RAMADAN 2007 The 10th Day

Allah: there is no god but Him, the Living, the Self-Sustaining. He is not subject to drowsiness or sleep. Everything in the heavens and the earth belongs to Him. Who can intercede with Him except by His permission? He knows what is before men and what is behind them, but they can grasp only that part of His knowledge which He wills. His throne encompasses the heavens and the earth and their preservation does not tire Him. He is the Most High, the Magnificent. (Surat al-Baqara, 255)

	A person asked Allah's Messenger (saas): What is faith? He said: When a good deed becomes a source of pleasure for you and an evil deed becomes a source of disgust for you, then you are a believer. He again said Allah's Messenger (saas): What is a sin? Whereupon he said: When something pricks your conscience, give it up. (Ahmad)

SOCIAL LIFE IN THE GOLDEN AGE

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HARUN YAHYA

In the Golden Age, the arts and technology will flourish and develop to heretofore unimagined extents. In addition, social life will be markedly peaceful. Allah will present a previously unknown level of beauty to the life of people of faith who turn to His religion, for, as stated in the Qur'an, He promises good to His servants who comply with the Qur'an's morality:

Allah calls to the Abode of Peace and guides whom He wills to a straight path. Those who do good will have the best and more! Neither dust nor debasement will darken their faces. They are the Companions of Paradise, remaining in it timelessly, forever. (Surah Yunus: 25-26)

In the Golden Age, "the Abode of Peace" promised to those who "do good" will be present in its true sense. The most important element that ensures such a life will be strict adherence to the Qur'an's morality.

How will this peace and tranquility be secured?

As we know, respect, obedience, and confidence engender social peace and tranquility. In the Qur'an, obedience is featured and encouraged as an ideal moral attribute. In many verses, Allah commands Muslims to be obedient.

Consequently, the social life of a community that embodies the Qur'an's morality is simultaneously an environment in which people show the greatest respect and obedience to the state.

In addition, Allah forbids people from committing corruption. There are many verses related to this command:

Eat and drink of Allah's provision, and do not go about the land corrupting it. (Surat al-Baqara: 60)

Whenever he holds the upperhand, he goes about the land corrupting it, destroying [people's] crops and animals. Allah does not love corruption. (Surat al-Baqara: 205)

Do not corrupt the land after it has been put right. Call on Him fearfully and eagerly. Allah's mercy is close to the good-doers. (Surat al-A'raf: 56)

Give full measure and full weight. Do not diminish people's goods. Do not cause corruption in the land after it has been put right. That is better for you if you are believers. Do not lie in wait on every pathway, threatening people, barring those who believe from [entering] the Way of Allah, desiring to make it crooked. Remember when you were few and He increased your number: see the final fate of the corrupters! (Surat al-A'raf: 85-86)

But as for those who break Allah's contract after it has been agreed, sever what Allah has commanded to be joined, and cause corruption in the land, the curse will be upon them. They will have the Evil Abode. (Surat ar-Ra'd: 25)

Seek the abode of the Hereafter with what Allah has given you, without forgetting your portion of the world. And do good, as Allah has been good to you. And do not seek to cause corruption in the land. Allah does not love corrupters. (Surat al-Qasas: 77)

In compliance with these verses, sincere Muslims strictly avoid causing any corruption and instigating chaos and conflict. In a peaceful, stable, and tolerant manner, they always seek peaceful solutions to problems.

Life in the Golden Age also will be characterized by peace. People will display the trust and respect they feel for the state by obeying its agencies. People will no longer pose difficulties or fight against police or other security forces. On the contrary, with their tolerant and kind attitude, those who live by the Qur'an's morality will always side with the security forces and thereby help them to accomplish their tasks. The presence of such people will eradicate anarchy, terror, chaos, enmity, and violence. As a result, humanity will attain a Paradise-like environment, the like of which has never been seen before. Conflict, fighting, and disagreement will be things of the past. On the streets, people will feel secure and will be able to go anywhere-even at night.

