Distribution and density of the hairs in our body is coded in our genes. This program is activated after birth and hair roots are formed at around 8th-10th week of pregnancy. The hairs that cover the fetus are thin, short, and weak. The growth of hairs is completed in the 22nd week. Number of hairs in a fetus does not change much according to gender. Later on in a person’s life, hairs can become dense or rare, owing to factors such as race, age, gender and hormonal state. There are hair roots covering almost all over our body except for the soles, palms, forehead, the areas under the eyes, on and behind the ears.

A hair is made up of the hair root and the hair shaft on it. A hair root is surrounded with two layers. The duty of these layers is to prevent harm to the hair shaft and let the hair grow in the right direction. A hair root is a multilayered structure where every layer has a different function. The papilla is in the base of the hair root and it basically serves to send nourishment to hair cells. The upper layer of the hair shaft is the hard substance called keratin. The innermost layer, which can be seen as the spinal cord of a hair, does not exist in every hair shaft. The second layer, known as the cortex, constitutes most of the hair shaft. The color of hair is mostly determined by the pigment in this layer. The outermost layer is the upper skin of the hair.

Hairs in different parts of the body have their peculiar forms of and limits to growing. Under the control of hormones, hair roots cause hairs of different properties—such as thickness and color—to form. The hairs in moustache, armpits, between the legs, beard, and on the head grow fast and continually. On the other hand, the hairs on our arms, chest, back, legs and including those in the eyebrows grow very slowly and they know their limits. If the person does not own functional testicles, there may be no hair in certain areas of the body except for the hair on his head.

Most of us are apt to think that certain stories make our hair curl; actually, hair erector muscles are the unsung heroes of those stories. Under every hair in the body, there is an erector muscle that makes it move. These muscles have important functions for the body.

Firstly, it helps the oil glands carry out their function. The oil sacks are located on the surface of a hair. The sizes of these sacks are around 0.2-2 millimeters. Sacks are in the form of clusters. Oil glands are also placed all over the body, accept for the soles and palms. They are the natural “lubricants” for the skin and hairs; they protect the skin from the damage of drying up. Every gland under the skin has a channel. There are alveoli that open to every channel. When the hair muscle is stimulated, the hairs become erect and the connected gland start secreting a substance called sebum. The glands empty their contents to the body of the hair.

Regulating the acidity (pH) level of the skin is among the duties of the hair erector muscle and it produces a protective gel. The oily secretion forms a thin layer of gel; as it serves protecting the skin from heat and cold, it is given an antibacterial effect as well. The natural coating of the skin prevents reproduction of harmful germs. The pH level of the skin is 5-6 and it does not allow bacteria to grow. If this substance is not secreted from the skin, the pH acidity shifts toward alkali, moisture level of the skin increases; the fat layer and then the natural coating is damaged. Thus, germs find a suitable environment to reproduce.

Hair erector muscles are also given a role in adjusting body heat. The hairs in the human body are not related to heat isolation. When the body is exposed to cold environments, the mechanisms that increase body heat are activated. When sympathetic nervous system stimulates hair erector muscles, they contract, hairs bristle, and the body heat is tampered through the reduced heat release. Sometimes, even the invisibly small hairs erect and goose bumps appear on the skin. The purpose is to form a screen for heat. They also allow for perspiration in hot weather and help the body to cool down. In addition, hair erector muscles serve as touching receptors as well. The receptors in hairs easily detect objects on the body surface. Hairs that are activated by touch stimulate the nerve tissue in their base. In a way, they keep a round the clock watch for the body; as tiny and unsung heroes.

They say that perfection is hidden in details, which is also very true for hairs. And perhaps, the secret to appreciation lies in recognizing details, and appreciating their perfection.

A consocational democracy is a type of democracy which emphasizes the importance of power-sharing and decision-making among different segments in society. But is consociational democracy the most suitable form of democracy when it comes to establishing lasting peace in post-conflict societies?

Consocational democracy addresses problems in democratic state building that result from deep segmentation. These divisions as a result are easily defined and measured where real boundaries (political or otherwise) exist. As a result of these environmental and social conditions there exists a natural tendency for competition and the supporting of ethnically-based parties (Andeweg 2000).

The consocational framework is dependent on elite cooperation. This is the centerpiece of the model and is based on the premise that communal violence between groups is often exacerbated by elites so that when these elites have a voice in government, they have a vested interest in maintaining its integrity. Although elite meddling in conflict is the most potent, it is not the only incendiary in inter-group relations (Andeweg 2000).

Under the current model where a society has the characteristics necessitating a consocational framework, the sub-groups have two choices: to remain a part of the country or to separate. These two forces pull on individuals of each group in which decisions are often based on various factors. Those societies that do not cooperate are termed “centrifugal.” In this case, the sub-groups emphasize separation over integration. Consocationalism is a top-down integration/cooperation mechanism that seeks to overcome centrifugal forces (Andeweg 2000).

Loyaltiyes and state building

One of the forces that create these centrifugal tendencies is also one of the characteristics that make communal life possible i.e. group loyalty. According to A.A.M. Kinneging (2004) loyalty, “pertains to a bond that withstands the passing of time and the winds of change: a bond that is conceived of as lasting, permanent, unbreakable, even holy” (Kinneging 2004, 68). This definition of loyalty indicates how intractable it is when integrating many different groups with different loyalties under one government. In this case, as Kinneging points out, the community is higher than the individual. In ethnically homogenous countries this presents no problem and allows democracy to flourish at all levels. Often times this is not the case in heterogeneous societies where either the state enforces a loyalty to its institutions, such as in the republican liberal democracy model, while still maintaining individual rights or enforces it in such a way that violates individual rights in an undemocratic manner.

Loyalties typically follow racial or religious lines. They can even be more fragmented such as loyalty to one’s town or city. Evidence can be seen in the sport’s world. Loyalty is typically to a person or an institution (Healy 2007). Loyalty to the nation-state has been somewhat of a recent phenomenon. The lack of loyalty can be detrimental to state integrity when it is towards another group. The lack of loyalty between sub-groups is something that consocationalism does not address as it represents an administrative/electoral solution to a heavily divided society. It does not address the psychological/emotional element that loyalty forms a part of and which in essence is the backbone of society.

Lijphart envisioned consocationalism as a temporary solution in which it was only meant as a transitory phase to greater levels of democratic cooperation (Andeweg 2000). This of course assumes that through elite cooperation and living peacefully alongside each other under one roof, it is possible that these groups would eventually reconcile their differences and move to greater integration. Unfortunately, there is the other direction such as entrenched differences that only get worse with time that may stalemate/postpone the conflict i.e. not resolving the conflicts (Fox & Miller 2007). Still, consocational democracy is considered the best option for deeply stratified societies because it recognizes, among other things, that some sub-groups have a complete way of life that requires a certain level of autonomy from the state.

The risk in this approach is that these sub-groups may look at the government as a burden or unnecessary overhang on complete control of their affairs. In response, the state may have a few choices at its disposal that may either create incentives such as the consocational framework or force a state identity upon all sub-groups, essentially eliminating them.

Bosnia: Adversarial communities under one roof

Bosnia is composed of three adversarial communities that have existed since the 15th century. Primarily, these communities came into existence around a particular religion. These religions of interest in the Bosnian case are Orthodox Christianity, Catholic Christianity and Islam. The Serbian people primarily follow Orthodox Christianity, the Croatians follow Catholic Christianity, and the Bosniacs follow Islam. These communities erupted into full-fledged war in the early 90’s when the Orthodox Serbs engaged in genocide against the Muslim Bosniacs (Kasapovic 2005).

These people were subject to the first consocational system of the world, the millet system which was implemented by the Ottoman Empire shortly after conquering the area that is now the former Yugoslavia. The millet system, which has roots in the religion of Islam, gave different religious communities their own autonomy headed by an elite (millet bashi) who was responsible for different religious and civil areas. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the various nation-states that emerged did not act so kindly on the remaining Muslim groups and either forced them to leave or massacred them. The Bosniacs represented a unique example as well as other indigenous ethnic groups who converted to Islam during Ottoman rule (Katsikas 2009).

These communities have historical differences that cannot disappear overnight. The Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croatians owe their divide to the Great Schism in the 11th century between Constantinople and Rome (Norwich 1999). The Muslim Bosniacs and Orthodox Serbs owe their divide to Serb defeat at the hands of the Ottomans in the 14th century (Kinross 2003). Although present-day communities probably give little thought to these events, the mimetic transmission of hatred means that these communities are seemingly locked in an adversarial relationship.

