The DNA Molecule Contains Coded Messages — The Cryptography in the DNA Molecule

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The sublime creation inside the DNA molecule is able to carry the specific arrangement of its own atoms and the maximum amount of code in the minimum area. Every letter that constitutes this genetic code is written into the cell nucleus by means of a molecule with its own particular chemical features and three-dimensional structure. Arthur Ernest Wilder-Smith, a professor of chemistry, refers to the message in the DNA molecule in one of his books:

All biological cells are guided by program stored in the cell nucleus on DNA molecules in code form. . . all cellular syntheses and catabolic processes are teleonomically remotely controlled by the coded program in the nucleus . . . In order to avoid the lengthy explanations necessary to clarify such a system theoretically, we shall describe the major traits of the genetic code system with the aid of several simple analogies. The internationally recognized distress call is "S O S." This call contains information within a coded phrase, which may also be expressed as: . . . - - -. . . The dots and dashes represent the two letters of Morse code. . . . is equivalent to our letter "S" and - - - to our "O." We can store or transmit the Morse alphabet in various manners. For example, the letters can be retained on paper, written on a birthday cake with cake icing, or an airplane could write [them]. The message and the information remain the same, namely "S O S," in whatever medium they are transmitted or stored. The dots and dashes of the Morse code might even be knotted on a string, the dash being represented as a larger knot and the dot as a smaller knot. In this last case, no paper surface is required to relay the message contained in the Morse code, the dimension of only a simple piece of string will suffice. By means of a system of this type. a string carrying single knots and double knots (= dashes) could be used to "write" and to store Goethe's Faust. ⁶⁸

As set out above, the information content is independent of its mode of transmission. Therefore, not just the arrangement of the bases in the DNA, but also the coded information, the message that it contains, is noteworthy. The science writer Richard Milton highlights the delicate organization in the coding of messages in DNA:

Each instruction in a program must be carefully considered by the programmer as to both its immediate effect on the computer hardware and its effects on other parts of the program. The letters and numbers which the programmer uses to write the instructions have to be written down with absolute precision with regard to the vocabulary and syntax of the programming language he uses in order for the computer system to function at all. Even the most trivial error can lead to a complete malfunction. In 1977, for example, an attempt by NASA to launch a weather satellite from Cape Canaveral ended in disaster when the launch vehicle went off course shortly after takeoff and had to be destroyed. Subsequent investigation by NASA engineers found that the accident was caused by failure of the onboard computer guidance system-because a single comma had been misplaced in the guidance program. Anyone who has programmed a computer to perform the simplest task in the simplest language –Basic, for instance– will understand the problem. If you make the simplest error in syntax, misplacing a letter, a punctuation mark or even a space, the program will not run at all. In just the same way, each nucleotide has to be "written" in precisely the correct order and in precisely the correct location in the DNA molecule for the offspring to remain viable and, as described earlier, major functional disorders in humans, animals, and plants are caused by the loss or displacement of a single DNA molecule, or even a single nucleotide within that molecule.⁶⁹

1- 1 Nm: 1 Nanometer (1 millionth of a millimeteri), 2- DNA helix, 3- Histones that form the nucleosome and the DNA strip, 4- nucleosome in packaged form, 5- extended chromosome, 6- compressed chromosome, 7- chromosome. The unique arrangement of the atoms in the DNA molecule has a sublime creation capable of carrying the maximum amount of information in the minimum amount of space.

Professor Murray Eden is an expert from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the subject of information theory and official languages. He says that "No currently existing formal language can tolerate random changes in the symbol sequences which express its sentences. Meaning is almost invariably destroyed. Any changes must be syntactically lawful ones."⁷⁰ He goes on to state that this rule also applies to the language of DNA that constitutes genetic information.

All these statements show that the information in DNA could not possibly have emerged as the result of chance. In the face of these fictitious claims made by evolutionists, we may cite the mathematical science of coding information to ensure its security, known as cryptology. One aim of this science is let information be read accurately and prevent its being altered. For example, a hacker monitoring the communication between two individuals on the Internet, may make changes to the information they send to one another. Thus the preservation of original information is of great importance. The greater the importance of the information, the greater the importance and difficulty of the coding technique to be employed. That is why special programs prevent information being readily accessible to just anyone. Only specific authorized individuals can read and alter this program's information, whose accuracy is confirmed by means of security systems.

