Showing posts with label Wikipedia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wikipedia. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Nothing Suggests Armstrong Is A Muslim

Splitting of the moon.jpg
"Splitting of the moon". Licensed under Public Domain via Wikipedia.



And he said, Oh my Lord, increase me in knowledge.
 
 
Lesson #1
 
It is normal for Muslims to see Allah in Arabic letters in the cloud formations (see the video) because they do resemble "Allah" in Arabic. It is similar to people seeing a face on the surface of the moon, or the "man in the moon".
And it is true that Muslims don't have scientific proof that is peer reviewed that shows the "moon splitting". Also there is no evidence that Neil Armstrong is a Muslim. If he had said it, that would be enough evidence, but he hasn't come out and said that.
He refuses to swear on the Bible, but that doesn't prove he is a Muslim.
 
+Lionheart1200 All they have to do is read the word "Allah" in the Arabic, it is like that. Good job for finding this video. And all those who posted it. And everyone should share it, it is amazing. Also share two more videos and
compare what's said in each; the one, "Neil Armstrong proves Mecca is the Centre". And the one by a Christian Arab, who says that Saudi Arabia is lying about what Neil Armstrong said.
There is a definite bias against anything that Muslims do, and Christian Arabs are notoriously on the offensive when it comes to anything Muslims do or say. Neil Armstrong does say that it is like the Earth was hung, and who hung it?
He would say "God" perhaps, and all Arabs say "Allah" even Christians. So, it is devious to say that the Muslims were exaggerating what Armstrong said, especially in the manner with which the Christian in the video does, laughing a lot.
Armstrong appears very emotional when talking about seeing the Earth from space, and it is how all astronauts and cosmonauts, or any man or woman looking at their home planet from the moon would feel, probably 100% of the time.
Then the Christian goes on to dispute that #Neil Armstrong could see Mecca from space, but I'm not sure if this is actual fact but the Saudi TV has a guest speaking about this, and the Christian accuses them of lying about the details.
Did Armstrong actually see Mecca, or did #NASA see it; the Muslims in question are speaking on a Saudi TV program about the radiation emitted by the planet, and that (when NASA, or the astronauts zoomed in on the radiation), it was emitted or emanating from Mecca.
And they go on to give an explanation about this. Which I can't prove or disprove, but maybe someone else knows more and can help. Obviously, to dispute this, one
needs also to give some credible proof; the Christian laughs and says, that at the time Armstrong was in space Arabia (or Mecca) wasn't facing the moon. But it is his word against their word. I just want to know if it was NASA that zoomed in on the earth, or was it Neil Armstrong.
 
Part of the problem is the title of the video, it suggests that Neil Armstrong proved that Mecca is the centre of the Earth. But maybe that's not what happened. I do know one thing how-
ever, that the astronauts are in contact with Earth, or NASA during their mission. Did NASA through satellite see the radiation being emitted and zoom in on Mecca? And not Neil Armstrong?
As for the famous American's Islamic conversion, the only sure thing is that Neil Armstrong never comes out and says that he is a Muslim.

If he is, we don't know about it.

This is something that many Muslims might like to believe, but the facts don't point to that. However, that doesn't mean he doesn't believe in God (Allah in Arabic).
Yes, Muslims sometimes get 'carried away' but I wouldn't call that 'lying', I think they are sometimes 'simple' in their understanding of reality. There are very uneducated simple people in many places and some are going to be Muslims.
This doesn't disprove anything Allah, SWT, says in His holy book. The burden of proof is on us, if we say something, so we should try our best when we invite others to discuss, debate or investigate the Quran. Together, it is much easier to find the resources to do a better job of 'Dawa',
so Muslims should help and encourage each other, so that Islam is better understood. There is conflict between science and Islam; Muslims have usually been progressive about studying
science. There might be a dark period, and still today, many Muslims are relying on heresay and conjecture to prove their arguments regarding miracles and so on. Maybe we have all been guilty of this, but anyway there are many resources
we can reference for our studies into questions about Islam or any other subjects.
 
Lesson #2
 
Did Muhammad, pbuh, split the moon by Allah's leave?
Here is a link for that discussion, with differing opinions and sources.
Not all Muslim scholars think the moon has already been split, but that maybe the reports or hadiths in question were 'marfoo', or 'daif' [weak], as you can read, if you go to the link above.
The link below is for #NASA and doesn't support the theory that the moon was split.
 

