Water, an indispensable part of our lives, forms 70% of the world, 65-70% of the human body, 85% of our brain, 20% of our bones, and 5-10% of dry seeds. Nearly 40 kgs of a person weighing 65 kgs is water. Moreover, the molecular structure of water is unique, for it differs from other liquids. If we study its structure, we conclude that it is flammable or supportive of fire. In a water molecule, a a flammable gas (H+) and a gas supportive of fire (O-) are found together. Within the cradle of water, these “children of fire,” have apparently “forgotten” how to burn and be burned, and so they became a source of “coolness and safety” (Qur’an 21:69).

Scientists tell us that all objects falling from a certain height accelerate toward the ground. However, a raindrop is an exception. If water acted in accordance with this principle, it would pierce everything it touched, just like a bullet. However, raindrops descend at a constant speed, as if they had parachutes. They touch the wing of a butterfly with great delicacy and land on a violet’s petal without harming it. In other words, rain becomes a Divine Mercy.

Let’s take a brief look at water, considering its benefits to our body and the amount we should drink.

The functions of water in our body

We cannot even count all of the benefits of water to the human body. The following are only some of its foremost functions: It controls bodily heat, helps excrete toxic substances via perspiration and urination, carries the substances in our blood, regulates the blood’s acid-base balance, enables cells to absorb food by dissolving it (water is the best solvent), makes germination possible through humidity, and regulates the concentration inside the cell in order to maintain substance exchange.

How much water should we drink?

On average, people lose 2.5 liters, 10 glasses of water a day through perspiration, respiration, urination, and defecation. We lose it even when we breathe. All of this lost water has to be replaced, especially in the case of infants, who should never be deprived of water, and the elderly.

We do not meet all of our needs with water. We satisfy our need with other drinks and food as well, and yet water is the best substance with which to quench one’s thirst. No drink can substitute it. For one to be healthy and the kidneys and lungs to function normally, one should drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. As drinks with caffeine and alcohol increase urination and water loss, we should not choose them instead of water when we are thirsty.

Are there any exceptions? Of course there are… For example, if you have kidney stones, drinking 10 or more glasses a day is recommended. When the weather is hot, humid, or cold, one’s need for water increases, just as when we are at a high altitude or engage in physical exercise. Plenty of water must be consumed in such circumstances.

What sort of water should we drink?

According to Ibrahim Hakki of Erzurum, river water is healthier than well water. In fact it is the best type of water, especially if the river runs through a clean and uncontaminated environment, and down from a spring located above it. Abundant water that runs forcefully is the best type of water. But finding clean rivers is becoming increasingly harder, due to widespread pollution. Artesian well water has a high pH degree owing to its stagnancy. Underground water has a high pH degree in general, and water in caves and wells has an even higher pH degree. On the other hand, spring water is light and delightful to drink.

When should we drink water?

Drinking water two or three hours after a meal is a good, healthy practice. According to some scholars, drinking water during a meal prompts disease. But if you have heartburn, you should drink water during and after the meal, for it increases your appetite. You should not drink water, especially cold water, when you are hungry or sweaty, after having a bath, taking laxatives, or eating fruit, for doing so will make you even thirstier. If you are patient, your thirst will fade away spontaneously. Drinking water while sitting is recommended.

Regulating the amount of water

The hypothalamus, located near the brain, regulates the amount of water in a person’s body. The ADH (vasopressin) hormone secreted by the epiphysis maintains the amount of water in our body. The slightest change in pressure and volume is detected by pressure-sensitive osmotic receptors, which are located in our heart as well, and baro-receptors (pressure-sensitive receptors) located in our veins. These receptors detect any changes in water pressure and volume, and then inform the brain of this unbalance. The ADH hormone, secreted from the back part of the epiphysis causes the kidneys to reabsorb water and thus reduce excretion.

What does drinking large amounts of water indicate?

In general, there is no problem if we drink a lot of water. Excessive thirst and excessive urination may be a sign of diabetes, as well as an indication of diabetes inspidus. Diabetes metillus (common diabetes) is related to the insulin hormone. Diabetes inspidus, however, results from an ADH hormone deficiency, thereby causing an imbalance of water in our body. Therefore, it is a good idea to consult a doctor if we experience excessive thirst or urination. Being thirsty while exercising is not a good sign, for researchers say that we should supply the water that we need before engaging in exercise or hard work. Usually, the body does not need much water for the first hour. But while exercising, one should drink water once every 20 minutes.

Qur’anic verses dealing with water

As the Qur’an mentions everything that is important for humanity and to human life, it contains some verses about water. A few of these are given here:

– He will then loose the heavens upon you in torrents. (71:11)

– And brought down from the rain-clouds abundant water. (78:14)

– Have you not seen that Allah drives the clouds, then brings them together, then piles them into a heap, from which you can see rain coming? He brings mountains of hail from the sky, with which He smites whomever He pleases and diverts it from whomever He pleases. The gleam of its lightning almost blinds the eyes. (24:43)

– Or have you seen the water that you drink? Have you brought it down from the clouds or did We send it down? Had we wished, We would have made it bitter; if only you would give thanks. (56:68-70)

References

– www.mayohealth.org

– Ibrahim Hakki, Marifetname (Bedir Publ.).

– R. Murray, Harper’s Biochemistry.

– Senai Demirci, Dar Kapidan Gecmek.

In the two Texas counties of Tarrant and Dallas, there are over 200,000 Muslims from all around the world. Some are Arabs, but only one in five of all Muslims is from the Middle East. Many are from Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh (the three largest Muslim countries in the world), and India. Others come from Africa and Europe, and many thousands are African Americans. All large cities of Texas have mosques and Muslim community centers; even rural Texas has increasing numbers of Muslim inhabitants. Our dialogue can begin here – with neighbors in our own community.

In the spring of 2002, a class of more than 30 students at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University devoted a semester to studying Islam and Christian-Muslim relations. Under the guidance of their professors, one a Christian and one a Muslim, they listened to visiting speakers, attended services in local mosques, and spoke with Muslims from many walks of life. As a culmination of this transformative experience, the class formulated a set of guidelines on Christian-Muslim dialogue, which they now offer to members of churches located in the Metroplex and throughout Texas. It is their prayer that through dialogue, Christians and Muslims everywhere will affirm together a wider vision of community and a shared resolve that religion must never be an instrument of hatred and division.

Principles of Christian-Muslim dialogue

1. Dialogue invites us to come together as people, not as belief systems. It acknowledges that each religious tradition is pluralistic within itself, and realizes that each dialogue partner speaks from a particular religious perspective that cannot – and does not – represent all adherents of that faith. Dialogue also recognizes that each participant is located within a particular cultural, political, and economic perspective and inevitably brings particular loyalties, commitments, and preconceptions to the relationship. Through dialogue, we get to know one another as individuals.

2. Dialogue, which is characterized by courtesy and respect, is most productive when its participants are considerate, open-minded, and genuine in their desire to learn from the other partners. Each tradition’s scripture, beliefs, and practices deserve our respect for having brought countless diverse people into a relationship with God.

3. Dialogue is enhanced if participants have engaged in a preliminary investigation of the other faith tradition, as well as in an informed and self-critical reflection upon their own faith identity. We must come prepared to the best of our ability, for dialogue enjoins us to listen with and speak from the heart as much as the head, to be open, vulnerable, honest, and sensitive to feelings of frustration or offense.

4. Dialogue enables us to confront inherited preconceptions. It asks us to remember that Christians and Muslims share a history of both fruitful exchange and peace as well as of misunderstanding and fierce conflict. In dialogue, we are mindful that ambiguous situations sometimes can be misinterpreted or misrepresented. Dialogue deliberately seeks to identify and dispel common stereotypes and inherited misconceptions based on misinformation.

5. Dialogue recognizes that in order to reach a clear understanding, we must pay attention to vocabulary. Some words have specialized meaning within a religious system; the meaning of others varies over time or within certain contexts or between cultures. Dialogue entails a careful clarification of our use of language.

6. Dialogue asks us first to understand, and only then to be understood. In dialogue, we listen in order to understand the other’s point of view and seek to understand each person as they understand themselves. We seek to understand each religious system “from within” or on its own terms, while temporarily setting aside our own critical presuppositions.

7. Dialogue is enhanced by each participant’s strong faith convictions. In a context of courteous listening and mutual trust, we can offer an authentic expression of our own personal faith. Dialogue involves a humble and sincere exchange of information about each participant’s faith journey and sustaining religious tradition.

8. Dialogue seeks to share, challenge, and be challenged. Insisting one’s own religious tradition’s superiority inevitably undermines productive dialogue. We can be truly respectful of the integrity of our dialogue partner’s religious identity only if we avoid all attempts at proselytizing.

9. Dialogue can occur on many levels besides that of theological discussion. For example, it is enriched through interactions of friendship and hospitality, working together in community projects and celebrations, and making common cause to solve social problems. Dialogue is most vital and effective when we pray together, open our homes to each other, and actually share our lives together.

10. Dialogue should be transformative, opening the windows of the mind and spirit to a broader vision of God’s presence in the world.

Dialogue in practice

Here are some practical suggestions for interfaith dialogue meetings.

1. Fair and thoughtful planning, done together and well in advance, can help ensure that both Christians and Muslims feel comfortable and welcome at meetings. A skillful and knowledgeable moderator, as well as a neutral environment, may smooth initial encounters, for it is important to encourage real discussion and interaction among participants. Dialogue is enriched by wide-ranging participation, including persons of various ages, socioeconomic levels, types of spirituality, and cultures.

2. Anticipating that we will encounter both similarities and differences, dialogue recognizes that mutual acceptance and understanding, not absolute agreement, is the main goal. Initially, dialogue should focus on common features and similarities, without minimizing differences, while working to build the trust that will allow candid discussion of those differences. Issues for early discussions might include the five pillars of Islam and their Christian counterparts or concerns related to social justice, ecology, or the challenges of secularism. A host of other issues will raise themselves in the early meetings.

3. We should have realistic expectations about our meetings. Dialogue is a long-term and ongoing process of building community, not a few shared encounters. Still, the journey can be taken only one step at a time. All participants should be encouraged to make an active and steadfast commitment to walking together toward understanding and peace. 

Globalization or Westernization?

As the mere terminology surrounding the debate has led to a considerable amount of confusion and misunderstanding, we need to define our terms. Globalization is the spread and exchange of people, goods, and ideas across the globe. Characteristically, it is directly associated with change, or transformation, modernity, and an increasingly interdependent relationship between different regions of the world. “Globalization is an aspect of human life that has always been there since the beginning of humanity. It corresponds with the natural human instinct and man’s tendency towards being a ‘social animal.’ It is the tendency with which God has created man to live on exchanging his sources and experiences with others around him, in order to achieve and realize the best chances of life.” (1)

However, globalization is frequently associated with the liberal classical economic theory, and since the mid-1970s with neo-liberalism, which has its roots in the classical economic theory. More specifically, globalization is considered a reflection of the classical economic theory’s principle of comparative advantage, which promotes an open economic system and free trade in order to achieve and realize the best chances of life.

