Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud’s statement to the Astronomical Society of Mahmoud Mosque (ASMM)
Since I was a kid, I was passionate about travelling around the world and wander with my eyes in the sky and the planets passing through it. At the age of 15, I made myself the first small refractive optical telescope and I gazed at the moon for the first time through its lenses (bought them from glasses and optics shop back then), the moon, its mountains, and its volcanic holes astonished me.
I started to read everything that falls under my hands from books about the solar system and its planets. In my 30’s, I used to go to all “Zeiss” exhibitions in Cairo, while my eyes were always starring at refractive and reflective optical telescopes and looked in despair at its prices that exceeded what’s in my pockets exponentially.
During my first trip to Helwan Observatory (HO), I eagerly embraced its refractive telescope and my eyes saw an astonishing scene for Jupiter. I saw the moon’s ground and soil from the reflective lenses of the telescope for the first time, enlarged and nearby as if I am walking on it.
The first thing I thought of when I graduated from the Faculty of Medicine and started to practice the profession was buying Zeiss refractive optical telescope from the exhibition held in Cairo back then. Years later, I bought a bigger telescope, it is the one I dedicated to the Astronomical Society of Mahmoud Mosque (ASMM) to be under their service, and it was the first core or nucleus of ASMM for the first youth gathering to meditate the sky with passion and gaze at stars and planets.
My point of view was that the sky was not only the dome exceeding me. But, I considered the sky, its stars, and planets as the big house where I live in. I was keen to recognise it after I recognised the small house (my body) where I live inside. I knew its secrets, trails, and anatomy in the school of Medicine. The astronomical knowledge for me was the gate to God and his miracle of creation. The sky was the second Qur'an I read through via telescopes. Faith increased every night, I became closer to God everytime I get deeper in the Cosmos and its secrets.
For me, I considered buying more telescopes and cameras for our mosque a religious duty and something as important as praying. My story with astronomy, the mosque, and praying is one.
— Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud, My story with Astronomy
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Cat's Eye Nebula
[Qur'an 55:37-47]
SAHEEH INTERNATIONAL:
37. And when the heaven is split open and becomes rose-colored like oil1 –
1. Or "like a tanned skin."
38. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? –
39. Then on that Day none will be asked about his sin among men or jinn.1
1. Once they have been condemned to the Fire.
40. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?
41. The criminals will be known by their marks, and they will be seized by the forelocks and the feet.
42. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?
43. This is Hell, which the criminals deny.
44. They will circulate between it and scalding water, heated [to the utmost degree].
45. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?
46. But for he who has feared the position of his Lord1 are two gardens –
1. An alternative meaning is "the standing [for account] before his Lord."
47. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? –
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Horsehead and Flame Nebulae
[Qur'an 100:1-5]
TALAL ITANI:
1. By the racers panting.
2. Igniting sparks.
3. Raiding at dawn.
4. Raising clouds of dust.
5. Storming into the midst.
SAHEEH INTERNATIONAL:
1. 1By the racers, panting,2
1. Al-‘Aadiyāt: The Racers.
2. i.e., the horses of those fighting for Allāh's cause as they race to attack the enemy.
2. And the producers of sparks [when] striking1
1. Their hoofs while galloping over rocky terrain.
3. And the chargers at dawn,1
1. While the enemy is unaware.
4. Stirring up thereby [clouds of] dust,
5. Arriving thereby in the center1 collectively,
1. i.e., penetrating into the enemy ranks during a surprise attack.
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Pillars of Creation -
Eagle Nebula -
Mystic Mountain
.jpg)
[Qur'an 85:1]
DR. KAMAL OMAR:
The heaven, possessor of Buruj, acts as a witness;
M.A.S. ABDEL HALEEM:
By the sky with its towering constellations,
A MONOTHEIST TRANSLATION:
By the heaven laden with towers.
