From Glittering Gold to Blackening Coal

8/13/2019 From Glittering Gold to Blackening Coal

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From Glittering GoldTo Blackening Coal &Splitting TheIndivisibleBy Zeeshaan Khan

A brief outline on the golden age of Islam, the reason for its decline and a possible solution. Byincorporating modern science and technological advancement, an attempt is made to merge thewisdom of the Quran with the field of physics. Lastly, an analysis of Mi raj and how modern science

clearly demonstrates the physical ascension of the Beloved Messenger .


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GLITTERING GOLD TO BLACKENING COAL

f we were to analyse the progression of the Muslim world from the advent

of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula brought by the Illuminating Sun of the

world, the Beloved Messenger , we would notice a very peculiar pattern.

The initiation of the modern scientific era was ushered in by the Holy Prophet

. The ignorant Arabians, Persians and Romans trembled upon hearing about

the revolutionary message that Islam had to offer. Read!!! The first command

and message of Islam. Read, in the name of Thy Lord . These were the words

that would change the world and transform mankind.

It is true that after the physical veiling of the Holy Prophet from this world,

companions had travelled far and wide to spread a message which today still

holds true and fresh. With every moment of technological advancement, the

constitution of Islam in the form of the Quran and Narrations of the Divine

Messenger seem to be many steps ahead. It is as if a new facet of an infinite

diamond reveals its beauty through paradoxical yet simple revelations. The inkof a scholar is holier than the blood of a martyr was one of the messages which

could have been the beginning of The Golden Age of Islam that was started by

the Abbasid Caliphate. They had rekindled the flame of knowledge in an era

which is named so poorly in the West as the Dark ages. It was the

secularisation and segmenting of knowledge into 2 water-tight compartments.

One of them been knowledge of religion belonging to God alone, and the other been knowledge of the world belonging to Man. It was this social disintegration

and dissociation of the human personality which had resulted in a brutal conflict

between the church and the forces of Enlightenment. This in turn had resulted in

a war against the church and hence a war against religion and God himself

forming the basis of atheism.

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Despite this conflict occurring between religion and science, there was a

reigniting of knowledge in the Islamic world which was soon to become a

beacon of light and guidance to scholars from all over the world including

scholars of the West.

From the Mathemical science of Euclidean geometry and algebra to

Agricultural sciences such as farming, Muslim scholars were soon to become

the fathers in all fields of sciences. Geber, known today as the father of

chemistry had not only mastered and understood Greek texts but also

improvised and devised a new form of science which we know as alchemy

today. Avicenna, known in this modern age as the Prince of Physicians had

authored countless books on Medical science which still holds true today. He

had authored a masterpiece The Canon of Medicine which was used as a

textbook for scholars in European universities up until the early 17 th Century.

There are numerous other contributions made by Muslim scholars to all fields of

science which require a book itself to mention.

So, why the decline?

There are numerous factors which resulted in the decline of the Golden Age of

Islam. One particular tale would suffice to clarify this issue. With all the wealth

that had been accumulated during this Golden Age, power had increased and

this had produced greed which would soon devour the superpower of Islam. It

was during the battle of Tours that the Muslims had been successful initially,and with the spoils of war been plenty, greed had taken control and this had

sewn conflict in the Muslim army ranks which had quickly reached the ears of

Western opposition. The army had returned to battle and with the disunity

already evident, the Muslim army and the Golden Age would soon become a

legend of the past. The other factors which also would have had a role to play

would be the attack on the belief system of Islam and the removal of emotions


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from a religion which holds its roots firm in the soil of love for God and His

Beloved Messenger and ardent followers.

It is disheartening to note that today the Muslim world is quickly approaching

the age of ignorance which was destroyed by the Holy Prophet himself upon

entering Arabia. Our so called inheritors of the Ambiya today have sculpted

Islam into a skeleton devoid of a heart and life moving only by a thread attached

to its skull been manoeuvred by the superpowers of the West. This analogy

might seem graphically disturbing and exaggerated but is the reality of what

Islam has become compared to its Golden Age a few centuries back. We have

reconstructed religion and formed it into a cult where Iman has become lip

motion, Salah ritual gymnastics, Zakat petty cash giving, fasting spiritual

starvation and the Pilgrimage emotionless motion. This deterioration of the

Muslim world through the ages can indeed be called our very own dark ages

while the West is now in its Golden Age. This Western Golden Age now enjoys

fame due to the very own scholarly works produced by scientists of the Islamic

Golden Age. Very beautifully and eloquently narrated by the Holy Prophet

The slave girl has given birth to its mistress. However, one thing is certain:

Islam had begun its golden age to prove the existence of God while majority of

the Western golden age now attempts to disprove any Divine Intervention.

We Muslims have fallen into the same abyss that the west had fallen into. We

have secularised knowledge and confined religion to a few emotionless rituals.

