scholarly journals Rereading of the Quran in Light of Nursi’s Risale-i Nur Collection: Shuhudi Exegesis

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1088
Author(s):  
Salih Yucel
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Experience ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Said Nursi

The concept of tafsiri şuhudi (transempirical exegesis) was coined for the first time by Said Nursi (d. 1960) and was reflected throughout his works. In his tafsiri şuhudi (pronounced shuhudi) methodology, Nursi views the Qur’an as an interpretation of the universe, that is Kitab al-Kabir (a big book). According to Nursi, such an exegesis is needed to reach the degree of iman tahkiki (investigative belief), also known as authentic faith. As part of his methodology, Nursi uses spiritual experience (kashf) and secular sciences as evidence for gaining true faith. Tafsiri şuhudi is an offshoot of ishari (inner meaning) tafsir but one that is injected with rationalism. This tafsir type also injects witnessing (şuhudi) into the dry body of scientific and modern tafsir that emerged in the Muslim world after European enlightenment. This article first examines the original hermeneutical concept of tafsir şuhudi in Nursi’s works and then analyses the sound heart, an essential part of iman tahkiki, in light of Nursi’s transempirical experience. The article argues that Nursi injects rationalism into the ishari tafsir methodology and infuses şuhudi experience by making it not only an epistemic but also an existential understanding of modern tafsir methodology.

Laws of Nature

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Scientific Theories ◽  
Law Of Nature ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Universe

The concept of a law of nature, while familiar, is deeply puzzling. Theorists such as Descartes think a divine being governs the universe according to the laws which follow from that being’s own nature. Newton detaches the concept from theology and is agnostic about the ontology underlying the laws of nature. Some later philosophers treat laws as summaries of events or tools for understanding and explanation, or identify the laws with principles and equations fundamental to scientific theories. In the first part of this volume, essays from leading historians of philosophy identify central questions: are laws independent of the things they govern, or do they emanate from the powers of bodies? Are the laws responsible for the patterns we see in nature, or should they be collapsed into those patterns? In the second part, contributors at the forefront of current debate evaluate the role of laws in contemporary Best System, perspectival, Kantian, and powers- or mechanisms-based approaches. These essays take up pressing questions about whether the laws of nature can be consistent with contingency, whether laws are based on the invariants of scientific theories, and how to deal with exceptions to laws. These twelve essays, published here for the first time, will be required reading for anyone interested in metaphysics, philosophy of science, and the histories of these disciplines.

scholarly journals Complete leading-order standard model corrections to quantum leptogenesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Frederik Depta ◽  
Andreas Halsch ◽  
Janine Hütig ◽  
Sebastian Mendizabal ◽  
Owe Philipsen
Keyword(s):  
Standard Model ◽  
Gauge Coupling ◽  
Thermal Bath ◽  
Leading Order ◽  
Boltzmann Equations ◽  
The Standard Model ◽  
Majorana Neutrinos ◽  
Infinite Loop ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Universe

Abstract Thermal leptogenesis, in the framework of the standard model with three additional heavy Majorana neutrinos, provides an attractive scenario to explain the observed baryon asymmetry in the universe. It is based on the out-of-equilibrium decay of Majorana neutrinos in a thermal bath of standard model particles, which in a fully quantum field theoretical formalism is obtained by solving Kadanoff-Baym equations. So far, the leading two-loop contributions from leptons and Higgs particles are included, but not yet gauge corrections. These enter at three-loop level but, in certain kinematical regimes, require a resummation to infinite loop order for a result to leading order in the gauge coupling. In this work, we apply such a resummation to the calculation of the lepton number density. The full result for the simplest “vanilla leptogenesis” scenario is by $$ \mathcal{O} $$ O (1) increased compared to that of quantum Boltzmann equations, and for the first time permits an estimate of all theoretical uncertainties. This step completes the quantum theory of leptogenesis and forms the basis for quantitative evaluations, as well as extensions to other scenarios.

scholarly journals The growth of the red-sequence in clusters since ≃1

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (H15) ◽  
pp. 88-88
Author(s):  
Roberto P. Muñoz ◽  
L. F. Barrientos ◽  
B. P. Koester ◽  
D. G. Gilbank ◽  
M. D. Gladders ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Galaxy Clusters ◽  
Evolutionary Model ◽  
Large Ensemble ◽  
Cluster Galaxies ◽  
Nir Imaging ◽  
Measured Change ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Red Sequence

AbstractWe use deep nIR imaging of 15 galaxy clusters at z ≃ 1 to study the build-up of the red-sequence in rich clusters since the Universe was half its present age. We measured, for the first time, the luminous-to-faint ratio of red-sequence galaxies at z=1 from a large ensemble of clusters, and found an increase of 100% in the ratio of luminous-to-faint red-sequence galaxies from z=0.45 to 1.0. The measured change in this ratio as function of redshift is well-reproduced by a simple evolutionary model developed in this work, that consists in an early truncation of the star formation for bright cluster galaxies and a delayed truncation for faint cluster galaxies.

