ARTEFACTKU

العدة للكرب والشدة PDF

13:20:00 0 comments

العدة للكرب والشدة جمع الشيخ الامام الحافظ محمد بن عبد الواحد المقدسي

دار المشكاة / الطبعة الاولى 1414 هـ تحقيق ياسر بن ابراهيم بن محمد

التحميل

Paper for next Irtiqa Friday Journal Club

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by Salman Hameed

Our next journal club will look at a recent paper that looks at the religiosity of Muslims in the Netherlands: Reaching the Limits of Secularization? Turkish- and Moroccan-Dutch Muslims in the Netherlands 1998–2006 by Mieke Maliepaard, Mérove Gijsberts, and Marcel Lubbers. It was published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion this past June (Volume 51, Issue 2, pages 359–367, June 2012). As usual, if you don't have access to the paper and are interesting in reading it, you can drop me an e-mail and I can send you a pdf copy.

Here is the abstract:

Reaching the Limits of Secularization? Turkish- and Moroccan-Dutch Muslims in the Netherlands 1998–2006
by Mieke Maliepaard, Mérove Gijsberts, and Marcel Lubbers

This research note focuses on Muslim minorities living in a secular context, the Netherlands. The question is whether mosque attendance among Turkish- and Moroccan-Dutch changed between 1998 and 2006, testing mechanisms of religious decline and religious vitality. Elaborating on previous research of the same Muslim groups, this study examines a longer time span and adds contextual-level explanations. Whereas previous research reported a linear trend towards secularization over time and over generations, in recent years the trend has become more complex. The revival of religious attendance among the second generation is most striking. Forces of secularization such as educational attainment and generational replacement gradually lose their predictive power. Over time, processes of secularization are therefore not inevitable.

I will post my comments on the paper on Friday and will be looking forward to your input as well (for comments, please do read the paper or at least skim through it).

Check out past Irtiqa Journal Clubs here.

English Translation of Hadith

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Hazrat Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Abu Bakr asked, "O Messenger of Allah [SAWW](PBUH)! Teach me some words so that I may recite them in the morning and in the evening.'' The Messenger of Allah [SAWW](PBUH) said, "Recite these words: `Allahumma fatiras-samawati wal-ardi, `alimal-ghaibi wash-shahadati, Rabba kulli shai'in wa malikahu. Ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Anta, a`udhu bika min sharri nafsi, wa sharrish-Shaitani wa shirkihi (O Allah! Creator of the heavens and the earth! Knower of the hidden and the exposed! Rubb of everything and every one. I bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped but You. I seek Your Protection from the evil of my own self from the evil of Satan and from the evil of Shirk to which he calls).''' The Messenger of Allah [SAWW](PBUH) added: "Recite these words in the morning and the evening and when you go to bed.''
[Abu Dawud Hadith # 1639 and At-Tirmidhi Hadith # 1639].
Lesson : as mentioned above in Surah Al-Isra Ayat 111. ""All the praises and thanks be to Allah, Who has not begotten a son (nor an offspring), and Who has no partner in (His) Dominion, It is desirable to recite the invocations cited in the Hadith in the morning and the evening and also when one goes to bed and awakes. The purpose is that the concept of Allah's Providence and Divinity remains alive all the time in one's mind. With these words one seeks Allah's Protection in life and the Hereafter from things which are harmful. One also begs for his safety and guidance in this life and the Hereafter. This Hadith fully expresses one's recognition of Allah's Godhood and Lordship.

Hijab Day

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They say Islam is in the heart, not in the Hijab or beard.
They dont understand that when Islam in the heart, Hijab & beard come naturally, SubhanAllah ♥

Namaaz k Masnoon Azkaar

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Zikr after namaz Dua'a to be recited after every Namaz

when feeling ANGRY

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DU'A to recite when feeling ANGRY

Narrated Sulaiman bin Sarad, Two men abused each other in front of the Prophet (sallAllahu 'alyhi wasallam) while we were sitting with him. One of the two abused his companion furiously and his face became red. The Prophet (sallAllahu 'alyhi wasallam) said, "I know a word (sentence) the saying of which will cause him to relax if this man says it.
Only if he said, •►Aadhu billahi min asShaytani ArRajeem - 'I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, the accursed.' "
So they said to that (furious) man, "Don't you hear what the Prophet is saying?" He said, "I am not mad."

