Happy Ied Mubarak 1432 H

Salam!

الحمد لله الله أكبر الله أكبر لاإله الا الله والله أكبر الله أكبر ولله الـحمد.

For all brothers & sisters around the world,

Happy Eid Mubarak 1432 H!

In this hallowed atmosphere, I’d like to say:

من العائدين والفائزين

تقبل الله منا ومكم صيامنا وصيامكم

امين 

Regards,
Fajri Umami

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Who Moved My Cheese? (Part 4)

In the meantime, Hem and Haw were still back in Cheese Station C valuating their situation. They were now suffering from the effects of having no Cheese.

They were becoming frustrated and angry and were blaming each other for the situation they were in.

Now and then Haw thought about his mice friends. Sniff and Scurry, and wondered if they had found any cheese yet. He believed they might be having a hard time, as running through the Maze usually involved some uncertainty.

But he also knew that it was likely to only last for a while. Sometimes, Haw would imagine Sniff and Scurry finding New Cheese and enjoying it. He thought about how good it would be for him to be out on an adventure in the Maze, and to find fresh New Cheese. He could almost taste it.

The more clearly Haw saw the image of himself finding and enjoying the New Cheese, the more he saw himself leaving Cheese Station C.

"Let's go!" he exclaimed, all of a sudden.

"No" Hem quickly responded. "I like it here.

It's comfortable. It's what I know. Besides it's dangerous out there."

"No it isn't" Haw argued. "We've run through many parts of the Maze before, and we can do it again."

"I'm getting too old for that," Hem said. "And I'm afraid I'm not interested in getting lost and making a fool of myself. Are you?"

With that. Haw's fear of failing returned and his hope of finding New Cheese faded.

So every day, the Little people continued to do what they had done before.

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The Clever Survivors from the Pole of Earth

Emperor Penguins

Emperor penguins are able to dive to depths of 500 meters (1,640 feet) for up to 20 minutes with no adverse effects to their respiration or blood pressure. They also possess the ability to adapt to these conditions in different ways. While diving, they are able to lower their heartbeats from 200 a minute to only 60, thus allowing them to store extra myoglobin.

How Can Penguins Hold Their Breath for So Long?

Myoglobin is a protein present at high levels in these birds’ muscles. These myoglobin proteins bind to themselves high numbers of oxygen molecules. In other words, the penguin conserves the oxygen it will need not in the air held in its lungs, but directly inside its muscles.  This lets penguins swim underwater for long periods and to dive as deep as they wish, without relying on the breathed-in air held in their lungs..

Why Do They Not Suffer from the Bends?

Penguins are able to continue swimming even when the oxygen in their blood drops to the lowest levels. Human beings suffer from the bends under such conditions. The level in question is 20 mm Hg for penguins and 25 mm Hg for humans. However, scientists have been unable to explain how penguins can to overcome this in the water without being affected by low levels of oxygen in the blood.

How Can They Go Without Food for 65 Days?

Male penguins have a secret that lets them survive without eating anything for 65 days, until the females arrive to take of the young in order to protect their eggs: they possess a structure capable of blocking their digestive systems..

Their Magnificent Diving Costumes

Adult penguins on the ice eat nothing for months until after they shedd their coats in the summer. All their old feathers are shed, and new ones emerge from underneath. The result is a windproof, insulated and waterproof diving suit that prevents  cold—whether from icy wind or frigid water— reaching their skin. The most striking feature of  their new plumage is that it appears just when the penguins need it most— when the time to migrate has arrived.

Brief Facts from the Pole

In the middle of winter, daylight at the North Pole last for only three hours. In order to protect themselves from the freezing cold during the other 21 hours, penguins huddle up against one another in the dark.

By huddling up to one another, the male penguins are able to raise their body temperatures to up to 20° C (68° F).

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The World of Miracles

Have a look around you from where you are sitting. You will see that everything in the room has been “made.” All the countless details, such as the walls, the furnishings, the lamp, the chair you are sitting in, the glass on the table, the carpet… None of them came into being by itself, and neither did the universe that we live in.

