Ali ‘Imran 3:190–191

Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the day and night there are signs for people of reason.

Fatir 35:27–28

Do you not see that Allah sends down rain from the sky with which We bring forth fruits of different colours? And in the mountains are streaks of varying shades of white, red, and raven black; just as people, living beings, and cattle are of various colours as well. Of all of Allah’s servants, only the knowledgeable ˹of His might˺ are ˹truly˺ in awe of Him. Allah is indeed Almighty, All-Forgiving.

Welcome, and may peace and blessings greet you.

For so long, Muslims have internalized that ours is a religion of little scientific tradition. Wherever we look, it always seems that we have made progress elsewhere — business, sports (perhaps), but never in the realm of science. Sometimes, we are told of great Muslim scholars who lived in the Golden Age. As inspiring as such tales are, they are in the past, as though Islam’s impact on understanding the Earth and Heavens is relegated to the annals of history.

However, there are countless contemporary Muslims at the forefront of expanding our horizons across the US and the globe. We here at the Harvard Islamic Society would like to take that small step forward by sharing their stories.

We are looking for researchers in any and all scientific fields, be it medicine, chemistry, geology, astronomy, mathematics, etc. Most importantly, we want to learn how your faith has informed your work and career path, and how it has informed you faith.

All submissions should be emailed to harvardislamicsociety@gmail.com and follow the following guidelines:

Be between 800–1200 words.

Include a short biography/summary of your work and career

Discuss how your iman has informed your choice of path, and how your research has developed your iman.

We hope to start a genuine, personalized collaboration that puts you, the writer, first for the betterment of the publication and the benefit of its readers. We want to publish your work in the best form possible, and we want to help you achieve that standard.

Hopefully, if enough blog posts have been submitted, we would like to publish them in the form of anthology. Please email us if you are interested in being a part of that project to inspire future generations.

We look forward to receiving your work!

With salam!
The Editors

Submission Guidelines was originally published in Muslims in Science on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Sun rises high
in endearment, for Love makes
pain of bereavement

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Written Tales Submission Guidelines

Memories of Bliss
lie in the wake of passing
misk, and so in yours

N.B: Misk is the Arabic form of musk

No Excitement

Chloride flowing in
to EPSP’s chagrin
shunting them away

Glutamate’s Choice

Glutamate chooses
between excitation and
potentiation

Life of Balance

Sodium’s influx
and potassium’s efflux
brings the cell to life

Your Honor,

I would like to request a restraining order on those vile stalkers — the so-called ‘chorus’ — that have traumatized my life and led me to perform actions that, let us say, was not accepted by most people (or some of the Olympians for that matter).

How dare I set foot in court? I beg your pardon, your Honor, but I hardly believe that such accusations are fair. Yes, my brother Orestes did kill Aegisthus after being invited to his ceremony, and yes he did bring me his head, but still! Am I to be judged by his reprehensible actions? He was the one who offered to deal with him, and he gave me a surprise visit after so many years, so how could I say no? Plus, he was told by a “fiend” disguised as a diety on a three-legged stool to do so, so be reasonable.

Oh, you just had to bring up my mother Clymnestra, did you? Just because she was the queen does not mean you get to meddle in family affairs. Where were you when she killed Agammemon (who may or may not have sacrificed her daughter)? Wait, you don’t think that I was the one who did the killing? I’m sorry, are you illiterate, or are you incapable of reading Euripides.

Perhaps I did trick her into my cottage by faking a birth so that she can bless it and perhaps I did hold the murder weapon with Orestes, but keep in my mind that I let go of it at the last second, so I didn’t technically kill her per se. Just because I may be related to a killer (fine two, or make that three) does not make mean I am predisposed to being one! We were already judged by the sons of Zeus and I wouldn’t exactly call it fair that that no-good witch Medea gets to betray her father, kill not one but two kings, a princess, her own children, and who knows whom else and is bestowed upon with a flipping chariot by Apollo to escape Jason and go to Athens while I only get a husband and a home.

You accuse me of forcing him to murder? I’m glad you do! This is what I came for: those stalking women who call themselves the ‘chorus’ are the one to blame. During the entire ordeal, all those nameless ladies who claimed to be my friends did was push me to the edge. Whenever I complained, which was admittedly my favorite past-time, about my hair and dress, instead of consoling me and snapping me out of it, they moaned with me about days long gone at the palace and pitied me! I am no mental health expert, but I do not believe reminding a highly unstable woman about how her mother abandoned her will make her any less likely to commit murder.

If that was not enough, every now and then some random thought would prod me to kill Aegisthus. Naturally, like all exiled princesses, I was inclined to do so, but I kept these notions at bay. But, lo and behold, whoever but a random chorus member would prod me into killing him.