Cosmic Deer as an Archaic Symbol in the Narratives and Rituals of the Tungus-Manchus

2020 ◽  
pp. 112-121
Author(s):  
Татьяна Юрьевна Сем
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Time Model ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Cosmic Scale ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Universe ◽  
The Bronze Age

Статья посвящена мифологическому образу космического оленя в традиционной культуре тунгусо-маньчжуров. В работе рассматриваются материалы фольклора, шаманства, промысловых и календарных ритуалов, а также искусства. Впервые систематизированы материалы по всем тунгусо-маньчжурским народам. Образ космического оленя в фольклоре эвенов имеет наиболее близкие аналогии с амурскими народами, которые представляют его с рогами до небес. Он сохранился в сказочном фольклоре с мифологическими и эпическими элементами. В эвенском мифе образ оленя имеет космические масштабы: из тела его происходит земля и всё живущее на ней. У народов Амура образ оленя нашел отражение в космогенезе, отделении неба от земли. Своеобразие сюжета космической охоты характеризует общесибирскую мифологию, относящуюся к ранней истории. В ней наиболее ярко проявляется мотив смены старого и нового солнца, хода времени, смены времен года, календарь тунгусо-маньчжуров. В результате анализа автор пришел к выводу, что олень в тунгусо-маньчжурской традиции моделирует пространство и время Вселенной, характеризует образ солнца и хода времени. Космический олень является архетипичным символом культуры тунгусо-маньчжуров, сохранившим свое значение до настоящего времени в художественной культуре This article is devoted to the mythological image of cosmic deer in traditional Tungus-Manchu culture. It examines materials of folklore, shamanism, trade and calendar rituals as well as art and for the first time systematizes materials from all of the Tungus-Manchu peoples. The image of cosmic deer in the folklore of the Evens has its closest analogy in that of the Amur peoples, reflected in the image of a deer with horns reaching up to the sky. This image is preserved in fairytales with mythological and epic elements. In the Even myth, the image of a deer is on a cosmic scale, as the cosmos issues from its body. Among the Amur peoples, the image of a deer is also related to cosmogenesis, to the separation of the earth from the sky. The plot of a cosmic hunt is reflected in pan-Siberian mythology, dating back to the Bronze Age. It clearly illustrates the motif of the change of the old and new sun, the passage of time, the change of seasons, the Tungus-Manchu calendar. The author comes to the conclusion that deer in the Tungus-Manchu tradition, in depicting the image of the sun and the passage of time, model the space and time of the Universe. The cosmic deer is an archetypal symbol of Tungus-Manchu culture, which has retained its significance in artistic culture to the present day.

Education as Arikara Spiritual Renewal and Cultural Evolution

2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
KuuNUx TeeRIt Kroupa
Keyword(s):  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Old People ◽  
New Beginning ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Universe

In May 2009, the Arikara returned to the land of their ancestors along the Missouri River in South Dakota. For the first time in more than a half century, a Medicine Lodge was built for ceremony. The lodge has returned from its dormant state to regain its permanent place in Arikara culture. This event will be remembered as a significant moment in the history of the Arikara because it symbolizes a new beginning and hope for the people. Following this historic event, Arikara spiritual leader Jasper Young Bear offered to share his experience and deep insight into Arikara thought: You have to know that the universe is the Creator's dream, the Creator's mind, everything from the stars all the way to the deepest part of the ocean, to the most microscopic particle of the creation, to the creation itself, on a macro level, on a micro level. You have to understand all of those aspects to understand what the lodge represents. The lodge is a fractal, a symbolic representation of the universe itself. How do we as human beings try to make sense of that? That understanding, of how the power in the universe flows, was gifted to us through millennia of prayer and cultural development… It is important for us to internalize our stories, internalize the star knowledge, internalize those things and make that your way, make that your belief, because we're going to play it out inside the lodge. It only lives by us guys interacting with it and praying with it and bringing it to life… We're going to play out the wise sayings of the old people… So you see that it's an Arikara worldview. A learning process of how the universe functions is what you're actually experiencing [inside the Medicine Lodge]. What the old people were describing was the functioning of how we believed the universe behaves. And we had a deep, deep understanding of what that meant and how it was for us. So that's what you're actually seeing in the Medicine Lodge.

