Perak oh Perak

The Perak Fiasco from the comfort of my armchair.

Hazidi Abdul Hamid

The Perak political fiasco fills the air around me: the radio, television, the conversations I overhear, the conversations I enter and even on the short (and not so short) messages on my handphone. I had refused to take sides or to even get involved in this idiocy but when even my children are asking questions about the issue and talking about it; I believe I have an obligation to say something, even if it is only for my children to read.

The question I am forced to ask because my children asked me about them. When my children asked me questions about this, I thought perhaps our schools are not as bad as some say they are. Here we have two children, one fourteen and the other twelve, who actually know about political events in their country.

Is it an ethical thing to do? in the simpler words that I used with my kids, “is it a good thing to form a government in this manner?”

My answer: Of course it is not a good thing. However, in politics, good and bad are often regarded as irrelevant issues; it is the results that are more important for those who are in the field. The point of politics is to gain power so as to enable you and your group or party or faction to dictate how the government is run. Thus anything that allows them to achieve this end is, in contexts like these, “good”. So a bad thing is now a good thing for politicians because it allows them to gain power and power allows them to dictate the government, and this in turn allows them to do “good”: here defined as things running the way they want things to run.

So, which side are the “good” guys? I don’t think we can say that either side is good because both sides have condoned the same thing: hijacking a government through defection of members within the previous government. Please recall that after the previous election, the Opposition announced that they will take over the government when they claim that thirty or so members of the Ruling government will be defecting to their side. This means that they approve of the act of hijacking a government. This means that they believe that a member of parliament (or any similar body) need not vacate his or her seat if he or she leaves the political party that he or she had represented and gained him or her the seat. Now, when the tables have turned, the Opposition is clamouring to the public and the courts saying that it is illegal and unconstitutional and whatever else, but how can that be when they were the ones who approved of the method in the first place.

My conclusion:

1. It is an irksome thing to do and to take advantage of, but both sides seem to approve of it is only those of us who have some political moral but are not in politics that are left to disapprove of the act.

2. It appears that those who are involved in politics, as I have always believed, on both sides seem to adhere to the principle “the end justifies the means”

3.
I wonder if the Opposition representatives in the parliament now have a different view of the anti-hopping law recently tabled?

Is it a wise for the BN to rejoice in the takeover?

I think it was our former Prime Minister who recently commented that the individuals at the centre of this fiasco are “tainted” individuals: I believe he was referring to the reports that two of them are facing court cases, one introduced the sport of speed-hopping and one seems disgruntled with the other party which means that the defection is on personal grounds and not grounds of personal beliefs or conviction to the ideology of the other group. I believe a government is like a building and you want to build your building on firm ground: these do not seem like “firm ground” to me. What if, believing that our courts are unaffected by political wills, these two are found guilty and consequently lose their seats? More importantly, what if the votes go to the PR when the re-election is done? Will the third person then hop again? Will the fourth have a change of heart? Will we see crowds of people in front of the Perak Palace yet again?

What about the King?

I am a Malay (okay it can be a little more complicated than that but that’s a different issue) and consequently I subscribe to the institution of the Malay Rulers. Naturally I am pissed when people challenge the power a Malay King, particularly if that person is a non-Malay. What makes me more irate is when there are Malays supporting the move.

I believe these Malays who are supporting this Kafr should take a look at Australia’s history to see what happens to a people who have lost political power in the land of their forefathers.

I think I will stop writing about this point here because my sentiments towards institution of the Malay Kings will lead me to blabber far longer than I would want to.

On top of that there are the laws and the constitution both of which I need to read up on because I am not too sure what these texts say. So I reserve my comments till then. At the moment all I have are reports of what these individuals with vested interests say: not sound basis on which to make any judgement.

What about the people?

