230722a THE QURAN AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES: MANIFESTATIONS OF ALLAH’S SIGNS IN PHYSIOLOGY, BIOCHEMISTRY, AND PHARMACOLOGY

Presented at the IIUM course on Quran and Sunnat held on 22nd July 2023 by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard)

ALLAH’S SIGNS ARE EVERYWHERE

• Fussilat:53 سَنُرِيهِمْ آيَاتِنَا فِي الْآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنفُسِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ ۗ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِ بِرَبِّكَ أَنَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ

2.0 PHYSIOLOGY: Definition

• Study of the functioning of the organism at the cellular, tissue, organ, and organismal levels. There is unity of structure among living things leading to similar physiological functions. General physiological concepts can therefore be applied to plants and animals.
• Physiology uses chemical, physical, and anatomical methods in studying bodily functions. 
• The main areas of study in physiology are metabolism (energy production, nutrition, and digestion, blood as a transport medium, transmembrane transport) and information transfer (neurophysiology and hormonal regulation).  

3.0 THE CONCEPT OF A PHYSIOLOGICAL ENTITY

• The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) described the human body as a single physiological entity such that if any part is afflicted the rest of the body is also affected and it responds[1].
• Hadith on the body as one physiological entity. Bukhari 6011 ترى المؤمنين في تراحمهم وتوادهم وتعاطفهم كمثل الجسد، إذا اشتكى عضو تداعى له سائر جسده بالسهر والحمى.

3.0  THE  CONCEPT  OF  A PHYSIOLOGICAL  ENTITY: Con’t.

• This description is in accord with the current physiological and pathological concepts of systemic involvement and coordination between different organs and systems of the body.
• This description of more than 14 centuries ago fits very well with the modern concepts of systemic effects of local pathology that disturb the balance.

4.0 CORRELATION BETWEEN ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY:

• Each cell, tissue, or organ is adapted structurally to its function.
• It is impossible to find any structure in the body that has no function.
• This is an illustration of the purposiveness of creation in that Allah did not create anything that has no function. Surat Muminun: 115 أَفَحَسِبْتُمْ أَنَّمَا خَلَقْنَـٰكُمْ عَبَثًۭا وَأَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْنَا لَا تُرْجَعُونَ ١١٥

5.0 CHARACTERISTICS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL PHENOMENA

• Repeatability/replicability: All biological phenomena are repeatable exactly many times with no mistakes which shows that there is accurate and effective control.
• Specificity, i.e., organs and tissues have specific functions, extends to the cellular and sub-cellular levels.
• Specialization of body systems assures efficiency.
• Complementarity exists alongside the delicate specialization of the various systems.

6.0  CHARACTERISTICS  OF PHYSIOLOGICAL PHENOMENA, con’t.

• A hierarchy of importance operates in all physiological systems. The functions, locations, and special peculiarities of each organ indicate its relative importance in the physiology of the human body. The brain and the heart for example have more protection from mechanical damage than other organs.
• Information processing/perception is highly developed. The body can collect and integrate information of various kinds as the basis for the integrated functioning of the body.

7.0 PHYSIOLOGICAL ANTICIPATION: Reserve capacity in organs and compensation for overload

• The organism anticipates and deals with sudden changes.
• Each organ is made with excess functional capacity which anticipates both physiological and pathological situations that call for increased work.
• The excess capacity anticipates disease conditions that may destroy part of an organ so that the remaining part can sustain function.

8.0 PHYSIOLOGICAL ANTICIPATION: Reserve capacity in organs and compensation for overload, con’t.

• The parity of organs is also part of the functional reserve.
• Each organ or body system has inbuilt mechanisms that enable it to adjust rapidly and efficiently to situations of increased demand.
• This is the phenomenon of compensation for overload.