scholarly journals Antimatter gravity and the Universe

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (08) ◽  
pp. 2030001
Author(s):  
Dragan Slavkov Hajdukovic
Keyword(s):  
Gravitational Acceleration ◽  
Quantum Vacuum ◽  
Cpt Symmetry ◽  
Cyclic Universe ◽  
Gravitational Repulsion ◽  
Antimatter Gravity ◽  
Gravitational Dipoles ◽  
First Time ◽  
Theoretical Paradigms ◽  
The Universe

The aim of this brief review is twofold. First, we give an overview of the unprecedented experimental efforts to measure the gravitational acceleration of antimatter; with antihydrogen, in three competing experiments at CERN (AEGIS, ALPHA and GBAR), and with muonium and positronium in other laboratories in the world. Second, we present the 21st Century’s attempts to develop a new model of the Universe with the assumed gravitational repulsion between matter and antimatter; so far, three radically different and incompatible theoretical paradigms have been proposed. Two of these three models, Dirac–Milne Cosmology (that incorporates CPT violation) and the Lattice Universe (based on CPT symmetry), assume a symmetric Universe composed of equal amounts of matter and antimatter, with antimatter somehow “hidden” in cosmic voids; this hypothesis produced encouraging preliminary results. The heart of the third model is the hypothesis that quantum vacuum fluctuations are virtual gravitational dipoles; for the first time, this hypothesis makes possible and inevitable to include the quantum vacuum as a source of gravity. Standard Model matter is considered as the only content of the Universe, while phenomena usually attributed to dark matter and dark energy are explained as the local and global effects of the gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum by the immersed baryonic matter. An additional feature is that we might live in a cyclic Universe alternatively dominated by matter and antimatter. In about three years, we will know if there is gravitational repulsion between matter and antimatter; a discovery that can forever change our understanding of the Universe.

scholarly journals Probing the Redshift Desert Using the Gemini Deep Deep Survey: Observing Galaxy Mass Assembly at z > 1

2005 ◽  
Vol 216 ◽  
pp. 390-397
Author(s):  
Karl Glazebrook ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Spectroscopic Studies ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Hubble Sequence ◽  
First Results ◽  
Deep Survey ◽  
Redshift Survey ◽  
Mass Assembly ◽  
Galaxy Assembly ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Universe

The aim of the Gemini Deep Deep Survey is to push spectroscopic studies of complete galaxy samples (both red and blue objects) significantly beyond z = 1; this is the redshift where the current Hubble sequence of ellipticals and spirals is already extant. In the Universe at z = 2 the only currently spectroscopically confirmed galaxies are blue, star-forming and of fragmented morphology. Exploring this transition means filling the ‘redshift desert’ 1 < z < 2 where there is a dearth of spectroscopic measurements. To do this we need to secure redshifts of the oldest, reddest galaxies (candidate ellipticals) beyond z > 1 which has led us to carry out the longest exposure redshift survey ever done: 100 ksec spectroscopic MOS exposures with GMOS on Gemini North. We have developed an implementation of the CCD “nod & shuffle” technique to ensure precise sky-subtraction in these ultra-deep exposures. At the halfway mark the GDDS now has ∼ 36 galaxies in the redshift desert 1.2 < z < 2 extending up to z = 1.97 and I < 24.5 with secure redshifts based on weak rest-frame UV absorption features complete for both red, old objects and young, blue objects. The peak epoch of galaxy assembly is now being probed by direct spectroscopic investigation for the first time. on behalf of the GDDS team I present our first results on the properties of galaxies in the ‘redshift desert’.

