Our Creator has solved every potential problem which living things might experience by creating one optimal solution among every alternative.These perfect solutions open new horizons for men, and they also act as guides in the development of science and technology. The book titled “Engineering in Nature” details many striking examples.1

In recent research, it has been discovered how the thread of a spider can contribute to fiber-optic technology. A crucial challenge in photonic technology is to produce the tiny optic fiber that is used as a conductor for a light beam in nano-scaled optic circuits. Yushan Yan, of the University of California in Riverside, has taken an important step forward in this technology by covering the thread from a spider web with a glass-like material and then removing the thread after the material has hardened. By utilizing this technique, it is possible to produce threads that are 1/50000th the diameter of human hair and that have a radius of 2 nanometers (1 nanometer being one billionth of a meter).

Not only will this discovery be applicable in photonic technology, it will also increase the resolution in optical microscopes, or, alternatively, these threads could be turned into nanoscale test tubes in a new breed of sensors that can suck up single molecules of a particular chemical.

A research group at the University of California cut a thread 1 centimeter long from the web of the giant spider of Madagascar, the Nepila Madagascariensis, and pasted the two ends of the thread to a card. Then they repeatedly dipped this thread into tetraethyl orthoslicate solution. After this, the thread that had undergone this process was dried and heated to a temperature of 420 Celsius. The string decreased by one fifth of its original radius and the process resulted in the production of tiny tubes with a radius of one micrometer.

There are plans to make use of the web of the Stegodyphus Pasifiu-a spider which uses a thread of a radius of 10 nanometers and which is found in the Middle East and Southern Asia. This will enable scientists to use thinner fibers. After heating, a thread with a radius of 2 nanometers is attained. Until this latest finding, it was only possible to produce fibers with an interior radius of 25 nanometers.

Fiber optic researchers do not hide their enthusiasm for this new simple and cheap technology. It is expected that it will be used in the field of supra-molecular chemistry; that is the study of very miniature environments. In these environments the reaction-speeds increase and completely different reactions occur. For such experiments carbon nano-tubes are being used at the present time. The tubes made from fibers obtained from spider webs will enable scientists to create more sensitive environments. It is also thought that it will be possible to create microscopes with a higher resolution by using tinier fiber optic catheters.

Such microscopes would be used to observe events that are shorter in duration than the wavelength of light, yet at the same time, these microscopes would not cause the sample to be harmed. Electron microscopes harm the sample since the features of the technology used necessitate this. Currently, these microscopes use a scope that has been made from very thin glass tubes. These fibers are relatively thick, measuring about 100 nanometers in radius. Yet, by means of this new technology, these new microscopes can be developed and biologists will have brand new opportunities to study events that have not been visible before. Surely, it is not possible to say that the immaculate biological structure and incredibly small thread employed by the spider can be explained by simply putting its creation down to chance or by stating that it is a product of nature.

These perfect examples that can be observed in nature will lead to fundamental changes in our understanding of the universe; they will enable great leaps in terms of making our life more comfortable and, most importantly, they will be helpful in realizing how the Divine Power and Art can be present together and be in harmony.

References 

• M. Sami Polatoz, Tabiatta Muhendislik [Engineering in Nature], Kaynak, Istanbul: 2003.
• Danny Penman, Spiders Weave a Web of Light, New Scientist,
• 22 March 2003, p. 20.

This notion, in fact, could hold true for any work of fiction. It is an interesting question then why fiction has been used in literature for thousands of years, given that the message it indirectly contains in its text will be understood by only a small number of people. Would it not be a more rational method for the authors to simply relate the message they would like to give without adding people, events, and all those tedious details of fiction? Apart from making a philosophical point, there is yet another reason for writing fiction; the understandable urge for mortal humans to try to remember how some significant events unfolded in their lives. Through stories and poetry we are able to listen to episodes, fictional or semi-fictional, of people’s lives. However, the same question arises: If for example, the author writes to prevent the following generations from forgetting a crucial battle, then why are they not content with simply giving the actual locations and components of the army, the strategies employed, the weather, etc.? Rather, the author embellishes the story and characters through which we follow the incident. This article attempts to answer this question and concludes that as there is a psychological element in human learning, fiction has the potential of describing ideas that are not possible to relate by any other means.

First, we need to make a definition of the two different categories of knowledge: transferable and nontransferable knowledge. Transferable knowledge is the type that can be easily explained or taught to another person and which will be widely accepted if understood by the listener. For example, multiplying 2 by 2 is easy and transferable; how to use a computer is less easy, but still transferable; the theory of relativity is extremely hard, but it is still transferable. Nontransferable knowledge, on the other hand, contains elements of human cognition and feelings, and it is possible that it can never be transferred to another person fully. A mother’s love to her child is only transferable to a certain extent: However well it can be defined and in whatever detail its feelings can be explained, it can never be felt by anybody other than a mother. Knowledge of the beauty of a childhood memory can never be transferred to anyone else, not at least to the extent which the person who experienced the memory is aware of it.

Obviously, these categories are not as clear-cut as one would like to imagine; in fact, we can easily accept that there is no knowledge that is totally transferable or nontransferable. When we describe a journey that we have made, the names of the streets are transferable, but at the same time there may be quite subtle, unconscious things that these names remind us of, things that are nontransferable. The type of tree and its color are transferable, but the idea of the magnificence of the tree that elevated our belief in God is not, even though the imaging event is the same. However, all knowledge in this world can be understood as being a mixture of transferable and nontransferable elements.

It is one of the great tragedies of humanity that we carry an incredible amount of knowledge that cannot be transferred to anybody else in our lives. We can never make another person understand why we believe, why we love, how we feel. Even when we try to put these things into words, we fail miserably. If we try to explain our reasons, we even fail to explain them to ourselves. You have probably experienced such a moment: Upon trying to express the reasons for your faith, love, or feelings, you become aware that these were not the real reasons, you understand that it was not these reasons that were the cause of everything. It was an experience in time and space. You are what you are only because you have experienced your past. At this point, let us leave the layman in awe or ignorance, and let us turn to the artist.

The fiction writer or artist in general, consciously or not, has the only tool in the world that can be used to transfer nontransferable knowledge. This unique tool uses the simple idea of constructing a past for some people in the reader’s mind. Generally, a fiction work has one intended protagonist and events shape around this character. As a result, we learn a great deal of the experience that the protagonist has gone through. We have discussed above how the only real way to acquire nontransferable knowledge in the first place is by living through experiences. These experiences have molded us into what we have become. By reading fiction, by reading about the experiences of the protagonist, by relating to them, we start to feel like them. By reading the complex descriptions of how they felt and what they did, and what happened to the protagonist, we almost become them. In the end, the process has succeeded: for a certain span of time; we have felt the way the writer wanted us to. This process is bound to change our viewpoint since we have now had different experiences than before.

Another power of fiction is that it does not try to persuade you. We do not like to be persuaded and when someone tries to do so, we get defensive. Reading an ethics book that tells you to do this and that is one of the worst reading experiences. However, when you read a good work of fiction where the protagonist lives what resembles a real life and behaves well to people, in many aspects, and is liked by others, then you will feel as if you also want to be like him. I wonder if there was anybody who has not decided to be a better person after reading “The Idiot.” We learn from his letters that it was Dostoevsky’s intention to relay the above message to us when he wrote “The Idiot.” In this way, another example of nontransferable knowledge (i.e., that being good to others is a good thing) has been transferred to the reader; in fact, I cannot imagine any other way of doing this.

It is very interesting to observe how some great minds that normally do not use fiction resort to it at times when their message becomes more belief-like, more cognition-related: i.e., more nontransferable. None of Nietzsche’s books are fiction except for “Thus Spoke Zarathustra.” But again, all his other books criticize the Christian religion, posing alternative explanations for morality and interpreting Greek Philosophy. Zarathustra was a different type of book: Nietzsche knew that it had an element of belief, that it was not an analytical flow of ideas; it introduced two still controversial components of his philosophy: Eternal recurrence and the Superman. Nietzsche well knew that he would be able to transfer these ideas to his readers via fiction, as the reader would feel and live and walk with Zarathustra, and approve of his strength and relate to him, and maybe accept him.

Said Nursi, when he was writing “Ayet-ul Kubra” (The Supreme Sign) knew that if he used fiction, i.e. if he caused us to walk with the explorer in the story and find evidence of the Unity of God, then we would be able to relate to him and accept his findings. He knew that the dictation of this evidence in a didactic manner would not be as effective; belief has a psychological element. Hume, when writing “Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion” knew fiction was the best way to show the contradictions of the medieval Christian philosophical belief in God, because he knew that disbelief has a psychological element and that it can be transferred in its extent only via fiction.

Obviously, not all fiction works have a conscious intended message, but it is easy to see that every good work of fiction will have some evolving influence on the reader’s mind. In fact, leaping one step ahead, I want to suggest that abstract fiction (in particular, poetry) has an even deeper potential to transfer “more nontransferable” knowledge. The Modern and Post-Modern eras have given us fiction that speaks of our inner fears and our deepest secrets. These are ideas that even the authors cannot explain explicitly, however, by supplying a rich medium they are somehow able to remind us of these things; they are able to transfer some knowledge that is essentially non-transferable.

In summary, the fiction writer tricks us into believing that we have assumed a neutral position from where we can observe the events and people of the story. However, this position is not neutral: As we watch the story unfold, as more details become apparent, the characters become more real and the incidents become more lifelike. The teaching power of fiction is twofold: First, since we assume that our position is neutral, we do not take the defensive. Even if we read that the protagonist chants a new system of belief, even when we chant with him, we do not feel that we are being taught; it is just an event that happens in a story. Secondly, when we read about the experiences of the protagonist, and since we relate with him or her, we are also able to experience the same events. These are the experiences that make the protagonist what they are now. To an extent, depending on our prior predispositions and the power of the narrative, we have also by now lived these experiences. Again, to an extent, we have now changed in a way that would never have been achieved by listening to a lecture of ideas.

