Under the influence of these developments, it is highly likely that there will be collective transformations in convictions, ideas, and , scientific thought. When we look back at the recent past, we see that so many things have changed. Just yesterday, commonly accepted “immutable” facts, such as Galileo’s understanding of the cosmos or Newton’s universal gravitation, have been exchanged for relativity and become defunct theories. The view of taking matter as the basis for everything has been doubted for a long time. Today we see that researchers in different fields, particularly quantum physics, are concerned with the non-material world just as much as the material world. It seems that in the near future not just matter or atoms, but anti-matter will become a common subject of research for circles of science; metaphysics will be mentioned wherever physics is considered.

Science tries to explain the realities of our perceptions in the light of results obtained through experience. It does not give credit to knowledge which is not perceived and verified by the senses until their reality is proven through scientific methodology. For example, nobody doubts the reality of those things that we can see, regardless of their nature. Likewise, we can say the same for things we hear, touch or experience with other things perceptible through our sense organs. As for magnetic or electronic fields that we cannot perceive with our sense organs, we detect them with compasses or other tools. Science is able to perceive this much with the means it presently has, but is as yet unable to go further beyond “electrical,” “magnetic,” and “gravitational” fields. As relevant tools and devices that can prove the existence and nature of other fields are invented, scientific research will then be able to start exploring beyond these fields. In this respect, claiming that science encompasses everything and that it has reached its ultimate limits is surely a great mistake and is blind to what the history of science has shown us. As a matter of fact, if we look into the discoveries and inventions science has produced, we realize that what we know is almost nothing in comparison to what we do not know.

Not only does claiming that we know everything contradict reality, it is also a regressive behavior which lacks any zeal for further progress and is about being content with the present achievements. In every era, those who deem the achievements reached by contemporary science as the ultimate limits of progress, have blocked the way to further scientific discoveries and reduced the intellectual life to misery. Therefore, we see it as an obligation to reconsider what we have learned so far with a critical perspective, our previous knowledge needs to be reevaluated in the light of new discoveries, both in terms of correcting our mistakes and finding a way out of today’s dead ends. This includes a thorough study of the outer space and the earth, their relation to one another, night and day flowing in regular cycles, the special conditions of living or non-living beings in their own world, as well as human and animal organisms’ motion, function and purposes. Likewise soil, water, their composition, and their relationship with living beings, all must absolutely be reevaluated and analyzed with modern methods. Only in this way will it be possible to correct those theories that have not been proven according to scientific research methods, and those mistaken rules which are based on wrong judgments.

The dignity of science requires research to be conducted with an appropriate methodology. Those who busy scientific centers with unproven theories both deceive the masses and violate the dignity of science. Scientific methodology in its plainest form consists of: first, scientists determine their subject and clearly define what they want to learn; then they revise the results of previous research related to that subject; and then they determine the results to be derived from the data that they have collected. In order to test the reliability of the previously obtained results properly, a set of new tests is applied. If the new tests do not prove the suggested theory, scientists go back to the drawing board for further research. They collect new data, and by combining it with previous findings, they give new shape to their theory. Thus, they record the experimentally proven findings and then they consider whether the particular fact that they would like to define as an established principle can be generalized or not. If it can be generalized, then they evaluate the relationship with similar phenomena and see the whole of the picture. This method of research, also adopted by modern methodology, is an objective one for scientific evaluation. Therefore, it is absolutely not scientific to claim that something is definitely true or is established without using such scientific methodology, and to object or deny what contradicts that assumption. Suppositions and estimations asserted as established ideas are nothing but suggested theories and the universal principles that are derived from these suggestions are nothing but deception. Scientific conclusions cannot be drawn from such suppositions and estimations, nor can such suppositions be used to reject knowledge affirmed by testimony and reliable reports or proven through proper methodologies.

We have not sent you but as a mercy to all people. (21:107)

The verse tells that it is God’s mercy that caused Muhammad to be a universal messenger, that Prophet Muhammad is the messenger of mercy, and that his message, namely the Qur’an, is the message of mercy.

Inspired by the Qur’an, Muslim philosophers have thought that mercy is the primary reason of the existence of Islam, just as love and generosity are the main reasons of the existence of the universe. To put it clearly, it can be said that God so loved His own beautiful names that He generously created the world for the manifestation of those names, and He had Mercy so much upon humanity that He sent Islam as a pure way of life.

Meaning “submission to God,” Islam teaches the rules of goodness, originating from the eternal wisdom of the Maker of the universe. Given this generic definition, Islam does not mean only the religion instructed in the Qur’an, but the only religion instructed by God through all divine revelations and all prophets. In other words, submission to God refers to the essence of the heavenly prescribed religion. Some scholars even comment that Islam means the religion of all creation in the sense that all creatures in the universe, as Qur’an says, necessarily obey God. Only humans are exempt from necessity; they choose to obey or disobey.

As a result, Prophet Muhammad is not the only prophet of Islam in generic sense, but only the last prophet of the religion. He is also the last messenger of mercy, following and witnessing to all messengers before him. In fact, the Qur’an describes the previous revelations as manifestations of divine mercy. To mention some:

[Noah:] God has granted me mercy from Himself. (11:28, 63)

Before this was the Book of Moses as a guide and a mercy. (11:17, 46:12)

[For Mary’s miraculous conception:] So that We may make him (Jesus) a sign to men and a mercy from Us. (19:21)

Following the previous revelations, Qur’an, the last scripture of Islam in generic sense, is a Book of mercy above all. At the first glance, we see that each chapter opens with a certain word: “In the name of God, the most merciful, the most compassionate.” Then the Qur’an describes itself as “mercy” again and again. To mention a few:

We have revealed the Book to you explaining clearly everything, and a guidance and a mercy and good news for those who submit. (16:89)

These are verses of the Book of Wisdom, a guidance and a mercy for the doers of goodness. (31:2-3)

These verses along with others should explain why the night of the first revelation of the Qur’an is called in the Book as the “night of destiny.” The particular chapter concerning that special event informs us that “the night of destiny is better than a thousand months” (97:3). That is, a tiny slice of time bearing the divine message of mercy is better than an age deprived it. The verse should imply that the revelation of the Qur’an is as much significant for humankind as mercy is.

If the Qur’an is the message of mercy, and Prophet Muhammad the messenger of mercy, it is because God is the God of mercy. The very first sentence of the Qur’an movingly puts it: “Praise be to God, the Lord of all creation, the most merciful, the most compassionate, the master of the day of judgment.” Such beginning indicates that the Qur’an’s most fundamental teaching, the unity of God, is profoundly related to the mercy of God, as Qur’an reads elsewhere: “Your God is One God. There is no god but He, the most merciful, the most compassionate” (2:163).

In the Qur’an, mercy is so essential to the divine personality that the attribute Rahman, meaning “the most merciful,” is many times used as a proper name replacing the name “God,” Allah in Arabic. Here are a couple of examples:

Say, Call upon God or call upon the most merciful. Whichever you call upon, to Him belong the most beautiful names. (17:110)

The servants of the most merciful are they who walk on the earth in humbleness, and when the ignorant address them, they say, Peace. (25:63).

Pondering on the correspondence between the names “God” and Rahman, scholars comment that the so-called “greatest name of God” is the name Rahman, the most merciful. Ibn Arabi, the well-known Sufi philosopher, thinks that Rahman is the “mother” of all divine names. That means Rahman comprises or involves the meaning of all other divine names, such as the Forgiver, Provider, Lover, Creator, and Reviver. Therefore, in Sufi philosophy, creation is mainly for the purpose and by the manifestation of God’s mercy. Just two samples from amongst many verses in accord with this mystical insight:

And out of His mercy He has made for you the night and the day, that you may rest therein, and that you may seek of His grace, and that you may give thanks. (28:73)

Look then at the signs of God’s mercy: How He gives life to the earth after its death. Surely He will raise the dead to life; and He has power over all things. (30:50)

Everywhere in the Qur’an, God speaks as the God of Mercy. That is not only for introducing the merciful personality of the Creator, but also for prescribing mercy to the servants, who have been created for the purpose of living in conformity to the divine goodness. A few out of hundreds:

Say, To whom belongs what is in the heavens and the earth? Say, To God. He has prescribed mercy for Himself. (6:12)

Say, In the bounty of God and in His mercy: therein let them rejoice. It is better than what they hoard. (10:58)

[Prophet Shuayb:] And ask forgiveness of your Lord, then turn to Him. For my Lord is Merciful, Loving. (11:90)

O My servants, who have transgressed against their own souls! Do not despair of the mercy of God. Surely God forgives the faults altogether. He is Forgiving, Compassionate. (39:53)

Nonetheless, God is not only the God of mercy or the God of love, but also the God of wisdom and the God of justice. As theologians have perfectly articulated, His absolute mercy does not cause Him to behave unwisely or unjustly. Having conscience, humans are responsible and accountable for their actions. We are here for this reason, as reiterated in the Qur’an. Although all our mistakes and faults are subject to forgiveness as long as we seek, some grave crimes might be unforgivable if insisted. Mercy upon the victim does not excuse the lack of punishment, which would also leave the judgment meaningless.

