How A Human Genome Scientist Found God

Bismillah walhamdulillah,

I recently visited www.digg.com, a website where people can share content from anywhere on the web, and found this article. Very interesting, check it out. (To go to the original article click here)

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I’ve found God, says man who cracked the genome
By: Steven Swinford

THE scientist who led the team that cracked the human genome is to publish a book explaining why he now believes in the existence of God and is convinced that miracles are real.

Francis Collins, the director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute, claims there is a rational basis for a creator and that scientific discoveries bring man “closer to God”.

His book, The Language of God, to be published in September, will reopen the age-old debate about the relationship between science and faith. “One of the great tragedies of our time is this impression that has been created that science and religion have to be at war,” said Collins, 56.

“I don’t see that as necessary at all and I think it is deeply disappointing that the shrill voices that occupy the extremes of this spectrum have dominated the stage for the past 20 years.”

For Collins, unravelling the human genome did not create a conflict in his mind. Instead, it allowed him to “glimpse at the workings of God”.

“When you make a breakthrough it is a moment of scientific exhilaration because you have been on this search and seem to have found it,” he said. “But it is also a moment where I at least feel closeness to the creator in the sense of having now perceived something that no human knew before but God knew all along.

“When you have for the first time in front of you this 3.1 billion-letter instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and all kinds of mystery about humankind, you can’t survey that going through page after page without a sense of awe. I can’t help but look at those pages and have a vague sense that this is giving me a glimpse of God’s mind.”

Collins joins a line of scientists whose research deepened their belief in God. Isaac Newton, whose discovery of the laws of gravity reshaped our understanding of the universe, said: “This most beautiful system could only proceed from the dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.”

Although Einstein revolutionised our thinking about time, gravity and the conversion of matter to energy, he believed the universe had a creator. “I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details,” he said. However Galileo was famously questioned by the inquisition and put on trial in 1633 for the “heresy” of claiming that the earth moved around the sun.

Among Collins’s most controversial beliefs is that of “theistic evolution”, which claims natural selection is the tool that God chose to create man. In his version of the theory, he argues that man will not evolve further.

“I see God’s hand at work through the mechanism of evolution. If God chose to create human beings in his image and decided that the mechanism of evolution was an elegant way to accomplish that goal, who are we to say that is not the way,” he says.

“Scientifically, the forces of evolution by natural selection have been profoundly affected for humankind by the changes in culture and environment and the expansion of the human species to 6 billion members. So what you see is pretty much what you get.”

Collins was an atheist until the age of 27, when as a young doctor he was impressed by the strength that faith gave to some of his most critical patients.

“They had terrible diseases from which they were probably not going to escape, and yet instead of railing at God they seemed to lean on their faith as a source of great comfort and reassurance,” he said. “That was interesting, puzzling and unsettling.”

He decided to visit a Methodist minister and was given a copy of C S Lewis’s Mere Christianity, which argues that God is a rational possibility. The book transformed his life. “It was an argument I was not prepared to hear,” he said. “I was very happy with the idea that God didn’t exist, and had no interest in me. And yet at the same time, I could not turn away.”

His epiphany came when he went hiking through the Cascade Mountains in Washington state. He said: “It was a beautiful afternoon and suddenly the remarkable beauty of creation around me was so overwhelming, I felt, ‘I cannot resist this another moment’.”

Collins believes that science cannot be used to refute the existence of God because it is confined to the “natural” world. In this light he believes miracles are a real possibility. “If one is willing to accept the existence of God or some supernatural force outside nature then it is not a logical problem to admit that, occasionally, a supernatural force might stage an invasion,” he says.

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Indonesia: Between Islam, Superstition And Black Magic

Bismillah,

Alhamdulillahi rabbil `alamin, washshalatu wassalamu `ala Asyrafil Anbiya wal mursalin, wa ba`du,

Islam in Indonesia

I’m an Indonesian, I grew up and live in Jakarta until now. I love Indonesia, and alhamdulillah, Indonesia even though it’s not a Muslim country, Islam is Indonesia’s dominant religion with approximately 88%, over 200 million (wikipedia), of its population identifying as Muslims, making it the most populous Muslim-majority nation in the world.

The Pancasila [Five Principles] has been Indonesia’s state ideology since independence in 1945. The first principle of the Pancasila promotes belief in the one and unique God, but does not endorse any particular religion.

Islam came to Indonesia through Muslims merchants from Gujarat and Persia in the 13th Century. The merchants established trade links between Indonesia and India and Persia. Along with the trade, they propagated Islam among the people.

Before Islam came, Indonesians were Hindus, Buddhists, and a variety of other spiritual practices that are not recognized as religion but as faith. One of these faiths, Kejawen [literally, "Javaneseness"], is widely practiced. Kejawen refers to the principles for the conduct of life in harmony with society and nature, and is rooted in the pre-Islamic culture of South Central Java. (Mulder 1998)

Black magic and superstition

Indonesians, not all, but many, from modern businessmen to traditional farmers, are very superstitious. Here are some of the local “superstitions” in Indonesia regarding everyday life and the meanings of the omens of Nature:

• Avoid sweeping the house at night as this would make it difficult to attract luck.
• If you have a bad feeling when you are about to leave the house–then don’t! As this is a sign that something disastrous might occur while out.
• Avoid disliking someone intensely while pregnant as this would cause your child to adopt the features of the disliked person.
• Avoid opening umbrellas in the home as this would result in difficulties in life.
• Avoid wearing red or green swimwear at beaches as this would result in the wearer becoming a bride or bridegroom to spirit entities (incubus, succubus).
• It is advisable to keep sacred objects in the home to protect one’s family.

