Chapter 17: The Fact of Creation
In the previous sections of the book, we examined why the theory of Evolution, which proposes that life was not created, is a fallacy completely contrary to scientific facts. We saw that modern science has revealed a very explicit fact through certain branches of science such as paleontology, biochemistry, and anatomy. This fact is that Allah creates all living beings.
In fact, to notice this fact one does not necessarily need to appeal to the complicated results obtained in biochemistry laboratories or geological excavations. The signs of an extraordinary wisdom are discernible in whatever living being one observes. There is a great technology and design in the body of an insect or a tiny fish in the depths of the sea never attained by human beings. Some living beings which even do not have a brain perfectly perform so complicated tasks as not to be accomplished even by human beings.
This great wisdom, organization and plan that prevails overall in nature, provides solid evidence for the existence of a supreme Creator dominating over the whole of nature, and this Creator is Allah. Allah has furnished all living beings with extraordinary features and showed men the evident signs of His existence and might.
In the following pages, we will examine only a few of the countless evidences of Creation in nature.
Honey Bees and the Architectural Wonders of Honeycombs
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Bees produce more honey than they actually need and store it in honeycombs. The hexagonal structure of the honeycomb is well-known to everyone. Have you ever wondered why bees construct hexagonal honeycombs rather than octagonal, or pentagonal?
Mathematicians looking for answer to this question reached an interesting conclusion: "A hexagon is the most appropriate geometric form for the maximum use of a given area."
A hexagonal cell requires the minimum amount of wax for construction while it stores the maximum amount of honey. So the bee uses the most appropriate form possible.
The method used in the construction of the honeycomb is also very amazing: bees start the construction of the hive from two-three different places and weave the honeycomb simultaneously in two-three strings.
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Though they start from different places, the bees, great in number, construct identical hexagons and then weave the honeycomb by combining these together and meeting in the middle. The junction points of the hexagons are assembled so deftly that there is no sign of their being subsequently combined.
In the face of this extraordinary performance, we, for sure, have to admit the existence of a superior will that ordains these creatures. Evolutionists want to explain away this achievement with the concept of "instinct" and try to present it as a simple attribute of the bee. However, if there is an instinct at work, if this rules over all bees and provides that all bees work in harmony though uninformed of one another, then it means that there is an exalted Wisdom that rules over all these tiny creatures.
To put it more explicitly, Allah, the creator of these tiny creatures, "inspires" them with what they have to do. This fact was declared in the Qur'an fourteen centuries ago:
And your Sustainer has inspired the honey bee: "Prepare for yourself dwellings in mountains and in trees, and in what [men] build; and then eat of all manner of fruit, and find with skill the spacious paths of your Sustainer". There issues from within their bodies a drink of varying colours, wherein is healing for men: verily in this is a Sign for those who give thought. (Surat an-Nahl, 68-69)
Amazing Architects: Termites
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No one can help being taken by surprise upon seeing a termite nest erected on the ground by termites. This is because the termite nests are architectural wonders that rise up as high as 5-6 meters. Within this nest are sophisticated systems to meet all the needs of termites that can never appear in sunlight because of their body structure. In the nest, there are ventilation systems, canals, larva rooms, corridors, special fungus production yards, safety exits, rooms for hot and cold weather; in brief, everything. What is more astonishing is that the termites which construct these wondrous nests are blind.182
Despite this fact, we see, when we compare the size of a termite and its nest, that termites successfully overcome an architectural project by far 300 times bigger than themselves.
Termites have yet another amazing characteristic: if we divide a termite nest into two in the first stages of its construction, and then reunite it after a certain while, we will see that all passage-ways, canals and roads intersect with each other. Termites carry on with their task as if they were never separated from each other and ordained from a single place.
The Woodpecker
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Everyone knows that woodpeckers build their nests by pecking tree trunks. The point many people do not consider is how woodpeckers undergo no brain haemorrhage when they so strongly tattoo with their head. What the woodpecker does is in a way similar to a human driving a nail in the wall with his head. If a human ventured to do something like that, he would probably undergo a brain shock followed by a brain haemorrhage. A woodpecker, however, can peck a hard tree trunk 38-43 times between 2.10 and 2.69 seconds and nothing happens to it.
Nothing happens because the head structure of woodpeckers are created as fit for this job. The woodpecker's skull has a "suspension" system that reduces and absorbs the force of the strokes. There are special softening tissues between the bones in its skull.183
The Sonar System of Bats
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Bats fly in pitch dark without trouble and they have a very interesting navigation system to do this. It is what we call "sonar" system, a system whereby the shapes of the surrounding objects are determined according to the echo of the sound waves.
