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Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

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Articles

"WIN"-Win for All With Dialogue

28 February 2009 | The Fountain | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

A win-win scenario, or game, describes a situation where the two parties involved manage to devise an action plan in a way that is beneficial for both. In interfaith dialogue, however, there are more than two parties and the outcome of sincere efforts towards understanding the other is usually an i…

Towards Spelling Out Our Own Line of Thought

28 February 2009 | M. Fethullah Gulen | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

In the past, “Islam” used to come into our people’s minds first as far as “religion” was concerned, and it would resonate with wonder in their conscience. Above all, Islam had left on sound-thinking souls a deep and powerful impression which challenged all kinds of decay or deterioration. Worldwide…

The Trembling Sun

28 February 2009 | Kadir Can | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

In 1962 a group of researchers discovered that the sun oscillated backwards and forwards once every five minutes. As research progressed it was determined that as some sections of the sun were coming closer, other sections were receding. In the seventies astrophysicists announced that these vibrati…

The Holy Qur'an and Dirac's Theory of Pairs

28 February 2009 | Sultan Bashir Mahmood | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

Paul Dirac (1902–1984), one of Newton’s successors to the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge, was one of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century and his work is one of the monuments of modern physical theory (See Abdus Salam 1966). This paper highlights his great work on the possib…

The Dancing Pen

28 February 2009 | Ayse Meva Nur | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

No one knows dancing like him. Swirl, lift, dip. The routine continues. Swirl, lift, dip. This is what Osman Sahin does to relax. Dance. But he is no choreographer, he is a calligrapher-one who has mastered the art of Classical Turkish-Islamic calligraphy for over twenty-five years. He calls his c…

Dialogue in Central Eurasia

28 February 2009 | Zhandos Utegulov | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

Central Eurasia is characterized by historians as one of the most diverse places on the face of the earth, with its distinct and colorful characteristics. For centuries this geographical region has been at the crossroads of continents, religions, philosophies, ideologies, trade routes, geopolitical…

Tiny, With A Great Mission: Seeds and Bees

28 February 2009 | Mahmut Veziroglu | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

Plants sustain the continuity of their species through generative reproduction either with seeds or through vegetative reproduction that uses suckers, bulbs, or tubers. We can observe these methods of reproduction in nature, but we tend to overlook how wonderfully these processes are carried out wi…

Will and Balance in Nourishment

28 February 2009 | Omer Arifagaoglu | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

Once, Shaykh ‘Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani, one of the greatest poles of spirituality, may God sanctify his holiness, had a pupil who was the only child of an old, anxious woman. That respected woman went to visit her son only to find him eating a piece of dry, black bread. His physical weakness that was…

Holy Migration

28 February 2009 | Robert Lentz | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

Most human beings feel a strong loyalty to the place of their birth. Sometimes this loyalty can be transferred to another place, but there are few people who do not treasure some place they consider “home.” This sense of belonging is so strong that sacrificing our home is always painful. Sometimes…

Never

28 February 2009 | M. Fethullah Gulen | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

To the soul of Yunus Once the heart has found You, Would it ever remember another? Once it has burned in Your fire, Would it ever burn in another? Only those who have found You Are purified in an incessant flow; Satisfied with Your love, Would they ever be content with another? You gave be…

A Miraculous Mechanism: DNA Repair

28 February 2009 | Hasan Altinbasak | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

We live in a world full of technological devices, instruments and machines. Even if we buy them from good retailers, our cars we use to commute, or our CD-players and nowadays the mp3-players we use to listen to music one day break down, and eventually we change them. Can you imagine a TV which n…

A Special Blessing: The Story of WIN

28 February 2009 | M. Louise Row | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

There are blessings all around us, of course, but what follows is my account of an unexpected blessing--a wondrous surprise if you will--which came at a time when I needed to experience the presence of God in a new way. In the winter of 2007, I met Dr. Ayse Coskun at a Turkish Women’s Coffee Night…

Zuhd (Asceticism)

28 February 2009 | M. Fethullah Gulen | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

Zuhd, which literally means renouncing worldly pleasures and resisting carnal desires, is defined by Sufis as indifference to worldly appetites, living an austere life, choosing to refrain from sin in fear of God, and despising the world’s carnal and material aspects. Asceticism is also described a…

The Education of Gifted Children

28 February 2009 | Hayati Tarhan | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

Humans are created with different levels of ability. A person who is talented in one specific field may not necessarily be as capable in other areas, and individuals who have natural ability in the same field do not necessarily have the same level of ability because some children are born with an o…

In an Author's Mind

28 February 2009 | Seth Mette | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

Rational, Romantic, and Regular were three roommates. They were all new writers with splendid ambitions. They all dreamt of displaying the best of their talents one day. For this, they had different styles and writing strategies. Rational, who had graduated from the school of science, always sought…

Unity, Diversity, and Dialogue: A Jewish Perspective

28 February 2009 | Turan Kayaoglu | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

While the appeal of the “dialogue of civilizations” is on the rise, its sources, functions, and consequence cause controversy within and between faith communities. Amidst these controversies, some religious leaders have attempted to clarify the religious foundations of the dialogue of civilizations…

It's us, Peter, your Eyes!

28 February 2009 | Irfan Yilmaz | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

Dear Peter, the organs entrusted to you by the Creator have been describing themselves to you for quite a while now. As you have probably realized, our friends the heart, stomach, intestine, lungs and pancreas are all the display of a magnificent work of art and carefully positioned in the spaces o…

How do we distinguish between the desire to emulate and envy?

28 February 2009 | Hikmet Isik | Issue 68 (March - April 2009)

How do we distinguish between the desire to emulate and envy? What are your thoughts regarding the charities and alms given away openly by some leading people in good work in order to inspire others and stimulate their feelings of generosity, while others cannot help but feel envy of their genero…

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