 
# The Miracle in the Seed

## Harun Yahya

# About the Author

Now writing under the pen-name of HARUN YAHYA, he was born in Ankara in 1956. Having completed his primary and secondary education in Ankara, he studied arts at Istanbul's Mimar Sinan University and philosophy at Istanbul University. Since the 1980s, he has published many books on political, scientific, and faith-related issues. Harun Yahya is well-known as the author of important works disclosing the imposture of evolutionists, their invalid claims, and the dark liaisons between Darwinism and such bloody ideologies as fascism and communism.

Harun Yahya's works, translated into 41 different languages, constitute a collection for a total of more than 45,000 pages with 30,000 illustrations.

His pen-name is a composite of the names Harun (Aaron) and Yahya (John), in memory of the two esteemed prophets who fought against their people's lack of faith. The Prophet's seal on his books' covers is symbolic and is linked to their contents. It represents the Qur'an (the Final Scripture) and Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace), last of the prophets. Under the guidance of the Qur'an and the Sunnah (teachings of the Prophet), the author makes it his purpose to disprove each fundamental tenet of godless ideologies and to have the "last word," so as to completely silence the objections raised against religion. He uses the seal of the final Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace), who attained ultimate wisdom and moral perfection, as a sign of his intention to offer the last word.

All of Harun Yahya's works share one single goal: to convey the Qur'an's message, encourage readers to consider basic faith-related issues such as God's existence and unity and the Hereafter; and to expose godless systems' feeble foundations and perverted ideologies.

Harun Yahya enjoys a wide readership in many countries, from India to America, England to Indonesia, Poland to Bosnia, Spain to Brazil, Malaysia to Italy, France to Bulgaria and Russia. Some of his books are available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Urdu, Arabic, Albanian, Chinese, Swahili, Hausa, Dhivehi (spoken in Mauritius), Russian, Serbo-Croat (Bosnian), Polish, Malay, Uygur Turkish, Indonesian, Bengali, Danish and Swedish.

Greatly appreciated all around the world, these works have been instrumental in many people recovering faith in God and gaining deeper insights into their faith. His books' wisdom and sincerity, together with a distinct style that's easy to understand, directly affect anyone who reads them. Those who seriously consider these books, can no longer advocate atheism or any other perverted ideology or materialistic philosophy, since these books are characterized by rapid effectiveness, definite results, and irrefutability. Even if they continue to do so, it will be only a sentimental insistence, since these books refute such ideologies from their very foundations. All contemporary movements of denial are now ideologically defeated, thanks to the books written by Harun Yahya.

This is no doubt a result of the Qur'an's wisdom and lucidity. The author modestly intends to serve as a means in humanity's search for God's right path. No material gain is sought in the publication of these works.

Those who encourage others to read these books, to open their minds and hearts and guide them to become more devoted servants of God, render an invaluable service.

Meanwhile, it would only be a waste of time and energy to propagate other books that create confusion in people's minds, lead them into ideological chaos, and that clearly have no strong and precise effects in removing the doubts in people's hearts, as also verified from previous experience. It is impossible for books devised to emphasize the author's literary power rather than the noble goal of saving people from loss of faith, to have such a great effect. Those who doubt this can readily see that the sole aim of Harun Yahya's books is to overcome disbelief and to disseminate the Qur'an's moral values. The success and impact of this service are manifested in the readers' conviction.

One point should be kept in mind: The main reason for the continuing cruelty, conflict, and other ordeals endured by the vast majority of people is the ideological prevalence of disbelief. This can be ended only with the ideological defeat of disbelief and by conveying the wonders of creation and Qur'anic morality so that people can live by it. Considering the state of the world today, leading into a downward spiral of violence, corruption and conflict, clearly this service must be provided speedily and effectively, or it may be too late.

In this effort, the books of Harun Yahya assume a leading role. by the will of God, these books will be a means through which people in the twenty-first century will attain the peace, justice, and happiness promised in the Qur'an.

First published in Turkish in July 2000

Millat Book Centre 2005

Distributed by

Millat Centre

Translated by: Valeria Needham

Edited by: Tam Mossman

All translations from the Qur'an are from "The Noble Qur'an:

a New Rendering of its Meaning in English"

by Hajj Abdalhaqq and Aisha Bewley, published by Bookwork,

Norwich, UK. 1420 CE/1999 AH.

Abbreviation used:

(pbuh): Peace be upon him (following a reference

to the prophets)

Website: http: // www.harunyahya.com

ISBN:

Printed in India

By Millat Book Centre

A-34, Mount Kailash

New Delhi - 110065 (India)

Ph. : 3282740, 3274339, 3257949

Fax: 3263567, 3258147

email: sgagan@nde.vsnl.net.in

MILLAT BOOK CENTRE

# To the Reader

A special chapter is assigned to the collapse of the theory of evolution because this theory constitutes the basis of all anti-spiritual philosophies. Since Darwinism rejects the fact of creation – and therefore, God's existence – over the last 140 years it has caused many people to abandon their faith or fall into doubt. It is therefore an imperative service, a very important duty to show everyone that this theory is a deception. Since some readers may find the chance to read only one of our books, we think it appropriate to devote a chapter to summarize this subject.

All the author's books explain faith-related issues in light of Qur'anic verses, and invite readers to learn God's words and to live by them. All the subjects concerning God's verses are explained so as to leave no doubt or room for questions in the reader's mind. The books' sincere, plain, and fluent style ensures that everyone of every age and from every social group can easily understand them. Thanks to their effective, lucid narrative, they can be read at one sitting. Even those who rigorously reject spirituality are influenced by the facts these books document and cannot refute the truthfulness of their contents.

This and all the other books by the author can be read individually, or discussed in a group. Readers eager to profit from the books will find discussion very useful, letting them relate their reflections and experiences to one another.

In addition, it will be a great service to Islam to contribute to the publication and reading of these books, written solely for the pleasure of God. The author's books are all extremely convincing. for this reason, to communicate true religion to others, one of the most effective methods is encouraging them to read these books.

We hope the reader will look through the reviews of his other books at the back of this book. His rich source material on faith-related issues is very useful, and a pleasure to read.

In these books, unlike some other books, you will not find the author's personal views, explanations based on dubious sources, styles that are unobservant of the respect and reverence due to sacred subjects, nor hopeless, pessimistic arguments that create doubts in the mind and deviations in the heart.

# Contents

Introduction

Section 1. The Secret in the Seed

Section 2. Structure and Formation of a Seed

Section 3. Signs of Creation in the Seed

Section 4. Seed Dispersal

Section 5. Resilience of Plants and Seeds

Section 6. Germination: The Vital Phase

Section 7. The Seed: A Fact of Creation

Conclusion

The Deception of Evolution

Notes

# Introduction

We sent down a measured amount of water from heaven and lodged it firmly in the earth; and We are well able to remove it. by means of it We produce gardens of dates and grapes for you, in which there are many fruits for you and from which you eat.

And a tree springing forth from Mount Sinai yielding oil and a seasoning to those who eat. (Qur'an, 23:18-20)

Have you thought in detail about the fruit trees in your gardens, the pine forest you see from your window, or the plane trees lining the road you drive? Do you know how these plants appeared, and the stages they underwent before growing into mature trees? or do plants have a purely aesthetic meaning for you, and it doesn't really matter to you whether or not they exist? If you think that way, you are deceiving yourself, because it's largely due to plants that there is an adequate balance of oxygen in the atmosphere that enables you to breathe, and that you are not poisoned by excessive carbon dioxide, that the humidity of the air seldom reaches uncomfortable levels, and is neither too hot nor too cold. That is to say, you owe a great deal to plants for being able to lead a comfortable life. nor are these the only ways in which plants are useful to most living creatures. In plants are found the vitamins and minerals you need in order to live.

How the general characteristics of plants influence the lives of living creatures, how they create nutrients through photosynthesis, and wondrous details such as how great trees carry substances their roots draw from the earth to the outer branches, are detailed in another book, the Miracle of Creation in Plants. Here, we will examine a different aspect of plants in more detail to help people look at the subject in a different way. Everyone knows what seeds look like, and knows that plants arise from seeds. but few have ever wondered how so many varieties of plants can germinate from something so small and seemingly lifeless, or how the seeds come to contain all the individually coded information that determines these plants' characteristics.

How can fruits, with their unique tastes and aromas and just the right degree of sweetness, come from something that's small and dry? Does the seed produce the tree and adorn it with fruit? Does the seed determine the shape and color of fruit and flowers? Does the seed pack all the information on the tree into the embryo it contains?

If people give such questions a little thought, they'll start to wonder about how a seed knows how to produce a tree. How does something so small know what shape and form the tree it will produce should take? This last question is particularly important, because it is not just a mass of wood that develops from a seed. for example, we know that apple trees, like thousands of other plant species, grow from little seeds in the earth. but by some unknown means, after a certain amount of time, from that seed grows a big tree 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 feet) tall weighing hundreds of kilos. The perfect apples on that tree have polished skins, unique aroma and contain sweet juices. While producing this tree, whose proportions are gigantic compared to its own, the only materials this seed has to use are the nutrients it contains at its initial stage – and after that, just earth and sunlight.

Each seed, like those in this example, produces an extremely well-organized life form with its own circulatory system and roots for assimilation of soil nutrients. Even an intelligent human artist finds it difficult to draw a good picture of a tree, much less the details of the roots and branches. but a seed produces a living version of this extremely complex shape, complete with all of its systems.

Though we say the seed "produces," let's remind ourselves that the seed lacks any independent mind, consciousness or will. Thus it's not plausible to claim that it is the seeds themselves that produce trees and plants with such striking systems. Such a claim would imply that the seed is extremely knowledgeable, more intelligent even than a human being.

As evidenced throughout this book, the explanation is that within the seed is concealed a superior intelligence and comprehensive knowledge that, of course, do not belong to the seed itself. It cannot be claimed that the atoms and molecules of the materials that make up the seed are intelligent and knowledgeable, so this knowledge must be inserted into the seed somehow. but who inserted it?

When thinking through these steps, one arrives at some very important truths. The seed, dry and seemingly lifeless, is capable of doing nothing of its own accord. This knowledge has been implanted in seeds by a far greater unrivalled power, Who is God. God creates seeds with the knowledge and system to develop into plants. Each seed cast on the ground is enveloped in God's knowledge, with which it germinates and grows.

The keys of the unseen are in His possession. No one knows them but Him. He knows everything in the land and sea. No leaf falls without His knowing it. There is no seed in the darkness of the earth, and nothing moist or dry which is not in a clear book. (Qur'an, 6:59)

# Section 1: The Secret in the Seed

**Have you thought about what you cultivate? Is it you who make it germinate or are We the Germinator? If We wished We could have made it broken stubble. You would then be left devoid of crops, distraught. (Qur'an, 56:63-65)**

Some would think they were fruit pits, brushwood or even a kind of rubbish. but then take these objects and put them in a pot in some earth and wait for a time. If you want to see the result, turn the page.

From the pictures overleaf, you will understand that each of these dried bits of matter is a seed. and when the conditions are right, they sprout in an amazing way to produce plants of many varieties. So what sets these small, dry things apart from an inert chunk of dry wood?

Seeds have a very important characteristic that makes them different: They contain the knowledge of the shape of each stem, each leaf, the number of leaves, the thickness and color of the skin or bark, the diameter and number of the channels through which nutrients and water flow, the height of the plant, whether or not it will bear fruit, and if it does, its taste, aroma, shape, color – in short, every possible detail about the plant that the seed will produce.

If we were seeing these seeds for the first time with no idea what they were for, could we guess that countless plants, each different from the others, would emerge, and that some would reach meters in height? We would never have thought that countless fragrant flowers of striking shapes and colors – daisies, tulips, azaleas, geraniums, narcissi, roses, violets – would arise out of some shriveled dry thing. We would never have imagined that so many varieties of fruit – peaches, coconuts, pears, quinces, mulberries, apricots – would grow on the trees arising from these seeds; or that blackberries, oranges, mandarins, melons, plums, peppers and tomatoes would form from these little black, brown and yellow objects.

And so, it's worth thinking about that for millions of years, all the characteristics related to plants have been contained in seeds. When you think about this knowledge, it opens unexpected horizons that change the perspective of many events. to consider this subject more closely, begin thinking about the things closest to hand, the vegetables, flowers and fruit in your house.

What knowledge is required for a seed to become a watermelon? Hold a slice of watermelon in your hand, and its regular order is very evident. All the knowledge that creates the taste, fragrance and sweetness of the watermelon is present in the watermelon's seeds. Observe the slender tie by which the seed is attached to the red flesh of the watermelon and the seed's filmy, slippery skin. The knowledge relating to this structure is likewise present in the seeds. and all the patterns on the outer skin, its thickness and waxy texture – to a degree of smoothness that a stonemason could not create – are also coded in its seeds. Watermelons all over the world have the same characteristics stored in their seeds. for this reason, if you gather a quantity of seeds from any number of places and sow them in the earth, after a time small seedling vines will sprout, and in time each of these will bear real watermelons.

To give another example, compare the characteristics of coniferous trees and those of some plants found in arid habitats.

When the ground freezes in winter, roots are unable to take in water from the earth. In addition, most of the precipitation in winter falls as snow, and for this reason, trees have to be able to withstand conditions of drought that prevail. They owe this resilience to their leaves. for instance, the leaves of many coniferous trees are not shed in autumn and have a tough skin, whose waxy surface reduces moisture loss through evaporation. by maintaining internal water pressure, this resilience prevents the leaves from being shed or the plant from wilting. and moreover, most coniferous trees have needle-shaped leaves that are resistant to frost.

Every spring, these plants gather more energy when new leaves unfurl. The resilience of the leaves is important for these plants, inasmuch as they store nutrients by photosynthesis whenever weather conditions permit. Non-deciduous trees are usually conical in shape, which prevents their branches from breaking under too much accumulation of snow. What snow does settle on them insulates the tree from sub-zero cold and prevents water loss by reducing loss of moisture from the leaves.1

For plants living in the desert, drought is one of the greatest dangers. Negative factors such as sporadic rainfall, sand storms and intense heat would normally mean extinction for desert plants. but species living in arid climates enjoy special features that enable them to withstand their environment. Their seeds' structure and method of reproduction enable these plants to survive under such conditions.

Many desert seeds contain various substances that prevent or postpone germination. The fruit valves of Sinapis Alba contain blastokoline, which delays germination of the seeds. In Arizona, some arid plants sprout after very long dormant periods due to certain substances they contain. for instance, Lepidium lasiocarpum is ready to germinate only after one year, and Streptanthus arizonicus after 26 months. The importance of these substances is evident in the dry season in particular.2

This means that the germination-prolonging characteristics of these two species must be contained in the embryo of every one of their seeds. These few differences that distinguish arid plants clearly show the extent of detail of the encoded information in their seeds.

