God
has said in the Quran about one of the evil unbelievers who forbade
the Prophet Muhammad from praying at the Kaaba:
''No!
If he does not stop, We will take him by the naseyah (front of
the head), a lying, sinful naseyah (front of the head)''! (Quran,
96:15-16)
Why
did the Quran describe the front of the head as being lying and
sinful? Why didn’t the Quran say that the person was lying
and sinful? What is the relationship between the front of the
head and lying and sinfulness?
If
we look into the skull at the front of the head, we will find
the prefrontal area of the cerebrum (see figure 12). What does
physiology tell us about the function of this area? A book entitled
Essentials of Anatomy & Physiology says about this area, “The
motivation and the foresight to plan and initiate movements occur
in the anterior portion of the frontal lobes, the prefrontal area.
This is a region of association cortex...”1 Also the book
says, “In relation to its involvement in motivation, the
prefrontal area is also thought to be the functional center for
aggression....”2
So,
this area of the cerebrum is responsible for planning, motivating,
and initiating good and sinful behavior and is responsible for
the telling of lies and the speaking of truth. Thus, it is proper
to describe the front of the head as lying and sinful when someone
lies or commits a sin, as the Quran has said, “...A lying,
sinful naseyah (front of the head)!”
Scientists
have only discovered these functions of the prefrontal area in
the last sixty years, according to Professor Keith L. Moore.3
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Footnotes:
(1)
Essentials of Anatomy & Physiology, Seeley and others, p.
211. Also see The Human Nervous System, Noback and others, pp.
410-411.
(2)
Essentials of Anatomy & Physiology, Seeley and others, p.
211.
(3)
Al-E’jaz al-Elmy fee al-Naseyah (The Scientific Miracles
in the Front of the Head), Moore and others, p. 41.
