And The Oscar Goes To

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Nominees

and
Winners

(Partial list of 83rd annual Oscar winners )
for the 83rd Academy Awards






Going into the 83rd Academy Awards in Hollywood Sunday night, the buzz was about how many times Oscar would curtsey for "The King's Speech," the one about stuttering sovereign George VI, and how many times it would friend "The Social Network," about the founder of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Each took a screenwriting statuette in the first hour of the ceremony.

"The Social Network" won best adapted screenplay for writer Aaron Sorkin, who graciously thanked director David Fincher and producer Scott Rudin.

"The King's Speech" took the statuette for original screenplay, writer David Seidler, 73, himself a former stutterer, accepting the Oscar "for stutterer's everywhere."

"The Fighter" took both prizes in the supporting categories, Melissa Leo took for her role as Alice Ward, pugnacious mother of boxers Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund, and Christian Bale for his role as crack-addicted Dicky. Leo, 50, dropped the f-bomb in her thanks; Bale, 37, exclaimed: "Bloody hell!"

"Toy Story 3," the most popular movie of 2010, and the sequel to one of the most successful franchises of all time, was named the best animated feature, suggesting that like its hero, Buzz Lightyear, it might go to infinity and beyond.

The evening was a pageant of youth. Nine of the 20 acting nominees were 40 or under. Co-hosts James Franco, 32, and Anne Hathaway, 28, of the matching widescreen smiles, shared the distinction of being the youngest emcees since 1976 when Goldie Hawn, 30, shared the dais.

The broadcast began with a bang, a countdown of the ten best-picture nominees, set to the music of Edward Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" creating excitement and suspense. This was followed by a comic montage of the emcees digitized into scenes from the best-picture nominees.

The attractive co-hosts, Franco doing double duty as a nominee and emcee, charmed each other and the guests in the Kodak Theatre. Both acknowledged relatives in the audience: Hathaway's mother instructed her to stand up straight; Franco's grandmother announced she was excited to see Marky Mark (Mark Wahlberg, star of "The Fighter").

Smart money was on 24 statuettes distributed among the six top contenders, with almost everyone at the party going home with a goody bag. The first four major awards went to four different films: "Alice in Wonderland" for art direction, "Inception"for best cinematography, Leo for best supporting actress for "The Fighter" and "Toy Story 3" for best animation.

Odds favored "The King's Speech," with 12 nominations in all, expected to take best picture, actor and original screenplay. With eight nominations, "The Social Network" was a frontrunner for best director, adapted screenplay and original score.

"True Grit," nominated in 10 categories, was a longshot for supporting actress and cinematography. "Inception," with eight nominations, was favored to dominated visual and sound effects categories.

"The Fighter," with seven nominations, had been favored to win both supporting actor trophies. "Toy Story 3," nominated in five categories, including best picture, was a lock for best animated movie, the category Pixar built.






Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
James Franco in “127 Hours”

Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Animated Feature Film

“How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
“The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
“Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

Art Direction

“Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
“The King's Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
“True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh


Cinematography

“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
“Inception” Wally Pfister
“The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
“The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit” Roger Deakins

Costume Design

“Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
“I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
“The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
“The Tempest” Sandy Powell
“True Grit” Mary Zophres

Directing

“Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
“The Fighter” David O. Russell
“The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
“The Social Network” David Fincher
“True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Documentary (Feature)

“Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
“Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
“Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
“Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)

“Killing in the Name” Jed Rothstein
“Poster Girl” Sara Nesson and Mitchell W. Block
“Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
“Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
“The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film Editing

“Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
“The Fighter” Pamela Martin
“The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
“127 Hours” Jon Harris
“The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Foreign Language Film

“Biutiful” Mexico
“Dogtooth” Greece
“In a Better World” Denmark
“Incendies” Canada
“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Makeup

“Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
“The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)

“How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
“Inception” Hans Zimmer
“The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat
“127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
“The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)

“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best Picture

“Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
“The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
“Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
“The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
“The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
“127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
“The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
“Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
“True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

“Day & Night” Teddy Newton
“The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
“Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
“The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois

Short Film (Live Action)

