Ramadan 2011 - The 20th Day

 

Obey Allah and His Messenger and do not quarrel among yourselves lest you lose heart and your momentum disappear. And be steadfast. Allah is with the steadfast. (Surat Al-Anfal, 46)
 

 

Conscience seeks for the attitude that pleases Allah the most

A person who heeds his conscience as commanded in the Qur’an behaves scrupulously in earning Allah’s approval.  He always thinks in the way, “How can I earn Allah’s approval at the most?” He never seeks the approval of other people or thinks about his status in their sight. He completely turns to Allah.

On the other hand, some people live religion not by using their conscience, but as their forebears have advised by tradition and custom. They perform prayers, apply the things they memorized and content themselves to these. But it is impossible to live morality of religion without using one’s conscience. Such people have chosen a life style that seems to be “appropriate to religion” only because they are used to living like this, or because they don’t want to run counter to the community they live in. Therefore, such people have the logic of not “what I can do most for Allah”, but “what I can do more to make people believe that I’m religious.”

A person who heeds his conscience thinks how to perform his every prayer and action in the best way possible. He tries to find the most of everything as much as his strength and mind allows him, in order not to let any attitude or speech of his to pose a risk in the Judgment Day. Because he knows that he is going to get return for his actions in the Hereafter. Thus Allah warns people about this:

Perform prayer and give the alms. Any good you send ahead for yourselves, you will find with Allah. Certainly Allah sees what you do. (Surat Al-Baqara, 110)

An example of a person who seeks the best and the most in every task he does can be given from the Qur’an, as with the command “to tell the best of words” among believers:

Say to My servants that they should only say the best. Satan wants  to stir up trouble between them. Satan is an outright enemy to man. (Surat Al-Isra’, 53)

Someone who is aware of this command of Allah would say the best by using his conscience. He does not tell the first thing that comes to his mind by not caring.  On the contrary, he would perform the most impressive and influential speeches, and pay special attention not to hurt or offend other people. He chooses the words with which he thinks Allah will be pleased the most, and uses his conscience as a key to doing that.

In another verse Allah divides people into three groups with respect to their devotion to religion:

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 favour. (Surah Fatir, 32)

As it is revealed in the verse, some people do not live the morality of religion. And some of them live in a middle way since they are not able to use their conscience to the fullest. So they don’t abide by all the things that their conscience tells them, but only by some of them. They may not follow their conscience when it contradicts their interests. For example, they use only some of their time for religion, when they have the means to use all of their time and means. They don’t put serious effort to spread religion and good morality among people. They see themselves as religiously sufficient, as they perform some of the prayers and abide by the rights and wrongs. However, the most conscientious way to live is to choose and perform the most righteous and beautiful behavior within the rightful set of attitudes. Allah also praises those who follow the best of the words in the Qur’an:

Those who listen well to what is said and follow the best of it, they are the ones whom Allah has guided, they are the people of intelligence. (Surat Az-Zumar, 18)

The third group is composed of those who compete to achieve a finer, better behavior, so such people follow the commands of their conscience to the most.

Further they compete to perform good deeds. They throw themselves into every service and charity work. They never wait for someone else to do the work. On the contrary they put themselves forward and demand the work. Their conscience does not accept to aim for less when they have the means to do better.

Another example of choosing the best alternative possible can be given from the Surat an-Nisa. In the Surah, Allah commands us to consign things to people who have the authority and ability about the subject:

Allah commands you to return to their owners the things you hold on trust and, when you judge between people, to judge with justice. How excellent is what Allah exhorts you to do! Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. (Surat An-Nisa’, 58)

The thing to be consigned can be a task, a responsibility or something of value that needs to be protected. For example, if the consignment in question is a piece of furniture, then to consign it to the most careful, honest and levelheaded person is the best implementation of the verse. When there is a task or responsibility to be given, the most knowledgeable, experienced person, shortly the person who can take this responsibility to the end in the best way possible must be chosen. Choosing a less talented or less knowledgeable person would mean that another interest might have been overseen. Closeness of a person in terms of blood line or gaining another interest in the future might have been considered instead of trustworthiness of the person. And this is the common course of actions in society. Relationships of interest are of priority. However, it is a command of the Qur’an to search for the best and the most right behavior in every subject.

