Science and Religion in Islam: The Link.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

413)VOTE for the remarkable HAWKERS MARKET GIRLS CENTRE in Nairobi, Kenya, spearheaded by SHARIFFA KESHAVJEE, finalist in the WORLD CHALLENGE '08

Quotes and excerpts of Aga Khan IV:

1)"Islam’s ethics establish an inextricable link between spiritual and material life, Din and Dunya. Consequently, my responsibilities as spiritual leader and interpreter of the faith are coupled with a deep commitment to improving the quality of life. These activities are not limited to the Ismaili community but extend to those who share their lives, whether on a local, national or international scale.

Our duty is to try to free people from poverty. And to me, poverty means being without shelter, without protection, without access to healthcare, education, or credit, and without hope of ever controlling one’s own destiny. This means condemning one’s children and grandchildren to unacceptable living conditions.

A voluntarist and innovative strategy is needed in order to break this chain of despair and total imprisonment"(Aga Khan IV, Madagascar, November 27th 2007)

2)“There are those who enter the world in such poverty that they are deprived of both the means and the motivation to improve their lot. Unless they can be touched with the spark of individual enterprise, they will only sink into apathy, degradation, and despair. It is for us, who are more fortunate, to provide that spark"(Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan, March 16th 1983)

3)“Ours is a time when knowledge and information are expanding at an accelerating and, perhaps, unsettling pace. There exists, therefore, an unprecedented capacity for improving the human condition. And yet, ills such as abject poverty and ignorance, and the conflicts these breed, continue to afflict the world. The Qur’an addresses this challenge eloquently. The power of its message is reflected in its gracious disposition to differences of interpretation; its respect for other faiths and societies; its affirmation of the primacy of the intellect; its insistence that knowledge is worthy when it is used to serve Allah’s creation; and, above all, its emphasis on our common humanity"(Aga Khan IV, Institute of Ismaili Studies, October 19th 2003)

I came accross a worthwhile and remarkable humanitarian project the other day and I thought I'd share it with my readership in the hope that we can all move it along and help it get the accolade it deserves. The HAWKERS MARKET GIRLS CENTRE in Nairobi, Kenya was born of noble concerns in the hopes of improving the lives of some of Nairobi's slum dwellers. One of the persons spearheading this project is SHARIFFA KESHAVJEE and, in a short video clip, she describes how this project came about:

Shariffa Keshavjee's Project description and video:
http://www.theworldchallenge.co.uk/html/project08_hawkers.html

As I read about this project and watched the video presentation I was not at all surprised that it was chosen as a finalist in the WORLD CHALLENGE '08 Competition, sponsored by BBC World News, Newsweek and Shell.

I give this project a two thumbs up vote of confidence and have already marked my ballot for it to win the first prize, a cash sum of $20,000 which, if won, it plans to use to install a solar-powered lighting system to provide better lighting for the HAWKERS MARKET GIRLS CENTRE. I encourage my readership to consider this remarkable and worthwhile project in the same light.

To vote for this project visit

http://www.theworldchallenge.co.uk/html/home.html

Fill in your name and e-mail address on the voting form, select the country in which this project is being carried out, KENYA, and select the project name: HAWKERS MARKET GIRLS CENTRE. Voting opened on October 1st 2008 and will close at midnight on November 21st 2008.

The much-visited and wildly popular ISMAILI MAIL website has graciously also publicised this project as a finalist entrant in the competition:
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/kenya-hawkers-market-girls-centre-project-initiated-by-shariffa-keshavjee/

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)

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

412)Blogpost Four Hundred and all its earlier incarnations; the Cardinal Post of My Blog on the Link between Science and Religion in Islam

1)September 1st 2008:

400)Blogpost Four Hundred, Knowledge, Intellect, Creation, Science and Religion: Comprehensive Quotes of Aga Khan IV and Others; a never-ending post:

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/09/400blogpost-four-hundred-knowledge.html

2)February 15th 2008:

327)Comprehensive quotes of Aga Khan IV and others relating to knowledge, intellect, creation, science and religion-FROM 2007CE DOWN TO 322BC:

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

3)January 17th 2008:

304)The most amazing one-liners and short quotes, 632CE to 2007CE-UPDATED:

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/304the-most-amazing-one-liners-and.html

4)January 16th 2008 and December 15th 2007:

303)The Creation according to the Quran and Key figures in Islam-UPDATED:

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/303the-creation-according-to-quran-and.html

5)January 16th 2008 and December 17th 2007:

302)My favourite quotes as listed on my Facebook profile-UPDATED

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/302my-favourite-quotes-as-listed-on-my.html

6)January 16th 2008:

301)Selected speech excerpts of Aga Khan IV, from 1963 to 2004, relating to the subjects of knowledge, intellect, scince and religion:

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/301selected-speech-excerpts-of-aga-khan.html

7)January 15th 2008:

300)Timeless sayings of Aga Khan III, Consolidated:

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/300timeless-sayings-of-aga-khan-iii.html

8)January 15th 2008:

299)Consolidated Quotes of Aga Khan IV, Consolidated:

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/299quotes-of-aga-khan-iv-consolidated.html

9)August 22nd 2007:

245)More excerpts and quotes by Mawlana Hazar Imam, Aga Khan IV, in Uganda(Aga Khan Academy), relating to intellect, creation, science and religion

http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/08/245more-excerpts-and-quotes-by-mowlana.html

10)August 21st 2007:

244)Selected quotes from Mawlana Hazar Imam, Aga Khan IV's current East African visit, Aug 12-23 2007, that are relevant to the title of my blogsite

http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/08/244selected-quotes-from-mowlana-hazar.html

11)July 6th 2007:

213)The Creation according to Quran, Prophet Muhammad, Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan III, Imam Jafar As-Sadiq, Al-Kirmani, Al-Sijistani, Nasir Khusraw et al

http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/213the-creation-according-to-prophet.html

12)July 2nd 2007:

208)Selected speech excerpts of Aga Khan IV, from 1963 to 2004, relating to the subjects of knowledge, intellect, science and religion

http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/208selected-speech-excerpts-of-aga-khan.html

13)March 28th 2007 and February 21st 2007:

145)Audio speech as well as timeless sayings of Aga Khan III, combo delight

http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/03/145audio-speech-as-well-as-timeless.html

14)February 10th 2007:

129)Quotes of Aga Khan IV, Consolidated

http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/02/129quotes-of-aga-khan-4-consolidated.html

15)December 9th 2006:

60)Excerpt: Aga Khan IV's interview with Spiegel newspaper

http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/excerpt-aga-khan-4s-interview-with.html

16)December 9th 2006:

35)Quote of Aga Khan III: Matter and Spirit

http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/quote-aga-khan-3-matter-and-spirit.html

17)December 9th 2006:

22)What have we forgotten in Islam?: Aga Khan III

http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/what-have-we-forgotten-in-islam-aga.html

18)December 8th 2006:

10)Sayings of Aga Khan III

http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/quotes-aga-khan-3.html

9)Sayings of Aga Khan IV

http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/quotes-aga-khan-4.html

19)December 4th 2006:

4)Quran

http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/quran.html

3)Quote

http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/excerpt-of-speech-made-by-mowlana-hazar.html

2)Quote

http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/quote-from-letter-written-by-our-48th.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, September 30, 2008

411)Catching a Microwave Pulse Transitioning from the Quantum-Physics World to the Classical-Physics World, from probability to certainty.

