| THE AYAT AND THE HADITH OF THE DAY |
STRIVING ONE'S UTMOST FOR ALLAH'S CONSENT
HARUN YAHYA
One who aims to behave sincerely under whichever circumstance he is faced with should "strive his utmost to obtain Allah's consent." Allah's instruction on this matter is related in the following verse:
… So compete with each other in doing good. Every one of you will return to Allah … (Surat al-Ma'ida: 48)
Another verse declares:
Then We made Our chosen servants inherit the Book. But some of them wrong themselves; some are ambivalent; and some outdo each other in good by Allah's permission. That is the great favor. (Surah Fatir: 32)
As mentioned in this verse, there are people who are "ambivalent," despite believing in Allah, and there are those who "outdo each other in good." A sincere Muslim strives to hasten in good deeds. Every moment of his life, he struggles to act in ways that please Allah. He uses all his means to become one of the pious servants of Allah.
The difference between those who are ambivalent and those who outdo each other in good could be explained as follows: One is confronted by many events during his lifetime. He is always faced with many options from which to decide how to direct his affairs, what to do when confronted with these events, and what kind of morality to adopt. The choice depends entirely on his conscience. A true believer is extremely careful and cautious of those options that are incompatible with the values of the religion. Thus, he unconditionally refuses such choices and adopts instead that behavior with which he thinks Allah is most pleased, and which will bring him closest to Allah and gain the greatest reward in Paradise. His ability to obey his conscience while making his decision is what makes him acquire sincerity. In the Qur'an, believers who became foremost in good deeds are portrayed in the following way:
Those who are filled with the fear of their Lord, those who believe in the Signs of their Lord, those who do not associate anything with their Lord, those who give what they have given, their hearts fearful of their return to their Lord-It is those who hasten to good deeds, and they outstrip [others] therein. (Surat al-Muminun: 57-61)
Even if one is faced with thousands of alternatives, it is simple for him to spot the one pleasing to Allah. This alternative is clear and evident for the one who seeks the means of approaching to Allah and perceives what happens to him with the eyes of faith. For instance, when one is forced to choose a way to spend his day, he will be faced with numerous alternatives. He may spend the entire day by being engaged in sports' activities or watching television at home. He may claim that these activities are pleasing to Allah, as sports are important to maintain health while watching television cultivates him. Surely, exercising and watching television are beneficial and important activities. However, spending an entire day at sports or watching television could not be regarded as conscientious for a true believer if he considered how irreligious trends are becoming more and more prevalent every day; defenseless women, the elderly and children are being killed in Muslim territories, merely for saying, "Our God is Allah"; battles, war and moral degeneracy are widespread. There is no doubt that telling others about the perfection of the morality of the Qur'an, and trying to be the means by which they may attain their heavenly reward in the hereafter, would instead be a more desireable activity. This is a responsibility to be assumed by each and every Muslim. All who choose this alternative will be performing a pious deed and a religious service for the sake of his life in the next world. But, apart from this, he will also be gaining a heavenly reward for conveying the religion by conforming to the provisions of the verse, as well as being the means for the salvation of others.
Allah offers the following example:
Do you make the giving of water to the pilgrims and looking after the Masjid al-Haram the same as believing in Allah and the Last Day and struggling in the Way of Allah? They are not equal in the sight of Allah. Allah does not guide wrongdoing people. Those who believe and make pilgrimage and struggle in the Way of Allah with their wealth and themselves have a higher rank with Allah. They are the ones who are victorious. (Surat at-Tawba: 19-20)
As is apparent from these verses, the giving of water to pilgrims or looking after the Sacred Mosque are also good deeds suitable for obtaining Allah's consent. However, it must be stressed that believers who limit their religious duties to these deeds, in spite of possessing other responsibilites, should not fool themselves into thinking that these deeds are sufficient. These deeds are found to be inadequate when they are compared to the acts of others who fight by sacrificing their belongings and lives for Allah's sake. It would not be sincere to prefer less commendable deeds when one thinks that there are some more in conformity with the morality of the Qur'an. This implies that he is not making full use of his conscience, that he is taking his responsibitly lightly, and that he is merely concerned with ensuring his comfort and security. However, to prefer the opportunity to gain Allah's consent to acquiring the things of this world is that which conforms to the teachings of the Qur'an. The difficulty of the deed or the degree to which it opposes one's wishes are of no importance. Such an understanding grants a true believer sincerity. Similarly, pious deeds proffer him with Allah's consent, compassion and reward in Paradise.
