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Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

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Articles

What We Expect from the Righteous Generation...

31 December 2001 | M. Fethullah Gulen | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

The first and most important criteria of righteousness is perfect faith. The Qur'an determines the purpose of humanity's creation as belief in God, which is woven from the threads of the knowledge of God, love, enthusiasm, and spiritual fulfillment. Only in the light of faith can people, by realiz…

The Japanese Path to National Development

31 March 2002 | Jay Willoughby | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

The twentieth century was marked by failed utopias: Maoist China, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, and various fascist and communist states. Except for its inter-war militaristic period, Japan has been conspicuous for its absence. Japan continues to baffle the world…

Dark Matter

31 March 2002 | Nuh Gedik | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

Cosmology is the study of the universe's beginning, formation, and evolution. Humanity has devised many cosmological theories. For example, ancient Greeks thought the universe was composed of four elements: earth, wind, fire, and water. Now, despite several millennia of effort, modern cosmologist…

State - Nonprofit Partnership For Social Capital

31 March 2002 | Dr. Naim F. Erdem | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

Evaluating the research on social capital Social capital has a long intellectual history in the social sciences. In this paper, social capital refers to the institutions, relationships, and norms that shape the quality and quantity of a society's social interactions. Social capital is not just the…

The Beneficial Effects of Lightning

31 March 2002 | Dr. Ibrahim B. Syed | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

The Qur'an is a book of guidance and wisdom, not of science. However, about 20 percent of its verses allude to scientific matters or natural phenomena. For example: It is He Who shows you the lightning by way both of fear and hope (13:12) and Among His Signs He shows you the lightning by way both o…

Let Us Celebrate Our Mothers

31 March 2002 | The Fountain | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

Mothers are the most honored of all people. Their moans and pain, which continue throughout their lives, are washed away when their children call them mother. Motherhood exists because of children. Some children remember their mothers; others, who are ungrateful, consign them to oblivion and forget…

The Virtual University and E-Learning

31 March 2002 | Dr. Sezai Sablak | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

The perennial questions How do people learn? and What do they need to know? have challenged educators since the time of Socrates (d. 339 BCE) to our own. Given the now near-global availability of the Internet, instructors, learners, and educational institutions are analyzing all of the various ways…

Everything in the Environment Reflects God

31 March 2002 | Bediuzzaman Said Nursi | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

The All-Wise Creator has made the vegetable and animal kingdoms-particularly the small ones-one of the broadest arenas for displaying His Power and manifesting His Attributes in the greatest abundance, and one of the fields containing most of the 'mirrors' reflecting His Names. He has done this for…

The Search for Truth

31 March 2002 | David Chamber | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

Truth is to believe and to believe is to see the truth. Sometimes the truth is behind walls, beyond time, in the past, or buried deeply. But no matter how deeply hidden it is, we can find it if we look for it, for truth has to be found if there is to be any truth at all. The three great monotheist…

Love: The Fuel of the Universe

31 March 2002 | The Fountain | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

Love is the most essential component, most vivid light, and greatest power in every living creature. It can defeat any enemy. Loveless spirits have no chance to become fully human. Even if they lived for hundreds of years, they would go no further than an infant in terms of maturity. Such love…

Christian and Islamic Viewpoints on The Prayer of Jabez

31 March 2002 | Josep Clay | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

Recently, The Prayer of Jabez became a best seller. Some ministries and Bible study groups are studying it enthusiastically, and many people give it as gifts. Despite its unusual popularity, some accuse it of being at variance with Biblical teachings. The Prayer of Jabez The author, Dr. Bruce…

A Plumber's Wisdom: The Weakening of America

31 March 2002 | Steven Krauss | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

These days, you never can tell what source wisdom will come. God is constantly humbling us by manifesting truth in all sorts of ways and from all types of people. A few days ago, I was on the phone with my teacher and was asking him what the mood was like in America (I am an American living abroad)…

Nature Has Been Destroyed

31 March 2002 | The Fountain | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

Even though nature is an exhibition of miracles, we prefer to call it a book, for we hear and read it like a book and watch it with admiration while walking through its colorful gilt embroideries. Just as the elegant architectural details of a chalet whisper that there is more to the chalet th…

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

31 March 2002 | Tu Hoang | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

I think that most people really do not understand childhood fairy tales until they are adults. But by then these stories often are not revisited. Joseph Campbell, vis A vis Carl Jung, said that myths, including childhood fairy tales, are best read as metaphors. These metaphors help map out our life…

Democratic Peace: Perpetual Peace is Possible

31 March 2002 | Sezai Sadik | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

The twentieth century was the bloodiest century in human history. From 1900-96, approximately 110 million people died during 250 wars. Wars after 1945 caused twice as many deaths as all nineteenth-century wars and seven times as many as all eighteenth-century wars.(2) These worrisome figures raise…

What are your ideas about women's rights?

31 March 2002 | Hikmet Isik | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

Q: What are your ideas about women's rights? A: This is a very comprehensive subject. From one perspective it's open to debate. It's very difficult to summarize my thoughts on this kind of platform. In one sense we don't separate men and women. In another sense there are physical and psychological…

Editorial (Issue 38)

31 March 2002 | Jay Willoughby | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

During this time of uncertainty and tension, we should take a moment to remember religion's central teaching: Do not hurt others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful (Buddhism: Udana-Varga 5:1); Whatever you would like people to do to you, do to them, for this is the law and the prophets (C…

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