Wednesday, August 29

Blasphemy law in Islam

It is one thing to follow a moderate, watered-down version of islam via cherry picking and reinterpretation, it is totally another thing to outright deny the existence of blasphemy laws in Islamic sharia. There are several examples of executions for blasphemy, both state ordered and vigilante, during the life of the Prophet Muhammad.

Imam Ibn Taymiyyah has written a whole book on the subject, called: "The Drawn Sword upon the one who Curses the Messenger."

I can suggest a lecture/pamphlet in English that gathers all the evidences, it was written by Sheikh Anwar al-Awlaqi, called, "The Dust will Never Settle Down" (pdf file)

Let me give you an authentic example from the aforementioned pamphlet:

A blind man had a slave-mother who used to abuse the Prophet (pbuh) and disparage him. He forbade her but she did not stop. He rebuked her but she did not give up her habit.

One night she began to slander the Prophet and abuse him. So he took a dagger, placed it on her belly, pressed it, and killed her. A child who came between her legs was smeared with the blood that was there.

When the morning came, the Prophet (pbuh) was informed about it. He assembled the people and said: I adjure by Allah the man who has done this action and I adjure him by my right to him that he should stand up. Jumping over the necks of the people and trembling the man stood up.

He sat before the Prophet (pbuh) and said: Apostle of Allah! I am her master; she used to abuse you and disparage you. I forbade her, but she did not stop, and I rebuked her, but she did not abandon her habit. I have two sons like pearls from her, and she was my companion. Last night she began to abuse and disparage you. So I took a dagger, put it on her belly and pressed it till I killed her.

There upon the Prophet (pbuh) said: Oh be witness, no retaliation is payable for her blood.


The Hadith was narrated by Abdullah Ibn Abbas and can be found in Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 38, Hadith Number 4348 which has been authenticated by the scholars.

Another book called "Healing by news of the choosen one", which was authored by Qadi Ayyad Ibn Musa details punishment for blasphemy in Part 4 : The Judgements concerning those who think the Prophet imperfect or curse him.

For the legal rulings (fatwa), see also:

* Ruling on the one who insults the Prophet Muhammad.

* Ruling on one who tells lies about the Prophet Muhammad.

Friday, June 29

Quran chapter 3, verse 56

Disbelievers will be severely punished in this world. Allah says in Quran 3:56,

And as for those who disbelieved, I will punish them with a severe punishment in this world and the Hereafter, and they will have no helpers


Let's see what the punishment is for the Disbelievers who disbelieved in Allah and prophet Muhammad. Below are the classical scholary exegesis of the above verse.

Tafsir Ibn Kathir:

This is what Allah did to the Jews who disbelieved in Isa and the Christians who went to the extreme over him. Allah tormented them in this life; they were killed, captured, and lost their wealth and kingdoms. Their torment in the Hereafter is even worse and more severe


Tafsir al-Jalalayn

As for the disbelievers, I will chastise them with a terrible chastisement in this world, through being killed, taken captive and made to pay the jizya, and the Hereafter, in the Fire; they shall haveno helpers, none to protect them from it.


Tafsir Ibn Abbas

(As for those who disbelieve) in Allah and in His messengers Muhammad and Jesus (I shall chastise them with a heavy chastisement in the world) by exposing them to the sword and the capitation tax (jizyah) (and the Hereafter) by throwing them into the Fire; (and they will have no helpers) to save them from Allah's punishment in this world or in the Hereafter.

Sunday, May 13

Cosmological Criticism: Part 3

This is part of a sequence on Cosmological argument.

The 2nd premise of Modal Cosmological argument is an argument from Contingency. It states that the Universe is contingent.

Fallacy of Composition: Even if we agree that all parts of the Universe is contingent, that doesn't mean Universe as a whole is contingent. It's possible for the necessary universe to be composed entirely of contingent parts.

Counter argument: If the Universe is non-contingent, then Universe either necessarily exist or impossible to exist. But the Universe exists. Which means Universe necessarily exists.

Which means it's impossible for the Universe not to exist. To say that Universe's existence is necessary is to say that its non-existence is impossible. If we can produce a logical contradiction then this impossibility will be easily recognized. For example: a square-circle is impossible because it's self-contradictory.

Considering the Universe to be the whole of existence, the analytic truth[1a] is: [Nothing] doesn't have the property of existence. It's impossible for [Nothing] to exist. Therefore, there must necessarily exist something. Therefore it's impossible for something (universe) not to exist. Therefore Universe necessarily exist.

Universe is not contingent.

Monday, May 7

Monogamy better than Polygamy for society

Monogamy reduces major social problems of polygamist cultures

In cultures that permit men to take multiple wives, the intra-sexual competition that occurs causes greater levels of crime, violence, poverty and gender inequality than in societies that institutionalized and practice monogamous marriage.

Why We Think Monogamy Is Normal?

4 witnesses necessary to prove Rape

Rape in Islamic sharia is equivalent with that of a Highway robbery. Hudud punishments are those punishments which are specified in Quran and Hadith. It needs 4 adult, male witnesses OR confession of the criminal to deliver prescribed Hudud punishment for adultery, rape, robbery etc. That's the Islamic Sharia.

Sahih Bukhari, Vol 8, Book 82, Hadith 816, Narrated Ibn Abbas,

Umar said, "I am afraid that after a long time has passed, people may say, "We do not find the Verses of the Rajam (stoning to death) in the Holy Book," and consequently they may go astray by leaving an obligation that Allah has revealed. Lo! I confirm that the penalty of Rajam be inflicted on him who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if he is already married and the crime is proved by witnesses or pregnancy or confession."

Sufyan added, "I have memorized this narration in this way." Umar added, "Surely Allah's Apostle carried out the penalty of Rajam, and so did we after him."


Therefore, according to this divine law, Hudud punishment for rape which is death penalty could only be given in two cases:

1. Confession by the rapist, or

2. Testimony of 4 (adult, male) witnesses.

A raped woman's accusation on another person is simply not enough. In Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 40, (Chapter: Regarding one deserving of the punishment coming to confess) Hadith 29, we read: Narrated Wa'il ibn Hujr:

When a woman went out in the time of the Prophet (pbuh) for prayer, a man attacked her and overpowered (raped) her. She shouted and he went off, and when a man came by, she said: That (man) did such and such to me. And when a company of the Emigrants came by, she said: That man did such and such to me.

