Page 19 - Miracles of The Qur'an Vol. 3

"They say, 'What! When we are bones and crumbled dust,
will we then be raised up as a new Creation!' Say: 'It would
not matter if you were rock or iron or indeed any created thing
that you think is harder still!' They will say, 'Who will bring
us back again?' Say: 'He Who brought you into being in the
first place'..." (Surat al-Isra', 49-51)

These verses refer to the petrification of dead bodies and how these
corpses, over time, turned into iron. Living tissue is not preserved over mil-
lions of years – which is why it is only possible to clearly see creatures of
the past today once they have been fossilized. After they die, living things

can be preserved for millennia by the fossilization process, by their bodies
literally turning into stone under the ground. The word "fossil" refers to
"the preservation of a living thing by petrification," by its turning into stone.
Iron is preserved undamaged in the body as the body becomes fos-
silized. Human beings need to consume an average of 10-15 milligrams of
iron a day in order to be healthy. Any excess iron consumed is stored in the
liver. In addition, the protein transferred in blood plasma also carries a cer-
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tain amount of iron. The reference in the verse to the presence of iron in the
remains of the human body is exceedingly wise from that point of view.
Research has also shown the presence of "pyrite," (FeS ) a com-
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pound of iron and sulfur, in fossils. The iron sulfide forms

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