I think it is only natural for the people of Perak to be unhappy, at the very least. Put yourself in their place, you go out to vote and you came up with a government. Okay, to many, it was not the government that they wanted but, hey, it’s a democracy. What you want now is for that government to get on with the job of governing the state to the best of their ability. After all, life goes on for you too, you have families to feed, bills to pay and pets to... well, pet. And what do you get? A situation that is playing itself out like a badly scripted political drama and acted by talent-challenged thespians. Give these people another ballot paper and they will probably use it to vent their anger. The problem is, who will the target of their anger be? Will it be the people you tell them are the source of their predicament or will it be the people for whom they had initially voted: it could go both ways, still.

Is there corruption involved?

Is there corruption? Come on! We are talking about politics here. How many of us believe there is no corruption of any kind involved? The problem is not what we believe; the problem is what we can prove. More importantly, what we can prove and make tenable beyond the ability of highly paid lawyers to twist, obscure, inveigle and obfuscate.

The Vitruvian Man

I had this conversation going on over breakfast with my daughter. She was commenting on the Vitruvian Man that hangs on the wall beside the picnic table. Actually, I had a plant covering that man's private part, just as to respect my neighbor next door, not to mention the kids who stared at the picture with their jaw dropped just like the breasts of an old lady defeated by gravity. Incidentally, I had to take my plants out to get some sunshine, leaving the Vitruvian Man, in it's true form of art.

I'm one of those people who have conversation of just about anything with my daughter, and that include sex. I figured, since teenagers will end up talking about sex anyway,whether we adults admit it or chose to be in denial, might as well talk to their mother about it, because leaving teenagers with their active imagination may prove to have the same effect as a WMD to Americans, and as far as my working experience takes me, the cannons in this type of WMD are very effective on fertile grounds and you can almost see the results 9 months later.

"It looks pathetic and shriveled really" she commented on Vitruvian's genitals.
"It may look pathetic as it poses for a paint, but trust me, those sneeky little gadgets have a way of rising to the occasion. ", I replied as I shoved a piece of bread into my mouth in an attempt to hide my amusement that may be uncovered by the upward curvature of my lips.
"Yew....yeww..yeww...", she put down her sausages immediately, oblivious to the humour that that simple act had triggered in her mom's mind. Obviously mommy was in one of her estrous cycles.


I was tempted to say more but decided to shut up instead, as saying "Actually the appropriate word is yumm" is not appropriate to say to an already mentally traumatized teenager.

She took me by surprised when she said, "I wonder how Muslim women are going to cope should we realized on our wedding night, the husband's genitals are too small". It was my turn to have my jaw dropped...like every other part of my body decaying through half life, jaded from the war against gravity. But it was a relief to hear that she still thinks that sex is sacred and has to be with the husband on the first night. Of course I will encourage this myth,I hope no one had given her the idea that test-driving is an option to purchasing a good car, then there will be a lot more to explain and it's going to be....sticky. I will smack the head of the person who said it's easy being a mom...only if you are a cat, than yes. (My cat is having more sex than all the housewives in my neighbourhood put together by the way...that tramp...I keep telling my friends while I'm creative, my cat is procreative...of course I envy her)

"Well, first of all, size does not matter,(of course coming from someone who married a Punjabi, that sounded hypocritical, but hey, I was talking to a kid...I can get away with things). Secondly, marriage is not all about sex..(but it can wreck one if it is not satisfying, I can tell ya that)".

"Well,women should as well enjoy the sex since the childbirth is going to be painful as hell. Otherwise, it just won't be fair"...I almost choked on my Milo as I let a gush of laughter escape my throat..

Honest to God, I was left speechless. Where do these kids get to know all this stuff at 14?. I was far too busy climbing trees and trying to figure out how to muster the guts to snitch my next door's neighbor's neighbor rambutans from the tree at 14,(I always have excellent plans in crime, just lacking the guts for execution, that is why I am not a con artist that I secretly wish I am), no time to think about boy-girl relationships. As far as I was concerned, boys spend half their life running away from girls and the other half chasing after them. Girls are less complex in thinking when it comes to boys. We just thought that boys were God's experimental mistake, although I still think some of them grew up to be God's bigger experimental mistake.