The argument above can readily be extended to other forms of art as well. The seventh art, cinema, is the one that most closely resembles literary fiction and it also incorporates components of other arts. Although there are some disadvantages concerning the narration of the thought process, these are compensated for by visual cues, and we again can learn things concerning human cognition that would otherwise not be able to be transferred.

Paintings are crystallized forms of visual cues and they can have the same influence. If I simply told you that this life is a bridge between birth and death and that there is a terrible lack of meaning, as well as there being a great ignorance on the part of most people of this vacuum, an ignorance which is maddening, you may well agree, but you would not experience the emotion I was trying to convey, and again an attempt to transfer nontransferable knowledge would fail miserably. But if you were to come across the painting known as “The Scream” by Edvard Munch (see picture), which even in the first instance seems frightening and repellent, you would wonder what this might mean, why is this man apparently screaming, of what is he afraid? Later you might notice the other people in the background, who are happy and walking on their way, apparently not noticing or maybe ignoring whatever the man in the foreground has been frightened by. Then, you might notice that the man is standing on a bridge. Maybe you would walk away from this picture without finding any meaning in it. However later, when the time is ready for you to understand, you will be able to perceive what the painter was trying to convey. Munch is trying to convey to us what we described above, but in a most delicate and cunning way. He used paint as a medium to tell this, because he knew that this is nontransferable knowledge and in order to convey this information, he had to use art.

Music might very well be the ultimate form of transferring nontransferable knowledge. Love, rage, sorrow, joy, and things that cannot be put into words can be expressed by music and can be immediately perceived, at least to some extent, by the listener. How else are we to understand the grief and wrath that Beethoven felt when he was slowly but certainly going deaf if it were not for his music? In his 3rd piano concerto, while submersed in the music, we feel the helplessness and anger of the great composer. Even if we did not know that Beethoven had composed this concert during the latter stages of his life, we would still share and feel his feelings. One high note on the flute can influence our feelings more than hundreds of words.

If we return to fiction, if we accept that this argument has some truth in it and that fiction is a way to convey nontransferable knowledge by making us live through experiences, then we should observe that the fiction which has the greatest influence on us is that which is rich in content; it is evocative. Such literature mimics human experiences as closely as possible, making us feel like we have experienced the same. In fact, we are aware of both these elements in good fiction.

Another point to note is that if this argument contains some truth, then one can consciously counteract fiction by choosing not to read the works of fiction known to have a view of the world that one does not want to accept. If we want to learn about communism, but not have our feelings on communism affected, we could read “Das Capital” with no fear. However, if we read some works of Gorky, if we see from inside the difficulties of the lives of the people and the hopes they have invested in the idea of equality and the ideal of communism, then we are almost bound to find ourselves transformed to approving of communism somewhat in the end.

Naturally, I am not pretending to explain the reason for the existence of art in this article. However, it seems that one of the reasons for art and fiction is to be able to relate things that concern human cognition, things that cannot be related or conveyed by any other means. These things cannot even be put into words. This is the power of fiction and art. Ironically though, to relay this idea to you I have used nonfiction. In fact, I know I would have been more convincing if I had made up a character who wanted to tell others about his ideas but could not achieve this via an analytical description. He might then decide to write a story and explain his experiences that led to his ideas. To his surprise, he might see that his ideas have been truly understood by his readers. If I had written such a meta-fiction, I know that the idea presented would be perceived more clearly and persuasively. I did not choose a work of fiction only because good fiction takes great time, work, and talent. This is the difficulty of art.

Animals with “Anti-Freeze”

Although it is not clear whether human beings took the idea of anti-freeze, i.e., adding a substance to water to prevent it from freezing, from animals, some animals living in cold climates have a substance in their blood that prevents them from freezing. When the skin or the operculum of fish that live in cold seas comes into contact with ice, their blood starts to freeze, and the fish soon die. The reason for this is the rapid increase of ice crystals in their blood. However, there are many fish species that live in cold areas despite such unfavorable conditions. Some species in these areas retreat to the deep water where the water is -1.8°C to prevent freezing. However, in Antarctica there are fish living in areas that are much colder than this. These fish can protect themselves against freezing in the very cold temperatures of Antarctica thanks to chemical substances in their blood that work like anti-freeze in a car. Could it be possible that this technique of anti-freeze has been codified in the genetic programming of fish not by a conscious Creator but merely by coincidence? Such an idea would be logically difficult to accept. The substance called AFGP (Antarctic Fish Gliko-Protein) found in the blood of fish in Antarctica works as a natural anti-freeze and helps fish survive in icy water without freezing. Special proteins synthesized by genes that have been codified by special programming are linked to ice crystals, and they are thus able to prevent ice crystals from forming in the body of the fish.

Researchers have discovered some of the genes that codify AFGP during their study on some species of fish that belong to the Notothenioidei suborder, which live in Antarctic water without freezing; these fish are the Notothenia coriiceps and the Dissostichus mawsoni. The genes that were discovered codify a protein in a substance that prevents them from freezing. This protein is manufactured in the pancreas, but is not broken down in the intestines. Researchers are still trying to identify the gene that codifies the AFGP. Once this gene has been comprehensively understood, the protein which the gene codifies can be produced artificially and inexpensively. In this way, a small amount of anti-freeze protein injected into the blood to prevent freezing could save many lives. However, for the time being, it seems like a far-fetched possibility that this gene can be inserted into a human genome. All the genes in our body are interrelated with one another, and therefore a new program that would change the formation of the blood, preventing it from completely freezing, might cause many adverse side-effects.

The Miracle of Salt

Many fish have substances that cause the freezing point of their blood to fall below zero. Scientists have determined that the most common of these substances are the salts found in body liquids, in particular sodium chloride. These salts account for an 85% reduction in the freezing point. It is not possible for fish, which are unaware of the physiology of the body liquid and the complex relations of the metabolism with the process of freezing, to have developed such a protection mechanism through evolution.

Fish are not the only animals with anti-freeze. From the world of insects, Cryptopygus antarcticus (the Antarctic springtail) and Achorutes nivicola (the snow flea) are creatures that can survive in very low temperatures. Many animals become motionless or die when the temperature dips below freezing. But the Antarctic springtail can easily move and jump around at these temperatures. The biological reason for this vivacity is the anti-freeze system of this insect. Some of them can even live in glaciers unharmed for a period of up to three years.

Waterproof Fur

The otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) has a different type of protection against cold. The otter has been hunted for its soft, thick, velvet-like fur, bringing it to the brink of extinction. This animal’s fur is such a fabulous protection that otters can swim for days without even getting wet. The thick fur protects the otter from the cold. Unlike many sea animals, the fat layer under the otter’s skin is very thin, and is thus not very helpful against cold. Instead, the One whose Mercy is Endless has granted them a thick fur that protects them from the cold.

Polar Bear Dens

When the dens of polar bears are examined, many fascinating aspects are discovered. If a female polar bear living in Antarctica is pregnant or has just given birth, she makes a den under the snow; this is the only way that she can survive. The cubs are usually born during the middle of winter. When they are born, they are hairless, sightless and very tiny. These totally vulnerable and very needy babies are born in the middle of winter and they need proper dens in order to survive. A typical den consists of a two-meter hole and a round cave half a meter in diameter. It is only about half a meter high. However, this is no ordinary shelter constructed by a simple procedure. In a place where everywhere is covered by snow and ice, this den is dug very carefully under the snow drifts, and every detail necessary for the lives of the cubs is ensured. These dens usually consist of more than one room. Despite the fact that polar bears lack knowledge of thermo-dynamics, they dig out a smaller den above the entrance, ensuring that the warm air in these rooms cannot escape. Throughout winter, snow accumulates at the entrance and on top of the den. The polar bear leaves only a small, narrow channel through this snow drift to allow the air in. The thickness of the roof constructed by the mother bear is somewhere between 75 centimeters to two meters. This roof works as a good insulator, keeping the existing heat inside.

A researcher from Oslo University, Paul Watts, placed a gadget on the ceiling of one of these dens to carefully measure the heat. His findings were surprising: while the temperature outside fell below –30 degrees, the temperature inside never fell below 2 or 3 degrees. The scientists were also amazed to discover that the mother bear constructs her den like an expert physicist, building her nest with perfect insulation. In this warm and protective setting the mother bear does not die of cold because the fat reserves in her body are sufficient for her hibernation period. However, the period of hibernation is an even more interesting issue: the metabolic rate of the mother bear slows down to save energy, thus enabling the cubs to be better nourished. Thanks to these characteristics, granted by the One whose Mercy is Endless, the fat stored in the bodies of polar bears is turned into protein over a hibernation period of seven months, feeding the cubs. This is how the polar bear survives without eating any food for such a long time. Its heart rate decelerates from 70 beats per minute to 8, and the metabolism slows down in accordance with this. As the bear does not eat any food, it does not need to defecate or urinate.

Parenthood in a White World

It seems as if penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) thumb their noses at the freezing cold. The mothers return back to cold seas shortly after laying eggs in order to feed. The mating pairs do not build nests, because there is nothing around them except snow and ice. Yet, they cannot leave their eggs on the ice, for the egg would be immediately frozen. So, while the mother is hunting for food, the father penguin takes care of the chicks over a period of three months. The fathers gather around in a group to carry, initially, the eggs, and then the chicks, holding them on their feet in order to protect them from freezing. The feet of penguins are covered with feathers, and are 80 °C warmer than the outside temperature, thus keeping the egg from freezing. The penguins form a circle with their backs facing out, and the chicks on the inside. Those fathers that happen to be located at the outer most part of the circle change places from time to time with the other penguins to protect themselves from freezing. This is necessary, because the temperature is around -50 °C.

