Me, Science and Life !!

Verse 30, Chapter 2, Holy Quran

2011-11-03T20:31:00.001+05:30

As-Salam-Alai Kum,

Wanted to share the profoundness of the Verse 30 of Chapter 2. In Chapter 2 verse 30 of Holy Quran, it is mentioned,

“Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: "I will create a vicegerent on earth." They said: "Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood? whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?" He said: "I know what ye know not."

In this verse of Al-Baqara, Allah is describing about an event that took place before the physical creation of human beings. From this verse we get the following information

(1) Angels knew a astronomical body called ‘Earth’, that exists in this universe. If they had no knowledge about earth, they would have enquired more information about earth to Allah.

(2) Earth was created before the physical creation of human beings. This is inferred from the phrase ‘I will create a vicegerent on earth’.

(3) Before the human beings were physically created, Allah had decided the abode of human beings as earth. Therefore, Allah was planning to create a species that would be able to sustain on Earth’s environment. Interesting enough, in the preceding verse (verse no.29) of Al-Baqarah, Allah had mentioned, “It is He Who hath created for you all things that are on earth; moreover His design comprehended the heavens, for He gave order and perfection to the seven firmaments; and of all things He hath perfect knowledge”. This means that, Allah had planned about creating human beings, before He had created earth. Therefore, Allah created all things that are on earth keeping in mind the sustenance of human beings on earth.

(4) Allah wanted to create a species that would act as ‘vicegerent’ on earth. This means, Allah wanted to create a species that is powerful enough to control the other species and resources on earth. This also means, human beings have the ability to make the best use of the existing species and resources on earth.

(5) When Allah made the declaration about the creation of human beings, angels had the option of accepting the declaration without any reply. In the verse, there is no mention of Allah asking the opinion of angels. Then why did angels reply? There are billions of stars in this vast universe and earth is just a small planet. Two possible reasons could be (1) Angels were under an impression that, they are the vicegerents of the universe and were curious to know the reasons for appointing the new species as vicegerent on earth (2) angels considered earth as an important place in this universe and were surprised that Allah will be appointing a species that does mischief and blood-shed as its vicegerent.

(6) The response of the angels to Allah’s declaration is rather interesting. Even before the creation of human beings, they predicted that, human beings will indulge in mischief and shed blood. How will angels know that human beings will indulge in mischief even before they were created? How will angels know, human beings will have something called ‘blood’ in first place? Logically this is possible, only if angels were aware of other species that were exists on earth and living habits of such species. Angels had seen that, in order to survive on earth, different species on earth compete for resources. And sometimes in doing so, they fight among themselves, which results in shedding of blood. Also, there is a possibility that, angels had noticed that Allah had given the ability to some species on earth to do mischief. Based on this knowledge, angels replied to Allah that ‘Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?

(7) There is no doubt that, Allah’s knowledge is much more than knowledge of angels. So, when Allah says, “I know what ye [angels] know not”, it can be interpreted as ‘there is much more to human beings than doing mischief and shedding blood’.

(8) One can also infer from this verse that, even though angels have the knowledge about mischief and blood-shed, they never indulge in it. Angels spend their time hymning Allah’s praise and glorify Allah’s name.

(9) If we break-down the verse as per the acts that took place

a. Allah called the angles for attention.

b. Allah declares that, He is going to create a vicegerent on earth.

c. Angels reply back negatively.

d. Allah replies to angels.

In the verse, Allah is enthusiastic about creating human beings. He called out the angles and declared about the creation of human beings. The response from the angels is very negative. Angels felt that, the new creation of Allah would only do mischief and cause blood-shed. Angels felt that, they are more worthy than a species that does mischief and cause blood-shed. Allah’s response to the reply of angels reflects Allah’s confidence in human beings. Allah believes human beings are worthy of creation. Allah believes that, we (human beings) aren’t what angels mentioned about us. This is a very important message that this verse is trying to communicate to us.

GOG and MAGOG in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim

2011-10-27T00:34:00.001+05:30

In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, there is a mention of a mysterious race of human beings called “Gog and Magog” (Yajuj and Majuj in Arabic). Several predictions have been made about which group of people this can be, however till date our understanding is far from being complete. I was told about the stories of Gog and Magog during my childhood by my father. Since then, I have always been curious about their existence, their powers and why they have been specifically called out in Islamic scriptures.

In this blog post, I am listing out all the hadith mentioned in the works of Bukhari and Muslim which provide some hints on Gog and Magog. Note that, several verses of Holy Quran also give reference to Gog and Magog. I will post about the verses of Quran in later posts.

Following are the hadith mentioned regarding Gog and Magog in the Sahih Bukhari:

Narrated by Abu Said Al-Khudri “The Prophet said "The people will continue performing the Hajj and 'Umra to the Ka'ba even after the appearance of Gog and Magog." . Narrated Shu'ba extra: The Hour (Day of Judgment) will not be established till the Hajj (to the Ka'ba) is abandoned. Volume 2, Book 26, Number 663.

Narrated by Zainab bint Jahsh, “That the Prophet once came to her in a state of fear and said, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah. Woe unto the Arabs from a danger that has come near. An opening has been made in the wall of Gog and Magog like this," making a circle with his thumb and index finger. Zainab bint Jahsh said, "O Allah's Apostle! Shall we be destroyed even though there are pious persons among us?" He said, "Yes, when the evil person will increase." Volume 4, Book 55, Number 565.

Narrated by Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "Allah has made an opening in the wall of the Gog and Magog (people) like this, and he made with his hand (with the help of his fingers). Volume 4, Book 55, Number 566.

Narrated by Abu Said Al-Khudri, “The Prophet said, "Allah will say (on the Day of Resurrection), 'O Adam.' Adam will reply, 'Labbaik wa Sa'daik', and all the good is in Your Hand.' Allah will say: 'Bring out the people of the fire.' Adam will say: 'O Allah! How many are the people of the Fire?' Allah will reply: 'From every one thousand, take out nine-hundred-and ninety-nine.' At that time children will become hoary headed, every pregnant female will have a miscarriage, and one will see mankind as drunken, yet they will not be drunken, but dreadful will be the Wrath of Allah." The companions of the Prophet asked, "O Allah's Apostle! Who is that (excepted) one?" He said, "Rejoice with glad tidings; one person will be from you and one-thousand will be from Gog and Magog." The Prophet further said, "By Him in Whose Hands my life is, hope that you will be one-fourth of the people of Paradise." We shouted, "Allahu Akbar!" He added, "I hope that you will be one-third of the people of Paradise." We shouted, "Allahu Akbar!" He said, "I hope that you will be half of the people of Paradise." We shouted, "Allahu Akbar!" He further said, "You (Muslims) (compared with non-Muslims) are like a black hair in the skin of a white ox or like a white hair in the skin of a black ox (i.e. your number is very small as compared with theirs)." Volume 4, Book 55, Number 567.

Narrated by Zainab bint Jahsh “That the Prophet came to her in a state of fear saying, "None has the right to be worshiped but Allah! Woe to the Arabs because of evil that has come near. Today a hole has been made in the wall of Gog and Magog as large as this." pointing with two of his fingers making a circle. Zainab said, "I said, 'O Allah's Apostle! Shall we be destroyed though amongst us there are pious people? ' He said, 'Yes, if evil increases." Narrated by Um Salama: The Prophet woke up and said, "Glorified be Allah: What great (how many) treasures have been sent down, and what great (how many ) afflictions have been sent down!" - Volume 4, Book 56, Number 797.

Narrated by Abu Said Al-Khudri: The Prophet said, "On the day of Resurrection Allah will say, 'O Adam!' Adam will reply, 'Labbaik our Lord, and Sa'daik ' Then there will be a loud call (saying), Allah orders you to take from among your offspring a mission for the (Hell) Fire.' Adam will say, 'O Lord! Who are the mission for the (Hell) Fire?' Allah will say, 'Out of each thousand, take out 999.' At that time every pregnant female shall drop her load (have a miscarriage) and a child will have grey hair. And you shall see mankind as in a drunken state, yet not drunk, but severe will be the torment of Allah." (22.2) (When the Prophet mentioned this), the people were so distressed (and afraid) that their faces got changed (in

color) whereupon the Prophet said, "From Gog and Magog nine-hundred ninety-nine will be taken out and one from you. You Muslims (compared to the large number of other people) will be like a black hair on the side of a white ox, or a white hair on the side of a black ox, and I hope that you will be one-fourth of the people of Paradise." On that, we said, "Allahu-Akbar!" Then he said, "I hope that you will be) one-third of the people of Paradise." We again said, "Allahu-Akbar!" Then he said, "(I hope that you will be) one-half of the people of Paradise." So we said, Allahu Akbar." Volume 6, Book 60, Number 265.

Narrated by Ibn Abbas: Allah's Apostle performed the Tawaf (around the Ka'ba while riding his camel, and every time he reached the corner (of the Black Stone) he pointed at it with his hand and said, "Allahu Akbar." (Zainab said: The Prophet said, "An opening has been made in the wall of Gog and Magog like this and this," forming the number 90 (with his thumb and index finger). Volume 7, Book 63, Number 215.