They went and seized the man whom they thought had had intercourse withher and brought him to her. She said: Yes, this is he. Then they brought him to the Apostle of Allah (pbuh).

When he (the Prophet) was about to pass sentence, the man who (actually) had assaulted her stood up and said: Apostle of Allah, I am the man who did it to her. He (the Prophet) said to her: Go away, for Allah has forgiven you. But he told the man some good words (AbuDawud said: meaning the man who was seized), and of the man who had had intercourse with her, he said: Stone him to death.

Monday, April 30

Water isn't defiled by anything!

Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 1: Book of Purification, Hadith 66

Narrated Abu Sa'id al-Khudri

People asked the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) : Can we perform ablution out of the well of Buda'ah, which is a well into which menstrual clothes, dead dogs and stinking things were thrown?

He replied : Water is pure and is not defiled by anything.


Seriously Mo, as a messenger of God, spouting scientifically inaccurate views is the last thing you wanna do !!

Sunday, April 29

Honor Killing in Islam

Islam gives tacit support to the despicable act known as honor killing. In Quran the story of Khidr depicts killing of a young boy because he was going to become an evil individual.

The arabic word Ghira has wide range of meanings. It could mean:

• Honor
• Self-respect
• Protective Jealousy
• A feeling of fury with great anger when one's honor and prestige is challenged or injured.


Analytic thinking facilitates Atheism

As I previously expressed my interest in one blog post that I will be keeping an eye on the topic of human religiosity in spiritual & social context, couple of recent studies thus rightfully attracted my attention. The first one, as it appeared to me, understandably was all over atheist blogosphere. The article cites a study which says "Analytic Thinking Can Promote Atheism". Deliberate analytical thinking could cause people to believe less in God. While religion entertains emotion and intuition, it's the deliberately acquired cognitive thinking skill that enhances logical and rational disposition. I believe atheism is a direct result of this disposition.

Some other studies which were not so noticable in my atheist news feed were....

* Older People Hold Stronger Belief in God...Which is quite understandable.

Wednesday, April 25

Indian rationalist charged with Blasphemy

Dr. Sanal Edamaruku, a prominent Indian Rationalist, Skeptic and "Guru-Buster" was charged with blasphemy against christian church. He faces punishment (possible prison time) for busting the miracle catholic cross hoax...in India.

Wow...just wow! When it comes to using blasphemy laws, it seems christians are just as enthusiastic as muslims.

Another ex-muslim Atheist facing persecution in Turkey

Non-muslims, Ex-muslims and Atheists are getting persecuted all over the world especially in muslim majority countries where blasphemy laws have been enacted by the muslims to stop any kind of criticism of Islam. Latest victim, Fazil Say an ex-muslim atheist from Turkey. Weren't we all quite sure of Turkey being the modern muslim secular democratic country? Well, guess we are wrong again just like we were about Indonesia and Malaysia.

And just like Hamza Kashgari, the Turkish pianist came under investigation over some harmless tweets. Surprising?...Hardly. Consider this verse from Quran:

Only recompense for those who wage war against allah and his messenger and strive in the earth spreading Fasad (mischief) is that they be killed or crucified or be cut off their hands and feet of opposite sides or they be exiled from the land, that is for them disgrace in the world and for them in the Hereafter is a punishment great.


I, as an ex-muslim know how dangerous it is to come out of the closet and declare yourself a Murtad in muslim countries. You risk losing not only your social but physical life as well. I wish Mr. Fazil all the best in his new life in Japan. At least he got the opportunity to move from the country and hopefully Japan would be the last country to extradite him like Malaysia for offending muslims.

God has a plan for you

Hi, I'm God. I let humans starve to death & perish in natural disasters. That makes me impotent, evil, or non-existent. You choose.

Here's a cool picture....

Wednesday, April 4

What is Atheism?

Depending on the definitions of "god (G)" preferred by different theists, I could be labeled differently by different individuals. To understand how this may work check out other posts (Part 1, Part 2) in the series.

Consider the proposition: P = G exists.

Atheism

Atheism is about belief claim. An atheist can simply lack belief/disbelive in G, Or he can proceed further to believe in lack of G. If he lacks belief in G then he is defined as an Atheist.

Sunday, April 1

Problems with Zaid's compilation of Quran

From multiple hadiths of bukhari, we came to know that loss of Quran memorizers prompted Abu Bakr and Umar to assign Zaid to collect the Quran in one book which Muhammad didn't do in his lifetime. Now there are some questions related to the Two witnesses criteria:

• Why was this criteria adopted? Why not 3 witnesses or 4? Who came to the conclusion that 2 witnesses are enough?

• What was expected from these witnesses to testify on isn't clear. Muslim apologist like this argue that, simply to have listened from muhammad wasn't enough. They must had to testify on verses which were written in front of muhammad.

• What about the literary eloquence of Quran? Why eloquence was never a criteria for inclusion or exclusion of a verse for Zaid and his Quran collection team? Somehow it didn't seem a valid criteria to them.

Friday, March 23

Ex-muslim: Personal accounts

→ A collection of short accounts describing the journey to become ex-muslim posted on r/Ex-muslim.

→ Shabbir Akhtar could no longer defend his faith in Islam.

→ Muslim apologist Farhan Qureshi left islam.

Palestinian Ex-muslim blogger Walid Husayin shares his story here on his blog. He was tortured and jailed for leaving Islam and criticising it, after release from prison he now recieving death threats from muslims and living in constant fear.

How many muslims leave Islam?

→ According to research carried out by the respected Pakistani-born American Muslim Dr. Ilyas Ba-Yunus (1932 - 2007), 75% of New Muslim Converts in the US leave Islam within a few years. Listen to the clip detailing this research (or watch on Youtube).

70% new muslim become apostates in USA, 30-40% in UK! This is a iERA video in which a british convert Yusuf Chambers (now works with iERA) begging for donations and Zakat while stating this fact. Perhaps he was a bit naive and honest, since most muslims do not acknowledge the existence of ex-muslims. (watch on Vimeo).

Iranians are leaving islam in growing numbers.

→ There are certainly no penal sanctions for converting from Christianity to any other religion. In Islamic countries, on the other hand, the issue is far from dead. Ibn Warraq's Leaving Islam - Apostates Speak Out is worth watching.