PHYSIOLOGY: Circadian Rhythm

• Human physiology has cyclic events in 24 hours.
• Quran talks about the diurnal variation. Furqan:47  وَهُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ اللَّيْلَ لِبَاسًا وَالنَّوْمَ سُبَاتًا وَجَعَلَ النَّهَارَ نُشُورًا Naba: 9-11  وَجَعَلْنَا نَوْمَكُمْ سُبَاتًا وَجَعَلْنَا اللَّيْلَ لِبَاسًا وَجَعَلْنَا النَّهَارَ مَعَاشًا 
• During waking hours mental and physical functions are at their maximum. There is an increase in tissue-cell growth, digestion,
• During sleeping hours there are decreases in voluntary muscle activity, metabolic rate, respiratory rate, heart rate, blood pressure, excretion

10.0 PHYSIOLOGY: Circadian Rhythm, con’t.

• Adrenaline is secreted in maximal amounts 2 hours before waking up to prepare the body for action.
• Body temperature varies according to the circadian rhythm.
• The changes of light and darkness are the signals that control the circadian rhythms.
• Control of the circadian rhythm is within the hypothalamus.
• When the circadian rhythm is disturbed the body will require several days to adjust.

11.0 BIOCHEMISTRY: Concepts

• Biochemistry is the chemistry of life. It employs methods of organic and physical chemistry for physiological functions.
• Biochemistry illustrates a fundamental concept that laws that apply to inorganic substances are the same laws that apply to organic ones because they are governed by the same sunan llah. Biochemistry studies chemical substances and chemical processes.
• The study of chemical substances involves the study of the structure of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, vitamins, and hormones. 

12.0 BIOCHEMISTRY: Concepts, con’t.

• The study of processes (metabolism) includes anabolism such as protein synthesis, catabolism such as generation and conversion of energy, nutrition including digestion and absorption, blood as a transport medium, genetic function, and neuro-humoral regulation of body processes.
• Chemical reactions are mediated by enzymes that are in turn under genetic control.
• Biochemistry, like physiology, in essence, is a marriage between biological and physical sciences. Among the sub-disciplines of biochemistry are: clinical, nutrition, and molecular biochemistry. Clinical chemistry studies the composition of plasma and other body fluids as an aid in disease diagnosis.

13.0 CHEMICAL STRUCTURE: complexity from a few buildings’ blocks

• The complex human organism has a few basic building blocks: A few amino acids are the basic building blocks for the complex proteins. Complexity out of simplicity is a biological miracle.
• Similarly, the basic building blocks of carbohydrates and lipids are simple sugars and fatty acids.
• The ubiquitous water molecule dominates human physiology. The hydrogen bond in water is perhaps the most important one in biochemistry.
• Water the basis of life is the best solvent because of its polarity which makes it possible for it to form hydrogen bonds.
• Water is a weak electrolyte and is thus able to play a major role in the acid-base balance of the body.

14.0 CHEMICAL STRUCTURE: Chemistry and life are intimately related.

• The artificial synthesis of urea in 1928 was a momentous event because it showed that compounds in living things can be synthesized in the laboratory.
• Biological phenomena that constitute life are in essence based on many chemical reactions.
• Humans can carry out many or all of those chemical reactions.
• It is not however possible for a human to create life by replication of these chemical reactions. This is because there is a missing dimension that alone confers life as we know it and that comes only from the handiwork of Allah the almighty.

15.0 CHEMICAL STRUCTURE: Chemistry and life are intimately related, con’t.

• The purposiveness, organization, and integration of life are more than the sum of its component chemical reactions.
• It is possible to predict the chemical reactions of molecules by knowing the type of chemical bonds.
• Symmetry affects function. A study of stereo-chemistry shows that stereo-isomers which differ only in the symmetrical disposition of some atoms or bonds have different chemical properties.

16.0 CHEMICAL REACTIONS: Metabolism

• The term metabolism refers to the chemical reactions of the body. They involve the use of energy from the environment for the life processes of movement, growth, and reproduction.
• Metabolism illustrates the essential unity of life because metabolic reactions at the cellular level are similar in many living things, plants, and animals. This is a very strong indicator of one Creator. It is even more fascinating to observe that this similarity is due to a common DNA-based control system.
• Metabolic processes do not create or destroy energy but transform it from one form to another. Catabolic metabolic processes result in energy release by breaking down organic molecules. Anabolic metabolic reactions result in the synthesis of complex molecules from simpler ones accompanied by expenditure of energy.