“The Confession” Tanel Toom
“The Crush” Michael Creagh
“God of Love” Luke Matheny
“Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
“Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound Editing

“Inception” Richard King
“Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
“Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
“Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing

“Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
“The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
“Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
“The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects

“Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
“Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky and Joe Farrell
“Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
“Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
“Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
“True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Writing (Original Screenplay)

“Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
“Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler

3D Portraits

 
(<>_<>3D Portraits(<>_<>)

Après ces superbes sculptures 3D, voici l’excellent travail d’Andrew Myers. Un artiste sculpteur en provenance de Californie qui a réalisé des oeuvres et des portraits 3D grâce à plus de 10 000 trous qui sont après visés un par un à la main. Plus d’images de son travail dans la suite.

MATHEMATICAL MIRACLES OF THE HOLY QURAN

MATHEMATICAL MIRACLES OF THE HOLY QURAN

Dr. Tariq Al Suwaidan discovered some verses in the Holy Quran that mention one thing is equal to another, i.e. man is equal to women. Although this makes sense grammatically, the astonishing fact is that the number of times he word man appears in the Quran is 24 and the number of times the word woman appears is also 24, therefore not only is this phrase correct in the grammatical sense but also true mathematically (24= 24).

Upon further analysis of various other verses, he discovered that this is consistent throughout the whole Quran, where it says one thing is
like another. See below for some astonishing results:-

The word number of times mentioned in Arabic Quran:

Dunia (one name for life) 115 ¡
Aakhirat (one name for the life after) 115
Malaikat (angels) 88 ¡ Shaytan (satan) 88
Life 145 ¡ Death 145
Benefit 50¡ Corrupt 50
People 50 ¡ Messengers 50
Eblees (king of devils) 11 ¡ Seek refuge from eblees 11
Museebah (calamity) 75 ¡ Thanks 75
Spending (sadaqah) 73 ¡ Satisfaction 73
people who are Mislead 17 ¡ Dead people 17
Muslimeen 41 ¡ Jihad 41
Gold 8 ¡ Easy life 8
Magic 60 ¡ Fitnah (dissuasion, misleading) 60
Zakat (taxes Muslims pay for the poor) 32 ¡
Barakah (increasing or blessings of a wealth) 32
Mind 49 ¡ Noor (light) 49
Tongue 25¡ Sermon 25
Desire 8 ¡ Fear 8
Speaking publicly 18¡ Publicising 18
Hardship 114 ¡ Patience 114
Muhammad 4 ¡ Sharee*ah (Muhammad's teachings) 4
Man 24 ¡ Woman 24

And amazingly enough have a look how many times the following words appear:-

Month 12
Day 365
sea 32
Land 13
Sea + land = 32 + 13 = 45
% sea = 32/45 * 100 % = 71.11111111
% land= 13 / 45 * 100 % = 28.88888889 = 100.00

Modern Science has only recently proven that the water covers 71.111 % of the earth, while the land covers 28.889 %.

Is this a coincidence?

Who taught prophet Mohammad (PBUH) all this?

Allah,the All Mighty taught him this.
As the Quran tells us:

(This is) a Book, the Verses whereof are perfected (in every sphere of knowledge, etc.), and then explained in detail from One (Allâh),Who is All-Wise and Well-Acquainted (with all things).' (Quran 11:1)

The above is from the the series of the scientific miracles in
Quraan, by Dr. Tariq Al Suwaidan May ALLAH Bless us all.

Answer

Numerical Miracles of Quran

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Dear Brother in Islam, the Quran is indeed a miracle for all times and ages. The Glorious Quran is the very Word of the Lord of the Worlds, and is perfect in every aspect.

The Glorious Quran is an ocean of knowledge, and the more one dives into this Divine Ocean, the more he will be blessed and honored with knowledge. There are volumes of books written by eminent scholars, and scientists, and astronomists, and medical experts, etc.; about the miracles of the Glorious Quran in their respective fields. Modern science have only now accepted and declared the miracles of the Quran, which the believers believed firmly since its Revelation from the One, Who is All Knowing, All Wise.

