Fountain 67

January

February 2009

ISSUE 67

The only way to be saved from the torrents of misguidance is faith in God, And a new call to a total revival toward being ourselves.

Days of Depression and Our Atlas of Hope Multiple Universes July / August 2008

CANADA: $ 5.95 • TURKEY: 6. 00 YTL • UK: £ 2.95 • USA : $ 5.50

A MAGAZINE OF SCIENTIFIC AND SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

Contribution of Islamic Scholarship to Democracy

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Lead Article

EDITORIAL A SERENDIPITOUS NOVEMBER

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January ∙ February 2009 ISSUE 67

Yes, we can,” responded a few hundred thousand people in Chicago to the encouraging and hope-inspiring address of the new president-elect of the United States following the announcement of the election results. The American elections of 2008 showed once again that the popular vote can have a real influence on the fate of a nation and the world when public demands are met by a successfully articulated promise for change. Hope is such a powerful energy that, when released, waves of its influence often overflow the borders of a country and echo in a larger area overseas. Dr. Muhammed Cetin explores in this issue this dynamic force of democracy together with its shortcomings, how it can be improved so as to cover all aspects of human existence, and contributions of Islamic scholarship.

The events of November 2008 will definitely remain in the memory not only because of the American elections, but also for the hopes that arose almost simultaneously from a successful international conference at Georgetown University—Islam in the Age of Global Challenges: Alternative Perspectives of the Gülen Movement. Participants from different parts of the world discussed for two full days how to deal with problems from poverty and education to gender issues, problems that are posing ever greater and more global threats to humanity. With schools and cultural centers over 110 countries as well as relief and charity organizations with a global outreach, the Gülen movement offers an interesting field of research for social scientists. We would like to draw readers’ attention to an essay in this issue by Farid al-Ansari of Morocco, who presents an insightful portrayal of this movement with which the author reveals he has deep resonance himself.

A MAGAZINE OF SCIENTIFIC AND SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

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January / February 2009

We are also proud to present in this issue an exclusive interview with Professor Ahmed Zewail. Conducted by Dr. Nuh Gedik, this wisdom-filled interview gives analytical insight into the decline of Muslims from the pinnacle of human civilization which they achieved and maintained for long centuries.

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For The Fountain, this past November was also exceptional for something that happened for the first time: a women writers workshop. In order to encourage more female writers to activate their potential or blow the dust off their writing skills, a writing workshop exclusive to women was organized jointly by The Fountain and volunteers in Pittsburgh. Eighteen authors from different states participated. They brainstormed on various issues, ranging from how to be an effective writer to the aspects in which The Fountain is different from other periodicals. Former contributors shared their writing experience with beginners, while previous issues were comprehensively evaluated and analyzed. We are very grateful to the organizers, and we hope this volunteer spirit, without which The Fountain would not have become what it is, will continue to generate quality material for our readers across the globe.

www.fountainmagazine.com

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Lead Article

Arts & Culture

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Lead Artıcle

Days of Depression and Our Atlas of Hope

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/ Once in the Heavens . . .

Sermed Ogretim

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Psychology

/ Memoirs of a Former Gossip

Sumeyra Tosun

M. Fethullah Gülen

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PERSPECTIVES

POEM

/ Ode no XXXI from Bang-i-D’rra

Muhammad Iqbal

PerspectIves

Men, But Not Just Any Men! Farid al-Ansari

Scıence

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PhysIcs

A New Model: Multiple Universes (Multiverse) Salih Adem

PerspectIves

MathematIcs

/ Muslim Contributions to Mathematics

Shirali Kadyrov

/ From Genes to Proteins: A New Level of Complexity

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Bıology

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MedIcIne

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EngIneerIng

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SEE-THINK-BELIEVE

Jason Newfoundland

/ Radiotherapy

Irfan Sahin

/ Cryptography and Codes in Existence

Ahmet Isik

/ It’s me, Peter, your Pancreas!

Irfan Yilmaz

Fasting from the World Rabia Christine Brodbeck

Belief

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IntervIew

Science in the Islamic World: An interview with Nobel Laureate Ahmed Zewail

/ Raja (Hope or Expectation)

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Spırıtual Lıfe

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InterfaIth DIalogue / Interfaith Dialogue and Alliance Principles in the Works of Said Nursi

M. Fethullah Gülen

Suleyman Eris

Nuh Gedik

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Q&A

/ Victory of the Spirit

Hikmet Isik

Fethullah Gülen and the Contribution of Islamic Scholarship to Democracy Muhammed Cetin

January / February 2009

52

Culture & Socıety

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Lead Article

M. Fethullah Gülen

Today, almost everybody speaks about “material welfare and comfort,” without seeing any values other than these, or rather without wanting to see them.

January / February 2009

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umanity has come up with many beautiful things, and has made great inventions up to now. In a way, it is thanks to these efforts that the people of our time are enjoying a life of comfort, never equaled in any period of history; at least, this is potentially so. Even though it would not be correct to speculate today on the days to come, those who predict the future of the world say that it will, in a way, become so attractive for the people of physicality and carnal pleasures that it will make them forget Paradise. With a feeling and passion that gives priority to immediate pleasures and delights, they will say like Omar Khayyam, “The past and future are all but tales; enjoy yourself, do not spoil your life.” Thus, they will see life as only eating, drinking, and lying down, constantly making their choices in favor of worldly ease and comfort.

Actually, we can see this even now in many developed countries, and a great number of people around the world are enviously trying to imitate them. Almost everybody speaks about “material welfare and comfort,” without seeing any values other than these, or rather without wanting to see them.

However, in spite of the dizzying developments brought by science, the new opportunities offered by technology,

the only way to be saved from the present dangers and from being caught in the torrents of misguidance is faith in God, the belief in resurrection and the afterlife, consciousness of the final judgment, and a new call to a total revival toward being ourselves.

January / February 2009

and so many means promising us welfare and happiness, the people of our time do not seem so happy. Let alone seeming happy, they are seized by unease and depression more than ever. Though it could not be expected to be any other way, mere worldly opportunities, which are not supported by their relation to faith or knowledge of God, not deepened and given meaning, can obviously not mean much. In this respect, what we need in this modern age is nothing but to choose the best stature as suggested by the truth of having been created as “the perfect pattern of creation” (Tin 95:5), and to read the essence of being human accordingly. We can call this human beings’ realization of their difference with respect to spirituality and heart, reviewing their relation with the Creator, and finding their own orbit as befits the purpose of their creation. It seems that until they learn to read their essence correctly, it will not be possible for human beings to put their affairs in order and attain the happiness they expect. And particularly so if they are trying to suppress their spiritual appetite through luxury, comfort, and seeking to satisfy their physical pleasures due to not being able to know their real problems.

Even though the gravity of problems varies according to the country and society, almost all of humanity today faces serious dead ends. Almost everywhere, in every society, the masses experiencing a void in the name of faith and knowledge of God are pushed—consciously or not—into a disordered life, their animal desires are constantly triggered, and they are intoxicated into oblivion. Obviously, there cannot be sound spirit, sound thoughts, and sound judgment in such carefree, lawless, and immoderate masses. Masses of this sort have no aim or activity other than satisfying their carnal senses and consoling themselves with alcohol and drugs. Such a society can be considered to be spiritually dead, or to have entered the grave before dying. For such miserable souls who have lost their feeling of being human to some extent, it is just ordinary to have perverted habits, nervous problems, stress, and depression. Unfortunately, along with the entire world today, Muslim countries are also afflicted with the same diseases, and they are going through their most unfortunate days in desperation. In this world, individuals are diseased and shaken, the home is miserable and messed up, the masses are delirious and aggressive, and the representatives of brute power are cruel and merciless; nobody knows where it will lead and what kind of an end awaits humanity…

Due to such intermingled uncertainties and misery, most are unaware of what they are doing, what purpose they are serving, and what kind of disintegration they are heading toward. Most are completely unaware of the background of these dreadful problems, the real reasons for the total degeneration of societies, and the spiritual deformation of masses. The cause or causes of disease are not known exactly, and therefore the remedies offered are mistaken to a great extent. The question of how many people have been able to diagnose the problem is always arguable. And God knows how many of them are even given the right to speak.

It is for these reasons that in spite of all means of welfare, humanity

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is unhappy, weary, worn, delirious, and bent under the burden of bad conscience. Individuals and the masses are in an intimidating void—the void of conflicting with our primordial nature—generated by not knowing one’s Master. This is the void of being ignorant of faith and wisdom and the void of having been dragged into the pitfalls of the carnal self. Therefore, people are in constant anxiety as if journeying through the corridors of Hell and are extremely uneasy.

Neither leading their life in luxurious buildings, nor their fantastic clothing mean anything in the face of this void in them. Sometimes the delirium of intoxication is resorted to, and sometimes contentment is sought within material and carnal desires… but to no avail.

None of these suffices to fill the void inside, and the generations of today, who are deprived of spiritual support, keep drifting from one delirious state to another.

Because of mad crowds detached from their past, with no connection with their future, and vulnerable to committing crime, almost everywhere lives and property are under threat, those who care about chastity are anxious, and those responsible for security are ashamed of being unable to cope with the different illegal organizations they face every day. Those who see these on television or in the newspapers wonder, “Is it the end of humanity?” and they shake with the fear of being dealt a divine blow. We cannot consider them wrong, since Sodom and Gomorrah were smashed to the ground in chastisement for such spiritual disintegration and debasement.

The people of Noah was destroyed for a quarter of today’s present immorality. If the destroyed peoples of Ad, Thamud, and Ayka were to witness what is happening today, they would probably be deeply ashamed. As the poet Mehmed Akif expressed it:

January / February 2009

Modesty has been raised, shamelessness all around, What ugly faces that thin veil proves to have disguised!

No fidelity, no loyalty to promise, not a sign of the word “trust,” Lies are favored, betrayal required, right is out of sight.

Let virtues be ignored, let consciences fall into silence.

If this moral corruption lasts, there will remain no independence.

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In the face of such realities, the only way to be saved from the present dangers and from being caught in the torrents of misguidance is faith in God, the belief in resurrection and the afterlife, consciousness of the final judgment, and a new call to a total revival toward being ourselves. On the other hand, other cures which have been resorted to so far are obviously of no use at all.

The entire society is afflicted and faith is the treatment, For souls starving for faith, other ways are torment.

We will wait and see; maybe one day God Almighty will open our eyes too.

Perspectives

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Farid al-Ansari

f I had not actually seen them, I would have said it is mere fantasy, idle talk or imagination—a luminous shadow of the generation of the noble Companions of the Prophet.

Although it is understood, of course, that the merit of the Companions cannot be surpassed, in these men were combined two of their great qualities— migration (hijra) and support (nusra).

However, they were not divided into migrants and helpers but rather were migrants who help.

Migration to God and His Messenger, upon him be blessings and peace, are words often pronounced on tongues but rarely heeded by hearts. It is when a person leaves behind a life of comfort and rest, and the alluring bright lights of the city.

He sets off journeying through the land to penetrate into foreign and remote territory.

MEN but not just any

MEN!

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In the name of the Merciful, the Beneficent

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Carrying a lantern in his hand he searches out the needy throughout the land in order to nourish them with a sip of the nectar of life. On this path he has to endure self-sacrifice, self-annihilation and the abandonment of his worldly interests. That is a spiritual experience that nobody can truly comprehend except the one who has endured it. This is indeed an obstacle besides which are more obstacles, which count among the various degrees of striving.

Their sun rises in the land of Anatolia, and its rays effuse throughout the world in clear radiant beams. By this light old ties of kinship are bonded and the warmth of compassion is imparted to the wounded. They are migrants who left everything behind them and set forth like unsaddled, unshod horses. They open the doors and windows of the besieged in every land and teach them how to breathe again, breathe in the open air after having lost their ability to sense life centuries ago.

They are migrants (muhajirun) who have abandoned that before which dead-hearted people debase themselves—the pleasures of this life and its adornment— even though these flowed toward them in abundance from every direction. They set out towards God, distributing words of light, giving the world the good tidings of security and peace, and transmitting to the hearts of the poor great hope. Their legions are dispersed over deserts, mountains, jungles, and oceans. A horse may buckle here or there but the vanguard ever reaches its goal and raises its banner of light on the highest and loftiest peaks. True faith in God is elevated and honored through them.

A shadow of the generation of the Companions or a new copy, I know not. I have certainly seen them and my eyes did not deceive me. Among them are those who have passed on and among them are those who await their turn. They have not changed. It is for God to reward them! What men they are!

They are helpers (ansar) for they have supported the good, becoming thereby the helpers of the modern age. Each time they see the light of a candle faltering in a stormy wind, wherever it may be, they rush forth without a care for hardships and shield it with a niche of clear glass. Then it becomes like a shining star emanating beauty and splendor.

They went hungry so that others could eat, and they gave the clothes off their backs so that their poor could be clothed. They went short so that their needy could have possessions, and they wept so that their brothers could laugh. Truly, they preferred others over themselves even though they were themselves needy.

They are helpers who have acquired their state of support (nusra) by drawing from the light of Medina al-Munawwarra in the period just after the emigration of the Messenger (upon him be blessings and peace) there, when the joy of the people of Yathrib was still fresh and expressed in outbursts of song. It is from there that they have received the essence of their support, fresh and moist as a supple green branch sprinkling dew and bearing delicious fruit.

They migrated, and they gave their support. Furthermore, they have given themselves fully to the quest of migration and given themselves fully to the task of offering support. On this earth there remains nothing for them! However, in the world of the spirits they own everything through their dependence on God, the Rich beyond need, Owner of Praise.

They are crazy in their love of serving in foreign lands, from the cold of Siberia to the heat of South Africa. There is no island, cave, plain, or mountain, in all the continents of the world where they have not reached and there transmitted the rays of light effused by the approaching dawn. They smile in the face of painful afflictions, and they are happy to cross thorn-ridden fields which cause blood to flow from their feet and tears to flow from their eyes while their hearts rejoice in God! They are truly men, men about whom if an ancient book had spoken, we would have called it an exaggeration like the exaggerations encountered in stories, histories and biographies. However, they are living now in the present and in the future. There they are, in front of you—living examples of burning longing and great dynamism. How commendable they are these youths and mature folk. They have revived in us hope in life, and given us certainty of a new dawn. They are a testimony to the verity of the prophetic words that God will make true faith in Him triumph universally such that there will not remain a house of wool or mud to which it will not have entered, bringing to it either humiliation or honor.

I have beheld the lights of the beautiful Divine Names reflected in their eyes. Those lights pour out before them and they follow their guidance, drawn by their force, to realize the will of God, the Tremendous, to revive the earth after its death, with prosperity, generosity and munificence. You would see one of them as a nation embodied in a man or a man as if he were a whole nation. If your eyes set upon one of them, they would be dazzled, and you would say, “Goodness! Surely, he can have no equal.” But when you see another,

But we have made some of you a means of testing others—will you stand fast? (Furqan 25:20) Do you really want to be one of them?

“Yes.” That is a word that is easy on the tongue, but it involves a bitter experience. Whoever says that fire does not have the quality of burning, let him test it with his hand. Are you prepared to be burned to the extent that your body becomes dust—dust which the wind then disperses throughout the continents of the world, scattering particles here and there? Whenever one of these particles falls on barren ground, it becomes verdant and sprouting…

These are the giants of our time, examples of the true human being whose appearance has been awaited by the world for a long time. Has not the time come to return to the earth the security that was established there by the liege of creation, Muhammad (upon him be blessings and peace)?

They have surrounded the oppression of guns and defenses with institutes and schools and put out the fire of discord and wars with words and letters. Every school that they build, wherever it may be, becomes a green tree which continues to sprout palm shoots around it that grow and grow until the region becomes full of trees.

Thus does a forest of goodness stifle the loathsome sound of bullets and rid us of the rotten stink of gunpowder.

They are teachers who have spread everywhere, teaching the children of the world the language of birds and the song of sparrows. They draw on their green boards in front of them dreams of a beautiful future and the outlines of the path leading to Paradise. The children who graduate leaving the custody of these teachers, throughout the continents of the earth, come out singing one hymn—giving tidings of goodness and peace to the world.

The angels of remembrance love them, for often do they listen to their heart-rending songs. The angels of knowledge know them, for often do they carry their vanguard under their wings while it is journeying through the land towards the forests of Australia, the deserts of Asia, the jungles of Africa, or the foggy lands of the far west.

They shoot rays of light over skyscrapers. They are teachers, unarmed except with the weapons of education and edification. They are prepared to venture into dangerous situations wherever they may be. They advance bare-chested, smiling in the face of abysses of all kinds of discomfort and challenge. In the face of all difficulties, never will they turn on their heels in retreat!

Extending before them, they have a far-reaching vision which never strays from its goal. Behind them is solid instruction which provides them with guided inspirations received from God. The burning core of their teacher’s heart makes them steadfast through works of wisdom. These works are outpourings of light which gush forth via streams whose support could scarcely be cut off, God permitting!

O my beloveds! You are the true guardians of love, and upon you may God send His greetings of peace!

Farid al-Ansari is a professor of Philosophy of Islamic Law at Mawlay Ismail University, Morocco.

January / February 2009

his beauty would make you forget the magnificence of the first. They have united within themselves all the best qualities associated with goodness and virtue. One gaze upon them would rid you of the need to read any books on philosophy and morality, and imaginary ideas on the “city of virtue.”

They do not speak about good character; rather they are in themselves the embodiment of good character walking on earth in an age when noble character is a neglected object consigned to the museum of history.

Would you like to be one of them? Think, and think again before saying yes, for it is just a word that you pronounce but a truly great proclamation that you make, before which lies the obstacle that you must overcome. But what will explain to you what that obstacle is? It is that you should sell your soul to God completely. There should not remain anything of yourself belonging to you, nothing whatsoever. Then you should submit to God’s will and accept whatever comes to you by His decree such that when your whole self is buried away in some corner of the world far, far away from your familiar home country, family folk or loved ones, your only provision and your sole source of nourishment will be the remembrance of God and dependence on His magnificent light.

To be one of them means that everyone will forget you and only God will remember you. It means leaving this world while you are still living, eating its food and walking its streets. You do not see anything in yourself or anything that is yours. You observe among the contemporaries with whom you are acquainted those who have a high opinion of themselves. The latter have not been able to free themselves from earthly yokes or escape from the snares of the realm of causes. They climb in the ranks of worldly delusion and look down on you from their high towers, proud of their posts and titles.

As for you, you walk on the earth barefoot, poor in everything except for the support of God Almighty.

