Biomimicry & Biomimetics

It has always been a seriously awakening thing to observe for ourselves how the most up-to-date scientific advancements have their roots of conceivement firmly embedded in the things around us, ie nature itself. Because of this, scientific journals have been published bearing titles connotative of that very idea; "Science is imitating Nature" and " Biomimicry:Genius that surrounds us" are just a few examples.

And it is not just books or journals that are speaking about this. Documentary channels such as National Geographics and Animal Planet too share this magnificent knowledge, in an of course, a more engaging form of media. My tafsir class Ustaz Ahmad Shamsuddin, the one i label "ustaz gelak", never fail to mention either one of these channels in every of his lessons. it was fun though.

My favourite program when it comes to this topic of Biomimetics or the excellence in the design of these splendid creations would undoubtedly be " The Most Extreme" where the narrator counts down the top 10 animals in the kingdom possessing the most extreme qualities with regards to the criterion chosen for that particular episode.

One of the episodes was about the top 10 inventions in nature:
so here goes, to the best my memory serves

10: Wasps and paper making, millions of years ahead of the Chinese
9: Dolphin's sonar, 4x more powerful than the best human version
8: Jet powered squid that employs Newton's 3rd Law
7: Infra-red equipped beetles that can sense fires
6: Air bags used by high speed water diving birds
5: Stealth flying owls, almost perfect silence
4: High-end swimsuit that sharks use to minimise friction with water
3: 100x more sensitivity in flies' hearing
2: Geckoes and their super hairy feet that acts as a powerful suction, using van der Waals forces
1: Frogs frozen alive, ability to prevent ice damage and execute antifreeze properties in their cells

subhanallah, those are just 10, plus we do not know ALL the creatures completely. Cognizance of such knowledge can only make us more humble, for we tend to consider ourselves smartest in the animal world yet their functional mechanisms can at anytime light up the candle to our face and say " we have smoked you in this regard!"

Oh well, atheists now have come to admit a rather shameful admission. All these while they have been conjecturing the most simplistic and underestimated perceptions about Allah's magnificent creation. They once said that bacteria are JUST SIMPLE SINGLE CELLED ORGANISM that generate spontaneously in decaying matter or dirty places until the microscope shows them otherwise, then they take back their words. Similarly, they thought that chance produced all these grandeur and they are now admitting that humans are stupider than chance, YES they have admitted such things, i've read it somewhere.

Their argument, well it's not exactly a shameful thing to say that chance is smarter than us and have produced wonders more brilliant than ours because chance had millions of years to strive for perfection whereas we humans comparatively only had thousands of years. Perhaps the Cambrian Explosion in the fossil record can highlight that the most advanced creatures appear all of a sudden and FULLY FORMED and functional which until today remain identical. Bees were bees millions of years ago just as they are bees today, the same can be applied for other animals.

If truly chance can produce intelligence, then surely a tornado blasting through an enormous pile of metallic garbage could produce a Boeing A380 with the materials therein. Scientists have calculated the probability of a cell being formed by chance to be lesser than 1 in 10 to the power of 100, that is 100...with 100 zeoes behind it. And in maths, anything smaller than 1 in 10 to the 50 is zero probability, aka absolute impossibility.

fatabaarakallahu ahsanul khaliqeen
Glory be to Him, the Best of Creators

i was soo fortunate!

just last week, i had some remaining free time before my new posting and so went out to chill with my jc friends. one of them actually brought me a rare, precious and indelible piece of jewel. a VCD version of a VHS so old and rare and invaluable - a clear video recording of Sidi Abdul Rasyid himself giving a syarahan at masjid kassim sempana maulid Nabi SAW in the year 1985, 4 years before i saw the first sunlight.

i was like, OMG, so far i've only heard stories, seen pictures of him and now get to see him lecturing! i felt sooo fortunate! i immediately watched it back at home and then shared it with a pakcik who is an ikhwan and a student of Sidi Abdul Rasyid.
his first expression when he saw the vid - he teared out, air mata berlinangan, "Inilah dia Tuan Guru kite Sidi Abdul Rasyid, tak de orang lain lah macam dia " Such was the love, bond, attraction, camaraderie the pakcik had for his mursyid, murabbi, his Guide. one is encouraged to learn from as many scholars as possible, but one is only encouraged to follow one Shaykh of Tarbiyyah, the one mursyid who will guide your spirituality - and Sidi Rasyid was the one, there can be no similar replacement.

he then started telling me more about Sidi rasyid's charisma, idiosyncracies and simply his style. i was amazed and engrossed listening. he also asked " wan dapat jumpe sidi? salam tangan sidi?" i said no.