Everything, every tiny detail, from the atomic, the smallest component of matter, to the galaxies containing billions of stars, from the Moon, the inseparable companion of the Earth, to the Solar System they inhabit, works together in a breathtaking harmony. Paul Davies, one of the best known contemporary astrobiologists, describes this harmony in the words:

Everywhere we look in the Universe, from the far-flung galaxies to the deepest recesses of the atom, we encounter order. . . Central to the idea of a very special, orderly Universe is the concept of information. A highly structured system, displaying a great deal of organised activity, needs a lot of information to describe it. Alternatively, we may say that it contains much information. (Paul Davies, "Chance or Choice: Is the Universe an Accident?", New Scientist, vol. 80, 1978, p. 506)

This reveals a very obvious truth. The universe was created and is regulated and preserved through a sublime knowledge and power. And that sublime knowledge and power are those of Almighty Allah.

In the Qur’an, Allah reveals that the Earth and sky will be preserved while they are under His might:

“Allah keeps a firm hold on the heavens and Earth, preventing them from vanishing away. And if they vanished no one could then keep hold of them. Certainly He is Most Forbearing, Ever-Forgiving.”

(Surah Fatir: 41)

In this documentary we will be going on a journey to the Milky Way, some 10 million light years from the Earth, and from there to deep inside the atom, and will witness the magnificent order with which the universe was created. This is the universe we inhabit with all its glory…

10²³ meters, 10 million light years.

The starting point of our journey…

We are 10 million light years from the Milky Way…

Thought of in terms of the vastness of space in general, the Milky Way is a very “small” place. It occupies barely a dot within it. Because there are other galaxies in space, some 300 billion according to the recent estimates! The Milky Way, visible from so far away, contains the Solar System, the planets, and the Earth we live on.

You, your home, the city you live in and even the planet you inhabit, the Sun that heats the planet and millions of stars like it, are all inside this dot you are looking at…

“He is the Originator of the heavens and earth. When He decides on something, He just says to it, ‘Be!’ and it is.” (Surat al-Baqara, 117)

10²² meters, 1 million light years.

We are 1 million light years from the Milky May that contains 250 billion stars like our Sun. There are billions of systems linked to the stars in this galaxy that resembles a swirl of white smoke. Yet we are so far away that the whole body looks like a simple, white cloud.

10²¹ meters, 100,000 light years.

If you look at the sky on a clear, cloudless night, you will see a belt of stars extending from one edge to the other. This mass of stars, which extends into deepest vastness of the sky and that revolves around its own axis at an amazing speed, is known as the Milky Way. Astrophysicists calculating this speed were unable to conceal their astonishment. Our galaxy, which completes a full circuit of its orbit every 250 million years, moves through the universe at an extraordinary speed.

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A Piece by Angie Sayers

(from her blog on CaringBridge.com)

Hello, dear friends and family, I apologize for the long break between updates. I try to update once a week or so, but often I find myself letting my thoughts and feelings simmer, before attempting to put them into words. (Or just plain procrastinating, but the other explanation sounds better.)

Anyways, as for me, and my health, I am doing about the same. The Thalidomide doesn't seem to have too many side effects on me, except for some general weariness along with a couple of dizzy spells. However, in comparison to the chemotherapy treatments that I began with (high dose Cisplatin to name one), these side effects are definitely minor and manageable. The only other news is that I decided, after a lengthy inner battle, not to attend class this quarter at Ohio State.

I had considered it previously, but then decided to take at least one class, so that I would at least have something to do. But then on my first day of class, I had a dizzy spell, and I felt off for the rest of the day. I probably shouldn't have tried to go to class, but it seemed important at the time. Anyways, to make a long story short, I ended up running late to class, on my huge campus without knowing where exactly I was going and having a single, over-exerted lung, and a prosthetic leg and crutches on icy, slippery, walkways... I was pretty stressed out by the time I got to my class.

That episode alone wouldn't have been enough to make me drop, but when Mom came to me later that day, and mentioned that she'd probably rather me not go, due to the walkways, the snow, and the viruses and diseases going around this time of the year I couldn't help but think on how hard that day was, and agree. So I dropped my last class. I need a break from the stresses of school, and time to figure things out and breathe without having to worry about assignments and exams. But even knowing that, and knowing that I made the decision for multiple reasons, I still can't help but ask myself if it was the right one. Half of me, whispers in my mind, that I'm giving up, that I could have done it, that I should have done it... and half of me, believes that it was the wrong decision not to go this quarter. So then, back I go to square one, weighing the pros and the cons even while knowing that my choice has already been made.