Narrated by Abu Said: The Prophet said, "Allah will say, 'O Adam!. Adam will reply, 'Labbaik and Sa'daik (I respond to Your Calls, I am obedient to Your orders), wal Khair fi Yadaik (and all the good is in Your Hands)!' Then Allah will say (to Adam), Bring out the people of the Fire.' Adam will say, 'What (how many) are the people of the Fire?' Allah will say, 'Out of every thousand (take out) nine-hundred and ninety nine (persons).' At that time children will become hoary-headed and every pregnant female will drop her load (have an abortion) and you will see the people as if they were drunk, yet not drunk;

But Allah's punishment will be very severe." That news distressed the companions of the Prophet too much, and they said, "O Allah's Apostle! Who amongst us will be that man (the lucky one out of one-thousand who will be saved from the Fire)?" He said, "Have the good news that one-thousand will be from Gog and Magog, and the one (to be saved will be) from you." The Prophet added, "By Him in Whose Hand my soul is, I Hope that you (Muslims) will be one third of the people of Paradise." On that, we glorified and praised Allah and said, "Allahu Akbar." The Prophet then said, "By Him in Whose Hand my soul is, I hope that you will be one half of the people of Paradise, as your (Muslims) example in comparison to the other people (non-Muslims), is like that of a white hair on the skin of a black ox, or a round hairless spot on the foreleg of a donkey." - Volume 8, Book 76, Number 537.

Narrated by Zainab bint Jahsh: The Prophet got up from his sleep with a flushed red face and said, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah. Woe to the Arabs, from the Great evil that is nearly approaching them. Today a gap has been made in the wall of Gog and Magog like this." (Sufyan illustrated by this forming the number 90 or 100 with his fingers.) It was asked, "Shall we be destroyed though there are righteous people among us?" The Prophet said, "Yes, if evil increased." - Volume 9, Book 88, Number 181.

Narrated by Zainab bint Jahsh: That one day Allah's Apostle entered upon her in a state of fear and said, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah! Woe to the Arabs from the Great evil that has approached (them). Today a hole has been opened in the dam of Gog and Magog like this." The Prophet made a circle with his index finger and thumb. Zainab bint Jahsh added: I said, "O Alllah's Apostle! Shall we be destroyed though there will be righteous people among us?" The Prophet said, "Yes, if the (number) of evil (persons) increased." - Volume 9, Book 88, Number 249.

Narrated by Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "A hole has been opened in the dam of Gog and Magog." Wuhaib (the sub-narrator) made the number 90 (with his index finger and thumb). - Volume 9, Book 88, Number 250.

Following are the hadith mentioned regarding Gog and Magog in the Sahih Muslim:

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Jabir with the same chain of transmitters but with this addition that Gog and Magog would walk until they would reach the mountain of al−Khamar and it is a mountain of Bait−ul−Maqdis and they would say: We have killed those who are upon the earth. Let us now kill those who are In the sky and they would throw their arrows towards the sky and the arrows would return to them besmeared with blood. And in the narration of Ibn Hujr (the words are):" I have sent such persons (Gog and Magog) that none would dare fight against them. Bk 41, Number 7016.

Zainab bint Jahsh reported that Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) got up from sleep saying: There is no god but Allah; there is a destruction in store for Arabia because of turmoil which is at hand, the barrier of Gog and Magog has opened so much. And Sufyan made a sign of ten with the help of his hand (in order to indicate the width of the gap) and I said: Allah's Messenger, would we be perished in spite of the fact that there would be good people amongst us? Thereupon he said: Of course, but only when the evil predominates. Bk 41, Number 6881.

Zainab bint Jahsh, the wife of Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him), reported that one day Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) came out in a state of excitement with his face quite red. And he was saying: There is no god but Allah; there is a destruction in store for Arabia because of the turmoil which is near at hand as the barrier of Gog and Magog has been opened like it, and he (in order to explain it) made a ring with the help of his thumb and forefinger. I said: Allah's Messenger, would we be destroyed despite the fact that there would be pious people amongst us? He said: Yes, when the evil would predominate. -Bk 41, Number 6883.

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) as saying: Today the wall (barrier) of Gog and Magog has been opened so much, and WUhaib (in order to explain it) made the figure of ninety with the help of his hand. -Bk 41, Number 6885.

Hudhaifa b. Usaid Ghifari reported: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) came to us all of a sudden as we were (busy in a discussion). He said: What do you discuss about? They (the Companions) said. We are discussing about the Last Hour. Thereupon he said: It will not come until you see ten signs before and (in this connection) he made a mention of the smoke, Dajjal, the beast, the rising of the sun from the west, the descent of Jesus son of Mary (Allah be pleased with him), the Gog and Magog, and land−slidings in three places, one in the east, one in the west and one in Arabia at the end of which fire would burn forth from the Yemen, and would drive people to the place of their assembly. - Bk 41, Number 6931

Hudhaifa b. Usaid reported: Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) was in an apartment and we were beneath that that he peeped in and said to us: What are you discussing about? We said: (We are discussing about the Last) Hour. Thereupon he said: The Last Hour would not come until the ten signs dppear: land−sliding in the east, and land−sliding in the west, and land−sliding in the peninsula of Arabia, the smoke, the Dajjal, the beast of the earth, Gog and Magog, the rising of the sun from the west and the fire which would emit from the lower part of 'Adan. Shu'ba said that 'Abd al−'Aziz b. Rufai' reported on the authority of Abu Tufail who reported on the authority of Abu Sariha a hadith like this that Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) did not make a mention of (the tenth sign) but he said that out of the ten one was the descent of Jesus Christ, son of Mary (peace be upon him), and in another version it is then lowing of the violent gale which would drive the people to the ocean. - Bk 41, Number 6932.

An−Nawwas b. Sam'an reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) made a mention of the Dajjal one day in the morning. He sometimes described him to be insignificant and sometimes described (his turmoil) as very significant rand we felt) as if he were in the cluster of the date−palm trees. When we went to him (to the Holy Prophet) in the evening and he read (the signs of fear) in our faces, he said: What is the matter with you? We said: Allah's Messenger, you made a mention of the Dajjal in the morning (sometimes describing him) to be insignificant and sometimes very important, until we began to think as if he were present in some (near) part of the cluster of the date palm trees. Thereupon he said: I harbor fear in regard to you in so many other things besides the Dajjal. If he comes forth while I am among on, I shall contend with him on your behalf, but if he comes forth while I am not amongst you, a man must contend on his own behalf and Allah would take care of every Muslim on my behalf (and safeguard him against his evil). He (Dajjal) would be a young man with twisted, contracted hair, and a blind eye. I compare him to 'Abd−ul−'Uzza b. Qatan. He who amongst you would survive to see him should recite over him the opening verses of Sura Kahf (xviii.). He would appear on the way between Syria and Iraq and would spread mischief right and left. O servant of Allah! adhere (to the path of Truth). We said: Allah's Messenger, how long would he stay on the earth? He said… For forty days, one day like a year and one day like a month and one day like a week and the rest of the days would be like your days. We said: Allah's Messenger, would one day's prayer suffice for the prayers of day equal to one year? Thereupon he said: No, but you must make an estimate of time (and then observe prayer). We said: Allah's Messenger, how quickly would he walk upon the earth? Thereupon he said: Like cloud driven by the wind. He would come to the people and invite them (to a wrong religion) and they would affirm their faith in him and respond to him. He would then give command to the sky and there would be rainfall upon the earth and it would grow crops. Then in the evening, their posturing animals would come to them with their humps very high and their udders full of milk and their flanks stretched. He would then come to another people and invite them. But they would reject him and he would go away from them and there would be drought for them and nothing would be left with them in the form of wealth. He would then walk through the waste, land and say to it: Bring forth your treasures, and the treasures would come out and collect (themselves) before him like the swarm of bees. He would then call a person brimming with youth and strike him with the sword and cut him into two pieces and (make these pieces lie at a distance which is generally) between the archer and his target. He would then call (that young man) and he will come forward laughing with his face gleaming (with happiness) and it would at this very time that Allah would send Christ, son of Mary, and he will descend at the white minaret in the eastern side of Damascus wearing two garments lightly dyed with saffron and placing his hands on the wings of two Angels. When he would lower his head, there would fall beads of perspiration from his head, and when he would raise it up, beads like pearls would scatter from it. Every non−believer who would smell the odor of his self would die and his breath would reach as far as he would be able to see. He would then search for him (Dajjal) until he would catch hold of him at the gate of Ludd and would kill him. Then a people whom Allah had protected would come to Jesus, son of Mary, and he would wipe their faces and would inform them of their ranks in Paradise and it would be under such conditions that Allah would reveal to Jesus these words: I have brought forth from amongst My servants such people against whom none would be able to fight; you take these people safely to Tur, and then Allah would send Gog and Magog and they would swarm down from every slope. The first of them would pass the lake of Tibering and drink out of it. And when the last of them would pass, he would say: There was once water there. Jesus and his companions would then be besieged here (at Tur, and they would be so much hard pressed) that the head of the ox would be dearer to them than one hundred dinirs and Allah's Apostle, Jesus, and his companions would supplicate Allah, Who would send to them insects (which would attack their necks) and in the morning they would perish like one single person. Allah's Apostle, Jesus, and his companions would then come down to the earth and they would not find in the earth as much space as a single span which is not filled with their putrefaction and stench. Allah's Apostle, Jesus, and his companions would then again beseech Allah, Who would send birds whose necks would be like those of bactrin camels and they would carry them and throw them where God would will. Then Allah would send rain which no house of clay or (the tent of) camels' hairs would keep out and it would wash away the earth until it could appear to be a mirror. Then the earth would be told to bring forth its fruit and restore its blessing and, as a result thereof, there would grow (such a big) pomegranate that a group of persons would be able to eat that, and seek shelter under its skin and milch cow would give so much milk that a whole party would be able to drink it. And the milch camel would give such (a large quantity of) milk that the whole tribe would be able to drink out of that and the milch sheep would give so much milk that the whole family would be able to drink out of that and at that time Allah would send a pleasant wind which would soothe (people) even under their armpits, and would take the life of every Muslim and only the wicked would survive who would commit adultery like asses and the Last Hour would come to them. - Bk 41, Number 7015