Muslims Leaving Islam in Droves.

2 million ethnic Muslims converted to Christianity in Russia.

Light Bulb Jokes

So I was surfing the fat atheist blog and came across this post. I LOL'd while reading and thought why not modify and add some more into the collection. Enjoy!

How many Christians does it take to change a light bulb?

None. They just pray for light.


≈ ≈ ≈


How many muslims does it take to change the light bulb?

None. They sit in the dark and blame it on Jews.


≈ ≈ ≈


How many jews does it take to change the light bulb?

Tuesday, March 6

Agnosticism & other positions

Depending on the definitions of "god (G)" preferred by different theists, I could be labeled differently by different individuals. To understand how this may work check out other posts (Part 1, Part 3) in the series.

Consider the proposition: P = G exists.

Theism

If you think P is true, then you have a belief in god. You believe that G exists. If you do not have evidence for this belief then it's a non-contingent belief aka faith. You are a Theist. Degrees of confidence for this belief is based on psychological certainty which may differ for different religious individuals.

Agnosticism

If you do not know whether P is true or false, if you don't claim to have knowledge about the existence of G, then you're an Agnostic. Agnosticism is about knowledge claim. It means "without knowledge". Now you may have a stance regarding this proposition P or not have any stance on either side after all. Which gives us the following types:

Agnostic Theist: An agnostic who is also a theist. Someone who has a belief in G but does not claim to have knowledge of its existence.

Agnostic Atheist: Someone who is Agnostic and also an Atheist.

Friday, March 2

A general discussion on Belief

We need to have ideas of some basic terms before we can discuss atheism. I have given a structural definition with the set analogy. I also proposed a definition of knowledge (100% epistemic certainty) and confidence (< 100% either epistemic or psychological or both) using probability here.

What's belief?

Belief is the psychological state in which an individual accepts a proposition or statement to be either true or false. Any particular mental state of a thinking mind has a belief set i.e. A set of beliefs. Consider the set
B= {a, b, c}
Here the Belief set B has some members where,
a = the truth value of the statement a where A person has the belief that a is true or false. Similarly, b = truth value of the statement b where A person has the belief that b is either true or false and so on.

There are some beliefs which are contingent (depends upon evidence) and some beliefs which are non-contingent type. These beliefs are all subsets of the belief set B.
You could have an empty set B ={ } when you lack belief. You lack belief about statement a and statement b which were given in regard to something or someone.

Cosmological Criticism: Part 2

This post is part of a sequence on Cosmological Argument.

The Universe began to exit is the 2nd premise of KCA. Since the Big Bang theory is NOT a theory of the origin of Universe[2a], it no longer holds much importance in Cosmological argument. Christian philosopher William Lane Craig argues that The Borde, Guth, Vilenkin Theorem[2b] acts as a empirical scientific evidence to establish the truth of this premise.

Victor J. Stenger in his most recent book, The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning[2c] :

The conclusion that Borde and collaborators had proved that the universe had to have a beginning was disputed the same year by University of California-Santa Cruz physicist Anthony Aguirre and Cambridge astronomer Steven Gratton in a paper that Craig ignores. Being good scholars, Borde et al. refer to Aguirre and Gratton in their own paper. I contacted Aguirre and Vilenkin, the latter whom I have known professionally for many years. I greatly admire the work of each, which will be referred to often on these pages. I first asked Vilenkin if Craig's statement is accurate. Vilenkin replied:

"I would say this is basically correct, except the words “absolute beginning” do raise some red flags. The theorem says that if the universe is everywhere expanding (on average), then the histories of most particles cannot be extended to the infinite past. In other words, if we follow the trajectory of some particle to the past, we inevitably come to a point where the assumption of the theorem breaks down—that is, where the universe is no longer expanding.
This is true for all particles, except perhaps a set of measure zero. In other words, there may be some (infinitely rare) particles whose histories are infinitely long."

I then asked Vilenkin, “Does your theorem prove that the universe must have had a beginning?”

He immediately replied,
"No. But it proves that the expansion of the universe must have had a beginning. You can evade the theorem by postulating that the universe was contracting prior to some time."

Vilenkin further explained, "For example, Anthony in his work with Gratton, and Carroll and Chen, proposed that the universe could be contracting before it started expanding. The boundary then corresponds to the moment (that Anthony referred to as t = 0) between the contraction and expansion phases, when the universe was momentarily static. They postulated in addition that the arrow of time in the contracting part of space-time runs in the opposite way, so that entropy grows in both time directions from t=0."

I also checked with Caltech cosmologist Sean Carroll, whose recent book From Eternity to Here provides an excellent discussion of many of the problems associated with early universe cosmology. Here was his response:

"I think my answer would be fairly concise: no result derived on the basis of classical spacetime can be used to derive anything truly fundamental, since classical general relativity isn't right. You need to quantize gravity. The BGV [Borde, Guth, Vilenkin] singularity theorem is certainly interesting and important, because it helps us understand where classical GR breaks down, but it doesn't help us decide what to do when it breaks down. Surely there's no need to throw up our hands and declare that this puzzle can't be resolved within a materialist framework. Invoking God to fill this particular gap is just as premature and unwarranted as all the other gaps.


William Craig frequently quotes Vilenkin in his arguments although Vilenkin dismissed[2d] the existence of God as a cause of the begining of the Universe. But most recently in 11 january, 2012 in the New Scientist magazine[2e], Vilenkin argued for a begining of the Universe.

Alan Guth in his Cosmic Inflation paper[2f] wrote,

There is, of course, no conclusion that an eternally inflating model must have a unique beginning, and no conclusion that there is an upper bound on the length of all backwards-going geodesics from a given point. There may be models with regions of contraction embedded within the expanding region that could evade our theorem. Aguirre & Gratton (2002, 2003)have proposed a model that evades our theorem, in which the arrow of time reverses at the t = -1 hypersurface, so the universe “expands” in both halves of the full de Sitter space.


See Bibliography.

Fight Islamic Inquisition!





Fight against The Islamic Inquisition just got a lot bolder. Maryam Namazie amounced in her blog, International Day of Action to Defend Blasphemers and Apostates which will be organized on 14 March 2012. As an ex-muslim atheist I couldn't be happier to see this event. The recent disturbing development of increased harassment, torture, jailing and murdering of ex-muslim atheists to the charges of apostasy and blasphemy against islam in muslim countries reminds me of nothing but a death cult which is slowly depriving us of our basic human rights such as freedom of speech and freedom to reject religious doctrines.