I have one last thing to share with you, and that is a revelation that has slowly been dawning in my mind about what it truly means to keep going. When I was 15, after I was first diagnosed, I wrote an essay about the circumstances of my diagnoses, titled, “What it Means to Keep Going.” It wasn't the greatest essay ever, considering I wrote it while on chemotherapy, but I was reading it earlier today and I realized, that I know more about moving forward now, then I ever imagined I would back then.

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Who Moved My Cheese? (Part 3)

They weren't surprised. Since Sniff and Scurry had noticed the supply of cheese had been getting smaller every day, they were prepared for the

inevitable and knew instinctively what to do.

They looked at each other, removed the running shoes they had tied together and hung conveniently around their necks, put them on their feet and laced them up.

The mice did not over analyze things. To the mice, the problem and the answer were both simple. The situation at Cheese Station C had changed.

So, Sniff and Scurry decided to change.

They both looked out into the Maze. Then Sniff lifted his nose, sniffed, and nodded to Scurry, who took off running through the Maze, while Sniff

followed as fast as he could. They were quickly off in search of New Cheese.

Later that same day, Hem and Haw arrived at Cheese Station C. They had not been paying attention to the small changes that had been taking place each day, so they took it for granted their Cheese would be there. They were unprepared for what they found.

"What! No Cheese?" Hem yelled. He continued yelling, "No Cheese? No Cheese?" as though if he shouted loud enough someone would put it back.

"Who moved my Cheese?" he hollered.

Finally, he put his hands on his hips, his face turned red, and he screamed at the top of his voice, "It's not fair!"

Haw just shook his head in disbelief. He, too, had counted on finding Cheese at Cheese Station C. He stood there for a long time, frozen with shock. He was just not ready for this. Hem was yelling something, but Haw didn't

want to hear it. He didn't want to deal with what was facing him, so he just tuned everything out.

The Little people's behavior was not very attractive or productive, but it was understandable. Finding Cheese wasn't easy, and it meant a great deal more to the Little people than just having enough of it to eat every day.

Finding Cheese was the Little people's way of getting what they thought they needed to be happy. They had their own ideas of what Cheese meant to them, depending on their taste.

For some, finding Cheese was having material things. For others it was enjoying good health or developing a spiritual sense of well-being.

For Haw, Cheese just meant feeling safe, having a loving family someday and living in a cozy cottage on Cheddar Lane.

To Hem, Cheese was becoming a Big Cheese in charge of others and owning a big house atop Camembert Hill.

Because Cheese was important to them, the two Little people spent a long time trying to decide what to do. All they could think of was to keep looking around Cheeseless Station C to see if the Cheese was really gone.

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Who Moved My Cheese? (Part 2)

Every morning after that, the mice and the Little people dressed in their running gear and headed over to Cheese Station C. It wasn't long before they each established their own routine.

Sniff and Scurry continued to wake early every day and race through the Maze, always following the same route.

When they arrived at their destination, the mice took off their running shoes, tied them together and hung them around their necks—so they could get to them quickly whenever they needed them again.

Then they enjoyed the cheese.

In the beginning Hem and Haw also raced toward Cheese Station C every morning to enjoy the tasty new morsels that awaited them. But after a while, a different routine set in for the Little people.

Hem and Haw awoke each day a little later, dressed a little slower, and walked to Cheese Station C. After all, they knew where the Cheese was now and how to get there.

They had no idea where the Cheese came from, or who put it there. They just assumed it would be there.

As soon as Hem and Haw arrived at Cheese Station C each morning, they settled in and made themselves at home. They hung up their jogging suits, put away their running shoes and put on their slippers. They were becoming very comfortable now that they had found the Cheese.

“This is great,” Hem said. “There's enough Cheese here to last us forever.” The Little people felt happy and successful, and thought they were now secure.

It wasn't long before Hem and Haw regarded the Cheese they found at Cheese Station C as their cheese. It was such a large store of Cheese that they eventually moved their homes to be closer to it, and built a social life around it.

To make themselves feel more at home, Hem and Haw decorated the walls with sayings and even drew pictures of Cheese around them which made them smile. One read:

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Who Moved My Cheese? (Part 1)

An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life

Who Moved My Cheese? is a simple parable that reveals profound truths about change. It is an amusing and enlightening story of four characters who live in a 'Maze' and look for 'Cheese' to nourish them and make them happy.