As it is seen, conscience requires people not only to believe in Allah and to accept His existence, but also the engage in good deeds in order to earn His good pleasure and also to be very conscientious in performing these deeds. But a majority of people assume that it is sufficient to believe in the existence of Allah. Such people are revealed in some verses of the Qur’an as follows:

Say: ‘Who provides for you out of heaven and earth? Who controls hearing and sight? Who brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living? Who directs the whole affair?’ They will say, ‘Allah.’ Say, ‘So will you not guard against evil?’ That is Allah, your Lord, the Truth, and what is there after truth except misguidance? So how have you been distracted? (Surah Yunus, 31-32)

As seen in the verses above, these people believe in the existence of Allah, and even accept that Allah is the One Who gives them their livelihood, Who creates and kills them and that He is the Creator and Owner of all things. They use their conscience for that much of understanding and find it sufficient for their devotion. However, someone who uses his conscience at most can appreciate the Mightiness of Allah and so fears Him with a feeling of respect. This is a different kind of fear than the other forms of fear commonly known by people; the fear of losing the pleasure of Allah. The whole life of a person who possesses such a fear passes with the effort to earn the pleasure of our Lord. He knows no limits to getting closer to Allah. As a matter of fact, Allah gives the Prophet Abraham (pbuh) as an example in the Qur’an:

Who could have a better deen than someone who submits himself completely to Allah and is a good-doer, and follows the religion of Ibrahim, a man of pure natural belief? Allah took Ibrahim as an intimate friend. (Surat An-Nisa’,125)

A person who acts only with the guidance of his conscience makes an effort to understand and appreciate the Almighty Allah as much as he can and to become a close friend of Allah. However, since he can never be sure that he ensured the highest level of devotion or closeness, his desire and effort to achieve that continues till he dies.

So we may think about how “closeness to Allah” and “being a friend of Allah” can be achieved. And the key to that is our conscience.
 

 

Ants that produce antibiotics

Some ants and fungi species lead a symbiotic life. In their colonies, ants raise specific fungus for food and to ensure the continuity of their generations.

Scientists at the University of East Anglia have shown that fungus-farming ants are using multiple antibiotics as weed killers to maintain their fungus gardens. Research led by Dr. Matt Hutchings shows that ants use the antibiotics to inhibit the growth of unwanted fungi and bacteria in their fungus cultures which they use to feed their larvae and queen.

These antibiotics are produced by actinomycete bacteria that live on the ants in a mutual symbiosis.

Although these ants have been studied for more than 100 years this is the first demonstration that a single ant colony uses multiple antibiotics and is reminiscent of the use of multidrug therapy to treat infections in humans.
The work, which was funded by the UK Medical Research Council, has also identified a new antibiotic that could be used to treat fungal infections.

Dr. Hutchings said: “We found a new antifungal compound that is related to a clinically important antifungal named nystatin so we're excited about the potential of these ants and other insects to provide us with new antibiotics for medical use.

"It's also very exciting that ants not only engaged in agriculture before humans but also combination therapy with natural antibiotics. Humans are just starting to realise that this is one way to slow down the rise of drug resistant bacteria - the so called superbugs.”

The statement of Dr. Hutching, “Humans are just starting to realise that..” is very significant. Even human beings, upon whom Allah granted the ability to think and reason, have recently learned the existence of such an antibiotic from a tiny ant who acquired the knowledge of this compound for millions of years.

In the fossil records, our Lord shows us that ants have remained the same, with no change, for millions of years. And for millions of years these ants have maintained fungus gardens and produced antibiotics to inhibit the growth of fungi and bacteria in their fungus. 

In Surah Hud verse 56 our Lord says, “There is no creature He does not hold by the forelock. My Lord is on a Straight Path.” and relates His authority and might on every living being. And we, witnessing these glorious signs of creation in everywhere in nature, remember the Omnipotence of Allah and glorify Him.
 

Reference:
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2010/08/26/ants.found.use.multiple.antibiotics.weed.killers
 

 

Nemesis, the portent of the day of Judgment

 

 

Hazrat Mahdi (as) will be known for his wise speech that goes to the heart of matters

...Hazrat Mahdi (as) has assumed the armor of wisdom, and he is surrounded by decency, kindness, ability and foresight. Wisdom is lost in his presence, the need he always wants.