"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)

"God has given us the miracle of life with all its attributes: the extraordinary manifestations of sunrise and sunset, of sickness and recovery, of birth and death, but surely if He has given us the means with which to remove ourselves from this world so as to go to other parts of the Universe, we can but accept as further manifestations the creation and destructions of stars, the birth and death of atomic particles, the flighting new sound and light waves. I am afraid that the torch of intellectual discovery, the attraction of the unknown, the desire for intellectual self-perfection have left us"(Aga Khan IV,Speech, 1963, Mindanao, Phillipines)

"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. Of that I am certain"(Aga Khan IV, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, August 17th 2007)

"......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)

".....The famous verse of 'light' in the Qur'an, the Ayat al-Nur, whose first line is rendered here in the mural behind me, inspires among Muslims a reflection on the sacred, the transcendent. It hints at a cosmos full of signs and symbols that evoke the perfection of Allah's creation and mercy"(Aga Khan IV,Speech, Institute of Ismaili Studies, October 2003, London, U.K.)

"Thus Islam's basic principle can only be defined as mono-realism and not as monotheism. Consider, for example, the opening declaration of every Islamic prayer: "Allah-o-Akbar". What does that mean? There can be no doubt that the second word of the declaration likens the character of Allah to a matrix which contains all and gives existence to the infinite, to space, to time, to the Universe, to all active and passive forces imaginable, to life and to the soul."(Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954)

"In fact this world is a book in which you see inscribed the writings of God the Almighty"(Nasir Khusraw, 11th century Ismaili cosmologist-philosopher-poet)

Kathalika yubayyinu Allahu lakum ayatihi la'allakum ta-'aqiloona: "Allah thus makes clear to you His Signs that you may intellect"(Holy Quran 2:242)

Chapter 30, Verse 27: He originates creation; then refashions it - for Him an easy task. His is the most Sublime Symbol in the heavens and the earth(Noble Quran, 7th Century CE)

The above are 9 quotes and excerpts taken from Blogpost Four Hundred:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/09/400blogpost-four-hundred-knowledge.html

Photons caught in the act

By Davide Castelvecchi
Web edition : Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

Physicists watch a microwave pulse lose its quantum weirdness

Physicists have made the first "movie" of a microwave pulse transitioning from the quantum-physics world to the classical-physics world.

Reporting in the Sept. 25 Nature, the researchers say that their method may help in understanding at what point in nature quantum physics ends and classical physics begins. It could also shed light on how to keep information inside future computers that would take advantage of quantum physics.

Quantum objects — generally, anything that's small enough to be ruled by quantum physics — can exist in multiple forms at the same time. An atom, for example, can be in two places at the same time, as can the crests and troughs of electromagnetic waves, such as in a microwave pulse.

Any disturbance from the outside world can cause a loss of this quantum innocence — loss of coherence, in physics parlance. The state of the object becomes progressively more definite, until the object picks one state, as would be expected from everyday experience. Normally, physicists cannot capture all the information contained in quantum coherence, since a measurement produces an answer that's just one in a range of possible outcomes.

Serge Haroche of the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the Collège de France in Paris and his collaborators have now observed this transition in a microwave pulse trapped between two mirrors. The researchers probed the pulse by shooting thousands of rubidium atoms across it, one atom at a time. Each atom extracted a small amount of information from the pulse, without destroying its coherence.

The near-perfect mirrors allowed the photons in the microwave pulse to bounce back and forth, establishing a standing wave that lasted several milliseconds. Through the reflections, the pulse, bit by bit, lost coherence, and the position of the peaks and troughs came closer to being definite.

At the same time, the path the pulse follows to lose coherence is also different each time. To obtain the most complete picture of the process, the researchers repeated the measurement thousands of times on identical pulses.

"This is fascinating work," comments physicist Mikhail Lukin of Harvard University. It is unique, he adds, "in that it allows one to look directly, in real time, into what happens with a quantum state of light as it loses coherence."

Haroche says that the team is constantly improving the apparatus so it can preserve the coherence of pulses of higher intensities. Higher-intensity pulses tend to behave more like classical than quantum objects. Thus, the researchers hope to learn more about the boundary between the quantum and the classical world.

Haroche also says that his team might be able to learn how to use the atoms to restore a pulse's coherence before it is completely lost. This ability could help researchers design quantum data storage for future quantum computers. Such machines would use the multiple states of quantum objects to essentially perform myriad calculations all at once.

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)

410)Mapping E8(248-dimensional mathematical object); Islam, Mathematics, Reasoning, Symmetry, Dimensions, Symbolism: an Update; Quotes of Aga Khan IV

This post is now part of the following collection of posts:
454)A Collection of Posts on Symmetry in Nature, as a Product of the Human Mind, Geometry and Harmonious Mathematical Reasoning; Quotes of Aga Khan IV
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/03/454a-collection-of-posts-on-symmetry-in.html

Arif Ali's Web Wanderings Site

http://webwanderings.wordpress.com/

is a blog I find myself visiting more often lately and I recently came accross a post about E8, a 248-dimensional mathematical object some call the most complex mathematical object ever:

http://webwanderings.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/breakthrough-in-mapping-248-dimensional-object/ :

Mathematicians and computer scientists from several countries successfully mapped the inner working of E8—one of the most complicated structures in math, a 248-dimensional object.
“E8 was discovered over a century ago, in 1887, and until now, no one thought the structure could ever be understood,”

Underlying symmetrical objects such as spheres and cylinders is something called a Lie group — a mathematical group invented by the 19th century Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie to study symmetry. E8 is an example of a Lie group.

Understanding and classifying the representations of E8 and Lie groups has been critical to understanding phenomena in many different areas of mathematics and science, including algebra, geometry, number theory, physics and chemistry.

The Link to Arif Ali's Web Wanderings site is listed in the upper right hand corner of my blog in the Suggested Links Section.

I have blogged about this E8 structure before and about geometry, symmetry, dimensions, mathematical reasoning and symbolism, especially as it pertains to the religion of Islam: The buzzwords in this vein are Tawhid, One Absolute Reality, Monorealism, Monotheism and how geometrically symmetrical objects both in nature and as created by the mind of man(Islamic Architecture) symbolically represent these fundamental principles and higher realities. Take a trip down my memory lane:

"In this context, would it not also be relevant to consider how, above all, it has been the Qur'anic notion of the universe as an expression of Allah's will and creation that has inspired, in diverse Muslim communities, generations of artists, scientists and philosophers? Scientific pursuits, philosophic inquiry and artistic endeavour are all seen as the response of the faithful to the recurring call of the Qur'an to ponder the creation as a way to understand Allah's benevolent majesty. As Sura al-Baqara proclaims: 'Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah'.The famous verse of 'light' in the Qur'an, the Ayat al-Nur, whose first line is rendered here in the mural behind me, inspires among Muslims a reflection on the sacred, the transcendent. It hints at a cosmos full of signs and symbols that evoke the perfection of Allah's creation and mercy." (Aga Khan IV, IIS Convocation, October 19th 2003, London, U.K.)

"The Qur’an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God’s creation"(Closing Address by His Highness Aga Khan IV at the "Musée-Musées" Round Table Louvre Museum, Paris, France, October 17th 2007)

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/288symmetry-in-nature-symmetry-as.html

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/309harmonious-mathematical-reasoning.html

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/319the-learning-of-mathematics-was.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)

Sunday, September 28, 2008

409)The Length and Breadth of Dr. Azim Nanji's Contributions to the IIS, to the Worldwide Shia Ismaili Muslim Community and Muslim Ummah in General

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

408)Celebrating Dr Azim Nanji of the Institute of Ismaili Studies, my all-time Ismaili intellectual hero in the current era; Quote of Azim Nanji.