A rose's red color, the curl of each of its petals, their number, softness, velvet texture and the proportion of substances that give the rose its perfume each constitute information. The deep purple color of an eggplant or aubergine, its shiny skin, the alignment of its seeds, and the length of the veins in its resilient stem all derive from information embedded in its embryo. Similar information causes sweet, juicy little grapes to grow on dry, contorted vines. The information contained in the seed's embryo makes the skin of a grape different from that of a hazelnut; it is responsible for these two fruits' differing color, taste, smell and the vitamins they contain, as well as the fact that the one is juicy and the other dry.

This information has been contained in each species since the emergence of seed-producing plants. The absence of such information would spell the plants' immediate extinction. at this point the following question should arise:

Who put this information in the seed?

The answer we have is given in the introduction to this book, but at this point, it is pertinent to remind ourselves that it is God, the Creator of all things, Who embedded this vital information in seeds.

The fact that such important information and other characteristics are implanted in a tiny seed is an example of God's incomparable creative art, and a means by which the faithful are drawn closer to our Lord. We are shown once more, by the way He implants thousands of pages of information in seeds and makes countless plants grow from these tiny objects, that God has power over all things. It is God alone Who causes plants to grow from seeds, a truth made known in the following verses of the Qur'an:

Have you thought about what you cultivate? Is it you who make it germinate or are We the Germinator? If We wished We could have made it broken stubble. You would then be left devoid of crops, distraught. (Qur'an, 56:63-65)

Another verse explains that God, the Creator of the seed, causes the seed that falls to the ground to split open and a new plant to grow:

God is He Who splits the seed and kernel. He brings forth the living from the dead, and produces the dead out of the living. That is God, so how are you perverted? (Qur'an, 6:95)

The truth is evident, but there have always been people who fail to comprehend it. Those who deny the existence of God are disinclined to see the miracle of creation and still try to use coincidence to explain the existence of seeds. but try as they will, the result remains the same. On examining the perfect structure of the seed and the extraordinary knowledge contained within it, everyone of reason and conscience will comprehend that it could not have come into existence through coincidence, and bear witness to the fact of creation. as you'll see later in this book, the creation of the seed and the information it contains are too magnificent for them to have come into being of their own accord.

# Section 2: Structure and Formation of a Seed

**Don't they see how We drive water to barren land and bring forth crops by it which their livestock and they themselves both eat? So will they not see? (Qur'an, 32:27)**

All the different plants – from trees that are meters in height, to the flowers whose fragrance you delight in and the vegetables and fruit you eat – all of them began as seeds. but what stages have these seeds undergone in their formation?

In the development of the seed, the first stage is the transport of the pollen, or male reproductive cells, of flower-bearing plants. Pollen is transported by the wind, insects, animals or some other means to flowers' reproductive organs.

Right in the center of a flower is one or a cluster of female organs, called the carpel. Each carpel consists of a tip called a stigma, carried on a stalk called a style. at its base is a swollen ovary containing the ovules that will develop into seeds.

Pollen from the male organs is deposited on the stigma, which is coated in a sticky substance, and produces a pollen tube that reaches down the style to the ovary. This sticky surface has the very important function, for if the pollen does not reach the ovary, it cannot fertilize the ovules. The sticky surface of the stigma catches pollen and prevents it from being dispersed and wasted.

Once the grain of pollen, or male reproductive cell, lands on the stigma of a flower from the same species, the pollen produces a tube like a fine root growing down the neck of the style to the ovary. Each of the mature pollen grains contains two sperm cells. The pollen tube transports the sperm to the ovule. One sperm cell fertilizes the egg in the embryo sac of the ovule, resulting in the development of a seed. The other sperm cell unites with two cells in the embryo sac, creating the tissue that surrounds the embryo and provides nourishment for it. Shortly after this process, called fertilization, a seed is produced.

Every seed contains a plant embryo and a store of nutrients. In this embryo is contained all the information relating to the future plant, as we explained at the start. That is to say, the embryo contains a small copy of the plant; and the store of nutrients enables this embryo to grow until the plant can produce its nourishment.

## Characteristics of the Nutrient Reserve in Seeds

It is of great importance for the seed to contain a reserve of nutrients for the embryo, since at this early stage, a plant has as yet no leaves for photosynthesis and no roots to draw nutrients from the soil. Until it emerges as a seedling, it must use whatever nutrients already contained within it to complete its development.

At this point we encounter the miraculous detail that stored in every seed is just the right amount of nutrient to satisfy its needs. The nutrient content of seeds that must remain dormant for a long time before germinating (for example, the coconut) and of seeds that germinate soon after coming into contact with water (such as melon and watermelon) is regulated in different amounts. What's more, the kind of nutrients stored – principally starch and storage proteins, and sometimes additionally sugar and fat – depends on the variety of the plant. of these, starch is the most essential, as it is the main source of energy for the embryo. Storage proteins, on the other hand, will provide the amino acids the embryo requires to build other proteins important for its growth.3

Who regulates the amount and kind of nutrients? It cannot be the seed, because this calibration is done before the seed is formed. Then does the parent plant regulate the amount of nutrients, by determining the seed's stages of development and the length of time before it germinates? to admit such a possibility would mean a series of unreasonable events that are hard to believe, such as the plant having intelligence and consciousness, foresight and knowledge of events taking place beyond its own sphere. No logical, intelligent person can believe such a thing.

The evident truth is that the One Who stores in the seed of every plant exactly the right amount of nutrients it requires, the Creator of all plants and their systems and stages of fertilization is God.

## The Importance of the Nutrients in Seeds

After fertilization while the seed is forming, sugar and fat are stored in the seed together with starch and storage proteins, depending on the plant species. Starch provides the seed with its main energy supply. The storage proteins will produce the amino acids the embryo needs to build other proteins that are important for the plant. but for the embryo to absorb and transport the proteins and starch, which are largely insoluble in water, they must be broken down chemically into small water-soluble units,4 and as you will see later in the book, the seed is created with a system to solve this problem.

The existence of a store of nutrients is important not only for plants, which need it for their seeds to develop, but also for humans and animals. Nutrients in seeds like wheat, corn, rice, barley, rye, oats, millet, buckwheat, legumes (peas, beans, soybeans, black-eyed peas, peanuts) and nuts with shells (such as Brazil nuts, coconuts, walnuts, almonds) are important for both humans and animals.

Usually, seeds contain comparatively less sugar than the other substances, though sweet corn, chestnuts, almonds, pistachios and peas store a relatively high proportion of sugar.

The amount of fat in oily seeds increases rapidly as the seeds ripen. Some of the most important oils are obtained from flax, tung, cotton, soybean, olive, peanut, castor bean, coconut, sesame and oil palm. as well as being used in food, these oils are used in making paints and varnishes, linoleum, printers ink, soap, artificial leather, and insulating materials.5

As these examples show, seeds have direct or indirect connections with people's lives and health, including dietary fibers, spices, beverages, edible and industrial oils, vitamins and medicaments.

## The Minerals and Vitamins in Seeds

The majority of dry seeds are extremely high in nutritional value. for example, sesame, and sunflower seeds contain a higher proportion of protein than grains. Pumpkin seeds contain more than 30% protein. More than half of the weight of these seeds, which are high in vitamin E, is fat. More than 80% of these fats are polyunsaturated fats – the kind that prevent hardening of our arteries, essential fatty acids, and the oil-soluble vitamins A, D and E. Vitamin B is also found in seeds, but the quantity varies according to the species.6

In addition, seeds are rich in minerals, containing a lot of iron and zinc. The amount of magnesium is good, particularly in pumpkin seeds. Many seeds are a source of copper. Seeds also have fairly high levels of calcium, potassium and phosphorus, and a small amount of sodium; and the majority of seeds contain iodine.

Pumpkin seeds have a high concentration of zinc, and for this reason are used in the treatment of various illnesses. In addition, they're quite rich in iron, calcium and phosphorus, as well as containing vitamin E and essential fatty acids. They also contain a combination of B vitamins, particularly niacin.

Sesame seeds are probably the most widely used seeds in the world. They are rich in oil, over 55%. They are about 20% protein, and contain some of the a and E vitamins, as well as most of the B vitamins apart from B12 and folic acid. as is the case with most seeds, sesame seeds have a high mineral content, with large quantities of calcium, copper, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc and iron. They're a wonderful source of calcium. Whether due to the vitamin E they contain or other factors, sesame seeds also have a mild antioxidant effect.7

Raw sunflower seeds have higher nutritional value than roasted or salted seeds. for those with blood-pressure problems, sunflower seeds are high in potassium and low in sodium – a balance needed by most people. They have a high oil content as polyunsaturated fats and, thanks to the essential linoleic acid and vitamin E they contain, are effective in reducing cholesterol levels and improving or preventing cardiovascular diseases. Sunflower seeds are composed of about 25% protein, and are rich in fiber and vitamin B, high in potassium, low in sodium and contain different proportions of zinc, iron and calcium – a very mineral-rich nutritional source. They have quite high levels of copper, manganese and phosphorus, and also contain magnesium.8

These few examples show how God has used seeds as a means of providing for people in many ways, one of His blessings for which thanks should be given:

So eat from what God has provided for you, lawful and good, and be thankful for the blessing of God if it is Him you worship. (Qur'an, 16:114)

# Section 3: Signs of Creation in the Seed

**It is God 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 species grow in it. (Qur'an, 31:10)**

As mentioned in the previous section, a seed basically consists of a seed coat, a nutrient reserve and an embryo. Though the basic structure is the same, the amount of nutrients contained in each seed's reserve, the type of surrounding protective membrane, its thickness, the shape and taste of the fruit enclosing it differ greatly from one another. Everything from the shape to the color of the seed coat and the materials it is made from varies according to the plant's species and habitat.

Seeds reveal marvelous wonders of creation. to give one example, an apricot contains just one pit, or seed, which is well protected by a hard shell. The fleshy interior tastes sweet and is suitable for eating – good food for birds, rodents, insects and other animals as well as people. The fact that the fruit consists of two such sections is also opportune for the plant, for when the apricot is eaten, the seed enclosed in the hard casing at the fruit's center is exposed, and thus has a chance of germinating in a suitable place and growing into a new tree.

In contrast to the apricot, the kiwi is a fruit that contains numerous little edible seeds, rather than just one. The seeds of this fleshy fruit are grouped together. and because they are so numerous, even if one part of the fruit is eaten, their chances of sprouting into a new plant are increased.

Dry fruits usually have some architectural features to protect and distribute the seed. as an example, take the tufts that crown the thistle. as you'll soon see in greater detail, these little parachutes carry their precious cargo, the reproductive cells, to distant places on the wind.

The dry fruits that have multiple seeds open up to distribute them. This kind of fruit is called dehiscent. They have a thick and resilient seed coat that protects the embryo and the nutrient reserve. as they turn green, the seeds are compacted together and exert pressure on one another. They may be of very different colors, shapes and textures, and may have different features such as wings, feathery strands or a fine membrane.

Dry fruits with multiple seeds are very diverse, taking many forms such as pods, bladders, grained etc. A few examples include:

Montbretia, with round, bright orange seeds packed into triple capsules. The plant waits for the wind or a passing animal to shake it to distribute its seeds.9

The leguminous plants form a very broad category, within which each species has its own distinct shape and features. Seeds of the pea plant, for instance, are arranged in an orderly row. On the other hand, Colutea arborescens has air-filled bladders that burst noisily. The most incredible of these plants is the catclaw or black mimosa (Mimosa pigra) with its pods, each one of which contains a seed and is shaped like a hairy claw.10

These are just a few examples of plant seeds' functional structures. Considering that every plant has a different seed structure, the variety and degree of perfection in seeds is remarkable.

## Special Materials in the Seed Coat

Not only do the seeds have different structures; but the seed coats too are created with all their requirements.

The embryo inside the seed is extremely valuable – and vulnerable, needing to be carefully protected until the new plant has completely developed. This protection is provided by the seed coat, which shows variations in each species of plant. The degree of protection the seed is afforded corresponds to the resilience of the seed coat's material, which also affects the seed's ability to float or to be carried by the wind.

The seed's outer covering takes a great variety of forms, with many interesting features. Some are coated with a bitter substance to deter enemies. Some are rich in a chemical called tannin that prevents the seeds from rotting. The seed coats of several plant species are covered in a kind of jelly-like substance, which consists of complex sugars fused with proteins, and swells easily on contact with water allowing the seed to easily stick to damp materials. as you'll see subsequently, this characteristic plays an important part in the germination phase.11

The protective outer layer of a seed is usually extremely tough, protecting it from the external forces it will encounter. for example, in the final phase of some seeds' development, some impervious waxy substances are deposited on the outer surface that make the seed resistant to water and gas penetration.12 Depending on the variety of plant, seed coats may be covered with materials as fine as the membrane covering a bean or as hard and woody as a cherry stone. Seed coats that must be water-resistant are tougher and thicker than the rest.

For a seed we frequently encounter in our daily lives, let's use the bean as an example.

Depending on the variety, the bean may be enclosed in one or two coverings that protect the seed from harsh conditions such as cold air, drought or mechanical effects, in the same way as an overcoat. This is where all contact is made with the outside world.

At the point where the bean has broken off from where it was attached to the pod, there is an oval mark. On careful examination, a small opening called a micropyle is visible. Because of this opening's function, it can be compared to the navel of a baby. Through this small passage, the pollen tube used to fertilize the female reproductive cell in the ovule once entered. Now, when the time comes, water enters through this opening and allows the seed to germinate.13

As mentioned already, the seed coat's thickness is specially regulated according to the type of plant. Every seed coat is neither too thick nor too thin, but has just the right thickness to let the plant develop in its home environment. A seed with a thin coat can be destroyed more easily by various external influences. for this reason, all seeds have coats of the most suitable thickness for their respective habitats. Seeds with very thick coats can survive all kinds of difficult conditions, but the disadvantage of an exceptionally thick coat is that the embryo has problems breaking out of the seed.

Moreover, close examination reveals that seeds distributed by animals have coats thin and easy enough to pierce for the animals to take an interest in their contents. but at the same time, the structure of the coats covering these seeds makes them unattractive to all seed-eaters.14

From the explanations given so far, it is evident that seeds, which appear to be so simple, are actually structured in great detail. Their characteristics, from the proportions of the materials they contain to their content and protective outer layers, all vary according to environmental conditions. but how did this variety and detail come into being?

