Law and literature

The relationship between law and literature is ages old. If we go back to the origins of law, among the ancient Greeks it was aligned with rhetoric, speaking and writing. Rhetoric was originally intended to present arguments in court. As law became more professional, it was closed off from this. Thus, law and literature have taken different ways, literature being more and more concerned with the expression of human emotions and feelings, while law became increasingly concerned with the maintenance of social order.

Nexus between law and literature

Law and literature are closely interrelated. One of the sources of law is “legal fiction.” Legal fiction, that is, fictio juris means “any assumption which conceals or tends to conceal the fact that the rule of law [has] undergone any alteration, its letter remaining unchanged but its operation being modified” (Islam, 2002). By means of a legal fiction, a child can be adopted from one family into another. In the eye of the law a limited company is given a personality which is distinct from that of its members. Case law is based on a fiction that while enacting a particular rule of law, the legislature had a particular intention. Fiction also played an important role as a source of law in ancient times. There was a rule of procedure in Rome by which a non-Roman was allowed to make a false allegation that he was a Roman citizen and thereby a praetor urbanus was able to try his case. The fiction of citizenship was adopted merely for the purpose of extending the Roman law to the non-Romans. All were under the same “lex gentium.” In England the Court of Exchequer took jurisdiction over civil cases by means of a legal fiction that the plaintiff was the debtor of the king. These fictions were adopted by the courts as devices to add to the jurisdiction of the courts. The old Roman law was laid down in the Twelve Tables, and additions to it were made by Responsa Prudentium-the judgements of the men learned in law. The teachings of the most highly qualified of various nations are still considered as a source of international law.

Fictions stand in the way of the codification of law. A property may be in the actual possession of X, but at the same time may be in the constructive possession of Y, the owner. No trust may have been created, but law may presume the same. By fiction, a Hindu child in the womb becomes entitled to family property.

Legal fiction and legal presumption, however, are not the same. Legal fiction is a source of law while legal presumption is a rule of law. One fact is recognized by law as sufficient proof of another. A notification in the official gazette is presumed by law to have been duly signed by the person by whom it is purported to have been signed. These few examples are perhaps enough for us to understand that law can be regarded as literature.

In this context, we can very relevantly talk about the Holy Qur’an which gives the impression of a perfect piece of exposition on one hand and a storehouse of law on the other. The Qur’an may sound astonishingly literary in terms of content and style, and at the time of its revelation poetry and oratory skills were the most outstanding forms of art in Mecca. Having heard the Qur’an’s enchanting verses, the best poets of the time tore apart their poems for they thought they could not challenge it. But as the Qur’an is the word of God, ascribing literary characteristics to the Holy Scripture is to devalue it. Nevertheless, various powerful forms of expression are found in the Qur’an to convey the message of Islam. The chapters and verses of the Qur’an maintain phonetic and thematic structures so that people can recall the message of the text. The narrative style of the innumerable events, particularly their dramatic presentation, have continued to amaze the scholars throughout the centuries. Sells says, “The values presented in the very early Meccan revelations are repeated throughout the hymnic suras. There is a sense of directness, of intimacy, as if the hearer were being asked repeatedly a simple question: what will be of value at the end of a human life?” (Sells, 1999). But these very verses are basically the laws meant to be for the whole humanity. Coupled with the Prophet’s practice the Qur’an as a main body of Islamic religious law undoubtedly covers almost all the aspects of human life ranging from family, sexuality, hygiene, social issues, business, economics, to politics both national and international. Thus the ultimate law comes in the form of a perfect exposition.

The impact of literature on law is far reaching with regard to teaching, legal writing, statutory interpretations and duly submission of petitions before the bench. Many authors have tried to show the human condition and the law’s effect on it through their literary works from a neutral point of view. The fictional situations presented in literature, they assert, can tell a great deal about political and social situations, and the individuals that often find themselves before the court. Ronald Dworkin in his article, “Law as Interpretation” stated, “I propose that we can improve our understanding of law by comparing legal interpretation with interpretation in other fields of knowledge, particularly literature” (Dworkin, 1982).

Intermingling of law and literature as reflected in the works of some great authors

Some popular as well as critically acclaimed literary works by prominent writers like Shakespeare, Kafka, Dickens, Camus, have dealt with the theme of law. Almost every careful reader would know that these writers were influenced by the legal system of their own time and were aware of its impact both the personal and social level. It would be wrong to think that they took law as the subject matter of their novel or play just to tell an interesting story. In fact, through skilful plot development their views about the then legal system are expressed. What is most interesting here is that they were influenced by the law and have definitely influenced the law as well.

The Stranger or The Outsider is a novel by Albert Camus where the virtues of truth confront the deceits and corruptions of law. We also come to know about the justice system of the time and existing loopholes as the trial for the murder of an Arab proceeds. Furthermore, the novel addresses the issue of the inevitable conflict between defective legal proceedings and a man’s individual way of thinking.

Franz Kafka’s The Trial is another novel where the author exposes how law is abused and made to bring enormous suffering to a man’s life. The main character, Josef K., awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is arrested and subjected to the judicial process for an unspecified crime. Some crucial questions of judicial proceedings like a backlog of cases, arresting on suspicion and detaining a person for an uncertain period, absence of proper investigation, and absence of the right to self-defence are brought to our attention.

Shakespeare’s works contain a remarkable quantity of law terms and they are used very accurately. The use of legal jargon in Hamlet is particularly impressive. But it is The Merchant of Venice, a controversial tale of a Jewish moneylender, that examines themes of justice and the bias of legal systems.

Dickens’ popular novel Bleak House is particularly known for the novelist’s blunt attack on the flaws of the British judiciary system. Dickens’ experience of working as a law clerk in London came in handy in unearthing and depicting the law’s flaws so vividly. The plot concerns a long-running legal battle that takes place between two parties claiming the inheritance of a large property, a battle which in the end costs both parties dearly. Many believe that Dickens’s harsh portrayal of the lengthy Chancery system made way for the reforms that took place in the 1870s.

Benefits of intermingling of law and literature

The intermingling of law and literature produces certain benefits for both the subjects. First, literature is exceptionally capable of probing human psychology and conditions through text. This capacity can be combined with the legal framework which regulates human actions in real life and truly pave the way for a democratic judiciary which is a prerequisite for establishing a just and moral society. Second, literature is considered to be a carrier of human will and freedom of expression. This characteristic can be positively incorporated into the judicial system to facilitate more humane legal decisions. Third, literature helps us understand the text’s role in defining human experience as used in legal rhetoric. Fourth, by applying literary methods in legal writing, laws can be more readily interpreted and legal decisions can be conveyed more effectively. Fifth, reading and writing literature helps improve clarity of expression which is a must for everybody involved in the legal profession. Moreover, every citizen of a society should also acquire this clarity to enable them to defend themselves in the legal arena. Next, special cases can be accommodated through the application of literary standards to legal documents and thus despotism can be reduced to a great extent. In this regard some proponents of the admixture of law and literature argue that this looks back to and restores the image of the lawyer as a person of letters possessing a broad liberal education and being well versed in languages, rhetoric and literature, who views law as an aspect of the humanities and the public life, not a science or a business. Lastly, one of the skills literature teaches lawyers is the power of the imagination so that lawyers learn to place themselves in the shoes of the client, the opponent, the witnesses, the judge, and the jury in order to anticipate reactions to their pleadings, presentation of evidence, arguments, and settlement proposals.

However, one need not think that only law will benefit from this intermingling; rather, it is advantageous for literature as well. The law has immensely enlarged the area and scope for literature already. The law enriches itself every day and this ever widening sphere of law can be a great source for literature. Until now most literature in which law plays a major role has concerned criminal law, ignoring the many disputes over inheritance, contracts, divorce and real property. These very issues can be presented with more legal focus in literature if the writers are interested in knowing a bit more about law and the legal system. In this context we do very well remember the nineteenth-century British novels which are rich sources of thinking about law and lawyers and offer insight into the legal heritage, mainly because the novelists Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Anthony Trollope and others participated in the debate about the best way to implement legal reform. In this regard more scope will be created to consider human feelings, emotions, and the environment where a person is raised. Then theories of punishment-as there are different theories available, like reformative, punitive, deterrent, expiation, preventive, and so on-should be analysed thoroughly. This is where literature can open up windows of thought for the reformers.

In fact, law is not at all a stagnant subject, rather it has undergone huge changes over the ages and literature can very well claim to be the greatest contributor. Different writers in different ages have made the lawmakers think about the loopholes of the prevailing laws through their writings. This is how new interpretations of different laws have come about, and thus the loopholes have been exposed. Similarly, writers have provided us with new ideas about how to define crime and punishment under different circumstances and helped clarify law. Likewise, the discretionary power of the judges and its effects on the justice system can be viewed in a broader literary perspective. In this context the effort of Lord Denning, the greatest law-making judge of the century is worth mentioning. Lord Denning showed his willingness to override precedent to do what he saw as justice and foreshadowed the move towards moulding the law to suit changing times and circumstances.

The definition of an offence can be scrutinised even more critically if it is seen through literature. Taking lessons from literature, life can be improved, which can substantially help the law-enforcement agencies to maintain order in society with ease and comfort. Social and communal conflicts are commonplace in every country and they are well-depicted in literature; law can borrow these materials to deal with them. Literature also helps to find ways of dealing with psychological problems which are quite common in human life and have certain effects on the whole of society. Again literature tells us how to look at these sensitive issues and therefore may help the law manage them in a more delicate way. As edification is one of the objectives of literature, the blending of law and literature ultimately helps the moral development of anybody concerned with the law. Since literature critiques lawyers and the overall legal system, this intermingling will certainly widen the scope for criticising the different shortcomings of the legal system, such as delays in trial proceedings, imprisonment without trial, torture on remand or interrogation, lack of sincerity in investigation, corruption, and so on, and will no doubt help to find ways to curb them.