#IrishAtheist says on You Tube, that the moon splitting happened because Muhammad, pbuh, showed the non-believers (pagans) an eclipse. The problem with this is that Muhammad showed the splitting of the moon, not an eclipse, where the Moon travels through the Earth's shadow, so that it is 'blotted out'. The moon was bright and white, not 'blacked out' (This is revised, because initially I made the stupid mistake of saying an eclipse is daytime activity, whereas that is only the solar eclipse (I haven't been getting enough sleep, lol.) Nonetheless, the logic is that the Muslims pray whether the eclipse occurs in daytime or after sunset/nighttime. DD)  
If the moon had split during an eclipse (lunar eclipse) it would have been the cause for 'uneasiness' and an occasion for prayers; the Muslims would have been praying the 'eclipse' prayer not gazing an eclipse/the "miracle" with a group of idolaters.
 
More resources:

 
This link from Wikipedia will help answer some of our questions about the revelation, the context of the revelation, and what might be an explanation that is satisfactory from both the Islamic and scientific points of view.
For example, some Muslims believe that the verses could refer to an "optical illusion" and not an actual/literal splitting of the moon. Others will give proof, probably grammatical, that the moon has already been split in the past.
There are others also, who believe that the moon splitting hasn't yet occured but will occur as a sign of the "coming of the Hour" (Doomsday).
Thus, we are to be cautious about anything that doesn't have absolutely correct "textual" proof (Islamic sources that are reliable and not subject to disagreement).
Otherwise, we don't have to accept the 'splitting of the moon' said to have happened 1,430 yrs ago. It is possible it hasn't occurred yet.
The "optical illusion" which may have, I say this cautiously, been the 'splitting of the moon' which the Quran speaks about, should be explained with scientific proofs of some kind, otherwise it isn't worth mentioning.
The Christian mentioned before did show a video of what he says is how the moon was split, but it doesn't explain why some people thought the moon appeared to be in front of and behind the mountain, as some of the witnesses
said, according to some hadiths or athaar.
 
A file photo from NASA:
 
Traditions transmitted on the authority of Abdullah bin Masud describe the incident as follows:[2][10]

We were along with God's Messenger at Mina, that moon was split up into two. One of its parts was behind the mountain and the other one was on this side of the mountain. God's Messenger said to us: Bear witness to this 039:6725
The narrative was used by some later Muslims to convince others of the prophethood of Muhammad. Annemarie Schimmel for example quotes the following from Muslim scholar Qadi Iyad who worked in the 12th century:[6]
Splitting of the moon.jpg "Splitting of the moon". Licensed under Public Domain via Wikipedia.

It has not been said of any people on the earth that the moon was observed that night such that it could be stated that it was not split. Even if this had been reported from many different places, so that one would have to exclude the
possibility that all agreed upon a lie, yet, we would not accept this as proof to the contrary, for the moon is not seen in the same way by different people... An eclipse is visible in one country but not in the other one; in one place
it is total, in the other one only partial. [This proof would appear to outrule what was said by IrishInfidel on his You Tube channel].
 
Other perspectives (from Wikipedia)
 
Al-Zamakhshari, a famous commentator of the Qur'an, acknowledged the splitting of the moon as one of Muhammad's miracles. But he also suggested that the splitting might take place only on the day of judgment.[4] The Muslim scholar Yusuf Ali
provides three different interpretations of the verse. He holds that perhaps all three are applicable to the verse: Moon once appeared cleft asunder at the time of Muhammad in order to convince the unbelievers. It will split again when the
day of judgment approaches (here the prophetic past tense is taken to indicate the future). Yusuf Ali connects this incident with the disruption of the solar system mentioned in 75:8-9. Lastly, he says that the verses can be metaphorical,
meaning that the matter has become clear as the moon.[11]
 
The occasion or circumstances:

Lesson #3
 
Non Muslims only accept their own word for anything, e.g. what is peer reviewed evidence.
If Muslims produce their own scientific evidence, which can be peered reviewed too, then that might be better for eliciting a positive response and/or acceptance of Muslims' ideas/beliefs/or theories.
In a TV interview with the Egyptian Geologist Dr. Zaghloul Annajar, the anchor asked him about the verse:

"The Hour has drawn near, and the Moon has been cleft asunder (the people of Makkah requested Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] to show them a miracle, so he showed them the splitting of the moon)." (Quran 54:1) whether it contains any Quranic scientific astounding facts?
 
Lesson #4
 
Non Muslims have spent huge sums of money on space research etc. Muslims could do the same, and do their own scientific researches into the origin of the Universe, our solar system and the origin of life on Earth. And many other studies.
 