When we look in books propounding evolutionary theory to answer such questions as "How?" and "Why?", we find that evolutionists prefer to use obscure expressions and deceptive methods. A book entitled Evolution has this to say on the subject of seeds and fruits:

The outer casing of a seed is strong enough to withstand the molar teeth and intestinal acids and enzymes of various animals, and an atmosphere lacking in oxygen. Moreover, this seed casing has been evolutionarily designed so as to protect the embryo until the conditions for germination are suitable from factors causing it to germinate at the wrong time and seed-eating animals.15

You'll note that having enumerated some of the remarkable features of seeds, the use of the expression "evolutionarily designed" tries to give the impression that they came into being through evolution. but the paragraph above by no means explains how seeds came into existence, because it merely mentions the perfection in their creation. The phrase "evolutionarily designed" actually has no meaning at all.

Moreover, this expression is untenable in itself, because the concepts of "evolution" and "design" are diametrically opposed. It's unimaginable that the process of evolution could produce a design, for evolution is claimed to depend on coincidences, and the very existence of an order reveals the existence of a conscious mind. Accordingly, if there is an order, it follows that concepts such as evolution, coincidence and chance can have no bearing. Signs of creation in seeds are evident proofs that they are not the product of evolution but are created by Almighty God.

Let an example clarify this further. Suppose that you visit an art gallery and come across a wall full of drawings, each depicting the seed of a different plant and its related details. Were you to ask the gallery director who drew all these pictures, what if you were told, "These were not drawn by any artist; they were evolutionarily designed with the help of coincidences"? You would find such an answer highly unreasonable, and continue to believe that they were the work of an artist.

Just as you would not believe in the "evolutionary design" of such drawings, neither would you accept that seeds – living structures containing all the information about a plant, which under the right circumstances can germinate to produce hundreds of thousands of different kinds of fruit and flowers – could come into existence as a result of unconscious coincidences. So the question should be who essentially created these perfect systems, how plants were structured accordingly.

With their claims of coincidence, evolutionists can never explain the very clear plan in the structure of seeds, a plan that evidently has not come about as the result of coincidences. Just as every drawing must have an artist, there is someone behind every plan. The perfectly planned systems in seeds is the work of God, with His eternal wisdom and supreme power. The wisdom that can be seen in every stage of the life of plants is clear proof that they are the creation of the Almighty God.

It is He Who sends down water from the sky. From it you drink and from it come the shrubs among which you graze your herds. and by it He makes crops grow for you and olives and dates and grapes and fruit of every kind. There is certainly a sign in that for people who reflect. (Qur'an, 16:10-11)

## Reasons for the Different Sizes of Seeds

The size of seeds, as well as other features of plants, is determined in accordance with a plan. The coconut, for instance, which travels long distances by sea, is one of the biggest seeds. Its size ensures that there are enough nutrients to last during the long journey.

Orchids, on the other hand, have quite tiny seeds. Orchids are delicate plants that can only grow when the right medium, light and moisture conditions are available. Thus they produce seeds small enough to be carried by the wind and numerous enough to be deposited in at least some suitable locations. A single orchid flower can produce millions of seeds.16

The seeds of the beech tree, shown in the picture below left, are dispersed and start wafting through the air towards the end of autumn. These small seeds some 0.5 cm (0.2 in) in length sprout wherever there is enough light.

Tropical seeds are often very bulky. The mommay, shown below right, is one of these, with seeds usually about 5 cm (2 in) long. This seed can put down especially long roots to enable it to germinate in dry places. This reduces the risk of the seedling drying out due to lack of water.17

It is He Who sends down water from the sky from which We bring forth growth of every kind, and from that We bring forth the green shoots and from them We bring forth close-packed seeds, and from the spathes of the date palm date clusters hanging down, and gardens of grapes and olives and pomegranates, both similar and dissimilar. Look at their fruits as they bear fruit and ripen. There are signs in that for people who believe. (Qur'an, 6:99)

# Section 4: Seed Dispersal

**In the creation of the heavens and Earth, and**

the alternation of the night and day, and the ships which sail the seas to people's benefit, and the water which God sends down from the sky – by which He brings the Earth to life when it was dead and scatters about in it creatures of every kind – and the varying direction of the winds, and the clouds subservient between heaven and Earth, there are signs for people who use their intellect. (Qur'an, 2:164)

Until now, you may never have wondered how plants, fixed life forms that are not capable of movement, manage to distribute their seeds. However, since the time plants came into existence, they have managed to distribute their seeds by various means, without the need for any assistance or intervention.

After pollinated flowers form seeds, some of these fall to the ground beside the plant. Other species' seeds are carried by the wind, or stick to the fur of animals and are distributed in this way. but this summary of seed dispersion systems is quite superficial, for when you get down to the details, you can see that the lives of plants and animals are directly connected in a number of interesting ways.

As you saw in the previous section, each plant's seed has a different shape. From the shape of a seed or fruit, it's possible to determine what kind of journey it has made – that is, how it's been distributed. Some trees, for instance, have fruits that are colorful, fleshy, soft, and pleasant smelling. These trees, whose seed coats are tough enough to be resistant to digestive juices, attract birds and other animals. Other species' seeds have needles, hooks or thorns that snag and get caught in the fur of animals, who transport them in this way. Still others travel on the wind, like so many feathers. Others have wings or swell like small balloons to help them catch the wind. Such seeds have to be light enough and of a suitable shape for flight. On the other hand, some plants simply let their seeds fall to the ground as the seed case splits as it dries in the sun, while others eject or propel their seeds, through the tension created in the seedpod while the seeds are growing.

From the examples given so far, the creation of a very detailed dispersion system is immediately evident.

The essential point worth noting is the perfection of each method of dispersion, despite all of the diverse structures. The systems never fail. Seeds carried by animals are invariably spread in this way, and the wind always carries those with the appropriate shape.

As the following examples will show, both animals and plants act in a remarkably conscious fashion in the course of these operations. but what is the source of this conscious planning? It's of course impossible for a flowering plant to get together with a bird or a squirrel and decide to set up a dispersion system, or for these life forms to make a joint decision as to what each will do to operate the system. Plants are incapable of making a reproductive plan or setting up a system according to it. but when the time comes, every plant starts its reproductive operations, produces its seeds and distributes them in the necessary way. Throughout the world, each plant of the same species acts in the same way in the same sequence, using the same system.

## Plants with Ballistic Knowledge

For dispersion of their seeds, most plants require an outside agency – wind, gravity, or animals. but some flowering plants propel their seeds into the air when a drop of rain falls on them or when touched. for instance, the seeds of the evening primrose (Oenethera biennis) are stored in capsules which are sealed when dry. When these capsules get wet, they immediately open in the shape of a goblet. In this position, raindrops are enough to distribute the seeds. The henna plant's yellow, orange and brown speckled flowers can be seen growing at any roadside. When touched, they propel their seeds like a pistol going off.

But this raises a very important point. as we know, plants are static life forms, unable to move around. but for them to be capable of propulsion, some form of energy must be required. This energy is activated during changes in the seedpod where the seeds are located. The pods crinkle as they dry in the sun, which generates latent energy. In much the same way, when the seed is moistened by rain, the swelling seedpod creates energy that can be triggered for propulsion.18

In such dispersion operations, finely balanced mechanisms are at work in plants. The timing of the plant's dispersion of its seeds is also very important, as illustrated by the Mediterranean squirting cucumber.

## A Natural Rocket System

Plants like the Mediterranean squirting cucumber generate their own force to distribute seeds. as the squirting cucumber ripens, it fills with a slimy juice, which gradually creates pressure until the cucumber bursts off its stalk. Behind it comes a trail of slime like the trail behind a space rocket. by this means, the cucumber's seeds are dispersed on the ground together with the slime.19

At first glance, this mechanism seems like a plant just exploding at maturity, but it's in fact very sensitive. It is of vital importance that when the fruit starts filling with juice is synchronized with the time when the cucumber and its seeds start to mature. for if the system were to operate before the seeds matured, there'd be no advantage in the cucumber bursting. This would prevent the plant from reproducing, and mean the end of the species. but thanks to the plant's perfect timing, the system starts to function and disperses the seeds at exactly the right time.

This fine timing holds true for all plants that disperse their seeds by propulsion. That this works without a hitch raises the question of how any such system came to exist at all. as we have seen, plants need an integrated system in order to reproduce. It is illogical and unreasonable to claim that this mechanism – which must have been present in each plant simultaneously, from the very start – has evolved as a result of changes taking place over thousands, even millions of years. The maturing of the fruit, the fluid it contains, and the seeds must all emerge at the same time. Any hitch would mean that the plant could not disperse its seeds. Take any component you choose out of this system; the result will always be the same: extinction of the species.

The details that go into the distribution of just a single seed plainly show how perfectly and completely plants have come into existence. This cannot have been achieved through pure coincidence, or random natural events. The obvious truth is that God, the Creator of all things, has created them in all their perfection. There is no other deity than Almighty God. Thus it behooves all intelligent people to live in the knowledge of this truth and to be directed to God in everything they do.

Your deity is God alone, there is no deity but Him. He encompasses all things in His knowledge. (Qur'an, 20:98)

## Examples Drawn from Other Plants

The broom is another plant that reproduces by opening its seedpod of its own accord, but in a completely different way from that of the Mediterranean squirting cucumber. The broom's pods burst as a result of evaporation rather than as a result of an increase of liquid in the plant. as the heat rises, the side of the pod facing the sun dries out faster than that in the shade, which creates a tension in the pod. Finally it splits suddenly into two halves, and its tiny black seeds are dispersed in all directions.20

The seedpod of a tropical tree called Hura crepitans, consists of a dozen small chambers fused together. The seedpods burst noisily in the heat of the sun. After the seedpods pop, the seeds and split pods are scattered in the surrounding environment. Hura crepitans is one of the most successful at propelling its seeds to great distances. When the time comes, it can hurl them up to about a few meters.21

## The Geranium's Effective Propagation Methods

The geranium (Geranium pusillum) has a most interesting and effective way of reproducing. This variety of plant is a ground creeper, which disperses its seeds by an interesting propulsion method.

The fruit of the geranium, which develops to form a spike extending from the fruiting body, acts as a kind of catapult. Each of the six fruit capsules around this spike is located at the end of a flexible strip. When the fruit is ripe, the strip violently recoils, making the capsule snap upward and casting the seeds. The seeds shoot upwards along a certain trajectory and fall at a distance. This is a perfect mechanism. but for optimum propulsion, there should be no obstruction in the seeds' path. Under such circumstances the seeds could just as easily be dispersed by a strong wind. However, to prevent this happening, small filaments at the entrance of these sections keep a light restraint on the seeds.22

Wherever geraniums grow in the world, this mechanism is perfectly preserved. If this were not so, geraniums could not reproduce, and the species would die out. Obviously this intricate and perfect order has not come into being of its own accord. God, Who has perfectly created all living things on Earth, also created geraniums in such intricate detail.

## The Incredible Twisting Mechanism of Erodium

As in the geranium, the fruits of the Erodium plant (stork's bill)come together on their syles at one central point. The seeds are located inside the fruits shown in the illustration. at maturity, the stamen attached to the seed starts to curl, extending towards the ground. This is when the plant's amazing mechanism comes into play, letting its seeds screw themselves into the soil. The system consists of the following:

1-The top of the tail on the ripening seed curls into a vertical position. When the tail is twisting into the soil, it functions as a lever.

2-The bottom of the tail is twisted and screws into the soil, functioning like an engine to drive the seed into the earth.

3-The filaments surrounding the tail are long, closely woven and stick in like thorns, providing support.

4-The head, carrying the seeds inside, is like the pointed tip of a cork screw, driven into the earth by the action of the lever at the top.

5-The hairs on the head, short and regular, ease the seed's passage into the soil and at the same time, act as a kind of fishhook to prevent the seed being pulled out again.

The big picture to the left shows Erodium seeds anchored to the ground.23

The ability of this soft plant to pierce hard ground is naturally not the product of coincidence. God, Who has no partner in His creation, acquaints us with His art with the system installed in this incomparable plant.

Seeds Dispersed by the Wind

Seeds carried by the wind must be light enough and of a suitable shape to be airborne. for instance, any seed the size and shape of a hazelnut or a coconut cannot take to the air. for this reason, all seeds borne on the wind are very light; and bear feathery or wing-like structures.

The great majority of wind-borne seeds have matured by the beginning of autumn, when the winds are strongest. Remarkably, the autumn winds begin just at the time when the seeds mature.

The plants whose seeds are dispersed by the wind differ from each other in their structures, in much the same way as do the plants themselves. for instance, in the North African deserts, fruits and seeds are either winged or light and fluffy. The fruit and seeds of plants of the Nubian Desert in Northeast Sudan and the North American deserts are dispersed by light winds. In the Middle East and North Africa, plants assume a round ball-like shape and in times of drought are dragged around by the wind.24

The dandelion, lettuce, and thistle are a few of the plants whose seeds are dispersed by the wind. Another example is the groundcherry, whose seeds are in paperlike sacs that have air in them and act as small balloons to help them move in the wind.25

An important point to be borne in mind is that it's impossible for a plant's reproductive system to change over time. for example, a plant whose seeds are being carried by animals and buried in the ground cannot, over time, become light enough to be carried by the wind. However much time passes, be it even millions of years, a heavy seed like an apricot pit cannot become light and develop wing-like structures. Such a claim can't be reconciled with scientific logic, because the plants and animals, or any other elements found in nature, do not engage in such planning. The plant is not able to bring about the conscious organization in seeds.

Thinking about these facts, you can immediately understand that seeds have had the features they now possess since they first existed. This is one of the countless pieces of evidence that seeds were created in an instant. There are evident signs of creation in the structures of seeds that let them be transported, and this creation is God's, Who has eternal knowledge.

On examining the air-borne Zanonia seed, engineers who study the principles of flight have discovered some interesting things. They studied its center of gravity, the point around which its weight is evenly balanced. If the center of gravity were moved any further back, the seed would move more slowly. However, thanks to the Zanonia seed's perfect shape and general structure, the breeze can easily carry it for long distances.26

## Special Structural Features that Help Seeds to Fly

The mobility of wind-borne seeds does not depend on just the size of the seed, height of the plant, or wind velocity. One of the most important features is the seeds' special shapes and appended structures, which let flying seeds be basically classified as those with wings or parachutes, powder seeds and fluffy seeds.

## Propeller-winged Seeds

The European maple, using air transportation for reproduction, has seeds with an interesting structure; they are equipped with a single wing, sprouting from one side. When the wind is strong enough, these tiny helicopters spin around. Each mature wing has a membranous appearance and its veins give it the appearance of an insect's wing. The maple seeds' structure lets them spin in the air, letting them stay longer in the air. When the wind drops, the seeds spiral slowly to the ground. as the European maple is thinly dispersed in the region where it grows, the wind is one of the main aids in its dispersal. Thanks to this feature, the helicopter seeds, which are created to spin even in a light breeze, can sometimes travel many kilometers.27

The Terminalia calamansanai has seeds with V-shaped wings, thanks to which they can glide on a gentle air current much like a paper plane.28

## Parachute Seeds

People jump from great heights safely, with parachutes whose specially designed shape lets the user glide through the air. Some seeds also have similar structures.