Recently, in the global perspective, law has expanded its sphere and in the process problems like eviction, mass killing, war crimes, arbitrary power, and illegal occupation by foreign armies have come to the fore. All these issues are the themes of many literary works by different writers, which can assist legal experts to find ways to think about and deal with them. Literature also helps in building a better society by illustrating the consequences of committing crimes and the dreadful conditions of a criminal life.

To conclude, the intermingling of literature and law can give us hope of having a legal system touched by humanity. It may help writers to produce literature with more experience of life and society. At the same time, we need not forget that law is a part of our culture, not a mere technical study and it has a lot to offer to literature as well. As literature is a storehouse of alternative visions of law and society, the more literature comes into the thoughts of a lawyer or a law student, the better is the chance of law in a society paying due regard to human values and emotions, a quality which many people believe law seriously lacks. Likewise, literature should be more concerned with the everyday problems of life and a true reflection of society in the broad view. The times demand that writers do not just project a series of imaginary pictures playing in their minds, and law can truly help literature meet this demand.

Ahamuduzzaman is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Law, ASA University, Bangladesh. Sharif Rakib Hasan is a Lecturer at the Department of English at the same university.

References

• Brooks, Peter and Gewirtz, Paul. Law’s Stories: Narrative and Rhetoric in the Law, London: Yale University Press, 1996.
• Campbell, John. Shakespeare’s Legal Acquirements, London: Kissinger, 2001.
• Camus, Albert. The Stranger, USA: Tandem Library, 1999.
• Dickens, Charles. Bleak House, London: Yale University Press, 2000.
• Dien, Mawil, Izzi. Islamic Law: From Historical Foundations to Contemporary Practice, Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004
• Dworkin, Ronald, M. “Law as Interpretation,” Critical Inquiry, 1982, Vol. 9, No. 1. p. 179.
• Islam, Mahmudul. Constitutional Law of Bangladesh, Dhaka: Mullick Brothers. Second edition, 2002, pp. 58–60.
• Minda, Gary. “Law and Literature at Century’s End,” Cardozo Studies in Law and Literature, 1997, Vol. 9 No.2, pp. 245–258.
• Kafka, Franz. The Trial, Munich: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1925
• Sells, Michael. Approaching the Qur’an, USA: White Cloud Press, 1999.
• Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. USA: Dover Publications, 1992
• –. The Merchant of Venice, USA: Penguin Group, 1998. 

For a long time astronomers have talked about the nine planets orbiting the Sun. These nine heavenly bodies have always been more special than other objects orbiting the Sun, such as asteroids and comets. The nine planets are larger than others; you can see some of them in the sky even with the naked eye if you know where to look. In September 2003, astronomer Mike Brown of Caltech and his colleagues announced the discovery of a new object in the sky, then named 2003 UB313 Eris, which is 27% larger than Pluto. This made astronomers reconsider the definition of a planet, thereby making Pluto and Eris two of the new category of objects orbiting the Sun dubbed “dwarf planets.”

While astronomers are engaged in the debate on planet definitions, astrophysicists still have not agreed about how planets were created. In fact, the journal Science recently put the birth of planets on the list of the top 125 questions scientists will tackle in the next quarter century.1 The comment ended with: “Planetary systems around other stars should provide clues.”

The reason scientists are interested in extrasolar planets- planets orbiting other stars, or exoplanets in short- is not limited to their curiosity about how planets were created. The second major motive for exoplanet research is the attempt to detect another “habitable” planet. NASA’s Origins Program,2 for example, is attempting to answer the question, “Are there worlds like the Earth around nearby stars? If so, are they habitable, and is life as we know it present there?” This is one of the major questions the new field of astrobiology is striving to answer.

In this article, we give an overview of planets and exoplanets with an emphasis on the critical conditions for life on a planet.

Planets and Exoplanets

The International Astronomical Union’s 2006 definition of a planet states that a planet is a celestial body that (1) is in orbit around a star, (2) has sufficient mass so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round shape) but is not itself a star, and (3) has “cleared the neighborhood” around its orbit.

According to this definition, Pluto is indeed not a planet as its “moon” Charon is half the size of Pluto, whereas the moons of all other planets are much smaller than their respective parent planets. In addition, Pluto’s orbit is not as “clean” as the orbits of other planets.

Having introduced the new planet definition, we want to emphasize the first and foremost condition: a planet has to be in orbit around a star-not around the Sun. According to NASA Jet Propulsion Lab’s PlanetQuest website, as of August 2007, about 250 exoplanets in 99 planetary systems have been discovered. (The site exoplanets.org gives 228 planets around nearby stars.)

Discovery of solar planets is not too challenging: you take a clear picture of the same portion of the sky periodically, and compare the successive pictures. If you see an object that changes its position, then you can be sure that it is an object orbiting the Sun. Because stars are very far away compared to bodies orbiting the Sun, they seem stationary relative to us.

To give a sense of how far the stars are from us, think of the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, which is 4.3 light years away. One light year is the distance light travels in one year, which is 5.88 million million miles. If you fly a supersonic jet-a jet that can break the sound barrier (765 mph), such as the SR-713 or the MiG-25R, which can reach three times the speed of sound in the air-you would have to fly for about 1 million years nonstop to arrive at the nearest star. The most distant planet, Uranus, is about 0.002 million million miles away from the Sun, which is more than 12,000 times closer than Proxima Centauri-your trip to Uranus with a supersonic jet will take only about 80 years.

Exoplanets are as far away as stars. Therefore, it is impossible to detect them using the simple picture-the-sky method utilized for the solar planets. Every star with planets in its orbit is affected by the mass of the planets. This causes the star to sway back and forth. With extremely sensitive instruments measuring the Doppler shift in the frequency of light received from the star, the effect of the planet on the star can be detected.4 Another method is called astrometry: precise measurement of the positions of the stars relative to very distant stars, which appear stationary because they are far away. Small movements of the star because of the presence of planets can be detected.5

Direct optical detection of exoplanets is extremely hard, as they do not give off their own light. In the presence of the bright star, the planet becomes totally invisible. There are a few solutions. In the transit method, a planet blocks some of the star’s light as it transits past the star.6 Sensitive instruments can detect such small dips in the brightness of the stars. Also, interferometric detection7 can be used to detect the extremely weak light from the planet. Another optical detection method is called the “choronograph,” which is used to physically block the glare of the parent star, exposing the planet.

How are planets created?

The motion of a planet around the Sun can be described using two conservation laws-conservation of energy and conservation of angular momentum. Based on the understanding of orbital mechanics and the well-known laws of motion (first published in their entirety by Newton), it has become routine to place satellites in orbit around different planets to conduct various studies. Although science has been quite successful in describing planetary motion, we still do not know how planets were created. The conservation laws mentioned above do not determine the number, orbits, rotation directions, sizes, or type-rocky or gas giant-of planets. Initial conditions play a significant role; initial mass distribution around the star, the size of the particles orbiting the star during the early stages of the star’s life, and the initial orbits of these particles-when considered with the laws of motion, conservation laws, and the law of gravitational attraction-result in different planet-creation scenarios.

There are currently two main theories of planet creation, the gravitational instability and core accretion theories. In the gravitational instability theory, planets form during a rapid collapse of a dense cloud. In the core accretion theory, planets start as small rock-ice cores that grow as they gravitationally acquire additional mass.8 By detecting planets recently created around different stars, scientists hope to test these theories.

Search for life on exoplanets

Diverse life forms on the Earth are taken for granted. The average individual does not think much about the inner workings of life and the conditions that make life possible on the Earth.

Earth is a rocky planet that contains heavier elements, such as silicon, iron, and so on. We know that heavier elements were created during the supernova explosions,9 which comprised a few generations of stars, and therefore more than a few billion years. In a galaxy that is very young, one does not expect there will have been enough supernova explosions to produce heavy elements.

In an old galaxy, however, one does not expect to see radioactive elements. Thus, the planets that form in an old galaxy might be as dead as the moon because there will not be enough radioactive fuel. The Milky Way, our galaxy, is neither very young nor very old. Note that ages of galaxies and stars are in the order of billions of years-our sun is estimated to have been created about 4.6 billion years ago, and it is a middle–aged star.

In the Milky Way, our sun is placed at just the right spot, about halfway from the center.10 At the core of our galaxy, the density of stars is so high that they collide with each other. At the outer extremities, at the rim of the galaxy, the star density is too low to generate the heavier elements that make up planets as very few supernova explosions are expected.11

The orbits of all planets are elliptical, but very close to being circles. This is very significant for a planet if life is to prosper. Eccentricity is a measure of the elliptical shape of an orbit. A perfect circular orbit has an eccentricity of 0 (zero), and as the eccentricity comes closer to 1, the orbit becomes like a sausage. The earth’s orbit around the sun has an eccentricity of 0.067, very close to a perfect circle. If the eccentricity were to become 0.3, the average global temperature would become 73 F (23 C), compared with 58 F (14.5 C) on the Earth now, and, “some parts of the African, South American and Australian interiors heat up to 140 F (60 C)” when the Earth passes closest to the Sun,” according to Darren Williams and his colleagues of Pennsylvania State University.12 On an orbit with eccentricity of 0.4, the average temperature would increase to 86 F (30 C). Given the current scientific opinion on global warming and how catastrophic conditions could become because of a few degrees increase due to increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, you can imagine how unbearable the Earth would become for many complex life forms. Therefore, for a planet to bear life on its surface, its orbit must be at an optimum range of distances from the parent star, which is dubbed the “habitable zone.”

All planetary orbits around the Sun-not only that of the Earth-are nearly circular, and they do not cross each other’s orbits. If there were a number of planets with highly eccentric orbits around the Sun, some of them would cross the Earth’s orbit increasing the probability of a collision.

Obviously, a planet with life as we know it on Earth would need to be a rocky planet. In the solar system only four planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) are rocky planets; the other four (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are gas giants.