(Nahj al-Balaghah, Sermon 182)
 

 

Before The Day of Judgment arrives

 

 

The Cambrian period suffices for the refutal of the theory of evolution

Living organisms are divided into basic “kingdoms” such as plants, animals, fungu. These are in return divided into phylum. While these phylum are determined, it is considered that each one of them have their own distinctive body plans. For instance arthropodsare a phylum of its own and all living beings included in this phylum basically have similar body plans. The phylum known as Chordate, on the other hand, consists of the living beings that have a central nervous system network. All animals such as fish, birds, reptiles, mammals are included in the subphyla of Chordate, the vertebrates.

How did these living beings come into being?

Let’s first dwell on how the theory of evolution explains it. As is known the theory of evolution maintains that living beings came into being from a single ancestor and then they differentiated by slight changes. In this case living beings must have primarily come into existence by very similar and simple forms and then they must have evolved in time and diversified. That is, according to the theory of evolution, living beings must be like trees that come from a single root and then branch. Indeed this assumption is insistently stressed in Darwinist sources and the concept of “life tree” is frequently used. This is the claim of the theory of evolution. But is this the truth?

Certainly not. On the contrary, from the time animals first appeared they have possessed very different and complex structures. All animal phylum so far known in our day appeared at the same time at a geological period known as the Cambrian period. The Cambrian periodis a geological period of 10 million years with an age of 530-520 million years.In the fossil records dating back to Precambrian times there are no traces of any living beings other than single-celled organisms and a few very simple multi-celled cells. Within a very short period like the Cambrian period (10 million years is a very short period of time in the geological sense) all animal phylum appeared all of a sudden!

The fossils found in the Cambrian rocks belong to various living beings such as snails, trilobites, sponges, earthworms, jellyfish and shells. In most of the living beings that exist in this layer living beings have complex systems such as eyes, gills, blood circulation that are no different from their counterparts in our time. These structures are both very complex and very different. Philip Johnson, one of the most effective critics of Darwinism, writes that the Darwinist theory proposes that living organisms evolve in a kind of “constantly expanding triangle of diversity.” Accordingly living organisms, starting from the first living organism or first animal species, must have gradually diversified and have formed the higher categories of the biological classification. However animal fossils show us that this triangle, in fact, stands on upside-down position. That is, phylum existed all together at the first moment but then they gradually diminished.

As is also stated by Philip Johnson, let alone the gradual formation of phylum, all phylum came into existence all of a sudden and flawlessly, which, as evolutionist Futuyma also accepted, means Creation.

As is seen, all scientific data in our day render the claims of the theory of evolution invalid and display the fact of creation.
 

There is no superiority for one person over the other. Everyone is equal to the other.

Superiority comes from piety.

 

ANTELOPE SKULL

Age: 83 million years Period: Cretaceous Location: He Zheng, Gan Su, China

If evolutionist claims were true, then there should once have been a very odd creature bearing features of both the antelope and some other life form. These animals, of which there is no trace in the fossil record, should immediately be identifiable, due to their sharing characteristics belonging to two different species, and should also exhibit an example of the supposed forebear-descendent relationship claimed by evolutionists. Yet not one single such intermediate form has ever been exhibited in evolutionist publications, which are filled with countless other myths and fictitious scenarios.

That is because no such fossil exists. And that is in turn because no such life form ever existed at any time.

Like the 83-million-year-old antelope in the picture, all living things have come down to the present day in exactly the same form in which they were first created. Natural history refutes evolutionist claims.

 

 

Allah's Art Of Detail

 

It is Almighty Allah Who created all people out of nothing, Who created all of the beauty that surrounds them and all of the blessings of which they are aware or unaware. He constantly renews each of these blessings and creates the astonishing details in each one. This is Allah’s art of detail.

With His unbounded knowledge, Allah created systems that human beings cannot comprehend because they have not yet discovered their details. Inside each detail are even more delicate beauties that reveal His Greatness and Might. If He willed, He could dispose of them all. Our duty is to thank Him for these unconditional blessings, know that we need Him, and turn only to Him.

This book seeks to remind people of this important truth, which He revealed in the Qur’an.
 

 

Romanticism: a Weapon of Satan