I was 21 when I became the joke of the campus. Hell, I thought the act of sex requires the man to thrust his brother into her sister one time and that was it...no in and out movement, and of course it goes without saying that I thought the word "orgasm" was "the word organ spelled wrongly". It was no wonder that when friend crack jokes like "What is better than a rose on a piano? ---tulips on an organ", I did not quite get it. I was a sex illiterate and I blame my mother for it!!! I was quite upset when I found out sex was more than just one thrust..it was bloody hard work. My friends back at Uni use to tease me saying "Pah Nur's got 'thrust'-issues".

So I vouch not to do the same to my daughter. No matter how uncomfortable it is to talk about sex to my kid, I make an attempt albeit more on the answering method instead of giving too much information to her. I guess in a way I'm a little selfish, in not wanting her to grow too fast. ...Click here to find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.....

Pt II : SCIENTIFIC QURAN; How could we have missed it !!

In case you're wondering what is going on in this post, this is the continuation of my previous post "Scientific Quran; how could we have missed it!!" in participation of the "Let's read the Quran Campaign". I'll be talking Astrophysics to you, and for those who think Astrophysics is an impossible subject to understand, well think .... Obama. (sorry, I'm an Obama Mama), or if you don't know who Obama is, then think ....MAWI...or maybe not...Astrophysic deals with explainable phenomena...

Men have long been awed by the big blue sky be it night or day, and what lies within and beyond, to feast their eyes upon in an inevitable abyss of wonderment. Amongst the endless questions that never failed to come to mind is "how did it all began?"

According to God, in Surah al Anbiyaa Ayah 30;

"Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of Creation), before We clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they then believe?"

The Arabic words, 'ratqa' means 'something that is gathered, sticking together and contracted' whilst 'fataq' means 'open, split, ripped apart'. Fast forward a few decades later, the Big Bang Theory emerged. For those who have a misconception that "big bang" have got something to do with films like "Amme-get-it-On", "Forrest Hump", "Tales of Two Siti-s" (not Siti Norhaliza, I hear she sues people for defamation) , "Pussy in Boots...only Boots" (okay you get the picture), please do everyone a favor by clicking here to get an idea what the rest of the world is talking about when they talk about the Big Bang Theory.

From the basis of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity ( not to be mistaken for the Special Theory of Relativity, or STR), formulated by Alexander Friedmann, The Big Bang The Big Bang generally refers to the idea that the universe was initially in a dense and primordial hot condition that gradually expanded at some finite time in the past and resume to expand hitherto.

Imagine the raisins on the bread, baked in the oven, expanding. Get the picture?

Before I resume, let me make it clear what theory means. A theory is good if it satisfies two criterion

1. It must accurately describe a large class of observations on a basis of a model that contains only a few arbitrary elements and

2. 2. it must make definite predictions about the results of the future observations.

   An easy example would be, Newton's theory of gravity. It was based on a simple model in which bodies attracted each other with a force was proportional to a quantity called their mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. And it is able to predict the motion of the sun, the moon and the planets to a high degree of accuracy.

   Base on this; it is safe to assume that “Theory of the Doom of Barisan National” is a good theory. (Just checking whether you're still with me)
   

Now,back to the big bang, the observed velocities of distant galaxies, taken together with the cosmological principle appeared to show that the Universe was expanding in a manner consistent with the Friedmann-Lemaître model of general relativity . Edwin Powell Hubble later discovered that the degree of redshift observed in light coming from galaxy increased in proportion to the distance of that galaxy from Milky Way, help establishing that the universe is, in fact, expanding, and this was later known as Hubble's Law.

Putting aside the scientific jargon, it simply means that when Hubble made the landmark observation that wherever we look, distant galaxies are moving rapidly away from us, ergo, we can say that the universe is expanding. This means, during the earlier times, object were closely adjacent to each other. Hubbles' observation suggested that there was a time, when the universe was infinitesimally small and infinitely dense, before the explosion,sometime 12 to 14 billion years ago,hence the term "big bang", followed by expansion and cooling of the particles resulting in the celestrial bodies in the vast universe

In 2001, cosmologists celebrated as NASA launched a satellite mission from Cape Carnival to investigate a think dark layer of space at the outermost edge of the visible universe. The mission was called WMAP (pronounced as W-Map) short for Wilkinson microwave Anisotrophy Probe. (hmmm....I wonder if medical line can come up with a similar but obviously smaller microwave probe to shove up some of the politician's asses, to confirm the suspician that their brains are actually herniation of the gut that poured into the skull hence the shitty ideas on tax payers' expenses....not to mention the shitty answers that are used to account for them). What is the significance of this probe? (Honey, I'm talkin' about the WMAP now). Read on my friends...for those not interested, kindly jump to the next two paragraphs.

