Creed- Creed and Quran Inimitability- lesson (19-36): Difference between pleasure and happiness

The structure of the inimitability topics:

In the first lesson I affirmed before you that the reason behind man's existence is to worship Allah and that worship is voluntary obedience, mixed with wholehearted love, based on certain knowledge, leading to eternal happiness. So, the reason behind our existence is to worship Allah, and He hasn't commanded us to worship Him except after He has granted us the components of this worship, the foremost among them being the universe which clearly points to His Existence, His Oneness and His Perfection. It is the first factor and is like a silent Qur'an (the creation of the universe shows the Greatness of Allah) and the Qur'an is like a talking universe (as it points to the facts which have been recently discovered by the western science), and the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is a moving Qur'an (he applied the teachings of the Noble Qur'an in his life).
We reflected deeply upon the Universe and then we talked about the second element which is the reason, the element in charge of the Divine Precepts; and it is based on three principles: causality, teleology, and non-contradiction. In fact, the mission of the reason is to ascertain the validity of the way of transmission to us of the texts of the Noble Qur'an and the ahadith of the Prophet, and then to understand these texts. The reason, however, can by no means judge them. Actually, I've delivered many lectures about the subject of the reason.
Then, I tackled the subject of fitrah (the original mold in which man has been created) and how man was granted a sound fitrah which fully conforms to the Method of Allah. So, the reason is a scientific or logical standard, while the fitrah is a psychological standard and the universe is tangible evidence.
Then I mentioned the desire, which is like a driving force and is neutral; that is, we can elevate our rank in the Sight of Allah when we fulfill our desires according to the teachings of Islam, while when we fulfill our lusts unlawfully, we fall down to the lowest levels. Also, in many lectures I have stressed the difference between the fitrah and sibghah (the dye, the Deen of Allah) and I have clarified how the believer has the characteristics of justice and accuracy, and how, if man satisfies his lusts in an illicit way, he will be treated by Allah the Almighty in stages. First of all, the guidance derived from the Noble Quran and the ahadith of the Prophet; then the disciplining punishment; then the generous persuasion, then the final breakup; and we are still tackling the subject of desire.
Today, I want to clarify to you the exact difference between pleasure and happiness, which is a fairly big difference.
The difference between pleasure and happiness:

1 - The tangible nature of pleasure:

Dear brothers, pleasure is of tangible nature; which means it is in need of substance, like food you eat, a breathtaking view you enjoy, a large warm shelter, a vehicle to ride, a wife to marry, money to spend, and so forth. Thus, pleasure is of tangible nature, it does not emerge from the inside but comes from the outside –house, money, furniture, food, drink, wife… Also a wife is in need of a husband, so there is equivalence.
2 –The supply of pleasure is discontinuous:

Glory to Allah! According to Allah's Profound Wisdom, He does not want the pleasure to be on the increase. Instead, it is rather on the decrease as every pleasure begins with ecstasy, then it becomes an ordinary thing, and with the passage of time loses its luster altogether; and this is the reason why those who have succeeded in life get the feeling of emptiness afterwards because there is emptiness in the soul which cannot be filled by money, woman, social position, or life's other pleasures.
This fact should perhaps be further clarified. You, O man, have been created to get to know Allah, so the nature of your inner self is infinite. Therefore, it is a grave danger to choose a limited aim. Given that you dream of it before reaching it, when you do reach it, you experience the horrible feeling of emptiness on account of having chosen a limited aim since you have been created for an unlimited goal. You have chosen what will die, while you have been created to get closer to the Great God Who is Ever-Living.
I want to address here the young people in particular: Before reaching it the object of your desire seems to you so great and brilliant. Yet, after you have reached it, its brilliance fades away, it gets smaller in your sight and in time you may consider it nothing at all. Hence, desires never provide you with endless pleasure, rather with decreasing pleasure. Of course, we are taking here about the desires fulfilled in a lawful way. When they are satisfied in an illicit way, the pleasure is followed by depression, a feeling of guilt, imbalance and self-contempt.
I'm talking about the pleasure you experience in a lawful way. Nevertheless, you will still get bored because the worldly life misleads people, which means that it may seem to you much bigger that it really is.
In this context, I often mention the following story: A young man who worked in a shop was extremely fond of playing practical jokes on people. Once, he swept the shop, put the rubbish in a luxurious box, wrapped it up in gift wrap with ribbons and bows, and made it look as if it contained a set of diamonds, and then he put this box in the street, near the shop. Naturally, it was snatched by a passer-by who then ran away, with the shopkeeper at his heels. 200 m away the passer-by removed the cello tape, another 200 m away he unwrapped the paper, another 200 m away he opened the box. Seeing that it was garbage, he started to swear and curse. By Allah, this man's disappointment is the same feeling which will be experienced by the one who has loved this worldly life when visited by the Angel of Death. Allah the Almighty says:
"Alas! Would that I had sent forth (good deeds) for (this) my life!"*So on that Day, none will punish as He will punish. * And none will bind as He will bind."

