Episode 19 - The Perplexing Code!

Introduction: The Puzzling Code

Peace be upon you, dear viewers. In the previous episode, we saw the enormous length of genetic material in each of our bodies. Today, we will see something even more astonishing! We will see how this genetic material is translated into fat, flesh, and blood. Another witness to Allah's creation, who has perfected everything.

The topic is not easy, and it may seem scientifically rigid at first, but it is extremely important. I strongly advise patience until the end, and the benefit will be great, God willing. We will explain a simple example, then apply it to our bodies.

Illustrative Example: The Library and the City

Imagine with me a library. From the information in the books within it, we will build a large city. That is, the entire city is encoded in these books. Each book contains a description of how to operate a unit of construction: bricks, arches, columns, bridges, wooden panels, marble pieces, and so on.

It is forbidden to take these books out. Therefore, there are employees in the library whose job is to copy the books and deliver these copies to workers outside the library. The workers outside read the copies and manufacture construction units based on them. Then, other workers come and place each piece in its place, resulting in a large city.

Nearby, there is a library that contains the same books, but the employees of that library copy books... some of which are the same as the first library's books, and some of which are different. These copies go out to the workers outside, who manufacture construction units. Then, workers come and place the units in their place, resulting in another city, which is similar in some aspects and different in others from the first city. A large number of adjacent cities form a large world.

Applying the Example to the Human Body

Let's apply the example to ourselves. Your body is this world, and the adjacent cities are the different cells of your body. Bone cells, muscle cells, cells that secrete hormones like insulin, and so on. All these cells contain the same library, meaning they contain the same books.

The library is the nucleus of the cell, and the entire collection of books forms the genetic material. The genetic material is composed of small building units called nucleotides. There are four different nucleotides, symbolized by the letters: A, T, G, and C. That is, as if the language of the books in the library is composed of four letters.

These nucleotides arrange themselves in different forms, resulting in genes separated from each other, just as the books in the library are separated from each other. Therefore, each gene is a large number of nucleotides arranged in a certain way. In humans, there are approximately 20,000 genes, each of which translates into a specific protein. Just as a book translates into a specific construction unit, such as a brick or an arch, and so on.

For example: a gene translates into the insulin hormone that regulates blood sugar. A gene translates into collagen, which builds bones and skin, and all of these are proteins.

The Process of Translating a Gene into a Protein

From the Gene to the Copy (RNA)

So, how is the gene translated into a protein? The gene is like readable letters, and the protein is a real particle built from a group of amino acids, meaning: a group of amino acids connected to each other form the protein. What is this process that seems to be intelligent, reading the letters, decoding them, and manufacturing the protein based on them?

Readers come to the gene to be translated specifically. These readers are a group of particles that gather... they come and separate the two strands of the genetic material (DNA) from each other and read one of them, creating a strand (RNA) that matches it. These particles that resemble hammers... are different nucleotides present in the nucleus of the cell, which the readers describe according to the gene. That is, they take the gene as a template to form a copy based on it.

In other words, to simplify: we can say that the RNA strand is like a copy of the gene... just as a library employee writes a copy of the book in our example. All of this happens inside the nucleus of the cell, meaning inside the library.

From the Copy to the Protein

After that, the copy exits the nucleus, and an agent - which in the cell is called a ribosome - comes to read the copy and manufacture a building unit based on it. Here comes the knot of converting the copy into proteins. The copy is composed of nucleotides, meaning of letters / of speech. The protein is composed of amino acids, meaning of real matter. How will this agent - the ribosome - be able to build a protein from reading a strand of nucleotides?

There are particles called transfer RNA (t-RNA), which are assembled on the copy like Lego bricks and on the other side carry an amino acid. Each carrier carries a different amino acid from the other. The ribosome arranges these carriers according to the copy strand and connects the amino acids to each other from the other end, forming a long strand of amino acids. Then this strand separates and undergoes many modifications, resulting in a specific protein.

Therefore, we say that the resulting protein is encoded in the genetic material... meaning: the information necessary for its manufacture is stored in the genetic material in a special language and requires readers capable of decoding it.

Directing Proteins and Regulating the Cell

The protein, meaning the building unit, is received by special identifiers that guide it to its appropriate place in the cell, just as workers place the building units in the appropriate place in the city. For example: there are proteins that gather to form bundles, these bundles form something resembling a network of roads inside the cell. Other proteins are stored inside large vesicles, transported by other proteins also called: motor proteins, taking the mentioned bundles as a path to travel on.

Everything finds its way to its appropriate place. "Our Lord is the One who gave everything its creation, then guided it" [Surah Ta-Ha: 50]. All of this is encoded in the library's books, meaning in the genetic material. The network of roads, the motor and transported proteins, even the readers inside the nucleus, and the ribosomes... everything necessary to build the city, -meaning: the cell- is present in the library.

Cell Differentiation

So, what made a skin cell, for example, different from a pancreatic cell? Even though both have the same library and books! Because the library employee in the skin cell produces a copy of the collagen book - meaning of the collagen gene - which helps give the skin its consistency, while the library employee in the pancreatic cell produces a copy of the insulin gene, which the pancreas secretes.

The Size of Genetic Information

And since your body contains a very large number of cell types, each with a large number of details, the genetic material contains a huge amount of information encoded in more than 3 billion and 500 million pairs of nucleotides. That is, more than 7 billion nucleotides.

If we imagine the construction plan sheet crammed with nucleotide symbols in this form arranged perfectly, we would need approximately two million and 700,000 sheets like this to write the genetic material in a single cell! A ream of paper contains 500 sheets, and therefore; we need 5,423 reams like this. If we stack them on top of each other, they would reach a height of approximately 300 meters. That is, the height of a skyscraper! This is the genetic material in a single cell.

Reflections on Creativity and Creation

Ask yourself: Who created all of this? Atheism answers: It is nothingness, non-existence! Non-existence created nucleotides and arranged them into orderly genes. Non-existence compiled this immense amount of information and encoded it within a very small nucleus. It is non-existence that created the readers which go to the specific gene required and produce a copy from it. Then non-existence took the copy from the nucleus to the cell's fluid. Then non-existence created the ribosomes that decode the genetic code and turn what resembles arranged letters into the required protein, assisted by carriers. Then non-existence transported the resulting protein to its appropriate place in the cell.

It is non-existence that created the transfer protein and the carrier protein and the network of paths they travel on. It is non-existence that created all of this, and created it by chance! Beware of thinking that all of this requires a great, all-knowing, powerful, wise Creator who perfected everything. Rather, it is a matter of time, billions of years in which non-existence experiments with random hits... and creates all of this from nothing, and organizes it into this wonderful, beautiful system.

Do you know, my brothers... I was preparing the episodes of the Journey of Certainty until I reached the models of perfection in creation... so I froze there, hesitated, my tongue was tied, and my pen dried up. Because truly, as much as I can recall the greatness of Allah in any corner of His creation, I cannot bear the idea of trying to convince anyone that all of this must have a Creator. However, I seek forgiveness from your Lord, and perhaps they will be God-fearing. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.