When they mature, parachute seeds do not immediately fall to the ground, but wait for a strong wind to carry them further away. If this were not the case, they would fall so close to the mother plant that their chances of getting enough sunlight would be reduced.

The speed of parachute seeds depends on their size and whether they are porous. The larger the parachute, the slower the seed can travel. and the less porous the parachute is, the more sensitive it will be to air movements. Even seeds with this porous structure show variations, such as the simple silkiness of Silybum marianum, the feathers of the thistle (Cirsium occidentale) and the membranous structure of the moonflower (Scabiosa stellata).29

As these few examples show, parachute seeds include all the necessary features to increase the speed of the seed and enable it to move more easily.

To show that these features are not products of coincidence, consider the parachutes used by people. No one would hesitate to agree that they have a special design. A parachute cannot just produce itself; someone first thought of it and tested it out. People produce the threads used in the making of the parachute, a factory weave this yarn into fabric, and then people sew this fabric together to make a parachute. It's obvious that static pieces of fabric cannot assemble themselves to make a parachute and acquire the aerodynamics to let it coast through the air.

In that case, how come there are seeds with even more complex parachute-like structures? Who made such decisions as whether there would be few or many pores? Those who might reply that such details are "coded into information in the seeds" should explain how the first seed appeared, and how this information came to be installed in it. This first seed could not have acquired such knowledge on its own, as a result of coincidence. The unconscious molecules that compose the seed cannot just have come up with a plan one day, saying, "Let's make a thing called a seed, and code it with information on how to create thousands of different varieties of plants."

No intelligent, logical person could make such a claim. If it's obvious that no parachute can produce itself, then seeds resembling parachutes with such a detailed structure cannot come into existence of their own accord.

However hard they try, evolutionists cannot attribute the formation of seeds to coincidence. In an evolutionist work called Grains de Vie ["Seeds of Life"], the parachute-like structures on seeds is expressed as "an unresolved subject:"

Not yet understood is how evolution could develop devices so finely adapted to flight.30

As the above quote shows, evolutionists attribute independent powers to an abstract, imaginary concept like evolution. They refer to evolution as if it were a power that can organize, develop and create something. but "evolution" is not a power. Its acknowledged mechanism is coincidence – an uncontrolled process. It does not have the power to create perfect systems.

Seeds have been brought into existence by a Power that knows how to put into them the necessary information, what kind of environment they will sprout in, and what systems they will need to complete these features. This is plainly a power like no other, and is the power of God Who created the universe and formed everything in a perfect order. It behooves every person of intelligence to observe the order in the universe and consider what God has created. In a verse of the Qur'an, He makes known that there is no other deity and that the only salvation is to pray unto Him alone:

Did you suppose that We created you for amusement and that you would not return to Us? Exalted be God, the King, the Real. There is no deity but Him, Lord of the Noble Throne. Whoever calls on another deity together with God, has no grounds for doing so at all and his reckoning is with his Lord. Truly the unbelievers have no success. (Qur'an, 23:115-117)

## Dust-Like Seeds

When the seedpods of the poppy and the snapdragon sway in the wind, thousands of fine seeds are dispersed into the environment. These seeds are so small that they look like specks of dust in the air. The upper sections of the pods containing the seeds are pierced with little holes like the top of a saltcellar. In fact, at the beginning of the last century, R.H. France, the inventor of the saltcellar, was inspired by the finely crafted structure of these plants!31

The seedpods of orchids have three compartments. When these pods mature they burst, scattering clouds of tiny seeds that are practically weightless and have no reserve of nutrients. Even the embryo has not developed fully, and so orchid seeds need very special conditions to germinate. but this is no disadvantage, because as many as 2 million seeds may be produced from a single orchid seedpod.32

## Fluffy Seeds

Just like the seeds with parachutes, fluffy seeds do not fall straight to the ground. Clematis, for example, waits for the wind to make their mother plant sway and carry the seeds away. Plants like pampas grass with their long, feathery plumes wave in the wind like flags, letting their seeds be carried far by the wind.33

## Plants Whose Seeds Are Dispersed by Water

Plants growing on the seashore or on riverbanks use the nearby water to disperse their seeds. to achieve this, these seeds must be water-resistant and have very special structures. Waterproof and unsinkable, they are created to be resilient enough to preserve their ability to flourish, even after a prolonged journey in seawater.

The seeds of such plants are rendered waterproof by their thick, glossy outer shells. They are able to float, sometimes due to an air chamber or their airy, spongy structure; or sometimes, as in the case of small seeds, thanks to water's surface tension.

Coconut palms can be found on tropical shores all over the world. The coconut seed, one of the seeds dispersed by water, is contained in a hard shell to provide safe travel. Everything it needs for its long journey, including fresh water, is contained inside this hard shell. The tough texture of the outer layer protects the seed from the harmful effects of water. One of the coconut's most interesting features is the air spaces and corky floats that keep it afloat, enabling it to travel thousands of kilometers on oceanic currents. When it reaches the shore at high tide, it lodges in the sand, the seed within germinates and grows into a new coconut tree.34

Coconut is most successful at dispersing its seed by ocean currents. What essentially prevents coconut from sinking is its fiber float, where air gets trapped between the fibers. In addition, its outer shell is smooth, polished and waterproof, characteristics that enable it to remain at sea for months.35

Another of the seeds traveling in tropical latitudes is one of the large legumes, the sea-bean, whose seeds are not as big as those of the coconut and only use rivers for transportation. Their very thick and waterproof outer shells and great longevity make them a most successful traveling plant. Thanks to the air chambers in the seeds, they do not sink in the water. 36

The seeds of sea heart (Entada gigas), a tropical African sea-bean, have an interesting heart shape. The seeds grow inside the seedpod, which is of great dimensions. Violent rain can carry seeds of this plant, which grows on the banks of rivers, as far as the Atlantic Ocean, where they go on journeys lasting for years and reach places as far as Europe, the Gulf of Mexico or Florida.

The seeds of gray nickers (Caesalpinia bonduc) can also travel long distances on sea currents. This small, round gray seed does not sink, thanks to an air chamber under its thick coat. It can stay at sea for years without losing its ability to germinate.

Another plant whose seeds are dispersed by water is the sea daffodil (Pancratium maritimum). This plant, found on sandy Mediterranean and Atlantic shores, is distributed by means of its angular black and incredibly light seeds, which are enclosed in a seaweed-like casing.37

The tiny seeds of plants like nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) are covered in a hydrophobic polish that lets them make use of surface tension to keep from sinking. by this means, the seeds are able to travel by floating along rivers.38

Seeds distributed by water are formed so as to reduce their weight and increase their surface area. Air-filled buoyant structure is usually found in fruits and seeds. Their floating tissue can take a variety of forms, but is likely to be a spongy structure with air-filled cells, or a structure of tightly packed cells that traps air inside. In addition, the cell walls have to prevent the entry of water, and there must be an inner layer to protect the plant's embryo and its genetic information.39 This evident arrangement in seeds is just one of the countless pieces of evidence of God's creation on Earth.

As seen from the examples in this section, the most important characteristic of seeds transported by water is that they germinate once they get to land. This is an exceptional situation, because as we know, seeds usually start to germinate when they come in contact with water. However, plants using water to disperse their seeds are different in this respect thanks to their seeds' special structures. If these seeds were to start germinating as soon as they came into contact with water, their species would have died out long ago. However, thanks to mechanisms suited to the conditions they live in, these plants can perpetuate themselves with ease.

All plants on Earth enjoy the structures most suited to them, with exceptional characteristics unique to each species. Why are the features of every kind of plant in perfect harmony with its environment? and how did such features come into being?

Taking plants that disperse their seeds by water as an example, we see once again evidence that these species couldn't have appeared by chance. for the seeds of these plants to remain viable in water for so long, they need to be more resilient than average, with casings that are quite thick and special structures to protect the embryo from water. Obviously, such structures are not formed by coincidence, much less by the plant's own efforts. On their long journeys, moreover, the seeds will need more nutrients than usual and exactly the right amount of nutrient is installed in them. Evidently this characteristic could not occur by chance. It is evident that chance could not calculate the amount of nutrients a plant needs for its journey and then provide the seed with exactly that amount. In contrast to all other plants' seeds, these do not germinate in water, but as soon as they come into contact with land. Such timing could not possibly be achieved by coincidence.

All these delicate calculations and measurements are carried out to perfection by God, the Creator of seeds, Who knows all their needs and characteristics. He has eternal intelligence and knowledge. A verse of the Qur'an tells how God has created everything in due measure:

As for the earth, We stretched it out and cast firmly embedded mountains in it and made everything grow in due proportion on it. (Qur'an, 15:19)

## Plants that Get Others to Disperse Their Seeds

As you wander through long grass, the seeds that stick to your clothing or your dog's fur have special structures that let them be carried in this way. to cling to animate objects, some of these seeds use needles, hooks, tacks and thorns. Other species have attractive smelling, colorful or tasty fruits, as though they are decoratively created in terms of color, smell, shape and presentation, to entice animals into carrying them away. The fruits, which are rich in sugar, water, energy and mineral salts, are attractive to animals that eat them, thus helping proliferate plants by dispersing their seeds over a very wide area.

## Seeds With Special Protection

An aril, which looks like a small, fleshy swelling, is the fine protective covering surrounding the seed of some plants. Animals usually devour this protective semi-layer rather than the seed itself. Some of the seeds protected by an aril are as follows:

In autumn, the yew tree (Taxus baccata) produces vivid red arils that contrast wonderfully with its dark green needle-like leaves. The arils' sweet taste is particularly enticing for blackbirds, but they spit out the bitter-tasting seeds. This is extremely important, since the seeds must be pierced by the birds' sharp beaks before germination can take place. Should blackbirds swallow the seeds, they are resilient enough to suffer no damage in the birds' digestive tract. The yew seeds also contain extremely toxic alkaloids, which cause heart failure in living creatures ingesting them. This substance is used as poison on the tips of arrows and also made into toxic preparations, but are often used in treatments – the most important of which are morphine, strychnine and atropine.

The spindle tree (Euonymus sp.) produces fruits of an interesting appearance. When these fruits split open, they are very attractive to birds: The center is white, the seeds are black, and the aril surrounding the fruit is bright orange. This tricolor appearance attracts a wide variety of animal species to the spindle tree.

The seeds of the acacia, native to Australia, are dispersed thanks to their nutrient-rich arils that can be red, brown or white and either long or short, according to the variety. The short white or brown ones provide food for ants, which carry the nutritious arils to their nests. On the way, the black seeds sometimes get separated from the aril and fall off. but a lot of seeds are brought to the underground nests, which are at the ideal depth for germination.

The longer red arils, which resemble worms, are eaten by birds. When the broad bean-like fruits split open, the seeds remain clinging to the arils, attracting the birds.40

## Symbiotic Relationship between Ants and Plants

As just mentioned, some plants' reproduction depends on animals to carry their seeds. This shows an interesting harmony between plants and animals. to illustrate, let's take a seed covered in an oily, edible tissue, called an eliasome. This tissue, seemingly quite ordinary at first glance, actually plays a vital role in the plant's survival, for it is the reason why ants are interested in the plant and play a role in its proliferation.

As with almost every other seed, this one must also go underground in order to germinate, and to make germination happen, the core of the seed must be exposed. The plant cannot do this by itself, but ants can. to them, the oily covering is a very attractive food, so they collect the seeds with great zeal and carry them to their nests. Thus initially, the seeds are carried beneath the soil.

Then begins the second important stage for the seeds. Having spent lots of effort to carry them to their nest, the ants gnaw off the eliasomes and abandon the seeds themselves. In this way, the part of the plant that allows for reproduction reaches an ideal position underground.41

So how did this harmony between ant and seed emerge?

Of course, that the ant does this consciously, acting in knowledge of what the seeds need to sprout is an untenable idea. and it's completely unreasonable to theorize that the ant discovered the seed by accident one day, took it underground and, seeing that it grew into a plant, informed the next generations of ants that they should do the same thing. It's equally preposterous to claim that somehow, the plant learned what this species of ant likes, and tailored its seeds accordingly in order to reproduce.

This harmony must have been specially arranged, because this plant's very first seeds had no other mechanism by which to reproduce. If it hadn't been able to attract the attention of ants, there would be no likelihood of its continued existence. (And if the ants didn't exist, they would have no way to survive.) but the reality that this plant's existence shows us is plain to see. The consciousness behind this perfect harmony is neither the plant's nor the ants'. The supreme source of this consciousness is God, Who knows the characteristics of these two life forms and has created them in harmony with each other. God makes known how every living thing is submissive to Him in a verse of the Qur'an:

Everyone in the heavens and Earth belongs to Him. All are submissive to Him. (Qur'an, 30:26)

## The Symbiotic Relationship between the Agouti and the Bertholletia Tree

The seeds of South America's bertholletia tree, or Brazil nuts, are enclosed in a large round capsule, which, after falling from the tree, lies on the forest floor and remains intact for a time. This is because it has little attraction to many animals; it has no smell, is very hard to break, and there is nothing remarkable about its appearance. but for the nuts inside the capsule to sprout, they must somehow be removed and buried in the soil.

Yet none of this is a problem for the bertholletia tree, because living in the same habitat is a creature with the necessary characteristics to get round these obstacles.

The agouti, a South American rodent, knows that there's something edible inside the thick, odorless capsule. Agoutis' sharp, pointed teeth can easily break through the hard shells. In every capsule there are about twenty nuts, far more than an agouti can eat at one sitting. So a satisfied agouti carries the nuts in its cheek pouches and digs small holes to store them in and covers them over, much as a squirrel does with acorns. Even though the agouti does this with the intention of eating the nuts later, it never does locate a considerable proportion of the nuts it buries. In this way, the majority of the bertholletia tree's large heavy seeds are distributed to germinate in the earth.42

The feeding habits of the agouti and the propagation system of the bertholletia tree are remarkably well suited, but this compatibility is not the result of coincidence. These living species have not discovered one another by accident. The bertholletia tree can't afford the luxury of waiting for such an unconscious coincidence to happen, because this tree has been dependent on the agouti to propagate since the very first day of its existence. It follows that these two species have been created to be compatible with one another.

To clarify this situation with an example, imagine a television with a remote control on the table beside it. You pick up the remote, switch on the TV and flick through the channels. Probably you would assume that the remote control has been designed to control the TV. but what if someone else enters the room and says, "This remote control and the TV have evolved over time as the result of a series of coincidences, and eventually – also by chance – they've become compatible." You'd probably suspect that this person had taken leave of his senses.

Yet the relationship between the bertholletia tree and the agouti is far more complex than between a television and a remote control. The systems of both living species have been organized to be mutually beneficial. and where there is organization, naturally, there is an Organizer.