Since genetic information is of direct importance to human life, it too must not be subjected to any alteration. Only within the last 50 years did scientists discover that such an important treasure store of information was concealed inside the cell, but this priceless information has been protected inside the cell nucleus, using a special code, ever since human beings were first created. Every detail regarding this molecule is full of examples of Allah's sublime creation. DNA prompts us to ask the following questions:

Who possesses the information needed to construct a perfect body?
Who conceals that information inside living tissue?
Who compresses such wide-ranging information into such a minute space, and how?
Who knows how very important this information is and maintains it under protection?
Who encodes the information and who deciphers it?
Who ensures that there are no deficiencies or impairments during the deciphering process?
Who knows that this information must be transmitted to future generations and knows the technique to employ in doing so?
Who copies this information into new cells as they are renewed and multiply, and how?

These questions, to which hundreds more could be added, lead us to the existence of our omniscient, sublimely intelligent Creator. DNA is "...the handiwork of Allah Who gives to everything its solidity..." (Surat an-Naml, 88) In the Qur'an, Allah reveals the organization in His creation:

O man! What has deluded you in respect of your Noble Lord? He Who created you and formed you and proportioned you and assembled you in whatever way He willed. (Surat al-Infitar, 6-8)

The Great Store of Data in DNA cannot Be Explained by Fictitious Claims of Evolution

The DNA molecule is a manual that needs to be read by every living thing on Earth. Neither animal, nor plant nor human life would be possible in the absence of that information. Your arms and legs, the structure of the eye, the working of your brain, the harmony between your coronary and circulatory systems, and your entire immune system become functional by using the data stored inside DNA. Therefore, in order for any living thing to exist, its DNA molecules must exist, too. There can be no question of a penguin, a cat or a fish without DNA in each of its cells.

This data store, directing all the body's activities over the course of its entire life, must have been installed inside cells ever since the moment when life was first created. The slow, gradual development maintained by the theory of evolution is out of the question. The data store in the DNA molecule is an evident proof of the mercy of Allah manifested in human beings and in the world.

Our Almighty Lord best knows the needs of all living things. In one verse of the Qur'an it is revealed:

… He has most knowledge of you when He first produced you from the earth, and when you were embryos in your mothers' wombs. So do not claim purity for yourselves. He knows best those who guard against evil. (Surat an-Najm, 32)

In the Presence of a Book,
the Explanation of Chance Loses All Meaning

Whenever any written work is presented, the question arises: Who is the author who discovered the information in it? It is impossible to claim that a fascinating, intricate, world-renowned manual was written spontaneously or came into being as the result of chance. Everyone will agree that every word and every line was written by some author. The store of information in the DNA, kept under special protection in the cell nucleus, also has a Lord and Creator.

In one verse of the Qur'an we are told: "It is He Who brought you into being and gave you hearing, sight and hearts. What little thanks you show!" (Surat al-Mulk, 23) and that it is Allah Who creates and gives human beings all their characteristics.

In order to write a work about what is needed for all of an organism's bodily functions, the author must know all the details about that organism's cellular activities will be performed at the atomic and molecular level and to accurately determine its special requirements at every stage of life, from infancy right up to death. Only our Lord knows all this information and "proportioned" humankind. (Surah 'Abasa, 19)

In addition, all other living things on Earth –bacteria, viruses, insects, horses and plants– also have DNA in their cells. Each one's DNA contains detailed information about the needs and body structure of the organism to which it belongs. Recalling the millions of species on Earth, one can better grasp the scope of the information in question. Our Almighty Lord equips every living thing right from the outset with all the information it needs, places that information inside the cells, and creates the separate DNA sequences for each living species.

References

A. E. Wilder-Smith, The Natural Sciences: Know Nothing of Evolution, T. W. F. T. Publishers, ABD, pp. 78-79. ↩
Richard Milton, Shattering the Myths of Darwinism, Park Street Press Rochester, ABD, 1992, p. 170. ↩
M. Eden, "Inadequacies of Neo-Darwinian Evolution as a Scientific Theory," Mathematical Challenges to the Neo-Darwinian Interpretation of Evolution, Wistar Institute Press, Philadelphia, 1967, p. 11. ↩