Posts relating to religious doctrine: 1, 2, 3 ,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 18, 20, 22, 27, 33, 34, 35, 46, 48, 49, 50, 59, 60, 63, 64, 65, 70, 71, 72, 74, 82, 86, 95, 98, 100, 103, 106, 112, 114, 129, 133, 135, 136, 145, 163, 180, 184, 189, 190, 191, 194, 197, 200, 204, 205, 208, 213, 223, 229.
Posts relating to objects and events in nature(science): 13, 15, 16, 17, 23, 24, 25, 28, 32, 36, 40, 42, 47, 53, 54, 56, 57, 58, 66, 67, 68, 75, 79, 80, 83, 84, 87, 88, 90, 92, 94, 97, 99, 102, 107, 109, 110, 111, 115, 116, 117, 119, 120, 121, 123, 128, 130, 132, 137, 139, 140, 141, 142, 146, 147, 149, 159, 160, 164, 166, 169, 173, 175, 183, 185, 186, 187, 193, 196, 198, 199, 202, 212, 214, 218, 227.
Posts relating to both: 12, 14, 19, 21, 26, 29, 30, 31, 37, 38, 39, 41, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52, 55, 61, 62, 69, 73, 76, 77, 81, 85, 89, 91, 93, 96, 104, 105, 108, 113, 118, 122, 124, 126, 127, 131, 134, 144, 148, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 161, 162, 167, 168, 170, 176, 177, 178, 179, 181, 182, 188, 192, 195, 201, 203, 206, 207, 209, 210, 217, 219, 220, 221, 222, 224, 225, 226, 228, 230.
Posts relating to neither: 78, 101, 125, 138, 171, 172, 174, 211, 215, 216, 229.
Special collections of posts:
A)Ayats(Signs) in the Universe Series: 19, 29, 31, 38, 39, 41, 127, 229.
B)Posts relating specifically to the subject of Astronomy: 23, 24, 25, 28, 32, 36, 42, 47, 56, 57, 58, 66, 67, 75, 83, 84, 85, 90, 92, 94, 99, 102, 107, 109, 110, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 123, 128, 130, 132, 134, 137, 139, 140, 141, 142, 151, 159, 161, 164, 165, 166, 169, 185, 186, 187, 202, 225.
C)Posts relating to individual scientists, philosophers, cosmologists and poets, both inside and outside the Islamic tradition: 1, 11, 16, 20, 26, 27, 43, 44, 48, 55, 56, 57, 104, 108, 128, 130, 135, 150, 157, 158, 162, 178, 192, 210, 218, 219, 221, 224, 227.
D)Posts relating to my China Series: 171, 172, 174, 229.
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005
Sunday, July 29, 2007
229)Summer holiday housekeeping on the easynash blogsite.
1)To start of with let me first recommend my readership to the Ismailiworld blogsite(click the link on the upper right hand corner on my blogsite), where they have uploaded some really beautiful and joyous pictures of Golden Jubilee celebrations in cities in Asia, Africa and London, U.K:
http://www.ismailiworld.blogspot.com/
2)On the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy website is a good short article on Nasir Khusraw written by Alice Hunsberger, the author of an authoritative book on Nasir Khusraw "The Ruby of Badakhshan". Its worth a read, IMHO:
http://www.iep.utm.edu/k/khusraw.htm
3)The Ismaili Mail website, as usual, has an excellent array of articles, many still Golden Jubilee-related but also those relating to other programs and personalities. I commented on two in particular that caught my attention:
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/25/proclamation-from-the-province-of-british-columbia-year-of-celebration-of-the-golden-jubilee-of-the-imamat-of-his-highness-the-aga-khan-iv/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/22/an-uplifting-happy-faith/#comment-13123
4)Over on Jalaledin's blog is a new post entitled "Broad Psychological Themes of Al-Fatiha" in which Jalaledin asks his readership to participate in some research towards his doctoral dissertation in Psychology:
http://www.jalaledin.blogspot.com/
5)I have introduced to my Suggested Links section a new link called Quran Miracles, which I came accross accidently while surfing the Discover Magazine website. Its a great resource and I particularly enjoy the fact that it lists Quranic verses that generally describe many events in nature which could never have been elaborated by the rational intellect of man in the 7th century. In fact most of these ayats or signs in nature were only uncovered by the rational intellect of man during the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries:
http://www.quranmiracles.com/
6)I, once again, recently had breakfast with my good friend Bryan at the new and refurbished Le Baguette restaurant in the new and refurbished Fairview Mall at the intersection of Don Mills and Sheppard Avenues, North York, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This regular rendezvous has been immortalised in my earlier post:
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/01/101the-joys-of-friendship-and-focussing.html
After breakfast we visited the newly opened Food Court on the lower level and nodded our approval at this new locus of nourishment and revelry.
7)My travel buddy and I are going on a ROAD TRIP!!!!We hope to combine a search for both historical as well as the most famous and beloved natural landmarks in Canada and the U.S.A. These would include landmarks on the world famous Route 66, like the "Land of Lincoln" in Springfield, Missouri, "Tinkertown" in New Mexico, "London Bridge" in Arizona, "The Hollywood Forever Cemetery" in California and perhaps Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Natural wonders would include the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, Montana and Alberta; the Grand Canyon in Arizona which demonstrates how a river of water and its tributaries(the Colorado River), given one or two or even a thousand human lifetimes, will flow lazily and uneventfully back to its ocean but, given one or two or a few million years, will slice through the thickest granite rock and hard ground like a hot knife through butter; the breathtaking drive up Highway 1 on California's Pacific Coast all the way up to the Mt. St. Helens volcano(remember 1980!) in Washington State, not forgetting the places in Napa Valley and Oregon where elixir is squeezed out of grapes; Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming which, should its steaming geysers ever explode above its hot spot source deep under it(heaven forbid), will force all surviving life in the Northern Hemisphere to move down into the Southern Hemisphere of dynamic yet fragile planet Earth(hello again, Pretoria!); Glacier National Park straddling Montana and Alberta; The sprawling, flat wheatfields of the Prairie Provinces, Canada's breadbasket; And the quarter million lakes of Ontario, my home Province.
8)I'm also mulling two new posts over the next little while. One is post no. 8 in my Ayats(Signs) in the Universe series, the other is post no. 4 in my China series. The former post reflects my fascination with the numerous cycles that abound in nature, such as the Water Cycle, the Atmospheric Cycle and the Rock Cycle and their possible relation to other, more profound cycles such as the one described in the last section of this article:
http://www.iep.utm.edu/i/ismaili.htm
The latter post plans to be a summary of a recent trip my wife and I took along the ancient and fabled Silk Route of mid to western China along with a few key bustling cities in the eastern part of the country. This information might be of some use to anyone who is planning a trip to China for next year's Beijing Olympic Games(2008).
Regarding my first seven posts in the Ayats(Signs) in the Universe series and my first three posts in the China series, they can be accessed here:
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/02/127no-7-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/ayatssigns-in-universe-series-no-6.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/ayatssigns-in-universe-series-no-5.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/ayatssigns-in-universe-series-no-4.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/ayatssigns-in-universe-series-no-3.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/ayatssigns-in-universe-series-no-2.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/ayatssigns-in-universe-series-no-1.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/05/174china-series-no-3coming-face-to-face.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/05/172china-series-no-2-my-comments-to.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/05/171seek-knowledge-even-in-china-my.html
easynash
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
http://www.ismailiworld.blogspot.com/
2)On the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy website is a good short article on Nasir Khusraw written by Alice Hunsberger, the author of an authoritative book on Nasir Khusraw "The Ruby of Badakhshan". Its worth a read, IMHO:
http://www.iep.utm.edu/k/khusraw.htm
3)The Ismaili Mail website, as usual, has an excellent array of articles, many still Golden Jubilee-related but also those relating to other programs and personalities. I commented on two in particular that caught my attention:
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/25/proclamation-from-the-province-of-british-columbia-year-of-celebration-of-the-golden-jubilee-of-the-imamat-of-his-highness-the-aga-khan-iv/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/22/an-uplifting-happy-faith/#comment-13123
4)Over on Jalaledin's blog is a new post entitled "Broad Psychological Themes of Al-Fatiha" in which Jalaledin asks his readership to participate in some research towards his doctoral dissertation in Psychology:
http://www.jalaledin.blogspot.com/
5)I have introduced to my Suggested Links section a new link called Quran Miracles, which I came accross accidently while surfing the Discover Magazine website. Its a great resource and I particularly enjoy the fact that it lists Quranic verses that generally describe many events in nature which could never have been elaborated by the rational intellect of man in the 7th century. In fact most of these ayats or signs in nature were only uncovered by the rational intellect of man during the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries:
http://www.quranmiracles.com/
6)I, once again, recently had breakfast with my good friend Bryan at the new and refurbished Le Baguette restaurant in the new and refurbished Fairview Mall at the intersection of Don Mills and Sheppard Avenues, North York, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This regular rendezvous has been immortalised in my earlier post:
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/01/101the-joys-of-friendship-and-focussing.html
After breakfast we visited the newly opened Food Court on the lower level and nodded our approval at this new locus of nourishment and revelry.
7)My travel buddy and I are going on a ROAD TRIP!!!!We hope to combine a search for both historical as well as the most famous and beloved natural landmarks in Canada and the U.S.A. These would include landmarks on the world famous Route 66, like the "Land of Lincoln" in Springfield, Missouri, "Tinkertown" in New Mexico, "London Bridge" in Arizona, "The Hollywood Forever Cemetery" in California and perhaps Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Natural wonders would include the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, Montana and Alberta; the Grand Canyon in Arizona which demonstrates how a river of water and its tributaries(the Colorado River), given one or two or even a thousand human lifetimes, will flow lazily and uneventfully back to its ocean but, given one or two or a few million years, will slice through the thickest granite rock and hard ground like a hot knife through butter; the breathtaking drive up Highway 1 on California's Pacific Coast all the way up to the Mt. St. Helens volcano(remember 1980!) in Washington State, not forgetting the places in Napa Valley and Oregon where elixir is squeezed out of grapes; Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming which, should its steaming geysers ever explode above its hot spot source deep under it(heaven forbid), will force all surviving life in the Northern Hemisphere to move down into the Southern Hemisphere of dynamic yet fragile planet Earth(hello again, Pretoria!); Glacier National Park straddling Montana and Alberta; The sprawling, flat wheatfields of the Prairie Provinces, Canada's breadbasket; And the quarter million lakes of Ontario, my home Province.
8)I'm also mulling two new posts over the next little while. One is post no. 8 in my Ayats(Signs) in the Universe series, the other is post no. 4 in my China series. The former post reflects my fascination with the numerous cycles that abound in nature, such as the Water Cycle, the Atmospheric Cycle and the Rock Cycle and their possible relation to other, more profound cycles such as the one described in the last section of this article:
http://www.iep.utm.edu/i/ismaili.htm
The latter post plans to be a summary of a recent trip my wife and I took along the ancient and fabled Silk Route of mid to western China along with a few key bustling cities in the eastern part of the country. This information might be of some use to anyone who is planning a trip to China for next year's Beijing Olympic Games(2008).
Regarding my first seven posts in the Ayats(Signs) in the Universe series and my first three posts in the China series, they can be accessed here:
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/02/127no-7-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/ayatssigns-in-universe-series-no-6.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/ayatssigns-in-universe-series-no-5.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/ayatssigns-in-universe-series-no-4.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/ayatssigns-in-universe-series-no-3.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/ayatssigns-in-universe-series-no-2.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/ayatssigns-in-universe-series-no-1.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/05/174china-series-no-3coming-face-to-face.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/05/172china-series-no-2-my-comments-to.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/05/171seek-knowledge-even-in-china-my.html
easynash
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
Friday, July 27, 2007
228)Tussle between 'easynash' and the dude 'truthmostimportant'.
This happens so rarely I feel I have to blog about it whenever it does. Over on the F.I.E.L.D. Ismaili Heritage website in the Forums section, a dude called 'truthmostimportant' made the following comment to me:
dear brother,
I am new to this forum, but I was surprised to find that you can spam here all you want without anybody stopping you, or advertise your blog I will do it too once I have a blog.
I want to ask a very basic question, I am not as well read as you, so appreciate if you can answer in simple English.
"known scientific facts" change every day, do u think it is wise to place ones beleif on such things which are changing constantly...for example for quite sometime newtons laws of gravity were assumed to be definitive until einstein challanged them - this is just one example.
If you say Quran is consistent with lets say how sience describles the earths atmosphere. what will happen if scientiets discover another layer, will you say Quran is not valid or will you look again for a Ayat to match the new scientific "fact".
I responded as follows:
I do not beleive in the kind of rigidity that you describe, where one or two particular facts recently discovered may match a particular verse or two in the Quran. I much prefer a fluid and general approach and have talked and quoted about it extensively in my blog, for example, just to give you a few samples to demonstrate the solid doctrinal basis for the link between the study of science and religion in Islam and, in particular, Ismailism:
Education has been important to my family for a long time. My forefathers founded al-Azhar University in Cairo some 1000 years ago, at the time of the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt. Discovery of knowledge was seen by those founders as an embodiment of religious faith, and faith as reinforced by knowledge of workings of the Creator's physical world.
(Aga Khan IV, Speech,1994, Cambridge, Massachusets, U.S.A.)
In this context, would it not also be relevant to consider how, above all, it has been the Qur'anic notion of the universe as an expression of Allah's will and creation that has inspired, in diverse Muslim communities, generations of artists, scientists and philosophers? Scientific pursuits, philosophic inquiry and artistic endeavour are all seen as the response of the faithful to the recurring call of the Qur'an to ponder the creation as a way to understand Allah's benevolent majesty. As Sura al-Baqara proclaims: 'Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah'.
(Aga Khan IV,Speech, 2003, London, U.K.)
Quote from a letter written by Our 48th Imam to a friend in 1952 under the title: "What have we forgotten in Islam?":
Islam is fundamentally in its very nature a natural religion. Throughout the Quran God's signs (Ayats) are referred to as the natural phenomenon, the law and order of the universe, the exactitudes and consequences of the relations between natural phenomenon in cause and effect. Alas, Islam which is a natural religion in which God's miracles are the very law and order of nature drifted away and is still drifting away, even in Pakistan, from science which is the study of those very laws and orders of nature.……Islam is a natural religion of which the Ayats are the universe in which we live and move and have our being………..The God of the Quran is the one whose Ayats are the universe……
(Aga Khan III, 1952)
Indeed, one strength of Islam has always lain in its belief that creation is not static but continuous, that through scientific and other endeavours, God has opened and continues to open new windows for us to see the marvels of His creation.
(Aga Khan IV,Speech, 16 March 1983, Karachi, Pakistan)
There are many more examples as expositioned by those who mean the most to us, namely, our Imams, our Prophet and others. I refer you to the following posts:
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/213the-creation-according-to-prophet.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/208selected-speech-excerpts-of-aga-khan.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/02/129quotes-of-aga-khan-4-consolidated.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/02/133timeless-sayings-of-aga-khan-iii.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/what-have-we-forgotten-in-islam-aga.html
Regarding being able to blog at will, since you are new to this forum, a little bit of a history lesson is in order here. I actually began to write on this topic, "The Link between Science and Religion in Islam" on this Forum in March 2006 and only converted it into a personal blog on Google Blogger in December 2006. Regarding your reference to spam, I'm not sure I understand what you are talking about. I hope I have explained myself in English simple enough for you.