These living things have been created by one Creator, God. This harmony, just one of the countless examples in nature, is undoubtedly the product of a supreme intelligence. In His unbounded wisdom, God has created these two life forms together with these characteristics.

There is no creature on the Earth which is not dependent upon God for its provision. He knows where it lives and where it dies. They are all in a clear book. (Qur'an, 11:6)

# Section 5: Resilience of Plants and Seeds

**Is He Who creates like him who does not create? So will you not pay heed? If you tried to number God's blessings, you could never count them. God is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Qur'an, 16:17-18)**

Every plant is created to suit the climatic conditions where it lives. for instance, plants in arid zones have characteristics that others in temperate climates lack. for this reason, plants from an arid region can't be expected to survive in tropical forests and conversely, a plant from tropical forests cannot live in the Arctic, because all of a tropical plant's characteristics, such as leaf size and seed resilience, are suited to that region's particular climate. However, some plants show an amazing ability to withstand unexpectedly harsh conditions. Plants should be able to survive hot weather, drought, violent rainfall or severe cold. Some plants manage to withstand such unexpected conditions by going into a form of dormancy.

## Dormant Phase in Seeds

As mentioned above, the seeds of some plants have the little-known characteristic of being able to withstand very harsh conditions. These seeds become more resilient to periods of adverse environmental conditions by deliberately slowing down their metabolic functions and going into a kind of deep sleep.

The first stage of dormancy starts with a drying phase: The seed loses fluid from its tissue. The living tissues of a plant consist of 90 to 95% water, but the water content of dormant seeds ranges from 5% to a maximum of 15%. This drying-out process takes place in a defined sequence under genetic control. The principal agent in this process is abscisic acid,43 one of the hormones that stem the growth of the plant and whose presence also slows the inner functions of the seed. Respiration is reduced in the cells of a dormant seed, and it can neither feed nor grow.44

Some seeds can stay dormant for decades or even hundreds of years before germinating – to ensure the survival of the species under severe conditions.45

How has such an important feature appeared? When conditions become adverse, how can seeds beneath the soil be aware of this and take the necessary precautions? a seed has neither eyes, nor a clock, nor a nervous system. So how does it calculate that it is time to go dormant?

Evolutionists try to explain that some plants have ensured their survival this way with claims like, "Plants have developed mechanisms to guarantee their survival under difficult conditions."

But this sentence expresses nothing meaningful, because of course it is not feasible for a tree to feel such a need of its own accord and to think up a system whereby its seeds can go dormant, set up this mechanism in itself and then encode the necessary genetic information in its cells so as to transfer this information to future generations. Such an assertion is unscientific as well as irrational.

Another story the evolutionists spin goes like this: "In the evolutionary process, every variety of plant obtained data on environmental conditions and loaded it into its memory. This information was condensed and coded in the genetic material. Seeds acquired the ability to 'recognize' that the seasons follow one another, the kind and quality of the soil, whether running water and competitive species are nearby, and whether there's a space enough for them to spread out."46

Giving a little thought to the above statements, you can easily see that these hypotheses are also extremely illogical. A plant has no memory for it to load environmental data into. How is a plant, not even aware of the genetic material it possesses, to add new information? Besides, a plant is not intelligent or even conscious, so how can it "recognize" its environment? Such assertions are nothing more than fairy tales concocted by evolutionists reluctant to admit that plants have been created by God.

There is another way of seeing evolutionists' claims as untenable. According to their assertion that plants have acquired their characteristics as a result of coincidental changes over time, millions of years must have passed before plants acquired the ability to let their seeds stay dormant. In the meantime, plants must have endured adverse conditions for so many long years. but no plant can withstand such hardship! Once a seed has begun to germinate, it cannot survive if conditions are negative.

Under such circumstances, the first seed to encounter harsh conditions would need an extraordinary coincidence (it would be better to call it a miracle). to anyone with common sense, it's obvious that such could not be possible. Information could not be added to a plant's genetic code, even if you wait millions or trillions of years. Seeds cannot acquire dormancy or any other characteristic by coincidence – the only alternative that evolutionists put forward.

Plants, and the seeds that produce them, have been created perfectly by God, together with all their present-day characteristics.

Is He Who creates like him who does not create? So will you not pay heed? If you tried to number God's blessings, you could never count them. God is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Qur'an, 16:17-18)

## The Lupine's Ability to Forecast

The lupine, native to the Artic tundra, can predict the weather. and accordingly, if the conditions will be unfavorable, it does not germinate and waits underground in a kind of dormant state for the weather to improve.

The seeds of this plant can grow only in the warm weather prevailing at certain times of the year. When the seeds sense that it's not warm enough, a miracle happens: Even if other environmental conditions are suitable, the seeds in the frozen earth await warmer temperatures. When all the conditions are right, no matter how much time has passed, then the lupine seeds start to develop. Indeed, lupine seeds have been discovered that have waited in fissures in rocks hundreds of years without germinating or rotting.47

Since the seed has undergone certain changes as though aware of events in the external environment, how can it, from under the earth, get information about the outside world? Can a seed be aware of what is happening above ground, enough to predict the weather? a mechanism in the seed informs it of the situation, and the seed suddenly stops developing, responds as though it has received an order from somewhere. How has this system come into existence? Has the plant thought it up and developed the necessary technical systems in itself?

Obviously no plant is capable of acquiring such a talent. From the moment the plant first appeared, this talent was already coded in the genetic information inside the seed. Due to this genetic coding, the lupine can arrest its development when it encounters cold weather, but it's not possible for a plant cell to develop such coding of information of its own accord. However long the development process suggested by evolutionists may last, no matter what events occur in this process, plants cannot develop a system to alert them to weather conditions.

## Examples of Other Plant Species

In an 1879 scientific experiment conducted at Michigan State University, the seeds of various species were put in jars and buried. Periodically attempts were made to get them to germinate. In the 1980s, more than a century after these trials, some of the seeds still germinated. A separate 1978 study made in Denmark witnessed the germination of dormant seeds excavated from an 850-year-old grave site.48

Similarly, seeds of Mimosa glomerata that had been kept in dry storage in a herbarium for 220 years, germinated as soon as they were soaked in water. Another example of resilient seeds are those of Albizia julibrissin. Stored in the British Museum herbarium in London, the 147-year-old seeds germinated in 1942, during the Second World War, when the herbarium was damaged and they became soaked with water during the ensuing fire-fighting opearations.49

Due to the low temperatures in the tundra, organic matter takes longer to decompose. for this reason, some seeds can revive after being frozen in permafrost conditions for 10,000 years, if given the right amount of heat and moisture in a laboratory.50

As we all know, a seed has a hard outer coat containing a certain amount of nutrient. It is certainly miraculous that it contains a system for sensing temperature and can obtain information from the outside world, evaluate this information, and act accordingly.

But according to the evolutionists, seeds have developed this system only with the aid of coincidence. According to their claims, seeds are even consciously aware that adverse conditions after germinating will restrict their growth. They know what to do to halt their development when they sense these conditions, and continue to develop when the temperature reaches the desired level.

Of course such assertions are nonsense. The seeds themselves do not do these things. It is not possible for a piece of cellulose to possess intelligence and knowledge, to be able to predict and plan accordingly. Thus it is hardly feasible to explain this extraordinary mechanism in seeds as the product of coincidence, as evolutionary theory seeks to do. Seeds are specially created with these characteristics by God to withstand harsh conditions.

There can be no doubt that in seeds, God, Lord of the worlds, displays signs of His existence and His supreme creation. When God wills, what He wills is created in uniqueness. He alone creates.

That is God, your Lord. There is no deity but Him, the Creator of everything. So worship Him. He is responsible for everything. Eyesight cannot perceive Him but He perceives eyesight. He is the All-Penetrating, the All-Aware. (Qur'an, 6:102-103)

# Section 6: Germination the Vital Phase

**In the Earth there are diverse regions side by side and gardens of grapes and cultivated fields, and palm-trees sharing one root and others with individual roots, all watered with the same water. and We make some things better to eat than others. There are signs in that for people who use their intellect. (Qur'an, 13:4)**

As described in the previous section, the first phase of development of a seed into a plant is its transportation. Then the germination begins. When a seed has matured, it usually does not germinate immediately, for in order to germinate, several different factors must come together at the same time. The right levels of heat, moisture and oxygen are necessary. If any one of these conditions is missing, the germination process stops. but when all these conditions are present, the quiescent seed comes to life.

For germination of a seed, the prime requirement is water. This is because there is no water in a mature seed's embryo and there must be a moist environment in the cells for metabolism to be activated and for growth to take place. Moreover, water makes the enzymes necessary for growth more effective. When the seeds take in water and metabolic activity begins, the roots and shoots start to grow, and cell division takes place. Cells differentiate in order for specific functions to be carried out by specialized tissues.51

At this stage, oxygen becomes imperative. With respiration, the seed starts to produce from the nutrients it contains the heat and energy it needs to form new parts of the growing plant. The appropriate temperature, on the other hand, enables the enzymes to function at maximum speed.52

Nutrients are required for the seed to grow, but it doesn't yet have a source it can draw on until it is ready to take in minerals through its roots. So how does the seed find the nutrients it needs to develop?

The answer to this question is hidden inside the seed. as has been detailed in previous sections, the reserve of nutrients that develops during the pollination process is used by the seed until its shoot emerges out of the earth. Until seedlings grow leaves capable of making their own food supply and roots to absorb nutrients from the soil, they are dependent on these nutrients stored within their structure.

## Seeds Awakening from the Dormant Phase

When the conditions mentioned above prevail simultaneously, certain chemical processes take place within the seed. as mentioned above, before germination the seed is in a dormant state. The embryo remains dormant by the action of certain plant hormones, the most important of which is abscisic acid. The seed coat is dense and tough enough to prevent gas penetration and to restrict the activities of the embryo, which is another reason why it remains dormant. but when the seed gets water, its coat swells. Enzymes in the cells of the embryo are activated, producing a new hormone called gibberellin that counteracts the abscisic acid maintaining the dormant state. Once the effect of this acid is neutralized, the digestive enzyme alpha-amylase comes into play, breaking down the starch stored in the endosperm, making it available to the young plant as sugar and thus creating the energy necessary for cell division.53

When people plant a seed in the ground, they generally know nothing about these processes. A few days later when the seed germinates and begins to develop into a plant, they see it as a natural process, even though the processes are extremely complex. Once the right conditions are created, a sequence of chemical operations is performed: One enzyme acts on another to transform the seed into a plant. Thinking a little more deeply about these perfect systems, you will come face to face with the great fact of creation. If one component is missing, the others cannot be activated. It is obvious that such intricate systems cannot be the product of pure coincidence. Moreover, this perfect system doesn't end with germination, but continues with even more miraculous processes.

When the seed starts germinating, it draws water from the earth, and the embryo cells start dividing. Then the seed coat opens. Little roots, the first outward sign of the plant's root system, emerge and grow down into the earth. as the roots grow bigger, the earth starts to restrict them. but although subjected to extreme pressure, they are not damaged, since the newly forming cells at the tips of the roots are constantly active and provide protection as the root moves through the hard earth particles. The cells behind this protective layer (calyptra) have the ability to divide very swiftly and let the root grow by up to 11 cm a day. The roots branch as they develop, providing a greater surface area to take in water, while serving to anchor the plant more firmly in the earth. In addition, the tiny root hairs play an important role in increasing the plant's capacity to draw essential minerals from the earth.54

The development of the roots is followed by the small buds that will produce the leaves. The seed is directed towards the light and constantly gains strength. When the shoot appears above ground and unfolds out its first foliage leaves, it starts to produce its own nutrients through photosynthesis.

What we have explained so far is common knowledge. Everyone has observed seeds come up. but in reality, a miracle happens when a seed weighing only a few grams has no difficulty in pushing its way up through a great weight of soil. The seed's only aim is to reach the sunlight above. It is as though the slender stems of newly germinating plants are moving freely in an empty space rather than gradually making their way through something heavy, towards the light of day.

Trials have been conducted into blocking the seed's access to the light by various means, with really surprising results. The seed manages to get to the light by putting out long shoots around obstacles in its path or by applying pressure from its growing tip. A seed's sense of direction and determination to reach the light can be understood more easily by watching a time-lapse film version of its germination.

Since germinating seeds aim to reach the light, seedlings always move with the intent of surfacing above the soil. but a germinating seed's growth takes place in two directions. While the sprout grows upwards, against gravity, the taproot delves down into the earth.

It's really thought-provoking that two portions of the same plant can grow in completely opposite directions. How do both the sprout and roots know which direction to grow in?

The stimuli that direct a plant's growth are light and gravity. In the emerging roots of a germinating seed are cells that can sense gravity, and there are light-sensitive cells in the upward-growing shoot. Due to these cells' sensitivity, parts of the plant are guided in the right direction. These two guidance systems also ensure that if the roots and the shoot must progress in a horizontal direction, their direction is corrected as soon as possible.55

There is another interesting aspect to germinating seeds. Soil bacteria have the capacity to rot and break down organic matter, yet seeds and roots no more than half a millimeter in breadth are not damaged at all. On the contrary, they use the soil to maintain constant development and growth.

Reviewing the information given so far, we face an extraordinary situation. The cells making up a seed suddenly start to differentiate into different forms to create different parts of the plant. Think a little more objectively about the root's growth towards the earth and the shoot's growth against gravity towards the surface. That these seemingly frail structures move in two different directions suggests that this must be a time of a very important decision. Who or what determines the time when the cells start to differentiate? and who or what shows them which direction to go in? How does every cell act according to which part of the plant it will grow to be? There is never any confusion of which direction the cells grow – for instance, why don't the roots try to grow out of the soil, instead of down into the earth?

To questions like these, there is only one answer. Naturally the plant itself doesn't make and implement these decisions, or set up the systems necessary to avoid confusion. nor are the cells that compose the plant able to do this. A cell can't predict and decide, or consciously perceive light or gravity. Even with the intervention of another living being such intelligent systems could not be developed. for instance, if told to create a plant cell sensitive to gravity, even the world's foremost botanist could not perform such a task.

All of this shows us that plants are created and directed by a Power with superior knowledge. That is, a Being of supreme intelligence makes these decisions for the cells, creates all their structures, and shows them the direction they must go in to carry out their functions. This supreme intelligence is no other than God, Lord of the worlds. He creates a wonderful variety of plants from seeds that resemble lifeless pieces of wood and with these plants, gives life to the Earth:

We sent down a measured amount of water from heaven and lodged it firmly in the earth; and We are well able to remove it. by means of it We produce gardens of dates and grapes for you, in which there are many fruits for you and from which you eat. (Qur'an, 23:18-19)

## The Determination of Shoots

A great deal of force is required for the root and shoot of a germinating seed to break open the seed and drive their way through the soil. The power of plant growth is better understood when you know that seedlings are capable of cracking and breaking through an asphalt road.