Maryam wrote,

Countless individuals face threats, imprisonment, and execution because of their criticism of religion and religious authorities. Blasphemy and Apostasy laws as well as uncodified rules imposed by both state and non-state actors aim primarily to restrict thought and expression and limit the rights of Muslims, ex-Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Such rules exist in a number of countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Morocco, Turkey, Yemen,Iraq and elsewhere.


Then she announced the initiative...

On 14 March 2012, we, the undersigned, are calling for simultaneous events and actions in defence of the critics of religion in order to highlight medieval laws and exert pressure to save the lives of the women and men facing execution, imprisonment or threats.


I fully agree. This is what we need. To put pressure on islamic governments not to practice sharia. No more sharia, no more human rights violations.

Whilst there are countless people awaiting punishment under these rules and regulations, we are highlighting ten such cases...


Read rest of the post on her Free Thought blog where she put a list of the victims of islamic blasphemy law. By the way, it seems that one guy is missing from the list which I pointed out also in the comment section. Not to mention, the Palestinian ex-muslim atheist Walid who is constantly living under fear after being tortured by palestinian sharia police. I know there are countless other victims of islamic sharia who could never reach us via news media. But we have to keep on fighting for freedom. Right?

Tuesday, February 28

Problem of Evil: an introduction



Epicurus — kicking God's arse since 300 B.C. !



The problem of evil is one of the best and most debated philosophical arguments against the existence of god. Actually in my opinion, it is the best argument ever! A modern version of this argumet is follows something like this: Let, God be defined as an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, ontologically basic, non-contingent, disembodied mental entity.

1. If god is Omnibenevolent, he would want to prevent evil.

2. If god is omniscient he would know every possible way in which evil may occur.

3. If god is omnipotent then he would act in every possible way in order to prevent evil from manifesting in every possible way.

4. God is non-contingent which means god is either necessary (necessarily true) or impossible (necessarily false).

5. Assuming god as a necessarily true existent being, god exist necessarily in all possible worlds.

6. In a world E, (subjective, objective or gratuitous) Evil exist. In that world E, also god exist.

7. God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent which leads to a contradiction with manifestation of Evil in the world E.

8. Therefore according to proof by contradiction, such a god is impossible to exist.

9. Therefore, God does not exit.

Here I just presented a general version of the argument. As I read more about this topic, sophisticated arguments and their implications will follow through.

Saturday, February 25

Anthropomorphic Allah

Often it appears that muslims think they know and have all the rights to explain christianity for christians. Imagine muslims lecturing christians why Jesus couldn't be a god since he had human attributes. I find it quite funny when Islamic preachers throw challenge to christians asking for a bible verse where Jesus claimed to be god yet try to downplay the same problem in their own religion. I can turn the table and accuse muslims of worshipping a deity who, according to Quran and Hadith, has physical attributes. We could draw quite a similitude — Just like trinitarian christians wholeheartedly accept Jesus' divinity despite him being a human, muslims consider islamic god Allah unique even though some verses of the Quran and multiple Hadiths indicate anthropomorphipm.

Allah has a face, hands, fingers, shin. Allah has an eye, foot also. Allah goes up because he has a place to stay and sit. What goes up must come down therefore allah descends!

Of course, muslims vehemently deny all these features and resort to semantic gymnastics in order to explain away the Mutashabihat... unclear, ambiguous verses.

According to the islamic scholars, there are three ways of understanding the mutashabihat Quranic verses and hadiths:

1. Tafwid which basically means uttering: "allah knows best" because we are clueless. The companions of Muhammad as well as classical scholars held the position that only allah has full knowledge of these ambiguous verses.

2. Ta’wil which means ‘figurative interpretation within the parameters of classical Arabic usage. It is to claim that these are all metaphorical or poetical figure of speech etc. Muslims who like to defend their religion generally adopt this position. After all, who likes to appear clueless in a debate? And lastly,

3. Tashbih or anthropomorphic literalism. More specifically Tasjim, meaning ascribing bodily characteristics to god. Most muslims do not agree with it except perhaps some fringe minority.

In order for allah to see or do certain things, it need not have to posses eyes, foot, hands etc. This is a collective Mind projection fallacy which was committed by the then pagan idol worshipping society. Muhammad demanded everyone should accept him as the messenger of this pagan deity and modified the deity to suit abrahamic god. But he couldn't refrain himself from humanizing this deity since it was after all, a projection of his own mind.

Friday, February 17

Necrophilia in Islam

1. Islamic Legal Fatwa: Necrophilia now halal says Sheikh Abdelbari Zamzami

2. Sexual intercourse with dead bodies is ok in Islam and is religiously permissible - Reddit thread on r/exmuslim: http://redd.it/psn5l

Wednesday, February 15

Sexy virgins for muslims

Oh Mo, bribing your horny followers with promises of poon, eh?

LOL I love how Muslim culture is obsessed with modesty even though Mo used some pretty pornographic language to tempt his followers to do his bidding. Here are just some descriptions of the hoor al-ayn:

PERKY BOOBIES, YAY!

A houri is a girl of tender age, having large breasts which are round (pointed), and not inclined


At-Tirmizi, Volume Two

NO "WIZARD SLEEVE" VAG FOR YOU MY FRIEND... ONLY THE BEST! (psst...Viagra pills included!!!!)

Every one of them will have a pleasant vagina and he (the man) will have sexual organ that does not bend down during sexual intercourse (perpetual erection).


Imam Ghazzali: Ihya Uloom Ed-Din, Vol. 4

lol WHAT IS THIS OBSESSION THAT MO HAD WITH UNBROKEN HYMENS?

Wherein both will be those (maidens) restraining their glances upon their husbands, whom no man or jinn yatmithhunna (has opened their hymens with sexual intercourse) before them.


Qur'an 55:56- Muhsin Khan

DAT BONE MARROW!

...everyone will have two wives from the houris, (who will be so beautiful, pure and transparent that) the marrow of the bones oftheir legs will be seen through the bones and the flesh.


Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 54, Number 476

JANNAH IS A BIG BROTHEL

Allah's Apostle said, "In Paradise there is a pavilion made of a single hollow pearl sixty miles wide, in each corner of which there are wives who will not see those in the other corners; and the believers will visit and enjoy them....