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Physics

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here are a number of critical points in the history of physics, which strives for a better understanding of the mysteries of the creation of the universe. We can classify all the viewpoints which aim to explain the universe as it came into existence from non-existence under two fundamental starting points. The first viewpoint represents those who unite on the acceptance of and submission to a Creator Who is the All-Powerful with His Omnipotence and Will; the second viewpoint represents those who believe that the universe has come into existence Salih Adem by mere chance or assert that the universe is eternal and perpetIn the Many ual, and hence who do not accept a Creator at all. The classical Universes physics taught in schools derives from Isaac Newton’s ideas, acInterpretation cording to which the universe is kind of a machine working like (MUI) developed a clock in strict accordance with certain mathematical equations by physicists like that are called laws of physics. In this view there is no chance or Everett in the 1950s, probability, as the functioning of the universe is in strict accordance the paradoxes with principles. Space and time in Newtonian physics are infinite caused by and precise. The time is 10:34 on Jupiter and in the Andromeda galquantum physics axy, as it is 10:34 here. Time is perceived as a steadily flowing river. in our modes of However, space and time are relative according to the theories of thinking are being Special and General Relativity which were developed by Einstein. eliminated and the A time period which is two hours long with respect to an obissue of how the server may be one and a half hours or three hours long with reuniverse functions spect to another observer. Let us suppose that two events are is being reviewed happening in different places (say New York and Istanbul) by an all-new but simultaneously with respect to an observer who is in approach. between. The same events, however, will not be simultenous with respect to an observer who is in motion. If the observer moves towards the event happening on

However, the issue of how the theory of relativity and quantum physics can be reconciled is not yet solved. Here, it seems that the theory of multiple or parallel universes may be an alternative solution, and hence many issues which have been hitherto paradoxical and unsolvable are now being explained within a rational and logical frame of reference.

What are multiple universes?

In the Many Universes Interpretation (MUI) developed by physicists like Everett in the 1950s, the paradoxes caused by quantum physics in our modes of thinking are being eliminated and the issue of how the universe functions is being reviewed by an all-new approach. A parallel universe is a realm that carries features identical to those of ours and comprises space, time, matter, galaxies, stars and human beings, all identical to those of ours. It can even be said that these two universes are sharing the very same space and that they are positioned to coexist. The substances in these parallel universes are interrelated according to the laws of quantum physics. That is, there are a great many universes like ours. You may, for instance, be taking a walk in a forest in a parallel universe while you are reading this article in this one.

Alternative histories can help us to understand parallel universes. How would the world have been shaped if the Ottoman sultan Meh-

January / February 2009

his right, that is, he diverges from the one on his left, then he will perceive the one on his right as happening earlier than the one on his left. Contrariwise, if he moves towards his left, that is, diverges from his right, then he will perceive the one on his left as happening earlier than the one on his right. Distances in space are thus relative and varying with respect to observers’ positions.

Matter has a certain amount of influence over time and space according to Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity (which he described as the theory he most enjoyed). Proportional to its mass, an object may cause changes in the geometry of space or in the acceleration of time. The curvature of space, for instance, is infinite near a black hole, which is regarded as a highly dense substance. Time is, however, constant and does not accelerate. This theory, with such peculiar outcomes, is mathematically perfect and coincides with observations conducted until now.

Whether the universe is finite or infinite depends on the density of the material it contains, according to this theory.

Einstein’s theories, though they seem flawless, cannot explain how the universe started all by itself. All laws of physics lose their validity at the time of the Big Bang (the explosion at the creation of the universe) and all the questions relevant to that moment and its precedents remain unanswered. How come the Big Bang happened?

How did it happen? What was there before the explosion? We need to rely on quantum physics in order to answer these questions or at least to deal with their paradoxes and be able to say something about the formation of the universe.

Newton’s clock model or the deterministic model (that everything is realized in strict accordance with certain rules) is still influential in Einstein’s theories, whereas quantum physics (which explains the activities of atomic and subatomic particles) is a more revolutionary approach to matter, actively engaging the observer in processes and tying events to probabilities.

It seems that developing consistent theories about the beginning of the universe may only be achieved by using quantum physics, which might also have something to say about the macrocosm.

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met II, who conquered Istanbul, had also succeeded in conquering Rome? Or, what would be happening now if Hitler had won World War II? Each of these probabilities has been realized in a parallel universe. Any world which is imaginably different and any history which is conceivably alternative is present and available somewhere out there. We can understand these multiple universes when we also consider our preferences. A person who chose to study medicine, for instance, would later become a medical doctor. If he or she had chosen biology, they might later have become a research scientist. Or, a man who chose to marry a woman merely due to her physical beauty but did not have a happy family life with her might have enjoyed a happy family life if he had married a pious woman who was his social equal and compatible with him. Thus, different universes, that is, differing probabilities become available according to our preferences.

Parallel universes are often a theme in science fiction novels and films. In the popular television serial Star Trek, for instance, during a routine beaming-up process from a planet to their starship Enterprise, Captain Kirk and his crew suddenly and accidentally find themselves in an ionized gas cloud. They find themselves inside an “Enterprise” that is almost identical to but surprisingly different from their own Enterprise. But, interestingly, the Mr. Spock in the new “Enterprise” is an extremely cruel person. In fact, all of the crew are cruel in this alternative starship. Meanwhile, the cruel Captain Kirk and his cruel crew have been beamed up to the other (good) Enterprise and these bad men have been imprisoned by the good Mr. Spock there. Both Mr. Spocks understand, after a short while, what the problem is.

The Enterprise, due to an ionized gas storm, has been directed to a parallel universe in which an identical “Enterprise” and its identical crew exists. The duplication is almost perfect except that good is bad and vice versa. Had the ion storm not formed a space-time interconnection, the two (parallel) universes would have never become aware of one another. The good and bad versions of the parallel Captain Kirks have replaced each other; while the bad Captain Kirk is being held prisoner

inside the good Enterprise, the good Captain Kirk has found himself inside the bad “Enterprise” and soon noticed that he can covertly correct some errors without being noticed and by acting as if he was one of the bad characters.

In the television series The Twilight Zone a woman meets her (parallel) double while waiting at the bus stop. Her double has apparently left her own universe and entered this one. This double wants to replace her and succeeds in doing this.

The genuine woman is meanwhile sectioned to a mental hospital.

In the story “August 2002, Night Meeting” from The Mars Chronicles, a terrestrial person named Thomas Gomez who has settled on the planet Mars happens to meet a parallel universe there. He hears an elderly man as he is about to depart after taking gasoline for his vehicle: “You may return to your world if you will not accept Mars as it is. Everything is different here: soil, air, canals, aborigines (though I have not yet seen any of them, but heard their voices) and watches. Even my watch functions peculiarly and even the time is different here.’’

Thomas then meets a Martian with gold-color eyes being carried by a machine that looks like a preying mantis peculiarly painted in bluish-green colors and greets him. The Martian greets Thomas in his own language. But neither understands the other. The Martian approaches and touches him, but Thomas does not feel him. They somehow start speaking the same language. As they try to shake hands, each one’s hand passes through the other’s as if they did not have hands at all.

They can see each other, but cannot touch each other. They realize that they are in intersecting parallel universes. Each can sense his own body, but sees the other one as a ghost. They try to understand why they cannot touch each other while their universes mutually counter-influence.

But they cannot find the answer. As he looks at his environment, the Martian sees a beautiful city full of marvelous things, while Thomas sees only desolate, unpopulated, ancient urban ruins.

He shouts at the Martian, “All of these canals are empty!” The Martian replies, “The canals are full of violet-colored flowers.” They finally

thought experiment: A cat sits in a steel chamber with a flask that contains a poisonous substance.

There is also a small amount of a radioactive substance with a 50 % probability of decaying and thereby triggering a mechanism which will smash the flask, release the poison and so kill the cat. On the other hand there is also the 50 % probability that the radioactive substance will not decay, the poison will not be released and the cat will not die. Now, according to quantum physics, the cat will be 50% dead and 50% alive, that is, there is a superposition of states (the cat is both dead and alive) until the sealed chamber is opened and the cat observed. Naturally, such a thing is against logic and incomprehensible. The multiple universes (multiverse) model, however, explains this complicated situation more easily by saying that the cat is alive in one universe and dead in another.

Black holes and cosmology Black holes, which came to the attention of science because of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, are space-time structures that absorb everything including light. They form as a result of the collapse of stars which are three to four times bigger than the sun and which have fully consumed their energy. The structures of space and time become distorted due to the terrifying magnitude of a black hole’s gravity as it is approached. Some physicists argue that black holes are passages between parallel universes and we would find ourselves in another universe if we could pass through one.

Belief in the existence of such a great number of universes also sheds light on cosmology, the science dealing with the creation of the universe and its structure. Possibly the most vital of the subjects that cosmology rarely touches on is the fact that the structure and composition of the universe are so delicately devised that it enables living species and conscious creatures to exist and survive in it. Only a single one among the many possible universes has been selected and made inhabitable for living and conscious species. If the universe had had rather different characteristics, these species would not have been able to live in it. The gravitational energy in the universe, for

January / February 2009

understand that what they are experiencing is something related to time. However, they cannot discern who is in the past and who is in the future. Each of them thinks that his own world is the real one and the other one’s is a realm of fancy.

Such peculiar-sounding tales contain some reality in the light of new physics.

New physics: How do we know multiple universes exist?

One of the best explanations of quantum physics is the “double slit” experiment. In this experiment, a coherent light source which is emitting particles (photons and electrons for instance) illuminates a thin plate with two parallel slits cut in it, and the light passing through the slits strikes a screen behind them. When both slits of the thin plate are open, an interference pattern of alternating bright and dark bands is observed on the screen. However, a periodic pattern does not result as the pattern that forms when one slit is blocked is directed over the pattern that forms when the other slit is blocked. Or, when a measuring is conducted in order to determine the slit through which a particle has passed, the particle behaves as if it is certainly passing through one of the slits, but this distorts the pattern.

We can deduce, from this experiment, that the tendency of the particle changes when either one or both slits are open. Quantum physics explains this peculiar incident as the mutual influence of the probability of a particle’s passing through one slit with the probability of the same particle’s passing through the other slit. That is, the particle, though a single one, is behaving as if it is passing through both slits. The only logical way of developing a reasonable postulate is to consider that the particle passes through one slit in one world (i.e., universe) and through the other one in another world. So, these are the parallel universes which we have been trying to explain.

When the particle hits the screen, these universes unite again and become a single universe.

Another striking example which discloses the existence of parallel universes is the “thought experiment” known as “Schrödinger’s cat.” The Austrian physicist Schrödinger devised this clever

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instance, is almost identical with the expansion energy of the Big Bang, and very delicate balances are observable in the constants of the laws of physics. By thorough observation, we can deduce that everything has been devised and prepared for our existence.

The multiple universes (multiverse) theory asserts that all possible universes exist. According to this assertion, there are universes in which no conscious species exist. The reason why we perceive that everything has been devised in this way in our universe is because we believe that we cannot survive in another one which is not devised with the delicate balances that enable the survival of living species. In fact, all this reminds us that there may exist unseen realms and worlds different than ours. The existence of beings like angels and jinns which cannot be observed by worldly eyes and the fact that the believers are those who believe in the unseen are mentioned in the Holy Qur’an. The existence of people like Khidhr who lived in realms of life different than ours, various prophetic miracles, saintly powers and the true prophetic dreams (ru’ya-i sadiqah) that give true prophesies all inform us that there are other realms beyond the visible one. Thanks to the new physics, the life in the grave, the life in the realm of barzakh (the intermediary life between the mundane and eternal worlds), the dimensions of paradise and of hell and their levels which we cannot explain in concrete terms, the realms in which we will either be punished or rewarded at existential co-ordinates beyond our imagination all seem more easily comprehensible today.

In fact, the principles of faith such as fate, death, the hereafter, the resurrection and doomsday do not need support from the cold and positivistic viewpoints of the physics with which we are familiar today. However, the fact that the idea of parallel universes was initially used in science-

fiction works and only later dealt with in quantum physics might lead us to an important conclusion: We are witnessing today that many events which we could hardly imagine in the past (for instance, saving audio-visual recordings in huge computers and later presenting them as witnesses) are becoming quite common and ordinarily achievable in the real world. Likewise, the possibility that all our deeds which we perform throughout our lifetime might be saved by recorders in unknown metaphysical universes has become more easily acceptable and comprehensible. Today’s imaginings might be the realities of one day in the future.

Everything conceivable or inconceivable to us is possible, for the One who created things is God, Who is Omnipotent and All-Knowing. Additionally, as He has informed us about all these phenomena in His Divine Revelation the Qur’an, of which not even a single word has been changed, we do not feel the least doubt. We shall experience how smoothly our souls transcend from this realm to another (as if passing from one room to another) when death knocks on our door one day.

Certainly, we should never forget that the ease or difficulty of these experiences and the sights that we shall encounter in other realms will all depend on and be created out of our deeds in this mundane life. And, as we say “all praise and thanks be to God” in return for an apple that we eat here, we will witness, only when we face the reality, how this gratitude of ours will turn out to be a heavenly reward (a tree or a palace) in a different universe.

Salih Adem studied Biophysics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign until 2001 and philosophy at the University of Maryland at College Park until 2004. Adem is now freelance writer on physics and philosophy.

Perspectives

Sermed Ogretim

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he murderer2 approached the couple he intended as his victims with a promising smile. He offered, “You know what?

I have the secret of eternity, and it’s your Lord Who is keeping you from becoming an angel and from being eternal. If you take this fruit and eat it, you won’t be bound by anything anymore; nothing will limit your freedom.” His poor victims were not aware of what was waiting for them.

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They had never seen someone lying.

How could they guess that this smile was the smile of a vicious snake? They replied, “Is that right? It must be very nice to be eternal, to be completely free….”

The murderer felt that his ploy was working, but he thought he must tempt his victims to come closer: “This is just a small bite. There is no risk in taking it, for you can always step back. Look at me—do you see anything wrong?”

The victims’ minds were sliding down a slippery slope towards full confidence in the words of this unknown fellow.

Then, they looked at each other; both were eager, and they tried it. And so the murderer easily killed the gullible couple with the poisoned fruit.

Upon their death, the victims found themselves in another world. Now they tried to understand what had happened to them. First, they realized that they had been terribly deceived by the murderer.

As a lesson from this unfortunate experience, they also realized that their inherent love for eternity had been abused by the murderer. Days passed, but they did not receive any word from their Lord. The burden of being away from the abode where they were in touch with Him became unbearable. They understood that where they came from was actually the land of eternity.

In later times, they would recall those past days, and they would feel an expansion and serenity in their hearts, feeling apart from the passage of time. So, they started to associate the things of this world with things from their homeland. Thus, they cherished their memories of when they were in the eternal land. Most of all, they each recognized the other as a mirror to remind them of the Eternal Beloved. So, everything they loved in this new place gained a sort of eternity with their longing for the eternal homeland and the Eternal Beloved.

*** We do not know exactly how many years have passed since the time of Adam and Eve. Today, in spite of diversity in the definitions of love and the literature about it, there is a certain aspect of it which is the same for everybody who loves. Love changes our experience of time because we subconsciously associate it with eternity. Through this association, love motivates our actions. The limited time spent with the beloved seems very small compared to the human heart’s hunger for eternity. So, we strive to extend those moments—the lengthy phone calls and the long eye-to-eye gazes stretch out between lovers.

Eternity in the realm of the heart reflects itself in the form of continuity with the material world. Similar to the desire for the eternity of the beloved, we would like the continued existence of our loved ones. For example, the first experience of love each one of us feels in this world is the affection of our mothers. The initial manifestation of this love is breast milk. It not only provides the nourishment we need, but also contains the materials and the live cells that supplement our immune system.4 Thus, breast milk serves the continuity of our life in this world. Later on, our mothers provide intense protection and give us our first education. Both of these form the basis of our continuity in this life.

And similar to our mother’s care, when we grow up, we too try to meet the needs of our loved ones in order to ensure their continuity.

In effect, we humans try to bestow continuity and eternity as a manifestation of love in accordance with the powers we are given. The love we feel is a projection of the infinite love that God has for His creation.

Just as we strive for the continuity of our loved ones, God endows continuity on His creation by feeding and protecting us in this world, and granting us eternity by

opening the hereafter to us. Since our existence is a temporary and dependent one, the continuity we ourselves give is also transient. However, God’s existence is eternal and He is the Self-Subsistent; therefore, the eternity He gives will be an actual one.

In this life, we realize that love bears a seed of continuity in it. We feel the beauty of eternity hidden in the lovely memories of our very first ancestors. Our visions fill with the fruits of the tree of love that fosters such long-lasting relations. However, the conditions we live in today are not coherent with those delightful sensations. When we look around, we see love affairs that last only a very short time. Many people conduct their love life by changing their partners periodically instead of remaining faithful to their spouses for all their lives.

The meaning of contemporary love is being reduced to “temporary mutual interest,” obliterating the important notion of a “fellowship on the way to the Eternal Beloved.” This drastic change points to the fact that, along with the passage of time, we have forgotten the heavenly stories told by our common parents.

What is it that we need in order to re-discover the seed of eternity in our hearts? It may be that we all need to retreat to our childhood to find the pure love depicted by the naivety of children. Maybe we need to forget the turmoil of daily life, and focus on the lesson that comes at the end of virtually every one of the bedtime stories told by our beloved mothers, “And they lived happily ever after...”

Notes 1. Based on the story of Adam and Eve according to the Qur’an (2:35–37, 7:19–24) 2. The reason for the choice of the word “murderer” for Satan is as follows: Death is in essence a change of residence (Nursi, S., Letters, First Letter, Second Question). One who dies in this world goes to the heavens. Similarly, one who dies in the heavens comes to this world. According to the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), death will be brought in the form of a sheep on the Day of Judgment, and will be slaughtered, which will mean that death is dead (Bukhari, Tafsir, 1, 19). This will render the people of hell totally hopeless; because until then, they will be crying for another chance in this world. The death of death will imply that return to this world is no longer possible. This explanation supports the idea that death in the heavens may be understood as coming to this world. Accordingly, since Satan is the one who is the apparent cause of the death of Adam and Eve in the heavens, hence the start of their story in this world, he is their murderer.

3. Nursi, Bediuzzaman Said, The Gleams, Third Gleam.

4. Karabuga, Veli, “How Are Babies Protected?” The Fountain, Vol. 50, Apr–June, 2005.

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Sometime later, they had children. As the children grew up, the parents related their stories to them, and talked about the homeland with their voices longing for return. The children also took on this behavior from their parents. Just as when their parents expressed their yearning for the homeland, whenever the children talked about loved things or whenever they were with people they loved, time would pass like lightning, and they would wish that those moments would not finish.