A Conversation with an old Chinese Man

2011-10-16T07:06:00.001+05:30

Recently, while I was waiting for the train at Sydney Central Station, an old man who can barely walk came up to me and asked ‘are you from India?’ I politely replied ‘yes sir, I am’. He then asked ‘can I sit next to you?’ I wonder why he asked that question. The seat was empty and it’s a public railway station. I replied, ‘please’, after a bit of delay. After adjusting himself on the seat, the old man told me that ‘India is making lot of progress, earlier it was all mess but now it is gaining strength’. For a moment, I was taken aback. Now, I was able to guess, why the old man wanted to sit next to me. He had some opinions regarding India and he wanted to share those with me. Generally, I am the kind of guy who jumps into political discussions, however given his age, I wanted to be calm and polite. I told him that, ‘yes, India is making progress and China is doing well too’. By the way, I forgot to say, the old man was from Chinese decent. After hearing my reply, he gave a childish smile and said, ‘China has got one problem that is not known to the world’. Internally, I was thinking, oh damn, this conversation is picking up. I mean, how exciting it is to have a political conversation with an old Chinese man at Sydney Central Station when there is an option of checking out beautiful Australian women. I think I am very fond of Australian ladies… especially the ones I noticed in Canberra. Most women in Canberra wear high healed leather boots… which for reason I found very appealing. Maybe, because they all appeared tall in that 5 inch leather boots and all my fantasies involve tall women. Even without those 5 inch leather boots, Australian women are tall compared to women in US and Europe. Anyhow, back to the conversation with the old man at Sydney Central station. So, I started wondering, what could that one problem that China has which is unknown to the world. I gave a thought but then I quickly gave up. Maybe, I wasn’t in mood for thinking. I asked the old man, ‘may I know what the one problem is?’ He instantly replied, ‘do you know China has one child policy?’ I told him that I am aware of it. He continued ‘so, if two people produce one child, the working force of China is going to decrease by half within twenty years’. That’s certainly is an interesting observation! A gave a thought and then replied, ‘the progress of the countries isn’t dependent on work force, but rather on the intellectual and political acumen’. The discussion continued for more than half an hour since coincidently, the old man was also heading to same stop as I was. We discussed about India-China relations, US, Iraq genocide, terrorism and related topics.

As I now look back at that conversation, couple of observations I felt are worth giving a serious thought. People around the world are able to see potential in India and view it as future super-power. When I say people, I mean common people. This is a very positive indication. However, such an impression means we (Indians) have got more responsibility on our shoulders. Now, the question is, are we prepared to take on that responsibility?

(To be Continued)

Wama Adraka– What shall explain thee?

2011-10-08T03:53:00.001+05:30

Across Holy Quran, there are several occasions where Allah has asked the question regarding a particular ‘event’ or a ‘heavenly body’ and then in the proceeding verses explained the meaning of such term. Among some verses, Allah has used an Arabic idiom ‘Wama-Adraaka’ ( and what may let you know’ or ‘and what shall explain thee’) to stress on the importance of a particular unknown event or heavenly body. This type of questioning occurs 12 times in Holy Quran. These verses are

In chapter 69, Al-Haaqa, Verse 3

وَ مَاۤ اَدۡرٰىکَ مَا الۡحَآقَّۃُ ؕ﴿۳﴾

And what will make thee realize what the Sure Reality is? (3)

In Chapter 74, Al-Muddaththir, Verse 27

وَ مَاۤ اَدۡرٰىکَ مَا سَقَرُ ﴿ؕ۲۷﴾

And what will explain to thee what Hell-Fire is? (27)

In Chapter 77, Al Mursalat, Verse 14

وَ مَاۤ اَدۡرٰىکَ مَا یَوۡمُ الۡفَصۡلِ ﴿ؕ۱۴﴾

And what will explain to thee what is the Day of Sorting out? (14)

In Chapter 82, Al-Infitar, Verse 17, 18

وَ مَاۤ اَدۡرٰىکَ مَا یَوۡمُ الدِّیۡنِ ﴿ۙ۱۷﴾

ثُمَّ مَاۤ اَدۡرٰىکَ مَا یَوۡمُ الدِّیۡنِ ﴿ؕ۱۸﴾

And what will explain to thee what the Day of Judgment is? (17)

Again what will explain to thee what the Day of Judgment is? (18)

In Chapter 83, Al-Mutaffifin, Verse 8

وَ مَاۤ اَدۡرٰىکَ مَا سِجِّیۡنٌ ؕ﴿۸﴾

And what will explain to thee what Sijjin is? (8)

In Chapter 83, Al-Mutaffifin, Verse 19

وَ مَاۤ اَدۡرٰىکَ مَا عِلِّیُّوۡنَ ﴿ؕ۱۹﴾

And what will explain to thee whet `Illiyun is? (19)

In Chapter 86, At-Tariq, Verse 2

وَ مَاۤ اَدۡرٰىکَ مَا الطَّارِقُ ۙ﴿۲﴾

And what will explain to thee what the Night-Visitant is? (2)

In Chapter 90, Al-Balad, Verse 12

وَ مَاۤ اَدۡرٰىکَ مَا الۡعَقَبَۃُ ﴿ؕ۱۲﴾

And what will explain to thee, the path that is steep? (12)

In Chapter 97, Al-Qadr, Verse 2

وَ مَاۤ اَدۡرٰىکَ مَا لَیۡلَۃُ الۡقَدۡرِ ؕ﴿۲﴾

And what will explain to thee what the Night of Power is? (2)

In Chapter 101, Al-Qaria, Verse 3

وَ مَاۤ اَدۡرٰىکَ مَا الۡقَارِعَۃُ ؕ﴿۳﴾

And what will explain to thee what the (Day) of Noise and Clamour is? (3)

In Chapter 101, Al-Qaria, Verse 10

وَ مَاۤ اَدۡرٰىکَ مَا ہِیَہۡ ﴿ؕ۱۰﴾

And what will explain to thee what this (bottomless-pit) is? (10)

In Chapter 104, Al-Humaza, Verse 5

وَ مَاۤ اَدۡرٰىکَ مَا الۡحُطَمَۃُ ؕ﴿۵﴾

And what will explain to thee That which Breaks to Pieces? (5)

The above verses are mysterious in lot of sense. At the same time, they convey a message that, Allah wants us to deeply think about them. I don’t know why, these verses have immensely fascinated them.

Stuck in Bandh–Can I run over my car over rioters?

2011-10-06T02:05:00.001+05:30

Supreme Court of India has declared ‘Bandh’ as unconstitutional in several of its judgments. Here’s an abstract of one such judgment “Held High Court was right in its conclusion that there cannot be any right to call or enforce a `Bandh' which interferes with the exercise of fundamental freedoms of other citizens-Fundamental Rights of the people as a whole cannot be subservient to the claim of Fundamental Right of an individual or only a section of people-Distinction drawn by High Court between a `Bandh' and a call for general strike or `Hartal' is well made out-Held the impugned judgment does not call for any interference. CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal Nos. 7728-29 of 1997.” ‘Rasta-rokos’ or ‘bandhs’ are clear violation of Indian constitution.

According to Article 51A of Indian Constitution, the fundamental duties of Indian citizens include

“It shall be the duty of every citizen of India— (a) to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem; (b) to cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom; (c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India; (d) to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so; (e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women; (f) to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture; (g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and to have compass ion for living creatures; (h) to develop the scientific temper , humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform; (i) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence; (j) to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavor and achievement. (k) **who is a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age of six and fourteen years.

** Ins. by the Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002, s. 4 (which is yet not in force, date to be notified by the government)”

Now, if you read the forth duty, it says “to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so”. Here, an obvious question is… who would take a call on when to defend the country? Constitution of India, doesn’t explicitly names certain XYZ would be the person who would take this call. I believe, whenever some individual or organization announces ‘bandh’, it is the fundamental duty of Indian citizens to defend the nation by acting against the people who are imposing bandh. This is what our constitution says.

