The Gulen Movement Is Not a Cult -- It's One of the Most Encouraging Faces of Islam Todayby Graham E. Fuller

Last week witnessed what may be the last act of an unfolding struggle between two major Islamic movements in Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused exiled Islamic leader Fethullah Gulen of plotting last week's failed coup against the government. Immediately thereafter, Erdogan unleashed massive Stalin-style purges and arrests across the country of anyone suspected of any connection with Gulen or indeed of anyone of any ideology who opposes Erdogan.

First of all, when we talk about Islamic leaders in Turkey, we're talking about a very different scene than in most of the rest of the Muslim world. 

In Turkey, it's basically a struggle among Islamic moderates. Neither Erdogan nor Gulen call for any kind of Islamic State, Sharia law or Caliphate. They both operate fairly comfortably within a primarily secular state structure established a century ago by the country's modernizing secularist founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. We're not really talking about Islam or theology but about power and influence. Politics in Turkey has always been a rough game, even within a basically democratic order.

But there are important differences between the two groups:

1. Erdogan runs a political party while Gulen operates a civil movement called Hizmet ("Service"). 
2. Erdogan comes out of a more traditional Sunni Turkish Islamist movement; Gulen comes out of an apolitical, more Sufi, mystical and social tradition. 
3. Gulen is interested in slow and deep social change, including secular higher education;.
4. Erdogan as a party leader is first and foremost interested in preserving his party's power, operating in a populist manner, trying to raise the general welfare.

I believe it is unlikely that Gulen was the mastermind behind the dramatic failed coup attempt against Erdogan last week. Of course, in the absence of evidence, so far no one can speak with certainty. Gulen's social movement probably has well over a million followers or sympathizers who are not under centralized control. With the arrests of tens of thousands this week and the use of torture already suspected, there is no telling what kind of "confessions" will be generated. Erdogan demands that the U.S. extradite Gulen (he lives in Pennsylvania) to Turkey, but Washington does not usually extradite political figures unless the evidence is highly persuasive in a U.S. court.

More importantly, Erdogan's sensational and sweeping charges against Gulen seem to fly in the face of most logic. Consider the following:

Erdogan had already largely crushed Hizmet before the coup. He was enraged in 2013 at the publication -- by Gulen followers -- of police wiretap evidence of widespread corruption within Erdogan's own circles. He undertook a massive and ongoing purge against Hizmet's members, activists, supporters, officials, financial institutions, television stations, newspapers, educational and social institutions, especially within the police and judiciary. Hizmet institutions were devastated. Its members knew their base had been crippled and understood the need to regroup as a movement, perhaps working more closely with liberal and even secular forces to maintain democracy, to protect against a return of military power and to prevent Erdogan's widening abuses of authority.



People carry the coffin of a victim of the coup attempt at the Kocatepe Mosque in Ankara on July 18. (DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty Images)

Gulen has always embraced the importance and dignity of the state, in the best Ottoman tradition. He has supported the state against earlier Islamist movements that raised Islam over the state. He even felt compelled to support the military takeover of the state in 1980 in order to preserve the state in the face of raging guerrilla warfare raging in the streets. Basically, however, he supports democracy over military rule as the surest guarantee for the freedom of Hizmet to exist and conduct its social mission.

Gulen immediately denounced last week's coup as well. Was he merely dissembling? Unlikely, since it is consistent with Gulen's discomfort with military rule over years. Furthermore, Hizmet does not engage in terrorist activities, so support for political violence in this case is extremely unlikely. Erdogan's charge that Hizmet is a "terrorist organization" is absurd to anyone with the least knowledge of the movement, given its strong emphasis on peace and dialogue.

Gulen arguably lacked even the capability to organize a serious coup in an army that, over decades, has rigorously weeded Hizmet followers out -- indeed, any officers showing any religious beliefs. Turkish intelligence has also been all over the movement for years, amassing massive dossiers. Why would Gulen choose to attempt a coup that's contrary to all his views and at a time of maximum weakness vis-a-vis Erdogan?

The coup leaders called themselves the Peace at Home Committee. "Peace at home" (yurtta sulh) is part of a famous slogan of Ataturk's and not associated with Gulen.

It beggars the imagination to believe that the now tens of thousands of people purged and arrested -- police, army, judges, lawyers, teachers, bankers, journalists -- are all terrorist enemies of the state. Clearly Erdogan is seizing the occasion to eliminate any and all opposition to his plans to create a new super-powerful presidency for himself. Erdogan will find many, even within his own party, who are dismayed at his reach for total power -- but are cowed into silence. Once objective journalists now watch their words.

In the interest of full disclosure -- it is on public record that I wrote a letter as a private citizen in connection with Gulen's U.S. green card application in 2006, stating that I did not believe that Gulen constituted a security threat to the U.S. This came shortly after I had finished a book, The Future of Political Islam, that involved extensive travel and interviews with Islamists around the world. In that context, I found Hizmet to be remarkably moderate, tolerant, non-violent, open to dialogue, a social rather than political movement, and a strong proponent of education as the means to empower Muslims in a globalizing future.



But in the years of Bush's global war on terrorism, many neoconservatives in Washington were agitating to deport Gulen -- among many hundreds of other Muslim clerics -- as a security risk to the U.S. I found the charge baseless. Indeed, I still believe that Hizmet as a movement represents one of the most encouraging faces of contemporary Islam in the world.