After the 1995 Dayton Peace Accord, a consocational-type government was established. Kasapovic described it as an “asymmetrical confederation” in which the country is divided into two parts with one part being more consocational between Bosniacs and Croatians and the other representing a more homogenous state of Serbs. At the national level equal representation is given to the three groups, mutual veto exists, autonomy is given to each group, and consensus is maintained (Kasapovic 2005).

More than fifteen years after the Dayton Peace Accord there is peace, but as Kasapovic pointed out, this is only because all groups consented to peace. Kasapovic notes that the state is still highly unstable because there is no consensus on its organization and there are continuing external threats that may tear the country apart (Kasapovic 2005). This instability means that these groups, by and large, have not resolved their differences.

He argues that there are three reasons for this inefficiency of the model of consocational democracy, one “at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state, and one more at the level of the Federation as a state sub-entity: no consensus on the state, no consensus on the political system, no consistent strategy of international actors in establishing a democratic state, and the unfavorable two-segmental structure of the Federation with one segment outnumbering the other” (Kasapovic 2005, 9).

The fact remains that despite living in a consocational-type system for six centuries, the different groups that compose Bosnia’s adversarial groups have not cooperated at any level that would have caused them to avoid the deluge in the early 90’s. This indicates that although these people are living together under one country, they harbor distrust or hatred of those who compose the other group. The fact that they are all part of one country appears to have no influence on the perceptions towards the other group.

Considering that this conflict has been ongoing at varying intensities for several hundred years, an unfreezing process is needed. The concept of unfreezing has its roots with the organization theorist Kurt Lewin who proposed an unfreezing, moving/changing, and re-freezing process. In the process, values are changed and thus can be labeled change management. The re-freezing may have more clout with individual organizations, but the re-freezing creates an organized way of thinking akin to concepts of efficiency i.e. an established uniform identity (Levasseur 2001).

The involvement of religious leaders has importance in this case. Since these conflicts involved Christian and Muslim communities which are international religions, and since these conflicts also involved an international response, these local conflicts have implications that are not only local. International religious leaders should remember to be sensitive to religious sentiments despite their distance from Bosnia.

Haynes pointed out that one of the problems of the roles religious leaders face is that they lack the capacity to build a strategy for peace (Haynes 2009). As members of an international faith, these leaders would have access to a large network of resources that would facilitate them in their role as peace-makers. One of the aspects that may be appropriately addressed in Bosnia is training these leaders to both acquire these resources as well as use them appropriately. This would make their role far more influential than the elites.

The side effect is that many of these religious leaders may have instigated violence against the other or continue to preach hatred towards the other. These leaders need to either be isolated by the national government or reprimanded severely by those leaders of international representation. The globalized world makes all this possible. The world in this essence can either be a harbinger of peace or a catalyst for war at the local level.

Religious leaders should be engaged in dialog with each other as much as other community members are engaged in workshops both inventing solutions and implementing them. Once a healthy environment of dialog is fostered, then either naturally or through planned social action, inclusive networks should be developed. These networks can create cooperation and community.

Lastly, the existence of these networks means that the state as a reactionary entity becomes a mirror of that society. In this case, the consocational model of governance might work and if possible a more unified democratic format may be chosen. The result would be a multi-group democratic state with shared loyalties to the state, one’s own group, and to another group. This does not guarantee continued peace, but at least secures it much more tightly than as proposed under the consocational framework alone.

Hummel is a doctoral candidate at the School of Public Administration, Florida Atlantic University.

References

• Andeweg, Ruby B. 2000. “Consociational democracy,” Annual Review of Political Science 3, no. 1: 509-536.
• Fox, Charles & Hugh Miller. 2007. Postmodern Public Administration, Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe.
• Haynes, Jeffrey. 2009. “Conflict, Conflict Resolution and Peace-building: The Role of Religion in Mozambique, Nigeria and Cambodia,” Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 47, no.1: 52-75.
• Healy, Mary. 2007. “School Choice, Brand Loyalty and Civic Loyalty,” Journal of Philosophy of Education 41, no. 4: 743-756.
• Kasapovic, Mirjana. 2005. “Bosnia and Herzegovina: Consociational or Liberal Democracy,” Croatian Political Science Review 42, no. 5: 3-30.
• Katsikas, Stefanos. 2009. “Millets in Nation-states: The Case of Greek and Bulgarian Muslims,” Nationalities Papers 37, no. 2: 177-201.
• Kinneging, Andreas A. M. 2004. “Loyalty in the Modern World,” Modern Age 46, no. 1/2: 68.
• Kinross, Lord. 2003. The Ottoman Empire, London: Folio Society.
• Levasseur, Robert E. 2001. “People Skills: Change Management Tools – Lewin’s Change Model,” Interfaces 31, no. 4: 3.
• Norwich, John J. 1999. A Short History of Byzantium, New York: Vintage Books.

Robots that “care” are no longer merely science fiction …

Producing machines that look and behave like people seems to be a human project with a long history. Mention of a Jewish Rabbi producing an instance of the legendary golem (a creature understood to possess an active human-like body, while lacking a soul) appeared as early as the 4th century CE. The celebrated 13th-century Muslim engineer Ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari undoubtedly designed, and may have constructed, what has been described in present-day terms as “the first programmable human-like robotic device” – a spectacular artifact featuring four robotic musicians performing on a floating boat (Nicks 2010). Inspired by animated life-like figures reportedly created by an ancient Greek named Ctesibus, Leonardo da Vinci – around the time in the 1400s at which he began painting his famous Last Supper – also designed a human-like robot resembling a knight in armor. Fascination with the idea of crafting convincing imitations of people appears to have been part of human history for millennia.

In more recent times, though, modern computers – and with them, research introducing so-called “artificial intelligence” (AI) – have begun to give this long-standing fascination some significant new dimensions. Perhaps the most widely recognized contemporary human-like (or, nowadays, “humanoid”) robot is a product of Japanese science and technology named “ASIMO.” Resembling a short (4 ft 3 in) astronaut wearing a backpack, ASIMO represents the fruit of several decades of research and development conducted by the Honda Motor Company. Videos on the company’s official web site show ASIMO climbing stairs, jogging, balancing on one foot, visually recognizing people by name, and serving a tray of beverages to restaurant patrons. Similar examples of this impressive humanoid robot technology exist in other countries as well – e.g., Turkey (Today’s Zaman 2010), United Arab Emirates (Fahad Inc. 2008), and South Korea (Impactlab.net 2008).

Investment by business enterprises in the significant cost and engineering effort required to design and build these curiously humanoid machines constitutes one of the “new dimensions” previously mentioned. Historical figures such as Al-Jazari and da Vinci, after all, were not responding to global marketing prospects with their robotic creations. In contrast, a current Honda Motor Company web site tells us that ASIMO was intended to be more than an attention-catching novelty from the beginning; in fact, it was “created solely to perform tasks to assist people, especially those lacking full mobility” (Honda Robotics 2011). Similarly, the president of a Robotic Industries Association reports that South Korea is “taking the lead in promoting the use of robots for service applications such as elder care” (Burnstein 2009). A former GM of the Microsoft Robotics Group has identified such assistive care as the market that “intrigues” him the most, citing approaching increases in senior populations – and, consequently, heavier burdens upon healthcare systems – as factors that may “present the ‘killer app’ for personal robots” (Foley 2009). A 2009 online report titled “Robot Nurses to Care for Japanese Elderly within Five Years” reports that Warwick University, in England, has undertaken a “three year 2.7 million dollar project to develop a robot nurse,” predicting that “nurses could be delegating tasks to robotic colleagues by 2020” (Zygbotics 2009).

It is important to note that such robotic “colleagues” of human nurses commonly are intended to be suited for fairly intimate kinds of social interactions with people. One finds, for instance, references to robotic assistance in recreation and with feeding, grooming, walking, bathing, etc. (Babyboomercaretaker.com 2007). Accordingly, we encounter another new dimension. Robotic arms have welded and painted in our automobile factories for decades, but the repetitive activities of these familiar industrial robots are profoundly different from interaction with a humanoid machine that helps one’s aging grandmother eat her dinner and take her medicine (perhaps even chatting and playing a card game with her). Moreover, the latter type of robot no longer is mere science fiction; design and construction of machines to perform these kinds of personal human-robot interactions are taking place now.

