Why Islam?

This is an important question, indicating that the questioner is mature and enlightened. In response I say:

Islam is a religion that includes a number of merits and characteristics that are absent from other religions. These characteristics, alone, serve as convincing evidence that Islam is the true religion of God. You can determine the authenticity of this statement by contemplating them.

Searching for Happiness

Happiness is a common goal that everyone strives to attain. Philosophers, intellectuals, doctors and artists alike have all strived in search of the causes of happiness and ways to escape anxiety.

The reality is, however, that the proposed solutions achieve only partial or superficial happiness. They are more or less like drugs which only provide temporary relief; when their effect wares off, anxieties return two fold.

The following words invite you to ultimate happiness and will lead you to true success. But before you begin reading, I hope that you to take a moment to try to open your heart and mind - as the intelligent one is he who searches for the truth no matter where it lies.

Freedom Talk As per the Vision of the Muslim Woman

It is a real message from a Muslim female student to all her counterparts in the various universities of the world, especially in America and Europe represented in her realistic vision in conformity with a rational perspective. The vision is simply centralized in the pioneer ship of the Muslim woman in her field, the tasks attributed her and the guarantee of her religion which seeks her dignity in the various fields: at home, at work and in all her life stations.

It is only a simple reminder about Islamic Law and its guarantee to the woman to practice her freedom as the man, but as per controls ruled by morals, with no transgression on others rights. Most importantly observing the public etiquette, as well as her feminity. It awards her the high as the man to benefit from the civil civilization. She is the teacher, the student, and the raising mother. The lord has honored her via this great religion: Islam.

Her prestige is evident from the various Islamic legislations represented in:

a- Equality in rights and duties which is the normal criterion between her and the man as per the Islamic perspective taking into account the different roles to be played by them.
b- The Messenger of Allah, May Allah’s peace be upon him was always stressing on honoring the woman and she is entitled to struggle and claim & practice her rights as per the law of Islam which ensures that for her.
c- Islam encourages honoring and kindness to both parents and mercifully deals with them especially the mother. Islam urges and focuses on the importance of kindness to both of them in a repeated fashion indicating honoring the woman in her various age stages.
d- One of the most important honoring points obtained by the woman as per the Islamic perspective is that she does not incur expenditure on herself & her kids as long as her husband is alive. Thus, Islam has awarded her this distinction for honoring her, as expenditure is a must on the husband.
e- According to Islamic law, the woman is considered the raiser of generations, the factory of glories and the basic brick in constituting the child’s character and configuring his/her culture derived from excellent teachings aiming at mercy, respect, unselfishness, life love and creation development. All these important points are some of the major tasks assigned for the woman indicating high trust in her, and the high dependence on her. This is only one aspect of her multiple contributions in the community service as an active member besides the man.

The woman is the most important and major inducer in the house. She is the fuel of the ship which rests on a safe shone. Through the woman, stability is achieved as she is the supporter, partner and the spring of love & affection for all. This is Islam’s genuine view to the woman as being the basic brick of the woman as being the basic brick of the woman. This is a source of proud of this religion (Islam) which has awarded the woman this prestige as well as many honoring stations in her life.
Muslims do believe that all heavenly religions are from God, the true of faith of a Muslim is the belief in those heavenly religions and the messages they have brought. Religious fanaticism along some evil intentions which have caused enmities and hatred among the followers of the various religions. Those having the wicked intentions want to encourage this hatred through distorting the legislations of Islam and its view towards the woman, yet Islam with its tolerant teachings since its birth stresses on putting aside the hatred culture and replace it by a spirit of tolerance coming out from moral fields supporting agreement and reconciliation under an important title that is human respect. Secondly, the obvious teachings & frank legislations calling for honoring the woman and putting her in her suitable positions as a genuine base for the community and an important tribute towards configurating the family’s culture in particular and the community in general. Those teachings and the legislation methodologies are available for researchers away of the fabricated racial distortment and fogginess.
This honoring is a source of proud. There is no wonder that may of the western women converted to Islam due to their admiration with the practices of Islam which stress on honoring the woman within its teachings.
This is a freedom method for those looking for reality.


http://musaad.wordpress.com/islam/freedom/

Concepts of Moral Values in Islam

Religious thinking concentrated its search on certainty in life, and on the reasons on human existence, to know mysterious secret of life. Fedriek Tylor was one of the early scholars who cared for the idea of religion. He observed that relationship between social behavior and religion is an interrelation. When religion concentrate on moral values such as permitted and prohibited, on good and evil, on reward and punishment, then it enters the details of society life. While Emile Durkheim
, on the other side, admits that religion regulates beliefs and behaviors related to sacred things, and that they resemble unity of believers. Religion then has more than one job. From the individual side, it assists them to feel security, stability and safety, to determine their identity, and group belongingness and their acceptance to values and beliefs that religion regulates. From the side of society it helps in regulating emotions and their sustainability, and this is one of the pillars of community continuity and sustainability. Passing over all dealing of sociologists in the field of moral values, we observe that it remind us, in details or summary, moral values as they had been seen in the ancient Greek paganism, or in Judaism, or Christianity, then it turn abruptly to its shapes, and forms in modern Europe, ignoring discussing their views, shapes and forms in Islam. But some Europeans during the nineteenth century tried to extract moral values and principles from the Holy Quran, but such trials never reached the stage of shaping practical foundations, or to offer them in the shape of a complete constitution of moral vales, in addition to that they are built on incorrect translation for the Holy Quran meanings. There is another worst situation which is found among seculars, who study values in Islam then compare them tot the values of Arabian life before Islam, or to what had been stated in the Torah or the Bible, then they decide that if values are matching between Islam and what its precedents, then this is an indicator that Islam revealed them from previous religions, and if there is difference, then this is an indicator that values are not absolute but relative. The aim of this is to distort the shape of Islam, and to decide that it didn’t bring any thing new to human life. They didn’t know that matching could come from that Islam is the source of values as it is in the previous religions, because it came from Allah who sent all messengers and prophets, and they didn’t know also that stating that values are relative is mistaken, and that it is more accurate to say that some societies are limiting their potentials and capacity to reach to the absolute right. The need for studying values from an Islamic perspective could be felt if we came to know that doubts cast by some intellectuals that Muslims are to abandon their moral and spiritual values if they are to seek scientific and technological progress and to seek merge to western life, and that it is impossible for Muslims to build on values, because the absence of values is the source that brought industry and science and that values shall limit space for achieving civilization. This is not true, because some nations achieved civilizations while they protect their identity and values such the Japanese. There are Muslim scholars who adhere to their Islamic values, theology and behavior and they achieved vast progress in scientific and technological fields. The Holy Quran is a methodology of morals and virtue, that is stated the rules of morals, and drew the path of right behavior that achieves happy life to all society individuals. Allah states in the Holy Quran (Surely, this Qur’an guides to what is most right; and gives to the believers who do good deeds the glad tidings that they shall have a great reward) (Al-Isra: 09), and that (And if there comes to you guidance from ME, then whoso will follow MY guidance, will not go astray, nor will he come to grief;) (Taha: 123), and the Holy Quran is the constitution of morals in Islam. Such morals search for change through struggle and not on the concept of sociology, but on its Islamic concepts that aim to build on moral values not on physical benefits. It is change to the best in beliefs and in systems. It is changing polytheism to oneness, ignorance by knowledge, unemployment by work, poverty by richness, weakness by strength, and selfishness by solidarity, and vulgar by chastity, and all other values that Islam is calling for in the process of building human society. The criteria of progress and backwardness in Islam concept is unique. It is linking development to faith and guidance, and backwardness to infidelity and ashtray, even if they are linked to physical civilization and scientific benefits. Allah States (And if there comes to you guidance from ME, then whoso will follow MY guidance, will not go astray, nor will he come to grief (*) But whosoever will turn away from MY remembrance, his will be a straitened life) (Taha: 123-124), and the Holy Quran is very frank in keeping the ashtray on his agony, even if physical potentials are abundant, and this is the case of western life that are built solely on physical learning and experiment, and on old beliefs that are built on exchange in all its dealings. Allah States (Have they not traveled in the earth that they could see what was the end of those before them ? They were mightier than these in power and they left firmer marks in the earth. But ALLAH seized them for their sins, and they had no one to protect them from ALLAH (*) That was because their Messengers came to them with manifest Signs but they disbelieved; So ALLAH seized them. Surely, HE is Powerful, Severe in punishment) (Ghafir: 21-22), and He States (Have they not traveled in the earth so that they might see how evil was the end of those who were before them ? They were stronger than these in power, and they tilled the soil and populated it more and better than these have populated it. And their Messengers came to them with manifest Signs. And ALLAH would not wrong them, but they wronged their own souls.) (Al-Room: 09). Previous verses link the ideological factor to the change in society shape of life, even if physical potentials, strength and power are there. If we search in the formation of Muslim society, we shall see that it is built on a course that came from Lord of All Creations. This course is the base society is built on, and formed as it is ordered by Allah to his slaves, not on those sought by other people. In view of this Shariaa, Muslim community had been built, and work and production relations, and rules of life, individual and group moral bases, and principles of behavior, work laws, and all other society important aspects, that determine its path toward progress and development had been formed. This Islamic society is the society that enjoys its formation capacities that are distinguished from other human societies according to the following features:

First: that it is a Divine society that is built on Islamic ideology, and relation between its individuals is built on this ideology. It is clear the concentration of the Mohammedan Message on planting ideology of Islam in Muslims life for thirteen years, then He turned to orders and prohibitions that are met with full obey from all Islamic society individuals at that time. It is clear also the concentration of the Holy Quran on the meaning of ideology and faith in what had been Stated by Allah ( O ye who believe ! believe in ALLAH and HIS Messenger and in the Book which HE had revealed to HIS Messenger, and the Book which HE revealed before it. And whoso disbelieves in ALLAH and HIS angels, and HIS Books and HIS Messengers and the Last Day, has surely strayed far away.) (Al-Nisaa: 136).
Second: it is an global community. It is a society that is not built on race, nationality, or ethnic. These are features that disappear when their sources are absent. It is a society that is open for all people from all races, languages or colors. Society that is built on the Orders of Allah (Say, `O mankind, truly I am a Messenger to you all from ALLAH) (Al-Aaraf: 158).
Third: it is cooperative society. One of the main and most important features of it is cooperation and solidarity, all its individuals are one unity, cooperatives, loving, and support each other on the hardships of life and crises. The Noble Prophet said that (Believer to believer are like one building, one ties the other).
Fourth: it is an advisory society. The main benefit of this is that every individual believes that he is support others seeking their benefits, and that Muslim is like a mirror for his brothers Muslim, and that one of the main duties of all Muslims is promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, as Allah States (And the believers, men and women, are friends of another. They enjoined good and forbid evil and observe Prayer and pay the Zakaat and obey ALLAH and HIS Messenger. It is these on whom ALLAH will have mercy. Surely, ALLAH is Mighty and Wise) (Al-Tawba: 71). Sure that all those who try to study Muslim social history shall find that moral values are a part of the religion principles, could not be split of it. They are constant origins that do not change on life and dci********. And that main principles of Islam urge all Muslims to stick to moral values, for this is the main pillar for Muslim nation victory, towards its development and sustainable human and materialistic civilization. If we look in moral value and supreme examples, we shall find that they collapsed before Muslims historical collapse, and we know that the Islamic religion call to adhere to moral values through stick of religious and moral values. Religion calls for control of human behavior and direct it toward correct behavior and morals follow this behavior, so, in most cases, we shall find religious controls mix with moral controls, on the contrary of non-Muslim societies, which follow its moral controls from society culture or from mind. Religion in the concept of Islam is the course which gives moral values their sacred and honest, which makes individual feels that he is a monitor on his own values and behavior, and that creates a self-deterrent. This is what called in Islam the “religious deterrent”. Islam determines moral values which society is to follow, and give it a clear stable reference of systems that all individuals are to follow, and it strictly applied a group of controls that find its strength and validity from religion controls, that in majority cases is left for human conscience and his fear to his Lord. So lying, envy, malice, slander, arrogance, scant, and all kinds of such behaviors are prohibited in Islam, and contradict to good moral values, so controls are applied to prevent individual from performing as such.
Study of Values by Muslim Scholars: Muslim scholars cared for moral values under different names such as (Faith Sections) and (Decencies) or (Virtues), (Morals) or (Great Sins). What could be termed negative values cold be found in Al-Qazwinin (Summary of Faith Sections), or in (Great Sins) for Imam Al-Thahabi, or what could be termed the Positive Values that could be found under the title (Decencies) for Ibn Al-Moataz, or in (Morals and Biographies) for Ibn Hazm, and we find that Al-Ghazali in his book (Restoring Religion Sciences) casts many positive values, and that much negative values could be found under the title (Syndromes). Ibn Al-Qayem also is concerned in his book (Passers Stairs) to the values of ideologies, while on the other hand Al-Nawawi in his book (Riyadh Al-Saleheen) is concerned more with moral values, and Al-Shatibi in his book (Aims in Shariaa) divides them to necessary, need and promotion. During the contemporary era, there is Lutfi Ahmad who divided values in Islam under ten titles : Slavery values, human admiration values, faith values, integration values, guidance values, repentance values, moderate values, calling and prayer values, comprehension values, and selection values, while Abdul Qadir Hashim Ramzi said that values in Islam could be divvied into materialistic, human, moral and spiritual.
Sources of moral values in Islam: the source of values in Islam differ as to source. If we mean Islamic values, then the source would be Holy Quran and Noble Prophetic Sunnah, and this means that values should be absolute and stable, and if we mean Muslims values in their societies then their sources would be numbers and could differ from one society to anther, but there could be some common points. Such sources of values in Muslims societies could be referred back to traditions and habits, resembling other nations, or intellectual and civilization citing, innovation in religion and other kinds of sources.