17.0 CHEMICAL REACTIONS: Metabolism, con’t.

• Energy from catabolism is used to synthesize ATP from ADP and phosphate. ATP is used in the biosynthesis of compounds needed by the cell.
• Metabolic processes are controlled by end-product inhibition.
• Finer control is available by use of pacemaker enzymes that bind to and change the configuration and hence the properties of enzymes. Control may also occur at the level of gene expression.

18.0 BIOCHEMISTRY: Metabolism

• The term metabolism refers to all enzyme-catalyzed chemical reactions in the body. It in essence is the extraction of energy from the environment for purposes of viral processes or for synthesis of essential compounds.
• Metabolism is one of the signs of Allah because metabolic processes at the cellular level are fairly similar in plants, animals, and microorganisms. This unity of life is a strong indicator of a powerful creator for all these living things.
• Metabolism obeys the first law of thermodynamics about the conservation of energy. Organisms do not produce energy or consume they just change energy from one form to another.
• What happens is an increase of entropy for the whole system while organisms increase their internal order at the expense of external order.
• Metabolism can be divided into synthesis (anabolism) and breakdown (catabolism). The anabolic and catabolic chemical pathways in the cell are separate to prevent potential interference. Both processes are subject to feedback regulation.

19.0 BIOCHEMISTRY: Predictability

• The discovery of the periodic table of elements is one of the strong indicators that there is order in the universe.
• It is possible to predict properties or elements and chemical reactions from the position of elements in the table.
• It is also possible to predict to a high degree of accuracy properties of elements not yet discovered.
• Many physiological phenomena are cyclical. The urea cycle which operates to eliminate excess ammonia gives us a good example of cyclicity. The carrier molecule ornithine is regenerated after the formation of each molecule of urea. 

20.0 BIOCHEMISTRY: Enzymes

• Enzymes catalyze chemical reactions by decreasing the activation energy. The rate of chemical reactions would be too slow without enzymes.
• Enzymes are involved in metabolism, energy transformations, and synthesis of macromolecules. Enzymes are also used in some therapies to kill microorganisms, promote wound healing, and diagnose disease.
• The enzyme is not changed in the course of the reaction. It does not change the equilibrium constant; it only increases the speed of reaching equilibrium.
• The apoenzyme is part of the enzyme that is catalytically inactive.
• Co-factors are small organic or inorganic molecules that the enzyme requires for its action.

21.0 BIOCHEMISTRY: Enzymes, con’t.

• A prosthetic group is similar to the co-factor but is more tightly bound to the apoenzyme. The complex of the apoenzyme and co-factor or prosthetic group is called a holoenzyme.
• Enzymes are specific because they have specific substrate-binding sites. 
• Depending on the reactions that they catalyze, enzymes can be classified as oxidoreductases, transferases, hydrolases, lyases, isomerases, and ligases.
• Enzyme saturation kinetics can be described precisely by mathematical equations.
• Enzyme inhibition can be competitive, non-competitive, and uncompetitive.

22.0 BIOCHEMISTRY: New Synthetic Molecules

• The metabolism of new synthetic molecules is a miracle of creation that needs appreciation.
• The finding that synthetic molecules can be metabolized by biological systems indicates the existence of a unifying scheme of creation based on sunan al laahi fi al kawn.

23.0 BIOCHEMISTRY: Chemical Reactions Catalyzed By Enzymes

• Enzymes act as catalysts regulating chemical reactions in the body. Most enzymes are proteins but it has been discovered that RNA has some enzymatic activity.
• Co-factors bind to enzymes and are the ones directly involved in chemical reactions. The co-factor may be an organic molecule called a co-enzyme or an inorganic metal ion.
• An enzyme acts only on one specific substrate with very specific congruence in structure to allow binding.
• There are 6 types of enzymes: oxidoreductases, transferases, hydrolases, isomerases, lyases, and ligases (synthetases).
• Enzymes act by lowering the activation energy needed to start a chemical reaction. 

24.0 BIOCHEMISTRY: Chemical Reactions Catalyzed by Enzymes, con’t.

• Some enzymes are not found in certain cells. Some enzymes are formed only when required.
• Hormones and other body chemicals affect enzyme synthesis.
• Only a very small quantity of enzyme is needed because enzymes are not used up in chemical reactions and can be reused several times over.
• Enzymes can be inhibited by competitive inhibition when a molecule of a similar structure to the substrate binds to the active site of the enzyme. They can also be inhibited by noncompetitive inhibition when a substance binds to an enzyme at a site different from the active site. Such binding changes the function of the enzyme.