… and these robots that “care” invite some questions

Considered only as machines meant to assist overburdened nurses with their care of older people, the types of humanoid robots just described might initially be categorized simply as useful new tools. We have reasons to wonder, though, how long those who will be interacting regularly with these life-like robots can be expected to perceive them merely as tools. So-called “animaloid” robots, such as the robotic dog AIBO that was marketed in recent years by the Sony Corporation, admittedly represent a somewhat different class of robotic artifact than the more complex contemporary humanoids such as ASIMO. Nevertheless, empirical studies of human-robot interaction even with AIBO have uncovered some relevant thought-provoking surprises. Not long ago, for example, numerous online postings by owners of AIBO began appearing on Internet forums. One study of these postings noted the following confession by an AIBO owner:

The other day I proved to myself that I do indeed treat him as if he were alive, because I was getting changed to go out, and [AIBO] was in the room, but before I got changed I stuck him in a corner so he didn’t see me! (Friedman, Kahn, and Hagman 2003, 278)

Regardless of whether this posted confession was altogether truthful, its expressed thought of needing modesty in this case clearly alerts us to the potential psychological potency of human interaction with such machines. Abrahamic religions, through their shared accounts of the Garden of Eden, have long recognized appropriateness of modesty between even the primordial man and woman – but application of that sentiment to our dealings with a battery-operated dog suggests how plastic human notions of personhood might be!

For that matter, professional testimony of such plasticity for the specific case of humanoid robots is available in a frequently-quoted set of observations by Professor Sherry Turkle, Director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One of her MIT colleagues, widely-recognized roboticist Rodney Brooks, is among the many people who have cited Turkle’s report of her first encounter with his experimental humanoid robot, Cog; note carefully Sherry’s candid description of the experience:

Cog “noticed” me soon after I entered its room. Its head turned to follow me and I was embarrassed to note that this made me happy. I found myself competing with another visitor for its attention. At one point, I felt sure that Cog’s eyes had “caught” my own. My visit left me shaken – not by anything that Cog was able to accomplish but by my own reaction to “him.” For years whenever I had heard Rodney Brooks speak about his robotic “creatures,” I had always been careful to mentally put quotation marks around the word. But now, with Cog, I had found the quotation marks had disappeared. Despite myself and despite my continuing skepticism about this research project, I had behaved as though in the presence of another being. (Brooks 2003, 149)

Professor Turkle’s testimony is consistent with an entire literature of contemporary research in human-robot interaction that suggests a deep human predisposition progressively to accept as peers various machines that convincingly mimic human appearance and autonomous behavior. Her reference to discovering herself behaving as though she were “in the presence of another being” points, in turn, toward some questions that invite our reflection.

First, one might inquire whether (and why) it could matter that humans seem so inclined to regard convincingly humanoid machines as peers. For some people, it apparently does not matter. From his perspective as a practicing Zen Buddhist, for example, robotics engineer Masahiro Mori has argued against insisting upon any profound distinction between persons and robots, noting that there “must also be buddha-nature in the machines and robots that my colleagues and I make” (Mori 1999, 174). In contrast, though, a pilot study has suggested that Abrahamic theistic belief in creation of individual human souls by a personal deity may be related to disapproval of human-robot interaction “with life-like personal robots that requires human acceptance of the robots at intimate levels” (Metzler and Lewis 2008, 22). This finding resonates with a respected voice in modern Christian theology. Paul Tillich, in Volume Three of his monumental Systematic Theology, addresses “objects that are produced by the technical act,” warning that “by virtue of producing and directing mere things” one can lose one’s “character as an independent self” and “become a thing” (74). Again, Jewish theologian and philosopher Martin Buber, widely remembered for his distinction between “I – Thou” and “I – It” relations, issues a similar warning in I and Thou:

And in all the seriousness of truth, hear this: without It man cannot live.

But he who lives with It alone is not a man. (34)

Apparently, we have reasons to expect that individuals belonging to Abrahamic religious traditions may especially feel troubled when they find themselves treating humanoid machines as though they were peers.

Within the Abrahamic religious family, after all, human beings historically have been regarded as spiritually special, and understood as belonging to a category fundamentally different from any technological artifacts that they might construct for amusement, or as tools. Anglican priest (and physicist) John Polkinghorne has emphasized significance of “the mystery of the human person,” which involves “our embodied nature, embedded in the physical world but transcending a merely reductive physicality” (Polkinghorne 1998, 80). Both the mystery and the transcendence that Polkinghorne mentions are punctuated clearly, as well, in the Holy Qur’an: And they will ask thee of the Spirit. SAY: The Spirit proceedeth at my Lord’s command: but of knowledge, only a little to you is given (The Night Journey – Sura 17:85). The theistic perspective of this family of religions tends to link the human person, as a free moral agent, with a spiritual level of reality that is not completely expressible in terms of everyday (macro-level) entities such as rocks and trees – and machines.

It may be pertinent at this point to inquire whether the spiritual level of reality envisioned by these religious faiths might arguably be represented even in current science. To be sure, the robotic and AI technologies upon which we have focused in this essay are discussed almost entirely nowadays with so-called “macro-level” accounts of discrete, individualized entities. Computer scientists typically view all “information processing” executed by contemporary computers as reducible to operations of the celebrated Turing Machine formalism, which imagines an abstract machine successively “reading” well-defined symbols (0 or 1) on an external tape, comparing them with its current internal “state,” and then implementing clearly prescribed (albeit possibly null) changes on the tape and its own internal state. Physicists working with quantum mechanics, however, have discovered a quite different level of reality that requires a so-called “quantum-level” description. The description is expressed mathematically in terms of complex numbers (incorporating an imaginary unit equal to the square root of negative one) and it explores a reality in which individualized entities of the macro-level (this table, that book, etc.) simply are no longer present. An atom may be understood to contain four electrons, but – in principle – one cannot select and track, say, the changing locations over time of a specific individual electron among the four. Pondering this strange new reality, mathematical physicist Roger Penrose has argued (via his Shadows of the Mind) that human consciousness cannot be modeled in terms of the Turing Machine formalism, requiring, instead, the resources of an advanced quantum physics. If the emerging technology of “quantum computers” eventually could yield a machine consistent with Roger Penrose’s understanding of how the human brain operates when we experience consciousness, future robots incorporating such computers might open possibilities for exciting new dialogue between religion and science.

Under present circumstances, though, we can discern the outlines of potential difficulties in the not-so-distant future. Specifically, elderly members of the Abrahamic faiths may find themselves increasingly conflicted in responding to robotic “caregivers.” On one hand, following natural predispositions, they will be inclined to accept the machines as caregivers (dropping the skeptical quotation marks, as Professor Turkle did during her encounter with Cog). At the same time, they may retain their religious worldviews and resist accepting the machines as persons. Will they feel authentically comforted, then, by machines programmed to display “artificial empathy”? Will they discover resolution of their conflict in the following conjecture by noted roboticist Hans Moravec?

So, it may be appropriate to say “God” has granted a soul to a machine when the machine is accepted as a real person by a wide human community. (Moravec 1999, 77)

Indeed, in perhaps the next ten years or so, how will people be using quotation marks to distinguish what they consider authentic from mere “make-believe”? Will they be describing new robot nurses as persons – or as “persons”? Will they decide that the machines care for people – or “care” for people? Will the artifacts be considered capable of moral behavior – or “moral” behavior? Will some older people still understand the granting of souls to be determined by God – or by “God”?

For some of us, these already are important questions.

Theodore Albert Metzler is the Director of Darrell W. Hughes Program for Religion and Science Dialogue, Oklahoma City University.

References

• American Honda Motor Co. Inc. 2010. “Asimo, The World’s Most Advanced Humanoid
• Robot.” Accessed December 21, 2010. http://asimo.honda.com/ .
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• http://www.babyboomercaretaker.com/assistive-technology/robotic-technology/Robotics-In-
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A system of education without a clearly defined target and purpose will only serve to confuse future generations. We have to be careful that our youth is taught the proper material in an effective manner to ensure that they are actually learning rather than simply becoming conduits of data.

The social structure of a nation is closely related to the importance it places on the education of its populace. The education of the current generation is especially crucial as they will become the educators of following generations and will share with their students the knowledge they have acquired as part of their own education and experiences. It is vital for the society and morality of a society that its values are transmitted to its younger generation in the process of their learning experience. Value transmission is best possible in a successful marriage, which thus makes family an important educational institution, a vital one for the continued existence of a nation. Those nations which fail to establish the institution of marriage on sound and essential values without regard to the spiritual and moral condition of their society are doomed to extinction.