Features of moral values in view of Islam

features of such values could be summarized as follows:
a. They are logic: that they conform with the nature of good human thinking. No one among philosophers tried to turn down one of these values cast in the Holy Quran. Allah said his Holy Book (And truly, it is a mighty Book, (*)
Falsehood cannot approach it either from before it nor from behind it. It is a revelation from the Wise, the Praiseworthy.) (Fussilat: 41-42).
b. They are realistic: that they match real life and human nature and conform with change in all situations and during all eras. They are not absolute ideals or impossible imaginations, or strange from human nature.
c. They are useful: that they are useful for both human and society in this life, and could lead to more benefits in the other life.
d. They are balanced: that they are not for individuals or to society separately. Instead they are medium built on balance and consistency, between individual and society benefits.
e. They are the foundation of society: that they conform between physical and materialistic needs, between soul and body, between rights and duties, under the supervision of fair authority of the Holy Quran.
f. They are eternal: they are cited from the Sacred Shariaa of the Holy Quran and from the religion of Islam which Allah accepted as the sole religion for all humans.
g. They are internally consistent: the source of values in Islam is the Holy Book and Sunnah, from this point it shall not be thought that there could be any kind of dispute or conformance, as Allah Says (Will they not, then, meditate upon the Qur’an ? Had it been from anyone other than ALLAH, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy.) (Al-Nisaa: 82). The most important thing here is that sources of values in Islam should be thought of as coming from one unit.
From this point values in Islam could not be the thing that is pleasant for one person during any time alone. In this case Islam called them desires that all Muslims are to confront and limit. And that they could not be extracted from the human experience or from the social activity. They are divine not left for the society, or to its activities or experiments. Values in Islam are good meaning without any kind of guidance such as love, it is for known types, and such as conviction which should not turn to dullness or inactivity. Values in Islam are the courses that determine positive and negative attitudes, and not left for motivations only, they are moved by faith sometimes. Values in Islam are not as communist term their values. Work is one of the values of Islam, and not all values of Islam is what is thought of as to conform with mid, for mind in Islam is a means for understanding decided values.

Aims of Moral Values in Islam

Moral values in Islam aim to determine human activity in a Muslim society, and to promote and control their behavior to the benefit of the whole society and its individuals, and to bring for all individuals a good conclusion in the other life. It aims to integration human attributes, behavior, activity that aims to prepare followers of the Lord, whom Islam described them and clarified the path of goodness for them (It is not righteousness that you turn your faces to the East or the West, but truly righteous is he who believes in ALLAH and the Last Day and the angels and the Book and the Prophets, and spends his money out of love for HIM, on the kindred and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and those who ask for charity and for ransoming the captives; and observes prayer and pays the Zakat; and those who fulfill their promise when they have made one, and the patient in poverty and afflictions and the steadfast in the time of war; it is these who have proved truthful and it is these who are truly God-Fearing.) (Al-Baqara: 177), and formed their medium passage in dealing in their lives (And seek, in that which ALLAH has given thee, the Home of the Hereafter; and neglect not thy lot in this world; and do good to others as ALLAH has done good to thee; And seek not to create mischief in the land. Verily, ALLAH loves not those who create mischief) (Al-Qasas: 77). Moral values in Islam then, whether they are individual such as sincerity, patience, charity love, soul combating, or common such as self feeling, obligation, and call for Islam, are meant to bring individual and society benefit, and protect human benefit. From this point we determine the main foundations of the value theory in Islam as to the following objectives:
a. First Objective: Oneness and worshipping: (most common foundations of Muslim life is that human should seek to achieve the Oneness of the Lord, which is a strict respond to all what humans are thinking about the continent, life, and living, life before and after him, and that is what all humans should use to seek true worshipping to the Lord. This is the system revealed from the Holy Book and Prophetic Sunnah.
b. Second Objective: to prepare the faithful individual( for system of value in Islam seek to prepare the individual with a strong building, who seek to achieve the Say of Allah, Praise the Lord, (Say, `My Prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my death are all for ALLAH, the Lord of the worlds) (Al-Anaam: 162). This is a portray that differs from the portray of good citizen in other contemporary systems. The good person in human systems could kill, be unfair, and could seek to built his self society on the account on other societies, but the good human in Islam is like Abu Bakr and Omer, May Allah be in Consent with them, who urge to avoid torture, burning or killing children, and to avoid killing trees or demolition of churches.
c. Third Objective: is Balancing as Islamic value system is built on balance as the principle of everything. Allah Says (and HE has created everything, and has determined its proper measure. ) (Al-Forqan: 2), and Allah Says (And there is not a thing but are limitless treasures thereof with US and WE sent it not down except in a known measure) (Al-Hijr: 21). For all this Islam seeks to integrate all life aspects materialistic or spiritual, and seek to build individual objective along with the society aims and call for all to integrate words with deeds, and to balance between human needs in this life and his wishes in the other life.
d. Correct Morals: Islam makes the moral side a measure for good deeds, and the main side in values is the main objectives for the message of Islam. The Noble Prophet came to complete good morals, and Islam cares for development of moral feeling in human nature, and makes correctness the guide of human behavior both publicly and privately, as Islam assures the moral side in all worships.

http://musaad.wordpress.com/islam/concepts/
.