Tell My servants that I am Forgiving, Merciful, and that My punishment is the painful punishment. (15:49)

God had mercy so much upon humanity that He sent Islam as a pure way of life, we said earlier. Then mercy should be essential to all aspects of the religion. An analysis on Islamic morality and law would reveal that all prescribed rules ultimately function for the establishment of mercy in human life in parallel to the merciful establishment of nature by God. Perhaps the most apparent rule of mercy in Islamic life, as instructed by the Prophet, is what is called basmala, namely saying “In the name of God, the most merciful, the most compassionate,” in the beginning of any action-eating, dressing, reading, writing, having a seat, starting the car, getting on the bus, sleeping, waking up, etc. Doing so, one is constantly trained in that mercy and compassion is the basis of everyday life.

As well recorded, the Prophet’s everyday life was full of words of mercy and acts of compassion. A study on his elaborate biography would ensure that he always aimed at requirements of a soft heart. I would like to give a single example, which would illuminate all examples. Prophet Muhammad has had billions of lovers, and had many enemies as well. Abdullah bin Ubayy, the chief adversary of Islam in Medina, was one of the latter and so harsh. He was the person behind many betrayals and plots including adultery slander to the wife of the Prophet. One day Abdullah passed away with his all mischief. The Prophet was saddened at such an end. He participated in his funeral, condoled with the family, performed the funeral prayer asking God forgiveness for the dead, even gave his garment to be put on the body as a cause for divine mercy, and left the funeral in sadness.

One of the sad things about his legacy is that his biography has been generally narrated with emphasis on the struggles and battles that he was forced to get into by the hostile opponents. This has been a focus-shift from the elegant face of the rose to its protective thorns. The fact is, Prophet Muhammad cultivated a community in peace and justice, and nurtured them with sympathy and mercy. As they grew, so did the enemies. The early Muslims in Mecca were threatened, oppressed, persecuted, murdered, and forced to migrate by the pagans of the city. Responding in silence, they migrated to Medina. Then military assaults on the early Muslims were carried out by the same pagans. The revelation allowed the Muslim community to defend their faith and existence in justice. After several years of struggle, the Prophet initiated a long-term peace agreement at a time when his community got stronger than the opposite. As the Prophet had expected, peace caused thousands to embrace Islam. When the pagans eventually broke the agreement with a final attack, the Prophet marched on Mecca and occupied the city without any drop of blood. He announced freedom to all, saying: “No reproach this day shall be on you. May God forgive you. He is the most compassionate.” This was the only way in which he struggled.

Meaning “struggle in the way of God” and referring to any kind of endeavor for goodness, jihad naturally includes protective actions and, in case of offense, fighting in justice and mercy. Textual and historical analyses show that all verses in the Qur’an concerning fighting are in this category, the category that might be called the rightful pacifism. Qur’an teaches that disbelief itself is not a reason of fight at all. However, in today’s world, due to ignorance or misconception, as well as living under oppression, those verses are often taken arbitrarily out of their textual and historical contexts, and used for various purposes. Indeed, for those who sincerely and seriously appeal to the Qur’an and the Prophet, neither hatred nor antagonism can be the stable rule of the relationship with the other. What is the rule then? The messenger of mercy reminds: “Have mercy upon those on earth, so that He Who in the Heaven has mercy upon you” (Tirmidh, Birr, 16). Peace, God’s mercy and blessings be upon him and his fellow messengers.

Erkan M. Kurt, PhD, is a researcher at the Institute of Interfaith Dialog, Houston, Texas.

The findings in mice imply that humans might also possess similar characteristics. This increases the possibility and brings hopes of having a baby even at older ages along with treatments in the future, just like in the miraculous story of Prophet Abraham and Sarah as narrated both in the Qur’an (ad-Dhariyat 51:24-30) and the Bible (Genesis 21:7), showing us one aspect of the possibility and ultimate limits of knowledge and technology that humans can attain one day so that these miracles can become true, though to some extent, with the advancement of medicine.

Bone borne eggs

An interesting study showed an unexpected source of oocytes in the bone. Study by Tilly’s group at the Harvard Medical School in 2004 showed that cells in the bone marrow of mice could be a source of oocytes that are developing in the ovaries [1, 2]. Their first observation was the expression of genes related to egg cells in the bone marrow samples of mice. To test the possibility of bone marrow cells as a source of new oocytes, they chemically generated infertile mice. Treating mice with two chemotherapy drugs called cyclophosphamide and busulfan causes infertility. Once they treated the mice with these drugs, the mice had extensive damage in their ovaries along with an end in new oocyte production in their follicles. Ovarian follicles are spherical aggregations in the ovaries which periodically produce oocytes. Remarkably, when they transplanted bone marrow from female donors, they found a number of oocyte containing follicles (about several hundred). Interestingly, the appearance of those oocytes were rapid and thought to be due to circulating oocytes originating from the bone marrow and developing as they travel through the blood stream. Although they don’t have the evidence that those cells could be fertilized, findings could lead to fundamental changes in the current understanding of the female reproductive system.

Tilly and colleagues also report that bone marrow and blood transplants could also induce the development of oocytes in a genetically infertile mice model (which has a mutation in ATM gene) [3]. This mutant mice lack follicles and developing oocytes and are unable to produce mature germ cells (egg producing cells). Their study shows that bone marrow or blood transplant from healthy donors induces production of oocytes in this mice model. They conclude from those studies that bone marrow could be a source of germ cells to the ovaries throughout adult life. Their findings are somewhat supported by the clinical studies on cancer patients who were expected to be infertile but they could have babies after bone marrow transplant.

Another study on the circulating cells for female fertility used parabiotic (the union of two mice through an exchange of blood) mice model. This study by Eggan and colleagues tested the capacity of circulating bone marrow cells to generate ovulated oocytes and could not show any contribution of bone marrow cells to ovulated oocytes [4]. Blood or bone borne oocytes are highly debatable but bone marrow cells, at least, might have a role in enhancing women’s fertility. This might lead to the treatment of infertility. In addition, it might bring new opportunities for those dreaming of having a baby even at a late stage, but requires much additional research to be realized.

Lab & bone borne sperms

Sperm formation is known to continue throughout adulthood. It involves various steps of cellular differentiations. Maturation of sperms in the body takes more than a month in most mammals. Trials to mimic this complex process in petri dishes failed to demonstrate the production of normal, fertile sperms.

Scientists had dreamed of growing sperms in petri dishes for years. Recently, researchers in Japan developed a technique that allowed production of fertile mammalian sperms in a petri dish [5]. Attempts to make such mature sperms usually failed due to meiosis, a specific type of cell division that halves the number of chromosomes. Meiosis is very essential step for sperm cells to get ready to fuse with an egg. Ogawa and colleagues demonstrated that meiosis of sperm cells lay in a simple change to standard petri conditions. They tried various petri conditions but they ended up with a special serum free medium that is commonly used for growth of embryonic stem cells. Several weeks later, they observed formation of mature sperm cells and even half of them had flagella, a tail-like structure that sperm cells use to swim. Injection of those sperms into egg was also able to produce offspring. In addition, when they used frozen testis tissues of newborn mice, they could grow sperms as well. This discovery in reproductive biology is likely to be beneficial not only for people having infertility problems associated with sperm maturation but also children that undergo cancer therapy which destroys fertility. It is known that chemotherapy impairs fertility. Adults could freeze their sperm before such treatment, but young boys can’t. This new discovery offers such patients hope. In addition, this finding opens new avenues for protection of endangered animals that might die before reaching sexual maturity. It is a matter of time for the same technique to be applied to humans and other species.

There are also reports suggesting the generation of male germ stem cells (sperm producing cells) from bone marrow [6, 7]. Mesenchymal stem cells, which are derived from the bone marrow, have shown to differentiate into male germ cells. Studies testing the effect of retinoic acid and testicular extracts showed to induce human bone marrow stem cells to differentiate into male germ cells as shown by male germ-cell specific marker expressions. Another approach tested the possibility that bone marrow-derived stem cells would differentiate into germ cells when transplanted into the mouse testis. Using GFP positive bone marrow cells transplantations, it has been demonstrated that bone marrow-derived stem cells can also be induced to differentiate into germ cells. Interestingly, there seems to be a connection between bones and fertility.

Bones and fertility

The Qur’an tells the story of Prophet Zachariah, peace be upon him, when he secretly prayed to God to ask for a successor. He said “My Lord! My bones have grown feeble and my head glistens with gray hair from old age…” (Maryam 19:4). His prayer was accepted and the angels came with the glad tidings of his son, John. He was surprised as to how he could have a son while his wife was barren and that he had already reached infirmity in old age. It has been said by scholars that weakness of bones here refers to weakness in engaging in sex due to old age and gray hairs as a sign of infertility. It is also worthy to mention another verse where the creation of human is described as happening from a lowly fluid that gushes forth the vertebra and rib bones: Let human, then, consider from what he has been created. He has been created from some of a lowly fluid gushing forth. It proceeds (as a result of incitement) between the (lumbar zone in the) vertebra and the ribs (At-Tariq 86:5−7). As commentator Ali Unal explains, these verses refer to both the mechanism of the ejection of the seminal fluid and where it is emitted [8], which is a relatively recent discovery in biology. Remarkably, the Qur’an mentions two major bones where this fluid is emerging. Our current knowledge in medicine do not say anything about the role of ribs in reproduction or fertility but both the Islamic and Judeo-Christian traditions mention the creation of Eve from Adam’s ribs, peace be upon him. Could this refer to the relation between bones and fertility? God knows best. Lastly, it is of importance to note that one of the symptoms of menopause is the loss of bone mass. Isn’t it amazing how mysterious events regarding bones and fertility are taking place beyond our control and knowledge?