(For further reading see, "Sincerity Described in the Qur'an" by Harun Yahya.)
| WONDERS OF CREATION FOR THE 26th DAY |
A PERFECT DESIGN OF LEAVES: PORES
HARUN YAHYA
There is a perfect design present in every square millimeter of every leaf, an object which we usually consider, at first glance, as being ordinary, "garden variety." Pores, which are one of the essential structures of plants, are a key part of this design. These microscopic holes (pores) that exist on the leaves are responsible for facilitating the transfer of water and heat as well as obtaining carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, a gas which is necessary for photosynthesis. In addition, pores have a structure capable of opening and closing themselves when necessary.
Another interesting feature of the pores is that they are mostly located on the bottom of the leaves. In this way, the harmful effects of the sun's rays on the leaves are kept to a minimum. If the pores, which discharge the water of the plant, were densely present on the upper surface, then they would be exposed to sunlight for long periods of time. In such a case, the pores would continuously let out water in order to prevent the plant from dying of heat. Consequently, due to excessive water loss, the plant would wither away and die. Allah, Who has created everything in a perfect and complete way, created the pores as an exclusive design for plants and thus prevented them from suffering harm due to water loss.
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The pores, which are located in pairs on the surface tissue of leaves, are shaped like beans. The concave position of the opposite pores adjusts the openings of the pores that maintain the gas transmission between the leaf and the atmosphere. These openings, which are called pore openings, vary according to the conditions of the environment (light, moisture, temperature, carbon dioxide level) and the internal situation of the plant, especially regarding water. The water and gas transmission of the plant are adjusted by the pores' openings getting larger or smaller.
There are very delicate details in the structure of these pores which have been designed by taking all the effects of the outside environment into consideration. We all know that the conditions of the outside environment are subject to continuous change: the moisture and gas ratio, the temperature and the air quality… But the pores of leaves can adapt to all these factors.
This system in plants, as in other systems too, can function only if all the parts are present together. Therefore, it is definitely beyond the realm of possibility for the pores of plants to have come into being through evolutionary coincidences. Allah created the pores with their very exclusive structures, and especially designed them to serve their purposes.
You can also watch the movie >> The Miracle of Seed
You can also read the book >> The Miracle of Creation in Plants
| COLLAPSE OF THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION DAY BY DAY |
WHY IS THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION
NOT SCIENTIFICALLY VALID?
HARUN YAHYA
The theory of evolution maintains that life on Earth came about as the result of chance and emerged by itself from natural conditions. This theory is not a scientific law or a proven fact. Underneath its scientific façade it is a materialist worldview that Darwinists are trying to impose on society. The bases of this theory, which has been disproved by science in every field, are suggestions and propaganda methods consisting of deceptions, falsehood, contradiction, cheating, and sleight of hand.
The theory of evolution was put forward as an imaginary hypothesis in the context of the primitive scientific understanding of the nineteenth century, and to this day it has not been backed up by any scientific discovery or experiment. On the contrary, all the methods employed to confirm the theory have merely proven its invalidity.
However, even today many people think that the theory is a proven fact, like the force of gravity or the law of buoyancy. Because, as stated at the beginning, the true nature of the theory of evolution is very different from what is usually supposed. For this reason, some people do not know what rotten foundations this theory has, how it is disproved by science at every turn, and how evolutionists are trying to keep it alive in its death throes. Evolutionists have no other support than unconfirmed hypotheses, biased and unrealistic observations, and imaginary drawings, methods of psychological suggestion, countless falsehoods, and sleight-of-hand techniques.
Nothing was known in Darwin's time about the complex structure of the cell |
Today, such branches of science as paleontology, genetics, biochemistry, and molecular biology have proven that it is quite impossible for life to come about as a result of chance and to emerge by itself from natural conditions. The living cell, it is commonly agreed by the world of science, is the most complex structure that mankind has so far encountered. Modern science has revealed that just one living cell has a much more complex structure and mutually interconnected complicated systems than a large city. Such a complex structure can only function if all its separate parts emerge at the same time and in full working order. Otherwise, it will serve no purpose, and will fall apart over time and disappear. We cannot expect that its parts developed by chance over millions of years as claimed by the theory of evolution. For that reason, the complex design in just one cell clearly shows that God created life. (For more details, see Harun Yahya, The Miracle in the Cell)
However, those who defend materialist philosophy do not want to accept the fact of creation for various ideological reasons. That is because the existence and spread of societies living in the light of that beautiful morality that true religion offers to man by means of God's commands and prohibitions is not in these materialists' interests. Masses devoid of any spiritual and moral values suit these people far better, since they can manipulate them for their own worldly interests. For this reason, they try to impose the theory of evolution, which encourages the lie that mankind was not created but rather emerged by chance and evolved from animals, and to keep it alive at whatever costs. Despite all the clear scientific proof that destroys the theory of evolution and confirms the fact of creation, they abandon all reason and logic and defend this nonsense at every available opportunity.
