AN UNCONVENTIONAL HUNTER: THE VENUS PLANT

In the sixth ayah of Surah Hud, Allah states that Allah gives the "sustenance" of all living things, that is, all the provisions that provide for their subsistence:

There is no creature on the earth which is not dependent upon Allah for its provision. He knows where it lives and where it dies. They are all in a Clear Book. (Surah Hud: 6)

One can easily see how Allah "food" for all living beings, if you have to conscientiously and with wisdom.
All our food and drinks are things that are "made" and "created". The water we drink, bread, fruit and vegetables we eat are all the results of a special institution. Take a fruit, an orange, for example .... This fruit is originally a branch of a tree, which is in fact a mass of wood.
The tree absorbs minerals and water from the ground and combines it with the energy it receives from the sun. The result shows it is extremely useful for the human body, very tasty and fragrant, if consumed by humans. In addition, it is in a very healthy and aesthetically pleasing packaging.

How does a tree bring about such a yield? Why is it so useful to the human body? Why do all fruits contain essential vitamins appropriate to the seasons in which they grow? Why are they so tasty and not bitter? Why are they so fragrant and do not stink?

Certainly a tree is just a bulk of wood and it is out of the question for it to produce a fruit on its own and equip it with features essential for human use. Just as Allah sustains human beings, so does He sustain the animals.

It is by no means difficult for one to understand the might and omnipotence of Allah if one conscientiously examines, within the boundaries of wisdom and logic, the systems with which animals are endowed to get their food.

AN UNCONVENTIONAL HUNTER: THE VENUS PLANT

Besides the predators we have mentioned so far, there are also some plants which "hunt" by using amazing methods. One of these is the "Venus" plant, which catches and feeds on insects that visit it.

The hunting system of this plant works as follows: a fly in search of food among the plants, all of a sudden, which is very attractive: The Venus-conditioning. What makes this plant, like a pair of hands holding a bowl, attractive, charming is its red color and more
importantly, the sweet fragrance of the glands around the petals. The fly is charmed by this irresistible smell and lands on the plant without hesitation. On the way to While the origin of food, it inevitably affects the seemingly harmless hairs on the plant. After a short time, the plant suddenly snaps their petals. The fly remains tightly compressed between two petals. Venus plant starts to secrete a "meat dissolves as" fluid, which causes the air to a jelly-like substance, and then the plant consumes-the-fly "by it.

The swiftness of the plant in catching the fly is remarkable. The speed of the plant in closing is faster than the fastest closing speed of the hands of a human (if you try to catch a fly sitting on your palm, you most probably would not succeed, but the plant does). How, then, can this plant, which has no muscles or bones, make such an abrupt move?

Research has shown that there exists an electrical system inside the Venus plant. The system works as follows: the strokes of the fly on the hairs of the plant are transmitted to the receptors under the hairs. If this mechanical push is strong enough, these receptors will send electrical signals along the petal, just like waves in a pool. These signals are carried to the motor cells that cause the petals to make sudden moves, and finally the mechanism is activated to swallow the fly.

A few hairs inside the petals of the plant activate the trapping mechanism of the flower.

In addition to the stimulus system of the plant, the mechanical system by which the trap is closed also is created perfectly. As soon as the cells inside the plant receive electrical stimulation, they change the concentration of water within themselves. The cells inside the trap release water from their bodies. This event is like the dying of a deflated balloon. The cells outside the trap, on the other hand, take in excess water and swell. Thus, the trap is closed in the same way as when a person, in order to move his arm, needs to have one muscle contract and one relax. The fly trapped inside the plant actually touches the hairy strands repeatedly, causing the propulsive electrical force to discharge again, and making the trap more tightly closed. Meanwhile, the digestive glands in the trap are also activated. As a result of stimulation, these glands kill the insect and start slowly dissolving it. Thus, the plant feeds on digestive fluids that have turned into a bowl of soup enriched by plant proteins. At the end of the digestion, the mechanism that makes the trap close works conversely to open it.

This system has yet another interesting feature: in order to activate the trap, the hairs have to be touched twice in succession. The first touch generates a static electric charge but the trap is not closed. The trap is only closed with a second touch after the static charge reaches a certain point and discharges. Due to this dual action mechanism, the flytrap is never closed without purpose. For instance, the trap does not become activated as soon as a raindrop falls on it.

Now, let us contemplate this striking system. The whole system has to exist at the same time for the plant to catch its prey and digest it properly. The absence of only one element would mean death for the plant. For instance, if there were no hairs inside the leaf, the plant would not close, as the reaction would never start although the insect would walk all over and inside the plant. If the closing system were there, but if the plant were devoid of secretions to digest the insect, the whole system would be useless. In brief, any element lacking in the system would mean the death of the plant.