For further reading on WMAP click here. WMAP has highly sensitive detectors designed to gather some of the ancient light emitted from the dark layer nearly 14 billion years ago, at the time when the first atoms were just beginning to form. Every 2.2 minutes, the satellite spins once around it's axis and every hour the axis itself traces out a circle.From the combination of motions, light from a narrow ring on the sky is collected.

Over the course of six months, the entire satellite keeps shifting until the detectors have covered the entire sky. The sequence will be repeated to make a detailed portrait of the infant universe. Are you still with me or have you entered cuckoo land? Nineteen months later, in February 2003, WMAP was able to confirm the scientists suspicion on the big bang theory, and beyond. (For those who are interested in the latest WMAP reading, showing composition of the universe, click here.)

For those of you who are lazy to click there, I took the liberty to copy and paste this from our dear friend, Mr Wikipedia;

"WMAP measures a remnant of the early universe - its oldest light. The conditions of the early times are imprinted on this light. It is the result of what happened earlier, and a back light for the later development of the universe. This light lost energy as the universe expanded over 13.7 billion years, so WMAP now sees the light as microwaves. By making accurate measurements of microwave patterns, WMAP has answered many longstanding questions about the universe's age, composition and development."

Anyway, WMAP came back with this atlas of the universe below. Dig that, because I cannot comprehend shit how this eggnog got interpreted into the stuff wrote below. That is why I am not a cosmologist.

What is the significance of WMAP ? (Derived from the book "Endless Universe" authors are the cosmologists partly responsible of the initial building of WMAP)

1. the big bang itself is not explained. it is simply imagined that space and time emerged somehow.

2. just after the ban, a small region of the universe underwent a dramatic process called inflation, during which it expanded a googol or more within a billionth of a billionth of a trillionth of a second.(gee..I'm still struggling to comprehend Malaysian time. Imagine God saying "You're a trillionth of a second late, which butt do you want me to whack? right or left?...). Once this period of inflation ended, the energy causing the inflation was transformed into a dense gas of hot radiation. The gas cooled and the expansion slowed, allowing atoms and molecules to clump into galaxies and stars.

3. 9 billion years after the Big Ban, (sorry, I meant the Big Bang. Got confused with the Avril Lavigne's concert ban in Malaysia. Well, the mentality of the banners that seem to coincide with people from the ages of 9 billions years ago had triggered my thought. My bad..), a mysterious force called dark energy took over and started to accelerate the expansion again. in the standard picture, the expansion of the universe will accelerate forever, turning all of space into a vast and nearly perfect vacuum.


In az-Zariyat Ayah 47; God said; (Translation by Edip Yuksel)

"We constructed the universe with might,

and We are expanding it."

This verse together with al-Anbiyaa verse 30 supports the big bang theory and the expansion of the universe after the big bang.

The #2 significance of WMAP result is the energy causing the expansion was transformed into a dense gas of hot radiation that later cooled resulting in the slowing down of expansion allowing atoms and molecules to clump into galaxies and stars. This statement is consistent with the verse 11 of Surah Fussilat, when God said;

"Moreover, He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to the earth: "Come ye together, willingly or unwillingly." They said: We do come (together), in willing obedience." "

Smoke : fume or vapor often resulting from the action of heat on moisture. As we all know, gas turns to vapour when it looses energy, and this further loosing of energy from vapour resulted in solid. Water is a simple example; from vapour, you can turn it into water then ice.