A young person can barely detect a sound with a frequency of 20,000 vibrations per second. A bat furnished with a specially created "sonar system", however, makes use of sounds having a frequency of between 50,000 and 200,000 vibrations per second. It sends these sounds in all directions 20 or 30 times each second. The echo of the sound is so powerful that the bat not only understands the existence of objects in its path, but also detects the location of its swift-flying prey184
Whales
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Mammals regularly need to breathe and for this reason water is not a very convenient environment for them. In a whale, which is a sea mammal, however, this problem is handled with a breathing system far more efficient than that of many land-dwelling animals. Whales breathe out one at a time discharging 90% of the air they use. Thus, they need to breathe only at very long intervals. At the same time, they have a highly concentrated substance called "myoglobin" that helps them store oxygen in their muscles. With the help of these systems, finback whale, for instance, can dive as deep as 500 meters and swim for 40 minutes without breathing at all.185The nostrils of the whale, on the other hand, are placed on its back unlike land-dwelling mammals so that it can easily breathe.
The Creation Miracles in the Gnat
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We always think of the gnat as a flying animal. In fact, the gnat spends its developmental stages under water and gets out from under water through an exceptional structure being provided with all the organs it needs.
The gnat starts to fly with special sensing systems at its disposal to detect the place of its prey. With these systems, it resembles a war plane loaded with detectors of heat, gas, dampness and odour. It even has an ability to "see in conformity with the temperature" that helps it find its prey even in pitch dark.
The "blood-sucking" technique of the gnat comes with an incredibly complex system. With its six-bladed cutting system, it cuts the skin like a saw. While the cutting process goes on, a secretion secreted on the wound benumbs the tissues and the person does not even realise that his blood is being sucked. This secretion, at the same time, prevents the clotting of the blood and secures the continuance of the sucking process.
With even one of these elements missing, the gnat will not be able to feed on blood and carry on its generation. With its exceptional structure, even this tiny creature is an evident sign of Creation on its own. In the Qur'an, the gnat is accentuated as an example displaying the existence of Allah to the men of understanding:
Surely Allah disdains not to set forth any parable - [that of] a [female] gnat or any thing above that; then as for those who believe, they know that it is the truth from their Lord, and as for those who disbelieve, they say: What is it that Allah means by this parable: He causes many to err by it and many He leads aright by it! but He does not cause to err by it [any] except the transgressors. (Surat al-Baqara, 26)
Hunting Birds with Keen Eyesight
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Hunting birds have keen eyes that enable them to make perfect distance adjustments while they attack their prey. In addition their large eyes contain more vision cells, which means better sight. There are more than one million vision cells in the eye of a hunting bird.
Eagles that fly at thousands of meters high have such sharp eyes that they can scan the earth perfectly at that distance. Just as war planes detect their targets from thousands of meters away, so do eagles spot their prey, perceiving the slightest colour shift or the slightest movement on the earth. The eagle's eye has an angle of vision of three hundred degrees and it can magnify a given image around six to eight times. Eagles can scan an area of 30,000 hectares while flying 4,500 meters above it. They can easily distinguish a rabbit hidden among grasses from an altitude of 1,500 meters. It is evident that this extraordinary eye structure of the eagle is specially created for this creature.
Hibernating Animals
Hibernating animals can go on living although their body temperature falls to the same degree as the cold temperature outside. How do they manage this?
Mammals are warm-blooded. This means that under normal conditions, their body temperature always remains constant because the natural thermostat in their body keeps on regulating this temperature. However, during hibernation, the normal body heat of small mammals, like the squirrel rat with a normal body heat of 40 degrees, drops down to a little bit above the freezing point as if adjusted by some kind of a key. The body metabolism slows down to a great extent. The animal starts breathing very slowly and its normal heartbeat, which is 300 times a minute, falls to 7-10 beats a minute. Its normal body reflexes stop and the electrical activities in its brain slow down almost to undetectability.One of the dangers of motionlessness is the freezing of tissues in very cold weather and their being destroyed by ice crystals. Hibernating animals however are protected against this danger thanks to the special features they are endowed with. The body fluids of hibernating animals are retained by chemical materials having high molecular masses. Thus, their freezing point is decreased and they are protected from harm.186
The Thread of the Spider
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The spider named Dinopis has a great skill for hunting. Rather than weaving a static web and waiting for its prey, it weaves a small yet highly unusual web that it throws on its prey. Afterwards, it tightly wraps up its prey with this web. The entrapped insect can do nothing to extricate itself. The web is so perfectly constructed that the insect gets even more entangled as it gets more alarmed. In order to store its food, the spider wraps the prey with extra strands, almost as if it were packaging it.