It is also difficult to check all the above words of the Holy Quran, because in the Arabic language each word has a root word and many words are derived from that root word.

For example, take the word ‘ilm’ or knowledge. From this root word ‘ilm’, other words can be derived such as ‘Aleem’ (All Knowing), ‘alim’ (scholar), ‘yahlamoon’ (they know), etc. Thus it would be impossible to determine which derived word is chosen to come to the specific number, and which one is left out.

And if one just takes a glance at the list provided, there are a few obvious errors. The writer has said that the word ‘salat’ is mentioned five times! This is obviously incorrect, as the word salat is mentioned in excess of 38 times in the Glorious Quran! The writer has said that the word ‘land’ appears only 13 times in the Quran; whereas the truth is that the word ‘land’ is mentioned in excess of 80 times in the Quran! The writer has said that the word ‘fear’ appears only 8 times in the Quran; whereas the truth is that the word ‘fear’ is mentioned in excess of 150 times in the Quran!

Thus, obviously, it seems that the writer has either not done a proper research, or has used a different criteria for choosing his words. The above list is not absolutely accurate; and just because it is not accurate does not diminish the miracles of this Glorious Book.

But brother, we must realize that the Quran was not revealed to man to figure out its miracles, nor was it revealed to write each word of the Quran and then see which word matches which word in its number of repetitions. If one has done the numerical additions, and it has increased his faith and conviction in the miracles of the Divine Words, there is no harm. But the reason Allah Subhanah revealed the Quran was that it is supposed to be accepted as a perfect guidance to mankind.
Allah says in Chapter 2, Surah Baqarah aayat 185

"Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was sent down: this Book is a perfect guidance for mankind and consists of CLEAR teachings which show the right way and are a Criterion of the Truth and falsehood."

Because this Glorious Book are the very Words of our Lord and Creator, they are obviously overflowing with miracles. Many miracles are known to man and modern science; and innumerable others are still unknown.

Our duty as believers is to believe, accept, and unconditionally obey each and every command of the Glorious Quran; which is indeed a perfect guidance for all mankind.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.


WARM REGARDS,

The Quran on Mountains

The Quran on Mountains

A book entitled Earth is a basic reference textbook in many universities around the world.  One of its two authors is Professor Emeritus Frank Press.  He was the Science Advisor to former US President Jimmy Carter, and for 12 years was the President of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC. His book says that mountains have underlying roots.  These roots are deeply embedded in the ground, thus, mountains have a shape like a peg (see figures 7, 8, and 9).

Figure 7: Mountains have deep roots under the surface of the ground. (Earth, Press and Siever, p. 413.)

Figure 8: Schematic section.  The mountains, like pegs, have deep roots embedded in the ground. (Anatomy of the Earth, Cailleux, p. 220.)  (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

Figure 9: Another illustration shows how the mountains are peg-like in shape, due to their deep roots. (Earth Science, Tarbuck and Lutgens, p. 158.)  (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

This is how the Quran has described mountains.  God has said in the Quran:

 Have We not made the earth as a bed, and the mountains as pegs?  (Quran, 78:6-7)

Modern earth sciences have proven that mountains have deep roots under the surface of the ground (see figure 9) and that these roots can reach several times their elevations above the surface of the ground. So the most suitable word to describe mountains on the basis of this information is the word ‘peg,’ since most of a properly set peg is hidden under the surface of the ground.  The history of science tells us that the theory of mountains having deep roots was introduced only in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Mountains also play an important role in stabilizing the crust of the earth.  They hinder the shaking of the earth.  God has said in the Quran:

 And He has set firm mountains in the earth so that it would not shake with you...  (Quran, 16:15)

Likewise, the modern theory of plate tectonics holds that mountains work as stabilizers for the earth.  This knowledge about the role of mountains as stabilizers for the earth has just begun to be understood in the framework of plate tectonics since the late 1960’s.