Ali Fethi Toprak is a PhD candidate at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

References

1. Johnson, J., et al., Germline stem cells and follicular renewal in the postnatal mammalian ovary. Nature, 2004. 428(6979): p. 145-50.
2. Vogel, G., Reproductive biology. Controversial study finds an unexpected source of oocytes. Science, 2005. 309(5735): p. 678-9.
3. Johnson, J., et al., Oocyte generation in adult mammalian ovaries by putative germ cells in bone marrow and peripheral blood. Cell, 2005. 122(2): p. 303-15.
4. Eggan, K., et al., Ovulated oocytes in adult mice derive from non-circulating germ cells. Nature, 2006. 441(7097): p. 1109-14.
5. Sato, T., et al., In vitro production of functional sperm in cultured neonatal mouse testes. Nature, 2011. 471(7339): p. 504-7.
6. Hua, J., et al., Derivation of male germ cell-like lineage from human fetal bone marrow stem cells. Reprod Biomed Online, 2009. 19(1): p. 99-105.
7. Lue, Y., et al., Fate of bone marrow stem cells transplanted into the testis: potential implication for men with testicular failure. Am J Pathol, 2007. 170(3): p. 899-908.
8. Unal, A., The Qur’an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English. Vol. Qur’an 86:5−7, 51;24−30 and 19:4. 2009.

It is very likely for us human beings to lapse or sin even during actions that are meant to serve the good pleasure of God, and as a result of such errors our good works may come to a halt. The Qur’an connects conquest with asking forgiveness as in the following verse: “When God’s help comes, and victory, … then glorify your Lord with His praise, and ask Him for forgiveness” (110:1-3). Aisha, the Prophet’s wife, reports that after the revelation of this verse, the Prophet increased the number of times he asked God for forgiveness as much as to a hundred even he was in the company of others.

This is the very spirit of a prophet. The contrast, however, i.e., to be extremely joyous by achievement and victory is the pharaonic spirit, which can numb attitudes that are fitting to a believer. To say the least, even going somewhere, be it for a good service, in a spirit of boasting or in an air of jovialness or excessive ease are in no way in congruence with virtue. Yes, it is my absolute belief that these sorts of so-called services, when deprived from asking God’s forgiveness or self-introspection, are the main causes for the obstructions we face along the way. We are in such fragile days that society, especially the devoted souls, has to revise themselves once again, in terms of senses, thought, belief and practice. In order to repair the points out of order, and to reconstruct and revive the spiritual state, all should be reviewed, totally. Only after such a serious operation, people will ponder more deeply on those words they utter, just as someone who is breaking his fast feels the water he drinks flowing in, and ascend to the level of asking forgiveness even after a prayer performed in full awareness.

Yes, it is unknown where God’s approval lies. Maybe He approves of a prayer practiced in a stiff posture but with full conformity regarding its principal components. What matters, indeed, is to breathe the manner of being in the presence of God Almighty. That is, the key issue is not attaining a spiritual pleasure, and by no means of which do I mean to say that we should not feel any pleasure. In contrast, I mean, unless we are able to comprehend and develop the conception of “asking forgiveness” after every single accomplishment we reach in the name of both our personal perfection and the perfection of the society, that can be regarded as heedlessness; and, God Almighty does not like heedless people. Even more, sentences like “Such nice deeds has God made us fulfill” may probably be regarded as a remark of associating ourselves as partners with God, perhaps in a rather disguised manner, unless it is accompanied with asking forgiveness. The more we go deeper in asking forgiveness, the less harmless will be those perilous thoughts.

Another aspect of the issue, while we are breasting the calamities confronting us, to utter expressions such as “why have these happened to us?” “what has been wrong with us?” is an act of ingratitude and misbehave towards God. Because of this fact, if those kinds of feelings awake in us, we should muffle them with asking forgiveness. Do we really seek the means to put the blame on ourselves? Do we actually turn our looks at our inner worlds like projectors and incessantly browse there? Does not indeed God assert believers to mind their own business, and not to keep themselves busy with others who follow different ways? that their responsibility is themselves?” (5:105) So, why do not we do our inner control under the light of the maxim “God does not behold your appearance but your hearts,” and check what gets in and out our hearts? Unless these are done, God’s grace upon the accomplishments obtained shall be forgotten, people shall fall in egoism and be deceived, as all these are indeed the delusions Satan whispers creeping up from the right side. Please do have look at, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon Him, as he was entering the Ka’ba as a conqueror. He was so well bent double that His holy forehead was almost touching the saddle of His mount. So, whatever we do, we should quest for His approval. In contrast, while we are doing something, we do it laughing, and wander in vain daydreams and mostly make mistakes.

Yes, God’s approval is enough for us. His presence must occupy the very center of all the things we may be doing, fixing our actions and thoughts towards Him.

If you are involved in an educational system either as an educator or the parent of a high school student, then you might be familiar with the important role of AP courses in the life of high school students across the United States. AP courses also play important roles for high school students in other countries because AP courses are offered at all International schools opened by the United States. For instance, according to the 7th AP Report to the Nation, “universities in more than 60 countries recognize AP Exam scores in the admission process and/or award credit and placement for qualifying scores” (College Board, 2011, p. b). In other words, students enrolled in AP courses in any of those countries can earn college credit the same way they would do in the United States. So this is not a local phenomenon at all. Naturally, any parent or educator might wonder what the history of AP courses is, and what their benefits and roles are for high school students.

I have worked as an AP Coordinator and Guidance Counselor for a public school for more than three years. Unsurprisingly, many middle and high school parents have asked me numerous questions regarding the AP program. The following interview, which took place between one of the parents who had a daughter at the school and myself, should help the reader develop a good understanding of AP programs and their benefits for both parents and students.

Q: What is the Advanced Placement program?

A: The AP Program was created by the US College Board in 1955 with the motto “Connecting Students to College Success.” The AP program aims to prepare students for an academically demanding college experience. “Advanced Placement is a curricular option for academically superior tenth, eleventh, and twelfth-grade students. Naturally, courses offered in the program are more demanding in terms of time and intellectual skills than corresponding courses in the regular high school curriculum” (Postsecondary Educational Planning Commission, 1988, p. 4). Initially, AP courses began as a program for elite private school students to take college-level course while still in high school. This way, outstanding students could begin college with already earned credits needed for freshman year, which potentially would help them graduate college earlier.

Q: What is the role of the College Board regarding AP courses?

A: AP courses are developed and maintained by a non-profit organization, the US College Board, founded in 1900. This organization provides training for AP teachers, provides curriculum resources for both teachers and students of AP courses, and supports universities as they define their policies regarding AP grades, and develops and coordinates the administration of annual AP examinations. According to the US College Board, the AP program offers more than 30 different courses as of 2010. In 2009, nearly 1.7 million students worldwide took 2.9 million AP exams.

Q: Are AP takers increasing or decreasing?

A: According to the recent data released in the 7th AP Report to the Nation, the number of seniors taking at least one AP course and scoring 3 or more on AP exams has increased significantly (College Board, 2011, see Table I). The increases are due to growing awareness of the program, obvious benefits of taking AP courses, and the significant role of AP courses in the college admission process (Reichard & Keirn, 1999). Moreover, the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) offers states substantial federal funding, $24 million annually, to expand AP programs in underserved populations (Manzo, 2005).

Q: Are AP classes smaller than regular classes?

A: Since only academically outstanding students are accepted into AP classes, they are to be smaller, usually less than 15, as opposed to regular classrooms with 25 to 35 students. For instance, smaller schools like charter schools, might provide better opportunities for AP students in terms of class size because their student population is usually smaller than local public schools. Therefore, as is the case in my school, it is not a surprise to see AP classes with as low as 2 or 3 students per course. On the other hand, smaller schools may not offer as many AP courses as other public schools due to its student size.

Q: What about teacher quality? Do better teachers teach AP classes?

A: Yes, it is likely that AP teachers have either better training than other regular course teachers or more years of teaching experience, with higher degrees in subject areas. Moreover, AP teachers receive annual trainings in the subject they teach which is organized by the College Board. For example, I attended one of those trainings when I was assigned to teach AP Calculus in 2009. In trainings, you learn how to teach the course and they provide you with lots of resources to teach your course in depth. Conclusively, I believe that AP teachers may be better prepared in their content area as opposed to non-AP teachers.

Q: Can my daughter graduate early from college if she takes AP courses?

A: Yes, taking AP courses in high school will enable your daughter to realize her goal of graduating early from college because students can pursue college level studies while still in high school. That means AP students can transfer their high school credits to college and can replace them with their required college classes thus eliminating some freshman courses and graduating early. As a result, AP courses have become very popular among parents. They want their children to take as many AP courses as they can take. But taking an AP course is not enough to earn a corresponding college credit.

Q: What else should my daughter do in order for her to earn college credit?