The existence of gas giants, Jupiter being the largest of all, appears to be very important, too. Meteorite collision is a likely Doomsday scenario for the inhabitants of the Earth. In fact, meteorite collisions are cited as the main cause of the extinction of many species from the face of Earth in its several billion-year history.13 Jupiter is about 5au away from the Sun-1au is the mean Earth–Sun distance, nearly 150 million km-and as the most massive planet it plays a critical role in protecting the Earth from meteorites and comets.

In addition to all these astronomical conditions, the Earth has a magnetic belt that protects it from charged particles ejected from the Sun and other bodies. The Earth has an atmosphere,14 and the presence of water is absolutely critical for life.15

Of the almost three hundred exoplanets so far identified, most of them are gas giants as massive as Jupiter-more than 300 Earth masses. Therefore, scientists do not expect a glimpse of life on them. Recently, Christophe Lovis of the University of Geneva and his colleagues reported three low-mass planets orbiting the nearby star HD 69830, described as “hot-Neptunes” or “super-Earths”, as their masses are from 5–20 times the mass of the Earth. Scientists predict that two of these planets may be rocky planets based on theoretical calculations.16 For more conclusive results, however, telescopes with much higher resolutions are needed. Such telescopes are expected to be operational within a decade.

In conclusion, research interest in exoplanets originates from questions about the mechanism of planet creation, and the attempt to find planets where life can exist as we experience it on our blue planet. We do not know whether we will be able locate other worlds similar to the Earth with their own inhabitants. One thing we know, however, is that life is only possible through a great many critical conditions acting together in stars and planets as well as in cells and molecules. Life is very special indeed. Although the existence of other planetary systems suggests that our solar system is not as unique as once thought, with its “blue” planet -a planet that can support biological life-it still seems absolutely unique. Many scientists think, however, that with better tools and methods it is only a matter of time before we locate an Earth-like exoplanet. Time will prove or disprove their predictions.

Dr. Ertan Salik is an Assistant Prof. of Physics at California State Polytechnic Univ, Pomona. As well as teaching and conducting physics research Dr. Salik is currently involved in many education programs.

Notes

1. Science, Vol. 309, No. 5731, pp. 1–204 (2005).

2. NASA Origins program: http://origins.jpl.nasa.gov and http://origins.stsci.edu/

3. http://www.sr-71.org/ Accessed 2008-07-26.

4. Struve, Otto. “Proposal for a project of high-precision stellar radial velocity work”, The Observatory 72 (1952): 199–200, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppler_spectroscopy Accessed 2008-07-26.

5. http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/extrasolar_planets/extrasolar/astrometry.html Accessed 2008-07-26.

6. Charbonneau, D.; T. Brown; A. Burrows; G. Laughlin (2006). “When Extraslar Planets Transit Their Parent Stars”. Protostars and Planets V, University of Arizona Press.

7. Exoplanet detection using a nulling interferometer, Manuel P. Cagigal and Vidal F. Canales, Optics Express, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 July 2001.

8. http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/news/giantRockyCore.cfm Accessed 2008-07-26.

9. Gedik, Nuh. “Supernova Explosions and a Miracle of The Qur’an,” The Fountain, April-June 2006.

10. Weed, William Speed. “Circles of Life,” Discovery, November 2002.

11. See Charbonneau 2006.

12. Weed, 2002.

13. Gonullu, Omer Said. “The Message of Meteorites,” The Fountain, January–March 2005.

14. Cakmak, Osman. “A Journey in the Atmosphere,” The Fountain, January–March 2002.

15. Gedik, Nuh. “The Miracles of Water,” The Fountain, January–March 2005.

16. Lovis, Christophe et al. Nature, 441, 305–309 (18 May 2006).

In this issue the article on “The Adaptation in the Senses” points to the fact that the human body is blessed with an ability to adapt to the surrounding conditions by way of which our senses get used to changing climate, light, and even pain. This feature of our body is a mercy, considering that if we could not adapt to circumstances, life would be torture. Could this be the reason bombings and civilian sufferings in Iraq do not irritate me-because I have been watching or reading about it for more than five years now and my senses are adapted to being exposed to the same play on the Iraqi stage?

While voicing a strong longing for the lofty and colorful life of centuries ago, the lead article is a consolation for the victims of all times as it reminds the reader of how joyous enthusiasm was once achieved: “We believed as long as we could employ our willpower up to its potential all problems could be overcome as a result of divine help. We always managed to discover contentment in our soul and proceeded on our course.” In such a state of psychology no misfortune can shake any individual or community.

In this issue you will meet Ottoman Women: Myth and Reality, a book which won the Benjamin Franklin best book in history award in May 2008. Its description of the legal rights and social status of Muslim women in the nineteenth century will shatter life-long prejudices about harem life. Another writer, Dr Salik, takes us on a space journey to discover planets orbiting other stars where scientists hope to test theories developed on planet creation. Thomas C. Smedley offers an interesting pattern of engaging with foreign cultures as a result of his personal experiences with the Turkish community in the USA. Smedley says that by practicing role reversal, a person of good will can overcome the barriers of language, religion, and nationality.

Ramadan mubarak! We wish this holy month of Islam may be a means of peace and joy for all peoples of the world.

Asli Sancar has two more books and numerous articles, mainly dealing with women and family.

This book by the author, entitled “Ottoman Women: Myth and Reality,” combines both splendid design and objective narration, and could be referred to as a proof of the real status of women at that time giving full information on every aspect of their lives.

World of women-not as seen on TV

In our time when the rights of women are not well protected but are at least widely spoken about, it is very important to have research on the position of Ottoman women based not on common imagination (sometimes very colourful), but on the historical truth.

Unfortunately the further the topic moves to the East the more deviated the data becomes. Remarks untrue from the very beginning are more and more likely to be decorated with what-somebody-thinks-(s)he-could-have-seen. So for decades, when it came to the issue of a woman living in Muslim society there were only two options: whether a sultan’s harem full of silk, coffee, gold, hatred and intrigues or a harem in a mud house managed by a cruel and uneducated husband.

The truth had always been a card – laid at the table, played and beaten. Real facts were mixed with fruits of imagination; objective data was presented only when it could have been useful for the narrator.

In her book the author successfully presents the real state of affairs proving her point of view by documents from Ottoman records and remarks by Western travelers. Ottoman society was a highly organized and sophisticated system, so the position of a woman – should the issue concern her life in a household harem, childbirth and custody, charity and social activities – was regulated by religion and law. Even the foreigners disliking Muslim society and bearing hostility towards the Ottoman Empire, in particular, could not help but admit that Ottoman women enjoyed much more freedom and were way more respected and loved than their Christian sisters.

Ottoman woman: social position, rights, life in the harem

This research consists of six main chapters describing all the main aspects of Ottoman women’s lives. The chapters are dedicated to description of Ottoman women by Western travelers, life in the household harem, the status of slaves in the harem, the imperial harem, Ottoman women in court records and the metaphysical meaning of being a woman in the Ottoman Empire. The first chapter presents observations through Westerners eyes. Placing this part at the beginning is quite logical in respect to putting things in order and separating proven documentary facts from the fairy tale. Special attention was paid to the remarks of several female travelers and persons who had stayed in the Ottoman Empire for a long time and thus witnessed Ottoman life.

Even travelers’ comments needed to be studied with great care. Their accuracy had to be taken into consideration. The Ottomans would never have tolerated any interfering in their private life, so even female travelers with well-established diplomatic connections were accepted into the Ottoman harems with great restrictions.

Arabian nights vs. Ottoman daylight: outbeating the harem myth

When a woman needs to struggle with an enemy, she does it in a very delicate, feminine way. Here we see the author beating the harmful myth of harem life in a very confident and logical manner. “Women are not prisoners in any sense of the word, nor are they pining behind the latticed windows as we are sometimes led to believe…,” Elizabeth Cooper wrote in 1916.

Starting the second chapter of the book dedicated to life in the household harem by breaking with a popular myth presenting Ottoman and thus Oriental women as prisoners of their homes, is both bold and logical. It can be clearly seen that Ottoman women were never captives of their part of the house. But the fantasies of the Arabian nights made her image a hostage to common opinion in Western eyes. French translation of Arabian tales published in Europe at the beginning of XVIII century served the Ottoman women badly, turning them into sensual, infidel, vile creatures inventing one intrigue after another while spending their days in the sweet laziness of the harem.

Contradiction between exotic tales and reality should be solved fairly – this is what the author wants, and what women would have desired. They were secluded because they were loved and cared about, not imprisoned. The harem had never been a prison, but a sacred space where all the family enjoyed everyday life, celebrated holidays and was engaged in various social activities. Richer women were busy with distributing charity and caring for orphans and the disabled. They hardly had time for gossip, and their strong faith in God and the education they had would never have let them act improperly.

The chapter dedicated to the imperial harem is marvelous. Whoever thinks of “dolce far niente” practiced by the harem women day after day should study it carefully. A reader will see that not a single creature in the imperial harem possibly could be accused of doing nothing. If one takes a walk in modern Istanbul, no matter what the route is, he/she will surely see a mosque, a public bath, a hospital, a market complex, a water-spring, or a school ordered to be built by a queen mother, or by a mother of a prince, or by any other high-ranked lady from the harem. For God’s sake when did they manage to do all these? Between gossiping and intriguing? Oh that’s a shame! There should be some Turkish coffee break in between…

Winning her rights back: court records

Imagine an Ottoman woman coming to the court to protect her rights.

An Ottoman woman appealing to an Ottoman court. Winning the case, having been restored in her rights. It is not simply “possible.” This was a real documented process clearly showing that a woman living in the Ottoman Empire should never be thought of as something between a nice pet and a piece of the home decor. For centuries she was free in her half of the house which was considered sacred.

Here I can give a lot of examples of what an Ottoman woman did in her life. And the reader acquainted with Oriental life and traditions only by means of pocket novels written in a month, read in a couple of days and forgotten forever, could think that this book is just another fantasy product attributing more freedom to the prisoners of the harem in order to gain more attention by female readers.

