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Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

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Outside the Agenda

31 October 2012 | The Fountain | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

The world agenda is occupied with all kinds of things: the US presidential elections, Syrian massacre, economic fallout in Europe, instability in the Middle East in the course of the Arab spring... The tragic terrorist attack in Libya against the US ambassador was almost like a second September 11t…

Hunger Management and Survival

31 October 2012 | Hamza Aydin | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

Hunger poses a danger to life, however dehydration is fatal. Although the energy obtained from nutrients become fuel for the organism, water functions like engine oil making it one of the essential elements of the human body. Water is needed for countless chemical reactions to take place, including…

Science

31 October 2012 | M. Fethullah Gulen | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

Today, scientific developments have reached unparalleled speed and level as we stumble upon a new surprising invention or discovery every day. It can be argued that more new inventions and discoveries have been presented to humanity within the last quarter century by science than in all previous ti…

Yonder Mystery of Bones and Reproduction

31 October 2012 | Ali Fethi Toprak | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

For many years, scientists thought that women were born with a limited number of oocytes (eggs) in the ovary, estimating around three thousands oocytes. This number declines by time until the age of fifty to a point of exhaustion, resulting in menopause. It is known that female flies, birds, and fi…

Advanced Placement Phenomenon

31 October 2012 | Alpaslan Sahin | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

Two national news magazines, U.S. News and Newsweek, annually publish lists of America's Best High Schools. While Newsweek takes the total Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), or Cambridge (AICE) tests given at a school each year and divides it by the number of graduating stud…

Can Plants Talk?

31 October 2012 | Safiye Arslan | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

Plants come across with numerous organisms in their natural environment. So how do plants communicate with all these organisms such as other plants, herbivores, predators of herbivores, and even themselves? Plants communicate through chemical or visual cues. For a long time the idea of chemical com…

From Modernity to Post Modernity: The Importance of Faith in a Changing World

31 October 2012 | Juan Fernando Lucio | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

In his essay Postmodern Knowledge, French philosopher, Jean Francois Lyotard defined post modernism as the series of changes in the way we view culture, literature and science since the end of the nineteenth century as a result of rapid technological, social and economic transformations. These tran…

The Hajj: Reflections from Mina

31 October 2012 | Margaret A. Johnson | Issue 90 (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 Sun and its Distinctive Position

31 October 2012 | Osman Cakmak | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

Every morning and evening we witness the sunrise and the sunset in a colorful play. Luminous stars virtually hover over us like a parade during the night. We do not even notice the revolution of the earth around the sun and the specific movements of other planets and the stars in our galaxy while w…

Louis Massignon: A Tribute to a Pioneer in Interfaith Relations

31 October 2012 | Dorothy C. Buck | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

Fifty years ago the renowned French Catholic scholar of Islam and the Islamic world, Louis Massignon, died on October 31,1962. He left a legacy of books, articles and lectures, many of which are dedicated to Interfaith dialogue and particularly to the relationship of the Three Abrahamic faith tradi…

A Lesson, If You Wish to Listen

31 October 2012 | Yunus Emre | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

They had so much wealth and goods, Come and see them in their graves. Only a large shirt is their share And even those, without sleeves Dignitaries they had been With servants standing before them Now come and see, you can't tell, The late masters from their men

Ihsan (Perfect Goodness)

31 October 2012 | M. Fethullah Gulen | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

Ihsan two literal meanings, doing something well and perfectly and doing someone a favor; it is sometimes used in the Qur'an and the Sunna with either meaning. At other times, as pointed out in the reflections on Heart while describing Prophet Joseph's consciousness of ihsan, it is used to encompas…

Living Green: How Much Do I Need to Suffer for It?

31 October 2012 | Fethiye Ozis | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

Fewer disposables. Fewer climate-changing green house gases. Fewer containers of trash. Fewer acres of ecological footprint. However, more local solutions. More conscious choices. More green alternatives. Living green with sustainability in mind definitely benefits both the environment and the soci…

Questions Concerning Robots That "Care"

31 October 2012 | Theodore Albert Metzler | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

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, w…

The Four Bs of Religion

31 October 2012 | Douglas Golding | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

Some people assert that all religions are much the same, for better or for worse. Others will insist that their religion is unique, or that their religion is the only way to God. In 1989, in his classic book The World's Religions, the late Scots writer and teacher Ninian Smart gave us a landmark f…

Of Frogs and Men: Perspectives on the Principle of Gradualness

31 October 2012 | Fuad Canoglu | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

We humans are inclined to be hasty, and wish to do what we want in a rush. We like to doing things quickly, cheaply, and still want them the highest quality. Certain matters in life truly require speed. A breakdown in an operating system must be tackled with immediately. A cargo is expected to arri…

Why Is Cancer a Complex Disease?

31 October 2012 | Ihsan Kose | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

The chaos theory, first introduced by Edward Lorentz, offers new horizons for economists, meteorologists, seismologist and scientists studying in other branches regarding the problems they have been studying in recent years. The chaos theory demonstrates a hidden pattern behind seemingly irregular…

The Messenger of Mercy

31 October 2012 | Erkan Kurt | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

I was invited a while ago to a meeting in Little Rock which was held on the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. The audience watched a video entitled The Universal Mercy telling about how a merciful person the Prophet was. The title seemed to refer to a well-known verse of the Qur'an…

Seeking Forgiveness in the Service of God

31 October 2012 | Hikmet Isik | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

Question: Why is seeking forgiveness needed even right after a good work in the service of God? 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…

Science Square (Issue 90)

31 October 2012 | The Fountain | Issue 90 (November - December 2012)

Childhood environment leaves its mark on DNA 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…

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