Islam Attitude towards Other Religions and their Believers

It is painful to find rumors that are spread, regardless of its origins, for the purpose of abuse and insult of other people or nations. It is totally against human nature, and it is condemned by judicious and intelligent people.
Unfortunately, we have seen lately organized campaigns, among scholars, that target Islam and Muslims. Muslims have been unjustly accused in their personalities and beliefs. It is odd that such intellectual mistakes occur among people who claim to have a great civilization and culture, and who call for dialogues among religions. Are we culturally allowed to abuse others without verifying the charge we might accuse an entire nation with? Is it a civilized act to generalize the negatives of any nation, if they are true, and publish them via organized campaigns? How then can a dialogue among religions be achieved if such campaigns worsen the situation? How do we justify these acts which only lead to racism and discrimination among religions’ adherents?
The masterminds of such conspiracies plan only to publish intellectual terrorism among people, and wise ones should not believe such intended rumors. Islam, like any other heavenly revelation, would not ask its believers to hate people due to the variation of religion and belief, nor compel others to embrace Islam. On the other hand, people do have the mind to distinguish between right wrong; as said in Qur’an: ” There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth distinct from error. And he who reject the false deities and believeth in Allah hath grasped a firm handhold which will never break. Allah is Hearer, Knower.” (256)( Surat Al-Baqra)
Islam like other divine religion never urges its believers to hate others just because of difference in religion and doctrine, and it has not forced anyone to embrace it, yet God (Allah) Almighty has provided humans with the reason by which they can distinguish between right and falsehood, and showed them the path to Paradise & Hell. In the Holy Qura’n, the saying of Almighty God is: “Verily, there is no enforcement to religion Righteousness and falsehood is quite clear [1]. Out of this rule, it is mandatory on man, if right is concealed for him/her, or if he/she finds himself/herself in spiritual vacuum, he/she should set out in search of what may fill such spiritual vacuum.
Islam, my dear sirs, is neither a fascist sect as it is said or narrow – minded as it is or illustrated, yet it is an integrated religion & legislation which copes up with civilization and its development. Ahead of all this, it exceptionally cares with man and maintains his/her full rights with no exception and it never differentiates between those who are black or white complexioned. All of them are brothers & sisters combined by tolerance and leniency. Our Prophet Mohammed, “May Gods prayers be upon him, relations and companions did not practice violence on any one whether he/she is a Muslim or others. You shall be stunned by wonder if I narrated his story with a Jew, namely: Zaid Bin Sa’atah when he came to the prophet “May God’s prayers and blessings be upon him claming for something, and he (the Jew) pulled out his garment off his right shoulder and said: “You are the sons of Abdul Muttalib are procrastinate and I know you will. Omar Bin Al Khattab (The Second righteous Caliph hereinafter” rebuffed him, yet the Messenger of God “May God’s prayers and peace be upon
Be upon him” said “O Omar, me and him are in need of something else other than this like ordering the to pay back his dues in a better way and advise him to follow a better way for claiming, go away Omar give him all his dues, and since what remains for him in three measures, increase him thirty measures because of your all treatment to him” [2].
Here, the Prophet, “May Allah’s prayers & peace be upon him) visits a Jew lad who was sick. Thabit S/o. Anas “May Allah forgive him narrated as signing” when a Jew lad who was serving the prophet “May Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him” became sick, the prophet “May Allah’s prayers & peace be upon him” visited him and sat at his head side and told him “Embrace Islam”. The lad looked at his father while he was there and the father said, “Obey father of Al-Qassim (meaning the Prophet)”, and the lad embraced Islam. The prophet went out and was depicted as saying “Praise shall be to God, Who saved him from Hell” [3].
God Almighty is the source of all religions and legislations as He started with Adam “May Allah’s peace be upon him” then followed by prophets. Then He sent His Messenger Noah “May Allah’s peace be upon him”, and he is, as some scholars think is the first messenger on earth. The difference between the prophet and the messenger is that the prophet is the one who was revealed a legislation but not ordered to notify it, while the messenger is the one who was revealed a legislation but ordered to convey it [4], and so on till God terminated and finally ended His mission with the culminator of Prophets Mohammad “May Allah’s prayers & peace be upon him”. Since we are His servants, it is mandatory on us to obey His orders and do what we are ordered to with no objection from our part, because the creator is entitled to dispose with what He creates, and what He determines for His creatures is the right thing. Since we are servants of God, we have nothing to do except to surrender to His orders, “Exalted in His Highness”.
The Muslims doctrine is to believe in all the God’s prophets and in the books revealed to them as they were with no alteration or amendment Almighty God said in His great Book: “Verily, the messenger believed in what is revealed to him by his God, and all the believers in God, His angles, books and messengers. Verily we do not differentiate between anyone of His Messengers[5]. Since we acknowledge all prophets, religions and books as they were revealed, why is all this noise about Islam, its prophet and Muslims? Why do not our brothers acknowledge our prophet and Islam? I hope that this point shall come into the attention of the equitable scholars.
The constitution legislated by Allah for us in the Holy Qura’n in how to proceed with the believers of other religion is the just constitution as it orders us to deal with the peaceful ones who do not commit any harm in any way, However, with respect of those who tend to cause harm, it is logically that you should defend your right. Almighty Allah said, “Allah never urge you against those who did not fight with you in religion and did not snatch you out of your homes, and you should be kind to them and be just with them. Verily God loves those who are just. However, God urges you to be against those who fought you in religion, snatched you out of your doors and supported others to snatch you, never be their allies, and those who become their allies are those who are unjust[6].
In this brief essay I shall demonstrate some of the tolerance examples ordered by Islam, which are approved and implemented by the Messenger “May Allah’s peace & prayers be upon him”, and followed after him by Islam’s Sons of Caliphs, Kings and princes. When God sent Mohammad “May Allah’s prayers & peace by upon him” as a prophet in Makkah, his relatives and land turned-over him and described him as being the poet and magician, after they had called him the honest before his prophecy because of his honesty and his good dealing with his people. They used to leave their precious articles within his custody and consider him as a referee if they had any dispute or difference. However, as soon as God sent him as a prophet to them, they opted to be his enemies till they compelled him to leave his birth place, caused evil to him, threw stones at him, and made his feet bleed, yet he used to be sympathetic merciful to them, as he never plead to God to destroy them, but he pleased to God Almighty to let them get birth to children who should support this religion[7]. When Makkah surrendered to him and he conquest it, he did not revenge from those who had ill-treated him. Yet he addressed them saying: “What do you think I am going to do to you? They replied”, All Good, you are a noble brother and a noble nephew!” He, “May Allah’s peace & blessings be upon him”, said “Go” you are released! No sin on you today, May God forgives me and you” [8]. If the Messenger of Allah were rude & hard-hearted as some orientalists accuse him with, the first thing after the conquest of Makkah would have been severe retaliation from those who ill-treated him. However, this was never the case. He threw roses on their paths, after they had thrown thorns on his own. This is just a simple example of his rich life full of tolerance & forgiveness even on his grimed foes.
The companions of the Messenger of God “May Allah’s peace & blessings be upon him” were meticulously adherent to his traditions. They showed wonderful external examples of Islam’s tolerance, leniency and kindness. Mujahid “May Allah mercy him” said: “We were attending a meeting in the house of Abdullah S/o. of Amr & S/o. Al Ass and his servant was flaying a sheep, he said to him: “Oh boy! Start by our Jew neighbour on distributing the meat!” He said it thrice till one of the attendees said, “How much you mention the Jew”, “May Allah forgive you”, He replied, “I heard the Messenger of God”, “May Allah’s peace & blessings be upon him” recommending the neighbour so much so that he might impose inheritance for him [9].
This is just a few out of plenty. However, Islam’s history is abundant with such humanitarian situations indicating Islam’s leniency with its people & others with no distinction. Therefore, I do urge you to read the books tackling Islam’s care with humans in an equitable fashion.
I close this article with some quotations made by non-Muslim thinkers and scholars. Some of them criticized the Messenger “May Allah’s peace & blessings be upon him” and Islam. There are those who defended him and showed the fact which were concealed on those who fanatically looked at the prophet “May Allah’s peace & blessings be upon him” and Islam, yet those who looked at both of them with an eye of true conscience has been fully equitable.
Deno Nibort in his book “Apology to Muhammad & Islam said”, It is foolish that we think that Islam was established by the sword blade. This religion forbids blood shed, it orders goodness & denies reprehension, ordered democracy, denied autocracy, and awarded humans their civil rights. It is worthy noting that Europe is indebted to Muslims themselves with its civilization”.
The knowledgeable orientalist Senerston Al Asouji (born in 1866), the professor of Semitic languages, the editor of the “Oriental World Magazine”, and the author of many books, inter alia “The history of Mohammad’s life, “We have not been equitable to Mohammad is we deny his great quantities and good characteristics. Mohammad fought the proper life battle in the face of ignorance & barbarism insisting on his own principles and continued in fighting the tyrants till he ended with bright victory and his Shari’a (Law) has become the most complete law and he is above all great people in history”.
Dr. Shebrek “The Austrian Scholar said, “Humanity is proud of having a man like Mohammad, and although he was illiterate, he managed, before few tens of Centuries, to bring about a law that we, the Europeans will be happiest if we reach its summit.
The German Orientalist Anna Mary Shiwel said, “Never blame me for my love to the Messenger of Islam My love & infatuation with Islam & its Messenger is unlimited so that some say that I conceal my Islam, and I repeat the words of a Hindu Poet: “I may be an infidel or a believer, this is something known solely by God, but I would like to devote myself as a sincere lover of the great master of civilization, Mohammad the Messenger of God”. Therefore, why you blame me for my love and defense on the Messenger of Islam whom I love, while nobody throughout history has been exposed to the injustice & falsification like Mohammad. The Middle Ages myths accused him as being a Cardinal who was distasteful for not being appointed a pope, detached himself from the church and established a new religion. A French novel accused him for participating with two other persons in constituting a type of a devilish trinity. There is an unforgivable crime perpetrated by the English writers who transformed the name of Mohammad to be a symposium to Satan. The German literature transformed Mohammad into “Mahum” and accused Muslims as worshiping golden idols of Mahum. Regrettably, such horrible image is well-established in the western collective unconsciousness. This explains the Western enmity to Islam. Isn’t such injustice a constitutes a motive for me to clarify by reality of Islam’s Messenger, even if I pay my life for it, as it is said, “The silent in showing what is right is a dumb Satan”[10].