Worldly education has been deemed as unworthy and useless and the few that

have undergone training in worldly education have used it as a tool for financial

success at the expense of spiritual enlightenment. We have taken zikr

(remembrance) and separated it from fikr (contemplation). We have failed to

understand that these are 2 wings on a vehicle that will propel us to reach our

Lord, Most High. Logically, if an airplane were to have a single wing, it would


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fail to launch itself and thus fulfil its purpose. The Holy Quran expounds the

importance of these 2 aspects in a single verse:

Indeed in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night

and the day there are Signs (of Allahs Absolute Authority) for th ose who possess

constructive wisdom. These are the people who, remembering Allah, remain

standing (as the epitome of submissiveness), sitting (as reverence incarnate) and

(also keep) changing sides (in discomfort of love) and contemplate on (manifest

lustre of His Eminence and Beauty at work in) the creation of the heavens and the

earth. (Then acquainted with the pleasure of His gnosis, they call out

spontaneously) O our Lord, You have not created (all) this without any rationale

and strategy. You are impeccably Pure (of all shortcomings and obligations). So

protect us from the torment of Hell. (3:190-191)

Those who remember their Lord standing, sitting, and lying down and

contemplate on the creation of the heavens and the earth (3:191). We have lost

our power of intellect and enslaved our minds to the superpowers of this

modern age. Our freedom of thinking has been jailed and we have created

barriers around our minds and failed to polish the rust from the core of our

beings.


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SPLITTING THE INDIVISIBLE

onventional teachings have thought throughout the years that the

smallest particle known to man is the atom. In fact, the very term has

been derived from the Greek word atomos : a -not and tomos -divisible.

This was not to be as it was shown a few decades later that there are indeed

particles within the atom which we know as protons, neutrons and electrons.

This is currently where it stops at secondary level institutions today. However,

this is far from what modern physics shows. There are indeed particles so small,

which would make an atom appear as a basketball. These particles are known to

us as quarks. This is not where the process halts. Recent research has asked this

question: Where does the mass of subatomic particles come from? This has

resulted in a quest for what is known among the media as The God Particle (The

Higgs Boson according to physicists). They have hypothesised that all mass in

this universe is because of a single entity which forms the basis of every

fundamental particle known to man. It is important for us to take note of the

technological advancements required to arrive at a stage where we are able to

probe deep into the tiniest space in this universe. There is a contraption so

massive at the CERN (European organisation of nuclear research) at the Franco-

Swiss border that is attempting to uncover many mysteries of the universe still

unknown to physicists. This contraption is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

which is the worlds largest and highest energy particle-beam accelerator. The

LHC lies in a tunnel 25km in circumference and 175 meters below the surface

of the Earth.

There is currently a model in particle physics known as the standard model of

particle physics which some describe as the theory of almost everything. It

describes all forces within the atom itself and also hints at the existence of the

Higgs Boson (The God Particle). The Higgs Boson is a hypothetical massive

elementary particle that is predicted to exist by the standard model of particle

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physics. It also explains why other elementary particles have mass. It is the only

particle not yet discovered by physicists but the LHC at CERN have been

producing results which might just hint at the existence of a particle which

provides everything in this universe with its mass. A shallow sceptic might

question the practicality for any of this expensive research. We need to

understand that we live in a world shaped by science and governed by the laws

of physics. A National Geographic journalist has rightly stated:

The cynic might say that there's no practical use for any of this, that there

might be other uses for all the money and brainpower going into these particle

guns. But we live in a civilization shaped by physics. We know that the forces

within an atom are so powerful that, unleashed and directed against humanity,

they can obliterate cities in an instant. The laptop computer on which I'm

writing uses microprocessors that would not exist had we not discovered

quantum physics and the quirky behaviour of electrons. This story will be

posted on the World Wide Web invented, in case you hadn't heard, at CERN,

by computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee. Maybe you're reading it while listening

to your iPod, which wouldn't exist but for something called "giant

magnetoresistance." Two physicists discovered it independently in the late

1980s, with not much thought of how it might eventually be used. It became

crucial to making tiny consumer electronics that used magnetized hard disks.

The physicists won a Nobel Prize in 2007, and you got a nifty sound system

that's smaller than a Hershey bar.

Where does this discovery leave science and the world? The ever expanding

field of science and particularly physics continues to expand at an alarming rate.

With the technological advancements occurring rapidly, we need to keep abroad

of matters to be able to understand the universe in which we live.


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As Muslims, we are continuously bombarded by questions that attempt to throw

us off balance and question the very roots of our beliefs. We claim to possess a

religion that is a guide for entire mankind but are failing to answer questions

that the world of physics poses to us. Is our religion only meant to shed light on

religious matters or do we have a constitution which illuminates what lies

between the heavens and the earth? Let us briefly look at what the Quran has

stated on this issue of the atom.

