The most
important component of the circulatory system that connects the 100 trillions
cells in the human body one by one, is, without doubt, the heart. With its four
different chambers that pump deoxygenated and oxygenated blood to different
parts of the body without mixing them with one another, and with its valves
that function as safety valves, the heart’s design depends on highly delicate
balances.
Our heart,
which constantly beats throughout our lives at a certain pace although we do
not intervene at all, is one of the clearest pieces of evidence of the
Creation.
Starting
to beat in the mother’s womb, the heart works, without stopping at all during
our entire lifetime, with a rhythm of 70-100 beats per minute. It rests only
for half a second between each beat and it beats approximately 100,000 times a
day. When a human’s life span is considered, we would come across a figure
quite hard to calculate.
All the
structures in the heart, which has an extremely delicate order in its
operation, are specially designed. In the heart, every detail has been
considered: the deoxygenated and oxygenated blood’s not mixing with one another,
the regulation of body pressure, the operations required for the delivery of
nutrients to the whole body, and the systems that pump blood only as much as
needed. The heart is accordingly designed for all of the above.
In the
heart, which is a wonder of design, exists a system so complex that it could
not by any means have been formed by coincidence. All of these features present
us their designer, that is, Allah, the Sustainer of all the worlds, Who creates
flawlessly and without an example.
A few features
of the heart can be listed:
The heart is placed in one of the most
protected places in the body: By being placed in the rib-cage
with a special design, the heart, one of the most important organs, is very
well protected against external blows.
Deoxygenated and oxygenated bloods never mix: In the
heart, deoxygenated and oxygenated bloods are in constant motion. A special
tissue divides the heart into four chambers with different features. The upper
part comprises the right and the left atria, which are filling chambers. They
pass the blood to the ventricles below. Thanks to the delicate order here, the
bloods never mix with each other.
It regulates the blood pressure in such a way
that it does no harm to the organs: The heart works not like a single
pump, but like two adjacent pumps, each of which has its own ventricle and
atrium. This separation also divides our circulatory system into two. The right
side of the heart sends blood with a relatively lower pressure to the lungs and
the left side pumps blood with a higher pressure to the whole body. This
pressure regulation is very important, because if the blood sent to the lungs
were pumped with the same pressure as the blood sent out around the body, the
lungs would be crushed, being unable to stand this pressure. The perfect
balance in the heart does not permit such a problem to occur in the lungs,
because the heart is flawlessly designed.
It provides for the transportation of many
needed materials to the organs: Clean blood coming from the heart
is transmitted to the tissues by the aorta and oxygen is carried to the tissues
by the vessels that reach all the cells. During its circulation in the
capillaries, blood distributes substances other than oxygen such as hormones,
food and other kind of nutrients to the tissues.
It has valves arranging the direction of
bloodstream and working in perfect harmony: In the heart, there are
valves in the mouth of each chamber that prevent the blood from flowing in the
reverse direction. These valves between the atria and ventricles are made of
fibrous tissues and held by very thin muscles. Since excess blood would leak
towards the atriums if one of these muscles stopped functioning, then serious
heart disease would occur that would cause even death. We come across with such
a condition only in cases of disease. A contrary condition never occurs.
It pumps the required amount of blood
depending on changing conditions: The amount of blood pumped by the
heart changes according to the needs of the body. Under normal conditions, the
heart beats 70 times a minute. While doing strenuous exercise, during which the
muscles need more oxygen, the heart increases the amount of blood it pumps and
raises its pace to 180 times per minute. What would happen if this were not so?
If the heart were to work at a normal pace when the body needed more energy,
the balance would be harmed and the body would be injured. However, no such
thing occurs because of the perfect structure of the heart. Without making us
obliged to engage in its regulation, the heart regulates the amount of blood to
be pumped.
It functions away from our control, yet,
exactly as it should: The amount of blood to be pumped by the heart
is controlled by a special nervous system. Whether we are asleep or awake, our
nervous system by itself regulates the amount of blood to be pumped and the
speed of pumping. The structure of the heart - that regulates without any
intervention as to where, when and how blood is needed - is flawless. Since the
heart could not have formed this system on its own, or this perfect system
could not have formed by coincidence, the heart is created. Allah, Who has
infinite knowledge, designed it in the most flawless manner possible.
It operates with a special electrical system: The
muscle which makes the heart beat and which is called the heart muscle, is
different from all other muscles in the body. Ordinary muscle cells in the body
contract whenever stimulated by the nervous system. However, heart muscle cells
contract by themselves. Those cells have the capability of initiating and
spreading their own electrical current. Although each cell possesses this
capability, none of them contracts independently from the others because then
they would function against the instructions of the electrical system
controlling them. In other words, they do not cause a chaos that would disturb
the regular pace of the heart, in which one part contracts while the other
relaxes. These cells, which are found in the form of a chain, act together as
per the instruction given by the electrical system. Again, a flawless harmony
is at work.
As seen in
all of its features, the structure of the heart shows us its flawless design,
that is, its "being created", and it thus presents us its Designer.
It presents us Allah, the Sustainer of all the worlds, Who is not seen, yet
presents Himself to us in everything He has created.
الله سبحانه وتعالى
