Saturday, May 31, 2008

368)The evolving signature that I put at the end of each of my blog posts; a message that encapsulates the ethos of the entire blog.

This is the new signature as of blogpost 366, May 29th 2008:

The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)



This was the signature that I began using from blogpost 269 onwards, January 4th 2008:

The Qur’an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God’s creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah’s Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)



This was the original signature I used when I began my blog, blogpost 1, in March 2006:

Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
The God of the Quran is the One whose Ayats(Signs) are the Universe in which we live, move and have our being:Aga Khan 3(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
All human beings, by their nature, desire to know(Aristotle, The Metaphysics, a few hundred years BC)



Finally, this is the description of my blog(see the right hand side):

The signature post of my blog, no. 327, comprising 72 quotes by Aga Khan IV and others, forms a solid doctrinal underpinning to my blog.
Quote of the Blog:"The Quran itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation"(Aga Khan IV, Louvre Museum, Paris, France, October 17th 2007).
This is what drives my blog:
The Prophet Mohammed said that the first(and only) thing that was originated, through the Divine Command or Will, by the Absolutely Transcendent God, was Intellect(Aql). Intellect(from which all else emanates) provides 'tayyid' or inspiration to Natiq(Speaking Prophet, of whom there were six great ones) and Soul; Natiq composes('talif') a scripture made up of words and sentences from this inspiration, and Soul composes('tarkib') a universe made up of matter from this inspiration. This is what forms the basis of the link between science and religion. The compositions of Natiq and Soul are equivalent(both called 'ayats' or 'signs') and each contains Intellect wrapped within it. The Asas(Founder) interprets('tawil') the compositions of the Natiq and Soul, unincorporating them to uncover Intellect in its pure glory.



Easy Nash

The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)

367)Lifelong learning: A priority for the European Jamat, from The Ismaili.org; Quotes of Aga Khan IV

“As the economic arena has been globalizing, openness and flexibility have become prerequisites for progress, and success has gone more and more to those who can connect and respond. Specialized expertise, pragmatic temperament, mental resourcefulness—these are increasingly the keys to effective leadership—along with a capacity for intellectual humility which keeps one’s mind constantly open to a variety of viewpoints and welcomes pluralistic exchange. In such a world, the most important thing a student can learn is the ability to keep on learning.”(His Highness the Aga Khan IV - speech at the Foundation Laying Ceremony of the Aga Khan Academy in Hyderabad, India on 22nd September 2006)

“In the ebb and flow of history, “knowledge is a shield against the blows of time”. It dispels “the torment of ignorance” and nourishes “peace to blossom forth in the soul”.”
(Extract from the speech by Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV, quoting Nasir Khusraw in a speech made at the Foundation Stone-laying Ceremony of the Ismaili CentreDushanbe, Tajikistan, August 30, 2003)

It has been said that the Internet is the most important development for education since the invention of the printing press. But for now it is grossly underused for educational purposes. Universities around the world should take on the task of developing educational materials, resources and programmes for the Internet. They should add their voices to critics of regulations and policies that impinge on the use of the World Wide Web for educational purposes in favour of commercial interests. Let us remember the historic role of “The University” in the study, interpretation and transmission of the great humanistic traditions of the world. Our search for global peace in an inter-connected, and crowded world, with rising expectations, needs to understand and internalise their many lessons more than at any time in the past.
(His Highness the Aga Khan IV, Centenary Celebration Meeting, Association of American Universities - Washington, 22nd April 2001)

“The complexities of world problems and societies today require people educated in broad humanistic traditions in addition to the guidance and direction provided by the teaching of their religion. The history of the twentieth century is replete with examples of the danger of the systematic propagation and uncritical acceptance of dogmas, ideologies, and even theologies. More than ever, I believe that universities must shoulder the responsibility for contributing to the process of building the capacity for moral judgement in complex settings.”
(Extract from the speech by Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV, at the Centenary Celebration meeting of the Association of American Universities, Washington, D.C., April 22, 2001.)



The Ismaili.org article:
Lifelong learning: A priority for the European Jamat

In a fast-paced and rapidly-changing world, the ability to adapt and continue learning is an essential skill to develop in order to take advantage of emerging opportunities. To help foster that skill within the Jamat, the Ismaili Council for the European Union (ICEU) has initiated the Lifelong Learning Programme, which aims to turn learning into a continuous and natural process in the life of every Ismaili in Europe.

“We live in a world that is changing very fast, and our built-in curiosity allows us to question and find more meaning in what we do,” says Tasneem Virani, Director of the ICEU Lifelong Learning Programme. She stresses the importance of continuous learning in a globalised world, pointing out that “sometimes we get caught-up in our lives and have no time to reflect or to see our breaks or phases in life as an opportunity for growth.”


A European priority

The European Union (EU) places great importance on its lifelong learning initiatives. In the face of an aging population, increasing migration, and the need for skilled workers, the European Union has stressed that “the advent of a knowledge-based society requires improved means of communicating and using knowledge and opportunities for lifelong learning.”

Lifelong learning is a core component of the Lisbon Agenda — a roadmap that emerged from a summit of European leaders held in March 2000. As stated by the European Commission, “learning opportunities should be available to all citizens on an ongoing basis. In practice this should mean that citizens each have individual learning pathways, suitable to their needs and interests at all stages of their lives.”

The European Commission's Communication on Lifelong Learning goes on to say that “formal systems of provision need to become much more open and flexible, so that such opportunities can truly be tailored to the needs of the learner, or indeed the potential learner.”

Similarly, the ICEU's Lifelong Learning Programme shares many of the key ingredients of the knowledge society in its mandate: to promote continuous and shared learning, to raise an individual's personal and economic potential, and to encourage social conscience and active citizenship within the European Community.


An Islamic imperative

Lifelong learning has long been part of the Islamic tradition, which emphasises the pursuit of knowledge and its dissemination for the benefit of society. In his speech at the Annual Meeting of the International Baccalaureate in Atlanta on 18 April 2008, Mawlana Hazar Imam spoke about the importance of reinvigorating the concept:

“In an age of accelerating change, when even the most sophisticated skills are quickly outdated, we will find many allies in the developing world who are coming to understand that the most important skill anyone can learn is the ability to go on learning.”

Hazar Imam went on to say that, “it is because we [Muslims] see humankind, despite our differences, as children of God and born from one soul, that we insist on reaching beyond traditional boundaries as we deliberate, communicate, and educate internationally.”