The truth is even more shocking. A creature considered indolent, depraved and exotic will sooner or later come to the court of civilization and appeal to get back her dignity and good name. Indeed she has all the evidence of what she really was – the author presents citing from the Ottoman court records as well as the opinion of Lucy M. Garnett who in 1909 wrote: “With regard to their legal status, Turkish women – already possess the legal, personal, and proprietary rights necessary to give them a social position equal, if not superior to that of European women generally.”

Design of the book

“The interior is as exciting and rich as the exterior. Images are beautifully reproduced be they photographs, drawings or old paintings.” (PMA review of the design of the book)

“Her beauty is of color rather than of line”, says Z. Duckett Ferriman. Design of this book is both of color and line. It is of luxury worthy of the Topkapý Palace. Graphical concept is deeply connected with the spirit of the book. Richness of colors and illustrations, selected with major taste and care, seem to reflect the position and respect an Ottoman woman enjoyed. The very notion of East has always been associated with luxury, mystery and wonderful colors that could hardly be seen in the West. This time this is not just a stereotype. That is why there are so many attractive definitions like “Oriental green,” “Turquoise,” “Glow of the Desert” used especially for goods closely related to style and fashion. The cover could be called royal green with semi-sweet coffee foam beige and wedding bracelet gold on it. Gentlemen in charge of art and graphic design did everything possible to turn this book into a real pearl of the harem – with textile details and paintings by Osman Hamdi, every page takes us to the world of women – beautiful, pure and splendidly decorated.

The book was highly appreciated by PMA for its perfect design. Everyone who will read it will be deeply impressed by the luxury of every single page, clarity of paintings, photographs and any other illustrations – each of them in its place, in total harmony with the message of the “Ottoman Women.”

Ottoman woman: year 2008

Finishing this review, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and admiration to the author, Asli Sancar Hanimefendi, for marvellously starring in two roles at the same time: one of them is that of an American-born lady writing fairly on Ottoman women (almost three hundred years after Lady Montague, one hundred and seventy after Miss Julia Pardoe and nearly a hundred years after Z. Duckett Ferriman), and the other is the role of a Turkish woman, member of the new society feeling respect and devotion to history and the truth. There is also a third one behind every line and in every color of this book.

An Ottoman woman in the court.

Presenting her book.

Calling for justice.

Valeria Kolos is a Ukrainian Turkish-English-Russian translator. Having graduated from the Oriental Studies Department of the Kyiv Shevchenko National University in 1999, she has been living in Istanbul for 6 years. V.Kolos has some publications (poems in Turkish) in several literature magazines.

Based on a sensible interpretation of the cosmos and events, we considered the arrival and departure of each existence in this world very normal, a process taking place in a gentle manner; this mysterious journey instilled in us profound spiritual expansion, for it was a means of reunion, each action and replacement was like being discharged of duty and freedom from the burdens of service at the end of which await the realms of divine favors and rewards.

There may be such people even today, but those days in the past were unique, just like the people therein who were deep in the heart. They were unique in the way they deliberated on this world and the hereafter, on matters like departing for the Almighty, bidding farewell to this life, and greeting the afterlife. As they reached puberty and started developing self-awareness, a test anxiety would fill their spirits, then they would spend their days in self-accounting. Their feelings and thoughts were occupied with fear and awe, their hearts beating with love and enthusiasm, eyes seeking the divine mercy, hearts satiated with imploring, and with such feelings they would walk beyond this universe as if they were stepping into their wedding night. They were often in a state of fear governed by constant hope and alertness, for they knew this life was but temporary and short, and that all our experiences and delights are destined for termination, and the time for our appointed hour of departure is unknown to us. They were hopeful, for the road to follow is evident, the target is over there and the destination is known. Their paths were bathed in the light of inspiration by their faith and spiritual well-being, and by their vast conscience over a domain that was way beyond their physical capacity.

Unlike those unfortunate ones who cry in the pangs of having incarcerated themselves in their limited level of perception, and who observe the entire creation and all divine signs from such a narrow perspective and waste their lifetimes in the dark aisles of corporeality, believers set forth for a new dimension of life every morning and every night; they are receptive to what may descend from the beyond and they welcome any surprise in submission. Believers restore and purify any hardship or misfortune that has struck through the filters of patience, and for them such hardships are nothing less than bathing to wash off the dirt. They see the beautiful as nothing less than beauty and they deepen their perception with praise. Those things that appear ugly believers beautify with the rays of beauty from their conscience, and they pursue a colorful life.

Indeed, once upon a time, humankind experienced such a life filled with joyous enthusiasm, as if we were strolling on the vibrant slopes of the life beyond. We were informed of the beginning and the end of our life, its meaning, and what it offers for tomorrow. We knew where the thoroughfare we were on was going to reach as well as we knew the directions to our home. At times, we were afflicted by anxiety regarding our path and concerns about what would become of us; but, at the same time, with firm belief that everything was linked with His vast mercy, we fixed our eyes on the furthest limits and our inner vision on the horizon and beyond, and sent our thoughts in the direction of our inner disposition seeking His pleasure. We were not much concerned with anything other than these; we did not occupy ourselves with how events unfolded; our rhythm of action was not affected by thousands of concentric calculations in a complete correlative unity nor by developments apparently occurring in an unfavorable direction. We believed as long as we could employ our willpower up to its potential all problems could be overcome as a result of divine help. We always managed to discover contentment in our soul and proceeded on our course.

We had a powerful voice then; we had a word to utter for everyone, and our presence conveyed a deliberate message for all humanity. We regarded one another with compassion and mercy, and embraced everything and everyone with love. Satanic sparks that seldom turned up were weathered in the atmosphere of our conscience, softened, and then transformed into some sort of light and returned thus to their source. By and large, we were all at peace and breathed serenity.

Our joy and pleasures were forever, sorrow and grief temporary. If we moaned once, we woauld cheer ten times; in return for one ruin we would delight in countless joys. Like a baby peacefully sleeping in a cradle and nursed in comfort with lullabies, we were in a trouble-free environment with pure wishes and crystal-clear dreams. Concerns and anxieties were like clouds moving above us dropping temporary shade; their passing was momentary, and it was lit up all around. The days were so, and so were we . . .

Then, some kind of moth infested the spirit of our community-the beginning of this accursed period dates back a few centuries. It nibbled at the roots of the spirit and meaning that made us what we were. Heavily wounded and rotten in many aspects, it seemed almost impossible for this entity to stand by itself. Winds of opposition were shaking and eroding it while breaking its branches and causing cracks here and there, heaping heavy blows so as to kill it off. At a time when the world really needed a just, balanced, and truthful power, it was disqualified from its capacity to show direction to nations and to determine world events; its wonderful administration and influence completely faded. It was a long retreat; its voice was not heard, nor was it listened to. It kept losing rank and it was far from preventing this dragging down. It drifted toward an unknown end as it was transforming into something else while at the same time nations and communities that were once either brothers in faith or citizens under the same rule were now turned into enemies of one another.

Traditions and customs were being knocked down one by one across a wide region. Religious and national attitudes that complemented one another, an exemplary social order that had lasted for centuries, cultures that voiced the collective worldview of millions of people, the arts and the human spirit, the sense of history, all were being stripped off their soul, turning them into lifeless corpses. It was such a plague of metamorphosis under various names and titles that cast away what was local, replacing it with the junk of others. There were so many people, especially from the elite, who transformed during this rather rapid change, so that in the face of all that was happening, the masses twisted their original makeup, jumped from one fantasy onto another, and moved away from their own selves.

All these events were nothing but the death throes of a glorious civilization, humanity denying its own nature, as if peeling off its own skin, and trading its soul for some rambling notions devoid of spirit. High human virtues and ideals were being sacrificed for blind imitation.

Today, our eyes observe the strength and vigor of the human spirit, our hopes are fixed on the door of the All-Merciful that we believe is not completely closed to us, our hearts are expecting additional divine blessings, and we are fully convinced that we will revive, even though we appear like a corpse rotten for hundreds of years. If waiting is a condition, then we are ready to wait for another three or even four hundred years with this hope and faith. May our Lord, the All-Merciful Who is aware of our expectations, not make us suffer from other misfortunes.

I am placed inside your chest cavity as two air sacks-or bellows-surrounded by your muscles. I took my first breath right after birth and I still keep working non-stop. Even while you are sleeping, I fulfill my function with the automatic command I receive from the respiratory center at the back of your brain. My close friend Heart started working even before me while you were in the womb. I was resting then; actually I hadn’t even formed fully. As all your needs like food and oxygen were met in the body of your mother-whose heart you occasionally break-I didn’t have to make extra effort to get air, being filled and emptied. Even if I had attempted to do so, I would have had no chance of succeeding; since you were contained in the amniotic fluid, an attempt to breathe could have caused you to drown.

The first breath I take after birth is critical and rather difficult, since the windpipe is still much narrower than normal. On the other hand, the number of my alveoli where oxygen exchange with the capillaries is realized is so high in relation to body size that it balances the situation. When I make my first move and fill with air, I put pressure on the arteries and veins. Then the vessel directly connecting my artery to my mother’s aorta is dismissed, the curtain between the valves is closed and the blood circulations are separated. If this curtain is not properly closed and a gap remains in between, the oxygen-rich blood and the used-up blood mix and result in the disease known as cyanosis-or “blue baby” syndrome. As these two kinds of blood mix, the tissues are not supplied with sufficient oxygen and the white parts of the skin and eyes assume a bluish appearance.

Turning blue-purple due to lack of oxygen in the tissues is the same for smokers. Cigarettes-my archenemy-contain hundreds of toxic substances, such as carbon monoxide, which combine with the hemoglobin in blood and prevent oxygen transfer. Therefore, the lips of smokers turn slightly purple. You need to be careful with the air you inhale. The windpipe which brings air into me is covered with a ciliated epithelial tissue which catches the dust brought along and sweeps it outside. While you are asleep, the vibrating cilia of this sweeper work throughout the night and in the morning you get rid of the outcome of their propulsion by clearing your throat. However, every draw of a smoker kills 800–1,000 of our ciliated epithelial cells. After some time, they become unable to sweep the toxins (carbon, sulfur, lead, etc) inhaled with the air. I can’t stand it anymore! The increased air pollution is already putting enough strain on us… this habit is just too much for a lung to handle! It is just… an open invitation for cancer! Sorry, Peter, I didn’t mean to be rude. I appreciate that you don’t smoke, but I wish those who do would realize how splendid a mechanism they are destroying.