I wanted the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to at least be aware of my considered personal opinion as they considered his case. Since then, enemies of Gulen and many conspiratorial-minded Turks decided to connect the dots: the fact that I was a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency official (I had retired from the agency 18 years before) and that I had spoken out in defense of Gulen constituted clear "proof" that Gulen is a CIA agent.

Gulen's movement is hardly without its faults. He is an old-school figure, 75 years old, reclusive and often not in touch with daily aspects of the organization. Hizmet has not been a transparent organization -- hence it's viewed as "shadowy." But in past decades, when membership in Hizmet (or any Islamic movement in Turkey) constituted grounds for possible prosecution, its members kept a low profile, often hiding their affiliation.

That changed after Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (known as the AKP) came to power in 2002. Many members of Hizmet then became free to seek positions in government (if qualified). In particular, they sought jobs in the police and judiciary, to a large measure to ensure that police powers would never be wielded against them (or the AKP) again, as in the past. The tide has now turned, and the full powers of the Erdogan-controlled police are being used against Hizmet members. Sadly, the police have regularly been a political football in Turkish politics over the years.



Turkish military leaders under custody following the failed military coup attempt, in Izmir, Turkey on July 17. (Evren Atalay/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

But in the end, this is not just politics. We are talking about a critical issue: what kind of movements will represent Islam's future? ISIS? Al Qaeda? The Muslim Brotherhood? As Islamic movements go, I would rank Hizmet high on the list of rational, moderate, socially constructive and open-minded organizations. It is not a cult; it sits squarely in mainstream modernizing Islam.

Erdogan's own AKP had once been a remarkable model. Indeed, if Erdogan had retired from politics in 2011 with all the party's accomplishments, he would certainly go down in history as the greatest prime minister in the history of democratic Turkey. But, as with so many leaders, after a decade in power, corruption sets in, leaders lose their touch and grow isolated and power-hungry. Erdogan is now in the process of destroying virtually everything his party created in the first decade of governance. His sweeping purges and the pall of fear and uncertainty is destroying Turkey itself.

How will it end? Erdogan has beaten Hizmet decisively. But he is planting the seeds for his own destruction. How and when he will fall remains unclear. Meanwhile, on the international scene, Turkey is rapidly becoming a pariah. The country itself is now his primary victim.

The Gulen Movement Is Not a Cult -- It's One of the Most Encouraging Faces of Islam Today,  by Graham E. Fuller, huffingtonpost.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/graham-e-fuller/gulen-movement-not-cult_b_11116858.html

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Turkey Today: The Magazine, updated periofically: http://flip.it/CSZ4B

فتح اللہ گولن کون ہیں؟ 

Who is Fethullah Gülen?

http://fgulen.com/ur/life-pk/fethullah-gulen-life/31382-who-is-fethullah-gulen

http://freebookpark.blogspot.com/2014/03/fethullah-gulen-books-and-articles.html

Genesis of Terror & Road to Peace

The emergence of science

The writer is vice-chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics. He holds a PhD in Economics from Stanford University
Historical accidents have shrouded the emergence of science and the scientific method behind multiple veils of mystery. Misunderstanding the nature of science has led to seriously defective methodologies in modern social science, especially economics. The first barrier to understanding is created by Eurocentric history which states that roots of modern sciences originated with the Greeks. According to this account, the Muslims preserved Greek knowledge, and passed it on to Europe, without making any significant improvements. The Europeans took up the mantle of their Greek ancestors and have since made fantastic progress. The myth that “Europeans are unique in their capacity for rational and scientific thought” has been debunked effectively by many historians, notably Blaut in Eight Eurocentric Historians. Nonetheless, these ideas have been widely propagated, and permeate public consciousness.

Jack Goody in The Theft of History has shown that many inventions of other civilisations were appropriated by European historians and attributed to Europeans to create a Eurocentric history. Even though it is transparently obvious that the flames of the European Enlightenment were lit by sparks from the advanced civilisation of Islamic Spain, one will not find any mention of this in the standard historical accounts. Similarly, conventional histories gloss over the breeding of corn by the master botanists among the Incas (which feeds half the world today), the crucial inventions of papermaking, printing, gunpowder and compass by the Chinese, development of calculus by the Kerala school of mathematicians, and the diverse and extensive contributions of the Islamic civilisation in many fields. Quite apart from the injustice in this distortion of history, this process of negating the Islamic contribution to development of science results in a loss of understanding of the nature and significance of the contribution. If we peel apart the veils of these historical distortions, it becomes crystal clear that science and the scientific method originated in the Islamic civilisation. The discovery of the experimental method by the Muslims was such an important advance on Greek science that it has been termed a conceptual revolution which was “greatest idea of the second millennium”. Our goal is to explain the nature of this advance.

The Greeks originated the first systematic study of Geometry, via the famous axioms of Euclid. The tremendous value and importance of these methods is obvious because these methods are still taught in schools and universities. The purely axiomatic and logical structure of these methods leads to iron-clad certainties which do not require empirical verification. When the Greeks turned to the study of nature, they tried to use the same method that had been so successful. Aristotle argued that induction from observations could be used to frame axioms, but the laws of science must be based on logic, parallel to geometry. Logic reveals grand universal truths, while observations can only reveal lowly ‘contingent truths’ which are valid within a particular historical context under specific circumstances. Richard Powers writes that “the most important idea of this millennium was (due to) Abu Ali al-Hasan Ibn ul-Haitham [who] … remains little-known … But the idea that Ibn al-Haytham championed is so ingrained in us that we don’t even think of it as an innovation, let alone one that has appeared so late in the human day.” Greek axioms and logic had led to two rival theories about vision, which had remained deadlocked for 800 years. One way of framing axioms led to the conclusion that light emanated from the eyes and struck the object, while the other led to the reverse conclusion. Ibn-ul-Haitham used observational evidence to definitively settle the matter. For example, he argued that staring at the sun burns the retina, establishing that light travels from the sun to the eyes. His striking innovation was that he made no appeal to theory, axioms or logic. Instead, he demolished a whole mountain of Greek theory with a single appeal to data.

