THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS

                THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS

              “Do they not look at

               the birds, held poised

               in the midst of (the air

               and) the sky?

               Nothing holds them up

               but (the power of) Allah.

               Verily in this are Signs

               for those who believe.”

                                    [Al-Qur’an 16:79]

Another verse also touches on birds:

              “Do they not observe

                the birds above them,

                spreading their wings

                and folding them in?

                None can uphold them

                except (Allah) Most Gracious:

                truly it is He

                that watches over all things.”

                                           [Al-Qur’an 67:19]

The Arabic word amsaka literally means, ‘to put

one’s hand on, seize, hold, hold someone back,’

which expresses the idea that Allah holds the bird

up in His power. These verses stress the extremely

close dependence of the birds’ behaviour on Divine

law. Modern scientific data has shown the degree of

perfection attained by certain species of birds with

regard to the programming of their movements. It is

only the existence of a migratory programme in the

genetic code of the birds that can explain the long

and complicated journey that very young birds,

without any prior experience and without any guide,

are able to accomplish. They are also able to return

to the departure point on a definite date.

Prof. Hamburger in his book ‘Power and Fragility’

gives the example of ‘mutton-bird’ that lives in the

Pacific with its journey of over 24,000 km in the

shape of figure ‘8’. It makes this journey over a