Should you decide to start a like-minded blog please let me know and I will be sure to link to it.
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
dear brother,
I am new to this forum, but I was surprised to find that you can spam here all you want without anybody stopping you, or advertise your blog I will do it too once I have a blog.
I want to ask a very basic question, I am not as well read as you, so appreciate if you can answer in simple English.
"known scientific facts" change every day, do u think it is wise to place ones beleif on such things which are changing constantly...for example for quite sometime newtons laws of gravity were assumed to be definitive until einstein challanged them - this is just one example.
If you say Quran is consistent with lets say how sience describles the earths atmosphere. what will happen if scientiets discover another layer, will you say Quran is not valid or will you look again for a Ayat to match the new scientific "fact".
I responded as follows:
I do not beleive in the kind of rigidity that you describe, where one or two particular facts recently discovered may match a particular verse or two in the Quran. I much prefer a fluid and general approach and have talked and quoted about it extensively in my blog, for example, just to give you a few samples to demonstrate the solid doctrinal basis for the link between the study of science and religion in Islam and, in particular, Ismailism:
Education has been important to my family for a long time. My forefathers founded al-Azhar University in Cairo some 1000 years ago, at the time of the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt. Discovery of knowledge was seen by those founders as an embodiment of religious faith, and faith as reinforced by knowledge of workings of the Creator's physical world.
(Aga Khan IV, Speech,1994, Cambridge, Massachusets, U.S.A.)
In this context, would it not also be relevant to consider how, above all, it has been the Qur'anic notion of the universe as an expression of Allah's will and creation that has inspired, in diverse Muslim communities, generations of artists, scientists and philosophers? Scientific pursuits, philosophic inquiry and artistic endeavour are all seen as the response of the faithful to the recurring call of the Qur'an to ponder the creation as a way to understand Allah's benevolent majesty. As Sura al-Baqara proclaims: 'Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah'.
(Aga Khan IV,Speech, 2003, London, U.K.)
Quote from a letter written by Our 48th Imam to a friend in 1952 under the title: "What have we forgotten in Islam?":
Islam is fundamentally in its very nature a natural religion. Throughout the Quran God's signs (Ayats) are referred to as the natural phenomenon, the law and order of the universe, the exactitudes and consequences of the relations between natural phenomenon in cause and effect. Alas, Islam which is a natural religion in which God's miracles are the very law and order of nature drifted away and is still drifting away, even in Pakistan, from science which is the study of those very laws and orders of nature.……Islam is a natural religion of which the Ayats are the universe in which we live and move and have our being………..The God of the Quran is the one whose Ayats are the universe……
(Aga Khan III, 1952)
Indeed, one strength of Islam has always lain in its belief that creation is not static but continuous, that through scientific and other endeavours, God has opened and continues to open new windows for us to see the marvels of His creation.
(Aga Khan IV,Speech, 16 March 1983, Karachi, Pakistan)
There are many more examples as expositioned by those who mean the most to us, namely, our Imams, our Prophet and others. I refer you to the following posts:
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/213the-creation-according-to-prophet.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/208selected-speech-excerpts-of-aga-khan.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/02/129quotes-of-aga-khan-4-consolidated.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/02/133timeless-sayings-of-aga-khan-iii.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/what-have-we-forgotten-in-islam-aga.html
Regarding being able to blog at will, since you are new to this forum, a little bit of a history lesson is in order here. I actually began to write on this topic, "The Link between Science and Religion in Islam" on this Forum in March 2006 and only converted it into a personal blog on Google Blogger in December 2006. Regarding your reference to spam, I'm not sure I understand what you are talking about. I hope I have explained myself in English simple enough for you.
Should you decide to start a like-minded blog please let me know and I will be sure to link to it.
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
Thursday, July 26, 2007
227)One journalist's opinion on the 7 most exciting moments in Science.
The 7 Most Exciting Moments in Science
Hint: Newton and Archimedes didn't make it.
by Brittany Grayson
From Discover Magazine
One of science’s most well loved stories is that of Archimedes, fresh from discovering the principle of buoyancy during a bath, running naked through the streets of Syracuse yelling “Eureka!” (“I have found it!”) Unfortunately, the story, told for the first time two centuries after Archimedes’ death, is hogwash. Myths like this one sometimes make it seem that science moves along in a series of epiphanies, hopping from one transcendent moment to another.
In reality, science generally pushes forward with all the alacrity of tectonic plates, painstakingly testing and disproving theories until new laws emerge. But sometimes, very rarely, science really does take a great leap forward. Here are the seven most exciting and important moments in the entire history of science:
7) Scientists worked like mad at the turn of the 20th century trying to determine how nerve cells transmit messages. Otto Loewi had heard of an obscure theory that they communicated by releasing pulses of chemicals, but hadn’t thought about it for decades until one night in 1920. He dreamed of an experiment involving the still-beating hearts of frogs that would test this theory. He woke up, took copious notes, and returned blissfully to sleep. In the morning, he found the notes illegible, the insight vanished. Fortunately, the dream made a repeat appearance the next night, and this time Loewi sprang out of bed and rushed to the laboratory to begin the experiments that helped confirm the chemical transmission of nerve impulses.
6)Young René Descartes was a sickly child. To shore up his health, he was allowed to sleep until 11 o’clock every morning, a habit he maintained throughout his adult life. During one of these mornings abed, Descartes watched a fly flit across the ceiling. He realized he could describe the fly’s movements and its location by measuring its distance from two perpendicular walls. A formalized version of this fly-tracking technique became the Cartesian coordinate system of perpendicular lines and planes.
5) The direct current generator that ran the first power plant in the 1870s blinded the world with science, but Nikola Tesla remained underwhelmed: It was inefficient and broke down easily. While strolling through a Budapest park in 1882 as the sun was sinking, Tesla pondered this dilemma. He recited a stanza from his favorite play, Faust, in which a scientist trades his soul for knowledge. Tesla’s prodigious brain, possibly desperate to find a new topic, conjured up the design for a reliable and efficient alternating current motor. Tesla started sketching plans with a stick for the benefit of his walking partner.
4) Long before we had the Hubble Telescope, astronomers were puzzled about the nature of nebulae: odd, faint stars that sometimes looked like spirals. Some scientists, proponents of the island universe theory, suggested they were galaxies—distinct clusters of stars—millions of light-years away. Opponents claimed they must be some new sort of star within our own galaxy. Edwin Hubble solved the entire puzzle from a California hilltop in 1923. He examined a famous smudge of light named Andromeda, and noticed that it resolved to a cluster of discrete stars, proving the existence of galaxies other than the Milky Way.
3) Robert Hooke contributed to fields as diverse as astronomy, architecture, paleontology, and physics, but his most important accomplishment was in biology. In 1665, he built his own compound microscope and began exploring. When he peered through its lenses at a thin slice of corkwood, he saw infinitesimal rectangles that reminded him of monks’ cells. Hooke thereby discovered biological cells, the fundamental unit of all organisms.
2) In 1896, physicist Henri Becquerel was fascinated by the recently discovered X-ray. He thought that naturally fluorescent minerals produced X-rays after prolonged exposure to sunlight. To test his theory, he let mineral samples soak up the sun and then wrapped them in black cloth with a photographic plate, expecting the resulting X-rays to create weak images. On a February day too overcast to work, Becquerel wrapped up a plate with a sample of uranium and left it in a drawer for the next few days. By the time he opened the bundle, the uranium had burned its own image on the film, as clear as if it had been exposed to bright sunlight. Something in the rock released more energy than weak phosphorescence could explain. Upon further investigation, he and Marie and Pierre Curie discovered that that something was radioactivity.
1) In 1928, Alexander Fleming had the archetypal eureka moment—and unlike the tale of Archimedes, this one’s true. Believing that there was a substance in snot that worked as an antibiotic, he smeared a set of Petri dishes with bacteria and his own special Fleming phlegm, and left the dishes while he took a two-week vacation. When he returned, the mucus had not killed any of the bacteria, but mold had drifted in from a nearby lab and contaminated one dish. All the bacteria close to the mold were dead. Closer examination of the mold showed that it was producing a chemical—penicillin—that killed the bacteria.
As with any top-whatever list, picking the best eureka moments is a judgment call; from where we’re sitting it seems that Fleming’s discovery was truly a momentous event, that Newton probably didn’t get pelted in the head with an apple, and that Descartes most likely did lie in bed and watch flies (it was, after all, the 17th century).
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
Hint: Newton and Archimedes didn't make it.
by Brittany Grayson
From Discover Magazine
One of science’s most well loved stories is that of Archimedes, fresh from discovering the principle of buoyancy during a bath, running naked through the streets of Syracuse yelling “Eureka!” (“I have found it!”) Unfortunately, the story, told for the first time two centuries after Archimedes’ death, is hogwash. Myths like this one sometimes make it seem that science moves along in a series of epiphanies, hopping from one transcendent moment to another.
In reality, science generally pushes forward with all the alacrity of tectonic plates, painstakingly testing and disproving theories until new laws emerge. But sometimes, very rarely, science really does take a great leap forward. Here are the seven most exciting and important moments in the entire history of science:
7) Scientists worked like mad at the turn of the 20th century trying to determine how nerve cells transmit messages. Otto Loewi had heard of an obscure theory that they communicated by releasing pulses of chemicals, but hadn’t thought about it for decades until one night in 1920. He dreamed of an experiment involving the still-beating hearts of frogs that would test this theory. He woke up, took copious notes, and returned blissfully to sleep. In the morning, he found the notes illegible, the insight vanished. Fortunately, the dream made a repeat appearance the next night, and this time Loewi sprang out of bed and rushed to the laboratory to begin the experiments that helped confirm the chemical transmission of nerve impulses.
6)Young René Descartes was a sickly child. To shore up his health, he was allowed to sleep until 11 o’clock every morning, a habit he maintained throughout his adult life. During one of these mornings abed, Descartes watched a fly flit across the ceiling. He realized he could describe the fly’s movements and its location by measuring its distance from two perpendicular walls. A formalized version of this fly-tracking technique became the Cartesian coordinate system of perpendicular lines and planes.
5) The direct current generator that ran the first power plant in the 1870s blinded the world with science, but Nikola Tesla remained underwhelmed: It was inefficient and broke down easily. While strolling through a Budapest park in 1882 as the sun was sinking, Tesla pondered this dilemma. He recited a stanza from his favorite play, Faust, in which a scientist trades his soul for knowledge. Tesla’s prodigious brain, possibly desperate to find a new topic, conjured up the design for a reliable and efficient alternating current motor. Tesla started sketching plans with a stick for the benefit of his walking partner.
4) Long before we had the Hubble Telescope, astronomers were puzzled about the nature of nebulae: odd, faint stars that sometimes looked like spirals. Some scientists, proponents of the island universe theory, suggested they were galaxies—distinct clusters of stars—millions of light-years away. Opponents claimed they must be some new sort of star within our own galaxy. Edwin Hubble solved the entire puzzle from a California hilltop in 1923. He examined a famous smudge of light named Andromeda, and noticed that it resolved to a cluster of discrete stars, proving the existence of galaxies other than the Milky Way.
3) Robert Hooke contributed to fields as diverse as astronomy, architecture, paleontology, and physics, but his most important accomplishment was in biology. In 1665, he built his own compound microscope and began exploring. When he peered through its lenses at a thin slice of corkwood, he saw infinitesimal rectangles that reminded him of monks’ cells. Hooke thereby discovered biological cells, the fundamental unit of all organisms.
2) In 1896, physicist Henri Becquerel was fascinated by the recently discovered X-ray. He thought that naturally fluorescent minerals produced X-rays after prolonged exposure to sunlight. To test his theory, he let mineral samples soak up the sun and then wrapped them in black cloth with a photographic plate, expecting the resulting X-rays to create weak images. On a February day too overcast to work, Becquerel wrapped up a plate with a sample of uranium and left it in a drawer for the next few days. By the time he opened the bundle, the uranium had burned its own image on the film, as clear as if it had been exposed to bright sunlight. Something in the rock released more energy than weak phosphorescence could explain. Upon further investigation, he and Marie and Pierre Curie discovered that that something was radioactivity.
1) In 1928, Alexander Fleming had the archetypal eureka moment—and unlike the tale of Archimedes, this one’s true. Believing that there was a substance in snot that worked as an antibiotic, he smeared a set of Petri dishes with bacteria and his own special Fleming phlegm, and left the dishes while he took a two-week vacation. When he returned, the mucus had not killed any of the bacteria, but mold had drifted in from a nearby lab and contaminated one dish. All the bacteria close to the mold were dead. Closer examination of the mold showed that it was producing a chemical—penicillin—that killed the bacteria.
As with any top-whatever list, picking the best eureka moments is a judgment call; from where we’re sitting it seems that Fleming’s discovery was truly a momentous event, that Newton probably didn’t get pelted in the head with an apple, and that Descartes most likely did lie in bed and watch flies (it was, after all, the 17th century).
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
226)"Seek knowledge, even in China"; "Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave"(Prophet Muhammad)
1)Glowing testimonials about the Teaching Company.
2)An excellent way to accumulate knowledge for those interested in lifelong learning.
3)Very much in keeping with the Ismaili Muslim ethos of seeking knowledge wherever one can find it:
http://www.teach12.com/teach12.asp
Testimonials
“When we find a master teacher… we should indeed, as the Teaching Company does, distribute the fruits of their labor widely and preserve them for posterity. This is the vision of the Teaching Company's ‘Great Courses’ series.”
Chris Armstrong, Managing Editor, Christianity Today
"A dream come true for the lifelong learner, The Teaching Company's The Great Courses series features a semester's or more worth of lectures in hundreds of disciplines by some of the country's leading scholars."
Video Librarian
"If you always wanted to attend Harvard, Yale or Princeton... The Teaching Company... offers Ivy League entry without the tedious application process, the astronomical fees, the undesired required courses or the pressure of final exams."
The International Herald Tribune
"Whether they're commuting to work or hammering out miles on the treadmill, people have made these digital professors part of the fabric of their lives."
Christian Science Monitor
"The Teaching Company's catalogs are a four-star menu for adults still hungry to learn."
Harvard Law Bulletin
"I've never made a secret of the fact that I consider the products from The Teaching Company to be the best value in college level education today."
Harold McFarland, Regional Editor, Midwest Book Review
"The Teaching Company... has become a force in adult education by distributing lectures by professors from some of the nation's leading universities."
The New York Times
"The professors can be outrageous, funny, controversial and challenging. They make you think, and sometimes make you argue with them, but they are rarely dull. They might even convince you to learn more, study deeper and buy more books. All that with no tests and no grades."
Austin American-Statesman
"Pure intellectual stimulation that can be popped into the [video or audio player] anytime."
Harvard Magazine
"One could devote a lifetime to the lectures from The Teaching Company, and it would be a life well spent."