The difference between axiomatic-deductive methodology of the Greeks and scientific methodology developed by Ibn-ul-Haitham and followers is like night and day. This difference can be illustrated and clarified by a wide range of examples. For instance, let us consider the discovery of the atom. Often credited for discovery of the atom, Democritus followed the typical Greek method. He argued that if we kept subdividing matter, we would reach the smallest possible particle, after which no further subdivision would be possible. This was seen as a logical necessity, not as an empirical fact. If viewed experimentally, this logic is deeply flawed. The process of subdivision is constrained by human experimental capabilities, not just the properties of matter. Experimentation and observational evidence have led to knowledge which could never be achieved by axioms and logic. Advances in experimental techniques led to the splitting of atoms, clarifying the structure of matter in ways which were impossible earlier. It was precisely this time-barred and contingent nature of experimental truths which repelled the Greeks.

In contrast to Democritus, Dalton’s discovery of the atom reflects the scientific method. The observation that certain chemicals only combine in fixed proportions, led Dalton to postulate that this was due to properties of the atoms which made up the chemicals. Dalton derived properties of atoms from the observation of a particular fact which was impossible to derive from logic or from intuitive certainties. Similarly, observational evidence about electrons led Niels Bohr to scientific theories which appear logically impossible — that electrons jump from one orbit to another without passing intermediate stages. If economists had imposed their axioms for rational behaviour on electrons, forcing them to behave in a logical manner, we would never have arrived at quantum theory. The essence of the scientific method consists of letting observations guide the construction of theory, regardless of how crazy the theory appears to be logically. Contemporary economic methodology is firmly based on the Greek conception of science and gives primacy to axioms and logic over observations. The mystery of why economists use a pre-scientific methodology and confuse it with science will be resolved later.

The emergence of science,  by Dr Asad Zaman, tribune.com.pk
http://tribune.com.pk/story/1100063/the-emergence-of-science/

Quantum Entanglement

An experiment that would allow humans to directly perceive quantum entanglement for the first time has been devised by researchers in Switzerland, and they say the same technique could be used to quantum entangle two people.

While it would be incredibly cool to be the first person ever to witness quantum entanglement with your own eyes, the experiment has been designed to answer some important and far-reaching questions, such as what does quantum entanglement actually look like, and what does it feel like to be entangled with another human being?
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Does the Muslim world need a scientific renaissance?

There are more than a billion Muslims in the world today. The economies of Muslim countries - like Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Malaysia and Pakistan - have been growing steadily for a number of years.

And yet, when compared to the West, the Islamic world often seems disengaged from modern science.

Why is this?

One of the reasons is that many Muslims still see science as a secular, even atheist, Western construct.

But we shouldn't be too hasty in singling out Muslims for criticism. Even in the so-called 'enlightened' developed world, an alarmingly large fraction of the populace regards science with suspicion, and even fear.

The plain truth, however, is that science is playing an increasingly important role in our lives – in technology, medical advances and addressing global problems, such as climate change and water, food and energy supplies.

Of course, there was once a time when Islam and science were not at odds. But many Muslims have forgotten the wonderful contributions made by their ancestors.

Could reminding them help inspire the change we need in our time and allow science to flourish once again in the Muslim world?

One example of hope can be found in the Jordanian desert. SESAME will be the Middle East's first major international research centre. Standing for 'Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East', it is a cooperative venture by scientists and governments across the region.

Synchrotron radiation is a form of high energy light emitted by electrically charged subatomic particles when they are accelerated in a magnetic field. A number of synchrotron facilities have been built around the world and are being used for cutting edge research.

When, in 1997, Germany decided to decommission its synchrotron research facility, BESSY, it agreed to donate its components to the SESAME project, which was quickly developed under the auspices of UNESCO. It is now under construction.

The research to be carried out there will include material science, molecular biology, nanotechnology, x-ray imaging, archaeological analysis and clinical medical applications.

Its current membership, along with the hosts, Jordan, includes the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Bahrain and Cyprus, and this group is likely to expand as several other countries join.

The result is a degree of scientific collaboration that has not been seen in this part of the world for a millennium.

Forgotten achievements

One thousand years ago, the Islamic empire witnessed one of the greatest periods of sustained scientific advancement in history. In the medieval world’s great centres of learning - places like Baghdad, Cairo, Cordoba and Samarkand - discoveries were made, ideas nurtured and methods developed.

In Baghdad, for example, we find the very first book on algebra. Called Kitab al-Jabr (from which we derive the word 'algebra'), it was written by the 9th century Persian mathematician, Al-Khwarizmi, and signified a significant paradigm shift from the work of the Ancient Greeks.

Also in the 9th century, the Abbasid caliph Al-Ma'mun created a new academy in Baghdad, called the House of Wisdom, and built observatories there and in Damascus. He sponsored science projects that made vast improvements in the fields of astronomy and geography, and which the Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars of the Baghdad academy had translated into Arabic.

Advances in medicine and anatomy also saw Arabic texts replace the works of Galen and Hippocrates in the libraries of medieval Europe. While the philosophers Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd influenced later European scholars, such as Roger Bacon and St Thomas Aquinas.