Although the process of globalization has been linked with concepts of comparative advantage, free trade, and open economy, its origins can be traced to a time long before such ideas appeared. In order to develop a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of the so called “Islam-globalization” debate, it is critical to distinguish between the process of globalization in its original sense and such relatively more contemporary processes, like Westernization, that are masked as globalization and yet are fundamentally different.

“Globalization targets the narrowing of the gaps separating different communities. This is done by exchanging benefits in all aspects of life — economic, social, scientific, and political governance. That is, they exchange information, understand each other’s values and codes of ethics and build a common ground.” (2) In contrast, Westernization does not consider such an understanding or building of such common ground to be worthwhile enterprises. Globalization is a process in which “the whole world becomes like a small village, where the less advanced communities can develop their capacities” and that “tends to be a two-way street process, which makes it possible for each community to take as well as to give.” (3) Westernization, on the other hand, tends to be a one-way street, meaning that one region attempts to dominate and control other regions in the name of globalization. Moreover, while globalization occurs through the free will of different communities, Westernization is characteristically imposed upon other regions.

Islam’s role

Having clarified the difference between globalization and Westernization, the Islam-globalization debate can be assessed more accurately. Islam is not anti-globalization (or modernity, which is considered to be a by-product of globalization) in its original sense, but Muslims do have a problem with Westernization. “Although Westernization of society is condemned, modernization as such is not. Science and technology are accepted, but they are to be subordinated to Islamic belief and values in order to guard against the Westernization and secularization of Muslim society.” (4) Based upon historical precedence and contemporary evidence, Islam clearly embraces globalization in its original form, which is based upon free-will and not upon the aggressive imposition of the West upon the East.

First of all, it is important to note that Islam orders people to cooperate, to be helpful to one another according to goodness and piety, and not to be helpful in evil and malice (Qur’an 5:2). This principle is fully endorsed by Prophet Muhammad on the local level, regardless if your neighbor is a Muslim or not. Surely this principle can be extended into the international level, where a neighboring country can be defined as any country that has normal economic and political relations with the Islamic world.(5)

Other factors illustrate Islam’s acceptance and predominant role in the process of globalization. “For several centuries, Arabic was the world’s leading language in sciences. Muslims made important advances in mathematics, astronomy and medicine — a legacy from which European scholars derived great benefit,” and which led to the Renaissance. (6) Globalization is not only a Western phenomenon, for “the agents of globalization are neither European nor exclusively Western, nor are they necessarily linked to Western dominance. Indeed, Europe would have been a lot poorer — economically, culturally, and scientifically — had it resisted the globalization of mathematics, science, and technology [from the East]…”(7)

We have to differentiate between the gifts of globalization and the products of Westernization. More specifically, the Islam-globalization debate in itself is built upon a number of mistaken diagnoses that misconstrue Islam’s place in the globalized world — one that has been quite productive in the past and has the potential to be productive in the future. The misguided assumption that Islam opposes globalization and modernization is dangerous, because it could potentially result in the loss of Islam’s significant contributions to the rest of the world.

Muslim attitudes toward Westernization

The Muslim world’s reaction to Westernization, and the West’s emergence as the dominant force transforming the world, must be assessed. “It is similar to the emergence of the Arab Muslims as a major world power in the seventh and eighth centuries…”(8) It is important to note that “the Muslim weakness at the end of the eighteenth century coincided with the rise of an entirely different type of civilization in the West, and this time the Muslim world would find it far more difficult to meet the challenge.”(9) In the past, Muslim communities were able to revitalize Islam’s role and power in the world. However, the impact of Westernization was an unprecedented experience that significantly challenged Islam and created a bi-polar dichotomy that separated the West from the rest — and specifically from Islam.

From a historical perspective, Westernization minimized Islam’s role and made it dependent upon the Western way of doing things. “The Islamic world has been convulsed by the modernization process. Instead of being one of the leaders of world civilization, Islamdom was quickly and permanently reduced to a dependent bloc by European powers.”(10) As a result, resentment toward the West emerged. Muslims questioned whether they would have to accept Western-style modernization or be deemed as being anti-globalization. “From this point, a growing number of Muslims would wrestle with these questions, and their attempts to put Muslim history back on the straight path would sometimes appear desperate and even despairing. The suicide bomber — an almost unparalleled phenomenon in Islamic history — shows that some Muslims are convinced that they are pitted against hopeless odds.”(11)

The emergence and rise of extremism can be directly attributed to the resulting resentment toward the Western style of globalization — a one-way process that does not strive to create a common ground between the West and other regions, and hence the desire and perceived need to pursue religious revivalism. However, we should realize that violence and extremism are not exclusively Islamic phenomena. “The Western media often gives the impression that the embattled and occasionally violent form of religiosity known as fundamentalism is a purely Islamic phenomenon. This is not the case. Fundamentalism is a global fact and has surfaced in every major faith in response to the problems of our modernity.”(12)

“For Islamic society, the underlying concerns regarding globalization are: how to protect a unique heritage in the face of global pressure; to uphold religious traditions; to preserve linguistic purity; to defend social institutions; and ultimately, to maintain a viable identity in the midst of a rapidly changing global environment.”(13) According to Islam, complete submission to God is the first and foremost priority for all Muslims. Anything that undermines Islamic principles is considered a threat to Islam’s longevity and power in the world. More importantly, we should be aware of the fact that despite the Islam-West bi-polarization, Islam is rapidly becoming a global phenomenon that transcends the boundaries that once separated the West from the rest.

Global Islam: The growing phenomenon and implications for the future

Islam is the second largest religion and the fastest growing religion in the world. Islam began to spread in Arabia around the year 610 A.D. when Prophet Muhammad began receiving revelations from God through Archangel Gabriel, sharing with others what he had been told. Today, Islam is a global phenomenon represented by Muslims across the world. “Fifteen million Muslims reside in Europe, and seven to eight million in the United States. There are now about a thousand mosques each in Germany and France, and five hundred in the United Kingdom.”(14) One factor that may explain the rapid spread of Islam is the process of globalization itself.

Islam’s future depends upon its ability to wed Western-style modernism with Islamic principles, or, in other words, whether it can develop an Islamic-style modernism. The challenge is to engage in modernity without sacrificing Muslim values or undermining Islamic principles. “As we are only slowly realizing, Islam is truly a world religion, increasingly visible in Europe and the United States as well as Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.”(15) It is significant for the future of Islam that “the capitals and major cities of Islam are not only Cairo, Istanbul, Mecca, but equally Paris, London, New York.”(16)

Given that Islam has become a global phenomenon, it is increasingly important that its principles are respected and not made irrelevant in the modern world. “All religious people in any age have to make their traditions address the challenge of their particular modernity…”(17) Rather than provoking the bi-polarization of the world, separating Islamic values from Western values, the goal of globalization is to develop an understanding of each other’s values and codes of ethics and to establish a common ground. Establishing a common ground is vital for ensuring the progress of globalization and allowing the world to reach its full potential. Modernization and globalization need to respect the identities of all regions and respect religion as a natural necessity for humanity.

Conclusion

The struggle for religion to remain relevant in the world is common to all religions at some point in history. Much of the literature surrounding the current Islam-globalization debate provides an inadequate and fragmented view of religion’s role in the process of globalization. Secularization, which is promoted in the current forms of globalization, is a new concept. In fact, based upon historical precedence, religion has played a key role in contributing to globalization and, more specifically, Islam has had a predominant role. The challenge for the future of a globalized world, and not just for Islam, is to be helpful to one another according to goodness and piety, and not to be helpful in evil and malice (Qur’an 5:2).

This article is available in Romanian in the following link: http://webhostinggeeks.com/science/article-fountainmagazine-rm

Footnotes

1. www.IslamOnline.com.
2. www.IslamOnline.com.
3. www.IslamOnline.com.
4. John Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path, 3d ed. (Oxford University Press, 1998), 165.
5. Choudhury, www.Islamic-finance.net.
6. Hardy, http://news.bbc.co.uk.
7. Sen, www.prospect.org.
8. Karen Armstrong, Islam: A Short History, (Modern Library: 2002), 141.
9. Ibid., 138.
10. Ibid.,
11. 146.
12. Ibid., 153.
13. Ibid., 164.
14. Dr. Ahmed Kamal Aboulmagd, The Middle East Times,
15. Armstrong, Islam, 176.
16. Esposito, Islam, xvi.
17. Ibid, 203.
18. Armstrong, Islam, 164.

At a time when there is a vast interest in acquiring an accurate knowledge of Islam, this book is a welcome addition. What better way to learn of a religious tradition than having one who knows it intimately write about it? For decades, non-Muslims have been “informed” about Islam by non-Muslim Orientalists, ideologues who opposed it for various reasons, atheists, sociologists, Christian and other missionaries, and many similar people. All of them had just one overall view of Islam in common: It was outdated and therefore either in need of being reformed — and of course only they could do the job properly — or it should be thrown into the dustbin of history and replaced with modernity, science, secularism, or just about anything else.

This book refutes all such claims by revealing the underlying essence of Islam’s beliefs and rituals. The author’s obvious piety and profound knowledge immediately sets this book apart from similar works. After reading and pondering upon its five chapters: “The Meaning of Religion and a General Outline of Islam,” Essentials of the Islamic Faith,” “The Pillars of Islam and a Muslim’s Daily Life,” “Islamic Morality,” and “Other Aspects of Islam”-no one can say that Islam is no more than a religion of outdated beliefs and empty ritual formalism that keeps its practitioners backward, passive, superstitious, and ignorant.

Non-Muslims, as well as “cultural” Muslims, will find chapters 1, 2, 4, and 5 especially useful, for in them the author expounds upon the foundations of Islam and how they are similar to and differ from their Jewish and Christian counterparts. We learn how Muslims perceive God, spiritual beings, Divine Destiny (often misunderstood as predestination and the consequent lack of choice and free will), the Resurrection and the Afterlife, eschatology, the role of Jesus in the final days, death and the spirit after death, and other related topics. Also examined in detail is the Prophet’s life and why Muslims consider him the best of humanity and their guide on the path of perfection in all spheres, as well as various social aspects: social life, administration, human rights, why Islam is spreading, and what we may expect in the future.

For Muslims, chapter 3 is the most beneficial, for it deals with the underlying and subtle meanings behind such well-known ritual practices as personal purity, performing the prescribed prayers (salat), fasting during the month of Ramadan, giving the prescribed alms (zakat), and making the pilgrimage to Makka. Issues related to the Muslim’s personal life also are analyzed, among them marriage and family life, lawful (halal) and forbidden (haram) activities in one’s social as well as professional life, and prayers. Especially helpful are the various prayers to be made on certain occasions.