The source of this force is the hydraulic pressure that builds up inside every plant's cells. These pressures, essential for the plant's growth, stretch the cell walls. Were it not for this effect, cell enlargement in the plant would not be possible, and seeds would not be able to germinate.56

After using such force to emerge from the soil, the seedling does not always find an appropriate environment. as already explained, if any object blocks the sunlight, the plant has difficulty in photosynthesizing and consequently cannot grow. for this reason, every emerging shoot will bend toward light as soon as it reaches the surface. This process is called phototropism, the light-sensitive direction-finding system in plants.57

If you put houseplants in a dark place or somewhere that receives light from only one direction, after a while you will see that they turn towards the light, reaching out with their leaves or even twisting into that direction. It's very thought-provoking that a seedling can determine the direction of light and then turn in that direction. but plants are able to do this with ease, because compared to animals or humans, plants are much better in their capacity to sense the direction of light, which we can only do with our eyes. Plants, on the other hand, never get confused about direction.

Germination is the first stage in the development of a tiny plant that can grow to be meters in height and tons in weight. as it grows and its roots extend into the ground and its branches into the air, its internal systems (alimentary, pollination, the hormones that regulate and halt the plant's growth) all operate simultaneously, with no hitch or delay in any of them. Everything the plant needs develops at the same time – a very important detail. for instance, while the plant's pollination system is developing, so is its distribution network of nutrient and water channels. Otherwise, if a tree's pollination system failed to develop, its inner bark used to carry water and nutrients would have no significance. and there would also be no point in the roots' development, since the ancillary mechanisms would have no function given that the species would not survive.

However, there are no such hitches. Everything develops just the way it should, and at the time it should.

There is an evident plan behind this perfect structure of plants, all of whose elements are interdependent and compatible, that cannot have developed by chance. as in all other living things, there is absolutely no question of a gradual development in plants, as evolutionary scientists claim.

The perfect order in the processes that we've examined here is evidence of a Creator Who accomplishes every minute detail. Even the formation of the seed, the very first stage of plant life, is enough to demonstrate the incomparable wonder of God's creation.

# Section 7: The Seed: A Fact of Creation

**Don't you see that God sends down water from the sky and then in the morning the Earth is covered in green? God is All-Subtle, All-Aware. (Qur'an, 22:63)**

So far, we have given examples of different kinds of seeds, mentioning how plants produce and disperse their seeds. We've explained how the diversity of plants on Earth is thanks to the information contained in their seeds, enabling them to grow from the soil in the much same way for millions of years.

From this information, the conclusion to be drawn is that there is a perfect structure in seeds. So how have seeds with such an excellent structure come into being?

According to evolutionary theory, all living and non-living forms that exist on Earth – as well as the perfect order in the universe – are the result of coincidence. Plants, and accordingly seeds, have also come into existence by chance. but evolutionary sources give no clear information on the evolution of seeds. Whichever evolutionary text we examine on the subject, we encounter a series of hypotheses, imaginary scenarios built on those hypotheses, inconclusive theories, and unrealistic charts, all based on these groundless claims.

When we examine the fossils of seeds, we can see clear evidence of creation. Seed fossils approximately 350 million years old (from the Devonian geologic period) have the same protective outer layer, embryo, and reserve of nutrients.58 These seeds' special structures have the same characteristics now as they did millions of years ago, having undergone no change to the present day – a very clear indication that they have not undergone any imaginary process such as "evolution."

From time to time, evolutionist publications acknowledge the impasses concerning seeds, in confessions like this:

Many gaps exist in our present knowledge of seed development. More information is needed on... extension of the pollen chamber in cycads, role of the pollination drop, postpollination growth of ovules... structure of the megaspore membrane.59

From the above, we can draw an obvious conclusion. Evolutionary theory is in as much of a deadlock over the emergence of plants and seeds as it is concerning other life forms on Earth. These living things have been created by God. Seeds, as well as the plants that grow from them, have possessed all the mechanisms, complex systems and astonishing features in perfect form from the moment they first appeared. Evolutionists use such terms as "developing over time," "coincidental changes," and "adaptations arising from necessity," all assertions with no factual basis, and from a scientific point of view, meaningless.

# Conclusion

**A sign for them is the dead land which We bring to life and from which We bring forth grain of which they eat. We place in it gardens of dates and grapes, and cause springs to gush out in it, so they may eat its fruits – they did not do it themselves. So will they not be thankful? Glory be to Him Who created all the pairs: from what the earth produces and from themselves and from things unknown to them. (Qur'an, 36:33-36)**

Everyone capable of reason and thought can see the lack of logic in the evolutionist claim of chance forming living things. Let's examine this fallacy with an analogy from daily life:

When you want to create the picture of a flower on your computer, at your disposal there are various programs, which have been developed by trained experts. Your computer is designed to use these programs to let you color the flower and create patterns on it. by themselves, however, even the most advanced computer and the best program available are not enough. Think back to basics: You also need to switch on the computer, use the program and give the right commands to create the image of the flower. No one viewing a picture on a computer screen would ever imagine that the picture got there by itself. Certainly it has been created by someone. It is also certain that the computer has been constructed in a factory, and that all its parts have been individually manufactured.

In the same way, it's not possible that the plants in your yard, the grass, the roses and trees in the gardens have come into being of their own accord. Moreover, it is equally impossible for these plants to put all their essential characteristics into their seeds and start reproducing from these seeds, because all the information contained in seeds certainly requires intelligence and knowledge.

It is a Supreme Power that loads the information into seeds of diverse structure, gives them their shape, installs their coats and protective membranes, and enables them to grow into plants perfect in every respect. This power is that of God, Lord of all the worlds, Who knows all things. God creates all plants, shapes them, gives them their smell, taste and color. In a verse of the Qur'an, God makes this known to us:

And soaring date-palms with layered spathes, as provision for Our servants; by it We brought a dead land to life. That is how the Emergence will take place. (Qur'an, 50:10-11)

# The Deception of Evolution

**He is the Originator of the heavens and the Earth. How could He have a son when He has no wife? He created all things and He has knowledge of all things. That is God, your Lord. There is no deity but Him, the Creator of everything. So worship Him. He is responsible for everything. (Qur'an, 6:101-102)**

Darwinism, in other words the theory of evolution, was put forward with the aim of denying the fact of creation, but is in truth nothing but failed, unscientific nonsense. This theory, which claims that life emerged by chance from inanimate matter, was invalidated by the scientific evidence of clear "design" in the universe and in living things. In this way, science confirmed the fact that God created the universe and the living things in it. The propaganda carried out today in order to keep the theory of evolution alive is based solely on the distortion of the scientific facts, biased interpretation, and lies and falsehoods disguised as science.

Yet this propaganda cannot conceal the truth. The fact that the theory of evolution is the greatest deception in the history of science has been expressed more and more in the scientific world over the last 20-30 years. Research carried out after the 1980s in particular has revealed that the claims of Darwinism are totally unfounded, something that has been stated by a large number of scientists. In the United States in particular, many scientists from such different fields as biology, biochemistry and paleontology recognize the invalidity of Darwinism and employ the fact of creation to account for the origin of life.

We have examined the collapse of the theory of evolution and the proofs of creation in great scientific detail in many of our works, and are still continuing to do so. Given the enormous importance of this subject, it will be of great benefit to summarize it here.

## The Scientific Collapse of Darwinism

Although this doctrine goes back as far as ancient Greece, the theory of evolution was advanced extensively in the nineteenth century. The most important development that made it the top topic of the world of science was Charles Darwin's the Origin of Species, published in 1859. In this book, he denied that God created different living species on Earth separately, for he claimed that all living beings had a common ancestor and had diversified over time through small changes. Darwin's theory was not based on any concrete scientific finding; as he also accepted, it was just an "assumption." Moreover, as Darwin confessed in the long chapter of his book titled "Difficulties on Theory," the theory failed in the face of many critical questions.

Darwin invested all of his hopes in new scientific discoveries, which he expected to solve these difficulties. However, contrary to his expectations, scientific findings expanded the dimensions of these difficulties. The defeat of Darwinism in the face of science can be reviewed under three basic topics:

1) the theory cannot explain how life originated on Earth.

2) No scientific finding shows that the "evolutionary mechanisms" proposed by the theory have any evolutionary power at all.

3) the fossil record proves the exact opposite of what the theory suggests.

In this section, we will examine these three basic points in general outlines:

## The First Insurmountable Step: The Origin of Life

The theory of evolution posits that all living species evolved from a single living cell that emerged on the primitive Earth 3.8 billion years ago. How a single cell could generate millions of complex living species and, if such an evolution really occurred, why traces of it cannot be observed in the fossil record are some of the questions that the theory cannot answer. However, first and foremost, we need to ask: How did this "first cell" originate?

Since the theory of evolution denies creation and any kind of supernatural intervention, it maintains that the "first cell" originated coincidentally within the laws of nature, without any design, plan or arrangement. According to the theory, inanimate matter must have produced a living cell as a result of coincidences. Such a claim, however, is inconsistent with the most unassailable rules of biology.

## "Life Comes From Life"

In his book, Darwin never referred to the origin of life. The primitive understanding of science in his time rested on the assumption that living beings had a very simple structure. Since medieval times, spontaneous generation, which asserts that non-living materials came together to form living organisms, had been widely accepted. It was commonly believed that insects came into being from food leftovers, and mice from wheat. Interesting experiments were conducted to prove this theory. Some wheat was placed on a dirty piece of cloth, and it was believed that mice would originate from it after a while.

Similarly, maggots developing in rotting meat was assumed to be evidence of spontaneous generation. However, it was later understood that worms did not appear on meat spontaneously, but were carried there by flies in the form of larvae, invisible to the naked eye.

Even when Darwin wrote the Origin of Species, the belief that bacteria could come into existence from non-living matter was widely accepted in the world of science.

However, five years after the publication of Darwin's book, Louis Pasteur announced his results after long studies and experiments, that disproved spontaneous generation, a cornerstone of Darwin's theory. In his triumphal lecture at the Sorbonne in 1864, Pasteur said: "Never will the doctrine of spontaneous generation recover from the mortal blow struck by this simple experiment."60

For a long time, advocates of the theory of evolution resisted these findings. However, as the development of science unraveled the complex structure of the cell of a living being, the idea that life could come into being coincidentally faced an even greater impasse.

## Inconclusive Efforts of the Twentieth Century

The first evolutionist who took up the subject of the origin of life in the twentieth century was the renowned Russian biologist Alexander Oparin. With various theses he advanced in the 1930s, he tried to prove that a living cell could originate by coincidence. These studies, however, were doomed to failure, and Oparin had to make the following confession:

Unfortunately, however, the problem of the origin of the cell is perhaps the most obscure point in the whole study of the evolution of organisms.61

Evolutionist followers of Oparin tried to carry out experiments to solve this problem. The best known experiment was carried out by the American chemist Stanley Miller in 1953. Combining the gases he alleged to have existed in the primordial Earth's atmosphere in an experiment set-up, and adding energy to the mixture, Miller synthesized several organic molecules (amino acids) present in the structure of proteins.

Barely a few years had passed before it was revealed that this experiment, which was then presented as an important step in the name of evolution, was invalid, for the atmosphere used in the experiment was very different from the real Earth conditions.62

After a long silence, Miller confessed that the atmosphere medium he used was unrealistic.63

All the evolutionists' efforts throughout the twentieth century to explain the origin of life ended in failure. The geochemist Jeffrey Bada, from the San Diego Scripps Institute accepts this fact in an article published in Earth magazine in 1998:

Today as we leave the twentieth century, we still face the biggest unsolved problem that we had when we entered the twentieth century: How did life originate on Earth?64

## The Complex Structure of Life

The primary reason why the theory of evolution ended up in such a great impasse regarding the origin of life is that even those living organisms deemed to be the simplest have incredibly complex structures. The cell of a living thing is more complex than all of our man-made technological products. Today, even in the most developed laboratories of the world, a living cell cannot be produced by bringing organic chemicals together.

The conditions required for the formation of a cell are too great in quantity to be explained away by coincidences. The probability of proteins, the building blocks of a cell, being synthesized coincidentally, is 1 in 10950 for an average protein made up of 500 amino acids. In mathematics, a probability smaller than 1 over 1050 is considered to be impossible in practical terms.

The DNA molecule, which is located in the nucleus of a cell and which stores genetic information, is an incredible databank. If the information coded in DNA were written down, it would make a giant library consisting of an estimated 900 volumes of encyclopedias consisting of 500 pages each.

A very interesting dilemma emerges at this point: DNA can replicate itself only with the help of some specialized proteins (enzymes). However, the synthesis of these enzymes can be realized only by the information coded in DNA. as they both depend on each other, they have to exist at the same time for replication. This brings the scenario that life originated by itself to a deadlock. Prof. Leslie Orgel, an evolutionist of repute from the University of San Diego, California, confesses this fact in the September 1994 issue of the Scientific American magazine:

It is extremely improbable that proteins and nucleic acids, both of which are structurally complex, arose spontaneously in the same place at the same time. Yet it also seems impossible to have one without the other. and so, at first glance, one might have to conclude that life could never, in fact, have originated by chemical means.65

No doubt, if it is impossible for life to have originated from natural causes, then it has to be accepted that life was "created" in a supernatural way. This fact explicitly invalidates the theory of evolution, whose main purpose is to deny creation.

## Imaginary Mechanism of Evolution

The second important point that negates Darwin's theory is that both concepts put forward by the theory as "evolutionary mechanisms" were understood to have, in reality, no evolutionary power.

Darwin based his evolution allegation entirely on the mechanism of "natural selection." the importance he placed on this mechanism was evident in the name of his book: The Origin of Species, by Means of Natural Selection...

Natural selection holds that those living things that are stronger and more suited to the natural conditions of their habitats will survive in the struggle for life. for example, in a deer herd under the threat of attack by wild animals, those that can run faster will survive. Therefore, the deer herd will be comprised of faster and stronger individuals. However, unquestionably, this mechanism will not cause deer to evolve and transform themselves into another living species, for instance, horses.

Therefore, the mechanism of natural selection has no evolutionary power. Darwin was also aware of this fact and had to state this in his book the Origin of Species:

Natural selection can do nothing until favourable individual differences or variations occur.66

## Lamarck's Impact

So, how could these "favorable variations" occur? Darwin tried to answer this question from the standpoint of the primitive understanding of science at that time. According to the French biologist Chevalier de Lamarck (1744-1829), who lived before Darwin, living creatures passed on the traits they acquired during their lifetime to the next generation. He asserted that these traits, which accumulated from one generation to another, caused new species to be formed. for instance, he claimed that giraffes evolved from antelopes; as they struggled to eat the leaves of high trees, their necks were extended from generation to generation.

