Issue 18 (April - June 1997)

Those who have the power and technological means to satisfy their greed and feelings of hate and vengeance, can bring about as much destruction in a single day as would have taken a century in the past. They can demolish the most formidable-seeming systems at one go and exchange them for others. Th…

The laws of physics are mathematical expressions of how the universe operates. The events taking place in the universe and the relations between them and the laws ‘governing’ the universe have drawn the attention of people from ancient times. Scientists have tried to explain whatever takes place in…

A book exists first of all in its author’s mind as meaning. To have this immaterially existing book known by others, the author must put it into words, shaped into sentences, organized into paragraphs, chapters, and so on. Subsequently, comes the stage of physically producing the book, giving it ma…

Nobody remembers the day on which he was born. As he gets to know himself, he learns from his immediate physical environment, as also from his family, from the other people around him, and from the events he experiences on his own. If he is born normal and sound, he sees and hears, smells and taste…

Some of the first converts to Islam were subjected to the severest persecutions in Makka. They bore them patiently and never thought of retaliation, as the Qur’an ordered the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, to call unbelievers to the way of God with wisdom and fair preaching and…

First argument Every thing, every being in existence displays God’s Unity as a most manifest truth. For example, of the innumerable arguments for His existence and Unity, consider life: He makes everything out of one thing and makes one thing out of many things. He makes the countless members and…

As I mentioned you again, nothing else remained in my memory; I imagined you travelling on the hills of my heart. A mirage, I know, but it sufficed to calm the anguish of my heart. As I mentioned you again, nothing else remained in my memory. I wish I could move the whole of time with love of y…

What is more amazing than the human body of which we are the trustees? Right from conception to the last breath we draw, our bodies function without our deliberate aid. We know our bodies to be more than just an assembly of organs and each organ is much more than an assembly of specialized cells…

A part from the natural hurdle of the sea which surrounds the islands of Japan, the spread of Islam into Japan was impeded by the occupation of nearby islands in south-east Asia by the Portuguese and Spanish. Christianity was first brought to Japan in about the 15th century. But after some time, th…

WHAT CAN WE SAY ABOUT THE TRUTH OF DREAMS? While you are in sleep, with your eyes closed, your ear deaf, your tongue mute and your arms and legs motionless, how do you travel your distances meet many people and do many things in so short a period as a few seconds? When you get up in the morning, y…

A young man (let us call him Amjad) was walking home, head down, kicking stones on the path. He did not see people who knew him, coming the other way, nor responded to their greetings. His impulsive kicking of stones was like the trickles of water seeping out of cracks in a dam. Amjad was like a re…