(Sahih Bukhari 8.136)

Can Islamic archaeological sites be saved from Muslims?

03:43:00 0 comments

by Salman Hameed

We have been hearing about the destruction of Islamic heritage in Mali and more recently in Libya (tip from Tom Heneghan). These are outrageous actions by ~~puritanical~~ idiots inspired by Wahabism. Where are the street protests for the destruction of these mosques and shrines? However, on the positive side, these actions are finally focusing some light on the destruction of numerous archaeological sites important for early Islam. The destroyers call themselves the guardians of the Holy cites of Mecca and Medina. I was looking to see what sites in Saudi Arabia are included in the list of UNESCO's World Heritage and if those included Prophet's (pbuh) birth place or other locations vital for history and archeology. And I found two places: One is a site of Nabataeans from 1st century BC, and the other - and I kid you not - is Daiyah - the first capitol of the Saudi dynasty. And that's about it.

So here are two articles that address this Saudi penchant for historical destruction. The first one is called It is time to Occupy Mecca - to save Mecca by Omid Safi, and it contrasts this disregard of history with naked commercialism (tip from Tabsir):

No, it’s not the Americans, or the Israelis, who would be destroying Mecca.

It’s the so-called Guardians of the two holy sites (Mecca and Medina), the Saudi royal elites, who have negligently stood by over the last two decades as the majority of holy sites in these two most sacred Muslim cities have been destroyed, sacrificed to the false gods of modernization, capitalism, and progress.

Saudi Wahhabis have a long history of destroying shrines, including those of the family of the Prophet in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

The graves of the descendants of the Prophet now look like dusty rubbles, with only stones to identify them. Armed Saudi policemen beat away and arrest pilgrims who stop to offer their respect.

The early Wahhabis even had designed to destroy the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, as they assumed that Muslims who were offering blessings and salutations on the Prophet (as the Qur’an commands them to do!) were in fact idolaters.

The Saudis have destroyed or bulldozed some 300 sacred sites and shrines in Mecca and Medina in creating what many are calling the new “Las Vegas.”

And here in an excellent piece on Jadaliyya called Crimes Against Civilization in Hejaz by Faisal Husain (tip from Amina Steinfels):

While bemoaning the tragic fate of what they considered to be “their” heritage in Timbuktu, almost all Arab and Muslim regimes—and the authors and intellectuals their media empires feature—have acquiesced to what has been happening at the heart of the Muslim world since the rise of the first Saudi state in the eighteenth century. The actions of Salafis in Mali are trivial when compared with those committed by the Saudi regime. Indeed, the Saudi regime has set the precedent for Ansar al-Din in Mali and puritans in Muslim societies by systematically destroying Islamic historical and sacred sites and harassing, sometimes even butchering, those who attended them. Nevertheless, most Muslim nations, for different reasons, have not uttered a word of protest against the destruction of Islam’s holiest sites within the borders of the Saudi Kingdom.

Among international actors, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has displayed the most egregious hypocrisy, itself established in the aftermath of the 1969 arson attack on al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. The organization’s zeal for protecting Muslim sites under Israeli occupation from destruction and its absolute indifference and disregard for sites bulldozed by the Saudi regime is astonishing. Worse, it has recently issued a statement on Timbuktu deploring “bigoted extremist elements” for destroying Mali’s “rich Islamic heritage.” The insincerity of the Organization’s Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoğlu, who is a respected figure, and his organization have eroded whatever credibility they have left today.

The following paragraphs will highlight very briefly both historical and current instances when the Saudi regime systematically engaged in acts far worse than those of Ansar al-Din in Timbuktu, yet they have been almost completely ignored by the same parties that condemned the destruction in Timbuktu. Hopefully, this will raise awareness about the gravity of the persisting tragedy in the Hejaz and put an end to this era of historical amnesia.