"tak pe lah wan, ini bukan ape, ini semua bahagian masing-masing"
i pondered deeply upon those words, " at least i do kiss the hand of his nephew, Sidi Faiz"

Sidi rasyid was truly respected not just in the entire Malay Peninsula, but also in Mecca and Cairo. he became his teacher's favourite student and top the cohort for his batch. Diakui kealimannya dan kesholihannya oleh semua guru-guru beliau. walaupun berkelulusan tinggi dalam bidang agama dan juga bidang kerohanian, sidi rasyid apabila kembali ke tanah air tetap memakai baju melayu telok blangah dan kain pelekat sehinggakan tariqah yang beliau pimpin digelar tarekat orang melayu. juga telah mengambil ba'iah daripada Sidi Rasyid ialah Shaykh abdul wahid Pallavicini and Shaykh yahya sergio Pallavicini from italy. really, i was just mesmerised and speechless throughout the entire video. Maqam sidi rasyid terletak di negeri sembilan.

Ah, It's here again!

The month of rabiul awal, the month when we celebrate the birth of our dearly beloved Prophet saw. No words can adequately and justly describe his great character, for God Almighty himself has praisd him and that carries infinitely more weight than anything else. As for us, who have not the chance to see his visage,surely we are missing on something so beautiful and sweet.

but don't worry, he consoles us when he says in holy hadith: "when do i get to see my Beloved?"
Companions then asked " are we not your beloved?"
Prophet saw answered " You are my companions, my beloved are those who do not see me and yet believe in me and my message."

that beloved is us.

I've always envied the way our christian brothers express their intense love for Christ, they make the love so intimate and personal and are always so enthusiastic about loving Jesus. that's good. perhaps we could learn form them about loving ;)

Oh Allah, grant us the honour of seeing your Holy Prophet saw in this world, before the next, whilst we are still alive, be it in our sleep or in our consciousness, and grant us the opporunity to visit His Maqam many more times to come, that we may visit him and send our salutations upon him and be overwhelmed by his presence and also to make istighfar in his presence, for You, O Allah, have mentioned those who come to the holy Prophet to repent and You forgive them all. Amin

is there any wonder why we love the Man who on the Day of Reckoning, is the only one who can provide Syafa'ah? when all the other prophets say "no, i cannot support, go to so and so", Sayyidina Muhammad will be saying "I am the one"

Ya Sidi Muhammad, Ya Sidi Muhammad, anta laa haa Ya Sidi Muhammad!

And when we cross the bridge,the Sirat, he will be the one imploring his Lord for the safety of the Ummah, "Rabbi sallim, sallim"

Peace and Salutations upon the Most beloved Prophet, in every breath and in every blink of the eye, to the number that only God's knowledge can comprehend.

I've Seen

I wish you were here
Here next to me
Been missing you so
So desperately
But lately I feel
Like you feel and
I see what you see
How I'm missing you

What happened to the ummah once known so well
Greatness was known, but now can u tell
Kids in Africa are starving - can't afford to cry
I'll pay interest for a car I can't afford to buy
What happened to the ummah once known so well
Greatness was known, but now can u tell?
We used to smile at each other, with faces full of light
Now we frown at each other, we bicker and we fight
Pops in the mosque praying, kids in the streets hating
Kids on the corner selling, pops in the mosque preachin'
What happened to the ummah once known so well
Greatness was known but now can u tell?
The Quran has left out hearts stranded, hanging on out walls
6232verses, so strong
9 out of 10 of us can't even read or write
1924 feels distant like way before Christ

When You hear hoofbeats, think of a zebra (not a horse!)

This book, by Shems Friedlander, is an excellent expose on Sufism. It uses a lot of short stories to illustrate and elucidate the many teachings of tasawwuf. One thing why it is important to understand tasawwuf lessons through stories is that they elude the barrier set up by our own ego. Our own ego most of the time will not accept direct, personal criticisms arrowed at ourselves, but it can readily and perhaps you can say wisely, take heed from other people’s mistakes. This fact is also made known to us by Jesus, peace be upon him, who preaches a lot of parables, in fact the Quran too is never short of parables and stories. The lessons conveyed here are very practical and not to mention impactful. A lesson on Sufism as learned from Turkish Shaykh Muzaffer. An excellent short read to kill time during bus or MRT rides ;)

$28 at Wardah Books

My personal reflection about the concept of reflection, mirrors and symmetry in Islam and nature.

It has always been very intriguing to appreciate for yourself how much islam employs the concept of reflections and mirrors in its literature, and equally perplexing would be the same kind of phenomenon observed in nature itself! Subhanallah!

1) Allah says that He created Adam a.s in His Image, and that He taught him His Names. Teaching here is not just superficial teaching like those we had while still a toddler, teaching here entails cloaking Adam with His names. Man is the khalifah of Allah, His representative in this world.

And of course, we are enjoined to pick up the attributes of Allah, that is to say, be forgiving as God is forgiving, be merciful as God is merciful.