As new generations followed, the expectation of eternity from the transient beloveds of this world evolved into a subconscious associating of eternity with them.3

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Mathematics

Shirali Kadyrov

January / February 2009

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hen we talk about Muslim contributions to mathematics we are usually referring to the years between 622 and 1600 ce.

This was the golden era of Islam when it was influential both as a culture and religion, and was widespread from Anatolia to North Africa, from Spain to India.

Mathematics, or “the queen of the sciences� as Carl Friedrich Gauss called it, plays an important role in our lives. A world without mathematics is unimaginable. Throughout history, many scholars have made important contributions to this science, among them a great number of Muslims. It is beyond the scope of a short article like this one to mention all the contributions of Muslim scholars to mathematics; therefore, I will concentrate on only four aspects: translations of earlier works, and contributions to algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. In order to understand fully how great were the works of scholars in the past, one needs to look

on and simplified the works of Euclid, Ptolemy and Diophantus. The sons of Musa bin Shakir also organized translations of Greek works.

These translations played an important role in the development of mathematics in the Muslim world. Moreover, the ancient Greek texts have survived thanks to these translations.

Algebra and geometry The word “algebra” comes from “Al-Jabr”, which is taken from the title of the book Hisab Al-Jabr wal Muqabala by Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (780–850). Al-Khwarizmi, after whom the “algorithm” is named, was one of the great mathematicians of all times. Europe was first introduced to algebra as a result of the translation of Khwarizmi’s book into Latin by Robert Chester in 1143. The book has three parts. The first part deals with six different types of equations: (ax2 = bx) ; (ax2 = b) ; (ax = b) ; (ax2 + bx = c) ; (ax2 + c = bx) ; (bx + c = ax2) Khwarizmi gives both arithmetic and geometric methods to solve these six types of problems.2 He also introduces algebraic multiplication and division. The second part of Hisab Al-Jabr deals with mensuration. Here he describes the rules of computing areas and volumes. Since Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said, “Learn the laws of inheritance and teach them to people, for that is half of knowledge,”3 the last and the largest part of this section concerns legacies, which requires a good understanding of the Islamic laws of inheritance. Khwarizmi develops Hindu numerals and introduces the concept of zero, or “sifr” in Arabic, to Europe. The word “zero” actually comes from Latin “zephirum,” which is derived from the Arabic word “sifr.”

The three sons of Musa bin Shakir (about 800– 860) were perhaps the first Muslim mathematicians to study Greek works. They wrote a great book on geometry, Kitab Marifat Masakhat Al-Ashkal (The Book of the Measurement of Plane and Spherical Figures), which was later translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona. In the book, although they used similar methods to those of Archimedes, they move a step further than the Greeks to consider volumes and areas as numbers, and hence they developed a new approach to mathematics. For example, they described the constant number pi as “the magnitude which, when multiplied by the diameter of a circle, yields the circumference.”4 A well-known poet, philosopher and astrono-

January / February 2009

at them with the eye of a person of the same era, since things that are well-known facts today might not have been known at all in the past.

There has never been a conflict between science and Islam. Muslims understand everything in the universe as a letter from God Almighty inviting us to study it to have knowledge of Him. In fact, the first verse of the Qur’an to be revealed was: Read! In the Name of your Lord, Who created…

(Alaq 96:1). Besides commanding us to read the Qur’an, by mentioning the creation the verse also draws our attention to the universe. There are many verses which ask Muslims to think, to know, to learn and so on. Moreover, there are various sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, encouraging Muslims to seek knowledge.

One hadith says, “A believer never stops seeking knowledge until they enter Paradise” (al-Tirmidhi).

In another hadith, the Prophet said, “Seeking knowledge is a duty on every Muslim” (Bukhari).

Hence it is no surprise to see early Muslim scholars who were dealing with different sciences.

Translations Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said, “Knowledge is the lost property of a Muslim; whoever finds it must take it”1; hence Muslims started seeking knowledge. One way they did this was to start translating all kinds of knowledge that they thought to be useful. There were two main sources from which Muslim scholars made translations in order to develop the field of science, the Hindus and the Greeks. The Abbasid caliph al-Mamun (804– 832) had a university built and ordered its scholars to translate into Arabic many works of Greek scholarship. Between 771 and 773 the Hindu numerals were introduced into the Muslim world as a result of the translation of Sithanta from Sanskrit into Arabic by Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibrahim al-Fazari.

Another great mathematician, Thabit ibn Qurra, not only translated works written by Euclid, Archimedes, Apollonius, Ptolemy and Eutocius, but he also founded a school of translation and supervised many other translations of books from Greek into Arabic.

While Hajjaj bin Yusuf translated Euclid’s Elements into Arabic, al-Jayyani wrote an important commentary on it which appears in the Fihrist (Index), a work compiled by the bookseller Ibn an-Nadim in 988. A simplified version of Ptolemy’s Almagest appears in Abul-Wafa’s book of Tahir al-Majisty and Kitab al-Kamil. Abu’l Wafa Al-Buzjani commented

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mer Omar Khayyam (1048–1122) was at the same time a great mathematician. His most famous book on algebra is Treatise on the Demonstration of Problems of Algebra. In his book besides giving both arithmetic and geometric solutions to second degree equations he also describes geometric solutions to third degree equations by the method of intersecting conic sections. He also discovered binomial expansion.26 His work later helped develop both algebra and geometry.

Thabit bin Qurra (836–901) was an important mathematician who made many discoveries in his time. As mentioned in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography he “played an important role in preparing the way for such important mathematical discoveries as the extension of the concept of number to (positive) real numbers, integral calculus, theorems in spherical trigonometry, analytic geometry, and non-Euclidean geometry. In astronomy Thabit was one of the first reformers of the Ptolemaic system, and in mechanics he was a founder of statics.”5 To give an idea of his importance, we will just give here, without details, one of his theorems on amicable numbers. Two natural numbers m and n are called “amicable” if each is equal to the sum of the proper divisors of the other: for n > 1, let pn=3.22n–1 and qn=9.22n–1–1. If pn–1 , pn and qn are prime numbers, then a=2n pn–1 pn and b=2nqn are amicable.6 Abu Kamil (about 850–930), an Egyptian mathematician, wrote the Book on Algebra which consists of three parts: (1) Solutions of quadratic equations, (2) Application of algebra to geometry, (3) Diophantine equations.7, 8 He improved the work of Khwarizmi and applied algebraic methods to geometry. His research was on quadratic equations, multiplication and division of algebraic quantities. His work also includes addition and subtraction of radicals. He found the following formulas: ax.bx=abx2; a(bx)=(ab)x; (10–x)(10–x)=100+x2–20x Abu Kamil also wrote the Book On Surveying And Geometry, which was intended for government land surveyors. There, he stated the nontrivial rules for calculating areas, volumes, perimeters, and diagonals of different objects in geometry.9 Ibrahim ibn Sinan (908–946), a grandson of Thabit bin Qurra, was both an astronomer and a mathematician. Fuat Sezgin writes, “He was one of the most

important mathematicians in the medieval Islamic world.”10 He studied geometry, and his work on calculation of the area under the graph of a parabola is especially appreciated. Going further than Archimedes, he introduced a more general method of integration.11 Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Karaji (953–1029), also known as al-Karkhi, is regarded as the first person to have developed algebraic operations without using geometry. One of his major works was Al-Fakhri fi’l-jabr wa’l-muqabala (Glorious on algebra). Historian Woepcke recognizes Al-Fakhri as the beginning of the theory of algebraic calculus.12 Here, al-Karkhi introduced the monomials x, x2, x3, ... and 1/x, 1/x2, 1/x3, ... and explained product rules among them. Moreover, he was the first to find the solutions of the equations ax2n+bxn=c.13 Al-Karkhi proved the sum formula for integral cubes by using the method of proof by induction, and hence became the first to use this method.14 Abu’l Hasan ibn Ali al-Qalasadi (1412–1486) was an Andalusian Muslim mathematician. His main contribution was to introduce algebraic symbolism, and he used short Arabic words for his symbols. For example, he used the symbol for the sound “sh” from the Arabic word meaning “thing” to represent what we call x, the unknown.15 Trigonometry Khwarizmi also contributed to trigonometry. He established accurate trigonometric tables for sine and cosine, and he was the first to introduce tangent tables.16 In 1126, these works were translated into Latin by Adelard of Bath.

Al-Battani or Albetagnius (about 850–929) was a Muslim astronomer and mathematician. In his research on astronomy he used trigonometric methods which were a lot more advanced than the geometric methods used by Ptolemy.17 He introduced trigonometric ratios.

For example, for a right triangle with adjacent sides a and b, he gives the formula b sin(A) = a sin(90° – A), which is equivalent to tan A = a/b. He was the first to introduce the cotangent function.18 Muhammad Abu’l Wafa (940–998), born at Buzjan in Khorasan, introduced the use of secant, cosecant and tangent functions. He gave a new method of constructing sine tables. He calculated sin(30^0) with an accuracy of up to eight decimal digits. He improved spherical trigonometry and proved the law of sines for general spherical triangles.19 In particular, he developed the half/double angle formulas: 2 sin2 (x/2)=1–cos x; sin 2x=2sin x cos x

preciate the scholars of all eras for their contributions to science.

Shirali Kadyrov is a PhD candidate at the Ohio State University, Mathematics Department.

References 1.

2.

3.

4.

Tirmidhi, `Ilm, 19.

B.L. van der Waerden, A History of Algebra.

Ibn Maja, Hadith No: 2719.

D. El-Dabbah, The geometrical treatise of the ninth-century Baghdad mathematicians Banu Musa (Russian), in History Methodology Natur. Sci., No. V, Math. Izdat. (Moscow, 1966), 131–139.

5. Y. Dold-Samplonius, A. T. Grigorian, B. A. Rosenfeld, Biography in Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York 1970–1990).

6. For more, see S. Brentjes and J. P. Hogendijk, Notes on Thabit ibn Qurra and his rule for amicable numbers, Historia Math. 16 (4) (1989), 373–378.

7. R. Lorch, Abu Kamil on the pentagon and decagon, Vestigia mathematica (1993), 215–252.

8. J. Sesiano, La version latine médiévale de ‘l’Algèbre’ d’Abu Kamil, in Vestigia mathematica (Amsterdam, 1993), 315– 452.

9. J. Sesiano, Le Kitab al-Misaha d’Abu Kamil, Centaurus 38 (1996), 1–21.

10. F. Sezgin, History of Arabic literature (German) Vol. 5 (Leiden, 1974), 292–295.

11. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/ Ibrahim.html 12. F. Woepcke, Extrait du Fakhri, traité d’Algèbre par Abou Bekr Mohammed Ben Alhacan Alkarkhi (Paris, 1853).

13. Boyer, Carl B. (1991). “The Arabic Hegemony”, A History of Mathematics, Second Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 239. ISBN 0471543977.

14. Victor J. Katz (1998). History of Mathematics: An Introduction, p. 255–259. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0321016181.

15. J. Samsó, Las ciencias de los antiguos en al-Andalus (Madrid, 1992).

16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_trigonometry 17. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/ Al-Battani.html 18. http://www.unhas.ac.id/~rhiza/saintis/battani.html 19. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/2127/AbulWafa 20. http://www.bhatkallys.com/article/article.asp?aid=3442 21. O’Connor, John J. & Robertson, Edmund F., Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muadh Al-Jayyani.

22. S. H. Nasr, Biography in Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York 1970–1990).

23. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/ Al-Kashi.html 24. http://www.bhatkallys.com/article/article.asp?aid=3442 25. http://members.tripod.com/worldupdates/newupdates10/ id142.htm 26. Heinrich Dorrie, David Antin (1965). 100 Great Problems of Elementary Mathematics: Their History and Solution, p.34–36. ISBN 0486613488.

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He was the first to introduce the notion of secant and cosecant, and hence completed the list of all six trigonometric functions.20 Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muadh Al-Jayyani (989–1079) was an Arab mathematician from Andalus. He was the author of The book of unknown arcs of a sphere which was “the first treatise on spherical trigonometry.”21 Here he mentioned formulas for right handed triangles and law of sines. He also stated the formula for the solution of a spherical triangle in terms of the polar triangle.21 He had a strong influence on the West.

Another outstanding mathematician Nasir alDin al-Tusi (1201–1274) wrote Treatise On The Quadrilateral, considered the best book on trigonometry written in medieval times,25 later translated into French by Alexandre Carathéodory Pasha in 1891. In his book al-Tusi made enormous advances in plane and spherical trigonometry. The Dictionary of Scientific Biography22 states, “This work is really the first in history on trigonometry as an independent branch of pure mathematics and the first in which all six cases for a right-angled spherical triangle are set forth.” The well-known sine law is also stated in this work: a/sin A = b/sin B = c/ sin C. Ghiyath al-Din al-Kashi (1393–1449) produces sine tables of up to eight decimal places. In 1424, he computed 2π to an accuracy of sixteen decimal digits. He wrote a very impressive book on mathematics: Miftah al-Hussab (Key to Arithmetic). His main purpose in this book is to provide sufficient knowledge of mathematics for those who are working on astronomy, surveying, architecture, accounting and trading.23 He also describes how to find the fifth root of any number.24 Unfortunately, the contributions of Muslims often go unrecognized. Muslim scholars contributed to science in many aspects such as mathematics, astronomy, geography, philosophy, medicine, art, architecture and so on. However, today few realize that in that era Islam played an important role in all aspects of life. Europe faced losing the works of major scholars, but as a result of their translations into Arabic most of this scholarship not only survived, but was further developed. Inspired by the Qur’an and hadiths, Muslims sought knowledge for the benefit of humankind.

As the Qur’an says, “Are those who know equal to those who know not?”(Zumar 39:9). We should ap-

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Lead Psychology Article

MEMOIR

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Sumeyra Tosun

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hat you are about to read is the diary of a former gossip who felt bad about her “uncontrollable” negative behavior and so tried to modify it. Those who suffer from similar problems, such as anxiety, smoking, drinking, unwanted weight gain, ineffective time management, or depression may find inspiration in this diary, as well as new ideas about ways to get rid of undesirable habits. I am one hundred percent sure that if a person really wants to change, he or she can. The keys are motivation and a little bit of knowledge. Otherwise, God would not ask us to change our old, beaten paths to conform to His Straight Path.

Day 1: I have finally decided to make some changes in myself. For a long time, I have been troubled about my social and spiritual life. I have been losing sincerity in my relationship with God and my relationships with other people because of the same problem— gossiping. I have spent, actually wasted, too much time talking behind people’s backs. What is more, after doing that, I feel obliged to act “nice” to those peo-

GOSSIP

ple about whom I gossiped. This double-dealing lifestyle has lowered my self-esteem day by day. But, to me, the worst result of this habit has been its damage to the relationship between me and God. In the Qur’an, God asks backbiters, “Would any of you love to eat the flesh of his dead brother?” Then He warns us, “Keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety” (Hujraat 49:12). Nevertheless, I have been gossiping at the expense of incurring the Wrath of God! Clearly, I need to do something to avoid reaping all these negative consequences in my life.

Day 2: Even though I have decided to eliminate my gossiping behavior, still I need to define “gossiping” as clearly and specifically as I can. In other words, I need to have an operational definition for the behavior; then I will know its limits, which acts or words constitute gossiping, and I will be able to observe and measure it.

Here is my definition of “gossiping”: when a person is not present,

and disadvantages of my decision.

In the short term, since I will feel more honest in my relations with others, I will be more comfortable when interacting with them; however, since I won’t be able to tell them what I am really thinking at the time, I will probably feel tense, and it will be hard for me to keep what I think inside me. In the long term, since my main reason for stopping gossiping is to be a better person, a “vessel of love,” just as God wants a good believer to become, I will be progressing on a road on which servants become worthy of forgiveness and mercy.

Besides this, my self-esteem, which has been lowered due to my twofacedness, will be reinstated. When I think about the consequences of behavior modification this way, I realize that success in my goal will be a very lucrative trade.

Day 7: I am still keeping records of my gossiping behavior and its antecedents and consequences.

When I checked my baseline data, I was absolutely shocked. I had not known that I had been wasting so much time gossiping. I realized that whenever my friends and I get together for any kind of reason, or when people do or say something to me that makes me sad or angry, or when I see somebody whom I really do not like, I begin to judge or criticize those people and talk about them behind their backs.

Now I have decided I need to block the antecedents to gossiping, so that I can reduce the length and frequency of my undesirable behavior.

Day 8: I have identified two important antecedents that trigger my undesirable behavior. First, whenever I become sad or angry

at somebody, I look for somebody else, usually my friends, to talk to about the situation that has made me feel bad. By the end of the conversation, we always find ourselves gossiping. Since it is not always possible to avoid gossiping once in a conversation, only one thing remains in my hands: to refrain from looking for somebody to talk to.

Keeping this in mind, I have asked all of my friends to warn me when I begin to gossip; also I have decided to distract myself when I am angry by leaving our home, taking a walk or doing any kind of diversionary activity until I calm down and can control what I tell my friends. In this way, I hope to break the chain of antecedents which directly leads me to talk behind people’s backs.

Day 11: Today I woefully admit that this preventative measure has not been helpful enough so far, even though it seems to work a little bit at first. I need to use some

I am one hundred percent sure that if a person really wants to change, he or she can.

The keys are motivation and a little bit of knowledge.

Otherwise, God would not ask us to change our old, beaten paths to conform to His Straight Path

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saying, mimicking or listening to anything about him or her which would make him or her sad, angry or offended if he or she were to hear it, even if what is said is true. My goal is to eliminate gossiping by decreasing the time and frequency of my gossiping. In order to know whether or not I have accomplished my goal, I need to collect baseline data, that means, how long and how frequently I am presently gossiping when I do not take any action to stop myself. If I know this, then I can measure the effectiveness of my remedies. For this reason, I made a timetable to collect my data each day, by recording my gossiping time in minutes and my gossiping frequency as the number of times I gossiped.

Day 3: Today I decided to use the ABC model as a behavioral modification method because this model has been used to change various negative behaviors, such as anxiety and weight gain, and because its effectiveness has been demonstrated in many studies. In this model, A refers to antecedent, which means everything that triggers the behavior; B refers to behavior, which means the behavior that is to be changed; and C refers to consequence, which means the results of the behavior, be they positive or negative. These three components directly influence our behavior; therefore, if I intend to modify one of them, I will need to take all three into account, and shape my plan and determine my steps accordingly. Hence, while I am observing myself, I am also going to observe my ABCs and record them.

