I found this story in one of the forums. I liked it and wanna share it with you.

The 4 Wives
There was a rich merchant who had 4 wives. He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to delicacies. He took great care of her and gave her nothing but the best. He also loved the 3rd wife very much. He's very proud of her and always wanted to show off her to his friends. However, the merchant is always in great fear that she might run away with some other men. He too, loved his 2nd wife. She is a very considerate person, always patient and in fact is the merchant's confidante. Whenever the merchant faced some problems, he always turned to his 2nd wife and she would always help him out and tide him through difficult times. Now, the merchant's 1st wife is a very loyal partner and has made great contributions in maintaining his wealth and business as well as taking care of the household. However, the merchant did not love the first wife and although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her. One day, the merchant fell ill. Before long, he knew that he was going to die soon. He thought of his luxurious life and told himself, "Now I have 4 wives with me. But when I die, I'll be alone. How lonely I'll be!" Thus, he asked the 4th wife, "I loved you most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?" "No way!" replied the 4th wife and she walked away without another word. The answer cut like a sharp knife right into the merchant's heart. The sad merchant then asked the 3rd wife, "I have loved you so much for all my life. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?" "No!" replied the 3rd wife. "Life is so good over here! I'm going to remarry when you die!" The merchant's heart sank and turned cold. He then asked the 2nd wife, "I always turned to you for help and you've always helped me out. Now I need your help again. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?" "I'm sorry, I can't help you out this time!" replied the 2nd wife. "At the very most, I can only send you to your grave." The answer came like a bolt of thunder and the merchant was devastated. Then a voice called out : "I'll leave with you. I'll follow you no matter where you go." The merchant looked up and there was his first wife. She was so skinny, almost like she suffered from malnutrition. Greatly grieved, the merchant said, "I should have taken much better care of you while I could have !" Actually, we all have 4 wives in our lives a. The 4th wife is our body. No matter how much time and effort we lavish in making it look good, it'll leave us when we die.b. Our 3rd wife ? Our possessions, status and wealth. When we die, they all go to others.c. The 2nd wife is our family and friends. No matter how close they had been there for us when we're alive, the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave. d. The 1st wife is in fact our soul, often neglected in our pursuit of material, wealth and sensual pleasure. Guess what? It is actually the only thing that follows us wherever we go. Perhaps it's a good idea to cultivate and strengthen it now rather than to wait until we're on our deathbed to lament Hope You Enjoy It *46*

Why Do I believe in Quran?


Muslims believe in every fact in the Quran. Sometimes, we believe by facts that can’t be explained by our minds. But, believe it or not, everyday, modern science proves that this Quran is from God and those facts strengthen our faith. Modern science recently discovered several new facts with the help of modern technologies and those facts were written in the Quran 1427 years ago. Those facts prove that Quran is really from the creator of this universe because Mohammed could never know those facts in the desert several hundreds years ago. By the way, Allah is the name of God as stated in the Quran and there are more than 99 other names for him stated by himself such as: (Rahman =most merciful, Kareem= most generous, Ghaffar= forgiver,…) and each name has a beautiful meaning. In Arabic, “ Abdul” means “ the worshiper of”. That is why many Muslims names are AbdulRahman, AbdulGhaffer, AbdulKareem.

I would like to put some examples of the miracles that were stated in the holy Quran hundreds of years ago and it proves that this holy book is from God (Mohammed peace be upon him could never know about those scientific facts). Please visit the following links:
1) http://www.miraclesofthequran.com/index2.html
2) http://www.harunyahya.com
3) www.55a.net
I am sure that you will be amazed and will like it!

I believe Islam is the right religion and Allah described himself in the holy book in a way that is close to our imperfect minds. Our mind really is imperfect, and that is why it can’t capture the greatness or the glory of the spirit that is good as you said. It is known that our minds could understand the description of anything in one of three ways:
1) Either by looking at it and know how does it look like.
2) Looking at something similar and compare.
3) Getting full description from one who has seen it.
It can observed that neither one of the above three applies to God. No one saw the God and so no one can describe him. Moreover, nothing in this universe is close or similar to God and so we can’t compare. Allah wanted us few things about himself and it is stated in the Quran in a way that our imperfect minds can understand. Allah said that he has not been created, so we believe that no one created Allah. Allah said that he doesn’t have wife nor son. Allah said that he is the only God and great power, so we believe that there is one and only one god… etc. Since everyone’s ambition is to look at the great power. Allah mentioned in the Quran that the true believers and followers will be awarded by looking at him in the heaven and this is the best award for them.

“What is my believe?”