Off track for a while, taking on the attributes of Allah does not mean trying to wrestle those attributes from the truly rightful Owner, it means striving to be good since God is good. So, an inevitable question arises, what about attributes that are solely His? Such as al Mutakabbir, the One who Boasts? Are we allowed to be takabbur then? Answer is no.
In such cases, we ought to celebrate the name by taking the opposite, ie humble yourself so that Allah al Mutakabbir is well appreciated by yourself.

This reality of taking on the Names of Allah is best exemplified by none other than the Beloved Prophet himself, upon whom be peace. The Prophet has reached the highest maqam, or station, by truly being the servant of Allah, A’bdAllah, in all Its meanings, for the Glorified Name of Allah represents all the Attributes of God, and Allah not only has 99 names, He revealed 999 in the Torah plus some 2000 in the Gospel.
Those Arifbillah, people who know God, say that God’s Names are infinite, every instant somewhere out there his creations, the angels etc, are praising Him with a different Name. Think about it this way, if the number of electrons in this Universe can be so astronomical as to be incomprehensible to us, why not the Celebrated Names of God Himself?
In being Abdallah, the Prophet has successfully manifested the attributes of Allah, the best among all of creation to do so. Peace and blessings be upon our beloved, perpetually and infinitely!

The Prophet has reached such a high station that he ceases to see his own existence. In Isra’ and Miraj, while in the Presence Of Allah in Siddratul Muntaha, Allah asked the Prophet, “Who are you?” And the Prophet replied “You, my Lord”.
At first glance, the answer of “You, my Lord” to the question of “who are you” seems contradictory. To answer “You” means to negate your own existence, but to say ‘MY’ Lord means to subtly or subconsciously acknowledge your own existence, hence the ‘MY’. This is Fana’ Fillah.


2) and He created everything is pairs.

Everything in the world is paired, from nouns to adjectives. You only have two extremes when talking about a spectrum of qualities. Of course you can fall anywhere in between, but quintessentially, there are only 2 extremes. Everything in nature is paired, and made a matching opposite, males and females, protons and electrons, and lastly, the biggest umbrella, matter and anti-matter. So as long as you are talking about matter, there is always anti-matter as opposite. He made things in Pairs such that one half cannot be properly defined without the other. Hence, the dependence on the opposite. Here Allah made Himself stand out by being the Odd One Out, the One and Unique, the truly Independent. Refer to al-ikhlas

3) and the heart as a mirror that reflects Divine Light.

A well polished heart, and the best of heart polish is zikrullah, is like a well polished mirror, able to reflect any light that shines upon it. That is why when the Companions were with the Prophet, they felt close to God. That is also why one of the criteria of a saint is that when you see him, you are reminded of God, this was what the Prophet taught us about saints. Why? Because they reflect God’s Light and manifest His Names.

4) and the believer is a mirror to the other believers

Don’t slander a believer of kufr! Most likely that calumny will go back to you! Here lies a lesson for us, we need to learn from each other as much as possible, we can’t see our own faces without mirrors. That is why the Quran is never short of stories and parables from previous civilizations.

5) the concept of symmetry and reflection, as can be seen in nature

In nature, we can observe spirals in flowers, and they are either clockwise or anti-clockwise, again, reflection. Our palms are also similarly reflected, they are mirror images but not identical perfectly, you can’t superimpose one palm on the other if you are to observe the rule such that the 2 palms must face the same direction.
One practical, daily observation of this reality is about shoes, your left shoe and right shoe and mirror images of each other, but I bet you wouldn’t be satisfied if the cashier gives you 2 left shoes or 2 right shoes, because one leg will not fit. This same practical concept of optical isomerism dealing with enantiomers is also applied in chemistry. Molecules of the same formula do not necessarily take up the same 3D conformation in space, hence they can have markedly different properties. For example, our body mostly uses only left-handed proteins and not the opposite right-handed proteins. That reminds me of school work, dextro-rotary, laevo-rotary, R and S. For everything declares the Glory of God.

It is no wonder then, why we observe a multitude of Islamic art so engrossed and well into the concept of reflection and symmetry. The next time you come across intricate and mesmerizing Islamic art, which until today remains a wonder among professional mathematicians for its wondrous employment of high-level mathematical concepts, take some time to see for yourself how many planes of symmetry it has, how many rotational symmetry, axes of symmetry, points of symmetry, planes of reflections etc. Superb geometry I must say.

Then, ever wondered where the great Muslim artists found their inspiration? From the Islamic concept of mirrors, images and reflections of course! Subhanallah! Breathtaking!
To be honest, this topic can extend further, especially about the tasawwuf perspective of mirrors and images, about the angels etc, but I’m exhausted of what to write due to my limited knowledge in this field. Find out more from better authorities. Surely you will see more reflections and images, everywhere. I just love chemistry...