Dr Azim Nanji’s departure from the IIS(Institute of Ismaili Studies) is a sad one for me. He is my all-time Ismaili intellectual hero in the current era, one of the bright 'stars' in my night sky. A quote from one of his articles even made it to my list of quotes on Blogpost Four Hundred, putting him in some seriously venerated company:

“In sum the process of creation can be said to take place at several levels. Ibda represents the initial level - one transcends history, the other creates it. The spiritual and material realms are not dichotomous, since in the Ismaili formulation, matter and spirit are united under a higher genus and each realm possesses its own hierarchy. Though they require linguistic and rational categories for definition, they represent elements of a whole, and a true understanding of God must also take account of His creation. Such a synthesis is crucial to how the human intellect eventually relates to creation and how it ultimately becomes the instrument for penetrating through history the mystery of the unknowable God implied in the formulation of Tawhid.”(Azim Nanji, Director, Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, U.K., 1998)

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/09/400blogpost-four-hundred-knowledge.html

The above quote is taken from a seminal article he wrote on Ismaili Philosophy:

http://www.iep.utm.edu/i/ismaili.htm

which, I recently discovered, was a distillation of a much longer article he wrote in 1990:

http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=109742

Welcome back to North America, Dr. Nanji, and to Stanford University in California, home to Stanford's Linear Particle Accelerator and a good many Science Nobel laureates:

"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)

The much-visited and wildly popular Ismaili mail website published these two articles on Dr Azim Nanji:
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/stanford-university-welcomes-dr-azim-nanji/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/iis-director-bids-farewell/

IIS Director Bids Farewell
September 2008

In the autumn of 1998, Professor Nanji became the Director of the IIS. After leading the Institute for ten years, he is now leaving to join the Abbasi Programme in Islamic Studies at Stanford University as a Senior Associate Director. Under his leadership, the IIS expanded its programmes and activities and has emerged as an institution known for its high quality research and publications in areas related to Muslim cultures, particularly in the fields of Ismaili and Shi‘i Studies.

Perhaps the most enduring achievement of his period at the Institute is the creation of a community of scholars resulting in a large number of publications from some of the best names in Shi‘i and Islamic Studies. The Institute’s fellowship programme ensured that many young and upcoming scholars would work with well-established names in the field. During Professor Nanji’s tenure, the Institute also hosted many innovative conferences and seminars, such as Word of God, Art of Man: The Qur’an and its Creative Expressions; Muslim Pluralism; Civil Society in the Muslim World; Nasir Khusraw: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, and Contemporary Islam(s) and Muslims. The Department of Community Relations, the Quranic Studies Unit and the Central Asian Studies Unit were established under his leadership while the Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities grew from strength to strength and the new Secondary Teacher Education Programme was launched.

Professor Nanji was also pivotal in furthering the Institute’s intellectual support to the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and the Ismaili community world over. The secondary curriculum materials are now in advanced stage of publication; a series of training programmes are well established and the IIS supports various AKDN activities on a regular basis. Initiating closer co-operation between the Institute and various organisations in Europe engaged with the educational activities of Muslims was yet another feature of his period.

He leaves his imprints not only through programmes but also through his personal style of leadership that valued empowerment, decentralisation and responsibility. It was during his tenure that the Institute celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. Asked about his experience of working with the Institute, Professor Nanji said: “An opportunity to lead and build further an institution like the IIS is a rare privilege. In this case also, there was a happy coming together of a moment in history, committed colleagues, as well as Imamat and Jamati support. My stay here will remain for my wife Razia and myself, a period full of fond memories and lasting friendships.”

It is poetically apt that Professor Nanji joined this institution and the next one in the season of Fall. For it is said that “Autumn is indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil”. Professor Nanji’s stay at the IIS did indeed bring to fruition not months but rather years of thought and care. Following his departure, the Associate Director, Dr. Farhad Daftary has been appointed as the Acting Director.

http://iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=109932

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, September 23, 2008

407)Laylat Al-Qadr-The Night of Power: Stirring and Inspiring Poetry by Jalaluddin Rumi; Whither Science and Religion? Quotes of Aga Khans and others.

My very good friend Rosie sent me these two beautiful poetic versions of Jalaluddin Rumi's Ghazal(Ode) 258 about today's observance of the Night of Power-Laylat Al-Qadr. In a blog describing the link between Science and Religion in Islam, what's the connection? Take a look at these quotes and excerpts and see if you can make the connection, then enjoy the poetry:

"The Holy Qu'ran's encouragement to study nature and the physical world around us gave the original impetus to scientific enquiry among Muslims. Exchanges of knowledge between institutions and nations and the widening of man's intellectual horizons are essentially Islamic concepts. The Faith urges freedom of intellectual enquiry and this freedom does not mean that knowledge will lose its spiritual dimension. That dimension is indeed itself a field for intellectual enquiry. I can not illustrate this interdependence of spiritual inspiration and learning better than by recounting a dialogue between Ibn Sina, the philosopher, and Abu Said Abu -Khyar, the Sufi mystic. Ibn Sina remarked, "Whatever I know, he sees". To which Abu Said replied," Whatever I see, he knows"."(Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan University Inauguration Speech, Karachi, Pakistan, November 11th 1985)

"......a true understanding of God must also take account of His creation. Such a synthesis is crucial to how the human intellect eventually relates to creation and how it ultimately becomes the instrument for penetrating through history the mystery of the unknowable God implied in the formulation of Tawhid."(Azim Nanji, Director, Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, U.K., 1995)

"Scientific pursuits, philosophic inquiry and artistic endeavour are all seen as the response of the faithful to the recurring call of the Qur'an to ponder the creation as a way to understand Allah's benevolent majesty. As Sura al-Baqara proclaims: 'Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah'.The famous verse of 'light' in the Qur'an, the Ayat al-Nur, whose first line is rendered here in the mural behind me, inspires among Muslims a reflection on the sacred, the transcendent. It hints at a cosmos full of signs and symbols that evoke the perfection of Allah's creation and mercy"(Aga Khan IV,Speech, Institute of Ismaili Studies, October 2003, London, U.K.)

"The Divine Intellect, Aql-i Kull, both transcends and informs the human intellect. It is this Intellect which enables man to strive towards two aims dictated by the faith: that he should reflect upon the environment Allah has given him and that he should know himself. It is the Light of the Intellect which distinguishes the complete human being from the human animal, and developing that intellect requires free inquiry. The man of faith, who fails to pursue intellectual search is likely to have only a limited comprehension of Allah's creation. Indeed, it is man's intellect that enables him to expand his vision of that creation"(Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan University Convocation Speech, Karachi, Pakistan, November 11, 1985)

"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)

"Thus Islam's basic principle can only be defined as mono-realism and not as monotheism. Consider, for example, the opening declaration of every Islamic prayer: "Allah-o-Akbar". What does that mean? There can be no doubt that the second word of the declaration likens the character of Allah to a matrix which contains all and gives existence to the infinite, to space, to time, to the Universe, to all active and passive forces imaginable, to life and to the soul"(Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954)

"......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)

"....in Islam, but particularly Shia Islam, the role of the intellect is part of faith. That intellect is what seperates man from the rest of the physical world in which he lives.....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. Of that I am certain"(Aga Khan IV, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, August 17th 2007)

The above are 8 quotes and excerpts from Blogpost Four Hundred:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/09/400blogpost-four-hundred-knowledge.html

Here, Sunlight offers Rumi's Ghazal (Ode) 258, in two forms -- a poetic translation from Nader Khalili, and a version by Coleman Barks:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1)
if you stay awake
for an entire night
watch out for a treasure
trying to arrive

you can keep warm
by the secret sun of the night
keeping your eyes open
for the softness of dawn

try it for tonight
challenge your sleepy eyes
do not lay your head down
wait for heavenly alms

night is the bringer of gifts
Moses went on a ten-year journey
during a single night
invited by a tree
to watch the fire and light

Mohammed too made his passage
during that holy night
when he heard the glorious voice
when he ascended to the sky

day is to make a living
night is only for love
commoners sleep fast
lovers whisper to God all night

all night long
a voice calls upon you
to wake up
in the precious hours

if you miss your chance now
when your body is left behind
your soul will lament
death is a life of no return

-- Translation by Nader Khalili: "Rumi, Fountain of Fire" Cal-Earth Press, 1994
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2)
THE VIGIL
Don't go to sleep one night.
What you most want will come to you then.
Warmed by a sun inside, you'll see wonders.
Tonight, don't put your head down.