And here is the bit about Mecca:

Mecca, the birthplace of Islam, has not been spared from desecration. In the last decade, academics, urban planners, and journalists have documented the destruction and desecration of various sites around the Grand Mosque, most notably the ochre-colored Ottoman Ajyad fortress and Bayt al-Mawlid [the Prophet’s birthplace]. The house of the Prophet’s wife Khadija (d. 619), where Muhammad resided during the first years of his mission and where his only daughter Fatima was born, has also been demolished. Historically, the people and rulers of Mecca appreciated the significance of the house of Khadija, and it was converted into a small mosque during the Umayyad period, shading it by a dome and introducing into it a prayer niche. It played a central role in different religious ceremonies organized by rulers seeking to buttress their religious credentials among Mecca’s residents. Instructed by the Ottoman Sultan Mustafa II (d. 1703), the governor of Jeddah, Sulayman Pasha, held an annual ceremony there during the month of Ramadan to mark the anniversary of the day the Prophet received his first divine revelation. One writer describes the ceremony:

The Pasha was to execute these new responsibilities of his with great humility and solemnity… During this ceremony, men led by the Pasha and other dignitaries, would voluntarily walk along in congregation at a gentle pace from the Haram’s door known as the ‘Bab al-Haririyin’ towards the house of ‘the Mother of the Believers’, the Lady Khadijah, where the Prophet was residing at the time he received his first “Wahi”, marking the beginning of his mission as a prophet and messenger of Allah… There, they would listen to the recitation of some Verses from the Qur’an and Orations (‘Hadith’) of the Prophet and compositions in his praise, offer the ‘Fatihah’—(recitation of the opening chapter of the Qur’an)—towards the end in honour of the Prophet and make their way back towards the Grand Mosque and re-enter it through the entrance called ‘Bab ‘Ali’. Sweets and refreshments would then be offered there to the congregation under the Dome of ‘Abbas.[2]Upon the remains of this once-sacred spot, the Saudi regime has built a toilet complex.

Hey - but at least the pilgrims can check time on a large clock towering over the mosque in Mecca. They may not want to be late for shopping. And with the destruction of old sites out of the way, there is space for more hotels:

The Saudi regime continues to bulldoze Mecca’s and Medina’s monuments, constructing on their ruins skyscrapers, luxury hotels, and shopping malls. Among the few surviving sites, Ottoman-carved columns dating back to the seventeenth century in the Grand Mosque, the green dome that adorns the mosque housing the Prophet’s tomb, and thesixth century house where the Prophet was born are all under threat of destruction. With pre-modern Mecca almost wiped out, the annual spiritual journey to Mecca and Medina has been turned into “a new spectacle.” In the words of the Saudi Minister of Hajj, the pilgrimage now resembles “twenty Super Bowls in one stadium, when two million will come, and . . . these two million people will actually be taking part in playing the game.”[9]

Unfortunately, the acquiescence of governments and regional bodies and the blackout imposed on the matter by their media empires have allowed the cleansing of the Hejaz to continue largely unopposed. They helped to anesthetize the general public to the gravity of what has happened to sites of great historical and religious significance, lulling it with illusory nostrums that celebrate King Abdullah’s large commercial development schemes in the Hejaz. In one instance, a self-ascribed “liberal” and “independent” Kuwaiti daily, al-Qabas,informs its readers, in a piece that mentions the word tatwir [development] more than half a dozen times, that Mecca is “heading to become the capital of hotels in the world.” Not once have al-Qabas and mainstream media outlets in the Gulf broached the bitter consequences of Saudi “development” schemes; that the soon-to-be “capital of hotels” is actually being “choked” and built on the ruins of Islam’s earliest surviving material legacy. In the words of a Kashmiri writer, “Modern Mecca [now] feels as if it were built by a people without history or tradition—a sprawling imitation of modernist architecture.”[10]

Read the full article here.