Chapter 3 follows the traditional manuals long known to observant Muslims. But this one is different, for instead of just explaining what to do, the author explains why our Creator places such importance upon such attitudes and rituals, as well as what attitude that we should adopt toward Him as a result.

This book should be in the personal library of everyone who is looking for a comprehensive account of what Islam offers to humanity. It will be of great help to practising Muslims, for it provides a much deeper understanding of Islamic rituals and terminology, why humanity was created, and the exact nature of each person’s relationship with his or her Creator. After reading it, no longer will Muslims be content with their usual rote recitation of the Qur’an and participation in Islam’s sacred rituals. May this book find a wide audience, and may its readers seek to re-establish contact with their Creator.

A: In classical Islamic terminology, pluralism means to perceive details in different ways while remaining true to the origin and truth, to understand God’s Will in matters related to us in a way that is worthy of Him, and to have different thoughts and ideas.

There are many ways to God, for how one reaches Him depends upon one’s environment, culture, the degree to which His Most Beautiful Names have been manifested, plus many other factors. Thus, we can say that the appearance of different groups and orders has always been a normal development.

For example, Ali Ibn Abu Talib’s (r.a) approach in, by which he expressed his inherent character, cannot be compared to that of Abu Bakr’s (r.a), just as the characters of Umar Ibn Khattab (r.a) and Abu Dharr (r.a) were very different from each other. For example, they both had the same bravery and courage, but Umar Ibn Khattab (r.a) had a perfect understanding of state and administrative matters, as well as organizational skills, whereas Abu Dharr (r.a) was more of a loner.

Given this, we can say that such pluralism existed even at the time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), a time when the Muslims were a perfectly unified community. Thus, such a condition is acceptable. In fact, we can say that unifying the different ways leading to God is against natural law, for people are created with different natures and so cannot think in the same way.

Those who want to make different characters the same cannot understand this fine point, for they cannot understand the inner realities of human behavior and, as a result, do not see people’s inherent abilities. Since God implanted different abilities so that each person would function according to His Wisdom, there has to be pluralism, which is just another word for having different ways of expressing the same reality. The difference in abilities manifested itself as different schools of Islamic jurisprudence, namely, Hanafi, Shafi`i, Maliki, Hanbali, Evzai, Sevri, and Zuhri.

Different systems have existed since the Qur’an’s revelation, and all have served the people’s souls, senses, hearts, and consciences. Other great examples of the differences in ability are Sufyan-i Sevri, Ibrahim ibn A`tham, Beyazid-Bistami, Junayd al-Baghdadi, Abdul Qadir al-Jilani, Sheikh Naqshband, Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi, and Imam Rabbani.

In other words, as long as the world exists, the different methods and characters of expressing Islam will also exist. Although the means may be different, a unity in aim and purpose can always be brought about. Although the languages may differ, the truth they explain is one and the same. As the Arab poet says: Our explanations are many and complicated, but Your Beauty is one. They all point to Your Beauty.

Now, we can discuss certain factors necessary for unity and collaboration in terms of true Islamic thought.

Unification, agreement, and managing the different aproaches and characters can take place only at the level of feelings, thought, and mind. At the level of feelings, this can help different groups come together, even if only on a superficial level. However, as people usually continuously develop in thought and soul, such a fragile feeling of unity may not be enough. Therefore, people can become unified on the level of subjective motives (i.e., unity of feelings), and, when this is not enough, on the basis of thought and reason.

Only in this way can the community of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, regain its rightful place among humanity. To realize this lofty goal, Muslims have to do several things. First, we must applaud all services in the way of the Truth, instead of just those with which we agree. We must say: One who mentions my Lord’s name and praises and respects my Prophet is my brother and sister, and accept the others.

It does not matter which way we are following, for our God, book (the Qur’an), Prophet, qiblah (prayer direction), path, and thus our method, are one and the same. Our unity must not be subjective (based upon feelings), but objective (based upon thought and reason).

Secondly, we must never force someone to follow our own way. The way of the Qur’an is to show tolerance and acceptance to everyone. Those who behave with tolerance and gentleness have solved a potential future problem. Pluralism allows everyone to serve the Qur’an and Islam in his or her own way and thereby accomplish various important matters, such as those related to the society or the economy. This was the practice under the Abbasids, with a few exceptions, and we should follow it. We must measure using the criteria of the Ahl al-Sunnah (the followers of the Prophet), discard that which should be discarded, keep that which should be kept, design a new world with new syntheses, and try to be the founders and pioneers of a new world.

For example, two groups that are not part of the Ahl al-Sunnah, the Mu`tazilah and the Jabariyah, always opposed each other. The first group believed in total human agency, while the second group believed in the total lack of human agency. Given these beliefs, their ways of understanding human willpower and choice, as well as God’s creation, were exact opposites. Today, many rationalists think like the Mu`tazilah.

However, the Ahl al-Sunnah took a seed of truth from each group and produced a synthesis. They told the Mu`tazilah that each person has a choice, as revealed in there is nothing for people except what they strive for with their own effort (54:39) and If the Lord of all worlds does not will, you cannot will (81:29). They told the Jabariyah that their view was like kicking a person into the ocean and then saying: Don’t get wet! Thus, the synthesis that they developed was that God’s Will is an important principle that must not be forgotten. Your own will has such a small sphere of administration that its existence and non-existence are almost the same. However, it does exist and is the basis for sin or merit, punishment or reward.

Yes, all issues and principles in Islam are true, real, correct, and just. In every way, Islam is a collection of unifying principles. Each different way and thought contains a seed of truth. Given this, we cannot ignore the different details created by God and the reality of the inherent way of creation. We cannot mix the water coming from different pools and form an imaginary single water way. Everyone can demonstrate the truth of the Qur’an and Islam in their own field, and so should not be preoccupied with others.

Even if we cannot unify ourselves, at least we should not disagree with one another. We must learn to praise or applaud every Muslim and support everyone who says Allah or God. By His Will, and with this intention, true unity will come about in a short time.

Therefore, we must work within the Islamic world with its understanding of faith; its own acceptance and interpretation of Islam; its consciousness of the good; its zeal and yearning for spiritual ecstasy; its reason, logic, mode and system of thinking; its style of expressing and communicating itself; and its own institutions, which will lead to a comprehensive renewal. The fundamentals of our spiritual life, religious thought and imagination are responsible for our past success. Religion gives meaning to humanity and the universe, explains us to ourselves, and embraces and influences every aspect of our individual and collective life.

The axis of all believers’ acts is worship, which is directed toward the Hereafter and seeking God’s good pleasure. There is no “this world/that world” or “mind/heart” dichotomy, for the believers’ emotions and reason are united and their understanding does not ignore their inspiration. So in their mental world, experience stretches up to the mind and knowledge is a high bastion, reinforced with understanding, wisdom, and intuition. Their understanding contains no gap.

Religion does not contradict science and reason and cannot be blamed for clashes among social sections. Such conflicts arise from ignorance, ambition, or vested interests. Clashes between religious people occur because they do not have the same degree of belief and so cannot preserve sincerity or overcome their feelings. Indeed, such conflicts can be avoided only by establishing religion and its institutions in our daily life so that it becomes our society’s life-blood.

The Islamic community needs to be revived by combining serious efforts to preserve Islam’s original principles with the Qur’an’s extensiveness and universality, so that it meets the needs of all people in all times and places, and so that it embraces all facets of life. Islamic history has recorded many renewals, reforms, and revivals. Legal schools represented new developments in jurisprudence and law, Sufi orders turned paths to the heart and the soul into broad highways, and our schools and colleges sought to make sense of the universe and its inhabitants. This latest renewal and revival must combine all of these, for without turning to certainty in faith, sincerity in deeds, and excellence in thought and feeling, it will not occur.

All acts of worship should be performed completely and as outlined in the Qur’an and Sunna. Words should be the means of prayer, and soul and sincerity are essential; the Sunna should be the guide and consciousness a necessity. Only God should be the goal, for if these acts are not performed as required, how are they different from comparable mundane activities?

Somehow, we must mobilize ourselves to raise the physicians of the soul and essential reality who can fill this vacuum in us, eradicate our weaknesses, rescue us from being slaves to our body and carnal desires, and direct us to a level of life in the heart and the soul. We need physicians of spirit and essence, spirit, and reality, physicians whose hearts are open to all fields of knowledge and all spiritual inspirations and Divine blessings. In short, we need whole comprehensive minds.

Such people must be in constant contact and interaction with the atoms, molecules, and particles of the people, just as the mind is in constant contact with the body. They will embrace everyone. By conveying the messages of their soul to all and elevating them to the level of people who have knowledge, skills, and genius for the future, they will present them for the common good and society’s benefit. They will purify everyone of the foulness of the age and guide them toward human perfection.

Moreover, they will transform the media into the voice and breath of social and religious life, and use it to teach the owners of the darkest feelings, thoughts, and voices how to become human. And they will save our educational and training institutions by once again making them open and responsive to the requirements of the present, reorder and organize them according to historical perspectives, and raise them, through the use of styles, methodologies, and planning of a high standard, to a higher level.

Thus we will rise as a society from the misery of rigid and empty formalism to true scientific understanding; from dignifying diverse vile and disgraceful works with the title of “art” to true art and aesthetics; from customs, addictions, and obsessions of unknown origin to the consciousness of a morality based on history and religion; from the snares of various gnawing thoughts in our hearts to the oneness of service, submission, consciousness, and resignation.

Capitalism, communism, socialism, the hybrids of social democracy, and liberalism have nothing new to offer. Our world is open to the new world order. It might even be our renaissance. This revival will make our world of thinking and feeling, and also our understanding of art and aesthetics, gain a heretofore unknown depth and variety. We will find our own aesthetic pleasures, reach our own music, and discover our own romanticism. In short, we will secure our people’s future.

Our flag will be effort and dynamism; our source of strength will be our consciousness of faith and truth. We will no longer have to look for handouts, for we will regain our honor and remain honorable only by holding fast to our own values and surrendering wholeheartedly to God.

Toward Our Own World

Many eras and lands have seen movements that claimed to be reformations and reconstructions. Such claims have always been controversial. One domain is now ripe for a genuine reformation that will embrace all creation: the Muslim world.