[Al-Fajr, 24-26]

"My Lord! Send me back, *"So that I may do good in that which I have left behind!"

[Al-Mu'minun, 99-100]

This life misleads people and causes harm to them, then it passes away, it is evanescent. It was transmitted that Sayyidina Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "O worldly life, tempt other than me, I've divorced you three times (an irrevocable divorce)." That does not mean that you should isolate yourself from this life. Rather, you should study, find a job, get married as it is the sunnah of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. What I mean is that you should not put all of your hopes in it; you will not live in it for ever; it is fleeting like a loan that you should return.
Consider the following crucial hadith: Abu Huraira narrated that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
((Hasten to do good deeds before you are overtaken by one of the seven afflictions: a poverty which makes you unmindful of devotion; a prosperity that makes you corrupt, a disease that disables you, a senility that makes you mentally unstable, a sudden death, Ad-Dajjal (taking the truth for the falsehood and the falsehood for the truth) and who is the worst expected absentee, finally the Hour, and the Hour is the most grievous and the most bitter.)).

[At-Tirmidhi]

It is logical to state that none of us will go on waking up endlessly (because we all die one day). Just as there are many exit gates at the airport, also Allah has created many exit gates out of this life, such as cancer, thrombosis, cardiac malfunction, brain thrombus, kidney failure, liver cirrhosis, a car accident, and so on.
((Hasten to do good deeds before you are overtaken by one of the seven afflictions: a poverty which makes you unmindful of devotion;))

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "Poverty can take one to kufr."
((a prosperity that makes you corrupt, a disease that disables you, a senility that makes you mentally unstable, a sudden death, Ad-Dajjal…))

who comes to the Muslim world claiming that he wants to grant them freedom and democracy, while he wants to plunder their wealth and kill them.
((who is the worst expected absentee, finally the Hour, and the Hour is the most grievous and the most bitter.)).

This is the reality of life –you may reach the highest position in the world, you may hoard the greatest wealth in the world, you may enjoy all the pleasures of this life, and you may travel all around the world… but what will happen after that? It will be death which ends everything; it puts an end to the strength of the powerful, the weakness of the powerless, the health of the healthy, the illness of the sick, the wealth of the rich, the poverty of the needy, the beauty of the handsome, and the unsightliness of the ugly. Verily, death ends everything.
There is yet another story I mention a lot: a Bedouin had a land in the north of Jeddah, and when Jeddah was expanding, the development got close to his land, therefore its price increased. So, he went to an estate agent, but he was deceived by them as they managed to buy it at one fourth of its price. A 12-story building was built on his site. That estate agency was owned by three partners. One of them fell down from a building roof and died; the second man was hit by a car and also died. The third one realized what was happening, so he searched for that Bedouin for 6 months. When finally he found him, he gave him three times more than what he had already been paid, so that Bedouin said to him: You have saved yourself from what happened to your two friends!
Dear brothers,
((Hasten to do good deeds before you are overtaken by one of the seven afflictions: a poverty which makes you unmindful of devotion; a prosperity that makes you corrupt, a disease that disables you, a senility that makes you mentally unstable, a sudden death, Ad-Dajjal (taking the truth for the falsehood and the falsehood for the truth) and who is the worst expected absentee, finally the Hour, and the Hour is the most grievous and the most bitter.)).