Day 4: Today I thought about the short- and long-term advantages

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I have decided to be a betterorganized person and to spend more time participating in beneficial activities, such as voluntary service.

Hopefully, I will have a satisfied mind and better fulfill my duty as a servant of God.

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new antecedents to reduce my gossiping behavior. First of all, I will eliminate negative self-statements, such as, “It is beyond my power.

I cannot stop it.” Instead, I will start giving myself positive instructions which remind me of my longterm goal and how capable I am of achieving it. In addition, I will try to replace my negative thoughts about other people with positive ones, so that I can lessen my anger, which is the first ring in my chain of antecedents. I hope that these measures will work.

Day 15: It seems that I am getting the show on the road at last, even though I still have not been able reach my goal, the zero point.

I think I need to do something about my Bs. According to scholars, it is best to develop a new desirable behavior, rather than merely to suppress an old one. Hence, I need to choose a new behavior which corresponds to my initial goal. This new behavior should be incompatible with my undesirable behavior. To combat my bad habit, I have decided now to state at least three positive things about the people about whom I gossip— per gossiping session. In addition to this, I am going to try to stop my friends as well when they begin to gossip.

Day 17: Before I set to work on this, I knew that changing my habits would be difficult and stressful; however, I had no idea how nerve-wracking it would really be.

These days, I am always trying to keep myself under control, to distract myself, and to clamp the lid on talking as I desire. By the end of the day, I find that I become really exhausted and tense. While I was looking for a solution to this

situation, I realized that I already have the key—meditation, which is a great way of combating physical and mental stress. Actually, my regular, daily prayers, which come five times a day, provide golden opportunities for me to meditate and relax. When praying, I can both concentrate fully on my prayers, gaining strength in my relationship with my Lord, and also, I hope, decrease my stress level.

Day 19: As I guessed, my prayers are really helping me to feel calmer and more peaceful. Today I decided to try an additional relaxation method called “imagined rehearsal.” Basically, it is a combination of breathing, muscular relaxation, and desensitization techniques. First, I tried to control the muscles of my body, from my head to my toes, by tensing and relaxing them intentionally. The next step was to do imaginary rehearsals of the situations that tempt me to gossip. I imagined a situation in my daily life in which somebody was acting in a way that drives me crazy; and I imagined my behavior in complete, minute detail—that I was controlling myself so I kept my mouth shut and even saying something positive about her. This simulation made me really tense and nervous, but then, I relaxed by using the relaxation method that I practiced before. Then I did the same rehearsal again and again until I became desensitized to the situation. Now I feel that if I really face the same situation, I will feel more comfortable and be able to control my reaction easily.

Day 22: Finally, it seems that it is time to harvest my grapes. According to my records, even though sometimes I have some relapses,

I gossip, I will lose 2 of the tokens which I have already earned. I have made a list of the things or activities which would be reinforcement for me, and I have given each of them a value. For example, a cup of frappuccino costs 10 tokens, and each minute of my favorite TV show costs a token; so, for a 40 minute show I need to collect 40 tokens.

Day 26: I have finally got used to the token system, and it has started to work. I am really working hard and always keeping my token account in mind, especially since I missed this week’s episode of my favorite show—a miserable situation!

Also, my friends have realized how determinedly I have been working on my no-more-gossip project.

They have started to help me by warning me as soon as I open my mouth—because they knew what comes next—and by praising me when I put positive thoughts into words despite all my fury at the person involved. Actually, I am being reinforced verbally by my considerate friends; my motivators are doubled right now. Moreover, my friends are now also watching their own attitudes and behavior to help me in the process, which makes me feel like I am in seventh heaven. In fact, my motivators are tripled.

Day 31: Only one day after I began to thank God that my troubles with gossiping were finally all over, I lapsed and gossiped. Actually, these lapses have occurred throughout the modification process and have sometimes pushed me to the brink of despair, just as the lapse today did. Sometimes other people have discouraged my use of these methods, and sometimes I have even discouraged myself by not believing that the techniques would

help me or that I could attain my goal. Also, since I have been trying to resist the temptation to gossip for long time, constant self-control has fatigued me. In times of great fatigue, the only anchor for me has been my prayers and my appeals to God for patience and power. I have always tried to bear in my mind that I am doing this only for the good pleasure of God. I have kept on doing my imagined rehearsal, not only to relax, but also to remind myself of my long-term goal and reward, and to motivate myself when I am burnt out. Also, I have tried to remain in a positive mood in order to avoid hopelessness. I have tried to increase my coping and problemsolving skills, and used them actively whenever I needed to. Thankfully, all these efforts have prevented my lapses from becoming relapses, and it really has worked. When I look back, I see that I have covered ground and that I am almost done.

The next goal for me now is to preserve the new behavior pattern as a habit, so that even as time passes, my new habit will be protected.

Day 35: Since I have reached my goal, I am terminating my project today, but it does not mean that I am giving up everything. On the contrary, since I want to maintain the habit of not gossiping for a lifetime, I am going to carry on keeping records for a while, and reinforce the behavior with external motivators until it becomes stable. Then, in order to make my new habit even stronger, I am going to change my reinforcing procedure to intermittent reinforcing by using a variableratio schedule, which means that I will gain reinforcements in a variable ratio. For example, sometimes a frappuccino will be worth 7 to-

January / February 2009

my gossiping frequency and time is lessening. At least, I have never returned to my baseline level. I never expected to wave a magic wand and have my bad habit disappear immediately. Still, I need to reach a more stable condition and, of course, zero point, if it is possible. Even though two hopes—gaining the pleasure of God and lightening the burden of my transgressions against the rights of others—have motivated me to quit my undesirable behavior, I feel I need some more immediate, tangible motivators. I have decided to introduce some positive reinforcements into my environment, to be had whenever I do something worthy; but I have not defined the procedure yet.

Day 23: I have thought about my reinforcement procedure, and finally, I have given it shape. First, I am not going to use either positive or negative reinforcements alone.

Punishment, in particular, is a temporary solution and only motivates one to avoid a certain behavior. It cannot provide me with motivation to gain a new, desirable behavior.

Also, punishment can sometimes cause relapses, which are usually worse than the old behavior pattern.

Therefore, I am going to utilize a positive reinforcement system; and only if I need it, am I going to apply negative punishment to myself, by withdrawing some desirable things from my environment, (rather than positive punishment, whereby undesirable things are introduced into the environment). I am going to use a token system for my reinforcement process. Each time I make positive statements about others, I will gain 1 token; each time I successfully refrain from talking behind people’s backs, I will gain 2 tokens; and if

25

kens, and sometimes 10 tokens.

After my reactions start occuring automatically, I will no longer need to reward myself or expect external motivation from others. Besides, I think that if I increase my participation in beneficial activities and forms of socializing, I will be so

Gossiping Frequency in the Modification Process

January / February 2009

Gossiping Time in the Modification Process

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Positive Statement Frequency in the Modification Process

busy I will not even want to waste my time gossiping anymore. I have decided to be a better-organized person and to spend more time participating in beneficial activities, such as voluntary service. Hopefully, I will have a satisfied mind and better fulfill my duty as a servant of God.

Acknowledgment: During the modification process, I benefited from D. L. Watson and R. G. Tharp’s book, Self-Directed Behavior. I greatly appreciate all their helpful information and methods.

Sumeyra Tosun is completing her Master’s degree on criminal psychology in Houston, Texas.

Biology

Jason Newfoundland

the shift in focus of the scientific community from genomics to proteomics is mainly due to the fact that biological functions are carried out, not

by DNA or genes, but by proteins and by RNA molecules.

January / February 2009

N

ewspapers frequently run articles reporting a study about a gene linked to some disease. Thanks to such wide media coverage, the word “gene” has become a household term for most of us. And, genetics, the study of genes, probably owes its popularity to a female sheep you are all familiar with—yes, I mean Dolly, the first animal successfully cloned from an adult body cell.

We inherit our hereditary characteristics from our parents.

The basic unit responsible for inheritance in our body is the gene. More technically, a gene is a hereditary unit consisting of a sequence of DNA that occupies a specific location on a chromosome and determines a particular characteristic in an organism.1 Genes are like words on the long string of DNA. The description of the fundamental process of synthesizing proteins from the information on genes is called the “Central Dogma.” According to this dogma, DNA is used to synthesize

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RNA, and in turn, RNA is used to synthesize proteins.

Hence, this dogma dictates the link between genes and proteins. Proteins are actually a translated and threedimensional version of the linear information stored in genes.

The structure of DNA DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) is our repository of genetic information. Although there are organisms such as RNA viruses that possess RNA (ribonucleic acid) as their genetic material, virtually all other living organisms inherit their genes through DNA. Hence, DNA is vital for the existence and perpetuation of life on Earth.

In a simple comparison, DNA can be likened to a sequence of letters where each letter is a single nucleotide, and the alphabet has only four letters: A, T, C and G. Although this alphabet is extremely small compared to those used in human communication today, we are still capable of capturing the vast size of human DNA with this analogy: Our DNA is composed of a sequence of nearly 3 billion (3,000,000,000) of these letters. What this means is that if you were to type out your genetic code, you would have a 5,000-volume encyclopedia, with each volume containing 400 pages, and each page having 1,500 letters! But then, how do we even fit this formidable size of information in every single cell of our body? The answer lies in the astonishing folding, packaging and wrapping steps DNA goes through upon synthesis. Positioning nucleotides side by side, each DNA molecule would take up about 6 feet (~2 meters) of space. However, after all the packaging steps, DNA becomes compact enough to fit in not only a cell, but also in the microscopic nucleus of each cell.2 Genes and the Human Genome Project Unfortunate for our alphabet analogy above, the 3 billion nucleotides in DNA do not contain any spaces to let us know where each word begins and ends. The Human Genome Project accomplished the task of unraveling what these 3 billion letters are (each one is one of A,T,C or G) and this was a major achievement of humanity. However, it was not until then that we realized the real challenge DNA posed us: Where were the genes in DNA? In other words, how would we understand the words and sentences in this 3-billion string of letters? Apart from efforts to discover the DNA sequences of other organisms, it is not unfair to say that the interest and workforce once focused on the Human

synthesizing nonexistent molecules that have medical or other potential uses. The overall significance of the field can be well understood by the following quote from one of the pioneers of the field, UC Berkeley professor Jay Keasling: “(Synthetic biology is) doing for biology what electrical engineering did for physics and what chemical engineering has done for chemistry.”

One example of synthetic biology comes from Jay Keasling’s lab. In collaboration with the Gates Foundation and OneWorld Health, the first nonprofit pharmaceutical in the US, Dr. Keasling’s lab is engineering a new metabolic pathway in E. coli to produce the precursor to artemisinin, currently the most effective treatment for malaria. The prospects include a drastic drop in cost, from dollars to dimes. Moreover, success in redesigning a metabolic pathway in bacteria holds great promise for reproducibility for other similar pathways important for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries.3 Genomics vs. proteomics Molecular biologists, today, are inundated with neologies ending with the suffix “-ome” and “-omics.”

The consequence is that the expression “–omics craze” has found its place in the everyday language of these scientists. Basically, the suffix “-om-“ refers to a totality of some sort. All the genes considered as a whole in an organism’s cell are called the “genome,” and similarly all the proteins this genome can synthesize are referred to as the “proteome.” “Genomics” and “proteomics” refer to the study of the relevant “-ome,” as opposed to studying genes and proteins one by one. 4 Even though there exist so many –omics words in the literature these days, genomics and proteomics remain the most popular and useful ones. Proteomics can be thought of as the natural successor to genomics because it is fundamentally the next level of complexity after genomics. While scientists explore gene networks and their interactions in genomics, proteomics involves the study of all the proteins and their interactions in the cellular machinery of an organism. Unfortunately, the next level of complexity does not mean “linearly more complex” in this case; studying networks of three-dimensional molecules is an immensely more daunting task than studying those of one-dimensional DNA sequences. However, luckily for us, scientists are up to this challenge. Yet again, we observe a shift in focus in the scientific community from genomics to proteomics.

January / February 2009

Genome Project has now almost completely shifted to this latter “real” challenge of discovering the genes in DNA. How we wish life could be that easy! Just as completing the human DNA sequence made us realize that we did not know where the genes are, discovering some genes allowed us to understand that we would still be missing a major part of the picture even if we knew exactly where each gene was. Do we not frequently encounter instances in everyday life where one word means different things depending on context? So, is there any good reason to think that genes on our chromosomes will be any less complex? Unfortunately not. Quite the contrary, the sense is growing that genes are actually far more complex and intricate than we originally thought. For one thing, a single gene may not cause an immediate effect, but may interact with a network of other genes to produce the final effect. Diseases that are caused by individual genes are actually very few, a famous example being cystic fibrosis. But diseases that are affected by the interaction of many genes are far more numerous and prevalent, for example, breast cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Type 1 diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis and obesity.

This latter group of diseases is appropriately called “complex diseases.” Efforts are under way to decipher the intricate genetic and protein networks responsible for such diseases; however, there are so many (known and also unknown) variables that biologists have already called for help. Research problems such as complex diseases that require the interaction of biologists, mathematicians, computer scientists and statisticians alike have led to the advent of the currently very popular field of “Systems Biology.” Viewing the cell as a large factory, this field aims to understand all the molecular networks and interactions that make up the very sophisticated machinery in living systems. After deciphering how cells operate flawlessly as a complex system, humans will be better able to discover causes of diseases, and will also be in a much better position to manipulate cells to cure diseases.

The idea of manipulating cells and cell components such as genes and proteins has actually led to “Synthetic Biology,” which is, in essence, the engineering approach to Systems Biology. Synthetic biologists try to engineer gene and protein networks in the cellular machinery to program cells for synthesizing custom-tailored molecules. This can be in the form of redesigning or producing mass amounts of existing molecules, or

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The main motivation for this shift can be roughly understood with an analogy from marketing or another one from military warfare. In the former, if you want a better marketing strategy for your product, you should target end-users first and foremost. Understanding behavioral patterns and preferences of end-users is much more important than understanding the likes of your vendors, because eventually it is the end-user who will determine the demand for your product. In the latter analogy, we think of an army of soldiers who receive orders from a general commander; however, these orders can later be modified or completely annulled by orders from other commanders in the hierarchical order. If you think about how reliable and informative knowing the orders that each soldier has received from the general commander is going to be, you will understand how useful it will be to have information on genes without supplementary information on proteins.

Gene products, either RNAs or proteins, may undergo some steps called “post-translational modification” that are not completely understood, and, worse yet, may not be completely deterministic (implying random factors).

So, with the help of the analogies mentioned above, we can reason that the shift in focus of the scientific community from genomics to proteomics is mainly due to the fact that biological functions are carried out, not

by DNA or genes, but by proteins and (although much less frequently than by proteins) by RNA molecules.

For medical and other practical purposes, it is more important to acquire information on the proteome rather than the genome. This, of course, is not to suggest underestimating the importance of the genome.

The genome preserves its significance as the origin and source of genetic information. It is just not as beneficial to think about the genome without looking at the final product, that is, the proteome.

Conclusion The completion of the rough draft of the Human Genome Project in 2000 marked the end of the Genetic Era and paved the way to the Genomic Era. The breakthroughs that have taken place since this turning point have been breathtaking, awe-inspiring and maybe even hard to follow. The Genomic Era gave birth to different fields in a span of few years, and the biological scientific community has had to shift its focus from genomics to proteomics even without having sorted out the puzzles of the genome.

The advent of the “-omics craze” was probably a byproduct of this shift because suddenly each subfield of

molecular biology had to adopt a holistic approach in its explorations. Investigating a single entity, whether it be a gene or a protein or another molecule, quickly became stigmatized as “obsolete.”

This transition to a holistic approach has resulted in the interaction of biologists with scientists from quantitative fields such as mathematics, statistics and computer science. These interactions gave rise to truly interdisciplinary research fields such as systems biology, synthetic biology and computational biology. More and more scientists today believe that competence in the future will rely on incorporating expertise from these different fields. With each new discovery, realizing the level of complexity and the intricacy in the design of our body leaves us in true awe. Moreover, these discoveries only make it easier for us to grasp how little we know about the miraculous design of biological systems.

On the other hand, this awareness makes us even more motivated to delve into scientific efforts because understanding the science behind creation takes us directly to the understanding of our Creator.

Jason Newfoundland is a PhD candidate in Bioinformatics at University of Michigan.

Notes 1. http://www.answers.com/topic/gene?cat=technology 2. This amazing process is demonstrated in this link: http:// www.dnai.org/text/mediashowcase/index2.html?id=556 3. Synthetic Biology: Change on the Horizon, Karsten Temme, http://no.oneslistening.com/277 4. A glossary for –omics words exists at http://www. genomicglossaries.com/content/omes.asp

Poem

Every object is at strife in the desire to “be,” Churning in time, “the process of becoming” Every particle must sacrifice the ego to the mill, Listening to the call, enabling Divine Will, Death in “itself” is the desire to “live,” Eternity is in giving away to rebuild.

The mountains crumble at the will of self, The meek perceive a mound a hill.

Wandering hither and thither, the lowly stars Are but lost in the vastness of heaven.

To realize oneself, one has to part, It is the destiny, for existence, for non-being.

The moon is pale; losing glamor at the last stretch, All secrets told, stripped off into the void, Soon the demons of dark will engulf the bright.

Why looking for a phantom light…?

Thy lamp is thy heart, O forlorn, Leave the sojourn, thou, thyself art the guide.

Thou art real, the only truth in heaven, On the earth; the whole universe’s might.

Resting in a world of fabricated illusion, Deserts are but for an infinite exploration, Thorns bear witness to a searching soul.

How limited is the effort to grow one Rose, Yet, you complain of scarcity of the resource.

Mercy, O benevolent, the most compassionate Lord, Upon the ignorant, the sinful, and the tyrant.

I urge to see an oasis, not an iced spring at a stronghold.

Seema Arif is an assistant professor at the College of Business Administration, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.

January / February 2009

Ode No XXXI from Bang-i-D’rra of Muhammad Iqbal. Translated from Urdu by Seema Arif.

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Em era ld Hi lls Raja (Hope or Expectation)

F

January / February 2009

M. Fethullah Gülen

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One should cherish hope when falling into the pit of despair and the signs of death appear. Fear removes any feeling of security against God’s punishment, and hope saves the believer from being overwhelmed by despair.

or a Sufi, Raja means waiting for that which he or she wholeheartedly desires to come into existence, acceptance of good deeds, and forgiveness of sins. Hope or expectation, both based on the fact that the individual is solely responsible for his or her errors and sins and that all good originates from and is of God’s Mercy, is seen in this way: To avoid being caught in vices and faults and brought down by self-conceit over good deeds and virtues, an initiate must advance toward God through the constant seeking of forgiveness, prayer, avoidance of evil, and pious acts.