Having explained 2 components of the inflationary model of the universe, which comprises of three concepts I've explained above, which are;

1. the hot big bang theory - developed in the early twentieth century
2. the inflation mechanism, introduced in the 1980s
3. the dark energy hypothesis - added in the 1990s

with the mention of them in the Quran, I have to add that currently, scientists have gone way beyond the big bang. If you can recall the WMAP findings stated above, finding is without any evidence associated with the earliest instant of the expansion, the Big Bang Theory cannot and does not provide any explanation for such an initial condition; rather it describes and explains the general evolution of the universe since that instance.

According to Paul J Steinhardt and Neil Turok, authors of the book I mentioned earlier,

"Scientists now believe, that the big bang is not the beginning of space and time, but rather an event that is , in principle , fully describable using physical laws. Nor does the big bang happen only once. Instead, the universe undergoes cycles of evolution. In each cycle, a a big bang creates hot matter and radiation which expand and cool to form the galaxies and stars observed today. Then the expansion of the universe speeds up, causing the matter to become so spread out that space approaches a nearly perfect vacuum. Finally after a trillion years or so, a new big bang occurs and the cycle begins anew. The events that created the large- scale structure of the universe today occurred a full cycle ago, before the last big bang."

Wow....a vicious cycle of big bangs....I'm dumbfounded and awed by the universe, even more so by it's Creator.

"Allah! There is no god but He, the Living, the Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in His presence except as He permitteth? He knoweth what (appeareth to His creatures as) Before or After or Behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory)." (Al Baqarah:255)

I will be back with more Astrophysics....whatever you do, don't fall asleep.....( Freddie Kruger smile.....)


...Click here to find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.....

Scientific Quran. How could we have missed it? Pt1

Among the questions that intrigues me, is why we Muslims tend to implicate science from the Quran AFTER the Science have been uncovered, not from Quranic sources. We have the Quran in our hands and we have failed to apply it forward, instead we tend to backtrack proven scientific phenomena, and work our way back to the Quran. Had we payed attention to God's words, and really analyze them and observe the scientific values, then we may have become the people uncovering God's creations.

Of course we can't talk about science in Islam without bragging about the Islamic Golden Age, a renaissance that was a one time off, which is sad. Don't get me wrong. I am thrilled that Muslims at that era made use of the Quran, even though mainly for the purpose of religion. What should have happened was, the Muslims of generation that came after that, should have sustained the effort hitherto. Instead, Muslims chose to become pedantic and parochial, indulging in trivial matters that led to inter-Muslim disintegration and somehow have missed the bigger picture. Anyone who cannot agree with this, please explain to me the war between Iran and Iraq, with the Americans bagging cash from arms sales. I rest my case.

Islam during the Islamic Golden Age was progressive in nature. And when I say Muslims, please bear in mind that Muslims does not mean just the Arabs, but comprises of many races like the Egyptian, Persian etc.

Encouraged by God's words like, (the first Ayat ever bestowed upon the prophet)

“ Read ! In the name of thy Lord who created” al-Alaq Ayah:1

and;

"And He made subservient to you whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth, all from Himself; most surely there are signs in this for the people who reflect." (Al-Jathiya Ayah 13)

that had made Muslims realize the importance of reading ergo learning, and encourages the thirst for knowledge, for curiosity only kills the cat, but on human, combined with tenacity of satisfying that curiosity, results in discoveries, in any aspect of life.

In al-Haj Ayah:26-27 “We appointed Abraham to establish the Shrine: "You shall not idolize any other god beside Me, and purify My shrine for those who visit it, those who live near it, and those who bow and prostrate. "And proclaim that the people shall observe Hajj pilgrimage.They will come to you walking or riding on various exhausted (means of transportation). They will come from the farthest locations."

and;

“The count of months, as far as GOD is concerned, is twelve.* This has been GOD's law, since the day He created the heavens and the earth. Four of them are sacred. This is the perfect religion; you shall not wrong your souls (by fighting) during the Sacred Months. However, you may declare all-out war against the idol worshipers (even during the Sacred Months), when they declare all-out war against you, and know that GOD is on the side of the righteous.”[9:36]
(Footnote: *9:36 The word ``month'' is mentioned in the Quran 12 times, and ``day'' 365 times. )

and also;

"And it is He who ordained the stars for you that you may be guided thereby in the darkness of the land and the sea." (6:97)

which was the basis of motivation of Muslim involvement in the astronomical and navigational success during that era..How else could Muslims from far come to perform Hajj, coming from afar, without a superior astronomical/ navigational knowledge? His words was made to full use for people to perform Hajj and needed to navigate their ships hence the Muslims began to find better observational and navigational instruments. Most navigational stars today have Arabic names.