This plant, since the moment it was created, must have always possessed the features we refer to here. The plant, no doubt, did not suddenly transform into a hunter. It is certainly not the "magical spell of coincidences" that has made the plant such a professional hunter.

The most important point is that these experienced hunters do not have the ability to think. If these creatures were not a plant, but an animal, then the proponents of evolution would argue that the animal had by the progress with the estimable contributions (!) From "Nature".
What we are talking about here is that this system is located in a plant, a creature without a brain or a similar structure, and this is certainly unconscious. The plant is not even aware that there hunting. There is already a system with which they feed itself without effort just like all other plants.

A NEW BOOK FROM HARVARD UNIVERSITY INCLUDING THE WORKS OF HARUN YAHYA

Harvard University, one of the world’s leading centers for scientific research, has established that creationism is becoming increasingly more powerful in the world and that the global center for this is the work of the Science Research Foundation (BAV). The latest edition of the book The Creationists, from Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design devotes a special section to the work of the BAV in setting out the fact of creation. The section in question is summarized as follows in a report headed “Creation Museums and the Rise of Global Creationism:”

An unusual phenomenon that seems to be popping up a lot lately—the creation museum. America's first one is set to open this spring in Petersburg, Kentucky. The $26.4 million facility boasts animatronic dinosaurs and a state-of-the-art SFX theater, all designed to convince visitors that God created the world exactly as it’s described in the Bible.

And it's not just in the US. Like everything these days, creationism is going global, as evidenced by a campaign to open small creation museums across Turkey (a typical one, located in an Istanbul kebab shop, greets visitors with a portrait of Charles Darwin framed in dripping blood). Matt Mossman reports in this month's issue of SEED Magazine:

“In its latest campaign, BAV [Bilim Arastirma Vakfi, or "Scientific Research Foundation"] has opened more than 80 "museums" in restaurants, malls, and city halls across Turkey, each stocked with fossils, posters, and eager volunteers. Oktar's disciples use tactics cribbed from US organizations like California's Institute for Creation Research, instructing passersby that evolution cannot explain biology's complexity and is against the word of God.”

BAV runs quite a sophisticated operation, as evidenced by its website, which, according to Mossman, offers downloadable Power Point presentations and questions with which students can challenge their evolution-loving science teachers. And the affinity with US creationists isn't mere coincidence--a BAV spokesman traveled to the US last year to testify in the Kansas Board of Education's intelligent design hearings. Beyond the US and Turkey, creationist movements in Britain and Australia (where they seem to be particularly strong) suggest a growing global trend.

For some time, the standard account of the rise in global creationism was Ronald Numbers The Creationists: from the scientific creationism to intelligent design. In November, HUP will publish an expanded edition of the classic, which traces the development of creationist thinking over the centuries. Two new chapters chronicle of the Intelligent Design movement and the global thrust of the new creationism, which we can see at work in the above examples.

A MIRACLE OF THE LIVING WORLD: COMMUNICATION AND SIGNALING IN THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS

Scientific research has shown that anywhere in the world, communication is as important as it is, people. Numerous beings did not have the capacity for human speech, but they employ different methods to communicate with each other and also with other species. Some of the most dramatic examples of this display of birds. The amazing behavior and the ability to communicate that the birds also show totally refuted the claims of the theory of evolution.

All forms of life on earth, with wondrous properties and amazing abilities. The examination of only a single species is enough to hundreds of proofs of God's wonderful creation.

In one verse of the Qur’an, Allah reveals that:

There is no creature crawling on the earth or flying creature, flying on its wings, who are not communities just like yourselves—We have not omitted anything from the Book—then they will be gathered to their Lord. (Qur’an, 6: 38)

The birds to which this verse draws our attention notice are one of the living communities that we need to examine and reflect upon.

There are roughly some 10,000 species of bird in the world, each of which possesses its own miraculous features. Wherever you may live, you can see a great number of these feathered creatures and can observe different and extraordinary properties in each and every one. With their attractive appearances, flawless flight mechanisms, expertise on the routes and timing of migrations, ability to build nests and altruistic behavior toward their young and to one another, birds possess countless proofs of the fact of creation. Their ability to communicate is another of these.

Birds' Sense of Hearing

For birds to display their talents in communicating by sound, song—and in the case of some birds, words— they require excellent hearing. At critical times in their lives, their sense of hearing becomes particularly important. Experiments have shown that in order for birds to learn the distinctive song of their own species, they need an auditory feedback system. Thanks to this system, young birds learn to compare the sounds they produce themselves with the patterns of a song they have memorized. If they were deaf, it wouldn't normally be possible for them to sing recognizable songs. (1)

Birds' ears are well equipped for hearing, but they hear in a different way from us. For them to recognize a tune, they have to hear it in always the same octave (a series of seven notes), whereas we humans can recognize a tune even if we hear it in a different octave. Birds cannot, but can instead recognize timbre—a fundamental note combined with harmonies. The ability to recognize timbre and harmonic variations lets birds hear and reply to many diverse sounds, and sometimes even reproduce them.

