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Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

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Maintaining Control (Editorial - Issue 135)

Maintaining Control (Editorial - Issue 135)

01 May 2020 | The Fountain | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

The Coronavirus Pandemic has shaken much of the world to its core and caused many disruptions. Economies have been crippled, millions have been laid off, quarantine has forced us to stay at home for an extended period of time, and thousands have died. Control over our lives and society, it seems, h…

Facing Oneself - 3

Facing Oneself - 3

01 May 2020 | M. Fethullah Gulen | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

(Circle3: On the touchy implorations by Imam Zeynel Abidin, continued) Together with all of the fears and worries that this saintly person voices at his entreaties, he does not neglect to petition God with reference to divine beneficence and his heart changes rhythm with the excitement of hope. B…

Ablutions: A Divine Prescription for Cleanliness

Ablutions: A Divine Prescription for Cleanliness

01 May 2020 | Asli Uzun | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

Washing our hands has become one major way to protect ourselves from Covid-19. However, ablutions have always had a central place in the practices and beliefs of many religious traditions. Christians perform baptism with water, in amounts varying from small sprinkles to larger vessels, to bring abo…

Corona and a Call of Revival: An Interfaith Perspective

Corona and a Call of Revival: An Interfaith Perspective

01 May 2020 | Suat Yildirim | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

About 3500 years ago in Egypt, Moses began to preach the religion that calls for submission to God, which he inherited from his forefather Abraham. According to the belief in that era, the ruler was considered a son of God, even a god on earth. The Pharaoh said (to his chiefs): “Let me kill Moses…

Maintaining the Brain: Neurons that Fire Together Wire Together

01 May 2020 | Ceyda Sablak | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

Our brains consist of many different types of cells, including astrocytes, microglia, and neurons. These are the cells that people are indirectly referring to when you hear someone say that hitting your head can cause permanent damage even though the initial impact was a minor one. They are the pri…

Religious Communities and Response to COVID-19: The Case of the Hizmet Movement

Religious Communities and Response to COVID-19: The Case of the Hizmet Movement

01 May 2020 | Anwar Alam | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

This is not the first time that the world is witnessing a pandemic; previous incidents were regional in scope and did not affect the affluent segment of society. However, COVID-19 is first of its kind in modern times whose impact was felt wide across many nations precisely because of the fact that…

The Orientalists – Part 1

The Orientalists – Part 1

01 May 2020 | Lawrence Brazier | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

Author’s note: Many of the books and authors mentioned here are well-known. There are dozens more from writers of various nationalities, and only a lack of space precludes complete inclusion. It is my hope, however, that any bookish reader with an interest in Orientalism may find something to enh…

On the Origin of Language

On the Origin of Language

01 May 2020 | Jacob Hardy | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

As far as the origin of language is concerned, Abrahamic traditions agree on the fact that language is a gift of God to humanity. To exemplify, the Holy Bible in Genesis 2:20 (King James' Version) states that: “[20] And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast o…

Self-Concealment (Talbis)

01 May 2020 | M. Fethullah Gulen | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

Self-concealment means that the perfected servants of God who attribute to God whatever good or virtues that they may have, try to be known as ordinary people by constantly keeping secret the special blessings and extraordinary attainments with which the Eternally All-Generous favors them, as well…

Truffles: An Underground Treasure

Truffles: An Underground Treasure

01 May 2020 | Aziz Turkoglu | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

Truffles are potato-shaped underground mushrooms that grow in all kinds of different environments ranging from high-rise forests of pine, oak, linden, fir and wild hazelnut to scrubs, under bushes, and in steppes and deserts. They maintain a symbiotic relationship by attaching to the roots of certa…

Foot: An Engineering Masterpiece

Foot: An Engineering Masterpiece

01 May 2020 | Tugrul Cagri Yavuz | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

The foot is a limb that is not given much importance when compared to other vital organs such as the brain or heart. However, the foot is a very complex mechanical structure that is made of 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles and ligaments. About a quarter of the bones in the human body…

Lucid Dreaming: The Power of Being Awake in Your Sleep

Lucid Dreaming: The Power of Being Awake in Your Sleep

01 May 2020 | Horatio I. Davis | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

Dreams are some of the most odd, and sometimes most uncomfortable, experiences for us. They can sometimes also be so realistic that we do not even know if we are awake or still dreaming. One can feel the same after a false awakening, where one dreams of having been awakened. In a false awakening, t…

Scrap Paper Loves Me

“Scrap Paper Loves Me”

01 May 2020 | Alpaslan Ozdogan | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

Scrap paper loves me. I spent my college years in a state after the Soviet Union collapsed where finding a pencil, notebook, or even just a sheet of paper was hard because of the economy. Students were blessed if their parents managed to buy school supplies such as these. But ever since becoming c…

Do All Roads Lead to Samarkand?

Do All Roads Lead to Samarkand?

01 May 2020 | Laura Kish | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

For lust of knowing what should not be known/ We take the Golden Road to Samarkand. [[1]] The Silk Road has always been known for providing pathways that allow the Far East to exchange goods and ideas with the European West. History often remembers that the Silk Road helped Europe expand and f…

The Art of Ebru

The Art of Ebru: Seeking Serenity on the Surface of the Water

01 May 2020 | Mucteba Muezzinoglu | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

Ebru, the art of crafting images and pictures with special paints on the surface of water, originated on the continent of Asia, spread to Anatolia, and from there to the rest of the world. Ebru has long been the name given to the original Turkish art of “paper marbling” [1]. Enchanted by their int…

The Coronavirus Changed How Ramadan Looks

The Coronavirus Changed How Ramadan Looks. But It Will Not Change Our Faith In God

01 May 2020 | M. Fethullah Gulen | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

Many yearly rituals of Ramadan will continue even as some change in deference to our social responsibility to respect God’s laws in the universe. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan will be different this year. Around the world, mosques will be closed, when they would normally have worshipers spilli…

Science Square (Issue 135)

Science Square (Issue 135)

01 May 2020 | The Fountain | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

Nose cells as the key COVID-19 entry pointSungnak et al. SARS-CoV-2 entry factors are highly expressed in nasal epithelial cells together with innate immune genes. Nature Medicine, April 2020.The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-…

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