Be tough, and strength will come.
That which adoration adores
appears at night. Those asleep
may miss it. One night Moses stayed awake
and asked, and saw a light in a tree.

Then he walked at night for ten years,
until finally he saw the whole tree
illuminated. Muhammad rode his horse
through the night sky. The day is for work.
The night for love. Don't let someone
bewitch you. Some people sleep at night.

But not lovers. They sit in the dark
and talk to God, who told David,
"Those who sleep all night every night
and claim to be connected to us, they lie."

Lovers can't sleep when they feel the privacy
of the beloved all around them. Someone
who's thirsty may sleep for a little while,
but he or she will dream of water, a full jar
beside a creek, or the spiritual water you get
from another person. All night, listen
to the conversation. Stay up.
This moment is all there is.

Death will take it away soon enough.
You'll be gone, and this earth will be left
without a sweetheart, nothing but weeds
growing inside thorns.

I'm through. Read the rest of this poem
in the dark tonight.Do I have a head? And feet?

Shams, so loved by Tabrizians, I close my lips.
I wait for you to come and open them.

-- Version by Coleman Barks: "The Essential Rumi" Harper, San Francisco, 1995.

Related posts from the Spirit and Life Blog of the Ismaili Mail website:
http://spiritandlife.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/laylat-al-qadr-the-night-of-power/
http://spiritandlife.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/laylt-ul-qadr/

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)

Monday, September 22, 2008

406)'Ismaili Lunar Calendar': An ideal base to unite the 'Ummah'; Quotes of Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan III and Noble Quran.

"That quest for a better life, among Muslims and non-Muslims alike, must lead inevitably to the Knowledge Society which is developing in our time. The great and central question facing the Ummah of today is how it will relate to the Knowledge Society of tomorrow.The fundamental reason for the pre-eminence of Islamic civilizations lay neither in accidents of history nor in acts of war, but rather in their ability to discover new knowledge, to make it their own, and to build constructively upon it. They became the Knowledge Societies of their time."(Aga Khan IV, Speech, 2nd December 2006, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan)

"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)

"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)

Chapter 30, Verse 27: He originates creation; then refashions it - for Him an easy task. His is the most Sublime Symbol in the heavens and the earth(Noble Quran, 7th Century CE)

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)

Chapter 51, verse 47: We built the heavens with might, and We expand it wide(Noble Quran, 7th Century CE)

Chapter79, verse 30: And then he gave the earth an oval form(Noble Quran, 7th Century CE)

Chapter 86, verse 11: I swear by the reciprocating heaven.....(Noble Quran, 7th Century CE)

The above are 8 quotes taken from Blogpost Four Hundred:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/09/400blogpost-four-hundred-knowledge.html

'Ismaili Lunar Calendar': An ideal base to unite the 'Ummah' - Part I
Yemen Times
2003

Dr. Qazi Shaikh Abbas Borhany PhD (USA), NDI, Shahadat al A'alamiyyah (Najaf, Iraq), M.A., LLM (Shariah) Member, Ulama Council of Pakistan

The purpose of the following dialogue is to promote tolerance and intellectual understanding among the Muslim community of the global village. The Modern World humiliates the Muslims with the fact that while astronauts have landed the Moon, and other scientists are busy in discoveries of the universe, majority of the Muslims are still following the directions of the clergy, regarding the sighting of the Moon, instead of following the scientific course, upon which religion of Islam is based.

Origin of the Lunar Calendar: Base of the 'Ismaili Lunar Calendar' is Qur'an: "The Sun and the Moon follow exactly computed courses."[1]

This Ayat lays the foundation on which it is permissible to calculate the emergence of new crescent from a Shariah standpoint, and refutes any claim raised by people of limited-understanding who believe that crescent sighting should be followed; because all such erroneous sightings would contradict the findings of this Ayat and at the same time contradict the 'words of Qur'an', explaining the orderly movement of the Moon and other celestial bodies. The precise laws, made by Allah, governing the Universe, bear witness to Hikmat ilahiyyah and Adal and also of His favours to His creatures.

It was Bani Fatimah who realized the need of the Lunar Calendar, and they introduced it to the world at large, as soon as they established their vast Empire, even spreading across Europe. This Lunar Calendar remained in practice officially for more than 225 years, in North Africa and across the Atlantic Ocean. The same calendar is in practice officially by the Ismaili Nizaries & Musta'alavis (Dawoodi, Sulaiymani, & Alavi). The notable powerful dynasty of the Sumrahs of Sindh (Pakistan) followed the Lunar Calendar from 365(A.H) to 974(A.H) for more than 609 years, and without any alteration. As elites of Sindh, the Sumrahs handled the affairs of Al Dawah al Hadiyah as Aa'mil of the Ismaili Fatemi Imams in Sindh, whose jurisdiction extended up to the 'Attock Fort'. Their relationship continued to remain under the command of Al Dai al Mutlaq, one after the other, during the period of Satar. The Ismailis calculate their months according to this Lunar Calendar and least bother(scarcely depend) on the sighting of the Moon for starting a New Year or a New Month, as they have carried out an accurate scientific research on the movements of the Moon. They have a very rich and valuable literature on the subject of 'Lunar Calendar', the glorious origin of which goes to Amir al Mumineen, Ali ibn Abi Talib through the references of Abi Abdillah Imam Jafar Assadiq. An authentic scientific chart of 'Qaran-e-Saghir' and 'Qaran-e-Kabir' is attributed to Ali. [2]

Calculation of the Lunar Cycle: On an average, a lunar month (or lunation) comprises 29 days 12.73 hours, but it can sometimes be as short as 29 days 6_ hours, or as long as 29 days 20 hours. Fluctuations in length are cyclic. There is a fast cycle averaging about 412 days (which is just under 14 lunar months); which is associated with changes in the eccentricity, or shape of the lunar orbit. This rapid cycle is modified by a slower one whose mean wavelength is 8.85 years (equal to one complete revolution of the axis of the Moon's elliptical orbit). In addition, there are other oscillations, some causing variations extending over many hundreds of years – when it may not even make sense to look for an average wavelength. Other factors too contribute to the Moon's complex behavior.

For instance, a longer than normal lunation tends to occur between October and March because of the faster movement by the Earth in its orbit round the sun. In February and March, this delays the instant when the Moon appears to overtake the sun. Also, the sun lies closer to a newborn crescent than it would if the Earth's speed was uniform - thus postponing the onset of New Moon visibility. In October and November, on the other hand, the sun's position on the ecliptic line is "behind schedule" - so the Moon overtakes it earlier. Occasionally, four consecutive lunation will span more than 119 days. Under these circumstances, it is possible to have four successive 30-day months. When that happens, the Moon only just becomes visible at the beginning of the first month in the sequence, and just fails to do so on the 29th of the 4th month. A predetermined calendar would certainly make it easier to plan events. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to predict that a newborn crescent will definitely be visible or invisible from a given location, because of the wide grey area separating the two categories. This uncertainty is caused by day to day fluctuations in atmospheric water vapor and dust content.