[At-Tirmidhi]

Hence, pleasures cannot provide you with continuous satisfaction. Rather, they provide you with decreasing satisfaction, while if this pleasure has been brought about by wrongdoing, it will be followed by depression and psychological illness. Allah the Almighty says:
"They are in plain error!"

[Az-Zumar, 22]

They are afflicted with psychological disorders, depression, distress, frustration and silliness, while the believers are:
"They are on (true) guidance from their Lord,"

(Al-Baqarah, 5)

This guidance lifts their station in the Sight of Allah, while the misguided are suffering depression, psychological unbalance or imprisonment. By contrast, the believers are:
"They are on (true) guidance from their Lord,"

(Al-Baqarah, 5)

So, this guidance elevates them to the highest level.
Dear brothers, consider this very critical point: Allah the Almighty grants health, intelligence, money and beauty to many of His creation, but He gives tranquility only to His best believing servants. This tranquility is felt while getting closer to Allah; it is the feeling of security and satisfaction; it comes when Allah grants you success, support and victory. So, when you attain pleasure in a lawful way, it will be decreasing and you will get bored with it; while when this pleasure comes while committing a sin, it will be followed by depression. Furthermore, it is in need of an external factor, such as money for example.
2- Pleasure is in need of an external factor:

By the way, some psychologists said: The pleasure requires three conditions –time, money, and health. Glory to Allah! Early in one's life, time and health are available, but there is no money, man has scarcely anything at all. Later on, in mid-life one may have set up a business, has money and good health but no time; he spends his whole time at work to make his living.
Once, a man who had a textile factory told me that he had not left Damascus for 30 years, except for Lattakia to receive a vehicle, so it was the only trip he made over the period of 30 years. He would spend all his time at work. Thus, at this stage in one's life one has money and good health but not time. When he gets older, he will give up his business and his children will take it over, so he has money and time but he doesn't have good health. He is likely to have health problems, such as uric acid, triglycerides, joint inflammation and severe back-ache; he has to take medication before meals and after meals, and one kind that should be taken on an empty stomach; the day comes when you hear he has just died. Thus, dear brothers, the pleasure is in need of money, health and time; it is external, it has tangible nature, it is decreasing, and when it is felt while committing a sin, it is followed by depression.
3 - Happiness comes from within:


By contrast, happiness comes from within. You do not need anything, you only need to remain steadfast upon the Straight Path of Allah, to get closer to Allah, to remember Allah, to perform the five prayers, to pray at night, to recite the Noble Qur'an, to lower your gaze from what is prohibited and to control your tongue; you do not need money, nor good health, nor time; you just need to repent.
By Allah, dear brothers, unless you believe that you are the happiest person among all people (when you are a true Muslim), except he who is more pious than you, then there is imperfection in your faith because it is impossible that you should get closer to Allah and feel fear, humiliation, desperation and weakness. Happiness comes from within, and it is available to all of us, unlike the extremely luxurious house or vehicle which not all of us can own. By contrast, all of us can feel at the height of happiness.
Faith brings happiness even when life pleasures are missing:


By Allah, except Whom there is no other god, because of your faith you can feel at the height of happiness even in prison. I mean what I say and I am not exaggerating. As the poet said:
If You are with me in any case (by Your Protection and Support)
I do not need to carry my provisions.
***
I only care to have intimate connection with You, even if my whole life is bitter.
And I only care about You being satisfied with me, even if all people are not.
And I only care to have prosperous relation with You, even if my relations with all people are broken off.
***
If your eyes saw Our Beauty, you would never turn your back on Us for another’s sake
If your ears heard Our nice speech, you would cast away the garb of arrogance and come to Us
If you tasted an atom-like of love, you would excuse him who loved Us to death.
If you felt the breeze of Our closeness to you, you would die in excitement and eagerness for Us.
***

The happiness Prophet Ibrahim felt while he was in fire:

Consider the tranquility, happiness, spiritual delight and strength Prophet Ibrahim felt, peace be upon him, although he was thrown in fire. Allah the Almighty says:
"We (Allah) said: "O fire! Be you coolness and safety for Ibrahim (Abraham)!"