I believe that God is the creator and in order for him to tell human beings what is required from them (and what is not, what is good and what is bad), he sent messengers to convey his messages. His messages were conveyed to the messengers through angels. Those words and instructions from God were written in the holy books “the instruction manual”

I believe that David was a prophet and god sent him with his holy book ( Zaboor). I believe Jesus was a prophet and god sent his with a holy book (Bible). We, as Muslims, believe in all the prophets and their holy books but the problem is that those holy books were apparently distorted by human beings. So, eventually, God sent his last messenger for all the mankind, Mohammed (peace be upon him) with his last holy book “The Holy Quran”. God guaranteed that this last book will not be distorted. I believe that all the previous holy books came from god but the main big problem is that people distorted it, so I cant’ trust it and this is my answer to many people who stated that “ I don’t have to accept every word in the holy book if I believe it steps outside what god would have us do.” Every holy book in the world has been distorted except the holy Quran. Every single letter in the Quran is ordered by God and all the copies of it are exactly identical around the world. Muslims believe in everything mentioned in the Quran. Many people might wonder why we are so sure that Mohammed (peace be upon him) is really a messenger and he didn’t create this holy book by himself and introduce it as a holy book. The answer is miracles. Miracles were the weapon god gave to the messenger in order to convince people that they are sent by god.

It is notice that god provided each messenger with miracle(s) that is related to his society’s excellence field. For example, prophet Mosses society was well known by magic and wizards. So god gave him super powers and miracles that convinced the wizards themselves that this is not from a human being, but it is from God. Prophet Jesus society was interested in medicine that time, so god gave him the ability to bring dead people a life and cure some dreadful diseases. Arabs in the era of Mohammed ( peace be upon him) were famous by their fluency, skills and poems in Arabic language, so God sent them Mohammed(peace be upon him) with the holy Quran as his main miracle(there are others). Holy Quran is conveyed from God by a pure, super Arabic language (in its fluency, beauty and perfectness). Arabs from those days till now could not come up with a single verse similar to the verses written in the Quran. Even the prophet’s enemies (who were the best people in Arabic) used to confess that those verses could never been written by a human being. They used to close their ears when Quran was recited in order not to be attracted by it’s beauty. Don’t forget t that Mohammed (peace be upon him) was illiterate!

*** “WHY DO I BELIEVE” ***

I have met different people from different parts of the world in the past several years. I made friendships and conversations with many of them. I realized that there are many differences between me and them but the main controversial difference was the system of believe. Some believe that god exists and some don’t. And for those who believe in God have various believes on prophets and religion. Moreover, there are many people who does believe in god but think that that is enough for them. They believe that they just have to believe.

Personally, I think that we should know about the system (religion) God wants us to live and believe. I really don’t think that the creator created us and then left us to live the way we like! I strongly believe that god created us for purpose and wants us to act as good people (kind, helpful, generous, etc). But why should we act as good people and obey those manners? Who is wise and perfect enough to tell us accurately what is good and what is bad?

I think if we (as human beings) depend on our selves to answer the last question, our answer will vary widely and sometimes contradict. For example, lying is a bad habit, but sometimes it is acceptable for some people. Once, one of our instructors told us that whenever his wife asks him about his son’s performance in school, he gives her good news about it. Though, his son’s performance was bad in school. He believes that lying here is considered good manner because he saved his son from his wife’s punishment!

Even great philosophers were concerned about such issues, for example, Plato in his work “Euthyphro” was concerned about piety, justice and what made a religious person pious.

This contradiction and confusion is because human beings are never perfect. Then, from where we can get the perfect answer?
I believe that the perfect answer for such questions and concerns should come from our creator. He created us and he can tell us what is good for us and what is not. It is a matter of fact that a creator of anything is the one who knows best about it. For example, a creator of a car engine is the one who knows where it should be used and under which conditions. Moreover, is it logical for a person to buy a new, expensive, electronic devise and he/she goes home and try to learn how it work by experiment (without any previous knowledge or reading the instruction manual)? He/she might break it and loose his/her money, isn’t it? So the logical solution for that person is to look for instruction manual from the manufacturer (who knows best about it because he created it) to learn from it how does this device works best. Since human beings don’t have anything more expensive and precious than their life, I believe that every one of us has to do his best in looking for the correct faith and believe.

* Next part inshallah, I will write about my believe….