Major initiatives

Programme Director Tasneem Virani acknowledges that learning can take place formally through degrees and diplomas, non-formally by acquiring skills via short courses or attending seminars, and informally from interactions with peers and in experiences throughout life. In keeping with this, the ICEU Lifelong Learning programme has launched two initiatives that reflect the broad perspectives and approaches to learning.

The first initiative, launched during the Golden Jubilee, is the Certificate in Lifelong Learning, being offered in partnership with the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The LSE-awarded certificate encourages learners to engage in a wide variety of learning and skill development, and also provides accreditation to courses inside and outside the Jamati institutional framework. Over 280 learners, representing a wide variety of backgrounds from across Europe, are currently participating in the Certificate programme.

More recently, a second initiative, the Language Learning Lab, has begun its pilot testing and aims to provide the European Jamat with a platform to engage with cultural diversity through the development of language skills.


Local projects

To date, hundreds of courses in France, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and across Europe have been evaluated and accredited. Among those courses are special programmes offered by Jamati institutions. For example, dozens of learners across Europe, have taken a financial literacy course offered by the World Bank in conjunction with the Women's Activities Portfolio of the Ismaili Council for the United Kingdom.

Similarly, the Ismaili Council for Portugal has initiated a set of training courses for the Jamat entitled STEP by STEP. The courses are offered on a semester-based rotation and cover a wide variety of interests and subject areas such as digital photography, project management, and languages including Arabic. Instructors for the courses come from within and outside the Jamat, and each session is evaluated in order to meet the Certificate requirements.

Alida Castro, STEP by STEP coordinator and member of the Ismaili Council for Portugal, explains that the programme is meant to “broaden the horizon of interests and skills in the Jamat and to encourage the process of learning as a way of life.” To date, over 200 people in Portugal have enrolled in the classes.


Going forward

The ICEU Lifelong Learning Programme continues to move forward with unique programmatic initiatives to help foster a spirit of lifelong learning within the European Jamat. Some of those initiatives will be featured on TheIsmaili.org in the months to come.

For more information about the ICEU Lifelong Learning programme, please contact a member of the lifelong learning team at certificatell@iceusecretariat.org.

http://www.theismaili.org/cms/339/Lifelong-learning-A-priority-for-the-European-Jamat



Related articles:
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=104858

http://spiritandlife.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/knowledge-symposium-organised-by-aga-khan-education-board-for-uk/

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/344knowledge-society-by-aga-khan-iv.html

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/349latest-2008-quotes-and-speech.html


Easy Nash

The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)

Thursday, May 29, 2008

366)Dawood L'Etterman's Top Ten reasons why you should read Easy Nash's blog(for the months of April and May 2008)

No. 10:
Two back-to-back pictures on NASA Astronomy website reflect the tiniest living organisms(viruses) versus the largest galaxies of stars in space:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/352two-back-to-back-pictures-on-nasa.html


No. 9:
Humans were nearly wiped out 70,000 years ago says Spencer Wells of the National Geographic Society's Genographic Project:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/354humans-were-nearly-wiped-out-70000.html


No.8:
Existential Wonderment: Huge star exploded 7.5 billion yrs ago, Earth was created 5 billion yrs ago: light from the star arrived here Mar 19 '08!!
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/340existential-wonderment-huge-star.html


No.7:
Islam and Astronomy: Vestiges of a fine legacy; Quotes of Aga Khan IV and Ibn Sina:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/358islam-and-astronomy-vestiges-of-fine.html


No. 6:
A collection of speeches by Aga Khans IV and III, source of some of my doctrinal material on science, religion, creation, knowledge and intellect:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/365a-collection-of-speeches-by-aga.html


No. 5:
Intellect and Faith in Shia Ismaili Islam as described on the Preamble to the AKDN website
Intellect and Faith:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/361intellect-and-faith-in-shia-ismaili.html


No. 4:
"Knowledge Society", by Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/344knowledge-society-by-aga-khan-iv.html


No. 3:
Latest 2008 USA quotes and speech excerpts of Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV, on the subjects of knowledge, learning and education:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/349latest-2008-quotes-and-speech.html


No. 2:
The architect of universal good -Gulf News Interview with Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV, April 2008, United Arab Emirates.:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/351the-architect-of-universal-good-gulf.html


And the No. 1 reason why you should read Easy Nash's blog is:
No. 1:
2 intellectual giants speak to each other accross a millenium on "time": can it be slowed, sped up, reversed, transcended?Ask Einstein and Khusraw
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/3592-intellectual-giants-speak-to-each.html



Related Post for the month of March 2008:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/03/333dawood-lettermans-top-ten-reasons.html



Easy Nash

The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

365)A collection of speeches by Aga Khans IV and III, source of some of my doctrinal material on science, religion, creation, knowledge and intellect

Speeches of His Highness the Aga Khan IV:

http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=104623



Speeches of Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III:

http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=104628


Memoirs Of Aga Khan III: Islam, The Religion Of My Ancestors(Extract)
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2010/05/608memoirs-of-aga-khan-iii-islam.html



Approximately 30% of the excerpts and quotes from this post come from the above two sources:

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/327comprehensive-quotes-of-aga-khan-iv.html



Easy Nash

The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)

Sunday, May 25, 2008

364)Key quotes by Aga Khan IV relating to learning, education, faith, world, creation in Academy foundation speech, Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 20th 2008

"The first is the centrality of quality education as an element in the Islamic tradition. It is appropriate that I highlight this matter today, for Bangladesh is the first Muslim country in which we have laid a new Academy foundation stone."

"World and faith are inseparable in Islam. Faith and learning are also profoundly interconnected. The Holy Qur’an sees the discovery of knowledge as a spiritual responsibility, enabling us to better understand and more ably serve God’s creation.
Our traditional teachings remind us of our individual obligation to seek knowledge unto the ends of the earth - and of our social obligation to honor and nurture the full potential of every human life."

"The beauty of Creation is a function of its variety. A fully homogenized world would be far less attractive and interesting."

-Aga Khan IV, May 2oth 2008, Dhaka, Bangladesh.



The Full Speech:
Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan

Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan at the Foundation Stone-Laying Ceremony of The Aga Khan Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 20 May 2008

Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim

Honourable Adviser for Education
Honourable Advisers
Excellencies
Distinguished Guests

As-Salam-olai-kum

My warmest thanks to all of you who have joined in this celebration - representing so well the diverse and impressive accomplishments of this country. You honour us by being here.