The development of individuals is strongly influenced by other individuals, dominant customs and traditions, and more importantly by their parents. Similarly governments have a strong influence and authority over the different parts of its populace.

A nation that effectively utilizes their resources is closely aligned with the thoughts, concepts, and culture of the individuals who make up the society and with the prudence, foresight, and sincere devotion of those in power. The administrators that are responsible for the level of care given to individuals and their efforts toward becoming a social entity will be an indication of how closely aligned they are with the prophetic principle that “All of you are shepherds, and all of you are responsible for those under your care” and that “being glad with making others’ happy instead of self concerns.”

Those who are responsible for educating future generations – no matter under what title they do it – should never forget the importance of this. As members of society we try to do whatever it takes to ensure the best possible future for our children by doing everything in our power and overcoming any and all difficulties so that our children are not deprived of anything as we try to prepare a world like Paradise for them. Will it not be a waste of all our efforts if we fail to elevate them to the level of morality and virtue, the capital of true value, if we cannot elevate them to a state of satisfaction, having acquired consciousness and culture? The nations who obtain this capital will have gained a mysterious key to the treasures of the world. On the contrary, the masses that have not elevated to the level of such a cultivation and understanding will lose their first struggle for social life in the future and be knocked out at the first round.

If the new generations’ minds are equipped with the sciences of their time and their hearts are not lit up with breezes from beyond and if they are provided with an ample education, with all their needs fulfilled and all opportunities available for them to succeed then they can look forward to a bright future. These future generations will be able to stand up to every kind of obstacle in the struggle of life, they will be able to overcome – material or spiritual – every kind of difficulty and will never give in to despair. All the hardships that we will have encountered along the way in providing our children with a better education will have been worth it.

As for the unfortunate ones who are deprived of this consciousness will waste away the inheritance they received from their fathers, spiritually as well, they will lead an unstable and pessimistic life, and then perish between the ferocious teeth of misery.

The authorities today, who are at the crossroads of elevating their children to the level of humanity or leaving them to be beasts in human form, have to think the responsibility on their shoulders heavier than mountains and find more profound and consistent cures against the decays brought by years-long neglects. Otherwise, the unfortunate generations who lost the most precious ores of their being in the unknown seas for thousands of times through different erosions will completely lose their ability to germinate and they will become completely barren, never be able to find existence with their own essence, and never reach the glory of the past again.

Carbon atom, which composes nearly 0.2% of the earth’s crust, has a very special place among elements. All living beings are formed from carbon-based compounds. In addition, 94% percent of compounds—that is, more than 4 million—contain carbon atoms. Certain carbon compounds form nearly 18% of the matter in living beings. The rest is mostly water. These compounds are used as building blocks in cell formation. Only carbon has the ability of compounding with other elements in sufficient variety and complexities in order to carry out the main functions that life is based on. As carbon atoms easily form chains by making chemical bonds, no other element is given such a quality. These chains formed in a line can separate into branches and can connect to form rings. These rings are actually polygons formed by three, four, five, six, or more carbon atoms. Due to this quality, carbon is the element that forms the basis of many things from the foods we eat, to the clothes we wear, from the fuels we use, to the furniture we have.

The heat level that makes carbon compounds possible is between -20 and +120 0C. Carbon compounds begin freezing at -20 0C and they begin breaking at 120 0C. In space, where extreme heat and freezing cold exists, the only heat range that makes carbon compounds possible is found on earth and this is a very sensitive heat range. Temperatures in our neighboring planets give a better idea: as hot as 450 0C in Venus, and as cold as -53 0C in Mars. Under these temperatures, it is impossible for carbon element to form compounds and thus living beings. Therefore, the earth is the only planet created with the suitable conditions that make life possible.

Crystal structures of carbon atom

Particular repeating arrangement of atoms in three dimensional space to form a certain geometric shape is known as a crystal structure.

Different crystal structures of the same substance are named “allotrope.” Carbon has three different allotropes found in nature: amorphous carbon (coal), graphite, diamond. In addition to these, an artificially produced allotrope is fullerene.

Amorphous carbon (coal)

Amorphous structure is one without a definite crystal structure; that is, one where atoms take their places in free order. A mass of carbon atoms of amorphous structure is known as coal. After plants die, they undergo chemical transformation with the activities of microorganisms. If dead plants collect in a suitable wetland and are buried into the ground with a geological process, the carbon amount in their body increases and they begin transforming into coal. Types of coal are categorized according to the carbon percentage they contain. Geologically, this transformation process takes a period of 15 to 345 million years. Coal is one of the most commonly used forms of energy.

Graphite

In graphite, carbon atoms are found in a hexagonal crystal structure. These sheets, resembling the surface of a honeycomb, pile up and form graphite. As the sheets are not connected with firm bonds, they easily shift when some force is applied. This is why graphite is used for eliminating friction at machine industry. The black substance in pencils is graphite hardened by adding some clay. Graphite can resist very high temperatures. Therefore it is used within the steel industry and melting metals. In addition, it is a very good conductor of electricity. For this reason, the brushes of the electric engines in household machines such as a washing machine and a vacuum cleaner are made of graphite. In recent years, graphite has been used as heat shields of space shuttles.

Diamond

Diamond is the hardest natural substance we know. In spite of being a transparent substance and having no color of its own, it can be found in pastel colors such as yellow, brown, or even dim black, owing to being mixed with other minerals. Diamond is a perfect electric isolator and is the substance with highest heat conductivity. For this reason, it can be cut without being deformed. In diamond, carbon atoms are found in a pattern to form a cubical crystal structure. Extraordinary resistance of carbon-carbon bond and its hard and integrated structure prevents its reacting with other things around. It burns at a heat of 850 0C. In a piece of diamond, there can be other atoms that cause impurity and decrease the value. In good quality natural diamonds, there is only 1 alien atom versus 100,000 carbon atoms. In addition to jewelry, diamonds are widely used at industrial products such as drills, glass cutters and the like. 75-80 % of diamond production is used in this industry.

Formation of coal, graphite, or diamond from carbon

Carbon based organic compounds were buried underground as a result of movements by the earth’s crust millions of years ago. Physical and chemical changes occurred with those organic masses through heat and pressure. Gradually, water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and—in the highest phases—hydrogen leaves these masses. This organic matter called “turba” (first transforms into lignite, then to sub bituminous coal, then to bituminous coal, and then to anthracite). If the conditions allow, it transforms into graphite. Coal is the first type of substance formed by carbon atoms on their journey to become diamond. As lower values of heat, pressure, and time suffice for coal formation, graphite requires much higher values. Diamond is formed in the mantle layer of the earth at about 150-200 depth. This valuable substance is later carried to the surface of the earth by volcanic rocks such as lamproite and kimberlite. In order for diamond to form, an atmospheric pressure of 50,000 atm, 2,400 0C of heat, and a period of 3 billion years are required. Without this immense pressure and long time, the substance to be formed by carbon will simply be graphite. It is possible to transform graphite into diamond artificially; however, according to calculations, a minimum pressure of 10,000 atm is required. In 1955, for the first time artificial diamond was obtained under 100,000 atm, 2,500 0C heat, and by using chrome as catalyzer. However, the pieces of diamond obtained were small and black, most of them did not classify as jewels. In another attempt made in 1962, graphite turned into diamond under 200,000 atm, 5,000 0C heat, without using any catalyzer.

The similarity between carbon and human beings

As carbon atoms’ properties change according to the crystal structure, people’s lifestyle and view of life depends on the community they live in and their position in that community. In order to become diamond, the highest level of its kind, a person needs to undergo hard conditions. If carbon atoms were to say, “this is more than we can bear, we prefer easier conditions,” then they can be nothing more than graphite. If the conditions for graphite are avoided as well, then one cannot go beyond the level of coal. Diamonds are kept in safes and worn in most important occasions and graphite has different kinds of practical use as an industrial material. As for coal, it ends up in fire. The situation of human beings in a way resembles carbon atoms. Every person is made of the same elements biologically. Their value will naturally be different, according to the processes they underwent and the behaviors they presented. Some show patience in the face of misfortune, put their sincere trust in God, and become the diamonds of humanity. Some others, whom we can compare to graphite, attain a desirable level even if they cannot become diamonds. Those who choose to assume the lowliest form are likely to face a similar fate with the coal.