One’s life must be lived in constant awareness of God’s supervision, and one must knock tirelessly on His door with supplication and contrition. If an initiate successfully establishes such a balance between fear and hope, he or she will neither despair (of being a perfect, beloved servant of God) nor become conceited about any personal virtues and thereby neglect his or her responsibilities.

True expectation, possessed by those who are sincerely loyal to the Almighty, means seeking God’s favor by avoiding sins. Such people undertake as many good deeds as possible, and then turn to God in expectation of His mercy. Others, however, have a false expectation.

They spend their lives in sin, all the while expecting God’s favor and reward, even though they perform none of the obligatory duties.

They seem to believe that God is obligated to admit everyone to Paradise. Not only is this a false expectation, it is a mark of disrespect for the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate, for such an expectation reflects their (misplaced) hope that God would violate His very nature to protect them from the consequences of their sins. To think that one is guaranteed a place in Paradise is a sin; to hope and strive for the same is commendable.

For Sufis, hope or expectation is not the same as a wish. A wish is a desire that may or may not be fulfilled, whereas hope or expectation is an initiate’s active quest, through all lawful means, for the desired destination. In order that God, in His Mercy, will help him or her, the initiate does everything possible, with an almost Prophetic insight and consciousness, to cause all the doors of the Divine shelter to swing open. In other words, hope is the belief that, like His Attributes of Knowledge, Will, and Power, God’s Mercy also encompasses all creation, and the expectation that he or she may be included in His special mercy: My Mercy embraces all things (A’raf 7:156); and a hadith qudsi (a Prophetic

s of the Heart

Be kind to me, O my Sovereign, Do not cease favoring the needy and destitute!

Does it befit the All-Kind and Munificent To stop favoring His slaves?

Those who are honored by such Divine kindness can be considered as having found a limitless treasure— especially at a time when a person has lost whatever he or she has, is exposed to misfortune, or feels in his or her conscience the pain of being unable to do anything good or to be saved from evil. In short, when there are no means left that can be resorted to, and all of the ways out end in the Producer of all causes and means, hope illuminates the way, like a heavenly mount that carries one to peaks normally impossible to reach.

Here I cannot help but recall the hope expressed in the last words of Imam Shafi‘i in Gaza: When my heart was hardened and my ways were blocked, I made my hope a ladder to Your forgiveness; My sins are too great in my sight, but When I weigh them against Your forgiveness, Your forgiveness is much greater than my sins.2 It is advisable for one to feel fear in order to abandon sin and turn to God. One should cherish hope when falling into the pit of despair and the signs of death appear. Fear removes any feeling of security against God’s punishment, and hope saves the believer from being overwhelmed by despair. For this reason, one may be fearful even when all obligatory duties have been performed perfectly; one may be hopeful although he or

she has been less than successful in doing good deeds.

This is what is stated in the following supplication of Yahya ibn Mu‘adh: O God! The hope I feel in my heart when I indulge in sin is usually greater than the hope I feel after performing the most perfect deeds. This is because I am “impaired” with flaws and imperfections, and never sinless and infallible. When I am stained with sin, I rely on no deeds or actions but Your forgiveness. How should I not rely on Your forgiveness, seeing that You are the Generous One?3 According to many, hope is synonymous with cherishing a good opinion of the Divine Being.4 This is related in the following hadith qudsi: “I treat My servant in the way he thinks of Me treating him.”5 A man once dreamed that Abu Sahl was enjoying indescribable bounties and blessings, and asked him how he had attained such a degree of reward. Abu Sahl answered: “By means of my good opinion of my Lord.”6 That is why we can say that if hope is a means for God’s manifestation of His infinitely profound Mercy, a believer should never relinquish it. Even if one always performs good deeds and preserves his or her sincerity and altruism, since these are the accomplishments of a finite being with limited capacities, they have little importance when compared with God’s forgiveness.

Fear and hope are two of the greatest gifts of God that He may implant in a believer’s heart. If there is a gift greater than these, it is that one should preserve the balance between fear and hope and then use them as two wings of light with which to reach God. Notes 1. Al-Bukhari, “Tawhid,” 55; Muslim, “Tawba,” 14-16, Ibn Maja, “Zuhd,” 35.

2. Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn ‘Uthman al-Dhahabi, Siyar ‘Alam al-Nubala’, 25 vols. (Beirut, 1992), 1:150.

3. Al-Qushayri, Al-Risala, 133.

4. In other words, one should regard Him as an All-Merciful and All-Forgiving Lord, rather than as an All-Punishing One. 5. Al-Bukhari, “Tawhid”, 15; Muslim, “Tawba,” 1; Al-Tirmidhi, “Dawa‘at,” 132.

6. Al-Qushayri, Al-Risala, 134.

January / February 2009

saying whose meaning was directly revealed by God) reads: God’s Mercy exceeds His Wrath.1 Indifference to such Mercy, from which even devils hope to benefit in the Hereafter, and despairing of being enveloped by it, which amounts to denying it, is an unforgivable sin.

Hope means that an initiate seeks the ways to reach the Almighty in utmost reliance on His being the AllMunificent and the All-Loving. Muhammad Lutfi Efendi expresses his hope as follows:

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Medicine

Irfan Sahin

January / February 2009

A

34

s my brother-in-law had some health complaints such as palpitations, insomnia, irritability and excessive sweating, he asked me if I would accompany him to the doctor. As the doctor listened to and examined him, he began to suspect that my brother-in-law might be suffering from hyperthyroidism (excessive activity of the thyroid gland). A test showed that there were excessive thyroid hormones in his blood. The doctor then advised radiotherapy for him instead of removal of his thyroid glands.

In this treatment, radioactive iodine atoms are administered to the patient. These are absorbed only by cells of the thyroid gland, which are then eliminated by the radiation; as a result of this process, the over-activity of the thyroid gland is prevented. By the divine will of God, the All-Healing, the All-Wise, iodine is absorbed only by thyroid cells but not by any other cell—a truly wonderful phenomenon. This treatment is known as the “bloodless thyroid operation.”

After he began this treatment, my brother-in-law visited us one day. As soon as she saw him, my small daughter, who loves her uncle very much, ran to him and sat on his lap where she fell asleep after a very short while. But then she woke up within half an hour and suddenly started vomiting. We later understood that the unseen radiation being emitted from the radioactive substance in her uncle’s body first caused my daughter to fall asleep quickly as if she was anesthetized and later had negative effects on her.

Then, an article in a scientific magazine attracted my attention. The concepts of atomic (or nuclear) energy and radiation are usually perceived negatively because of the atomic bombs which were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima or the accident which occurred at the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl. This negative perception has been caused by the sudden deaths of living species, great destruction and the permanent, devastating effects observed in the environment after these events. However, the energy within the atomic nucleus also has many potential advantages for humankind. It is just as possible, with this energy, to illuminate houses and work places everywhere as it is to exterminate all the living beings in a city.

Negative effects of radiation Radiation energy may directly affect molecules within a cell by causing structural disorders especially in its DNA. It also causes ionization of water molecules within a cell and releases free radicals which are harmful to the cell. Damage to molecules and genetic material within a cell may consequently trigger a process that can cause the death of that cell. Thus, it is strongly advised for pregnant women especially to stay away from sources of radiation and also not to expose the body to frequent radiation even for diagnostic purposes, such as X-rays.

Positive effects of radiation As we consider its beneficial aspects, we realize that nuclear radiation is just one of the innumerable blessings of God. In the field of medicine, for instance, radiation is used to cure diseases like cancer, a disease which, ironically, it sometimes causes. Blood products and medical equipment may be effectively sterilized by the use of radiation. It is also useful in radiological visualization techniques.

Atomic nuclei with unstable composition (radionuclides), which disintegrate without any external interference, display features of radioactivity. The diffusion of energy-bearing rays α, β, γ as a result of this disintegration is called radioactivity and the energy-bearing rays are called radiation. The radioactive substances which are used for the diagnosis and cure of illnesses are known as radioactive medicines or radiopharmaceuticals. This kind of medicine may be composed of pure radioactive nuclei, or they may be compounds which are radioactivated by synthesizing them with radioactive nuclei.

Compared with other radioactive substances, the radiopharmaceuticals used in radiotherapy must have some specific features in terms of radiation type and energy level. Radiopharmaceuticals should be fully absorbed by the diseased organ or tissue to be cured and should be applied in such a way that it disseminates the least possible radiation to the rest of the body (so as not to contaminate the body with radiation). That is, the half-life of the radioactive substance should be such that it maintains the correct level of radiation in the tissues to effect the required cure. God has created radioactive substances which emit pure β-rays so that they are ideal for curative purposes.

Radiotherapy Radioactive nuclear therapy is a treatment for diseased human tissue, usually by the intravenous injection of a suitably formulated radioactive composition.

In this treatment, the radioactive composition, when diffused within the body, is held more intensely within the diseased organs, and a kind of radiotherapy at cellular level is thus achieved. The most outstanding example of this kind of therapy is radioactive iodine treatment. This therapy is most frequently applied in cases of excess activity of the thyroid gland in patients with thyroid cancer. As iodine is mostly consumed by the thyroid gland in our body, radioactive iodine (I–131 which is the radio-isotope of the element iodine) is particularly suitable for this treatment. The thyroid gland’s feature of absorbing and retaining more

January / February 2009

Radioactive nuclear therapy is a treatment for diseased human tissue, usually by the intravenous injection of a suitably formulated radioactive composition.

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Radionuclide synovectomy (or radiosynovectomy), which is used in some advanced cases of rheumatoıd arthrıtıs, yields results close to those obtainable by surgical intervention. iodine than other organs, makes it feasible to treat this organ exclusively by this method when it is diseased. Other peptides marked with particular radioactive nuclei are used in the treatment of other types of cancer and success is observed in some cases. Nuclear therapy is also used in treatment of bone cancers and of pain caused by certain joint diseases.

Radiopharmaceuticals in palliative treatment of bone pain from metastases The spread of cancerous cells from the diseased organ of the body to other organs is called metastasis. Damage and pain originating from osseous (bone) metastases may cause losses in activity and function for the patient. Radiotherapy has long been used particularly in the treatment of limited bone lesions. However, the side effects of radiotherapy are greater since the body areas exposed to X-rays must be increased where there are widespread osseous metastases.

Radiopharmaceutical therapy is useful for patients who have painful metastases throughout multiple osseous zones. In this therapy the patient receives an intravenous injection of suitably formulated radiopharmaceuticals. A radioactive substance is used which rapidly leaves the blood circulation system and concentrates within the skeletal system and especially within metastized zones.

Radioactive phosphorus has been used for more than thirty years for this purpose.

January / February 2009

Radiopharmaceuticals in therapy for joint disease Rheumatoid arthritis, also known as inflammatory joint rheumatism, is one of the most widely seen (approximately 1–2 %) of connective tissue diseases.

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In this disease, medication in some cases can become ineffective in the long run and can even be the cause of serious side effects. Radionuclide synovectomy (or radiosynovectomy), which is used in some advanced cases of this disease, yields results close to those obtainable by surgical intervention. It has the additional advantages of being less costly, not necessitating the patient’s hospitalization following the therapy, and being repeatable.

It can be seen that the use of this blessing for either favorable (good) or unfavorable (bad) purposes depends on human choice, as is the case for all other divine blessings. Thus, it should be our top priority to use for humanitarian causes the blessing of radiation, which has been bestowed on us for our benefit, but which can seem as if it is harmful at first sight.

Perspectives

Rabia Christine Brodbeck

The father of humankind had no eyes and ears for the world, his life was a fasting life, walking in the burning desert of human existence.

He lived a life of seclusion with his Lord.

T

he true fast is fasting with Prophet Adam!

Walking with him in the desert of existence with the burning sand under one’s feet, with the flame of love in one’s heart, and the heat of search in one’s chest, and the tears streaming from one’s eyes! Wandering, searching restlessly for Him, the One and Only, drawn by the pain of separation! In other words, our fasting efforts have to connect us with the first human being, the father of humankind, the

The father of humankind had no eyes and ears for the world, his life was a fasting life, walking in the burning desert of human existence. He lived a life of seclusion with his Lord. His life signifies the true halwat, true asceticism. He was made to leave the exalted station of paradise where the angels prostrated to him. But his pain of separation was not caused by the loss of paradise, the loss of the company of the angels; his loss was the loss of his Beloved!

Therefore, if fasting is not directed toward fasting from the world for the sake of the increase of love for the Lord of the worlds, our fasts are wasted effort and struggle. The result degenerates into a good meal at fast

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Prophet Adam. Our fasting has to draw us to walk in his footsteps, because he was in search of love, he was searching to regain the love, forgiveness and contentment of God the Majestic with his tearful repentance. He had only one goal, one longing, one wish, one thought for forty years, to ask for forgiveness, love and mercy from His Supreme Creator.

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breaking. The opposite of fasting is not luxury, wealth, status, ownership, as the opposite of wealth is not poverty. Wealth, glamor, luxury is the absence of love, which means the opposite of fasting is the absence of the most Graceful, most Merciful! Fasting from the world means to dive into the ocean of God’s mercy and gain the treasury of intimacy and love. This is our Prophet Adam, who reached the most exalted degree of love, described by Rumi:

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if we wish to save ourselves from the dangerous and low places of human existence, we have to discover the thirst of our souls. Today, modern societies obviously suffer a great thirst due to the unfortunate fact that the human soul is not attracted by the Water.

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When Adam lapsed, God exiled him from paradise. God said to him, “O Adam! Since I have held you responsible and punished you for that sin you committed, why did you not dispute with Me? After all, you had an argument. You could have said, ‘All is from You, and You make all. Whatever You desire in the world comes to pass, and whatever You do not desire will never come to pass.’ After all, you had such a clear, correct and patent argument. Why did you not give expression to it?” Adam replied, “I knew that, but I did not abandon courtesy in Your Presence; love for You did not allow me to reproach You.” This conversation shows the most noble feature of modesty, humility, love and shame or “haya.”

Observing the life of Prophet Adam, we learn that the human heart has to be cleansed with two attributes; repentance and mahabba, or love. Repentance opens the door of one’s helplessness, need, poverty and the recognition of one’s servanthood and total dependence on the All-Majestic Lord of all the worlds.

The recognition of one’s mistakes, insufficiencies, heedlessness, weakness, incapacities, and imperfections is the crucial point where love starts. Truthful repentance creates modesty or haya and haya is the awareness of love.

The wisdom we can draw from the father of humankind is that without seclusion from the world, there is no love. Love is only sold in the house of human hardship, efforts, fasting, works. We have to see the world as a plane of the hereafter! The fruit of eternity and divine harmony are only earned through struggle in daily life. Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said, “Struggling makes one witness the Sacred Essence.” This principle is especially effective in terms of fasting. We fast in the world from the world. We fast with the body to overcome the body. Through our temporal, limited existence, the material self, we can realize our true existence and reach selflessness. The education of the body through fasting is nothing but making matter subtle, making the heavy light, striving towards cleanliness and purity. In short, the body has to become refined by our own efforts up to the point of transforming it into a holy instrument through which God Himself can act as stated in the holy tradition, “When I love a servant I become the eyes with which he sees and the ears with which he hears...”

A wise man said, “True comfort is freedom from the desires of the lower self! Your prison is your own lower self. As soon as you escape from it, you will live in the comfort of eternity.” In other words, what makes you free is the abundance of what imprisons you! Fasting is the method to free oneself from the tyranny of one’s lower self. The wisdom of the fasting month is that you do not fill your stomach with food, so you might see the light of “ma‘rifa” (spiritual knowledge) within yourself! To become the king of our own heart is the result of true fasting! The root of all sicknesses is attachment to the world and the healing for all sicknesses is attachment to the hereafter! With fasting one

You have an escape from God, but not from food.

You have an escape from religion, but not from idols. Oh you who cannot bear to be without this despicable world! How can you bear to be without Him who spread it as a carpet? Oh you who cannot be without luxuries and comforts! How can you bear to be without the Generous God? The crucial point is this; if we wish to save ourselves from the dangerous and low places of human existence, we have to discover the thirst of our souls. Today, modern societies obviously suffer great thirst due to the unfortunate fact that the human soul is not attracted by the Water. Humans veil the light of their own sun by their own clouds of unconsciousness. Thus fasting is the perfect means to wake up from our sleep of unconsciousness and our ignorance. Fasting effectively increases our divine thirst! More precisely, it increases the need for the truth! In order to understand our true nature and find the purpose of our lives, we have to occupy ourselves with God. We have to drink from the water of life, we have to eat from the banquet of heaven, and we have to experience the heavenly ascension. There is no other reason why fasting is given to humanity except that it enables us to realize the eternal secret of human existence. When we do not build our lives on belief, we will be lost in moral decay, disorder and ignorance.

In other words we will lack humanity.

To conclude, fasting from the world brings us paradoxically closer to the world, penetrating into the dynamic of human life on earth. It brings us closer to

ourselves, it brings us closer to our fellow beings, and therefore it brings us closer to our Lord. This is the treasury of fasting—healing from the terror of selfishness, from the lower desires of the flesh, from the darkness of unconsciousness. *** Oh Lord, turn off the hatred, envy, indifference, levity, and darkness of our hearts and replace them with affection, love, mercy, compassion, and generosity to our brothers and sisters! Oh Lord, enfold us in the robe of firm belief.

Oh our Lord, increase our immortality and decrease our profanity, increase our spirituality and decrease our materiality, increase our admiration and decrease our calculation.

We ask ourselves how much is the most precious of all books, the holy Qur’an in our hands, on our lips, in our eyes, in our hearts? How much is the Qur’an in our lives? Is it just placed on a shelf in our houses or is it not there at all? We ask ourselves how much do we run to do good deeds? How concerned are we to help our fellow beings in need? How much time do we reserve for the service of the poor and sick?

Oh Lord, we are ashamed of the answer to these questions. One of Your greatest servants, the venerable Abdul Qadir al-Jilani never slept at night for forty years! He made his morning prayer with the ablution he had taken to make his night prayer. He read the Qur’an every night so that sleep should not overtake him. He stood on one foot and leaned against the wall with one hand. He did not change this position until he had recited the whole Qur’an. When he could not fight sleep himself, he would hear a voice that shook every cell of his body. It would say, “O Abdul Qadir, I did not create you to sleep. You were nothing. I gave you life. So while you are alive you will not be unaware of Us!” O my heart which finds rest in fasting, what a miraculous blessing of healing! What a relief from these constant ego attacks, what a great comfort, what freedom having cleaned the mirror of our hearts from dirt and dust, what a benefit, what a present for my soul having made order and set the barriers for the human kingdom of the body!