And, (O Glorious Beloved,) in whatever state you may be and whatever portion you

may recite from the Quran, and, (O Umma [Community] of Muhammad, [blessings

and peace be upon him]) whatever work you do, We witness and watch over you

(at the time) when you are engaged in it. And not even an atom in the earth or in

the heaven is hidden from (the knowledge of) your Lord, And nor anything smalleror bigger than that (atom) is there but (recorded) in the Clear Book (the Protected

Tablet, [al- Lawhal -Mahfuz]). (10:61)

In 10:61 The Divine Writ has stated that there is nothing beyond the scope of

the heavens and the earth that is hidden, even if it is the size of an atom, smaller

or bigger. As science continues to progress, the Quran will continue to explain

how these matters are discussed. It is unfortunate that after discoveries are madewe find the explanations therein. We are failing to keep in touch with

technological discoveries that are unravelling the mysteries of the universe and

proving the existence of God and thus cementing belief in the One Supreme

Being. Why are we pre-occupied with the sensate culture which the West have

introduced but are unaware of the Golden Age currently also taking place in the

West? Have we become complacent with what weve been given and are t oo


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satisfied to remove ourselves from the comfort zones we are currently stagnant

within? Have we forgotten our roots and fail to understand our rich history?

The Beloved Messenger came as an expounder of Divine Truth and a teacher

for mankind. With reverence and love for our teacher and granting him the

highest respect, we will begin to understand the words and message he had

brought and perhaps begin implementing it.


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THE HEAVENLY ASCENSION SOME LIGHT FOR DARKENED SOULS

hen CERN had undertaken yet another experiment 3 years ago,

they attempted to question one of the boldest equations set forth

by a giant in theoretical physics Albert Einstein. It was an

experiment initially established to detect a group of subatomic elementary

particles named neutrinos. Without discussing the intricate details of the

experiment which goes beyond my level of understanding as well, it suffices to

say that these are particles with the potential of travelling faster than the speed

of light. They are particles released from radioactive decay and nuclear

reactions and have a disputed small non-zero mass. They usually pass through

ordinary matter unaffected. This discovery has astounded scientists and is been

retested in numerous other laboratories throughout the world to confirm the

discovery. A discovery so revolutionary, that it threatens the very foundations

of modern science but simultaneously opens numerous doors for other

discoveries such as time travel. A scientist at CERN has stated simply that it is

the reversal of time .

From an Islamic perspective, if we were to analyse the Heavenly Ascension of

the Beloved Messenger , we would understand the narration much more

clearly by applying this scientific discovery to the context. On the night of

Miraj, the cosmic personality of the Holy Prophet had been removed from

this world to unify with The Sublime Lord of the Worlds. Spheres of this

universe had been traversed so speedily that at the Holy Prophet return, his

bed was still warm and that the pitcher of water which had tumbled over upon

departure, had not yet leaked out completely. The celestial beast upon which the

Holy Prophet had mounted was named Buraaq . From an Arabic perspective,

the word Buraaq is derived from the Arabic word Barq , meaning speed of

light . Buraaq implies the plural form and hence means multiple speeds of

light. This had seemed unfathomable to many sceptics who concluded that the

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ascension had been a dream. How disgraceful to doubt the esteemed personality

of the Beloved Messenger who cast no shadow and had received the Divine

Revelation which the Mountain of Sinai could not withstand. Revelation has

now come forth in the form of scientific evidence that travelling faster than the

speed of light is indeed possible. By travelling upon Buraaq (i.e. at multiple

speeds of light), the Beloved Messenger had undergone a reversal in time and

had been transformed to his original form of existence: The universe had been

created from the Nur (light) of Muhammad and it was in this form of being

(his cosmic status) which our Beloved Messenger had met his Lord at a

station of less than 2 bows lengths.

In summary, I have tried to merge 2 very important aspects in this brief article:

Physical and modern science on the one hand and Islam as a comprehensive

code on the other. It is essential for us as Muslims to understand our rich yet

ignored history. It is for this reason I had begun with the Golden Age of Islam

and the reason for our decline. I have also discussed the necessary requirements

in attempting to revive a religion which came to guide mankind toward a path of

love and intelligence. Secondly, I have discussed briefly the discoveries in

particle physics and how technological advancements are arriving at the

answers to the mysterious workings of the universe and hence a Divine Creator.

Lastly, by incorporating the latest advancements in physics, the modern world

including Muslims will soon come to the realisation that the Heavenly

Ascension certainly had taken place in body and spirit and was not a dream as

common Islam propagates. This in turn will lead Muslims and Non-Muslims to

understand the cosmic status accorded to the Beloved Messenger and why the

Divine Script mentions:


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And, (O Esteemed Messenger ) We have not sent you but as a Mercy for all the

worlds. (21:107)

Take care Oh Muslims that Islam does not become a religion of the past.

Understand your origins and inspiring history. Cultivate your intellects and hold

firm to the rope of unconditional love and reverence for Allah and His Beloved

Messenger .

zeeshaan khan

8 Safar 1433 / 2 January 2012

From Glittering Gold to Blackening Coal

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