(Al-Anbya, 69)

The happiness felt by the people of the Cave:

The people of the Cave felt happiness, tranquility and spiritual delight while they were in their cave.
The happiness felt by Prophet Muhammad in the cave of Thawr:
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, felt happiness, tranquility and spiritual delight while he was in the cave of Thawr. (At one point) Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, said: O Messenger of Allah! They have seen us! The Prophet answered: ((O Abu Bakr! What do you think of the two, of whom Allah is the Third?))

[Agreed upon]

By Allah, dear brothers, if we taste the sweetness of being close to Allah the Almighty, we will forget about all the pleasures this life can offer us, as it has been said: He who really knows Allah will renounce all worldly pleasures.
The happiness felt by the hairdresser of Pharaoh's daughter:

In the Pharaoh’s palace, there was a Muslim woman who had concealed the fact of her being a Muslim. She was in charge of combing and fixing the Pharaoh's daughter’s hair. ((While she was combing the hair of Pharaoh's daughter one day, she dropped accidentally the iron comb she was holding and said Bismilah. The Pharaoh's daughter said: Did you mean my father? She said: No. My Lord and the Lord of your father is Allah. She said: I will tell him about that. She replied: As you wish. So the daughter told him and the Pharaoh summoned the servant and said: O so-and-so, do you have a lord other than me? She said: Yes, my Lord and your Lord is Allah.
When the Pharaoh heard that, he ordered his soldiers to boil a huge amount of water in an immense pot. Then he ordered that she and her children be thrown into it. She said: I have a request to make. He said: What is it?
She said: I would like my bones and my children's bones to be gathered together in one cloth and buried. He said: Your request will be granted. He ordered that her children be thrown into the boiling water in front of her, one by one, until they came to the last one who was an infant boy whom she was still breastfeeding. It was as if she wavered on his account, but he said: O mother! Go ahead, for the punishment of this world is easier to bear than the punishment of the Hereafter. So she went ahead.
[Ahmad]

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
"On the night on which I was taken on the Night Journey (Isra'), a beautiful fragrance came to me. I said: O Jibreel! What is this beautiful scent? He said: This is the aroma of the Pharaoh's daughter's hairdresser and her children."

Dear brothers, seek for what will last forever, as this worldly life causes harm to people, deceives them, then it passes. Don't we see funeral processions every day? All the pleasures the deceased has experienced when he was alive have come to an end and he is to be buried in his grave, which is either one of the Paradise Gardens or a pit of Hellfire. While this happiness is with you, there is no need for money, luxury vehicle or house, high social position or a beautiful wife. What is needed is only the connection with Allah.
Therefore, dear brothers, happiness comes from within.
4 -Happiness increases and is followed by psychological comfort:

Happiness increases not decreases and it is followed by psychological comfort, balance, stability, confidence, optimism, certainty, spiritual delight and brightness because of the connection with Allah. Ponder the following ayah in which Allah the Almighty says:
"When they will see the torment, that all power belongs to Allah and that Allah is Severe in punishment."

(Al-Baqarah, 165)

What kind of power is it? Why did he get ill-gotten gains? In order to marry an exceptionally beautiful woman who expects an exceptionally high dowry, and a sumptuous house, so he has obtained ill-gotten gains to please her.
"When they will see the torment, that all power belongs to Allah and that Allah is Severe in punishment."