Rabia Christine Brodbeck is the author of From the Stage to the Prayer Mat: The Story of How a WorldFamous Dancer Fell in Love with the Divine.

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learns to say no to the world and yes to the hereafter.

With the help of fasting one is empowered by the world and enriched by the divine Presence. God’s Messenger said, “The one who fasts has two satisfactions. One is when he breaks his fast at the end of the day. The other is when he sees.” There are numerous levels of fasting, apart from fasting exclusively with one’s stomach, and the ultimate fasting of truth is the fasting which is not limited to the month of Ramadan, nor any other time.

On the way of truth we have to answer to everything with hunger, referring to the famous utterance of the Prophet: “Knock on the door of hunger.” Hunger generates the absolute need of creatures for their Creator; hunger burns away impurities and clears the way to the Lord of Majesty and Bounty; hunger is our supreme teacher for all spiritual sicknesses. It is a remedy for all human distress, calamities, fears, depression. The great saint Jalaladdin Rumi commented on so-called modern man eight hundred years ago:

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Engineering

January / February 2009

Ahmet Isik

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T

he confidentiality of information is vital for people, companies and countries. Cryptography develops methods of encoding and decoding information in order to protect it.

Cryptography mainly aims to save information and to transfer messages to recipients safely. Cryptography can change a message into a complicated form by applying several different methods. Encoded information can be resolved only when the receiver applies specific methods to it. Not only does computer cryptography render communication secure but it also gives users secure access to servers.

Nowadays, cryptography is becoming more and more significant, especially now people transfer their personal, commercial, military or political information to each other on the internet. It can be easy for someone to get personal information through online shopping sites, which are very common today. Therefore, credit card information entered into the website is converted into unintelligible characters through an encryption method so that the credit card number can be transmitted to the server securely. Then, the server can easily retrieve the original form of the credit card number using decryption.

In 1931, the French obtained documents from a German spy which showed the functions of a code named “Enigma” that was going to be used in World War II by the Germans. British mathematicians were then able to decipher the code during the war. Thus, the commands of Hitler could be learned immediately by the Allied Powers.

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The encryption algorithm includes essential elements known as the “key.” Protection of the key is always vital for information security.

History of cryptography To find the first examples of cryptography one needs to go back more than 4,000 years in history. For instance, in 2,000 bce the ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphs on the gravestones of their kings to describe their achievements when they were alive. Eventually, the system of hieroglyphs grew too complex to understand. Then people began to use it for encoding.

Similarly, Chinese people used ideography, which conveys ideas through symbols, to hide the meaning of words.

There are also encoding examples from ancient Mesopotamia that have similar aspects to those used in Egypt. The Roman emperor Julius Caesar used a type of encryption technique called the “Caesar cipher” in which each letter in the plain text is replaced by a letter some fixed number of positions down the alphabet. In the Middle Ages cryptography received a lot of attention from many nations, especially in Europe. In recent years, many different methods have been developed in this field. Therefore, the classical methods are not as useful as they were in the past, especially since the 1970s. Today, more complex mathematical methods have replaced the classical methods of cryptography.

The Arabs were the first to make successful studies of how to decode encrypted messages. Ahmad al-Qalqashandi of Egypt (1355–1418) developed an encryption method which is still used today. This technique is based on a theory of language stability which explores the distribution and frequency of the words in a text. With this method, the frequency of the characters within the encrypted text is compared to the frequency standards in the language; in this way, it is determined what an encoded letter really stands for.

This method is used successfully in decoding messages encrypted by the mono-alphabetic method, which is based on sliding or replacement of a letter by another one.

In 1931, the French obtained documents from a German spy which showed the functions of a code named “Enigma” that was going to be used in World War II by the Germans. British mathematicians were then able to decipher the code during the war. Thus, the commands of Hitler could be learned immediately by the Allied Powers. The Allied countries won the war because of their access to the decryption technique. Likewise, the American army gained victory over the Japanese in the Pacific War in the 1940s because American decryption experts, along with their British and Dutch colleagues, were able to decode the system called JN-25 which was being used by the Japanese army.

Technological developments in computer science have enabled us to decode even previously unbreakable ciphers. For instance, an encrypted message which was created in 1977 and which, it was thought, could be decoded only 40 quadrillion years later with the help of an algorithm that analyses the known large numbers into their factors, was actually decoded seventeen years later in 1994.

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Classical and modern cryptography Cryptographic methods are divided into two categories: classical and modern. In the classical method, encoding can be done by consistent replacement of a letter by another letter in the same alphabet.

For example, if we replace each letter in the word FOUNTAIN by the third following letter, it changes into IRXQWDLQ. It can also be done by replacement of a word with another one or replacement of a character by another character. Of course, the recipient of the message must be the only other person who knows the decryption method. In that way, for example, the unintelligible word above can easily be changed back to its original form by replacing each word by the letter three places before it in the alphabet. Such encrypted messages can only be decoded by linguistic analyses or after numerous trials. The classical method was invented hundreds of years ago, and it has been used since then. Although this method is so simple that it can even be used manually, computers are the only devices which can have maximum security as well as very long keys and complex algorithms for the modern technique.

The “Spartan cylinder” is another device used in the classical method. A message is written on a piece of paper rolled around a cylinder with a known diameter. The encrypted message is then detached from the cylinder and sent. The only way to decipher the message is to have a cylinder of the same diameter. If the unrolled paper is rerolled around a decoding cylinder properly, then the original message is obtained. This method is known

to have been used by the Spartans around 600 bce.

One modern method is called Public-Key Cryptography. In this form of cryptography, the key used to encrypt a message differs from the key used to decrypt it. The public key may be widely distributed while the private key is kept secret.

Thus, incoming messages are encrypted with the recipient’s public key; yet, they cannot be decrypted except with the recipient’s private key. Hence, the possessor of the private key is the only one who can decrypt the message and read it.

Conversely, in secret-key cryptography, a single secret key is used for both encryption and decryption. One disadvantage of secretkey cryptography is the distribution of the private key since it is always at risk of being acquired by third parties.

If we look at the universe, we can observe similar cryptographic methods in every creation process.

For instance, living cells produce protein by deciphering nucleic ac-

ids (DNA, RNA), which include encoded genetic information in ribosomes.

Structure of encoded DNA and encryption in protein synthesis There is divine wisdom in the encoding of DNA and the transference of these codes to ribosomes in the protein-making process. If we compare DNA molecules, which contain the genetic instructions inside living organisms, to a book, the letters in this book can be symbolized by A, T, G, and C. These symbols represent four molecules which are used in the encoding of the genetic program that shapes the basic form of all living organisms.

Each human genome is identified with different sums of those letters. For instance, while the sum

is that unlike the base-pairing of DNA, in messenger RNA (mRNA) the complementary base to adenine is not thymine, as it is in DNA, but rather Uracil, and also that every three nucleotides (a codon) carry information of one amino acid. For example, while codons in DNA appear as “AAT, GCC, GAT, GTA,” they appear as “UUA, CGG, CUA, CAU” in mRNA. Here the main goal is not to keep the information safe against the third parties, as in normal encryption, but rather to transmit the message properly and preserve the diversity of living beings.

There are some interesting distinctions between humans and animals in terms of their genome

Scientists also observe another kind of encoding which helps transmission of the right message to ribosomes during the proteinmaking process. The main idea

References Protein Synthesis, http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/BIOBK/ BioBookPROTSYn.html.

Selim Aydın, “Gen Haritası Neler Söylüyor?” Sızıntı, June 2001, no. 269.

Quantum Cryptography: Privacy Through Uncertainty, October 2002 http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/crypt/overview.php.

1.5.2006.

Larry Petterson, Bruce S. Davie, Computer Networks: A System Approach, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 2000, 568–615.

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of genomic letters is approximately 3 billion in mice and human organisms; it is about 4–5 million in a bacteria. Furthermore, when the genome sequences of two humans are compared, the combination difference between the two appears to be only one percent; nevertheless, no human being is exactly like another in appearance.

numbers. The various encoding techniques used in DNA are a basic biological mechanism which can also be considered the mystery behind the genetic diversity in the creation of living organisms. If we compare the genome to a program booklet, we can consider the booklet to be a tiny model of the “Manifest Record” (Imam al-Mubin) mentioned in the Qur’an, in which the future lives of all things and beings, including all the principles governing those lives, and all their deeds and the reasons or causes are kept pre-recorded in this world. The instructions and mechanism used in this encoding program are identical in most living beings. This uniformity shows that they are all created by one Almighty being.

Developments in the area of cryptography do not only provide confidentiality of information, but they also shed light on our understanding of God’s wonderful creation in the world of living creatures. All these extensive and essential practices, including the encoding of the information by the four letters of DNA, proper transmission of this encoded information to the cells, and the necessary synthesis in the cell, prove that the All-Knowing and Omnipotent God has great wisdom in all His actions in the Universe.

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Interview

Science in the Islamic world: an interview with Nobel Laureate

Ahmed Zewail

Nuh Gedik

“the biggest asset in the Muslim world is actually its human capital. If this is used in the right way and we rebuild the old centers of excellence to attract the best minds, I believe that the Muslim world can undergo a huge transition.

I don’t think that the problem with the Muslim world is lack of economic resources or lack of human capital.”

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or over a hundred years, the Nobel Prize has been awarded for the highest achievements in physical sciences, peace and literature. In this period, only two scientists from the Muslim world have qualified for the prize in physical sciences: Abdus Salam of Pakistan in physics (1979) and Ahmed Zewail of Egypt in chemistry (1999). Abdus Salam passed away in 1996, making Ahmed Zewail the only living Nobel Laureate in physical sciences in the Muslim world.

Science in the Islamic world flourished between the eighth and the eleventh century ce. If there had

been a Nobel Prize in that period, on most occasions it would have gone to a Muslim scientist, but the situation is quite different today. Why did scientific discovery decline in the Muslim world?

What should Muslims do to regain the excellence in science that they once had? What are the current prospects in this respect in the Islamic world?

To find answers to these questions, we talked to Ahmed Zewail about his own fascinating journey to the Nobel Prize and his views about science in the Islamic world.

About Professor Ahmed Zewail Professor Zewail completed his undergraduate education at the University of Alexandria, Egypt, and his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania. His honors include more than a hundred prizes, awards, orders of merit, and orders of state from around the world. Professor Zewail was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his pioneering developments in the field of femtoscience, making it possible to observe the movement of the individual atoms in a femtosecond, that is, a millionth of a billionth of a second.

Professor Zewail is also renowned for his public lectures and writings on science and technology, education and world affairs, and for his tireless efforts to help the have-nots. In his recent biography Voyage through Time—Walks of Life to the Nobel Prize, he relates his life and work up to his receipt of the Nobel Prize, and he suggests a concrete course of action for the world of the have-nots and a new vision of world order.

In one of your recent commentaries in the Independent newspaper, you quote a beautiful verse from the Qur’an “Indeed! God will not change the good condition of the people as long as they do not change their state of goodness themselves” (Rad 13:11). Why did you quote this verse?

If you look at the height of Muslim achievement, Muslims were then acting individually as good Muslims, meaning that they read the Qur’an and they thought of the good things they were supposed to do, for example, to acquire knowledge. As you know, the first word that was revealed of the Qur’an was “read”

There is no doubt in my mind that there are many external forces that have contributed to our decline, but

the truth of the matter is that it falls to us to do better. I am proud to see any Muslim, young or old, achieving at the highest level. In every case I see, I realize that these people did not let external things stop them and they have gone on to achieve. So I can summarize the reasons for our general decline, and I’m taking it verbatim from the Qur’an, as being our own problem.

In your book, you say, “The Sidi Ibrahim al-Desuqi mosque was very important in my life because it defined my early childhood. I used to go to the mosque to study… In Islam, the mosque is not just

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and this respect for learning is repeated everywhere to the point that scientists of magnitude are almost put on the level of prophets in many ways in the Qur’an.

So, the Muslims of the early days recognized the importance of acquiring knowledge, but frankly, nowadays because of the deterioration that has taken place among Muslims, we have become so possessed by the idea of conspiracy theories that we like to blame other people for our decline.

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for prayer, but it is also for scholarship”(p. 15).

Do you think this remains true?

Unfortunately, in recent years the mosque has been used by people who are not enlightened about Islam to propagate their point of view, not Islam’s point of view, so a political component has grown in it. It’s a lack of enlightenment on these people’s part. Growing up in Egypt, I remember Al-Azhar as being one of the centers of enlightenment of the world. Now, I didn’t reach Al-Azhar but on the other hand, even in my own town there was a mosque where we used to go and see the Imam, and the main thing he would try to tell us as young boys was that “you’ve got to achieve in knowledge; you’ve got to be the best doctor or the best engineer.” We used to study in the mosque. It was marvelous. I mean, we would meet as young people in the mosque—of course, we would pray—but then after we had prayed, we would all sit down and look at our school books and our study notes, and so it was a center of gravity. In fact, in my book I say that the mosque was the center of gravity for the whole town.

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In a number of places in the book you talk about the importance of “having a passion” to achieve something. Have we, as Muslims, lost our passion for science and scholarship? If so, how can we reignite this in the younger generations?

I don’t think we have lost our passion, no. Especially since the Nobel Prize, I have spoken all over the Muslim world from Cairo to Malaysia, from Istanbul to Lebanon, and thousands of people come to my lectures. What I have found is that young people are hungry to achieve—they have that passion for achievement. The problem, unfortunately, is that they are not in the right system to make them realize their potential.

So, I always say that the biggest asset right now in the Muslim world is actually its human capital. If this is used in the right way and we rebuild the old centers of excellence to attract the best minds, I believe that the Muslim world can undergo a huge transition. There are political issues, and a lot of political problems, but I don’t think that the problem with the Muslim world is lack of economic resources or lack of human capital.

We have both types of resources.

Some people argue that religion and science cannot coexist. What is your take on this issue?

Some of the best minds in the world are religious people. So the claim that in order to be a rational scientist, by definition, you must not believe in a religion is a bit

naïve. It seems to me also that it is quite strongly dogmatic. Religion is very important for people for a variety of reasons and I don’t see a conflict between the two.

What do you think about The Fountain, especially from the perspective of promoting the coexistence of science and religion?

Let me tell you why I like The Fountain and, as you know, I subscribe to it. I thank you for introducing me to it. The reason I like The Fountain is that it tends to explain things with reason and in a rational way, but it doesn’t stop the writers utilizing excerpts from the Qur’an that support their argument. But I need the rationality. It seems to me that the fact that the magazine uses this approach and respects the values of reason and knowledge and science will make it more effective.

Do you see the success of people like yourself and Abdus Salam as exceptional individual cases, or as early signs of a revival in the Islamic world?

Not early signs of revival, I always say that I’ve been fortunate to gain two things from my early childhood and my adulthood. First, I’m very proud of the value system that I was given by my family and the way I grew up as a Muslim in Egypt. I did not grow up in a system where I got into drugs and violence; I had never seen a gun before I left Egypt. The values that I acquired from my family were extremely important and gave me confidence for what I have achieved in my life. But besides that and importantly, I did get a good education in Egypt up to the level of university.

What America has given me is a system of appreciation and opportunity, and that is what we are lacking

In one of your recent newspaper articles, you mention that one of the primary goals of education in the Muslim world should be “to promote critical thinking.” What do you mean by critical thinking?

Young people are very confused right now; they don’t know what is wrong and what is right. What I mean by critical thinking is that we all have been given the gift of the mind to think, so we should educate the people

You say in the book, “We should not divide the world into ‘us’ and ‘them’ and must not allow for the creation of barriers through slogans such as the ‘clash of civilizations’ or the ‘conflict of religions’—we need dialogue not conflict or clashes!”

What do you think is the best way of achieving this dialogue?

Let me say, and perhaps I am putting this too strongly, that I think there is ignorance on both sides. There is a large proportion of the population in the Muslim world that I feel is not informed; they are not sophisticated enough to speak to the mind of the west. On the other hand, in the west they have neglected to learn about the Muslim world for a long time and treat it as if there must necessarily be a conflict with Muslims.

With this kind of attitude on both sides, we can never get into dialogue.

You know, when I first came to the United States, they used to call the Japanese “the Japs” and the Chinese “the Red Chinese” and so on. Nowadays, because there has been a dialogue and we are starting to understand different cultures, there are Chinese and Japanese restaurants all over the country. China has McDonalds… But we have not done this as far as the Muslim world is concerned. For example, what do they know here in the US about Turkish culture? It could be a start to take the story of the Ottoman Empire and let them learn about the baklava and Turkish hospitality. The same thing is true for the Arabs. We have not done a good job, and on their side I must say they have neglected for a long time to develop any knowledge of

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in the Muslim world. If I had stayed in Egypt, I would not have been able to do what I have done because of this lack of opportunity and appreciation for achievement.

Let me give you another example; part of the Muslim world is very poor, but there is a big part of it that is very rich. The very rich part has not invested in the human capital. On the other hand, on a recent trip to Malaysia, I met Dr. Mahathir Mohammed, the former prime minister. Now, Malaysia is a country 60% of whose population is Muslim. It is possible to see the results of the experiment that has been carried out in Malaysia. Malaysia has made a transition—its GDP is much higher than most Muslim countries, and they are moving into the developed world—and this has been done in a country with a 60% Muslim population.

What they did was to invest in education. Dr. Mohammed told me that, in order to make the transition from an almost underdeveloped economy depending on tin and rubber into one producing micro-electronics and the like, they invested as much as 20% of the GDP in education. So, I think the formula is very, very clear in terms of what you can get out of this.

to think about what’s morally right and what’s morally wrong, but let them also think about, for example, science. There is nothing wrong with studying different points of view about what’s going on in the universe. If you are a good Muslim, it’s up to you—you have the garden of knowledge and you choose what you think. But to intimidate people and say things like, “You cannot do this, don’t do that, don’t read about this…,” that’s not critical thinking! That’s not what we need.

The Prophet would not allow that forbidding attitude today, in my opinion, because he was progressive in his thinking; his is a message of peace and critical thinking.

In the twenty-first century now, people are thinking about having colonies on the moon, people are thinking about dissecting genes and opening up a whole new world of treatment for molecular diseases, people are thinking about watching atoms on the femtosecond timescale.