Are such animals as we have discussed here capable of learning and thinking? Or are these abilities that are peculiar only to humans? Differentiating humans from animals along strict lines, Descartes (1596-1650), who said “cogito, ergo sum: I think, therefore, I am,” went so far as to claim that animals do not feel, let alone have an ability to think. Some biologist today argue that animals might not have the ability to think as we understand it, but they can still behave in some logical ways that are peculiar to them, and they can learn. Nevertheless, we cannot give animals credit for comprehending the need for anti-freeze in their blood, the protective characteristics of salt against freezing, how they should make their dens, or form circles to protect themselves against the cold. Rather, we could say that all these are manifestations of the most beautiful names of our Lord. One of the meanings of the 16th verse of the Surat al-Anbiya, It was not for nothing that We created the Heavens and the Earth and all that is between, is that we are to understand that there is a Divine Wisdom and Insight in the creation of each and every one of the creatures of the universe.

References 

• Scott, M., The Young Oxford Book of Ecology, p. 47.
• Manisali, M., Antifirizli Baliklar, S›z›nt›, May 2000.
• Bilyap Aquaristic web site, Fischverhalten beobachten und verstehen, Jorg Vierke.
• O’Toole,C., Stidworthy, J., Mammals: The Hunters, p. 86-89.
• http://www.populerbilgi.com/genel/Fedakarlik2.php – Guinness Books, Remarkable Animals: A Unique Encyclopedia of Wildlife Wonders, p. 21.

“The things that I fear most for my people are being overweight, sleeping too much, laziness and a lack of deep faith.” 1
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)

Effective time management occurs only when we force ourselves to perform important activities within a plan so that we can reach our goals. Goal setting and planning our activities are important steps in this. But if we fail to engage in these activities and to finish them, then we end up with an unfulfilled plan on our hands. Our mind-body is the only vehicle through which we can accomplish our goals in life. Our eating habits, including the type and amount of food we eat, affect our mind-body in many ways, such as our energy and stress level and our sleep patterns. Hence, it is crucial to examine the impact of eating habits on our mind-body. It is notable that time-management literature’s vast majority pays little or no attention to this aspect of mind-body control. In this article we will consider three factors in this respect: The impact of the amount of food we eat, the timing of meals, and the nature of our food.

“Limit eating, limit sleeping, limit talking. This is the path to the spiritual life.” – Sufi proverb

The Impact of How Much We Eat and Drink

There is little mention of eating habits in time-management literature. However, our eating habits affect our management of time in many different ways. Let us first consider the times of our day that are immediately affected by our eating and drinking habits:

1. Food preparation or waiting time,

2. Eating/drinking time,

3. Digestion and mental recovery time after the meal,

4. The time spent in the lavatory, and finally

5. The extra sleep we may need after a heavy meal.

It is easy to see that the impact of each of these factors is proportional to the size of the meal. The more food we prepare or ask for, the longer the preparation/waiting time will be. More food also takes longer to eat. The next stage, which is very important, is the time needed for digestion and mental recovery after the meal. Depending on the type and amount of food we intake, the digestion time can range from one hour up to three or four hours. When the amount of food is great, our digestive system competes with our brain for the limited amount of sugar in our body. This may prevent our brain from functioning at its peak. Consequently, we may experience a lack of focus, a lack of energy, or we may feel sleepy. Most people try to compensate for such feelings by drinking caffeinated beverages, which have their own disadvantages.

The time we spend in the lavatory is also proportional to the amount of food we eat. When we eat more, our visits are more frequent and more time is spent there. Eating foods that are rich in fiber is also another cause of frequent visits to the lavatory. But a diet deficient in fiber is not healthy, so the way to cut back on time spent there is not to cut back on fiber-rich foods, but rather to cut back on the amount of food we eat.

Finally, the type and the amount of food we eat affect our sleep patterns. First, when we eat more, we need to sleep longer. It is no coincidence that people who overeat also tend to oversleep. But the impact is not limited to sleeping time alone. Stimulating foods or drinks near bedtime disturb our sleep patterns and cause us to benefit less from our sleep. This, in turn, results in our efficiency being affected the following morning.

When we consider all these factors, we begin to realize how overeating makes self-management difficult and we can understand the wisdom behind the prophetic saying “No human being has ever filled a container that is worse than his stomach. . .”2

The Impact of What We Eat and Drink

In addition to the amount of food, the type of food we eat is also important. Certain types of food may energize our brain, while certain others make it sluggish.3 In order to increase one’s energy levels, nutritionists recommend a balanced diet that is devoid of harmful substances. An important property of the food we eat is what is known as the “glycemic index.”4

The Glycemic Index of Foods

Since sugar is the substance that gives us energy, many people are under the false assumption that the more sugar we consume, the more energetic we feel. This view, however, fails to account for the compensatory balance in our body. When we consume large amounts of sugar, either in the form of pure sugar, or via foods that are rich in sugar, the amount of sugar in our blood stream increases. Our body responds to this situation by secreting insulin into the blood stream, reducing the amount of sugar. If the increase in the sugar level is very steep, than the body reacts strongly to reduce it and causes the sugar level to fall to a very low level. This is why we feel sluggish for some time after consuming sugar-rich foods.

In order to avoid the down-time of insulin compensation, nutritionists recommend that we avoid foods that are high in simple sugars and which have a high glycemic index in carbohydrates. The “glycemic index” measures how much the levels of circulating blood sugar increase within a few hours after eating a particular food. Examples of foods and drinks with lots of simple sugars include cookies, cakes and other baked goods, candy bars, sodas, and fruit juices. These foods and drinks include large amounts of simple sugars, such as glucose or fructose. Initially, they give us a quick energy boost. In the longer term, however, the body’s monitoring system increases the levels of insulin in the blood and hence we experience a quick decline shortly after this boost. The brain can only use glucose for energy. When the glucose level drops in the blood, the brain cannot perform at its peak. We may end up feeling even more drained than before we ate or drank. In order to maximize brainpower and mental focus, we need to minimize fluctuations of blood sugar by selecting foods with lower glycemic index numbers. These will break down more slowly and release glucose gradually into your bloodstream. The insulin response will also be more gradual and we will not suffer a mental down time. The following table shows the glycemic indices of certain foods:

The Interaction of Food with Hormones

Our food intake also influences the release of important hormones, such as serotonin, melatonin, and dopamine. Serotonin gives us feelings of well-being, personal security, and relaxation. A shortage of serotonin may leave us feeling very tired, needing excessive sleep, with feelings of low self-esteem, causing negative thinking, and maybe even difficulty in concentrating. However, excessive levels of serotonin are also harmful.

Melatonin is a hormone that is believed to be involved in the regulation of sleep. Melatonin secretion is significantly higher at night, although some is produced during the day. The pineal gland, where melatonin is produced, functions as a biological clock by increasing its output of melatonin at night by more than ten times. This increase in secretion begins around sunset and reaches a peak at around 2 a.m. After this peak, it falls to a low level by the time of sunrise. High levels of melatonin can induce drowsiness.

Dopamine stimulates alertness and awareness. However, excess levels can cause an increased heart rate, muscular tension, and disrupt sleep patterns, as well as resulting in shortened attention span and excessive self-confidence. Excess levels of dopamine have been associated with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and risk-taking behavior.

Serotonin, melatonin, and dopamine are constantly being produced in our bodies. But we can increase or decrease their levels by changing our habits. Our eating habits, spiritual well-being, and activity all affect the hormone chemistry in our bloodstream and in our brain. These in turn affect our moods and tendencies.5 This is one reason why we can feel differently about the same task at different times of the day. Carbohydrates, for instance, can alter the level of serotonin in our brains and bring on feelings of calm and relaxation. While these effects can be desirable at night, they are certainly not what we want when we need to increase our energy level. Certain proteins can help increase levels of dopamine. Thus, we may prefer a menu rich in proteins rather than carbohydrates before a mentally demanding task. In the evening, some hours before we go to bed, we may want to avoid stimulating foods as they may interfere with our sleep. If our sleep is affected, we may wake up drowsy and drained.

The Impact of Caffeinated Drinks

Although caffeine can induce a short-term stimulation to our body and mind, it will also cause a negative rebound effect. Furthermore, in the long run the brain adapts to caffeine intake and may not be able to function at its peak when we do not supply it with the accustomed levels of caffeine. This is an unhealthy dependency. If you are already used to taking caffeine regularly to boost your energy, work on slowly eliminating it from your diet. Decaffeinated coffee and tea may help get rid of the addiction while maintaining a placebo effect. One advice for a quick lunch that will not deplete your energy, but rather increase it, is to eat pure protein. Tyrosine, one of the amino acids in protein, is well known for its ability to increase levels of alertness and energy levels. Foods such as broiled fish, sliced poultry, boiled eggs, or tuna are good sources of tyrosine.

Additional advice from nutritionists to prevent fatigue includes getting enough iron, taking advantage of herbs, and preferring natural foods over artificial ones.

Conclusion

In this article we have addressed a commonly overlooked aspect of time management: The impact of our eating habits on self-control and productivity. In addition to its negative consequences on our health, eating too much also affects how we make use of our time. Overeating is one of the primary causes for excessive sleep, fatigue, and loss of mental energy. Foods rich in simple sugars in particular are responsible for dips in performance shortly after consumption. The type of food we eat and the timing of our meals also impact our mind-body. Various hormones that affect our performance are affected by our nutrition pattern. In the prophetic saying we quoted above, Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, links excessive sleep, laziness, and a lack of reflection with overeating. It is remarkable that such sound medical advice came from a person who lived in the 7th century. The recommendation in this prophetic tradition is fully applicable today: Moderate eating is the key to self-control and effective time management. 

