Wednesday, 30 May 2007

The Universe



The Origin of the Universe




Many evidence discovered by science, the thesis of an "infinite universe" was tossed onto the scrap-heap of the history of scientific ideas. Yet, more important questions were forthcoming:


What existed before the Big Bang ?


What force could have caused the great explosion that resulted in a universe that did not exist before ?

There is a single answer to be given to the question of what existed before the Big Bang:

Allah, the All-powerful and the Almighty, Who created the earth and the heavens in great order. Many scientists, be they believer in Islam or not, are obliged to admit this truth. Although they may decline to admit this fact on scientific platforms, their confessions in between the lines give them away.


Renowned atheist philosopher Anthony Flew says:


Notoriously, confession is good for the soul. I will therefore begin by confessing that the Stratonician atheist has to be embarrassed by the contemporary cosmological consensus. For it seems that the cosmologists are providing a scientific proof of what St. Thomas contended could not be proved philosophically; namely, that the universe had a beginning. So long as the universe can be comfortably thought of as being not only without end but also beginning, it remains easy to urge that its brute existence, and whatever are found to be its most fundamental features, should be accepted as the explanatory ultimates. Although I believe that it remains still correct, it certainly is neither easy nor comfortable to maintain this position in the face of the Big Bang story.


(Henry Margenau, Roy Abraham Vargesse, Cosmos, Bios, Theos, La Salla IL: Open Court Publishing, 1992, p. 241).


Some scientists like the British materialist physicist H. P. Lipson confess that they have to accept the Big Bang theory whether they want it or not:

If living matter is not, then, caused by the interplay of atoms, natural forces, and radiation, how has it come into being?… I think, however, that we must…admit that the only acceptable explanation is creation. I know that this is anathema to physicists, as indeed it is to me, but we must not reject that we do not like if the experimental evidence supports it.


(H. P. Lipson, "A Physicist Looks at Evolution", Physics Bulletin, vol. 138, 1980, p. 138).


In conclusion, science points to a single reality whether materialist scientists like it or not. Matter and time have been created by a Creator,Allah Who is All-Powerful and Who created the heavens, the earth and all that is in between:


Allah s.w.t says:


It is Allah who created the seven heavens and of the earth the same number, the Command descending down through all of them, so that you might know that Allah has power over all things and that Allah encompasses all things in His knowledge.


(Surat at-Talaq: 12)

Sunday, 27 May 2007

Design of Nature


Design


Let's think of an aspirin pill for a moment; you will immediately recall the mark in the middle of it. This mark is designed in order to help those who intake half a dose. Every product that we see around us is of a certain design even though not as simple as the aspirin pill. Everything from vehicles we use to go to work, to TV remotes.


"Design", briefly, means a harmonious assembling of various parts into an orderly form towards a common goal. Going by this definition, one would have no difficulty in guessing that a car is a design. This is because there is a certain goal, which is to transport people and cargo. In realization of this goal various parts such as the engine, tires and body are planned and assembled in the plant.


However, what about a living creature? Can a bird and mechanics of its flying be a design as well? Before giving an answer, let us repeat the evaluation we did for the example of a car. The goal at hand, in this case, is to fly. For this purpose, hollowed bones, strong muscles that move these bones are utilized together with feathers capable of suspending in the air. Wings are formed aerodynamically, and metabolism is in tune with the bird's need for high levels of energy. It is obvious that the bird is product of a certain design.


If one explores other creatures besides a bird, similar facts are attained. There are examples of a certain meticulous design in every creature. If one continues further on this quest, one would discover that our selves are also a part of this certain design. Your hands that hold these pages are functional as no robot hands could ever be. Your eyes that read these lines are making vision possible with such focus that the best camera on earth simply cannot.


Hence one arrives at this important conclusion; all creatures in Nature, including us, are of a Design. This, in turn, shows the existence of a Creator Who designs all creatures at will, sustains the entire nature and holds absolute power and wisdom.


However, this truth is rejected by the theory of evolution that was formed in the middle of 19th century. The theory set forth in Charles Darwin's book "On The Origin of Species" asserts that all creatures evolved within a chain of coincidences and essentially mutated from one another.