This spending time in trivial matters had made the Muslim loose out on Scientific discoveries, which should have been ours should we have paid attention to Quran instead of getting caught up with invading of land in the name of God.

Here are some of the verses in the Quran that has scientific scent on them.

THE EARTH IS ROUND

When Christopher Columbus made the discovery that the earth was round, centuries later backed up by the photos taken from space by astronaut, it was no surprise. I bet someone may have said "Yeah, so? The main news channel , the women gossipers (even from way back) have not reported anyone falling off an abyss, so the world cannot be flat". The poor guy did not have to sail all the way across the world to prove the world is round. All he had to do was look into the Quran and he may have saved the hassle, which, ironically not even the Muslims did. But then again, it's not about the destination, rather, the journey.(not to mention the hidden intentions disguised with the love for spices.)

In surah; Al Hijr: 19

"And the earth We have spread out (like a carpet); set thereon mountains firm and immovable; and produced therein all kinds of things in due balance."

For those who observe, they will deduct that the only shape logical for men to be at any point on earth, only to find it “spread out”, would be a round shape. Otherwise, we would have found and abyss somewhere on earth, which was never the case.

Moreover, in surah An-Nazi'at Ayah 30; God said;

"And the earth moreover, Hath he extended (to a wide expanse)"

The word "daha-ha" in Arabic have an ambiguous meaning to it. It symbolizes, meaning in Arabic, something that is roundish in shape. The Arabs named the Ostrich egg "udhiyyah" and "udhuwwah", both derived from the word "daha".

I suppose there is a good reason for the God to sound ambiguous as He wanted His words to reach out to that present generation, as well as the generations later, who are more accustomed to ideas of science. Besides, a Prophet burnt like Bruno at the stake by Rome for merely suggesting that the earth move around the sun, would not serve any purpose to mankind.

THE EARTH, SUN AND MOON ROTATES WITHIN THEIR OWN ORBITS.

In al-Anbiyak; Ayah 33, God said,

"It is He who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon: all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in it's rounded course"

and again in surah Ibrahim Ayah33;

"And He hath made subject to you the sun and the moon, both diligently pursuing their course; and the Night and the Day hath He(also) made subject to you"

God said in az-zumar ayah 5;

"He created the heavens and the earth in true (proportions): He makes the Night overlap the Day, and the Day overlap the Night: He has subjected the sun and the moon (to His law) each one follows a course for a time appointed. Is not He the Exalted in Power, He Who forgives again and again? "

According to translation from Edip Yuksel,
az-Zumar Ayah 5;
"He created the heavens and the earth with truth. He rolls the night over the day, and He rolls the day over the night. He committed the sun and the moon, each running for an appointed term. Absolutely, He is the Noble, the Forgiving".*
*FootnoteThe verb " yuKaWiRu" (rotates, rolls around) used in the verse clearly indicates the roundness of the earth. See 21:33; 27:88; 36:40; 68:1; 79:30

The word "rotates and roll around" indicates that the earth rotates on it's axis and role around it's orbits.
And in the Surah an-Naml, Ayah:88,
"Thou seest the mountains and thinkest them firmly fixed: but they shall pass away as the clouds pass away: (such is) the artistry of Allah, Who disposes of all thing in perfect order: for He is well acquainted with all that ye do"

Take note at the words:

"........thinkest them firmly fixed; but they shall pass away as the clouds pass away"

The word "they shall pass away as clouds pass away" suggests that the earth is not static, but moves "as clouds pass away". How do clouds pass away? It is driven to move by the wind, an external force. We can therefore, postulate that the mountains are moving due to some force and the force is the movement of the earth.