Sahih Bukhari Volume 6, Book 60, Number 402

lol as they say, "sex sells" :D

source: http://redd.it/plqm1

Check out the 72 virgins !!

Wednesday, February 8

What is Big Bang?

The Big Bang theory says nothing about the origin of the Universe.

BBT is the expansion of Universe from its earlier, hot, dense state.

1. The definition of Big Bang from NASA's website.

2. The big bang was NOT a fireworks display! It wasn't like a bomb explosion.

3. If the whole Universe is infinitely large now, then it was always infinite...including during the Big Bang as well !!

4. Sascha Vongehr explains the theory of Big Bang.

5. Evidence of the Big Bang with some yet to be resolved problems and their implications.

Thursday, February 2

Cosmological Criticism: Bibliography

0a. Mapping the Kalam: commonsenseatheism.com

0b. The Kalam argument, .pdf

0c. Cosmological Arguments, Iron Chariots Wiki

1a. Must the Beginning of the Universe have a Personal Cause? commonsenseatheism.com

1b. Kalam Cosmological Argument. Disprove it on r/DebateAChristian

1c. The Grumpy Anti-theist: Kalam Defense Showing More Failure. blogspot.com

1e. Can the Standard Big Bang Model Describe the Origin of the Universe? « Debunking William Lane Craig wordpress.com

1f. What Happened Before the Big Bang? The New Philosophy of Cosmology, theatlantic.com

1g. Addressing Scott Clifton’s Response to the Kalam Argument, 12tuesday.com

2a. What is Big Bang? blogspot.com

2b. Borde, Vilenkin, Guth Theorem, .pdf

2c. Victor J. Stenger, The Fallacy of Fine Tuning: Why the Universe is not Designed for Us. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 2011. pp. 127-30.

2d. Craig on Vilenkin on Cosmic Origins, commonsenseatheism.com

2e. Why physicists can't avoid a creation event, newscientist.com. Read full article on Scribed.com.

2f. Alan H. Guth, Cosmic Inflation, .pdf

Friday, January 27

Linguistic problems in arabic Quran

The Arabic language is a descendent of the Aramaic language. The Arabic language used in the Qur’an originated in the region west of the Euphrates river in the fourth-fifth century AD. It was originally centered around al-Hira, about three miles from al-Kufa in southern Iraq, among the Christian tribes of al-Munathara that expanded its rule to the region of al-Anbar on the Euphrates west of Baghdad. Its origins then are the Christians of al-Hira and al-Anbar. Subsequently, the Arabic language dominated all the territory west of the Euphrates. That is probably why it is called Arabic (Arabi) from the word “western” (Gharbi). It influenced the Levant, and spread to Mecca and al-Higaz through trade and Christian evangelism.

It is important to distinguish between miracles of the almighty living God and accomplishments of natural human talents. The achievements of human talents and special abilities are not miracles. Some persons may be gifted physically—they have strong large bodies. Others may have strong photographic memories. Some are gifted in the area of languages. They have the natural ability to learn many languages, including unwritten dialects, quickly and retain them. Some are gifted in speech. They talk very well and make captivating speeches. Others may be gifted writers and poets. They author excellent prose and poetry. It is important to stress the fact that language fluency, authoring and speech abilities are human talents. They are not miracles of the living God. Therefore, it is inappropriate to call any book a miracle because of its eloquent language. Great works of gifted authors and poets could not be called miracles. For instance, we cannot call the Eliad and the Odyssey, the great works of the Greek poet Homer of the eighth century B.C., miracles. Neither can we call the plays of William Shakespeare, the great English writer of the sixteenth century A.D., miracles. By the same token, we could not consider the Qur’an a miracle, even if it were a great literary work, which it is not. The following analysis shows why the Qur’an is not a great literary work.

A. The Style of the Qur'an

The style of the Qur’an is a blend of rhetorical rhymed prose and a lyrical structure particularly adaptable for oral recitation, which was a common and a favorite mode of composition in Arabia at Muhammad’s time. The rhymed prose which dominates the Quranic style adheres to no meter, and was utilized extensively by the soothsayers of pagan Arabia. The Qur’an is in the dialect and style of the tribe of Quraysh of the sixth and seventh centuries Arabia, and therefore, does not reflect an independent heavenly source (Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, p. 228).

The rhyme is regularly maintained in the Qur’an. This often causes distortion and ambiguity in the Qur’anic text by the derangement of the order of words, by distorting nouns, and by changing verbal forms (e.g. using the imperfect instead of the perfect tense). In order to save the rhyme mount Sinai is called mount Sinin in Surah al-Tin 95: 2 instead of mount Sina’ as in Surah al-Mu’minun 23: 20. Similarly, Elijah is called Ilyasin in Surah al-Saffat 37: 130 instead of Ilyas as in Surah al-An’am 6: 85 and Surah al-Saffat 37: 123. In certain instances, the substance is modified to suit the requirements of the rhyme. In Surah al-Haqqah 69: 17, the unusual number of eight is used for the angels bearing the throne of God, because the Arabic word for “eight” fits the rhyme of the passage perfectly. This is despite the fact that the number “eight” has no theological significance. Surah al-Rahman 55: 46ff speaks of two heavenly gardens, each has two fountains and two kinds if fruits, etc. The number “two” is used simply because the Arabic dual termination “an” corresponds to the syllable that controls the rhyme of the whole Surah.

