Medical Science; A Path to Know God
Hossein Keyvani, a prominent Iranian professor of virology, spoke to IQNA about the amazing points about the human body and the lessons that it carries for worshipping God. Here is a summary of his remarks:
We are all aware of the sanctity of medical science and its benefits for mankind. According to religious texts, there are basically two types of knowledge, one relates to religions and the other relates to bodies. One of the sciences associated with the latter is medical science. Encountering the wonders that we observe when studying our bodies, we are reminded of what Imam Ali (AS) once said: “One who knows himself has known his God.” This knowledge of the self has material and spiritual aspects.
A human being is created by a sperm and grows inside the mother's womb before being born into this world. He/she grows up but this growth slows down over time. Despite this, the cells of this human are not the same cells that he/she was born with as these cells are constantly being replaced with newer ones: 330 billion new cells are being produced in our bodies every day.
Role of viruses in human life
The nature of these viruses is such that they cannot destroy the human race. That is, there has never been a time when an illness could destroy all or a high percentage of humanity. Illnesses such as those created by the Covid-19 virus have been common in human history but the human race is still alive and active because of what God has destined.
Viruses have been around since the beginning of creation; about eight percent of our genes are made up of viruses. Of course, we have identified a small fraction of these viruses as a major fraction of them are in the oceans and marine creatures. Reading verse 30 of Surah al-Anbiya “We made every living thing of water? Will they not believe!”, I think that one interpretation of this verse can be that life started from water, and this is in line with evolutionary theories.
Wonders in our bodies
We have 100 billion nerve cells that transmit information. Right now as I speak, the information must be transmitted from my nerves to each other and then to the muscles of the tongue so that I can move my tongue to announce some concepts and you will understand what I am saying in a billionth of a second.
If you think about these steps, you will understand how complicated they are. The speed with which this information is transferred in our brain is close to 500 kilometers per hour, and if we get all our veins connected, a 96,000-km-long string that is enough for going around the earth more than two times.
When we get acquainted with these topics, we understand why it is recommended to study the knowledge that relates to bodies including medicine. Of course, we must admit that despite the advances that have been achieved in medical science, the unknowns are still outnumbering what is known.
The sacred science of medicine
Medicine is a sacred science and its sanctity is because it saves human lives, as it is mentioned in the Quran that who saves one person, it is as if he has saved all of humanity. “Whoever killed a soul, except for a soul slain, or for sedition in the earth, it should be considered as though he had killed all mankind.” (Surah Al-Ma'idah, verse 32)