Surah Yasin:

The constant argument that I have when engaged with a discussion with the elder generation would be that of a lost cause in explaining that, although reciting the Al-Quran is good, it is more superior to understand the meaning of the Quran instead of just reciting them like a parrot. I argued, while it is very easy to find teachers to teach children to read and recite the Quran, the accessibility and abundance of teaching force to learning it's translation is scarce.

We celebrate with feast of pulut kuning when our children "khatam Quran" but only a few are bothered that the children were not taught the content of what they are able to recite.

At a young age, I was able to memorize then recite the Yasin, but when ask the meaning, that was when I will use the Malay standard answer, "tak tahu". And there it is, right under our very noses, this beautiful surah;

Surah Yasin Ayah 38-40

(Translation by Yusuf Ali)

Surah Yasin:

[38] And the sun runs its course for a period determined for it; that is the decree of (Him), the Exalted in Might, the All-Knowing.

[39] And the Moon, We have measured for it mansions (to traverse) till it returns like the old (and withered) lower part of a date-stalk.

[40] It is not permitted to the Sun to catch up the Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day: each (just) swims along in (its own) orbit (according to law).

From this surah, we can postulate;
1. The sun and moon runs on their own courses, the orbits with under a set of laws meant for them . Each will not run into the other.

2. The night will not catch up with the day , only means they exist simultaneously.
This suggests that the earth have got to be in such a way that even though men experience night and day at separate times, the fact remains that night and day is present at same time. This hint, paired with the ayah that hinted that the world is round, should have resulted in the "globe experiment" (minus the globe of course, but if one can think of a world being round instead of flat, for sure he could have thought of a substitute for a globe.) that later will come to conclusion that the earth rotates on it's axis

















"And the sun runs its course for a period determined for it......."
Together with this phrase; you can postulate:-

-. That the sun revolves on it's own axis, towards somewhere until something happens to it and it ceases ; some kind of an expiry date.
Either or, with the advanced technology that took us years to get here, (and the journey is hardly over), it is an establish theory that the sun does revolve on it's own axis, while moving towards a spot known as Solar Apex, which I will talk about in the second part.

With the discovery of sun spot , men are able to observe via a telescope and to project images of the sun onto a piece of white card so that you can see the sunspots. Observation over several days will show the sunspots appear to move across the face of the sun therefore it is safe to deduce that the sun is rotating on it's axis. In fact, the rotational day is about 25 days.
Modern science are also working on the belief that the sun is slowly moving toward a spot called the solar apex, southwest of Vega and adjacent to the constellation of the Hercules.

My next article would be current astrophysics findings that have correlation with the surah in the Quran. I have time constrain but I will do my best to satisfy your curiosity of the universe.
I remember a snippet from the film "Sumolah"

"Masa. Siapakah yang mencipta masa? Kerana masa lah jiwaku sentiasa berada di dalam keadaan tertekan"....

But think about it. Is there such a thing called time, in relation to the universe? What could possibly God meant when he said;
"By (the Token of) Time (through the Ages), Verily Man is in loss" al-Asr Ayah 1&2

And what about when God said; in al Ma'arij Ayah 4:

"The angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day the measure whereof is (as) fifty thousand years"

.......means we are always behind time. Could it possibly be that life as we see it at present, our present, is actually what may have been in the past? I'll let you boggle your mind upon pondering..Till the next post, have a good weekend.

THE QURAN CAMPAIGN : THE DEBUT

I jumped at the suggestion from a group of fellow bloggers, to join a session to write about the Quran , once a month here in the blog. I think it's brilliant and almost slapped myself for not having thought of it earlier. Well, my excuse would probably be that I blog to relax my mind , a moment of escapism from stressful work when my fingers hit the keypads , as well as have an outlet of self expression. This suggestion, to me, will bring back the Importance of Being Quran-ers.