Through our faith, we live all together in peace

Let us show our inner loving bonds, the seed of goodness that exists in us, let us irrigate it by our nature of loving humanity. It is our real choice and freedom, and the path of prophets, both of us believe in heavenly religions, which established goodness, giving, cooperation, and justice for all humanity since the existence of Adam; the father of all human, up to now. The religions’ values are still the essence of life; the life cord, and the source of comfort and peace for all humankind. The three religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam wish to spread justice, love, and heartiness among mankind. These three major religions are the apostle. What link between these religions is their aim to bond humanity by love. The civilizations that provide us with the real meaning of how to cohabit together. These were the messages of Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed, peace be upon them. They wanted the well-being of humanity and they aspired to spread virtues and eliminate injustice and tyranny from the world

Brothers and sisters in humanity, the students of American and European Universities. We agree with these ideals and principles and we believe in them for their similarity in the three religions. We have bonded with one goal and one view represented in purity, goodness, justice, forgiveness, and loving others. moreover, these principle can never be changed, let’s live as we were taught, our religion Islam is calling to these beautiful values

Brothers and sisters in humanity,,
We know that each nation has deviated tracks, and we know that evil is found in all nation regardless of its religion, and unfortunately. evil trends emerge from time to time aiming to get the goodness in the human heart. In the other side, we believe that goodness and love are found in all nations regardless of their religions and we are against the attempts of spreading the culture of evil and hate. Therefore, goodness, love, and equality are the bases of religion for Jews, Christians, or Muslims. Thus, will you accept our invitation for unity and to track this light side, and to irrigate our beautiful humanity plant, goodness, love, and peace side among us. We hope to begin here, together, to refuse all the types of hate and evil, and to build bases of cooperation for humanity goodness

Some organizations practice pressures through continuous campaigns to abuse all religions, especially Islam, aiming to achieve political or personal gains. This extreme and unjustified mistake root the reputing and hate, and it is the fuel of enemy for the long run, and classifying culture and ethnics, which should be abhorred by humanity and civilization. These organizations work through all media channels to present many images of hatred and deformation. Let us see together the aims of these campaigns, which might be unknown to others

1- Gaining votes and support in the presidential elections and parliament seats as basic goal on the expense of balancing, wisdom, freedom bases, and without considering the catastrophic results, which might emerge in the future
2- Dividing the world nations into hostile parties, and groups fighting each other and suffering of terrorism dominancy due to the clear injustice through these accused campaigns

3- Spreading the culture of frequent hatred and enmity amongst humankind, closing the doors of mercy, meeting, and cooperation to build fixed bases in all fields.
4- Generalizing the humankind mistakes on wide group of people, including those who claim to uphold peace, which made issues worse and more complicated

5- Ignoring fixed facts related to the rights of living in dignity and freedom without any political or parties influences, which increase the problem
6- Rooting the discriminative view toward the doctrines and rituals of other religions

7- Changing facts regarding Islam and spread it among westerns who lack knowledge regarding the sublime truth of Islam , which is a religion that bears huge love for humankind

8- Adding more fuel of hostility for all what is coming from the west

9- Affecting on decisions makers in the third world countries to practice injustice, and blockout the freedom of thought and beliefs of evil tendency and executing plans, which are against the humanity.

Let’s look at all the positions fairly and objectively, our world now fall under hatred force and dominant sources which have a great effect in waging wars and disasters management, killing millions of females, olds, and children without any consideration to injustice and aggression. Where are the media slogans, which call for peace, freedom, and human respect? These campaigns targeted only the racism. These spiritual campaigns for war against fascism is fascist. It doesn’t only abhors any mental quite dialogue based on rooting the civilized various religion, culture, and ethnic life but it also fights the wise voices and refuses the wisdom track and the wise situations. It went further through fighting the efforts of meeting, understanding, mutual respect, and accepting the others

We absolutely believe that this strange campaign against Islam is categorized in the frame of competition over the voters and getting all the sorts of support, including the political support, but there is extreme worry against this campaign because of its extremisms and enmity against Islam by eliminating Islamic features. Some of leaders of this campaign considered it as a war in extremist slang sentences, which might be accepted by moderate westerns due to their lack of Islamic principles which calls to freedom and refuses all types of discrimination, injustice, and slavery. These extremist campaigns aim to abstane the merge between cultures, genders that work against the cooperation between peoples; it is a sort of turning the facts up

Let us practice forgiveness, and mercy, which emerged from our great religions, and make them immortal methodology and claims upon the desire of peace messengers, and to see the actions in the logic of the brain which refuses any falseness or obliqueness whatever is the source

Let us unite against injustice and discrimination

The Impact of Islamic Civilization on the Historical Development of Civilization

Civilization is not a private property of a group or nation, but a common heritage to all who have contributed in building it. Thus, they have the right to enjoy its outcomes since it is a nationalized industry for all nations.

