looking4truth

IS GRAY HAIR A SIGN OF WISDOM OR PSYCOLOGICAL STRESS?

 Japanese scientists discovered the connection between the appearence of gray hair and the hard experiences and psycological stress that a person may undergo. These scientists explained that hard experiences and, its consequent, pyscological stress lead to the damage of the hair cells, which are responsible for regulating the hair colour, and which result in gray hair. This scientific statement led me to find the Qur'anic verses which portray the same experience of gray hair and its link to hard experiences and psycological tension. In the first verses of Chapter Meriem (Mary) in Qur'an God speaks about the concerns of the Prophet Zaccharia (may God bless him) over his wife's inability to have a child that could continue the message of Prophethood. His long years of deprivation and his resulting psycological tensions are closely linked to his bones weakness and appearing gray hair. Godsays in the Holy Qur'an:

"a mention of the mercy of your Lord to His servant Zechariah,When he called to his Lord a private supplication. He said, "My Lord, indeed my bones have weakened, and my head has filled with white, and never have I been in my supplication to You, my Lord, unhappy. And indeed, I fear the successors after me, and my wife has been barren, so give me from Yourself an heir."

While the biblical tradition portrays gray head as a crown of glory that is gained in a righteous life, Qur'an, often, links gray hair to hard experiences and psycological tension. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:

"(Soorat) Hood and its sisters made me grey before my time."

This Hadith speaks about the revelation of the Qur'anic Chapters like Hood, Waqiaa, and other verses (that is what the Prophet means by 'its sisters': similar verses to Hood) as a reminder to the Prophet about the great responsibiliy that was thrown upon him, while in other verses it talks about the horrors of the Day of Judgement. God says in Chapter Hood talking to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him):

"So stand you firm and straight (on the religion of Islamic Monotheism) as you are commanded and those (your companions) who turn in repentance (unto Allaah) with you" [Hood 11:112].

The Hadith aboved provides a clear link between the Prophet's hard experiences of Prophethood and the call to Islam, and the psycological tensions and fear it created with him, and the appearence of gray hair in him before time.

In another verses, in which God speaks about the torment of the Day of judgement, God says that even children's hair will turn gray, portraying to us the great tension and fear that people would feel in this Final day.

In a nutshell, all the Qur'anic verses which speak about gray hair in Qur'an relates it to hard experiences and psycological tension. This is a great evidence for the accuratness of the words of Qur'an, because it relies more on conveying the scientific meaning behind its statement, than delving in metaphorical explanations of physical phenomena like the gray hair.

references:

www.tanzil.info

http://www.mediall1.com/newmedicine/06_2009/06_16_2009/medicine1.htm

WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION REPORTS THAT ISLAMIC MEN'S CIRCUMCISION PREVENTS AIDS (HIV)

The international health organisation together with international health experts report that men's circumcision can be a means for prevention against Aids (HIV). This organisation says that it will add the men's cicumcision to their list as one of the cures against Aids as it was shown by experiment that the men who were cicumcised during their childhood are much more safe from Aids with a percentage of 50%. The result of these experiments support others that were carried out in South Africa. Experts say that the results are wonderful but do not negate other means of prevention. 

The experiments carried out in Kenia have show that circumcision provide an immunity of 53% while those carried out in Oganda provided an immunity of 48%. One of the reasons why men's circumcision prevents Aids is that a part of the the cell's of the front skin that is very prone to HIV viruses is removed during this operation.

I translated  this article from the Arabic BBC link below.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/arabic/sci_tech/newsid_6508000/6508875.stm

THE END OF THE UNIVERSE BETWEEN SCIENCE AND QURAN

While surfing throughout the internet, I came across a Nasa article replying to a question about the end of time. Well, I do not speak about the widespread 2012 myth, that has been used by some for sake of accumulating some money. As a Muslim, I believe that only God has the knowledge of the end of time. Padi Boyd, an astronomer of Nasa team, speaks first about the expansion of the universe and says:

We observe all distant galaxies to be receding from us, and from this we conclude that the Universe is expanding uniformly. In fact, the current picture of the evolution of the cosmos is that since the birth of the Universe in the explosive Big Bang, the Universe has continued to expand.

God says in the Holy Qur'an:

"Indeed, We have built the heaven (the universe) with Might, and We are expanding it."

How could the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) know about the expansion of the universe, if it was not a revelation from God, the Al Mighty?

Padi Boyd continues to say:

The expansion will slow down and eventually reverse, so that the Universe will be contracting. Eventually it will end in a collapse (or a bounce) called the Big Crunch.

Scientists also liken the universe to a flat paper book, that might fold at the end of times:

...the geometry of the universe is flat, like a sheet of paper... (see the source)

God says in the Chapter of Al Anbiya:

The Day when We will fold the heaven like the folding of a [written] sheet for the records. As We began the first creation, We will repeat it.[That is] a promise binding upon Us. Indeed, We will do it. (104)

In the previous verse, God speaks about the expansion of heaven, and in this one He speaks about its retraction. Isn't this what astronomers confirm by scientific research? Wasn't the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)truthful when he talked about this revelation in the Holy Qur'an?

The End of Times is Qur'anic truth confirmed by scientific research.