Two are mice named Sniff and Scurry. And two are little people' - beings the

size of mice who look and act a lot like people. Their names are Hem and Haw. 'Cheese' is a metaphor for what you want to have in life - whether it's a good job, a loving relationship, money, a possession, good health, or spiritual peace of mind. And 'The Maze' is where you look for what you want – the organization you work in, or the family or community you live in.

In the story, the characters are faced with unexpected change. Eventually, one of them deals with it successfully, and writes what he has learned from his experience on the maze walls.

When you come to see 'The Handwriting on the Wall', you can discover for yourself how to deal with change, so that you can enjoy less stress and more success (however you define it) in your work and in your life.

Written for all ages, this story takes less than an hour to read, but its unique insights can last for a lifetime.

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Forgiving

Forgiving is not forgetting.

We should learn to forgive ones who have hurt us, in order to set ourselves free from anger and pain. But, forgiving is not forgetting. We may still remember what they did, but it won't make us feel the same pain anymore.

~Fajri Umami

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Knowing Our Lord (part 4)

GOD GIVES BLESSINGS TO HUMAN BEINGS

“Truly God, He is the Provider, the Possessor of Strength, the Sure.”

(Surat adh-Dhariyat, 58)

God has infinite mercy. We can survive, thanks to the blessings that He gives. God makes the plants, which are for us, sprout from the earth. He brings green plants and spikes of grain from the earth without even cultivating it. Yellow, red, green, and orange fruits and vegetables come from the earth.

God covers a 4500-Celsius-degree mass of fire beneath our feet with earth. He brings down tons of pure water from the sky. He fills the blue seas with thousands of different kinds of creatures.

Every moment, God creates the oxygen that fills our lungs.  We can’t count the number of blessings God has created for us. This fact is related in the Qur’an thus:

“He has given you everything you have asked Him for. If you tried to number God’s blessings, you could never count them.…”

(Surah Ibrahim, 34)

We must never forget that God has given us these blessings. We must remember and thank Him at all times.

 

 

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Knowing Our Lord (part 3)

GOD IS THE MAGNIFICENT

“Everything in the heavens and everything in the Earth    belongs to Him. He is the Most High, the Magnificent.”

(Surat ash-Shura, 4)

God’s magnificence is beyond our comprehension. But, when we look at what He has created, we can grasp His greatness. We can see how powerful He is.

The sky that holds up tons of clouds,

the mountains that rise thousands of feet into the sky,

the seas containing millions of kinds of different creatures,

the forests where many animals live….

These things and many more than we can count are among the clear signs of God’s greatness.

 

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Knowing Our Lord (part 2)

GOD FORGIVES THE MISTAKES WE MAKE

“Whether you reveal a good act or keep it hidden, or pardon an evil act, God is Ever-Pardoning, All-Powerful.

(Surat an-Nisa’, 149)

We all make mistakes from time to time. We may fail to consider all aspects about something and make wrong decisions. We may behave incorrectly. But, God created us; He knows our weaknesses and forgives our mistakes. We have to recognize our mistake and repent so that we don’t do the same thing again. That is, we have to pray God for forgiveness.

If we are sincere in this behavior, God forgives our sins and pardons us. He tells us in the Qu’ran about the importance of sincerity:

“God only accepts the repentance of those who do evil in ignorance and then quickly repent after doing it. God turns towards such people. God is All-Knowing, All-Wise.”

(Surat an-Nisa’, 17)

 

 

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Knowing Our Lord (part 1)

Who created you?

Who gave you your hair and your eyes their color?

Who said how tall you would be and what color your skin would be?

And, Who created your mother, your father and your friends?

Who created mountains, trees, the sea, the Sun, and the Moon?

Who created cats and dogs, squirrels, giraffes, and the other creatures?

Most of you will all answer these questions in the same way:

“God created us and everything else.”

Of course, this is the right answer!

So, how well do you know Almighty God, the Creator of us and the whole universe?

God has revealed Himself to us in the Qu’ran.

 

 

GOD IS THE FIRST; HE EXISTED BEFORE EVERYTHING

“He is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward. He has knowledge of all things.”