Birds can also hear shorter notes than we can. Humans process sounds in bytes in about 1/20th of a second (2), whereas birds can distinguish these sounds in 1/200th of a second (3). This means that birds are superior at differentiating sounds that arrive in very rapid succession.(4) In other words, a bird's capacity to perceive sound is approximately ten times greater than ours; and in every note heard by a human, it can hear ten.(5) Moreover, some birds are also able to hear lower-frequency sounds than we are. Their hearing sensitivity is so finely tuned that they can even tell the difference between pieces by such famous composers as Bach and Stravinsky.

Birds' extremely sensitive hearing functions perfectly. Clearly, each of this sense's components is created by special design, for if any one failed to work properly, the bird would not be able to hear any sounds at all. This point also disproves the theory that hearing evolved or emerged gradually, as a result of coincidental influences.

Communication and Signaling in Birds

Birds produce meaningful communications by their facial expressions, beak movements, feather ruffling, elongating their necks, crouching, bouncing, and flapping their wings. Although each species has its own body language, many different species interpret movements in the same way. For example, various species interpret an upward thrust of the beak as expressing the intention to fly, and the lowering of the breast as a warning of danger. Also, several species perceive raising the tail feathers as a threat, or displaying bright colors atop of the head as a declaration of the intent to attack. Via facial expression, birds can convey a variety of messages to those around them-negative feelings such as dislike and resentment, as well as positive ones like pleasure, enthusiasm and curiosity. (6)

Bird’s Facial Expressions

Birds produce different facial expressions by movements of the beak, or by positioning the feathers above the beak, on the chin, or atop the head. In some species, the feathers above the eye can also move independently. Moreover, many species make a display by opening their beaks. For example, the tawny frogmouth opens its beak to reveal its large, bright green oral cavity, emphasizing the size of its beak and making it appear more intimidating. Some other species open their beaks as a form of threatening behavior, usually silently, but sometimes enhance the performance with hissing or loud breathing. (7)

In addition to communication through body language, birds produce a wide variety of sounds to communicate with other members of their flock, neighbors or family members. These range from short, simple calls of the songs, the surprisingly long and complex. Sometimes birds such as the Green Woodpecker use of different instruments or, as the American woodpecker, use special feathers to produce sound.

Birds also communicate by fragrances, although since their sense of smell is bad, their communication is mainly based on a sound and sight. In times of poor visibility conditions, such as at night or in dense foliage, sound-effective, and is also the ideal method for long-distance communication. If the conditions are right, bird song can be heard for up to a few kilometers.

In addition to song, birds also have conceptualization and communication skills. In certain circumstances, they demonstrate talents equivalent to those of children of primary-school age, learning series of words and other means of human communication through social interaction.

When alone, these parrots play vocalization games and when in the company of people, they join vocalizations together to produce new assemblages from existing sequences of speech. God, the Creator of everything on Earth and in the skies, equips them with the talents and characteristics that set them apart. Accordingly, our praises for the supreme beauty of our environment is praise that belongs to God.

The Language of Calls and Songs

To call to one another, birds produce sounds of extremely high frequency and strength. Only a few species such as pelicans, storks, and certain vultures are mute and have no call. The acoustic calls used by birds amongst themselves form a language of sorts. Their songs, which are longer and generally related to courtship, consist of a series of notes and usually contain melodies.

Birdsong is usually heard in spring, whereas the calls, much simpler than songs, are used by both sexes and heard throughout the year. Birdcalls allow swift communication via simple messages without a great expenditure of energy. (8) These calls’ main functions can be listed as follows:

- To establish a bird’s species
- To indicate its bird's gender
- To reveal its location
- To demarcate and defend its territory
- To announce and advertise a source of food
- To let young birds recognize their own parents
- To keep the flock together when traveling
- To warn of the presence of an enemy
- To intimidate an enemy
- For courtship

To mark the changeover of responsibility for nesting duties such as incubating or feeding

To practice and perfect their songs

Bird Sounds Are Not Haphazard

Usually, birdsong is not composed of randomly produced sounds. Songs are exceptionally diverse melodies of specific meaning, sung for a purpose, and are much more complex than the calls used for signaling. They are generally used by males to advertise and defend a territory, or in courtship. It is also believed that songs serve a social function. When a pair is building their nest, they also establish communication by song. Experiments on caged birds have also demonstrated that birds find it easier to learn songs if another bird is present, but out of sight, in another cage. (9)

Male and female birds have different structures of the brain, especially in the regions in the context of sound production. With many songbird species, the males sing, but women can not. The males use "Song" to call their classmates or designate a tree, pole or electrical cable as a place to perch. Any sings a song with its own characteristics, but a certain species' songs display variations depending on age, gender, special time of year, and the geographical location suitable for the environment in which they live. For example, birds that live in Meadows with "Songs of the flight." Even those who live in the dense foliage of the rain forests or thickets of reeds have loud voices to compensate for reduced visibility.