According to the fundamental assertion of this theory all living things go through minute and coincidental changes. If these coincidental changes help the creature then it gains advantage over the others, which in turn is carried onto following generations.


This scenario has been passed around as if it is a very scientific and convincing one for 140 years. When scrutinized under a bigger microscope and when compared against the examples of the Design in creatures Darwin's theory paints a very different picture i.e. Darwinism's explanation of creation is nothing more than a self-conflicting vicious circle.


Let us first focus on the "coincidental changes". Darwin could not provide a comprehensive definition to this concept due to lack of genealogical knowledge in his time. The evolutionists who followed him put forth the concept of "mutation" on this subject. Mutation is arbitrary disconnections, dislocation or shifts of genes in living things. Most important point is that there is not one single mutation in history that is shown to improve the condition of genetic information of a creature. Nearly all the known cases of mutations disable or harm these creatures and the rest are neutral in effect. Therefore, to think that a creature can improve through mutation is same as shooting at a crowd of people and hope that the injuries will result in healthier and improved individuals. This would clearly be nonsense.


As importantly, on contrary to all the scientific data, even if one assumes that a certain mutation could actually improve a being's condition, Darwinism still cannot be delivered from inevitable collapse. The reason for this is a concept called "irreducible complexity".


The implication of this concept is that majority of systems and organs in living things function as a result of various independent parts working together, elimination or disabling of even one of which would be enough to disable the entire system or organ.


For example, an ear perceives sounds only through a chain reaction of a series of smaller organs. Take out or deform one of these, e.g. one of the bones of the middle ear, and there would be no hearing whatsoever. In order for an ear to perceive a variety of components such as auditory meatus, malleous, incus and stapes bones, tympanic membrane, cochlea and fluid, sensory cells, vibration sensor extensions of these cells, net of nerves that connect to brain and hearing center in the brain have to work together without exception.


The system could not have developed in segments because none of the segments could possibly function alone at all.


Hence the concept of irreducible complexity demolishes the theory of evolution from its foundations. What is really interesting is the fact that Darwin also worried about these very prospects. He wrote in On The Origin of Species:


"If the impossibility of formation of a complex organ through a series of small changes was ever to be proven my theory would have certainly collapsed. However I could not find such an organ..." (Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species: A Facsimile of the First Edition, Harvard University Press, 1964, page 189.)


Darwin could not or might not have wanted to find such an organ at the premature levels of 19th century science. However the science of 20th century did study the nature down to minute details and proved that majority of living structures embody irreducible complexity. Therefore, Darwin's theory has most "certainly collapsed" just as he feared.


As we examine the living beings we will not only see an immense error Darwinism makes but also witness the greatness of wisdom that these systems were created with. These mechanisms will be found anywhere from the wings of a bird to inside a bat's skull. Hence we will see the indisputable evidences of God's creation without error. Likewise, the power and faculty of God to create without error is expressed in a surah of Qur'an as follows:


"He is God - the Creator, the Maker, the Giver of Form. To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. Everything in the heavens and earth glorifies Him. He is the Almighty, the All-Wise."


(Qur'an, Al-Hashr, 59:24)

Jesus in Islam "Chapter 1"