Differences between rocks on Earth and rocks on the Moon:
 
Will the Moon's visibility change over time?
There is a chance that the Moon will not be as visible, due to atmospheric pollution. It is suggested by Muslims that the Moon's phases will be affected by something in the future; the New Moon will appear twice as large as it does in the
present day. And God knows best.
Earth Rocks to Mars, and other Planetary rocks to Earth:
Is it possible that rocks came from Mars to Earth, in fact, yes it's happened. Did some rocks also go from Earth to Mars. It is less likely but also can have happened.
Where did the Black Stone (which used to be white long ago) really come from?
The Black Stone was placed in one corner of the Ka'aba, and is a famous object in Islamic teachings, said to have been sent from Paradise when Adam was building the Ka'aba (check reference for exactness).
Some earth rocks may have gone to Mars during impacts 65 million years ago.
The earth is only 4.6 billion years old as compared to the Universe which is 14 billion years old.
The earth was created during the creation of our solar system, when the planets and stars, etc. were "cleft asunder". Or separated. The Big Bang that created the Universe happened long before that, or maybe it was the Big Bang that
led to the formation of the solar system, and perhaps the Universe was created some other way. God knows best.
Some Muslim scholars have argued that the Ka'aba is 2,000 years older than the Earth! They say, it is possible that Allah created the Ka'aba before the Earth and that the Ka'aba was "on the water" and that the Earth came later, from
that area beneath the Ka'aba(revising).(I'm presuming it was a land mass beneath the Ka'aba, or land that emerged from "the water".
What Does Quran say about Time Travel? Angels Travelling at the Speed of Light?
See the link, or URL for this webpage, which I quote briefly below "Relativity in Quran (Islam)"
"[Quran 32.5]  (Allah) Rules the cosmic affair from the heavens to the Earth. Then this affair travels to Him a distance in one day, at a measure of one thousand years of what you count.
It is the angels who carry out these orders (see Arabic wording at footnote [1]). Those people back then measured the distances neither in kilometers nor in miles but rather by how much time they needed to walk. For example, a village
two days away meant a distance equivalent to walking for two days; ten days away meant a distance equivalent to walking for ten days... However in this verse the Quran specifies 1000 years of what they counted (not what they walked)
... However in this verse the Quran specifies 1000 years of what they counted (not what they walked). Those people back then followed the lunar calendar and counted 12 lunar months each year. These months are related to the moon and
not related to the sun. Hence in 1 day the angels will travel a distance of 1000 years of what they counted (the moon). Since this verse is referring to distance, then God is saying that angels travel in one day the same distance that
the moon travels in 12000 lunar orbits.  12000 Lunar Orbits/Earth Day = distance/time = rate of motion (speed). However this speed depends on the frame of reference, that is, you could define million different frames and get million
different results. But if you want to compare it with the speed of light in local inertial frames then you need to make the comparison in a local inertial frame."

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

The Science Behind Statistics on Suicide Bombers...

Science Behind Suicide Attacks is Lacking.

Suicide Attacks:
An elite unit of the Tamil tigers, the Black tigers, was responsible for carrying out suicide attacks. LTTE killed 60,000 lives.

Suicide bombers;
May 21, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi killed by a Tamil tiger. As well, a1996 suicide bomb attack that killed100 at Colombo Central Bank.
“Their Black Tiger unit have committed between 76 and 168 (estimates vary) suicide bombings since 1987, using more than 240 attackers. Their victims included former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (assassinated by Thenmuli Rajaratnam), many prominent Lankan leaders (among them the late PM Ranasinghe Premadasa), Colombo's Central Bank, and even warships.” (Wiki Answers) http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_was_the_first_suicide_bomber

The Earliest Suicide Bombings:

The Knights Templar killed themselves in a bombing of their own ship 140 of themselves and ten times as many of their Muslim enemies, during the Crusades.
I realize that this is a “war” so doesn’t count as killing “innocent or non-combatants”, nonetheless its good information to have.
“Another early example of suicide bombing occurred during the Belgian Revolution, when the Dutch Lieutenant Jan van Speijk detonated his own ship in the harbour of Antwerp to prevent being captured by the Belgians.”
Here, it doesn’t say how many were killed on his ship, or from his enemy. Or as well, if innocents were killed, which I’m thinking was quite possible.

Suicide bombers are different from suspicious suicide-murder bomb which is a plot which likely uses someone as a human bomb; this has also happened in Iraq. This throws suspicion on the assumption that all the suicide attacks or bombers are Muslims who wanted to volunteer to kill themselves to kill others. I can’t believe any stats which are not able to do the impossible, prove that they were gathered and recorded in a controlled environment when there are no witnesses to the fact or that reports are accurate; verifiable proof of what is said by the people reporting these incidents. Witness testimony can be false, either, deliberately or because the witnesses don’t know what really happened only what they think happened based on their limited knowledge of what they saw and how they interpreted what they saw.

