Issue 59

  • Speech, that Powerful Instrument of Error and Glory ...

    Speech is certainly one of the distinctive qualities of human beings that makes them superior to other animals. We can deduce from the above verse that speech is not only a biological privilege, but a special quality with a preord

    Published July - September 2007 - The Fountain

    Speech and Power of Expression

    The most precious of values inherited from our ancestors, speech does not consist only of clarity of meaning, the sound of words, or the expression of certain intentions. It also gives voice to our thoughts, expresses the musi

    Published July - September 2007 - M. Fethullah Gulen

    Writing with Atoms

    Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that the art and wisdom of small things are easier to make than those which are big in size. Said Nursi reveals how baseless such an assumption is with an example: A book which is written

    Published July - September 2007 - Osman Cakmak

    God, the Sun, and the Plant

    Have you ever wondered why plants are green? K.A. Timiryazev, a prominent Russian scientist, answered this question first in 1888. In his book, The Sun, Life, and Chlorophyll, Timiryazev argued that green is not the color of plant

    Published July - September 2007 - Igor Sulgin

    Rhetoric-An Eloquent Invention: Two Examples from the Present Time

    Rhetoric is traditionally defined in literature as the “verbal art” of speaking and writing effectively. In our daily life people perceive a rhetorician as a skilled person who can convince an audience with their ability to ta

    Published July - September 2007 - Kursat Oz

    A Cry of Desperation Are We Listening?

    27, black, living in South Africa, and HIV positive; this is no longer a shocking matter. It has become like getting flu, only deadlier. I never thought I’d make it. But one thing that kept me going was the thought of leaving my

    Published July - September 2007 - Ayse K. Coskun

    The Disconnection between Philosophy and Qur'anic Wisdom

    Abstract, rational inquiry does not permit a combination between philosophy and religious wisdom1 and rules that such is impossible. Actual reality does not support such a combination either. Said Nursi (d. 1960) lived through a s

    Published July - September 2007 - Taha Abdel Rahman

    A Saturday Unlike Others

    Many of us either heard about or read Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince. The hero of the story sets out on a journey that will take him to several planets on which he meets people who are representative of differen

    Published July - September 2007 - Sermed Ogretim

    Tafakkur (Reflection)

    Tafakkur literally means to think on a subject deeply, systematically, and in great detail. In this context, it signifies reflection, which is the heart’s lamp, the soul’s food, the spirit of knowledge, and the essence and lig

    Published July - September 2007 - M. Fethullah Gulen

    A Tale of Design and Love

    The value of the iron (or any other material) from which a work of art is made differs from the value of the art expressed in it. Sometimes they may have the same value, or the art’s worth may be far more than its material,

    Published July - September 2007 - Esref Sami

    The Aftermath of Love

    How sad, how poor; we are eaten up by the chase.
    Hurtled all around, we sob and rustle
    As if we resemble winnowed leaves
    Since life path tramples our heart castle.

    Wondering the yonder of the shades

    Published July - September 2007 - Victor H. Earnest

    The Relationship between Physical Cleanliness and Moral Purity

    Cleanliness is virtue shared by all people and societies. Physical cleanliness and moral purity are highly encouraged by religions, particularly before the commencement of religious ceremonies, suggesting the existence of a possib

    Published July - September 2007 - Salih Uslu

    Camera Chips: Mimicking the Human Eye?

    One day an optometrist was talking to his profoundly-blind patient about the possibility of an eye implant that would give him 16 (4x4) pixels of visual information. The patient then told the doctor “Sometimes I just need one pi

    Published July - September 2007 - S. Utku Ay

    Rethinking Islamic Philosophy and Theology

    There are not many scholars interested in Islamic philosophy and theology in the West. Despite this fact, there has been an increasing interest in that area among young scholars. One of the factors behind this increase is the effo

    Published July - September 2007 - The Fountain

    Questions and Answers

    The Prophet Muhammad foretold many events that were going to take place throughout history; materialistic philosophy has no argument whatsoever to explain how a person can bring news from 14 centuries away.

    Published July - September 2007 - The Fountain

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