Footnotes

1. Suyuti, Jam’ul Jamawi, 832.
2. Tirmidhi, Zuhd 47; Ibn Maja, At’ima, 50.
3. Chafetz, M., Smart for Life, Penguin Books, New York: 1992.
4. Jennie Brand-Miller et al., The New Glucose Revolution –
5. Complete Guide to Glycemic Index Values, Marlowe & Company, New York: 2003.
6. Kotulak, R., Inside The Brain: Revolutionary Discoveries of How the Mind Works, Andrews McMeel Publishing, Kansas City: 1997.

His dreams drove him crazy; a crab had pierced its claws into his brain. He forsook his prayers and devotions, and neither ate nor slept.

Unable to rest tranquilly in one place, he wandered to a meadow, his head confused with the charms of his vain fancies. An old man was kneading mud upon a grave in order to make bricks. Absorbed in thought, the old man said:

“O foolish soul! Hearken to my counsel. Why have you attached your mind to that gold brick when one day they will make bricks from your dust? The mouth of a covetous man is so wide open that it can be closed again by one morsel. Take, O base man, your hand off that brick, for you cannot dam the river of your avarice with it.

“So negligent have you been in the thought of gain and riches that the stock of your life has become trampled underfoot. The dust of desire has blinded the eyes of your reason-the wind of desire has destroyed the harvest of your life.”

“Wipe negligence from your eyes, for will you not be buried under the dust tomorrow?

“Your life is a bird, and its name is Breath. When the bird has flown from its cage it does not return to captivity.

“Be watchful, for the world lasts but a moment, and a moment spent in wisdom is better than an age in folly.

“Why do we fix our minds upon this caravanserai? Our friends have departed and we are on the road. After us, the same flowers will bloom in the garden, and the same friends will still be sitting.

“When you arrive in Shiraz,² do you not clean from yourself the dust of the road?

“Soon, O you are polluted with the dust of sin, you will journey to a strange city. Weep, and wash away the impurities with your tears.”

Footnotes

1. Sadi of Shiraz (1209-1291) was one of the greatest poets of Persia. Sadi, the traveler, was born in Baghdad and saw a great part of the world before he finally settled in Shiraz, where he died. This story was taken from his work The Orchard.
2. The city of Shiraz represents one’s native land.

According to the Islamic perspective, there are three types of information sources:

Knowledge obtained through the five senses or relating to these senses. These include, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. For example, something that is seen is there, and something that is felt through touching exists.

According to the trend which accepts only this source of information, anything beyond the perception of these senses cannot be a subject of knowledge. This positivist trend has lost its influence over recent decades; however it was widely popular at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The second source of information is the “mind.” When the “mind” is mentioned, an unbiased decision-making entity, capable of evaluating matter within its pure form, and competent of making an objective decision is implied. The importance of a non-degenerate, unbiased, non-oppressed, functional mind is undeniable for information. In the modern world, rationalism is the representative of this tendency. Since its emergence, Rationalism has always advocated the “mind” as the only source of information. However, even rationalism is not sufficient to achieve true knowledge.

Another source of information is “authentic narration.” Authentic narration should be understood in two ways. Firstly, it is knowledge that has been transmitted by a number of different people and accepted as true. For example, a narration about a continent or a country to which one has never been is an authentic narration. To illustrate further, for a person who has never visited the continents of Australia or America, any accurate information, or first-hand information, obtained is of this type. It is possible that we may not have visited or seen these places, however millions of people live on these continents and hundreds of thousands of people visit these continents every year. The information gathered from these people is so powerful and trustworthy that anyone who has not seen these places cannot doubt their existence.

Secondly, authentic narration can also be considered to be that of “Divine Revelation.” In other words, this would consist of the Divine Books revealed to the messengers by God Almighty, where the revelations were brought by the Angel Gabriel (pbuh).

Human beings are not capable of seeing or hearing everything that exists, and thus they are not capable of knowing everything that exists. The mind cannot comprehend everything that exists. There are so many things that exist but which are not sensed through our senses or understood by our minds, or even, if the mind does understand them, can never be sensed or reached. Hence, the human being can only learn these facts through the teachings of a Divine Being whose knowledge, power, and will surround everything. We can only learn the things He knows to the extent that He teaches us in His Divine Books; in this way we become knowledgeable of those matters.

In order to discover the wonders of the universe and to achieve a better and more accurate knowledge with our five senses and mind, we must make evaluations under the light and wisdom of Divine revelations. Only when manipulated to work under these principles will science be able to accomplish its task of producing the fruit that it should.

Otherwise, partial falsification or incorrect interpretations of the Divine Books is inevitable. Moreover, if only the senses and experience will be the basis of information, then one will be forced to say “I do not believe in anything other than what I see, hear…” This is tantamount to rebelling against everything that the mind puts forward. In fact, if only sensory information is taken as the basis of knowledge, then people will be forced to search for compatibility between their deduced knowledge and the universe that is Created by God Almighty. In such a system, whatever facts agreed with their theorems would be true, anything else would be false. However, as God says in the Qur’an: “We did not take the human beings as witnesses to the creation of the Heavens and the Earth” (18:51). When the Divine revelation is not taken into consideration, every explanation is no more than a theorem or a guess.

Unfortunately, because only the first two types of sources were accepted, many Divine Revelations were rejected. With the progress of science, their validity has once again been proved. For example, the stages of an embryo in the mother’s womb have been well defined. When Omer Khayyam, who was an extreme rationalist, was asked about these verses, his response was to comment against the Qur’anic truth by commenting that the verses were not meant literally. Some other scholars thought that a person can only have faith in the “resurrection,” as it cannot be understood by the mind; however, Said Nursi has explained it with a simple analogy. The resurrection is like the spring that follows the winter. We do not have any actual sensory knowledge that this will happen, we know from observation and reasoning that the spring will come. Since some people only trust in the two types of sources, they had to twist what they read in the Divine Book, even the fundamentals of faith . For example, through the influence of philosophy, Farabi and Ibn-i Rusd, even though they were geniuses of their time, considered the Divine Revelations and the prophethood as being man-made concepts.

Some thought that philosophers were higher in status than the Messengers of God. The All-Knowing God was aware of how the Messengers would perform their duty of conveying the message; i.e. with an extraordinarily superior performance. This is why they were given the prophethood in advance; yet philosophers could not see this fine nuance. Moreover, it can be concluded that philosophers are only translating what Aristotle had earlier said to suit their time.

If the Islamic World is considered as a whole, it can be seen that not everybody fell into these traps. Zehravi, Ali Kuscu, Jalaleddin Devvani, Gelenbevi and many others, did not fall into these traps; they were very religious, and they were very influential in their times. People like Molla Husrev and Al-Harazmi, with their work in sciences that led their fields of study for many centuries, even in the West, were still able to maintain their faith without experiencing any conflict and lived for the most part as religious, pious people.

In conclusion, it would be proper to say that all sources of information must be handled together if one is to achieve an end result. Discriminating between these information sources and taking them discretely will open up pitfalls for humanity. The same pitfalls will continue to open if the same mistakes are repeated. Humanity will have to say “True” to those things it claimed as “False” the day before. However, using the Divine Revelations as the foundations of knowledge, and surrounding and framing them with the information attained from the senses and mind is the only path that will lead us in a true direction. 

The foreword, written by M. Fethullah Gulen, provides a good summary of the main ideas in the book. Both the foreword and the book try to make it clear that while many enjoy the poetry of Rumi, in many cases, the reader does not pay much attention to the source of his poetry, the Qur’an and the teachings of the Prophet of Islam. This is unfortunate and misleading. This book establishes the strong connection between Rumi’s poetry and Rumi’s utmost respect and love for the Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad by presenting samples of his poetry. In fact, Rumi says, “I am the soil under the feet of Muhammad.”

The book contains numerous anecdotes, some with references, which shed light on aspects of Rumi’s colorful personality. In the narration of his life, the book provides some interesting details. It is suggested in the book that the death of Shams, in whose persona Rumi first found the light of the Beloved, might have had something to do with the fact that Rumi did not have a close relationship with his eldest son. Another important person in Rumi’s life was his father, Baha al-Din Valad. Rumi’s father was a prominent Islamic scholar, while his son, Rumi, was anything but a scholar. As I read the book I came to an understanding that after the death of his father, Rumi started searching for a path for himself. But the path he chose for himself was not the path of his father. In fact, Rumi had distaste for the sort of encyclopedic knowledge of God that his father had pursued. Rumi longed for an ever-present and imminent experience of God. “The knowledge of the heart is not learnt from books” is how the author expresses it, while Rumi states, “Love shies away from the light of reason.”

Mr. Can, after presenting Rumi’s biography with many colorful and insightful anecdotes, continues with his presentation of Rumi’s views on some important subjects in the second half of the book, such as unity and union with God, love, salvation, beauty, women, poetry, free will, and reincarnation. While making his case, the author draws on numerous examples from Rumi’s poetry. The author’s aim, as he himself confesses, is not to make an objective criticism of Rumi’s views. This is why some of his comments may at times seem to be excessive. Contrary to being a weak point, I think the author’s unquestioned devotion to Rumi makes the book warm, bringing Rumi ever closer to the reader.

Another very valuable contribution of the book is in the cross-references between Plato and Rumi, and Iqbal and Rumi. The author’s wide background is a tremendous help to the reader in finding the common thread and the differences between Rumi and the philosophers of the West and the East. “Rumi: A Mevlevi Sufi Perspective” is not a book that is exclusively concerned with Rumi’s life and views; it actually can also be seen to be a book on Sufism from Rumi’s perspective as well.

Sefik Can’s book, “Rumi: A Mevlevi Perspective” fills a significant gap in the literature on Rumi. The book does an excellent job of collecting a specific composition of roses from the rose garden of Rumi. After reading the book, the reader wishes to learn Persian in order to listen to Rumi and to be able to collect their own samples from that beautiful garden. This book is a must for anyone who desires to have a thorough, heartfelt introduction to the beloved Rumi.