Not only that, but throughout my mother’s death, some would point out that this was a necessary evil, a sort of heavenly justice! They did not even attempt to warn her about the trap! Such irresponsibility. At the end, the most any of them did was point out among themselves that it was a sin and pitied our family.

I ask you to put yourself in my shoes: away from society, my only friends were absolute psychopaths who encouraged me to murder my mother and her lover. Had any one of them been a responsible citizen, they would have called a local doctor to drill a hole in my head, or at the very least the police.

But nooo, they just “supported” me all the way, making me think that regicide and matricide was the new normal in Greece.

I’m starting a new life now, and if there is one thing that I want, is to have those creatures as far away from me as possible. After all, who is more responsible: the one influencing murder, or those influencing the influencer?

Thank you.

As a side note, do you know the name of the local psychiatric association. I have a few “suggestions”, let’s say, about that newfangled “Electra complex”. How dare they compare me to Oedipus.

• Scien-
• Legacy of the Dead

Electra’s Defense to the Judge was originally published in The Haven on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Surrounded by sand,

dreaming of fields and valleys

such is our spirit

Memories form, die

and consolidate in our

little sea horses

Time is a fractal

that mocks our confidence in

lauding a new age,

decreeing her hands’ turning

as it knows Now is all three

Fractal Time was originally published in The Junction on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Hello all,

As Headmaster of the Stormtrooper Academy, it has recently come to my attention that many of my recent graduates have been receiving undue criticism regarding their aim.

While it may be easy seem easy for all of you, kicking back in the canteen with your 7 foot 3 Wookie sidekicks and laser-reflecting swords, aiming as a stormtrooper is perhaps the most difficult job in the Empire for various reasons.

Helmets

Ever wondered what the world looks like from behind those black slits we have to wear?

As you can see (lucky you), the helmets given to us completely block our vision. What else would you expect from headgear that is completely blacked out? Of course, people love to compare us to Mr. Perfect Aim with a Bowcaster Chewie, but last I checked, he could use both eyes and ears.

Speaking of ears, whoever designed the helmets had the ingenuity and foresight of not only blocking our sense of vision, but covering our ears as well.

Some people ridicule this as a clever attempt by the higher powers to keep troops upbeat by hiding their horrible aim. Honestly, I do not believe that shielding us from our mistakes would be that helpful for team morale considering the fact that our bosses would decide to choke one of us to death on a whim.

Clones

Somehow, the Empire has managed to control a galaxy, perfect interstellar travel, freeze aging, and destroy planets with a single button but people still cannot seem to grasp fundamental genetics.

Cloning means we’re all identical to the parent.

Jango Fett may have been great with his laser pistols and flamethrower, but have you seen him use a full-fledged E-11 blaster that we’re trained with ?

Probably not, and evidently the geniuses who decided to base our DNA off him haven’t either.

Villains

We may be clones, but we’re not idiots. We work for a man who goes by the name Darth Vader and wields a blood-red lightsaber, live in the Death Star where we blow up planets, fight against a Jedi, and are guided by men who talk with the British accent. Do you really think that we still believe that we have the moral high ground? Our conscience haunts us whenever we have to shoot, which is not a very effective method of aiming.

Everyone mocks us when we miss, but do you hear the boos when we do actually shoot someone? Forget Scylla and Charybdis: we are between sarlaac and Jabba the Hutt here — and we can’t shoot either of them.

Lightsabers

We have heard stories of a time long gone where whatever goes out of a blaster, stays out of a blaster. Our lives would have been much easier back then.

Now, we’re racked by fear every time we pull the trigger. Imagine shooting a beam of laser, but knowing that it may come back to haunt you.

Suddenly, that perfect aim does not seem so perfect after all.

Ammo

Sadly, with the social degradation of our troopers, we have seemed to lost the culture of saving. As younglings, we were taught the value of each cartridge of ammo, and we should aim with care. Nowadays with the unlimited supply of laser beams, the average trooper hardly thinks twice before shooting.

As you can see, with such conflicting factors, we take pride in our oft-mocked hit rate, and we would like everyone to go easy on our troops. Their self-esteem has already hit rock bottom, and the endless mockery is sure to take its toll on their well-being. They didn’t decide to do all this, so please be considerate and abstain from criticism as they enslave the nearest species.

Thank you!

I am the author of the upcoming poetry volume “Japarabian Verses: A Collection”. Follow me on Twitter and Medium. If you liked what you read then check out these other stories below.

Disney Extra #341’s Letter of Resignation

A Statement from the Headmaster of the Stormtrooper Academy was originally published in The Haven on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Solis’s light shines

greeting the barren land! Oh,

but it has covered

itself from the rays of Hope,

fearing the return of clouds