Also see earlier posts:
How is history viewed in Saudi Arabia?
The Problem with peddling pseudoscientific claims regarding Mecca Clock
Mecca Clock: Seeking Prestige via Borrowed Science

Surah Bani Israel

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English Translation of Al-Quran
[17].Surah Al-Isra' [The Journey By Night] also known as Surah Bani Israel [The Children of Israel]
Ayat 111. And say: "All the praises and thanks be to Allah, Who has not begotten a son (nor an offspring), and Who has no partner in (His) Dominion, nor He is low to have a Wali (helper, protector or supporter). And magnify Him with all the magnificence, [Allahu-Akbar

(Allah is the Most Great)]."
[Tafseer] A first step towards the understanding of Allah's attributes is to clear our mind from superstitions, such as that Allah begot a son, or that He has partners, or that He is dependent upon other beings to protect Him from harm and humiliation. We must realise that He is the One and Peerless. His greatness and glory are above anything we can conceive: but using our highest spiritual ideas, we must declare forth His greatness and glory. The Surah began with singing the glory and praises of Allah: it ends in the same note, concluding the argument. The next Surah takes up the same theme from another point of view, and opens with the same note, "Praise be to Allah". (R).
This last Ayat of Surah Surah, Surah Al-Isra' [The Journey By Night], 17th Surah of Al-Qur'an, this surah contained 111 ayats. (from tomorrow 18th Surah, Surah Al-'Kahf [The Cave] also will start Insha Allah).

Black Seed

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Narrated Khalid bin Sad: We went out and Ghalib bin Abjar was accompanying us. He fell ill on the way and when we arrived at Medina he was still sick. Ibn Abi 'Atiq came to visit him and said to us, "Treat him with black cumin. Take five or seven seeds and crush them (mix the powder with oil) and drop the resulting mixture into both nostrils, for 'Aisha has narrated to me that she heard the Prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) saying,

'This black cumin is healing for all diseases except As-Sam.' Aisha said, 'What is As-Sam?' He said, 'Death."

[Al-Bukhari: Book 71 Hadith No. 591]

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said:

“In the black seed is healing for every disease except death.”

[Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5364; Muslim, 2215.]

Lesson 123: How To Keep Healthy Bees www.honeybeesonline.com 217-427-2678

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Hello from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms in east central Illinois. I’m so glad you found us so that you can learn more about the honey bee and how important honey bees are to our food supply through pollination.
If this is your first time to meet us, we are a beekeeping farm family and have been playing with bees since 1994. Our hobby went wild and became Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, first selling honey, then selling equipment that we manufacture. Next we started adding to our business things like beginner classes, queen rearing classes, advance beekeeping. Finally we grew into becoming queen producers also. So anything to do with honey bees we do it!

We even remove bees from structures. This has kept us really busy this year. We remove one a week, sometimes two. Last week we removed a colony from a FRAT house at the University of Illinois. Click on this link to see us on the news. It was in a large wooden column about 20 feet high. We have three more scheduled to do right away.

LESSON 123: How To Keep Healthy Colonies

The Eastern Apicultural Society was the best I’ve attended. It’s always great to listen to new findings and work that Tom Seeley, Marla Spivak and others are doing. Hearing experts speak about their recent discoveries either points me in a new way or confirms my own way of doing things. I’m amazed at how much information is coming forth on how to keep healthy colonies. I spend thousands of dollars each year attending conferences and subscribing to various journals to stay up to date so you don’t have to.
REDUCE VARROA MITES

Still the number one effort that we must all be focusing on is reducing varroa mites. We removed a colony from an apartment building in Hoopeston, Illinois and in this photo we tore the comb exposing a drone pupa with four varroa mites. A carefree, oblivious approach to mites may eventually lead to a colony’s death. There are more and more chemical free methods to reduce mites. First there was powder sugar dustings, then came screen bottom boards, then came green drone comb, and then I wrote about a powerful blow to mites a few lessons ago by breaking the bee’s brood cycle.
Now new studies show that by keeping hives further away from each other there is less drifting of bees, thus reduces drifting of mites. Not everyone has the space to do this, but during the cold days of winter, you should consider moving your hives at least 30 feet apart. This work was recently done by Tom Seeley.
BREAKING THE BROOD CYCLE TO REDUCE MITES