Although Arabia’s pre-Islamic history ended with the country still on the fringes of civilization, the sixth century AD saw the birth of Arabic literature, which was associated with the short-lived kingdom of Kinda (from about 480 to about 550 AD). Poetic talent flourished in the sixth and seventh centuries AD. The most famous poems were known as the seven golden odes. In fact, it was the custom of poets and orators of that time to hang up their compositions on the Kaaba in Mecca for every one to read and recite. That is why they were known as the hangings (al-Muallaqat). A famous poem of the poet Imru’ al-Qais (d. 540) was published in that way. Several lines of that poem are found in the Qur’an (al-Qamar 54: 1, 29, 31; ad-Duha 93: 1, 2; al-Anbiya 21: 96; al-Saffat 37: 61). In addition, words, thoughts and style of known poets and orators contemporary with Muhammad are found in the Qur’an. A few examples of those are Qus ibn Sa’idah al-Ayadi (d. 600), Qamaia ibn Abi al-Salat (d. 624), al-Haseen ibn Hamam (d. 611) [al-A’raf 7: 8, 9], Waraqa ibn Nofal (d. 592), and Antara al-Abasi (d. 610). Not only some of the works of contemporary poets and orators are found in the Qur’an, but also men like Nadir ibn Haritha (Canon Sell, Studies, p. 208), Hamzah ibn Ahed, and Musailama (McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia, V:152) produced works like, and qualitatively better than, the Qur’anic text in eloquence. In addition, according to the Qur’an, the jinn (al-Hijr 15: 27 tells about creating the jinn from fire) contributed almost a whole chapter (Surah) into the Qur’an. It is Surah 72, and it is called by their name: Surah al-Jinn. Most of the verses in this Surah are words of the jinn, but the style is that of the Qur’an. Furthermore, Satan contributed into Surah al-Najm his satanic verses (al-Najm 53: 19-23), which were subsequently deleted.

Therefore, it is concluded that the challenge of the Qur’an to produce something like it: “Say: ‘Surely if men and Jinn were to gather together to produce the like of this Qur-an they could not produce its like, even if they backed up each other with help and support’” (al-Isra’ 17: 88; al-Baqarah 2: 23; Yunus 10: 38) was successfully and convincingly met both in the jahilia before Muhammad and during the time of Muhammad by Arab poets and orators, as well as by the jinn and Satan. In fact, Ali Dashti, the famous Iranian-Arab Muslim scholar, stated the following in his book, “Twenty Three Years: A study of the Prophetic Career of Muhammad,” Allen and Unwin, London, 1985:

"Among the Muslim scholars of the early period, before bigotry and hyperbole prevailed, were some such as Ebrahim an-Nazzam who openly acknowledged that the arrangement and syntax of the Qur'an are not miraculous and that works of equal or greater value could be produced by other God-fearing persons" (p. 48).

"It is widely held that the blind Syrian poet Abu'l-`Ala al-Ma'arri (979-1058) wrote his Ketab al-fosul wa' l-ghayat, of which a part survives, in imitation of the Qur'an" (p. 48).

"The Qur'an contains sentences which are incomplete and not fully intelligible without the aid of commentaries; foreign words, unfamiliar Arabic words, and words used with other than the normal meaning; adjectives and verbs inflected without observance of the concords of gender and number; illogically and ungrammatically applied pronouns which sometimes have no referent; and predicates which in rhymed passages are often remote from the subjects. These and other such aberrations in the language have given scope to critics who deny the Qur'an's eloquence. The problem also occupied the minds of devout Moslems. It forced the commentators to search for explanations and was probably one of the causes of disagreement over readings" (p. 48, 49).

Upon careful reading of the Qur’an, one realizes that Many of the longer Surahs are made up of passages from Muhammad's mission both at Mecca and at Medina. Within these composite long Surahs, the subject of the text varies from legal restriction to prophetic narratives, from ethical teaching to praises to God, etc., coupled with numerous catch-phrases. More often than not the different subjects of the longer Surahs have no logical connection with each other at all. Therefore, the Qur'an is quite a disjointed book. It is a collection of fragmentary texts and passages compiled into an unharmonious whole without respect to sequence, subject or theme.


B. Imperfect Grammar

Although the Qur’an states that it is in clear perfect Arabic tongue (al-Nahl 16: 103; al-Shu’ara’ 26: 195; al-Zumar 39: 28; al-Shura 42: 7; al-Zukhruf 43: 3), it could not be considered perfectly eloquent because of its imperfect Arabic grammar, its usage of foreign words, and its spelling errors. It contains many grammatical errors. The following are a few examples of these errors: al-Ma’idah 5: 69 (the Arabic word Alsabeoun should be Alsabieen); al-Baqarah 2: 177 (the Arabic word alsabireen should be alsabiroon); al-Imran 3: 59 (the Arabic word fayakoon should be fakaana); al-Baqarah 2: 17, 80, 124; al-A’raf 7: 56 (the Arabic word qaribun should be qaribtun); al-A’raf 7: 160 (the Arabic word asbatan should be sebtan); Ta Ha 20: 63 (the Arabic phrase Hazani Lasaherani should be Hazaini Lasahirieni); al-Hajj 22: 19 (the Arabic phrase ikhtasamu fi rabbihim should be ikhtasama fi rabbihima); al-Tawbah 9: 62, 69 (the Arabic word kalladhi should be kalladhina); al-Munafiqun 63: 10 (the Arabic word Akon should be Akoon); al-Nisa’ 4: 162 (the Arabic word Almuqimeen should be Almuqimoon); and al-Hujurat 49: 9 (the Arabic word eqtatalu should be eqtatala). Ali Dashti and Mahmud al-Zamakhshari (1075-1144), famous Muslim scholars, noted more than one hundred Quranic aberrations from the normal grammatical rules and structure of the Arabic language (Ali Dashti, Twenty Three Years: A study of the Prophetic Career of Muhammad, Allen and Unwin, London, 1985, p. 50).


C. Foreign Words

According to Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 1505), the great Muslim philologist and commentator, and Arthur Jeffery in his book of The Foreign Vocabulary of The Qur’an (Lahore, Pakistan: al-Biruni, 1977), the Qur’an contains 107 and 275 foreign words respectively taken from the Persian, Assyrian, Syriac, Hebrew, Greek, Coptic, and Ethiopian languages. The following are a few examples of these words:

Persian: Ara’ik and Istabraq (al-Kahf 18: 31) meaning couches and brocades respectively, Abariq (al-Waqi’ah 56: 18) meaning ewers, Ghassaqan (al-Naba’ 78: 25) meaning pus, Sijjil (al-Fil 105: 4) meaning baked clay;
Aramaic: Harut and Marut (al-Baqarah 2: 102), Sakina (al-Baqarah 2: 248) meaning God’s presence;
Hebrew: Ma’un (al-Ma’un 107: 7) meaning charity, Ahbar (al-Tawbah 9: 31) meaning Rabbis;
Ethiopian: Mishkat (al-Nur 24: 35) meaning niche;
Syraic: Surah (al-Tawbah 9: 124) meaning chapter, Taghut (al-Baqarah 2: 257; al-Nahl 16: 36) meaning idols, Zakat (al-Baqarah 2: 110) meaning alms, Fir’awn (al-Muzzammil 73: 15) meaning Pharaoh;
Coptic: Tabut (al-Baqarah 2: 248) meaning ark.