Once, almost all of the natural and religious sciences, from Sufism to logic, as well as from urban planning to aesthetics, were embodied in geniuses who studied phenomena in minute detail. Such names are too many to mention here. By mobilizing all of our brilliant minds and souls, Muslims may soon realize a second or third renaissance. Yes, we will start by recognizing Islam’s soul and essence, spirit and reality, and reach toward the re-interpretation of existence, from the boundless Divine climates of Sufism to universal metaphysics; from Islamic self-accounting and self-control to the vigilance, circumspection, and self-possession that make humanity gain value; from the cities and urbanization, in which our inner world takes repose and breathes, to the aesthetics that will be the property of all; from the art that embroiders the soul and essence, spirit, and reality everywhere and seeks infinity in all that it embroiders, to the true pleasures of an aesthetic, which becomes more and more other-worldly and refined, and integrates with the beyond. By all of these means, we can open a new chapter.

Our spiritual life has been to a large part extinguished for many years; our religious world has become dysfunctional; our hearts’ tongues have been tied as people have forgotten intense, ecstatic love and spiritual ecstasy; we have transformed all minds that read and think into minds devoted to a hard positivism; bigotry has been built instead of firmness of character, strength of religion, and perseverance in truth. Even in asking for the Hereafter and Paradise, petitioners have in mind some continuation of this world’s ordinary happiness. It is therefore impossible to open a new chapter without ripping such misdirected, deep-rooted thoughts and considerations out of ourselves.

This does not mean that the foulness that has sullied our souls for centuries cannot be eradicated. However, as this foulness caused us to fall, we must get rid of it before we can make any progress. For example, we must abandon our greed, laziness, ambition for fame, selfishness and worldly-mindedness, and replace these with the spirit of contentedness, willpower and courage, modesty and humility, altruism and spirituality, piety and godliness, all of which are the essence and truth of Islam.

Fortunately, we have such heroes among us, and the renewal and change that they will bring about will be shaped by the Qur’an and tempered by human nature. Both its enemies and the masses will be unable to prevent it, for history proves that only a few individual geniuses bring about a renaissance. Such people, who have emerged with a complete spiritual awareness in almost every age, established schools of law and schools of thought, both of which breathed the spirit of reconstruction and reform into the masses. Their successors followed them and their thoughts, as did the masses that sheltered in their enlightened climate. Such great guides became the people’s life-blood and soul, and lived with them like a spirit. In their absence, society and the people declined.

Now, as the days turn to spring and dawn chases dawn, we are becoming hopeful and expectant, praying to our Lord: “Grant us willpower supported by your Will, which will be the foundation of our souls. Make our hearts blossom as the flowers in Paradise, and make our souls reach the secrets of the innermost part of Your Divinity. Show our people the ways to revival in the Muhammadi line.” To ask for and expect this is both our right and duty, the natural consequence of our faith. However, we must refer frequently to our glorious past and take shelter in the values that made it magnificent. This is the way that other civilizations renewed themselves.

As long as we can recover our thoughts, feelings, methodology, and philosophy, it will be enough to bring them together to find our heavenly and immortal style. Thus, we should first re-examine all of the roads that we will take, and then repair and reinforce them. We must cultivate the inspiration and fruitfulness of religious longing and desire, firmness, gravity, sobriety, and wisdom in our reasoning and logic; stability and humanity, with the freedom to be ourselves; philosophical depth, refinement, and contemplative abstraction in our arts and philosophy. All of these should be logical at their core and inspired by revelation.

God’s good pleasure is the ultimate goal. The soul is before and ahead of the body. The self is an essential dynamism that will ignite the consciousness of duty under the heart’s rule. The love of humanity and country is an indispensable passion, and the duty to be moral is a vital provision for the journey. We must adhere to the Qur’an, and recognize humanity’s character and real human values as significant sources of power. Goals and objectives must be just, fair, and sacred, and the ways leading to them must be indicated by the Qur’an and the Sunna.

In the 21st century, we are plunging forward into a new era of technological power — one that offers enormous promise and danger.

What is nanotechnology?

In its most basic form, nanotechnology refers to the manipulation of materials at the atomic or molecular level. The name derives from the nanometer, a scientific measurement unit representing a billionth of a meter, three to four atoms wide. Scientists are learning how to connect atoms and molecules together to create nano-scale mechanisms that create switches or transistors, or even small machines that can perform complex tasks.

To use an oft-quoted comparison, a human hair is between 100,000 and 200,000 nanometers thick, while a typical virus can be just 100 nanometers wide. Atoms are typically between one-tenth and one-half of a nanometer wide. Due to the difficulties involved in working at this scale, manipulation of items as “large” as 100 nanometers is generally included in the concept of nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology enables scientists to create new materials atom by atom. With increasingly more powerful microscopes, scientists can see molecules that are mere nanometers (billionths of a meter) in size. To clarify this size, a pinhead is one million nanometers across. The field intertwines nearly all fields of science.

Most nanotechnology discussions deal with the futuristic concept of nanomachines or nanorobots: microscopic devices that carry out tasks at the atomic or subatomic level. Nanotechnology, also called molecular manufacturing, is “a branch of engineering that deals with the design and manufacture of extremely small electronic circuits and mechanical devices built at the molecular level of matter.” The goal of nanotechnology is to manipulate materials at the atomic level to build the smallest possible electromechanical devices, given the physical limitations of matter. Many of the mechanical systems that we know how to build will be transferred to the molecular level as some atomic analogy.

A typical vision of the twenty-first century: “Nanotechnologists will be building our cars one molecule at a time, invading our bloodstream to declog our arteries, and replicating themselves thousands of times over.”

Nanorobots (1)

A nanorobot is a computer-controlled robotic device constructed of nanometer-scale components to molecular precision, usually microscopic in size (often abbreviated as nanobot). This reminds one of the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage, in which a team of scientists (including Raquel Welch) are miniaturized, placed in a tiny submarine, and injected into a sick man’s bloodstream. Nanotechnology invariably involves work on a much smaller scale than the average blood cell.

Producing commercially viable nanomachines will be more challenging, since atomic manipulation, while not theoretically contrary to the laws of physics, is still extremely slow and costly. The most widely discussed long-term solution is to make the nanomachines self-replicating. Control mechanisms for such systems, mainly how a machine “knows” to copy itself and when to stop doing so, are still in their very early stages. Once again, theory is far ahead of practical reality.

Many of nanotechnology’s more recent practical applications have been in the area of material research. However, scientists believe that transistors eventually could be built in this way, paving the way for computational technologies that do not depend on silicon and that can pack even more circuitry into microscopic spaces.

Nanoshells (2)

Nanoshells, defined as tiny particles that can manipulate light, can be used to transform medical procedures, ranging from cancer therapy to medical testing and drug delivery. They are ideal for biotechnology applications because they are biocompatible, can be altered and modified, and absorb light easily in the near-infrared region, where human tissue is most transparent.

Nanoshells can be tagged and delivered specifically to tumor cells, thereby leaving healthy cells undamaged. In addition, they can reduce the amount of time needed to conduct medical tests from several days to a matter of seconds. When incorporated into temperature-sensitive polymers, nanoshells can be triggered to release a chemical using infrared light, thus enabling a patient to control the release of medicine that requires periodic dispensing.

A new bandage (3)

A new bandage that imitates natural healing process is used for injuries ranging from minor cuts to gunshot wounds. The bandage, a flannel-like material, stops bleeding immediately and eventually is absorbed by the body. This new material is developed by spinning a compound naturally found in the blood into a bandage that can minimize blood loss and be absorbed by the body, according to an article in the 12 Feb. 2003 issue of Nano Letters, a journal of the American Chemical Society. “We’ve taken an old technique — electrospinning — and applied it to natural fibers,” says Gary Bowlin, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University.

When a person bleeds from a cut or a wound, a blood clot forms and netting made of a substance called fibrin develops over the clot. According to researchers, fibrinogen, the compound in blood that comprises the “natural” bandage, is a fibrin precursor that can come from human, bovine, or genetically engineered bacterial sources. The goal is to pack the bandage like gauze so that it can be used to treat trauma patients, according to Bowlin.

Science fiction into reality (4)

Imagine a world in which cars can be assembled molecule-by-molecule, garbage can be disassembled and turned into beef steaks, and people can be operated on and healed by cell-sized robots. Sounds like science fiction? Well, with current semiconductor chip manufacturing encroaching upon the nanometer scale and the ability to move individual atoms at the IBM Almaden laboratory, we are fast approaching the technological ability to fabricate productive machines and devices that can manipulate objects at the atomic level. With this ability, we will be able to develop molecular-sized computers and robots that will give us unprecedented control over matter and the ability to shape the physical world as we see fit.

Nanofabrication techniques with applications in fiber optics, biotechnology, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and “tiny mechanical devices such as sensors, valves, gears, mirrors, and actuators embedded in semiconductor chips,” are of particular interest, as they are but a mere step away from the molecular machines envisioned by nanotechnology. MEMS are used in automobile airbag systems as accelerometers to detect collisions, and will become an increasing part of our everyday technology. In 1986, K. Eric Drexler, a researcher at MIT, foresaw the advent of molecular machines. In his Engines of Creation, he outlined the possibilities and consequences of this emerging field, which he called nanotechnology. Drexler has written numerous books on the subject, such as Unbounding the Future, and has founded the Foresight Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the responsible development of nanotechnology. Today, nanotechnology research and development is widespread in numerous universities. The U.S. government has created an organization, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), to monitor and guide research and development in this field.

Potential benefits

It does not take much of a leap of imagination disassemblers dismantling garbage to be recycled at the molecular level, and then giving it to assemblers who will use it to build atomically perfect engines. Stretching this vision a bit, you can imagine a Star Trek type replicator that could reassemble matter in the form of a juicy steak, given the correct blueprints and organization of these nanomachines.

A laboratory-scale “in vivo nanoscope” could be capable of providing atomic resolution, real-time movies of happenings inside living cells in intact living animals. This nanoscope, a hybrid of conventional technology and early (pre-assembler) nanotechnology, is an enormous leap in the ability of biologists to understand the workings of cells and develop medical therapies.

Some of the more prominent benefits of nanotechnology would be precision manufacturing, material reuse, and miniaturization. Medical applications are pharmaceutical creation, disease treatment, and nanomachine-assisted surgery. Environmental applications lie in toxin cleanup, recycling, and resource consumption reduction.

Nanomedicine deals with the comprehensive monitoring, control, construction, repair, defense, and improvement of all human biological systems by working at the molecular level with engineered nanodevices and nanostructures; the science and technology of diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease and traumatic injury, as well as relieving pain and preserving and improving human health through the use of molecular tools and molecular knowledge of the human body; and the use of molecular machine systems to address medical problems and using molecular knowledge to maintain and improve human health at the molecular scale. Cosmetic nanosurgery carried out with simple nanomachines (no on-board computers, for example) could change hair color, cause hair to grow or not to grow in specific locations, keep teeth clean and skin smooth, and so on, all far more effectively than current treatments.

