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Sunday, August 12, 2018

August 12, 2018

Astronomical Animations and Simulations

Astronomy is the branch of physics which discusses celestial bodies. It focuses on the origin of the objects and their evolution. To understand and visualize different terms and phenomena related to this field, Astronomical Simulations and Animations can be really handy

Below is the list of Astronomical Simulations that cover the vast field of the universe. In order to play these simulations and animations, you need flash player.

Basic Motion and Ancient Astronomy
Small Angle Approximation Simulation
Heliacal Rising Simulator
Big Dipper Clock Simulation

Coordinates and Motion
Meridional Altitude Simulator
Declination Ranges Simulator
Ecliptic Simulator
Union Season Demonstrator
Azimuth and Altitude Demonstrator
Daylight and Nighttime Simulator
Earth's Tilt Simulator
Longitude and Latitude Simulator
Celestial Equator Demonstrator
Path of the Sun Simulator
Sun Motion on the Celestial Sphere
Sun's Motion Demonstrator
Sun's Rays Simulator
Seasons Simulator
Coordinate System Comparison Demonstrator
Daylights Hours Explorer Simulator
Antipodes Simulator
Celestial and Horizon System Comparison
Sidereal and Solar Time

Reference: Astronomy Education

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Sunday, July 29, 2018

July 29, 2018

How to identify adjectives clauses


A clause has a subject and a verb. An adjective clause is a dependent or subordinate clause which performs the same function as an adjective. As an adjective always modifies a noun or a pronoun, similarly an adjective clause also modifies a noun or a pronoun in a sentence. 
Most of the adjectives clauses start with relative pronouns and these are only five in the whole language. These are:
  • Who 
  • Whose
  • Whom
  •  That
  • Which
And on occasion, they start with subordinating conjunctions called relative adverbs such as Where, Where. I suggest you memorize these relative pronouns and relative adverb as they are very little in numbers. Because the adjective clauses often start with the relative pronouns, they are also called relative clauses.
 Let’s look at some of the examples.
The book that I’m studying has been written by Alama Tahir-ul-Qadri.
As I said, an adjective clause often begins with the relative pronouns. In the sentence, can you spot any of them? 
Let’s first find it and them the whole clause.
In this sentence, “that” is the relative pronoun, and then we can find the rest of the clause for subject and verb. Our whole adjective clause is “THAT I AM STUDYING”, where “I” is the subject and “studying” is the verb.
Notice that if we eliminate the relative pronoun, we are left with two independent clauses:
  1. The book has been written by Alama Tahir-ul-Qadri.
  2. I’m studying.
Both the clauses have the subjects and the verbs. It is the relative pronoun which makes the one clause dependent on the other. Now let's look at the function of the adjective clause we've just spotted.
The function of the Clause
As we know adjectives are always adjacent to things they modify unless they are predicate adjectives. Based on this information, we can say there is the only thing our adjective clause can possibly modify is the word “BOOK”. It can also be verified using adjective questions.
Which book? The one I’m studying!

Examples of Adjective Clause
Let’s look at another example.
Students who work hard often get good marks.
First look for the relative pronoun and that is “WHO”. We can find the rest of the clause by finding and eliminating the main clause which is “STUDENTS OFTEN GET GOOD MARKS”. All the rest is our adjective clause: WHO WORK HARD.
You might think that there is no subject in our adjective clause but in this case, the relative pronoun “WHO” is the subject of the sentence. Now let’s look at the function of our relative or adjective clause.
If you note, there are two nouns in the sentence that are “STUDENTS” and “MARKS”. Now the questions is: Which of the two nouns is being modified by our adjective clause?
There should be a no problem figuring it out as there is only one noun adjacent to our adjective clause and that is “STUDENTS”. You can also test it through adjective questions.
Which students? Who work hard!