(Al-Baqarah, 165)

The power of beauty which has captivated him so much is just a shred of the Beauty of Allah; the money which has tempted him is a gift from Allah. So, beauty, perfection and all the favors which we like so much are Allah's Possession.
So, dear brothers, happiness increases, and by Allah except Whom there is no other god, the line on the believer's graph is continuously rising and death is a point on this line. So, if you get to know Allah, you will find increasing happiness, and whenever an aspect of Allah's Perfection is revealed to you, you will say that Allah is the Greatest and indeed He is greater than what you may think. This is the real happiness; you will feel happiness even when facing an unfavorable situation such as living in a small hut or suffering from an incurable disease.
Dear brothers, a doctor told me once the strangest story I had ever heard. He said: A patient came to the hospital; he had intestinal cancer and suffered from an unbearable pain. Nevertheless, whenever anyone entered his room, he would smile and say: "Be my witness that I am satisfied with Allah. O My Lord! All praise be to You." His equanimity was amazing.
In fact, I read once a research on a certain problematic question I often wonder about: Why, when the same illness afflicts two persons, one of them feels immense pain to the extent that he curses and utters words of kufr, while the other feels much less pain? Scientists first gave an unconvincing explanation, saying there is a threshold of pain, something exactly like your marble doorstep. When the threshold is high, that means the pain is severe, but there is no pain in a low threshold. These are doctors' words. Afterwards it was proved that the ways of pain have gates. Pain starts from the nerves which surround the spinal cord, moves on to the cerebellum, then to the brain cortex; there are many gates on this way and when they are open, man suffers severe pain, but when they are closed, he feels pain but little. That article has been translated and as far as I can tell the author is non-Muslim. Nevertheless, he said that the psychological state of the patient has control over these gates; if the patient believes in Allah, these gates are closed, so the pain will be less acute and bearable.
So, the patient we are talking about used to say to whoever entered his room: "Be my witness that I am satisfied with Allah. O My Lord! All praise be to You." The doctor told me that whenever that patient rang the bell, nurses and doctors rushed to attend him. There was spiritual light, attraction and satisfaction in his room and although he was suffering from a malignant tumor, he would constantly repeat: "O My Lord! All praise be to You." After seven days he died and his death was strikingly trouble-free. The doctor continued: According to Allah's Deep Wisdom, another man suffering from the same illness came to that room after that patient had died. He uttered words of kufr, he shouted, cursed whoever he saw; when he rang his bell, no one came to him; his room was dark and scary, full of kufr and discontent, despite the fact that he was suffering from the same disease as the first patient.
Dear brothers, happiness comes from within, and it does not need anything tangible; you may be the happiest man in the world while living in a humble cottage.
By Allah, once I attended an Islamic conference in Morocco and stayed in one of the largest hotels in Casablanca. At dawn I heard an impressive recitation of the Noble Qur'an and was really touched by it. I looked down from the balcony and found that it was the recitation of a gardener who was performing al-fajr prayer at its exact time; he had a pleasant voice. I said to myself: "That gardener might be closer to Allah than all the scholars who have come to attend this Islamic conference." So, the cost of getting closer to Allah is to love Him and to abide by His Orders.
When desire is the objective, it turns into a source of pain:

Your heart should be attached to happiness. Dear brothers, as an Egyptian philosopher said: When the principle of pleasure becomes the target, it turns into pain.
Would you believe that a man whose monthly income is about one million Syrian pounds could fee depression and eventually commit suicide? Actually, the highest suicide rates are in the richest countries in the world. For example, the Japanese engineer who designed the second longest bridge in the world, crossed by 300 thousand cars every day, threw himself in the Bosporus during the opening ceremony. A note was found in his room which read: "I've tasted everything in this life and I've found it tasteless, so I want to try the taste of death."
Life is nothing at all. I could almost say that having traveled a lot, east and west, I've found a common characteristic among the people of the world which is related to a rich aimless man with no problems, this being the source of his grave problems, that is, his life is boring, he has got accustomed to everything good; he eats, drinks, watches movies, and so on. What else is there?
By Allah, dear brothers, those who have succeeded in their lives cannot sometimes endure their life and they are not endured either; their life is full of boredom, weariness and ennui.
In fact, dear brothers, if man is heedless of Allah the Almighty, the principle of desire will turn into one of pain because he has no method to follow and thus may commit a violation. A girl who has had a love affair with a man could have been a respectable mother, with children, sons and daughters in-law; she could have been a decent wife. Yet, her sense of morality was corrupted and she was turned from a chaste woman into a prostitute, so the man will feel remorse because of his conscience and his sound fitrah. Hence, whoever deviates from the Straight Path of Allah will suffer psychological disorder, such as depression and neurosis. Allah the Almighty says:
"And verily, those who believe not in the Hereafter are indeed deviating far astray from the Path (true religion Islamic Monotheism)."