Looking somewhat further in the future at more radical modifications of the human body through nanotechnology, Edward Reifman describes dentistry with assembly-fabricated teeth, and even with the teeth and jaws being made of diamonds. “In the long term, we hope to be able to build small nanorobots which can search out and destroy cancerous tumors when they comprise just one or two cells” or “small drilling machines which dissolve clots.”

Viruses, which are natural nanomachines, could be fought more effectively, as the body’s own immune system has some handicaps: it tends to forget the shape of its enemies, cannot always successfully identify malignant cells, and suffers from a certain delay until the immune reaction is fully developed. Therefore, nanomachines could support the immune system. Nanomachines could rout bacteria, excise tumors, reconstruct damaged tissue, and even make a huge contribution to treating the process of aging.

Along with the obvious manufacturing benefits, there are many potential medical and environmental benefits. With nanomachines, we could better design and synthesize pharmaceuticals, directly treat such diseased cells as cancer, better monitor a patient’s life signs, and make microscopic repairs in hard-to-operate-on bodily areas. With regard to the environment, we could use nanomachines to clean up toxins or oil spills, recycle garbage, and eliminate landfills, thus reducing our natural resource consumption.

Potential dangers

The downside to these benefits is the possibility of using assemblers and disassemblers to create weapons, to be used as weapons themselves, or the possibility that they may run wild and wreak havoc. Other less invasive but equally perilous uses would be in electronic surveillance.

However, with nanotechnology, armies could develop disassemblers to attack physical structures or biological organisms at the molecular level. A similar hazard would be if general-purpose disassemblers escaped into the environment and started disassembling every molecule they encountered, the so-called “gray goo scenario.” Furthermore, if nanomachines were created to be self-replicating and, for some reason, had a problem with their limiting mechanism, they would multiply endlessly, like viruses.

Even without considering such extreme disaster scenarios, we can find plenty of potentially harmful uses for nanotechnology, such as the erosion of our freedom and privacy. For example, people could use molecular-sized microphones, cameras, and homing beacons to monitor and track others.

Ethical issues and analysis

Given the awesome potential dangers inherent in nanotechnology, we must analyze its potential consequences. Nanotechnology may never become as powerful and prolific as envisioned by its evangelists, but as with any potential near-horizon technology, we should formulate solutions to potential ethical issues before the technology is irreversibly adopted. We must examine the ethics of developing nanotechnology and create policies designed to assist its development while eliminating, or at least minimizing, its damaging effects.

Nanosensors(5)

A nanosensor is defined as a chemical or physical sensor constructed by using nanoscale components, usually microscopic or submicroscopic in size.

Nanotechnology brings science fiction into everyday life6 Nanotechnology’s more immediate future lies in its application in such sensors as electronic “noses” that can detect, for example, the presence of individual protein molecules in a blood sample. This involves a fingernail-sized chip with thousands of sensors, each set to detect a specific substance. It might even be possible to make these noses so small that they could fit on a needle. Then, there would be no need for a blood test, for a finger prick would be sufficient to allow a full blood analysis.

Nanosensors also will be of great value in producing new medicines, for they can effectively find active substances. So far, it has been possible to build this type of sensor one by one; the difficulty lies in integrating perhaps 100,000 of them on one chip.

Aging can be delayed by repairing human cells one by one. Unlimited computer power can be obtained by improved microchip performance. Global warming can be reduced by cleaning greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere with nanoparticles, and pesticides could kill insects without harmful byproducts. Creating artificial muscles and sensors, as well as nanocoating for metal, could increase power plant efficiency and potentially save millions of dollars a year for electricity generators. For example, we now have self-washing windows that repel dirt, thanks to their nanostructured surface.

Nanofluids (7)

On the medical front, researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute are developing magnetic nanofluids. They posit that magnetic particles attached to medicines, like those used in chemotherapy, can be concentrated on one part of the body by using external magnets on patients. 

Always clean clothing (8,9)

Imagine textiles that cannot be stained or wrinkled, that always maintain the look and feel of fabrics made from natural fibers. Imagine materials that are 100 times stronger than steel, but weigh only one-sixth as much. Nanofibers could be used in astronauts’ suits, moving with them as they work to give them greater flexibility in space, or to allow the disabled greater mobility by acting as extra muscles.

Imagine batteries that take up less than one cubic millimeter, but supply a medical implant with power. Imagine sensors, smaller than a pinpoint, that detect anything in extremely low concentrations, from specific antibodies to toxic chemicals.

A big splash of coffee leaves an unmistakable stain on an ordinary pair of trousers; on a pair of nanotextile trousers, it can be brushed off without leaving a trace. A titanium frying pan and the laser in a fairly modern CD player are both based on nanotechnology. By using nanotechnology, wall paint could automatically sterilize an operating theatre, filters could be used in water purifiers to automatically kill undesirable bacteria, and roofing tiles that convert solar light into household electricity could give way to reinforced self-repairing houses immune to all natural disasters “short of a large incoming meteor.(10)

Hence nano-technology is and will continue to become part of our everyday lives … sometimes without us even noticing.

Michael Crichton (11)

Crichton says “These organisms [self-reproducing tiny computers] will be created by nanotechnology, perhaps the most radical technology in human history: the quest to build man-made machines of extremely small size, on the order of 100 nanometers, or 100/billionths of a meter. Such machines would be 1,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Experts predict that these tiny machines will provide everything from miniaturized computer components to new medical treatments to new military weapons. In the 21st century, they will change our world totally.

“The potential benefits are spectacular: Tiny robots may crawl through your arteries, cutting away atherosclerotic plaque; powerful drugs will be delivered to individual cancer cells, leaving other cells undamaged; teeth will be self-repairing. Cosmetically, you will change your hair color with an injection of nanomachines that circulate through the body, moving melanocytes in hair follicles. Other nanomachines will lighten or darken skin color at will, removing blemishes, birthmarks and liver spots in the process; still others could cleanse the mouth and eliminate bad breath. Nonsurgical nanoprocesses could even perform liposuction and body reshaping. They will also repair knees and spines.

Living spaces will be transformed with self-cleaning dishes and carpets and permanently clean bathrooms. Windows will lighten or darken at will; programmable paint will change color. You can walk through the walls of your house, since they are composed of particle clouds. Your personal computer and your watch will be painted on your arm. Temperature-sensitive clothing will loosen when it gets hot, insulate when it gets cold.”

In the future, roving nanomachines will convert trash dumps to energy, solar nanomachines will be coated on the houses to generate electricity, and flexible nanomachines will provide earthquake protection. It may even be possible to move a house across the lawn on the backs of millions of nanomachines.

In 2003, nanotechnology is still very much in its infancy. However, such major corporations as IBM, Fujitsu, and Intel are funding this research. U.S. government investment has gone from virtually nothing only a few years ago to well over $600,000,000 per year in 2003.

At present, nonotechniques are being used to make sunscreens, stain-resistant fabrics, and composite materials for cars; soon, they will be used to make extremely small computers and storage devices. Pittsburgh based PPG Industries, Inc. is making self-cleaning window glass; the Westaim Corporation of Toronto is making nanocrystal wound dressings with antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties. Currently, nanotechnology is principally a material technology.

Most experts predict that self-reproducing machines are only a decade away. Man-made, self-reproducing entities already have been released into the environment. The first of these, of course, were computer viruses. The first viruses were created as a game (“core wars”), a 1960s battle between mainframe programmers, each releasing a program into the other’s mainframe computer. Originally limited to specialists, hackers soon joined in. The growth of computer networking made rapid worldwide transmission possible. Computer viruses, worms on the Internet, have become an international threat to information and global business.

Scientists are witnessing some of the problems of self-replicating biotechnology agents. For example, a recent report indicates that modified maize genes are appearing in native maize in Mexico, despite laws against it and efforts to prevent it. This is only the start of probably a long journey to control this new technology. Laws have been passed to put hackers in jail; delinquent biotechnologists will soon join them. We need international controls to deal with self-reproducing technologies right now, whereas now there are essentially none.

Footnotes

(1) www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/enterprise/story/0,2000048640,20267134-2,00.htm

(2)www.rice.edu/projects/reno/Newsrel/2001/20010402_nanotechnology.shtml.

(3) www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=5481.

(4) http://cseserv.engr.scu.edu/StudentWebPages/AChen/ResearchPaper.htm.

(5) www.nansosensors.com.

(6) Nino Simic, “Nano into Everyday Life.” www.oresundit.com/composite(1610).htm.

(7) Ryan Randazzo, Reno Gazette-Journal, 15 June 2002.

(8) www.agg.com/Practice/Nanotechnology_main.html.

(9) www.oresundit.com/composite(1610).htm.

(10) www.foresight.org.

(11) Michael Crichton, “Could Tiny Machines Rule the World?” Parade Magazine, 24 November 2002, pgs. 6-8.

Some nanotechnology links:

• www.about.com/nanotechnology (A search engine that compiles various sources and articles).
• www.jmtour.com (Professor Jim Tour’s research home page).
• www-ece.rice.edu/~halas (Professor Naomi Halas’ research home page).
• www.nano.gov (The National Science and Technology Council’s site for nanoscale technology, including information on federal initiatives). 

Heaven is often pictured as perfection, a place where everything is fresh, clean, pure, and beautiful. As the Bible describes it: He (God) will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. All of that has gone forever (Revelations 21:4). Many societies and religions have tried to recreate the “feeling” of a heavenly place on Earth in the form of spiritual places in churches, synagogues, mosques, cemeteries, and chapels.

The shared Jewish, Christian, and Muslim belief in only One God has resulted in similar traditions. For example, idolatry and “false gods” are forbidden. In Christianity, statues help believers to focus on God; however, it could become a controversial point where statues or crucifixes are not supposed to be taken as God. In contrast to the idea of using a physical object to help invoke spiritual feelings, Islamic law forbids the use of statues of any sort. (2) As a result of this prohibition, Muslims used nature, in the form of gardens and designs, to invoke spiritual feelings. Mosques with unique architectural designs often have elaborately decorated interiors, and the gardens are filled with symbolism and beauty.

Islamic gardens are a prime example of the concept of heaven, Earth, and the garden blending to produce spiritual symbolic sanctuaries. “Every garden created in the Islamic world tends to be seen as a metaphor for Paradise.”(3) The English word paradise comes from the Persian word Pairida za: pairi (around) and daeza (wall). (4) Thus, pairida za referred to something with a wall around it and eventually came to mean a walled garden. This word became paradeisoi in Greek and paradises in Latin. The concept of Paradise as a garden is exemplified in many Biblical and Qur’anic passages.