During Tom’s presentation he showed a graph comparing mite infestations among colonies that did and did not swarm. Of the ones that swarmed the mite count was significantly lower. Again, this was probably due to a break in the brood cycle. When a colony swarms, the old queen leaves shortly after the new queen cells are sealed, producing a break in the colony’s brood cycle. See my recent article on breaking the brood cycle.
I cannot stress enough that to keep healthy colonies long term, we must reduce the number of varroa mites in a hive. Varroa mites spread viruses and these viruses shorten the lives of bees.
Throw every non-chemical weapon you can at the varroa mite. Do not give up. Have your mite level as low as possible going in to winter!
GO INTO WINTER WITH A NEW, YOUNG QUEEN

September is a good time to replace your queen. So many beekeepers mistakenly think all is well with their queen, but she may die during the winter. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to obtain a good, early queen in March or early April when you need her most to build up the over wintered colony. Why take that risk? Replacing your queen in September ensures you will have a strong laying queen for next spring. To break the brood cycle, you can remove your old queen this week but be sure you can receive a new queen the second or third week in September. This will give you a 2-3 week break in the brood cycle to reduce varroa mites. Then introduce your new queen. This makes for a healthier colony going into winter.
WINTER PREP YOUR HIVE
Now that it is September there are several things you must do to keep a healthy hive. Once you’ve harvest your honey, you must remove your honey supers unless they are full and you have chosen to leave them on for the bees to enjoy over winter. That’s fine, but REMOVE THE QUEEN EXCLUDER! Never leave a queen excluder on a hive during the winter.
Mouse proof your hive. Seal up broken corners and holes big enough for mice to enter. Restrict the opening of the hive with the entrance reducer or some sort of mouse guard. Mice can kill your colony during the winter. I seal my colonies from mice no later than September 15.
Provide winter venting. The internal heat of the colony contrasts with the outside cold temperature and causes excessive condensation to accumulate inside the hive. This cold, dripping water can kill bees. Upper ventilation is essential for over wintering colonies. Our Winter-B-Kinds provide upper ventilation.
Check to see if your bees need fed during the fall or winter. You must make sure your bees have plenty of winter food, both pollen (protein) and honey or sugar (carbohydrate). Hopefully the bees have stored surplus amounts of honey and pollen within the hive. If you need to feed your bees DO NOT use an entrance feeder. Bees rob other hives during the fall, and an entrance feeder will usually attract robber bees. Use a top feeder or frame feeder and use 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. The heavier syrup can be store more quickly by the bees prior to cold weather. There is less water for the bees to dry out of the syrup as with a 1:1 mixture.

If your bees have failed to store adequate amounts of pollen and honey to make it through the winter, you should consider placing one of our Winter-B-Kinds on your hive. Our Winter-B-Kinds provide needed upper ventilation as well as top insulation and sugar and pollen for winter food in one piece. Click here for more details on our Winter-B-Kinds or go to: http://www.honeybeesonline.com/servlet/Detail?no=145
Wind protection. Is wind protection necessary? Why not! Honey bees have much to contend with so let’s do all we can to give them a better fighting chance. Certainly it is not necessary for a large, healthy hive. But not every beekeeper’s hive is large and healthy so wrapping up a hive will not hurt. However, we strongly recommend upper ventilation because the added wrap may cause increased moisture in the hive in real cold weather.
Another way to block the wind is to place some sort of barrier around the hive. Do not place straw or hay bales right against the hive. The bales will draw and retain moisture and could cause too much moisture near the hive. Place straw bales three feet away from the hive. But you can use any type of material to block the wind. Be creative.
Work carefully now to implement these important steps in keeping a healthy colony. Thanks for joining us today!
Check out some of our more popular lessons:
-How to harvest honey
-Wax moths
-Swarming
That’s all for now and thank you for joining us for another beekeeping lesson! Please let others know about these lessons and our business. We appreciate you spreading the word!

Your donations helps us continue our work and research on the honey bee, such as our recent development of our Winter-Bee-Kind. These lessons are free and will provide you with as much if not more information than you would find in a $30 book. So consider making a $30 donation so that we might continue these lessons, CLICK HERE TO DONATE $30 or go to:
http://www.honeybeesonline.com/servlet/Detail?no=144

Thank you in advance.
David and Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
217-427-2678 Website: www.honeybeesonline.com

Cheater Pierogi – This is No Polish Joke

05:00:00 0 comments

During this video for quick and easy cheese pierogi, I joke about my Polish grandmother rolling over in her grave, but after eating several batches of these delicious dumplings, I’m pretty sure Grandma Sophie would have approved.

