The Scientific Miracle in Allah's Saying: "The Ant Said.."
Professor Dr. Mustafa Ibrahim Hassan
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
"Until, when they came upon the valley of the ants, an ant said, 'O ants, enter your dwellings that you not be crushed by Solomon and his soldiers while they perceive not.'"
(Qur’an: 27: 18)
The Scientific Miracle in the Noble Verse
The noble verse mentions that the ant spoke, and this was stated more than 1,434 Hijri years ago. We deduce from this that the ant spoke after hearing the descent of Solomon's army, peace be upon him, from the mountain. The ant then began to warn the rest of the ant kingdom of Solomon and his soldiers so that they would not be crushed.
The scientific miracle in this noble verse lies in the ant's ability to hear from very long distances and its ability to speak. This occurred at a time when there was no technology capable of determining how the ant heard the approach of Solomon and his soldiers or how and from where the ant spoke.
These scientific facts were only discovered recently. For the first time in history, we have been able to locate the ant's hearing organ in its legs, which is a scientific precedent in the Quran. Furthermore, ants can hear ultrasonic waves, which humans cannot. Therefore, as soon as Solomon's army and soldiers descended from the mountain and reached the beginning of the ant valley, the sound of the army, including the soldiers and horses, was transmitted to the ground in the form of sound vibrations.
These vibrations traveled through the surface of the earth until they reached the ant's legs, which are covered with numerous sensory hairs that detect ultrasonic waves. The sound frequencies were then transmitted from the sensory hairs to the ant's brain, which translated them into information that Solomon and his soldiers had arrived at the ant valley. Fearing for the rest of the ant kingdom, the ant began to warn the other ants. The fact that ants can speak was only discovered recently. It was discovered that ants speak through organs located on their abdomens.
On the surface of the third abdominal segment, there is a structure known as a feather, and on the surface of the fourth abdominal segment, there are closely arranged ice-like protrusions resembling the strings of a musical instrument, known as the file. When ants want to speak, they move the feather on the file, producing different tones with varying frequencies that humans can hear and have been recorded using special devices.
Other ants can hear these sounds as well. Therefore, as soon as the ant gave the warning call, all the ants ran into their dwellings, saving themselves from Solomon's army, which consisted of humans, jinn, and birds. This indicates that our Prophet, peace be upon him, received this Quran from the All-Hearing, All-Knowing, and that he, peace be upon him, does not speak from his own desire.
Image Description An image shows the speech organs in ants, where the image illustrates the presence of the feather and its friction with the lines (the file) on the surface of the ant's abdomen.
