What are Little Boys Made Of?
Snips and Snails And Puppy Dog Tails--That's What Little Boys Are Made Of?
What are Little Girls Made Of?
What are Little Girls Made Of?
Sugar And Spice And Everything Nice--That's What Little Girls Are Made Of?
From "What All The World Is Made Of"--by Robert Southey
This pretty little Jingle does not always hold true that Boys are made of such Earthly things and Girls always so Refined, but the Irony lies in that its subtext flies completely under the Radar --about forming Macromolecules--of DNA, that is.
The word مِن (pronounced 'MIN') basically means Of or From, and while I promised I would no longer use the Quran to hone my culinary technique, it does appear that on more than one and Various Occassions You Beat me to it; Precisely and Pointedly as it Pertains to what is/was involved in 'Cooking Up' a Human in the First Place (Recall that Twilight Zone episode, 'To Serve Man'?) {Note: In the selected passages the مِن 'min' appears in different colors to highlight that the diacritical marks vary, indicating a change in pronunciation, but do not appear to change the meaning when reading in context. مِّنْ is pronounced 'MMan' and مِّنَ is pronounce 'MMana' and مِنَ is pronounced 'Mina'.}
What Follows is a Synopsis of the Process based on a cursory search of the Quran relating to the topic of RNA and DNA synthesis, since there are ongoing efforts to form nucleotides in the lab that have been met with limited success in forming some but not all of the sugar-base pairs; it would be interesting to see what, if anything, is being overlooked. The understanding is that it is no easy task to get the base to 'stick' to the sugar backbone of the macromolecule.
وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الإِنسَانَ مِن صَلْصَالٍ مِّنْ حَمَإٍ مَّسْنُونٍ 15:26
...We Created the Human Being from/of salsaln=clay/grit/&metallic noise ie clank/jingle and sounds like silsalin=chain/concatenate; from/of hamaain=heat/anneal/fever/passionate/protected/safeguarded/regimen/intake/steady diet/agitation/excitement/&masnoonin=aged/from among those who range in age/serrated/poined/jagged/toothed
خَلَقَ الإِنسَانَ مِن نُّطْفَةٍ فَإِذَا هُوَ خَصِيمٌ مُّبِينٌ 16:4
....from/of (a drop of) semen/sperm thereafter he becomes an open adversary (contentious)
قَالَ لَهُ صَاحِبُهُ وَهُوَ يُحَاوِرُهُ أَكَفَرْتَ بِالَّذِي خَلَقَكَ مِن تُرَابٍ
ثُمَّ مِن نُّطْفَةٍ ثُمَّ سَوَّاكَ رَجُلًا 18:37
....from/of turabin=Earth/soil then from/of (a drop of) semen/sperm then sawa.ka=formed you/made you equivalent/equal (t0) a Man
أَوَلَا يَذْكُرُ الْإِنسَانُ أَنَّا خَلَقْنَاهُ مِن قَبْلُ وَلَمْ يَكُ شَيْئًا 19:67
...from/of before/prior var. in front of/(His Acceptance, Agreement, OK) and/when he was like Nothing (he was not like Anything)
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 نَشَاء إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى ثُمَّ نُخْرِجُكُمْ طِفْلًا ثُمَّ لِتَبْلُغُوا أَشُدَّكُمْ وَمِنكُم مَّن يُتَوَفَّى وَمِنكُم مَّن يُرَدُّ إِلَى أَرْذَلِ الْعُمُرِ لِكَيْلَا يَعْلَمَ مِن بَعْدِ عِلْمٍ شَيْئًا. وَتَرَى الْأَرْضَ هَامِدَةً فَإِذَا أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْهَا الْمَاء اهْتَزَّتْ وَرَبَتْ وَأَنبَتَتْ مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍ بَهِيجٍ 22:5
..if you are in doubt of/from (that We) the Resurrection/Renaissance/Regeneration/
Restoration/Rising/Risen/Mission/Send/Dispatch/Convey...Truly, We Created you from/of Dust/Earth/Soil then from/of (a drop of) Semen/Sperm then of/from 'something that clings' then from/of an Embryo/portion/bit/morsel/(like a chewed up/masticated) morsel Synthetic and Non-Synthetic, (var. But/Beyond/ Change/Switch/Transfer/ Transpose/Shift/Switch over/ Commute/Reverse/Renew/Metamorphose/ Masquerade/Overrun/ Modify/Modulate/Shape/Rehash/Turn/Revise/Fashion/Created/Formed)
...to show you/make it clear to you and (that) We Recognize/Place/Percuss in the Wombs Whatsoever We Will for an appointed/predetermined/named time/while/term then We Deliver you/Make you Emerge (as) Infants....among you from/of Die and of/from you are Returned to Abject Age (Get Old) Knowing Little of/from After Knowing Anything/Everything...
