Signs & Science: All Creatures Form Communities

The Holy Quran, Chapter: 6 Verse: 38

وَمَا مِن دَابَّةٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا طَائِرٍ يَطِيرُ بِجَنَاحَيْهِ إِلَّا أُمَمٌ أَمْثَالُكُم ۚ مَّا فَرَّطْنَا فِي الْكِتَابِ مِن شَيْءٍ ۚ ثُمَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يُحْشَرُونَ

Sahih International: And there is no creature on [or within] the earth or bird that flies with its wings except [that they are] communities like you. We have not neglected in the Register a thing. Then unto their Lord they will be gathered.

Pickthall: There is not an animal in the earth, nor a flying creature flying on two wings, but they are peoples like unto you. We have neglected nothing in the Book (of Our decrees). Then unto their Lord they will be gathered.

Interpretation

The Qur’an states that all animals, including birds, are ‘ummamun’ [i.e. are communities / people / nations], like humans. As science continues to investigate, we continue to discover that a number of animals exhibit various aspects of social living: communication, cognition, memory, organization and division of labour, family units, love and affection, mating and divorce, friendship, cheating, deception and altruism, and so on. Not only have these traits been observed in larger animals, but also at the microscopic level, where unicelluar amoebas have also been found to communicate, unite and organize into a multicellular cooperative! Following are but some links to the wondrous discoveries about our world:

Social Animals:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_animals

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_(ethology)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_(ecology)

Vertebrates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_animals#Vertebrates

Invertebrates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_animals#Invertebrates

Amoebas: http://www.damninteresting.com/amoebic-morality/

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2014/02/19/ants-animals-flood-rafts-science-weird/
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0089211

Animal Culture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_culture

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/science/2001-06-05-animal-usat.htm

Communication:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_communication