The Islamic view of heaven, Hell, and earth

Islam views Paradise as the opposite of Hell and always contrasts heaven with Earth. (5) In this way, “Paradise and Hell pertain to the Return to God” and so “cannot be experienced in their fullness until after the Last Day.” (6) Heaven and Earth refer to the “situation of the cosmos” from the beginning of time until the end. (7) Therefore, on the Last Day or the Day of Judgment, “heaven and earth, they will have vanished since their inhabitants will have been moved to the Garden and the Fire.” (8)

Although this view is very similar to other religious views, some of its intricate and deeply religious implications make the concept unique. In contrast to Islam, Christianity teaches that a person dies and after purgatory either goes to heaven or to Hell (Luke 16: 22-23). Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all thought to have “ideas of heaven that are historically and theologically connected to one another,” (9) which makes the specific differences and distinctions harder to conceptualize. In the following Qur’anic verse, the promise of a peaceful afterlife with God is placed in the context of a garden: God has promised the men and women who believe in Him gardens watered by running streams, in which they shall abide for ever, goodly mansions in the gardens of Eden. And, what is more, they shall have grace in God’s sight. That is the supreme triumph (Qur’an 9:72).

Within this verse, three important aspects are visible. First, Islam promises believers an afterlife with God; second, the Paradise of afterlife has the form of a garden; and third, the Garden of Eden, also mentioned in the Bible’s Old Testament, is part of Muslim belief.

In a religious sense, the Garden of Eden is seen as and believed to be the garden from which all life came. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have different interpretations of what Adam and Eve’s actions have meant for the human race, as well as where the Garden of Eden is located. (10) However, these three religions agree that the Garden of Eden is an example of heaven. According to Murata, God “created Adam for the earth, not for the Garden,” and so the Islamic view of Adam’s (and Eve’s) “fall” from the Garden is not as negative as it is in Christianity. Rather, it is thought of more as a “slip caused by Satan.” (11)

The Islamic view of nature

Since gardens are made up of nature, it is interesting to see how an Islamic view of nature relates to the Islamic idea of Paradise. Since nature itself is seen as spiritual in its own right, its connection as a material used to make a symbolic Paradise on Earth is very intriguing. Islamic garden construction involves using a spiritual component to build a spiritual or religiously significant product. Therefore, an Islamic garden is a reflection of God’s Beauty, (12) for what better way to reflect His Beauty than by using what He has provided?

Looking at the Qur’an’s description of Paradise, it is important to note the repetitive use of the phrase jannat tajri min tahtiha al-anhar (gardens underneath which rivers flow).” A common Qur’anic example of this is: For those who are God-conscious, with their Lord are gardens through which rivers flow (Qur’an 3:15). Fascinatingly, the Qur’an is not the only religious book that mentions water flowing; the Bible also mentions it: A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches (Genesis 2:10). The ideas of gardens, water, heaven, and Paradise, which recur throughout the Qur’an and Bible, have very specific implications as to how Islamic gardens were formed.

Islamic gardens and Islamic cosmology

Islamic gardens are connected to the spiritual side of Islamic cosmology. What makes these earthly gardens even more interesting is that they do far more than just reflect the concept of the garden in Paradise; rather, they are constructed in such a way that they echo God’s words as revealed in the Qur’an.

One of the most visible and striking aspects is the wall surrounding the garden’s exterior. This practice differs markedly from what we see in the West, where a garden is open to public viewing. External aesthetics are very important in the West, and one way to illustrate them is to design their gardens accordingly. In the Islamic world, however, gardens were walled off because the garden’s interior was far more important than its external aesthetic appeal. One reason for the wall was to enclose tranquility, which was an intricate part of an Islamic garden, and thereby separate the sacred from the outside world. These gardens were meant for private, inner contemplation and to be a retreat from the busy, hectic outside world.

A second feature is each garden’s specific layout. The idea of a four-fold separation, which is central to Islamic gardens, can be seen in both the Qur’an and the Bible. In the Bible, four rivers flow from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:10). The Qur’anic description of the four rivers is more detailed and very thought-provoking: (Here is) a Parable of the Garden that the righteous are promised. In it are rivers of water incorruptible, rivers of milk of which the taste never changes, rivers of wine that are a joy to those who drink, and rivers of honey pure and clear. In it there are for them [the believers] all kinds of fruits and Grace from their Lord. (Can those in such Bliss) be compared to such as shall dwell for ever in the Fire, and be given to drink boiling water, so that it cuts up their bowels (to pieces)?” (Qur’an 47:15).

A third feature is the essential presence of water. Water, a life-giving substance, is needed to irrigate plants and trees. In the more ancient gardens, prior to efficient plumbing, gardens were irrigated through systems that brought water down from snow-capped mountains. The water was distributed efficiently in a hierarchical fashion: first for drinking, then for bathing, and then for the land. (13)

Since one function of an Islamic garden was to serve as a retreat from a long day of work or the world’s troubles, water helped to relax the people and cut down outside noise. There was usually a fountain or two that supplied flowing water, which added to the serenity.

Another important aspect was the garden pavilion, which typically had a “rectangular platform with open porches, probably columned, added to each of its shorter sides.” (14) The pavilion was meant to provide a shaded vantage point in which everyone could sit and view the magnificent garden and contemplate inner thoughts.

Since idolatry and statues are forbidden, Islamic gardens were decorated in other ways, usually with geometric shapes. Muslims saw geometric patterns in everything, including the petals of a flower or the thorn of a rose. “The squares, circles, and octagons we see in the gardens could be there for good theological reasons: the square represents the earthly order of things, the circle indicates God’s celestial perfection of eternity, and the octagon the circle squared signifies our earthly struggle to achieve everlasting unity with God’s higher plans.” (15)

Another decorative style of Islamic art and architecture is the arabesque, which “includes ornamentation in stylized plant forms and strictly geometrical interlacing work.” (16) Many times these designs dealt with the “cosmic rhythms with alternate and complementary phases of evolution and involution, expansion and contraction.” (17) Arabesque design included the idealized styling of plants and vines to create patterns. This art form, just like the gardens themselves, has a geometrical element. For example, many of the patterns were based on circles divided by six, eight, or five.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Islamic gardens intrinsically contain two aspects: architectural and cosmological. Architecturally, they resound with religious symbolism in both their design and form. It is important to remember that “the perfection and ‘economy’ of the cosmos, however, is not to be judged by human standards at all.” (18) Although Islamic gardens are mirrored after Qur’anic verses and ideals, the gardens are by no means meant to be the archetypical Paradise.

Richard Ettinghausen, realizing that there has to be a reason why the Islamic garden “was such a ubiquitous art form in the Muslim world,” posits three reasons for this “propensity.” First is the “idea of Paradise as a reward for the Muslim faithful,” which is well-documented in the Qur’an. Second, many gardens and designs pre-dated Islamic times, and, he continues, “in Islam there exists both a sacred, visionary, and a secular, hedonistic tradition, each centered around a special garden of the highest beauty.” Third, the “influence of horticulture” or, in other words, the need for the environment and geography, was an important consideration. (19)

Islamic gardens, although a very important way for Muslims to be in touch with Paradise, are “only a sensual symbol of God’s everlasting beauty.” (20) The following Qur’anic verse shows that no matter what their location, each person should be able to see God’s wonderful creations: We shall show them Our portents on the horizons and within themselves until it will be clear to them that it is the Truth. Does your Lord not suffice, since He is Witness over all things? (Qur’an 41:53).

Finally, gardens add to a person’s life by providing stress purification as well as spiritual purification. In a way, they enable people to escape their life and move to a better place: Paradise. Through garden architecture, people have attempted to reflect a cosmic order and thereby enhance and transcend daily life. For Muslims, whatever is seen on Earth comes from God’s own greatness, and therefore: “For all believers, there is an understanding that there would be no gardens, no rivers and no fruit in this world if it were not for their archetypes in Paradise.” (21) Thus Islamic gardens are not just for the growth of God’s plants, but also for the growth of the Islamic cosmological ideal.

Footnotes

1 Miller, Lisa. “Why We Need Heaven,” Newsweek, 12 August 2002, 44-49.

2 Lehrman, Lewis, Becoming a Successful Artist, (North Light Books, 1996)

3 Brend, Barbara, Islamic Art (Harvard University Pr., 1992).

4 Moynihan, Elizabeth B., Paradise as a Garden: In Persia and Mughal India (New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1979), 1.

5Sachiko Murata and William C. Chittick, The Vision of Islam (New York: Paragon House, 1994), 80.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 Seale, Allan, New Life for Old Gardens: Designs for Reviving Your Garden (Sterling Publications, 2002).

9 Jeffrey Russell, A History of Heaven: The Singing Silence (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), xiii.

10 John Prest, The Garden of Eden: The Botanic Garden and the Re-Creation of Paradise (London: Yale University Press, 1981), 15.

11 Murata and Chittick, The Vision of Islam, 142-43.

12 John Brookes, Gardens of Paradise: The History and Design of the Great Islamic Gardens (New Amsterdam: The Meredith Press, 1987), 19.

13 Ibid., 193.

14 Elisabeth B. Macdougall and Richard Ettinghausen, eds. “The Islamic Garden,” Dumbarton Oaks Colloquium on the History of Landscape Architecture IV (Washington, DC, Trustees for Harvard University, 1976), 72.

15 William Howard Adams, Nature Perfected: Gardens through History (New York: Abbeville Press, 1991), 62.

16 Titus Burckhardt, Art of Islam: Language and Meaning (World of Islam Festival Trust 1976), 56.

17 Ibid., 57.

18 Seyyed Hossein Nasr, An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines (Boulder: Shambhala Publications Inc., 1978), 124.

19 Macdougall and Ettinghausen, eds., “The Islamic Garden,” 6-7.

20 Ibid., 39.

21 Emma Clark, Underneath Which Rivers Flow: The Symbolism of the Islamic Garden (London: The Prince of Wale’s Institute of Architecture, 1996), 16. 

Defining the target

Gravitational waves are generated only by the equivalent of a rotating or oscillating system — that is, two or more masses accelerating toward or away from each other and exhibiting a quadrupole moment of inertia.

Only such quadrupole and higher multipole sources can generate gravitational waves because, whereas there are negative electric charges, there are no negative masses. A negative electric charge oscillating back and forth is the equivalent of a positive charge moving in the opposite direction, and this equivalence enhances the generation of electromagnetic waves. Since there is just one gravitational polarity, however, a mass can oscillate only with respect to a counterweight. This counterweight reacts to the oscillation and generates a gravitational disturbance that almost, but not quite, cancels the disturbance of the body.

As explained by physicist Paul Davies of Australia’s University of Adelaide, the gravitational disturbances would completely cancel out but for the time required for them to travel between the masses. It is this out-of-phase imbalance in the disturbance’s cancellation that propagates a gravitational wave. For this reason, such waves are not generated by quiescent stars, those rotating on their axis symmetrically or even exploding symmetrically, because there is no quadrupole moment. However, that situation changes if they explode asymmetrically or change their shape.