AudioFile® magazine
"The Teaching Co... does not believe in the dumb-and-dumber theory of American taste, a company that competes for people's leisure time by asking them to reach up, rather than stooping down…."
Chicago Tribune
"A way to extend an educational experience usually restricted to the young and privileged to a mass market of mostly adult 'lifelong learners.' "
Anchorage Daily News
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
2)An excellent way to accumulate knowledge for those interested in lifelong learning.
3)Very much in keeping with the Ismaili Muslim ethos of seeking knowledge wherever one can find it:
http://www.teach12.com/teach12.asp
Testimonials
“When we find a master teacher… we should indeed, as the Teaching Company does, distribute the fruits of their labor widely and preserve them for posterity. This is the vision of the Teaching Company's ‘Great Courses’ series.”
Chris Armstrong, Managing Editor, Christianity Today
"A dream come true for the lifelong learner, The Teaching Company's The Great Courses series features a semester's or more worth of lectures in hundreds of disciplines by some of the country's leading scholars."
Video Librarian
"If you always wanted to attend Harvard, Yale or Princeton... The Teaching Company... offers Ivy League entry without the tedious application process, the astronomical fees, the undesired required courses or the pressure of final exams."
The International Herald Tribune
"Whether they're commuting to work or hammering out miles on the treadmill, people have made these digital professors part of the fabric of their lives."
Christian Science Monitor
"The Teaching Company's catalogs are a four-star menu for adults still hungry to learn."
Harvard Law Bulletin
"I've never made a secret of the fact that I consider the products from The Teaching Company to be the best value in college level education today."
Harold McFarland, Regional Editor, Midwest Book Review
"The Teaching Company... has become a force in adult education by distributing lectures by professors from some of the nation's leading universities."
The New York Times
"The professors can be outrageous, funny, controversial and challenging. They make you think, and sometimes make you argue with them, but they are rarely dull. They might even convince you to learn more, study deeper and buy more books. All that with no tests and no grades."
Austin American-Statesman
"Pure intellectual stimulation that can be popped into the [video or audio player] anytime."
Harvard Magazine
"One could devote a lifetime to the lectures from The Teaching Company, and it would be a life well spent."
AudioFile® magazine
"The Teaching Co... does not believe in the dumb-and-dumber theory of American taste, a company that competes for people's leisure time by asking them to reach up, rather than stooping down…."
Chicago Tribune
"A way to extend an educational experience usually restricted to the young and privileged to a mass market of mostly adult 'lifelong learners.' "
Anchorage Daily News
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
Sunday, July 22, 2007
225)Relative to the rest of the Cosmos, calling planet Earth miniscule is a gross overstatement; its more like an invisible, submicroscopic pinpoint.
Recent pictures from NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day Website:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070721.html
In the above picture of the Andromeda galaxy, the largest galaxy next to our own Milky Way galaxy, the caption below the picture says:
"The data confirm that Andromeda (aka M31) houses around 1 trillion stars, compared to 4 hundred billion for the Milky Way."
Our sun is a medium-sized star with 8 planets(of which our planet Earth is one of the smallest) and many other smaller objects orbiting around it. There are 400 billion stars like our sun in our Milky Way galaxy and the galaxy right next door to us, the Andromeda galaxy, has 1 trillion such stars in it. Thats just the beginning of it! Research using the Hubble Space Telescope has allowed people in the know to estimate that there are at least 500 billion galaxies like Andromeda and Milky Way strewn accross the Universe: "If you think of this Universe, He is above this Universe; if you think of a thousand other Universes, He is above a thousand other Universes.....". Where have I heard this before?
Other pictures, taken by astrophotographers from around the world:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070724.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070719.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070716.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070715.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070714.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070712.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070718.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070706.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070629.html
Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah, Aga Khan III, said:
"Allah alone wishes: the Universe exists; and all manifestations are as a witness of the Divine will"(Memoirs, 1954)
He goes on to elaborate in the same chapter on Islam in his Memoirs:
"Consider, for example, the opening declaration of every Islamic prayer: "Allah-o-Akbar". What does that mean? There can be no doubt that the second word of the declaration likens the character of Allah to a matrix which contains all and gives existence to the infinite, to space, to time, to the Universe, to all active and passive forces imaginable, to life and to the soul. Imam Hassan has explained the Islamic doctrine of God and the Universe by analogy with the sun and its reflection in the pool of a fountain; there is certainly a reflection or image of the sun, but with what poverty and with what little reality; how small and pale is the likeness between this impalpable image and the immense, blazing, white-hot glory of the celestial sphere itself. Allah is the sun; and the Universe, as we know it in all its magnitude, and time, with its power, are nothing more than the reflection of the Absolute in the mirror of the fountain" (Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954)
I did some research on the subject of the Creation according to the Quran and key personalities in Islam and distilled a series of 28 excerpts and quotes from a wide variety of sources here:
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/213the-creation-according-to-prophet.html
If you follow the 28 sayings from top to bottom, I think you will get an inkling of the cascading sequence of knowledge starting with timeless, instantaneous intellect of the heart at the top and ending with sequential, cogitative and discursive rational intellect of the mind at the bottom. On the other hand, and more importantly, if one follows these sayings from the bottom to the top, we can see how studying about the Universe(what is it made of?, how does it operate?) with the proper attitude and mindset can possibly open up a door to partake in timeless, instantaneous intellect, to be able to say as Sura al-Baqara proclaims: 'Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah'. This series of 28 sayings was featured on the Ismaili Mail website here:
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/20/the-creation-according-to-quran-prophet-muhammad-pbuh-aga-khan-iv-aga-khan-iii-imam-jafar-as-sadiq-al-kirmani-al-sijistani-nasir-khusraw-et-al/
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070721.html
In the above picture of the Andromeda galaxy, the largest galaxy next to our own Milky Way galaxy, the caption below the picture says:
"The data confirm that Andromeda (aka M31) houses around 1 trillion stars, compared to 4 hundred billion for the Milky Way."
Our sun is a medium-sized star with 8 planets(of which our planet Earth is one of the smallest) and many other smaller objects orbiting around it. There are 400 billion stars like our sun in our Milky Way galaxy and the galaxy right next door to us, the Andromeda galaxy, has 1 trillion such stars in it. Thats just the beginning of it! Research using the Hubble Space Telescope has allowed people in the know to estimate that there are at least 500 billion galaxies like Andromeda and Milky Way strewn accross the Universe: "If you think of this Universe, He is above this Universe; if you think of a thousand other Universes, He is above a thousand other Universes.....". Where have I heard this before?
Other pictures, taken by astrophotographers from around the world:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070724.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070719.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070716.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070715.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070714.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070712.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070718.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070706.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070629.html
Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah, Aga Khan III, said:
"Allah alone wishes: the Universe exists; and all manifestations are as a witness of the Divine will"(Memoirs, 1954)
He goes on to elaborate in the same chapter on Islam in his Memoirs:
"Consider, for example, the opening declaration of every Islamic prayer: "Allah-o-Akbar". What does that mean? There can be no doubt that the second word of the declaration likens the character of Allah to a matrix which contains all and gives existence to the infinite, to space, to time, to the Universe, to all active and passive forces imaginable, to life and to the soul. Imam Hassan has explained the Islamic doctrine of God and the Universe by analogy with the sun and its reflection in the pool of a fountain; there is certainly a reflection or image of the sun, but with what poverty and with what little reality; how small and pale is the likeness between this impalpable image and the immense, blazing, white-hot glory of the celestial sphere itself. Allah is the sun; and the Universe, as we know it in all its magnitude, and time, with its power, are nothing more than the reflection of the Absolute in the mirror of the fountain" (Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954)
I did some research on the subject of the Creation according to the Quran and key personalities in Islam and distilled a series of 28 excerpts and quotes from a wide variety of sources here:
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/213the-creation-according-to-prophet.html
If you follow the 28 sayings from top to bottom, I think you will get an inkling of the cascading sequence of knowledge starting with timeless, instantaneous intellect of the heart at the top and ending with sequential, cogitative and discursive rational intellect of the mind at the bottom. On the other hand, and more importantly, if one follows these sayings from the bottom to the top, we can see how studying about the Universe(what is it made of?, how does it operate?) with the proper attitude and mindset can possibly open up a door to partake in timeless, instantaneous intellect, to be able to say as Sura al-Baqara proclaims: 'Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah'. This series of 28 sayings was featured on the Ismaili Mail website here:
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/20/the-creation-according-to-quran-prophet-muhammad-pbuh-aga-khan-iv-aga-khan-iii-imam-jafar-as-sadiq-al-kirmani-al-sijistani-nasir-khusraw-et-al/
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
Friday, July 20, 2007
224)"Ibn al-Haytham:First Scientist", written by award-winning prolific author, poet, lyricist Bradley Steffens, is featured on Ismaili Mail website.
The Ismaili Mail website recently posted an article on California author Bradley Steffens and his most recent book, "Ibn al-Haytham:First Scientist":
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/california-author-writes-pioneering-book-on-ibn-al-haytham-renowned-11th-century-ismaili-muslim-scientist/
Born in Basra in 965, Ibn al-Haytham was the first person to test hypotheses with verifiable experiments, developing the modern scientific method more than two hundred years before European scholars learned of it—by reading his books.
To test his hypothesis that “lights and colors do not blend in the air,” for example, Ibn al-Haytham devised the world’s first camera obscura, observed what happened when light rays intersected at its aperture, and recorded the results in what would become Kitab al Manazir (Book of Optics). Ibn al-Haytham conducted this and other experiments investigating the properties of light during a ten-year period when he was stripped of his possessions and imprisoned as a madman in Cairo.
How Ibn al-Haytham came to be in Egypt, why he was judged insane, and how his discoveries launched the scientific revolution are just some of the questions answered in Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist, the world’s first biography of the Muslim scholar known in the West as Alhazen or Alhacen.
Abdul Jabbar Al-Shammari, the director of the Ibn al-Haitham Center for Science and Technology in Amman, Jordan, writes: “I enjoyed reading about the events in the life of our scientist, Ibn al-Haitham. I congratulate you on writing a fantastic and accurate book.”
E. Salik of Los Angeles writes: “I recently read Steffens’ book on Ibn al-Haytham. This is one of the best books I have ever read. His comments on historical data are commended.”
Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist by award-winning author Bradley Steffens can be yours for just US $20.96. You save 25% off the cover price of $27.95. Click here to order.
http://www.ibnalhaytham.net/
I introduced Bradley Steffens to my readership after he sent me an e-mail informing me about his new book on this illustrious Muslim scientist, whom he claims was the real pioneer of the Scientific Method, the bedrock principle under which all scientific research has been conducted since the onset of the European Renaissance:
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/221bradley-steffens-on-ibn-al-haytham.html
Interestingly Mowlana Hazar Imam, Aga Khan IV, has this to say about the "spirit of disciplined, objective enquiry", "independent thinking" and engaging "both orthodox and unorthodox ideas, seeking truth and understanding wherever they may be found":
The truth, as the famous Islamic scholars repeatedly told their students, is that the spirit of disciplined, objective enquiry is the property of no single culture, but of all humanity. To quote the great physician and philosopher, Ibn Sina: "My profession is to forever journeying, to travel about the universe so that I may know all its conditions." (Aga Khan IV, Speech, 16 March 1983, Karachi, Pakistan)
An institution dedicated to proceeding beyond known limits must be committed to independent thinking. In a university scholars engage both orthodox and unorthodox ideas, seeking truth and understanding wherever they may be found. That process is often facilitated by an independent governance structure, which serves to ensure that the university adheres to its fundamental mission and is not pressured to compromise its work for short-term advantage. For a Muslim university it is appropriate to see learning and knowledge as a continuing acknowledgement of Allah's magnificence.(Aga Khan IV, Speech, 1993, Aga Khan University)
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/california-author-writes-pioneering-book-on-ibn-al-haytham-renowned-11th-century-ismaili-muslim-scientist/
Born in Basra in 965, Ibn al-Haytham was the first person to test hypotheses with verifiable experiments, developing the modern scientific method more than two hundred years before European scholars learned of it—by reading his books.
To test his hypothesis that “lights and colors do not blend in the air,” for example, Ibn al-Haytham devised the world’s first camera obscura, observed what happened when light rays intersected at its aperture, and recorded the results in what would become Kitab al Manazir (Book of Optics). Ibn al-Haytham conducted this and other experiments investigating the properties of light during a ten-year period when he was stripped of his possessions and imprisoned as a madman in Cairo.
How Ibn al-Haytham came to be in Egypt, why he was judged insane, and how his discoveries launched the scientific revolution are just some of the questions answered in Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist, the world’s first biography of the Muslim scholar known in the West as Alhazen or Alhacen.
Abdul Jabbar Al-Shammari, the director of the Ibn al-Haitham Center for Science and Technology in Amman, Jordan, writes: “I enjoyed reading about the events in the life of our scientist, Ibn al-Haitham. I congratulate you on writing a fantastic and accurate book.”
E. Salik of Los Angeles writes: “I recently read Steffens’ book on Ibn al-Haytham. This is one of the best books I have ever read. His comments on historical data are commended.”
Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist by award-winning author Bradley Steffens can be yours for just US $20.96. You save 25% off the cover price of $27.95. Click here to order.
http://www.ibnalhaytham.net/
I introduced Bradley Steffens to my readership after he sent me an e-mail informing me about his new book on this illustrious Muslim scientist, whom he claims was the real pioneer of the Scientific Method, the bedrock principle under which all scientific research has been conducted since the onset of the European Renaissance:
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/221bradley-steffens-on-ibn-al-haytham.html
Interestingly Mowlana Hazar Imam, Aga Khan IV, has this to say about the "spirit of disciplined, objective enquiry", "independent thinking" and engaging "both orthodox and unorthodox ideas, seeking truth and understanding wherever they may be found":
The truth, as the famous Islamic scholars repeatedly told their students, is that the spirit of disciplined, objective enquiry is the property of no single culture, but of all humanity. To quote the great physician and philosopher, Ibn Sina: "My profession is to forever journeying, to travel about the universe so that I may know all its conditions." (Aga Khan IV, Speech, 16 March 1983, Karachi, Pakistan)
An institution dedicated to proceeding beyond known limits must be committed to independent thinking. In a university scholars engage both orthodox and unorthodox ideas, seeking truth and understanding wherever they may be found. That process is often facilitated by an independent governance structure, which serves to ensure that the university adheres to its fundamental mission and is not pressured to compromise its work for short-term advantage. For a Muslim university it is appropriate to see learning and knowledge as a continuing acknowledgement of Allah's magnificence.(Aga Khan IV, Speech, 1993, Aga Khan University)
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
223)Libraries, where knowledge is stored and dispensed in the form of the written word, art, picture and digital media.
Libraries, those repositories of accumulated knowledge, have played a key role in every incarnation of Ismaili and Muslim society and culture since the inception of Islam. Those libraries that immediately come to mind are the ones in Baghdad(Abbasid Caliphate), Cordoba and Seville(Umayyad Islamic Spain), Al-Azhar and Dar al-Ilm(Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt), the library at Alamut(Persia) and many others. When the Mongols invaded Alamut in 1256CE, they made a point of destroying the Ismaili libraries during their genocidal orgy.