References

• H. W. Kroto, J. R. Heath, S. C. O’Brien, R. F. Curl ve R. E. Smalley. 1985. “C60: Buckminsterfullerene.” Nature 318. DOI:10.1038/318162a0.
• L. Vlasov, D. Trifonov. 2005. 107 Stories about Chemistry, TUBÝTAK., Ankara.

Gifted education involves several procedures such as testing, identification and tracking students to challenge their potential to the fullest. Initially, students take several tests including tests of intelligence, creativity, and motivation and must perform well enough to get into a gifted program. Following this testing, they have a label that they and others know quite well, gifted. Frequently, this means grouping them separately from their non-gifted peers. Accordingly, they follow a different curriculum, and attend different programs that are not available to others. Also, some practices that often occur when teaching or interacting with gifted students, such as a teacher’s or parent’s praise, convey direct and hidden messages. These messages, in essence, consistently remind them of how superior they are. Ultimately, they are taught to enjoy their superiority with a minimal or no clue about being virtuous. Most educators pay a great attention to increase their self-esteem while they were indifferent for the possibility of arrogance and conceit. Nevertheless, the “privilege” of being in the top 5 or smaller percent dramatically shapes the identity of the gifted individual from early ages. With the self–esteem enhancement movements in 80’s, the importance of humility as a significant virtue has been ignored among educators. They mostly perceived lack of self-esteem as a big problem whereas lack of humility was rather acceptable. However, potential of the gifted individuals, like any other person, deserves a more gracious treatment that regards them as human beings rather than better human resources for the nation and economy.

Corollary to the deficits in educators’ approaches to the gifted individuals, their emotional and moral development have been omitted. When one searches the studies on the development of positive moral characteristics of the gifted, such as, humility, there is almost no study on those issues. Humility in itself is a crucial virtue for several reasons. First, humility allows gifted individuals to recognize that they cannot control everything in every situation. Their superior abilities compared to their peers become a huge burden because others and their own expectations about themselves are mostly quite high. Failures and unexpected academic performance are less tolerable for the gifted. Crucially, humble gifted individuals can successfully handle challenging situations because their moral development valuing humility functions as a buffer zone and make them more resilient against challenges of life. People can have a more realistic view of themselves as long as they are well aware of their real inadequacies.

Vera and Rodriguez-Lopez (2004) pointed to the positive role of humility on competition in the organizations. They argued that fear of failure impedes people from taking initiative and humility helps people to reduce their fear of failure with the premise that people with no experience of failure are unlikely to try again. Secondly, humility helps gifted individuals to have a better and more realistic understanding about one’s self. Humble gifted people can realize their own weaknesses. This is also important for the gifted because very few people criticize them while many others praise their ability. In such a social climate, a true understanding of oneself is not an easy task. Thirdly, humble people can empathize with others easily. Gifted individuals mostly have concerns for others and have a keen moral sensitivity. However, feeling of superiority can hurt their healthy relationships with others; thus, other people become less likely to enjoy being together with them. Humble people have an increased valuation of others without a decrease in their valuation of themselves (Means & Wilson, 1990), and, thus, the need for humility is even more important for the gifted individuals.

Humility represents a major dilemma of gifted education: Although several procedures, facilities and resources are developed and implemented for the gifted, they inherently trigger a grandiosity effect. As a result of that, usual practices in the gifted education seem to nurture a less realistic view of self which is not less dangerous than the lack of self-esteem. Unfortunately, educators tend to ignore the presence of the dilemma and insist on particular practices without pondering upon the potential damages. What kinds of precautions can be taken to raise humble gifted individuals? What other messages should be given to them? Among many possible methods to overcome this problem, the following recommendations can be taken into consideration in educational and psychological practices.

1. Giftedness as a responsibility

Conceptualization of the giftedness needs fine-tuning. Traditional perspectives that seek the differences between gifted and non-gifted individuals have created a self-fulfilling prophecy: Gifted individuals have been marginalized and alienated. So-called unrealistic perception of giftedness has led to a perception of “superiority” over others. Remarkably, giftedness, as a concept, implies being the one who was awarded with some qualities which other people do not have. The concept also implies the passivity of the gifted because he was given, not necessarily because he deserves it. Corollary to this, gifted individuals should be taught about the responsibilities along with the gifts. Unlike the current practices, educators should emphasize the individual and social responsibilities corresponding to giftedness.

Individual responsibilities of the gifted individuals are related to the importance of realizing their personal strengths and skills and investing for their potential appropriately. In educational context, many gifted students tend to take the classes easy and pay attention to other “more interesting” things. They tend to make no effort beyond what the classes require, and their potential is not challenged. Individual responsibility defined as fulfillment of one’s own potential should replace externally defined responsibilities which are neither challenging nor motivating for the gifted.

Social responsibilities are critical for the gifted individuals because their potential can lead to both positive and negative changes at the societal level. Many scientific innovations facilitating our lives today are the gifted minds’ contributions to human beings. On the other hand, they could have devoted their potential to harmful innovations, too. The gifted individuals, therefore, are those who can build the civilizations with all advanced systems of technology, transportation and communication, and destroy them with mass destruction weapons, such as atom bombs. Employing the strengths and capacities to the benefit of human beings should be set as a basic goal for the gifted individuals.

2. Importance of effort over ability

Overemphasis on abilities and consideration of abilities as fixed traits tend to block gifted individuals. If people think that they possess a superior capacity and this is more or less stable, they may have difficulty in making for their goals. They often compromise their high ability with less effort that may result in underachievement and dropouts. The importance of effort and struggle over ability and performance should be integrated to the educational system.

Valuation of effort can be achieved through differentiating the curriculum for the gifted students. For example, the research indicate that easy learning materials and having a better standing in the class with respect to school achievement lead to ability attributions while mental effort and task commitment induce effort attributions (Dweck, 2006, Nicholls, 1978; Schunk, 1994). That means students tend to attribute the achievements to their abilities in easy tasks while they tend to attribute their performance in hard tasks to their hard work. Preparing the curriculum at an appropriate level of difficulty, by which students can be challenged but still can comprehend the content with some effort, should be a major task for the educators. In this way, the frame of reference for the gifted becomes the degree to which they struggle toward their goals rather than the gifts, capacities and strengths they possess.

3. Learning goals instead of performance goals

Goal setting is a crucial aspect of the education of the gifted people. Goal setting is influenced by the way educators assess student performances. There has been a tendency to evaluate school performance through objective, psychometric measures. Even though those measures are more reliable, the information gained from those measures are restricted, comparing the gifted with their counterparts instead of indicating the level at which the gifted fulfill their potential. Learning goals which can be set through individual projects should be the focus of evaluation rather than performance goals which tend to reduce the evaluation to the numbers. Learning goals also seem to be safer for the gifted since it focuses on the discovery of strategies that lead to desired outcomes whereas performance goals tend to have deleterious effects as people are preoccupied with the end result. Therefore, a third task for the educators is to preserve the gifted students from the detrimental effects of mechanical measurement of the performance. In this way, students have criterion set at their own pace for their success rather than external criteria set by others.

The above suggestions, which can be the basic steps of the fundamental changes in the system, can be further enumerated. The dilemma with the gifted education mentioned above is institutionally induced; therefore, the solutions should be addressed at the institutional level. By virtue of those changes in the educational settings, the programs for gifted education can become more individual-based and less mechanical, ultimately caring more about the critical human virtues such as humility. The political developments helped the gifted education programs to blossom, but it brought some side-effects. Educators must see those gaps and generate solutions that care about the gifted individuals.

References

• Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Random House.
• Nicholls, J. G. (1978). The development of the concepts of effort and ability, perception of academic attainment, and the understanding that difficult tasks require more ability. Child Development, 49, 800-814.
• Schunk, D. H. (1994). Self-regulation of self-efficacy and attribution in academic settings. In D. H. Schunk & B. J. Zimmerman (Eds.), Self-regulation of learning and performance: Issues and educational applications (pp. 75-99). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
• Vera, D. & Rodriguez-Lopez, A. 2004. Strategic virtues: Humility as a source of competitive advantage. Organizational Dynamics, 33, 4: 393-408.

Expansion can be dealt with in two categories: Our relationship with the created, and our relationship with the Creator.

With respect to our relationship with the created, expansion means that we are careful of our connection with God and the Truth; that we live in our communities as one of its inhabitants, being open with and showing respect to everyone; and that we treat people according to their level of understanding.