A: For that purpose, students are required to take the AP exams administered annually in May prepared by the Educational Testing Service located in Princeton, New Jersey. This is where AP teachers, parents, and students’ decide if students should take the AP exams of the courses they are taking. They usually look at students first semester performances in those classes. If students do not perform well in those classes, they are either recommended to continue taking the AP courses but not to take the exams or drop the course before first semester ends and start taking regular classes of the same course. AP exams consist of a multiple-choice section and a free response section. College professors and AP teachers score the open-ended questions once a year in June. The results of the multiple-choice and free response sections are combined to determine a composite score and then converted to a 5-point scale: 5 being extremely well qualified; 4, well qualified; 3, qualified; 2, possibly qualified; and 1, no recommendation.

Q: Do all colleges give credits for AP courses?

A: As common practice, more than thirty five hundred colleges give college credit to test scores 3 and above. Although this is still a common practice in almost all colleges, some universities and colleges have recently started to limit credits by requiring either a 4 or 5 exam score. For example, the University of Pennsylvania is very strict in awarding the AP Calculus credit and MIT is requiring its students to re-take a college introductory chemistry course at their institution regardless of their AP Chemistry scores while they are all still accepting other AP courses (Manzo, 2005).

Q: Do having AP courses on my daughter’s transcript increase her chance in college admission?

A: The use of AP courses in the admission process began after the 1980s. At first, only highly selective colleges and universities considered AP courses to make fine distinctions among the increasing number of applicants (Reichard & Keirn, 1999). Today, AP and honors courses receive special consideration by almost all selective colleges and universities in the admissions decision. The way AP scores are used may vary from one institution to another. For example, the University of California recalculates an applicant’s high-school grade-point average (HSGPA) by giving additional “bonus points” for approved AP courses while others do not recalculate but accept the school’s weighted HSGPA. Regardless of how colleges evaluate students’ AP courses, yes, having AP courses on a transcript puts a student in a more advantageous position as compared to non-AP students in admission decisions. Once, I remember a parent who was evaluating all the high schools in her district in terms of their AP offerings to enroll her son. When she was asked why she was doing so, she said it was because colleges look at the number of APs on an applicant’s transcript to make an admission decision. As a high school counselor, I know that this is a common practice among upper middle-class parents to ensure their children get a college admission. Thus, this puts great pressure on schools to expand their AP offerings.

Q: Then, can I say that I will pay less tuition and save time?

A: Yes, indeed, taking AP courses in high school will save the student and parent, both time and money. As of today, skipping an introductory course in college could translate to an average of $3,000 per course. For example, one of my students took 9 AP courses while she was in high school. It is equivalent to almost a year of time and $27,000 money. Why would a reasonable parent and/or student miss this great opportunity?

Q: But I am afraid that my daughter may not graduate from a college because many high school students are not ready for college challenges both in terms of academics and in life?

A: Yes, you are right to have such concerns because Lewis (2010) reports that just 56 percent of those who enroll in a four-year college earn a bachelor’s degree. The number one reason why the rate is low is because students are mostly unprepared for the college experience. On the other hand, research has revealed that students who pass AP exams are more likely to graduate college on time (College Board, 2011). For example, in a study sponsored by the College Board, it was found that taking AP courses in high school and passing the exams appear to help students perform better in college classes and graduate on time. They analyzed four incoming classes at the University of Texas from 1998 to 2001 by looking at their ten individual AP subjects. These researchers reported that, “AP Credit students consistently outperformed non-AP students of similar academic ability in all college outcome measures” (Keng & Dodd, 2008, p. 1). Thus, taking AP courses and passing its exams usually put students one step ahead of their non-AP counterparts.

Moreover, according to Dillon’s (1986) study, completion of AP courses convey to colleges that students who have taken AP classes have developed scientific inquiry, reasoning, problem solving, and analysis methods. In other words, they are more ready for college challenges. As a result, it is not surprising to see that academically prepared high school students are not only more successful in academic work in college, but they are often more self-confident, have increased aspirations and “fit-in” more easily into college. This is true because AP students are exposed to the academic rigor, expectations, and autonomy, which are usually linked with the content and rationale of college curriculum. For instance, Syracuse University found that students with AP credits showed as high as a 96% first-year retention rate while the national average was 79% (Miller, 1994). Therefore, taking and completing AP courses help students have a smoother transition from high school to college in terms of both curriculum and lifestyle.

Q: My last concern is about my daughter’s senior year. I know from my oldest son who didn’t study much and skipped his classes a lot. Therefore, he barely passed his classes and graduated. Thus, he did not get an admission to a 4-year college. Can my daughter really take AP exams during her senior year?

A: All high school counselors know that “senioritis” is a disease and that it is contagious and there’s no vaccination or cure for it. Delicath (1998) found trends in AP courses as they deal with high school seniors. Delicath stated that AP classes help solve the problem of “senioritis,” defined as senior-year boredom among capable high school students who complete most of their graduation requirements by the end of their junior year. The good news is that the seniors who enroll in AP courses often remain more focused and attached to learning than their non-AP counterparts. Thus, seniors overcome their stresses and last year boredom.

In conclusion, in light of all its benefits, I would strongly suggest all high school administrators and counselors to be more knowledgeable about AP and try to create a very strong AP program at their schools so they can send more students to four-year colleges. Also, having a strong AP program at schools prevents students from dropping out due to financial reasons, first generation fear, and so on. Therefore, it should be the goal and duty of all high school teachers and counselors to inform and prepare their capable students to benefits from this great opportunity.

Alpaslan Sahin, PhD from Texas A&M University, College Station TX, is a school administrator. His research area is Mathematics Education.

References

• College Board. (2011). The 7th annual AP report to the nation (100084202 10b-2333).
• Delicath, T. A. (1998). The influence of advanced college credit on college students’ integration and goal attainment: A longitudinal study. Dissertation. (UMI No. 9911930).
• Dillon, D. H. (1986). The advanced placement factor. Journal of College Admissions, 113, 14-17.
• Keng, L., & Dodd, B. (2009). A comparison of college performances of AP and non-AP student groups in 10 subject areas (College Board Research Report No. 2008-7). New York: The College Board.
• Lewis, K. R. (2010). High college dropout rate threatens U.S. growth. The Fiscal Times. Retrieved March 19, 2011, from
• http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2010/10/28/High-College-Dropout-Rate-Threatens-US-Growth.aspx
• Manzo, K. K. (2005). Mass appeal. Teacher Magazine, 16(5), 11-12.
• Miller, L. (1994). Effects of racial and socioeconomic factors on advanced placement programs. Dissertation. (UMI No. 9606827)
• Mores, R (2009). Methodology: America’s best high schools. Retrieved February 27, 2011, from http://education.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/education/high-schools/articles/2009/12/09/methodology-americas-best-high-schools
• Newsweek (2008). FAQ: best high schools. Retrieved February 8, 2011, from
• http://www.newsweek.com/2008/05/17/faq-best-high-schools.html
• Postsecondary Education Planning Commission (1988). Funding of acceleration mechanisms. Report 1. Tallahassee, FL: Author. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 293 452).
• Reichard, G. W., & Keirn, T. (1999). The advanced placement exam in history: Growth, controversies, and new perspectives. The History Teacher (Long Beach, Calif.),
• 32(2), 169-73.

Factors underlying variable DNA methylation in a human community cohort. L.L. Lam et al. PNAS October 16, 2012 vol. 109

The effect of environment on genes can be very profound. Our surroundings may not directly change our DNA sequence but it can surely dictate how our genes are transcribed. Epigenetics studies heritable changes in gene expression caused by non-genetic mechanisms, i.e. mechanisms other than the changes in the DNA sequence itself. DNA methylation is one of the major epigenetic modifications to regulate the gene expression. The addition of methyl groups on DNA sequence acts like a dimmer on a light bulb switch, which will turn certain genes on or off. A recent study showed that a person’s early life experiences shape their DNA methylation patterns. The research team discovered that childhood poverty (not socioeconomic status as an adult) is highly correlated to distinct methylation marks left on genes. Although children in rich and poor households have identical sets of genes, the degree of adversity or stress at home determines which combinations of those genes are activated or silenced through differential DNA methylation. One can imagine that such epigenetic changes might cause some alterations in the gene expression program of blind people to certain environmental signals or make them even more sensitive. Perhaps such changes could make some people more adaptive to harsher life conditions, hence enhance their survival. These findings suggest that environmental conditions early in life shape our epigenomes permanently thereby influence our life experiences, health and probably many other things that we are not yet aware of.

An alien planet next door

An Earth-mass planet orbiting α Centauri B. X.Dumusque et al. Published online 17 October 2012, Nature

Astronomers have just discovered an earth-size alien planet right next to our solar system. A new earthlike planet, named Alpha Centauri, is just 4.4 light-years away. That’s 40 trillion km away from earth! Although this rocky planet’s mass is similar to Earth’s, it orbits much closer (25 times closer than the Earth) to host star Alpha Centauri B. As a result, a year lasts 3236 days and the surface temperature of the planet reaches around to 1200 °C, which makes the planet incapable of supporting any life form we know. However, solar systems with a rocky world are usually predicted to have multiple planets. One possibility is that that Alpha Centauri A, the bigger sibling of Alpha Centauri B, might host some yet to be discovered unknown planets with more habitable zones. Although this recent discovery has sparked people’s dreams to travel to another star system outside of our planetary system, such an exploration mission unfortunately seems impractical in the near future. Even a cell phone-sized probe that is accelerated to 10% of the speed of light would need to travel non-stop for 40 years to reach the target. So, what is the next best thing to do? Will it be taking photos or dropping probes on the planet’s surface to study a potentially modified atmosphere? It seems like while astronomers work hard on the identification and characterization of this new star system, scientists should focus on developing super-fast propulsion systems, which will perhaps include new concepts like nuclear rockets and antimatter fusion drives.

