By: Zia Mahmood Minhas
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The Diptera |
Mosquito and fly belong to the largest order of insects –The Diptera. The insects belonging to this order are distinguished by following features:
- one pair of membranous wings
- Hind legs are reduced to small club like structures called halters. These are used as stabilizers during flight. The halters are situated behind the forewings. The base of halters is flexible and with their movements, speed or direction of flight can be changed. This phenomenon enables these insects to outsmart other insects in maneuverability.
- Large compound eyes.
- Short simple antennae, frilled or bushy in form.
The Mosquito
The mosquito has been mentioned in Soorah Al-Baqarah
إِنَّ اللَّـهَ لَا يَسْتَحْيِي أَن يَضْرِبَ مَثَلًا مَّا بَعُوضَةً فَمَا فَوْقَهَا ۚ فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فَيَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ ۖوَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَيَقُولُونَ مَاذَا أَرَادَ اللَّـهُ بِهَـٰذَا مَثَلًا ۘ يُضِلُّ بِهِ كَثِيرًا وَيَهْدِي بِهِ كَثِيرًا ۚ وَمَا يُضِلُّ بِهِ إِلَّا الْفَاسِقِينَ ﴿٢٦
Allah shies not from drawing a parable even from mosquito or else anything large or small. Those who believe know it is truth from their Lord. Those who disbelieve say:”What did God intend by this parable?” Allah thereby leads many astray, And guides many. But the dissolute alone He leads astray.
(Soorah Al-Baqarah 2:26)
The verse was revealed for rebuttal of objections and ridicule by non-believers on mentioning small creatureS like fly, spider or ant in the Qur’an. According to perception of idolaters these small creatures were non-significant hence not worth mentioning by Allah.
Allah says in this verse that He is not shy on mentioning mosquito or even smaller creatures in the Qur’an. The sole purpose of these parables is to argue with non-believers for worship none but Allah. Moreover since Allah is creator of all small and large creatures, all the creations are equal in His eyes.
The insect taken by non-believers as insignificant is in reality a master piece of Allah’Screativity as all other things in the universe are. It is an amazing creature tuned by Allah, the best of creators to carry on all functions of life with perfection. Let us see how it survives in highly competitive environment successfully.
Mosquito is a small organism belonging to the family Culicidae. Over 3500 species have been described in various parts of the world. There are three genera of the insect
- Anopheles
- Culex
- Aedes
Out of these Anopheles is known carrier of malaria. All the three genera are carriers of one or more diseases like filariasis, encephalitis, yellow fever, dengue and zika fever.
The life cycle of the mosquito passes through typical stages of egg, larva pupa and adult. The first three phases are more or less passed in water and completed in 5-14 days. The adult stage may last from one week to several months depending upon environments. The female mosquito selects the site for egg laying very carefully, mostly in wet places. The eggs turn blackish within two hours of laying as a camouflage from predators. The adult mosquito has long segmented legs and compound eyes of hexagonal shape. The antennae are sensory organs having auditor receptors. The male antennae are bushier having stronger sensory capability.
The male mosquito has strong sense of hearing and it identifies the female whine through antennae. The mating takes place while flying. The male clings to the female using hooks located close to genitals. The female store the sperms in the body for fertilization of eggs.
Normally the male and female mosquito feed on nectar and plant juices. It is only female that sucks blood of the host when it has to lay eggs. The egg laying requires food containing protein; hence the female looks for the source i.e. blood. Mosquitoes may be taken as menace, but their blood sucking activity is solely for survival of species.
The female locates the victim by sensing the body temperature, odors, perspiration and carbon dioxide concentration. It has capability to detect temperature difference of a fraction of a degree.
After detection of the host, mosquito pierces the skin using its mandibles. The upper part of the jaw is like a knife and the lower one is like a saw. When the skin is pierced the sucking tube from the proboscis is inserted into the slit. Before sucking the mosquito injects its saliva in the slit. The saliva contains anticoagulation enzymes and local anesthesia. The anticoagulation enzymes inhibit congealing of blood which facilitates sucking. The anesthesia helps in avoiding being killed by host in retaliation. The abdomen is capable of holding blood three time’s body weight of the mosquito and expands considerably after successful sucking.
We have seen that an apparent small bug, insignificant to many is a complicated and highly efficient organism designed by Allah. Thus the objections of the non-believers stand nullified.
There is another intriguing scientific fact revealed in this verse. The Arabic word used in the verse is ‘baudat’ which refers the female mosquito. It is amazing since we now know that it is only the female mosquito which is pertinent to humans being a parasite.
The House Fly (Musca Domestica)
House fly is very common insect in households. It has grayish black color, hairy body and four dark longitudinal lines on the thorax. The fly has red pair of compound eyes, hexagonal in shape and the number of lenses may vary from 3000 to 4000.The eyes has a flicker fusion rate of 300/sec against human capability of 60/sec in bright light and 24/sec in dim light. Such eyes give flies an edge against adversaries.
Like all insects the life cycle of housefly passes through eg
g, larva, pupa and adult.
The entire life cycle is completed in 2-12 weeks. The adult lives up to 4 weeks. The larvae feed and thrive on garbage, carrion and feces.
The house fly has been mentioned in Soorah Al-Hajj in the context of argument against worshiping others gods against Allah.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ ضُرِبَ مَثَلٌ فَاسْتَمِعُوا لَهُ ۚ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّـهِ لَن يَخْلُقُوا ذُبَابًا وَلَوِ اجْتَمَعُوا لَهُ ۖ وَإِن يَسْلُبْهُمُ الذُّبَابُ شَيْئًا لَّا يَسْتَنقِذُوهُ مِنْهُ ۚ ضَعُفَ الطَّالِبُ وَالْمَطْلُوبُ﴿ ٧٣
O mankind, a parable is struck, so listen to it. Those whom you worship instead of Allah cannot create a fly, even if they join forces to do so. And if flies were to rob them of something, they could not retrieve it from them: weak is the seeker and week is the thing sought! (Soorah Al-Hajj 22: 73)
This is a challenge to mankind that those you worship instead of Allah cannot create a fly though they may pool their resources. It is further stated that if a fly snatches something from your so called gods, they have no capability to retrieve the stolen matter.
The digestive system of the fly is unique in a way as it takes place outside the body of the insect. The fly mixes its saliva with the food material which get dissolved instantly and then sucked by the fly.
The dissolved food material is totally different from the original food, so no one can retrieve it in original form.
The Amazing Scientific Fact Revealed
These verses point out two undeniable scientific facts.
· The morphology and capabilities of the fly are so complicated and advanced that all those false gods being worshipped have no capability to create a fly. This challenge is unmet so far and will remain so for eternity.
· The statement of the Qur’an that nobody can retrieve the material taken by fly is correct scientifically.