In order to fulfill the concept of civilization, it is important to search in its core. Otherwise, it will be a body without a spirit. Hence, some historicists have noticed that the essence of civilization lies in the spiritual and the moral side of the individuals and the groups, without ignoring material and aesthetic considerations.

In some phases of history, wars are means for exchanging ideas and experiences. When wars have stopped, there start a stage of understanding, consideration, knowledge, examining the others values and cultures, and selecting what is useful to reach a step of development.

The Arabs have spread all over the earth, faced all difficulties, overridden wilderness, fought battles for Islam. In all their actions, they have been allayed by victory and success because of their tolerance; the policy they have applied with all who disagree with them, setting the best example of not discriminating the others.

The sublime principles, which the law of the Islamic countries were based on, aim to protect all of their citizens in light of Islam’s call for coexistence and mutual respect with people of other religions. Such Islamic tolerance has led to a harmony among the citizens of the country, consequently, achieving a development in human thought and a new sort of activity in different fields which has not been known before. They all have contributed in making the Islamic Civilization to be the first international civilization in human history, which has stimulated other nations to come out to the world of light and accept an era of science and civilization.

The tolerance of Islam is evident when Islam entered Andalusia, accompanied with an intellectual and a spiritual freedom and released the citizens from restrictions. Despite of the presence of the special educational system of Christians and Jews, Muslims did not have any problem in discussing their historical and religious heritage, they did not monopolize their culture, thought and knowledge. In contrary, they allowed other people’s children to join Muslims’ in “Kuttab”; where teachers teach their pupil Qur’an and other subjects related to Islam and Arabic. Moreover, some Jews participated in scientific seminars in the palaces of the Caliphs or in mosques, which contributed greatly on the intellectual and the cultural awakening of the Jews.

In the Islamic Empire, equality in rights among individuals had been an ideal example and model for others to follow, made them a unified society. Muslims and Non Muslims were teachers and students for each other. Thus, Muslims worked on all types of human arts and science, therefore, the cultural and the human thought method had entered to the countries, which were not ruled by Islam, either by Muslims who traveled to foreign countries for one reason or another, or by Non-Muslims who came to the Islamic countries for studding.

At the time when Europe had lived in ignorance, darkness and fanaticism, Andalusia enjoyed the light of knowledge and development, as the libraries were full of thousands of publications in various sciences, arts, and literature. After the Jewish thought was limited by a narrow religious authoring, they dealt with all various sciences, which was something they believed- before living among Muslims- to be a form of infidelity and atheism. Consequently, their medical, philosophical and astronomical publications had increased. In addition, their thought absorbed sciences, arts and literature that had been affected by Islamic influences. Eventually, a number of Jewish intellectuals and writers had emerged, who found in tracing Muslim intellectuals, writers and thinkers a great impact in awakening their own civilization.

When the Arabs’ cultures and writings in philosophy, medicine, mathematics and astronomy had astonished the emerged European culture, schools of translators were established, to translate the Arabic literature to Latin. In addition, these schools had translated the Arabic translations of the ancient Greek literature, which was unknown until the Arabs had translated it. In virtue of these Arabic translations, Europe had the chance to look at Greek literature that lost its authorships.

The impact of Islamic Civilization had extended to include not only sciences and arts but also life and behavior in many fields. Two examples should be enough to illustrate what that means:

1- The external appearance:

the Islamic environment imposed on Muslims to care of their appearance, purity, and to follow good behaviors, which affected even the Non-Muslims. For instance, many books of Jews have contained whole chapters regarding politeness and straight behavior, along with the cleanness of body and clothes. They even started to take off their shoes in front of temples just like Muslims do when they enter Mosques, along with other behaviors which they were not used to before.

2- The treatment of woman:

the Jews said that their law had stipulated that the husband had the right to do with his wife whatever he wants to do, as Talmud did not respect woman and her humanity, as it is mentioned: ( blessings for you God because you did not create me as a woman). And by the Islam Effect, Jews allowed woman to go to the temple in respectful dress, and specified for her another place inside the temple, then Jews were forced to change this saying: ( blessings for you God because you created me as you want).
The wife was not able to request divorce for her husband hardness, or for his inhuman behavior. However, they forced the husband to give the wife the food and the life necessities by the effect of Islam and Muslims, then they allowed divorce when the husband abuse her wife.

Finally, on the light of Islamic civilization, Europe has awakened from its deep sleep, or we can say, it was born from the Islamic civilization, and mother and daughter were


http://musaad.wordpress.com/islam/impact-of-islamic/

Genes from algae allow blind mice to see

 

 

 

BLIND people could one day have their sight restored thanks to a treatment that borrows a gene from an unlikely source - algae - and inserts it into the retina. The technique has succeeded in restoring the ability to sense light and dark to blind mice, and clinical trials in humans could begin in as little as two years.

"The idea is to develop a treatment for blindness," says Alan Horsager, a neuroscientist at the Institute of Genetic Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, who leads the research. "We introduce a gene that encodes a light-sensitive protein, and we target the expression of that gene to a subset of retinal cells."

Some 15 million people worldwide have some form of blindness, such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP) or age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In people with these conditions the photoreceptors, which transform light hitting the eye into electrical impulses, are damaged, preventing the brain from receiving image information.

As the global population ages, it is thought that the number of people affected will increase. There are experimental attempts to develop electronic implants and to use stem cells to grow new retinal tissues to restore sight, but there is currently no commercial treatment available.

Horsager hopes his work will change that. His team's approach is based on gene therapy, where a "tame" virus is harnessed to transfer a gene into target cells in the recipient. In this case the gene of interest is one that makes Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2), a photosensitive protein used by unicellular algae to help them move towards light. The target cells are bipolar cells in the retina.

The retina contains three cellular layers that work together to detect and transmit light signals to the brain (see diagram). The first layer contains the photoreceptors - the rods and cones that detect light. The second layer is made of bipolar cells that act as a conduit between the photoreceptor and the third type of cell, the ganglion, which transmits the light signals to the brain.

In people with RP and AMD, the photoreceptors have been damaged and lost, so the ganglion cells do not receive signals and the brain cannot produce an image. The idea behind the gene therapy is to make the bipolar cells function as photoreceptors by producing ChR2. The modified bipolar cell would then be able to sense light and transmit a signal to the ganglion.

Horsager's team tested their technique using three groups of mice: one with normal vision, and two groups of mouse strains that naturally become blind with age in a similar way to people with RP and AMD. One blind group was treated with the gene therapy, while the other two groups were not.