Bad memories, substitute or suppress

Opposing Mechanisms Support the Voluntary Forgetting of Unwanted Memories
Benolt RG et al., Neuron, Volume 76, Issue 2, 450-460, 18 October 2012

For the nervous system, forgetting a memory is almost as complicated as creating one. A recent study probed the mechanism of how the brain allows us to voluntarily forget unwanted memories. Researchers utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the brain activity of participants who had learned associations between pairs of words and subsequently attempted to forget these memories by either blocking them out or recalling substitute memories. The fMRI results showed that two separate forgetting strategies looked equally effective yet they seemed to use different neuronal circuits in different parts of the brain. For memory suppression, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex inhibits neural activity in the hippocampus which is a critical region for recalling past memories. On the other hand, memory substitution specifically activates caudal prefrontal cortex and midventrolateral prefrontal cortex that are known to bring specific memories into awareness in the presence of distracting memories. These findings can help us to better understand the mechanisms of memory disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder, and may ultimately help to develop effective treatments. At a more personal level, this study may direct us to explore how we deal with our unpleasant or unwanted memories. We might be surprised to realize that one approach might be working much better for us than another one. In other words, neuronal wiring in our brain might simply favor one approach over another.

There are lots of interesting examples of how plants communicate with insects. For instance, in self-defense against insects eating its leaves, a plant emits a volatile chemical that signals other insects, who are predators of those insects eating the plant. A byproduct of such insect communication may allow plants to signal danger to other extremely close, downwind plants. Professor of Entomology, Richard Karban and other researchers from the University of California showed that a cut sagebrush “told” nearby, downwind wild tobacco plants about its injury, and the tobacco plants apparently responded to protect themselves from damage. Over three seasons, researchers clipped leaves of sagebrush plants to mimic insects eating their leaves. The cut sagebrush released volatile chemicals (methyl jasmonate), which the wind carried to nearby downwind plants. The tobacco plants apparently sensed the chemicals-at least the tobacco plants increased production of a defensive agent-that caused their leaves to taste bad to insects. These downwind tobacco plants experienced less than half the leaf damage from grasshoppers and cutworms than control plants (Anon.). In one case study an acacia tree responded to browsing, or being beaten with a stick, by increasing the levels of tannin in its leaves within minutes. Amazingly, the tannin levels then rise in neighboring trees, and, due to its bitter taste, repel the browsers before they can do any further damage (Jacob 2001; Anon.).

What’s more is that plants can also talk to mammals. A study done by Professor Steven Johnson and his research team from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, demonstrated how ground-dwelling mammal pollinators are attracted by a rare parasitic plant’s unique “perfume.” This specific floral aroma is comprised of over 30 compounds, especially ketones, fatty-acid derivatives, mono- and sesquiterpenoids. The three most abundant scent chemicals were 1-hexen-3-one, 3-hexanone, and ethyl butyrate. When the impact of these chemicals was tested on mice, it turned out that mice, like humans, find 3-hexanone to have a pleasant smell. The molecule is routinely used in artificial flavoring to produce a sweet fruity grape-like flavor. In addition, 3-hexanone has also been found in some bat-pollinated flowers, so it may be a general mammal attractant. Remarkably, scent cues are particularly important to plants pollinated by small ground-dwelling mammals because these animals are usually around at night when visual cues are less effective (Johnson et al. 2011; Anon.).

In addition to pests, plants have to deal with numerous microbial pathogens such as bacteria, fungi and oomycetes, and viruses in the natural environment. A proper response to pathogens can lead to resistance mechanisms that enable plants to survive. Plants can recognize potential pathogens by detecting pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). This recognition activates a defense mechanism. A well-organized communication between the pathogen-invaded plant tissues and non-invaded ones is essential for the timely manifestation of defense mechanisms that limit the systemic spread of pathogens (Shah 2009). Salicylic acid, an important mobile signal, is transported from infected tissue to the rest of the plant body. It activates the systemic acquired resistance, which is a “whole-plant” resistance response that occurs following an earlier localized exposure to a pathogen. Plants not only communicate within themselves about a microbial invasion, they also talk to one another. For example, Tobacco plants warn each other against tobacco mosaic virus attack by releasing methyl salicylate, which is then converted to the protective salicylic acid in uninfected plants (Jacob 2001).

In contrast to harmful pathogenic interactions, there are also symbiotic, advantageous interactions between some microorganisms and plants. Establishment of such a beneficial symbiosis (which literally means “living together” in Greek) is complex. For successful infections, a molecular dialogue between partners is essential (Vadassery and Oelmüller 2009). Among these kinds of interactions, legume-Rhizobium symbiosis is of particular importance in agriculture, because by forming the symbiosis, atmospheric nitrogen can be used to sustain the growth of legume crops, such as soybean, pea, and bean, which occupy 12% to 15% of the land that can be used for growing crops throughout the world (Sugiyama, Shitan, and Yazaki 2007). Rhizobia are soil bacteria that fix nitrogen (diazotrophs) after becoming established inside root nodules of legumes such as alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, soy, and peanut.

Rhizobia require a plant host, since they cannot independently fix nitrogen (Anon.). Plant roots secrete signaling molecules (e.g. flavonoids) to attract Rhizobia. When Rhizobia sense these chemicals, they colonize around root tissues of the host legume plant. So, the rhizobial infection in legumes is an invasion by invitation (Murray 2011). The attached rhizobia secrete Nod factors, which are perceived by the plant. This initiates a series of events that leads to the formation of nodule, where Rhizobia fix nitrogen. Thus, Rhizobia make legume independent of soil nitrogen and the legume supplies nutrients to the bacteria. In addition, the legume plant supplies one critical component of nitrogenase, which is the key enzyme for fixing nitrogen. It all happens because the plant can talk to the bacteria.

The plant has many interests in being colonized by mycorrhizal fungi. Apart from providing nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, the fungi protect plants from diseases, parasites, and other stresses. Plants even grow as much as 40% more when colonized. In laboratory experiments, carrots that were colonized grew 20 times more than the carrots that were not! In fact, they are such close “friends” that the fungus cannot live without a plant, and between 80-90% of all plants on earth are somehow associated with mycorrhizal fungi. The origin of this incredible friendship is communication (Montréal 2012).

As a result, plants can talk to microorganisms, pests, and mammals, but do they communicate with people? Are they intelligent creatures who can communicate with us? In 1848, Dr. Gustav Theodor Fechner, a German professor, suggested that plants are capable of emotions and that one could promote healthy growth with talk, attention, and affection. An Indian scientist, Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose, conducted experiments on plants in 1900. Bose found that plants grew more quickly amidst pleasant music and more slowly amidst loud noise or harsh sounds (Sir Patrick Geddes and Geddes 1920).

Moreover, according to Royal Horticultural Society, talking to plants helps them grow, especially if the one talking to the plant is a woman. Even though there are lots of divisive experiments done with plants to understand if they can talk to human beings, there is no serious finding about this subject yet. Even if, plant biologists do not currently know how to talk to plants, they strive to comprehend how plants communicate with other organisms in order to use this new and exciting language for improving the resistance of plants against pests or pathogens. Instead of using chemical pesticides, genetically engineered plant defense and communication pathways in crops are a preferred avenue.

Communication of plants with other organisms is such a complex problem. Plants can have a network with so many different creatures. They pass on information to each other or to other organisms that speak other languages. How did they obtain these amazing communication skills? Even the most advanced creatures, human beings, experience problems in communication, how can plants have robust communication systems in a heterogeneous environment?

The next time you hear a strange rustling among your garden plants, maintain distance. They might be having an argument. Plants also talk and they respond to attacks like we do. So, be careful and do not hurt plants as they might even curse or scream to you (Anon.).

Safiye Arslan is a research fellow in the area of molecular biology in Nevada.