If you are among those who want to abide the constitution of India, then here are the things you can do. Whenever someone declares a bandh, carry a HD camera and record unlawful happenings. You can place the camera at the front glass while driving the vehicle through a Bandh area. In most of the cases, criminals are acquitted because of lack of evidence. Irrespective of whether you have been impacted by the unlawful act, submitting evidence (if you happen to have or witness an act of crime) is duty of responsible citizens. You can hand-over the video to any of the news channels anonymously. Or just upload the video on YouTube.

Also, in cases of emergency… You have the right to self-defend. According to Section 97, you can self-defend you property too. Property includes anything that is movable or immovable, therefore an automobile is an property and if it’s attacked you have right to defend it. If you want to know… to what extent you can do to defend yourself and property, then do read IPC section 100. In case you are wondering… say you are travelling and stuck in a unlawful Bandh… can you run-over your vehicle over the rioters to avoid physical harm? I ran several queries on Judgment Information System (http://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/fsrgqry.aspx Yes, all Supreme Court Judgments are digitalized) to identify whether there has been cases where one has ran over people using a vehicle to self-protect but I haven’t found any. In any case, running over using a vehicle to self-protect is not a good idea unless you have enough evidence to overwhelmingly prove acute death threat in court. If I had a degree in Law, I would have a filed a PIL about this. I believe, citizens should be permitted to run over the rioters for escaping the riot zone.

Following are some of the Indian Penal Code sections that you need to know, in case of emergency.

Indian Penal Code: Section 149: Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object

“If an offence is committed by any member of an unlawful assembly in prosecution of the common object of that assembly, or such as the members or that assembly knew to be likely to be committed in prosecution of that object, every person who, at the time of the committing of that offence, is a member of the same assembly, is guilty of that offence.”

Indian Penal Code: Section 150: Hiring, or conniving at hiring, of persons to join unlawful assembly

Whoever hires or engages, or employs, or promotes, or connives at the hiring, engagement or employment of any person to join or become a member or any unlawful assembly, shall be punishable as a member of such unlawful assembly, and for any offence which may be committed by any such person as a member of such unlawful assembly in pursuance of such hiring, engagement or employment, in the same manner as if he had been a member of such unlawful assembly, or himself had committed such offence.

Indian Penal Code: Section 151: Knowingly joining or continuing in assembly of five or more persons after it has been commanded to disperse

Whoever knowingly joins or continues in any assembly of five or more persons likely to cause a disturbance of the public peace, after such assembly has been lawfully commanded to disperse, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.

Section 96. Things done in private defence

Nothing is an offence which is done in the exercise of the right of private defence.

Indian Penal Code: Section 97: Right of private defense of the body and of property

Every person has a right, subject to the restrictions contained in section 99, to defend— First.— His own body, and the body of any other person, against any offence affecting the human body; Secondly.—The property, whether movable or immovable, of himself or of any other person, against any act which is an offence falling under the definition of theft, robbery, mischief or criminal trespass, or which is an attempt to commit theft, robbery, mischief or criminal trespass.

Indian Penal Code: Section 99. Act against which there is no right of private defense

There is no right of private defence against an act which does not reasonable cause the apprehension of death or of grievous hurt, if done, or attempted to be done, by a public servant acting in good faith under colour of his office, though that act, may not be strictly justifiable by law. There is no right of private defence against an act which does not reasonable cause the apprehension of death or of grievous hurt, if done, or attempted to be done, by the direction of a public servant acting in good faith under colour of his office, though that direction may not be strictly justifiable by law. There is no right of private defence in cases in which there is time to have recourse to the protection of the public authorities.

Extent to which the right may be exercised: The right to private defence in no case extends to the inflicting of more harm that it is necessary to inflict for the purpose of defence. Explanation 1: A person is not deprived of the right of private defence against an act done, or attempted to be done, by a public servant, as such, unless he knows or has reason to believe, that the person doing the act is such public servant. Explanation 2: A person is not deprived of the right of private defence against an act done, or attempted to be done, by the direction of a public servant, unless he knows, or has reason to believe, that the person doing the act is acting by such direction, or unless such person states the authority under which he acts, or if he has authority in writing, unless he produces such authority, if demanded.

Indian Penal Code: Section 100: When the right of private defense of the body extends to causing death

The right of private defence of the body extends, under the restrictions mentioned in the last preceding section, to the voluntary causing of death or of any other harm to the assailant, if the offence which occasions the exercise of the right be of any of the descriptions hereinafter enumerated, namely:— First.— Such an assault as may reasonably cause the apprehension that death will otherwise be the consequence of such assault; Secondly.—Such an assault as may reasonably cause the apprehension that grievous hurt will otherwise be the consequence of such assault; Thirdly.— An assault with the intention of committing rape; Fourthly.—An assault with the intention of gratifying unnatural lust; Fifthly.— An assault with the intention of kidnapping or abducting; Sixthly.— An assault with the intention of wrongfully confining a person, under circumstances which may reasonably cause him to apprehend that he will be unable to have recourse to the public authorities for his release.

Indian Penal Code: Section 103: When the right of private defence of property extends to causing death

The right of private defence of property extends, under the restrictions mentioned in section 99, to the voluntary causing of death or of any other harm to the wrong-doer, if the offence, the committing of which, or the attempting to commit which, occasions the exercise of the right, be an offence of any of the descriptions hereinafter enumerated, namely:— First.— Robbery; Secondly.—House-breaking by night; Thirdly.— Mischief by fire committed on any building, tent or vessel, which building, tent or vessel is used as a human dwelling, or as a place for the custody of property; Fourthly.—Theft, mischief, or house-trespass, under such circumstances as may reasonably cause apprehension that death or grievous hurt will be the consequence, if such right of private defence is not exercised.

Typing ‘Sall Allāhu ʿalay-hi wa-sallam’ in MS Word and MS Office Documents

2011-08-19T18:41:00.001+05:30

All Muslims are obligated to say ‘Sall Allāhu ʿalay-hi wa-sallam’, whenever they hear or write the name of Holy Prophet Mohammed صلى الله عليه وسلم As you have noticed, in the previous sentence I wrote ‘Sall Allāhu ʿalay-hi wa-sallam’ in Arabic after the name of the Holy Prophet. In Holy Quran, Allah says "Indeed Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet; O People who believe! Send blessings and abundant salutations upon him” - (Chapter 33, Verse 56).

The phrase ‘Sall Allāhu ʿalay-hi wa-sallam’ means ‘May Allah honor him and grant him peace’. While Muslims do say ‘Sall Allāhu ʿalay-hi wa-sallam’ when they hear the name of Holy Prophet Mohammed ( صلى الله عليه وسلم), but when the name is being written in MSWord or Outlook, they face with challenge of writing the phrase in Arabic font. As you can see, it’s not easy to type the phrase in Arabic, especially when you are working on an English keyboard. To overcome this challenge, it became a commonly accepted practice among Muslims to write the English translation of ‘صلى الله عليه وسلم, that is ‘May Allah honor him and grant him peace’.

However, some people, in order to save some time and energy, have further reduced the phrase to ‘Peace be upon Him’. If one translates ‘Peace be upon Him’ in Arabic, it is ‘عليه السلام‎’ but not ‘صلى الله عليه وسلم’. Muslims are obligated to say ‘ عليه السلام ’ for archangels and Prophets of Islam except Prophet Mohammed (صلى الله عليه وسلم). For Prophet Mohammed (صلى الله عليه وسلم ), a Muslim must say صلى الله عليه وسلم. Yet, many of the Muslims, continue to use the phrase ‘Peace be upon Him’ for Prophet Mohammed (صلى الله عليه وسلم) too.

In recent times, as an act of laziness, Muslims have started using the abbreviation ‘PBUH’ for ‘Peace be Upon Him’. Several Islamic scholars have severely criticized such abbreviation. Several Fatwas (orders based on Islamic laws) have given against usage of abbreviations instead of writing صلى الله عليه وسلم . I must accept that, I have also committed this sin of writing abbreviation. I pray to Allah for forgive me for my sins.

So, this demands a question, how should a Muslim get over the challenge of writing ‘صلى الله عليه وسلم’ in Arabic font and not commit any sin by using abbreviations? Is there a solution to it?

I did some research on this and found that, there is indeed an elegant and easy solution. In computers, every character is assigned a unique code called ‘Unicode’. Formally, ‘Unicode’ is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. Whether it is English or French or Arabic, every character that can be typed, is assigned a Unicode. In order to reduce the length of the code, hexadecimal system is used instead of decimal system. Without going into too much of technical details, here’s an elegant solution to typing ﷺ in a MS word or any MS Office documents.

To type ﷺ in MS Word or any MS office Document:

(1) Type FDFA.

(2) Type ‘Alt+x’. (Hold on to ‘Alt’ key and press ‘x’ key.) As soon as you type ‘Alt+x”, ‘FDFA’ is converted to ﷺ

Unicode for ‘ﷺ’ is ‘FDFA’.