And we as Muslims need to keep up with this.

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the Muslim world or to understand faith or the strong feelings of Muslims about their faith.

On the individual level, both sides need to be exposed to each other more, and here exchange programs and all kinds of education centers can help. But I tend to put more blame on the Muslim world because we have not taken the initiative to communicate about ourselves as much as the rest of the world does.

It is not possible to find any instance where Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, complained about Abu Jahl, Utba, or any of the other people who were his staunchest enemies. What falls to us is to adopt the character of the Prophet and, instead of becoming caught up in trying to deal with those who attack us, to concentrate on our own duties and responsibilities.

Remember, the Qur'an states: “Your responsibility is your selves” (Maida 5:105).

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***

48

You live in California with your wife and two children. How do you keep the balance of work and family life and other personal issues?

I have been fortunate in this because my wife’s father is a professor and she has seen what it means for somebody to work hard, so she knows. She has said many times that my first love is my work. However, having said that, I think my children will say that I am a caring father. I try to balance things. For example, I always spend Sundays with my children; even if I’m staying home reading, they are around me. I see them, I go with them to soccer games, and so on. If you don’t, if you take it to the extreme and you claim that your work is everything, then you have weakened a whole corner of your life, and I don’t believe you will have the strength to do many other things in life.

What is it that keeps you so motivated even after getting a Nobel Prize? Does your background as a Muslim play a role in this?

I think it is a composite of things. First of all, God created me with a passion for whatever I do. If I read a book, I have the passion to finish it. The other thing is my background, as you said. When I came to the United States, I was challenged. As I mention in my book, there were political barriers, there were cultural barriers and scientific barriers. So I was challenged to show that somebody with my background, someone who is a Muslim and grew up with mosques and everything like that can achieve something.

Nowadays, I also try to go beyond the Nobel Prize, and I ask myself if I can help people and if I can help science in general. Perhaps also because of my upbringing and the mosque, I have faith. So I think it’s that kind of faith in life, in the universe, in myself, and in God, of course—all of this makes me who I am.

Nuh Gedik is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before moving to MIT, he worked as a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech in the research group of Prof. Ahmed Zewail.

Interfaith Dialogue

Suleyman Eris

In our dialogue activities, we should seek sincere religious people because the people who are sincere in their religion will most probably be sincere in their dialogue with us as well.

S

aid Nursi (d. 1960) was one of the pivotal Muslim scholars of the twentieth century who supported the idea of interfaith dialogue and alliance.

He thought that in the face of the difficulties of the twentieth century in terms of religious beliefs and practices, Muslims needed to establish consensus not only among Muslims, but also with Christians.

He states in his works (the Risale-i Nur collection) that “The people of religion and truth need to unite sincerely not only with their own brothers and fellow believers, but also with the truly pious and spiritual ones among the Christians, temporarily refraining from the discussion and debate of points of difference in order to combat their joint enemy—aggressive atheism.”1 It is quite interesting to find that although Nursi clearly states the necessity of interfaith alliance in the Risale-i Nur, and consequently encourages his followers

to practice dialogue to establish this alliance, he does not dedicate any section of the Risale-i Nur to the principles of this interfaith dialogue and alliance. In other words, Nursi never titled any part of his works “The Principles of Interfaith Dialogue and Alliance.” Hence, the present article inquires whether Nursi simply ignores the principles of interfaith dialogue and alliance or whether there are implicit interfaith principles in his works.

It is my claim that it is possible to find implicit interfaith principles in the works of Nursi, and that the Twentieth and Twenty-First Gleams and the Twenty-Second Letter are especially good sources for these principles. In these sections, Nursi mainly deals with the different reasons for conflict among Muslims and teaches them his conflict resolution principles to end these conflicts with peaceful alliance. Therefore, it is easy for us to extract the principles of interfaith

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Interfaith Dialogue and Alliance Principles in the Works of Said Nursi

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dialogue and alliance from these sections by paraphrasing Nursi’s conflict resolution principles in the context of interfaith dialogue because most of the principles in these sections are not related specifically to Islam, but to human nature in general.

Before presenting the list of paraphrased conflict resolution principles in the context of interfaith dialogue and alliance, we would like to demonstrate an example of paraphrasing: For instance, in the Twentieth Gleam, Nursi advises the following principle to resolve a conflict between different Muslim groups: “Adopt the just rule of conduct that the follower of any right outlook has the right to say, ‘My outlook is true, or the best,’ but not that ‘My outlook alone is true,’ or that ‘My outlook alone is good,’ thus implying the falsity or repugnance of all other outlooks.” Although the context of this principle is the interactions between Muslims, it is perfectly right to practice this principle in the interfaith context because it is not related to Islam, but to human nature in general. Consequently, we can paraphrase this principle as follows: In dialogue activities, as Muslims, we can believe or even say that Islam is the right religion or even preferable to that of other religions, but we do not have right to say that other religions have no right in them at all. Similarly, in dialogue activities, Christians can believe or even say that

Christianity is the right religion or even preferable to that of other religions, but they do not have right to say that other religions have no right in them at all.

After introducing this example, we can list the paraphrased interfaith principles from the Twentieth and Twenty-First Gleams and the Twenty-Second Letter: 1. In our dialogue activities, as Muslims, we should only aim for our Lord’s good pleasure, not the acceptance of the members of other religions because “if Almighty God is pleased, it is of no importance even should the whole world be displeased.”

2. God commands in the Qur’an (Baqara 2:41), … do not sell My Revelations for a trifling price (such as worldly gains, status, and renown). Therefore, in dialogue activities, we should not water down our religious rules and dignity.

3. The human self is prone to make mistakes and deviate from the right path. Therefore, while dialoguing with others, we should not trust our selves but God and always seek his help and forgiveness: Yet I do not claim my self free of error, for assuredly the human carnal soul always commands evil, except that my Lord has mercy (which saves us from committing evil acts). (Yusuf 12:53) 4. If we want to dialogue with the members of other

12. If we see any hostility from the people that we dialogue with, we should remember the following principle: “If you wish to defeat your enemy, respond to his evil with good. For if you respond with evil, enmity will increase, and even though he will be outwardly defeated, he will nurture hatred in his heart, and hostility will persist. But if you respond to him with good, he will repent and become your friend.”

13. While we dialogue we should keep in mind that people all have different characters and one bad character in a group does not mean that all the people of that group have a similar character. In other words, it would be wrong to generalize one person’s mistake to the whole community. The Qur’an says, …no soul, as bearer of burden, bears (and is made to bear) the burden of another” (Fatir 35:18).

14. Similarly, one negative aspect of a person does not necessitate that the person is bad as whole.2 15. In dialogue activities, all that we say should be true, but we should not say all that is true. For one of insincere intention may sometimes take unkindly to advice and react to it unfavorably.

16. In times when evil actions prevail, what could we need more than unity, friendship, and inclusion?

17. In times of conflict of opinions, we should act in a positive way, not a negative one. That is to say, we should strive to promote and diffuse our own belief, not seeking to tear down and destroy that of the other, but rather to improve and reform it.

18. In dialogue activities, we should remember that insisting upon consensus in our methods and approaches after finding agreement upon our aims and goals might be a fruitless wish.

19. At every stage of a dialogue activity, the following principle must be our guide: Love for the sake of God, dislike for the sake of God, judge for the sake of God. In conclusion, we could say that although Nursi does not state interfaith principles explicitly, it is possible to find them mentioned implicitly in the Risale-i Nur and the above list is a good enough source for carrying out any dialogue interaction in a fruitful way.

Suleyman Eris is the author of Islam: A Brief Guide – Belief and Practice.

Notes 1. Nursi, Said. The Gleams (Lem’alar), Twentieth Gleam, Second Reason.

2. Nursi, Said. The Letters (Mektubat), Twenty-Second Letter.

January / February 2009

religions, we should accept them in their position and not criticize their religious beliefs and practices. If we like to be respected in our own beliefs, we should respect the beliefs of others. Similarly, in dialogue meetings, we should not excite the envy of the members of other religions by displaying or implying superior virtues.

5. Our primary aim in dialogue activities is God’s good pleasure and his help. Faith alliance is our secondary aim. In other words, we seek faith alliance because it attracts God’s help and support to us. Therefore, if we cannot establish faith alliance with the members of other faiths after all of our sincere efforts, we should not be disappointed. For God is the helper of his sincere servants and no alliance can be superior to God’s alliance.

6. In dialogue events, our actions should always be based on positive motives. That is to say, what motivates our actions should be the love of our own outlook, not enmity toward others’ outlooks. We organize or participate in dialogue events to represent our outlook, not to diminish the outlook of others.

7. In dialogue activities, by focusing on commonalities such as a shared land, a shared language, our common humanity, universal needs and fears, and so on, we will recognize again that what we have in common far exceeds what sets us apart from each other.

8. Because we need unity and inclusion within Muslims and among the People of the Book far more than division and exclusion, let us for now leave aside discussion of the issues that divide us.

9. In our dialogue activities, we should keep in mind that unity among Muslims and the People of the Book attracts for us the help of our Creator against irreligion.

10. The aim of interfaith dialogue is not to argue with the members of other religions. In order to refrain from argumentation, we should know that one who prevails in an argument finds himself in a dangerous position in comparison with his partner, first because he might fall into arrogance in his heart, and second because he may learn nothing new from the discussion.

On the other hand, his partner learns new knowledge and his heart is safe from arrogance.

11. In our dialogue activities, we should seek sincere religious people because the people who are sincere in their religion will most probably be sincere in their dialogue with us as well.

51

Culture & Society

Muhammed Cetin

January / February 2009

Observers make the error of attacking “Islam” and demanding its reform, instead of commenting on the approaches or methods of particular activists, regimes or countries and reforming those.

52

S

ince the fifth century bce, democracy has been discussed by political theorists, philosophers and members of diverse societies and cultures.

Although it is commonly accepted that democracy as a form of government originated in Ancient Greece, many other nations, groups and cultures have contributed significantly to its evolution. As hopes of change for the better are high all over the world today, it is timely and illuminating to consider perspectives raised in different cultures. The modern tendency is to view democracy as a set of political traditions, particular

institutions, and cultural assumptions. But this notion of democracy runs into problems because the world is a culturally diverse place and no single culture has the monopoly on democratic ideas and practice (Gülen in Ünal and Williams, 2000:147–9). Needs, expectations, aspirations and problems related to human behavior, community life, faith and culture, and law and order, vary from land to land and time to time. In view of the debates raised in recent years over the practice of democracy in Muslim countries and cultures, this article will consider the forms, theory, history and possible

Islamic jurisprudence embodies the divine revelation, the art of lawyers, local and global cultures,

future of democracy in the light of the views of an influential, contemporary Turkish intellectual and Islamic scholar, Fethullah Gülen.

Variation in forms of democracy Although it is common to discuss democracy as if it is problematic only in the Muslim world, in reality democracies all over the world have to deal with a number of controversial issues about the diverse forms of government, varieties of representation, the types of freedom citizens require or demand, the unlegislated distribution of political power, uneven separation of powers, and the breach of the system of rule by the accumulated powers. (Diamond, 2008: 17–24, 30–33) Gülen’s intellectual contribution to the global discussion of democracy, which is determined by his adherence to Islamic values, is not limited to an analysis of democracy’s value and meaning for individuals and societies. In addition, he examines how democracy is affected by the crises which people and systems undergo, as well as the complexities of life in modern industrialized societies, and the contraction in the space available for individual and collective expression of cultural, moral and spiritual values. (Cetin, 2008: 226–30) According to Gülen the understanding of democracy and human rights within the theoretical heritage of Islam is not dogmatic but it centers around values such as compromise, stability, the protec-

tion of the life, honor and dignity of the human being, justice, equity, dialogue, and consultation. Islamic political theory is flexible and does not bind Muslims by any rigid limits in the choice of concrete forms of government and political system.

The main principle in Islamic political theory is the implementation of three fundamental values: equality, justice and consultation. The forms and means of enactment of these are vested in the hands of the community. Thus, the actual realization of the three pillars can and must take into account the conditions of Muslims’ lives, their traditions, cultural preferences, and other factors. Gülen argues that the social, cultural, political and historical aspects of societies, should be taken into account in

the development of democracy in the entire world.

Observers discussing the compatibility between Western and Muslim perspectives on democracy and human rights sometimes make the error of attacking “Islam” and demanding its reform, instead of commenting on the approaches or methods of particular activists, regimes or countries and reforming those. Some observers even claim Islamic principles and institutions directly contradict democratic values in their modern meaning, and so any step by Muslim societies towards the establishment of democracy must be accompanied by rejecting Islamic political and legal traditions. At the other extreme, ideologically motivated Muslims claim to have the only correct understanding of Islam, and that Islamic fundamentals of power, politics and believers’ rights have nothing in common with Western democratic institutions. These extremists often argue that “the power of the people” is alien to Islam, which puts forward the principle of the supremacy of Islamic law instead.

(Sykiainen, 2007: 122–3) In fact, the concepts advanced in this type of argumentation are taken out of the whole context of Islamic thought and its socio-political heritage and are addressed to less well-educated Muslims (and others) in order to justify political extremism. Nevertheless, within both traditional and

January / February 2009

and global relationships.

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modern Islamic political and legal thought, there are several different perspectives on government which are more genuinely representative of the Islamic legal tradition and which do not justify extremism. (Gülen, 2004:220; also <http://en.fgulen.com/a.page/press/ interview/ a1203.html>) Islamic jurisprudence embodies the divine revelation, the art of lawyers, local and global cultures, and global relationships. Islamic law and the legal system, its common principles and the majority of its concrete norms are similar to the fundamental ideas and particular provisions of other legal systems. Islamic legal culture has always cooperated closely with and been receptive to other legal cultures. In this sense, Islamic law is of benefit not only to Muslims but to the whole of humanity. Over many centuries a great variety of views on the fundamentals of the executive and the legislature have developed within Islamic culture,

and diverse notions of the relations between the state and the individual have been elaborated. (Sykiainen, 2007: 119–132) One of the key features of the Islamic understanding of democracy is the concept of shura (collective and community consultation). Without any qualification or limitation, all members of a community are eligible to give or request consultation on any matter, except one covered by a clear-cut revelation from God. Consequently, all political matters concerning the selection of the ruler, the structure and shape of the government, the form of political system, the running of the government and of the various affairs of the state, and all other related matters are to be decided by consultation through the participation of all the members of the community. (Gülen, 2005: 43–58) In public and government affairs collective consultation is concerned with two main issues: the selection

January / February 2009

of the head of state and running of the government, together with reviewing the legality and propriety of governmental and presidential actions. On the selection of the head of state, collective consultation is flexible and adopts various forms. Elections, whether direct or indirect, are considered to be an Islamic method of selecting the head of state or members of the legislative body which satisfies the consultation process. With regard to the running of the government and control over the legality and propriety of the executive’s actions, Islamic law is also very flexible. The establishment of a representative body through direct or indirect elections is compatible with Islam and is a good application of community and collective consultation.

In addition to their reviewing authorities, representative bodies may be empowered to legislate on different matters provided that such regulations do not violate any unambiguous and clear-cut principle or rule of Is-

lamic injunctions. If democracy is the government of the people by the people for the people, shura is a process which guarantees that all affairs of the people are decided by the people and for their interests. So, the basics of democracy and the fundamentals of shura in the political field are not opposed. (Gülen, 2004:223; Sykiainen, 2007:110, Cetin 2008: 218; Gülen, 2005: 43–58) This genuine Islamic idea is one of the most basic human rights and a means of protecting and preserving all other human rights under Islamic law, especially the right to equality, the freedom of thought, and the right to express oneself freely in order to correct or demand the correction of what is not right, even if it is something committed by the highest officials, including the head of state. State officials and authorities do not have political immunity while in office in Islam. (Gülen, 2006) Law, order, and human rights Gülen analyzes the different rights recognized in Islam, including freedom of religion and belief, thought and expression, to own property and the sanctity of one’s home, to marry and have children, to communicate and to travel, and the right to an unimpeded education. He underlines that the principles of Islamic jurisprudence are based on these and other rights, all of which have now been accepted by modern legal systems, such as the protection of life, religion, property, family life, and intellect, as well as the basic understanding of the equality of people, which is based on the fact that all people are human beings, and subsequently, the rejection of all racial, color, and linguistic discrimination. (Ünal and Williams, 2000:135–8) Every single right must be respected in Islam. In particular, the right of an individual cannot be violated for the interest of the community. This idea is central to the concept of human rights in Islam and the interpretation of Islamic tradition with regard to this issue.

Gülen recalls that if there are nine criminals and only one innocent person on a ship, in order to punish the criminals, Islam does not permit the sinking of that ship because of the innocent person. Though this may sound utopian today considering the mass and “collateral” damage caused by modern nations at war, Gülen argues that the bar should be set at the highest possible level for democracy and every effort to reach that level should be attempted. (Gülen, 2006; also personal correspondence, 8.11.2008) Gülen underlines that people everywhere always demand freedom of choice within their beliefs, that is, in the way they run their affairs and in their expression

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of spiritual and religious values. He stresses the separation of the eternal and the evolving judgments (ijtihad) of Islamic jurisprudence. Specifically, political affairs in general and democratic institutions and human rights in particular are covered by Islamic legislative provisions which can relate and respond to the needs of changing circumstances and times. Gülen points out that democracy will continue to evolve and refine itself in the future. Islamic principles of equality, tolerance, and justice can help in this regard, provided that the injunctions of the Qur’an and the Sunna as well as any definite judgments of Islamic law are re-examined and restored in the light of advancing knowledge and changes in societies. (Sykiainen, 2007: 129–30) It is possible to envisage a kind of democracy with a spiritual dimension. It is a democracy which contains respect for and observance of human rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech, expression and religion, a democracy which prepares the necessary conditions for people to live and practice as they believe, which renders people able to fulfill their wish and need for eternity, and which takes or deals with human beings as a whole with regard to their all material and immaterial needs. For, human life does not start and end with life in this world; the world is only a temporal transit station, and people are ceaselessly moving toward their eternal abode. The system that governs them must not ignore or neglect this crucial matter. We therefore have to seek ways to sophisticate and humanize democracy. No such stage or democracy has been attained yet, in east or west, north or south, but we can aspire to and work for such an aim. (Gülen, 2006; Gülen in Saritoprak and Ünal, 2005: 452) Democratic culture In Gülen’s view, therefore, it is vital to encourage the building of a strong civil society in order to have and retain a “culture” of democracy, and this can only be done through sound education. In a democracy, where people are entitled to freedom of speech, expression, religion, and the right to sell their labor, and other such rights, every individual should know what kinds of rights they have and what authority, weight and say they have in state and government affairs.