ABUL ALA MAUDUDI:
By the heaven with its impregnable castles;
SAHEEH INTERNATIONAL:
1By the sky containing great stars
1. Al-Buruj: The Great Stars. Also explained as "the planets" or their "high positions in the heaven."
[Qur'an 25:61]
DR. KAMAL OMAR:
Blessed became He Who has set buruj in the heaven and has placed therein an emitting light and a moon that gives light.
A MONOTHEIST TRANSLATION:
Blessed is the One Who made towers in the heaven and He made in it a lamp and an illuminating moon.
FARIDUL HAQUE:
Most Auspicious is He Who created lofty towers in the sky and placed a lamp in it, and the luminous moon.
SAHEEH INTERNATIONAL:
Blessed is He who has placed in the sky great stars and placed therein a [burning] lamp and luminous moon.
ABDULLAH YUSUF ALI:
Blessed is He Who made constellations in the skies, and placed therein a Lamp1 and a Moon giving light;
1. The glorious Lamp of the skies is the Sun; and next to him is the Moon, which gives borrowed light. The Constellations of course, include the Signs of the Zodiac, which mark the path of the planets in the heavens (Cf. 15:16).
[Qur'an 15:16]
DR. KAMAL OMAR:
And surely, indeed We have set Buruj in the heaven and We made it pretty for the beholders.
A MONOTHEIST TRANSLATION:
And We have placed towers in the heaven and We have made them pleasant to the onlookers.
FARIDUL HAQUE:
And indeed We created towers in the skies, and beautified it for the beholders.
SAHEEH INTERNATIONAL:
And We have placed within the heaven great stars and have beautified it for the observers.
ABDULLAH YUSUF ALI:
It is We Who have set out1 the zodiacal signs2 in the heavens, and made them fair-seeming to (all) beholders;
1. Evil having been described, not as an external thing, hut as a taint of the soul, we have in this section a glorious account of the purity and beauty of God’s Creation. Evil is a blot on it, not a normal feature of it. Indeed, the normal feature is the guard which God has put on it, to protect it from evil.
2. In the countless millions of stars in the universe which we see, the first step in our astronomical knowledge is to find marvellous order, beauty, and harmony, on a scale of grandeur which we appreciate more and more as our knowledge increases. The first broad belt that we distinguish is the Zodiac, which marks the sun’s path through the heavens year after year and the limit of the wanderings of the moon and the planets. We make twelve divisions of it and call them Signs of the Zodiac. Each marks the solar path through the heavens as we see it, month after month. We can thus mark off the seasons in our solar year, and express in definite laws the most important facts in meteorology, agriculture, seasonal winds, and tides. Then there are the mansions of the moon, the mapping out of the Constellations, and other marvellous facts of the heavens, some of which affect our physical life on this earth. But the highest lessons we can draw from them are spiritual. The author of this wonderful Order and Beauty is One, and He alone is entitled to our worship (Cf. 25:63).
Buruj is the plural of burj which means a tower/skyscraper or fortress/castle/palace or a sign of the Zodiac or a star or constellation or asterism. It is derived from baraja meaning it became manifest or high, and hence the various significations. See Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
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Cosmic dust clouds in Messier 78
[Qur'an 72:8-9]
SAHEEH INTERNATIONAL:
8. And we have sought [to reach] the heaven but found it filled with powerful guards and burning flames.
9. And we used to sit therein in positions for hearing,1 but whoever listens now will find a burning flame lying in wait for him.
1. Before the prophethood of Muhammad (s) the jinn used to collect information by eavesdropping on the angels and then pass it on to fortunetellers and soothsayers.
DR. KAMAL OMAR:
8. And that we, indeed we touched the heaven, so we found it heavily filled up with stringent military guards and firing, shooting missiles.
9. And that we used to sit on some of its seats for tapping the information; but any one who listens in the current circumstances, he will find for him a firing and shooting missile waiting in ambush.
AL-MUNTAKHAB:
8. "We touched the lower heaven but we found it filled with stern guards and fiery celestial bodies".