Our immediate purpose today is to lay the Foundation Stone of the Aga Khan Academy in Dhaka. It is a day we hope to look back upon with joy and satisfaction for many years to come. And, if our work is done well, it is a day that future generations will also look back upon as a great beginning.

As you have heard, this new Academy will be an important node in a network of 18 schools throughout the developing world, providing world class education for young men and women from all backgrounds, irrespective of ability to pay. It will be a remarkable place to go to school.
But our commitment to this institution is not simply a matter of creating beautiful, modern facilities for some 700 to 1200 deserving students or developing a corps of several dozen gifted teachers. It is also about creating a new national asset for the whole of this country -and for its broad educational community. This work will be done through an ambitious programme of professional teacher development, attracting talented candidates, sharing best practices, developing curricular innovations, and engaging in the most current training at the Academy’s Professional Development Centre.

We could say a lot more about this new Academy. But I thought I might, instead, take a few minutes to describe what I see as the larger significance of our Academies’ initiatives. For underlying our dreams for this School is our commitment to principles which have even broader implications.

There are three such principles that I would like to mention.

The first is the centrality of quality education as an element in the Islamic tradition. It is appropriate that I highlight this matter today, for Bangladesh is the first Muslim country in which we have laid a new Academy foundation stone. It also seems appropriate to underscore the spiritual foundations of this work since this event is helping to mark my 50 th anniversary as the spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims.

World and faith are inseparable in Islam. Faith and learning are also profoundly interconnected. The Holy Qur’an sees the discovery of knowledge as a spiritual responsibility, enabling us to better understand and more ably serve God’s creation.

Our traditional teachings remind us of our individual obligation to seek knowledge unto the ends of the earth - and of our social obligation to honor and nurture the full potential of every human life.

The creation of a new Aga Khan Academy in Dhaka thus grows out of rich Islamic precedents.
The second point I would emphasize today is that our Academy initiative - in Dhaka and elsewhere - is one that strongly affirms the integrity of local and national cultures.

To be sure, this new Academy will connect its students to global perspectives. But it will also respect the central role of each person’s particular heritage as a cornerstone of his or her identity and an enriching gift of the Creator.

The beauty of Creation is a function of its variety. A fully homogenized world would be far less attractive and interesting. The roots we inherit from our history – linking us to a particular past – are a great source of strength and joy and inspiration. And a sound educational system should help nourish those roots.

That is why the Aga Khan Academies, wherever they exist, will follow a dual-language curriculum. They will teach in English in order to connect to global society. And they will also teach in the appropriate local language. Here in Dhaka that means teaching in both English and Bangla. Because they will be fluently bilingual, our students will be prepared to unlock the rich treasure chests of history and culture, art and music, religious and philosophical thought, which are integral to one’s identity and one’s values and which and are such powerful elements here in Bangladesh.

My first two points of emphasis, then, concern the emergence of our Academies program from Islamic traditions, and its commitment to local and national values. My third point is somewhat different, but entirely consistent - the strong link which our Academies will provide to an increasingly globalized world.

I mentioned earlier the importance of affirming the local and the particular in the face of forces which would dilute our identity and homogenize our cultures. But I would also note the equally compelling importance of global partnership and universal understanding - in the face of forces that would dangerously fragment our world. In the process of nurturing a healthy sense of identity, we must resist the temptation to normatize any particular culture, to demonize “the other”, and to turn healthy diversity into dangerous discord.

This is why the Academies’ curricula, in addition to using English as a connecting language, will emphasize areas of focus such as comparative political systems, global economics, and global cultures, along with the importance of pluralism and a sound ethical foundation.

At the same time, we will provide thorough preparation in subjects such as science and mathematics, developing the habits of rigorous reasoning and searching inquiry. In addition, the Academies experience will be a holistic one, with a healthy program of extracurricular and athletic activities.

Let me reflect for a moment on the matter of ethics - and the importance of ethical commitments not only in government but throughout society. Competent civil society is a major contributor to development particularly where democracies are less well established, or where governmental efforts are inadequate. The absence of corruption or fraud in government is not enough. Fraud in medicine, fraud in education, fraud in financial services, fraud in property rights, fraud in the exercise of law enforcement or in the courts, are all risks which can have a dramatic impact on social progress. This is especially true in rural environments, where fraud is often neither reported nor corrected, but simply accepted as an inevitable condition of life.

This is why the serious and sustained ethical formation of students and teachers is an essential dimension of the Academies program.

In addition, as we educate for global citizenship, we will also integrate each local school with others in the network, sharing ideas and experiences, exchanging students and teachers, and affirming in the end that all graduates have achieved a globally relevant credential in the form of the International Baccalaureate diploma.

Those, then, are the basic concepts of our program. We believe that this undertaking can flourish particularly well in Bangladesh - where a proud sense of independent national destiny is so often combined with a generous spirit of international partnership. The appreciation here for the institutions of civil society is another favorable factor - and so, may I add, is the impressive progress you have made in achieving gender parity in education.

In the final analysis, the Academies project will face an age-old challenge as it moves ahead - the challenge of balancing the universal and the particular - the global and the local - as influences in human life. It is a challenge which becomes more important with every passing year. It has been said that the most important fact about modern communication technology is that it “universalizes the particular and particularizes the universal”- which simply suggests that local and global experiences are increasingly intermixed.

Such an intermixture can give us the worst of both worlds - hostile, defensive localism on one side and a superficial homogenized mega-culture on the other. Or it can give us the best of both worlds - proud local identities living side by side with creative international cooperation. How this issue will be resolved will depend on whether we can educate future leaders, in Bangladesh and elsewhere, to live creatively in such a setting. Our new program of Aga Khan Academies is one response to that challenge.

We are very proud today formally to expand the Academies network to the country of Bangladesh. And we are very pleased and honoured that you have been able to join us in this moment of celebration and dedication.

Thank you.

http://www.akdn.org/speeches/2008may20.html



Easy Nash

The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

363)Scientists catch exploding star red-handed in earliest stages recording unexpected burst of invisible X-rays 100 billion times brighter than sun.

"Many of the elements necessary for life and its accessories, like carbon, oxygen, iron and gold, are produced in a thermonuclear frenzy during the final stages of these explosions, which then fling them into space to be incorporated into new stars, new planets, new creatures.

“If you’re wearing gold jewelry,” Dr. Kirshner said, “it came from a supernova explosion.”