(Gülen, 2006; Cetin, 2008: 216–20) In all societies on some occasions, or even for extended periods, some interests will not be happy about all individuals being aware of their rights; they may see such education as an obstacle to their gain-

ing political or economic power or even arbitrary rule.

Consequently, they may attempt to limit citizens’ access to information and institutions and try to guide them in directions which do not serve citizens’ own true interests. (Gülen, 2006) However, it is impossible to enjoy and practice democracy in a society where people are unaware of their rights and freedom, where people do not know how to seek and pursue their rights, where, in short, they do not have a developed democratic culture. In such societies occasional openings or temporary freedoms might be enjoyed, but it is always possible for special interests to come up with further impositions and undemocratic interventions. In many parts of the world we see tyrannical, authoritarian and dictatorial leaders who exploit or manipulate, for example, the electoral process, the legal system or the constitution not in the name of the progress or development of the country but for the continuance of their own power or in pursuit of self-interest or the interest of a select group around them. (Gülen, 2006) To counteract the activities of vested interests, while individuals are being asked to fulfill their rights and duties in democratic system, in addition to knowledge they also need to have the self-confidence and the civic courage to own and defend their rights (Gülen, 2006). Here Gülen’s contribution to the development of democracy around the globe lies not only in his intellectual contribution to debate, but also in his ability to inspire action; this practical ability has led to the development of schools, universities, intercultural and interfaith dialogue groups, and other institutions throughout the world.

Conclusion Gülen’s approach is powerful proof of the democratic ideas propagated by Islam, as he is convinced that Islamic democracy and secular political liberalization are not two separate phenomena. He points out that the dominant Islamic culture in the Muslim world co-exists with democratic arrangements on the global level. So, the concept of modernization and democratization does not inevitably mean Westernization but can involve the possibility of adoption of many Western democratic achievements within the Islamic framework. Thus, political culture and democracy practiced among Muslims develop not by their isolation from or opposition to others but by giving of their own achievements and taking the best from others. Gülen proves that the Islamic intellectual heritage

Lead Article

Barton, G. (2005) “Progressive Islamic thought, civil society and the Gülen movement in the national context: parallels with Indonesia.” Presented at the conference “Islam in the Contemporary World: The Fethullah Gülen Movement in Thought and Practice,” Rice University Conference, Houston, Texas, November 12–13, 2005, pp.51. Çetin, M. (2008) “Reductionist Approaches to the Rise and Aims of the Gülen Movement,” at the conference “Islam in the Age of Global Challenges: Alternative Perspectives of the Gülen Movement,” November 14–15, 2008, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., pp. 204–40.

Diamond, L. (2008) The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World. Times Books.

Eickelman, D. F. (2002) “The Arab “Street” and the Middle East’s Democracy deficit.” Naval War College Review, LV(4), p.10. Available from: <http:// nwc.navy.mil/press/ Review/2002/autumn/pdfs/art3-a02.pdf> [October 9, 2006].

Gülen, M. F. (2004) Toward a Global Civilization of Love and Tolerance. Somerset, New Jersey, The Light Inc. Gülen, M. F. (2005) The Statue of Our Souls: Revival in Islamic Thought and Activism. Somerset, New Jersey, The Light Inc. Gülen, M. F. (2006) “Demokrasi Yokuşu”, 02.01.2006 [Herkül online] http://www.herkul.org/kiriktesti/index. php?view=article&article_id=2846 Hunt, R. (2007) “Challenges in Understanding the Muslim Citizens of the Globalized World.” In: Hunt, R. A. & Aslandogan, Y. A. eds. (2007), 1–10.

Hunt, R. A. & Aslandogan, Y. A. eds. (2007) Muslim Citizens of the Globalized World: Contributions of the Gülen Movement. Somerset, New Jersey, IID Press & The Light Inc. Saritoprak, Z. & Ünal, A. (2005) An interview with Fethullah Gülen. The Muslim World Special Issue, Islam in Contemporary Turkey: the Contributions of Gülen 95(3), 447–67.

Sykiainen, L. (2007) “Democracy and the Dialogue between Western and Islamic Legal Cultures: The Gülen Case.” In: Hunt, R. A. & Aslandogan, Y. A. eds. (2007), 121–32. Ünal, A. & Williams, A. (2000) Fethullah Gülen: Advocate of Dialogue. Fairfax, VA, The Fountain.

Acceptable, virtuous freedom is civilized freedom; one that is bound with the diamond chains of faith and morals, and with golden belts of sound reason. ***

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and political culture must be revisited and respected and that Muslims’ progress depends on the development of knowledge in Islamic sciences (‘ilm) and contemporary technical education (fen). Finally, Gülen life’s work has shown that there is no inherent conflict between Islamic thought and tradition and modern democracy. He has contributed positively to the understanding of democracy, civil society and human rights. (Cetin 2008: 219; Hunt, 2007:8–9; Barton, 2005: 43; Eickelman, 2002:4) Muhammed Cetin is the Publications Co-ordinator of the Institute of Interfaith Dialog (IID) and also writes weekly as a columnist in the international daily Today’s Zaman. He has a PhD in sociology.

References

57

See–Think–Believe

January / February 2009

Irfan Yilmaz

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"I am easily troubled with inflammation in people with alcohol habits."

blood is brought back under control. Also, insulin helps you to store sugar in fat tissues and to turn them into fatty acids, and it slows the breaking down of fatty acids. Moreover, insulin helps you to make protein in your body by holding amino acids within your muscle tissues and storing glucose in your liver and turning it into glycogen.

The failure of my beta cells to secrete insulin is a serious problem; the consequence is “diabetes mellitis,” or what we commonly know as diabetes. A person with this disorder must abstain from various delicious foods and drinks. In cases where a strict diet does not solve the problem, patients may have to take insulin shots every day. Diabetes can cause many complications by damaging your nerves and blood vessels; I won’t go into types of diabetes so I don’t get sidetracked too much. I just wished to make a point: even a substance produced by a tiny cluster of cells can upset the functioning of many of your mechanisms. After having a meal, put your hand to the left of your abdomen below your stomach and remember what a blessing I am!

As for the glucagon hormone I secrete from my alpha cells, it does just the opposite of insulin and causes the sugar stored in your cells to be released into your bloodstream. When your blood sugar decreases—due to hunger, overwork, exercise, and so on—it causes the glycogen in your liver to be used in order to increase the level of your blood sugar. As adrenalin secreted by the adrenal glands helps glycogen to be broken down and to be released into the blood as glucose, they function as an integrated system. Glucagon also slows down the synthesis of glycogen, and it accelerates the break-up of proteins and fat metabolism. I think now you get it, Peter. Insulin and glucagon are parts of a biological feedback mechanism controlling one another. People discovered all these facts after years of lab research; now do you see how ridiculous it is to see me as a work of blind chance?

Like any other organ, I can also contract various diseases. The most common ones are acute or chronic inflammation, tumors, and cysts. I am easily troubled with inflammation in people with alcohol habits. Since enzyme secretions—and therefore digestive processes— are then not carried out properly, some undigested fats and fibers with proteins are excreted with the feces. A problem can arise with the intestines due to digestive deficiency. And if I completely fail to fulfill my duty owing to a chronic inflammation or tumor, then doc-

January / February 2009

P

eter, I am not so big as other organs like the liver, heart, and lungs; it is difficult to notice me most of the time. But whether we are large or small, no organ is superior to another; we are all just units of a perfectly created whole. None of us can function without the other organs.

I hang between your stomach and your duodenum under it, attached to the intestinal mesenteries. I have two different identities in terms of my structure and function. I carry out two very different duties as a compound gland made up of both exocrine and endocrine tissues. So, I am granted a very special structure and chemical abilities to function well. One of my duties is related to the physiology of digestion: I break up the food passing from the stomach to the duodenum by pouring on it the four types of digestive enzymes I have been enabled to produce. These juices are carried through a tiny pipe to your duodenum. Two of them are used for breaking up proteins, one for carbohydrates, and one for fats. You don’t even realize it!

As the food you take in passes from the stomach to the duodenum, my enzymes begin flowing faster. This is a very fine balance: while food is being digested, neither the enzymes should be wasted, nor should your intestinal walls be harmed. I don’t control the release of the enzymes. That duty is given to two hormones produced in your intestinal mucosa by the stimulus of the vagus nerve. When those hormones reach me by the bloodstream, my cells are stimulated and they secrete water, bicarbonate, and the digestive enzymes I mentioned, and they flow into your duodenum through my duct.

My second job is the production of insulin and glucagon hormones, as the endocrinal pancreas. My cell clusters, which are also known as islets of Langerhans, have different types as separate groups, which you call alpha and beta. The insulin, which is produced by my beta cells, is used for regulating the glucose level in your blood. The duty of insulin is to stimulate your body cells to take the glucose in your blood and use it.

After you have a meal, the carbohydrates in it are broken down into glucose molecules, pass into the blood, and increase your blood sugar. For your body to function in a healthy way, the amount of glucose should be around 100mg/ml (it varies from 80–120).

When the level is above the normal value, I secrete insulin. In this way, the sugar is carried to your cells and burned to produce energy, and its increase in your

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3 4 6

5 5

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A poem is a joyful leap of the heart, an ardor in the soul, a teardrop, and teardrops are nought but pure poems that have risen up against words.

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***

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6

Working scheme of a biological factory:

1. Food comes in through esophagus.

2. Acid and enzymes in the stomach start to dissolve the food.

3. Fats are broken into droplets by bile acids from the liver.

4. Enzymes secreted in the pancreas can break up all kinds of food.

5. Enzymes from the walls of the intestines finalize the break-up process.

6. Some special hormonal secretions found on the intestinal walls stop enzyme secretions and make us feel full. This is followed by absorption of nutrients by tiny fingerlike projections called villi.

7. Fats are absorbed via lymph.

8. Glucose, water, and amino acids are absorbed into the blood.

9. Undigested parts of the food are pushed into the colon.

tors take me out and you become dependent on insulin and a special liquid obtained from the pancreas.

It is sad to say that my cancer is not quickly recognized. It develops very fast and I try to keep up my duty as long as possible. Therefore, it is usually too late when diagnosed. There is nothing much modern medicine can do after it spreads. Although it is not definite yet, I suspect cigarettes play a role in my cancer.

As for diabetes, even though a promising method of treatment has been discovered, certain problems haven’t been overcome yet. The transplant of beta cells from the pancreas of someone who has just died—with as much tissue compatibility as possible—has had partial success. As with every other organ transplant, tissue rejection is a challenge. If the human genome project succeeds and the genetic code of the human body is thoroughly solved, it may be possible to cure diabetes by genetic engineering techniques. This is only at research level for now, but if scientists do their best, it is possible to find a way, since there is a treatment for every disease except for old age and death. You see, Peter, as the vicegerents on earth, you humans are supposed to explore the secrets of the universe and appreciate the beauties you discover. I think I have said enough now. Thanks for listening, Peter!

Irfan Yilmaz is a professor of biology at Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey.

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Lead Article

Questions and Answers It is essential for an individual to overcome the carnal self. The idea of the “greater jihad” or “struggle against the carnal self” is the starting point of this struggle which gradually affects all the conduct of human beings. This idea also teaches the person how to become invincible against the self. Only those who have attained a victorious spirit can dominate all types of materialistic power in the Universe.

What is the meaning of “victory” for a believer, and how is it realized?

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uman life in this world is a composite of two distinct powers, the spirit and the flesh.

Although it is sometimes the case that these two powers act in harmony, conflict between them is more usual, conflict of a kind in which the victory of one results in the defeat of the other. In an individual who vigorously indulges bodily lusts, the spirit grows more powerless as it becomes more obedient to those lusts; however, in another individual, one who has given the spirit dominance over the flesh, in whom the heart (the seat of spiritual intellect) has power over reason, and who vigorously opposes the bodily lusts, it attains eternity.

The secret of attaining the eternal life of the spirit Every part of a spiritually bankrupt country can be likened to a graveyard, no matter how many hundreds of triumphal arches and statues adorn its thoroughfares. The mass of people living in such a country are in reality blind and unfortunate, and a world not built on the breath of the spirit is nothing but the plaything of human violence. A culture which has not developed an ethos that encourages virtue is like an evil sorcerer who has ambushed humanity. However, it may never be possible to persuade coarse, insensitive people of this, people who pay no attention to anything except their own pleasures, who have become incapable of considering their lives as connected with the well-being and happiness of others. If only such people had some

perception of the mystery of their own deaths, they might yet attain the eternal life of the spirit.

Only those who have filled their hearts with the most sublime ideals and love of humanity will lead a spiritual life so as to attain eternity in their very selves.

These fortunate people transcend their carnal desires, grow spiritually alert and attain victory over the commands of the self.

Only the person who overcomes his or her self can rightly be called powerful and victorious. The miserable individuals who have not been able to release themselves from captivity to the self are liable to defeat even if they have conquered the entire world. Moreover, we cannot give to their conquest of the world the name of “victory,” since their permanent presence in the lands they have invaded is an impossibility.

Real heroes Napoleon was in the madness of esteeming himself sole ruler of the world. I wonder whether he was able to grasp that his real failure was when he slapped a philosopher, and this was more bitter and humiliating than his defeat at Waterloo. In the person of that philosopher he actually slapped knowledge and virtue. Mustafa Pasha of Merzifon had been inwardly defeated before his army was put to flight at Vienna.

This first defeat in Ottoman history showed itself in the spirit of the commander in chief, then spread far and wide among his forces, and not only caused him to lose his head, but allowed the greatest army of conquest the world had yet known to experience flight. Yildirim Khan, Bayazid I, was not defeated in Çubuk, but on the day when he belittled his op-

ponent and hailed himself as sole ruler of the world.

And there have been many others like these...

But we have positive examples too. Tariq ibn Ziyad was victorious, not when he defeated the Visigoths’ army of ninety thousand men with a handful of self-sacrificing valiants, but when he stood before the wealth and treasures of the king and said, “Be careful, Tariq. You were a slave yesterday. Today you are a victorious commander. And tomorrow you will be under the earth.”

Salahuddin Ayyubi’s generous treatment of Richard I astonished and embarrassed the arrogant commander. Alp Arslan conducted himself in peace and mercy towards Romanus IV Diogenes. Likewise, Kilic Arslan released all the crusaders captured during the battle at Antalya Castle. All these examples of humane and noble behavior are in fact the victory of the sublime spirit.

The enormous army of Mehmed II (the Conqueror) owed its success to the power of faith and

the spirit. Mehmed II never relied on physical power; rather, he represented spiritual power as well as military genius. Otherwise, his entry to Istanbul would have been no different than Caesar’s entry into Rome; but Mehmed II entered the capital of Byzantium in a manner of forgiveness, tolerance and justice, just like Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, upon the conquest of Mecca.

Selim I regarded the world as too small for two rulers. He was truly victorious, not when he crowned some kings and dethroned others, but when he entered the capital in silence while its people were asleep so as to avoid their enthusiastic welcome and applause for his victories. He was also victorious when he ordered that the robe which had been spattered with mud by the horse of his teacher be draped over his coffin because it had been honored. The Roman commander Cato was victorious and made a place for himself in his people’s memory, not when he defeated the Carthaginians, but when he handed his horse and command

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over to the Roman Emperor, saying, “I fought to serve my nation. Now my duty is fulfilled, I am going back to my village.” And all the while his army was entering Carthage, the capital city of Rome’s enemy and rival, in triumph.

To transcend selfishness Sacrificing one’s enjoyment of worldly pleasures has the same significance for human progress as the roots of a tree have for its growth. Just as a tree grows sound and strong in direct relation to the soundness and strength of its roots, so too a human being grows to perfection while striving to free himself or herself from selfishness and instead to live only for others.

We must look at history in order to find examples of real heroes since it is full of stories of great individuals. For instance, history tells us of the caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab, whom it finds carrying a sack of flour in public as soon as he felt a little pride in his heart. We have such heroes who effectively conducted armies and ruled countries during the day while they spent the night in remembrance of God. Those fortunate ones were able to maintain a spiritual life no matter what their duties always appeared within the same tradition.

It is essential for an individual to overcome the carnal self. The idea of the “greater jihad” or “struggle against the carnal self” is the starting point of this struggle which gradually affects all the conduct of human beings. This idea also teaches the person how to become invincible against the self. Only those who have attained a victorious spirit can dominate all types of materialistic power in the universe. In contrast, those who are captured by the self are liable to defeat and regarded as miserable even if they conquer the world.

Therefore, the heroes we have mentioned here are different than others. Indeed, real heroes and victorious commanders attained triumph because of the victory of the spirit in their very selves.

To conclude, those who are deprived of sublime ideals and who cannot overcome their personal pleasures cannot be called victorious even if they conquer the entire world. In this case, their temporary success unfortunately results in their everlasting defeat. The only way to transform possible defeats into eternal victories is to attain the victory of the spirit.

The crowned heads of the future will be those fortunate ones who have attained felicity through victories of the spirit.

Lead Article

Love is present as a nucleus or a seed in every individual.

As far as unfolding conditions allow, that seed grows to become like a tree with spreading roots and branches; it blossoms and gives fruit, and so completes the cycle of perfection by combining the beginning with

***

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A MUST FOR ALL LIBRARIES, PUBLIC OR PERSONAL Lead Article

by Ali Ünal A timely addition to the literature on the holy book of Islam, this translation provides both the original Arabic verse as well as extensive explanations and interpretations in modern English. Additional commentary is offered on the social and historical aspects of Islam, as well as the existence and unity of God, the concept of resurrection, and other theological complexities. Several special glossaries detailing the names of God and Qur’an vocabulary are also included.

ISBN: 9781597841443

With an introduction by M.Fethullah Gülen

1416 pages 6 x 9 inches Paperback

The Reminders is a fully illustrated book of select verses from the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam. Verses have been selected to appeal to all faith communities encouraging readers to reflect on God’s overarching awareness, benevolence, and power, as well as the origins and purpose of life, essential human virtues, and signs of divinity in our world. Designed in the format of a charming gift book, The Reminders is filled with thoughtful illustrations that accompany verses throughout the book.

January / February November / December 20092008

ESSENTIAL WISDOM FROM THE HOLY QUR’ÂN

67

www.tughrabooks.com

Lead Article

January / February 2009

When my heart was hardened and my ways were blocked, I made my hope a ladder to Your forgiveness; My sins are too great in my sight, but When I weigh them against Your forgiveness, Your forgiveness is much greater than my sins.

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