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How does this spider make a web so excellent in its mechanical and chemical structure? It is impossible for the spider to have acquired such a skill by coincidence as is claimed by evolutionists. The spider is devoid of faculties such as learning and memorising and does not have even a brain to perform these things. Obviously, this skill is bestowed on the spider by its creator, Allah, Who is Exalted in Power.
Very important miracles are hidden in the thread of the spiders. This thread, with a diameter of less than one thousandth of a millimetre, is 5 times stronger than a steel wire having the same thickness. This thread has yet another characteristic of being extremely light. A length of this thread long enough to encircle the world would weigh only 320 grams.192 Steel, a substance specially produced in industrial works, is one of the strongest materials manufactured by mankind. However, the spider can produce in its body a far firmer thread than steel. While man produces steel, he makes use of his centuries-old knowledge and technology; which knowledge or technology, then, does the spider use while producing its thread?
As we see, all technological and technical means at the disposal mankind lag behind those of a spider.
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(*) "Structure and Properties of Spider Silk", Endeavour, Ocak 1986, sayı 10, s. 42.
Hibernating Animals
Hibernating animals can go on living although their body temperature falls to the same degree as the cold temperature outside. How do they manage this?
Mammals are warm-blooded. This means that under normal conditions, their body temperature always remains constant because the natural thermostat in their body keeps on regulating this temperature. However, during hibernation, the normal body heat of small mammals, like the squirrel rat with a normal body heat of 40 degrees, drops down to a little bit above the freezing point as if adjusted by some kind of a key. The body metabolism slows down to a great extent. The animal starts breathing very slowly and its normal heartbeat, which is 300 times a minute, falls to 7-10 beats a minute. Its normal body reflexes stop and the electrical activities in its brain slow down almost to undetectability.
One of the dangers of motionlessness is the freezing of tissues in very cold weather and their being destroyed by ice crystals. Hibernating animals however are protected against this danger thanks to the special features they are endowed with. The body fluids of hibernating animals are retained by chemical materials having high molecular masses. Thus, their freezing point is decreased and they are protected from harm.187
Electrical Fish
Certain species of some fish types such as electric eel and electric ray utilise the electricity produced in their bodies either to protect themselves from their enemies or to paralyse their prey. In every living being - including man - is a little amount of electricity. Man, however, cannot direct this electricity or take it under control to use it for his own benefit. The above-mentioned creatures, on the other hand, have an electrical current as high as 500-600 volts in their bodies and they are able use this against their enemies. Furthermore, they are not adversely affected by this electricity.
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Left: A snake concealing itself by suspending itself among leaves.
Right: A caterpillar settled right in the middle of a leaf to go unnoticed. |
Left: Flat Fish
Right: Frogs (palmate to paradoxophyl) |
The energy they consume to defend themselves is recovered after a certain time like the charging of a battery and electrical power is once again ready for use. Fish do not use the high-voltage electricity in their small bodies only for defence purposes. Besides providing the means for finding their way in deep dark waters, electricity also helps them sense objects without seeing them. Fish can send signals by using the electricity in their bodies. These electric signals reflect back after hitting solid objects and these reflections give the fish information about the object. This way, fish can determine the distance and size of the object.
Special Freezing System
A frozen frog embodies an unusual biological structure. It shows no signs of life. Its heartbeat, breathing and blood circulation have come completely to a halt. When the ice melts, however, the same frog returns to life as if it is has woken up from sleep.
Normally, a living being in the state of freezing confronts many fatal risks. The frog, however, does not face any of them. It has the main feature of producing plenty of glucose while it is in that state. Just like a diabetic, the blood sugar level of the frog reaches very high levels. It can sometimes go as high as 550 milimol/liter. (This figure is normally between 1-5 mmol/litre for frogs and 4-5 mmol/litre for human body). This extreme glucose concentration may cause serious problems in normal times.
In a frozen frog, however, this extreme glucose keeps water from leaving cells and prevents shrinkage. The cell membrane of the frog is highly permeable to glucose so that glucose finds easy access to cells. The high level of glucose in the body reduces the freezing temperature causing only a very small amount of the animal's inner body liquid to turn to ice in the cold. Research has showed that glucose can feed frozen cells as well. During this period, besides being the natural fuel of the body, glucose also stops many metabolic reactions like urea synthesis and thus prevents different food sources of the cell from being exhausted.