Now let me tell you about what a work of art I am. As you also know, art in a structure becomes more meaningful with functionality. As is the case with my other friends with which I work in your body, I am perfectly made to fulfill my duty. In other words, never mind forming an organ like me as a consequence of molecules and cells accidentally coming together, even a single protein molecule in my structure does not come to existence through unconscious causes.

With every breath you take, the pressure of the oxygen within the air inhaled rises, so it passes through my membranes by diffusion and into the adjacent capillaries; there it combines with hemoglobin molecules. At the same time, the carbon dioxide passes through the same membranes into me, and I dispose of it. Both of these are easier said than done! You breathe 13–14 times a minute and the whole thing is repeated over and over. As I keep expanding and contracting during breathing, which you are unaware of most of the time, first of all I need to be very flexible. Together with this flexibility, my most important quality is having the largest possible surface area within the smallest volume. My surface area of around 100m2 (as large as a tennis court) is made to fit into your chest cavity in the form of thin membranes so that my large surface allows gas diffusion. These membranes need to be kept wet; a special fluid is secreted as a precaution and respiration is realized smoothly. Without this fluid, my membranes would just stick together, unable to carry out their duty.

You can compare the course of the air inhaled to that of a car passing from a highway onto increasingly smaller roads and in the end reaching a dead end in the small sacks named alveoli. The air coming in through the mouth and nose unites at the expressway named the trachea, or the windpipe, which is 15cm long and 2–3cm in diameter. Incidentally, I have a couple of things to tell you about the way you breathe. As a matter of fact, inhaling is the duty of the nose. I’m sure it also has a lot to say as well, but let me just mention a simple fact about it. Now, you should inhale through your nose, so that the air you take in gets warm, wet, and is cleaned from dust. If you try to breathe this way, you do not trouble me much, and reduce the risk of catching a cold or an infection of upper respiratory system. Inhaling through the mouth helps dust and germs get into me and you might contract various illnesses from bronchitis to pneumonia. Now you know why kids who have adenoids who sleep with their mouth open get ill so easily. Sorry, I couldn’t help speaking on behalf on the nose.

Well, what were we talking about before that? Oh yes! The ways through which the inhaled air passes. As the name suggests, the windpipe which makes the air reach me is a cylindrical tube surrounded by 16–20 cartilaginous rings. As it is placed beside the esophagus, one side of the rings is made of soft cartilaginous tissue instead of hard, so that they don’t hinder swallowing. The muscular tissue near these rings helps them widen and narrow during respiration or coughing. I sometimes warn you by making you cough. Maybe it seems to be a disturbance, but if I don’t push out air by coughing through the contracted windpipe, contaminants can clog me up and cause you to suffocate. Therefore, the burst of air-what you call a cough-is a great blessing to you.

The sound system at the tip of the windpipe is another wonder. The used air I send out vibrates the cords in that voice-box and produces such melodies, gives voice to such speech! The air divides into the two lungs. My two sides are not symmetrical; the one on the right is divided into three, and the one on the left into two. I think this was meant to make room for the neighbor on the left, the heart. In addition, if there’s any cancer growth in me, the diseased part can be taken out by an operation and I can keep on functioning. God knows the wisdom behind this form. After that, these main bronchi separate into 8–10 thinner branches, like highways connecting to narrower roads. This branching resembles a tree turned upside down. At the tips of these thin branches are the respiratory bronchioles resembling clusters of grapes. The small spheres which make up the cluster are the end of the road and are the most vital parts. These spheres named alveoli are made of very thin membrane and they are surrounded by a net of capillaries (picture 5). These are the functional spots where gas exchange is realized.

I hang in the thorax with veins and arteries all around. There are two layers of protective membrane over me. One of them is stuck on me, whereas the other is stuck on the ribs which form the chest cavity. There is a fine and slippery fluid in between these two layers and it neutralizes the friction every time I inflate and deflate. If it hadn’t been placed there, I would wear out and be damaged. As I inflate during inhalation, the chest cavity should expand simultaneously to make space for me. If it weren’t given a flexible form, I would fail to breathe and you would eventually die. Fortunately, the protective set of ribs and their connection with the spine are flexible enough to make me work comfortably. In addition, the dome-shaped muscular partition (diaphragm) separating the thorax from the abdomen contracts and pushes down the organs in the abdomen. Thanks to the simultaneously programmed movement of both the ribs and the diaphragm I inflate with air and expand.

Being in constant contact with the outer environment makes me susceptible to various diseases. Coughing is among the foremost signals I give in the case of disease, and sometimes-excuse me-I produce a mixture of blood and phlegm. Also, I may have difficulty in breathing and warn you with chest pain. You should be alert to my signals. If bacteria and viruses infect me, they might reproduce inside my air sacs, and cause stiffening and suppuration.

I am particularly sensitive to allergic disorders. When the straight muscles on the walls of my bronchi contact an alien substance, pollens for instance, the consequent histamine secretion makes my muscles contract. In addition, allergic diseases, which can affect blood vessels, affect me a lot since I happen to be one of the major organs contributing to blood circulation. As a result of the contraction of my bronchial muscles and difficulty in disposing of the mucus I secrete to defend myself, I have trouble with breathing-you call it asthma.

In addition to this, we can mention diseases like emphysema, acute or chronic bronchitis as problems I frequently face. Even your anger has a great impact on me. Breathing becomes more difficult immediately.

Peter, I’m sorry, it is not possible to summarize a work of art like me within a few pages, but I need to stop now… but please, keep away from polluted areas and cigarette smoke! Send me as much fresh air as you can. And even though you mostly take me for granted, like my other teammates, please reflect upon what a blessing I am.

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

Based on a sensible interpretation of the cosmos and events, we considered the arrival and departure of each existence in this world very normal, a process taking place in a gentle manner; this mysterious journey instilled in us profound spiritual expansion, for it was a means of reunion, each action and replacement was like being discharged of duty and freedom from the burdens of service at the end of which await the realms of divine favors hat is constantly heard, touched and smelt; we, as humans, don’t hear or feel certain things after a certain period of time. In medical terms, this process is called “adaptation to the senses.” If we have to go into a very stinky place, we intensely feel the smell at first, but after a while, we begin to feel it less. Another example can be given about those who wear glasses. They sometimes search for their glasses in different places thinking that they have lost them, even though they still wear them.

Our friend’s adaptation levelwas a little higher than the normal, but considering the disturbance of those who wear glasses would feel on their noses, it is better understood that this adaptation is a great favor of All-Powerful and All-Knowing God.

In the absence of adaptation

If we weren’t endowed with the capacity of adaptation, our brain would be busy with unnecessary information and we would be disturbed by the constant touching in our body. The cells that feel the senses are called “receptors.” There is an amazing adaptation in most parts of the cells that sense the touching in the skin. For instance, when we wear something, we feel the first touch of the garment to our body, but this feeling caused by the garment disappears afterwards. If we were to feel everything touching our skin, life would be very difficult for us. Likewise, in some patients, the adaptation to senses disappears and this makes the things harder for them. Some patients, on the other hand, develops hypersensitivity. They feel pain and suffering even by the slight touching of their garments. It is very hard to cure this illness which is called “neuropathic pain” in medicine. They feel cancer-like severe pain. Scientists are still working on the studies to stop this kind of pain.

How does adaptation occur?

Adaptation happens as a result of a different mechanism for each sense. Touching causes a liquid movement in the cytoplasm of the receptor cells. This movement is sensed by the cell and conveyed to the brain in the form of electric signals. Despite the continuation of touching, the cytoplasm movement in receptor cells is stopped after a while and no signal is sent to the brain. So, no touching is felt. But when touching stops, as a result of a liquid movement in the cytoplasm of the receptor cells, a new signal prompts the brain that “touching is over.” In short, only the beginning and the end of touching is communicated to the brain. Despite the continuation of touching between the beginning and the end, the brain (rather the “soul”) is not bothered by this redundant information. Even though, many types of receptors serve in the process of adaptation to touching, only six of them have been thoroughly studied and named. The adaptation is not the same in all receptors; fast and advanced in some of them, while in some of them it is slow and weak. For example in touching receptors of the skin (Merkel disks), the adaptation is relatively little and there is no adaptation at all in some senses such as feeling the pain. In some receptors (such as Ruffini’s corpuscles) located in dermis (bottom layer of the skin), deep organs and joint capsules, the adaptation is very little. These receptors send the weight and pressure signals required for the absence of adaptation. Weight and pressure receptors located in the joint capsule are responsible for sensing the angle degree of the joint. The brain receives information from them about the angle degree of the joints and it constantly uses it while sending orders of movement to the muscles of the skeleton. We can walk and do the other movements that require balance thanks to these perfect processes happening beyond our consciousness. If the brain didn’t know the information regarding the angle degree of the joints, some jobs that require delicate balance such as the job of construction workers wouldn’t be properly done.

Adaptation in various senses

Adaptation in seeing (accommodation): Adaptation in seeing is different from the one for touching. If we keep looking at an object, we keep seeing it. In this sense, there is no interruption in adaptation and seeing. This is another favor of God among many of His favors. If the adaptation in seeing were to be similar to the one in touching, we wouldn’t be able to do many activities that require walking, reading, sitting, standing and being in balance. All-Merciful God placed different adaptations in our eyes appropriate for the jobs that they do.

Adaptation in seeing near and far: We keep seeing an object no matter how nearer or farther we move it. Despite the change in the distance of the object, our vision doesn’t change. These processes are automatically carried out depending on the distance we look and they are operated under the framework of optical principles such as changing the shape of the eye lens and approaching of the lens to the retina or moving away from it.