I'd start mine with a couple of verses from the Quran that have scientific value in them. The reason being, to prove that Quran is not a book a man named Muhammad just created based on books before him as a guide, eg the Taurat and Zabur, or what he had created out of thin air. People from the past may claim Muhammad to be illiterate, just to prove that he could not have come up with the beautiful verses himself, simply because they could not at the time understood some of the verses that indicates scientific value to prove that Quran could not have come up from a mere mortal without scientific knowledge, but instead prove that Quran came from a higher being.

I do not see the point to continue preaching the Quran, should there be any doubt that it is all man made, a fake, to create a religion merely to tame the humans, or for some party to gain self interest. The beauty in any religion, is it's truthfulness and it's honesty in answering life's questions, so that that beauty may instigate a well founded faith. Having said that, Islam to me, is more of a way of life, a Deen as we call it, rather than a religion. Oh do go on and tap on the blue link to understand what “religion” means, and try to differentiate it with the word religion.

Of course someone may turn around and say to my face, "who are you to think you can interpret the Quran? There are people out there who spend years studying the Quran". Well, to them my answer would be, " I may not be an expert on the Quran studies, but what I'm not is an imbecile. God had given me the brains that functions well, and by God I shall repay my gratitude towards Him, by using it. That and of course there's the Internet" . Honestly, Artificial Intelligence is by far the most beneficial intelligence to the human species compared to CIA, British Intelligence, or Mossad put together.

No doubt I was born a Muslim, but I took Islam for granted and did what was told necessary for me to do without taking the time to decipher it's true meaning, until somewhere along the life's path, wisdom gained through life's experiences,( you know, the Kodak and the Prozac Moments interweaving), have made me realized that the only true thing in this world, is the love of Creator and the love for Him. Whilst Eden Ahbez may have meant love between humans when he wrote, “The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is to love and be loved in return”, I think this is so true when it comes to loving God.

Even parents' may ditch their child,for whatever possible reasons, husbands divorce their wives ( applicable for one husband divorcing 4 wives, maybe after deciding to come clean with being gay..who knows..), fathers may rape their own daughter,s keep them in a secret room underground for years to bear them children, humans may destroy or kill each other , your child may leave you cold in the old folks' home, (although the kinder ones may let you choose which homes you may want to go to), one true thing remains, constantly loving us every minute, if only we'd stop to reach out to Him. He will ALWAYS be there for us. Even your own husband who loves you like crazy may not be there to send you in time to the hospital when your water bag pops, hence the term, BBA in Obstetric Department (birth before arrival), some cab drivers may have tales of the screaming Moms, if you care to ask.

What is the importance of loving our Creator? Simple. You do less out of insincerity and fear as you do for love.. For love, you'd end up doing everything you can to please the one you love, sometimes, to the point of stupor. Ask those people who buy flowers on Valentine's Day, they'll tell you.What better way to know God, but to listen to His words.

Why the Quran?

When God says,

“The Word of your Lord is complete, in truth and justice.”
(Quran, 6:115)

He expects us to comprehend that complete means what it means.....complete. We have God's words on it... “....complete, in truth and justice”. If I were to play god, I'd say, “errr....which part of the word “complete”, that you uncivilized spec of carbons don't decipher?

If His words are complete, then it is safe to say that, everyone who embraces the teachings in the Quran, should read God's commands and practice them, in their daily lives, each an every one of them,ergo the expression "Ad deen". The Quran, to me, is a reference/manual . Imagine putting in water in the gas tank of a car meant to be function on petrol, because you did not read the manual. It's okay, take your time to ponder on this.

“Today I have perfected your religion and completed My favor upon you.”
(Quran 5:3)

There He goes again, reiterating completion and perfection of Quran, as a favor upon us. What else do we need other than the assurance of the Creator Himself?

So yes, I shall start my series of understanding the Quran, with Quranic Sciences. And I truly hope that we will all benefit from it.

Surah Fusilat Ayah 53-54

" Soon will We show them Our Signs in the (furthest) regions (of the earth), and in their own souls, until it becomes manifest to them that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that thy Lord doth witness all things?
Ah indeed! are they in doubt concerning the Meeting with their Lord? Ah indeed! it is He that doth encompass all things!"