25.0 PHARMACOLOGY: Definition

• Pharmacology is the science of drug use in medicine. A drug is defined as any substance that affects the processes of the human body or that of microorganisms.
• Pharmacology studies the mechanisms of drugs in the human body. This includes mechanisms of action, physical properties, chemical properties, metabolism, and therapeutics.
• There is a relationship between the chemical structure and function of a drug. Thus, small changes in the drug can affect function.
• Drugs act on three types of targets: specific drug receptors, macromolecules such as enzymes, and cell membranes.
• Drug treatment is the most frequently used therapeutic modality for the simple reason that the blood transport system can take the drug to any part of the body.
• Agonist drugs may bind to receptors to initiate a chemical or physiological reaction. Antagonist drugs bind to the receptors to inhibit the attachment of a normal physiological molecule.
• Antagonists are used specifically to block the effects of certain natural agonists.

26.0 PHARMACOLOGY: Mechanism of drug action by binding on receptors

• Binding requires a precise chemical congruence between a drug and a receptor. Affinity is the ability of a drug to bind to a receptor.
• Efficacy is the ability of the drug-receptor complex to produce a chemical or physiological effect. Both affinity and efficacy determine a drug’s potency.
• Receptors are proteins in the cell membrane that face outwards to avoid binding by intracellular substances. However, receptors for steroids are in the nucleus and are thus less easily accessible.

26.0 PHARMACOLOGY: Mechanism of drug action by binding on receptors, con’t.

• Receptor activation leads to the cellular response by controlling the movement of ions across the membrane, regulation of intracellular chemical reactions through mediators such as cAMP, and regulation of protein synthesis through action on DNA.
• Receptors develop desensitization on prolonged exposure to a drug; this explains the phenomenon of tolerance.
• Some drugs bind to specific molecules and exert direct effects that are not mediated through receptors. Some drugs act by producing osmotic changes.

27.0 PHARMACOLOGY: Body response to drugs

• Response to drugs varies by age, genetics, absorption, disease status, drug interaction, and drug tolerance.
• Adverse effects may be minor or major. They may be exaggerations of the normal effects of the drug or maybe idiosyncratic effects usually with an allergic basis.
• Drugs also can be teratogenic or carcinogenic.
• Drugs are metabolized in the liver and their metabolites are excreted by the kidney. Some drugs do not enter cells and are excreted directly in the urine without liver metabolism.
• The time course of drug action is divided into the absorption phase leading to maximum plasma concentration, the redistribution phase when plasma concentration falls due to tissue uptake, and the elimination phase.
• The plasma half-life is defined as the time needed for the plasma concentration to fall to half of the initial value. A drug with a short half-life has to be administered more frequently.

28.0 AUTONOMIC SYSTEM PHARMACOLOGY:

• The sympathetic system mediates fight-or-flight reactions.
• The parasympathetic system mediates rest and energy conservation.
• Epinephrine (adrenaline) is the neurotransmitter of the sympathetic system while acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter of the parasympathetic system.
• Parasympathetic receptors can be muscarinic or nicotinic. Adrenergic receptors may be alpha or beta.
• Other neurotransmitters are ATP, dopamine, substance P, and cholecystokinin.
• Drugs can interfere with neurotransmitters at the stages of synthesis, release, binding to receptors, and inactivation.

29.0 ANESTHETIC PHARMACOLOGY:

• Anesthetics suppress sensations of touch, pressure, and pain. They may be generally producing loss of consciousness or may be local.
• There are 4 stages of general anesthesia: I - loss of consciousness accompanied by modest muscular relaxation, II - increased excitability, III - full anesthesia, and IV - loss of respiration and collapse of circulation.
• When an anesthetic is combined with a muscle relaxant, artificial respiration is necessary.
• Local anesthetics block the transmission of impulses along neurons. The thinnest fibers are blocked first and, fortunately, the thinnest fibers carry a dull pain sensation. Thus, pain sensation can be blocked without blocking motor activity.