References

• Adler, Frederick R. 2011. Plant signalling: the opportunities and dangers of chemical communication. Biology Letters. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=3061173tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract.
• Anon. Do plants talk? What are the chances it’s a boy? – USATODAY.com. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/aprilholladay/2006-07-24-plant-talk-baby-boys_x.htm.
• Anon. jacobson’s organ and the remarkable nature of smell. http://books.google.com/books/about/Jacobson_s_Organ_and_the_Remarkable_Natu.html?id=liKKQgAACAAJ.
• Anon. BBC – Earth News – “Perfumed” parasitic plant lures in pollinating mammals. http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9376000/9376474.stm.
• Anon. What is Rhizobia. http://www.bionewsonline.com/y/what_is_rhizobia.htm.
• Anon. Biotechnology: Plantlinguistic: – “Plants Communicate With Each Other.” http://bioinformations4all.blogspot.com/2009/08/plantlinguistic-plants-communicate-with.html.
• Jacob, Tim. 2001. “The science and myths of smell.” EMBO Reports 2 (10): 880. http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v2/n10/full/embor301.html.
• Johnson, Steven D, Priscilla M Burgoyne, Lawrence D Harder, Stefan Dötterl, and Proc R Soc. 2011. “Mammal pollinators lured by the scent of a parasitic plant Subject collections Mammal pollinators lured by the scent of a parasitic plant.” Society 278 (January): 2303-10. doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.2175. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=3119003&tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract.
• Montréal, Jardin botanique de. 2012. “Chatting with a plant’s best friend – Science +” (June 3). http://www.aucoeurdelarbre.ca/en/thematics-texts/thematics-texts-details.php?id=8.
• Murray, Jeremy D. 2011. “Invasion by invitation: rhizobial infection in legumes.” Molecular plantmicrobe interactions MPMI 24 (6): 631-639. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21542766.
• Shah, Jyoti. 2009. “Plants under attack: systemic signals in defence.” Current Opinion in Plant Biology 12 (4): 459-464. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19608451.
• Sir Patrick Geddes, and Sir Patrick Geddes. 1920. The life and work of Sir Jagadis C. Bose. Longmans, Green. http://books.google.com/books?id=EPtCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA97&q=”continuous”#v=twopage.
• Sugiyama, Akifumi, Nobukazu Shitan, and Kazufumi Yazaki. 2007. “Involvement of a soybean ATP-binding cassette-type transporter in the secretion of genistein, a signal flavonoid in legume-Rhizobium symbiosis.” Plant physiology 144 (4) (August): 2000-8. doi:10.1104/pp.107.096727. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1949875&tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract.
• Vadassery, Jyothilakshmi, and Ralf Oelmüller. 2009. “Calcium signaling in pathogenic and beneficial plant microbe interactions: what can we learn from the interaction between Piriformospora indica and Arabidopsis thaliana.” Plant signaling & behavior 4 (11) (November): 1024-7. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2819509&tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract.

Today we seem to accept that “reality is a construct” made up of meaning and values, a moment in the life of human consciousness, both at the individual and social level. The dynamic character of what we call “reality” has implications on our understanding of culture, science and man.

Culture is now understood as the set of symbols and values that constitute the virtual horizon that validates the reasonableness of human actions. By the same token, the principles of science are as valid as the arrival of other principles that revolutionize the preceding ones. Science no longer seeks necessary laws but rather the best available explanations about the universe that is today understood as open, dynamic and evolving.

Man is seen as a unity in tension, holder of a polymorphic consciousness that shapes his understanding according to a set of unconscious and preconscious processes that determine his intentions and decisions. He is known to also possess a consciousness with an unrestricted desire to know and a criterion allowing him to examine himself as he examines reality around him, simultaneously. This unrestricted desire to know leads him to an unrestricted objective: being.

This new way of viewing our own universe has two important implications: the acceptance of diversity and the forward looking mentality of man in almost every aspect of life. The forward looking character of man is associated with dramatic breakthroughs in science and the challenge of important paradigms of humanity, including the fact that this is the first time in history where human inventions and life styles can even extinguish all life on the planet.

In relation to diversity, post-modernity tends to be more colorful, heterogeneous, ecological and multi-religious than modernity. And in relation to looking into the future, the construction of things like a global civilization seem to form part of the feasible horizon to man.

Throughout human history, two things have characterized what is new: a process of simultaneous unity and conflict with what already exists, and the fact that the new state of being is not necessarily better than its predecessor. Post modernity is united with modernity in the sense that it requires the preservation of the critical spirit of the Enlightenment. However, the two eras are separated in the criticism of what can be called the “superstitions of modernity”, namely that future solutions lie only in the application of ever growing doses of science and technology, and in the repression of religious instinct and of religion in general.

There is no guarantee that this new era we are calling post-modernity will be better than the previous one. The future that opens before us can be one of a “clash of civilizations” or a time where future generations will acknowledge as an era of global splendor. The fact of the matter is that we have already left the modern “comfort zone” a long time ago. We are on a trip into the unknown and depending on how well we are equipped for this journey, we stand a better or worse chance of arriving at a safe harbor.

As with any journey, regardless of how well or how little of it we know, it is important to understand what the destination might be. We have already said that the destination of post-modernity is in the quest for meaning and being. And the reason is simple: modernism was based on progress as a paradigm and the supremacy of man over himself and nature. That is, human intelligence promised to liberate us from political oppression, provide a higher standard of living, and attain “perfection” in every field of life through the application of human mastery over knowledge, science, and technology.

Modernity appeared as a reaction to the backward looking world of the Renaissance. Post modernity in contrast, is a quest for meaning. This quest is not a return to the past and starts with achievements of human consciousness that are worth preserving, like the fight for justice, freedom and equality, and against intellectual and religious obscurantism. This quest is making a special impact on re-signifying paradigms and conquests of modernity. All over the world, thousands of people are modifying their understanding about democracy, technological progress, high standard of living and reason.

This important process of soul-searching in our times is taking place amidst spiritually-mindful people all over the world. For them, the times we live in are not the “end of history.” On the contrary, self complacency with the so-called achievements of modernity in science and communication underscores the importance of social justice, care for the planet and transcendence as pillars of a new world, since this cannot be the end of history so long as there are wars, hunger and injustice.

As the chances for economic and political systems to be radically transformed are high today, spiritually-mindful people will play a very large role in this transformation. The main reason for this is that truly spiritually-mindful people have little to no expectation in the so-called “comfort zones” because they always live to balance between what they know and the expectation of a world that has been promised to them by God. Whatever the culture he or she may have been born into, the seeker of the Truth is sensitive to the emerging probabilities where the human condition can be improved and they opt for them.

In this unconditional commitment for dynamic love lies the freedom of the spiritually-mindful person. This love is not only limited to the act of knowing but also to the act of choosing. He or she knows that unless action is undertaken, the elements that constitute a new world will never come to be. In the ethic to permanently destabilize his or her own self with already acquired ideas about the world, religion and culture, in thought and action, is implied the contribution of spiritually-mindful people to the world that is opening before us today.

A caveat however is that believers do not seem to be united across religions and cultures. Despite progress in communication, increased religious dialogue and an openness to alterity, there is little concerted interfaith action. Yet, this will only change in time if spiritually-mindful people can adequately identify and correct the many biases existing in every belief structure that in the name of God, have kept separation and strife amongst religions.

Human consciousness today is in need of an active and meaningful recognition of religious diversity. For some religions like Islam, such recognition has been established since its foundation, but has not been always followed in some regions and times in history. The same applies for Eastern philosophies and religions that have focused particularly on the discovery of God inside the heart of man. However regarding Christianity, which has only after 1965 recognized that salvation is possible outside of the Church, there is still a lot of progress to be made.

In the new world that is opening before us, it is probable that religions will not live side by side to each other in a juxtaposed manner as they do today. Instead, growing numbers of people will be able to make a clear distinction between the diverse manifestations of the names of God, and the way in which they have been interpreted and communicated. They will be more aware about the things that unite religions than the ones that separate them.

This will ultimately enrich all of them. There is a lot to be learned in the religious sense from the Arab Spring in the Middle East or from the many types of theologies that have evolved out of Vatican II all over the word or from the many teachings of Eastern beliefs. It is time for spiritually-inclined people all over the world to raise their heads and watch what their brothers from other religions are doing, inspired by the spirit of love and mercy. These people should speak to one another as this can only contribute to make the quality of their faith grow stronger.

All religions have prophets and saints that stand as a common heritage of humanity. Today, there are many people in every religion whose devotion, love of God and mankind, and heroism should be known and praised by all. They have a series of qualities important to the present quest into post modernity: they teach us that it is necessary to leave the “comfort zone” advertised by many worldly powers, they set the example in terms of the authenticity of their actions and they inspire us to transform ourselves from the inside as a precondition to make changes on the outside possible and meaningful.

In synthesis, a new world is emerging in a dialectics of many powerful forces: economic, political, military, scientific and social. A new force is required in the process: a divine spiritual guidance. This force that is depended on by millions of spiritually-mindful people is crucial, for they are in a privileged position to stand their ground on the basis of the authenticity of the process. They have not only evolved interested patterns of knowing and deciding, but by the nature of their belief, they seek a disinterested desire to know which is aimed at an unrestrictive objective, which is the finality of mankind as it unfolds into the universe of being.

Juan Fernando Lucio, a former adviser to presidential candidate Sergio Fajardo in Colombia, has advised on peace and reconciliation issues and done extensive research on the foundations of interfaith dialogue. He is currently an independent consultant and does research on the topic of liberation in contemporary religious thought.

Biologist and physicians are trying to understand what kind of molecular mechanisms organisms are using to cope with dehydration in order to continue their lives.

Humans are incapable of preserving themselves by shutting down their metabolism completely. Human energy reserves can last for up to 70 days. Our ability to withstand life without water can vary between 1-10 days. In fact, when people suffer long term dehydration and hunger, they experience gastro-intestinal problems after they resume nutrient intake. However this is not the case for other organisms. There are interesting examples regarding this issue:

Easter pygmy possum

The eastern pygmy possum, Cercartetus nanus, one of the marsupials living in Southeast Australia, is a small mouse-like animal which sleeps during the day and hunts at night. They weigh about 15-45 grams and have a length around 7-11 cm. They live in an environment known for its irregular climate, sometimes receiving abundant nutrients, sometimes receiving scarce. This small creature takes advantage of the plentiful days and stores fat. They can hibernate up to 310 days by utilizing this reserve very carefully. That is why it holds the record for the longest hibernating organism among mammals! Another species belonging to the same genus lives in Tasmania (average length 6.4 cm, height 7 grams) however it only remains in hibernation for a maximum of 6 months. Both species live off eating insects, pollens and nectar.