Libraries and, more importantly, the links between and among libraries, are once again taking their proper place in Civil Society among different Islamic cultures:
IIS Participates in Middle East Libraries Conference
July 2007
Wendy Robinson, a Research Assistant at IIS’ Department of Academic Research and Publications (DARP), gave a presentation at the MELCOM International (Middle East Libraries Committee) conference in Sarajevo last month on the forthcoming publication of Encyclopaedia Islamica. Ms Robinson gave the talk to the conference of librarians working in the field of Middle Eastern studies at their annual meeting, held for the first time in the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The talk introduced the IIS and Encyclopaedia Islamica, an abridged translation of the Persian Encyclopaedia Da’irat al-Ma‘arif-i Buzurg-i Islami. The first volume of the translation will be published in 2008 under the chief-editorship of Professor Wilferd Madelung and will encompass approximately 16 volumes.
The conference was hosted by the Bosniac Institute in Sarajevo and run in conjunction with the Faculty of Islamic Studies of the University of Sarajevo. More than fifty delegates were in attendance from institutions based in Europe, the Middle East and North America. The IIS was also represented at the conference by Ms Shellina Karmali, the Audio-Visual and Special Collections Librarian. Participants discussed recent developments in bibliography, cataloguing, technology, and co-operation between institutions, and showcased items of specific interest in their collections.
There was also considerable discussion of methods to preserve the unique cultural heritage of manuscript and rare book collections related to Islam and Muslims, particularly by digitisation. The importance of this endeavour was highlighted by a special visit to the former National Library in Sarajevo, 90% of whose collection (1.5 million volumes) was destroyed by shelling during the siege of the city. One of the highlights of the conference was the presentation by András Riedlmayer, of the Aga Khan program at Harvard University, on the destruction of Islamic cultural heritage in the Balkans. One of the worst examples of which was the burning in 1992 of Sarajevo’s Institute for Oriental Studies, resulting in the loss of the Ottoman provincial archives and the country’s richest collection of Islamic manuscripts (5,263 codices in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, Persian and Bosnian).
Conference participants also visited the Ghazi Husrev Bey Library, the Faculty of Oriental Studies in Sarajevo, the Blagaj Tekke and the famous Stari Most (old bridge) and old city in Mostar, funds for the restoration of which were provided by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=108312
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
Libraries and, more importantly, the links between and among libraries, are once again taking their proper place in Civil Society among different Islamic cultures:
IIS Participates in Middle East Libraries Conference
July 2007
Wendy Robinson, a Research Assistant at IIS’ Department of Academic Research and Publications (DARP), gave a presentation at the MELCOM International (Middle East Libraries Committee) conference in Sarajevo last month on the forthcoming publication of Encyclopaedia Islamica. Ms Robinson gave the talk to the conference of librarians working in the field of Middle Eastern studies at their annual meeting, held for the first time in the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The talk introduced the IIS and Encyclopaedia Islamica, an abridged translation of the Persian Encyclopaedia Da’irat al-Ma‘arif-i Buzurg-i Islami. The first volume of the translation will be published in 2008 under the chief-editorship of Professor Wilferd Madelung and will encompass approximately 16 volumes.
The conference was hosted by the Bosniac Institute in Sarajevo and run in conjunction with the Faculty of Islamic Studies of the University of Sarajevo. More than fifty delegates were in attendance from institutions based in Europe, the Middle East and North America. The IIS was also represented at the conference by Ms Shellina Karmali, the Audio-Visual and Special Collections Librarian. Participants discussed recent developments in bibliography, cataloguing, technology, and co-operation between institutions, and showcased items of specific interest in their collections.
There was also considerable discussion of methods to preserve the unique cultural heritage of manuscript and rare book collections related to Islam and Muslims, particularly by digitisation. The importance of this endeavour was highlighted by a special visit to the former National Library in Sarajevo, 90% of whose collection (1.5 million volumes) was destroyed by shelling during the siege of the city. One of the highlights of the conference was the presentation by András Riedlmayer, of the Aga Khan program at Harvard University, on the destruction of Islamic cultural heritage in the Balkans. One of the worst examples of which was the burning in 1992 of Sarajevo’s Institute for Oriental Studies, resulting in the loss of the Ottoman provincial archives and the country’s richest collection of Islamic manuscripts (5,263 codices in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, Persian and Bosnian).
Conference participants also visited the Ghazi Husrev Bey Library, the Faculty of Oriental Studies in Sarajevo, the Blagaj Tekke and the famous Stari Most (old bridge) and old city in Mostar, funds for the restoration of which were provided by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=108312
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
Thursday, July 19, 2007
222)Third excellent DVD lecture series on the History of Science(20th Century); Relevant Quranic quotes.
The Teaching Company History of Science Trilogy: Numero Trois
Many Muslims do not realise it but the 20th century was, in my opinion, Islam's greatest century in its 1400 year history although, if you read the newspapers today, it sure does not seem like it. The truth is, many of the natural phenomena described in the following Quranic verses were discovered by the rational intellect of man during the 20th century:
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 believe? (Nebular Hypothesis, formation of the Solar System, origins of life in shallow oceans, large amount of water in all living things).
Chapter 51, verse 47: We built the heavens with might, and We expand it wide. (Expansion of the Universe).
Chapter79, verse 30: And then he gave the earth an oval form. (Ellipsoidal or Spheroidal shape of the earth).
Chapter 86, verse 11: I swear by the reciprocating heaven..... (Earth around its own axis, around the sun, the solar system around the centre of the black hole around our own spiral galaxy, the spiral galaxy around its own cluster of galaxies, our universe around a centre along with multiple other adjoining universes?).
Chapter 37, verse 5: He is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and all that lies between them; He is the Lord of the Easts(Multiple dimensions)
Chapter70 verse 4: The angels and the spirit ascend to Him in a day, the measure of which is fifty thousand years(Matter cannot move faster than the speed of light)
Chapter 32, verses 5-6: He rules all affairs from the heavens to the earth. Then they all go back up to him in one day, whose measure is a thousand years by your reckoning...(Matter cannot move faster than the speed of light).
This last group of 36 lectures on the History of Science is a continuation of the earlier two lecture series and the three of them together cover 4000 years of the History of Science:
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/220another-excellent-dvd-lecture-series.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/214excellent-dvd-lectures-on-history-of.html
Science in the 20th Century: A Social-Intellectual Survey (36 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture)
Course No. 1220:
http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=1220&id=1220&pc=Science%20and%20Mathematics
Taught by Steven L. GoldmanLehigh UniversityPh.D., Boston University
As the 19th century drew to a close, the age-old quest to understand the physical world appeared to be complete except for a few minor details. "It seems probable that most of the grand underlying principles have been firmly established," said Albert Michelson, the first American scientist to win a Nobel Prize.
But when Michelson made that prediction, he never dreamed that one of the "details"—his own curious discovery that the speed of light is constant no matter how fast an observer is moving—would soon be explained by a revolutionary theory that redefined the very concepts of space, time, matter, and energy.
The author of that theory, called relativity, was Albert Einstein. He would also lay the foundation for a strange new picture of the atom, which would eventually lead to quantum mechanics and a succession of startling discoveries driving physicists to ever more bizarre theories of the ultimate nature of the universe.
Imagine Today's Science from a Turn-of-the Century Perspective
Scientists in 1900 had no inkling of the other mind-boggling developments that lay in wait: plate tectonics, genetic engineering, space probes, nanotechnology, Big Bang theory, electronic computers, nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, and many other astounding products of the human mind.
Indeed, by the end of the 20th century, nearly every 19th-century theory of natural and social phenomena would be overthrown or superseded.
A philosopher and historian of science, Professor Goldman (Ph.D., Boston University) has been researching the growing power and influence of science in modern society for nearly 40 years.
"For me," he says, "there's tremendous intellectual satisfaction from seeing how the ideas of 19th-century science were transformed in the 20th century into new kinds of theories that have much greater explanatory power, predictive power, and control power."
A Course in Ideas
"Transformation" is key—because 20th-century science is less revolutionary than evolutionary, in the sense that it built on crucial 19th-century concepts such as energy, natural selection, atoms, fields, and waves.
Professor Goldman is fascinated with such connections, which makes this more than a traditional history course.
Einstein himself was drawing on the known principles of waves and fields to reach the unexpected conclusions of the theory of relativity.
Throughout these 36 lectures, you learn the distinctive ideas that characterize 20th-century science, among them:
Science is a unity that encompasses the "hard" sciences of physics and chemistry, and the "soft" sciences, such as economics and sociology.
Modern science is a cultural phenomenon that has an inside, intellectual dimension, and an outside, social relationship dimension.
Concepts change: The terms space, time, matter, energy, the universe, Earth, gene, language, economy, culture, and society no longer mean what they did a century ago.
Reality is ultimately describable in terms of information, relationships, and processes.
The course is organized into five major themes: matter and energy, the universe, Earth, life, and humanity. The last theme, humanity, encompasses the social sciences, an area that is often omitted from histories of science.
Professor Goldman remedies that oversight to bring you the most significant ideas in anthropology, archaeology, history, linguistics, sociology, political science, economics, psychology, and cognitive science—alongside the major developments in physics, chemistry, mathematics, earth science, and biology.
Capstone of a 4,000-Year Quest for Knowledge
This course represents the capstone of a 4,000-year quest for knowledge that originated in the ancient Near East and is covered in The Teaching Company Courses, The History of Science: Antiquity to 1700 and The History of Science: 1700 to 1900.
Some of the key figures you discuss are household names: Albert Einstein, Watson and Crick, Sigmund Freud, and Stephen Hawking.
Many are less well known: Franz Boas was a major influence on all of the social sciences in the first half of the 20th century; John Maynard Keynes is arguably the Einstein of economics; and an American geologist named Harry Hess came up with the theory of seafloor spreading, which led to plate tectonics.
Many other influential investigators are featured, including:
Philosopher-mathematician Bertrand Russell who, in the early 20th century, refuted the long-standing project of Gottlob Frege to reduce all of arithmetic to logic by posing a famous paradox.
Astronomer Fred Hoyle who, in the 1950s, ridiculed the hypothesis that the universe expanded from an infinitely dense point by labeling it the "big bang" theory. The name stuck—and the theory ultimately triumphed.
Physicist Leon Lederman, who was encountered by Professor Goldman in 1978, moments after a telegram confirmed Lederman's historic discovery of the top quark. Goldman asked him, "Do you think quarks are real, or is this another intellectual construct?" Lederman replied, "Well, when [Murray] Gell-Mann thought there were three, I thought they were real. When he said there were four, that was also okay. If I'm right and there are five, then there have to be six. Six are too many, so there must be something more fundamental than quarks." Goldman adds, "I don't think he has that opinion today."
A Grand Tour of the Sciences
Professor Goldman discusses many different aspects of science, among them:
Science and society: A turning point in the growth of U.S. science came in 1862, when Congress passed the Merrill Land Grant Act, giving large tracts of federal land to any state that would create an engineering college. This created an academic community that would later help spawn the unparalleled scientific advances of the 20th century
Physics: In developing the special theory of relativity, Einstein was driven by a profoundly simple question: what does it mean to say that two events happen at the same time?
Mathematics: Mathematicians live with a peculiar, unresolved problem: what is the nature of mathematical objects? Do they exist independently of the human mind?
Psychology: The Stanford-Binet IQ test was developed during World War I to screen out recruits who were not intellectually capable of functioning in the U.S. Army. It was not intended to be an index for ranking intelligence at all levels. Nonetheless, it became the basis for what is still a preoccupation with testing.
Cosmology: In the 1950s, most scientists were sympathetic to the steady state theory that held the universe has always existed. For science, absolute beginnings are a problem.
Telecommunications: Today, fiber optic cables and communications satellites make long distance phone calls routine. However, at the time of Sputnik in 1957 there was just one undersea telephone cable connecting the U.S. with Europe, carrying a grand total of 36 simultaneous calls.
Meteorology: The atmosphere transports insects, seeds, pollutants, sand, bacteria, and viruses between continents. Sand from the Chinese desert routinely rains down on the west coast of the U.S. bringing microbes with it.
Archaeology: Archaeologists increasingly use techniques borrowed from other disciplines.
Recently, textile experts were able to identify Celtic weaving patterns in cloth discovered in western China, dating from 2000 B.C.E. This establishes a heretofore-unknown ancient link between Europe and Asia.
You will find this course filled with ideas, anecdotes, and insights. As Professor Goldman says at the outset of the first lecture, "Welcome to an intellectual odyssey that I hope will be as fantastic and exciting to you as Homer's Odyssey, without keeping you away from home for 20 years."
Should I Buy Audio or Video?
This course works well in any format. Graphics in the DVD version include about 400 portraits of scientists and diagrams illustrating scientific principles.
Course Lecture Titles
1)The Evolution of 20th-Century Science
2)Redefining Reality
3)Quantum Theory Makes Its Appearance
4)The Heroic "Old" Age of Quantum Theory
5)A Newer Theory—QED
6)QED Meets Fission and Fusion
7)Learning by Smashing
8)What Good is QED?
9)The Newest Theory—Quantum Chromodynamics
10)Unifying Nature
11)Chemists Become Designers
12)Mathematics and Truth
13)Mathematics and Reality
14)The Universe Expands
15)What is the Universe?
16)How Do We Know What's Out There?
17)From Equilibrium to Dynamism
18)Subterranean Fury
19)Solar System Citizen
20)Science Organized, Adopted, Co-opted
21)Techno-Science and Globalization
22)The Evolution of Evolution
23)Human Evolution
24)Genetics—From Mendel to Molecules
25)Molecular Biology
26)Molecular Medicine
27)Culture—Anthropology and Archaeology
28)Culture—History
29)Culture—Linguistics
30)Society—Sociology
31)Society—Political Science
32)Society—Economics
33)Mind—Classical and Behavioral Psychology
34)Mind—Cybernetics, AI, Connectionism
35)Looking Back
36)Looking Around and Looking Ahead
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
Many Muslims do not realise it but the 20th century was, in my opinion, Islam's greatest century in its 1400 year history although, if you read the newspapers today, it sure does not seem like it. The truth is, many of the natural phenomena described in the following Quranic verses were discovered by the rational intellect of man during the 20th century:
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 believe? (Nebular Hypothesis, formation of the Solar System, origins of life in shallow oceans, large amount of water in all living things).
Chapter 51, verse 47: We built the heavens with might, and We expand it wide. (Expansion of the Universe).
Chapter79, verse 30: And then he gave the earth an oval form. (Ellipsoidal or Spheroidal shape of the earth).
Chapter 86, verse 11: I swear by the reciprocating heaven..... (Earth around its own axis, around the sun, the solar system around the centre of the black hole around our own spiral galaxy, the spiral galaxy around its own cluster of galaxies, our universe around a centre along with multiple other adjoining universes?).
Chapter 37, verse 5: He is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and all that lies between them; He is the Lord of the Easts(Multiple dimensions)
Chapter70 verse 4: The angels and the spirit ascend to Him in a day, the measure of which is fifty thousand years(Matter cannot move faster than the speed of light)
Chapter 32, verses 5-6: He rules all affairs from the heavens to the earth. Then they all go back up to him in one day, whose measure is a thousand years by your reckoning...(Matter cannot move faster than the speed of light).
