| THE AYAT AND THE HADITH OF THE DAY |
ABANDONING ARROGANCE
HARUN YAHYA
Arrogance is found in one who disdains to worship Allah, by forgetting his weaknesses, despising others, and feeling proud. However, man is a weak creature. He depends upon Allah's power to exist and sustain his existence. Allah is the sole Power Who has created man from nothing, imparted him with spirit, sheltered and fed him, caused him to breathe, and bestowed countless other blessings upon him. Allah is the Lord of the Universe. In spite of the clarity of this truth, one who thinks of himself as a being independent of Him, and believes his qualities and abilities to result from himself, is evidently suffering from a grave self-delusion.
In fact, one has no right to be proud. The truth that Allah could take back all blessings bestowed upon him when He pleases is sufficient evidence. From time to time, we all observe the harm caused by one who behaves proudly on account of his or her physical beauty, knowledge, ability, wealth or social status. We can also observe what becomes of them when they suddenly lose these for any reason. If such qualities had resulted in the person from his or her own doing, then there would be no reason for him or her to lose them. Likewise, Allah creates many afflictions and difficulties in this worldly life to help people understand this truth. He tests mankind through many frailties, such as ageing and illness.
In the Qur'an, Allah defines the influence of arrogance as follows:
When he is told to heed Allah, he is seized by pride which drives him to wrongdoing. Hell will be enough for him! What an evil resting-place! (Surat al-Baqara: 206)
What is truly befitting a believer is to put aside his arrogance and lower-self, and behave according to that which is pleasing to Allah. The following verse reads:
And among the people there are some who give up everything, desiring the good pleasure of Allah. Allah is Ever-Gentle with His servants. (Surat al-Baqara: 207)
It is possible to observe the damage done by arrogance on one's sincerity in every phase of one's life. One claiming to be superior to others is closed against all kinds of criticism, warning or advice coming from them. Even if the other were to remind him of a point he had not considered, he would be influenced adversely by his sense of superiority. Instead of surrendering to truth, he will defend his views, even if they are wrong. Therefore, he becomes insincere, and is ruled by his lower self. However, what exemplifies sincerity is to comply with what the other had said, and surrender without the need to feel superior.
For this purpose, one should, first and foremost, abandon the feelings of his ego which cause arrogance, and refrain from stubbornly defending himself. Only then can he hope to act in compliance with the spirit of the Qur'an and behave sincerely. Likewise, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, renown Turkish scholar, reminded the true believer that the most efficient antidote against the ambition to be superior and to be in the right, stemming from arrogance, is to "surrender to the mind of true believers without supporting one's self":
"The sole remedy for this disease is to accuse your own soul before others raise these charges, and always to take the side of your fellow, not your own soul. The rule of truth and equity established by the scholars of the art of debate is this: "Whoever desires, in debate on any subject, that his own word should turn out to be true, whoever is happy that he turns out to be right and his adversary to be wrong and mistaken-such a person has acted unjustly." Not only that, such a person loses, for when he emerges the victor in such a debate, he has not learned anything previously unknown to him, and his probable pride will cause him loss. But if his adversary turns out to be right, he will have learned something previously unknown to him and thereby gained something without any loss, as well as being saved from pride. In other words, one fair in his dealings and enamoured of the truth will subject the desire of his own soul to the demands of the truth. If he sees his adversary to be right, he will accept it willingly and support it happily."
Man is a weak creature Allah has created from nothing. All of man's powers are the result of the generous gifts and benevolence of Allah. When taking into account the endless wisdom, limitless power and knowledge of Allah, clearly, one who considers having acquired these qualities by himself is in grave error. Carried away by pride, he forgets these realities, and thinks that his success arises out of his own accomplishment. He may become arrogant and insincere. What is more befitting for a true believer is never to consider any of his successes as his own, even if he were the most able, intelligent and perfect man ever to set foot on earth. Arrogance should never take hold of him. If he behaves in a manner by which he takes account of his own weakness, in spite of all these blessings, then Allah will bestow even greater favors upon him. He will make him obtain His consent, compassion and enter Paradise, on account of his sincerity. Yet, most people forget that this worldly life is nothing but a test. They turn to Allah in times of affliction, and yet, act ungratefully when they are granted blessings. They also commit a great error by believing that these blessings are the outcome of their own abilities, and that the success belongs to them alone. In Surat az-Zumar, Allah commands the following:
When harm touches man he calls on Us. Then when We grant him a blessing from Us he says, "I have only been given this because of my knowledge." In fact it is a trial but most of them do not know it. (Surat az-Zumar: 49)
| WONDERS OF CREATION FOR THE 23rd DAY |
THE TACTICS OF CORYANTHES ORCHIDS
HARUN YAHYA
Is it possible for a flower to be aware of the preferences of an insect? Is it possible for it to make plans to make this insect fall into its trap and make changes in itself accordingly? Without a doubt, it is not possible for a flower or an insect to carry out such tactics by means of its own reason and will. However, when we look at the creatures in nature, we see that they often apply just such kinds of tactics.
The Coryanthes orchid is one such plant that makes insects fall into its trap by means of an interesting tactic. The reproductive system of the orchid is based on attracting insects and making them carry its pollen. The flowers of this orchid species grow in clusters. Each flower has two wing-like sepals and just behind these leaves is a tiny "bucket." When the flowers open, a special liquid secreted by two special glands begins to drip into the bottom of this bucket. After a while the flower begins to emit a fragrance that bees find irresistible.