Or as Joni Mitchell sang poetically and accurately, and astronomer Carl Sagan said, “We are stardust.” "



Quotes of Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan III, Prophet Muhammad and the Noble Quran:

"The United States' position as a world leader, in my view, grows directly out of its accomplishments as a Knowledge Society - and this Knowledge - rightly applied - can continue to be a resource of enormous global value"(Aga Khan IV, Austin, Texas, USA, 12 April 2008)

"......The Quran tells us that signs of Allah’s Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation - in the heavens and the earth, the night and the day, the clouds and the seas, the winds and the waters...."(Aga Khan IV, Kampala, Uganda, August 22 2007)

About the United States of America: "I'm less hypnotized by this country's material wealth than by its wealth of knowledge. This country today represents, without any doubt in my mind, the greatest intensity of human knowledge on the face of the earth. And that is an exhilarating thought, one perhaps not perceived by Americans as much as by non-Americans"(Aga Khan IV, LIFE magazine interview, December 1983)

"Indeed, one strength of Islam has always lain in its belief that creation is not static but continuous, that through scientific and other endeavours, God has opened and continues to open new windows for us to see the marvels of His creation"(Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan University, 16 March 1983, Karachi, Pakistan)

"Islam is fundamentally in its very nature a natural religion. Throughout the Quran God's signs (Ayats) are referred to as the natural phenomenon, the law and order of the universe, the exactitudes and consequences of the relations between natural phenomenon in cause and effect. Over and over, the stars, sun, moon, earthquakes, fruits of the earth and trees are mentioned as the signs of divine power, divine law and divine order"(Aga Khan III, April 4th 1952, Karachi, Pakistan)

"One hour of contemplation on the works of the Creator is better than a thousand hours of prayer"(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)

"Allah thus makes clear to you His Signs that you may intellect"(Noble Quran 2:242)

"Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth.......... (Here) indeed are Signs for the people of intellect"(Noble Quran)

Chapter 21, Verse 30: Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together before We clove them asunder, and of water fashioned every thing? Will they not then believe?(Noble Quran, 7th Century CE)




May 22, 2008

Scientists See Supernova in Action

By DENNIS OVERBYE

A star trembled on the brink of eternity. Outwardly all was serene, but its inside was falling into chaos.

Far away on the day of Jan. 9, Earth time, a satellite telescope by the name of Swift, which happened to be gazing at the star’s galaxy, a smudge of stars 88 million light-years away in the constellation Lynx, recorded an unexpected burst of invisible X-rays 100 billion times as bright as the Sun.

Alicia Soderberg, a Princeton astronomer who had been using the NASA satellite to study the fading remains of a previous supernova explosion, received the startling results of that observation by e-mail while giving a talk in Michigan. Recognizing that this was something extraordinary, she sounded a worldwide alert.

In the following hours and days, as most of the big telescopes on Earth, and the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory watched from space, the star erupted into cataclysmic explosion known as a supernova, lighting up its galaxy and delighting astronomers who had never been able to catch an exploding star before it exploded.

“We caught the whole thing on tape, so to speak,” Dr. Soderberg said in an interview. “I truly won the astronomy lottery. A star in the galaxy exploded right in front of my eyes.”

She and 42 colleagues from around the world have now told the tale of this discovery in a paper in Nature to be published Thursday and in a telephone news conference Wednesday. The observations, they say, provide a new window into the process by which the most massive stars end their lives and give astronomers new clues on how to look for these rare events and catch them while they are still in their most explosive, formative stages.

Most supernovas, Dr. Soderberg explained, are discovered and classified by their visible light, but that typically does not happen until the explosion is a month or more old and has brightened enough to be seen over intergalactic distances.

The true fireworks, she said, happen much earlier when a shock wave from the imploding core hits the star’s surface, producing so-called breakout light, which lasts only a few minutes.
“The physics of the explosion is encoded in the breakout light,” Dr. Soderberg said, adding that the chance that the Swift telescope was observing during those moments was “unfathomable.” Astronomers now know, however, that X-rays from the breakout can be an early alert.

“Supernova 2008D was the first to be found from its X-ray emission,” said Robert Kirshner, a supernova expert at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, referring to the supernova by its official name, “but if we build the right type of X-ray satellites, it won’t be the last supernova we find this way.”

“That is really what is so wonderful here,” he said.

So new were the X-rays, said Dr. Soderberg, that she and her collaborators did not know they were looking at an incipient supernova until a day or two later and ground-based telescopes had seen it grow in visible light.

“It was a baby supernova in that sense,” Dr. Soderberg said. “Here was an object brand new. At first we didn’t recognize it.”

The supernova was of a sort known as Type Ibc, the rarest and most luminous of the explosions caused by the collapse of the cores of massive stars, the astronomers have concluded. Another kind, known as Type Ia supernovas, are believed to result from the destruction of much smaller stars and are beloved of cosmologists who use them to track the expansion of the universe and effects of dark energy.

The star that died last January could have been 20 times as massive as the Sun or even bigger, Dr. Soderberg said. It was probably a type called a Wolf-Rayet star. They are very hot stars with surface temperatures of 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit or more and are often blowing gas away in strong winds. Dr. Soderberg described them as “very violent stars, very massive.”

Because it is gravity that stokes the thermonuclear furnace at the centers of stars, the more massive they are, the younger they die. In the case of a star 10 or 20 times as massive as the Sun, it could be only a few million years. “These stars live fast and die young. We don’t know if they leave a beautiful corpse,” Dr. Kirshner said.

Many of the elements necessary for life and its accessories, like carbon, oxygen, iron and gold, are produced in a thermonuclear frenzy during the final stages of these explosions, which then fling them into space to be incorporated into new stars, new planets, new creatures.

“If you’re wearing gold jewelry,” Dr. Kirshner said, “it came from a supernova explosion.”

Or as Joni Mitchell sang poetically and accurately, “We are stardust.”



Easy Nash

The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

362)"What do a billion Muslims really think?" asks 6-year long, 40-Muslim nation Gallup Poll Study of ordinary Muslims; results often surprising.

"What do a billion Muslims really think?"

(from "The Christian Science Monitor", May 16, 2008)

Washington, USA - Since the momentous events of Sept. 11, 2001, countless news stories, TV commentaries, and books have speculated on the causes of terrorism, the attitudes of Muslims, and a purported clash of civilizations between Islamic societies and the West.

What has not been available is any reliable measure of the viewpoints of ordinary Muslims, who constitute 20 percent of the global population.

That is no longer the case. Through an ambitious six-year project that involved hour-long, face-to-face interviews with residents in nearly 40 nations, Gallup has plumbed the perspectives of Muslim men and women -urban and rural, educated and illiterate, young and old.

