Tales of that weekend

19Jul07

Many things happened last weekend during my trip to Nagoya. Some of them are worth mentioning such as:

1)

Earthquake hit Japan in Kashiwazaki by 6.8 magnitude on monday. Killed at least 10 people and injured more than 500 people. There was also typhoon near Tokyo area, many of my brothers sisters going to the MSAJ conference at Nagoya by Shinkansen or train got delayed. I rode a bus, alhamdulillah everything was fine.

For your information, even with the cutting edge technology that we have today, we still can’t predict earthquake occurrence. MashAllah, Allah’s technology is far greater. On earthquake, according Dr Zhagloul, this is the most detailed verses that describe earthquake.

16:26 Those before them did also plot (against Allah’s Way): but Allah took their structures from their foundations, and the roof fell down on them from above; and the Wrath seized them from directions they did not perceive.

I pray that Allah open the doors of guidance to the people of Japan.

2)

I had the chance to attend Dr Zaghloul El Naggar’s lecture in Nagoya. A reputable Muslim scientist specialized in scientific miracles in the Quran. More likely like Harun Yahya’s twin. He elaborated many areas of the science from the Quranic perspective including about the space, earthquake, sun, stars, earth and many more.

One of the questions he received that I also had in mind sometimes while back is the argument about human beings trying to rationalize God’s words scientifically. To what extent can our mind conceive what is beyond our realm? Can we go about proving any scientific verses scientifically? He handled the question pretty well. According to him, the foremost principle that should be in mind is, this justification using science can only be achievable based on the established facts only. So if there is a scientific verses and you try to explain using theories (btw theories are not established fact) such as Darwin’s or any other, that is automatically baseless. Moreover, by understanding science, one can understand more on the verse revealed by Allah about His creation. So the ultimate purpose here is not merely trying to raise our intellect and to confirm whatever Allah says, for Allah’s word is the ultimate truth, rather to understand more the words of the Creator.

3) With the long travel time, I had the chance to read 2 books.

Freakonomics
I had wanted to read this book long time. But I hadn’t had the chance till recently after I acquired this book here. Books in Japan are expensive!!! Not much review about this book. A lot of interesting information about economics but nothing really impressive. Just plain cool facts/research. Maybe I’m not too much of an economic person.

Ayat-ayat Cinta
This novel is imbued with stunningly magnificent love story. It is like the beauty of Mona Lisa in the eyes of Da Vinci. This is not a typical love story. It’s about a student of Al Azhar finding his ultimate love. I’m not a big fan of reading novel, let alone a love story. But after reading this piece, I’ve started to perceive love in totally new fashion. If only I were the protagonist. How a wishful thinker I am.

I hope there would be an effort to translate the novel into English. I got another version of the book in pdf given by my dear friend in Jordan. However I recommend you to get one in your hand.

If you want more review, just google Ayat-ayat Cinta and you’ll find from other blogs. Highly recommended!

Ayat-ayat cinta PDF version

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