The meanings of beauty need to be redefined all together in order to be properly appreciated. Even though this has been done many times by masters of esthetics, we will try to explain our understanding of beauty in the context of our philosophy and belief, where every beautiful object is a mirror image or a reflection of Divine Beauty. Furthermore, anything that incites appreciation, love, and astonishment is seen as a reflection of Divine Beauty. Therefore, when our hearts are filled with these everlasting reflections, we are always able to perceive ourselves within beauty.

Through such a perspective, we conceive of even seemingly sad things, like death and decay, as being the essence of the most amazing harmonies, thus feeling ourselves to be among infinite beauty. In this way, we never feel upset or discouraged by the fading of our attachments. On the contrary, we experience the outward beauty of faith, breathe in the motivating air of hope, strive to do righteous deeds in the hope that we will fulfill our spiritual desires, seek sincerity in every deed, struggle to be tolerant, merciful, and constructive in all our behavior, and we strive to accept those deeds done for the sake of God as being the best moments of our lives. For us, faith becomes the light that illuminates our horizons, and a source of hope for our expectations. Only through faith can the chaos of nothingness be overcome. Only through faith can we reach the happiness that spreads from our hearts to the infinite Paradise. Through its vastness and power, faith becomes beautiful. Through faith one can find the Divine Unity, turn toward the Truth, and reach worldly and heavenly bliss, being released from all worries.

These are all the beauties within beauty that can be enjoyed through faith in God. The universe, events, objects, and human intellect that can evaluate these are all beautiful in that they help us find faith. Likewise, all righteous acts that stem from faith, good morals, and the desire to reach real faith and progress in the spiritual ranks of love and knowledge of God are also beautiful. Even acts of worship, or calamities that strike us, or sins that we find hard to resist, all of which may seem like hardship from the outside, represent beauty if we adopt the right attitude toward them. Real beauty belongs to God. He necessitates perfection, which is unique to Him alone. All of existence is a different mirror of God, reflecting His beauty as much as its potential allows. Stars sing of the beauty of light every night, they wink at us and remind us of Him through their unbelievable beauty. Moonlight touches the hearts with its softness and beauty and the sun spreads its mercy on each and every thing without distinction. It pours down its light and colors all day long, and sets, giving us another marvelous scene. The seas rise and fall through the tides, and take care of millions of living beings, like a merciful mother. Mountains, with a sheer size that makes our hearts pound, seem to be whispering something to the skies, playing along with the clouds. Mountains invite the rains, and stop the oceans with their proud look, yet they become mere earth. All the voices from the birds, sheep, forests, and mountains make up such a harmonious song, feeding our souls with the most peaceful rhythms. Yes, everything from the smiling skies to the thousands of glories of the Earth is so beautiful that they make us aware of the beauty of Heaven and we simply say “it just could not have been more beautiful!” And human beings themselves seem to be the most beautiful among all this beauty. With our outward looks, our inner world of senses, thoughts, and faith, we are like a sample, a replica of the universe. It is therefore apparent that humans have been created as a key to solve the riddle of creation. This is the way we should perceive beauty, seeing it only as a tool to interpret the real meaning of existence. In this enormous arena of beauty, everything can be seen as a point referring to the Creator. If, with our pure intentions and the right perspective, we can perceive existence as a mirror reflecting the beauty of The Beautiful, we can experience spiritual joy.

In fact, it should not be difficult to be aware of this. Sometimes, only a beautifully designed city or a place of worship is enough to make us enjoy this holy pleasure. Sometimes, a nice poem, a legend, a well-told story, or music that is meant to touch our human sensibilities, that wafts harmony into our soul, can draw us to this beauty, and make us hear the beauty of some other abode. However, the continuity of the joy that these spiritual pleasures give us and the avoidance of suffering depends on relating this worldly beauty to its real Owner. Otherwise, all will end at the most unexpected moment. The Sun will set and the Moon will disappear as our soul sinks into the darkness. It is impossible for souls in decline to appreciate and enjoy beauty. Since every beauty of this world fades away and leaves us one day, for our soul not to despair and to be able to enjoy the real and infinite beauty, it is necessary to establish the true Owner and Originator of the beauty we observe. A poet, relating this concept to a Qur’anic verse said: “Even faces as beautiful as the Sun set in the end. Thus I love not the temporary ones, but the infinite beauty that does not fade away.” Rumi illustrates the same point in the following verses: “My God, after seeing You, knowing You, I do not see the beauty of this world anymore . . .”

Yes, material beauty is just a means to acknowledge the Most Beautiful. Getting stuck at the “means” and not realizing the ultimate goal of this beauty, which shows us the real Beauty of God, is nothing more than being blind to the real goal, the real Truth. The Creator has placed all sorts of beauty and signs along the way so that we will not be blinded; however, for souls that have not reached this realization and which lack the faithful perspective, this beauty is nothing but a source of mischief, or means leading them to sin. But for those who can think clearly, even the love for the beautifully created is only the shade of the shade of the shade of the Beauty of the Beauty of God. As long as we are able to distinguish between the Real Source of Beauty and its reflection, the love we feel for the created is harmless. In this sense we can accept the created as beautiful.

Sometimes, we are aware of the innermost feelings in our souls which sense only the abstract beauty that fills our hearts with God’s love alone. At these moments, when beauty and love become intertwined, the soul, with its unique ability to see, feel, and hear, senses the Real Source in everything that it meets. Through its heavenly bestowed mechanisms, our soul perceives the essence of everything and attributes this to its real owner. It is the lack of this mechanism that renders the materialists and the naturalists short-sighted; they only observe the outer beauty of things, and fall short of perceiving the spiritual and infinite horizons. However, all beauty exists to take us to the Heavens, to the Godly realms.

Every human being displays themselves, their feelings, and their abilities in their works. This means that they are presenting something for others who will observe and perceive through the prism of their insight. God presents His works embellished with color, meaning, and content in order to make Himself known and loved for those seeking Him. We are sent to this world with the responsibility then, to affect and reshape things with His permission, to reflect our understanding, but also to be attentive to the true purpose and meaning of the creation of things. The universe and the happenings in it are thus perfect examples to imitate. However, no matter how perfect the example is, everyone will draw and interpret objects according to their abilities. Charles Lalo, commenting on esthetics once said: “The magnificent scene taking place at the time of sunset will remind a farmer of the rather unesthetic thought of dinner; the physicist, not of beauty or ugliness, but of rightness or wrongness of the analysis of a matter. Thus, the sunset is beautiful only for those who are aware of beauty.” Therefore, only those who see with God and hear with God can appreciate the beauty that spreads throughout existence as their senses are tuned to the spiritual realms.

A heart that beats with God’s love and which desires to meet Him, will be aware of many signs from God along the way. Such a heart will feel the excitement of meeting Him, as it reads the messages from the Moon, the sunset, the twinkling stars, colorful nature, the blowing of the wind, the snow. . . And such a heart would utter, in the words of one who has reached unity of sight and heart, “Everyone from everywhere is coming to watch Your beauty. From beneath and from above, every being is declaring You, displaying the reflections of Your beauty.” This heart looks at nature and objects, but sees the Unseen spiritual realms. This is the point of love and connection with God.

Before analyzing the relationship between these two disciplines, it is necessary to understand what they are. To this end, we should first start by defining what religion and science are.

Religion is a belief system and way of life that attributes all power and order to the Supreme Being, God, Who has offered guidance to human beings through His books and Messengers. The goal of religion is the success of human beings, both on the Earth and in the hereafter. Science is knowledge about the universe, based on experiments, observations and facts that can be proven. Its goal is to explain the relationship between particular events. According to these definitions and goals, religion and science seem to be two different disciplines. Increasingly, in recent centuries, they have been perceived as being two conflicting disciplines, as they seem to disagree on some scientific theories, such as evolution.

At this point, a question arises. Are science and religion really contradictory to one another and how is this situation perceived in Islam? From an Islamic perspective, religion and science are not in conflict with one another. First of all, the universe is a book written by God and is a collection of Divine signs; therefore science and religion cannot be conflicting disciplines. Rather, they are two different expressions of the same truth.

In the Qur’an there are about 750 verses that urge humanity to gain knowledge and which are related to knowledge. Even in the very first verses sent to humanity, God begins His revelation with the actions of reading and writing:

Read! In the name of your Lord, Who created. He created man, from a clot (of congealed blood). Read, by your Most Generous Lord, Who taught by the pen. He taught man what he did not know. (96:1-5)

Now let us look what Carl Sagan said in his book, Cosmos: “Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic.” Muslims believe that the Qur’an contains everything, but not to the same degree. This fact is pointed out in the following verse:

With Him are the keys of the Unseen. None but He knows them. And He knows what is in the land and the sea. Not a leaf falls but with His Knowledge, not a grain amid the darkness of the Earth, nothing of wet or dry but (it is noted) in a Manifest Book. (6:59)

The Qur’an pursues four purposes:

a.existence and unity of God,

b.prophethood,

c.resurrection,

d.concentration on worship of God and justice.

While realizing these purposes, it draws our attention to the acts of God in the universe, His art that is displayed throughout creation, the manifestations of His names and attributes and the magnificent perfect order and harmony that there is in existence. In the Qur’an, God gives examples about some scientific facts, natural events, and even more, He indicates some scientific and technological wonders, such as airplanes, electricity, motor vehicles, and means of radio and telecommunication. At this point, let us look at the verses that are related to science, scientific knowledge, and the importance of gaining scientific knowledge.