وَرَبَتْ وَأَنبَتَتْ مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍ بَهِيجٍ 22:5
...And Tamed and Grew/Brought Out of/from Every Pair (Dyad) Beauty (Unstressed, Convivial, Lovely, Warm, Inviting...)
وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ مِن سُلَالَةٍ مِّن طِينٍ 23:12
...We Created Man (Humanity) from/of Strain/Line/Descent/Race/Progeny/Ancestry/Geneology/Stock/Offspring/Blood/Parentage& Baskets/Group of Similar or Related Things/Woven Containers&Cells (diminutive)/Scions/Descendants from/of Clay/Mud...
وَهُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ مِنَ الْمَاء بَشَرًا فَجَعَلَهُ نَسَبًا وَصِهْرًا وَكَانَ رَبُّكَ قَدِيرًا 25:54
And He Is Who Created from/of the Water Human Being(s)/Walking/Good News/Epidermal and Assigned Proportioned/Formed him&Gave him Lineage/Pedigree/Descent/Parentage/Extraction/Kinship/Kin/Derivation And Smelting/Fuze/Melt/Cast/Cast About/Melt Down&"Marriage" and Your Creator/God Is Mighty (var. Capable/Predestines/Measures/Determines/Rates/Accounts/Numbers/Quantifies...)
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَكُم مِّن تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ إِذَا أَنتُم بَشَرٌ تَنتَشِرُونَ 30:20
...of/from His Signs (that Truly) He Created you of/from turabin=Dust/Earth/Soil, then/afterwards if/whether/as long as/therefore (as) Human Beings you Propagated/Ranging Widely!
الَّذِي أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ وَبَدَأَ خَلْقَ الْإِنسَانِ مِن طِينٍ 32:7
He Perfected Everything that He Created and He Began Man's Creation from/of Clay/Mud
أَوَلَمْ يَرَ الْإِنسَانُ أَنَّا خَلَقْنَاهُ مِن نُّطْفَةٍ فَإِذَا هُوَ خَصِيمٌ مُّبِينٌ 36:77
...He Created him (the Human Being) from/of (a drop of) Semen/Sperm
thereafter he becomes an open adversary (contentious)
خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ مِن صَلْصَالٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ 55:14
He Created the Human Being from/of salsalin=Clay/Grit (var. chain, concatenate) similar/like unto Pottery (pottery making/device) var. Honorary, Superior, Luxuriant; second variation wry/dry/sardonic...wry= out of shape/twisted to one side
{...if you absolutely cannot wait until I get through this translation to form your pretty little DNA molecule in a bottle, so far it would seem that in addition to stirring and heating and protecting/sheltering in some type of vessel or enclave for a while/aging it that is serrated or pointed, a certain noise/sound like that of glass and metal 'clink' or 'clank' like the sound from the 'edge of the Universe' you get when playing a Tibet Singing Bowl to get the bases to bind to the sugars...try something like that!}
If one must go flying off the handle-- best to do so Parenthetically, I suppose. At any rate, here it is in slo-mo:
According to 15:26 it starts with صَلْصَالٍ pronounced salsalin, clay or grit. (Watch carefully as I turn humble clay into some sort of advanced engineering material--just for your amusement).