Below table gives Unicode Values of common Arabic Words/Phrases:

Arabic Phrase/Word	English Transliteration	Unicode
ﷲ	Allah	FDF2
ﷺ	Sall Allāhu ʿalay-hi wa-sallam	FDFA
ﷴ	Mohammed	FDF4
ﷳ	Akbar	FDF3
ﷶ	Rasool	FDF6
ﷻ	Jallajalaalahu	FDFB
ﷹ	Salla	FDF9
ﷸ	Wa-salam	FDF8
ﷷ	Alayhe	FDF7
ﷵ	Salam	FDF5
ﷱ	Qala	FDF1
ﷰ	Salla	FDF0

For example, if you want to type ﷲ, then

(1) Type ‘FDF2’.

(2) Type ‘Alt + x’ (Hold on to ‘Alt’ key and press ‘x’ key). MS Word or any Office document will then convert FDF2 to ﷲ.

For the Unicode for all the Arabic characters, refer to this link.

Note: This technique works for all MS Office products. In case, due to some issue, if it doesn’t work for you, then add ‘U+’ to the Unicode and repeat the steps mentioned above. For example, for typing ﷺ, type ‘U+FDFA’ and type Alt+x.

To know the general techniques for inputting characters via Unicode in Windows, Mac, Linux, etc., check this Wikipedia link. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_input).

What does Google think of famous Indians?

2011-08-18T16:03:00.001+05:30

I am sure, you might have come across Google Auto-Complete feature. While you type the search keywords, this feature predicts what the keywords could be. According to Google, functionality of this feature is

“As you type, Google's algorithm predicts and displays search queries based on other users' search activities. In addition, if you're signed in to your Google Account and have Web History enabled, you may see search queries from relevant searches that you've done in the past. All of the predicted queries that are shown in the drop-down list have been typed previously by Google users”

Today, I received an email that spoke of interesting results that auto-complete feature gave, when the names of current Indian Politicians are typed. So, I thought of doing a little experiment to verify what are people searching about famous Indians. Note, I am not logged using my Google account during this experiment, hence the results are not impacted by my past searches.

(Btw, I think, the researchers working on social behaviour of people on Internet must take a note of this. I wonder if any research papers are written on this).

Current Politicians:

(Seems like nobody searches the name of Leader of Opposition)

Some freedom fighters:

Some Indian Hindi Movie actors:

Some talented Indians:

(This is seriously embarrassing. How come Indians aren’t searching about Ramanujan. When I search Srinivasa Ramanujan, no instant results!)

Chlorella : Reproduction captured using Microscope

2011-07-07T17:53:00.001+05:30

Few days back, we were fortunate to capture the asexual reproduction of Chlorella, a type of algae. Below are some microscopic captures and video of the same.

Bronchioles in Human Lungs–Microscopic Captures

2011-07-07T17:16:00.001+05:30

Bronchioles: We all know that, when we breath, the air goes to our lungs and from thereon the oxygen from the air is extracted and carbon-dioxide is released. However, contrary to common perception, air (which we have inhaled) is not passed to lungs via a large pipe. When we inhale, the air goes inside via Trachea, which is generally 4-5 inches long. Subsequently, the trachea merges into bronchi pipes or Bronchus. The bronchus branches get diverged into smaller tubes, where each tube is referred as Bronchioles. There are millions of such Bronchioles in each Human Lung.

This below microscopic capture is the cross-sectional view of a Bronchioles.

PS: The above shots were captured by my sister (Ayesha Batul), who is currently doing Pharmaceutical Engineering. I have been pressing her to start a blog, however, she doesn’t listen to me.

Skateboarding

2011-07-05T17:35:00.001+05:30

Skateboarding

VIEW SLIDE SHOW

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Complete submission to the will of God

2011-06-29T03:58:00.001+05:30

It’s been a while since I blogged and the absence was intentional. I wanted to take some time off to understand life. Fortunately, I got to spend lot of time in isolation. I spend about two months in Sydney and Brisbane and another month in Mumbai. Every time, I was alone, I kept asking God, a very simple question. “Why?”

Why am I so deeply in love with a lady, whom I have met only five times? Why do I keep thinking about her all the time? Why do I keep praying for her well-being? Why do I miss her so badly? Why do I feel so committed to her?

Even after months of serious thinking, I have found no answers for these questions. I guess, that’s how life is. I guess, that’s how the feeling of love is. You don’t know the destination until you arrive at it. In this age of social networks, the fact that I have no idea where she is… itself indicates the tragedy of my life. Honestly, I don’t even know whether she is married or unmarried now. Whenever I get this thought, I just look up to God for an answer.

Sometimes my heart says, if everything was simple, then I wouldn’t have been happy with life. And all these differences, circumstances, etc. are all test of time. The fact that, I am not giving up hope even when all odds are against me, makes me feel very happy. Maybe, this has helped in solidifying my relationship with God. The God, who has created me, has also created her. The best solution is to accept the decision made by God. The essence of my religion is ‘complete submission to the will of God’… And this feeling of love has taught me exactly that. Complete submission to the will of God.

In my next post, I shall post about some research ideas that I have been working on.

Effective Career Planning Discussion

2011-02-24T01:13:00.001+05:30

For an employee, having an effective and open career planning discussion with the manager is must for career growth and job satisfaction. Today, I had a great discussion with my manager on my career plan and what I must do to enhance my career growth. In this blog post, I am sharing most of the non-confidential things that we discussed during our career planning meeting (I can’t share confidential details such as my salary, organization and promotions for obvious reasons). There are two reasons why I am sharing this.

1. Often we have this type of meeting behind closed doors and then we forget. By putting it in open, I have to set goals for myself. This is how I was in 2011. In future, I can always look back and say, where I was and in which direction I chose to take.

2. This might also be useful for other employees and managers who are looking for information on how to have career planning discussion.

To begin with, let’s first understand the ground rules for effective career discussion between employee and manager. From the employee point of view, these are the ground rules

(1) You must be open with your manager about your professional ambitions

(2) You must be self-critical about your weakness and limitations

(3) You must give a deep thought to the feedback given by your manager

(4) You must respect the opinion of your manager, even if you disagree

(5) You must draft a career plan, immediately post your discussion

From the manager’s point of view, these are the ground rules

(1) You must carefully listen and understand the ambitions of your employee

(2) You must provide realistic and true assessment of your employee’s abilities

(3) You must provide fair feedback on areas where the employee needs to improve

(4) You must put sincere effort in helping the employee grow in his/her career

(5) You must be open enough to tell to your employee on areas where you can’t help

If anywhere the ground rules are violated then the discussion won’t produce useful results. Also, both the employee and the manager must realize that, career planning discussion is not just about ‘career-growth of the employee’ but also about ‘how the employee can contribute to the organization in the most effective way’. This is often ignored in career discussions. Another reality of career discussion is that, employees must always keep in mind that their ‘manager is a human being with limited abilities’ i.e. ‘they cannot expect the manager to solve all their problems’. You have to be realistic.

Now, the next most important thing for an effective career discussions is ‘pre-planning of what you are going to discuss’. In my case, I used a template of nine questions for self-assessment. These nine questions were prepared by the managing director of my organization. By the way, I didn’t use these nine questions template because these questions are prepared by some high level guy in my organization but because they are fairly good for self-assessment. I spent about 45 minutes answering these questions.

1. Where do you want to be in next 3-5 years?

Answer: In next 3-5 years, from the technical point of view, I would like to be in a position to design and review large-scale enterprise applications. At the same time, I would like to be a fine orator in fields of science, technology and politics. By 2014, I would like to be author of at least four books.

2. Do you have a mentor? How often are you meeting with them?

Answer: Nope. I would love to have one.

3. What do you think are your strengths?

Answer: Over the period of time, I have realized my strengths are

(i) Being fearless towards taking on technical and non-technical challenges in life. One of my childhood dreams was to be a warrior, someone on the lines of Achilles and Alexander. While as I grew up I realized, I am not born in an era of warriors, however, I have found that the qualities of warrior still apply. Whenever a new challenge arrives in life, I would prefer to face it like a warrior than make a compromising decision.

(ii) I have huge interest in ‘writing’. This has reflected in my ability to write technical research papers, blogs, articles, etc. I would like to put more effort in further developing this skill and turn myself into an influential author.

4. What do you think are your weaknesses?

Answer: I believe following are my weakness.

(i) After spending three years in software industry, I somehow haven’t fallen in love with it. Because of this, whenever a new software technology comes up, it doesn’t create an excitement within me. Lack of excitement means, I won’t be learning a technology until there is a necessity.

(ii) In general sense, I am not the kind of person who would spend excess amount of time on a particular activity. This has reflected in my varied interests and hobbies. Long story short, I can’t be subject matter expert in one particular technology. Instead over a period of time, I would prefer to gain insights in every technology I come across.

5. What do you think are your areas for improvement?

Answer: Couple of areas that I feel there is an immediate need for development

(i) I would like to get a strong grip over .NET 4.0 and Windows Azure programming skills.