The Verses that Urge Us to Gain Knowledge

Say: Are those who know and those who do not know alike? It is those who are endued with understanding that receive admonition. (39:9)

And so amongst men and crawling creatures and cattle, they are of various colors. Those truly fear God, among His Servants, who have knowledge: for God is Exalted in Might, Oft-Forgiving. (35:28)

And such are the Parables We set forth for mankind, but only those understand them who have knowledge. (29:43)

Qur’anic Verses Related to Scientific Facts

The Big Bang and the Beginning of Life:

Have the unbelievers not beheld that the Heavens and the Earth were a solid mass, then We separated them? (21:30) 

The Expansion of the Universe Theory:

And it is We who have built the universe with our power; and, verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it. And We made the Earth habitable; a perfect design. (51:47-48) Embryology:

We have created man from an extract of clay. Then We placed him as (a drop of) sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed. Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood; then made from the clot a lump of flesh; then made the lump of flesh into bones, and clothed the bones with flesh, then we fashioned him into another creation. So blessed be God, the best to create. Then after that, you will surely die. Then, on the Day of Judgment, you will surely be raised up. (23:12-16)

Genetic Code:

Does man think that we cannot assemble his bones? Yes indeed, we are able to put together in perfect order the very tips of his fingers. (75:3-4)

Hadith on Seeking Knowledge

“The seeking of knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim.” (Ibn Maja)

“The word of wisdom is the lost property of the Believer. So wherever he finds it he has a better right to it.” (Tirmidhi)

“Whoever goes out to seek knowledge is on God’s path until he returns.” (Tirmidhi)

What Can Science Explain

Scientists simply observe things happening in the universe, sometimes just with the naked eye, and sometimes with the help of tools. When they see something which happens always in an unchanged way then they say that this is a law. An example of such a law is that everything with a mass will fall if left in the air; this happens with no exceptions, therefore it is a natural law. This is not a feature of the Earth only; every object with a mass applies a force to any other object with a mass. This becomes a universal law by which we can explain many things, from why a rock falls to the orbits of planets. But the problem of why two objects in space apply a force to one another is not on the agenda for scientists. Actually, it is not a question that you can find an answer to by scientific methods. This is a law of the universe; yet its reason may not be found in the observable universe. If the cause of this law is not in the observable universe then there is no way an explanation can be found by scientific methods. Some people have the incorrect belief that the theory of relativity explains gravity. The theory of relativity does not assume that objects apply force to each other. In brief and simple words this theory states that space-time is curved at the points where mass exists. Objects move along the geodesics (shortest paths) of space-time. And geodesics pass through the center of the masses; that is why objects tend to move toward each other. This is just a very difficult way of saying the same thing. The question “why do objects travel along the geodesics?” is exactly the same question that we asked above. The theory of relativity does not explain why gravitation exists; it just offers a different way of looking at the problem. Gravitation is just one example of many natural laws; all of these laws cannot answer the question why.

Science Cannot Answer “Why”

The observable universe is three-dimensional. But the universe as a whole is at least four-dimensional. If a natural law has a cause in the fourth dimension, a dimension to which we have no access, we cannot understand it. We can demonstrate this by an example, helping us to understand what we mean. Think of a metallic plane on which there are some creatures that are like electrons, which have no interaction with the third dimension, nor do they have any sense of it. All they can see is the two-dimensional plane where they live. Assume that a person is shooting at the plane, periodically opening holes at regular intervals. Observing that these holes are being opened periodically and at an equal distance, these creatures, if intelligent enough, will begin to see an unchanging pattern. And they may even give it a name, like “the law of holes.” They may calculate exactly where and when the next holes will appear, but they will never understand why these holes are being made or why they are being made in an unchanging pattern. Our idea of universal laws is much the same. We find the laws, we name them, but we will never be able to understand why they exist, or why they work in a mathematically describable way.

The Universe and Its Laws in the Qur’an

The Qur’an introduces the universe as a masterpiece created by God. The Qur’an actually challenges human beings to find any flaws in creation. While talking about the creation of The Heavens it states: “. . . then look again, can you see any disorder?” (67:3). The idea that God created the universe, putting in laws and then left it to its own devices is rejected by the Qur’an. “Verily your Lord is God, who created the Heavens and the Earth in six days, then He established Himself on the Throne (of authority) regulating and governing all things” (10:3). According to the Qur’an, the laws of nature are the commands that God has given to everything in nature. God is in control of the universe every single moment. Natural laws in the terminology of Islam are called Sunnatullah. Sunna means unchanging work. If a person gets up at 6 o’clock in the morning every day without exception, we say that getting up at 6 is his Sunna. Sunnatullah means the Sunna of God, the unchanging work of God. The Qur’an states “There is no altering (the laws of) God’s creation.” (30:30).

This means that there is no change in natural laws. If we think in simpler terms, when a rock left in the air falls, we can say that God made it fall. So everything being done according to natural laws is in fact being done by God, from a falling rock to the creation of a human being from a single cell. There is nothing supernatural going on in the creation of a human being, but this does not mean that it is not God who creates it. It means that God creates it by His routine work (His Sunna). In fact, the act of God creating a human being through His Sunna is more amazing than the supernatural creation of a human being out of nothing. So, in this context, the word miracle in Islam has a different meaning than what is understood by some people in the West. Some people define a miracle as the work of God, but in Islam everything is the work of God. A miracle is therefore defined as an unusual work of God. When we correctly understand the concept of Sunnatullah, then we will not have any difficulty understanding the following verse of the Qur’an, which has troubled many Muslims.

“God has created you and your handiwork (what ever you do)”(37:96). Mu‘tazilites, one of the misguided sects of Islam, do not take this verse literally. They say, “If we want to walk, then we walk, God does not create our actions. We create our own actions.” By saying this they go against one of the basic claims of the Qur’an. That is, they do not accept the fact that there is no creator other than God and that God does not accept any intercessors. Why should we not take credit for our actions? Surely it is we who decide how and when to move. But, consider the simple action of moving our arm. When we decide to move our arm, an enormous amount of communication takes place between our brain and our arm. The amount of energy which will be used in every cell of our muscles-of which there are thousands-how much each muscle should be stretched or loosened, all will be calculated in the brain and transferred to the muscles. If we try to write all the communication between our brain and our arm, all the calculations happening in the brain for the simple act of moving our arm may take up an entire book. And all of this happens with the help of many natural laws (Sunnatullah) and in less than a second. We are unaware of all of these calculations. So how can we claim responsibility for this? All we are responsible for is the desire to move our arm. Said Nursi gives the following wonderful example to illustrate our argument: Think of a very skillful electrician. He builds an electrical terminal to produce electricity. Then he wires an entire city with cable, and puts a lamp at every corner of every street. Then he connects all these wires to the terminal passing through a single switch. He makes one of his assistants responsible for turning the switch on at night. In the evening when dark falls on the city, the assistant turns the switch on, and suddenly the entire city is lit. Now the assistant cannot take any credit for enlightening the city, but if he does not turn on the switch he will be responsible for leaving the city in the dark. Every one of our actions is more complex than the enlightening of this city. We are merely the assistant that flips the switch.

Finally, let us conclude with remarks from two thinkers: Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. (Albert Einstein)

Minds should be enlightened by science, while hearts need to be illuminated by religion. (Said Nursi)

Dating back to the sixteenth century,¹ the Grand Champs des Morts was unique among Istanbul’s necropolises, with burial grounds for followers of both Islam and Christianity in close proximity. Beginning at Taksim (roughly on the site where the Ataturk Cultural Center now stands) and extending down the slopes of Gumussuyu and Findikli lay the graves of Muslims, while the area stretching northward toward Harbiye was divided into separate sections for the city’s various Christian communities. The English traveler Julia Pardoe describes the site in 1836:

The first plot of ground, after passing the barrack [the artillery barracks of Selim III at Taksim], is the grave-yard of the Franks; and here you are greeted on all sides with inscriptions in Latin; injunctions to pray for the souls of the departed; flourishes of French sentiment; calembourgs² graven into the everlasting stone, treating of roses and reine Marguerites; concise English records of births, deaths, ages, and diseases; Italian elaborations of regret and despair; and all the common-places of an ordinary burial-ground.³

Immediately in a line with the European cemetery, is the burial-ground of the Armenians. It is a thickly-peopled spot; and as you wander beneath the leafy boughs of the scented acacias, and thread your way among the tombs, you are struck by the peculiarity of their inscriptions. The noble Armenian character is graven deeply into the stone; name and date are duly set forth; but that which renders an Armenian slab. . . peculiar and distinctive, is the chiseling upon the tomb the emblem of the trade or profession of the deceased.

The Turkish cemetery stretches along the slope of the hill behind the barrack, and descends far into the valley. Its thickly-planted cypresses form a dense shade, beneath which the tall head-stones gleam out white and ghastly. The grove is intersected by footpaths, and here and there a green glade lets in the sunshine, to glitter upon many a gilded tomb. Plunge into the thick darkness of the more covered spots, and for a moment you will almost think that you stand amid the ruins of some devastated city. You are surrounded by what appears for an instant to be the myriad fragments of some mighty whole; but the gloom has deceived you-you are in the midst of a Necropolis-a City of the Dead.⁴

The vastness and natural beauty of the Grand Champs des Morts captured the attention of foreign residents and visitors to Istanbul alike, and few travel accounts and diaries from the past fail to mention-even if only in passing reference-the cemetery on the outskirts of Pera. The Grand Champs des Morts presented a sharp contrast to the densely packed inner-city churchyards which served as the principal burial grounds in so many of Europe’s cities up to the nineteenth century. Although some chroniclers considered the size of the Pera cemetery, as well as the great necropolises bordering other districts of Istanbul, a hindrance to urban expansion and development,⁵ the advantage of such a spacious, sylvan tract of land for burial of the dead was also recognized.