Treated mice received a sub-retinal injection of the virus containing the algal gene. Ten weeks after the injection, the team dissected some of the mice and used immunolabelling to see whether ChR2 was being expressed in the retina. They found that the protein was being made by the bipolar cells.

But the strongest evidence of the treatment's success came when treated mice were put in the centre of a water maze with six possible corridors, only one of which led to a ledge that the mice could clamber out of the water onto. With a guiding light shining at the end of the corridor which contained the ledge, the gene-therapy mice were able to find the escape platform 2.5 times faster, on average, than the untreated blind mice. The work will appear in Molecular Therapy.

Repeating the test 10 months later, the team found that the treated mice were still showing significant improvements in vision compared with the untreated blind mice. "Our expectation is that this would be a one-time treatment that is permanent or semi-permanent," says Horsager.

Concerns have been raised about the safety of gene therapy in the past, not least about links between the viruses used to transfer the genes and disease. Horsager says the algal genes were only expressed in the target cells, and that there is no evidence of an immune response in the mice, suggesting that the transfer of the foreign gene has been restricted to the bipolar cells.

However, small amounts of ChR2 DNA were found in other tissues. "Regulatory agencies would be very concerned that ChR2 DNA was found in tissues outside of the treated eye," says Robert Lanza, of Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Massachusetts. Horsager's team believe the rogue DNA is due to cross-contamination during the analysis process.

"It's a good paper, and it's clear that they are heading towards a clinical trial with the information they are gathering," says Pete Coffey of the department of ophthalmology at University College London. But he points out that although there is a statistical difference between the performance of the treated and untreated mice, that difference is small.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028083.100-genes-from-algae-allow-blind-mice-to-see.html

 

Covert hard drive fragmentation embeds a spy's secrets

GOOD news for spies. There is now a way to hide data on a hard drive without using encryption. Instead of using a cipher to scramble text, the method involves manipulating the location of data fragments.

The inventors say their method makes it possible to encode a 20-megabyte message on a 160-gigabyte portable hard drive. It hides data so well that its existence would be "unreasonably complex" to detect, they say.

Encryption should sometimes be avoided, says Hassan Khan at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, because the gobbledegook it creates is a dead giveaway: it shows someone might have something to hide. That could spell disaster for someone trying to smuggle information out of a repressive country.

So "steganography", hiding data in plain sight, is coming to the fore. Normally, data intended to be secret is added to the pixels in digital images, or used to change the transmission timing of internet packets. But these techniques are well known and easily detected, says Khan. So, with colleagues at the National University of Science and Technology in Islamabad, Pakistan, he has developed an alternative.

Their technique exploits the way hard drives store file data in numerous small chunks, called clusters. The operating system stores these clusters all over the disc, wherever there is free space between fragments of other files.

Khan and his colleagues have written software that ensures clusters of a file, rather than being positioned at the whim of the disc drive controller chip, as is usually the case, are positioned according to a code. All the person at the other end needs to know is which file's cluster positions have been encoded.

The code depends on whether sequential clusters in a file are situated adjacent to each other on the hard disc or not. If they are adjacent, this corresponds to a binary 1 in the secret message. If sequential clusters are stored in different places on the disc, this encodes a binary 0 (Computers and Security, DOI: 10.1016/j.cose.2010.10.005). The recipient then uses the same software to tell them the file's cluster positions, and hence the message. The researchers intend to make their software open source.

"An investigator can't tell the cluster fragmentation pattern is intentional- it looks like what you'd get after addition and deletion of files over time," says Khan. Tests show the technique works, as long as none of the files on the hard disc are modified before handover.

"The real strength of this technique is that even a completely full drive can still have secret data added to it – simply by rearranging the clusters," adds Khan.

Others are impressed with the technique but see limitations.

"This type of steganography could be used by spies, police or informants - but the risk is that it requires direct contact to physically exchange the USB device containing the secret data," says Wojciech Mazurcyk, a steganographer at Warsaw University of Technology in Poland. "So it lacks the flexibility of internet steganography. Once you embed the secret data on the disk it is not easy to modify it."

But won't making the covert hard disk software open source – as the group plans - encourage its use by criminals and terror groups?

"It's how security vulnerability disclosure works," says Khan. "We have identified that this is possible. Now security agencies can devise techniques to detect it." He adds that his team have had no issues with either US or Pakistani security agencies over their development of this secret medium - despite current political tensions between the two nations.

"The use of steganographic techniques like this is likely to increase," says Fred Piper, director of information security at Royal Holloway, University of London. "Eavesdroppers can learn much from the fact that somebody is encrypting a message."

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028095.200-covert-hard-drive-fragmentation-embeds-a-spys-secrets.html

Forensic Anthropology

Forensic Anthropology

What is Forensic Anthropology?

 

"Forensic anthropology is the scientific discipline that applies the methods of physical anthropology and archeology to the collection and analysis of legal evidence.  Description and identification of skeletonized human remains are standard work for forensic anthropologists, but the expertise of the forensic anthropologist is also applicable to a wide variety of other problems.  The common denominator is hard tissues:  bones, teeth, and sometimes cartilage"  (Burns 1999:3).

Therefore, in order to practice forensic anthropologist, one must first and foremost study physical anthropology, with an emphasis on skeletal biology, and secondarily, train in archaeology in order to assist in the search for and excavation of skeletal material.  A physical anthropologist may also be asked to examine a body that is badly or completely decomposed or burned. It is the job of the anthropologist to identify whether or not the bones are human, and if they are human, to develop a biological profile, which will aid in the identification of the person(s). A biological profile consists of the person's ancestry, sex, age at the time of death, and stature, as well as any trauma sustained to the skeleton that may aid in the identification of the individual, or give indications of cause or manner of death.

Trauma

Antemortem Trauma
Perimortem Trauma
Postmortem Trauma

What is the difference between Cause of Death and Manner of Death?  

Cause of death is the way in which someone died (or what caused his or her death). A few common examples are gunshot wound, stabbing, asphyxiation (strangulation), and being bludgeoned to death (usually referred to as blunt force trauma) Manner of death is classified as one of five types:  homicide, suicide, accidental, natural or unknown. 

Reference:
Burns, Karen Ramey
1999   Forensic Anthropology Training Manual.  Prentice-Hall, N.J.

How to become a Forensic Anthropologist?