" THE VELDT"
From my point of view. The writer wanted to deliver important messege to the world around her. Since the novel was written in the last century, I think there was a general fear in the society from the new technology and its consequences on the next generations. This fear was clearly reflected in the novel. The amazing nursery and the efforts the parents put in order to catch up the new technology and at the end the scary end of them by this technology. The novel also points out to a big and important disadvantage of the new technology which is the negative impact of technology on the social life and people's relationship among each other. The previous point was clear in the novel by the deadly end of the parents by their children through the misuse of technology. I think the writer was not rational and fair in describing the technology and that was due her fear from it. As we all know technology could be good or bad depending on the user. But the writer mentioned first some of the good aspects of technology but she mentioned that the end was frightening. So, if something colorful at the beginning and bad at the end , that means it is bad. Which is not a bias description for technology

" F A S T TO BE H E A L T H Y"

Ramadan is the holy month in Islam. Muslims are required to fast from dawn to sunset in the holy month. In this article I am not going to emphasize on the spiritual and religious benefits for Muslims in Ramadan rather than the medical and health benefits. " Fast to be Healthy", this is a saying from prophet Mohammed ( Peace be upon him) and he meant physical and spiritual health as well in his saying.
Many physicians conducted researches on Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan and their results amazing. Dr. Soliman, from the university hospital in Amman, Jordan is one of those physicians. He came up with amazing results:
" Dr. Soliman, from the University Hospital, Amman, Jordan (ref. 8) has reported that during the month of Ramadan 1404 AH (June-July, 1984 AD) healthy Muslim volunteers; 42 males and 26 females, ranging in age from 15-64 and 16-28 years respectively were studied.
They were weighed and their blood levels of cortisol, testosterone, Na, K, urea, glucose, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides (TG) and serum osmolality were measured at the beginning and at the end of Ramadan.
There was significant loss of weight in males form a mean of 73.8 +- 6.2 kg 72.0+- 7.1 kg (P less than 0.01) and in females from 55.2 +- 4.8 to 54.6 +- 4.2 kg (P less than 0.05).
Blood glucose levels rose in males from 77.7 +- 23.6 mg/dl to 90.2 mg/dl (P less than 0.05) and in females from 76.0 +- 7 mg/dl to 84.5 +- I 1.1 mg/dl (P less than 0.002).
All other parameters did not show significant changes.
Dr. F. Azizi and his associates (ref.9) from the University of Medical sciences, Tehran, Iran has reported the following.
Serum levels of glucose, bilirubin, calcium, phosphorous, protein, albumin, FSH, LH, testosterone, prolactin, TSH, TI, TI, and T uptake, as well as prolactin and TSH responses to TRH were evaluated in group of nine healthy men before and on the 1Oth, 20th and 29th days of Ramadan.
Mean body weight decreased from 65.4 +- 9.1 to 61.6 +- 9.0 kg at 29th day.
Serum glucose decreased from 82 +- 4 mg/dl on the 10th day, and increased thereafter (76 +- 3 and 84 +- 5 on the 20th and 29th days of fasting respectively).
Serum bilirubin increased from 0.56 +- 0.17 to 1.43 +- 52 mg/dl on the 10th day, and decreased thereafter (I. I.+- 0.4 on the 20th and 29th days.)
All Changes returned to basal values four weeks after fasting.
There were no significant changes in serum levels of Ca, P, protein, albumin, and any of measured hormones. Prolactin and TSH responses to TRH were also unaltered.
He concluded that: (1) intermittent abstinence from food and drink for 17 hours a day for 29 days does not alter male reproductive hormones, hypothalainic-pituitary-thyroid axis or peripheral metabolism of thyroid hormones and (2) physicians caring for Muslims should be aware of changes of glucose and bilirubin during Ramadan.
Therefore it is concluded from the above two studies that Islamic fasting does not cause any adverse medical effect and may have some beneficial effect on weight and lipid metabolism."

Some might ask himself, if those are the benefits of fasting, why don't we have a diet and we would get the same benefits. Dr. Soliman answers this question by saying:

" The Islamic fast, is different from the above "Diet Plans". It has beneficial features of both plans. Its unique medical benefits are due to the following factors :
I . As compared to other diet plans, in fasting during Ramadan, there is no malnutrition or inadequate calorie intake since there is no restriction on the type or amount of food intake during Iftaar or Sahar. This was confirmed by M.M.Hussaini (ref. 6) during Ramadan 1974 when he conducted dietary analysis of Muslim students at the University of North Dakota State University at Fargo. He concluded that calorie intake of Muslim students during fasting was at two thirds of NCR- RDA.
2. Fasting, in Ramadan is voluntarily undertaken. It is not a prescribed imposition from a physician. In the hypothalamus part of the brain there is a center called "lipostat" which controls the body mass. When severe and rapid weight loss is achieved by starvation diet, the center does not recognize this as normal and, therefore re-programs itself to cause weight gain rapidly once the person goes off the starvation diet. So the only effective way of losing weight is slow, self-controlled, and gradual weight loss by modifying our behavior, and the attitude about eating while eliminating excess food. Ramadan is a month of self-regulation and self-training if terms of food intake thereby causing hopefully, a permanent change in lipostat reading.
3. In Islamic fasting, we are not subjected to a diet of selective food only (i.e. protein only, fruits only etc). An carry breakfast, before dawn is taken and then at sunset fast is broken with something sweet i.e. dates, fruits, juices to warrant any hypoglycemia followed by a regular dinner later on.
4. Additional prayers are prescribed after the dinner, which helps metabolize the food. Using a calorie counter, I counted the amount of calories burnt during extra prayer called Traveeh. It amounted to 200 calories. Islamic prayer called Salat uses all the muscles and joints and can be placed in the category of a mild exercise in terms of caloric out put.
5. Ramadan fasting is actually an exercise in self discipline. For those who are a chain smoker, or nibble food constantly, or drink coffee every hour, it is a good way to break the habit, hoping that the effect will continue after the month is over.
6. Psychological effect of Ramadan fasting are also well observed by the description of people who fast. They describe a feeling of inner peace and tranquility. The prophet has advised them "If one slanders you or aggresses against you, tell them I am fasting". Thus personal hostility during the month is minimal. Crime rate in muslim countries fall during this month.
It is my experience that within the first few days of Ramadan, I begin to feel better even before losing, a singIe pound. I work more and pray more; physical stamina and mental alertness improve. As I have my own lab in the office, I usually check my chemistry, that is, blood glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride before the commencement of Ramadan and at its end. I note marked improvement at the end. As I am not overweight, thank God, weight loss is minimal. The few pounds I lose, I regain soon after. Fasting in Raniadan will be a great blessing for the overweight whether with or without mild diabetes (type II). It benefits those also who are given to smoking or nibbling. They can rid themselves of these addictions in this month."

Finally, we as Muslims fast Ramadan before we know the physical benefits form it because we believe that the order of fasting came from God, who created us, who knows what is the best for us as creatures. To read more about Dr.Soliman's article , please visit this link : " http://www.crescentlife.com/spirituality/studies_on_islamic_fasting.htm"

There are people fast and suffer from different health problems, which seems contradictory to the benefits of fasting we discovered above, for those, please visit this link : " http://www.ezsoftech.com/ramadan/ramadan13.asp"

"Hybrid vehicles"


I have come a cross this concept several times this semester when our distinguished mechanical professor Dr.Langari mentioned it occasionally. But when I searched for it in the web, I was really amazed. I didn’t expect such thing to be practical and adapted by many esteemed car companies. Let me first give you a brief idea about hybrid vehicles from the wikipedia:
“Hybrid vehicle is a vehicle using an on-board rechargeable energy storage system (RESS) and a fueled propulsion power source for vehicle propulsion. They are low-polluting and low-petroleum consuming cars. The different propulsion power systems may have common subsystems or components. They provide more miles per gallon than pure internal combustion engines because an engine is more efficient at constant revs.
The term most commonly refers to petroleum-electric hybrid vehicles, also called Hybrid-electric vehicle (HEV) which use internal combustion engines and electric batteries to power electric motors” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_vehicle)

Hybrid vehicles are friendly for the environment. Such vehicle produces much less pollution and uses less gasoline than the ordinary ones. Honda and Lexus have produced such cars which are affordable. Look at some of those:
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/hybrid_sbs_cars.shtml

Innovation & Creativity in Islam

refrence: http://www.nawawi.org/downloads/article4.pdf

Summary:


The writer Dr.Umar Farooq Abd-Allah, started his article with presenting the idea that Isalm is a reliable religion and easily understood everywhere and everytime. The writer metioned two main concepts for the "mobile idea" of Islam:
1) Bid'a (innovation)
2) Ijtihad ( critical LEGAL thinking for search for answers to new problems.

Then the writer mentioned in detail with historical proves for the correct meaning of Bid'a and the main difference between Bid'a and Ijtihad. In addition to that the writer mention the misconceptions that many muslims have nowadays about Bid'a and it is correct meaning and he proved his point of view of understanding Bid'a and the difference between it and Ijtihad by prophets sayings.


Responce:

First of all I really was impressed by the writers organization of the ideas. His introduction and the flow of ideas and explanations were amazing. His article emphasized the importance of distinguishing between Bid'a and Ijtihad. Though, I beleive that there is NO positive Bid'a as the writer mentioned. I beleive that Ijtihad is finding NEW solutions for the modern issues based on the understanding of Quran and Sunnah. For example, colonization is a modern issue and to know whether it is accepted or not in Islam, scholars have to think about it, search in Quran or Sunnah for similar things, try to compare it to something already judged by the prophet in order to say the final word in the issue. On the other hand, Bid'a is creating new things in the religious duties and ways of worshiping, so Bid'a is ALWAYS negative not positive.