Could anyone during the time of the Prophet Muhammad  have known of the true shape of mountains?  Could anyone imagine that the solid massive mountain which he sees before him actually extends deep into the earth and has a root, as scientists assert?  A large number of books of geology, when discussing mountains, only describe that part which is above the surface of the earth.  This is because these books were not written by specialists in geology.  However, modern geology has confirmed the truth of the Quranic verses.

The Quran on the Origin of the Universe

The Quran on the Origin of the Universe

The science of modern cosmology, observational and theoretical, clearly indicates that, at one point in time, the whole universe was nothing but a cloud of ‘smoke’ (i.e. an opaque highly dense and hot gaseous composition).  This is one of the undisputed principles of standard modern cosmology.  Scientists now can observe new stars forming out of the remnants of that ‘smoke’ (see figures 10 and 11).

Figure 10: A new star forming out of a cloud of gas and dust (nebula), which is one of the remnants of the ‘smoke’ that was the origin of the whole universe. (The Space Atlas, Heather and Henbest, p. 50.)

Figure 11: The Lagoon nebula is a cloud of gas and dust, about 60 light years in diameter.  It is excited by the ultraviolet radiation of the hot stars that have recently formed within its bulk. (Horizons, Exploring the Universe, Seeds, plate 9, from Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc.)  (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

The illuminating stars we see at night were, just as was the whole universe, in that ‘smoke’ material.  God has said in the Quran:

 Then He turned to the heaven when it was smoke...  (Quran, 41:11)

Because the earth and the heavens above (the sun, the moon, stars, planets, galaxies, etc.) have been formed from this same ‘smoke,’ we conclude that the earth and the heavens were one connected entity.  Then out of this homogeneous ‘smoke,’ they formed and separated from each other. God has said in the Quran:

 Have not those who disbelieved known that the heavens and the earth were one connected entity, then We separated them?...  (Quran, 21:30)

Dr. Alfred Kroner is one of the world’s renowned geologists.  He is Professor of Geology and the Chairman of the Department of Geology at the Institute of Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.  He said: “Thinking where Muhammad came from . . . I think it is almost impossible that he could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists have only found out within the last few years, with very complicated and advanced technological methods, that this is the case.”.  Also he said: “Somebody who did not know something about nuclear physics fourteen hundred years ago could not, I think, be in a position to find out from his own mind, for instance, that the earth and the heavens had the same origin.

And The Oscar Goes To. ll.

Curtains down to the 83rd Academy Awards, and the big winner this year is 'The King's Speech' which bagged the Oscar for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and the Best original Screenplay. Colin Firth and Natalie Portman were named the Best Actor and Actress Award respectively. Firth won the award for portraying King George VI in Tom Hooper's 'The King's Speech' while Natalie bagged the award for her portrayal of the 'psychotic' ballerina Nina Sayers in Darren Aronofsky's 'Black Swan'. The Best Director Award went to Tom Hooper for 'The King's Speech'.

Cristopher Nolan's 'dream-stealing' drama 'Inception', one of the clear favourites, has bagged 4 Oscar Awards: Best Visual Effect, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing and Best Cinematography. However 'The Social Network' got only 3 Oscar Awards: Best Film Editing,Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score.

Christian Bale and Melissa Leo won their first Academy Awards for their respective supporting roles in the movie "The Fighter". Leo was so overcome by her win that she dropped the F bomb during her acceptance speech. Bale, later while accepting his award said, " Bloody hell, its such an honour,I am hoping not to drop the 'f' bomb like Melissa had done before. " Check out the other Oscar winners...


Best Picture


The King's Speech


Best Actor


Colin Firth for 'The King's Speech'


Best Actress


Natalie Portman for 'Black Swan'


Best Director


Tom Hooper 'The King's Speech'


Best Original Song


Randy Newman for "We belong together" in 'Toy Story 3'





Best Film Editing


Angus Wall Kirk Baxter for 'The Social Network'


Best Visual Effect


Paul Franklin,Chris Corbould and Andrew Lockley for 'Inception'


Best Documentary of the Year


Inside Job by Charles Fergusson and Audrey Marrs


Best Live Action Short Film


Luke Matheny for 'God of Love'


Best Short Documentary


Karen Goodman, Kirk Simon for 'Strangers No More'