A Few Logical Examples: The Ismailis follows a pre-calculated calendar based on a cycle of 30 Muslim years (eleven of which contain 355 days instead of the more common 354–thus totaling 10631 days). The accumulated error in that calendar is about one hour per century. This, together with the cyclic variations in the behavior of the lunar orbit, can bring the Ismaili dates two (or on rare occasions even three) days earlier than those governed strictly by Crescent visibility. In 1412 (A.H), for example, their Ramazan commenced on the morning of 4th March 1992, whereas throughout much of India and the Far East, Sawm did not start till 7th March. There are of course other ways in which a predetermined calendar might be constructed. Mathematical criteria could be laid down – and adopted, regardless of whether or not the crescent happens to be observed. Such guidelines might be based, for example, on the age of the New Moon at dusk (suitably defined), or the lag between sunset and moonset, or the number of degrees separating the sun and moon as they descend. It is then essential to specify either the exact time at which the criteria are to be applied–or the precise location; for example, Makkah would probably be universally acceptable. [3]

Qur'an says:

"Allah enlightens the sun and effulgent moon and created stations for the moon's movement so that you can keep the counting and records of years". [4]

The Circulation of the Moon around the Earth is described in the Qur'an, and on the basis of it the Lunar Calendar was designed. The 19th Al Dai al Fatemi, Syedna Idris Imaduddin(d.872/1468, Shib'am, Yemen) discussed the issue and proved that the Moon circulates one time around earth in 29 _ days and some minutes, and a single circulation is counted as one month. According to calculations, in the Lunar Calendar, a 30 days month is considered complete, and a 29 days month is called incomplete. The first month of Muharram is of 30 days and the second month is of 29 days, so according to this, the last month of Zilhajjah will be of 29 days. At the end of 12 months, some fraction is left between the movement of the Moon and 12 months, and as per calculation 11 leap-years are set in every 30 years in the lunar calendar. That means a leap-year will have 30 days instead of 29 days in the last month, which is Zilhajjah. [5]

Shia Ismaili Point of view: Shia Ismailies argue that Rasulullah (S) always observed Siy'am by particular calculations and commanded the Ummah to do accordingly. A valuable reference of Maaz bin Kasir is available in "Majm'a al Bahraiyn" which has been transmitted by Huzaifah bin Mansur who asked Abi Abdullah Imam Jafar Assadiq that people say: Rasulullh(S) observed some months of Ramazan for 29 days and some for 30 days. Imam Jafar Assadiq spontaneously rejected this allegation and replied:

"These people are telling lies; Rasulullah(S) has always observed 30 days Siy'aam in the month of Ramazan. From the day Allah created the Sky and the Earth, Ramazan has never ended in 29 Naqis (incomplete) days". [6]

As Muslims of the early era were not familiar with calculations at that time, the day on which everyone observed Sawm, and celebrated Eid, used to be announced. Once when Rasulullah(S) was leaving Madinah for expedition of 'Ghazwah Hunain', people behind him questioned, "We observed Sawm of Ramazan with you, and celebrated Eid with you, as you are leaving, how should we observe it?" Rasulullah(S) guided as follow:

"Observe Sawm of Ramazan by watching Him and celebrate your Eid by watching Him too." [7]

Children of the Ismaili Dawah argue that the meaning behind the word of Hadith "Ley Ruyate Hee" was Ali, as Rasulullah (S) had appointed him 'Wali al Amar' on his seat, in his place. Similarly, there is no doubt that Rasulullah(S) is the Sun of Nubuwah while Ali is the Moon of Imamah. Pointing out this divine reality, Syedna al Moayyid al Shirazi (d.470/1078, Qahera, Egypt) says in a couplet, available in his "Diw'aan" as follows:

"Wa Ya Qamaran B'aada Zakas Siraji; Muniran Bada Lid'diyaji Mubira" [8]

(O Moon which appears after the Sun; in order to remove darkness)

Selected Bibliography[1] "Al Qur'an", Surat No.55,Ayat No.5
[2] Alibhai Sharafali, "Sahifat us Sal'aat", Chart of' Qaran al Kabir wa Qaran al Saghir', Mumbai [3] David Mc Naughton,"Crescent- sighting & Islamic Calendars", Hamdard Islamicus, Karachi,January 1997
[4] Al Qur'an
[5] Syedna Idris Imaduddin, "Kit'aab Izah ul Ael'aam", (in explanation of 29 days of Shab'an and 30 days of Ramazan),manuscript.
[6] 1-"Majma al Bahraiyn", 2- 39th Alavi Dai, "Kit'aab al ib'anate wal Hil'aal", Manuscript, (Cross-examination by the learned Shaikh on books like "Kit'aab al Hid'ayah" and "Man La Yahzuruhul Faqih" and established logical scientific approach of the Ismailies)
[7] Syedna Idris Imaduddin, "Kit'aab Izah ul Ael'aam", (in explanation of 29 days of Shab'an and 30 days of Ramazan). Hadith
[8] Syedna al Moayyid al Shirazi, "Diw'aan", QaheraThe writer is Attorney at Law & Religious ScholarEmail address: qazishkborhany@hotmail.com

http://yementimes.com/print_article.shtml?i=1192&p=culture&a=1

Related posts:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/358islam-and-astronomy-vestiges-of-fine.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/289al-nitak-al-nilam-mintaka-betelgeuse.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/273basics-on-vast-distances-and-sizes.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/317so-how-old-is-universe-anyway-6000.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)

Sunday, September 21, 2008

405)Our Sun is a WILD place-doing pesap, oolti, julab, looking like a Picasso painting, having a bad hair day, or just scintillating radiantly........

1) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040802.html

2) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021114.html

3) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040725.html

4) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971120.html

5) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051109.html

6) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061204.html

7) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060807.html

8) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000403.html

9) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990923.html

10) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010301.html

11) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010924.html

12) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060710.html

13) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060611.html

14) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070402.html

15) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071106.html

16) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980601.html

17) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970107.html

18) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031122.html

19) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060407.html

20) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060331.html

21) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021206.html

22) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050407.html

23) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070303.html

24) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051005.html

25) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030530.html

"Islamic doctrine goes further than the other great religions, for it proclaims the presence of the soul, perhaps minute but nevertheless existing in an embryonic state, in all existence in matter, in animals, trees, and space itself. Every individual, every molecule, every atom has its own spiritual relationship with the All-Powerful Soul of God"(Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954)

Imam Hassan has explained the Islamic doctrine of God and the Universe by analogy with the sun and its reflection in the pool of a fountain; there is certainly a reflection or image of the sun, but with what poverty and with what little reality; how small and pale is the likeness between this impalpable image and the immense, blazing, white-hot glory of the celestial sphere itself. Allah is the sun; and the Universe, as we know it in all its magnitude, and time, with its power, are nothing more than the reflection of the Absolute in the mirror of the fountain"(Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954)

"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, from "What have we forgotten in Islam?")

"In fact this world is a book in which you see inscribed the writings of God the Almighty"(Nasir Khusraw, 11th century Ismaili cosmologist-philosopher-poet)

"......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)

"In this context, would it not also be relevant to consider how, above all, it has been the Qur'anic notion of the universe as an expression of Allah's will and creation that has inspired, in diverse Muslim communities, generations of artists, scientists and philosophers? Scientific pursuits, philosophic inquiry and artistic endeavour are all seen as the response of the faithful to the recurring call of the Qur'an to ponder the creation as a way to understand Allah's benevolent majesty. As Sura al-Baqara proclaims: 'Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah'.The famous verse of 'light' in the Qur'an, the Ayat al-Nur, whose first line is rendered here in the mural behind me, inspires among Muslims a reflection on the sacred, the transcendent. It hints at a cosmos full of signs and symbols that evoke the perfection of Allah's creation and mercy"(Aga Khan IV,Speech, 2003, London, U.K.)

"The Quran very often refers to nature as a reflection of Allah's power of creation and says: Look at the mountains, look at the rivers, look at the trees, look at the flowers all as evidence of Allah's love for the people whom He has created. Today I look at this environment and I say that I beleive that Allah is smiling upon you, may His smile always be upon you"(Aga Khan IV, Tajikistan, May 27th 1995)

"Discovery of knowledge was seen by those founders(Fatimids) as an embodiment of religious faith, and faith as reinforced by knowledge of workings of the Creator's physical world"(Aga Khan IV, 27th May1994, Cambridge, Massachusets, U.S.A.)