I’ve always been a big fan of wonton skins. Not only have I used them for wonton soup, but also for tortellini, ravioli, and various other dumplings. They’re very user-friendly, but use a damp paper towel to cover the open package as you work, since they can dry out quickly and become harder to work with.

Whenever I post a video like this, the most common questions usually revolve around what alternative fillings would work. Let me handle that issue right now. Anything will work as a filling. Literally. Most high-end grocery stores will have farmer’s cheese, but if you can’t find it, a mixture of half cream cheese and half ricotta would get you very close.

I decided to break with family tradition and serve these with bacon and caramelized onions, as we usually just fry in a little butter and serve with sour cream. I blame Chicago’s Pierogi Heaven for this, since it was during a recent visit that I had a plate served similarly, and it was amazing.

Anyway, whether you’re an old pro, or brand new to the joys of pierogi, I hope you give these easy, cheesy dumplings a try. Remember the old saying...if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying. Enjoy!

Ingredients for about 50-60 Pierogi:

1 1/2 cups warm mashed potato

1 1/2 cup farmer’s cheese, or any cheese blend

1 large egg

salt and pepper to taste

pinch of cayenne

50-60 wonton wrappers

sour cream and chives as needed

Bacon and Onion Sauce (enough to garnish about 12 pierogi)

4 slices bacon, sliced thin

1/2 large yellow onion, diced

2 tsp butter

*After bacon is crisp, drain excess fat, reserving about 2 tbsp to fry pierogi.

View the complete recipe

A spousal insurance for getting into heaven...

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by Salman Hameed

The Style section of today's New York Times has a nicely written article, An Agnostic's Guide to Marriage by Colleen Oakley. I won't spoil the piece for you, but it provides a good window on religiosity (including atheism) and marriage in contemporary times (well...at least in the US). Here is the beginning of the article (but do read the whole article):

When my husband, Fred, and I planned our wedding, he had two strong opinions: 1) brisket should be served, along with the fried chicken; and 2) we would recite the Lord’s Prayer in the ceremony.

This came as something of a shock to me (the prayer, not the brisket), as the two of us had attended church together only with my family on holidays, and my quick editor’s hand had been busily crosshatching out all references to “God” and “Jesus” from the wedding vows sent to us by the liberal preacher we had chosen.

“Is the Lord’s Prayer really necessary?” I asked Fred.

“Yeah,” he said, in his quiet way. “It’s important to me.”

I have never been a big fan of religion. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a small town in South Carolina and attended one too many frightening services at my best friend’s church, where people spoke in tongues and were “saved.”

Maybe it’s because my hippie parents kept an open dialogue during my Presbyterian upbringing. “Do you believe Jesus was the son of God?” they asked on the drive home from services one Sunday.

The initial thought in my 7-year-old mind: “I have a choice?” But my second thought was more startling: “No.”

Even at a young age, I thought God and heaven were pacifying ideas to keep people from being afraid of death. Though my judgments of Christianity and belief have evolved to a more nuanced understanding, my lack of faith has not changed.

But for my fiancé, I could recite the Lord’s Prayer, even at my own wedding. Marriage is all about compromise, right? So I left that part of the ceremony unmarked by my red pen, and started to dig deeper into my husband-to-be’s revelation.

“So you believe in God?” I asked him.

“Yeah,” he said.

“You know I don’t, right?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“And that’s cool with you?”

“Yeah.”

Fortunately, I didn’t love him for his verbosity.

I realized that we hadn’t really broached the subject of religion in our three years together. In retrospect, that’s shocking because we had such in-depth discussions about every other important aspect of life. But because we never went to church and Fred didn’t talk about God, I wrongly assumed that he thought the way I did: the idea is nice, but it just doesn’t all add up.

How can you stop there? Read the full article here.

Also see an earlier post: In and Out of Religion.