Two girls I have coached have participated in the finals
In the sentence, we cannot see any relative pronoun but does that mean there is no adjective clause in it. Let’s see!
If I break the sentence, I can see two distinct clauses. But how do I know this? I know this because the subject of the sentence “GIRLS” is followed by the pronoun “I” which are both subjects and only one verb. So there have to be two clauses:
  1. Two girls have participated in the finals
  2. I have coached
Which one of the two is the main clause and which one is subordinate? Well just think for a moment what the sentence is all about. It is about the two girls participated in the finals; therefore it is our main clause. Also the subordinate clause “I HAVE COACHED” is capable of modifying the noun of our main clause.
Which girls? The one I coached!
To summarize, if you do not see the relative pronouns or adverb in a sentence where you are asked to spot an adjective clause, then fear not, as you have got the way discussed above to figure this out.
Types of Adjective Clauses
Adjective clauses have two types
  • Essential or Restrictive Clause
  • Non-essential clauses. or Non-restrictive Clause.
Essential clauses cannot be removed without changing the basic meaning of a sentence.
  1. I visited the Banjosa’s picnic point, where the lake had an enchanting view.
  2. I visited the city where the prices were very high.
Both sentences have adjective clauses starting with the same relative pronouns but only one of them is essential, however.
If we eliminate the adjective clause from the first sentence, then what do we lose? Off course, nothing as everyone knows that the Lake of Banjosa has an enchanting view. Therefore, this clause is non-essential or non-restrictive.
In the second sentence, we lose the important information about the city if we eliminate the adjective clause. Since, we cannot say that the prices are always high or something that is always true, therefore, we need this clause. It is the essential or restrictive clause.
  • The match, which was played yesterday, ended in a tie.
  • The match that was played tomorrow ended in a tie.
The two adjective clauses in both the sentences are “WHICH WAS PLAYED TOMORROW” and “THAT WAS PLAYED TOMORROW”. Both are almost exactly alike, then how we can tell the difference?
In the first sentence, the adjective clause provides us just extra information, it is the non-essential clause. In the second sentence, the adjective clause provides important information. You can understand it by assuming that there had been more than a match. Here’s a tip:

Non-essential clauses often begin with the word “WHICH” and enclosed in commas. Essential clauses often begin with “THAT” and do not have commas around them.
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Saturday, July 28, 2018

July 28, 2018

6 Hadiths about Ali Ibn Abi Talib| Bukhari | Tirmidhi | Muslim Sharif

The Holy Kaaba is the most sacred place of Islam. No one ever borne inside this sacred place except Ali Ibn Abi Talib. Ali Ibn Abi Talib was born in 599 A.D, son of Abi Talib and was the paternal cousin of the Holy Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him).

After the death of Rasoolullah's father, who was the brother of Abu Talib, the Prophet (SAW) was brought up by Abi Talib. In this way, the same person brought up the Prophet and Ali Ibn Abi Talib, therefore, both were the brothers.

Below are the 6 Hadiths about Ali Ibn Abi Talib along with their narrators and references.

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Saturday, July 14, 2018

July 14, 2018

How to identify adverbs in a sentence


Identifying an adverb in a sentence can be a little tricky at times but if we know certain questions of adverbs, and then we can identify an adverb easily in a sentence.
First, let me remind you what an adverb is.
An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb by making its meaning more specific. 

Below of some of the adverb questions related to different types of adverbs. When we think about a certain word in a sentence as an adverb, then we can ask these adverb questions, given below, to identify the function of the word in that sentence.
  • How something occurs
  • When something occurs
  • Where something occurs
  • Why something occurs
  • How frequently something occurs
  • To what degree something occurs

Adverb as a Verb Modifier
Let’s first look through an example of how it functions as a verb modifier.
Uzma silently enters in her class.
Procedure to identify an adverb: 
First, look for the word you think is an adverb, and then find the verb you think it gets modified by the word.In the above sentence, “silently” is our adverb which is modifying the verb “enters”. Now let us put it to the test using the questions.
How does Uzma enter in her class? The answer is “silently”. 
It can be seen that the word we identify is really modifying our verb and that’s how we’ve proven the silently is our adverb. 