This last group of 36 lectures on the History of Science is a continuation of the earlier two lecture series and the three of them together cover 4000 years of the History of Science:
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/220another-excellent-dvd-lecture-series.html
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/214excellent-dvd-lectures-on-history-of.html
Science in the 20th Century: A Social-Intellectual Survey (36 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture)
Course No. 1220:
http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=1220&id=1220&pc=Science%20and%20Mathematics
Taught by Steven L. GoldmanLehigh UniversityPh.D., Boston University
As the 19th century drew to a close, the age-old quest to understand the physical world appeared to be complete except for a few minor details. "It seems probable that most of the grand underlying principles have been firmly established," said Albert Michelson, the first American scientist to win a Nobel Prize.
But when Michelson made that prediction, he never dreamed that one of the "details"—his own curious discovery that the speed of light is constant no matter how fast an observer is moving—would soon be explained by a revolutionary theory that redefined the very concepts of space, time, matter, and energy.
The author of that theory, called relativity, was Albert Einstein. He would also lay the foundation for a strange new picture of the atom, which would eventually lead to quantum mechanics and a succession of startling discoveries driving physicists to ever more bizarre theories of the ultimate nature of the universe.
Imagine Today's Science from a Turn-of-the Century Perspective
Scientists in 1900 had no inkling of the other mind-boggling developments that lay in wait: plate tectonics, genetic engineering, space probes, nanotechnology, Big Bang theory, electronic computers, nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, and many other astounding products of the human mind.
Indeed, by the end of the 20th century, nearly every 19th-century theory of natural and social phenomena would be overthrown or superseded.
A philosopher and historian of science, Professor Goldman (Ph.D., Boston University) has been researching the growing power and influence of science in modern society for nearly 40 years.
"For me," he says, "there's tremendous intellectual satisfaction from seeing how the ideas of 19th-century science were transformed in the 20th century into new kinds of theories that have much greater explanatory power, predictive power, and control power."
A Course in Ideas
"Transformation" is key—because 20th-century science is less revolutionary than evolutionary, in the sense that it built on crucial 19th-century concepts such as energy, natural selection, atoms, fields, and waves.
Professor Goldman is fascinated with such connections, which makes this more than a traditional history course.
Einstein himself was drawing on the known principles of waves and fields to reach the unexpected conclusions of the theory of relativity.
Throughout these 36 lectures, you learn the distinctive ideas that characterize 20th-century science, among them:
Science is a unity that encompasses the "hard" sciences of physics and chemistry, and the "soft" sciences, such as economics and sociology.
Modern science is a cultural phenomenon that has an inside, intellectual dimension, and an outside, social relationship dimension.
Concepts change: The terms space, time, matter, energy, the universe, Earth, gene, language, economy, culture, and society no longer mean what they did a century ago.
Reality is ultimately describable in terms of information, relationships, and processes.
The course is organized into five major themes: matter and energy, the universe, Earth, life, and humanity. The last theme, humanity, encompasses the social sciences, an area that is often omitted from histories of science.
Professor Goldman remedies that oversight to bring you the most significant ideas in anthropology, archaeology, history, linguistics, sociology, political science, economics, psychology, and cognitive science—alongside the major developments in physics, chemistry, mathematics, earth science, and biology.
Capstone of a 4,000-Year Quest for Knowledge
This course represents the capstone of a 4,000-year quest for knowledge that originated in the ancient Near East and is covered in The Teaching Company Courses, The History of Science: Antiquity to 1700 and The History of Science: 1700 to 1900.
Some of the key figures you discuss are household names: Albert Einstein, Watson and Crick, Sigmund Freud, and Stephen Hawking.
Many are less well known: Franz Boas was a major influence on all of the social sciences in the first half of the 20th century; John Maynard Keynes is arguably the Einstein of economics; and an American geologist named Harry Hess came up with the theory of seafloor spreading, which led to plate tectonics.
Many other influential investigators are featured, including:
Philosopher-mathematician Bertrand Russell who, in the early 20th century, refuted the long-standing project of Gottlob Frege to reduce all of arithmetic to logic by posing a famous paradox.
Astronomer Fred Hoyle who, in the 1950s, ridiculed the hypothesis that the universe expanded from an infinitely dense point by labeling it the "big bang" theory. The name stuck—and the theory ultimately triumphed.
Physicist Leon Lederman, who was encountered by Professor Goldman in 1978, moments after a telegram confirmed Lederman's historic discovery of the top quark. Goldman asked him, "Do you think quarks are real, or is this another intellectual construct?" Lederman replied, "Well, when [Murray] Gell-Mann thought there were three, I thought they were real. When he said there were four, that was also okay. If I'm right and there are five, then there have to be six. Six are too many, so there must be something more fundamental than quarks." Goldman adds, "I don't think he has that opinion today."
A Grand Tour of the Sciences
Professor Goldman discusses many different aspects of science, among them:
Science and society: A turning point in the growth of U.S. science came in 1862, when Congress passed the Merrill Land Grant Act, giving large tracts of federal land to any state that would create an engineering college. This created an academic community that would later help spawn the unparalleled scientific advances of the 20th century
Physics: In developing the special theory of relativity, Einstein was driven by a profoundly simple question: what does it mean to say that two events happen at the same time?
Mathematics: Mathematicians live with a peculiar, unresolved problem: what is the nature of mathematical objects? Do they exist independently of the human mind?
Psychology: The Stanford-Binet IQ test was developed during World War I to screen out recruits who were not intellectually capable of functioning in the U.S. Army. It was not intended to be an index for ranking intelligence at all levels. Nonetheless, it became the basis for what is still a preoccupation with testing.
Cosmology: In the 1950s, most scientists were sympathetic to the steady state theory that held the universe has always existed. For science, absolute beginnings are a problem.
Telecommunications: Today, fiber optic cables and communications satellites make long distance phone calls routine. However, at the time of Sputnik in 1957 there was just one undersea telephone cable connecting the U.S. with Europe, carrying a grand total of 36 simultaneous calls.
Meteorology: The atmosphere transports insects, seeds, pollutants, sand, bacteria, and viruses between continents. Sand from the Chinese desert routinely rains down on the west coast of the U.S. bringing microbes with it.
Archaeology: Archaeologists increasingly use techniques borrowed from other disciplines.
Recently, textile experts were able to identify Celtic weaving patterns in cloth discovered in western China, dating from 2000 B.C.E. This establishes a heretofore-unknown ancient link between Europe and Asia.
You will find this course filled with ideas, anecdotes, and insights. As Professor Goldman says at the outset of the first lecture, "Welcome to an intellectual odyssey that I hope will be as fantastic and exciting to you as Homer's Odyssey, without keeping you away from home for 20 years."
Should I Buy Audio or Video?
This course works well in any format. Graphics in the DVD version include about 400 portraits of scientists and diagrams illustrating scientific principles.
Course Lecture Titles
1)The Evolution of 20th-Century Science
2)Redefining Reality
3)Quantum Theory Makes Its Appearance
4)The Heroic "Old" Age of Quantum Theory
5)A Newer Theory—QED
6)QED Meets Fission and Fusion
7)Learning by Smashing
8)What Good is QED?
9)The Newest Theory—Quantum Chromodynamics
10)Unifying Nature
11)Chemists Become Designers
12)Mathematics and Truth
13)Mathematics and Reality
14)The Universe Expands
15)What is the Universe?
16)How Do We Know What's Out There?
17)From Equilibrium to Dynamism
18)Subterranean Fury
19)Solar System Citizen
20)Science Organized, Adopted, Co-opted
21)Techno-Science and Globalization
22)The Evolution of Evolution
23)Human Evolution
24)Genetics—From Mendel to Molecules
25)Molecular Biology
26)Molecular Medicine
27)Culture—Anthropology and Archaeology
28)Culture—History
29)Culture—Linguistics
30)Society—Sociology
31)Society—Political Science
32)Society—Economics
33)Mind—Classical and Behavioral Psychology
34)Mind—Cybernetics, AI, Connectionism
35)Looking Back
36)Looking Around and Looking Ahead
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
221)Bradley Steffens on Ibn al-Haytham; a new addition to the Suggested Links section of my blogsite.
Dear easynash,
I read with interest your posting about the four giants of 10th to 13th century science. Considering that, I thought you might like to know about my new book, Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist.
It is the first full biography of Ibn al-Haytham to be published in English (or any other language, as far as I know). It has received excellent reviews, which are available on my website: http://www.ibnalhaytham.net/
Of course I would love a mention in your blog or even a link to my site from yours.
I heard the Aga Khan speaking on public radio (NPR in the US) about the need for the younger generation in the West to learn about Muslim history and culture. One of my goals in writing the book was to accomplish that very thing. Apparently I have been somewhat successful. Barnesandnoble.com writes, "Steffens deftly weaves an overview of Muslim history into this biography."
I recently posted an article online that might interest you. The summary appears here--just click the link to read the full article: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Bradley_Steffens
If you have any questions or would like to know more about my book, let me know. If you think the Aga Khan would like a copy of my book, I would be glad to send it to him.
Best regards,
Bradley Steffens
Escondido, CA 92025
My reply to Bradley Steffens:
Hi Bradley,
Thanks for your e-mail. I have posted your e-mail on my blogsite as well as linked to your website. I have also forwarded it to the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, U.K., who may be interested in obtaining a copy of your book on this illustrious scientist. I like your reviews and will be ordering a copy(signed hopefully) for myself.
Cheers,
easynash
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
I read with interest your posting about the four giants of 10th to 13th century science. Considering that, I thought you might like to know about my new book, Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist.
It is the first full biography of Ibn al-Haytham to be published in English (or any other language, as far as I know). It has received excellent reviews, which are available on my website: http://www.ibnalhaytham.net/
Of course I would love a mention in your blog or even a link to my site from yours.
I heard the Aga Khan speaking on public radio (NPR in the US) about the need for the younger generation in the West to learn about Muslim history and culture. One of my goals in writing the book was to accomplish that very thing. Apparently I have been somewhat successful. Barnesandnoble.com writes, "Steffens deftly weaves an overview of Muslim history into this biography."
I recently posted an article online that might interest you. The summary appears here--just click the link to read the full article: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Bradley_Steffens
If you have any questions or would like to know more about my book, let me know. If you think the Aga Khan would like a copy of my book, I would be glad to send it to him.
Best regards,
Bradley Steffens
Escondido, CA 92025
My reply to Bradley Steffens:
Hi Bradley,
Thanks for your e-mail. I have posted your e-mail on my blogsite as well as linked to your website. I have also forwarded it to the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, U.K., who may be interested in obtaining a copy of your book on this illustrious scientist. I like your reviews and will be ordering a copy(signed hopefully) for myself.
Cheers,
easynash
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
220)Another excellent DVD lecture series on the History of Science, this time from 1700 to 1900; sorry, no Islam in this one; lament of Aga Khan III.
The Teaching Company History of Science Trilogy: Part deux.
This lecture series highlights the achievements of Renaissance Science in Europe and the U.S.A. In this respect, the following quote by Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah, Aga Khan III, is relevant. It comes from a letter he wrote to a friend in 1952 under the title of "What have we forgotten in Islam?"; I chose a catchy one-liner from this letter to be one of my signature posts that appear at the end of every blog post that I make:
"Islam is fundamentally in its very nature a natural religion. Throughout the Quran God's signs (Ayats) are referred to as the natural phenomenon, the law and order of the universe, the exactitudes and consequences of the relations between natural phenomenon in cause and effect. Over and over, the stars, sun, moon, earthquakes, fruits of the earth and trees are mentioned as the signs of divine power, divine law and divine order. Even in the Ayeh of Noor, divine is referred to as the natural phenomenon of light and even references are made to the fruit of the earth. During the great period of Islam, Muslims did not forget these principles of their religion. Alas, Islam which is a natural religion in which God's miracles are the very law and order of nature drifted away and is still drifting away, even in Pakistan, from science which is the study of those very laws and orders of nature.……Islam is a natural religion of which the Ayats are the universe in which we live and move and have our being………..The God of the Quran is the one whose Ayats are the universe……"(Aga Khan III, 1952)
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/what-have-we-forgotten-in-islam-aga.html
I am currently going through this course and finding it very enjoyable. It should be seen as a continuation of the course described in this earlier post:
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/214excellent-dvd-lectures-on-history-of.html
http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=1210&id=1210&pc=Science%20and%20Mathematics
History of Science: 1700–1900 (36 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture)Course No. 1210
Taught by Frederick GregoryUniversity of FloridaPh.D., Harvard University
In the period 1700-1900, kings and empires rose and fell, but science conquered all, taking the world by storm.
Yet, as the 1700s began, the mysteries of the universe were pondered by "natural philosophers"—the term "scientist" didn't even exist until the mid 19th century—whose explanations couldn't help but be influenced by the religious thought and political and social contexts that shaped their world.
The radical ideas of the Enlightenment were especially important and influential. In this course you see how the work of these natural philosophers prepared the way for the more familiar world of science we recognize today.
Understand Two Centuries of Scientific Discoveries from an Unusually Qualified Professor
To navigate this complex a mix of social factors and scientific knowledge requires a teacher of very specialized background. Trained as both a mathematician and seminarian before receiving his doctorate as a scholar of scientific history, Professor Frederick Gregory brings an unusually apt perspective to the era covered by this course. It was a time when the Church's influences on science were often profound.
Dr. Gregory has organized the course around six main themes:
1)inquiries into the history of the cosmos
2)investigations into the realm of living things
3)the largely successful attempt to break away from occult explanations of chemical phenomena
4)the contrasting persistence of occult appeals in explaining natural phenomena
5)the proliferation of the number and kind of physical forces discovered and investigated, thereby opening up broad vistas for the future
6)the recurring theme of the relationship of God to nature
In moving back and forth across two centuries, the lectures touch on many of the scientific disciplines we know today, including chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, paleontology, and others. And they often cover in detail famous experiments and discoveries in areas as divergent as electromagnetism, fossil analysis, and medicine.
Beyond Einstein: Familiar Names, and Some Surprises, Too
You will find names that leap out as familiar, like Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, Louis Pasteur, Max Planck, Antoine Lavoisier, and Albert Einstein.
And you'll meet some of the greatest names in the histories of non-scientific disciplines. These include thinkers as diverse as Immanuel Kant, Johann von Goethe, Herbert Spencer, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Thomas Paine, to name but a few. All of them entered the fray to leave their mark on the annals of scientific inquiry.
But you'll also learn about others within this fledgling scientific community whom you may never have encountered before. Do you know about Nicolas Malebranche ... Jakob Moleschott ... Robert Chambers ... Abraham Werner ... William Whewell ... or a remarkable woman named Mary Somerville?
Though perhaps less familiar than the scientific minds with whom we have grown up, their roles in the developing history of science were equally important.
The Interaction of Science and Society
The discussions of scientific principles always show how science developed and how scientific inquiry influenced, and was influenced by, the culture of which it was a part. Any discussion of such influence, of course, must take into account the impact of religion.