(ii) I would like to improve my inter-personal communication skills, especially interacting with the people who have skewed opinions (technical and political). Current challenge is to figure out a way of changing the mindset of people in minimum amount of time.

6. A year from now what do you want to be different in your skill set?

Answer: I would like to gain core development skills in .NET 4.0. I am also interested in developing skills in web UX design.

7. What kind of work appeals to your heart? What are the kinds of things you LOVE to do?

Answer: From last two years, I have enjoyed meeting external customers of Microsoft and helping them resolve problems. In these two years, I have realized,

(i) I enjoy the work when I am given the authority and responsibility to handle things

(ii) I enjoy the work when I am not being micro-managed.

(iii) I have thoroughly enjoyed delivering trainings to customers

8. What kind of tree captures your growth aspirations? What are the ways in which you want to grow – horizontal vs. vertical vs. below the surface growth?

Answer: At this stage of my career, I would prefer to ‘below the surface growth’. I haven’t set any precise goals for what I want to be in 10 years from now. And to make that decision, first I must know what truly I want. Horizontal or vertical growth would be unnecessary distraction before I make that decision.

9. What kind of Star recognition do you like? How do you like to be rewarded? In public or in private? And what are the kind of rewards that motivate you?

Answer: I would prefer being awarded in private for my work. As for as ‘what kind of rewards that motivate me’, well, that would depend on what kind of rewards that are on offer!

Once I had the answers ready for the nine-questions, we decided for a one-hour career discussion meeting. Make sure that, before the meeting, your mood is good. Just to avoid any unforeseen situations, I cancelled all meetings three hours prior to the career planning discussion. Being in right state of mind and good mood is absolute must. And I must confess I spend couple of hours watching videos on YouTube just to relax myself.

We didn’t decide on a strict agenda for the meeting, but at the end this is how the time got distributed around the three tasks.

Task	Discussion Time
Self-Assessment – Going through 9 questions and the employee’s answers	20 minutes
Discussion of employee abilities/skills	20 minutes
Manager Feedback	10 minutes

As the meeting started, for few minutes my manager and I had a candid conversation about some non-sense. And yes, I told him that I am going to blog this career discussion, for which he replied ‘if that’s going to help you impress few girls, then go ahead!’ Once the serious discussion started, we went through each of the nine-questions and the answers I have written down. Basically, based on my answers, my manager was assessing ‘where do I stand now’ and ‘which directions would be suitable for my career growth’. For each of the questions, my manager asked me ‘examples’ on why I have written a particular thing. Once we were done with the questions, we used a table to measure my core abilities. These abilities are defined below.

Leadership: Ability to influence and persuade.

Communication: Able to communicate via emails, presentations, writing, etc.

Shipping: Ability to track things and get work done on time.

Technical: In-depth knowledge regarding features/specs, development, testing, operations, build/release, etc.

Business: Domain knowledge and insights about our products and competitive products, customers and ability to provide breakthrough insights on paradigm shifts in software technologies.

After a brief discussion, my manager provided his feedback on where I stand, what I must do to improve and what opportunities I must pursue. Here’s the feedback given by my manager. As far the skill ratings is concerned, I think he has rated me slightly above than I am.

	Low	Medium	High
Leadership			X
Communication		X
Shipping		X
Technical		X
Business	X

Also, based on my work, this is the feedback given by my manager on the areas that I need to improve upon

(i) Task management: Develop an organized way of managing and following up on tasks. Sometimes, I commit to some tasks but due to other high priority works, I missed out delivering low-priority tasks. Also, sometimes, I don’t follow-up on the low-priority tasks.

(ii) Business Skills: I don’t have much knowledge about the competitive technologies offered outside of Microsoft. Having extensive knowledge of both Microsoft and non-Microsoft technologies would help me in developing business acumen.

(iii) Technical Skills: I need to improve on core programming skills especially on .NET 4.0 and Windows Azure. Also, I need to get some expertize on using Team Foundation Server (TFS). Also, push further on technical knowledge with regard to application architecture review from performance standpoint. Recommended to attend online trainings in free time.

(iv) Influencing Abilities: Identify effective techniques for persuading stubborn customers to do the right things. Recommend reading the book ‘Great dialogues by Plato’.

(v) Mentor: Identify a good mentor within Microsoft on career and technical guidance.

After the end of the discussion, I documented every point we discussed. Overall, I think this was a positive discussion. We discussed several things, which I hadn’t thought about earlier. For example, discussion about the competitive technologies in the market stumped me. Post discussion I realized that my business acumen is severely lacking. Also, the discussion about simple things such as ‘task management’ was very fruitful. Many times, I think I am doing well in my day-to-day job but little things like forgetting a low-priority task might create a negative impression. The good thing about my manager is that, he is very solution oriented than merely highlighting the problem. That helps in a big way.

With that, I want to conclude this long post. I don’t know whether it would be useful for anyone for having a meaningful career planning conversation, but this will definitely serve as document that will remind me what I was in February 2011.

Microscopic captures–Part2

2011-02-17T23:20:00.001+05:30

Here’s a little experiment I did. I took a tiny drop of water, approximately around 1mm in diameter. When I put it under microscope, it quickly evaporated. I recorded the whole process of evaporation. Here’s the YouTube link.

Evaporation of water–Microscopic View

As you can see, first the thickness of the water drop reduces… and then it breaks apart (at 1:00). At notice, a micro-organism floating in the water.

Here’s some other microscopic shots I have got.

Fig: Feather of a mosquito

Fig: Sticky fluid

Fig: Head of the ant

Fig: Tip of mosquito leg

Fig: Leg of Mosquito

Fig: Red thread made up of cotton straws dipped in water.

Fig: Red Cotton straw

More pictures to follow soon.

Microscopic captures – Part1

2011-02-16T21:52:00.001+05:30

An year back I added a microscope to my collection of gadgets, however, didn’t get much time and interest to play around with it. Finally, I got some time to experiment and I must admit, I am falling in love with microscopic world. Here are some microscopic shots, will be sharing more in future posts.

Fig: Mosquito head: The dots are the eyes of mosquito.

Fig: Feature of the mosquito.

Fig: 40x Close-up of Cotton

Fig: Plant Cells

Fig: Plant cells. The odd cell in the middle could either be a parasite or a starch cell.

Fig: Skin cells: I distinctly remember drawing this diagram back in school.

Fig: Stem Cells of a plant

Technical Conferences in India – The rise of Educational Mafia

2011-02-10T06:16:00.001+05:30

Arranging technical conferences in govt. and private engineering colleges has become a revenue generating business in India. I was going through different conferences that are being held in India in the fields of computer science and was totally shocked at the registration fee for each of these conferences. Registration fee in the range of $200 - $500 is ridiculous for the economy like India.

Now, let’s try to understand the facts. I run a discussion community called “Technical Research papers” on Orkut and it has over 1500 members. Most of these members are students, who aren’t aware much about research and how technical papers needs to be written. After moderating the community for more than a year, I thing that was clearly evident that, majority of the students in India doesn’t care about research. All they want is a tag of publishing a research paper to enhance their chances for securing an admission in a university (mostly foreign). These students pick the research papers from internet and publish it claiming that it’s their own. Apparently, they don’t even realize that its plagiarism. This is where the educational mafia assists such students.

The conference organizers are well aware that majority of the Indian students are doing plagiarism and they also know that, these students desperately need a publication to their credit to get an admission in a university. This is where the ‘give-and-take’ relationship begins. Or rather, I should say, educational mafia takes over. International and National Conferences are organized by govt. and private educational institutes that accept plagiarized papers. The trick here is that, these conferences generally have inflated registration free, something of the range $200-$500. Considering Indian economy, this price is too high, however, the organizers of the conferences are well aware that, they will still receive paper from students who want to publish papers at any cost.

Now, I don’t mean to say, all the conferences organized in India are of this type and all the Indian students do plagiarism. However, majority of the conference are of that type and majority of the students do plagiarism. When you question these organizers, they act like mafia. Typically, when asked for scholarship/registration fee waiver, they would simply reject the paper. In fact, there is no concept of scholarship/fee waiver. The worst thing about all this fraud is, it is being done by highly educated professors. When you meet them in person and question them, they would say “they are promoting research among students and they are being lenient so that student attends conferences and learn’. That’s a very lame excuse. In they want to promote research among students, they should arrange workshops for students. Accepting plagiarized papers should be strictly avoided.

In India, AICTE provides funding for educational institutions to arrange conferences. Even if a particular institution fails to acquire funding from AICTE, the institution should fund the conference. However, majority of the govt. and private colleges don’t take this route. Instead, they arrange the conferences purely from the money they obtained from registration fees from the participants. And to make things worse, they try to derive profit out of it.

I wonder, for how long this education mafia and plagiarism would continue in India. And I fear, this will deeply affect the reputation of Indian researchers…

Feels Good…

2011-01-21T06:50:00.001+05:30

Couple of things I noticed today. Sharing the screenshots.

