(Original article: More to Life Magazine, Edition 62, April 2023, p46)
Nassir H. Sabah
Most birds drink by dipping their beaks in the water, then raising their water-filled beaks toward the sky. As a young child I couldn’t help but notice birds doing that as they drank from the water fountains in the garden of our house. When I asked my great aunt, who lived with my family, why birds do that she replied: “They are glorifying The Creator.” Though incomprehensible to a five-year-old, this answer seemed plausible enough at the time in the absence of any alternative explanation.
Several years later, I learned from biology at school that most birds lack the ability to suction water into their throats. They drink by filling their beaks with water, then raising them upwards for water to flow under gravity into their digestive system. Ah! I thought. “This is the correct scientific explanation. The answer of my poor great aunt reflected her ignorance of biology. One must resort to science for the right answers.” Many years later, I studied undergraduate and graduate electrical engineering, physics, and biology. As I read and thought about religion and philosophy, I came to realize that my great aunt, bless her soul, had it right after all! The birds were indeed glorifying The Creator.
This personal anecdote accords with a quotation attributed to Francis Bacon, the famous English Renaissance statesman and philosopher who lived in the 16th and 17 th centuries CE, and which could be paraphrased as: “A little knowledge leads away from God, but much knowledge leads towards Him.” Unfortunately, many people are stuck with little knowledge and are gravely misled by it.
But what is the meaning of glorifying The Creator – the One who brought the universe into being and is the Guide and Sustainer of all that is in it? The Quran asserts that everything glorifies Him with His Praise, but we do not understand their glorification. The reference here is to everything in the universe, living and non-living, glorifying Him. But how is this glorification? The Creator guides and sustains everything through the laws of nature which He ordained when creating the universe. Everything glorifies Him by being governed by these laws. In addition, all living things glorify Him in being alive and in their behaviour and everyday activities, such as moving, feeding, etc. which He made possible through His Will, Power, and Design. But we do not understand their way of glorification, for we do not understand the essence of life, nor do we understand the ultimate constitution of matter.
We cannot but glorify The Creator when witnessing the wonders of His creation: the awesome, boundless universe of twinkling stars in the darkness of a cloudless night, the immense oceans girdling our planet, the lovely landscapes of majestic mountains, magnificent forests, sparkling brooks, and bubbling springs; water playfully cascading over glistening rocks in a scenic waterfall; the magnificence of a rainbow arching in the sky; the magic of a full moon over a shimmering lake or scintillating desert dunes; the glory of the Sun rising majestically while casting an enchanting, life-giving glow; or spectacularly setting beyond the horizon amidst soft rays painting cloud patches with a mottled glow and a silver lining.
Witness the power and fury of nature: the deafening claps of thunder and the blinding flashes of lightning of a severe thunderstorm, the torrential rains and howling winds of a hurricane, the mighty waves of a tempestuous ocean, the incandescent fury of an erupting volcano, and the terrifying ground-shaking of an earthquake. Behold the beauty and incredible variety of flora and fauna around you: the lovely forms and colours of roses and flowers, the lush green of grass and foliage, the marvellous changing colours of trees in the spring and autumn, the gorgeous shapes and colours of butterfly wings, the splendid plumage of birds and their captivating singing, the grace and elegance of swans in flight or floating around the lily-padded waters of an idyllic pond.
And the wonder of wonders remains the human being, having incredible physiology, mystifying consciousness, and capacity for amazing mental feats ranging from sublime spirituality, to dazzling scientific discoveries and philosophical discourse, to splendid achievements in engineering and technology, to stunning creativity in the arts, whether it’s literature, poetry, music, painting, or sculpture.
So, when birds drink, they do indeed glorify The Creator in merely being alive, in having the anatomy and physiology that He brought into being, in subsisting on the food and water He made available to them, and in making use of the laws of nature that He ordained, such as water flow under gravity.
Nassir Sabah is a neuroscientist/biophysicist and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. He has over 100 technical publications, mainly in neurophysiology, biophysics, and biomedical instrumentation and has authored four books on electric circuits, electronics, and neuroscience.
This article is adapted from his most recent book Spirituality Rekindled: The Quest for Serenity and Self-Fulfillment (2023) published by John Hunt Publishing under the O-Book imprint. He could be reached at his website: https://nassirsabah.com