The noble Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, was sincere and frank with those around him, and avoided ceremony or formality. He spoke according to his listeners’ level of understanding, and sometimes made wise and meaningful jokes. Although he suffered inwardly from the unbelief, injustice, and sins he witnessed, and was anxious about everyone’s end and afterlife, he always smiled and behaved pleasantly. As said in al-Minhaj: “A heart is like a mirror: too much and too frequent solemnity may cause it to steam up, and the only way to remove that steam is to tell pleasant jokes.”

With respect to our relationship with God Almighty, expansion signifies the simultaneous experiencing of fear and hope in our souls. Being states of the soul, fear and hope are usually found in those who have just started to advance on the path to God. Expansion, on the other hand, is a state of those with knowledge of God and, moreover, is a dimension of the heart’s life. The state resembling the expansion of those still striving to reach this level of expansion is an exhilaration coming from knowledge of God. This may lead them to become relaxed in their relationship with God, and thus lose their self-control and self-possession.

Expansion appears when a traveler on the path of God is completely freed from carnal desire and passion, and becomes a bright “mirror” to reflect God’s Names and Attributes. This station, whether called the Station of Combination (where the traveler experiences God’s Existence and Unity) or Annihilation (where the traveler’s annihilation of self causes forgetfulness of self when in the throes of ecstatic love of God and perception of God’s Existence and Unity), is a mysterious point where the traveler directs himself or herself according to the Divine inspirations received and assumes “colors” unknown to everybody else. It is impossible for such people to conceal their expansion, while it is insolent of those who have not attained it to talk about it. How aptly Rumi expresses it:

If the king’s courtier behaves in an affected manner to attract the king’s attention, you must not attempt to do so, for you do not have the document (to justify your doing so). O one who cannot be freed from the restrictions of this transient life, how can you know what (the stations of) annihilation, drunkenness, and expansion mean?

Indeed, servants of the body cannot be aware of the states of the spirit. It is impossible for those imprisoned in the body to be aware of spirituality. We should ask those souls who have burned and been “roasted” many times in the fire of the love of God about the pains of a heart that has been cleft open, and their expansion and contraction.

O God! Endear belief to us and make it appealing to our hearts, and make unbelief, transgression, and rebellion hateful to us; and include us among those with right conduct and sound thinking. And bestow blessings and peace on our Master Muhammad and his Companions, all of them.

Moving on from that relation, I would like to open a small window onto the meaning of literature as I understand it. However, I must first beg that my readers pardon my humble statements on a subject that is in fact beyond my ability, and that they judge this essay not on how it stands, but for the good intentions with which it was written. I should confess that just as I and people like me with narrow horizons cannot judge matters even in our own field properly, so too is it very difficult for us to express other matters very clearly, even when we may have judged them correctly. And I think this is generally true of all who tackle this topic. For instance, after Imam Shafii had personally corrected his book Kitab al-Umm, and afterwards still others had repeatedly corrected it, he found that certain points still bothered him. He raised his hands to God and admitted that no book can be faultless, except for divine revelations.

Even the enchanting states inspired by the most magnificent pieces of writing, the greatest works of art, the most eloquent words, and the most dazzling conceptions which are not based on divine speech and are not illumined with the shining of His light have a completely relative beauty. And even if they hold any value in terms of being a reflection or an echo of the beauties He possesses, they can hold absolutely no individual value of their own.

Nevertheless, this reality should never dishearten us or paralyze our determination to work. We should always think, speak, plan, try to realize what we have planned, and while doing all this, we should never forget that we can occasionally make mistakes, that very often we can fall into error. This is natural; as soon as we recognize them, we will correct them, try to compensate for our shortcomings and stick to seeking the best possible alternative. Our decisions may not always be accurate, but we will try to fulfill what divine wisdom requires of us by implementing our human capacity for understanding and judgment (ijtihad).

So these humble contemplations must be seen in the same way. Speech was born with humanity, developed with humanity, and it constitutes a very significant depth of being human. So speech reached its contemporary level of maturity through history after having been repeatedly distilled through countless filters of thought and fashioned by masters of words, and then became what we now call literature. In this respect, it can be argued that the present moment of literature is brighter than its past, thus it can also be said that so too its future will be brighter than the present, or at least it should be so. As Said Nursi explains, human beings will eventually turn completely toward knowledge (ilm) so that they will derive their power from knowledge. As a result the ultimate say will pass into the hands of knowledge. At the stage when knowledge shows such a level of development, the command of language and eloquence, reaching its peak, will outweigh all other values. Possibly, in such a period, in order to make others accept their ideas, people will use language as a weapon, try to penetrate hearts through their facility with language and conquer souls with the charm of literature.

The reality of knowledge and speech manifested only concisely in Adam and it reached its most brilliant form with the Final Prophet, yielded its awaited fruit, and became fully realized in the Qur’an. Now, if the world is going to last any longer, in the years ahead, while knowledge reaches its peak, language too will rise to the rank of the interpreter of knowledge in almost all circles, accompanied by the most powerful of orators and richest of speeches voicing the truth.

The power of expression, which is always nourished and develops in the bosom of need and necessity, will flourish in this environment for one last time, make its voice heard as powerfully as it can. If you will, you could also say this will be the reliving of the Age of the Qur’an in its most mature state, an Age of the Qur’an where love of truth and love of knowledge, where zeal to understand and passion to explain, where human values and their appreciation will live alongside one another. Incidentally, I would like to underline one point: future architects of thought and masters of language should do whatever they can to protect and honor the power of expression, for it has fallen into the incapable hands of people like us. They should untie its tongue, so that it can voice our own world of thoughts. Otherwise, it is obvious that we will keep on hearing the cawing of crows where we expect to hear the singing of nightingales; we will not be able to be free of the distress of thorns on the way to roses.

The power of speech and refinement of eloquence have always developed, found its proper consistency, and come to maturity in the realm of literature and under the tutelage of literary thought. However, it is also very important what we understand-or we are supposed to understand-when literary thought or literature is mentioned.

Human beings have always expressed their feelings, thoughts, and the inspirations of their heart through cinema, theatre, and symbolic painting, along with oral or written literature. When the subject extends beyond spoken or written language, naturally gesture, facial expression, sounds and other means replace words and sentences. Even so, they have never been able to truly substitute for speech and writing. The most reliable way for a people to preserve their literature and make it flourish in its own framework and fertile ground is to put it into a written form. This turns it into a common source to which individuals may refer to at any time. It allows it to become as widely accessible as possible, paving the way for it to become the national style of an entire society, the nation’s shared property. It thus becomes a field of exposition for future generations, an exhibition ground of verbal excellence, and a trust to the common conscience, guarded by national memory and perpetuating its own origin.

In this respect, we have always sought literature in the magical world of written or spoken words and always realized our acquaintance and encounters with it among the pages of books and magazines. Whatever style is adopted in recounting a given subject – whether the work produced is approached with an artistic concern or expressed in a plain style, whether a small, select audience is targeted or large crowds are addressed – when literature is mentioned, what comes first to mind is the written word.

It does not make any difference whether the subject of a piece of literature is religion, an idea, philosophy, or doctrine; literature is one of the most important ways that humans can transfer the accumulation of knowledge they have gained through history from one generation to another. Through it they can sense all the depths and richness of yesterday in the present. They see the past and present as two dimensions of reality, and savor the future in its relative depth.

Furthermore, believers should firstly be faithful to their heritage and refer to it frequently, as much as they embrace universal human values. They should emphasize the essence of their common conscience and take it as an essential constituent. They should use this heritage as the canvas for the embroidery in which they depict their literary feelings and understanding of art, so that they do not destroy the spirit of their own literature, and are not constrained solely to foreign borrowings. If they use their own sources and weave their own cultural values on their own loom, there does not seem to be an obstacle to their progress, and they can walk to universality carrying the interpretations of their own time.

Believers should place the main sources of belief, cultural heritage and memory of universal values, in the center of their lives. Thus after having secured themselves from deviation, believers should strive to establish connections with the outside world; remaining indifferent to others’ values restricts what is normally broad and universal, is an obstruction to growth, causing agony for the living, and falling from the degree of being envied to a state of envying others; the condition of Third-world countries today presents so many living examples of that.

