Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 378
THE JINN 6 ‘. . . in undersea vents, hot springs, the Dead Sea, and salt pans, and have even adapted to refuse tips. وو. On the issue of antiquity, though Woese and his colleagues have no doubt that the archaebacteria are the prime claimants. According to some scientists they may have evolved from some unknown parenthood simultaneously. . But these are issues which fall outside the domain of this exercise. Whether the other bacteria evolved out of them or not is irrelevant to the discussion. The relevant point is that all forms of most ancient bacteria draw their energy directly from heat. This is a tribute of no small magnitude to the Quranic declaration made over fourteen hundred years ago: وَالْجَآنَ خَلَقْنَهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ مِنْ نَّارِ السَّمُوْمِ * 15:28. And the Jinn We created before that from blasts of fire (nāris-samūm). 10. According to the accepted scientific studies, direct heat from fire had to play a vital role in the creation and maintenance of pre-biotic organisms. This, in fact was the only mode of transfer of energy for the consumption of organized forms of existence during this era. As they multiplied during their uninterrupted proliferation lasting over billions of years, their death must have polluted the oceans while they decayed and fermented turning the oceans into the primordial soup. This will be discussed at greater length in the following chapter. 367