The ground squirrel

The ground squirrel (Spermophilus parryii) of the Arctic tundra near the region of Alaska takes energy conservation very seriously. During hibernation, this organism can lower its body temperature from 37 °C to -2.8 °C. On the other hand, the American black bear (Ursus americanus) shivers in its spot in order to keep its body temperature at a normal level. A frog living in Australia with yellowish-green stripes on the back (Litoria alboguttata) can sleep up to five years without food and water in times of drought. This frog – obviously inspired from a reliable source of knowledge – digs a tunnel underground and covers itself with a tiny film of dirt in order to reduce the negative effects of the drought. It also slows down its metabolism by carefully consuming energy reserves to adjust itself for the food shortages and the drought. Frogs resurface with the start of the rainy season and begin their feeding frenzy. They can even eat organisms half their size since they will need the energy for reproduction.

Grey mouse

One of the typical examples of energy conserving animals is the fat-tailed dwarf (grey mouse) lemur (Microcebus murinus). This animal inhabits the dense forests of Madagascar and surrounding islands. It spends the day resting on tree branches and is active during the night. They hibernate up to seven months in hollow logs by pulling in their legs towards their abdomen. During this episode of their lives, they survive by consuming the fat reserves in their tail. They adjust their body to the ambient temperature just like reptiles to conserve energy. Body temperature therefore fluctuates depending on the weather in logs with poor insulation. However it is relatively stable in well insulated logs.

Malaysian night moth

Another amazing example is the local Malaysian night moth, Attacus atlas. Caterpillars of this species do consume a lot of food whereas adults do not eat anything. The mouth structure of this particular moth and other moths do not develop as much in adult form. Therefore, these moths must rely on larval fat storage and eventually die in two to three weeks when they run out of reserves.

Bar-tailed godwit

Another example is the Bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica). The Alaskan version of this bird migrates amazing distances without a break. It does not eat anything during flight, almost flying 7000 miles with one tank of gas. In one study, it was observed that a female bird left the nest in Western Alaska and without feeding in eight days, flew 7257 miles and arrived in New Zealand. Also observable is that these female birds, as a work of Divine mercy, experience a reduction in their digestive organs and convert half their body weight into fat before undertaking such flights.

European land snail

The European land snail, Helix pomatia, is another typical example of this phenomenon. These creatures lock themselves into their shells for days and weeks during seasons of long drought and cold. They secrete special mucus to seal the shell as soon as they pull themselves in. This mucus film slows water loss caused by evaporation. They reduce metabolic activities to conserve energy. Snails pop back out of their shells upon the arrival of warmer weather or water.

African gilled lung fish

The next example is the African gilled lungfish (Protopterus amphibius). This fish both possess gills and lungs and also conserves energy by a substantial reduction in its physical activity. It buries itself in a river or lake bed by digging tunnels. It secretes a protective mucus layer when water levels drop. This way it can withstand starvation for almost two years.

Python

The python is another animal also resistant to starvation. This snake, which can swallow animals as big as their size, or even bigger, shrinks its digestive organs when there is scarcity of food, and can survive up to a year and a half without eating. Apart from other animals and humans, their digestive system only functions when they consume their prey. Their intestines swell almost twice as much within 24 hours when they start eating. It shrinks back to its original size upon completion of digestion.

Emperor penguin

The final example regarding this topic is the emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri). Male penguins face starvation for up to four months because of paternal care and compassion. New chicks hatch into a -76°C world because breeding season coincides with the Antarctic winter. After laying their eggs, the female penguins leave the task of incubation to their male partners and depart towards the ocean to bolster their food and nourishment intake after laying eggs. Male penguins left in charge of incubation take care of the eggs inside skin folds and maintain the incubation temperature during this time without any food intake. Tasks are once again exchanged upon the arrival of the mother penguin and this time the male penguins head out for nourishment.

The sustenance of life in a majority of the species of animal kingdom depends on the sensitive balance between times of starvation and nourishment. In times of shortage and hunger, the trick to survival depends on how energy is utilized efficiently. If an organism successfully manages its hunger in the best way possible, the greater chance it has for survival. For life is built upon the principle of conservation and balance, and God-given equipment with various mechanisms for living things to be protected in harsh times of famine, drought and shortages. Animals can feel the changing conditions when nutrients increase or decrease in availability and develop behaviors accordingly, maintaining a life style adapted for these periods.

If we can analyze how these organisms that are adapted to starvation can switch into a long term stagnant life style and regulate their metabolisms under harsh conditions, maybe we humans can, too, develop treatments one day that will enable us to turn our metabolism on and off like a thermostat. Furthermore, molecular treatments that control weight loss and gain can also be developed. Survival methods in extremely hot and cold conditions could be put forth with some inspiration from the living world.

Reference

“The Superstarvers.” Zoology. Scienceillustrated.com. July-August 2010, pp. 60-66.

]]> https://fountainmagazine.com/all-issues/2012/issue-90-november-december-2012/the-hajj-reflections-from-mina-november-december-2012/ Thu, 01 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000 http://107.21.79.195/all-issues/2012/issue-90-november-december-2012/the-hajj-reflections-from-mina-november-december-2012/ This article does not encompass the entire Hajj ritual, most notably leaving out umrah and visiting the Ka’ba. Rather the author reflects on a rarely written-about portion of the Hajj-the time spent in Mina.

Perhaps, without even knowing it, you have been waiting your entire life for this journey, the journey to the Ka’ba, the original and oldest house of monotheism, built thousands of years ago by the Prophet Abraham and his son, Ishmael. Before you were awake to it, your soul was yearning to walk where the Prophets walked, to retrace the footsteps of Hagar, left alone in the desert with her young boy, Ishmael-left alone and looking for water. Through the grace of God, you secure your funds for the journey, yet you do not know with whom you will go or even exactly the specific rites of Hajj. Still you make your intention, and the time draws closer. You take a class on Hajj, you read a couple of books, you shop for essentials, but the nearer the time comes, the more your world seems to spin out of control. Your bank account is depleted, your workload increases beyond your capacity, two weeks from the departure date you break out in hives, and you find out you need to have a tooth pulled. You get a cold. A few days before you are set to leave, your childcare arrangements fall apart, even your husband leaves for another trip, and there is not a soul to see you off on the morning of your journey.

Still you go. You turn off your computer, you step out the front door, and you-your mind, your heart, your soul-leave it all behind and go somewhere else. Before starting the Hajj ritual, your group first travels to Medina and visits Al-Masjid al-Nabawi, the Mosque of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. You forget everything from home in that place of tranquility. Your mind and heart are united in their focus on the journey. And it will begin in a few days. Along the way, you will stop at a miqat, a geographical boundary which before passing you must enter into a state of ihram by making your formal intention and donning your pilgrim garb. Your first visit is to the holy Ka’ba where you perform Umrah (Please see the table). Then, you travel on to the largest temporary city in the world, a place called Mina, a rocky, dusty outland where the Hajj rituals commence in earnest.

With much anticipation, you arrive at the camps of Mina, and as you realize your living situation for the next several days, you wonder how you will cope. The wall of one tent is the wall of the next, and so it continues, tent after tent, row after row, mile after mile. In one tent, forty-four sisters from various continents, lying head-to-head toe-to-toe, crowded restrooms, food prepared and packaged just like airline food, only not as good, but more plentiful, water from plastic canteens. But then you remind yourself that Mina is a camp, and you are camping, and for camping this is pretty good.

And so you settle in. You realize that the opportunities of the camp are greater than they might first appear. You and your tent mates soon find the few containers in camp with fresh, cool, Zamzam water and work to keep each other’s water bottles full of it. You get lost in the camp looking for a better shower, before admitting that this is it. You learn when the bathrooms are least crowded, and you discover an identical row of bathrooms in the back, a mirror image of the front.

You rest one day in Mina. You awake from your sleep at 2 am; the tent is alive with activity; all the lights are turned on. You think that everyone must be excited, for today is the day of Arafat, and Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, in a well-known hadith, stated that “Arafat is Hajj” (al-Tirmidhi, Tafsiru’l Qur’an, 2). Arafat is the day when all prayers are accepted, all sins are forgiven, and at the end you become as sinless as a newborn; here you become “Hajji.” Still you are not ready to get out of bed. You lie there resting and reflecting on this blessed day. For several days now, you have been reciting Labbayk, chanting “Here I am Allah at your service, here I am.” You have answered His Call; you have come to perform your duty and nothing else. He welcomes you as His guest and during your stay here, you will be treated in an extra special way, and just as a guest receives the best china, the best morsels of food, you will be offered a taste of the spiritual delights of the Hajj. And so you stay in your bed with your eye mask protecting you from the bright lights, and you let the spiritual atmosphere wash over and through you. Somehow the back of your mattress sandwiched between two others and wedged up against the back of the tent becomes a space for you to fall back into, a cave to another dimension where the sounds of the tent diminish and the sounds of the unseen world increase. And in this very early morning of the day of Arafat, you somehow sense that the whole universe, seen and unseen, is united in glorifying the oneness of God.

