For Atheists: FOSSILIZATION AND IRON CONTENT

They say, What! When we are bones and crumbled dust, will we then be raised
up as a new creation! Say: It would not matter if you were rock or iron or
indeed any created thing that you think is harder still! They will say, Who will
bring us back again? Say: He Who brought you into being in the first
place... (Surat al-Isra, 49-51)
The above verses are a reference to peoples dead bodies petrifying and turning into
iron. Living tissue is not preserved over millions of years. That is why it is only
possible to see things that lived a long time in the past once they have been fossilized.
After they die, living things can be preserved for years by fossilization, by their
bodies turning into stone under the ground. The word fossil refers to the
preservation of a living thing by petrification, by its turning into stone.
Iron is preserved undamaged in the body as it fossilized. Human beings need to
consume an average of 10-15 milligrams a day in order to be healthy. Any excess iron
consumed is stored in the liver. In addition, the protein transferrin in blood plasma
also carries a certain amount of iron.1 The reference in the above verse to the
presence of iron in the remains of the human body is exceedingly wise from that point
of
view.
Research has also shown the presence of pyrite, (FeS 2) a compound of iron and
sulfur, in fossils.2 The iron mineral pyrite forms very easily during the degradation of
organic substances. It is therefore generally found in fossil shells and is capable of
damaging the fossils since it can react with oxygen and water. The words crumbled
dust in the verse may be a reference to pyrite degradation, which leads to the
fragmentation and collapse of a fossil as pyrite reacts with water and oxygen.3 Allah
knows
the
truth.
Another fact confirmed by recent findings is that matter constantly seeks the most
stable state. Therefore, given sufficient time, all matter will eventually turn into iron.
Iron is the most stable state of nuclear matter, and cosmological models predict a
stage in which everything will turn into iron as a result of nuclear fusion and nuclear
fission reactions.4 In his book In Search of Schrodinger's Cat: Quantum Physics And
Reality, the astrophysicist John Gribbon describes how iron is the most desirable state
of matter and how all matter in the universe wants to turn into iron.5
The revelation in the Quran that human beings petrify and fossilize and turn into iron
is a fact that has now been scientifically confirmed. In the same way that no
archaeological, paleontological, geological or astronomical research was possible at
the time the Quran was revealed, neither was it possible to identify the elements
using an electron miscroscope. For that point of view, the facts revealed in the above
verse once more confirm that the Quran is a divine text.
1 http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/iron_tests.jsp
2 http://www.tmm.utexas.edu/npl/glossary.htm
3 http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/publications/conserveogram/11-02.pdf

4http://www.free-definition.com/Iron.html; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron
5 http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/index.php/t-34407.html
( Quoted from: http://www.miraclesofthequran.com/scientific_90.html)