Many people think that Muslims did not play a role in the history of sciences. They suppose religion does not let man to improve in science; so in this case Islam was in no position to let the Muslims to contribute to the scientific works. These are what the schools have taught for decades even in Muslim countries. This fallacy has been collapsing for the last few years. There have been some initiatives and projects that raise awareness of scientific [...]

Editor’s letter from the January-March 2012 print issue Boundless thanks to Almighty and All-Merciful Allah for granting us the ability to communicate with each other again through the13th issue of The Pen magazine. Despite all its hardships, life presents us with opportunities to submit our grateful feelings to the Creator and indeed this is what makes life worth living. We decided to address the general perception of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) as the cover topic of [...]

      A father, a husband, a friend, a commander-in-chief, a head of stateand a messenger of Allah, all in one person in perfect harmony The Truth about the Prophet Muhammad       Articles from this Issue Think Tanks and the Future of the Islamic World By Idris TUZUN Think tanks, the collective intellect of society, producesystematic and specialized knowledge, which in turn means power. The Challenge of Islamophobia By Prof. Dr Ekmeleddin IHSANOGLU Dialogue must be taken [...]

Andrew Shryock, editor of this volume of nine articles, says that Islamophobia can be a very nebulous term. And he defines it roughly as a blanket fear or dislike of Muslims. “Some people treat it as an ‘irrational’ fear, but I don’t think that adds anything important to the concept. It can be quite rational,” he says.  And he defines Islamophilia as a blanket affection for Islam and Muslims; an apologetic, defensive attitude; usually is activated by Islamophobia. “The two [...]

Social problems are abound and have become the order of the day everywhere in the world, whether at the local, national, re­gional or international levels. Un­desirable social conditions, cultural shocks, political turmoils, environ­mental problems, and economic un­certainties are affecting individuals, families, communities, and socie­ties at large, whether Muslims or non-Muslims worldwide. People in general are trying to make sense of the radical changes in the global en­vironment and grappling with the many socio-cultural, technological, political and economic challenges of the [...]

Ashab Al Kahf Ashab Al Kahf (the People of the Cave) is the seven young men who were forced to wor­ship a deity other than Allah and took refuge in a cave. As a miracle these seven young men were made slept for 309 years in the company of their dog named Qitmir. This incident is a great lesson for the resur­rection after death. On the other hand, it has got some other lessons for today’s people. More than a [...]

Four Explanations Showing that the Spirituality is Important The matter does not stand on its own. It depends on a meaning and that meaning is the life and spirit. The matter is not what is served but it is what serves. It serves a truth to ripe and that truth is life and the essence of the life is the spirit. The matter can’t be source of reference since it is not sovereign. The perfections are not demanded from it. [...]

By Prof. Ibrahım PIRAHMEDOGLU and Assoc. Prof. Gokalp KAHRAMAN 4. HOW A GUESS TRANSFORMS TO THE STATUS OF LAW Award winning science writer Paul Davies wrote an op-ed New York Times article (Nov. 24, 2007) where he said: “Because the very no­tion of physical law is a theological one in the first place, a fact that makes many scientists squirm. Isaac Newton first got the idea of absolute, universal, perfect, immutable laws from the Christian doctrine that God cre­ated the [...]

Andalusia Lessons II I was about to finish A history of Islamic Spain by M. Watt and P. Cachia published by Küre Pub. When I read the article “The Sound of the Call for Prayer in Cordoba after centuries” in the website dunyabulteni.net on Wednesday October 26. The article giving good news reads: “From now on, Muslims can recite the call for prayer out loud and practice their prayers just next to the Great Mosque of Córdoba which had been [...]

Dr. Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai The Kashmir issue is simply this: the people of a large territory which is not part of any existing sovereign state were assured by the entire international community represented by the United States that they would be enabled to decide their future by a free vote. Until now, this assurance has not been honoured. I, as an American of Kashmiri origin, am profoundly grateful to the Administration for upholding the position of principle which the United [...]