The Church's precepts played a role in investigations in almost every area of natural science, from the mechanical laws that governed the behavior of the universe and the bodies within it to the debate over God's role in embryonic development.
You'll even learn about a ferocious debate over the possibility of extra-terrestrial life that had its roots in the 13th century.
The debate—which Professor Gregory dubs "The Extra-Terrestrial Life Fiasco"—ultimately involved Thomas Aquinas, the papacy (more than once), Thomas Paine, and the Master of Cambridge University's Trinity College.
Captivating Portraits of an Era and Its People
The debate is just one of many episodes that amplify the themes of the course and are simply fascinating in their own right, conveying a vivid portrait of an era and the people who helped shape it.
You'll learn how:
-the already raging firestorm over the possibility of evolution led Darwin to delay publishing his own findings
-the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was involved in coining the term, "scientist"
-the self-educated daughter of a British naval officer became a major scientific authority in Victorian Britain.
This course will give you a multi-disciplined picture of science in its historical context as it explores the ideas that took the world by storm.
Beyond that obvious benefit, it will also allow you to enjoy a provocative and nuanced look into an era of excitement and exploration, as scientific thought changed and adapted to accommodate a radically changing world.
This history of science series beginning in the 18th century works very well on its own, and is also designed to follow chronologically from Professor Lawrence M. Principe's 36-lecture course on the history of the foundations of science, The History of Science: Antiquity to 1700.
Should I Buy Audio or Video?
This course works well in any format. The DVD version features hundreds of images including portraits of natural scientists, depictions of famous experiments, and helpful charts and diagrams, plus helpful on-screen text highlighting important definitions, important dates, and famous figures in the history of science.
Course Lecture Titles
1)Science in the 18th and 19th Centuries
2)Consolidating Newton's Achievement
3)Theories of the Earth
4)Grappling with Rock Formations
5)Alchemy under Pressure
6)Lavoisier and the New French Chemistry
7)The Classification of Living Things
8)How the Embryo Develops
9)Medical Healers and Their Roles
10)Mesmerism, Science, and the French Revolution
11)Explaining Electricity
12)The Amazing Achievements of Galvani and Volta
13)Biology is Born
14)Alternative Visions of Natural Science
15)A World of Prehistoric Beasts
16)Evolution French Style
17)The Catastrophist Synthesis
18)Exploring the World
19)A Victorian Sensation
20)The Making of The Origin of Species
21)Troubles with Darwin's Theory
22)Science, Life, and Disease
23)Human Society and the Struggle for Existence
24)Whither God?
25)Forces, Forces Everywhere
26)Electromagnetism Changes Everything
27)French Insights About Heat
28)New Institutions of Natural Science
29)The Conservation of What?
30)Culture Wars and Thermodynamics
31)Scientific Materialism at Mid-Century
32)The Mechanics of Molecules
33)Astronomical Achievement
34)The Extra-Terrestrial Life Fiasco
35)Catching Up With Light
36)The End of Science?
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
This lecture series highlights the achievements of Renaissance Science in Europe and the U.S.A. In this respect, the following quote by Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah, Aga Khan III, is relevant. It comes from a letter he wrote to a friend in 1952 under the title of "What have we forgotten in Islam?"; I chose a catchy one-liner from this letter to be one of my signature posts that appear at the end of every blog post that I make:
"Islam is fundamentally in its very nature a natural religion. Throughout the Quran God's signs (Ayats) are referred to as the natural phenomenon, the law and order of the universe, the exactitudes and consequences of the relations between natural phenomenon in cause and effect. Over and over, the stars, sun, moon, earthquakes, fruits of the earth and trees are mentioned as the signs of divine power, divine law and divine order. Even in the Ayeh of Noor, divine is referred to as the natural phenomenon of light and even references are made to the fruit of the earth. During the great period of Islam, Muslims did not forget these principles of their religion. Alas, Islam which is a natural religion in which God's miracles are the very law and order of nature drifted away and is still drifting away, even in Pakistan, from science which is the study of those very laws and orders of nature.……Islam is a natural religion of which the Ayats are the universe in which we live and move and have our being………..The God of the Quran is the one whose Ayats are the universe……"(Aga Khan III, 1952)
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2006/12/what-have-we-forgotten-in-islam-aga.html
I am currently going through this course and finding it very enjoyable. It should be seen as a continuation of the course described in this earlier post:
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/214excellent-dvd-lectures-on-history-of.html
http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=1210&id=1210&pc=Science%20and%20Mathematics
History of Science: 1700–1900 (36 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture)Course No. 1210
Taught by Frederick GregoryUniversity of FloridaPh.D., Harvard University
In the period 1700-1900, kings and empires rose and fell, but science conquered all, taking the world by storm.
Yet, as the 1700s began, the mysteries of the universe were pondered by "natural philosophers"—the term "scientist" didn't even exist until the mid 19th century—whose explanations couldn't help but be influenced by the religious thought and political and social contexts that shaped their world.
The radical ideas of the Enlightenment were especially important and influential. In this course you see how the work of these natural philosophers prepared the way for the more familiar world of science we recognize today.
Understand Two Centuries of Scientific Discoveries from an Unusually Qualified Professor
To navigate this complex a mix of social factors and scientific knowledge requires a teacher of very specialized background. Trained as both a mathematician and seminarian before receiving his doctorate as a scholar of scientific history, Professor Frederick Gregory brings an unusually apt perspective to the era covered by this course. It was a time when the Church's influences on science were often profound.
Dr. Gregory has organized the course around six main themes:
1)inquiries into the history of the cosmos
2)investigations into the realm of living things
3)the largely successful attempt to break away from occult explanations of chemical phenomena
4)the contrasting persistence of occult appeals in explaining natural phenomena
5)the proliferation of the number and kind of physical forces discovered and investigated, thereby opening up broad vistas for the future
6)the recurring theme of the relationship of God to nature
In moving back and forth across two centuries, the lectures touch on many of the scientific disciplines we know today, including chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, paleontology, and others. And they often cover in detail famous experiments and discoveries in areas as divergent as electromagnetism, fossil analysis, and medicine.
Beyond Einstein: Familiar Names, and Some Surprises, Too
You will find names that leap out as familiar, like Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, Louis Pasteur, Max Planck, Antoine Lavoisier, and Albert Einstein.
And you'll meet some of the greatest names in the histories of non-scientific disciplines. These include thinkers as diverse as Immanuel Kant, Johann von Goethe, Herbert Spencer, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Thomas Paine, to name but a few. All of them entered the fray to leave their mark on the annals of scientific inquiry.
But you'll also learn about others within this fledgling scientific community whom you may never have encountered before. Do you know about Nicolas Malebranche ... Jakob Moleschott ... Robert Chambers ... Abraham Werner ... William Whewell ... or a remarkable woman named Mary Somerville?
Though perhaps less familiar than the scientific minds with whom we have grown up, their roles in the developing history of science were equally important.
The Interaction of Science and Society
The discussions of scientific principles always show how science developed and how scientific inquiry influenced, and was influenced by, the culture of which it was a part. Any discussion of such influence, of course, must take into account the impact of religion.
The Church's precepts played a role in investigations in almost every area of natural science, from the mechanical laws that governed the behavior of the universe and the bodies within it to the debate over God's role in embryonic development.
You'll even learn about a ferocious debate over the possibility of extra-terrestrial life that had its roots in the 13th century.
The debate—which Professor Gregory dubs "The Extra-Terrestrial Life Fiasco"—ultimately involved Thomas Aquinas, the papacy (more than once), Thomas Paine, and the Master of Cambridge University's Trinity College.
Captivating Portraits of an Era and Its People
The debate is just one of many episodes that amplify the themes of the course and are simply fascinating in their own right, conveying a vivid portrait of an era and the people who helped shape it.
You'll learn how:
-the already raging firestorm over the possibility of evolution led Darwin to delay publishing his own findings
-the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was involved in coining the term, "scientist"
-the self-educated daughter of a British naval officer became a major scientific authority in Victorian Britain.
This course will give you a multi-disciplined picture of science in its historical context as it explores the ideas that took the world by storm.
Beyond that obvious benefit, it will also allow you to enjoy a provocative and nuanced look into an era of excitement and exploration, as scientific thought changed and adapted to accommodate a radically changing world.
This history of science series beginning in the 18th century works very well on its own, and is also designed to follow chronologically from Professor Lawrence M. Principe's 36-lecture course on the history of the foundations of science, The History of Science: Antiquity to 1700.
Should I Buy Audio or Video?
This course works well in any format. The DVD version features hundreds of images including portraits of natural scientists, depictions of famous experiments, and helpful charts and diagrams, plus helpful on-screen text highlighting important definitions, important dates, and famous figures in the history of science.
Course Lecture Titles
1)Science in the 18th and 19th Centuries
2)Consolidating Newton's Achievement
3)Theories of the Earth
4)Grappling with Rock Formations
5)Alchemy under Pressure
6)Lavoisier and the New French Chemistry
7)The Classification of Living Things
8)How the Embryo Develops
9)Medical Healers and Their Roles
10)Mesmerism, Science, and the French Revolution
11)Explaining Electricity
12)The Amazing Achievements of Galvani and Volta
13)Biology is Born
14)Alternative Visions of Natural Science
15)A World of Prehistoric Beasts
16)Evolution French Style
17)The Catastrophist Synthesis
18)Exploring the World
19)A Victorian Sensation
20)The Making of The Origin of Species
21)Troubles with Darwin's Theory
22)Science, Life, and Disease
23)Human Society and the Struggle for Existence
24)Whither God?
25)Forces, Forces Everywhere
26)Electromagnetism Changes Everything
27)French Insights About Heat
28)New Institutions of Natural Science
29)The Conservation of What?
30)Culture Wars and Thermodynamics
31)Scientific Materialism at Mid-Century
32)The Mechanics of Molecules
33)Astronomical Achievement
34)The Extra-Terrestrial Life Fiasco
35)Catching Up With Light
36)The End of Science?
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
Monday, July 16, 2007
219)Four giants of 10th to 13th century Science in early Islam:Ibn Sina, Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn Butlan, Nasir al-Din Tusi; more quotes of Aga Khan IV.
The Institute of Ismaili Studies has placed this article from its gallery back onto its main page. I posted the link to this article before on my blogsite but its worth another review. It talks about four giants from the "Knowledge Society" of the 10th to 13th centuries, Ibn Sina, Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn Butlan and Nasir al-Din Tusi:
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=106512
Quotes of Mowlana Hazar Imam, Aga Khan IV, put this whole thing in context:
In the great expansion of Muslim culture from the 8th through the 11th century, centres of learning flourished from Persia to Andalusia. I do not have to tell this audience about the glories of Al-Azhar established 1000 years ago by the Fatimids. This audience knows full well about the foresight of al-Ma'mun and the Timurid empire and in taking knowledge from all quarters and using it to benefit their society. As Ibn Khaldun wrote, "the Muslims desired to learn the sciences of foreign nations. They made them their own through translations. They pressed them into the mould of their own views. They took them over into their own language from the non-Arab languages and surpassed the achievements of the non-Arabs in them." (Aga Khan IV at the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Aga Khan University, 1993)
From the seventh century to the thirteenth century, the Muslim civilizations dominated world culture, accepting, adopting, using and preserving all preceding study of mathematics, philosophy, medicine and astronomy, among other areas of learning. The Islamic field of thought and knowledge included and added to much of the information on which all civilisations are founded (Brown University, 1996).
Excerpt of address made by Mowlana Hazar Imam to the graduating students at the Aga Khan University, December 2nd 2006:"That quest for a better life, among Muslims and non-Muslims alike, must lead inevitably to the Knowledge Society which is developing in our time. The great and central question facing the Ummah of today is how it will relate to the Knowledge Society of tomorrow.
If we judge from Islamic history, there is much to encourage us. For century after century, the Arabs, the Persians, the Turks and many other Islamic societies achieved powerful leadership roles in the world—not only politically and economically but also intellectually. Some ill-informed historians and biased commentators have tried to argue that these successes were essentially produced by military power, but this view is profoundly incorrect. The fundamental reason for the pre-eminence of Islamic civilizations lay neither in accidents of history nor in acts of war, but rather in their ability to discover new knowledge, to make it their own, and to build constructively upon it. They became the Knowledge Societies of their time(Aga Khan IV, 2006)
In this context, would it not also be relevant to consider how, above all, it has been the Qur'anic notion of the universe as an expression of Allah's will and creation that has inspired, in diverse Muslim communities, generations of artists, scientists and philosophers? Scientific pursuits, philosophic inquiry and artistic endeavour are all seen as the response of the faithful to the recurring call of the Qur'an to ponder the creation as a way to understand Allah's benevolent majesty. As Sura al-Baqara proclaims: 'Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah'.The famous verse of 'light' in the Qur'an, the Ayat al-Nur, whose first line is rendered here in the mural behind me, inspires among Muslims a reflection on the sacred, the transcendent. It hints at a cosmos full of signs and symbols that evoke the perfection of Allah's creation and mercy. (Aga Khan IV,Speech, 2003, London, U.K.)
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=106512
Quotes of Mowlana Hazar Imam, Aga Khan IV, put this whole thing in context:
In the great expansion of Muslim culture from the 8th through the 11th century, centres of learning flourished from Persia to Andalusia. I do not have to tell this audience about the glories of Al-Azhar established 1000 years ago by the Fatimids. This audience knows full well about the foresight of al-Ma'mun and the Timurid empire and in taking knowledge from all quarters and using it to benefit their society. As Ibn Khaldun wrote, "the Muslims desired to learn the sciences of foreign nations. They made them their own through translations. They pressed them into the mould of their own views. They took them over into their own language from the non-Arab languages and surpassed the achievements of the non-Arabs in them." (Aga Khan IV at the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Aga Khan University, 1993)
From the seventh century to the thirteenth century, the Muslim civilizations dominated world culture, accepting, adopting, using and preserving all preceding study of mathematics, philosophy, medicine and astronomy, among other areas of learning. The Islamic field of thought and knowledge included and added to much of the information on which all civilisations are founded (Brown University, 1996).
Excerpt of address made by Mowlana Hazar Imam to the graduating students at the Aga Khan University, December 2nd 2006:"That quest for a better life, among Muslims and non-Muslims alike, must lead inevitably to the Knowledge Society which is developing in our time. The great and central question facing the Ummah of today is how it will relate to the Knowledge Society of tomorrow.
If we judge from Islamic history, there is much to encourage us. For century after century, the Arabs, the Persians, the Turks and many other Islamic societies achieved powerful leadership roles in the world—not only politically and economically but also intellectually. Some ill-informed historians and biased commentators have tried to argue that these successes were essentially produced by military power, but this view is profoundly incorrect. The fundamental reason for the pre-eminence of Islamic civilizations lay neither in accidents of history nor in acts of war, but rather in their ability to discover new knowledge, to make it their own, and to build constructively upon it. They became the Knowledge Societies of their time(Aga Khan IV, 2006)
In this context, would it not also be relevant to consider how, above all, it has been the Qur'anic notion of the universe as an expression of Allah's will and creation that has inspired, in diverse Muslim communities, generations of artists, scientists and philosophers? Scientific pursuits, philosophic inquiry and artistic endeavour are all seen as the response of the faithful to the recurring call of the Qur'an to ponder the creation as a way to understand Allah's benevolent majesty. As Sura al-Baqara proclaims: 'Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah'.The famous verse of 'light' in the Qur'an, the Ayat al-Nur, whose first line is rendered here in the mural behind me, inspires among Muslims a reflection on the sacred, the transcendent. It hints at a cosmos full of signs and symbols that evoke the perfection of Allah's creation and mercy. (Aga Khan IV,Speech, 2003, London, U.K.)