Best Costume Design


Colleen Atwood for 'Alice in Wonderland'


Best Makeup


Rick Baker Dave Elsley for 'The Wolfman'


Best Sound Editing


Richard King for Inception


Best Sound Mixing


Lora Hirshberg and Gary A Rizzo for Inception


Best Original Score


Trent Reznor Atticus Ross for 'The Social Network'


Best Actor in a Supporting Role


Christian Bale


Best Foreign Language Film


In A better World (Denmark)





Best original Screenplay


David Seidler for 'The King's Speech'


Best Adapted Screenplay


Aron Sorkin for 'The Social Network'


Best Animated Feature Film


Toy Story 3: Directed by Lee Unkrich


Best Animated Short Film


The Lost Thing Directed by Andrew Ruhemann


Best Actress in a Supporting Role


Melissa Leo for 'The Fighter'


Best Cinematography


Movie: Inception


Winner: Wally Pfister


Best Art direction


Movie: Alice in Wonderland


Robert Stromberg (Production Design), Karen O'Hara (Set Decoration)

SCIENTISTS ON THE QURAN

SCIENTISTS ON THE QURAN

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Keith L. Moore

 

Professor Emeritus, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Toronto. Distinguished embryologist and the author of several medical textbooks, including Clinically Oriented Anatomy (3rd Edition) and The Developing Human (5th Edition, with T.V.N. Persaud).

 

Investigations in to the 'alaqa or leech-like stage.

Dr. Moore was a former President of the Canadian Association of Anatomists, and of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists. He was honoured by the Canadian Association of Anatomists with the prestigious J.C.B. Grant Award and in 1994 he received the Honoured Member Award of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists "for outstanding contributions to the field of clinical anatomy." "For the past three years, I have worked with the Embryology Committee of King cAbdulazîz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, helping them to interpret the many statements in the Qur'ân and Sunnah referring to human reproduction and prenatal development. At first I was astonished by the accuracy of the statements that were recorded in the 7th century AD, before the science of embryology was established. Although I was aware of the glorious history of Muslim scientists in the 10th century AD, and some of their contributions to Medicine, I knew nothing about the religious facts and beliefs contained in the Qur'ân and Sunnah."[2] At a conference in Cairo he presented a research paper and stated: "It has been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements in the Qur'ân about human development. It is clear to me that these statements must have come to Muhammad from God, or Allah, because most of this knowledge was not discovered until many centuries later. This proves to me that Muhammad must have been a messenger of God, or Allah." [1] Professor Moore also stated that: "...Because the staging of human embryos is complex, owing to the continuous process of change during development, it is proposed that a new system of classification could be developed using the terms mentioned in the Qur'ân and Sunnah. The proposed system is simple, comprehensive, and conforms with present embryological knowledge. "The intensive studies of the Qur'ân and Hadîth in the last four years have revealed a system of classifying human embryos that is amazing since it was recorded in the seventh century A.D... the descriptions in the Qur'ân cannot be based on scientific knowledge in the seventh century..."[1]

 

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E. Marshall Johnson

 

Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, and Director of the Daniel Baugh Institute, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

 

 

Author of over 200 publications. Former President of the Teratology Society among other accomplishments. Professor Johnson began to take an interest in the scientific signs in the Qur'ân at the 7th Saudi Medical Conference (1982), when a special committee was formed to investigate scientific signs in the Qur'ân and Hadîth. At first, Professor Johnson refused to accept the existence of such verses in the Qur'ân and Hadîth. But after a dicussuion with Sheikh Zindanî he took an interest and concentrated his research on the internal as well as external development of the fetus. "...in summary, the Qur'ân describes not only the development of external form, but emphasises also the internal stages, the stages inside the embryo, of its creation and development, emphasising major events recognised by contemporary science." "As a scientist, I can only deal with things which I can specifically see. I can understand embryology and developmental biology. I can understand the words that are translated to me from the Qur'ân. As I gave the example before, if I were to transpose myself into that era, knowing what I do today and describing things, I could not describe the things that were described... I see no evidence to refute the concept that this individual Muhammad had to be developing this information from some place... so I see nothing here in conflict with the concept that divine intervention was involved in what he was able to write..." [1]

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Joe Leigh Simpson

 

Professor and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.