The Gallup Poll of the Muslim World surveyed a representative sample of90 percent of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, the most comprehensive study ever done. The findings are explored in the new book "Who Speaks for Islam?" by John Esposito, Islamic studies professor at Georgetown University; and Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies in Washington.

Here are some of the key results, which frequently counter conventional wisdom:



A)Is Islam compatible with democracy?

*Large majorities cite the equal importance of democracy and Islam to the quality of life and progress of the Muslim world. They see no contradiction between democratic values and religious principles.

*Political freedoms are among the things they admire most about theWest.

*Substantial majorities in nearly all nations say that if drafting a new constitution, they would guarantee freedom of speech.

*Most want neither theocracy nor secular democracy but a third model in which religious principles and democratic values coexist. They want their own democratic model that draws on Islamic law as a source.

*Significant majorities say religious leaders should play no direct role in drafting a constitution, writing legislation, determining foreign policy, or deciding how women dress in public.



B)How do Muslims view women's rights?

*Majorities in most countries believe that women should have the same legal rights as men: They should have the right to vote, to hold any job outside the home that they qualify for, and to hold leadership positions at the cabinet and national council levels.

*Majorities of men in virtually every country (including 62 percent in Saudi Arabia, 73 percent in Iran, and 81 percent in Indonesia) agree that women should be able to work at any job they qualify for.

*In Saudi Arabia, where women cannot vote, 58 percent of men say women should be able to vote.

*While Muslim women favor gender parity, they do not endorse wholesale adoption of Western values.



C)What makes a radical?

Various studies of Muslim terrorists show that most are not graduates of madrassahs but of private or public schools and universities; most are from middle- and working-class backgrounds; some are devout and others are not. This survey confirms these findings:

*Among the Muslims surveyed, 7 percent condoned the 9/11 attacks. The study terms these the "politically radicalized."

*When asked why they supported the attacks, the radicals gave political rather than religious reasons. They have a sense of political frustration and feel humiliated and threatened by the West. Those who opposed the attacks often gave religious reasons for doing so.

*The radicals, on average, are not the down-and-out people in society.They are more educated than moderates, and two-thirds of radicals have average or above-average income. Forty-seven percent supervise others at work. They are more optimistic about their own lives than are moderates(52 percent to 45 percent).

*Radicals are no more religious than the general population and do not attend mosque more frequently.

*What distinguishes them is not their perception of Western culture or freedoms, but their perception of US policies. Even radicals say they support democracy. But 63 percent of radicals do not believe that theUnited States will allow people in the region to fashion their own political future without direct US influence.



D)How do Muslims view the West?

*When asked what they most admire about the West, Muslims pointed to (1)technology, (2) a value system of hard work, self-responsibility, rule of law, and cooperation, and (3) fair political systems, with respect for human rights, democracy, and gender equality.

*What they dislike the most about the West includes: denigration ofIslam and Muslims, promiscuity, and ethical and moral corruption.

*What they admire least about their own Muslim societies includes: lackof unity, economic and political corruption, and extremism.

*Most Muslims agree on what the West should do first to improve relations: demonstrate more respect, show more understanding of Islam as a religion, and not denigrate what it stands for. The issues that drive radicals are also important to mainstream Muslims, but they differ in their priorities and the degree of politicization and alienation. Moderate Muslims next hope for Western policies that support economic development. Radicals are more focused on the West discriminating less against Muslims and refraining from interference in the internal affairs of Muslim countries.

*As for the actions that Muslims themselves could take to improve relations, those surveyed recommended: respect the West's optimism and values of freedom of speech and religion, reduce and control extremism and terrorism, and "modernize."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0517/p12s01-wogi.html



Easy Nash

Thursday, May 15, 2008

361)Intellect and Faith in Shia Ismaili Islam as described on the Preamble to the AKDN website

Intellect and Faith:

The intellect plays a central role in Shia tradition. Indeed, the principle of submission to the Imam's guidance, explicitly derived from the revelation, is considered essential for nurturing and developing the gift of intellect whose role in Shiism is elevated as an important facet of the faith. Consonant with the role of the intellect is the responsibility of individual conscience, both of which inform the Ismaili tradition of tolerance embedded in the injunction of the Quran: There is no compulsion in religion.

In Shia Islam, the role of the intellect has never been perceived within a confrontational mode of revelation versus reason, the context which enlivened the debate, during the classical age of Islam, between the rationalists who gave primacy to reason, and the traditionalists who opposed such primacy without, however, denying a subordinate role for reason in matters of faith.

The Shia tradition, rooted in the teachings of Imams Ali and Jafar as-Sadiq, emphasizes the complementarity between revelation and intellectual reflection, each substantiating the other. This is the message that the Prophet conveys in a reported tradition: "We (the Prophets) speak to people in the measure of their intelligences". The Imams Ali and Jafar as-Sadiq expounded the doctrine that the Quran addresses different levels of meaning: the literal, the alluded esoteric purport, the limit as to what is permitted and what is forbidden, and the ethical vision which God intends to realise through man, with Divine support, for an integral moral society. The Quran thus offers the believers the possibility, in accordance with their own inner capacities, to derive newer insights to address the needs of time.

An unwavering belief in God combined with trust in the liberty of human will finds a recurring echo in the sermons and sayings of the Imams. Believers are asked to weigh their actions with their own conscience. None other can direct a person who fails to guide and warn himself, while there is Divine help for those who exert themselves on the right path. In the modern period, this Alid view of Islam as a thinking, spiritual faith continues to find resonance in the guidance of the present Imam and his immediate predecessor. Aga Khan III describes Islam as a natural religion, which values intellect, logic and empirical experience. Religion and science are both endeavours to understand, in their own ways, the mystery of God's creation. A man of faith who strives after truth, without forsaking his worldly obligations, is potentially capable of rising to the level of the company of the Prophet's family.

The present Imam has often spoken about the role of the intellect in the realm of the faith. Appropriately, he made the theme a centrepiece of his two inaugural addresses at the Aga Khan University: "In Islamic belief, knowledge is two-fold. There is that revealed through the Holy Prophet and that which man discovers by virtue of his own intellect. Nor do these two involve any contradiction, provided man remembers that his own mind is itself the creation of God. Without this humility, no balance is possible. With it, there are no barriers. Indeed, one strength of Islam has always lain in its belief that creation is not static but continuous, that through scientific and other endeavours, God has opened, and continues to open, new windows for us to see the marvels of His creation".