9. "Long did we sit peering deep into heaven to spy what is being said or discussed in the heaven's realm. But now he of us who endeavours to pry into the realm is followed by a fiery celestial body and suffers annihilation".
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Cat's Eye Nebula
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Horsehead Nebula
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Pillars of Creation
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Eagle Nebula
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Mystic Mountain
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Cosmic dust clouds in Messier 78
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Crab Nebula -
Portion of the Carina Nebula -
Sombrero Galaxy -
Whirlpool Galaxy -
Messier 66 -
Messier 74 -
Messier 81 -
Messier 94 -
Messier 100 -
Pinwheel Galaxy -
NGC 2207 and IC 2163 -
Black Eye Galaxy -
Andromeda Galaxy -
Helix Nebula -
Dumbbell Nebula -
CL0024+17 -
Ultraviolet view of Cygnus loop -
Veil Nebula -
Red and green auroras, Norway -
Aeonium tabuliforme -
Romanesco broccoli -
Sunflower -
Markhor -
Egyptian pyramids
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"There are only three numbers in the world: 0, 1, and Infinity. In fact there are only two numbers because 0=1/Inf. So if it is not 0, then it is 1."
* 1 | 1
* 2 | 1
* 3 | 2
* 4 | 3
* 5 | 5
* 6 | 8
* 7 | 13
* 8 | 21
* 9 | 34
* 10 | 55
* 11 | 89
* 12 | 144
* 13 | 233
* 14 | 377
* 15 | 610
* 16 | 987
* 17 | 1597
* 18 | 2584
* 19 | 4181
* 20 | 6765
* 21 | 10946
* 22 | 17711
* 23 | 28657
* 24 | 46368
* 25 | 75025
* 26 | 121393
* 27 | 196418
* 28 | 317811
* 29 | 514229
* 30 | 832040
* 31 | 1346269
* 32 | 2178309
* 33 | 3524578
* 34 | 5702887
* 35 | 9227465
* 36 | 14930352
* 37 | 24157817
* 38 | 39088169
* 39 | 63245986
* 40 | 102334155
* 41 | 165580141
* 42 | 267914296
* 43 | 433494437
* 44 | 701408733
* 45 | 1134903170
* 46 | 1836311903
* 47 | 2971215073
* 48 | 4807526976
* 49 | 7778742049
* 50 | 12586269025
* 51 | 20365011074
* 52 | 32951280099
* 53 | 53316291173
* 54 | 86267571272
* 55 | 139583862445
* 56 | 225851433717
* 57 | 365435296162
* 58 | 591286729879
* 59 | 956722026041
* 60 | 1548008755920
* 61 | 2504730781961
* 62 | 4052739537881
* 63 | 6557470319842
* 64 | 10610209857723
* 65 | 17167680177565
* 66 | 27777890035288
* 67 | 44945570212853
* 68 | 72723460248141
* 69 | 117669030460994
* 70 | 190392490709135
* 71 | 308061521170129
* 72 | 498454011879264
* 73 | 806515533049393
* 74 | 1304969544928657
* 75 | 2111485077978050
* 76 | 3416454622906707
* 77 | 5527939700884757
* 78 | 8944394323791464
* 79 | 14472334024676221
* 80 | 23416728348467685
* 81 | 37889062373143906
* 82 | 61305790721611591
* 83 | 99194853094755497
* 84 | 160500643816367088
* 85 | 259695496911122585
* 86 | 420196140727489673
* 87 | 679891637638612258
* 88 | 1100087778366101931
* 89 | 1779979416004714189
* 90 | 2880067194370816120
* 91 | 4660046610375530309
* 92 | 7540113804746346429
* 93 | 12200160415121876738
* 94 | 19740274219868223167
* 95 | 31940434634990099805
* 96 | 51680708854858323072
* 97 | 83621143489848422977
* 98 | 135301852344706746049
* 99 | 218922995834555169026
* 100 | 354224848179261915075
About Me change
"I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil."
"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not."