Adaptation in seeing in the light and dark: Our eyes detect and adapt to the new surroundings, be it light or dark. During this adaptation process, seeing in the dark and light is made possible by adjusting the degree of vision and increasing and decreasing it one million times. The activities of the photoreceptors (in the shape of rod and cone) are carried out by an amazing knowledge and power.

Adaptation in smelling (olfaction): The smelling receptors of the nose adapt to the bad smell at a rate of 50 % in its first encounter. So, the dense bad smell felt in the first encounter disappears immediately. A minute after this encounter, the sensing of the bad smell is eliminated upon the orders coming from the brain to the nerves of smell. Garbage men or cleaners or the people working in slaughterhouse or sewerage do not get disturbed, as a favor of God, by the bad smell as much as other people do.

Adaptation in tasting: the adaptation happens one minute (at most) after the “tasting.” Yet All-Powerful and All-Knowing God created the adaptation capacity for the bitter materials very low, because most of these materials are a kind of poison for our body. Therefore when the babies unconsciously want to eat something poisonous, they take them out at once and are avoid of being poisoned.

Adaptation in temperature: The temperature receptors are intensely stimulated in sudden temperature changes. The adaptation occurs in 30 seconds or one minute as the intense of stimulation decrease. However there is no 100% adaptation, because the receptors sense both the sudden changes and constant situations. Remember, both extreme hot and cold are harmful for the body. The fact that the adaptation in this sense is limited is another favor of God.

Adaptation in hearing: When we enter a noisy environment, we are disturbed by the extreme noise. But two tiny muscles located in the middle ear contract as a manifestation of His mercy and prevent the sounds from being conveyed to the middle ear by masking all the sounds except for the ones of normal conversation. Workers in a noisy environment keep working as though they do not hear the noise at all.

Adaptation in feeling the pain: There is no adaptation in feeling the pain which is an indication of God’s mercy. If there were any adaptation to the pain, we would lose the patients before diagnosing and curing the illnesses. If a patient bothered by the gastrointestinal bleeding or appendicitis were to have an adaptation to the pain, after a few minutes he would not feel any pain before taken to the hospital and think that his illness is over and does not feel any need for a treatment. But possible inflammation of the appendix might result in the risk of death after a while.

Many of us are not aware of this perfect mechanism of adaptation. All these examples put forward the fact that the mechanisms bestowed upon our senses are very harmonious and adaptive to the working principles of our intellectual and spiritual faculties in the evaluation of various situations that we encounter in our life and they also show that humans were created as a whole. If we were deprived of such a blessing, we wouldn’t be aware of many changes that threaten our life and be bothered by the disturbing environmental conditions.

Omer Arifagaoglu is a professor of medicine. He lives in Turkey.

Insaf is half of religion

The term insaf, which sometimes denotes righteousness, fairness, justice or never deviating from truth, is the term for not violating others’ rights while claiming your own, even wishing what you wish for yourself for others as well and giving priority to them if need be, and being balanced at doing the right thing by refraining from extreme behavior.

God’s Messenger counted insaf among the three basic components of good character. He stated that three things are originated by one’s faith: “Not giving up insaf despite the urges of the carnal self, promoting greeting, and spending in God’s way even during financial straits.” Another beautiful phrase-even though it is not a hadith-reflecting his views about right and justice is “insaf is half of religion.”

When we evaluate a matter in a certain fashion according to our own logic and reasoning, we might take our personal considerations as a basis and view the issue from the perspective of our carnal selves and corporeality. When doing that, we may be mostly mistaken, make wrong judgments and think ourselves to be definitely right. In such a case-even though our personal feelings, thoughts, inclinations and wishes are different-siding with the right as soon as we recognize the truth and taking a stance in spite of our ego is an expression of insaf. Being respectful toward the requirements of faith all the time, blending our morality with righteousness, always being in pursuit of truth, and, in spite of the pressure of carnal inclinations, listening to the voice of the conscience and championing the right is a requirement of having insaf.

A human being without insaf is cruel and ruthless; such people use every opportunity to have an ill opinion of others, ignore their tens of good deeds for a single evil one and always fail to cherish a good opinion. Even though the Islamic moral code counsels having insaf and holding a good opinion, a person without insaf takes unfairness and ill opinion as a basis. Therefore, they become trapped by one bad apple and conclude that the entire orchard is barren and putrid. As a matter of fact a damaged banknote in the state treasury does not lessen the reserves, but in the sight of one who lacks insaf-a bad trait which we can compare to the damaged note-the riches of being human can turn into an object of no value.

A single mistake should not nullify many good deeds

Actually, given that a good deed is counted tenfold and a misdeed only once in the sight of God, one mistake should not be allowed to evoke ill feelings toward a person in spite of his or her many good deeds. Believers who have insaf should always try to think positively and recognize someone’s good side; they should not totally condemn a person because of one mistake. They should even consider one of a person’s good deeds to compensate for all of his or her misdeeds. For instance, when a person devoted to a righteous cause considers one of his fellow friends, he should say, “Such and such person committed this misdeed, but I cannot overlook his loyalty to serving in the way of God,” and thereby be very faithful toward his companion and always do the decent thing and hold the truth dear. Nevertheless, an event narrated in the books of hadith underlines a very important point about this issue: A Companion of the Prophet who was not very conscious about drinks and could not break his addiction would sometimes get intoxicated and be rebuked by God’s Messenger each time. The same Companion was one day brought to the presence of God’s Messenger for the same offense. One of those present said, “O God, curse this man! He is being punished for the same offense for so many times but still does not behave himself.” On hearing this, God’s Messenger said, “Do not curse him. I swear by God that he loves God and His Messenger from the heart!” Then he told them to pray for him saying, “O God, grant mercy to him and forgive his faults.”

Given that this Companion’s sincerity is appreciated so much, we can better picture what it brings to a person to serve in the way of God and to strive for His name to be engraved in hearts. Thus, we can make a well-placed evaluation of the attitude we are to take in the face of that person’s faults and mistakes.

Commitment to the right and wishing to hold the truth dear

The worst example of lack of insaf in our time is seen in criticism which is based upon grudge, guile, and pride. In fact, true criticism, which means analyzing the good or bad sides of somebody or something, making a comparison between what is and what should be, is a means of walking toward the ideal.

Making constructive criticisms and being open to criticism is a scholarly principle. However, this should be done within a certain manner and form. After all, the person who criticizes should have insaf, he or she should speak not out of personal considerations but in the name of God’s good pleasure and have no intention other than goodness. The drive for criticism should arise from striving toward the right and a wish to clarify the truth. A critic with insaf should only hold the aim of unearthing the truth. Otherwise, criticism without insaf-which serves pride and beguilement-destroys the truth and leads to unfairness and wrong.

As you know, we can define a debate as the act of having an exchange of views in order to clarify a truth, brainstorming within certain rules and principles, cooperative thinking, mutual discussion, and presenting decently expressed personal considerations to collective reasoning. Unfortunately, in almost all the gatherings held under the name of debate in our time, we witness lack of insaf in the form of criticism. Today, almost everyone who joins the quarrels at the platforms of dispute, sophistry, and demagogy-what we can call verbal duels-has certain presumptions and the debaters usually strive to make the opposite side accept their own views rather than clarifying a truth. To the degree that they spend utmost effort in this matter-sometimes they engage in a play on words or play of logic, or resort to unbecoming acts like provoking their opponents or silencing and embarrassing them-they always remain closed to the truth. Rather than revealing truths, they turn their words into dialectics by opposing the expressions of thought and philosophy of the other side, and the debaters act with the intentions of defeating, humiliating, and silencing one another. In fact, such an argument can never be called a true debate; it seems to me like a quarrel between mentally disabled ones. Unfortunately, nowadays assemblies of debate have become grounds of dialectics.

The only remedy for this disease is not to give up insaf, always to do the decent thing, to hold the truth dear and never sacrifice it for the sake of anything else. Every party to a discussion should reproach their own ego and not favor themselves but the person or people they address. Let alone humiliating the other party, when a person who proves right makes the other self-conscious, he or she should be regarded as being disrespectful to human values.

As Said Nursi suggests, the attitudes at a decent scholarly debate based on the principle of insaf are to be evaluated as follows: if a person asserts a certain opinion, proves right, and becomes happy about it, that person lacks insaf because what matters is not proving right but discovering the right. A person who is happy about both proving right and the opposite site being wrong loses. That is, the person who proves right does not learn anything new or benefit from the debate. Moreover he or she may be taken by pride and suffer further loss. However, if the opposite side proves to be right-without any possibility of loss-the person benefits by learning something new and is freed from pride as well. So a righteous person with insaf rejects his or her own ego for the sake of the truth; even if he or she sees the truth in the hands of the opponent, he or she accepts it anyway with good consent and supports the other.

Do we really have insaf?

On the other hand, concerning the followers of other faiths or philosophies one sometimes cannot help but say, “I wish these people had some insaf, and they would look at the Qur’an and the Prophet’s message accordingly! Insaf might open their eyes as well and be a means for them to draw different conclusions. I wish they could be freed from their biases for a moment and could consider Islam with insaf.” With such reflections in mind, we invite people to hold insaf. But are we taking into account what falls to our part while expecting insaf from them? I wonder to what degree we have been able to present the right and truth to them. Have we been able to be credible and inspire trust? Have we been able to represent the truth properly so as to invoke insaf in them?