Not far from this [Taksim] we entered upon one of those vast burying-grounds which form one of the most conspicuous features of every Turkish city. . . In a few words. . . I may state that the cemetery. . . covers an area of more than 100 acres, and that a thick forest of cypresses (resembling in shape the poplar, but with a dark green foliage) overspreads it with a solemn shade, extremely appropriate to its ordinary uses. . .⁶

Cemetery planners in Western Europe, spurred on by public calls for improvements to the hygiene and appearance of local burial grounds, cited precedents in Istanbul-as well as other areas of the East-in their effort to close inner-city churchyards and replace them with larger, more salubrious cemeteries outside settled areas. This process of reform essentially began in France during the eighteenth century. It was encouraged by authors such as the naturalist Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737–1814), who, in his celebrated atudes de la Nature, praised the Turkish custom of burying the dead in the countryside (a tradition also observed in classical antiquity and contemporary China) and recommended the implementation of similar practices in Paris. He proposed “landscaped lysces as the burial-place of the great and good, and public cemeteries (essentially landscaped gardens where the dead would be buried and, if prosperity allowed, monuments erected). . . Public cemeteries should be created in the vicinity of the city, planted with cypresses, pines, and fruit-trees, and monuments erected in such a setting could only induce profound moral feelings and tender melancholy in those who visited them.”⁷

By the late 1700s, new methods for disposing of the dead were of absolute necessity in most of Europe’s major cities, and not simply for esthetic purposes, but for maintaining public health. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, the municipality of Paris took the first steps by closing old burial grounds, such as the ancient Cimetire des Innocents, and establishing new cemeteries, including the famed Pre-Lachaise, Montparnasse, and Montmartre early in the next. A similar course of action occurred somewhat later in London, commencing with the opening of Kensal Green in 1832, the first of seven new private cemeteries founded over the next decade on the outskirts of the city.⁸ Finally, in 1852, all graveyards inside the city limits were closed with the passage into law of the Metropolitan Burial Act. By that time, London’s churchyards, many dating from the Middle Ages, were in a critical state. One contemporary journal, The Builder, asserted in 1843 that 50,000 bodies yearly were piled one on top of the other in these overcrowded graveyards, where-left to putrefy and rot-they gave out exhalations and darkened the air with vapors. Charles Dickens cynically portrayed the grim situation in the Uncommercial Traveller:

Such strange churchyards hide in the City of London; churchyards sometimes so entirely pressed upon by houses, so small, so rank, so silent, so forgotten, except by the few people who ever look down into them from their smokey windows. As I stand peeping in through the iron gates and rails, I can peel the rusty metal off, like bark from an old tree. The illegible tombstones are all lopsided, the gravemounds lost their shape in the rains of a hundred years ago, the Lombardy Poplar or Plane-Tree that was once a drysalter’s daughter and several common-councilmen, has withered like those worthies, and its departed leaves are dust beneath it. Contagion of slow ruin overhangs the place . . .⁹

Considering the dismal, unwholesome state of burial grounds in their own countries, it is no wonder that Europeans often waxed eloquent about the cemeteries of Istanbul, highlighting the aura of life which they engendered. Julia Pardoe offers a particularly vivid description of the burial grounds in the Ottoman capital, where the present generation readily merged with those of the past.

[The Turk] looks upon death calmly and without repugnance; he does not connect it with ideas of gloom and horror, as we are too prone to do in Europe,-he spreads his burial places in the sunniest spots-on the crests of the laughing hills, where they are bathed in the light of the blue sky; beside the crowded thoroughfares of the city, where the dead are, as it were, once more mingled with the living,-in the green nooks that stretch down to the Bosphorus, wherein more selfish spirits would have erected a villa, or have planted a vineyard. He identifies himself with the generation which has passed away-he is ready to yield his place to that which is to succeed his own.¹⁰

For the cemetery reformers of Europe, such descriptions offered an ideal in their quest for more wholesome, esthetically appealing burial grounds. Located in the hilly countryside on the fringes of the city, the Grand Champs des Morts and Istanbul’s other great necropolises served as a model for those who strove to create new cemeteries for the sanitary disposal of the dead, as well as provide an idyllic environment for the expression of one’s most tender feelings and deepest sentiments. Contemporary author Samuel Taylor Coleridge even commented on the emotive aspect of Turkish burial grounds.

Nothing can make amends for the want of the soothing influences of nature, and for the absence of those types of renovation and decay which the fields and woods offer to the notice of the serious and contemplative mind. To feel the force of this sentiment, let a man only compare in imagination, the unsightly manner in which our monuments are crowded together in the busy, noisy, unclean, and almost grassless churchyard of a large town, with the still seclusion of a Turkish cemetery in some remote place, and yet further sanctified by the grove of cypresses in which it is embosomed.¹¹ /

Specific reference to the Grand Champs des Morts and other Turkish cemeteries as archetypes to imitate in the West also appear in the writings of John Claudius Loudon (1783–1843), one of the most influential cemetery reformers of the nineteenth century. A Scottish landscape gardener, Loudon proposed that burial grounds should be on elevated ground, distant enough from urban centers as not to endanger the health of the populace, yet near enough to lessen the time and expense of funerals and encourage visits by the living to the tombs of the dead. To make the site attractive, he favored a garden-like setting, and suggested the planting of various types of trees and shrubs. Istanbul’s necropolises offered exemplary models of these principles, and Loudon quoted descriptions of them in his works on burial ground planning and design. “The Turkish cemeteries are generally out of the city, on rising ground, planted with cedars, cypresses, and odoriferous shrubs, whose deep verdure and graceful forms bending in every breeze give a melancholy beauty to the place, and excite sentiments very congenial to its destination.”¹²

Besides the location of Istanbul’s cemeteries in the midst of nature and removed from the habitations of the living, the local tradition of single interments also impressed European observers. As Julia Pardoe remarked, the remains of the dead were not disturbed once laid to rest, a practice followed in both the Muslim and Christian burial grounds of the Grand Champs des Morts. “There is no burying and reburying on the same spot, as with us. The remains of the departed are sacred.”¹³ In stark contrast, Europeans-largely due to space restrictions in their heavily populated cities-regularly opened existing graves and filled them with new cadavers, to the point that some churchyards became pestilential pits, seriously endangering public health. By the late eighteenth century these unsanitary conditions had become intolerable. Through the influence of reformers, many of whom took inspiration from the burial practices of the Ottomans, new laws were instituted regulating methods of disposing of the dead. A French decree passed in 1804, for instance, prohibited burial in common graves, where the dead were stacked up one on top of the other.¹⁴ Instead, each cadaver was to be buried in its own space, dug to a specific depth and separated from other graves by a set distance, a method of sepulture eventually adopted in other European countries as well.

More than Ottoman burial practices, however, the unique social life which revolved around Istanbul’s cemeteries, especially in the Grand Champs des Morts, aroused the interest of foreigners. Both Muslim and Christian inhabitants of the city followed distinct rituals for remembering their dead, and families of all religious persuasions made regular visits to their respective burial grounds, maintaining their link with the generations which had preceded them. The pleasant surroundings of the cemeteries (places to avoid in Europe’s municipalities) encouraged this communion with the departed. Moreover, the great necropolises were more than resting places for the dead. “The Champs des Morts,” as Julia Pardoe recounts, “is the promenade of the whole population-Turk, Frank, Greek, and Armenian. . .”¹⁵

It was known to the locals as a place of keyif, or an area connected with ease and enjoyment.¹⁶ Spacious, fresh, green, and in close proximity to the residential quarters of Pera, the burial ground served as a kind of parkland-an attractive area of rest and relaxation for the populace of Istanbul. With whatever views they pay these visits, it is certain that the burying-ground is their favorite resort, where they spend many of their spare hours. Whole families, parents and little children, may be seen gathered around a tomb in silence and seriousness, or in animated and joyous converse. All the burying-grounds, Turkish, Jewish, and Christian, are chief places of public resort.¹⁷

The Grand Champs des Morts even had a cafe at the crest of the hill overlooking Dolmabahce, where customers could while away the day smoking water pipes, drinking Turkish coffee, and gazing out at the sparkling waters of the Bosphorus in the distance.¹⁸ Itinerant vendors also wandered through the cemetery, offering refreshments to visitors. Water sellers usually followed in their wake, carrying huge dripping jars and shouting their distinctive cry buz gibi su! (ice-cold water),¹⁹ ready to quench the thirst of those strolling or lounging among the tombs. Yet, perhaps the most fascinating sight for Europeans were the public fairs held in the necropolis. More than just a place for commemoration, quiet contemplation, and repose, the Grand Champs des Morts was also the site of lively festivals and celebrations. On such occasions, the burial grounds—primarily those of the Christians—were transformed into an animated spectacle of gaiety and amusement. Julia Pardoe describes in colorful detail one such fte for the living amongst the monuments of the dead.

I have already spoken elsewhere of the indifference, if not absolute enjoyment with which the inhabitants of the East frequent their burying grounds; but on the occasion of this festival I was more impressed than ever by the extent to which it is carried. The whole of the Christian cemetery had assumed the appearance of a fair. . . Grave-stones steadied the poles which supported the swings—divans, comfortably overlaid with cushions, were but chintz-covered sepulchers—the kibaub merchants had dug hollows to cook their dainties under the shelter of the tombs, and the smoking booths were amply supplied with seats and counters from the same wide waste of death. Every hundred yards that we advanced, the scene became more striking. One long line of diminutive tents formed a temporary street of eating-houses; there were kibaubs, pillauf, fritters, pickled vegetables, soups, rolls stuffed with fine herbs, sausages, fried fish, bread of every quality, and cakes of all dimensions. . . . Here and there a flat tomb, fancifully covered with gold-embroidered handkerchiefs, was overspread with sweetmeats and preserved fruits; while in the midst of these rival establishments, groups of men were seated in a circle, wherever a little shade could be obtained, smoking their long pipes in silence, with their diminutive coffee-cups resting on the ground beside them. The wooden kiosk overhanging the Bosphorus was crowded; and many a party was snugly niched among the acacias, with their backs resting against the tombs, and the sunshine flickering at their feet.²⁰

Undoubtedly, Europeans were amazed by the merging of the realms of the living and the dead that occurred at Istanbul’s Grand Champs des Morts, where, as French embassy member Charles Pertusier remarked, ‘those who weep are not disturbed by the lyric songs of joy, and those who laugh pay no attention to those who weep.’²¹ Visiting—much less taking one’s pleasure in—burial grounds would have been almost inconceivable in the West. However, in the first half of the nineteenth century, this had already begun to change with the closing of inner-city churchyards and the creation of cemeteries on the periphery of urban areas in Europe. Planted with a rich variety of trees and shrubs, the burial grounds founded in Paris and London during this era constituted a distinctly new style. Essentially funerary gardens, they served both as cemeteries and parklands. Burial grounds such as Pere Lachaise, Montmartre, Kensal Green, and Highgate became renowned for their natural beauty, and were frequented—much like today—both by mourners wishing to commemorate the dead as well as visitors seeking a quiet spot for meditation and repose. Ironically, even as Europeans in the nineteenth century were opening new burial grounds influenced by models from Istanbul, sections of the very cemeteries from which they had derived inspiration (including portions of the Grand Champs des Morts) were being lost in the wake of rapid urban development. During the course of this transformation—spurred on by a desire to rebuild the city in contemporary Western fashion—it was inevitable that many of Istanbul’s old burial grounds would lessen in size, or vanish completely from the map. The city was unique in that so many of its immediate environs were taken up by vast necropolises for the dead, a conspicuous feature which left a distinct impression on foreign travelers, such as Stephen Olin, who in 1853 remarked on the loss of the cemeteries in the wake of urban growth.