It has actually been proved that it is impossible for the first living cell, or even just one of the millions of protein molecules in that cell, to have come about by chance. This has been demonstrated not only by experiments and observations, but also by mathematical calculations of probability. In other words, evolution collapses at the very first step: that of explaining the emergence of the first living cell.
Not only could the cell, the smallest unit of life, never have come about by chance in the primitive and uncontrolled conditions in the early days of the Earth, as evolutionists would have us believe, it cannot even be synthesized in the most advanced laboratories of the twentieth century. Amino acids, the building blocks of the proteins that make up the living cell, cannot of themselves build such organelles in the cell as mitochondria, ribosomes, cell membranes, or the endoplasmic reticulum, let alone a whole cell. For this reason, the claim that evolution brought about the first cell by chance remains the product of a fantasy based entirely on imagination.
The living cell, which still harbours many secrets that have not been explained, is one of the major difficulties facing the theory of evolution.
 
Examples of the complex structures in cells: Right, a ribosome where the protein synthesis takes place in the cell. Left, a "nucleosome" which packages DNA units in the chromosome. The cell contains many very complex structures and systems such as these, and even more complex ones. The realisation that these complex structures, discovered by technology as it advanced, could not have come about by chance has placed evolutionists in a dilemma they can never solve. |
Another terrible dilemma from the point of view of evolution is the DNA molecule in the nucleus of the living cell, a coding system with 3.5 billion units containing all the details of life. DNA was first discovered using X-ray crystallography in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and is a giant molecule with a superb plan and design. For many years, Francis Crick, a Nobel-prize laureate, believed in the theory of molecular evolution, but eventually even he had to admit to himself that such a complex molecule could not have emerged spontaneously by chance, as the result of an evolutionary process:
 
From the time Darwin's theory came to dominate science to the present day, paleontology has considered the theory its very basis. Despite this, however, excavations in many parts of the world have produced results that conflict with the theory instead of backing it up. Fossils show that different living groups emerged suddenly with all their features intact-in other words that they were created. |
An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that, in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle. 1
The Turkish evolutionist Professor Ali Demirsoy was forced to make the following confession on the issue:
In fact, the probability of the formation of a protein and a nucleic acid (DNA-RNA) is a probability way beyond estimating. Furthermore, the chance of the emergence of a certain protein chain is so slight as to be called astronomic. 2
Homer Jacobson, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, makes the following admission regarding how impossible it is for life to have come about by chance:
Directions for the reproduction of plans, for energy and the extraction of parts from the current environment, for the growth sequence, and for the effector mechanism translating instructions into growth-all had to be simultaneously present at that moment [when life began]. This combination of events has seemed an incredibly unlikely happenstance… 3
Twenty-five-million-year-old termites preserved in amber. They are indistinguishable from termites living in our time. |
The fossil record represents another crushing defeat for the theory of evolution. Among all the fossils discovered over the years, there is not one trace of the intermediate forms that would be necessary if living things were to have evolved stage by stage from simple species to more complex ones, as the theory of evolution claims. If such creatures had really existed, there would have been millions, even billions, of them. More importantly, the remains of these creatures should be present in the fossil record. If these intermediate forms had ever really existed, their numbers would be even greater than the number of animal species we know today, and everywhere the world should be full of their fossil remains. Evolutionists look for these intermediate forms in all the feverish fossil research that has been carried out since the nineteenth century. However, there has been no trace of these intermediate forms, despite all the eager searching for the last 150 years.
In short, the fossil record shows that living species emerged suddenly and perfectly formed, not by following a process from primitive forms to advanced ones as evolution claims.
Evolutionists have tried very hard to find evidence for their theory or so, but have actually proved by their own hand that no evolutionary process could have been possible. In conclusion, modern science reveals the following indisputable fact: Living things did not emerge as the result of blind chance, but God created them.
(For further reading, see "The collapse of the theory of evolution in 20 questions" by Harun Yahya)
1. Francis Crick, Life Itself: Its Origin and Nature, New York, Simon & Schuster, 1981, p. 88
2. Ali Demirsoy, Kalitim ve Evrim (Inheritance and Evolution), Meteksan Publishing Co., Ankara, 1984, p. 39
3. Homer Jacobson, "Information, Reproduction and the Origin of Life," American Scientist, January 1955, p. 121.
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Our aim is to help to define the concept of "international terrorism", which has been in great focus since the brutal terrorist attack against the United States of America on 11 September 2001, a day wickedness which has destroyed the lives of thousands of innocent people. It is true that the world faces a big danger called international terrorism. The executors and supporters of this evil should be brought to justice. But while searching for the ideological source of this phenomenon, it will be a great error to point to Islam. Islam does not encourage any kind of terrorism; in fact, it denounces it. Those who use terrorism in the name of Islam, in fact, have no other faculty except ignorance and hatred. The solution lies in the understanding of the true Islam and the presentation of it with effective models.
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