Muhammad did not know the exact meaning of some of these foreign words, which were not arabized by his time. Therefore, he misused them. For instance, the Aramaic word “furqan” means “redemption.” Muhammad used it for “revelation” and “criterion” (e.g. al-Furqan 25: 1). The Aramaic word “Milla” means “word.” It was used for “religion” in the Qur’an (al-Baqarah 2: 120, 130, 135; etc). The word “Illiyun” (al-Mutaffifin 83: 18, 19) is from the Hebrew word “Elyon” which means “the most high.” Muhammad used it for “a heavenly book” (al-Mutaffifin 83: 20).

The earliest Islamic exegetes, especially those associated with ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abbas, a cousin of Muhammad, had a special interest in discovering the origin and meaning of the foreign words. The true living God, the originator of all human languages, is certainly capable of perfect Arabic devoid of foreign words, especially in light of the fact that the Qur’an claims that it is his eternal speech in pure Arabic! Therefore, the divine origin of the Qur’an is questionable?


D. Spelling Errors

The text of the Qur’an has many spelling errors, many of which are traceable back to its most ancient extant manuscripts of the end of the eighth century AD. This indicates that these serious mistakes had existed in the original texts. One wonders about the extent of other mistakes in the original that are not so obvious, and therefore, have gone undetected! This means that the Qur’an is not divinely protected from corruption as it claims. There are various printings of the Qur’an in circulation today (Indian, Pakistani, Swahili, Iranian, Egyptian, Turkish, etc). They are inconsistent in manipulating the spelling errors. Some printings delete an extra letter, while others silence it with a vowel mark., still others add a missing letter. The following are a few examples of these spelling mistakes in the Qur’an.

1. One of these very serious spelling errors changes the meaning drastically form “yes” to “no.” This is because, in many cases, the Arabic word “la” for negation is followed by an extra letter “alif.” The word “la” means “no,” while the Arabic letter “l” attached to a word means “certainly,” which is the opposite of “no.” A few examples of this serious mistake are found in these verses: al-Naml 27: 21; al-‘Imran 3: 158; al-Saffat 37: 68; al-Tawbah 9: 47; al-‘Imran 3: 167; al-Hashr 59: 13. Removing the extra alif after the word “la” corrects the reading.

2. The 1924 Egyptian text of the Qur’an contains over 9,000 small alifs marked above the letters it follows. This small alif is a modern invention used to correct thousands of mistakes in the earliest extant manuscripts of the Qur’an where the alifs are completely missing (al-Fatihah 1: 1-4, 6; al-Baqarah 2: 110, 126; Ta Ha 20: 63; etc). This indicates that the original text of the Qur’an contained all these mistakes. In fact, the opening statement of the Qur’an (In the name of Allah, the beneficient, the merciful) contains three errors of missing alifs: two are pronounced (Allah, alrahmaan) and one is silent (bism). The Arabic word for God (Allah) is spelled wrongly without the alif 2700 times. In the oldest manuscripts of the Qur’an, the Arabic word for man “al-ensaan” is written wrongly without the alif. This is corrected in some modern printings of the Qur’an by either adding the missing alif or a short “alif.” In some instances, the omitted alif changes the meaning significantly. For instance, in Muhammad 47: 4, the word “qutilu” without alif means “were killed,” whereas the word “qaatalu” with alif means “fought.” Excess alifs are silenced by the vowl mark of sukun to correct the spelling (al-Tawbah 9: 47; Hud 11: 68; al-Furqan 25: 38; al-Ankabut 29: 38; al-Najm 53: 51; al-A’raf 7: 103; Yunis 10: 75, 83; Hud 11: 97; al-Mu’minun 23: 46; al-Qasas 28: 32; al-Zukhruf 43: 46; etc).

3. The Arabic “shadda” is a later addition that indicates doubling the sound of the consonant. There are disagreements on its use. In fact, the 1924 Egyptian edition contains over 3380 shaddas more than those in the 1909 Turkish edition of the Qur’an (al-Baqarah 2: 78; etc). In some instances the addition of a shadda changes the meaning of the verse. For instance, two opposing doctrines are derived from al-Baqarah 2: 222 depending on the presence or absence of the shadda. If the word “yathurna” without shadda is used, the verse indicates that sexual intercourse with a menstruating woman is permitted at the expiry of her period, but before she has cleansed herself. However, if the same word with the shadda “yattahirna” is used, the verse will indicate that intercourse is permitted only after the menstruating woman has cleansed herself? Again, with shadda, the word “wakaffalaha” in al-‘Imran 3: 37 indicates that Zakariya looked after Mary. Without shadda, the word “wakafalaha” indicates that God appointed Zakariya to look after her. In fact, the shadda in the word “Allaah” is a mistake because it adds a third letter “l” to the word making it “Alllaah.”

4. Excess letters are silenced or simply ignored. For instance, the excess waw is silenced by hamza in al-Ma’idah 5: 29; the excess “l” in al-An’am 6: 32 is ignored; so is the excess “dal” in al-Ma’idah 5: 89; etc. In addition, there are many examples of missing letters: missing “ya” from al-A’raf 7: 196; Quraysh 106: 2; etc; missing waw from al-Zukhruf 43: 13; al-Isra’ 17: 7; al-Ma’arij 70: 13; etc; missing nun from al-Anbiya’ 21: 88; Yusuf 12: 11; and missing sin from al-Baqarah 2: 245; al-A’raf 7: 69; etc.

5. The Arabic letter “y” is pronounced as the long vowel “a” if its two dots are omitted. This is treated differently in various modern printings of the Qur’an, as there are disagreements on how it should be handled. Examples on this problem are: al-‘Imran 3: 28; al-Baqarah 2: 98; al-Dhariyat 51: 47; Fussilat 41: 20; al-Kahf 18: 70.

6. The Arabic letter “t” should be corrected and written with the Arabic letter “h” with two dots over it in these verses: al-‘Imran 3: 61;al-A’raf 7: 56; al-Nur 24: 7; etc.