The Cordoban physician Al-Zahrawi invented more than 200 surgical instruments - many of which, like forceps and the surgical syringe, are still in use today.

Then there was the birth of industrial chemistry, with sophisticated scientific methods replacing the haphazard practice of alchemy, and advances in fields such as optics that would not be matched until Newton.

For a period spanning more than half a millennium, the international language of science was Arabic. And yet, all of these great achievements have been largely forgotten.

So, could a scientific renaissance be rekindled in the Islamic world?

Clearly, bigger budgets are not by themselves a panacea. Of course scientific research requires adequate financial resources, but to compete on the world stage needs more than just the latest, shiniest equipment.

The whole infrastructure of the research environment needs to be addressed - from laboratory technicians who understand how to use and maintain their equipment to the exercise of real intellectual freedom and a healthy degree of scepticism and courage in order to question experimental results. Such sentiments were found in abundance in Baghdad's House of Wisdom.

A fresh cultural and philosophical attitude must grow and spread if wider Muslim society is to embrace not only the bricks and mortar of modern research labs, along with the shiny particle accelerators and electron microscopes they house, but the spirit of curiosity that drives human beings to study nature, whether to marvel at divine creation or simply to understand how and why things are the way they are.

Source: Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera English:

http://google.com/newsstand/s/CBIw9d_u9iY

Ignorance, Progress & Muslims

Sadly, we are just not prepared to face reality. The reason Muslims have been left so far behind is their refusal to embrace modern education, and to cling to rote learning and dogma. By confusing Western thought and influence with rationality, we think we are better Muslims by rejecting modernity. As a prime example of this, consider the Ottoman refusal to install printing presses when they were first invented. The reason given was that this would result in the mass production of holy texts by machines instead of being calligraphed. Keep reading >>>>

Related:

• Muslim Contributions in Science & Technology:
• Islamic Education System & Learning

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Does God exist?

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 Here are 5ive straight-forward reasons to believe that God is really there.

Just once wouldn't you love for someone to simply show you the evidence for God's existence? No arm-twisting. No statements of, "You just have to believe." Well, here is an attempt to candidly offer some of the reasons which suggest that God exists.
But first consider this. When it comes to the possibility of God's existence, the Bible says that there are people who have seen sufficient evidence, but they have suppressed the truth about God.¹ On the other hand, for those who want to know God if he is there, he says, "You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you."² Before you look at the facts surrounding God's existence, ask yourself, If God does exist, would I want to know him? Here then, are some reasons to consider...

1. The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today.

Many examples showing God's design could be given, possibly with no end. But here are a few:
The Earth...its size is perfect. The Earth's size and corresponding gravity holds a thin layer of mostly nitrogen and oxygen gases, only extending about 50 miles above the Earth's surface. If Earth were smaller, an atmosphere would be impossible, like the planet Mercury. If Earth were larger, its atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, like Jupiter.³ Earth is the only known planet equipped with an atmosphere of the right mixture of gases to sustain plant, animal and human life.
The Earth is located the right distance from the sun. Consider the temperature swings we encounter, roughly -30 degrees to +120 degrees. If the Earth were any further away from the sun, we would all freeze. Any closer and we would burn up. Even a fractional variance in the Earth's position to the sun would make life on Earth impossible. The Earth remains this perfect distance from the sun while it rotates around the sun at a speed of nearly 67,000 mph. It is also rotating on its axis, allowing the entire surface of the Earth to be properly warmed and cooled every day.
And our moon is the perfect size and distance from the Earth for its gravitational pull. The moon creates important ocean tides and movement so ocean waters do not stagnate, and yet our massive oceans are restrained from spilling over across the continents.⁴
Water...colorless, odorless and without taste, and yet no living thing can survive without it. Plants, animals and human beings consist mostly of water (about two-thirds of the human body is water). You'll see why the characteristics of water are uniquely suited to life:
It has an unusually high boiling point and freezing point. Water allows us to live in an environment of fluctuating temperature changes, while keeping our bodies a steady 98.6 degrees.
Water is a universal solvent. This property of water means that various chemicals, minerals and nutrients can be carried throughout our bodies and into the smallest blood vessels.⁵
Water is also chemically neutral. Without affecting the makeup of the substances it carries, water enables food, medicines and minerals to be absorbed and used by the body.
Water has a unique surface tension. Water in plants can therefore flow upward against gravity, bringing life-giving water and nutrients to the top of even the tallest trees.
Water freezes from the top down and floats, so fish can live in the winter.
Ninety-seven percent of the Earth's water is in the oceans. But on our Earth, there is a system designed which removes salt from the water and then distributes that water throughout the globe. Evaporation takes the ocean waters, leaving the salt, and forms clouds which are easily moved by the wind to disperse water over the land, for vegetation, animals and people. It is a system of purification and supply that sustains life on this planet, a system of recycled and reused water.⁶
The human brain...simultaneously processes an amazing amount of information. Your brain takes in all the colors and objects you see, the temperature around you, the pressure of your feet against the floor, the sounds around you, the dryness of your mouth, even the texture of your keyboard. Your brain holds and processes all your emotions, thoughts and memories. At the same time your brain keeps track of the ongoing functions of your body like your breathing pattern, eyelid movement, hunger and movement of the muscles in your hands.
The human brain processes more than a million messages a second.⁷ Your brain weighs the importance of all this data, filtering out the relatively unimportant. This screening function is what allows you to focus and operate effectively in your world. The brain functions differently than other organs. There is an intelligence to it, the ability to reason, to produce feelings, to dream and plan, to take action, and relate to other people.
The eye...can distinguish among seven million colors. It has automatic focusing and handles an astounding 1.5 million messages -- simultaneously.⁸ Evolution focuses on mutations and changes from and within existing organisms. Yet evolution alone does not fully explain the initial source of the eye or the brain -- the start of living organisms from nonliving matter.