Muslims need not be apprehensive, he said, of these continuing journeys of the mind to comprehend the universe of God's creation, including one's own self. The tendency to restrict academic inquiry to the study of past accomplishments was at variance with the belief in the timeless relevance of the Islamic message. "Our faith has never been restricted to one place or one time. Ever since its revelation, the fundamental concept of Islam has been its universality and the fact that this is the last revelation, constantly valid, and not petrified into one period of man's history or confined to one area of the world."

Crossing the frontiers of knowledge through scientific and other endeavours, and facing up to the challenges of ethics posed by an evolving world is, thus, seen as a requirement of the faith. The Imam's authoritative guidance provides a liberating, enabling framework for an individual's quest for meaning and for solutions to the problems of life. An honest believer accepts the norms and ethics of the faith which guide his quest, recognises his own inner capacities and knows that when in doubt he should seek the guidance of the one vested with authority who, in Shia tradition, is the Alid imam of the time from the Prophet's progeny.

http://www.akdn.org/about_imamat.asp#intellect


Other related topics:

Islam: General Introduction
http://www.akdn.org/about_imamat.asp

Shia Islam: Historical Origins
http://www.akdn.org/about_imamat.asp#origins

Evolution of Communities of Interpretation
http://www.akdn.org/about_imamat.asp#evolution

Principles of Shiism
http://www.akdn.org/about_imamat.asp#shiism

Further related quotes and speech excerpts on the subjects of knowledge, intellect, creation, education, science and religion:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/09/400blogpost-four-hundred-knowledge.html

Knowledge Symposium:
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=109357



Easy Nash

The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)

Friday, May 9, 2008

360)Nima Arkani-Hamed, theoretical physicist, Iranian, American, Canadian: a junior Albert Einstein?

Ayat(verse) in the Noble Quran thought to infer multiple dimensions in the universe:
Chapter 37, verse 5: He is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and all that lies between them; He is the Lord of the Easts.

"Allah alone wishes: the Universe exists; and all manifestations are as a witness of the Divine Will"(Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954)

"Indeed, one strength of Islam has always lain in its belief that creation is not static but continuous, that through scientific and other endeavours, God has opened and continues to open new windows for us to see the marvels of His creation"(Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan University, 16 March 1983, Karachi, Pakistan)

"The great Muslim philosopher al-Kindi wrote eleven hundred years ago, 'No one is diminished by the truth, rather does the truth ennoble us all' "(Aga Khan IV, 27th May 1994, Cambridge, Massachusets, U.S.A.)




Colliding with nature's best-kept secrets

Story Highlights
1)Nima Arkani-Hamed, a theoretical physicist, predicts large extra dimensions
2)The Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland may confirm his ideas
3)LHC results may change ideas of spacetime for the first time since Einstein
4)String theory postulates that the building blocks of matter are vibrating strings

By Elizabeth Landau(CNN)

CNN) -- Visiting a particle accelerator is like a religious experience, at least for Nima Arkani-Hamed.

Immense detectors surround the areas where inconceivably small particles slam into one another at super-high energies, collisions that may confirm Arkani-Hamed's predictions about undiscovered properties of nature.

Arkani-Hamed is only in his mid-30s, but he has distinguished himself as one of the leading thinkers in the field of particle physics.

His revolutionary ideas about the way the universe works will finally be put to the test this year at Switzerland's Large Hadron Collider, which will be the world's most powerful particle accelerator.

The accelerator, estimated to cost between $5 billion and $10 billion, could provide answers to questions physicists have had for decades. Thousands of scientists from around the world are collaborating on the project at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN.

If the results confirm any of Arkani-Hamed's predictions, they would be the first extension of our notions of space-time since Albert Einstein.

"We're essentially guaranteed that there's going to be something surprising," Arkani-Hamed said of the Large Hadron Collider, which will operate inside a 17-mile circular tunnel.

Regarded as a "gem," Arkani-Hamed is "opening our minds and creating a new world of ideas that challenge deep-grained preconceptions about spacetime," said Chris Tully, professor of physics at Princeton University, who is working on the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the Large Hadron Collider.

"From the point of view of the big experiments at the LHC, there is no amount of money or craftsmanship that would produce the kind of insight that comes from sharing LHC data with a true visionary like Nima Arkani-Hamed," Tully said.

Formerly a professor at Harvard, Arkani-Hamed currently sits on the faculty at the prestigious Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, where Einstein served from 1933 until his death in 1955.

"He was lured from Harvard to the IAS; I'm sure that's considered quite a coup," said Daniel Marlow, a physics professor at Princeton who is also collaborating on the CMS experiment.

Arkani-Hamed has had a hand in explaining how the world can operate according to Einstein's theory of general relativity, which describes the universe on a very large scale, and at the same time follow quantum mechanics, laws that describe the universe on a scale smaller than the eye can see.

Some of the key mysteries that stem from these clashing theories include why gravity is so weak, relative to the other fundamental physical forces such as electromagnetism and why the universe is so large. These issues come up because on an inconceivably small scale, the particles that make up our world seem to behave completely differently than one might imagine.

For example, if you are driving a car, your GPS tells you where you are, and your speedometer tells you how fast you are moving. But on the scale of particles like electrons, it is impossible to know both position and speed at once; the very act of trying to find out requires incredible amounts of energy.

If it takes so much energy just to try to pin down a particle, then, in theory, all particles should have temporary energy changes around them called "quantum fluctuations." This energy translates into mass, since Einstein famously said that mass and energy are interchangeable through the equation E=mc2.

"It makes it extremely mysterious that the electron, or indeed, everything else that we know and love and are made of, isn't incredibly more massive than it is," Arkani-Hamed said.

A theory that has emerged in recent decades that claims to bring some relief to physics mysteries like these is called superstring theory, or string theory for short. Previously, scientists believed that the smallest, most indivisible building blocks of our world were particles, but string theory says the world is made of extremely small vibrating loops called strings.

In order for these strings to properly constitute our universe, they must vibrate in 11 dimensions, scientists say. Everyone observes three spatial dimensions and one for time, but theoretical models suggest at least seven others that we do not see.

Arkani-Hamed proposed, along with physicists Savas Dimopoulos and Gia Dvali, that some of these dimensions are larger than previously thought -- specifically, as large as a millimeter. Physicists call this the ADD model, after the first initials of the authors' last names. We haven't seen these extra dimensions because gravity is the only force that can wander around them, Arkani-Hamed said.