(Surat al-Hadid, 3)

The world we live in is part of a very big universe. Through history, people have wondered whether this huge universe had a beginning or not. In the 20^th century, it was proved that it had.

In 1929, a scientist by the name of Edwin Hubble observed that the universe was always expanding. Starting from this fact, scientists made an important deduction: if one went backwards in time, the universe would get smaller. And, a universe that was getting smaller would eventually become one single point. So, the universe came from the explosion of this tiny point.

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Gratitude Episode Aug 18

When my "owh..." is turning into "wow!", I see life full of blessing.
(feeling of abundance)

Alhamdulillaahi rabbil'alamiin....

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The Signs In Living Things (part 7-end)

PROOFS OF GOD’S EXISTENCE ARE EVERYWHERE

Whatever plant or animal we examine, the final result of our search will always point to the reality of a flawless creation.

All living things have countless undiscovered aspects, and each one of these is created for its own particular purpose.

Every living thing contains the proof of its creation. It is the duty of every rational individual to reflect on God’s creation and to praise and glorify our Lord at all times.

“That is God, your Lord. There is no deity but Him, the Creator of everything. So worship Him. He is responsible for everything.”

(Surat al-An‘am, 102)

PS: this is a copy of Harun Yahya’s article (with the title: The Sign of Living Things), available on http://www.harunyahya.com/.

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The Signs In Living Things (part 6)

BUTTERFLIES WITH OPTICAL KNOWLEDGE

There are three basic laws of light-ray optics used by physicists:

The closer the sun’s rays strike it to a right angle, the more a surface warms up.

If sunlight strikes two surfaces at the same angle, the darker of the two will warm up more.

A reflective surface reflects light at the same angle at which the light strikes it.

Students of physics are aware of these laws, but many people today may be unaware that these laws even exist. They are unaware of how these laws affect their daily lives or the purpose they serve. But there are also other living things that know these laws very well: Butterflies.

Butterflies make use of the laws of optics in their day-to-day lives. Everyone likes butterflies. These creatures with their bright colors and delicate flight patterns are among the beauties created for us by God.

However, there is more to butterflies than just their attractive external appearance. Sometimes these short-lived creatures must make the most expert calculations. The Colias butterfly, for example, is unable to fly if its body temperature falls below 28 degrees Centigrade. In that event, it immediately extends its wings and turns its back to the Sun to receive its rays perpendicularly. When the butterfly has warmed up enough and its body temperature has risen to 40 degrees Centigrade, it turns 90 degrees around its own axis. The Sun’s rays now strike it horizontally. This minimizes the warming effect of the Sun’s rays. The butterfly’s body temperature now starts to fall.

In addition, some species of butterfly have large, dark scaly spots on those parts of their wings closest to their bodies. According to their color, these scales are able to adjust the temperature to the maximum or minimum level.

We have all seen butterflies opening and closing their wings in the sun, as if they were trying to keep them at a particular angle. The black spots on these insects’ bodies help them to absorb the Sun’s rays. By adjusting the opening and closing motion of its wings to the direction of the sun’s rays, a butterfly can increase its body heat.

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Gratitude Episode Aug 15

These are miracles!
Thanks to everyone who's contributed.
Praise be to Allah for everything.

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The Signs In Living Things (part 5)

NIGHT-HUNTING OWLS

All living things on Earth have been created with miraculous characteristics and amazing abilities. We can come across a wide variety of these creatures wherever we may live and we can see these astonishingly different qualities in all species.

There are some 10,000 species of birds—one class of the flawless living things on Earth—each of which possesses its own miraculous features. One amazing member of the bird kingdom is the owl.

Most owls are nocturnal. Night is a time of concealment and sleep for most living things but it is a time for hunting for the owl. All their qualities have been created to allow these creatures to move with ease through the darkness.

First and foremost, a creature that hunts by night has to be able to move silently. But most birds make a noise when they fly. The noise made by the wings of a flying swan, for instance, can be heard from a long distance. The wings of many large birds make a noise as they fly. Noisy wings are a major disadvantage in that intended prey becomes aware of an impending attack.

But this problem has been resolved in the nocturnal owl through the special structure of its feathers. The owl’s feathers are soft, and the edges of their powerful wing feathers have a tasseled structure that enables them to fly. The velvet-soft surface of the wing feathers effectively drowns out noise and allows the owl to fly in silence.

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