Jesus in Islam
A debate which appeared on the SABC-TV program "Cross Questions" on Sunday 5th June 1983, the Chairman, Mr. Bill Chalmers commented:
"I think it can be said from this discussion that there is, at present, somewhat more accommodation on the Islamic side for the founder of Christianity than there is on the Christian side for the founder of Islam. What the significance of that is, we leave it to you, the viewer, to determine, but I do think you will agree that it is a good thing that we are talking together."
Jesus - His Status
Were the Muslims on the panel trying to placate the viewers out policy, deceit or diplomacy? Nothing of the kind! They were only articulating what God Almighty had commanded them to say in the Holy Quran. As Muslims, they had no choice. They had said in so many words: "We Muslims believe, that Jesus was one of the mightiest messengers of God that he was the Christ, that he was born miraculously without any male intervention (which many modern-day Christians do not believe today), that he gave life to the dead by God's permission and that he healed those born blind and the lepers by god's permission. In fact, no Muslim is a Muslim if he or she does not believe in Jesus!"
Pleasant Surprise
We cannot blame the Christians for their skepticism. They were trained to think the worst of the man Muhammed, salla Allah u alihi wa sallam, and his religion. How aptly did Thomas Carlyle say about his Christian brethren over a hundred and fifty years ago:
"The lies which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammed) are disgraceful to ourselves only."
Ocean of Christianity
The west is an ocean of Christianity.We must proclaim Islam; declare the Truth, where ever we are.Islam came for all humankind,not just for a old race,nation,or the elite in the soicety but for anyone.
The one who can freely think and understand about man,life and the universe and all that is to do with life,be it soicel,Ecomical,political,etc.
The Christians
The Christian does not know that the true spirit of Islam which the Muslim displays towards Jesus and his mother Mary. He does not know that the Muslim does not take the holy name of Jesus, in his own language, without saying Isa, alaihi assalam ("Jesus, peace be upon him")
Many Christians don't know that Jesus is mentioned in the Holy Quran .
For example:
"We gave Jesus, the son of Mary, clear signs and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit" (The Holy Quran 2:87)
"O Mary! God giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary..." (3:45)
"...Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an apostle of god..." (4:171)
"...And in their foot steps we sent Jesus the son of Mary..." (5:46)
"And Zakariya and John, and Jesus and Elias: all in the ranks of the righteous." (6:85)
Jesus - His Titles
Though Jesus is mentioned by name in twenty-five places in the Holy Quran, he is also addressed with respect as: Ibn Maryam, meaning "The son of Mary"; and as the Maseeh (in Hebrew it is the Messiah), which is translated as "Christ". He is also known as Abdullah, "The servant of Allah"; and as Rasul u Allah, the messenger of Allah.
He is spoken of as "The Word of God", as "The Spirit of God", as a "Sign of God", and numerous other epithets of honor spread over fifteen different chapters. The Holy Quran honors this mighty messenger of God, and the Muslims have not fallen short over the past fourteen hundred years in doing the same.
Isa Latinised to "Jesus"
The Holy Quran refers to Jesus as Isa. His proper name is Isa (Arabic), or Esau (Hebrew); classical Yeheshua, which the Christian nations of the West latinised as Jesus. Neither the "J" nor the second "s" in the name Jesus is to be found in the original tongue - they are not found in the Semitic languages.
The word is very simply "E S A U" a very common Jewish name, used more than sixty times in the very first booklet alone of the Bible, in the part called "Genesis". There was at least one "Jesus" sitting on the "bench" at the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin. Josephus the Jewish historian mentions some twenty five Jesus' in his "Book of Antiquities".
The New Testament speaks of "Bar-Jesus" a magician and a sorcerer, a false prophet (Acts 13:6);
and also "Jesus-Justus" a Christian missionary, a contemporary of Paul (Colossians 4:11).
These are distinct from Jesus the son of Mary.
Transforming "Esau" to (J)esu(s) - Jesus - makes it unique. This unique (?) name has gone out of currency among the Jews and the Christians from the 2nd century after Christ. Among the Jews, because it came to be a name of ill - repute, the name of one who blasphemed in Jewry; and among the Christians because it came to be the proper name of their God.

Thursday, 24 May 2007

Articles of Faith in Islam







Faith in Islam



There are six articles of faith in Islam:



1. Belief in Allah


2.Belief in Angles,


3. Belief in the Books (Scriptures) of Allah


4. Belief in the Prophets of Allah,


5. Belief in the Day of Judgment


6. Belief in the Divine Laws

Umar ibn Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, relates:
We were sitting in the company of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, when suddenly a man arrived. He was wearing clean, white clothes and his hair was jet black. He did not look as though he were a traveler and he was not known to any of us. He sat down close to the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, his knees touching the knees of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.


He said: O Muhammad, tell me something about faith.


The Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, replied:
"Faith is that you should believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books and His Prophets; that you should believe in the Day of Judgment and that you should believe in the Divine Laws relating to good and evil." (Tirmidhi)

Ali ibn Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, relates that he Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:

"The faith is that one recognizes God at heart, accepts Him verbally and acts on His commandments." (Ibni Majah)