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
218)Two books about giants of 20th century Physics: Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Wolfgang Pauli, Paul Dirac, Werner Heisenberg; quotes of Aga Khan IV.
Book details
1)Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics By Gino Segrè
2)Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science By David Lindley
History of science
Revolutionaries at work and play
Jul 12th 2007
From The Economist print edition
The giant brains who devised quantum mechanics, whatever that means.
PHYSICS was revolutionised by quantum mechanics almost a century ago. The bizarre consequences include the fundamental truth that it is impossible to know everything about the world; the meaning of quantum mechanics still provokes head-scratching by physicists and philosophers alike. A portrait of the great personalities who drove the revolution is provided by these two books.
Perhaps because the subject was mathematically complex and ran counter to classical notions of physical laws, the community of physicists who developed it was small and overwhelmingly young.
In “Faust in Copenhagen” Gino Segrè identifies seven people who devised quantum mechanics: six men and a woman. Five of them went on to become Nobel laureates, and the city in which they did much of their work has become synonymous with the dominant philosophical understanding of the subject. The “Copenhagen interpretation” says that the world people experience is decided upon when the many possibilities of the quantum world collapse to become the certainty of the classical one. (A rival to this view is that the many possibilities of the quantum world all continue to be real and that there are thus many worlds.)
The book takes as its organising theme a short comedy written and performed by the more mischievous members of this community as entertainment at the end of an informal academic gathering held in April 1932. The sketch was based on Goethe's “Faust” where the hero, famously frustrated by the limits to his learning, makes a pact with the devil.
Unlike the other revolution in 20th-century physics, Einstein's general theory of relativity, which emerged from the mind of a single man, quantum mechanics was a group effort. Indeed, it could be argued that it is the more profound achievement and could not have emerged from a single mind. Each person developing it needed the others to help explain what it was they had achieved. But the personalities were hugely different from one another.
Niels Bohr, the elder statesman of the community, was an athletic team worker and family man who needed constant companionship to test his thoughts. He played God in the comedy and is seen above, on the right, studying a spinning top with Wolfgang Pauli:
http://economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9468943
Pauli (who had the part of Mephistopheles) was a portly womaniser given to drinking and smoking; his razor-sharp wit was both scathing and hilarious. Paul Dirac would today be diagnosed with a personality disorder: he could not grasp anything other than the direct logic of the spoken word. Werner Heisenberg was intensely competitive and a tacit supporter of Nazi Germany.
Mr Segrè's tome is a mostly engaging tale: well-researched and fully aware of the political backdrop. He remains true to the scientific language and thought of the time, not resorting to modern concepts. But despite a warning that “there is a good deal of science in the book, as much as can be accommodated without the machinery of equations”, the story neglects the physics. It misses the opportunity to give some appreciation of the beauty of quantum mechanics—and to explain exactly where the subject becomes so confounding.
By contrast David Lindley's volume puts a more equal weight on the science and the personalities who devised it. The book is charmingly written and a delight to read. It has, however, the wrong title: “Uncertainty” is but a single part of quantum mechanics and Mr Lindley covers far more ground, taking readers through a history of atomic and nuclear physics. This enables him to include Einstein who, despite receiving his Nobel prize for early work on quantum mechanics, devoted much of his efforts to opposing the Copenhagen interpretation of it.
Both books highlight the human element of science. Although a Nobel prize is awarded to no more than three individuals, fundamental physics is often done as teamwork. Biographies that capture not only the people involved but also how they interact are a welcome antidote to the impression that the best science is done by the genius alone in his garret.
Qutes of Aga Khan IV:
God has given us the miracle of life with all its attributes: the extraordinary manifestations of sunrise and sunset, of sickness and recovery, of birth and death, but surely if He has given us the means with which to remove ourselves from this world so as to go to other parts of the Universe, we can but accept as further manifestations the creation and destructions of stars, the birth and death of atomic particles, the flighting new sound and light waves. I am afraid that the torch of intellectual discovery, the attraction of the unknown, the desire for intellectual self-perfection have left us. (Aga Khan IV,Speech, 1963, Mindanao, Phillipines)
It (Surah of Light from the Quran) tells us that the oil of the blessed olive tree lights the lamp of understanding, a light that belongs neither to the East nor West. We are to give this light to all. In that spirit, all that we learn will belong to the world and that too is part of the vision I share with you. (Aga Khan IV, Speech 25 Sept. 1979)
The truth, as the famous Islamic scholars repeatedly told their students, is that the spirit of disciplined, objective enquiry is the property of no single culture, but of all humanity. To quote the great physician and philosopher, Ibn Sina: "My profession is to forever journeying, to travel about the universe so that I may know all its conditions." (Aga Khan IV, Speech, 16 March 1983, Karachi, Pakistan)
In this context, would it not also be relevant to consider how, above all, it has been the Qur'anic notion of the universe as an expression of Allah's will and creation that has inspired, in diverse Muslim communities, generations of artists, scientists and philosophers? Scientific pursuits, philosophic inquiry and artistic endeavour are all seen as the response of the faithful to the recurring call of the Qur'an to ponder the creation as a way to understand Allah's benevolent majesty. As Sura al-Baqara proclaims: 'Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah'.The famous verse of 'light' in the Qur'an, the Ayat al-Nur, whose first line is rendered here in the mural behind me, inspires among Muslims a reflection on the sacred, the transcendent. It hints at a cosmos full of signs and symbols that evoke the perfection of Allah's creation and mercy. (Aga Khan IV,Speech, 2003, London, U.K.)
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
1)Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics By Gino Segrè
2)Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science By David Lindley
History of science
Revolutionaries at work and play
Jul 12th 2007
From The Economist print edition
The giant brains who devised quantum mechanics, whatever that means.
PHYSICS was revolutionised by quantum mechanics almost a century ago. The bizarre consequences include the fundamental truth that it is impossible to know everything about the world; the meaning of quantum mechanics still provokes head-scratching by physicists and philosophers alike. A portrait of the great personalities who drove the revolution is provided by these two books.
Perhaps because the subject was mathematically complex and ran counter to classical notions of physical laws, the community of physicists who developed it was small and overwhelmingly young.
In “Faust in Copenhagen” Gino Segrè identifies seven people who devised quantum mechanics: six men and a woman. Five of them went on to become Nobel laureates, and the city in which they did much of their work has become synonymous with the dominant philosophical understanding of the subject. The “Copenhagen interpretation” says that the world people experience is decided upon when the many possibilities of the quantum world collapse to become the certainty of the classical one. (A rival to this view is that the many possibilities of the quantum world all continue to be real and that there are thus many worlds.)
The book takes as its organising theme a short comedy written and performed by the more mischievous members of this community as entertainment at the end of an informal academic gathering held in April 1932. The sketch was based on Goethe's “Faust” where the hero, famously frustrated by the limits to his learning, makes a pact with the devil.
Unlike the other revolution in 20th-century physics, Einstein's general theory of relativity, which emerged from the mind of a single man, quantum mechanics was a group effort. Indeed, it could be argued that it is the more profound achievement and could not have emerged from a single mind. Each person developing it needed the others to help explain what it was they had achieved. But the personalities were hugely different from one another.
Niels Bohr, the elder statesman of the community, was an athletic team worker and family man who needed constant companionship to test his thoughts. He played God in the comedy and is seen above, on the right, studying a spinning top with Wolfgang Pauli:
http://economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9468943
Pauli (who had the part of Mephistopheles) was a portly womaniser given to drinking and smoking; his razor-sharp wit was both scathing and hilarious. Paul Dirac would today be diagnosed with a personality disorder: he could not grasp anything other than the direct logic of the spoken word. Werner Heisenberg was intensely competitive and a tacit supporter of Nazi Germany.
Mr Segrè's tome is a mostly engaging tale: well-researched and fully aware of the political backdrop. He remains true to the scientific language and thought of the time, not resorting to modern concepts. But despite a warning that “there is a good deal of science in the book, as much as can be accommodated without the machinery of equations”, the story neglects the physics. It misses the opportunity to give some appreciation of the beauty of quantum mechanics—and to explain exactly where the subject becomes so confounding.
By contrast David Lindley's volume puts a more equal weight on the science and the personalities who devised it. The book is charmingly written and a delight to read. It has, however, the wrong title: “Uncertainty” is but a single part of quantum mechanics and Mr Lindley covers far more ground, taking readers through a history of atomic and nuclear physics. This enables him to include Einstein who, despite receiving his Nobel prize for early work on quantum mechanics, devoted much of his efforts to opposing the Copenhagen interpretation of it.
Both books highlight the human element of science. Although a Nobel prize is awarded to no more than three individuals, fundamental physics is often done as teamwork. Biographies that capture not only the people involved but also how they interact are a welcome antidote to the impression that the best science is done by the genius alone in his garret.
Qutes of Aga Khan IV:
God has given us the miracle of life with all its attributes: the extraordinary manifestations of sunrise and sunset, of sickness and recovery, of birth and death, but surely if He has given us the means with which to remove ourselves from this world so as to go to other parts of the Universe, we can but accept as further manifestations the creation and destructions of stars, the birth and death of atomic particles, the flighting new sound and light waves. I am afraid that the torch of intellectual discovery, the attraction of the unknown, the desire for intellectual self-perfection have left us. (Aga Khan IV,Speech, 1963, Mindanao, Phillipines)
It (Surah of Light from the Quran) tells us that the oil of the blessed olive tree lights the lamp of understanding, a light that belongs neither to the East nor West. We are to give this light to all. In that spirit, all that we learn will belong to the world and that too is part of the vision I share with you. (Aga Khan IV, Speech 25 Sept. 1979)
The truth, as the famous Islamic scholars repeatedly told their students, is that the spirit of disciplined, objective enquiry is the property of no single culture, but of all humanity. To quote the great physician and philosopher, Ibn Sina: "My profession is to forever journeying, to travel about the universe so that I may know all its conditions." (Aga Khan IV, Speech, 16 March 1983, Karachi, Pakistan)
In this context, would it not also be relevant to consider how, above all, it has been the Qur'anic notion of the universe as an expression of Allah's will and creation that has inspired, in diverse Muslim communities, generations of artists, scientists and philosophers? Scientific pursuits, philosophic inquiry and artistic endeavour are all seen as the response of the faithful to the recurring call of the Qur'an to ponder the creation as a way to understand Allah's benevolent majesty. As Sura al-Baqara proclaims: 'Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah'.The famous verse of 'light' in the Qur'an, the Ayat al-Nur, whose first line is rendered here in the mural behind me, inspires among Muslims a reflection on the sacred, the transcendent. It hints at a cosmos full of signs and symbols that evoke the perfection of Allah's creation and mercy. (Aga Khan IV,Speech, 2003, London, U.K.)
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
Sunday, July 15, 2007
217)Updated index of my blogsite to the middle of July 2007.
Posts relating to religious doctrine: 1, 2, 3 ,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 18, 20, 22, 27, 33, 34, 35, 46, 48, 49, 50, 59, 60, 63, 64, 65, 70, 71, 72, 74, 82, 86, 95, 98, 100, 103, 106, 112, 114, 129, 133, 135, 136, 145, 163, 180, 184, 189, 190, 191, 194, 197, 200, 204, 205, 208, 213, 223, 229.
Posts relating to objects and events in nature(science): 13, 15, 16, 17, 23, 24, 25, 28, 32, 36, 40, 42, 47, 53, 54, 56, 57, 58, 66, 67, 68, 75, 79, 80, 83, 84, 87, 88, 90, 92, 94, 97, 99, 102, 107, 109, 110, 111, 115, 116, 117, 119, 120, 121, 123, 128, 130, 132, 137, 139, 140, 141, 142, 146, 147, 149, 159, 160, 164, 166, 169, 173, 175, 183, 185, 186, 187, 193, 196, 198, 199, 202, 212, 214, 218, 227.
Posts relating to both: 12, 14, 19, 21, 26, 29, 30, 31, 37, 38, 39, 41, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52, 55, 61, 62, 69, 73, 76, 77, 81, 85, 89, 91, 93, 96, 104, 105, 108, 113, 118, 122, 124, 126, 127, 131, 134, 144, 148, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 161, 162, 167, 168, 170, 176, 177, 178, 179, 181, 182, 188, 192, 195, 201, 203, 206, 207, 209, 210, 217, 219, 220, 221, 222, 224, 225, 226, 228, 230.
Posts relating to neither: 78, 101, 125, 138, 171, 172, 174, 211, 215, 216, 229.
Special collections of posts:
A)Ayats(Signs) in the Universe Series: 19, 29, 31, 38, 39, 41, 127, 229.
B)Posts relating specifically to the subject of Astronomy: 23, 24, 25, 28, 32, 36, 42, 47, 56, 57, 58, 66, 67, 75, 83, 84, 85, 90, 92, 94, 99, 102, 107, 109, 110, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 123, 128, 130, 132, 134, 137, 139, 140, 141, 142, 151, 159, 161, 164, 165, 166, 169, 185, 186, 187, 202, 225.
C)Posts relating to individual scientists, philosophers, cosmologists and poets, both inside and outside the Islamic tradition: 1, 11, 16, 20, 26, 27, 43, 44, 48, 55, 56, 57, 104, 108, 128, 130, 135, 150, 157, 158, 162, 178, 192, 210, 218, 219, 221, 224, 227.
D)Posts relating to my China Series: 171, 172, 174, 229.
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
Posts relating to objects and events in nature(science): 13, 15, 16, 17, 23, 24, 25, 28, 32, 36, 40, 42, 47, 53, 54, 56, 57, 58, 66, 67, 68, 75, 79, 80, 83, 84, 87, 88, 90, 92, 94, 97, 99, 102, 107, 109, 110, 111, 115, 116, 117, 119, 120, 121, 123, 128, 130, 132, 137, 139, 140, 141, 142, 146, 147, 149, 159, 160, 164, 166, 169, 173, 175, 183, 185, 186, 187, 193, 196, 198, 199, 202, 212, 214, 218, 227.
Posts relating to both: 12, 14, 19, 21, 26, 29, 30, 31, 37, 38, 39, 41, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52, 55, 61, 62, 69, 73, 76, 77, 81, 85, 89, 91, 93, 96, 104, 105, 108, 113, 118, 122, 124, 126, 127, 131, 134, 144, 148, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 161, 162, 167, 168, 170, 176, 177, 178, 179, 181, 182, 188, 192, 195, 201, 203, 206, 207, 209, 210, 217, 219, 220, 221, 222, 224, 225, 226, 228, 230.
Posts relating to neither: 78, 101, 125, 138, 171, 172, 174, 211, 215, 216, 229.