Trick: If there is an answer to your question, that answer is your adverb.
Remember that an adverb can also come after a verb. For example:
Uzma studies well. 
Here, “well” modifies the studies of Uzma and it comes after the verb.Let’s take a look at another example of identifying an adverb.
Zara has completely done her homework.
In the above sentence, the word “completely” could be an adverb but let’s put it to the test in order to verify it as an adverb.
To what extent has Zara done her homework? The answer is “completely”. Again, we’ve proven it.

Adverb as an Adjective Modifier
As we said that adverb can also modify an adjective, therefore, let’s look at the following examples to see how it works.
Al-Reyyan is an extremely friendly boy.
In this example, “boy” is a noun and “friendly” is its modifier, therefore, friendly is an adjective here. We can also check it by using adjective questions.
What kind of boy? The answer is “friendly”. So clearly it is an adjective but does the word “extremely” also modifies “boy”? Let’s try our adjective questions.
What kind of lady? Off course, we cannot answer it as “extremely”.  It does not make sense, does it? 
Let’s put it to an adverb question.
To what degree is Al-Reyyan a friendly boy? The answer is “Extremely”. Because the word “extremely” answers the adverb question, therefore, it is an adverb which modifies “friendly” which in return modifies “boy”.

Adverb modifying another adverb
Now let’s talk about some of the sentences where an adverb is modifying another adverb.
Very often, she goes to the gym.
To identify the adverb, let’s put it to the test through adverb questions.
How often she goes to the gym? The answer is often, isn’t it? Again, the word which has answered the adverb’s question is an adverb. But what about the word “very”?
To what degree was it often? The answer is very often.  Clearly the word “very” is modifying the adverb “often”. In this way, an adverb can modify another adverb.

Places of an Adverb
Now when an adverb modifies a verb, it can go almost anywhere in a sentence. For example
Alisha was crying badly.
Alisha was badly crying.
Alisha badly was crying.
Badly, Alisha was crying.
When an adverb modifies an adjective or an adverb, it must appear immediately before the word it modifies. For example
My very dear friend needs money.
In this example, “dear” modifies the noun “friend”, therefore, it is an adjective. And the word “very”
coming before it modifies “dear”.
Which friend = Dear friend
Dear to what extent = Very
He almost always takes extra time in the examinations.
We know about the pronoun and the verb. In order to identify an adverb and words it modifies, we need to put it to our adverb questions.
When does he take extra time in the examinations? The answer is “always”, so always modifies our verb.  The adverb “always” is then followed by the word “almost” which is an adverb of degree answering to what extent. In this example, one adverb is modifying another adverb.
In this way, you can place or identify an adverb in a sentence. But let me tell you one more thing.
The following words are always adverbs when followed by a verb: not, really and very.

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Monday, July 2, 2018

July 02, 2018

The Quran about Continental Drift


When we see the world map, it looks like puzzle pieces in which continents seem to have been split apart, haven’t they? If it is so, then it means they must be had been joined together at some point in the past.

Yes off course, this reality was first proposed by Alfred Wegener, a German scientist, in which he said that all the continents of the earth were once joined together as a super landmass called supercontinent. This supercontinent was called as “Pangaea”. And then over time, this supercontinent separated into the existing continents which started drifted away in different directions.

Alfred Wegener did not know the reason or scientific explanation of continental drift but due to research in geology, it is perfectly explained by Unifying Theory of Geology known as Plate Tectonics. According to the theory, the outer layer of earth, Lithosphere, is composed of nine plates and an outer part of the mantle. These plates of different sizes slide over the mantle which causes the drift of continents.  These plates are in constant motion in the varied speed of around 2 - 10 centimeter per year. Atlantic Ocean expansion is one of the examples of continental drift. This kinda expansion changes Sea to the Land ratio which has also been described in the Quran.

“And you see the mountains, thinking them rigid, while they will pass as the passing of clouds.” (Surah An-Naml: 88)

If we focus on the verse, we can see that Allah says that our first thought would make us believe that mountains are fixed, and then we’ll see that they are passing away as the passing of clouds. And it has been so exactly because only in the 19th century, we came to know that mountains could drift so could the continents.