30.0 PERIODICITY: Biological Rhythms

• Biological rhythms are periodic changes that are in response to environmental change or are due to an internal biological clock.
• A 24-hour biological rhythm is called a circadian rhythm.
• Monthly lunar rhythms occur every 29.5 days.
• Annual rhythms occur every year.
• Examples of circadian rhythms are ACTH secretion, Wake and sleep, body temperature, and melatonin secretion.

31.0 PERIODICITY: Cyclicity

• Many phenomena in human biology go through a full circle and repeat themselves. Nothing illustrates this better than the origin and fate of the human body.
• Earth is the origin of all the physical elements of the human body and to it all return. Humans were created from dust. Surat al Hajj:5 يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِن كُنتُمْ فِي رَيْبٍ مِّنَ الْبَعْثِ فَإِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ مِن نُّطْفَةٍ ثُمَّ مِنْ عَلَقَةٍ ثُمَّ مِن مُّضْغَةٍ مُّخَلَّقَةٍ وَغَيْرِ مُخَلَّقَةٍ لِّنُبَيِّنَ لَكُمْ ۚ وَنُقِرُّ فِي الْأَرْحَامِ مَا نَشَاءُ إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى ثُمَّ نُخْرِجُكُمْ طِفْلًا ثُمَّ لِتَبْلُغُوا أَشُدَّكُمْ ۖ وَمِنكُم مَّن يُتَوَفَّىٰ وَمِنكُم مَّن يُرَدُّ إِلَىٰ أَرْذَلِ الْعُمُرِ لِكَيْلَا يَعْلَمَ مِن بَعْدِ عِلْمٍ شَيْئًا ۚ وَتَرَى الْأَرْضَ هَامِدَةً فَإِذَا أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْهَا الْمَاءَ اهْتَزَّتْ وَرَبَتْ وَأَنبَتَتْ مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍ بَهِيجٍ
• They return to the earth on death and burial, ‘awdat al insan ila al turab.. Surat Taha:55  مِنْهَا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ وَفِيهَا نُعِيدُكُمْ وَمِنْهَا نُخْرِجُكُمْ تَارَةً أُخْرَىٰ

32.0 PERIODICITY: Cyclicity, con’t.

• Humans also go through a social cycle. They start with weakness as infants. They become strong as young adults before becoming weak again in old age. Surat al Hajj:5
• The cell cycle has 4 phases: G0, G1, G2, and S.
• The mature human female has several cyclical phenomena: ovarian, uterine, cervical, and vaginal cycles.
• The human menstrual cycle differs from the estrus cycle in animals.

33.0 CONSTANCY and PREDICTABILITY: Diagnostic tests:

• The principle is that there is consistency and predictability.
• Indirect measures of phenomena.
• Concept of normative distribution.
• The central tendency.
• Methods of direct visualization of sample e.g., histology, slides, electron microscopy, x-ray, cat scan, MRI.
• Serology: agglutination, precipitation, electrophoresis, radioimmunoassay.
• Measure products of metabolism & their homeostatic levels: primary, intermediate, and final.

34.0 CONSTANCY and PREDICTABILITY: Drug action

• Three stages can be defined for drug action. The pharmaceutical phase is the disintegration of the drug. The pharmaco-kinetic phase is the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of the drug. The pharmaco-dynamic phase involves drug-receptor interactions.
• Drugs act at the following levels: molecular, subcellular structures, cells, tissues and organs, intact organisms, and interaction between organisms.
• The target of drug action is enzymes, transport systems, and receptors. Drugs act by specific interference with metabolic processes[2].
• Almost all drugs act by interference with cell division or cell growth either in humans or in the pathogens or neoplasms.

34.0 CONSTANCY and PREDICTABILITY: Drug action, con’t.

• The agents interfere with the synthesis or function of DNA, RNA, arrest of metaphase, or arrest of telophase.
• The non-specific mechanisms that determine drug action are osmotic properties, acidity, basicity, oxidizing and reducing agents, protein precipitation, physical barriers, adsorbents, and surfactants.
• Chemical bonds (covalent and electric-static) are intimately bound with drug action. Receptor action may be agonist or antagonist.
• Structure determines receptor action. Antibiotics act by inhibiting protein synthesis in micro-organisms but not in humans.

REFERENCE:

1. (MB2018 p. 955)
2. (Bowman p 2.29)