2. The universe had a start - what caused it?

Scientists are convinced that our universe began with one enormous explosion of energy and light, which we now call the Big Bang. This was the singular start to everything that exists: the beginning of the universe, the start of space, and even the initial start of time itself.
Astrophysicist Robert Jastrow, a self-described agnostic, stated, "The seed of everything that has happened in the Universe was planted in that first instant; every star, every planet and every living creature in the Universe came into being as a result of events that were set in motion in the moment of the cosmic explosion...The Universe flashed into being, and we cannot find out what caused that to happen."⁹
Steven Weinberg, a Nobel laureate in Physics, said at the moment of this explosion, "the universe was about a hundred thousands million degrees Centigrade...and the universe was filled with light."¹⁰
The universe has not always existed. It had a start...what caused that? Scientists have no explanation for the sudden explosion of light and matter.

3. The universe operates by uniform laws of nature. Why does it?

Much of life may seem uncertain, but look at what we can count on day after day: gravity remains consistent, a hot cup of coffee left on a counter will get cold, the earth rotates in the same 24 hours, and the speed of light doesn't change -- on earth or in galaxies far from us.
How is it that we can identify laws of nature that never change? Why is the universe so orderly, so reliable?
"The greatest scientists have been struck by how strange this is. There is no logical necessity for a universe that obeys rules, let alone one that abides by the rules of mathematics. This astonishment springs from the recognition that the universe doesn't have to behave this way. It is easy to imagine a universe in which conditions change unpredictably from instant to instant, or even a universe in which things pop in and out of existence."¹¹
Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner for quantum electrodynamics, said, "Why nature is mathematical is a mystery...The fact that there are rules at all is a kind of miracle."¹²

4. The DNA code informs, programs a cell's behavior.

All instruction, all teaching, all training comes with intent. Someone who writes an instruction manual does so with purpose. Did you know that in every cell of our bodies there exists a very detailed instruction code, much like a miniature computer program? As you may know, a computer program is made up of ones and zeros, like this: 110010101011000. The way they are arranged tell the computer program what to do. The DNA code in each of our cells is very similar. It's made up of four chemicals that scientists abbreviate as A, T, G, and C. These are arranged in the human cell like this: CGTGTGACTCGCTCCTGAT and so on. There are three billion of these letters in every human cell!!
Well, just like you can program your phone to beep for specific reasons, DNA instructs the cell. DNA is a three-billion-lettered program telling the cell to act in a certain way. It is a full instruction manual.¹³
Why is this so amazing? One has to ask....how did this information program wind up in each human cell? These are not just chemicals. These are chemicals that instruct, that code in a very detailed way exactly how the person's body should develop.
Natural, biological causes are completely lacking as an explanation when programmed information is involved. You cannot find instruction, precise information like this, without someone intentionally constructing it.

5. We know God exists because he pursues us. He is constantly initiating and seeking for us to come to him.

I was an atheist at one time. And like many atheists, the issue of people believing in God bothered me greatly. What is it about atheists that we would spend so much time, attention, and energy refuting something that we don't believe even exists?! What causes us to do that? When I was an atheist, I attributed my intentions as caring for those poor, delusional people...to help them realize their hope was completely ill-founded. To be honest, I also had another motive. As I challenged those who believed in God, I was deeply curious to see if they could convince me otherwise. Part of my quest was to become free from the question of God. If I could conclusively prove to believers that they were wrong, then the issue is off the table, and I would be free to go about my life.
I didn't realize that the reason the topic of God weighed so heavily on my mind, was because God was pressing the issue. I have come to find out that God wants to be known. He created us with the intention that we would know him. He has surrounded us with evidence of himself and he keeps the question of his existence squarely before us. It was as if I couldn't escape thinking about the possibility of God. In fact, the day I chose to acknowledge God's existence, my prayer began with, "Ok, you win..." It might be that the underlying reason atheists are bothered by people believing in God is because God is actively pursuing them.
I am not the only one who has experienced this. Malcolm Muggeridge, socialist and philosophical author, wrote, "I had a notion that somehow, besides questing, I was being pursued." C.S. Lewis said he remembered, "...night after night, feeling whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England."
Lewis went on to write a book titled, "Surprised by Joy" as a result of knowing God. I too had no expectations other than rightfully admitting God's existence. Yet over the following several months, I became amazed by his love for me.
Extract from article By Marilyn Adamson : http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html?gclid=CNLn6vawxbgCFZLItAod6GgAyA

“Soon shall We show them Our signs in the universe and in their own selves, until it becomes clear to them that this Qur’an is indeed the truth. Is it not enough that your Lord is a witness over everything?” (Qur’an;41:53); “We did not create heaven and earth and everything between them to no purpose. That is the opinion of those who disbelieve..” (Qur’an; 38: 27), “Verily in the heavens and the earth are Signs for those who believe. (Qur’an; 45:3). “To God belongs the Mystery of the heavens and the earth. And the Decision of the Hour (of Judgement) is as the twinkling of an eye, or even quicker: for God hath power over all things.” (Qur’an; 16:77). “Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in God hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And God hears and knows all things.” (Qur’an; 2:255).

