Medical references at the shadows of Chapter The Cave |
Allah the Almighty says in this chapter : “Then We smote their ears in the Cave many years.” The sense of hearing is a physiological one that does not stop functioning at the time of sleep (the sleeper can wake up at a nearby sound). As the 8th cranial nerve (which passes in the inner part of the ear) has two divisions: one for hearing and the other for equilibrium (position and movement of the head). In the case of Cave Sleepers the physiological function of both hearing and equilibrium did stop, therefore, the Quranic verse uses the expression “Smote their ears..” rather than their hearing. The other bodily functions were veiled, and the eye did not see though open : “You would have thought them awake, as they lay sleeping” And their muscles did not move, although they were alive: “While We turned them now to the right, now to the left” Their shape did not change although many years elapsed as they did not notice real changes on their faces when they woke up: “They said: ’We have tarried a day, or part of a day ” Their conditions as such are like that of preserving organs through cooling to cause metabolic inhibition, which is used extensively in the medical field to preserve donated organs (heart, kidneys, cornea, etc) before transplantation into another body. Therefore, the sun inclines towards the right when rising up and towards the left when setting down, so that it will not strike them, while they are in a gap in the cave:
“You would have thought them awake, as they lay sleeping”. and did not say; “You would have thought them dead, as they lay sleeping”, as the sign of awakening is ‘eye wink’. Allah preserved their eyes from blindness through blinking, as the eye if kept closed for a long period of time will be blind, because the optic nerve will shrink and die, and if it is kept open, the cornea will be affected with corneo-xerosis, and blindness. Therefore, this rare status of theirs would have aroused terror, if seen, as they were not alive or dead. They were asleep, yet their eyes were blinking: “Had you observed them surely you would have turned your back on them in flight, and been filled with terror of them.” As Allah preserved their eyes through blinking, He also preserved their bodies from ulcers through constant turning: “While We turned them now to the right, now to the left” so that they would not be affected with pressure sores.
Pressure or bed sore in the lower back due to lack of movements in a paralyzed patient |
Friday, January 11, 2008
Medical references at the shadows of Chapter The Cave
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