If you want to become a forensic anthropologist, you have to go to university and study physical anthropology. Physical anthropology is one of four sub-disciplines of anthropology. Cultural anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics are the others. Physical anthropology encompasses  topics such as primatology, evolution, and skeletal biology, to name a few. So you have to go to university to get a degree in physical anthropology, and you should try and focus your studies on human osteology. From there, you must continue your education, because in order to practice as a forensic anthropologist, you need a minimum of a master's in physical anthropology with a lot of experience, or a PhD in physical anthropology. However it is possible to study specific aspects of physical anthropology at the master's level, such as skeletal biology. It is also possible to study forensic anthropology at the master's level.  There are no full time forensic anthropologists in Canada, so when skeletal remains are found, typically the police consult a physical anthropologist with a specialty in skeletal biology.  Almost all physical anthropologists in Canada teach at universities; others work in museums such as the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa (http://www.civilization.ca/).  Forensic anthropologists in Canada belong to the Canadian Association of Physical Anthropology (http://capa.fenali.net/)and, in many cases, to the Canadian Society of Forensic Sciences (http://www.csfs.ca/csfs_journal.aspx).  In the United States, the employment situation is similar.  However, there is also a professional organization to which physical anthropologists working in the forensic anthropology field can belong, the American Board of Forensic Anthropology  (www.csuchico.edu/anth/ABFA/).
Much of the work for forensic anthropologists today is in the area of human rights work with organizations like Physicians for Human Rights (http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/).  Another human rights organization is CIFA, the Center for International Forensic Assistance (www.cifa.ac/); it employs forensic scientists from all fields to do work when needed. Something like this would provide great field experience for an up-and-coming anthropologist. 




http://people.stu.ca/~mclaugh/specialties/forensic_anthropology.html

Anthropology Saluki Style

Anthropology Saluki Style

Here’s where I do my civic duty as an anthropology major and “talk up” the Anthro Department here at SIU. First and foremost, “talking up” the Anthropology department is probably not the best choice of words to start out my post largely because the SIU-C Anthropology doesn’t need talking up….it speaks for itself.

What is Anthropology?
“Anthropology is the study of humans and their cultures in the broadest sense. It is the study of humanity, past and present, in all its biological and cultural aspects. Anthropologists study the diversity, origins, and evolution of human and primate culture and behavior, the development of human culture and the processes of culture change, the phenomenon of language, and the structure and meaning of human interaction.”                                                                                                                   -Southern Illinois University- Carbondale, Department of Anthropology Website

Anthropology at SIU-C

The SIU-C Anthropology Department is divided up according to the four field holistic approach of American Anthropology- Linguistic, Biological (Physical), Socio-cultural, and Archaeology. Ourdepartment also offers several field schools where aspiring anthropologists can gain real-life experience conducting archaeological excavations hosted by professors and researchers, ethnographic field schools where students can gain experiences visiting and conducting research with another culture, and research opportunities with professors and other students here at the university.   **Quick note- SIU-C has the only Forensic Anthropology Minor in the state of Illinois!**
My Experiences as an Anthropology Major:

As an undergraduate I have taken a broad range of classes that have expanded not only my knowledge but my worldview and outlook on life. Courses in anthropology have challenged me to reaffirm my values and beliefs as well as expand my knowledge base of human origins, histories, behavior, and present day social constructs.
I hope to become a socio-cultural anthropologist studying religiosity in the military. Although SIU-C doesn’t have strong roots in socio-cultural anthropology its roots in biological anthropology and archaeology are above par. If you are looking for a major that will allow you to play in the dirt, play with the bones of primates…including humans, challenge your beliefs, and allow you to have a blast while doing it then anthropology is what you seek.
I began my SIU career as an Agriculture Education major but quickly found out I wasn’t in the right field. After taking the course America’s Diverse Cultures I knew that Anthropology was my fate. The course material was interesting, the instructor, a PhD student, was VERY knowledgeable and hooked my interest from day one; this course remains one of my favorites out of the over 190 credit hours I have taken as an undergraduate. Anthropology is not for everyone and for my career’s sake I hope not everyone chooses to be an anthropology major BUT I hope that I have given you insight on what anthropology is and the caliber of the program we have here at SIU-C.

What is Anthropology?
“Anthropology is the study of humans and their cultures in the broadest sense. It is the study of humanity, past and present, in all its biological and cultural aspects. Anthropologists study the diversity, origins, and evolution of human and primate culture and behavior, the development of human culture and the processes of culture change, the phenomenon of language, and the structure and meaning of human interaction.”                                                                                                                   -Southern Illinois University- Carbondale, Department of Anthropology Website
Anthropology at SIU-C
The SIU-C Anthropology Department is divided up according to the four field holistic approach of American Anthropology- Linguistic, Biological (Physical), Socio-cultural, and Archaeology. Our department also offers several field schools where aspiring anthropologists can gain real-life experience conducting archaeological excavations hosted by professors and researchers, ethnographic field schools where students can gain experiences visiting and conducting research with another culture, and research opportunities with professors and other students here at the university.
My Experiences as an Anthropology Major:
As an undergraduate I have taken a broad range of classes that have expanded not only my knowledge but my worldview and outlook on life. Courses in anthropology have challenged me to reaffirm my values and beliefs as well as expand my knowledge base of human origins, histories, behavior, and present day social constructs.
I hope to become a socio-cultural anthropologist studying religiosity in the military. Although SIU-C doesn’t have strong roots in socio-cultural anthropology its roots in biological anthropology and archaeology are above par. If you are looking for a major that will allow you to play in the dirt, play with the bones of primates…including humans, challenge your beliefs, and allow you to have a blast while doing it then anthropology is what you seek.
I began my SIU career as an Agriculture Education major but quickly found out I wasn’t in the right field. After taking the course America’s Diverse Cultures I knew that Anthropology was my fate. The course material was interesting, the instructor, a PhD student, was VERY knowledgeable and hooked my interest from day one; this course remains one of my favorites out of the over 190 credit hours I have taken as an undergraduate. Anthropology is not for everyone and for my career’s sake I hope not everyone chooses to be an anthropology major BUT I hope that I have given you insight on what anthropology is and the caliber of the program we have here at SIU-C.




http://anthony.siuc.edu/2011/03/anthropology-saluki-style/

Anthropology

Anthropology is a science of humankind. It studies all facets of society and culture. It studies tools, techniques, traditions, language, beliefs, kinships, values, social institutions, economic mechanisms, cravings for beauty and art, struggles for prestige. It describes the impact of humans on other humans. With the exception of the Physicial Anthropology discipline, Anthropology focuses on human characteristics generated and propogated by humans themselves.
Physical Anthropology studies anatomy and biology -- race, gender, adaptation. It studies humankind as a biology type, describing physical development over the millenia.
Linguistics studies the structures of language and historic relationships among them.
Ethnology studies human culture in a historic and comparative perspective. There is a subfield that concentrates on myth, music, and folklore to study human geography and human passage in time.
Applied Anthropology uses anthropological knowledge and expertise to deal with modern problems. For example, it aids in impact studies of technological innovations, public health schemes, or economic development patterns. Applied Physical Anthropology can be important in the design of work stations, cockpits, airplane seats.
It is our hope that the Web pages at this site lead you to projects and studies of humankind. There are pages which can lead you to reference material, academic departments, libraries, museums, publications, organizations, and other endeavors.