Sunday, January 25, 2009

HOW DOES THE STOMACH DIGEST FOOD?

Now let's make a more detailed examination of the process of digestion. Consider breathing, swimming, riding a bicycle, eating… These are parts of our everyday lives, yet most of the time we do not even think how they occur. Our bodies need energy. We have already explained that we obtain this energy from the food we eat. But the nutriments required by the body should be simple and in particles small enough to pass through the blood vessels. Otherwise they cannot permeate the cells. However, the foods we consume are in large pieces. Therefore, we need a machine to enable the body to use the food we eat. In fact, we may briefly call this a grinder, which basically reduces the food we eat to smaller particles. This grinding machine in your body is called the "digestive system". This system, like all machine systems, is composed of various components and thanks to the perfect functioning of each of these components, we can digest food. It is vital that components of the digestive system be harmonious and complete because the whole system fails unless they are so. Now let us give an example to illustrate why all the components of a system should be complete for the proper functioning of the system: A remote-controlled car is composed of parts such as wheels, a controlling device, motor, batteries, gear, coil, antenna, etc. Likewise, the digestive system is composed of various components. These include the teeth, tongue, oesophagus, stomach, and intestines. Now think. Would a remote controlled car operate if it did not have antenna or wheels? Of course not. The car can run only if all of its parts are present. The same applies to the digestive system. The presence of the stomach would be meaningless unless there were also an oesophagus, since what carries food to the stomach is the oesophagus. In like manner, intestines cannot possibly be of any use unless there is a stomach, because the foods digested in the stomach are passed into the intestines, where they are given the proper form to be conveyed to body cells. This clearly shows us that our Lord, the Creator of everything, created for us a system that is perfect in every way. This reveals once again that there is no other god than our Lord:
Your god is Allah alone, there is no god but Him. He encompasses all things in His knowledge. (Surah Ta Ha: 98)

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