That the word صَلْصَالٍ (salsalin) incorporates both the name of the material and one of its qualities is quite profound when you stop to think that naturally occurring clay is composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, aka grit. Clay minerals are the most abundant materials in sedimentary basins. They are responsible for imparting plasticity to the clay which cause it to harden when fired or dried.
Plasticity describes the deformation of a material undergoing non-reversible changes of shape in response to applied forces, and in biology Phenotype plasticity describes the ability of an organism to change its phenotype in response to changes in the environment. The deformation or the change of an object's shape is called strain and the force causing it is called stress.
Water may also be trapped in the mineral crystals in variable amounts and the clay may also have other organic matter which does not contribute to the clay's plasticine quality. The most common clay minerals—like kaolinite, illite, chlorite, and smectite are typically found in mudstones.
So, now we know where the Water (الْمَاء, al-ma.a) comes from that God used in Creating Everything and mentioned in Sign 25:54 And He Is Who Created from/of the Water Human Being(s)... The Word bashrin, بَشَرًا, not only means Human Being but also Walking, 'Good News', and Epidermal. Epidermal refers to the outer layer of skin, but it may also mean a more generic outer layer that functions to contain any biological form. And then He Assigned His Creation a form and Proportioned it, in other words 'Made Man as He Imagined' him.
That the human was never meant to be solitary is stipulated in that as part of his formation, in addition to having been assigned a form, he was also assigned صِهْرً 'sihrun'; meaning, He Gave him Lineage/Pedigree/Descent/Parentage/Extraction/Kinship/Kin/Derivation and Marriage Ties. And it is due to the usage of the word 'sihrun' that it is acceptable to think that it is the DNA and/or RNA material being formed in this process since these macromolecules are responsible for passing on genetic information to future generations, in other words, heredity.
The word sihrun provides evidence that this molecular formation from the clay comprises the following activities, too: Smelting/Fuze/Melt/Cast/and Melt Down.
Sign 25:54 concludes with one of God's Attributes being 'Qadir', primarily meaning 'Mighty', but other definitions include include: Capable/Predestines/Measures/Determines/Rates/Accounts/Numbers/Quantifies...
Other physical qualities attributed to the 'starter' clay is that it is مَّسْنُونٍ 'masnoonin'--that it is 'aged' from those clays that are 'serrated/poined/jagged/toothed' at some level of inspection, either macroscopic or microscopic or both. And that it is treated by حَمَإٍ 'hamaa_in' (no mother-in-law jokes, please)-- in other words, 'heated' or 'annealed' under conditions of a steady regimen of 'feeding' it a 'steady intake or diet' of something under 'protected' or 'safeguarded' conditions. Other mechanics involved in this step are 'agitation', and the allusion to 'excitement' which may refer to the heightened activity at the molecular or atomic level.
In addition to heat and temperature and mechanically moving (like stirring, agitation), the word hamma_in also means ardor or passion which is an indication that there was a great deal of attention and care given in tending to this process.
If any of these steps sound familiar, they are very much in keeping with how a Sculptor creates Ceramics or Pottery works. But, an additional nuance arising from using the word salsaln is that there is also some type of resonance in that a 'sound' much like a Jingle/Clink/Clank, typically associated with metallic noise or the sound glass makes when it it struck, is also contributing to this process (that's why Tibetan Singing Bowls were mentioned earlier).
Also, the homophone derived by substituting the letter seen for the saad in 'salsalin' means 'chain/concatenate' , which appears to indicate that at a molecular level atoms are being strung together or 'added up' to form chains.
In 18:37 we get a clue to the age-old Riddle, 'What came first, the Chicken or the Egg?'