It proves that the Quran is the book of someone who is all knowing, Allah. And the person who received the book is the messenger of Allah. If someone denies and rejects these facts, he/she have to explain how the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) knew these facts on his own.
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Sunday, June 24, 2018

June 24, 2018

Noun Clauses and its examples

Noun-clauses-examples

 What is a noun clause and how to identify a noun clause in a sentence can be pretty demanding at times?  I’m going to discuss noun clauses with some of its examples.

Firstly, a clause has always a subject and a verb. A noun clause always acts as a noun, whatever a noun can do, a noun clause can also do. We know that a noun can be used as 
  • Subject 
  • Direct Object
  • Indirect Object 
  • Objects of Preposition
  •  Object Complement 
  • Predicate Noun  
  • Appositive.
So a noun clause can perform all these functions of a noun, they are just a bit longer. They usually begin with one of the following subordinate conjunctions: How, that, what, whatever, when, where, which, whichever, who, whom, whomever, whose, and why.

Some of these words appear in adjective and adverb clauses as well. To differentiate between the noun clauses from others, we have just to look how the clause functions in a sentence. 
Let’s look at some examples of noun clauses.
Whoever visits our shop becomes our customer
I said above that noun clause begins with one of those given subordinate conjunction, remember? In the sentence, our trigger word is “Whoever” (the subject of the sentence), it gives us a clue that our noun clause starts from this word. Let’s look for the whole noun clause now. After the subject, we have the verb “visits” and our whole noun clause is “Whoever visits our shop”.  As this clause is at the beginning of the sentence, so there is a strong chance that it works as a subject of the sentence. To verify this, we can use substitution principle here. As I said, a noun clause can work as a noun; therefore, if I substitute a noun here, then our noun must be functioning as a subject. Let’s see.

 I substitute a simple noun, say Amir, then our sentence becomes:
Amir becomes our customer.
The substitution word tells us how the noun clause functioning in the sentence. It is clear that it is functioning as a subject.

Let’s look at another example of noun clauses
I believed that the thief would be in jail.
First, we have to look for our trigger word, which is “that” in the sentence. Now probably everything that follows our trigger word is the rest of the clause but let’s first look at the subject and verb.
The subject and verb are “thief” and “would be” followed by the prepositional phrase “in the jail”. Therefore, our whole noun clause is “that the thief would be in jail”.

How is it functioning in the sentence?
The subject and verb of the overall sentence are “I” and “believed”. The verb, being transitive, must be followed by the direct object.
I believed what? I believed the thief would be in jail. If I substitute the noun phrase with a simple noun, say Naina, then our sentence becomes “ I believed Naina” which clearly makes sense. Therefore, our noun phrase is acting as a direct object.

 Let's take another example of a noun clause.
The principal gave the prices to whomever stood first in the class.
Our noun class is “whomever stood first in the class”. But how is it functioning in a sentence? 
The noun class follows the preposition “to” and we know that prepositions cannot exist by themselves, they need objects. Therefore, our noun clause is functioning as the object of the preposition to.

Now let’s look at a complicated example of a noun clause
What I did not know was that terrorists had no religion.
Now there are two words that are introducing noun clauses: what and that. Here our first clause is “what I did not know” and the second one is “that terrorists had no religion”. Both of the clauses are connected by the linking verb “was”.

Let’s substitute two different nouns to test how both of the clauses are functioning in the sentence. Suppose I replace the first clause with a noun, say Ali, and the second clause with a noun, say a doctor, then our sentence becomes
Ali was a doctor.
Our first class is acting as a subject and the second is functioning as the predicate nominative. Noun clauses can be long but you should have no problem finding them if you know how nouns function in a sentence.
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Thursday, June 14, 2018

June 14, 2018

Big Bang in Quran and expansion of the universe

The-Quran-and-Science

What do you believe about the size of the universe? Do you think it is fixed right from the start or expanding and it has been there forever? Does the universe have an edge somewhere or it goes on forever? I'm gonna discuss this topic in light of the discoveries astronomers have in the early nineteenth century and the information the Quran has given us 1400 years ago.