Darwin also gave similar examples. In his book the Origin of Species, for instance, he said that some bears going into water to find food transformed themselves into whales over time.67

However, the laws of inheritance discovered by Gregor Mendel (1822-84) and verified by the science of genetics, which flourished in the twentieth century, utterly demolished the legend that acquired traits were passed on to subsequent generations. Thus, natural selection fell out of favor as an evolutionary mechanism.

## Neo-Darwinism and Mutations

In order to find a solution, Darwinists advanced the "Modern Synthetic Theory," or as it is more commonly known, Neo-Darwinism, at the end of the 1930s. Neo-Darwinism added mutations, which are distortions formed in the genes of living beings due to such external factors as radiation or replication errors, as the "cause of favorable variations" in addition to natural mutation.

Today, the model that stands for evolution in the world is Neo-Darwinism. The theory maintains that millions of living beings formed as a result of a process whereby numerous complex organs of these organisms (e.g., ears, eyes, lungs, and wings) underwent "mutations," that is, genetic disorders. Yet, there is an outright scientific fact that totally undermines this theory: Mutations do not cause living beings to develop; on the contrary, they are always harmful.

The reason for this is very simple: DNA has a very complex structure, and random effects can only harm it. The American geneticist B. G. Ranganathan explains this as follows:

First, genuine mutations are very rare in nature. Secondly, most mutations are harmful since they are random, rather than orderly changes in the structure of genes; any random change in a highly ordered system will be for the worse, not for the better. for example, if an earthquake were to shake a highly ordered structure such as a building, there would be a random change in the framework of the building which, in all probability, would not be an improvement.68

Not surprisingly, no mutation example, which is useful, that is, which is observed to develop the genetic code, has been observed so far. All mutations have proved to be harmful. It was understood that mutation, which is presented as an "evolutionary mechanism," is actually a genetic occurrence that harms living things, and leaves them disabled. (The most common effect of mutation on human beings is cancer.) of course, a destructive mechanism cannot be an "evolutionary mechanism." Natural selection, on the other hand, "can do nothing by itself," as Darwin also accepted. This fact shows us that there is no "evolutionary mechanism" in nature. Since no evolutionary mechanism exists, no such any imaginary process called "evolution" could have taken place.

## The Fossil Record: No Sign of Intermediate Forms

The clearest evidence that the scenario suggested by the theory of evolution did not take place is the fossil record.

According to this theory, every living species has sprung from a predecessor. A previously existing species turned into something else over time and all species have come into being in this way. In other words, this transformation proceeds gradually over millions of years.

Had this been the case, numerous intermediary species should have existed and lived within this long transformation period.

For instance, some half-fish/half-reptiles should have lived in the past which had acquired some reptilian traits in addition to the fish traits they already had. or there should have existed some reptile-birds, which acquired some bird traits in addition to the reptilian traits they already had. Since these would be in a transitional phase, they should be disabled, defective, crippled living beings. Evolutionists refer to these imaginary creatures, which they believe to have lived in the past, as "transitional forms."

If such animals ever really existed, there should be millions and even billions of them in number and variety. More importantly, the remains of these strange creatures should be present in the fossil record. In the Origin of Species, Darwin explained:

If my theory be true, numberless intermediate varieties, linking most closely all of the species of the same group together must assuredly have existed... Consequently, evidence of their former existence could be found only amongst fossil remains.69

## Darwin's Hopes Shattered

However, although evolutionists have been making strenuous efforts to find fossils since the middle of the nineteenth century all over the world, no transitional forms have yet been uncovered. All of the fossils, contrary to the evolutionists' expectations, show that life appeared on Earth all of a sudden and fully-formed.

One famous British paleontologist, Derek V. Ager, admits this fact, even though he is an evolutionist:

The point emerges that if we examine the fossil record in detail, whether at the level of orders or of species, we find – over and over again – not gradual evolution, but the sudden explosion of one group at the expense of another.70

This means that in the fossil record, all living species suddenly emerge as fully formed, without any intermediate forms in between. This is just the opposite of Darwin's assumptions. Also, this is very strong evidence that all living things are created. The only explanation of a living species emerging suddenly and complete in every detail without any evolutionary ancestor is that it was created. This fact is admitted also by the widely known evolutionist biologist Douglas Futuyma:

Creation and evolution, between them, exhaust the possible explanations for the origin of living things. Organisms either appeared on the earth fully developed or they did not. If they did not, they must have developed from pre-existing species by some process of modification. If they did appear in a fully developed state, they must indeed have been created by some omnipotent intelligence.71

Fossils show that living beings emerged fully developed and in a perfect state on the Earth. That means that "the origin of species," contrary to Darwin's supposition, is not evolution, but creation.

## The Tale of Human Evolution

The subject most often brought up by advocates of the theory of evolution is the subject of the origin of man. The Darwinist claim holds that modern man evolved from ape-like creatures. During this alleged evolutionary process, which is supposed to have started 4-5 million years ago, some "transitional forms" between modern man and his ancestors are supposed to have existed. According to this completely imaginary scenario, four basic "categories" are listed:

1. Australopithecus

2. Homo habilis

3. Homo erectus

4. Homo sapiens

Evolutionists call man's so-called first ape-like ancestors Australopithecus, which means "South African ape." These living beings are actually nothing but an old ape species that has become extinct. Extensive research done on various Australopithecus specimens by two world famous anatomists from England and the USA, namely, Lord Solly Zuckerman and Prof. Charles Oxnard, shows that these apes belonged to an ordinary ape species that became extinct and bore no resemblance to humans.72

Evolutionists classify the next stage of human evolution as "homo," that is "man." According to their claim, the living beings in the Homo series are more developed than Australopithecus. Evolutionists devise a fanciful evolution scheme by arranging different fossils of these creatures in a particular order. This scheme is imaginary because it has never been proved that there is an evolutionary relation between these different classes. Ernst Mayr, one of the twentieth century's most important evolutionists, contends in his book One Long Argument that "particularly historical [puzzles] such as the origin of life or of Homo sapiens, are extremely difficult and may even resist a final, satisfying explanation."73

By outlining the link chain as Australopithecus > Homo habilis > Homo erectus > Homo sapiens, evolutionists imply that each of these species is one another's ancestor. However, recent findings of paleoanthropologists have revealed that Australopithecus, Homo habilis, and Homo erectus lived at different parts of the world at the same time.74

Moreover, a certain segment of humans classified as Homo erectus have lived up until very modern times. Homo sapiens neandarthalensis and Homo sapiens sapiens (modern man) co-existed in the same region.75

This situation apparently indicates the invalidity of the claim that they are ancestors of one another. Stephen Jay Gould explained this deadlock of the theory of evolution, although he was himself one of the leading advocates of evolution in the twentieth century:

What has become of our ladder if there are three coexisting lineages of hominids (A. africanus, the robust australopithecines, and H. habilis), none clearly derived from another? Moreover, none of the three display any evolutionary trends during their tenure on earth.76

Put briefly, the scenario of human evolution, which is "upheld" with the help of various drawings of some "half ape, half human" creatures appearing in the media and course books, that is, frankly, by means of propaganda, is nothing but a tale with no scientific foundation.

Lord Solly Zuckerman, one of the most famous and respected scientists in the U.K., who carried out research on this subject for years and studied Australopithecus fossils for 15 years, finally concluded, despite being an evolutionist himself, that there is, in fact, no such family tree branching out from ape-like creatures to man.

Zuckerman also made an interesting "spectrum of science" ranging from those he considered scientific to those he considered unscientific. According to Zuckerman's spectrum, the most "scientific" – that is, depending on concrete data – fields of science are chemistry and physics. After them come the biological sciences and then the social sciences. at the far end of the spectrum, which is the part considered to be most "unscientific," are "extra-sensory perception" – concepts such as telepathy and sixth sense – and finally "human evolution." Zuckerman explains his reasoning:

We then move right off the register of objective truth into those fields of presumed biological science, like extrasensory perception or the interpretation of man's fossil history, where to the faithful [evolutionist] anything is possible – and where the ardent believer [in evolution] is sometimes able to believe several contradictory things at the same time.77

The tale of human evolution boils down to nothing but the prejudiced interpretations of some fossils unearthed by certain people, who blindly adhere to their theory.

## Darwinian Formula!

Besides all the technical evidence we have dealt with so far, let us now for once, examine what kind of a superstition the evolutionists have with an example so simple as to be understood even by children:

The theory of evolution asserts that life is formed by chance. According to this claim, lifeless and unconscious atoms came together to form the cell and then they somehow formed other living things, including man. Let us think about that. When we bring together the elements that are the building-blocks of life such as carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium, only a heap is formed. No matter what treatments it undergoes, this atomic heap cannot form even a single living being. If you like, let us formulate an "experiment" on this subject and let us examine on the behalf of evolutionists what they really claim without pronouncing loudly under the name "Darwinian formula":

Let evolutionists put plenty of materials present in the composition of living things such as phosphorus, nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, iron, and magnesium into big barrels. Moreover, let them add in these barrels any material that does not exist under normal conditions, but they think as necessary. Let them add in this mixture as many amino acids and as many proteins – a single one of which has a formation probability of 10-950 – as they like. Let them expose these mixtures to as much heat and moisture as they like. Let them stir these with whatever technologically developed device they like. Let them put the foremost scientists beside these barrels. Let these experts wait in turn beside these barrels for billions, and even trillions of years. Let them be free to use all kinds of conditions they believe to be necessary for a human's formation. No matter what they do, they cannot produce from these barrels a human, say a professor that examines his cell structure under the electron microscope. They cannot produce giraffes, lions, bees, canaries, horses, dolphins, roses, orchids, lilies, carnations, bananas, oranges, apples, dates, tomatoes, melons, watermelons, figs, olives, grapes, peaches, peafowls, pheasants, multicoloured butterflies, or millions of other living beings such as these. Indeed, they could not obtain even a single cell of any one of them.

Briefly, unconscious atoms cannot form the cell by coming together. They cannot take a new decision and divide this cell into two, then take other decisions and create the professors who first invent the electron microscope and then examine their own cell structure under that microscope. Matter is an unconscious, lifeless heap, and it comes to life with God's superior creation.

The theory of evolution, which claims the opposite, is a total fallacy completely contrary to reason. Thinking even a little bit on the claims of evolutionists discloses this reality, just as in the above example.

## Technology in the Eye and the Ear

Another subject that remains unanswered by evolutionary theory is the excellent quality of perception in the eye and the ear.

Before passing on to the subject of the eye, let us briefly answer the question of how we see. Light rays coming from an object fall oppositely on the eye's retina. Here, these light rays are transmitted into electric signals by cells and reach a tiny spot at the back of the brain, the "center of vision." These electric signals are perceived in this center as an image after a series of processes. With this technical background, let us do some thinking.

The brain is insulated from light. That means that its inside is completely dark, and that no light reaches the place where it is located. Thus, the "center of vision" is never touched by light and may even be the darkest place you have ever known. However, you observe a luminous, bright world in this pitch darkness.

The image formed in the eye is so sharp and distinct that even the technology of the twentieth century has not been able to attain it. for instance, look at the book you are reading, your hands with which you are holding it, and then lift your head and look around you. Have you ever seen such a sharp and distinct image as this one at any other place? Even the most developed television screen produced by the greatest television producer in the world cannot provide such a sharp image for you. This is a three-dimensional, colored, and extremely sharp image. for more than 100 years, thousands of engineers have been trying to achieve this sharpness. Factories, huge premises were established, much research has been done, plans and designs have been made for this purpose. Again, look at a TV screen and the book you hold in your hands. You will see that there is a big difference in sharpness and distinction. Moreover, the TV screen shows you a two-dimensional image, whereas with your eyes, you watch a three-dimensional perspective with depth.

For many years, tens of thousands of engineers have tried to make a three-dimensional TV and achieve the vision quality of the eye. Yes, they have made a three-dimensional television system, but it is not possible to watch it without putting on special 3-D glasses; moreover, it is only an artificial three-dimension. The background is more blurred, the foreground appears like a paper setting. Never has it been possible to produce a sharp and distinct vision like that of the eye. In both the camera and the television, there is a loss of image quality.

Evolutionists claim that the mechanism producing this sharp and distinct image has been formed by chance. Now, if somebody told you that the television in your room was formed as a result of chance, that all of its atoms just happened to come together and make up this device that produces an image, what would you think? How can atoms do what thousands of people cannot?

If a device producing a more primitive image than the eye could not have been formed by chance, then it is very evident that the eye and the image seen by the eye could not have been formed by chance. The same situation applies to the ear. The outer ear picks up the available sounds by the auricle and directs them to the middle ear, the middle ear transmits the sound vibrations by intensifying them, and the inner ear sends these vibrations to the brain by translating them into electric signals. Just as with the eye, the act of hearing finalizes in the center of hearing in the brain.

The situation in the eye is also true for the ear. That is, the brain is insulated from sound just as it is from light. It does not let any sound in. Therefore, no matter how noisy is the outside, the inside of the brain is completely silent. Nevertheless, the sharpest sounds are perceived in the brain. In your completely silent brain, you listen to symphonies, and hear all of the noises in a crowded place. However, were the sound level in your brain measured by a precise device at that moment, complete silence would be found to be prevailing there.

As is the case with imagery, decades of effort have been spent in trying to generate and reproduce sound that is faithful to the original. The results of these efforts are sound recorders, high-fidelity systems, and systems for sensing sound. Despite all of this technology and the thousands of engineers and experts who have been working on this endeavor, no sound has yet been obtained that has the same sharpness and clarity as the sound perceived by the ear. Think of the highest-quality hi-fi systems produced by the largest company in the music industry. Even in these devices, when sound is recorded some of it is lost; or when you turn on a hi-fi you always hear a hissing sound before the music starts. However, the sounds that are the products of the human body's technology are extremely sharp and clear. A human ear never perceives a sound accompanied by a hissing sound or with atmospherics as does a hi-fi; rather, it perceives sound exactly as it is, sharp and clear. This is the way it has been since the creation of man.

So far, no man-made visual or recording apparatus has been as sensitive and successful in perceiving sensory data as are the eye and the ear. However, as far as seeing and hearing are concerned, a far greater truth lies beyond all this.

## To Whom Does the Consciousness that Sees and Hears within the Brain Belong?

Who watches an alluring world in the brain, listens to symphonies and the twittering of birds, and smells the rose?

The stimulations coming from a person's eyes, ears, and nose travel to the brain as electro-chemical nerve impulses. In biology, physiology, and biochemistry books, you can find many details about how this image forms in the brain. However, you will never come across the most important fact: Who perceives these electro-chemical nerve impulses as images, sounds, odors, and sensory events in the brain? There is a consciousness in the brain that perceives all this without feeling any need for an eye, an ear, and a nose. to whom does this consciousness belong? of course it does not belong to the nerves, the fat layer, and neurons comprising the brain. This is why Darwinist-materialists, who believe that everything is comprised of matter, cannot answer these questions.