These countries always go through a period of standstill in their literature, sometimes due to customs, sometimes because of the influence of local understandings, and sometimes due to a fear of self-alienation-which can be empathized to a certain extent. Approaching literature liberally to a large degree ceased due to excessive reactions; some very important sources of inspiration were dried up, and efforts to enrich literature were perceived as fantasy and subsequently dismissed. Moreover, the field of literature was further narrowed at certain times by favoring a region or dialect at the expense of other varieties of the language; the branches with potential to develop were cut off and the roots were removed by prohibiting the field of literature from being ploughed. Thus, in such countries, the development of a language that may have been more representative of the wider society was prevented, and instead a dialect on the margins has been preferred over others, and as a result their literature was reduced to the voice of a small minority rather than becoming a respectable representative of literature in the world. This can also be called surrendering to oblivion.

In fact, what becomes dormant, stops growing, and what is not open to developing withers. Whatever is static then topples over. And that which does not give fruit dies. This is not limited to literature; it is true for almost every subject, from religion to thought, from art to philosophy.

Nevertheless, literature does not simply mean playing on words with written or spoken language skills and producing phrases people will like; it means making the art of expression lovable with the dimensions of eloquence and clarity. It is the water and air of feeding, adorning, and enriching daily language with the cleanest, purest, most lovable, and lasting material, and it is a treasure which increases with use.

A writer of verse or prose who pens his or her thoughts with literary considerations always relies upon a purpose and overtone; using a rich vocabulary, harmonious statements, and a grand style, writers activate words, long and short, aiming for excellence of expression. While moving toward this aim, writers place all the words or sentences they have picked and fitted in their places in such a way that they all sound out like notes serving to support the general theme of the tune they play. As these sounds and notes voice their intended ideal, they continue to play in the background, reflecting the author’s mode of thinking, general tendencies and mood.

In a lyric verse, produced by a master of expression the words, feel as if they are filled with that person’s excitement. The words, sentences, or lines, springing from a literary heart kindled with epic feelings, ring in our ears like the march of a glorious army. All the words in a masterfully written drama resonate in the depths of our soul and almost bring to life the story therein. A literary person is able to think very differently and reach different judgments; writers always pursue quality and strive to leave future generations a legacy they will gladly inherit and respect.

Actually, like literary language, daily language also has its own kind of beauty, ease, allure, and naturalness that entices pure pleasure. However, literary language is poetic, musical, and constructs a pleasing whole in harmony with the meanings it holds. It is superior in linguistic utilization, taste, and refinement in the way that demonstrates coherence within the text as a whole and cohesion between words and sentences. Let alone feeling and savoring these, it is sometimes very difficult for people who lack the aptitude to even understand them.

All that notwithstanding, it is not correct to regard literary style as the language of an upper class or an aristocratic group. On the contrary, even if they cannot penetrate as far as the secondary meanings and connotations suggested by the composition, people of every level should somehow be able to understand, and they should be able to benefit from that source, even if only in a limited way. Thus, in time they will be elevated to a level where they can express their feelings and thoughts more comfortably and gain greater language skills through the expansion of their knowledge. In the meantime, they will consolidate what they already know of language, enrich it by making suitable contributions as far as they can, and add new depths to their horizons of thought.

No matter at what level, the language almost all of us speak today, which has quietly settled in our memories through generations, is to a great extent the fruit of master poets’ and writers’ concerted efforts that have been adopted by our souls. With the sensitivity of a goldsmith, these masters of expression presented us with the beautiful jewels of expression and necklaces of words that they prepared; thanks to their legacy, we express ourselves through this rich resource to the best of our abilities. Even though not everybody understands the magnificent works they produced and the aesthetic depth in the spirit of those works, all of us have always appreciated them and felt eager for more. For such a level of appreciation one does not need to know the writer’s artistic anxiety, power to construct, mental strain, success in planning, nor his or her true value to the extent a skilful goldsmith knows the precious stones.

People have always held the literary artists in high regard, certainly with exceptions. They have applauded these people’s efforts, appreciated their labor, and frequently expressed this appreciation by imitating them. Then what falls to literary people is that they put their language skills and artistic talents at the service of the right, good, and beautiful, instead of hurting the souls of the masses-who can be regarded as their apprentices-by describing what is corrupt, or contaminating people’s pure thoughts with dirty images, and condemning them to the slavery of materialism with descriptions of carnal desires. According to Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, people of letters need to have high morals and act within the universal codes of conduct prescribed in divine scriptures. He also reminds us of the divine source where the “power of expression” originates from and advises us to duly respect this capacity, which is regarded as an important depth of our humanity.

Literary styles of expression are different than other styles. For example, in scientific writing or speech it is essential to have a sound pattern of reasoning, a systematic thought, well-versed statements, and no mental, logical, and emotional gaps should be left unfilled. Oratory style emphasizes proofs and arguments, maintaining interest and enthusiasm, making occasional repetitions, supporting the narration with paraphrases when necessary, using colorful expression, and enlivening the speech by inspirational shifts without detracting from the main axis. On the other hand, literary style requires a variety of linguistic arts, such as vividness of expression, accuracy of language, beauty of presentation, richness of imagination, the utilization of metaphors, parables, idioms, figures of speech, and allusions-as long as it does not reach the point of excess. Because excess will spoil-as in everything else-the naturalness of language and muddy the heavenly spring of expression, people of sound taste will mostly find it strange. As Said Nursi also expressed, the wording should be as ornate as the nature of the meaning allows. Form should follow content, and while it is being crafted, permission for literary license should be requested from the meaning in order to avoid excess. The brightness and resplendence of style should be given proper due, but the aim and intended meaning should never be neglected. The imagination should be given room to maneuver, but not at the cost of the Truth.

Nanoscience and nanotechnology started off in the early 1980s when scientists were able to detect materials on the nano-level through microscopic systems. This development enabled the synthesis of nano-level materials such as carbon nanotubes, nano crystals, and metal oxide nanoparticles. Nanotechnology is a type of technology, resulting from the research conducted on the atomic, molecular and macromolecular levels. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. Nano-level studies are conducted with materials whose sizes range between one to a hundred nanometers. Studies on the nano-level are conducted in the contemporary science fields such as chemistry, materials science, physics, biology, etc. One of the most compelling reasons that renders the research with nano-level materials so significant is that nanoparticles reflect a lot more different characteristics than when they do at the macro-level. Due to their small sizes, nanoparticles, especially those under 20 nm, have magnificent optical, magnetic, and chemical properties.[1] Nanoparticles include much more energy than the macro-level materials; this is because the ratio of the surface area of nanoparticles to their volume is much more bigger than the ratio in macro-level materials. A significant amount of energy is stored in nanoparticles as free surface energy. This energy revealed on the nano-level not only increases the reactivity of iron nanoparticles (the propensity to chemical reactivity), but also renders the magnetic qualities of materials quite differently than they would be at the macro-level.

Many types of nanoparticles are widely used in our daily lives. Iron, gold, silver and cadmium sulphide nanoparticles are some of the most commonly investigated nanoparticles. Yet iron nanoparticles receive special attention from scientists essentially in the field of biotechnology. Iron nanoparticles demonstrating different magnetic features have a wide range of use in fields, including but not limited to health care and electric/electronic industry. Owing to its magnetic feature, iron is also used in magnetic recording. The production of needle-shaped iron nanoparticles with high magnetic features has facilitated the manufacturing of mobile electronic devices with a high recording capacity. In this paper, we will focus on the use of iron nanoparticles’ contribution to the advances in the field of biotechnology, among numerous other contributions of iron nanoparticles in other fields.

Nanobiotechnology

Nanobiotechnology, among other fields of nanotechnology, is the field that focuses on biological systems. Nano-level devices designed to work with biosystems, nano-level cell biology, cell and nanoparticle interactions are some of the applications used in nanobiotechnology. Through those applications, biochemical processes and reactions in living beings can be scrutinized in great detail, which, in turn, enables scholars to come up with innovations in both diagnosis and treatment of various illnesses.

The following are the primary application areas of magnetic nanoparticles in the field of bionanotechnology: development of magnetic resonance imaging systems, and cancer research. Especially, iron oxides (magnetite, Fe3O4, maghemite, Fe2O3), owing to their cohesion with the chemical structure of biological systems, are prevalently used in biotechnology.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

MRI, mostly used in the medical field, is the method to monitor the internal structure of living mechanisms. Through the magnetic area and radio frequency waves, the image of a living tissue is formed. MRI is a complex system that produces images based on the intensity and movements of hydrogen atoms in the tissue. The MRI technique is used to diagnose almost all sorts of illnesses today. Yet it is most frequently used with illnesses pertaining to the central nervous system, brain and spinal cord. It has also been used to diagnose muscle-related and skeleton-related medical conditions, such as meniscus and herniated disc symptoms, as well as all types of neurological illnesses. MRI has not been found detrimental to any living organism thus far.