A NONLINEAR DYNAMICS PERSPECTIVE OF WOLFRAM'S NEW KIND OF SCIENCE. PART X: PERIOD-1 RULES

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (05) ◽  
pp. 1425-1654 ◽  
Author(s):  
LEON O. CHUA ◽  
GIOVANNI E. PAZIENZA ◽  
JINWOOK SHIN
Keyword(s):  
Nonlinear Dynamical Systems ◽  
Characteristic Functions ◽  
Theoretical Treatment ◽  
String Length ◽  
Nonlinear Dynamical ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Science Part ◽  
Group 1

This stage of our journey through the universe of one-dimensional binary Cellular Automata is devoted to period-1 rules, constituting the first of the six groups in which we systematized the 88 globally-independent CA rules. The first part of this article is mainly dedicated to reviewing the terminology and the empirical results found in the previous papers of our quest. We also introduce the concept of the ω-limit orbit with the purpose of linking our work to the classical theory of nonlinear dynamical systems. Moreover, we present the basin tree diagrams of all period-1 rules — except for rule [Formula: see text], which is trivial — along with their Boolean cubes and time-1 characteristic functions. In the second part, we prove a theorem demonstrating that all rules belonging to group 1 have robust period-1 rules for any finite, and infinite, bit-string length L. This is the first time we give analytical results on the behavior of CA local rules for large values of L and, consequently, for bi-infinite bit strings. The theoretical treatment is complemented by two remarkable practical results: an explicit formula for generating isomorphic basin trees, and an algorithm for creating new periodic orbits by concatenation. We also provide several examples of both of them, showing how they help to avoid tedious simulations.

scholarly journals First Contemporary Muslim Philosophers Conference

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 167-172
Author(s):  
Ahmad Iftheqar Hussain
Keyword(s):  
Muslim World ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Islamic Philosophy ◽  
Saturday Morning ◽  
Philosophical Discourse ◽  
Conference Room ◽  
Cardinal Directions ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Universe

Early Saturday morning on 16 May 1998, fifty people made their wayinto the conference room of Georgetown University’s SalaamIntercultural Center for the first annual conference of the Association ofContemporary Muslim Philosophers. Looking into their eyes, one couldsee a glimmer of hope and the fire of enthusiasm. Clearly, this was notgoing to be a run of the mill encounter of Muslim minds. Some of thegreatest intellects of the Muslim world were present, among themProfessor Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Dr. T a B JBbir a1 ‘AlwBni, and Dr. KamalHassan. Young students with fresh countenances and effervescent commentswaited to deliberate upon such issues as the difference betweenpublic and private philosophy, the role of postmodernism in the Muslimworld, and why and in what condition does the Muslim intellectual traditionfind itself.Ironically, this occurred in view of an immense Jesuit Crucifix heraldedby the Greek letters alpha and omega, which symbolize Christ.While for some this signified the contradiction and turmoil presentwithin current Muslim philosophical discourse, for others it embodieda promising message. For those who saw it as a positive symbol,including myself, the cross served to illustrate the universe, markingthe four cardinal directions of space, and the surrounding alpha andomega symbolized the all-encompassing nature of the Qur’an. On aterrestrial level, it verified the resilient nature of the Muslim intellectfor, quite obviously, we were a group of Mhims meeting in a Jesuitinstitution to talk about reviving Islamic philosophy. Nevertheless, theuniversal significance of that symbol was realized by the spirit of thegathering and in the profound discussions afforded by all those present.The conference started with a moment of reflection upon the versesof the Qur’an found in Siirat a1 ‘Alaq: ...

scholarly journals Fortune Telling Rituals Using Incense in Modern Chinese Religious Practices

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 25-50
Author(s):  
Elena E. Voytishek ◽  
Song Yao ◽  
Alexandra V. Gorshkova
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Folk Beliefs ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Religious Rituals ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Written Sources ◽  
Fortune Telling

Based on Chinese written sources and the authors' research field materials, the paper analyzes features of Taoist Buddhist practices using incense, as well as the purport of the 24 combinations that arise during fortune telling using three incense sticks – a practice used in rituals dating back to the early Middle Ages which still occupies a prominent place among China's religious practices today. The techniques that are concurrently characteristic of Buddhist practices, Taoist services as well as traditional folk beliefs hold a prominent place during the ritual. General terminology is primarily used in the comments supplementing the rituals in the original sources. These religious rituals involve ancient representations of Heaven as a “source of moral definitions” which reacts to human deeds through various signs, the teachings of the all-encompassing Qi as the energy of the universe and its numerological embodiment, worldview ideas including ancient Taoist beliefs and practices related to the cult of ancestors as well as worship of Heaven and various spirits, and basic Buddhist postulates of rebirth, karma and retribution for committed acts. Conducting fortune telling rituals using incense naturally embodied folk beliefs, which was instrumental in the ongoing teachings of morality to many generations across almost two millennia. Tables and comments on the 24 fortune telling combinations are published in Russian for the first time.

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