An old sock

2011-01-21T02:01:00.001+05:30

This story was forwarded to me by a friend, thought of sharing with you all.

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A wise and saintly rich man, sensing his approaching death, called his son to his side and gave him these instructions: “My son, I shall be leaving you very shortly. On the day when I die, and they have washed my body and come to wrap it in the shroud, I want you to put one of my socks on my foot. This is my final request of you.”

Soon after this, the old man did indeed die, leaving behind his goods and property, his children and his dependents. Family, friends, acquaintances and neighbours attended his funeral. The body had been washed and was almost completely wrapped in the shroud, when the son remembered his father’s wish. Finding one of his old socks, he handed it to the washer of the dead, saying, “In accordance with my father’s last request, please put this sock on his foot.”

“That is quite impossible:’ Said the man. “Such a thing is utterly impermissible in Islam. I cannot act against the Shariah.” Despite this valid objection, the son insisted, “That was my father’s final request; it must certainly be carried out.”

The washer of the dead was unmoved. “If you won’t take my word for it,” he said, “go and ask the mufti. He will confirm what I tell you, that it is not permissible.” Holding up the funeral, they consulted the mufti, preachers and scholars, all of whom declared that this was not permissible in Islam. Just then, an aged friend of the deceased interrupted the debate with these words to the son: “My boy, your late father entrusted me with a letter which I was to hand over to you after his departure. Here, this letter belongs to you.” So saying, he gave him an envelope. Taken by surprise, the boy opened the envelope and read out the contents of his father’s letter.

“My son, all this wealth and property I have left to you. Now you see: at the last moment, they won’t even let you give me an old sock to wear. When you yourself come one day to be in my condition they will also refuse to let you keep anything but your shroud. Eight yards of shroud are all you will be able to carry over from this fleeting world into the Hereafter. So pull yourself together and be prepared. Spend the fortune I have left you, not for the satisfaction of vain desires, but in ways pleasing to Allah, that you may achieve honour in both worlds.”

Google Bangladesh–Hacked!

2011-01-09T04:24:00.001+05:30

One of my colleague emailed me that, according to Tech Crunch Website, Google Bangladesh has been hacked. Below is the TechCrunch article.

Google Bangladesh Site “OwN3D by TiGER-M@TE”

The story is indeed true. When I search Google Bangladesh, I see the following results

As you can see from the Google results itself, it says “Google Bangladesh OwN3D by TiGER-M@TE”. What is even strange is that, Google hasn’t yet fixed it. When I click on www.google.com.bd, I see the following page

This is probably one of the biggest hacks in recent times.

Lonely walks …

2010-12-08T12:58:00.001+05:30

The Nights of the Researcher

2010-12-01T05:16:00.002+05:30

There are nights of pain. There are nights of joy. There are nights of tears. There are nights of celebration. There are nights of ignorance. There are nights of knowledge. There are nights of dumbness. There are nights of enlightenment. There are nights of humility. There are nights of arrogance. There are nights of being lost. There are nights of being in control. There are nights of despair. There are nights of achievement. There are nights of isolation. There are nights of vagueness. There are nights of clarity. There are nights of darkness. There are nights of brightness. There are nights… and there are nights… until the heart stops beating.

…that’s the life of a researcher.

There are times when I find myself most satisfied with life. Sometime back, I decided, whenever I would feel satisfied with life, I should blog down my thoughts so that I can read it when I am unhappy. Finally that moment has arrived. Some of you might know, I have started working on a research idea after a long time. For few days (rather for few months) I failed to attain certain level of concentration that was needed to do research and was feeling really disappointed with life. There were lots of promises that I had made to the people close to my heart and giving up was not the option. I tried hard… tried to shut my senses to avoid distractions. Tried to be away from social networks and people gatherings. Slowly and steadily, the focus started increasing. Few days back, I got couple of big ideas. And since then, that true satisfaction of being a researcher is reflecting in my life.

Honestly, the idea is actually very simple. But the most interesting aspect was my reaction to it. For a moment, everything in the world appeared so unimportant and useless. I felt like, I am very close to meeting God. It’s that feeling that can’t be expressed. It’s like you star breaking down the matter and get an opportunity to look at the the deeper meaning of life. And then, you find the piece of knowledge that human were never aware of. That’s pure treasure. It’s like, God has chosen you for something. It’s like… suddenly the life has found its significance. I started talking with God and yes, I could sense the confidence. Or maybe, it’s the arrogant feeling that… O’ God, now I know your universe better than anyone else. Or maybe, when you attain that knowledge, the heart automatically becomes humble. The tears flow out of eyes… and you realize… how merciful God has been to give you that knowledge.

For those of you who find all this rather stupid, let me give you some context. There was this idea, which I first got during my engineering back in 2004-2005. I felt it had something special to it. I wrote lot of stuff about it but there was something missing. And didn’t know what that missing stuff was. I did communicate about it with lot of professors then. Few American professors did reply to my emails. But ultimately, if you have an idea… and if it’s incomplete, nobody can help you except God. I think, somewhere in between, I gave up on that idea. Few days back, I was working on possibility of finding polynomial exact solution for ‘Traveling salesman problem’, suddenly, a thought about that old idea occurred to me. Let me clarify, the old idea was nothing to do with TSP. It just that, when you are working on something… and it leads to something else. So, I put the TSP aside and started working on the old idea once again. Fortunately, as I proceeded further, the path in the woods appeared… and I just walked on. Eventually, the big picture appeared and yes, the idea was indeed profound.

Since Sunday, I have been working on the research paper to formally express the idea. Insha’Allah, the paper should be out on arXiv by end of this week. I still have to explore suitable mathematical journal for it.

Shall be posting about the paper soon! Insha’Allah. Please include me in your prayers.

Circular Periodic Table–Pleasant surprise

2010-11-24T23:14:00.001+05:30

Recently, I was searching about the articles that got published about the circular periodic table and pleasantly surprized to find hundreds of articles about it over internet. I had designed the circular periodic table during my 10th standard in 2001. Back then, I didn’t have much idea about scientific publishing. Few years later, I put it on Wikipedia. About.com:Chemistry was one of the first websites that gave credit to it.

As years passed by, I felt that I should formally publish about it. So, finally in 2009, I posted a draft paper about it on ArXiv. But to my surprise, MIT’s online magazine Technology Review broke the story about my paper, giving it a larger visibility. Subsequently, the story got covered by Slashdot, Gizmodo, PhysicsWorld, Discovery, etc. One criticism is about orientation of the chemical symbols in the tables. Well, orientation can be changed easily and one needs not rotate the screen.

But the most surprising of all was, one of the school teacher had included a quick word about circular periodic table in an exam paper. I thought of sharing that portion of exam paper with you all. Though there is nothing special about it…but somehow, it gave me immense pleasure.

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Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.

Many people recognize the modern periodic table of chemical elements. It was first published by Dmitri Mendeleev, a Russian scientist. Mendeleev’s version of the table organized the elements and left gaps for yet-to-be-discovered elements. Mendeleev first placed the elements in order from left to right based on increasing atomic mass. Then, he studied the properties of each element and noticed that the properties formed a pattern. When an element showed a repeating property, Mendeleev started a new row.

Today, the basic block-like shape of the periodic table is well-known. However, there are usable, academic versions of the table that look quite different. Timmothy Stowe created a periodic table for physicists. This table is three-dimensional and has three axes.

Paul Giguere also created a three-dimensional periodic table that looks like billboards with elements on the front and back. Theodor Benfey’s periodic table is shaped like a spiral with two arms. There is even a circular periodic table, created by Mohd Abubakr, that may actually improve on the current version.

In the space provided, write the letter of the term or phrase that best completes each statement or best answers each question.

_____ 39. Based on the information in the passage, who created the original version of the modern periodic table?

A Abubakr C Giguere

B Benfey D Mendeleev

_____ 40. Which is the purpose of the first paragraph?

A to introduce the periodic table

B to establish Mendeleev as a scientist

C to explain how the periodic table should be organized

D to show why other forms of the periodic table are wrong

_____ 41. The word academic in this passage means having to do with

A chemistry. C education.

B ease of use. D mass.

_____ 42. The purpose of this article is to convince readers that

A Mendeleev created the only useful periodic table.

B chemical elements can be organized in more than one way.

C Mendeleev should not have left gaps in his version of the periodic table.

D a three-dimensional version of the periodic table is better than a two-dimensional version.