The day of Arafat causes you to reflect on the Day of Judgment when all humanity will stand before their Creator. The sea of white garments and bareheaded pilgrims standing in the hot sun where the rich is indistinguishable from the poor reminds you that we will all be judged by our deeds in this life according to divine principles. In this heat – which you sense will seem like a cool breeze compared to the heat of the Day of Judgment – you realize how badly you want to be included among those who will be shaded from the near sun of that day. As sunset nears, you wait and wait as your ear searches for the adhan, the call to prayer. But there is no adhan, there is only an increase in the refinement of the air. No adhan is recited in Arafat for your next duty as a hajji is to leave immediately at sunset and travel to Muzdalifah where you will combine your sunset and evening prayers in accordance with the sunnah or practices of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.

Finally, you reach Muzdalifah, a valley of dust situated near mountains of barren rock. Here you will spend the night out in the open. With the dust swirling all around, your group leader pulls out a tarp, and the mother of the group smiles while looking up to the sky and says “Five-star hotel.” We find comfort in the reminder that the reward for a successful Hajj is paradise, and that it is only obligatory to do it once. Later, we will all share how we cannot wait to come back again, but for now this knowledge fortifies us. With giant, glaring flood lights masking our true canopy-the hidden night sky, we settle in for the night having shared our face masks, our dates, and our last wipes.

The next day, we return to Mina with renewed appreciation, now recognizing its rightful glory, we are thankful for the showers we once disdained, blissful in our beds, now we truly settle into Mina. But we have also come prepared for the battle of the next four days. With our seventy stones collected at Muzdalifah, we will endeavor to remove the crusts from our hearts by stoning the jamarat.

The sunnah is to spend Eid (holiday) at Mina plus three more days. Eid at Hajj is not like Eid at home. Eid at Hajj is hard work; our duties that day are to offer our sacrificial animal to the poor, stone the jamarat, come out of ihram by cutting our hair (women) or shaving our heads (men), and if possible, travel to Mecca to perform tawaf ifadah-seven times circumambulation of the Ka’ba followed by walking seven times between the hills of Marwa and Safa.

The first task is taken care of for us by the Hajj authorities. We paid for our animal previously, and turned the task over to the slaughterhouse. We are not even required to visit, but it is possible if you wish. None of us wished to do so. We rest in the morning weary from the previous night. We wait until after the late afternoon prayer (Asr) when it is cooler and the crowds have thinned (“thinned” being a relative term when there are five million or more people performing rites at pretty much the same time), and set out for the long walk to the jamarat. Before leaving for Hajj, we were told to prepare ourselves for an hour-long walk from our camp to the jamarat. “No big deal” you naively thought as you pictured your often-enjoyed cool walks surrounded by trees around the lake in your neighborhood, time spent in reflection and enjoying the solace of nature. But this walk turns out to be something else all together, crowded streets filled with people, a makeshift bazaar lining the edges of the camp roads, piles of trash, and once you hit the main road, you are competing for road space with buses, as you try to find a gasp of fresh air in the dusty, diesel-fumed air with the hot sun relentless in its brightness.

What is this ritual of stoning the jamarat? We are told in our hajj training that the jamarat does not represent idols, it is not the devil as many believe; we are not stoning the devil. We are told that for each stone, we are forgiven a major sin, and reminded that in Islam lying and gossiping are major sins. So, what is this ritual then? Perhaps the jamarat represents our own hard hearts and with each rock thrown, we are chipping away at its crust endeavoring to restore it to its newborn softness. Perhaps, the enemy is within ourselves – our carnal self, the nafs. With each rock thrown, you hope to gain a bit more mastery over your nafs and you recall the prayer of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him; “O God, cleanse me of sin as a white garment is cleansed from filth. O God, wash away my sins with snow and water and hail.” Indeed, the many rocks hitting the jamarat make the same sound as a hailstorm. In this context, the long difficult walk to and from becomes part of the cleansing, part of the blessings of this ritual. You learn the importance of striving in reaching nearer to God, the All-Glorified.

It is your last day to stone the jamarat. You no longer have the energy to compete with the buses, so you decide to take your chances with the pedestrian route – which means you must pass through tunnels. Tens of thousands throng through the streets, from all over the world, and all on the same mission. We reach the tunnel; we fill the tunnel; we walk; and then suddenly we stop. You do not know the reason for this stopping, you cannot see past the masses of people in front of you. You pray for sakina (peaceful calmness) for all your fellow travelers. We wait, we start to move again, we stop, we move again. It happens three times; all of the thousands remain calm. With the Grace of God, we make it through the tunnel and continue on to our mission.

One day, you venture out of the camp into the streets of Mina sprawling with vendors who have come to sell their wares to the hajjis-jilbabs, scarves, dhikr beads, toys, fruit, and henna. Suddenly, a truck pulls up, opens its back and the driver starts distributing its contents. The shouts of free food go out and people seem to lose themselves a bit in the rush to get whatever is being given away. You realize that they are giving away yogurt, and after a few days on antibiotics, it is just what your body is craving, yet you do not want to push in for a gift. So you wait and you watch when suddenly, the driver reaches down and pulls out not one, but two containers of yogurt. He shouts your name, “Hajji,” extends his arm over the crowd and hands you your body’s desire.

An apple purchased from a street vendor is infused with the scent and flavor of roses. You realize that despite the multitudes of people, the heat, and the dust, the camp does not smell. In gratitude, you start to comprehend the sacredness of this place, this time, this space. Mina is a place you must see with your heart, and not let your eyes blind you to its true beauty.

We were warned to pack lightly for Mina and told that we would not be allowed to board the bus if our guide deemed our luggage too big. This was good and as it should be. Upon arriving at the tent, we all quickly realize there is no room for luggage, but having packed light, we are not quite prepared for the hardship of the camp and our changing personal needs as our cycles shift with the close proximity to so many sisters, and as we pass illness from sister-to-sister in the close sleeping quarters. The conditions force us to rely on each other. Here, as we share our last Advil, our last cough drop, our last wipe, as we share our shampoo, hangers, clothes, and soap, we are tested daily and sometimes hourly. Here in Mina, we find the true meaning of sisterhood where you can live the Prophet’s saying, “None of you have faith until you love for your neighbor what you love for yourself.”

We pass our days, sleeping, eating, and praying, spending our energy on the basic chores of living, punctuated each day with a late afternoon trip to stone the jamarat. One morning a sister approaches and asks to read the Qur’an together. A circle of us passes the book around each taking a passage, from a young girl to her mother, and sister-to-sister. We find our hearts soft, our eyes overflowing and the angels pressing in – here in Mina – a camp where first we were anxious about staying and now find ourselves not wanting to leave.

Margaret A. Johnson, PhD, is a sociologist, writer, and business owner residing in Germantown, MD.

Eid Eve

Enter state of ihram and move to Arafat

Pray noon and afternoon prayers together

Stay in Arafat until sunset and move to Muzdalifah

Pray evening and night prayers together

Collect pebbles for jamarat, stoning of the pillars

1st day of Eid

Move to Mina after morning prayer

Throw seven pebbles to Aqaba pillar

Animals are sacrificed

Shave and now you can leave the state of ihram

Make your tawaf and sa’ee

2nd and 3rd Days

Following the noon prayer, go to Mina to the jamarat and throw seven pebbles to all the three pillars. This can be repeated voluntarily on the fourth day too.

Brief Overview of the Main Steps of the Hajj Journey1

Hajj starts on the 8th Day of the lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah.

Before Hajj: Perform Umrah:

1. Ihram-Cleanse oneself, don the hajj garments, and make intention.

2. Umrah-Perform Tawaf: circumambulate around the Ka’ba seven times, perform two Ra’kah prayers of prostration behind the Station of Prophet Abraham, and make Sa’ee: go back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwah seven times (legs not laps).

Day 1 – Mina: Get back into state of Ihram and arrive in Mina around noon time.

Day 2 – Arafat (Eid eve): Leave Mina after sunrise prayer for Arafat and stay there until Sunset. After sunset in Arafat leave immediately for Muzdalifah, spend the night there.

Day 3 (first day of Eid): After sunrise prayer, proceed to Mina. Go to the stoning pillars (3 rock columns, small, medium, and large) after the noon prayer and throw seven pebbles at the large pillar, slaughter your sacrifice, come out of Ihram by cutting or shaving the hair.

Day 3 or after: Go to Mecca and perform Tawaf. After Tawaf, make Sa’ee.

Day 3-Day 6: Return to Mina and spend the 11th and 12th nights of Dhu al-Hijjah in Mina. On days 4, 5, and 6, you will return to the stoning pillars after the noontime prayer, and throw seven pebbles at each of the three pillars.

You may leave Mina on the fifth day after the stoning ritual.

After day 5 and before you leave Mecca: Perform a farewell Tawaf, and two Ra’kah prayer. This should be the last thing you do in Mecca.

1 These steps are for “Hajj-Tamattu” which is the type of Hajj which combines Umrah with Hajj. It is the most frequently performed Hajj today, and it was recommended by the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. This is just a brief overview; it does not include all the details.