Related:

1.  Universe, Science & God
2.  Faith & Reason
3. The Creator
4. The Creation / Why We Exist?
5. The Guidance
6. Islam: Broader Perspective
7. Humanism or Atheism
8. Fundamentals of Faith
9. Philosophy- Islamic Thought & Revivalists
10. Metaphysics & Eschatology

http://freebookpark.blogspot.com/2012/07/creator.html

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Our debt to Islam's medics: Amazing collection goes on show

• 
  
  A remarkable collection of manuscripts, going on public display for the first time, is to graphically illustrate the West's debt to the medieval medics of Islam.

The collection, held at the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) in London, will depict the medical traditions that developed in the golden age of Islam from the 9th century to the 17th century.

Curated by Professor Peter E Pormann from The University of Manchester, the exhibition explains how medical tradition developed in Europe and the Middle East.

Called "The mirror of health: discovering medicine in the golden age of Islam," the exhibition is open from 1 May to 25 October 2013.

Professor Pormann said: "When we look deep into the medical tradition of Islamic lands, we recognise many reflections with today – which is why we called the exhibition 'Mirror of health'.

"The Islamic medics not only transmitted and translated medical thought and practice fromancient Greece, but also innovated and changed the science.

"This enabled medicine to evolve over the centuries into the truly sophisticated science we know today."

He added: "Islamic medicine drew heavily on ancient Greek knowledge, which is why Roman physician and philosopher, Galen plays a prominent role in the show.

"It was after all Galen who classified the medical doctrine which states that the body's health depends on the balance of the four humours: black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm.

"Indeed from Galen's time, Arabic emerged as a true language of science that went beyond country and creed."

Displayed alongside manuscripts and imagery dating from the 13th century, are objects and artefacts on loan by kind permission from the collections of the Science Museum, London, Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, The Bodleian Library, Oxford and Eton College, Windsor.

Pamela Forde, is Archive manager at the Royal College of Physicians, the oldest medical college in England

Its collections provide a pictorial and sculptural record of presidents, fellows and other physicians associated with the RCP, from its foundation in1518 to the present.

She said: "This exhibition presents the newly researched collection for the first time and explores the medical traditions that developed in the heartland of Islam from the 9th century to the 17th century.

"Throughout the Renaissance, Arabic learning was the dominant medical trend and it was during this period that the RCP was founded in 1518.

"The exhibition also celebrates the collectors and cataloguers of the RCP collections during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, and charts the continued interest in Arabic medical traditions though to the 20th century." 

http://phys.org/news/2013-05-debt-islam-medics-amazing.html

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Muslims need a new road map

Dry academic debates hold as much charm for me as they do for most readers. But when Dr Tariq Ramadan speaks, you cannot help but pay attention. One of the sharpest minds of our times, he is recognised as an authority on contemporary Muslim societies and challenges facing them. What distinguishes Ramadan, currently teaching at Oxford University, from other Islamic scholars is the fact that he grew up in the west.

His family was forced into exile after his grandfather and Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan Al Banna was assassinated. Ramadan was born in Switzerland. Growing up in the west and receiving the best of western and Islamic education has endowed Ramadan with a rare understanding of both worlds. He used it effectively in the chaotic post 9/11 times to help bridge the gulf between Islam and the west. More often than not, fellow believers have been his audience. Holding a mirror to his own, he has repeatedly urged introspection, moderation and openness.

In a recent article, Ramadan tackles an issue that has increasingly troubled Muslim minds in recent times. “From Asia to North America, the conclusion is inescapable: The contemporary Islamic conscience is in deep crisis. How to be a Muslim today? How to be faithful to one’s principles while remaining open to the world? How can Muslims deal with their diversity and overcome their multiple divisions?” asks he in his Gulf News column.

“How can Muslim societies create new models of development, education and social justice? Can they imagine economic alternatives? Can the 1,000-year-old Islamic civilisation make an original contribution to the concert of cultures and civilisations? Everywhere, Muslim individuals and societies ask themselves the same burning questions,” notes Ramadan. And he isn’t encouraged by the answers to his own questions: “The crisis drags on; no answer seems in sight. The light at the end of the tunnel seems nothing but an illusion.”

Interestingly, this comes at a time when more and more people around the world, especially in the west, are discovering Islam. Notwithstanding all the lies and perpetual smear campaign against Islam and its followers, it remains the fastest growing faith on the planet. Muslims have already outgrown Catholics as the world’s biggest religious community. This in turn seems to fuel insecurity in societies where Muslims are in minority. Sri Lanka and Myanmar are the latest examples of growing Islamophobia.

At the same time, there’s no denying the fact that the Ummah has a profound ideological crisis brewing in its midst. Of course, Muslims’ faith in the religion as a complete way of life and its claim to offer answers and solutions to all questions of life remains constant and unshakable. But today more than ever they are looking to their leaders and scholars to make sense of a world that has dramatically changed over the past several centuries, particularly in the past few decades. The challenges posed by modernity and transformation that has turned our world into a truly global village are overwhelming. And western civilisation and its cultural and social mores rule this global village.

Where do Muslims belong in this world? What are their responsibilities and how they ought to deal with the conundrums thrown up by modern times? These are the burning questions – as Ramadan calls them – that have increasingly baffled people of our generation and those that came before and after us. But these questions and ideological dilemmas haven’t received the attention and seriousness they deserve from our scholars and ulema. If they have, we do not see much by way of results.

Look at the scourge of extremism, which has emerged as one of the most serious challenges facing Muslim societies today. In the absence of clear guidance and our failure to present the real message and spirit of Islam before the world, an extremist fringe claims to speak on behalf of the faith as its followers helplessly watch.