Indeed, so vast a space has been devoted to the dead around Istanbul, that it is no longer possible to respect the sanctity of their abode without interfering greatly with the convenience of the living, and even the entire sacrifice of public convenience. Immense as the city is, I am quite sure that much more ground is occupied by tombs and graves than by the habitations of the living. The whole country about Constantinople, Scutari, and Pera is occupied in this way, and a vast number of tombs and burying grounds are enclosed within the walls. In forming roads, streets, and in building, it is no longer possible to spare them, and one often treads upon causeways or pavements made of sculptured grave-stones and monuments.²²

Between 1840 and 1910, the area of Istanbul stretching northward from Taksim to li was transformed from open countryside to densely inhabited residential settlement. Early nineteenth-century maps of Istanbul show much of the area in this direction taken up by the non-Muslim burial grounds of the Grand Champs des Morts, with the Frankish section directly in the path of the main route of expansion. Already, by 1842, this burial ground was being whittled down, as a contemporary account by Reverend William Goodell attests. One of the founders of the American Board mission to the Armenians at Istanbul, Goodell had lost his nine-year-old son, Constantine Washington, to gastric typhoid in 1841 and buried him in the Frankish section of the Grand Champs des Morts.

February 18, 1842. On account of the encroachments. . . on the Frank burying ground, I had to remove the body of our beloved boy. The grave . . . had been dug deep, and the coffin was scarcely damp. Every thing was sweet and still. The new grave which we have prepared a few rods distant was also deep and dry; and there we laid the body, to rest in its quiet bed till the resurrection morning. Beloved child, farewell!²³

However, little Constantine’s tranquility lasted far less than expected, disturbed again by a flurry of construction in the early 1860s, including the widening of the main road running from Taksim to Pangalti. In July 1863, the remains of more than a dozen Americans, including those of Constantine Washington Goodell, were exhumed from the old Frankish burial ground in the Grand Champs des Morts. They were transferred, along with their grave markers, to a new Protestant cemetery in Ferikiy—created by order of Sultan Abdulmecit I in the 1850s—for re-interment.24 The land occupied by the former burial ground was turned into a public park (in a modern Western sense), a project finally completed six years later with the opening of Taksim Garden in 1869.²⁵ As the urban environment around Taksim expanded in succeeding decades, the other burial grounds of the Grand Champs des Morts also disappeared. The Armenian cemetery, which lay to the north of the Frankish burial ground, was still delineated on the 1925—26 Pervititch insurance maps of Istanbul, but labeled as ‘ex-Cimetire Armenien,’ apparently indicating that it had ceased to be an active place of interment. Most of the Muslim burial grounds which had covered the slopes of Gumussuyu and Findikli had already vanished by the First World War; an aerial photograph taken from a balloon at that time shows a small portion—evident as a thick patch of cypresses—still straddling the side of the hill between the Taksim barracks an the military hospital in Gumussuyu.²⁶

The scant remains of the once great necropolis would cease to exist by the mid-twentieth century.²⁷ All the while, as the great cemetery shrank—sacrificed for the sake of public convenience—reformers in Europe were transforming the spatial relationship of the living and dead in the West. The nineteenth century witnessed an innovative concept in European burial ground design, with the introduction of expansive, magnificently landscaped cemeteries. Serene and picturesque, they served as additional public parks in many towns and cities. Whereas the small, noxious churchyards of previous ages had been shunned, the new necropolises were considered an ideal place for a relaxing stroll or family outing, not to mention a site of regular pilgrimage to pay respects to the well-loved dead. This shift in custom and attitude was the culmination of several decades of reform, which—to no small extent—was inspired by the traditions of sepulture in other lands, including the Ottoman empire. Remarkably, at a time when the Ottomans were actively borrowing ideas and institutions from Europe in an effort to modernize the empire, their centuries-old customs of burial and commemoration of the dead helped fuel a vital social advance in the very countries they looked to for guidance. At the same time, urban development in the Ottoman capital, influenced by Western models, led to the closure of the Grand Champs des Morts—Istanbul’s ‘City of the Dead,’ a world-renowned necropolis which had provided inspiration, as well as an ideal, for the cemetery reformers of Europe.

Footnotes

1. By some accounts, the earliest interments at the Grand Champs des Morts date to c. 1560, when Istanbul was struck with a severe epidemic of plague, and the open fields around Taksim were used to bury the great numbers of dead; see Istanbul Ansiklopedisi, s.v. ‘Ermeni Mezarliklari.’ The tombstone of a Dutch physician, Willem Quackelbeen, who died of the disease in 1561, offers physical evidence of this conjecture. It is currently located in the Roman Catholic cemetery at Ferikiy, where it was most likely transferred when the Frankish section of the Grand Champs des Morts closed in the mid-1800s, see A.H. de Groot, Old Dutch Graves at Istanbul, Archivum Ottomanicum 5 (1973): 6. Robert Walsh, chaplain to the British Embassy at Istanbul in the 1830s, recounted in his memoirs that the earliest grave-marker in the Frankish burial ground was that of Ludovicus Chizzolo, a Jesuit who succumbed to the plague in 1585, see R. Walsh, A Residence at Constantinople, vol. 2 (London: Richard Bentley, 1838), 441.
2. Calembourg: a pun, or play on words.
3. Julia Pardoe, The City of the Sultan, 4th ed. (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1854), 51.
4. Ibid., 53—54.
5. For instance, Lady Mary Wortley Montague, writing in 1717, commented: ‘The burying fields about it (i.e., Istanbul) are certainly much larger than the whole city. ‘Tis surprising what a vast deal of land is lost this way in Turkey. Sometimes I have seen burying places of several miles, belonging to very inconsiderable villages. . . .’ See Hans-Peter Laqueur, ‘Cemeteries in Orient and Occident: The Historical Development,’ in Cimetires et Traditions Funcraires dans le Monde Islamique (Ankara: Turk Tarih Kurumu Basimevi, 1996), 2: 3.
6. An American, Sketches of Turkey in 1831 and 1832 (New York: J. & J. Harper, 1833), 158.
7. James Stevens Curl, The Victorian Celebration of Death (Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing Ltd.), 17.
8. These included West Norwood (1837); Highgate (1839); Brompton, Nunhead, and Abney Park (1840); and Tower Hamlets (1841).
9. Charles Dickens, The Uncommercial Traveller (London: Oxford, 1860) 233.
10. Pardoe, The City of the Sultan, 36.
11. John Claudius Loudon, ‘On the Laying Out, Planting, and Managing of Cemeteries and on the Improvement of Churchyards.’ The Gardener’s Magazine, 1843, p. 100.
12. Ibid., 405.
13. Pardoe, The City of the Sultan, 50.
14. Thomas A. Kselman, Death and the Afterlife in Modern France, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993, 169—70.
15. Pardoe, The City of the Sultan, 50.
16. Charles White, Domestic Manners of the Turks in 1844, vol. 1 (London: Henry Colburn, 1846), 15-16.
17. Stephen Olin, Greece and the Golden Horn (New York: Carlton & Philips, 1854), 249.
18. Pardoe, The City of the Sultan, 51.
19. White, Domestic Manners of the Turks in 1844, 1: 15—16.
20. Pardoe, The City of the Sultan, 134—35.
21. Petusier further states: ‘To form a correct idea of these heterogeneous scenes, we must be on the spot, for no description can do justice to them; and even when we see them, for the first time, it appears such a complete illusion, that we can scarsely conceive its reality.’ See Charles Petusier, Picturesque Promenades in and near Constantinople and on the Waters of the Bosphorus (London: Sir Richard Phillips and Co., 1820), 96.
22. Olin, Greece and the Golden Horn, 219.
23. E.D.G. Prime, Memoirs of Rev. William Goodell, D.D. (Robert Carter and Brothers, 1876), 275.
24. Burial Registry of the Ferikiy Protestant Cemetery, no. 331—343, 1863, Governing Board of the Ferikiy Protestant Cemetery, Istanbul, Turkey.
25. Zeynep Celik, The Remaking of Istanbul, Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1986, 69.
26. For a copy of this image, see Celik Gulersoy, Taksim: Bir Meydanin Hikayesi (Istanbul: Istanbul Kitapligi, 1986), 37.
27. Some tombstones from the Frankish section of the Grand Champs des Morts still survive in the Protestant and Catholic cemeteries in Istanbul’s Ferikay district, where they were transferred after the old burial ground closed in the mid-1800s.