 

He is the President of the American Fertility Society. He has received many awards, including the Association of Professors of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Public Recognition Award in 1992. Like many others, Professor Simpson was taken by surprise when he discovered that the Qur'ân and Hadîth contain verses related to his specialised field of study. When he met with Sheikh Abdul-Majeed A.Zindanî, he insisted on verifying the text presented to him from the Qur'ân and Hadîth. "... these Hadîths (sayings of Muhammad) could not have been obtained on the basis of the scientific knowledge that was available at the time of the 'writer'... It follows that not only is there no conflict between genetics and religion (Islâm) but in fact religion (Islâm) may guide science by adding revelation to some of the traditional scientific approaches... There exist statements in the Qur'ân shown centuries later to be valid which support knowledge in the Qur'ân having been derived from God." [1]

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Gerald C. Goeringer

 

Professor and Co-ordinator of Medical Embryology in the Department of Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA.

 

Sheikh cAbdul-Majeed A.Zindanî met with Professor Goeringer and asked him whether in the history of embryology was there any mention of the different stages of embryonic development, or whether there existed any embryological texts at the time of the Prophet. Sheikh Zindanî also asked his opinion regarding the terms the Qur'ân uses to describe the different phases of fetal development. After several long discussions, he presented a study at the 8th Saudi Medical Conference: "...In a relatively few ayahs (Qur'ânic verses) is contained a rather comprehensive description of human development from the time of commingling of the gametes through organogenesis. No such distinct and complete record of human development such as classification, terminology, and description existed previously. In most, if not all instances, this description antedates by many centuries the recording of the various stages of human embryonic and fetal development recorded in the traditional scientific literature." [1]

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Alfred Kroner

 

Professor of the Department of Geosciences, University of Mainz, Germany.

 

Professor Kroner is one of the world's most famous geologists, becoming well known among his colleague scientists for his criticisms against the theories of some of the major scientists in his field. Sheikh cAbdul-Majeed A. Zindanî met with him and presented several Qur'ânic verses and Hadîth which he studied and commented upon. "Thinking where Muhammad came from... I think it is almost impossible that he could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists have only found out within the last few years with very complicated and advanced technological methods that this is the case." "Somebody who did not know something about nuclear physics 1400 years ago could not, I think, be in a position to find out from his own mind for instance that the earth and the heavens had the same origin, or many others of the questions that we have discussed here... If you combine all these and you combine all these statements that are being made in the Qur'ân in terms that relate to the earth and the formation of the earth and science in general, you can basically say that statements made there in many ways are true, they can now be confirmed by scientific methods, and in a way, you can say that the Qur'ân is a simple science text book for the simple man. And that many of the statements made in there at that time could not be proven, but that modern scientific methods are now in a position to prove what Muhammad said 1400 years ago." [1]

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Yushidi Kusan

 

Director of the Tokyo Observatory, Tokyo, Japan.

 

Sheikh cAbdul-Majeed A. Zindanî presented a number of Qur'ânic verses describing the beginnings of the universe and of the heavens, and the relationship of the earth to the heavens. He expressed his astonishment, saying that the Qur'ân describes the universe as seen from the highest observation point, everything is distinct and clear. "I say, I am very much impressed by finding true astronomical facts in Qur'ân, and for us modern astronomers have been studying very small piece of the universe. We have concentrated our efforts for understanding of very small part. Because by using telescopes, we can see only very few parts of the sky without thinking about the whole universe. So by reading Qur'ân and by answering to the questions, I think I can find my future way for investigation of the universe." [1]

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Professor Armstrong

 

Professor Armstrong works for NASA and is also Professor of Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.