It is the paramagnetic ions such as gadolinium that are most frequently used as contrast enhancement agents in MRI applications. Although gadolinium has a high moment, this moment is too low compared to superparamagnetic materials. For this reason, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles are known to be more efficient MRI contrast enhancement agents. Known as such, those iron oxide nanoparticles are quite advantageous over gadolinium. Those nanoparticles can easily be functionalized to interact with biological samples. For example, superparamagnetic nanoparticles, which are not normally taken up by cells efficiently, can do so after being covered with another material (e.g. Dextran) that can ordinarily go into a cell. Thus, MR images of particular tissues could be obtained clearly, which enables us to make more accurate diagnoses and treatments.

Iron oxide nanoparticles are also deemed to be an efficient potential future method in cancer treatment. The results of several studies conducted to fulfill this goal are encouraging.

Iron oxide superparamagnetic nanoparticles are being tested as a method in hyperthermia treatment. Hyperthermia is defined as an abnormally high body temperature, and its treatment is carried out through the removal of certain tissues by increasing its temperature up to (42–46) 0C for 30 minutes. For instance, cancer infected liver tissues are exterminated through the hyperthermia method, which sends biologically activated iron oxide nanoparticles to those infected tissues. Moreover, none of the healthy tissues are damaged during this process. You may find more detailed information in references [1, 2, 4, 6] on how nanoparticles are aptly sent to the cancer infected tissues only while the surrounding healthy tissues remain unaffected by them. Hundreds of researchers carry out experiments and publish their findings on this topic everyday. Yet, further research needs to be done in order to reach solid conclusions.

Iron, which seems to carry greater potential significance than we previously thought, should receive much attention from scholars due to the fact that a chapter (surah) in the Holy Qur’an is entitled “Iron” (Hadeed). The question is, why was a 29-line chapter in the Qur’an is called (Iron) when the word “iron” was only mentioned once throughout the entire chapter.

The chapter “Iron” first begins by drawing the reader’s attention to the attributes and praised names of God. It invites people to believe in God and his messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him) by exalting God as the Almighty, Sovereign, Ruler, One whose existence is without a beginning and an end, Manifest and Hidden. Then, the chapter goes on to encourage believers to donate their wealth for the sake of God, for those who follow the word of God are rewarded with a place in Heaven. It also advises believers never to lose their ardor, while reminding them that even the earth will be resurrected after all has perished. And the wisdom behind the creation of iron is explained as such:

Assuredly We have sent Our Messengers with manifest truths (and clear proofs of their being Messengers), and We have sent down with them the Book and the Balance so that (relations among) humankind may live by equity. And We have sent down iron in [the essence] which is stern might and benefits for humankind, so that God may mark out those who help (the cause of) God and His Messengers, though they do not see Him. Surely God is All-Strong, All-Glorious with irresistible might. (57:25)

This particular verse includes several remarkable points. First, the very use of the phrase “sending down” for iron is so striking that it was also mentioned in [3, 5]. Another perplexing statement is, We sent down iron in [the essence] which is stern might and benefits for humankind, which might pave the way for thought-provoking venues regarding nanotechnology. The verse also indicates that which makes iron so special, its indiscernible or hidden qualities, rather than the outer surface of it. The specific reference to the “essence” of iron hints at this point. If the message of the verse had been related to the external qualities of iron, then the choice of the words would differ accordingly. Since the Qur’an is the word of God, there is wisdom behind the selection and sequencing of each word and letter. From this point of view, we can interpret that this verse informs us about the significance of the essence of iron on the nano level.

The significance of iron as stated in a single verse of the Qur’an has been briefly discussed. Numerous studies on the use of iron in nanotechnology seem to be on the horizon, which will only contribute to our admiration for the miracle of the Qur’an.

Kamil Ezgin is pursuing a PhD degree in chemistry in USA. For correspondence with the author kamilezgin@gmail.com.

References

1. Dale L. Huber. Synthesis, Properties, and Applications of Iron Nanoparticles, small, 2005, 1, No. 5, 482-501.
2. An-Hui Lu, E.L. Salabas, and Ferdi Schuth, Magnetic Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Protection, Functionalization, and Application, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 1222-1244.
3. Edib Masûkî. “Enteresan Bir Tespit: Demirin Sakladiði Sir,” Sizinti, 1985, No. 73.
4. Peter Majewski and Benjamin Thierry. “Functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticles- Synthesis, Properties, and Bio-Applications,” Critical Reviews in Solid State and Materials Sciences, 2007, 32, 203-215.
5. http://www.mergeous.com/bullet.asp?tag=72
6. Volker Mailander and Katharina Landfester, “Interaction of Nanoparticles with Cells,” Biomacromolecules 2009, 10, 2379–2400.

1. Genes and inheritance
2. Obesity
3. Lack of exercise

The diagnosis of diabetes is described as a level of sugar that is above a certain amount in the blood stream. In fact, diabetes itself is the metabolic disorder of three food sources: carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids (Cholesterol and especially triglycerides). As healthcare providers we, doctors and scientists, are very much aware that the physiology-that is, the mechanism-of this wonderful sugar metabolism is one of many harmonies existent in the human body. While patients with diabetes seek help from us, our help is limited to what we have learned-and are still learning-from the human body. Thus, the medication we use today are not miracles, but rather a good example of understanding how one of the many mechanisms in body works.

Since the discovery of insulin in 1921, a hormone that is secreted from the pancreas and the only one to work at lowering the level of sugar in the body (several others increase the sugar level)-the development of treatments for diabetes has been focused on greatly in an effort to better serve humankind. Such developments include tiny, sharp needles and pens to deliver the insulin-known as insulin pens. Currently many alternative insulin delivery methods have been developed-via the skin or lungs-yet none of these are as successful as the human body’s normal program for dealing with a rise in the sugar during stressful conditions and after meals. Despite the incredible efforts and impressive studies carried out on both animals and humans, not every method of diabetes management (treatment) is suitable for every individual. Each person is unique regarding the capacity of their pancreas to generate insulin.

In the United States, more than 20 million people have diabetes; however this number is well below the actual number of sufferers. Having enough insulin is not the solution to the problem, while resistance to the action of this hormone can limit its efficacy leaving the glucose (sugar) level high. This further suppresses the pancreas’ ability to provide insulin and the remaining glucose becomes toxic to many vital organs, causing several of the following conditions:

• Heart (heart attack)

• Liver (fatty liver)

• Brain (stroke)

• Vessels (hardening of the arteries)

• Blood (easy clotting)

• Feet (gangrene and amputation)

• Immune system (suppression of the immune system, in turn leading to a tendency to infections, giving the opportunity of germs to invade various parts of the body; in the same way increase of tuberculosis bacteria, yeast infections, pneumonia)

• Skin (late healing after abrasions or trauma)

Excess sugar is converted into cholesterol which will further accelerate the detrimental effects to the vital organs (brain, heart, kidney).

Current suggestions for the management of the problem with sugar are education, better diets, correct and regular exercise, correct medication and careful follow-up. We know that God created cures for every illness. Respecting and thinking of this will encourage many of us to concentrate on solving the problem of diabetes. Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, indicates “Eat and drink, but never waste” and “Leave the food table before you are full.” The diet that is recommended for people with diabetes is to eat small amounts of food during the 3 main meals and to add 3 snacks to control the undesirable rise in sugar that occurs after eating a large amount. We are informed that we are full due to the induction of tension receptors in the stomach after the meal, the induction of the brain, and the digestion of food that leads to an increase in the level of sugar in the blood stream… etc. Unfortunately, most diabetics wait for the third mechanism to operate before leaving the table; as a result, they may continue to eat and further increase their blood sugar level, and this may in turn be the reason for early or late complications in diabetes.

Today, the greatest number of diabetics per population are the Pima Indians living in Arizona. Interestingly, a new molecule that has recently been developed seems to have a preventive efficacy for the development of diabetes and to assist in its satisfactory management, even after the diagnosis of diabetes. This molecule was actually found to be present in the saliva of Gila Monster again that is fairly close to the area where these affected tribes live.

Kelly J. Smith is a clinical diabetes research scientist in Arizona.