NEW TRENDS IN ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS TO UNDERSTAND SCIENCE: STUDY OF VIRUS FEATURES IN THE QUR’AN TO THINK ABOUT THE GREAT SIGN OF ALLAH SWT.

Khairil Pahmi¹ and H. M. Natsir Abdullah²

¹Lecturer at Department of Pharmacy, Diploma of Pharmacy, Health Science Faculty, University of Nahdlatul Wathan Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara

²Lecturer at Teaching and Educational Science Faculty, Mataram University

Introduction

The aim of this article is to study the Al Qur’an verse and to correlate the modern science with the verses that we find in the Al Qur’an to think about the great sign of Allah SWT in this world. The great sign of God in this world is He creates many things. For example all of creatures are from inorganic compound and many the weakest creatures have extraordinary ability to survive in their life, such as viruses. Allah SWT reveals in the Al-Qur’an “There are many signs in the heavens and the earth which they pass by; yet they pay no attention to them! [12 Yusuf – Joseph: 105] ”.

One of the great sign of Allah SWT in this world is He draws the living from the dead and He draws the dead from the living. Allah SWT reveals in the Al-Qur’an“Say: "O Allah! Master of all the Kingship, You give the kingdom to whom You please and take away the kingdom from whomsoever You please; You give honor to whom You please and disgrace whom You please; all the good is in Your hand; surely You have power over everything [26]. You cause the night to pass into the day and You cause the day to pass into the night; You draw the living from the dead and You draw the dead from the living; and You provide sustenance for anyone You wish without measure."[27]” [Ali ‘Imran – The House Of Imran:26-27]. In this article we would like to analyze the virus’s features in the Al Qur’an according to that Al Qur’an verse because viruses have unique features. Those are they can be called lived creatures and dead creature at the same time. If one virus is in the cell, that virus can be called living thing because it can reproduce itself in the cell. Furthermore, if other virus is out the cell, that virus can be called particle because it can be crystallized. So that viruses have special classification in the modern creature classification system.

Virus Features Based on Science

Viruses are the unique creatures of Allah SWT. We are as a muslim that believe Allah SWT of course that is something easy for Allah SWT. But for the disbeliever scientist that dominates the rationality, they surely think viruses are the complicated and complex creature from Allah SWT. 

Until this time the Biological Scientists are still confused by the features of the virus because the uniqueness of the viruses. Viruses can be called living things because viruses can only reproduce their self in the  host  cells, so that they are called obligated parasite and have nucleic acid such as DNA or RNA. Meanwhile viruses are called inanimate objects because they can be crystallized if viruses exit from the host cells so they are also called a particle. Viruses are not the cells because they have no cytoplasm and cell organelles so they cannot do self metabolism process. Metabolism is the chemical reaction process in the living things. Metabolism process aims to produce food reserve and energy.

            Although virus is not a cell, but virus is able to cause the disease which is very dangerous for living things by dominating the host cell system. The host cells for the viruses are bacteria, plants, animals, and humans. The diseases caused by the viruses are AIDS, cancer, influenza, smallpox, rabies, measles, dengue fever, and the like.  

The Holy Qur’an Verses Related to Viruses

The verses that correlate to the viruses features are Al-Baqarah : 26, Ali ‘Imran : 27, and Ar-Rum : 19.

Al-Baqarah – The Cow : 26

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَسْتَحْيِي أَن يَضْرِبَ مَثَلًا مَّا بَعُوضَةً فَمَا فَوْقَهَا ۚ فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فَيَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ ۖ وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَيَقُولُونَ مَاذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ بِهَٰذَا مَثَلًا ۘ يُضِلُّ بِهِ كَثِيرًا وَيَهْدِي بِهِ كَثِيرًا ۚ وَمَا يُضِلُّ بِهِ إِلَّا الْفَاسِقِينَ

Meaning :  “Allah  disdains not to use The similitude of things, Lowest as well as highest . Those who believe know That it is truth  from their Lord; but those who reject faith say: What means Allah by this similitude?” [Al-Baqarah : 26].

The explanation of above verse is The word for “the lowest” in the original Arabic means a gnat, byword in the Arabic language for the weakest of creatures. In 29: 41, which was revealed before this surah, the similitude of the Spider was used, and similarly in 22: 73, there is similitude of the fly. For similitudes  taken from magnificent forces of nature, expressed  in exalted language. To Allah all His creation  has some special meaning appropriate  to itself, and some of what we consider the lowest creature have wonderful aptitudes, e.g., the spider or the fly.

In the Qur’an (2. AL-BAQARAH – THE COW: 26), Allah SWT mentions word “ba’udhah” in Bahasa Indonesia means “seekor nyamuk ” and in English means “the lowest of creature”. That word is correlated to the weakest creature which has the extraordinary intelligence. Because of that explanation, here we relate the word “ba’udhah” with the virus features. Virus has very small size from 27-300 nm (1 nm=10^-9 m =0.000000001 m) and their life depends on the host. Although like that, virus has extraordinary inteliigence. Every virus knows the specific host cell for their life ((‘Ali, 1989).

Syaf dan Abubakar  (1990) explains indeed Allah SWT is not disinclined to make or take similarity such as small insects or bigger than them, means Allah wants to ignore those all, because contain law that He must explain.

Ali ‘Imran : 27

تُولِجُ اللَّيْلَ فِي النَّهَارِ وَتُولِجُ النَّهَارَ فِي اللَّيْلِ ۖ وَتُخْرِجُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَتُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتَ مِنَ الْحَيِّ ۖ وَتَرْزُقُ مَن تَشَاءُ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ

You cause the day to enter into the night and the night to enter into the day. You cause the living to come out of the dead and the dead to come out of the living. You give sustenance to whomever You want without keeping an account (Ali ‘Imran : 2).

Ar-Rum : 19

يُخْرِجُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَيُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتَ مِنَ الْحَيِّ وَيُحْيِي الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا ۚ وَكَذَٰلِكَ تُخْرَجُونَ -

Meaning :

He brings the living out of the dead and brings the dead out of the living and brings to life the earth after its lifelessness. And thus will you be brought out (Ar-Rum : 19).

In verses Ali ‘Imran 19 and Ar-Rum 19 Allah SWT explains about “the change of living things from the dead, and the change of the dead from the living things”. In this case, author correlates those verses with the virus features. Viruses can be called the living things because they have nucleic acid and are covered by the protein capsid so they can reproduce in the host cells. But viruses can be called the dead because they can be crystallized so scientist classified them as the particle. 

References

‘Ali, A.Y. 1989. The Holy Qur’an: Text, Translation and Commentary. Maryland: Amana Corporation.

Syaf, M. dan B. Abubakar. 1990. Terjemah Tafsir Jalalain Berikut Asbaabun Nuzul.Diterjemahkan dari I.J. Al-Mahally dan I.J. As-Suyuthi.1990.Tafsir Jalalain. Bandung: Penerbit Sinar Baru Bandung.

Syamil Al-Qur’an. 2005. Al-Qur’an dan Terjemahannya. Jakarta: PT. Syaamil Cipta Media.

Yasin, A., dkk. 2001. Tafsir Fi Zhilalil Qur’an: Di Bawah Naungan Al-Qur’an (Permulaan Surah Ali Imran: 1-168) Jilid 3. S. Quthb. 1992. Fi Zhilalil Qur’an. Jakarta: Gema Insani.