Those mentioned are only a few of them. To add more regarding superstition and black magic. Many Indonesians:

• Believe in praying to the grave of a certain person to get what he or she wants in life. (i.e. money, love, power, etc.)
• Believe in sacred objects can give good luck, charm, protection, and wealth.
• Believe in black magic or “santet” in Indonesian.
• Go to a “dukun” or medicine man for various purposes, from treating illness, hurting a business rival (voodoo style), or even for duplicating money (of course this doesn’t work, not even with strong suggestion and belief but strangely enough today some people still try it.)

Very superstitious, that when the Asian tsunami and Java tsunami strikes Indonesia in 2004, it was interpreted as evidence that the Gods are not happy with the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Islam, Superstition And Black Magic

Yes we learn about ghaib (the unseen) in Islam, but not in a science fictional sense. Many Indonesian horror movies, or any movie that contain a monster, depicts an Islamic cleric who can fly and throws fireballs at the villain. I know how it sounds, but it happens even today. There’s also a reality show here about an Islamic ghost busters, showing a group of people wearing Islamic attributes like turbans performing martial arts moves to cast away the ghosts. How could all those things be on national television? simply because people buy them. There are also magazines and other prints that put news about how the clerics kill a zombie. And since the media plays a very important role in educating the people, it all adds up to the superstitious-ism.

Qur’anic verses are sacred, yes of course, they are the words of God. But many Muslims here treat them as if they are some kind of magic mantra to cast spells like Harry Potter’s “wingardium leviosa.”

In one of the majlis ta’lim (learning house) I studied, the ustadz (teachers) use some kind of inscents for praying, until the room is full of fragrant smoke. They say it’s a means to make the room aromatic and so the angels will come and stay while we’re praying. The majlis also recommends people to take some rocks from the majlis and spread it around their homes, because the rocks in the majlis area is full of prayers and that it will give protection. I studied many great things in that majlis, and I love my guru there (rest in peace), but if using inscents is good for praying and using rocks as some kind of sacred object, surely our prophet Muhammad (pbuh) would’ve promoted them in the Hadiths.

The good stuff is in the basics

There is a big Islamic association here in Indonesia that focus on the preventing of further accretion and superstition of Islam, but we would touch a political discussion if I write about that.

I hope that in this information era, and that the internet has reached most of the people here or at least the leaders, people will stop exposing Islam in a superstitious perspective, and stop thinking that Islam came from Javanese faiths. And people will learn about Islam in the global view. Because really, Islam is a world religion.

For everyone learning about Islam, every scholars would agree, let’s use the Qur’an and Hadith as our foundation, if anything you learn about is not in there, that’s a big question mark.

 

Knowledge Is Power

Bismillaah,

I used to be very cautious when it comes to discussions (or debate) about religion, because I was afraid that it might give my iman (faith) a negative impact. I was afraid that I might find and realize the negative side of religion, and as a result, I might leave Islam behind. And yes, the discussions did bring up questions, in my mind, some of them are very difficult to answer at the time. And yes, the questions damaged my iman, a little.

Now, I realize why those questions damaged my iman. It’s simply because of ignorance and I didn’t care enough to find real answers. When somebody told me that hijab is an oppression to women, or when somebody told me that Islam gave no positive contribution to the world, or when somebody told me that Muhammad (pbuh) was a liar, or even when somebody misquoted the Qur’an, I took that information, tried to process it, but there were missing ingredients and one of them was knowledge. When the processing is done, the result was iman damage, for certain.

My iman, weakened, by my own ignorance…

When you replace ignorance with curiosity, you will find knowledge, and when you have knowledge, you will look at things differently. You will look at the world through the glasses of knowledge, and things will be so much clearer. Now with that knowledge in possession, discussions regarding religion becomes a media to strengthen the iman rather than to weaken it. You now know how to separate blasphemy from the truth.

There are some bits and pieces of information about Islam that, without proper knowledge, perspective, and idea of the whole picture of the religion, are easy to manipulate and they can be used against Islam itself.

Some of them are bits and pieces of the history of Islam, some are from the shari’a (law of Islam), and some from Muhammad’s (pbuh) life story and sayings.

There are some issues in Islam that some people call controversial, but when you look deeper into it, it makes perfect sense. If you need some examples, you can start with this book (or free ebook available) called “Answers To Non-Muslims’ Common Questions About Islam” by Dr. Zakir Naik. In that book, Dr. Zakir Naik gives very logical explanations to some of the common questions like polygamy, the veil, and sects in Islam.

Da’wah is a duty

Da’wah, or to invite others to Islam, is our duty as Muslims. In the Qur’an it says:

“Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious.” 16:125.

Now, how in the world can we do that without enough knowledge. How can we invite people to Islam when we ourselves have doubts?

Defending our faith

Today it’s so easy to post something anonymous on the internet. Muslim-haters from all over the world write and publish hate posts and spreading lies about Islam. We as Muslims need our knowledge to defend our faith, or at least to guard our own iman.

Acquiring knowledge

There are so many resources you can pick, some are even for free. You can spend more time with your ustadz or Islamic teacher, ask questions in your local Muslim community, read more books, download free lectures available on the net (so many!,) or you can use one of my favorite resource, and that is www.youtube.com, believe me, alhamdulillah, our brothers and sisters has made ready for us videos worth watching.

The Qur’an encourages Muslims to learn and acquire knowledge. “He has taught you that which [heretofore] you knew not.” (2:239)

Shadaqallaahul aziim. Wallaahu alam.

 

Islam: very little do people know about it

In this clip, comedian Mo Amer sees what average Americans really know about Arabs & Muslims.

Unfortunately, not just some average Americans know little about Islam, even there are many Muslims who know little about Islam.

In Indonesia, local TV stations often show in they’re programs images of Muslim clerics throwing fireballs at an evil enemy, that’s just so misleading to some people, especially those with low education.