On the other hand, a typical binary star system has a quadrupole moment and should produce a slow periodic gravitational wave. A near-enough binary star system would cause a measurable distortion a little in excess of one part in 1021 on Earth.

For the wave to lie in the gravitational-wave detector’s frequency range (typically 1000 +/-1 Hz.), though, the two stars of the binary must be in the final stage of coalescing, a rare situation. For comparison, a supernova is expected to produce damped exponential impulse waveforms, each of which lasts for 1 millisecond. A collision or collapse of a binary system between two neutron stars, or between a neutron star and a black hole, would produce gravitational waves with a sliding frequency in the 1 to 1000 Hz range, as one star spirals in on its partner.

Why are we searching?

A long time ago, in the Large Magellanic Cloud-one of our Milky Way’s two companion galaxies, a star exploded. In 1987, 160,000 years later, radiation from that event finally reached Earth. The first to see the brightening star were astronomers in the southern hemisphere.

Scarcely 24 hours earlier, in other parts of the world, other types of detectors had “seen” something. At the University of Rome (Italy) and the University of Maryland at College Park (the U.S.), gravitational-wave detectors registered 12 fairly large and about 100 small pulses over a period of 2 hours. Around the same time, the Mont Blanc Neutrino Observatory (France) registered five pulses of neutrinos over a 7-second interval. Similar recordings were made by neutrino detectors in Kamioka, Japan, and Frejus, France.

Astrophysicists are still debating the significance of those observations recorded on Feb. 23 and 24. But others claim the pulses registered in Rome and Maryland may have been due to actual gravitational radiation from an identifiable source — the supernova of 1987.

Physicists find this ambiguity unsatisfactory. They want to detect the gravitational waves themselves, directly and unequivocally. Indeed, the detection of waves has been called “the most important of all tests” of Einstein’s general theory of relativity by theoretician Kip S. Thorne of the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) in Pasadena. The sensing or reception of gravitational waves also may deepen astronomers’ understanding of the dynamics of such violent events as supernovas, exploding black holes, and the interactions between black holes and neutron stars. As a bonus, whatever is learned about detecting ultra-weak signals might help engineers measuring extraordinarily small displacements or strains.

The understanding, according to Einstein’s general theory of relativity, is that all objects exist in four-dimensional space-time (that is, in a continuum having three dimensions of space and one of time). The mass of every object curves space-time, a curvature that manifests itself as the gravitational field of the mass. The greater the mass, the greater the curvature of space-time, and the greater the gravitational field.

According to the same theory, massive objects that rotate or explode asymmetrically, or oscillate, give off gravitational waves or ripples that propagate through space-time, like ripples or waves on the surface of the ocean.

Gravitational waves conform to an inverse square law relationship, just like electromagnetic waves. The force of both types of energy declines in proportion to the square of their distance from their source. But gravitational waves are so much weaker than the Coulomb electric force, which renders the detection of such weak waves a monumental challenge to instrumentation.

The evidence that gravitational waves exist is compelling, albeit indirect. The firmest evidence relies on observations made over 7 years by astronomers Joseph Taylor, of Princeton University in New Jersey, and Russell Hulse, then at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst but now also at Princeton. Their measurements of radio waves from a binary pulsar designated PSR1913+16 show that the pulsar’s 8-hour orbit around the neutron star is gradually contracting; the faster the pulsar revolves around the neutron star, the smaller its orbit gets. As the rate of decrease agrees to within 0.5 percent with predictions derived from the general theory of relativity, the finding is excellent circumstantial evidence for orbital decay being a result of energy lost by gravitational radiation. Even though the gravitational radiation itself was not detected, Taylor and Hulse shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics for this work.

But what would it take to observe the weak gravitational radiation directly? Gravitational waves are generally believed to travel at the speed of light and to deform or distort an object geometrically as they pass through it. For plane-polarized gravitational waves, the two directions are at 45 degrees to each other, not perpendicular as they are for light. In other words, a passing gravitational wave distorts an object first in one direction, then (in the next half-cycle) in another, rotated at a 45-degree angle to the initial direction. It takes another half gravitational wave cycle for the wave to distort at the 90-degree angle characteristic of electro-magnetic waves in the first half-cycle.

Resonant bar detector

In principle, it should be possible to sense this distortion and its after-effects with the aid of strain detectors attached to a suitable “antenna” — a space-time seismometer, if you will. But such an antenna resembles nothing familiar to electrical engineers. In its simplest manifestation, the antenna is a large solid cylindrical bar.

The pioneering resonant-bar detector was designed in the late 1950s and built in the early 1960s by Joseph Weber, professor of physics at the University of Maryland. Weber’s design called for a mechanically isolated cylinder of solid aluminum weighing several metric tons. Piezoelectric strain transducers attached at intervals around its circumference converted the vibrations induced by any passing gravitational wave into an electric signal. Weber’s bar resonated mechanically around 1 kHz, so that it would “ring” after being distorted by an incoming damped-exponential wave, the shape expected of a gravitational wave from a supernova. Subsequently, other bar detectors were built at many institutions around the world.

The main problem with resonant-bar antennas is their insensitivity. Even the latest of them yield dimensionless strain sensitivities of about one part in 1018 (that is, only 10-18 meter distortion per meter of length), too little to detect gravitational waves from any but the nearest and most violent events.

The laser alternative

The laser interferometer owes its sensitivity in detecting gravitational waves to an arrangement of mirrors suspended on vibration-isolated pendulums. Two pairs of mirrors create two light paths perpendicular to one another. A laser beam is split and the halves sent down each path, rebounding back and forth along the leg between the mirrors hundreds of times before being recombined. The multiple passes create the very long light path required to amplify the gravitational-wave input to detectable amplitude.

In brief, if a gravitational wave passes by, the pendulums holding the mirrors are expected to move a little apart in one leg and a little together in the other leg, in each case by the same tiny fraction of the laser light wavelength. Their movement would shift the relative phase of the two halves of the laser beam, momentarily upsetting the interference patterns that would otherwise be cancelled out. At that instant, the interference pattern would brighten by an amount proportional to the strength of the gravitational wave. The job of monitoring the interference pattern for brightening is handled by electro-optic detectors, which indicate when a passing gravitational wave is detected and which recover its variation over time.

Not only are laser-interferometer detectors potentially more sensitive than resonant-bar antennas, they are also better at detecting a variety of sources because they are inherently broadband. They respond to gravitational waves having a frequency from 10 Hz to 10 kHz, versus the resonant-bar antennas’ 1-Hz bandwidth at 1 kHz.

Input from space

A third and truly exotic method of detecting gravitational waves has been proposed: monitoring the Doppler shift of the carrier frequency (or rather, the retransmission of the tracking station’s frequency) from two or more interplanetary spacecraft simultaneously. This project is known as LISA (The Laser Interferometry Space Antenna).

The technique is analogous to laser interferometry. The idea is to detect the Doppler shift in a spacecraft’s microwave frequency as the craft is jostled by a passing gravitational wave — that is, as space-time is warped in its vicinity.

Inevitably, there are obstacles to overcome. Since the effects of a passing gravitational wave are so small, the reference oscillator must be extremely stable to detect any Doppler shift. Observers must also consider variations in the pressure of the solar wind (which differs from time to time and with the changing distance of the spacecraft from Earth), in forces from the attitude control thrusters (used to occasionally correct the space-craft’s orientation), and in the refraction of Earth’s atmosphere (through which the signal must travel). Subtracting all of these variations, the interplanetary detector is expected to have a theoretical sensitivity of about one part in 1016 — corresponding to a displacement of about 0.065 mm over the shortest distance from Earth to Jupiter, and one-eighth of that over the shortest distance from Earth to Mars.

The noise problem

Noise degrades the sensitivity of any gravitational-wave receiver. The interference is mostly due to seismic activity in the earth, acoustic interference (also known as microphonics) from inhabited surroundings, and heat (thermal noise). Especially troublesome are the non-Gaussian tails of noise distribution, which produce a significant number of false detections.

When a gravitational wave passes through the cylinder and distorts its shape, the moving input coil produces minute changes in the magnetic flux. That magnetic flux change then creates a relatively large variation in the voltage across the SQUID** junctions. In turn, these variations are passed along as voltage signals to succeeding stages of amplification — generally room-temperature FET amplifiers with optimal filtering for the anticipated signals. If tuned mechanical transformers or resonators are installed between the antenna and the transducer, transfer of the gravitational wave’s pulse is maximized and amplifier noise coupling is minimized.

Conclusion

Much is being done to achieve a breakthrough in the detection of gravitational waves. A recent High Frequency Gravitational Wave conference held at MITRE Corporation featured proposals and experiment descriptions that could lead to an apparatus that uses gravitational waves for communications. Several large laser interferometer gravitational wave observatories are online and taking data while making sensitivity improvements. The reader is urged to delve further (see references below) to see why there is so much excitement about this new window on the universe.

References

– Gibbs, W. W. “Ripples in Spacetime.” Scientific American, April 2002.

– Lewis, M. “Gravitational Waves versus Electromagnetic Wave Antennas.” IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine 37, no. 3, June 1995. Also see http://solo3.abac.com/gwinstitute/.

– Blair, D. The Detection of Gravitational Waves. Cambridge Univ.: 1991.

– Boughn, Stephen. “Detecting Gravitational Waves,” American Scientist, no. 68. March-April 1980, 174-83. (An overview of the early work in the search for gravitational waves.)

– Will, Clifford M. Was Einstein Right? New York: Basic Books, 1986. (A readable account of the binary pulsar PSR1913+16 and its role in providing evidence for gravitational waves.)

– Blair, David G., ed. The Detection of Gravitational Radiation. England and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1991. (Sums up the state of the art in gravitational-wave receivers.)

– Misner, Charles, Kip S. Thorne, and John Wheeler. Gravitation. W. H. Freeman: 1973. (Still the most used book by students and practitioners in gravitational-wave research.)

– Thorne, Kip S. Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy. New York: W. W. Norton, 1994. See chapter 10: “The Ripples of Curvature,” which summarizes plans for the Laser Interferometry Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

– E. Amaldi et al. “Coincidences among the Maryland and Rome Gravitational Wave Detector Data and the Mont Blanc and Kamioka Neutrino Detector in the Period of SN1987A.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol. 571, 1990, 561-76. (Proceedings of the l4th Texas Symposium of Relativistic Astrophysics). (Discusses whether or not gravitational waves were detected along with the first sightings of the 1987 supernova).

– Grishchuk, Leonid. “Update on Gravitational Wave Research. Online at Los Alamos’ website on preprints gr-qc/0305051, 13 May 2003. (Provides a more technical treatment.)

** A superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) is a mechanism used to measure extremely weak signals, such as subtle changes in the human body’s electromagnetic energy field.

