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Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

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Articles

The Winter Is Coming

30 April 2016 | The Fountain | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

In this issue, some of our writers address one of the most urgent crises of our age: the refugees fleeing violence in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Lawrence Brazier, who lives in Austria, writes about hosting a displaced Afghan family. Lawrence and his wife, Romana, courageously added their names t…

Countering Violent Extremism? - What Happens in Molenbeek Matters in Milwaukee

30 April 2016 | Jon Pahl | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

On the day I spoke in Brussels at a conference on “countering violent extremism,” a gun battle broke out in a Brussels suburb between French/Belgian police and individuals apparently associated with the terrorists who planned November’s attack in Paris. Though there was no major news coverage o…

From Whales to Technology

30 April 2016 | Sam Plat | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

The shape of cars and airplanes directly affect their fuel consumption and performance. For proof of the connection between shape and fuel efficiency, we can look to nature. Biomimetics, which develops technology by imitating living creatures, is acknowledged as a separate branch of science. Yet a…

Freedom of Faith and Conscience

30 April 2016 | M. Fethullah Gulen | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

The freedom of faith and conscience is, to put it briefly, the universal right to independently adopt and practice a faith of one’s choice. This right includes being able to receive the education required for a thorough practice of one’s faith and the liberty to teach others about a faith’s beliefs…

The Role of Myth and Ritual in Religion

30 April 2016 | Mustafa Ismet Uzun | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

Throughout history, religion and its diverse aspects, such as myth and ritual, have been of great significance for the social, economic, and cultural lives of people around the globe. Myth and ritual have also been studied at length by theorists and philosophers. While some theorists, like Freud a…

The Ones That Got Away!

30 April 2016 | Lawrence Brazier | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

Austria still offers some of the nicest aspects of worldly existence. Deer feed in the meadow across the road from our house. They graze contentedly, seemingly oblivious to all else, then suddenly stiffen and look up, alert, staring, when a car, or more likely a tractor, passes by. Even at a distan…

Wresting Jihad from the Jihadists

30 April 2016 | Sophia Pandya | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

I departed Brussels a few days before the March 22, 2016, attacks which killed over thirty people, injured dozens, and terrorized that city. Ironically, my purpose for visiting was to present a paper on the “Greater Jihad” at a conference titled “Countering Violent Extremism: Mujahada and Muslims’…

Gecko The Physicist

30 April 2016 | Ahmet Eren | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

They can resist gravity and easily hang upside down on flat ceilings. They are geckos, extraordinary lizards that have been perfectly created for their environments. But what allows them to resist gravity? Is it an adhesive secretion? Sucking discs? Some force, one stronger than gravity?

Should We Fear a Magnetic Pole Shift?

30 April 2016 | Serif Dogru | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

The Earth currently rotates in a counter-clockwise direction. This rotation, along with movement of iron particles inside the Earth’s molten core, generates a magnetic field, which protects the Earth from solar winds. Since this magnetic field is determined by using the right-hand rule, its directi…

The Existence of God - According to Muslim Theologians and Thinkers

30 April 2016 | Mathew Walles | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

Proving the existence of God is a venture that numerous Muslim philosophers, theologians, and thinkers have been attempting for many centuries. This issue has been argued and debated on scientific, philosophical, and theological platforms, and the debate continues today. In any argument for God, it…

The Shared Beliefs of Judaism and Islam

30 April 2016 | Ruth Sandberg | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

It is unfortunate that in today’s world many Jews and Muslims see themselves as diametrically opposed to one another. They see their respective religious traditions as dissimilar, sharing little in common – and even as being hostile to the other. The situation is often made worse by the media, whic…

Gastro Intestinal Flora and Our Health

30 April 2016 | Adam Allison | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

The systems of the human body are created with a staggering degree of perfection. The body has approximately 1013 cells at any given time, and these ensure that our systems run flawlessly, without us ever thinking about it. Inside our body, there are also 1014 microorganisms. These microorganisms d…

Barq (Lightning)

30 April 2016 | M. Fethullah Gulen | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

Barq (lightning) is a light that flashes in an initiate during the first steps of the journey toward sainthood. This is the first invitation to those seeking nearness to God. The scholars of truth have related the emergence of lightning to the verse (20:9–10), Has there come to you the tiding of Mo…

The Nature of Change - Exchange of Letters with My Future Self

30 April 2016 | Elizabeth Allen | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

To my future self, I think we are all searching for something in our lives. No one seems to know exactly what that something is, but we all are seeking what is greater than ourselves. I think that is how I would define life—a constant pursuit of that which is beyond us. We as humans are eternally…

Spring’s Ballad

30 April 2016 | M. Fethullah Gulen | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

When the time is due, you will see that a new spring has come. Roses bloom, nightingales sing, and tulips are all around. Flowers breathe out their perfumes; Birds and bugs, all enraptured in this clime. Trees sway like dervishes in the ever-blowing breeze, Everything dancing to the winds’ melodies…

How Many Supercomputers Would Fit Inside Your Brain?

30 April 2016 | Fatih Bera | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

The complexity and potential of the human brain are astonishing. The brain is capable of performing millions of complex formulations in milliseconds. And yet, despite this power, humans are barely tapping the brain’s potential. Many researchers claim that most human beings only use a fraction of th…

The Only Thing They Ask is to Be Allowed to a New Land!

30 April 2016 | Aydogan Vatandas | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

What a life as a refugee We gave up all we had, to flee All left behind But I don't mind At least I've saved my family What a life as a refugee. My Son, my daughter, wife and me. Safe at last The worst is past Soon we will in Europe be What a life as a refugee We try to cross the Turkish sea W…

Nigella Sativa: The Herb in Antiquity Making Wonders

30 April 2016 | Alp Serhat Kahveci | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

Recent findings in health care are portraying the wide-ranging impact of Nigella Sativa, especially in fighting cancerous cells. 1,2,3,4 An ancient herb Nigella Sativa, a flowering plant native to southern Asia, grows to roughly 30 cm in height. But what it lacks in height, it more than makes up i…

Massive Open Online Courses and Their Economic Value

30 April 2016 | Nurdin Kaparov | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

This century has seen many innovations and transformations within the fields of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). They have brought forth new developments in education by transferring conventional learning cultures into virtual environments. ICT is enabling us to acquire knowledge f…

Hubris or Becoming Tyrannical

30 April 2016 | M. Fethullah Gulen | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

Question: It is sometimes the case that people who are responsible for a certain area or who govern a certain place, after a period of time, begin to consider themselves as the owner of that place. Could you elucidate how believers should think and behave when this happens? Regarding someone who i…

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