It specifies "First, مِن 'min' from/of تُرَابٍ turabin or Earth/Soil/Dust", basically, an echo of the 'clay' and then from/of نُّطْفَةٍ 'natfatin' (a drop of) Semen or Sperm. This implies that the genetic material is created first and "then He سَوَّاكَ رَجُلًا" 'sawa.ka rajula'--"then He made you a Man". The order is clearly given as first from dust, then sperm (genetic material) and only thereafter do you become equivalent/equal (t0) a Man (Human Being).
The word turabin is used here to further characterise the clay as 'dust'; meaning that it is associated with finer particles than other materials that are produced by the weathering of rocks or stones. Clays are distinguished from other fine-grained soils by differences in size and mineralogy, and typically clays are characterized as having the smaller particle size than silts or other deposits (on the order of about 2 microns or less).
Sign 16:4 seems to be making the Observation that the undeserved consequence of all this hard work in Creating Humans is, rather than their showing Gratitude, they become openly adversarial or Contentious. And 19:67 serves to Remind us that this Act of Creation was due to having met with God's Acceptance on a Prior Occassion or From Before or Right In Front of Him, and that Humans forget that without His Doing So, we were all like Nothing or Not Anything at All. Sign 36:77 reiterates the apparent disappointment almost word-for-word as Sign 16:4.
The word رَبَتْ (rabbat) in 22:5 means 'Tied' something together or 'Tamed' it and then He أَنبَتَتْ 'anbata' , which means 'Grew' or 'Brought About' from 'Every Pair' or 'Dual' (Dyad زَوْجٍ ) Beauty بَهِيجٍ (baheejin). The word baheej also means that what is Created with these Dyads is Unstressed Convivial, Lovely, Warm, Inviting; basically Everything Good.
Now, to Tie something together means to 'attach' or 'bind' or 'knot' or 'fasten' together the Dyad (or pair under consideration), and if related to the activity that preceded this with the clay-derived molecules, it becomes clear that the 'chain' macromolecules are being joined together, much like we would expect in DNA, as an adjunct to the crystal growth taking place from 'firing' the 'clay' and/or processing it by shaping, sintering, cooling it as one would when making Pottery. (A clue as to which of the two genders came first can be ascertained by inspection. Recall that 'those fired are the men' which indicates that it is during the 'firing' of the 'clay' step in the process that the y-chromosome is formed as opposed to another step associated with pottery making, such as forming or cooling).
Sign 23:12 reinforces the 'Inheritence' aspect of this Creation, a further allusion to DNA, in that سُلَالَةٍ 'sulalitin' means a Strain/Line/Descent/Race/Progeny/ Ancestry/Geneology/Stock/Offspring/Scions/Sprigs, etc., even Blood and Parentage.
And the noun 'sallay', a variant intonation of the word 'sulalitin' means 'Baskets' or a 'Group of Similar or Related Things.' A Basket can be taken explicitly to mean a type of 'Woven Container'. And the word 'Cells' (diminutive) like saying 'littel cells' is also found in the root of this word. The Basket سُلَالَةٍ is described as being made of/from the طِينٍ 'teen' or Clay/Mud.
Mud specifies that the Clay deposits used in building these macromolecules is associated with a watery/marine environment. Clay deposits may be formed in place or transported to locations other than where the weathering/aging process occurs and they are typically associated with very low energy depositional environments such as large lakes and marine deposits, which would be consistent with using the term 'mud'. {Note that both the terms Stress and Strain are mentioned in these Signs as having to do with forming something from the 'clay' which ties in rather nicely with the plastic quality of the clay}.
To the trained eye, that we are 'Created from Dust' is not News but, on finer inspection, Sign 23:12 is describing in Great Detail what the actual physical assembly of these macromolecules looks like.
Consider that Crystal structures are 'woven' or 'cross-hatched' cell assemblies on the 'atomic level' and that Pottery making itself causes certain types of clay minerals to assemble in these types of crystaline structures. Other things to keep in mind are that Crystal size, number, and shape are determined by factors such as impurity level, mixing regime, vessel design, and cooling profile. {Note that the Created phenotypes are formed in such a manner as to be Unstressed, such that the type of molecules and/or crystals being formed are made or assembled in such a way as to have little or no stress}.