String theory has come under attack because some say it can never be tested; the strings are supposed to be smaller than any particle ever detected, after all. But Arkani-Hamed says the Large Hadron Collider could lead to the direct observation of strings, or at least indirect evidence of their existence.

In fact, by slamming particles into one another, the Large Hadron Collider may detect particles slipping in and out of the dimensions that Arkani-Hamed has worked on describing.

Particle collisions should begin at the Large Hadron Collider in August or September, according to the US/LHC Web site. Evidence of theories such as the ADD model could be discovered by 2009, Marlow said.

Data reflecting Arkani-Hamed's work on large extra dimensions "would really provide the first confirmation in this very profound way we might think about nature," Marlow said.

Arkani-Hamed always had a great love of the natural world as a child. Though his parents are also physicists, he considers it his "act of teenage rebellion to become one too," as his mother wanted him to become a doctor.

He remembers being impressed around age 14 that Newton's laws could enable him to calculate such things as the minimum speed that a space shuttle had to attain to escape the Earth's gravitational field. He'd wondered whether scientists had reached the figure of 11 kilometers per second by trial and error, shooting things in the air until the right speed emerged, until he could calculate it himself.

"When I figured out how to do that for myself, I just thought it was just the coolest thing, that little old me, scratching away on my piece of paper, could figure this out," he said. "From about 13 or 14, I knew that this is what I wanted to do."


Easy Nash

The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)

359)2 intellectual giants speak to each other accross a millenium on "time": can it be slowed, sped up, reversed, transcended?Ask Einstein and Khusraw

I'm mixing and matching two prevoius blogposts, one talking about the special theory of relativity formulated and proved by Albert Einstein, the smartest scientist of the 20th century, the other on the nature of time by Nasir Khusraw, eminent Shia Ismaili Muslim cosmologist, philosopher and poet who lived in eastern Central Asia about a thousand years ago.


It is fitting to quote the following, which describes the proper place of "time" in creation from an Islamic perspective and the need to be cognisant of all types of knowledge with a committment to independent thinking:

"The creation according to Islam is not a unique act in a given time but a perpetual and constant event; and God supports and sustains all existence at every moment by His will and His thought. Outside His will, outside His thought, all is nothing, even the things which seem to us absolutely self-evident such as space and time. Allah alone wishes: the Universe exists; and all manifestations are as a witness of the Divine Will"(Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954)

"Our religious leadership must be acutely aware of secular trends, including those generated by this age of science and technology. Equally, our academic or secular elite must be deeply aware of Muslim history, of the scale and depth of leadership exercised by the Islamic empire of the past in all fields"(Aga Khan IV, 6th February 1970, Hyderabad, Pakistan)

"An institution dedicated to proceeding beyond known limits must be committed to independent thinking. In a university scholars engage both orthodox and unorthodox ideas, seeking truth and understanding wherever they may be found. That process is often facilitated by an independent governance structure, which serves to ensure that the university adheres to its fundamental mission and is not pressured to compromise its work for short-term advantage. For a Muslim university it is appropriate to see learning and knowledge as a continuing acknowledgement of Allah's magnificence"(Aga Khan IV, Speech, 1993, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan)


Time has been shown not to be the absolute phenomenon that people think it is. In fact, during the early 20th century(1905 to be exact), time was shown to be a relative dimension of the material universe. This was the basis of Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity, which showed that if a three-dimensional material object travels at speeds approaching the speed of light, time, which is the fourth dimension in that scenario, starts to dilate or slow down. Its a very difficult concept to undersatand but a simpler analogy might help: If we take two identical twins(of the same age obviously) and leave one twin on earth and send the other twin in a spaceship to a distant galaxy, then send the spaceship at speeds close to the speed of light, time will slow down and the twin in the spaceship will age slower than his brother on earth. If he later returns to earth, he will be younger than his identical twin. Time is therefore a relative phenomenon, it being part of Allah's creation, just like space.

The most elegant scientific proof of Einstein's special theory of relativity came with the use of radioactive nuclei of atoms. In these types of atoms, radioactive decay is very precise in terms of the loss of mass and the time for a radioactive atom to decay to half its mass(known as its half-life). That is why world time is kept according to atomic clocks. They are the most precise in measurement.

Scientists went to the top of a tall mountain and, through a specially designed tube, first sent radioactive nuclei shooting down the tube at speeds much less than the speed of light. When they collected the nuclei at the bottom, they found that the half-life of the radioactive atoms had not changed. However, when they shot the nuclei down the tube at speeds close to the speed of light, they found that the half-life of the radioactive nuclei were prolonged. Time had slowed down for these particular samples at close to the speed of light and so it took longer than expected for the mass of the sample to decay by half.


Nasir Khusraw, in his treatise on philosophical theology entitled "Knowledge and Liberation" has the following comments to make on the notion of time and how it relates to the acquisition of rational and suprarational knowledge:

'We say that first it is necessary to know what time is so that this knot can be untied. It should be known that in reality, time is (contained in) the act of an agent, because it is (a measure of) the movement of the (celestial) sphere. Thus, when a measure (equal to) a constellation passes from the sphere, we say that two hours from night or day have elapsed, and when half of the sphere passes we say twelve hours of time from day or night have elapsed. (However), if you take away the sphere from (your) imagination, nothing remains of time. When the existence of a thing depends on another thing, then if you remove the latter, the former which had come into existence through the latter (also) disappears. For instance, if we remove the sun from (our) imagination, the day would be removed. From this demonstration it is evident that if from the imagination you remove the sphere, time (too) would be removed. (In reality), since the rotation of the sphere is the act of an agent by the command of the Creator, time is (caused by) the act of the Creator Himself.'

'In this connection, those in possession of wisdom have also said that time is nothing but (a measure of) change in the conditions of body, one after the other. This view is the same as that of time being (contained in) the act of an agent, because the totality of the world's body is within the vault of the spheres, and when the spheres rotate its condition changes as every pont of it moves from its existing place to another place. (Furthermore), the rotation of the spheres does not stop because its time is never-ending.'

'It is inconceivable for the simple (person) that time can be removed from the imagination. This is because of the fact that since the human soul is linked with a body which is under time, it cannot go beyond (time) without being nurtured with the knowledge of the truth. As God says: "O assembly of jinn and men, if you can penetrate the bounds of the heavens and the earth, do so, but you cannot without the proof"(Quran 55:33)-that is, jinn and men cannot conceive anything in their souls other than what they see in the heavens and the earth, and they cannot go beyond what is under the heavens and time unless they receive nurture(of true knowledge) from the Imam of the time, who is proof of God(hujjat-i Khuda) on earth.'