Scientists and astronomers tussled with the question regarding the size of the universe. Before the 19th century, it was believed that the universe has a fixed size and it has been there forever. With the advancement of science and technology, this concept about the universe suddenly started changing in the early 19th century. 

In 1912, Vesto Slipher, the American astronomer, made a discovery that would soon change the old misconception about the universe. He noticed the galaxies were moving away from our earth. His findings introduced the concept of universe expansion theory.

Then in 1916, Albert Einstein gave his theory of relativity. In this theory of relativity, Einstein said that the universe must be either expanding or contracting. Again, this theory helped in changing minds about the universe.

And finally, in 1929, Edwin Hubble, a great well known American astronomer, confirmed the expansion of the universe through his giant telescope. (Edwin Hubble is considered as the leading observational cosmologist of the 20th century because of his exceptional work in astronomy. He was born in 1889 and died in 1953).

With the help of giant telescopes, light coming from distant objects was observed as a function of wavelength. Through various observations, it was noticed that the spectra of light from distant objects was shifting to longer wavelength, called “Redshift”. It meant that the objects under consideration were constantly moving away from us. By observing the “Redshift” Hubble concluded that the galaxies were not fixed in their position but they were moving away from earth.

Galaxy

He realized that further away a galaxy was, the bigger was the “Redshift” of the light. That meant those galaxies were moving away from us at faster and faster speed. It’s not only that galaxies are moving apart, it’s the fact that the entire universe is expanding. Edwin Hubble plot a graph between redshift and relative distance, he found a linear relationship between the two. It also meant that the redshift would increase with increasing distance to the objects. This decrease in the wavelength of light coming from an object was due to the fact that it was getting further away from us and based on this observation, it was concluded that the universe was expanding.


After analyzing the discovery of Science, we’re going to see what the Quran says about it.

Quite surprisingly, 1400 years ago when there was no telescope and the knowledge of science was not in existence, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) would recite a verse of the Quran which signed towards the expansion of the universe.

“And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are (its) expander”.
[Quran (51:47)]
Now, I suggest you take your time and think justly: is it possible for a man, who lived 1400 years ago and who happened to be illiterate, to know this fact on his own, which science could do only 100 years ago. Can you accept it? Off course not, unless he had received divine revelation (Quran) from Someone who is all-knowing and the Creator of the universe. It simply proves that the Quran is the book of the GOD.

After, it was understood that the universe was expanding; scientists realized that it would have been smaller in the past. If we go back in the past, then at some point, it would have been a single point. This point is understood as the beginning of the universe, called Big Bang.

The big bang theory states that the universe originated billions of years ago in an explosion from a single point which had nearly infinite energy density. It means all the matter in the universe was concentrated into a single incredibly tiny point which suddenly started expanding and it is still expanding today.

The Quran says:
“Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, then we separated them, and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?” 
[Quran (21:30)]

It clearly shows that the heavens and earth were once one, and then God caused them to separate into the seven heavens and earth. Before the 19th century, the Muslim scholars could only explain the precise meaning of each word in Arabic in the verse, as well as the overall meaning of the verse due to the limitations of science and technology.

Therefore, one can say the Quran cannot be a book of a human if it were so, then it could not have provided such information hundreds of years ago. The only possibility is that it is divine revelation that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) received. 

To conclude, our universe is getting bigger and bigger. The expansion of the universe is accelerating, how can that be? Well, astronomers realized there must be some pushing because Newton’s Second Law states that in order to accelerate an object, there must be some force. They do not know what it is but it is there.
The agent, force, which causing this acceleration, they call it “Dark Energy”. They do not know what dark matter is but it is there. They don’t understand the dark energy. What agent actually triggered the process of expansion, even before that what agent caused the matter to get together and even before that, who created the matter, astronomers have no answers to these kinds of questions. The Quran can answer these questions.

The Originator says in the Quran;

“Is not He who created the heavens and the earth Able to create the likes of them? Yes, [it’s so]; and He is the knowing creator.” 
[Quran (36:81)]
Then in the next verse;
“His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, "Be," and it is.”
[Quran (36:82)]
Therefore, there is still a lot to play for. Astronomers have yet to explore the edges of the cosmos.

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