God’s Miracle of Inspiration

As we have explained, birds employ the most suitable methods of communication for their habitats and objectives. There is no question of every bird being able to know which song it should sing under which circumstances, or to calculate on its own the meaning and purpose of the song it will sing. According to the Darwinist way of thinking, however, all the birds and other living creatures that we see around us, , all the abilities that they exhibit and all the beauty that they display, are the products of blind chance. Yet obviously, the consciousness and design that pervade life and living things at every moment cannot be explained in terms of a series of mere coincidences.

Living things devoid of reason and judgment can exhibit such behavior because such intelligence and consideration of the future are inspired in them by God. God creates every living thing with the characteristics it requires and inspires its appropriately intelligent behavior. All living things perform only those functions that God inspires in them, serving as a means whereby we are able to witness His might. In one verse of the Qur’an, God reveals:

Do you not see that everyone in the heavens and Earth glorifies God, as do the birds with their outspread wings? Each one knows its prayer and glorification. God knows what they do. (Qur’an, 24:41)

A letter to the Muslim, Christian and Jewish believers

Muslim, Christian and Jewish believers,

Let’s Act All Together for Love, Peace and Brotherhood and Respect the Faiths.

All prophets are very beautiful people.

Their disposition, morals and attitudes are excellent. They are good people, the majority are respected and loved.

Any inappropriate language directed at them disturbs all believers. It is unreasonable to explain away such an opposite attitude by the excuses of "democracy" or "tolerance".

From the Qur’an, as well as the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, we know that throughout history, unbelievers seemed to mock and slander God’s blessed messengers. However, the Qur’an foretells the miserable end of those who try to ridicule God’s messengers, with these words: “Messengers before you were also mocked, but those who jeered were engulfed by what they mocked.” (Qur’an, 6: 10)

Jesus (peace be upon him) is also one of the Islamic prophets highly praised in the Qur’an. In one verse, the Qur’an states that people also attempted to mock Jesus (pbuh) in the time of our Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace):

When an example is made of the son of Mary [Jesus], your people laugh uproariously. (Qur’an, 43: 57)

From the Hebrew Bible, the holy book of the Jews, we learn that Prophets Elijah, Moses, Job and many other prophets (peace be upon them all) met similar attitudes from the people they addressed. As it is stated:

But they mocked God's messengers, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against His people and there was no remedy. (2 Chronicles 36: 16)

Whom are you mocking? At whom do you sneer and stick out your tongue?

. . . In the light of these things, should I relent? (Isaiah 57: 4, 6)

Likewise, the hostile manner of the unbelievers to God's blessed messenger Jesus (pbuh) is related in the New Testament in these terms:

He [Jesus] will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him... (Luke 18: 32)

For further information, please visit www.islamdenouncesterrorism.com

Harun Yahya / Global Publishing

www.harunyahya.com / www.bookglobal.net

About Mr. Adnan Oktar @ Harun Yahya

Harun Yahya is a pen name used by Mr. Adnan Oktar.

Born in Ankara in 1956, Adnan Oktar is a prominent Turkish intellectual. Completely devoted to moral values and dedicated to communicating the sacred values he cherishes to other people, Oktar started his intellectual struggle in 1979 during his education at Mimar Sinan University's Academy of Fine Arts. During his university years, he carried out detailed research into the prevalent materialistic philosophies and ideologies around him, to the extent of becoming even more knowledgeable about them than their advocates. As a result of his accumulation of knowledge, he has written various books on the fallacy of the theory of evolution. His dedicated intellectual effort against Darwinism and materialism has grown out to be a worldwide phenomenon. Quoting from the 22 April 2000 issue of New Scientist, Mr. Oktar became an "international hero" in communicating the fallacy of the theory of evolution and the fact of creation. The author's intellectual struggle against materialism and Darwinism has frequently been mentioned in such mainly evolutionist publications as National Geographic, Science, New Scientist and NSCE Reports. The English and German editions of the November, 2004, issue of National Geographic referred to the author's works concerning the Fact of Creation. The following quotation from the book The Evolution Deceit was also included: "The theory of evolution is nothing but a deception imposed on us by the dominators of the world system." The author has also produced various works on Zionist racism and Freemasonry and their negative effects on world history and politics. The Zionism criticised by the author in his books is the baseless claims of Zionist extremists pretend to world sovereignty, regard other human beings as worthless entities, maintain that the Jews are the chosen people and that God is theirs alone. Yet the author's writings very definitely do not imply a rejection of the Jews' right to live in peace and security within the borders of their own state.