
gle virus entering the body through a slight cut on the skin may in a short
while spread to the whole body, taking control of vital organs. Despite
advanced technology, a simple influenza virus may become a life-threat-
ening factor for huge numbers of people. History has frequently been wit-
ness to influenza cases that changed even the demographic structures of
countries. For instance, in 1918, twenty-five million people died of influen-
za. Similarly, in 1995, an epidemic claimed thirty thousand lives, the worst
losses concentrated in Germany.
Today the danger persists: a virus may strike at any time and easily
become life-threatening for anyone, or a rare disease may reappear after
lying dormant for nearly twenty years. Accepting all these incidents as nat-
ural happenings and not reflecting on them would be a serious mistake.
Allah gives mankind diseases for a special purpose. This way, those who
are arrogant may well find an opportunity to grasp the truly limited extent
of their power. Besides, this is a good way of understanding the true nature
of this life.

Apart from diseases, accidents pose serious threats to man. Every day
newspapers run headlines about traffic accidents. Accidents also constitute
a considerable part of radio and television news. Yet, despite such famil-
iarity with accidents, we never think we might face an accident at any
moment. There are thousands of factors around us that may suddenly
divert the flow of our lives. One may lose one's balance and fall in the mid-
dle of the street, for instance. A haemorrhage in the brain or a broken leg
may well be traced back to such an ordinary accident, or while eating sup-
per, one may choke to death on a fish-bone. The causes may sound sim-

42 The Weaknesses of Man