At the Atomic level, Clay minerals are hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, sometimes with variable amounts of iron, magnesium, alkali metals, alkaline earths and other cations. Clays are fundamentally built of tetrahedral sheets and octahedral sheets; examples of clays that would consist of one tetrahedral sheet and one octahedral sheet would be kaolinite and serpentine.
Time now for the Mystical Math (because I know You're Baiting me, but I figure Granma wants to hear me 'say' it). The significant relationship between tetrahedra and octahedra in 3-Dimensional space is that the stellated octahedron is the only stellation of the octahedron and it is the simplest of five regular polyhedral compounds. It can be considered as either a polyhedron compound (combination of polyhedra) or a stellation (a stellation of a polyhedron is formed by extending all its faces until they intersect again along new edges). As a compound, it is constructed by joining two tetrahedra (a tetrahedron and its dual (dyadic) tetrahedron). So, that was the description in Words, and here it is if we draw a Picture:
This particular geometry is interesting when viewed from a certain Perspective in that a very Familiar 2-dimensional Emblem or Symbol becomes Readily Apparent.
The applicability of this 'Star of David' or 'Abraham's Shield' to All of Humanity is inherent in All of Creation and is not simply meant to Identify just one Stratum of Humanity, like being Jewish. (As an aside, the earlier discussion regarding tesselations (tessera or using non-overlapping tiles to cover a field) in combination with stellations is contributing to the field of developing electro-optical invisibility cloaks. It would be interesting to see if tesselations of the stellated octohedron produce a viable invisibility cloak).
This Fact, that Underlies Everything, is brought to the fore in 55:14 when it is mentioned that the Human Being's Creation from/of salsalin=Clay/Grit (var. chain, concatenate) is كَالْفَخَّارِ k.alfukhar--meaning, 'similar or like unto Pottery' (pottery making/device). The roots associated with the word Pottery mean Honorary, Superior, Luxuriant with a secondary meaning of it being 'wry'= dry/sardonic.
The word wry, while implying some Irony is involved, Points to the manner in which these macromolecules are concatenated when deposited along with or in these 'baskets' or crystal structures, gives them their Distinctive shape or Geometry. Since 'wry' means 'out of shape' or 'twisted to one side', indicates the process of forming these macromolecules in situ with laying down the crystal structure from the clay dictates the 'twisted' shape of the Helix or Double Helix associated with DNA and RNA molecules.
The Helix (a spun string, a screw, a propeller, etc.) and Möbius strip are chiral 2-dimensional objects in 3-dimensional ambient space. Chirality is inherent in molecules built from clays having tetrahedral and octahedral sheets, especially when one stops to consider that the stellated octahedron is a combination of a tetrahedron and its self-dual (its reflection through the origin, or mirror-image). {A similar notion of chirality is considered in knot theory}.
While Sign 32:7 may not be adding new information pertaining to the formation or the building process of living things from clay, it is included here to make a final Point. Simply stated, it says God Perfected Everything He Created أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ 'ahsana kuli shyin', and then He Started Creating Humans from the طِينٍ 'muddy clay/dust.
And Sign 30:20 states in No Uncertain Terms that "Of His Signs Is (Verily/Truly) He Created You of/from Dust (Earth/Soil) and Then If (this is a Qualifier--'A Big If') you Are Human Beings, then and only then, and for as long as you remain Human Beings, You Propagated or Are Ranging Widely!
I hope this last Sign settles in your Collective Mind any dissonant thoughts you may still have as to Who Exactly Is Flying Those Spaceships!
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَكُم مِّن تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ إِذَا أَنتُم بَشَرٌ تَنتَشِرُونَ 30:20
Now, Back to Earth:
The Table on the left delineates Sign 22:5 along with a line-by-line narrative, in case some relevant steps were missed in the explanation above.
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