Issue 52 (October - December 2005)

We started 2005 with a tsunami and continue with hurricanes. God knows what may follow Katrina, Rita, Stan . . . but in the face of all these disasters the faithful stand firm in their belief, for whenever a tragedy comes, or they suffer a problem, or a terrible accident happens, or they lose a clo…

The human being is the essence and the vital element of being, the index and core element of the universe. Human beings are at the center of creation; all other things, living or non-living, compose concentric circles around them. It could be said that the Exalted Creator has oriented every creatur…

Fasting is a school for the training of both the physical body and the soul, and it has numerous merits and benefits. However, just as with any other act of worship, Muslims observe the fast not for the benefits, but rather because they wish to totally submit to the will of God. Believers are aware…

Life is an arena where individuals can reveal the secrets hidden in their ego by interacting with the world. Marriage is a part of life that involves the interaction of two egos that are unique in nature. Egos that are resonant with each other produce actions that are also resonant. Conversely, ego…

I will start with the cliché: “man is born, grows, ages, and finally dies.” So this cycle of life is inevitable, although at different times in history the speed of this process has varied tremendously. In early times, when there was purity in nature, it is narrated that Prophet Noah lived for 950…

Muslims now constitute a significant minority in Western countries, most notably France, Britain, Germany, Canada, and the United States. Consequently, those in the West engaged in theological discourse and pastoral work can no longer consign Islam to the outer limits of their universe of religious…

In the Third Flash of his Risale-i Nur Collection, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi offers a reflection on the Sufi phrase: “The Enduring One (al-Baqi), He is the Enduring One! The Enduring One, He is the Enduring One!” (see Qur’an: 28:88). For Nursi, both segments of the phrase have a significant purpose. T…

Over since the publication of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin in 1859, his theory of natural selection has been a matter of debate. The theory claims that life on Earth began and developed by chance and all living things come from a common ancestor. Likewise, the theory claims that apes…

The Qur’an pursues the following goals: To teach humanity about the unity of God, resurrection and life after death, the messengers, worship, and justice. It does not treat these goals in a linear fashion, starting and finishing one, and then continuing with the next. Instead it interweaves them th…

Is the number and severity of floods, droughts that cause famine and deaths, forest fires, hurricanes and ice melts increasing? If there is such an increase, what is the main reason for it? Unfortunately, in accordance with rapid industrial growth after the Industrial Revolution, there has been a r…

In this path of loving, how can it possibly be That we see the world through You, and yet we don’t see You? Rumi What is the universe? The search for the answer to this fundamental question has been the starting point of philosophy and science. However, believers, mostly turn to religion for a…

Some personalities are like bamboo, very hard, very tough; they wait, they make one wait, but eventually they compensate for their slow start very quickly. For some people, accepting Islam or undertaking and accomplishing an exalted mission resembles growing bamboo. Why? We can best answer thi…

In May 2003, Roderick Mackinnon’s research group at Rockefeller University has published the three-dimensional atomic structure of a voltage-gated potassium channel. MacKinnon also received the Nobel Prize in 2003 for the first potassium channel structure How electrical signals are conducted t…

Humanity is being tested in this world. Life itself, from the beginning until the end, is full of tests that are different in shape and level of difficulty. Said Nursi has mentioned the most dangerous six categories of these pitfalls in the 29th Letter and showed the safe paths that “brings to naug…

Since the time Galileo uttered, “But still, it moves!” when he was forced to declare a stationary Earth, several centuries of scientific discoveries have shown that everything in the universe is in constant movement. Even the gigantic celestial objects, enormous masses that seem to be at a standsti…