Had they pondered over the greatness of His power and the vastness
of His bounty they would have returned to the right path and feared the punishment of the Fire; but hearts are sick and eyes are impure.
Do they not see the small things He has created, how He strengthened their system and opened for them hearing and sight and made for them bones and skins?
Look at the ant with its small body and delicate form. It can hardly be seen by the eye or perceived into imagination – how it creeps on the earth and jumps at its livelihood.
Ant carries the grain to its hole and deposits it in its home. It collects food during summer for the winter time, and during strength the healthiness for the period of its weakness. Its livelihood is guaranteed, and it is fed according to physical fitness.
God, the Kind, does not forget it and (God the Giver) does not deprive it, even though it may be in dry stone or in fixed rocks.If you could see its digestive tracts in its high and low parts, the carapace of its belly, and its eyes and its ears, you would be amazed at its creation. Indeed, you would feel it difficult in describing these parts.
Exalted is He who have made it stand on its legs and erected it on its pillars (of limbs). No one else took part with Him in its creation or assisted Him in any way.
Even if you reach to the highest point of your imagination, it will not lead you anywhere except to accept that the Originator of the ant is the same as He who is the Originator of the date-palm, because everything is created with extreme care in delicacy and detail, and every living being has difference according to its design and purpose.
References
1. Sermon 184 from Nahjul Balagha containing sermons delivered by Imam Ali: Creation of an Ant