At the heart of Muslims’ decay and decline is the limited nature of their vision and inability to adapt themselves to the demands of a fast evolving world. There was a time, for a thousand years, when Arabs and Muslims led the global march of progress and ideas. Who can ignore the west’s immense intellectual debt to Muslim philosophers and scholars in every sphere of knowledge?

If Muslims had restricted themselves to a narrow vision of their faith and what it expects of them, they wouldn’t have conquered the distant frontiers of the known world. There was a time when seekers of knowledge from around the world came to Muslim lands, to universities and springs of wisdom like Dar Al-Hikma in Baghdad. Where are such centres of knowledge today? How many universities from across the Muslim world figure in the world’s 50 or 100 best?

There is a splurge of new ideas and human advances on all fronts today. How do Muslims relate to them? Should they all be spurned as ‘un-Islamic influences’ to keep ourselves out and behind the rest of the world? Why Muslim minds aren’t coming up with ideas that could be a shared property of mankind anymore? What explains our poverty of vision and bankruptcy of ideas?

These are the questions that demand answers from our religious and intellectual elites and soon. One thing is certain. You cannot blame religion for the rigidity and backwardness of its followers, as many of Islam’s detractors do. Its message remains as contemporary and relevant as it was when the Arabs received it fifteen centuries ago. This is precisely why it continues to win hearts and minds around the world.

The problem lies in our own limited interpretation of Islamic teachings and spirit. In our literalist approach and our preoccupation with the form, rather than the substance, we have lost sight of our real goal – our salvation and that of humanity. We have reduced our faith to a set of rituals and customs just like any other dogma.

As Ramadan notes: “The most visible, the most serious signs of the crisis of the contemporary Islamic conscience can be found in the inversion of means and ends. The obsession with norms transforms them into an ultimate goal; they are no longer a means to an end, but the end itself. The essence is forgotten.”

We claim that Islam came as a blessing for all mankind and as a source of guidance for all times to come. How can its followers hope to guide others when they have distanced themselves from its spirit and teachings? What is desperately needed today is rediscovering and rekindling the original spirit of our faith and approaching it anew to help us take on the challenges and questions of today’s world.

Many brilliant minds in the past century and beyond have sought to do just that. They advocated returning to original sources of guidance and applying them to modern times. Today, this needs to turn into a global movement. Muslims need a new road map and a new sense of purpose. To quote Ramadan again, “the crisis is acute. To resolve it there must be an awakening, a renewal, and a revolution in our way of thinking.”

This isn’t possible without the initiative and proactive participation of our ulema and religious leadership. As Muhammad Abduh, the 19 th century reformer put it, in Islam man was not created to be led by a bridle but given intelligence and reason so he could be guided by knowledge. Faith and reason can and must go together.

By Aijaz Zaka Syed, a commentator on Middle East and South Asian affairs.

Email: aijaz.syed@hotmail.com

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-173593-Muslims-need-a-new-road-map

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Heart, Science & Quran

Human heart has its own nervous system that is composed of approximately 40,000 neurons. These neurons are connected differently and more elaborately than elsewhere in the body and while they’re capable of detecting circulating chemicals sent from the brain and other organs, they operate independently in their own right. Having it’s own “mini-brain” is the reason why heart transplants work, given the fact that severed nerve connections do not reconnect in a different body. Furthermore, this elaborate nervous centre in the heart has more functions than simply regulating the electrical activities of the heart to keep it pumping. Continue reading >>>>

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Universe Science & God

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEFFF2728B9E7AC27 

People always thought as to who created the universe. Some religions did provide answers mostly spiritual and mythological. The recent advancement in scientific knowledge lead to the Creator of the universe, conforming to the indications mentioned in the last scripture centuries ago. This presentation tries to answer the mind-boggling scientific quest for God. The obvious miraculous way the universe has been created & balanced to support life points towards existence of the Creator. The phenomena like "Quantum Entanglement" leads to the existence of God like many other scientific evidences. 
The presentation is in 3 parts:
Part-1: Universe: Introduction 00:00 - 13:30 Minutes [Duration 13:30 Minutes]
Part-2: Theories of Creation 13:31-51:50 Minutes [Duration 37:19 Minutes]
Part-3: Scientific Evidence of God 52:51- 80:48 Minutes [Duration 25:57 Minutes 

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Myths, half-truths and reality-Madrissah Education

Pakistan’s education system has come under close observation and scrutiny since 9/11 as it was blamed for promoting militancy and fanning hatred and bigotry. Perhaps ours is the only country whose education policy and system has generated so much worry globally. Something’s got to be drastically wrong with it.

The educational system has three streams, i.e., private, public and madressah that serve different sections of society. The private sector is basically for those who can afford to pay for educating; the government schools are for the lower income groups that are unable to afford the high fees and related expenditure; the madressah education is availed by those who can’t afford even the nominal fees charged by the public sector schools and the expenses incurred.

Many in abject poverty look to these seminaries which provide free boarding and lodging facilities along with free education which is a big relief for the poverty-stricken. Of course, exceptions are there whereby some better off religious-minded people may also choose to enroll their child in a madressah; indeed, many such people are among the donors to seminaries.

Madressah as an institution started in the 11th century by Nizamul Mulk in Khorasan (Iran), hence the name Dars-i-Nizami, to train bureaucrats for the Seljuk empire. At that time it had a modern syllabus that included logic, grammar, mathematics, history, law and administration. After the Mongol attack in the 13th century, it collapsed like other institutions.