Our Prophet (saas) stressed in his sayings that there will be no bloodshed in that period and that peace will prevail:

In this time, one is not awoken from sleep and not a drop of blood is shed. 1

In this time, neither a man will be awoken from sleep, nor will a person's nose bleed. 2

Moreover, the self-possessed and obedient attitude of these morally excellent people will make it easy to administer the country. The absence of such vices as greed for material values and mundane troubles (e.g., striving to make a living) will put an end to theft and fraud. Violent outbreaks will not happen, and the pursuit for truth and research will occupy people's minds. In the absence of anarchy, terror, corruption, crime, murder, fraud, and so many other evil deeds, countries will prosper.

This contemporary, civilized, and rational Islamic model, which will prevail during the Golden Age, will guide the Islamic world. The walls of bigotry surrounding Islam for centuries will collapse, and the original religion will resurface in all of its purity. Societies abiding by the Qur'an's morality will solve their internal social problems and become role models for other societies.

1) Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan, p. 11
2) Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar, p. 44

SHELTER UNDER THE SEA:
CORAL REEFS

HARUN YAHYA

Corals are creatures which live in the deep regions of tropical waters. Reefs, where many creatures live together, are formed from the limestone skeletons of dead corals cemented together by the action of coralline algae. Reefs can extend over very broad areas. Scientists compare reefs to tropical rainforests because, like rainforests, they are centers of diversity. The coral reefs are home to more than 2,000 species of fish, 5,000 species of mollusks, 700 species of corals and countless other forms of crabs, sea urchins, brittle stars, sea cucumbers and worms of different groups.

Polyps are small marine animals which live in coral reefs. Many coral polyps have symbiotic algae that live inside them. Algae contain chlorophyll and therefore, they can photosynthesize. Algae are rich in oxygen but poor in nutrients. Like all other plants, algae, too, need nitrates and phosphates. That is why it is so important for these creatures to live together. Unable to live on their own, they survive by making use of one another.The polyp provides food to the algae with its waste products.

The algae store the waste products as ammonia and then break them down into nitrogen phosphorus, which is then used for energy. The polyp also provides shelter for the algae by protecting it against predators. In return, the algae provide food to the polyps through photosynthesis. Thus, polyps obtain the energy they need to construct their limestone skeleton.

As in all other creatures that lead a symbiotic life, all the needs of both creatures, in the symbiotic life between polyp and algae, are met in the easiest way. It is apparent that Who has joined these two creatures together is a sole Creator Who is aware of the needs of them both. These creatures have been created by

Allah in a way in which they complement each other and meet each other's needs.

Allah introduces us to His endless artistry and boundless knowledge through the various creatures He has created under the sea and the matchless designs and amazing characteristics of them all. Allah reminds us of this in the Qur'an:

And also the things of varying colors He has created for you in the earth. There is certainly a Sign in that for people who pay heed. It is He who made the sea subservient to you so that you can eat fresh flesh from it and bring out from it ornaments to wear. And you see the ships cleaving through it so that you can seek His bounty, and so that hopefully you will show thanks. (Surat an-Nahl: 13-14)

You can also watch the movie >> The Splendour in the Seas

EVOLUTION DECEIT - X

HARUN YAHYA

THE SCENARIO OF HUMAN EVOLUTION

There are no mechanisms in nature to lead the living beings to evolve and that living species came into existence not as the result of an evolutionary process, but rather emerged all of a sudden in their present perfect structure. That is, they were created individually. Therefore, it is obvious that "human evolution", too, is a story that has never taken place.

What, then, do the evolutionists propose as the basis for this story?

This basis is the existence of plenty of fossils on which the evolutionists are able to build up imaginary interpretations. Throughout history, more than 6,000 ape species have lived and most of them have become extinct. Today, only 120 ape species live on the earth. These approximately 6,000 ape species, most of which are extinct, constitute a rich resource for the evolutionists.

The evolutionists wrote the scenario of human evolution by arranging some of the skulls that suited their purpose in an order from the smallest to the biggest and scattering the skulls of some extinct human races among them. According to this scenario, men and modern apes have common ancestors. These creatures evolved in time and some of them became the apes of today while another group that followed another branch of evolution became the men of today.

However, all the paleontological, anatomical and biological findings have demonstrated that this claim of evolution is as fictitious and invalid as all the others. No sound or real evidence has been put forward to prove that there is a relationship between man and ape, except forgeries, distortions, and misleading drawings and comments.