Wishing You a Happy Labor Day Weekend from Manchester NY

16:48:00 0 comments

I’ll be in lovely Manchester, NY for a few weeks visiting my mother Pauline and the rest of the family. We’ll have a steady stream of new videos as usual, but I am going to try to take a little break from the laptop, and stay offline as much as I can. So far so good…I think I only tweeted four or five times yesterday!

Uncle Billy. One of my most
influential culinary mentors!

Anyway, speaking of family, today is the famous D’Arduini family reunion, and if that name sounds familiar, it should. Despite being one of our older, low-res videos, Chicken D’Arduini, which I filmed here years ago with my uncle Bill D’Arduini, has remained one of our most popular chicken recipes ever.

To honor the occasion, I’m reposting this wonderful dish just in case you haven’t seen it, or maybe forgot how delicious it really is. I hope you have a great holiday, and as always, enjoy!

Chicken D’Arduini (click here for the original post and ingredients)

المصباح في اذكار المساء والصباح PDF

07:56:00 0 comments

المصباح في اذكار المساء والصباح تاليف محمد بن محمد الصالحي المنبجي الحنبلي

دار الكتب العلمية بيروت / الطبعة الاولى 1421 هـ تحقيق أحمد فريد المزيدي

التحميل

من مرفوعات الأخ الفاضل ابا يعلى البيضاوي وفقه الله

عصارة القلم في ذكر الله وجوامع الكلم PDF

07:30:00 0 comments

عصارة القلم في ذكر الله وجوامع الكلم جمعها واعتنى بها محمد الطيب بن محمد اليوسف

اصدار لجنة المطبوعات في التنشيط السياحي بمحافظة الطائف الطبعة الاولى 1424 هـ

التحميل

من مرفوعات الأخ الفاضل ابا يعلى البيضاوي وفقه الله

شرح منظومة الورقات في أصول الفقه

07:24:00 0 comments

شرح منظومة الورقات في أصول الفقه تأليف محمد بن علوي المالكي المكي الحسني

دار الكتب العلمية بيروت الطبعة الثالثة 1432هـ

التحميل

من مرفوعات الأخ الفاضل ابا يعلى البيضاوي وفقه الله

مقدمة في أصول الحديث

07:21:00 0 comments

مقدمة في أصول الحديث للمحدث الشخ عبد الحق الدهلوي

دار البشائر الإسلامية بيروت الطبعة الثانية1406 تقديم وتعليق سلمان الحسني الندوي

التحميل

من مرفوعات الأخ الفاضل ابا يعلى البيضاوي وفقه الله

قصة موسى مع الخضر عليهما السلام وما فيها من الدروس والفوائد والقواعد والعبر

07:09:00 0 comments

قصة موسى مع الخضر عليهما السلام وما فيها من الدروس والفوائد والقواعد والعبر اعتنى بجمعها أبو العباس محمد بن جبريل الشحري

دار عمر بن الخطاب ومكتبة الامام الوادعي الطبعة الاولى 1432هـ

التحميل

من مرفوعات الأخ المبارك ابا يعلى البيضاوي وفقه الله

Saturday Video: In the Shadow of the Moon

03:49:00 0 comments

by Salman Hameed

Still thinking about Neil Armstrong. Here is a documentary that focuses on the words of the select few who have been to the Moon and back. It is fantastic and touching. Here is the first part:

By the way, if you are interested in the topic, you should definitely check out the 1998 HBO docu-drama series, From the Earth to the Moon. Its first episode is riveting and gets the excitement of figuring out a way to go to the Moon. But Episode 5 - Spider - is the best episode of the series. It deals with the challenges of designing the landing module - and yet it is an entertaining and dramatic episode.

Friday Journal Club: Variables Associated with Acceptance of Evolution

19:30:00 0 comments

by Salman Hameed

The start of the semester is close and meetings ate up Friday. So Friday Journal Club is on Saturday. I want to talk a bit about a recent paper by Benjamin Heddy and Louis Nadelson: A Global Perspective of the Variables Associated with Acceptance of Evolution published in the journal Evolution: Education and Outreach.

Summary:
The paper used published data from 35 countries to look at factors that influence the acceptance of evolution. In particular, they looked at four factors: a) religiosity, b) school life-expectancy, c) science literacy, and d) GDP per capita. They collected information about these variables from various sources, like Gallup polls for Religiosity, PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) for science literacy, etc.