However, in contemporary Pakistan, religious seminaries are blamed to hold a very traditionalist and mediaeval worldview.
The faculty and the students are said to be hostile to the notions of globalisation and diversity as they don’t adhere to the principles of modern statehood like secular democracy. Many may disown secular laws, the writ of the state, pluralism, tolerance, gender equality and the separation of public and private spheres in individual life, as dictated by secular law.

Whenever the madressah system is discussed, two pertinent questions about its functioning and utility are raised. These are:
whether the syllabus is keeping up with the changing times; and, what are the prospects of employment for its graduates (as their degree is officially equivalent to graduation in Pakistan).

As far as the first question is concerned, it can be said safely that notwithstanding the tall claims by the successive governments and the regulatory and monitoring bodies, there is a very little substantial change in the system and, by and large, it remains the same old system.

Maulana Asadullah Bhutto, former MNA and the president of Jamat-i-Islami, Sindh, believes that the syllabus of the religious schools is compatible with the present-day demands, and imparts quality education. To elaborate his point, he says, “When a student enrolls in a madressah he comes there to get religious education and it is clear that he is not interested in other subjects, so why should he be expected to be well versed in other subjects too?”

He explains that there are three types of madressahs: they are called Nazara, Hifz and Deeni. The last mentioned specifically imparts religious education and trains future scholars. They are in the eye of the storm as all controversy revolves around them; many of them are blamed for promoting intolerance, sectarian violence and militancy. Maulana Bhutto firmly rejects the notion that madressah students lack creative and rational thinking and considers these allegations as part of the misinformation campaign to defame the institution.

However, on the other side of the fence, there is a common perception that madressah education is faring badly due to a lack of scientific curriculum and emphasis on social sciences. Madressah students can’t base their studies on reason and logic; instead, they rely on tenets of the faith which do not allow for reasoning.

Dr Muhammad Ali Siddiqui, dean and professor, faculty of management and social sciences, Biztek Institute of Business and Technology, Karachi, elucidates, “This factor is responsible for their rigidity of thought and rejection of the notions of tolerance, diversity and respect for difference of opinion. In order to bring the education level of the seminaries on a par with the other educational systems, there is a need to cultivate empirical thinking in students.”

Coming to the second question, about the employment prospects of madressah students, there is a divided opinion. One school of thought believes that students graduating from the seminaries can find jobs very easily and become part of the mainstream. As Qari Mohammad Usman, belonging to Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam (F) and the Ameer of Karachi city, explains, “There is a huge demand for our graduates and most of them opt for teaching and usually open new madressahs. This way there is continuity in the process. They are also hired to teach Arabic and Islamiat in private schools due to their deep and profound knowledge.”

He strongly refutes the generally held view that madressah students are involved in terrorist activities, suicide bombings and sectarian violence and regards it as propaganda by their opponents.

Taking the debate to the next level, A.H. Nayyar, an academician associated with the Lahore University of Management Sciences, explains that an ordinary madressah graduate would seek to establish a new mosque, such as one at a construction site where labourers camp, needing a small space for daily prayers. A maulvi would look after this modest space, keeping it clean and conducting prayers. Once a functioning mosque, he places a collection box outside and in the nearby marketplace for donations, which he gets generously. This secures his bread and butter.

“The donation also goes into further construction of the mosque, which now far exceeds the original area of a rudimentary structure, and includes the construction of living quarters for the maulvi. The mosque will eventually grow into a fine permanent structure with electricity, running water, internal furnishing, a good number of loudspeakers, and finally may evolve into a madressah. The modest maulvi sahib, too, now becomes a maulana or an allama; the madressah employs many more graduates as teachers. Even when a mosque does not grow into a madressah, it will most certainly act as an elementary Quran school, which nearly every neighbourhood needs,” adds Nayyar.

Conversely, many madressah graduates also go for business and trade because trading is looked at as the vocation of the Prophet (PBUH). This is also a reason why seminaries and religio-political parties enjoy substantial support amongst the trading classes.

Madressahs and related issues are more often than not associated with hunger, poverty and the rise in population. An overwhelming number of those sending their children to seminaries are the ones who can’t provide two square meals and education. Therefore, madressahs somewhat fill the gap left behind by the state; many say that they are here to stay and grow in number as long as there is poverty, rich and poor divide, food insecurity, limited job opportunities and inequality in society.

Ahmed Salim, a senior research advisor at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, who has done extensive research on the topic, endorses this observation and articulates that this whole debate boils down to the policy issues of successive governments which lack the political will to change the dynamics of governance.

It can be concluded that in order to streamline madressah education and bring it more in sync with the job market, the basic approach should be changed in the acquisition of knowledge. Emphasis should be placed on teaching market-oriented and skill-based subjects in the madressahs. This will help the students find jobs in the market and thus develop a stake in being part of the mainstream society instead of being on a parallel, alternative path.


Moniza Inam explores the employment options that are available to those graduating from madressahs: 'Myths, half-truths and reality'. http://www.dawn.com/2011/08/28/myths-half-truths-and-reality.html

Comments:

The madissah graduates do serve the religious needs of common public up to great extent, especially in normal ritualistic routine, however they do not perform well to satisfy the intellectual and theosophical challenges faced by educated lot. They can not even communicate at same pedestal. The modern modes of communication in cyber world provide much more but pearls  have  to be separated from trash. Some Madrissah students should also get in to field of Information Technology, Medicine, Science, Engineering and so on.. This shall have positive effects in making a pluralist modern  Muslim society.[ Aftab Khan]

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