How does such a high amount of glucose in the frog's body come about all of a sudden? The answer is quite interesting: this living being is equipped with a very special system in charge of this task. As soon as ice appears on the skin, a message travels to the liver making the liver convert some of its stored glycogen into glucose. The nature of this message travelling to the liver is still unknown. Five minutes after the message is received, the sugar level in the blood steadily starts to increase.188
Unquestionably the animal's being equipped with a system that entirely changes its metabolism to meet all of its needs just when it is required can only be possible through the flawless plan of the All-Mighty Creator. No coincidence can generate such a perfect and complex system.
Albatrosses
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Migratory birds minimise energy consumption by using different "flight techniques". Albatrosses are also observed to have such a flight style. These birds, which spend 92% of their lives on the sea, have wing spans of up to 3,5 meters. The most important characteristic of albatrosses is their flight style: they can fly for hours without beating their wings at all. To do so, they glide along in the air keeping their wings constant by making use of the wind.
It requires a great deal of energy to keep wings with a wing span of 3.5 meters constantly open. Albatrosses, however, can stay in this position for hours. This is due to the special anatomical system they are bestowed with from the moment of their birth. During flight, the wings of the albatross are blocked. Therefore, it does not need to use any muscular power. Wings are lifted only by muscle layers. This greatly helps the bird during its flight. This system reduces the energy consumed by the bird during flight. The albatross does not use energy because it does not beat its wings or waste energy to keep its wings outstretched. Flying for hours by making exclusive use of wind provides an unlimited energy source for it. For instance, a 10-kilo-albatross loses only 1% of its body weight while it travels for 1,000 kms. This is indeed a very small rate. Men have manufactured gliders taking albatrosses as a model and by making use of their fascinating flight technique.189
Different Vision Systems
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For many sea-dwelling animals, seeing is extremely important for hunting and defence. Accordingly, most of the sea-dwelling animals are equipped with eyes perfectly created for underwater.
Under water, the ability to see becomes more and more limited with depth, especially after 30 meters. Organisms living at this depth, however, have eyes created according to the given conditions.
Sea-dwelling animals, unlike land-dwelling animals, have spherical lenses in perfect accordance with the needs of the density of the water they inhabit. Compared to the wide elliptical eyes of land-dwelling animals, this spherical structure is more serviceable for sight under water; it is adjusted to see objects in close-up. When an object at a greater distance is focused upon, the whole lens system is pulled backwards by the help of a special muscle mechanism within the eye.
One other reason why the eyes of the fish are spherical is the refraction of light in water. Because the eye is filled with a liquid having almost the same density as water, no refraction occurs while an image formed outside is reflected on the eye. Consequently, the eye lens fully focuses the image of the outside object on the retina. The fish, unlike human beings, sees very sharply in water.
Some animals like octopus have rather big eyes to compensate for the poor light in the depths of water. Below 300 meters, big-eyed fish need to capture the flashes of the surrounding organisms to notice them. They have to be especially sensitive to the feeble blue light penetrating into the water. For this reason, there are plenty of sensitive blue cells in the retina of their eyes.
As is understood from these examples, every living being has distinctive eyes specially created to meet its particular needs. This fact proves that they are all created just the way they have to be by a Creator Who has eternal wisdom, knowledge and power.
An Arduous Migration
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Pacific salmon have the exceptional characteristic of returning to the rivers in which they hatched to reproduce. Having spent part of their lives in the sea, these animals come back to fresh water to reproduce.
When they start their journey in early summer, the colour of the fish is bright red. At the end of their journey, however, their colour turns black. At the outset of their migration, they first draw near to the shore and try to reach rivers. They perseveringly strive to go back to their birthplace. They reach the place where they hatched by leaping over turbulent rivers, swimming upstream, surmounting waterfalls and dykes. At the end of this 3,500-4,000 km. journey, female salmon readily have eggs just as male salmons have sperm. Having reached the place where they hatched, female salmon lay around 3 to 5 thousand eggs as male salmon fertilise them. The fish suffer much damage as a result of this migration and hatching period. Females that lay eggs become exhausted; their tail fins are worn down and their skin starts to turn black. The same is true also for males. The river soon overflows with dead salmon. Yet another salmon generation is ready to hatch out and make the same journey.
How salmon complete such a journey, how they reach the sea after they hatch, and how they find their way are just some of the questions that remain to be answered. Although many suggestions are made, no definite solution has yet been reached. What is the power that makes salmon undertake a return of thousands of kilometres back to a place unknown to them? It is obvious that there is a superior Will ruling over and controlling all these living beings. It is Allah, the Sustainer of all the worlds.