No controlled environment, etc.
In this regard, for instance, a young Saudi Arabian national filmed from his sickbed, with his nose and some of his face and body disfigured or burned, spoke on television, about how he had volunteered for Jihad in Iraq; he met people, who were not Arabs, according to him, or speaking a foreign language, who took him somewhere, and they tied a bomb to him. He never saw their faces. Then, he saw another man also strapped with a bomb that later blew up. He said he ran and was saved because the bomb he was wearing didn’t detonate. (It seems his injuries occurred when the first bomber blew up). He was captured and later sent to his home country, where the police or military police questioned him, etc. They also put him into a rehabilitation program as far as I can guess. They allowed him to speak for the television report.

Not Scientific:
To be scientific, the analysts of statistics must be able to prove that stats were collected scientifically and fairly, not altered in any way, that the claims are all true, etc. Statistics for suicide bombers in Iraq can’t guarantee that this has taken place, so I don’t accept that all of the suicide bombers were real suicide bombers, and not actually part of a plot to discredit Muslims who want to defend their country, or who volunteer for “defensive jihad” of their own country, or even just their own family. This lack of credibility also applies to 911. There is so much suspicion around 911, that I can’t blame all the Muslims, among the terrorists, in the airplanes for every single person killed. There is still doubt about one airplane, for example, being remote controlled. These doubts will probably never go away because 911 can’t be proven to be a completely Muslim operation, 100%; others share the real responsibility for 911. About three thousand people died on 911, I can’t put all the blame for that on Muslims, as a thinking human being and one with a conscience.
“Modern suicide bombing as a political tool can be traced back to the assisination of Czar Alexander II of Russia in 1881….The Czar was killed by the Pole Ignacy Hryniewiecki (1856-1881), who died while intentionally exploding the bomb during the attack.”

Wikipedia also has, “The first modern suicide bombing occurred in Iran in 1980 when 13-year old Hossein Fahmideh detonated himself as he ran up to an Iraqi tank at a key point in a battle of the Iran-Iraq War. Lebanon, during its civil war, saw a modern suicide bombing: the Islamic Dawa Party's car bombing of the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, in December 1981. Hezbollah's bombing of the U.S. embassy in April 1983 and attack on United States Marine and French barracks in October 1983 brought suicide bombings international attention. Other parties to the civil war were quick to adopt the tactic, and by 1999 factions such as Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, the Ba'ath Party, and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party had carried out around 50 suicide bombings between them. (The latter of these groups sent the first female suicide bomber in 1986. Female combatants have existed throughout human history and in many different societies, so it is possible that females who engage in suicidal attacks are not new.) Hezbollah was the only one to attack overseas, bombing the Israeli embassy (and possibly the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association building) in Buenos Aires; as its military and political power have grown, it has since abandoned the tactic.” Here, we see that doubt can exist about who actually blew up what; i.e. if it wasn’t Hezbollah who blew up Argentine-Israeli target, then who did?

The thing to note here is that Muslims who are believers don’t kill themselves, nor are they permitted to kill themselves by the Qur’an, or any saying of the Prophet Muhammad. Therefore, I can’t say that these people are Muslims, they died non-Muslims. Did some claim to be making Jihad, yes.
Some of these groups, also, are not Muslims, if judged according to their beliefs; therefore, again, not Muslim.

The Bath party are not an Islamic party, they believe in Pan Arabism and socialism, therefore they are not Muslim according to Islamic beliefs; if someone judges by other than the Qur’an or Sunna, that person is not a Muslim. In this regard, all people who judge by other than Qur’an and Sunna are not Muslims, such as the late Moammar Ghaddafi.

“By their fruits ye shall know them” (the Bible)

“In Northern Ireland, in the early 1990s, as part of the Provisional IRA campaign 1969-1997, the IRA used the tactic it called the the "proxy bomb" -a sort of involuntary suicide bomb, where a victim was kidnapped and forced to drive a car bomb into its target. In one infamous operation in Derry in 1990, the PIRA chained a Catholic civilian to a car laden with explosives, held his family hostage and forced him to drive to a British Army checkpoint as a "human bomb" where the bomb exploded, killing himself and five soldiers. This practice was stopped due to the revulsion its caused among the Irish nationalist community.” (Wiki Answers)
If we analyze this closer, It’s true that the Catholic who was used as a bomb, didn’t want to do it, but nonetheless, he did it. He drove himself, so that constitutes some responsibility for his actions; he wanted to save his family, so killed himself and others. That’s still wrong, even though he was forced to wear the bomb; he couldn’t be forced to drive, though. He made a choice between his family and not doing it. He chose to kill other people to save his own family. Of course the IRA has full responsibility for their actions, anyway.