In Paul and Virginia, the Christian author relates the pure love between Paul and Virginia, who live on an imaginary non-European island. In this story, he discusses God’s existence and Omnipotence, divine rules, and the relationship between the Almighty and His servants. He begins with a discussion of the order and harmony in the universe.

His expressions sometimes come quite close to Islamic morality and faith, with which they have much in common with their Christian counterparts. We find beautiful examples in this work, some of which will be given below. These quotations present a glorious example of the similar attitudes held by people of different religions. Two children, their mothers, and a few servants live together on an island. Madam De Latour is a noblewoman who lives on the island with her daughter Virginia. The other woman, Margaret, was seduced by an aristocrat who promised to marry her. She is from a poor rural family and lives there with her son Paul.

“Every new day was embracing this cozy home with peace and serenity. Their hearts felt the sufferings of neither ambition nor envy. They had no expectations from worldly glories gained through intrigue and lost through slander.”

The author says that the characters “are very nice people” and that “they were such violets that no one could spot them with their thorns in the heath; but their pleasant smell could be sensed from very far away. They had crossed out gossiping from their lexis for good, and they were right about this. Gossiping always feeds resentment under the cover of revealing the truth, and it is disguised by hypocrisy.

-They performed good deeds as much as possible. Their hearts were so pure that they could leave the world of gossiping with the help of their feelings. Instead of speaking about other people’s scandals, they took the topics of their speech from nature and these topics filled them with joy and pleasure. Were not all these granted by an Unseen Being holding the universe in His power?

-The beautiful works of this world have been set up in such a way that it is possible to perceive them all, at one glance.

-Their faith was sincere and moral; their considerations were practical rather than theoretical. They didn’t have any festivities, celebrations or mourning days. Everyday was a festival for them and the world was their temple. In that temple, they admired the Sovereignty of a Supreme Will, friendly to man, in everything they saw. The trust they cherished for this Infinite Might made them forget the sufferings of the past, and became a source of courage today, never-ending hope for tomorrow…”

The following words, uttered by Paul, are so beautiful that they can be dedicated to those who devote themselves to humanity’s happiness: “Man can not be happy unless he is concerned about the happiness of others.”

Madame De Latour explains beautifully to Virginia about humanity’s purpose in this world: “My dear, seek help from the Lord. He is the decision maker about the well-being of His servants. Who knows? Maybe today He is just trying you in order to reward you tomorrow. Bear in mind that we have come to this world for doing good deeds so that they make us closer to God.”

One day, Madame De Latour’s aunt informs them that she is ill and would like Virginia to live with her. In exchange, Virginia will inherit her entire estate. Her mother wants to send Virginia, thinking that she will be happy there, but Virginia does not want to part from Paul. Before sunset, she boards the ship and leaves without telling him. Naturally he is very sad, for Virginia is no longer there. Being separated from his beloved friend, Paul suffers. Lonely, he recalls the days spent with Virginia. “She even used to bury the seed of the fruit she ate, since she cared for others more than herself, even in her simplest affairs. ‘One day, a tree grows here, passersby eat its fruits; it benefits birds at least’ she would say,” recollects Paul. His mother consoles Paul: “Let God be your sole helper, let humanity be your nation. Do not give up relying on them. God and humanity only expect virtue from us. God granted you freedom, health, a clear conscience and true friends. Even kings are not that fortunate.”

The relation between happiness and virtue is questioned in the mother’s counsels to Paul: “Most of the rich are bored with every kind of pleasure, for it is obtained with no effort at all. Haven’t you experienced that you buy the pleasure of drinking by thirst, eating by hunger and resting by tiredness. Likewise, loving and being loved is obtained through a great deal of absence and self sacrifice.”

(Paul): “What do you mean by ‘virtue'”?

“My dear, you are working to support your family. Virtue is bearing difficulties for the good of others, and doing this only for God’s good pleasure.”

His mother advises him to rely on destiny with patience and endurance: “My dear, what throws one into an early death is nothing but a momentary venture. Mostly, this is encouraged by worthless applause. However, there is a more exalted kind of courage which is more seldom but needful. With the courage called ‘patience and endurance,’ we face up to the misfortunes in life. Showing this patience is neither being manipulated by someone else, nor giving up to an ambition arising inside us. It is doing only what God says, since patience and reliance on destiny is a courage generated by virtue.”

Later, his mother tells Paul that the mind is darkened by desires in which people are lost, yet there is a torch for the person to illuminate his or her inner world: reading.

She states the following about literary works: “My dear, literary works are God’s gifts to us. Mankind is enabled to discern the rays of a wisdom ruling the universe by a Divine art on the earth. Just like the rays of the sun, these literary works also illuminate, warm, and cheer us. They are like a fire descending from the sky. They render everything useful to us, just like fire cooks our food. With these works, we gather around ourselves things, times, places, and people. They are what show us the way in life. They extinguish desires and remove despicable feelings. They are angels descended from heavens in order to develop the ‘love for virtue,’ and they present the honorable ones who exalt humanity as ideal models for us. There have always been great writers inspired by them. These people were raised in hard times which society couldn’t bear, in the period of barbarism, when morality was low. My son, there are countless others a lot unhappier than you among the ones who seek consolation by reading and contemplating.”

Starting with the saying that “a good book is a good friend,” reading is recommended as a magic potion to save humanity from loneliness. Stating that nothing can replace a good friend, Paul then summarizes a good friend’s qualities : “When Virginia looked at my face and said ‘my friend,’ I would forget all my worries.”

Later on, Virginia boards the ship to return, but a terrible storm wrecks it while it is approaching the island. In the midst of the waves, beside the wrecked ship, Virginia is seen floating in the water. Everybody calls out to a sailor, who is not far from her, to save her. Although waves cause her to drift toward the wreck, the sailor cannot help her and only manages to save himself with difficulty. Then the young survivor says: “O Lord, I am grateful that you granted my life to me. On the other hand, I was ready to sacrifice my life for that young girl.”

Now Paul is lonely forever. His grief overflows his heart. When the author consoles him, he virtually voices the Islamic understanding of submission to God: “God has taken Virginia from you. Everything comes from Him. He knows what is good for you better than you do. There is no reason for you to feel the sorrow and remorse we bear as a punishment of our own deeds. What lasts is only His Eternal Will. Therefore you can say: ‘This is the Providence after all, and I did not commit any transgressions to generate this result.’ And what are you grieving for? For Virginia, or for her dying like that? Remember that everyone born is destined to die. Virginia must be happy to have died before you and your mother did.

“My son, death is a blessing for all people, it is the night of this day named life. The diseases, sorrows, sufferings, fears that make people tired of living all disappear in the sleep of death. If a person has reached a rare blessing such as ‘being loved,’ imagine through what sacrifices he gained it. Mostly, when such people come to the end of their lives, they find nobody but false friends and ungrateful relatives around them. But Virginia is as blissful as can be. She was blissful again at the terrible event which resulted in her death. She saw how all the people of the province struggled for her, how you rushed to her rescue, risking every danger; in this way, she understood her worth for us. The memory of her pure and innocent past had strengthened her for the future. Thereby, God granted her the reward for virtue, namely ‘courage’ against dangers, which overpowers any kind of danger. That is why she welcomed death with a smile.

“My son, God granted the ability of accepting all suffering in life to the virtuous. This way, he showed us that the real purpose of life is virtue, which is the sole way to reach honor and happiness. If somebody will introduce himself to the world through his virtue, God makes that person meet death in a great arena of trial. Then his courage becomes an example for others, thereby allowing the ones who follow to remember him in tears, recalling what he went through. Here is a memorial for such people in this transient world, where every memory, even that of kings, is forgotten.”

The author dwells upon faith in God and the Day of Judgment in the following passage: “But Virginia still lives, my son. Don’t you see that nothing really vanishes? What changes is only the appearance. If all the power and knowledge of humanity were to unite, they wouldn’t be able to make anything disappear. Then, how can a being with intellect, love, virtue, and piety disappear while the slightest particle of her doesn’t disappear? Be sure that now Virginia is happier than when she was with us. There is a God my son, no doubt about it. I don’t even need to prove His existence, for all of nature is a witness to that. Some people deny His existence, for they do not want him to exist. The feeling of His existence is in your heart, just as the things He created are before your eyes. Is it possible that He would leave Virginia unrewarded? Is it possible that the Power that provides the happiness of people through some principles unknown to you would not provide Virginia’s happiness through principles also unknown to you? Does the Almighty need this small world in order to show His power and kindness, like people do? There is no single drop of water in the ocean that is not full of life. We know this for sure. While this is so, do you think that so many stars revolving above mean nothing to us? Fine! It means that the endless sources of light filling this enormous universe, the immense fields of light surrounding them, this land of light which is never to be darkened by nights or cyclones, is just a meaningless space and an infinite nothingness. Is that so? We didn’t grant anything to ourselves but everything was granted to us by the Almighty, by His Infinite Power.

“There is no doubt about that. Your virtue will be rewarded one day: there is a place where your merit will find what it deserves. Virginia is blissful now. If it were possible for her to tell you how she feels, like she did in her last letter, she would speak so: ‘Paul, this world is nothing but an abode of trial. I always lived relying on love and virtue. I went overseas, obeying the words of my mother. I rejected a fortune to sustain my faith. The Almighty Lord saw that my time was due. I rid myself of everything that makes life bitter: corruption, gossiping, storms, and people in agony. No disaster that frightens people can reach me now. Therefore, it is so strange that you feel pity for me! I remained chaste, my purity is free from any disturbance, just like a gleam of light. While this is so, you are inviting me to the darkness of life.”

Paul, who cannot bear the pain of separation, dies two months later. His mother lives only one week after that event, and, before she dies, expresses her faith in resurrection: “We shall meet each other eternally and with a sweeter affection. Death is the greatest blessing for humans. This blessing must be appreciated. If life is a punishment, one should long for its end as soon as possible. If it is an abode of trial, one should prefer the trial to be short.”

This novel contains beautiful descriptions of nature. When evaluating the work, we have tried to focus on those parts that are common to Christians and Muslims. Although the author was a Christian, it could have been written by a Muslim. It is a remarkable work in terms of underlining the two religions’ common points. This beautiful work has found a place among the classics of world literature. Its theme and the values it questions make it a universal work.

Bringing such works to the attention of people, writing fresh ones with similar themes, and reinforcing the common faith and values of people is something that must be done in order to establish the longed-for dialogue. The descendants of the Crusaders have shown the way by apologizing to the Muslims. Such things draw people of different faiths closer. If we look at it from the monotheistic viewpoint, this shared belief will engender intimacy and friendship. Words like love, tolerance, and dialogue, which are found in every language, must be felt in our hearts and present in our daily behavior. People should try to depict this theme in every form of the fine arts as well.

Reference

• Paul and Virginia (indypublish.com, 2002)