 

Prof. Armstrong was asked a number of questions about Qur'ânic verses dealing with his field of specialisation. He was eventually asked, "You have seen and discovered for yourself the true nature of modern Astronomy by means of modern equipment, rockets, and satellites developed by man. You have also seen how the same facts were mentioned by the Qur'an fourteen centuries ago. So what is your opinion?" "That is a difficult question which I have been thinking about since our discussion here. I am impressed at how remarkably some of the ancient writings seem to correspond to modern and recent Astronomy. I am not a sufficient scholar of human history to project myself completely and reliably into the circumstances that 1400 years ago would have prevailed. Certainly, I would like to leave it at that, that what we have seen is remarkable, it may or may not admit of scientific explanation, there may well have to be something beyond what we understand as ordinary human experience to account for the writings that we have seen." [1]

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William Hay

 

Professor of Oceanogprahy, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA.

 

Professor Hay is one of the best known marine scientist in the USA. Sheikh cAbdul-Majeed A. Zindanî met with him and asked him many questions about the marine surface, the divider between upper and lower sea, and about the ocean floor and marine geology. "I find it very interesting that this sort of information is in the ancient scriptures of the Holy Qur'ân, and I have no way of knowing where they would have come from. But I think it is extremely interesting that they are there and this work is going on to discover it, the meaning of some of the passages." And when he was asked about the source of the Qur'ân, he replied, "Well, I would think it must be the divine being." [1]

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Professor Siaveda

 

Professor of Marine Geology, Japan.

 

Sheikh Zindanî asked him a number of questions in his area of specialisation, and then informed him of the Qur'ânic verses and Hadîth which mention the same phenomena he spoke of. One of the questions was concerning mountains. Sheikh Zindanî asked him about the shape of mountains; and whether they were firmly rooted in the earth. "What is your opinion of what you have seen in the Qur'ân and the Sunnah with regard to the secrets of the Universe, which scientists only discovered now?" "I think it seems to me very, very mysterious, almost unbelievable. I really think if what you have said is true, the book is really a very remarkable book, I agree." [1]

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Tejatat Tejasen

 

Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and is the former Dean of the faculty of Medicine, University of Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

 

Professor Tejasen studied various articles concerning the Qur'ân and modern embryology. He spent four days with several scholars, Muslims and non-Muslims, discussing this phenomenon in the Qur'ân and Hadîth. During the 8th Saudi Medical Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia he stood up and said: "In the last three years, I became interested in the Qur'ân... From my studies and what I have learned throughout this conference, I believe that everything that has been recorded in the Qur'ân fourteen hundred years ago must be the truth, that can be proved by the scientific means. Since the Prophet Muhammad could neither read nor write, Muhammad must be a messenger who relayed this truth which was revealed to him as an enlightenment by the one who is eligible creator. This creator must be God, or Allah. I think this is the time to say La ilaha illa Allah, there is no god to worship except Allah (God), Muhammad rasoolu Allah, Muhammad is Messenger of Allah... The most precious thing I have gained from coming to this conference is La ilaha illa Allah, and to have become Muslim." [1]

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Dr. Maurice Bucaille

 

Born in 1920, former chief of the Surgical Clinic, University of Paris, has for a long time deeply interested in the correspondences between the teachings of the Holy Scriptures and modern secular knowledge.

 

He is the author of a best-seller, "The Bible, The Qur'ân and Science" (1976). His classical studies of the scriptural languages, including Arabic, in association with his knowledge of hieroglyphics, have allowed him to hold a multidisciplinary inquiry, in which his personal contribution as a medical doctor has produced conclusive arguments. His work, "Mummies of the Pharaohs - Modern Medical Investigations" (St. Martins Press, 1990), won a History Prize from the Académie Française and another prize from the French National Academy of Medicine. His other works include: "What is the Origin of Man" (Seghers, 1988), "Moses and Pharaoh, the Hebrews in Egypt", (NTT Mediascope Inc, 1994); and "Réflexions sur le Coran" (Mohamed Talbi & Maurice Bucaille, Seghers, 1989) After a study which lasted ten years, Dr. Maurice Bucaille addressed the French Academy of Medicine in 1976 concerning the existence in the Qur'ân of certain statements concerning physiology and reproduction. His reason for doing that was that : "...our k

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