The Hidden Pain of India

2010-11-22T18:42:00.001+05:30

sāre jahāñ se acchā hindostāñ hamārā

ham bulbuleñ haiñ us kī vuh gulsitāñ hamārā

Better than the entire world, is our Hindustan [India],

We are its nightingales, and it (is) our garden abode

According to a legend, Mahatma Gandhi sung this stanza over hundred times to motivate himself when he was imprisoned at Yerawada Jail at Pune in 1930. Such was the effect of those sentences that powered the spirit of Indians to fight against the British. Written in 1904 by lesser known Urdu poet Mohammed Iqbal, the lines of his poem still continue to have a profound impact on the people of India. Content with first two sentences, not many Indians bother to read the complete poem written by poet. While the poem starts with over optimistic lines such as India being better than the entire world, eventually the poet finishes the poem with tragic end. The lines are cryptic and do not address the tragedy directly. The last stanza of the poem had a profound impact on me. Whenever, I read this poem, I wondered about the hidden pain of India referred in it. I shall not go in detail, but let me highlight the last three stanzas of the poem.

yūnān-o-miṣr-o-rumā sab miṭ gaʾe jahāñ se

ab tak magar hai bāqī nām-o-nishāñ hamārā

kuchh bāt hai kih hastī miṭtī nahīñ hamārī

sadiyoñ rahā hai dushman daur-e zamāñ hamārā

iqbāl! koʾī maḥram apnā nahīñ jahāñ meñ

maʿlūm kyā kisī ko dard-e nihāñ hamārā!

Ancient Greece, Egypt, and Rome have all vanished from the world

Our own attributes (name and sign) live on today

Such is our existence that it cannot be erased

Even though, for centuries, the cycle of time has been our enemy.

Iqbal! We (Indians) have no confidant in this world

What does anyone know of our hidden pain?

Being born in India can be the greatest gift or the worst curse, depending on how you are going to spend life. Walking through the streets and markets, there were times when one feels lost in the crowd. Sometimes, when so many people around, it is easy to misinterpret life and lose track of where you are heading. Just like every other country, in India, its culture has its positive and negative effects. Unfortunately, in recent times, the Indian society has picked up more negative effects than positive. The acute lack of development and self-confidence has transformed the society into a self-destructing monster. Majority of the people in India prefer to remain backward, unclean and cultureless. They see developing with time as burden and feel it as a threat to their so called ‘culture’. The sheer magnitude of resistance from people towards understanding change and taking responsibility has continuously pushed the country towards poverty and sickness.

Ask an Indian about community service, 9 out of 10 would not even know what it actually means. Here’s an interesting example, most Indians treat ‘India’ equivalent to their ‘mother’ and yet, India would easy top the list of world’s dirtiest nations. The sheer indiscipline among people and lack of true respect towards the nation is the cause for uncleanliness in the country. It won’t take more than few minutes to understand that, Indians are as hypocrites as one can get. Most of them won’t do anything close to what they preach (that includes me too).

So, is that the hidden pain that poet was referring? I don’t know.

Signal Processing Framework for Quantum Communication Systems

2010-11-19T21:02:00.001+05:30

Few years back, I had applied for enrolling into Ph.D program at an Indian University. However, the university didn’t accept my proposal for a part-time Ph.D. Below is an abstract of the problem statement I proposed. It’s titled “Signal Processing Framework for Quantum Communication Systems”. This is still an open problem and I would be glad if someone takes it up.

Abstract: Signal processing in Communication systems is based upon the classical properties of signals. In classical physics, the effects of measurement, cloning, uncertainty and detection have no or little impact on the signal. As we move from classical communication systems to the system built using quantum mechanical properties of matter, effects such as measurement, cloning, uncertainty and detection have profound impact on the way system works. In [1], quantum signal processing was studied for the two quantum mechanical properties namely measurement and detection. This thesis intends at developing a formal framework that takes into account the measurement and detection of signals, no-cloning theorem, Uncertainty of canonically conjugate variables, superposition principle and other quantum mechanical properties [2-5].

The following studies are to be aimed to be done as part of thesis

1. Impact of quantum mechanical properties such as No-Cloning theorem classical signal processing algorithms

2. Validity of Shannon’s sampling theorem for quantum band-pass signals*

3. Effects of Energy-Time uncertainty in transforming signals from Time domain to frequency domain**

4. Design of basic modulation/demodulation techniques for signal processing.

*Original proposal of Shannon’s sampling theorem and Nyquist rate was performed on classical communication systems. The author is unaware of any study on this based on quantum mechanical properties.

**Note: In classical signal processing, theoretical signal transformations from frequency domain to time domain doesn’t impact the final result [6], whereas there is a possibility that due to energy-time uncertainty, transforming signals from time domain to frequency domain might introduce an uncertainty. This needs to be thoroughly studied from the signal processing prospective.

References:

[1] Yonina Chana Eldar, Alan V. Oppenheim, Quantum Signal Processing, PhD Thesis, MIT, 2002.

(Available at http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/16805)

[2] E.B. Manoukian, Quantum Theory – A wide Spectrum, Springer, 2006.

[3] K.T. Hecht, Quantum Mechanics, Springer, 2000.

[4] A.C. Phillips, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, John Wiley and Sons, 2003.

[5] Gary E. Bowman, Essential Quantum Mechanics, Oxford University Press, 2008.

[6] Simon Haykin, Communication Systems, John Wiley and Sons, 1983.

Distinguishing religion and entertainment

2010-11-19T20:32:00.001+05:30

Unfortunately, at various stages of my life, I have come across many people who falls under one of the below types.

1. The people who want only entertainment in religion

2. The people who find only sacrifice in religion

3. The people who don’t care about religion

The reason I say it as an ‘unfortunate thing’ as it makes the society very intolerant. I will make a daring attempt to highlight the problems associated with each type and where our society needs to make adjustments.

A religion loses its seriousness when it becomes a mode of entertainment for its followers. And a religion which has lost its seriousness fails to receive respect from the people of other religions. Essentially, religions were created to provide guidance on spirituality and to develop harmony among people. Each religion makes an attempt to define protocols which people needs to follow. For the sake of universal benefits, certain protocols tend to be very strict. Consider for example, few religions prohibit eating of meat. While, the protocol is an imposition on the followers, it cannot be considered as suppression of rights of a person.

The most stupid thing that majority of the people across the world do is to follow the religion which their parents have followed without even understanding the rest of the religions. I call it stupid because it makes no sense to follow a religion just because you were born to a person who was following that religion. Believe me, 99.99% of the people across world do this. This also leads to a major crisis, which dictates the politics of the world.

Because, the people made no choice in choosing the religion, as they grow up, majority of them tend to pick only those protocols within the religion that gives them entertainment. For example, everybody celebrates festivals because they give entertainment. What about the other great teachings of religion? Well, they just ignore them. Which religion allows injustice? Which religion allows tyranny? Which religion allows people to kill another people? Which religion says not to help the fellow human beings who are hungry and homeless? Which religion says treat women as slaves? Which religion says to distinguish people on the basis of their color? Which religion says to snatch away the land of the people and make then live in refugees in their own homeland? Given the fact that, there is no entertainment in solutions of these questions, the world goes on without caring.

Then, there are another set of people, who again have chosen the religion purely because their parents followed that religion, over the years tend to develop a mentality that religion is equivalent to ‘sacrifice’. Over the years, these people pick only those protocols in the religions which speak of sacrifice. They consider martyrdom in fighting against people who don’t sacrifice in the name of religion. When these people come across few intelligent ‘entertainment’ hungry people, they become fooled.

And the third types of people are the ones who don’t care about religion. For them, religion doesn’t mean anything; they find it foolish to think that there is God. Given that, I don’t carry a positive opinion about atheists, I would not like to comment here as they might consider it as personal attack.

To conclude, if one has to follow religion, then the person should spend time understanding the religion. Remember, religion is neither meant for entertainment nor meant for sacrifice. Religion is way of life.

One Lakh Crore–What does that mean?

2010-11-18T21:13:00.001+05:30

CAG report for 2G spectrum allocation scandal has highlighted that India has lost 1.7 lakh crore due to corruption by Telecom Ministry. By all means, I think, there are more than ten thousand people involved in this scandal. So, just hanging former Telecom Minister A.Raja is not enough. Yet, except for resignation of A.Raja, there has been no action from the government. What is even worse, common man of India isn’t bothered with the scale of this scandal. This is the unfortunate truth of India. To help the common man understand, what this scandal means to India, I am going to describe what 1.7 lakh crore means to us. To make the mathematics simple, I am assuming the scandal is only 1 lakh crore.

If one writes down 1 lakh crore in numbers, it is 1,00,000,00,00,000. That’s ‘1’ followed by twelve zeros.

If Government of India wanted to distribute 1 lakh crore to Indian Citizens, each one of us would have got about ~900 rupees.

With 1 lakh crore, government of India could have provided free primary education for every girl child in India for next three years.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have got every heart patient in India operated.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have got doubled the strength of Indian army.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have increased the security five-fold for all major Indian cities, which reduces the chances of a terrorist attack five times.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have reduced the Tax Rate for every citizen by 10% for one year.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have planted approximately 10 lakh crore trees in India, hence reducing the impact of green-house gases by 300%.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have set-up 10 million clean and hygienic public toilets across India.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have increased the budget by 40 times for R&D in Indian Universities.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have provided purified drinking water for every citizen of India for a period of 5 years.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have provided free electricity to all the farmers in India for a period of 2 years.

I can go on and on… but what’s the point? 1 lakh crore is just the tip of iceberg. Corruption has become an industry in India. And people of India has got so used to corruption… just simply don’t care. But someday, this is going to take us down. I just hope Indians wake up before the country is sold out in pieces by corrupt Indians.