Related Posts:
My Favourite Cosmologist-Philosopher-Theologian-Poets: Abu Yakub Al-Sijistani, Nasir Khusraw And Ikhwan Al-Safa; A Collection Of Posts On My Blog.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/11/428my-favourite-cosmologist-philosopher.html

Astronomers Back Up Einstein, Again: Survey Of Stars Has Confirmed The Accelerating Expansion Of The Universe And Einstein's Ideas About Gravity.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2010/03/590astronomers-back-up-einstein.html



Easy Nash http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/science_and_religion_in_islam_the_link/ http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/08/500blogpost-five-hundred-is-blogpost.html http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/03/453a-blog-constructed-within.html

In Shia Islam, intellect is a key component of faith. Intellect allows us to understand the creation of God: Aga Khan IV(2008)
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The Holy Qu'ran's encouragement to study nature and the physical world around us gave the original impetus to scientific enquiry among Muslims: Aga Khan IV(1985)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql): Prophet Muhammad(circa 632CE)

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

358)Islam and Astronomy: Vestiges of a fine legacy; Quotes of Aga Khan IV and Ibn Sina

"......The Quran tells us that signs of Allah’s Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation - in the heavens and the earth, the night and the day, the clouds and the seas, the winds and the waters...."(Aga Khan IV, Kampala, Uganda, August 22 2007)

"Astronomy, the so-called “Science of the Universe” was a field of particular distinction in Islamic civilization-–in sharp contrast to the weakness of Islamic countries in the field of Space research today. In this field, as in others, intellectual leadership is never a static condition, but something which is always shifting and always dynamic"(Aga Khan IV, Convocation, American University of Cairo, Cairo, Egypt, June 15th 2006)

"Our religious leadership must be acutely aware of secular trends, including those generated by this age of science and technology. Equally, our academic or secular elite must be deeply aware of Muslim history, of the scale and depth of leadership exercised by the Islamic empire of the past in all fields"(Aga Khan IV, 6th February 1970, Hyderabad, Pakistan)

"My profession is to be forever journeying, to travel about the Universe so that I may know all its conditions."(Ibn Sina, aka Avicenna, 11th century Muslim Philosopher, Physician and Scientist, author of the Canon of Medicine, circa 1037CE)


I came accross 2 pictures recently from the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day website taken by Iranian astrophotographers from the area around the Alborz Mountains in Iran:

This picture shows a side view of the Milky Way Galaxy as well as 2 Arabic-named stars Deneb and Altair:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080503.html


This picture shows the Arabic-named yellow-tinged star Betelgeuse as well as the belt of Orion, made up of the 3 Arabic-named stars Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070203.html


The Alborz Mountains are where the Shia Ismaili Muslims built their mountain fortress state of Alamut after the fall of the Fatimid Empire. The above pictures show the kind of views that astronomer Nasir Al-Din Tusi must have commanded of the heavens from this lofty mountain fortress.


I have also blogged before in detail about the 3 stars that make up the belt of Orion, Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka as well as other stars like Betelgeuse and Aldeberan:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/289al-nitak-al-nilam-mintaka-betelgeuse.html

In addition I have blogged earlier about the Arabic-named stars in the Big Dipper and little Dipper constellations, Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Alioth, Mizar and Alkaid; Yildun, Gildun, Vildiur, Yilduz, Pherkard, Kochab, Alifa al Farkadain, Anwar al Farkadain:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/295big-dipper-and-little-dipper-in.html


Astronomy was a natural early science for muslims to pursue during the golden age of Islam because the times for the 5 daily prayers, as well as the sightings of the new moon for the beginning and end of the fasting month of Ramadan, and Chandraat for Satpanthi Ismailis, were and are all required to be determined astronomically.


Easy Nash

The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)

Monday, May 5, 2008

357)Your truly, Easy Nash, overcomes stiff competition to become the leading points-getter in the WORLD for inviting facebookers to see Aga Khan Film

It was a grinding race and I faced very stiff competition from facebookers in London, UK, Karachi, Pakistan, San Fransisco, California and Boston, Massachussetts, USA as well as my own hometown of Toronto, Canada but in the end on May 2nd 2008 I prevailed to become the leading points-getter in the WORLD on the social networking site of Facebook for inviting fellow facebookers to see the film "An Islamic Conscience: The Aga Khan and the Ismailis". You have to be a member of Facebook to see how close the points spread currently is and I decided to record and petrify this achievement for posterity by blogging about it because these crazies are still hot on my heels and could overtake me at any point although I intened to do whatever I can to prevent that.

I first blogged on December 3rd 2007 about the documentary film "An Islamic Conscience: The Aga Khan and the Ismailis" here:

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/12/256a-must-see-documentary-movie-on-his.html

Since then the film has gone on to be shown in a number of key locations in the UK and the USA with a very key premiere to take place on May 2oth 2008 at the US Capitol, the home of the US Congress, Washington DC, and hosted by Texas Congresswoman Bernice Eddie Johnson and the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association.

The much-visited and wildly popular website Ismaili Mail has kept us all abreast of the progress of this film documentary:

http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/documentary-islamic-conscience-the-aga-khan-and-the-ismailis-goes-to-washington/

http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/an-islamic-conscience-the-aga-khan-and-the-ismailis-at-stanford-university/

http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/harvard-an-islamic-conscience-the-aga-khan-and-the-ismailis-plus-discussion/

http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2008/02/12/pictures-islamic-documentary-comes-to-claremont/

http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/islamic-documentary-comes-to-claremont-for-west-coast-debut/

http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2008/01/27/california-premiere-of-an-islamic-conscience/

http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/institute-for-the-study-of-muslim-civilisations-hosts-film-screening-an-islamic-conscience-the-aga-khan-and-the-ismailis/

http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2008/01/13/london-premiere-of-the-documentary-the-aga-khan-and-the-ismailis/

http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2008/01/04/european-premier-in-london-of-islamic-conscience-movie-the-aga-khan-and-the-ismailis/

http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/the-battle-for-%e2%80%9cenlightened%e2%80%9d-islam/

http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/12/15/an-islamic-conscience-op-ed/

http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/facebook-application-aga-khan-film/

http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/aga-khan-and-the-ismailis-film-is-now-available-on-dvd/

http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/12/09/panel-discussion-on-an-islamic-conscience-the-aga-khan-and-the-ismailis/


Easy Nash

The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)