Sources:

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970613d.html

http://tanzil.net/#trans/en.sahih/21:104

http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_shape.html

THE LYING BRAIN

Traditional and common beliefs held, and for long, that the external signs of anxiety are reliable indicators of a person's truthfulness or deceitfulness. However, our common experiences have shown that this is not always the case. There are, indeed, people who can tell lies without showing any external signs of anxiety. It is quite simple; when lying becomes a currently repeated action, the signs of anxiety would not be triggered any more. So, would it be wise to, always, refer to external signs as mere reliable sources of information? Shouldn't this trigger us to learn more about the components of our brain and see its different fuctions from breathing, speech and movement to moral reasoning and free-will? A scientist in biological pyscology (I forgot his name) stated that a truthful answer is automatic, but a deceitful one requires always something more; a double effort to proveit.Magnetic resonance imaging techniques, called as lie detectors, which we have been introduced to lately, have indicated that 'the act of lying triggers activities in the brain that sends blood to the prefrontal cortex (the area behind the forhead,or called as the forelock), which controls several psychological processes, and is labelled as the center of decision-making and moral reasoning.The prefrontal cortex or forelock is called in Qur'anic terminology as the 'Nasiya',and it has been refered to in Qur'an as the area of lies and moral reasoning and there are many verses in Qur'an refering to this area of the brain. For this reason, I will cite the surah of al Alaq, one of the Meccan verses which are short but are embedded with numerous scientific data pushing more to logical reasoning about faith. God says in this Surah:

 "...No, indeed Man trangresses, as he sees himself as self-sufficient. Indeed, to your lord is the return. Have you seen the one who forbids a servant when he prays? Have you seen if he is upon guidance and enjoins righteousness? Have you seen if he denies (the truth) and turns away? Does he not know that God sees? No, if he does not desist, We will, surely, drag him by the forelock.A lying, sinning, forelock.Let him call his associates, We will call the angels of Hell. No, do not obey him, but prostrate, and draw near (to God)."

 God refers in this part of the Surah to the well known personality of Abu Jahl, one of the unbelievers and oppressors of Muslim communities during the beginning of the call to Islam in Mecca. So, these verses have been revealed as a response to his corrupted and sinful character. What is striking in this Surah is that God refers to the forelock of this person as a lying and sinful one, which triggers the question: why does God refer to the forelock and not to the person himself as sining and lying? Most traditional commentators of Qur'an have stated that the forelock is metaphore of the person himself. However, with the advent of modern biological pyscology it has been stated that the forelock (Nasiya) or as they call "the prefrontal cortex" is an area of the brain which is responsible for most of our psycological responses, decision-making and moral reasoning (sinning forelock). Look, Qur'anicterms are simple and clear: a lying, sinning forelock, which means that this part of the brain is the one responsible for lies-telling, and moral reasoning.

THE PHENOMENA OF THE EARTH EXPANSION NOTICED AFTER THE JAPAN TSUNAMI AND EARTHQUAKE

A Geological American center argued that the Japan Tsunami followed by earthquakes caused the island to drift away from its region some centimeters away; even the earth's pivot is reported to have drifted some centimeters away from its normal center. This led me to think about the phenomena of plate tectonics and try to understand how the oceanic movement could cause this continental drift. Plate tectonics is the geo-scientific branch which describes the movements of the earth and is based on 'continental drift' and 'sea floor spreading' theories. The German geologist,Alfred Wegner, argued that today's continents were once a single landmass called as 'Pangaea'. Due to the constant motions of the earth crust,the landmass began to drift away to form the seperate continents that we witness nowadays. 'Sea floor speading' helps to explain the theory of continental drift. Due to the constantmotionsof molecules within the oceanic fluid (called current convection) the sea floor moves and carries the continents along with it, causing its drifting away.

These are scientific data which proves that the globe has been built on the logic of expansion. The same way as the cosmos expands, as stated in the Qur'anic verse: "Indeed, We have built the heaven with might, and We are expanding it", the earth as well is expanding as the Qur'an says:

It is He Who stretched out the earth and placed firmly embedded mountains and rivers in it and made two types of every kind of fruit. He covers over day with night. There are Signs in that for people who reflect. (Surat Ar-Ra‘d, 3)

The spreading or the strechting out of the earth comes with the sense of constant movement and expansion, and through this process of the earth's expansion, the verse talks about the mountains and rivers being formed. Is this a coincidence? Indeed no, because it has been scientifically proved that the mountain building (even earthquakes, and volcanic activity) happen along the boundaries of the litosphere (the solid outer layer of the earth) and astenosphere (the weaker and the deeper part of the earth). Furthermore, as explained above the continents are rooted within the ocean, and so when the continents drift apart, or in simple terms, when the earth expands, this would result in the formation of rift valleys or rivers, because the expansion happens at the level of the continent not at the sea bed. So the formations of mountains and rivers is caused by the expansion of the earthas it has been scientifically proved.

Some would just argue that the Qur'anic verses do not come with scientific details, I tell them that the Qur'an is meant to be a book of guidance relying on 'physical evidences' about creationism (but not a book of science), and so it gives constant hints to these scientific evidences throughout the Qur'an leaving Mankind to come up with the details and the scientific explanation of each data. Another stunning verse in Qur'an speaks about the motion of the mountains, which is in fact related to the constant movement of the earth underneat. God says in the Holy Qur'an:

"And you see the mountains you reckoned to be solid, moving past like clouds."

In appearance, the mountains seem to be motionless, but, in fact, they are moving, due to the movement of the earth crust. God also says in the Qur'an, refering to the geological function of the mountains as preventive of earth shocks:

"We placed firmly embedded mountains on the earth, so it would not move under them."

These data were the result of modern scientific finding, how could any one leaving in the desert land, where no phenomena could be noticed, or when the means of scientific research was not available. Again this does not mean that Qur'an is a book of science, but a book of human guidance based on factual and physical evidences about the truthfulness of the message of Islam.