The authors provide a reasonable justification for why each of these variable might be linked with the acceptance of evolution. For example, school-life expectance - defined as the average years of schooling per citizen within a country - may be increase personal knowledge of science, which in itself is correlated with the acceptance of evolution. In case you are wondering, "Pakistan has a school-life expectancy of seven years (CIA 2007), which signifies that on average, a given citizen in Pakistan has attended seven years of school in his/her lifetime. In contrast, the United States has a school-life expectancy of 16 years (CIA 2007), which indicates that the average United States citizen has attended 16 years of schooling."

What I liked about the paper is that the authors are keenly aware of the limitations of their study. For example, the fact that they are using evolution acceptance/rejection data from multiple sources, and the questions in each survey may not properly match-up. Nevertheless, they have tried to get the best possible data and have tried to open up the questions for further research.

So what do they find? Well, here is the main table from their paper that shows the relationship of acceptance of evolution with the above-mentioned four variables:

Don't worry about the specific numbers - but it shows that the acceptance of evolution goes down in countries where self-identified religiosity is higher. On the other hand, the acceptance of evolution goes up with the increase in the three remaining variables. Some of the variables over-lap and interact with each other, nevertheless, the religiosity factor stands out (with the data they have used):

It is apparent from our calculations that our four indicator variables overlap; however, it is also important to note that the largest coefficient of determination associated with these variables was between religiosity and school-life expectancy, r^2=.39. This suggests that about 39% of the variation in religiosity can be explained by school-life expectancy, which still leaves over 60% of unique variation between the variables. Further, the correlations reflect the irreducible nature of these data, as it is unlikely that any indicators of social and economic status are going to be independent. Therefore, we proceed with the recognition that there is some overlap of the data; however, there is also likely to be substantial unique contribution by each of the measures in association with evolution acceptance.

With this caveat in mind, we do see a negative correlation of evolution acceptance with religiosity at country-wide level in a sample of 35 countries. While the list of religions represented in these countries is not exhaustive, there are still a number of Christian and Muslim denominations in their data to make a a general claim about the impact of self-identified religiosity.

But why religion? Here is the speculation from the authors:

We speculate that the mechanism by which religion influences acceptance of evolution is followers’ trust in authority. Religious authorities, both people and doctrine, may convey messages that communicate ideas that contra- dict the theory of evolution, and because of the expectations of trust, the messages are likely to promote followers to embrace rejecting evolution. The conflation of the world- views of religion and science has resulted in tension and the development of positions that equate the two as similar in their epistemologies (Taylor and Ferrari 2011). However, we contend that it would be productive to help citizens realize that evolution and religion do not have to be at conflict and that authorities can come in many forms. Developing and studying such interventions is an excellent direction for future research.

Well...yes - and I more or less agree with their basic conclusion. But then, of course we also have to ask how individuals within different cultures interpret the conflict, and that may lead in some cases to competing epistemologies, and in other cases to a matter of group or social identity. Nevertheless, their findings provide a (very) broad picture of the evolution acceptance landscape, and it is a useful marker to have.

By the way, while reading some of this, I was reminded of my previous life working on star formation in spiral galaxies. My thesis work focused on individual galaxies (about 60 in total) and by the end I knew them quite well (oh - NGC 986 - you are still such a beauty). But then there were surveys of thousands (and now even hundreds of thousands) of galaxies that looked at the broader star formation trends in this group of galaxies. However, the fun part was to know the details of an individual galaxy and then see it falls followed the expected larger trend or not. And those that did not, made up a fascinating sub-sample (it turns out that some in the sub-group were interacting with small galaxies).

I know that people and galaxies are different, but it will be interesting to see if deeper studies of evolution acceptance within individual countries identify sub-groups that buck these global trends. And investigating the reasons for that will be fun.

That is it for this week's journal club. You can find past Irtiqa Friday Journal Clubs here.

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Heddy,B.C. and Nadelson,L.S. (2012), A Global Perspective of the Variables Associated with Acceptance of Evolution, Evo Edu Outreach (2012), DOI: 10.1007/s12052-012-0423-0