For this consciousness is the spirit created by God, which needs neither the eye to watch the images nor the ear to hear the sounds. Furthermore, it does not need the brain to think.

Everyone who reads this explicit and scientific fact should ponder on Almighty God, and fear and seek refuge in Him, for He squeezes the entire universe in a pitch-dark place of a few cubic centimeters in a three-dimensional, colored, shadowy, and luminous form.

## A Materialist Faith

The information we have presented so far shows us that the theory of evolution is incompatible with scientific findings. The theory's claim regarding the origin of life is inconsistent with science, the evolutionary mechanisms it proposes have no evolutionary power, and fossils demonstrate that the required intermediate forms have never existed. So, it certainly follows that the theory of evolution should be pushed aside as an unscientific idea. This is how many ideas, such as the Earth-centered universe model, have been taken out of the agenda of science throughout history.

However, the theory of evolution is kept on the agenda of science. Some people even try to represent criticisms directed against it as an "attack on science." Why?

The reason is that this theory is an indispensable dogmatic belief for some circles. These circles are blindly devoted to materialist philosophy and adopt Darwinism because it is the only materialist explanation that can be put forward to explain the workings of nature.

Interestingly enough, they also confess this fact from time to time. A well-known geneticist and an outspoken evolutionist, Richard C. Lewontin from Harvard University, confesses that he is "first and foremost a materialist and then a scientist":

It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, so we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.78

These are explicit statements that Darwinism is a dogma kept alive just for the sake of adherence to materialism. This dogma maintains that there is no being save matter. Therefore, it argues that inanimate, unconscious matter created life. It insists that millions of different living species (e.g., birds, fish, giraffes, tigers, insects, trees, flowers, whales, and human beings) originated as a result of the interactions between matter such as pouring rain, lightning flashes, and so on, out of inanimate matter. This is a precept contrary both to reason and science. Yet Darwinists continue to defend it just so as "not to allow a Divine Foot in the door."

Anyone who does not look at the origin of living beings with a materialist prejudice will see this evident truth: All living beings are works of a Creator, Who is All-Powerful, All-Wise, and All-Knowing. This Creator is God, Who created the whole universe from non-existence, designed it in the most perfect form, and fashioned all living beings.

## The Theory of Evolution: The Most Potent Spell in the World

Anyone free of prejudice and the influence of any particular ideology, who uses only his or her reason and logic, will clearly understand that belief in the theory of evolution, which brings to mind the superstitions of societies with no knowledge of science or civilization, is quite impossible.

As explained above, those who believe in the theory of evolution think that a few atoms and molecules thrown into a huge vat could produce thinking, reasoning professors and university students; such scientists as Einstein and Galileo; such artists as Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra and Luciano Pavarotti; as well as antelopes, lemon trees, and carnations. Moreover, as the scientists and professors who believe in this nonsense are educated people, it is quite justifiable to speak of this theory as "the most potent spell in history." Never before has any other belief or idea so taken away peoples' powers of reason, refused to allow them to think intelligently and logically, and hidden the truth from them as if they had been blindfolded. This is an even worse and unbelievable blindness than the Egyptians worshipping the Sun God Ra, totem worship in some parts of Africa, the people of Saba worshipping the Sun, the tribe of Abraham (pbuh) worshipping idols they had made with their own hands, or the people of Moses (pbuh) worshipping the Golden Calf.

In fact, God has pointed to this lack of reason in the Qur'an. In many verses, He reveals that some peoples' minds will be closed and that they will be powerless to see the truth. Some of these verses are as follows:

As for those who do not believe, it makes no difference to them whether you warn them or do not warn them, they will not believe. God has sealed up their hearts and hearing and over their eyes is a blindfold. They will have a terrible punishment. (Qur'an, 2:6-7)

... **They have hearts with which they do not understand. They have eyes with which they do not see. They have ears with which they do not hear. Such people are like cattle. No, they are even further astray! They are the unaware. (Qur'an, 7:179)**

Even if We opened up to them a door into heaven, and they spent the day ascending through it, they would only say: "Our eyesight is befuddled! or rather we have been put under a spell!" (Qur'an, 15:14-15)

Words cannot express just how astonishing it is that this spell should hold such a wide community in thrall, keep people from the truth, and not be broken for 150 years. It is understandable that one or a few people might believe in impossible scenarios and claims full of stupidity and illogicality. However, "magic" is the only possible explanation for people from all over the world believing that unconscious and lifeless atoms suddenly decided to come together and form a universe that functions with a flawless system of organization, discipline, reason, and consciousness; a planet named Earth with all of its features so perfectly suited to life; and living things full of countless complex systems.

In fact, the Qur'an relates the incident of Moses (pbuh) and Pharaoh to show that some people who support atheistic philosophies actually influence others by magic. When Pharaoh was told about the true religion, he told Prophet Moses (pbuh) to meet with his own magicians. When Moses (pbuh) did so, he told them to demonstrate their abilities first. The verses continue:

He said: "You throw." and when they threw, they cast a spell on the people's eyes and caused them to feel great fear of them. They produced an extremely powerful magic. (Qur'an, 7:116)

As we have seen, Pharaoh's magicians were able to deceive everyone, apart from Moses (pbuh) and those who believed in him. However, his evidence broke the spell, or "swallowed up what they had forged," as the verse puts it:

We revealed to Moses: "Throw down your staff." and it immediately swallowed up what they had forged. So the Truth took place and what they did was shown to be false. (Qur'an, 7:117-118)

As we can see, when people realized that a spell had been cast upon them and that what they saw was just an illusion, Pharaoh's magicians lost all credibility. In the present day too, unless those who, under the influence of a similar spell, believe in these ridiculous claims under their scientific disguise and spend their lives defending them, abandon their superstitious beliefs, they also will be humiliated when the full truth emerges and the spell is broken. In fact, world-renowned British writer and philosopher Malcolm Muggeridge also stated this:

I myself am convinced that the theory of evolution, especially the extent to which it's been applied, will be one of the great jokes in the history books in the future. Posterity will marvel that so very flimsy and dubious an hypothesis could be accepted with the incredible credulity that it has.79

That future is not far off: On the contrary, people will soon see that "chance" is not a deity, and will look back on the theory of evolution as the worst deceit and the most terrible spell in the world. That spell is already rapidly beginning to be lifted from the shoulders of people all over the world. Many people who see its true face are wondering with amazement how they could ever have been taken in by it.

They said, "Glory be to You! We have no knowledge except what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise." (Qur'an, 2:32)

# Notes

1 David Attenborough, the Private Life of Plants, Princeton Univer. Press, Princeton, New Jersey: 1995, pp. 86-89; "Why do leaves change color in the fall?, http://photoscience.la.asu.edu/photosyn/education/colorchange.html

2 "Capparales – Adaptations for pollination," Britannica.com;

www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/1/0,5716,120821+4+111095,00.html

3 Malcolm Wilkins, Plantwatching, New York, Fact on File Publications, 1988, p. 48.

4 Ibid.

5 Wilfred W. Robbins, T. Elliot Weier, C. Ralph Stocking, Botany, an Introduction to Plant Science, John Wiley&Sons, INC., USA: May 1967, p. 270.

6 "Seeds," Elson M. Haas, Health World Online;

http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/book.asp?PageType=Book&ID=343

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

9 Françoise Brenckmann, Grains de Vie, Le Monde Merveilleux Des Graines, 1995-1997, p. 31.

10 Ibid., pp. 32-33.

11 Ibid., p. 24.

12 Wilkins, Plantwatching, p. 44.

13 Brenckmann, Grains de Vie, p. 17.

14 Mark Ridley, Evolution, Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1993, p. 333.

15 Ibid, p. 293.

16 Nantiya Vaddhanaphuti, a Filed Guide to the Wild Orchids of Thailand, Silkworm Books, 2nd edition, 1997, pp. 5-7, 10, 13, 16, 50, 56, 63, 80, and 125.

17 Brenckmann, Grains de Vie, p. 86.

18 Ibid., p. 60.

19 Attenborough, the _Private Life of Plants_ , p. 15.

20 _Ibid._ , p. 16.

21 _Ibid._

22 Brenckmann, _Grains de Vie,_ p. 61.

23 _Ibid.,_ pp _._ 61-62

24 "Seed," Britannica.com; www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0,5716,68289+1+66568,00.html

25 Alfred Stefferud, the _Wonders of Seeds_ , New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, pp. 68-69.

26 _Ibid.,_ pp. 71-72.

27 Attenborough, the _Private Life of Plants_ , p. 19.

28 Brenckmann, _Grains de Vie_ , pp. 54-55.

29 _Ibid.,_ p. 56.

30 _Ibid._

31 _Ibid.,_ p. 57.

32 _Ibid_ , p. 59.

33 _Ibid_.

34 Solomon, Berg, Martin, Villie, _Biology_ , Saundes College Publishing, p. 751.

35 Brenckmann, _Grains de Vie,_ p. 37.

36 Attenborough, the _Private Life of Plants,_ pp. 21-22.

37 Brenckmann, _Grains de Vie_ , p. 40.

38 _Ibid.,_ p. 41.

39 T.T. Kozlowski, _Seed Biology_ , Academic Press, New York and London, vol.1, 1972, p. 194.

40 Brenckmann, _Grains de Vie,_ p. 68.

41 Attenborough, the _Private Life of Plants_ , p. 24.

42 _Ibid.,_ p. 35.

43 Brenckmann, _Grains de Vie_ , p. 68.

44 Musa Ozet, Osman Arpaci, _Biyoloji 2_ (Biology 2), Surat Publications, p. 138.

45 Wilkins, _Plantwatching_ , p. 46.

46 Brenckmann, _Grains de Vie_ , p. 68.

47 Attenborough, the _Private Life of Plants_ , pp. 37-38.

48 Solomon, Berg, Martin, Villie, _Biology_ , p. 680.

49 Wilkins, _Plantwatching_ , pp. 46-47.

50 John King, _Reaching for the Sun_ , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1977, p. 117.

51 Wilkins, _Plantwatching_ , p. 47.

52 "Seed Germination;" http://www.pssc.ttu.edu/plantprop/lecnotes/section2/topic7.htm

53 Solomon, Berg, Martin, Villie, _Biology_ , pp. 766-768.

54 Ozet, Arpaci, _Biyoloji 2_ (Biology 2), p. 48.

55 Wilkins, _Plantwatching_ , pp. 64-66.

56 _Ibid._ , p. 56.

57 Helena Curtis, N. Sue Barnes, _Invitation to Biology_ , pp. 356-357.

58 Raven, Evert, Curtis, _Biology of Plants_ , p. 326.

59 Kozlowski, _Seed Biology_ , p. 66.

60. Sidney Fox, Klaus Dose, _Molecular Evolution and the Origin of Life_ , W.H. Freeman and Company, San Francisco, 1972, p. 4.

61. Alexander I. Oparin, _Origin of Life_ , Dover Publications, NewYork, 1936, 1953 (reprint), p. 196.

62. "New Evidence on Evolution of Early Atmosphere and Life", Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, vol 63, November 1982, 1328-1330.

63. Stanley Miller, Molecular Evolution of Life: Current Status of the Prebiotic Synthesis of Small Molecules, 1986, p. 7.

64. Jeffrey Bada, _Earth_ , February 1998, p. 40.

65. Leslie E. Orgel, "The Origin of Life on Earth", _Scientific American_ , vol. 271, October 1994, p. 78.

66. Charles Darwin, the _Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection_ , the Modern Library, New York, p. 127.

67. Charles Darwin, the _Origin of Species: A Facsimile of the First Edition_ , Harvard University Press, 1964, p. 184.

68. B. G. Ranganathan, _Origins?_ , Pennsylvania: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1988, p. 7.

69. Darwin, the _Origin of Species: A Facsimile of the First Edition_ , p. 179.

70. Derek A. Ager, "The Nature of the Fossil Record," _Proceedings of the British Geological Association_ , vol 87, 1976, p. 133.

71. Douglas J. Futuyma, _Science on Trial_ , Pantheon Books, New York, 1983, p. 197.

72. Solly Zuckerman, _Beyond the Ivory Tower_ , Toplinger Publications, New York, 1970, pp. 75-14; Charles E. Oxnard, "The Place of Australopithecines in Human Evolution: Grounds for Doubt," _Nature_ , vol 258, p. 389.

73. "Could science be brought to an end by scientists' belief that they have final answers or by society's reluctance to pay the bills?" _Scientific American_ , December 1992, p. 20.

74. Alan Walker, _Science_ , vol. 207, 7 March 1980, p. 1103; A. J. Kelso, _Physical Antropology_ , 1st ed., J. B. Lipincott Co., New York, 1970, p. 221; M. D. Leakey, _Olduvai Gorge_ , vol. 3, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1971, p. 272.

75. Jeffrey Kluger, "Not So Extinct After All: The Primitive Homo Erectus May Have Survived Long Enough to Coexist With Modern Humans", _Time_ , 23 December 1996.

76. S. J. Gould, _Natural History_ , vol. 85, 1976, p. 30.

77. Zuckerman, _Beyond the Ivory Tower_ , p. 19.

78. Richard Lewontin, "The Demon-Haunted World," the _New York Review of Books_ , January 9, 1997, p. 28.

79. Malcolm Muggeridge, the _End of Christendom_ , Grand Rapids:Eerdmans, 1980, p. 43.

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# Back Cover

Everyone knows what seeds look like, and know that all plants germinate from seeds. but few stop to wonder how it is that such a variety of plants, many very different from one another, can come from something that resembles a smooth chunk of wood or how seeds can contain all the information relating to these plants' characteristics and how this information is individually coded.

How can fruits, with their unique tastes and aromas and just the right degree of sweetness, come from something that's small and dry? Does the seed produce the tree and adorn it with fruit? Does the seed determine the shape and color of fruits and flowers? Does the seed pack all the information on the tree into the embryo it contains?

This book will answer all these questions and more, will explain how the seed is evidence of the infinite power of God and the magnificence of His creation.

## About the Author

The author, who writes under the pen-name Harun Yahya, was born in Ankara in 1956. He studied arts at Istanbul's Mimar Sinan University, and philosophy at Istanbul University. Since the 1980s, the author has published many books on political, faith-related and scientific issues. Greatly appreciated all around the world, these works have been instrumental in helping many to return their faith in God, and, in many others, to gain a deeper insight into their faith. Harun Yahya's books appeal to all kinds of readers, regardless of their age, race, or nationality, for they focus on one objective: to broaden the reader's perspective by encouraging him or her to think about a number of critical issues, such as the existence of God and His unity, and to live by the values He prescribed for them.