The fossil record indicates to us that throughout history, men have been men and apes have been apes. Some of the fossils the evolutionists claim to be the ancestors of man, belong to human races that lived until very recently-about 10,000 years ago-and then disappeared. Moreover, many human communities currently living have the same physical appearance and characteristics as these extinct human races, which the evolutionists claim to be the ancestors of men. All these are clear proof that man has never gone through an evolutionary process at any period in history.

The most important of all is that there are numerous anatomical differences between apes and men and none of them are of the kind to come into existence through an evolutionary process. "Bipedality" is one of them. Bipedality is peculiar to man and it is one of the most important traits that distinguishes man from other animals.

The Darwinist claim holds that modern man evolved from some kind of ape-like creature. During this alleged evolutionary process, which is supposed to have started from 4 to 5 million years ago, it is claimed that there existed some "transitional forms" between modern man and his ancestors. According to this completely imaginary scenario, the following four basic "categories" are listed:

1. Australopithecines (any of the various forms belonging to the genus Australopithecus)

2. Homo habilis

3. Homo erectus

4. Homo sapiens

Evolutionists call the genus to which the alleged ape-like ancestors of man belonged "Australopithecus", which means "southern ape". Australopithecus, which is nothing but an old type of ape that has become extinct, is found in various different forms. Some of them are larger and strongly built (robust), while others are smaller and delicate (gracile).

Evolutionists classify the next stage of human evolution as the genus Homo, that is "man". According to the evolutionist claim, the living things in the Homo series are more developed than Australopithecus, and not very much different from modern man. The modern man of our day, that is, the species Homo sapiens, is said to have formed at the latest stage of the evolution of this genus Homo.

Fossils like "Java Man", "Pekin Man", and "Lucy", which appear in the media from time to time and are to be found in evolutionist publications and textbooks, are included in one of the four groups listed above. Each of these groupings is also assumed to branch into species and sub-species, as the case may be.

Some suggested transitional forms of the past, such as Ramapithecus, had to be excluded from the imaginary human family tree after it was realised that they were ordinary apes. 1

A SINGLE JAWBONE AS A SPARK OF INSPIRATION The first Ramapithecus fossil found: a missing jaw composed of two parts. (on the left). The evolutionists daringly pictured Ramapithecus, his family and the environment they lived in, by relying only on these jawbones.

By outlining the links in the chain as "australopithecines > Homo habilis > Homo erectus > Homo sapiens", the evolutionists imply that each of these types is the ancestor of the next. However, recent findings by paleoanthropologists have revealed that australopithecines, Homo habilis and Homo erectus existed in different parts of the world at the same time. Moreover, some of those humans classified as Homo erectus probably lived up until very modern times. In an article titled "Latest Homo erectus of Java: Potential Contemporaneity with Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia", it was reported in the journal Science that Homo erectus fossils found in Java had "mean ages of 27 ± 2 to 53.3 ± 4 thousand years ago" and this "raise[s] the possibility that H. erectus overlapped in time with anatomically modern humans (H. sapiens) in Southeast Asia" 2

Furthermore, Homo sapiens neandarthalensis and Homo sapiens sapiens (modern man) also clearly co-existed. This situation apparently indicates the invalidity of the claim that one is the ancestor of the other.

Intrinsically, all findings and scientific research have revealed that the fossil record does not suggest an evolutionary process as evolutionists propose. The fossils, which evolutionists claim to be the ancestors of humans, in fact belong either to different human races, or else to species of ape.

(For further reading, see "The Evolution Deceit" by Harun Yahya)

1) David Pilbeam, "Humans Lose an Early Ancestor", Science, April 1982, pp. 6-7
2) Solly Zuckerman, Beyond The Ivory Tower, New York: Toplinger Publications, 1970, pp. 75-94

Antisemitism is a fanatical hatred felt for the Jewish people. This racist ideology has caused millions of innocent Jews to be killed, persecuted, exiled and threatened over the centuries.

Islam aims to bring justice to the world. Just as it denounces all kinds of racism, so it denounces antisemitism. Muslims criticize Zionism, but defend the right of Jews to live in peace and security.

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