Special collections of posts:
A)Ayats(Signs) in the Universe Series: 19, 29, 31, 38, 39, 41, 127, 229.
B)Posts relating specifically to the subject of Astronomy: 23, 24, 25, 28, 32, 36, 42, 47, 56, 57, 58, 66, 67, 75, 83, 84, 85, 90, 92, 94, 99, 102, 107, 109, 110, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 123, 128, 130, 132, 134, 137, 139, 140, 141, 142, 151, 159, 161, 164, 165, 166, 169, 185, 186, 187, 202, 225.
C)Posts relating to individual scientists, philosophers, cosmologists and poets, both inside and outside the Islamic tradition: 1, 11, 16, 20, 26, 27, 43, 44, 48, 55, 56, 57, 104, 108, 128, 130, 135, 150, 157, 158, 162, 178, 192, 210, 218, 219, 221, 224, 227.
D)Posts relating to my China Series: 171, 172, 174, 229.
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
Friday, July 13, 2007
216)The brand new official website of the Ismaili Muslim Community.
I was pleasantly surprised when I recieved my online copy of Ontario's Al-Akhbar newsletter indicating the formation of the new official website of the Ismaili Muslim Community:
http://www.theismaili.org/
In stature, this new website belongs among the other two more established official websites, those of The Aga Khan Development Network(AKDN) and Institute of Ismaili Studies(IIS), and I have placed its web address on my Suggested Links corner. I see these three websites as being valuable resources to be tapped into on an ongoing basis. Due to the specific nature of my blogsite, I find myself using and linking more to the Institute of Ismaili Studies website but I certainly will be consulting all three regularly for any information that would add to the value of my blogsite. Anyone who is very familiar with my posts knows how much I depend on and use the IIS website.
Obviously, the Ismaili Mail website feels the same way that I do and has made the new official website of the Ismaili Muslim Community( http://www.theismaili.org/ ) one of its posts of the week:
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/official-website-of-the-ismaili-muslim-community/
"The Ismaili", the name of the new official website of the Ismaili Muslim Community, has a marvellous gallery of images of key milestones of Mowlana Hazar Imam's 50 years of Imamat.
The most recent are the magnificent pictures of the Imam and his "beloved family" standing outside the official residence wearing the most splendid, noble-looking and dignified gowns, hats and outfits I have ever seen. The day was July 11th 2007 and they were just about to go inside for the homage ceremony.
Over here accross the pond in Tdot, I put on the sunday best clothes I recently had custom-made in Shanghai, China and dutifully transported my mother to Toronto's International Center for a day of rememberance, illumination, good food and good books. My mother wanted to reach there early so she could take her chair in the seniors section of the complex. My wife and daughter would join us little later. As it turned out there were so many people at the Toronto International Center that they ended up on one end of the sprawling complex and I at the other. I later texted my wife at the speed of light(300,000km/sec) and we were able to re-connect in the chow line.
For me a huge attraction of these large communal gatherings is the Literature Counter, a place of illumination itself, where knowledge is dispensed in the form of the written word, art and picture. During the June 2005 Padhramni in Toronto, I seperated myself from a thick wad to build on my burgeoning collection of books and publications put out mostly by the Institute of Ismaili Studies. I still have not finished reading those books but a few days ago I acquired more new publications from the Literature counter at the Golden Jubilee celebration in Toronto, Canada. I also picked up 5 new small tasbihs. With the kind of mileage people put on these whirring beads these days, I felt it would be smart to have replacements for those inevitable wear and tear breakdowns. The books were a bargain pricewise especially compared to having to purchase them from Amazon.com.
In Toronto it was a marvellous gathering, one that will find a prominent spot in the cobwebs of my memory, akin to the cherished memory of my marriage at the hand of Mowlana Hazar Imam during his visit to Toronto in November 1978.
The list of like-minded websites and blogsites continues to grow larger and, by my reckoning, that is a very good thing.
Speaking of a very good thing, I just discovered a new like-minded blogsite called Ismailiworld:
http://www.ismailiworld.blogspot.com/
and I am linking to it for the simple reason that it has already linked to my blogsite.
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
http://www.theismaili.org/
In stature, this new website belongs among the other two more established official websites, those of The Aga Khan Development Network(AKDN) and Institute of Ismaili Studies(IIS), and I have placed its web address on my Suggested Links corner. I see these three websites as being valuable resources to be tapped into on an ongoing basis. Due to the specific nature of my blogsite, I find myself using and linking more to the Institute of Ismaili Studies website but I certainly will be consulting all three regularly for any information that would add to the value of my blogsite. Anyone who is very familiar with my posts knows how much I depend on and use the IIS website.
Obviously, the Ismaili Mail website feels the same way that I do and has made the new official website of the Ismaili Muslim Community( http://www.theismaili.org/ ) one of its posts of the week:
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/official-website-of-the-ismaili-muslim-community/
"The Ismaili", the name of the new official website of the Ismaili Muslim Community, has a marvellous gallery of images of key milestones of Mowlana Hazar Imam's 50 years of Imamat.
The most recent are the magnificent pictures of the Imam and his "beloved family" standing outside the official residence wearing the most splendid, noble-looking and dignified gowns, hats and outfits I have ever seen. The day was July 11th 2007 and they were just about to go inside for the homage ceremony.
Over here accross the pond in Tdot, I put on the sunday best clothes I recently had custom-made in Shanghai, China and dutifully transported my mother to Toronto's International Center for a day of rememberance, illumination, good food and good books. My mother wanted to reach there early so she could take her chair in the seniors section of the complex. My wife and daughter would join us little later. As it turned out there were so many people at the Toronto International Center that they ended up on one end of the sprawling complex and I at the other. I later texted my wife at the speed of light(300,000km/sec) and we were able to re-connect in the chow line.
For me a huge attraction of these large communal gatherings is the Literature Counter, a place of illumination itself, where knowledge is dispensed in the form of the written word, art and picture. During the June 2005 Padhramni in Toronto, I seperated myself from a thick wad to build on my burgeoning collection of books and publications put out mostly by the Institute of Ismaili Studies. I still have not finished reading those books but a few days ago I acquired more new publications from the Literature counter at the Golden Jubilee celebration in Toronto, Canada. I also picked up 5 new small tasbihs. With the kind of mileage people put on these whirring beads these days, I felt it would be smart to have replacements for those inevitable wear and tear breakdowns. The books were a bargain pricewise especially compared to having to purchase them from Amazon.com.
In Toronto it was a marvellous gathering, one that will find a prominent spot in the cobwebs of my memory, akin to the cherished memory of my marriage at the hand of Mowlana Hazar Imam during his visit to Toronto in November 1978.
The list of like-minded websites and blogsites continues to grow larger and, by my reckoning, that is a very good thing.
Speaking of a very good thing, I just discovered a new like-minded blogsite called Ismailiworld:
http://www.ismailiworld.blogspot.com/
and I am linking to it for the simple reason that it has already linked to my blogsite.
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
215)Golden Jubilee Mubarak and the accolades keep pouring in from all over the world about His Highness Aga Khan IV, Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims.
The Ismaili Mail website has accumulated an unbeleivable array of accolades in the form of messages of congratulation, newspaper articles and fact sheets from all corners of the globe on the Golden Jubilee(50th) year of His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV as Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. The inherent genius of this fast moving Ismaili Mail website reveals itself clearly as the articles appear one by one in rapid fashion. One is quickly enthralled and overwhelmed reading all these articles sequentially:
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/his-highness-the-aga-khan-marks-his-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/06/official-government-of-canada-statement-on-the-golden-jubilee-year-of-his-highness-prince-karim-aga-khan-as-imam-of-the-shia-ismaili-muslims/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/envisages-major-opportunity-for-the-development-of-civil-societyhis-highness-the-aga-khan-marks-his-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/various-faith-groups-in-calgary-canada-congratulating-his-highness-prince-karim-aga-khan/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/foundation-for-pluralism-and-world-muslim-congress-joins-in-felicitation-of-his-highness-the-aga-khan-on-the-golden-jubilee-anniversary/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/in-search-of-cosmopolitan-ethics/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/calgary-ismailis-mark-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/vancouver-ismailis-celebrate-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/edmonton-celebrations-3000-gather-at-agricom-for-prayers-festivities/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/un-imam-hors-norme/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/ontario-congratulates-the-aga-khan-on-his-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/atlanta-usa-ismaili-muslims-celebrate-spiritual-leaders-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/guardian-daily-people-prince-karim-al-hussaini/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/his-highness-the-aga-khan-marks-his-golden-jubilee-envisages-major-opportunity-for-the-development-of-civil-society/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/dallas-news-ismaili-muslims-celebrate-leaders-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/mombasa-aga-khan-jubilee-marked-with-pomp/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/aga-khan’s-community-has-reason-to-celebrate/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/aga-khans-jubilee-a-time-of-reflection-for-teacher/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/aga-khans-contribution-deserves-recognition/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/pictures-golden-jubilee-celebrations-from-bc-place-canada/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/profit-not-the-bottom-line-for-aga-khan/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/statement-from-the-honourable-stephane-dion-leader-of-the-official-opposition-on-the-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/the-aga-khan’s-golden-jubilee-from-the-american-muslim/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/11/have-a-blessed-golden-jubilee-year/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/50-years-of-positive-religious-influence/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/spiritual-leader-aga-khan-marks-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/vancouver-ismailis-ready-to-celebrate-aga-khan/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/uganda-celebrating-50-years-under-his-highness-karim-aga-khan/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/pakistan-ismailis-celebrate-aga-khan’s-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/pakistan-50th-imamat-day-of-prince-karim-aga-khan/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/africa-aga-khan-marks-golden-jubilee-as-spiritual-leader-of-ismaili-muslims/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/east-africa-celebrating-the-leadership-of-a-friend-of-humanity/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/aga-khan-milestone-jubilee-celebrations-begins-daily-news-tanzania/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/aga-khans-golden-jubilee-daily-star-bangladesh/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/canadian-composer-amin-bhatia-produces-worldwide-anthem-for-the-aga-khan-celebration/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/the-living-legend-article-from-chitral-news/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/ismaili-muslims-mark-golden-jubilee-from-canwest-news/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/kampala-mayor-wants-queen-to-visit-aga-khan-foundation-supported-project/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/beneficiaries-send-blessings-to-philanthropic-prince/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/jubilee-year-for-worlds-ismailis-from-mansoor-ladha-at-the-vancouver-sun/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/09/aga-khan-marks-50-years-as-imam-monitor-uganda/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/08/the-shia-you-dont-hear-about/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/08/the-aga-khan-is-spiritual-leader-for-15-million-ismaili-muslims/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/08/the-quiet-and-peaceful-face-of-islam/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/08/ny-times-an-extensive-article-on-aga-khan/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/08/ismailis-ready-to-celebrate/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/05/aga-khan-billionaire-and-prince-of-the-poor/
On behalf of myself, easynash, and my blogsite, your one-stop shop for knowledge on the "Link between Science and Religion in Islam", I wish all my many readers from six continents on miniscule planet earth a warm and hearty Golden Jubilee Khushaili Mubarak(hugs all around) and hope you all have a fulfilling and illuminating day today, and a truly enlightening year ahead.
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/his-highness-the-aga-khan-marks-his-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/06/official-government-of-canada-statement-on-the-golden-jubilee-year-of-his-highness-prince-karim-aga-khan-as-imam-of-the-shia-ismaili-muslims/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/envisages-major-opportunity-for-the-development-of-civil-societyhis-highness-the-aga-khan-marks-his-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/various-faith-groups-in-calgary-canada-congratulating-his-highness-prince-karim-aga-khan/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/foundation-for-pluralism-and-world-muslim-congress-joins-in-felicitation-of-his-highness-the-aga-khan-on-the-golden-jubilee-anniversary/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/in-search-of-cosmopolitan-ethics/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/calgary-ismailis-mark-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/vancouver-ismailis-celebrate-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/edmonton-celebrations-3000-gather-at-agricom-for-prayers-festivities/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/un-imam-hors-norme/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/ontario-congratulates-the-aga-khan-on-his-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/atlanta-usa-ismaili-muslims-celebrate-spiritual-leaders-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/guardian-daily-people-prince-karim-al-hussaini/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/his-highness-the-aga-khan-marks-his-golden-jubilee-envisages-major-opportunity-for-the-development-of-civil-society/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/dallas-news-ismaili-muslims-celebrate-leaders-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/mombasa-aga-khan-jubilee-marked-with-pomp/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/aga-khan’s-community-has-reason-to-celebrate/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/aga-khans-jubilee-a-time-of-reflection-for-teacher/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/aga-khans-contribution-deserves-recognition/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/pictures-golden-jubilee-celebrations-from-bc-place-canada/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/profit-not-the-bottom-line-for-aga-khan/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/statement-from-the-honourable-stephane-dion-leader-of-the-official-opposition-on-the-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/the-aga-khan’s-golden-jubilee-from-the-american-muslim/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/11/have-a-blessed-golden-jubilee-year/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/50-years-of-positive-religious-influence/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/spiritual-leader-aga-khan-marks-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/vancouver-ismailis-ready-to-celebrate-aga-khan/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/uganda-celebrating-50-years-under-his-highness-karim-aga-khan/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/pakistan-ismailis-celebrate-aga-khan’s-golden-jubilee/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/pakistan-50th-imamat-day-of-prince-karim-aga-khan/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/africa-aga-khan-marks-golden-jubilee-as-spiritual-leader-of-ismaili-muslims/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/east-africa-celebrating-the-leadership-of-a-friend-of-humanity/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/aga-khan-milestone-jubilee-celebrations-begins-daily-news-tanzania/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/aga-khans-golden-jubilee-daily-star-bangladesh/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/canadian-composer-amin-bhatia-produces-worldwide-anthem-for-the-aga-khan-celebration/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/the-living-legend-article-from-chitral-news/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/ismaili-muslims-mark-golden-jubilee-from-canwest-news/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/kampala-mayor-wants-queen-to-visit-aga-khan-foundation-supported-project/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/beneficiaries-send-blessings-to-philanthropic-prince/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/jubilee-year-for-worlds-ismailis-from-mansoor-ladha-at-the-vancouver-sun/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/09/aga-khan-marks-50-years-as-imam-monitor-uganda/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/08/the-shia-you-dont-hear-about/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/08/the-aga-khan-is-spiritual-leader-for-15-million-ismaili-muslims/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/08/the-quiet-and-peaceful-face-of-islam/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/08/ny-times-an-extensive-article-on-aga-khan/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/08/ismailis-ready-to-celebrate/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/07/05/aga-khan-billionaire-and-prince-of-the-poor/
On behalf of myself, easynash, and my blogsite, your one-stop shop for knowledge on the "Link between Science and Religion in Islam", I wish all my many readers from six continents on miniscule planet earth a warm and hearty Golden Jubilee Khushaili Mubarak(hugs all around) and hope you all have a fulfilling and illuminating day today, and a truly enlightening year ahead.
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4(2006)
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(1952)
Our interpretation of Islam places enormous value on knowledge. Knowledge is the reflection of faith if it is used properly. Seek out that knowledge and use it properly:Aga Khan 4(2005)
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