“The LTTE began its armed conflict against the Sri Lankan government in 1983 and utilizes a guerrilla strategy that often includes acts of terrorism. With an army of several thousand combatants, until recently the LTTE controlled most of the northern and eastern coastal areas of Sri Lanka. Over the past 20 years, the LTTE has conducted approximately 200 suicide bombings resulting in the deaths of hundreds of victims, and has carried out numerous political assassinations, including the May 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi; the 1993 assassination of the President of Sri Lanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa; the July 1999 assassination of Neelan Thiruchelvam, a member of the Sri Lankan parliament; the June 2000 assassination of C.V. Goonaratne, the Sri Lankan Industry Minister; the August 2006 assassination of the Sri Lankan government’s peace secretariat, Ketheshwaran Loganathan; the January 2008 assassination of Sri Lankan Minister for Nation Building D.M. Dassanayake; and the April 2008 assassination of Sri Lankan Highways Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle. In 2009, Sri Lankan government forces defeated the LTTE and reestablished control of the country. Notwithstanding its current exile status, the LTTE remains an active terrorist organization.” (The Federal Bureau of Investigation)


My Answer:

It is neither correct nor fair to call any place, “the Mecca of suicide bombers” whether it is the city of Mecca, or another city or place. Statistics on suicide bombings or other bombings are not scientific; stats do not take into consideration that some people may have been innocently accused of terrorism or a suicide mission. But in particular, the number of Meccans or Saudi Arabians who have done suicide missions is minimal, compared to the number of others who have done suicide missions, whether non-Muslims, or Muslims.

We are told that:

More than 240 attackers in 1996 were from the Tamil Tigers.

This is a large number compared to the 19 or so individuals from Saudi Arabia, who are blamed for the 911 campaign against the Americans. They claimed to be doing God’s work, according to all the media reports; but there is also suspicion that they didn’t do this plot or ‘succeed’ on their own. The carnage was around 3,000 dead, we’re told.

Saudi Arabia itself is dealing with its own terrorist problem. There have been attacks in Riyadh and Medina the past decade.

The Lockerby plane crash was also by two Libyan extremists hired by their government, although Ghaddafi had denied that any Libyans were behind it. There have been kidnappings and killing by Libyans who worked for the former leader, even in the British capital. An old shopkeeper was killed in Britain, years ago. But these are ‘assassinations’ and don’t constitute any kind of suicide mission nor extremist Muslim acts.

Another spurious case was a Palestinian truck driver, who claimed in his testimony that he was innocent. He refused to admit that he had anything to do with a bomb attack using his truck (actually the truck was owned by a Jewish man and driven by the defendant). Nonetheless, ‘evidence’ and the court found him guilty - the man was convicted of terrorism and imprisoned. I don’t suggest here that the owner of the truck had anything to do with the bombing either, but only suggest that New York, or places with a Jewish population seem to be more at risk of terrorism; we need to ask ourselves why? Is it because there was no real motive for the Palestinian - if he was innocent of a criminal past; he had never done such a thing before, nor would have had any real motive looking at past history – that someone wanted to make it appear that he had a motive; just because New York has a large Jewish population and he is an Arab or Muslim. He drove the truck to where he was told; that was the whole story; the evidence was all circumstantial. (How many people died, and other victims were there?)

As for the suicide bombings, in Palestine, or Iraq, one could argue that these are politically motivated, more than religious Muslim attacks. Also, they constitute a threat to either a foreign occupier, or enemy combatants, in the case of Iraq. In Palestine, often innocent people are killed in markets or civilian areas, but this is also to be understood in the context of the wider Israeli Palestinian conflict, and the intifada (Palestinian Uprising). Yes, the resulting carnage and method are the same as other suicide attacks, but also are seen by the perpetrators as a “forced hand”; they would not do so if they didn’t believe they have to in order to remove the occupiers from their land; their motive is of course the daily killings, massacres, evictions, harassment and so on of their own people, families or relatives. This is less a ‘jihad’ and more a guerilla war. Definitely, Muslims do not condone the acts of suicide attackers.

In ancient times, the Knights Templar (read above) killed themselves in suicide bombing of their own ship; totaling 140 members.