(Al-Mu'minun, 74)

"But whosoever turns away from My Reminder (i.e. neither believes in this Quran nor acts on its orders, etc.) verily, for him is a life of hardship, and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Resurrection."

(Taha, 124)

Calamities are inevitable consequences of sins:


Actually, calamities in this life are not a means of punishment, revenge or thirst-quenching. Rather, they are logical results of wrongdoings and sins. It is similar to the case of a vehicle which has been manufactured with the objective of its movement. Nevertheless, there is a brake inside it which contradicts this objective, but which is necessary. Furthermore, the movement is the most dangerous thing as regards the vehicle, although it was made in order to move, and the brake contradicts the reason behind manufacturing it as I have just mentioned. Likewise, when man chooses to fulfill his desires illicitly, he will face a set of treatments that I spoke about in our last lecture, one of which is the guidance from the Noble Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, then the disciplinary punishment, then the generous persuasion, and finally the destruction.
5 –Pleasure is transitory while responsibility is everlasting:

Dear brothers, pleasures derived from committing sins are transitory while responsibility remains, and it has been said: An hour long desire may cause sadness forever.
On the other hand, striving in worship does not last, it finishes, while the honoring from Allah remains. And the most accurate affirmation is that there is emptiness inside all of us that cannot be filled except by getting to know Allah; it cannot be filled by money, social position, pleasures, or delight, and this is what we seek for in order to fill the emptiness of lack of faith.
Once, I travelled to America; I was invited to a place called Toledo, next to the one where I stayed, but was unable to accept their invitation. They invited me the following year but again I couldn't make it, and the same thing happened the third year. Finally, I was able to accept their fourth invitation and after I had delivered my lecture one of the attendants came to me and said: Do you know the distance I have traveled by car in order to attend this lecture? I said to him: How far? He said: 600 miles, which is 900 km! They entirely lack Islamic knowledge there, having to travel the distance of 900 km in order to attend an Islamic lecture, while here in Syria, Islamic lectures, khutbas and seminars are easily available out of Allah's Bounty. So knowledge is something precious and when you get to know Allah, you have reached everything, while when you miss the reality of faith, you have not reached anything.
It has been said: O Lord! What does the one who misses You find? And what does the one who finds You miss? And if Allah is with you (by His Support), who is strong enough to go against you? And if He is against you, who can be of any help to you?
A scientific topic: all cells in the body get replaced except for:

1 – the brain cells:


Dear brothers, let's move to a new scientific topic. You all know that all the cells of the body get replaced within the maximum period of 5 years. The life p of bone cells is about 5 years, being the longest one, while the life p of the intestine villus cell is about 48 hours, being the shortest. In other words, the intestine villi get replaced each 48 hours, while the bone cells change every 5 years; all your body cells on the average change every 5 years, your skin and hair cells included, except the brain and the heart cells.
What is located in your brain is your memory, your experience, your skills, your information, everything you acquire in your life; all your basic information about your acquaintance, your children, your friends, your relatives, and your profession. If you are a doctor for example, you would lose all the information in your brain if the brain cells were replaced and you would be almost illiterate. Hence, if that happened, you would face an unbearable situation –you would be deprived of your memory, you would not recognize your children, you would forget all your information, your profession and your doctorate.
A man suffering from the loss of memory came from America, and when his son came to see him, he did not recognize him, asking who he was.
Once, one of our dear brothers in faith, now deceased, may Allah have mercy on his soul, left his factory and wanted to go home, but he forgot the location of his house. He spent two hours on the road trying to remember it, but he managed to recall where his son lived, so he went to him and said: O my son! Where do I live? He had lost his memory.
Hence, if the brain cells were replaced, man would lose everything; he would lose the 33 years that his studies lasted. So according to a profound wisdom the brain cells never get replaced. Actually, I have mentioned this before.
2 –the heart cells:


According to the latest discoveries the heart cells are never replaced because it has been proved that the heart is the centre of feelings, tastes, and preferences. How was it discovered? It was discovered after heart transplants came to be practiced. For example, they transplanted the heart of a young man who had died in an accident into an octogenarian man, who used to live in the 40s, when classical music was popular. After the operation, he found he liked jazz, which was incredible, yet, his tastes did change surprisingly. He also liked certain foods he did not like before.
After 73 heart transplants have been carried out all over the world, one hears many interesting stories about the people who have been operated on. For example, a man found himself after that operation repeating certain words which had no meaning. Seriously worried, he telephoned the wife of the donor, who said to him: This was a password between us which means that everything is fine. Also, other people found they liked songs they did not like before. Of course, there are many interesting long stories about that, which can be found in the references.
Thus, the heart is the centre of sensations, feelings and tastes, and if the heart cells got replaced, man who loves to listen to the Noble Qur'an would love to listen to something else. So, Allah the Almighty has fixed the heart cells; they are never replaced.
I thought before that the human heart had no relation to the heart which is mentioned in the Noble Qur'an. I thought that the former is just a blood pump, while the latter is the heart of the inner self, but it has been recently proved that the heart mentioned in the Noble Qur’an is the very same as the human heart, which is the centre of feelings, sensations and tastes. Of course, this would require a long talk, and I can narrate to you 73 stories about those people who underwent the heart transplant and realized that the donors' feelings, tastes, desires and inclinations had been transferred to them.
The most important thing here is that Allah has created cognitive nerve cells around the heart. Their capabilities are 500-fold more complex than those of the brain cells; they send orders to the brain. So it follows that the heart controls the brain, you can search for this information in the Internet and the scientists who have made this discovery are non-Muslims. Allah the Almighty says:
"We will show them Our Signs in the universe, and in their own selves."

(Fussilat, 53)

Hence, there are nerve cells which surround the heart, and their capabilities are many times more intricate than those of the brain. Not only that, they control most of the brain cells.
Once a Muslim scholar who is a scientist at the same time visited us and mentioned this information. I searched for it in the Internet and I found it to be exactly as he said.
Dear brothers, whenever there is a scientific breakthrough that reveals one aspect of the greatness of this Noble Qur'an, it shows that Allah Who has created the universe is the One Who has sent this Noble Qur'an. Allah the Almighty says:
"So I swear by Mawaqi (setting or the mansions, etc.) of the stars (they traverse)."

(Al-Waqiah, 75)

Conclusion:

There are stars which are 24 billion or 24 trillion light years away from us and the light travels at the speed of 300 thousand km per second. You should multiply it by 60 seconds, then by sixty minutes, then by 24 hours, then by 365 days, then by 24 billion years. Allah the Almighty says:
"So I swear by Mawaqi (setting or the mansions, etc.) of the stars (they traverse). * And verily, that is indeed a great oath, if you but know."

(Al-Waqiah, 75-76)

The answer to the oath is:
"That (this) is indeed an honourable recital (the Noble Quran)."

(Al-Waqiah, 77)

Thus, the essence of the scientific inimitability of the Noble Qur'an is that the One Who has created the universe is the same One Who has sent this Noble Qur'an.
In the future, insha-Allah, we will tackle a topic of scientific inimitability in the final ten minutes of each lecture.