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As the orchid blooms, male bees respond to the scent and begin to fly around the flower. While they try to land on the vertical edges of the orchid, they also look for a place to hang onto with their legs, like the tubular section of the flower that connects the bucket to the stem. This part is slippery and sloping. Therefore, the bees creeping around the flower inevitably fall into the bucket in the bottom of the flower that is filled with the liquid.
There is only one way out for the bee that has fallen into the flower. A narrow tunnel leads to the front wall of the flower, that is, to daylight. Until the insect finds this way out, which is at the same level as the liquid into which the bee has fallen, it keeps swimming in the liquid. While trying to find the exit, it passes under the stigma, where there is pollen, and the flower's male organs. At that time, two pollen sacs stick to the back of the insect. Then the insect advances towards the exit and finally leaves the flower. When the bee goes to a new flower, this time the stigma of the flower picks up the pollen from the bee and, in this way, pollination begins.
Yet, this situation doesn't benefit the flower alone. The liquid present in the flower bucket the bees fall into is extremely important for bees as well, because the male bees will use the odor of this secretion smeared on their bodies to attract female bees during mating.
As we said in the beginning, it is not at all possible for a flower to develop tactics to deceive an insect and arrange its structure according to this tactic. Similarly, it is no less impossible for an insect to develop a tactic to acquire a needed substance from a flower by means of its own will. The amazing cooperation between these two creatures is evidence for the fact that they were created by a unique Creator.
| COLLAPSE OF THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION DAY BY DAY |
DIFFERENT RACES ARE NOT EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION
HARUN YAHYA
Since the genetic material in the first man contained all the characteristics of the various races, parts of this came to dominate in various societies, and thus the human races formed. |
Some evolutionists try to put the existence of different races forward as evidence for evolution. In fact, this claim is more frequently expressed by amateur evolutionists who have a less than sufficient knowledge of the theory they defend.
The thesis proposed by those who defend this claim is based on the question, "If, as divine sources say, life began with one man and one woman, how could different races have emerged?" Another way of putting it is: "Since Adam and Eve's height, colour, and other features were those of only two people, how could races with entirely different features have emerged?"
In fact, the problem lying beneath all these questions or objections is an insufficient knowledge of the laws of genetics, or the ignoring of them. In order to understand the reason for the differences between the races in today's world, it will be necessary to have some idea of the subject of "variation," which is closely linked to this question.
Variation, a term used in genetics, refers to a genetic event that causes the individuals or groups of a certain type or species to possess different characteristics from one another. The source of this variation is the genetic information possessed by the individuals within that species. As a result of breeding between those individuals, that genetic information comes together in later generations in different combinations. There is an exchange of genetic material between the mother's and father's chromosomes. Genes thus get mixed up with one another. The result of this is a wide variety of individual features.
The different physical features between human races are due to variations within the human race. All the people on Earth carry basically the same genetic information, yet some have slanted eyes, some have red hair, some have long noses, and others are short of stature, all depending on the extent of the variation potential of this genetic information.
In order to understand the variation potential, let us consider a society in which brunette, brown-eyed people predominate over blond, blue-eyed individuals. As a result of the two communities intermingling and marrying over time, new generations which are brunette but blue-eyed will be seen. In other words, the physical characteristics of both groups will come together in subsequent generations and produce new appearances. When one imagines other physical characteristics mixing in the same way, it is clear that a great variety will emerge.
The important point that must be understood here is this: There are two genes that rule every physical feature. One may dominate the other, or they may both influence matters to an equal extent. For instance, two genes determine the colour of a person's eyes. One comes from the mother, the other from the father. Whichever gene is the dominant one, the individual's eye colour will be determined by that gene. In general, dark colours dominate lighter ones. In this way, if a person possesses genes for brown and for green eyes, his eyes will be brown because the brown eye gene is dominant. However, the recessive green colour can be passed down the generations and emerge at a later time. In other words, parents with brown eyes can have a green-eyed child. That is because that colour gene is recessive in both parents.
This law applies to all other physical features and the genes which govern them. Hundreds, or even thousands, of physical features, such as the ears, nose, the shape of the mouth, height, bone structure, and organ structure, shape, and characteristics, are all controlled in the same way. Thanks to this, all the limitless information in the genetic structure can be passed on to subsequent generations without becoming outwardly visible. Adam, the first human being, and Eve, were able to pass the rich information in their genetic structure on to subsequent generations even though only a part of it was reflected in their physical appearance. Geographical isolation that had happened over human history has led to an atmosphere where different physical features came together in different groups. Over a long period of time, this led to different groups having different bone structures, skin colour, height, and skull volumes. This eventually led to the different races.
However, this long period did not change one thing, of course. No matter what their height, skin colour and skull volume, all races are part of the human species.
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The purpose of this site is to examine the signs of the Hour through the verses of the Qur’an and hadiths of the Prophet (saas), and to show that these signs have begun to appear in our present time. The fact that the advent of these signs was revealed fourteen centuries ago should increase a believer’s faith in Allah and his devotion to Him. The following pages have been written keeping in mind our Lord’s promise: “Say: Praise be to Allah. He will show you His Signs and you will recognize them…” (Surat an-Naml: 93)"
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| Jul 13, 2005
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