Tachyons are hypothetical particles resulting from what physicists call a thought experiment. Back in the 1960s, some physicists wondered what would happen if matter could travel faster than the speed of light, something that is supposed to be impossible according to the Theory of Relativity. So these particles may or may not exist because they have not been proven or disproven by real experiment as of yet. What people have done is apply existing formulas to the unique properties of tachyons (like imaginary mass!). What comes out is a particles that go faster when they lose energy with a MINIMUM … Continue reading What are tachyons?

What Islam is going through right now is not at all different from the process of reformation that Christianity underwent during the 16th century. Those who are so impatient with reform would do well to read that history. The First Amendment to the Constitution of the US is unique in the world. Other than religious freedom as well as a bar on Congress from respecting an establishment of religion, this amendment provides for an unfettered right to freedom of speech and press. This is how it should be everywhere ideally but, unfortunately, we live in a less than ideal world. … Continue reading The futility of Islamophobia

Travel is a source of inspiration and deep insights. You meet new people and encounter different social circles. You get to see other parts of Allah’s creation. You also get to see new dimensions of human ingenuity and experience the rich history of other parts of the world. When you stand at the foot of a great mountain, you get a sense of how small you are in the grand scale of things. When you stand next to an immense old Roman column in Lebanon or Morocco, or by the pyramids in Egypt, you get a sense of the immensity … Continue reading Travel Lets You See Yourself Differently

The relationship between warfare and religion is infinitely more complex than most of us realize. By Karen Armstrong / Knopf Publishing Photo Credit: imagedb.com/Shutterstock.com Excerpted from Fields of Blood by Karen Armstrong. Copyright © 2014 by Karen Armstrong. Excerpted by permission of Random House Audio, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Every year in ancient Israel the high priest brought two goats into the Jerusalem temple on the Day of Atonement. He sacrificed one to expiate the sins of the community and … Continue reading The Fascinating Origins of Religion — and Why It’s Deeply Intertwined With Violence

The barbarous terrorist attack against the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo marks a turning point, as many have noted, in the campaign Islamic extremists have launched against Western countries. It is significant because it came from people within France, not operatives or immigrants from abroad, as in many past attacks; and because it touched an extremely sensitive nerve with Western countries – freedom of expression – as now Western journalists may feel intimidated by the terrorists’ threats. Surely, in the past Western journalists were killed, but not in their home countries, in the field in Muslim countries. And attacks in … Continue reading ‘Red terror’ guide to battling extremists

The terrorist strike last week on the Saudi border post facing the Iraqi province of Anbar — known to be the Islamic State’s first assault on the kingdom — could be the proverbial straw on the camel’s back, forcing Riyadh into a profound rethink of its regional strategies imbued with the rivalries involving Iran. Tehran has effectively countered the Saudi plots in Syria and Iraq and at the moment would seem to have the upper hand. The last-ditch Saudi attempt to hurt the Iranian economy by forcing a steep decline in oil prices is not only not having the desired … Continue reading Saudi reset with Iran is unavoidable

A large number of Muslims do not support terrorism, not as an ideology, not as a nation and definitely not as a matter of faith. But is carrying a personal faith against violence enough? For how long can we fool ourselves, insisting the terrorists were foreign nationals? That based on their physical (genital) exam, they were all non-Muslims? Some disagreement notwithstanding, most of us I hope will recognise the perpetrators of the Peshawar massacre as Pakistanis. Their picture says it all: sitting relaxed in a row with their guns held out, there are seven of them, all Pashtun looking, all … Continue reading How do we protect Islam from terrorists?

“Do not grieve over someone who changes all of the sudden. It might be that he has given up acting and returned to his true self.” – Socrates A mother found her little daughter with her hands covered in red lipstick. She hit her for it then went out of the room to find that her daughter had used the lipstick to write on the door: “I love you mama.” The mother returned and hit her again for messing up the door! When the mother ignored her daughter’s expressions of love, it was not a natural reaction. Instead, the mother … Continue reading An Accomplished Actor

The groups blacklisted by the UAE were as follows: 1- UAE’s Muslim Brotherhood called Al-Islah 2- UAE terrorist cells 3- Karama organization 4- Uma Parties in the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula 5- Al-Qaeda 6- Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) 7- Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) 8- Yemen’s Ansar al-Sharia 9- Muslim Brotherhood, both the organization and movement 10- Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiyya in Egypt 11- Bait al-Maqdis group in Egypt 12- Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt group) 13- Majlis Shura Al-Mujahedin Fi Aknaf Bayt Al-Maqdis (Mujahidin Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem, or MSC) 14- Yemen’s Houthi movement … Continue reading UAE cabinet endorses new list of terrorist groups

BEIRUT: Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called for attacks against the rulers of Saudi Arabia in a speech purported to be in his name on Thursday, saying his self-declared caliphate was expanding there and in four other Arab countries. Baghdadi also said a US.-led military campaign against his group in Syria and Iraq was failing and he called for “volcanoes of jihad” the world over. Reuters could not independently confirm the authenticity of the speech – an audio recording carried on Islamic State-run social media. The voice sounded similar to a previous speech delivered by Baghdadi in July in … Continue reading Islamic State leader urges attacks in Saudi Arabia