“Muslims believe in an all-encompassing unit of man and nature. To them there is no fundamental division between the spiritual and the material while the whole world, whether it be the earth, sea or air, or the living creatures that inhabit them, is an expression of God’s creation.”(Aga Khan IV, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, 13 April 1984)

"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, AKU, 16 March 1983, Karachi, Pakistan)

"God has given us the miracle of life with all its attributes: the extraordinary manifestations of sunrise and sunset, of sickness and recovery, of birth and death, but surely if He has given us the means with which to remove ourselves from this world so as to go to other parts of the Universe, we can but accept as further manifestations the creation and destructions of stars, the birth and death of atomic particles, the flighting new sound and light waves. I am afraid that the torch of intellectual discovery, the attraction of the unknown, the desire for intellectual self-perfection have left us"(Aga Khan IV,Speech, 1963, Mindanao, Phillipines)

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)

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

404)Sorry, Charley: Church Apologizes to Darwin; Natural Selection and a Continuous vs Static Creation; Quotes of Aga Khan IV and Aga Khan III

The Church of England apologising to Charles Darwin and the Catholic Church apologising to Galileo Galilei! Charles Darwin's research in the 19th century showing evolution by natural selection has turned out to be one of the great scientific truths of all time. Galileo Galilei in the 17th century dared to suggest that the earth was not flat but round and that the earth revolved around the sun. In the end these churches are demonstrating a quality that religion is supposed to teach all of us: humility. What about Islam?

Islam had it all and threw it away:

The Death of Science in Islam:
"For a few centuries at the turn of the first millennium, Islam presided over a burst of exuberant scientific and philosophical inquiry. It began with the translation of the treasure of Greek and Roman manuscripts that had lain forgotten for centuries. It then went beyond translation, producing a large body of original work in mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, optics, and philosophy, among other fields. Then this burst of activity died away. Summarizing and simplifying the argument that follows: Islam provided a sense of purpose and vitality that helped power the achievements of its golden age, but Islam could not accomodate itself to the degree of autonomy required to sustain it"

"Why did the burst of activity fade so rapidly? The root cause of its decline is to be found.....in the ability of its orthodox upholders to stifle once-flowering science".

"Those accomplishments of Islamic mathematical and medical science which continue to compel our admiration were developed in areas and in periods where the elites were willing to go beyond and possibly against the basic strains of orthodox thought and feeling"

Charles Murray: "Human Accomplishment: the Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950"

In Islam the creation is considered not to be a static event but a continuous, perpetual and constant event. As such it is compatible with evolution by natural selection. Discoveries during the 20th century especially have borne out that creation is a continuous event. If you look in space there are numerous stellar nurseries inside galaxies that show new, baby stars being born all the time. Stars have their own life cycles and our sun in our solar system is a star that is half way through its life cycle whereas the 3 Arabic-named stars that make up the Belt of Orion, Al-Nitak, Al-Nilam and Mintaka, are almost at the end of their life cycles. There are numerous other examples in nature that show a continuous and not a static creation:

Quotes of Aga Khan IV and Aga Khan III:
"In Islamic belief, knowledge is two-fold. There is that revealed through the Holy Prophet (s.a.s.) 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"(Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan University, 16 March 1983, Karachi, Pakistan)

"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)

"Of the Abrahamic faiths, Islam is probably the one that places the greatest emphasis on knowledge. The purpose is to understand God's creation, and therefore it is a faith which is eminently logical. Islam is a faith of reason"(Aga Khan IV, Spiegel Magazine interview, Germany, Oct 9th 2006)

“Muslims believe in an all-encompassing unit of man and nature. To them there is no fundamental division between the spiritual and the material while the whole world, whether it be the earth, sea or air, or the living creatures that inhabit them, is an expression of God’s creation.”(Aga Khan IV, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, 13 April 1984)

"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)

"......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)

"The second great historical lesson to be learnt is that the Muslim world has always been wide open to every aspect of human existence. The sciences, society, art, the oceans, the environment and the cosmos have all contributed to the great moments in the history of Muslim civilisations. The Qur’an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God’s creation"(Closing Address by His Highness Aga Khan IV at the "Musée-Musées" Round Table Louvre Museum, Paris, France, October 17th 2007)

Thus Islam's basic principle can only be defined as mono-realism and not as monotheism. Consider, for example, the opening declaration of every Islamic prayer: "Allah-o-Akbar". What does that mean? There can be no doubt that the second word of the declaration likens the character of Allah to a matrix which contains all and gives existence to the infinite, to space, to time, to the Universe, to all active and passive forces imaginable, to life and to the soul. Imam Hassan has explained the Islamic doctrine of God and the Universe by analogy with the sun and its reflection in the pool of a fountain; there is certainly a reflection or image of the sun, but with what poverty and with what little reality; how small and pale is the likeness between this impalpable image and the immense, blazing, white-hot glory of the celestial sphere itself. Allah is the sun; and the Universe, as we know it in all its magnitude, and time, with its power, are nothing more than the reflection of the Absolute in the mirror of the fountain"(Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954)

"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. Even in the Ayeh of Noor, divine is referred to as the natural phenomenon of light and even references are made to the fruit of the earth. During the great period of Islam, Muslims did not forget these principles of their religion. Alas, Islam which is a natural religion in which God's miracles are the very law and order of nature drifted away and is still drifting away, even in Pakistan, from science which is the study of those very laws and orders of nature.……Islam is a natural religion of which the Ayats are the universe in which we live and move and have our being………..The God of the Quran is the one whose Ayats are the universe……"(Aga Khan III, April 4th 1952)

The above 9 quotes and excerpts are taken from Blogpost Four Hundred:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/09/400blogpost-four-hundred-knowledge.html

Sorry, Charley: Church Apologizes to Darwin

By David Waters
Washington Post Blog
September 17th 2008

Proving it's never too late to evolve, the Church of England has apologized to Charles Darwin for vilifying him for having the audacity to question, wonder, and doubt.

Darwin has been dead for 126 years, so it probably doesn't matter much to him, but the apology comes with a fascinating essay that could start a more intelligent conversation between religion and science, especially when it comes to the origin -- or genesis -- of the species.

"Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still," Rev. Malcolm Brown, director of missions and public affairs for the Church of England, wrote in an essay entitled "Good Religion Needs Good Science."

"We try to practice the old virtues of 'faith seeking understanding' and hope that makes some amends."

Brown's amends include a much needed corrective that Sarah Palin, Pat Robertson and other Christian creationists might consider.

"Subsequent generations have built on Darwin's work but have not significantly undermined his fundamental theory of natural selection. There is nothing here that contradicts Christian teaching. Jesus himself invited people to observe the world around them and to reason from what they saw to an understanding of the nature of God (Matthew 6: 25-33)," Brown wrote.

"The anti-evolutionary fervour in some corners of the churches may be a kind of proxy issue for other discontents; and, perhaps most of all, an indictment of the churches' failure to tell their own story - Jesus's story - with conviction in a way which works with the grain of the world as God has revealed it to be, both through the Bible and in the work of scientists of Darwin's calibre."

Though Darwin is a hero to atheists, he was raised in the Anglican church, thought about becoming a clergyman, later attended a Unitarian church and described himself as an agnostic. "In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God," he wrote in 1879. "It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent Theist & an evolutionist."

Darwin's doubts about God weren't just scientific; they were human. As Princeton historian William Howarth told Newsweek, those doubts date to his enounters with slave-owning Christians and the death of his 10-year-old daughter in 1851, eight years before he published "On the Origin of the Species."

The Church of England isn't the first to reconsider its previous views. Earlier this year, the Vatican erected a statue of Galileo, who the Church put on trial for heresy 400 years ago. Pope John Paul II issued a number of apologies for the church's sins against Jews, heretics, women, Gypsies, native peoples and Orthodox Christians. In 1995, the Southern Baptist Convention renounced its racist roots and apologized for its past defense of slavery.

