http://www.arabnews.com/?page=13§ion=0&article=85150&d=14&m=7&y=2006&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Local%20Press
Tuesday, 11, July, 2006 (15, Jumada al-Thani, 1427)
The Coconut Theory
Fahd Al-Ahmadi . Al-Riyadh
I went to Malaysia a few years ago with my family just as
many Saudi families do during the summer vacation. Unlike many Saudis, however,
I wanted to avoid the busy crowds in the cities by going to the remote islands
in the country's eastern and northern regions.
While relaxing on the beaches of Penang Island, a local
fishing boat offered to take us to a lush green, unpopulated island not far
away. We agreed and soon were on our way.
When we arrived, we found the island was indeed empty and we
felt as if we owned a beautiful and astonishing place. While the children were
busy collecting shells on the beach and the boat owners were preparing a
barbecue, my wife and I walked on the beach and enjoyed the beauty of a nearby
waterfall.
Meanwhile, in the sea I noticed a coconut being carried by
the waves onto the beach where it came to rest near my foot. In an
inspirational moment, not unlike what Newton experienced when he formulated his
theory of gravitation because of an apple, I realized for the first time where
coconut trees come from and why they are found on beaches. We then turned our
attention again to the waterfall and I wondered why its water was fresh in
spite of the salt seawater which pounded the island every minute of every day.
As night came on, we shifted our attention to the stars and the heavens. The
stars were unusually big and clear because there was no artificial lighting. I
imagined these stars as tropical islands and asked myself if they were
exchanging coconuts among themselves.
By this last question, I felt that I had outdone Newton and
his acclaimed apple. I don't of course mean coconuts literally, but I am
referring to live beings moving through outer space carrying the seeds of life
from planet to planet. Life can be created from one cell and then grow to
something unimaginably complex.
Shooting stars that separate themselves from other planets
are one possible way in which life reached Earth. These fertilized meteors
could come from any far away planet or galaxy. It is also possible that they
came from nearby planets on which life appeared billions of years before it
appeared, in primitive form, on our own planet. Mars, where live meteors come
from, might be the best possible source or origin for life on Earth. Nowadays,
it is believed that life existed on Mars before it appeared on Earth. On Mars,
there was a great cosmic catastrophe as a result of which the environmental
balance was destroyed so seas disappeared, rivers dried up and life became
extinct.
The strongest evidence to support this appeared in 1996 when
NASA found a meteor from Mars that confirmed the existence of ancient life on
the planet. The star fell on the South Pole millions of years ago. If we assume
that throughout its history, Earth received a meteor similar to this one every
thousand years - that means it received 4,500 meteors and one of them is
responsible for transferring life to the planet.
The 37th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference held in
Houston, Texas, on March 13-17 discussed the opposing hypotheses. Vancouver
University presented a report claiming that life moved from Earth to two of
Saturn's moons. According to what was published on the website of New Scientist
Magazine - www.newscientist.com - a shooting star with a diameter less than 10
kilometers colliding with Earth could throw 600 million live earthy splinters
into outer space. When scientists traced possible routes for these splinters,
they found out that some of them would definitely fall on Saturn's moons. Both
moons have fresh water and conditions which could support life. My ideas could
be a bit bizarre, but let us not forget that human beings came from beyond
Earth because of Adam's sin.
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