Muslims have moved to many different countries of the world and their population has reached a considerable level in certain places but their influence has not been proportionate to their number, because they have worked for others mostly with worldly concerns. As masters do not care for their slaves, they did not listen to Muslims’ words; they usually used Muslims like slaves and sought ways of disposing of them when they had profited from them. In this respect, even though Muslims have gone to many different lands, we cannot consider the message of Islam to have reached the people of those lands. Particularly at a time when materialism and naturalism prevail, people who are accustomed to looking at things and events with a materialist perspective cannot be said to have met the logic of Islam and the Qur’an. Therefore-with the exception of the body of tyrants who dye the world in blood and oppress the weak-the people from whom we expect insaf can in many respects be regarded as equivalent to the people of the Interregnum Period.² Then isn’t it we who should have insaf in the first place? For not having been able to go to all corners of the world and present a credible type of behavior, stance, and example, for not being able to represent the truths of the Qur’an-which are truly beautiful by objective criteria-shouldn’t we first question ourselves? If people are saying, ”What we are being told is so good, but we haven’t seen any community with these truths ingrained in their life. We haven’t witnessed any people who have been adorned with those laudable virtues. We have found no paragons of virtue who live with meticulous sensitivity. Where are the people who are completely closed to sins and are determined to remain so? Where are the living examples of true believers? We cannot believe without seeing them!”, if they are saying this and they voice this on Judgment Day, how can we give an answer before God? In this respect, when we talk about insaf and call others to be fair, we should not forget that we need a vision to trigger the feeling of insaf within ourselves.

An example from the Prophet to evoke the feeling of insaf

Did not those who saw the Pride of Humanity say, “We haven’t witnessed any lies from you so far”? Did they not admit the truth in saying, “We never doubted your being a truthful and trustworthy person”?… Truly, the noble and virtuous stance of God’s Messenger in a way became a reference for his addressees to pay attention to the Qur’an, listen to the message of Islam, and listen to the truthful Prophet. The unique example of the perfect guide evoked the feeling of insaf in consciences.

Today as well, what has an influence on hearts and brings people to insaf is “representation.” Few people say, “I found the truth after I heard such and such words.” But there are many people who say, “I embraced faith after seeing this sincere example of such and such true believer.” Likewise, the words which become a means for others’ faith are always fruits of what the heart voices and what our actions reflect. For conveying the message finds its true value through genuine representation.

The case of an American professor is one of hundreds of examples proving the power of proper representation: This person, who was an expert on the history of religion, visited Urfa, southeastern Turkey. He was attending a charity meeting of a group of chivalrous souls. As they were all seated around a table, he briefly spoke with the person beside him. In the conversation, the professor mentioned that he had just returned from Southeast Asia. On hearing this, his poor neighbor whispered humbly, “I support a school in Cambodia.” The professor described that devoted man with the following words: “He looked poor. He was modest; however-surprisingly-he was giving nearly all his surplus income for a school he will probably never see in this life. Cambodian children were being educated thanks to the sacrifices including his own and he was happy beyond expression.” The professor said that he did not need any further proof about the sincerity of those devoted ones.

That professor and others like him are not unaware of the Qur’an; however, what makes an impact on them is representation. Again, there is someone I know who read books on Islam for almost ten years with no significant change in his life. One day, he visited one of our friends and heard that sincere person saying God’s name with his every act; he was such a devout believer that even though he spoke very little, his acts, his looks, and the way he prostrates himself in prayer reflect the Almighty. The condition of that devoted person affected his guest very much, who then saw that the principles he had read about in books were built on a sound basis and that things fit in their place; he was then able to say, “These acts derive from such and such essential disciplines.”

In this respect as we invite representatives of different understandings to insaf, the necessity of a degree of exemplary representation to evoke insaf in them should not be ignored. Showing the truth through exemplary representation to the people whom we expect to be righteous is a requirement of holding insaf. We can even say that the sole duty of the volunteers who have dispersed to every corner of the world today is an exemplary representation to evoke the feeling of insaf by the language of love.

Notes

1. In Islam, people have a responsibility to their Creator, and to all people including themselves, and the entire creation.
2. After Jesus, people failed to keep up his original message from God and deified him instead. From then on until the Prophet Muhammad came-the Interregnum Period-there was no undistorted religion for people to follow. Therefore, God will not hold them responsible in the day of Judgment.

Muslim friends told me about his hard work, his impeccable character, and his innumerable virtues. Ironically, the more they spoke of his perfection, the more I resisted. It reminded me too much of the fervor of Christians regarding Jesus, peace be upon him. Risk comes with excessive praise

inadvertently a wonderful prophet can be raised to a status higher than a mortal man. Like many current and former Christians, I would not believe that Jesus was God, and I was scared of language which elevated any prophet too highly.

So every time I read about the Prophet, I prayed for protection from my own misconceptions, my own cultural prejudices. Then one day, I came upon a lovely story about the infant Prophet being nursed by a Bedouin. While he lived with the tribe, they enjoyed bountiful harvests and animals full of milk. The Bedouins soon became convinced this particular baby was very special. I had seen God looking out for the children in my life and providing for them inexplicably at particularly difficult times. So, by the grace of God, the Bedouin’s story opened a door for me.

Slowly, with more reading, the walls around my heart began to disintegrate. Polygamy was acceptable among Muslims, Jews, Christians, and polytheists at the time. But the Prophet had many wives, and non-Muslims eagerly cited this as evidence of perversion. What was the rational truth? First, he was loyal to one wife for 20 years, until her death, though she was his elder by 15 years. After her death, he married two women within a few years-one the elderly, destitute widow of an old friend, and the other the beloved daughter of his best friend and staunchest supporter. The latter, the lovely Aisha (may God be pleased with her) was a bright, beautiful, young woman he had known since her birth. She was one of the first converts to Islam and remained one of his most loyal confidantes throughout his life, as well as being a gifted historian. Having the option to marry only her, why wouldn’t he have done so? She was surely everything he could desire, physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually, and he chose her company on his deathbed. Yet he married others later, relative strangers, women from different cultures, age groups, physical attributes, and social positions-most bringing several children to add to his responsibilities, and most destined to a life of destitution as widows without the mercy of his offer. His marriages formed alliances between previously disparate peoples-Egyptian Copts, Jews, warring Arab tribes, and Africans-and shattered the roots of racism and social repression. Simultaneously, his home became the first school of Islam, as his wives and their children became ambassadors among their own peoples, thereby increasing both the acceptance and the reach of Islam. It is simply illogical to think that a man in his 50s and 60s, with a perfect young wife already, would seek to complicate his life by adding more people to his household, including many offspring of other men, just to satisfy his sexual needs. Clearly, his complex home life was part of his calling and in no way reflected deviance on his part.

The image of the Prophet as a warrior was another point of contention which I found myself debating with my own Christian relatives. For after extensive reading, my conclusion was that he was simply a man with an opinion far different from the prevalent viewpoint, and this is never easy in any place at any time. He fought to defend himself and his community, and to protect the right of himself and others to profess their faith. He did it superbly, but excellence is hardly something to hold against someone. A simple and factual look at his choices tells it best. He could have been at home quietly with a few children and grandchildren, in comfort and peace. Instead, he was on the battlefield with rocks strapped to his stomach to fade the feeling of hunger, washing his body with sand. He did not become rich, nor did he retire to a leisurely life. Instead, he remained poor, tired, harassed, and threatened. He did not become the object of worship for anyone-proof is in the fact that Muslims celebrate his birth, death, and calling simply as days of reflection and prayer. The Muslim high holidays relate strictly to the message of Islam-the submission to one God-and not to the man. If he were really a megalomaniac, as those strongly opposed to Islam argue, why didn’t he “invent” verses of the Qur’an to compel Muslims to recognize him as better than all the prophets and make himself the object of all prayers? Instead, he is respectfully referred to in the Qur’an as a beautiful example of humanity, an illiterate among his own people, and a simple messenger. The message is always clear-all praise is due to God, not the Prophet.

Yet in a further assault on his character, non-Muslims then and now insist that the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was fed all his information by other people and simply “rehearsed tales of the ancients.” Yet this is illogical. First of all, the Prophet spent most of his time prior to his calling with salesmen, not scholars. These caravan merchants knew “a little about a lot,” having traveled extensively, but they could hardly be expected to know worldly subjects deeply. Most of them were illiterate themselves, with an education suited strictly to trade. Yet the Qur’an contains extensive details about past communities and religious doctrines, and about geological and human history. The depth of the knowledge conveyed is too great to be simply hearsay gleaned at a fireside chat among tradesmen. This knowledge requires full-time scholarship to acquire even today, never mind 1,400 years ago when there were few texts and scientific instruments, and even fewer translations. When do his opponents suppose he would have acquired so much knowledge anyhow? This would have required daily conversations with sages in the middle of numerous battles, an incredibly busy family life, countless daily prayers, and his own mission to deliver the message to others. Yet he was never seen with any mortal teacher, and even his enemies have never suggested that he had one.

In fact, some fervent opponents insist that the Prophet Muhammad was delusional-receiving inspiration from his own insanity. But if this were true, how could he simultaneously administer a massive, complex household with many wives and children, an intricate administration composed of alliances between peoples of different religious, socio-cultural, political, and economic backgrounds, and also strategize the stability of the Islamic empire for both the present and the future? The Prophet’s military and political savvy are enshrined in the historical record, in volumes upon volumes published by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. And the basic reality is that he cannot have been insane and infinitely pragmatic at the same time. Besides, if his only goal had been to manipulate people, why didn’t he have more commonly accepted tactics? Magic, for example, is easy to learn. Yet the Prophet’s record, even as quoted by non-believers, is devoid of cheap illusions.

And what of the “new knowledge” contained in the Qur’an-the scientific revelations about the rotation of the earth, speed of light, layers of the atmosphere, creation of stars, separation of the oceans, types of rocks, origin of the rain, gender of plants, composition of human tissue, formation of the embryo, origin of iron, and so on? Of all the sacred books around the world, only the Qur’an contains verifiable scientific data. What mortal source could have imparted such things to the Prophet? None. And to what end? Since these facts could not be verified until very recently, what benefit were they in convincing anyone in his time? None. If the Prophet intended to persuade people with some sort of self-contrived document, why put in a lot of material that wouldn’t make sense to anyone for another 1,000 years or more?