E. Conclusion

As we discussed above, Arabic eloquence was common in Muhammad’s time among both the literate and illiterate alike. There is a strong evidence that Muhammad was literate. He was a successful merchant that knew how to read numbers which were written in letters. He also wrote several letters to kings and heads of states inviting them to Islam. The Qur’an says he was literate in Surah al-‘Alaq 96: 1-5; al-Nahl 16: 98; al-Isra’ 17: 14, 45, 106; and al-Furqan 25: 5. The Arabic word “ummy” in Surah al-Imran 3: 20; al-Jum’ah 62: 2; and al-A’raf 7: 157-158 does not mean illiterate. It means those who were neither Jews nor Christians. However, even if Muhammad were illiterate, the alleged eloquence of the Qur’an, which is imperfect Arabic and an inferior literary production as we explained above, is not extraordinary in its historical context.

In addition, the above proves definitively that the Islamic claim about the linguistic perfection of the Qur’an is false and has no foundation in truth. Therefore, linguistically the Qur’an is not miraculous. In fact, the presence of grammatical errors, spelling errors, and foreign words in the Qur’an are strong arguments against its divine origin. The true almighty omniscient God of this universe could certainly produce a book containing both perfect grammar and eloquence at the same time, without having to sacrifice one for the other.

source: http://3lotus.com/en/Islam/Quran-Not-a-Miracle.htm
 

Saturday, January 21

An explanation of Chapter 2 verse 193 in Quran

Read the verse here. You can read different translations and translations in different languages.

Read the word by word translation here.

So basically the verse says
Fight the disbelievers untill there is no more Fitna and Islam established as only religion. But if the disbelievers cease fighting, let there be no hostility towards them, except against the Zalimun.


The verse after reading the translation looks bad enough. But this verse gets even worse when we translate the word "Fitna" and the word "Zalimun"

What does Fitna mean? It can have different meanings.

Read the Wikipedia article about Fitna

Read the definition from authentic islamic website Islamqa.com

Fitna basically means chaos due to disagreement in opinion. The verse could mean that fight them until there is no disagreement against islam.

In this specific verse, fitna is used to mean disbelief in allah, rejecting allah or accepting other gods besides allah. That's what Ibn Kathir said in his Tafsir.

So this verse means allah says, fight the disbelievers until there is no more disbelief in allah.

What does Zalimun mean? Zalimun is plural. Single is Zalim. Who are the zalimun or who is a Zalim?

  1. Every idolater is a Zalim (2:92, 7:148, 10:106)
  2. Every disbeliever is a Zalim (2:254)
  3. Whoever calls himself a god is a Zalim (21:29)
  4. Whoever denies any of the verses of Quran is a Zalim (29:49)
  5. Whoever invents a lie against allah is a Zalim (3:94, 6:21)
  6. Whoever makes false claims is a Zalim (11:31)
  7. Is your friend hostile to islam? Then you are also a Zalim (9:23, 60:9)
  8. Whoever follows desires rather than Quran and Sunnah is also a Zalim (2:145)
  9. Whoever punishes an innocent is a Zalim (12:79)
  10. Whoever violates the laws of allah is a Zalim (2:229)
  11. And lastly, whoever does not judge by the Quran and sunnah is a Zalim (5:45)


So the last part of the verse: no hostility except against the Zalimun means, except against them who are idol worshippers, pagans, atheists, non-muslims. I mean everyone other than muslims can be a Zalim. Even some muslims can be Zalimun according to Quran.

Interesting to see that in this verse, today's muslims translate Fitna as persecution and Zalimina as oppressors. In this way they make it look like muslims are the victims. But there attempt shows intellectual dishonesty. To know the accurate meaning we must follow what the early scholars honestly said about these verses.

Friday, January 20

The Cosmological Argument

The Cosmological Argument for the existence of God and my criticism of it — a Sequence.

→ Introduction

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

→ Part 4

→ ....

Bibliography

Thursday, January 12

Cosmological Criticism: Part 1

This is part of the sequence on Cosmological Argument.

The first premise of William Lane Craig's Kalam Cosmological argument is
Whatever begins to exist has a cause

There are other versions of this premise. It can also be said like this: "Every thing that begins to exist has a cause".

1. Fallacy of Equivocation: Craig says this premise is justified through "common sense", "everyday experience" and which is "intuitively obvious". But we don't see anything begin to exist "ex nihilo". We see things begin to exist "ex materia". In other words, things change one form to another. Comparing the begining of Universe's existence ex nihilo (presumably) with begining of things' existence ex materia is a fallacy of equivocation.

2. Begging the question: The premise implies two sets of things. Things that begin to exist (BE) and things that don't begin to exist i.e. eternal (NBE). If god is the only object allowed in NBE then the premise becomes "Every thing except god has a begining & cause of its existence". If the conclusion of the argument is "Universe has an eternal, uncaused cause" then presupposing god as the only necessary candidate makes the argument question begging. In order to avoid begging the question, theist must produce one or more real or hypothetical candidates other than god for NBE. For example: pre-big bang universe, quantum mechanical field, branes, aliens etc and then logically exclude them.

3. Causal Determinism is correct: The premise assumes causal determinism is absolutely correct in all aspects of (classical, relativistic, quantum) physics. If theists assume, the exact (non-probabilistic) cause for when and why a single unstable nucleus becomes stable (radioactive decay) will be eventually verified through empirical scientific observation, then what prevents atheists to assume science will eventually find the exact naturalistic cause of the origin of Universe?

The premise could also be worded like this "Every finite and contingent or dependent thing have a cause". This is a modal version of the premise which says, All contingent thing have a cause or explanation of their existence.

4. Causality and Time: If time is finite and contingent then it has a cause of its existence. But causality doesn't apply in any way when there is no time.

5. Quantum Mechanics: Vacuum fluctuation i.e. formation of particle anti-particle pair in a quantum mechanical field is a quantum phenomenon which is finite and (if) contingent, has no cause. The phenomenon has been observed in Casimir effect. Although Bell's inequalities show local hidden variables don't exist, under Bohmian mechanics (causal deterministic interpretation of quantum mechanics) non-local hidden variable (which requires faster than light interaction) still is an unproved hypothesis at best.

6. Problem of Induction: Even though causality applies to the known world, it does not apply to the Universe at large. The premise of causality has been arrived at via a posteriori inductive reasoning which is dependent on experience. Hume argued causal relations are not a true deductive a priori.

See Bibliography