Cuttlefish
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Left: A cuttlefish that makes itself look like the sandy surface. Right: The bright yellow colour the same fish turns in case of danger, such as when it is seen by a diver.
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Under the skin of the cuttlefish is arrayed a dense layer of elastic pigment sacs called chromatophores. They come mainly in yellow, red, black and brown. At a signal, the cells expand and flood the skin with the appropriate shade. That is how the cuttlefish takes on the colour of the rock it stands on and makes a perfect camouflage.
This system operates so effectively that the cuttlefish can also create a complex zebra-like striping.190
Koalas
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The oil found in eucalyptus leaves is poisonous to many mammals. This poison is a chemical defence mechanism used by eucalyptus trees against their enemies. Yet there is a very special living being that gets the better of this mechanism and feeds on poisonous eucalyptus leaves: a marsupial called the koala. Koalas make their homes in eucalyptus trees while they also feed on them and obtain their water from them.
Like other mammals, koalas also cannot digest the cellulose present in the trees. For this, it is dependent on cellulose-digesting micro-organisms. These micro-organisms are heavily populated in the convergence point of small and large intestines, the caecum which is the rear extension of the intestinal system. The caecum is the most interesting part of the digestion system of the koala. This segment functions as a fermentation chamber where microbes are made to digest cellulose while the passage of the leaves is delayed. Thus, the koala can neutralise the poisonous effect of the oils in the eucalyptus leaves.191
Hunting Ability in Constant Position
The South African sundew plant entraps insects with its viscous hairs. The leaves of this plant are full of long, red hairs. The tips of these hairs are covered with a fluid that has a smell that attracts insects. Another feature of the fluid is its being extremely viscous. An insect that makes its way to the source of the smell gets stuck in these viscous hairs. Shortly afterwards the whole leaf is closed down on the insect that is already entangled in the hairs and the plant extracts the protein essential for itself from the insect by digesting it.192
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Left: An open Sundew.
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Right: A closed one.
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The endowment of a plant with no possibility of moving from its place with such a faculty is no doubt the evident sign of a special creation. It is impossible for a plant to have developed such a hunting style out of its own consciousness or will, or by way of coincidence. So, it is all the more impossible to overlook the existence and might of the Creator Who has furnished it with this ability.
Basilisk: The Expert of Walking on Water
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The basilisk lizard is one of those rare animals that can move establishing a balance between water and air.
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Few animals are able to walk on the surface of water. One such rarity is basilisk, which lives in Central America and is seen below. On the sides of the toes of basilisk's hind feet are flaps that enable them to splash water. These are rolled up when the animal walks on land. If the animal faces danger, it starts to run very fast on the surface of a river or a lake. Then the flaps on its hind feet are opened and thus more surface area is provided for it to run on water.193
This unique structure of basilisk is one of the evident signs of Allah’s perfect Creation.
Photosynthesis
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Plants unquestionably play a major role in making the universe a habitable place. They clean the air for us, keep the temperature of the planet at a constant level, and balance the proportions of gases in the atmosphere. The oxygen in the air we breathe is produced by plants. An important part of our food is also provided by plants. The nutritional value of plants comes from the special organization in their cells to which they also owe their other features.
The plant cell, unlike human and animal cells, can make direct use of solar energy. It converts the solar energy into chemical energy and stores it in nutrients in very special ways. This process is called "photosynthesis". In fact, this process is carried out not by the cell but by chloroplasts, organelles that give plants their green colour. These tiny green organelles only observable by microscope are the only laboratories on earth that are capable of storing solar energy in organic matter.
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1. energy
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2. food
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3. oxygen
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4. Carbon Dioxide
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In the microscopic factories of plants, a miraculous transformation takes place. With the energy from the Sun, they perform photosynthesis, which in turn supplies the energy needs of animals and eventually, human beings.
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The amount of matter produced by plants on the earth is around 200 billion tons a year. This production is vital to all living things on the earth. The production made by plants is realised through a very complicated chemical process. Thousands of "chlorophyll" pigments found in the chloroplast react to light in an enormously short time, something like one thousandth of a second. This is why many activities taking place in the chlorophyll have still not been observed.
Converting solar energy into electrical or chemical energy is a very recent technological breakthrough. In order to do this, high-tech instruments are used. A plant cell so small as to be invisible to the naked human eye has been performing this task for millions of years.
This perfect system displays Creation once more for all to see. The very complex system of photosynthesis is a mechanism that Allah creates. A matchless factory is squeezed in a minuscule unit area in the leaves. This flawless system is only one of the signs revealing that Allah, the Sustainer of all worlds, creates all living things.