Truthfully, if he simply hoped for personal gain, for an easier life for himself, he would have been better off to just keep quiet and forget about the Qur’an completely. I see how my own life would have been much smoother with my relatives if I hadn’t converted to Islam. The Prophet Muhammad had already lost his father, mother, and guardian grandfather. Why wouldn’t he want to please and protect the only family he had left, his beloved uncle, and adhere to polytheism? Why wouldn’t he have wanted to simply retire comfortably in Meccan society as a prosperous husband, good father, and prominent member of the community?

The fact is that the Prophet Muhammad was a hard-working, brilliant, courageous, and spiritually profound man who gave everything he had in this life to argue the faith of Islam amid tremendous opposition, sacrificing his wealth, his family, his health, and his personal comfort. His only purpose was to convince anyone who would listen to worship one God, not himself. In less time than most people spend getting a basic education, he engineered the first welfare system in the world, installed a national health policy of cleanliness, good diet, and preventative care that is still valid today; he abolished slavery, eliminated female infanticide, and gender discrimination in family life and inheritance, overthrew racism, inclined millions upon millions of potent, passionate people towards sexual conservatism, and he convinced entire nations and generations after them to abstain from alcohol. What is more, he is personally responsible for the fact that over a billion people around the world pray daily in constant remembrance of one God. With painstaking precision, he related a divine message, some of which-the scientific truths-meant no sense to anyone at the time. The Prophet was competent in all fields of existence and achieved more than anyone who has ever lived. What is more, his accomplishments are historical facts easily substantiated by any person with the inclination to read, in any library around the world. Thus we can understand why Muslims embrace the Prophet Muhammad so completely-because his life has been and will always be the light which makes the path to what is right more visible and more achievable.

Kathleen St.Onge is the author of Bridge to Light: Spiritual Wayfaring Towards Islam.

Given the emphasis by the Qur’an on logical reasoning, it is understood that its audience (all of mankind) is expected to have a basic understanding of logical principles. It is our purpose in this article to go over a few basic principles of logic and give examples of how they are used in the Qur’an.

Logical principle 1: Proof by contradiction. An important aspect of logic concerns methods of proving or disproving statements. This is one of the basic principles of proving statements, and it is commonly used to prove mathematical statements. To show that a statement is true using this principle, suppose its negation is true, that is, that the statement itself is false. If you can then obtain a contradiction, something that is clearly false, this shows that the original statement is true. We shall illustrate this principle with an example. The reason we choose this example is that it is a classical result in mathematics, and the argument is beautiful. According to Hardy, this is an example of a first-class theorem about a significant mathematical fact (“a real mathematical theorem”) that is accessible to a general, educated audience (Hardy, 1967). There is a fundamental theorem in number theory which says that “there are infinitely many prime numbers.”1 There are many other proofs of this theorem but the most elementary and elegant proof is given by Euclid and it is by contradiction. Hardy claims that “both the statement and the proof can be mastered in an hour by an intelligent reader, however slender his mathematical equipment” (Hardy, 1967). Here is that proof: Suppose there is only a finite number of primes. Call them p1 , p2 , … pn. Now, consider the number N = p1 , p2 , … pn +1. Clearly, N is not equal to any of the primes in the list. Therefore, N itself is not a prime, and hence N must be divisible by one of the primes p1 , p2 , … pn (this is by “the fundamental theorem of arithmetic” which states that every integer greater than 1 can be written as a product of prime numbers). However, that is not the case: when N is divided by each one of pi there is a remainder of 1. This is a contradiction, and it arises from the assumption that there are only finitely many primes. Hence, the assumption cannot be true, and we conclude that there are infinitely many primes.

Proof by contradiction, or reductio ad absurdum in Latin, is one of the mathematician’s finest tools. There are many examples of theorems in mathematics where the simplest proof is by reductio ad absurdum. Another classical example is to show that √ is not a rational number (Hardy, 1967).

Now, we would like to give examples from the Qur’an where this logical principle is used. Consider the verse: “Had there been in the heavens and the earth any deities other than God, both would certainly fallen into ruin” (Anbiya 21:22). Here the argument is: suppose there were gods other than God. Then the earth and the heaven could not maintain their order (because the powers and wills of different gods would interfere with each other). Since this is clearly not the case (because we see perfect order in the universe), this contradicts the logical consequence of the initial assumption. Therefore, the initial assumption (i.e., there are more than one god) is wrong.

For another example, let us consider the verse: “Do they not contemplate the Qur’an? Had it been from any other than God, they would surely have found in it much inconsistency” (Nisa 4:82). Here the statement to be proven is “The Qur’an is the word of God, and it is from God.” To prove this statement by reductio ad absurdum, suppose for a moment the opposite statement is true, that is, that the Qur’an is not from God. A logical consequence of this assumption would be it is the word of a human being, but then there would be inconsistencies in it because the Qur’an talks about such great matters that if a human being had written it he would have made mistakes and inconsistent statements (for more on this point see Unal, 2007, page 228, and Nursi). However, we see no such statements in the Qur’an, thus contradicting the initial assumption. Therefore the Qur’an is the word of God.

The final example we would like to give related to this principle is expressed in the verse: “If you are in doubt about the Divine authorship of what We have sent down our servant (Muhammad) then produce just a sura (chapter) like it and call for help to all your supporters” (Baqara 2:23). Here the statement to be proven is the same as the one in the previous example. The argument goes like this: If it was possible for anybody other than God to produce the Qur’an, you should be able to make something like it with all of your supporters, if not an entire book, just a chapter of it. The Qur’an presents disbelievers with a challenge. However, they have not been able to meet the challenge. They chose to fight with the sword because fighting with words was not possible. Therefore the assumption that “the Qur’an could have been written by a human” is wrong.

Logical principle 2: The next principle we would like to discuss is the equivalence of an implication to its contrapositive. A statement of the form “If P, then Q” is called an implication. In such an implication P is called the premise, or the hypothesis and Q is called the conclusion. Such a statement asserts that whenever P is true (or satisfied) then Q is guaranteed to be true. However, if/when P is not true, it does not say anything about the truth value of Q. An example of an implication from daily life is: “If it is rainy, then it is cloudy.” Here the premise is “it is rainy” and the conclusion is “it is cloudy.” Another example would be: “If you are in New York City, then you are in the US.” A mathematical example is: “if a number n is divisible by 6, then it is even.” An implication can also be read as “P implies Q,” or written “P => Q.” The contrapositive of an implication “if P then Q” is “if not Q then not P.” For example, the contrapositive of the first implication above is “if it is not cloudy then it is not rainy,” of the second one, “if you are not in the US, then you are not in NY city,” and of the third one, “if n is odd (not even) then n is not divisible by 6.”

Here are two examples from the Qur’an where we can apply this principle. The first one is the verse we discussed above: “If you are in doubt about the Divine authorship of what We have sent down our servant (Muhammad) then produce just a sura like it and call for help to all your supporters.” We can rephrase this statement as “if the Qur’an is not the word of God, then humans can produce a like of it,” and its contrapositive is “if humans cannot produce something similar to the Qur’an, then it is the word of God.” Remember that these two statements are logically equivalent. Now, we know that humans cannot produce anything comparable to the Qur’an despite much effort and motivation, therefore it follows that it is the word of God.

The second example we want to consider is the verse: “Say (to them, O Messenger) if you indeed love God, then follow me, so that God will love you and forgive your sins” (Al Imran 3:31). The contrapositive of this statement can be stated as (slightly simplified) “if you are not following his messenger, then you really do not love God.” So, we obtain a clear measure of whether one really loves God or not. Following the Prophet is a necessary condition to attain the love of God.

Logical principle 3: The final principle we discuss is false implies anything. This is actually a special case of an implication of the form “P implies Q.” Recall that such a statement asserts that whenever P is true, Q is also true, so P promises Q. However, if P is not true then it does not claim anything about Q; it may or may not be true. For example, if it is not rainy then it may or may not be cloudy. An implication is false when P is true yet Q is false. Intuitively, we can think of this as breaking a promise. The question arises as to what the truth value of an implication should be when the premise P is false. It is accepted that the implication will be true in this case, because when the premise is false, the conclusion is totally irrelevant. This is called “false implies anything.” One can make any conclusion whatsoever based on a false premise, but it really does not mean anything. For example, the statements “if 2+2=5, then there are only finitely many primes,” and “if the world is flat, then there are no wars in the world” are both true statements. These statements are true but they really do not have any substance. They are true by a convention in logic. The important point one needs to pay attention to is this: Once you believe a premise that is not true, it is possible to make any conclusion you want and the whole argument looks right. However, such an argument is quite meaningless. So one needs to examine very carefully what is being assumed in a logical argument.

One example we want to consider from the Qur’an related to this principle is the verse: “Those who deny Our Revelations and turn arrogantly from them-for them, the gates of Heaven will not be opened and they will not enter Paradise unless a camel can pass through the eye of a needle” (A’raf 7:40). With a little simplification, we can rephrase this verse as “if a camel passes through the eye of a needle, then disbelievers will enter Paradise.” Since the premise is false (obviously, a camel cannot pass through the eye of a needle), this implication is true. However, this is not good news for disbelievers because the truth of this implication has nothing to do with the truth of its conclusion. This again shows the point: One needs to examine logical arguments carefully. What looks true or convincing formally and on the surface may not mean anything in reality if it is based on a false premise.

Nuh Aydin is an associate professor of Mathematics at Kenyon College, in Ohio, USA.

Notes

1. A positive integer n that is greater than 1 is called a prime if its only positive divisors are 1 and n. 1 is not considered to be a prime. Thus the sequence of prime numbers is 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29…

References

• Hardy, G. H. A Mathematician’s Apology, Cambridge University Press, 1967.
• Nursi, Bediuzzaman Said. The Words (translation), The Twenty-Fifth Word, Available online at http://en.nurglobal.net/modules/mastop_publish/?tac=The_Twenty-Fifth_Word
• Unal, Ali. The Qur’an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English, The Light Inc., 2007.