Just got back from a smashing party in which the music was provided by a DJ called "Vision of Sound". Most songs he played were accompanied by the corresponding music videos so that when we were not dancing, we were enjoying watching the videos. It was a full evening of fun. Happy New Year to all those who visit this blogsite.
The first thing I noticed when I got on the computer was that the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day website had chosen two pictures at the same time, one for Dec 31st and the other for Jan 1st. Both pictures, IMHO, speak to events essential to life on Earth and, perhaps, elsewhere in the Universe as well:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061231.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070101.html
The first picture shows what appears to be a stream of water trickling down a mountain on rocky planet Mars, the 4th planet from the Sun(rocky planet Earth is the 3rd planet from the Sun). The second picture talks about the remnant of a supernova explosion that occured 10,000 years ago, before the dawn of recorded human history. This supernova remnant is 1400 light years, or 14 thousand trillion kilometers, away from planet Earth. When a star reaches the end of its life cycle, it usually explodes and all the elements that have been created inside that star through the process of nuclear fusion(like hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, etc) are flung accross the universe by this immense explosion. This is how our earth is thought to have received its supply of such elements, many of which are essential for life to exist on our planet. The supernova remnant is part of the Veil nebula shown in the second picture above.
The two pictures above featured in NASA's selection for New Years eve and New Years day are connected by the fact that life cannot exist on planet Earth(and likely elsewhere) without the substances and processes that they describe: The human body is made up of 70% water(consisting of elements hydrogen and oxygen) and many organic compounds consisting of differing amounts of elements carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen and a few others.
Some of the above processes are captured in the following 'ayat' of the Quran, revealed 1400 years ago to the Prophet Mohammed:
Quran, Chapter 21, Verse 30: Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together before We clove them asunder, and of water fashioned every thing? Will they not then beleive?
Science discovered these processes in the 20th century, a testament to the ingenuity of the rational intellect of man.
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4.
The God of the Quran is the One whose Ayats(Signs) are the Universe in which we live, move and have our being:Aga Khan 3