As Brown explained, "The trouble with homo sapiens is that we're only human. People, and institutions, make mistakes and Christian people and churches are no exception."
Even the Church evolves.

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/undergod/

Related Posts:
http://webwanderings.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/church-apologises-to-charles-darwin-over-theory-of-evolution/
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/315creation-museum-pooh-poohs-500-years.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/316the-debate-rages-onevolutionism.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/317so-how-old-is-universe-anyway-6000.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)

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

403)The Large Hadron Collider and the God Particle: Can Islam be in the middle of this exciting melding of Science and Religion?; Quotes of Aga Khans

I have blogged on a few occasions about the Large Hadron Collider that straddles two countries(France and Switzerland) and which conducted its first successful test yesterday. This mammoth scientific project, many years in the making, promises to have the same or greater short and long term impact on the world of pure science as Albert Einstein's General and Special Relativity did about 100 years ago. What starts of as pure science eventually morphs into practical applications and benefits for humanity but the discoveries have to be made in the realm of pure science first before the benefits can accrue. At the level of pure science it is first and foremost a search for knowledge about the universe in which we live, move and have our being.

In Islamic belief and philosophy the universe made up of matter is part of the structure of truth, the ultimate nature of which it is the goal of religion to reach. "In the Shia Ismaili Muslim formulation the spiritual and material realms are not dichotomous and matter and spirit are united under a higher genus and each realm possesses its own hierarchy"(Azim Nanji, Director of the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, U.K.). Furthermore, in Shia Ismaili Muslim cosmological and philosophical texts of yesteryear, the process of 'tarkib' as outlined in the Quran describes the composition of the material universe by the Universal Soul upon receiving 'tayyid' or divine inspiration from the Universal Intellect; the material composition known as the universe then has Intellect incorporated or wrapped within it and it becomes Intellect materialised. In the divine drama truth is reached when the material universe becomes unincorporated to reveal Intellect in its pure glory: "...... a true understanding of God must also take account of His creation. Such a synthesis is crucial to how the human intellect eventually relates to creation and how it ultimately becomes the instrument for penetrating through history the mystery of the unknowable God implied in the formulation of Tawhid."(Azim Nanji, Director, Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, U.K., 1995).

Quotes of Aga Khan IV and Aga Khan III:

“Muslims believe in an all-encompassing unit of man and nature. To them there is no fundamental division between the spiritual and the material while the whole world, whether it be the earth, sea or air, or the living creatures that inhabit them, is an expression of God’s creation.”(Aga Khan IV, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, 13 April 1984)

"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)

"Islamic doctrine goes further than the other great religions, for it proclaims the presence of the soul, perhaps minute but nevertheless existing in an embryonic state, in all existence in matter, in animals, trees, and space itself. Every individual, every molecule, every atom has its own spiritual relationship with the All-Powerful Soul of God"(Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954)

".......we find contact, direct and immediate, with the outer universe interpreted as an infinite reality of matter, as a mirror of an eternal spirit, or indeed (as Spinoza later said) an absolute existence of which matter and spirit alike are but two of infinite modes and facets."(Inaugural Lecture Before the Iran Society by Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III, November 9, 1936 London, United Kingdom.)

"It (Surah of Light from the Quran) tells us that the oil of the blessed olive tree lights the lamp of understanding, a light that belongs neither to the East nor West. We are to give this light to all. In that spirit, all that we learn will belong to the world and that too is part of the vision I share with you"(Aga Khan IV, Speech, 25 Sept. 1979)

"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)

"Science is a wonderful, powerful tool and research budgets are essential. But Science is only the beginning in the new age we are entering. Islam does not perceive the world as two seperate domains of mind and spirit, science and belief. Science and the search for knowledge are an expression of man's designated role in the universe, but they do not define that role totally....."(Aga Khan IV, McMaster University Convocation, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, May 15th 1987)

"Education has been important to my family for a long time. My forefathers founded al-Azhar University in Cairo some 1000 years ago, at the time of the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt. Discovery of knowledge was seen by those founders as an embodiment of religious faith, and faith as reinforced by knowledge of workings of the Creator's physical world."(Aga Khan IV, 27th May1994, Cambridge, Massachusets, U.S.A.)

"Of the Abrahamic faiths, Islam is probably the one that places the greatest emphasis on knowledge. The purpose is to understand God's creation, and therefore it is a faith which is eminently logical. Islam is a faith of reason"(Aga Khan IV, Spiegel Magazine interview, Germany, Oct 9th 2006)

"......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)

"The Qur’an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God’s creation"(Closing Address by His Highness Aga Khan IV at the "Musée-Musées" Round Table Louvre Museum, Paris, France, October 17th 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. Of that I am certain"(Aga Khan IV, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, August 17th 2007)

"Scientific pursuits, philosophic inquiry and artistic endeavour are all seen as the response of the faithful to the recurring call of the Qur'an to ponder the creation as a way to understand Allah's benevolent majesty. As Sura al-Baqara proclaims: 'Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah'.The famous verse of 'light' in the Qur'an, the Ayat al-Nur, whose first line is rendered here in the mural behind me, inspires among Muslims a reflection on the sacred, the transcendent. It hints at a cosmos full of signs and symbols that evoke the perfection of Allah's creation and mercy"(Aga Khan IV,Speech, Institute of Ismaili Studies, October 2003, London, U.K.)

The above are 13 quotes from "Blogpost Four Hundred":
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/09/400blogpost-four-hundred-knowledge.html

Smashing Idea

To Leap Forward, Scientists Return to The Big Bang

By William BoothWashington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 11, 2008
MEYRIN, Switzerland

It is the biggest machine ever built. Everyone says it looks like a movie set for a corny James Bond villain. They are correct. The machine is attended by brainiacs wearing hard hats and running around on catwalks. They are looking for the answer to the question: Where does everything in the universe come from? Price tag: $8 billion plus.

The world's largest particle accelerator is buried deep in the earth beneath herds of placid dairy cows grazing on the Swiss-French border. The thing has been under construction for years, like the pyramids. Its centerpiece is a circular 17-mile tunnel that contains a pipe swaddled in supermagnets refrigerated to crazy-low temperatures, colder than deep space.

The idea is to set two beams of protons traveling in opposite directions around the tunnel, redlining at the speed of light, generating wicked energy that will mimic the cataclysmic conditions at the beginning of time, then smashing into each other in a furious re-creation of the Big Bang -- this time recorded by giant digital cameras.

Wednesday, they fired this sucker up, the Associated Press reported.

It will be months before the proton beams reach full power and produce the kinds of exotic collisions that may herald an age of "new physics." But if the machine works -- this most ambitious, expensive, technologically advanced civilian scientific experiment in history -- it would be a happening for humanity.

"I think we may have to rewrite our textbooks," said Fabiola Gianotti, a project leader for Atlas, one of the four huge detectors that will record and analyze the collisions. "There must be something more than we have seen. There is something missing from the puzzle."

The Large Hadron Collider, as it is called by the 8,000 scientists, engineers and technicians from 85 countries who dote on it, will probe the most fundamental mysteries. From the fireballs, there may spring forth black holes and the elusive thing that gives matter its mass. Or not! There may be particles called "strangelets" and evidence of "dark matter" and signs of "supersymmetry" and maybe a little antimatter.

Oh, and they might find some extra dimensions. But this is the delicious part. They. Don't. Exactly. Know.

That accounts for the last-minute legal challenges by opponents who worry that the Large Hadron Collider -- hadrons, by the way, are collections of quarks, which are the particles inside protons and neutrons, which form the nucleus of the atom -- may spark a chain reaction of runaway events that could destroy the planet.

Their greatest concern is that the black holes, the stuff of a hundred "Star Trek" subplots, could grow and suck, grow and suck, which is what black holes do. A retired radiation safety expert in Hawaii sought a restraining order in a U.S. court, but was denied. Another group filed its doomsday appeal with the European Court of Human Rights, which also declined to act.

To calm public anxiety, the proton smashers investigated safety concerns and said any black holes "would be entirely benign" and would decay almost instantly. They would be "mini black holes," just like the ones that occur (the theorists say) whenever a couple of cosmic rays collide in space. Nature has already conducted experiments just like this, the report concludes, "and the planet still exists."

So make your plans accordingly.

* * *

The Large Hadron Collider was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, which on the surface looks like a slightly down-at-the-heels state college in the middle of a cow pasture in the dull suburbs of Geneva. CERN, however, is now the mecca for international physics, where the streets are named for Einstein, Newton and Curie. It is the place where they invented the World Wide Web. The cafeteria also serves wine with lunch.

After the United States stopped construction of the Superconducting Super Collider in 1993, after spending $2 billion and digging 14 miles of a 54-mile tunnel, the center of action for particle physics shifted to Europe.

To see what the excitement is about, you have to put on a hard hat and get into one of the elevator shafts and travel 300 feet below the Earth's surface to the tunnel, which was possible earlier this summer, before they closed the doors.

You drop into towering caverns lined with thick slabs of concrete that hold the detectors. The detectors look like building-size barrels, honeycombed with wafers of silicon and doughnut-shaped magnets. They are crawling, Medusa-like, with blue, red, green cables, like arteries and veins. They look muscular, beautiful, alive.

The tunnel itself is like a subterranean racetrack. Protons stripped from hydrogen atoms will be accelerated to high energies and whizzed around and around the tunnel, through an ordinary-looking blue pipe, which is not ordinary at all but quite extraordinary -- because it is coiled with thousands of superconducting magnets, which bend the proton beam so it can travel in circles. The magnets are superconducting because they are supercooled by superfluid helium, which is superstrange.

"A completely novel engineering material," is how Lyn Evans, the project manager of the collider, describes supercold helium. "For example, if you were to put it into a beaker? It could crawl out."

This is how they talk at CERN. If you stop them, and say, "What do you mean, crawl out?" They may go to a blackboard and begin with the math. You do not want them to do this.

Instead you say: Why underground?

"Cheaper," Evans said. It would cost a fortune to acquire the land in France and Switzerland to build the racetrack on the surface.

And why here? CERN was born in the rubble of postwar European physics. "Switzerland was neutral, and believe it or not, it was cheap," Evans said. "It is still neutral."

These protons whizzing through the pipe and around the track? They travel in bunches. These bunches are inches long and half the width of a human hair. Each bunch contains 100 billion protons, give or take a few. Each beam carries about 3,000 bunches. They travel at 99.9999991 percent the speed of light. So they are able to complete 11,245 laps a second. In 10 hours of operation, the beam could travel to Neptune and back.

The beams will travel on parallel tracks until the moment of truth. Then, at four major intersections along the way, the beams will cross and collide. The crash sites are the business end of the machine. That is where they put the detectors.

"Think of oranges," Evans said. "You collide two oranges together, you get a lot of pulp. We're not so interested in the pulp. What we want to do is see what happens when the pips -- the seeds -- hit each other." The proton is the orange, its component quarks are the pips.

And how many times will these pips collide? That would be 600 million collisions a second. The good head-on-smashup will erupt into a cloud of scattering particles, and the detectors (and their computers) will attempt to record the trajectories, energies, speeds, decays.

That's a lot of data to record.

"Quite," Evans said.

In one of the very useful cartoon books produced by the CERN public relations staff, an illustration shows a stack of 3 million CDs that is equal to the data flow from a year's worth of collider experiments. It is 12 miles tall.

* * *

To understand, deeply, some of the things the scientists here are talking about is not really possible. "I don't understand, fully, the math involved in the string theories," confessed Robert Cousins, a UCLA physics professor working at CERN on the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment.

But the general idea is this. "Humans have always asked, 'Where do we come from?' " Cousins said. "And this is the way that physicists ask that question."

For example, astrophysicists have observed that visible matter accounts for only 4 percent of the universe. By looking at gravitational effects -- for instance, how fast galaxies spin -- they can guess that there is more stuff out there than they can see. But what is this "dark matter?" Could dark matter be composed of "supersymmetric" particles, which might pop up in the collisions at CERN? For this reason, some people have called the Large Hadron Collider the "Hubble telescope of inner space."

And what about the mystery of antimatter? Antimatter is the identical-but-opposite twin of matter, except that for some unknown reason, nature prefers matter. As Cousins explained, if the universe and nature were neat and tidy, then equal amounts of matter and antimatter would be present at the Big Bang. But something is missing. The universe appears to be constructed entirely of matter. Where did all the antimatter go? "There is an imbalance," Cousins said. "So what gives?"

Physicists like balance, elegance and, believe it or not, simplicity, for instance E=mc{+2} -- energy equals mass times the square of the speed of light. The problem, theoretical physicist John Ellis says, "is mass. Where does it come from?"

Scientists' current understanding of the universe and all its particles and forces is called the Standard Model, and it is now 35 years old. It does not explain why some particles, such as protons, are relatively heavy, while others, like photons, have no mass at all. In a theory that dates to the early 1960s, a British physicist named Peter Higgs suggested that there was a mechanism -- alternatively described as a field, a boson, a particle, a whaddayacallit--that makes some things heavy and other things light.

Say what? Exactly.

Ellis, who has long white hair, a Gandalf vibe and a specialty in supersymmetry, lectures worldwide in four or five languages, including math. He expects the supercollider to detect the Higgs particle, but he hopes to see much, much more.

"Simply seeing the boring old Higgs? Or nothing at all?" He shuddered at the thought. "But then again, not seeing anything at all might be very interesting." Still, he bets they will uncover the nature of dark matter, and he has a lot riding on the wager.

For two decades, Ellis said, the Large Hadron Collider has been all about the builders. "For the engineers, the job is over," he said. "For the experimentalists, they're happy to find what they find.

"But for the theorists, for me, it is a bit different, because we have spent 40 years on a theory." He raised an eyebrow.

"There have been thousands of theoretical papers," he continued, "and I've written hundreds of them myself. What if it all turns out to be pile of garbage?"

The first beam completed its first slow lap Wednesday morning to applause from the scientists on site and the popping of champagne corks in labs worldwide, where contributing (and competing) scientists watched via satellite. "There it is," was Evans's simple pronouncement.

The Large Hadron Collider will not operate at full intensity for a year, and so many variables could hold up its work. But the physicists at CERN have reached a milestone. Now that the machine has been turned on, Cousins said, "the trick for us is to be as full of wonder as we can be -- and simultaneously as skeptical as you can get."

All related posts made by me on the Large Hadron Collider and the Higgs Particle:
1) http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/08/387the-large-hadron-collider-in-geneva.html
2) http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/360nima-arkani-hamed-theoretical.html
3) http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/342excitement-mounts-as-peter-higgs.html
4) http://spiritandlife.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/excitement-mounts-as-peter-higgs-announces-that-the-discovery-of-the-god-particle-is-at-hand/
5) http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/03/334the-science-of-religion-reprint-of.html
6) http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/12/2662008the-year-all-rest-of-teensy.html
7) http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/11/251symmetry-geometry-and-mathematical.html
8) http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/212on-verge-of-discovery-of-elusive.html
9) http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/03/139the-elusive-higgs-particle-which.html
10) http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/02/130if-you-think-of-this-universe-he-is.html
11) http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/03/147finding-most-fundamental-particles.html
12) http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/01/116impending-and-exciting-advances-in.html
13) http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/abdus-salaam-1979-nobel-laureate-in.html
14) http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/superstring-theory.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)