The Cruel Expulsions Mr.Abuaddullah
Do the Ahmedis consider non-ahmedis, MUSLIM. If yes, why dont Ahmedis say namaz behind a non-Ahmedi? I am sure Ahmedis would have done the same if they were the majority. Its more an expression of power and human nature than anything else.

The Cruel Expulsions I remember meeting Mirza Tahir Ahmad and the interesting conversation with him. I had a ordinary camera and he told me that he has got a high end Nikon and I replied that " Hazoor you are a rich man and can afford anything". When Mirza Masroor comes to Canada he rents the best car available and at Niagra stays and the best hotel. I dont see the simple life style.Moreover during the jalsa the workers rent expensive cars to do, God knows, what duties.The kilafas should donate all their land if they want to help the poor. I know the "Murabi" sahibans sacrifice their lives but thats not fair. It should start from the top not from the bottom

The Cruel Expulsions I fully agree with Mr.Mooquin that there should be be a external audit to see how the funds are used and how much the Khalifa get payed.The lavish life style of the present and the former Khalifa's is contradictory to the islamic way of life. The Khalifa should set an example and donate all his land and money and then should ask for "chanda", not before that. Neverthe less the treatment given to ordinary Ahmedi's is not fair and should be condemned.

Where is Ibn-Sina of the 21st Century? It’s a good read. Islam, especially the form of Islam followed in Saudi Arabia is the worst kind. There is no logic or reason associated with it. Well, isn’t that the case in every religion. Christmas is the biggest celebration of the birth of a man for which there is no solid historical evidence. Moreover the story of virgin birth, which was a common myth in old times, is untrue. It’s included in bible and Quran. No one with a bit of reason at hand can ever believe the story of virgin birth but can a Muslim dare say that it’s not true. NO. So my friends, religion is not based on truth but has nothing to do with truth, its a socio-political phenomenon which should not be taken in literal sense.
Thanks

Whence Then is Evil? Well written article. The basic problem is with the definition of God. Its has inherent contradiction. A God who is ``less than all powerful`` fits in better than the all powerful God.
At present humans have no way to deal with metaphysical statements. Logical positivist like A.J.Ayer described them as meaningless statements as there is no way of proving them either wrong or right. It seems as God is a need rather than objective reality.

Why Atif Aslam works No, I am not a fan of Abrar and Hadiqa. Abrar can sing a bit but he has no variation, can sing only punjabi and sings in his nose while trying to hit a high note. Hadiqa is pure nonsense, should not sing at all. Jawad can sing live but still goes off-key from time to time and Sajad ali is the best as far as the technical aspect goes but does not have the best tonal quality.

Why Atif Aslam works I dont know what you all are takling about. Ever heard Atif singing live, he is completely off- key all the time. The poor guy is unable to hit a correct note. Live singing is the true test for any vocalist. Only few can sing live these days such as Sajad ali, Jawad ahmad and Shafqat amanat ali khan. Atif aslam should not sing live or better not sing at all.

Encounters With Depression Dear Dr. Sohail
I am glad to see another article from you explaining “depression” as diseases as it helps to get rid of different dogmas surrounding it. My concern is that there should be at least a five years study done on the drugs, relating to depression and anxiety, before bringing it to the market so that there long term side effect should be known before hand.
Secondly, these drugs (SRI, SNRI) should be given as the last resort as there withdrawal symptoms are very painful. The problem is that since the half –life of the neurotransmitters are so short, we don’t have any direct method to measure there quantity yet, its like a treatment based on trail and error. Moreover the neurotransmitters are multi-functional, making the treatment much harder.

It would be very kind of you to write a similar article on other mental conditions such as different phobias.
I am saying that because today I saw a programme on GEO, called “NADIA KHAN SHOW” and she was talking about “fortune telling” and “JIN” .Another lady (religious scholar) said that it’s through the use of “ JIN” that the fortune tellers are able to predict the future. Now, at one end of the spectrum humans are looking at the genome, stem cell research, and gene therapy to treat diseases and get better understanding of nature while on the end some humans are going in the reverse direction and still believing in supernatural creatures like “Jin” and even finding that to be an acceptable explanation. GOD HELP US.

Pakistan – The Threat From Within If islam is what people want than be it but the issue is WHICH BRAND OF ISLAM. I am sure if Mullahs of every sect are asked to decide which SHIRIAH they want they would end up calling each other KAFIR or end up killing each other.

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth Re: # 97
Mr masadi
The empirical data points towards a universe that is fine tuned to produce maximum number of black hole. Our universe is most efficient at producing black holes not humans. Life is only an after thought. Anything to work has to be tuned. A universe with different constants would probably give birth to a different form of life.
If God is a necessary being that he cannot be a creator of contingent beings like us but since Allah made man in his own image, it seems that this creator cannot be too different from humans.
If he is ``out of time`` then he cannot effect the events in this world, as that needs time as a medium and if he is ``in time`` then he is getting old with time and has to die or fade away with time.
To be honest, if think humans are not equipped to solve this problem. By looking at history and evolution of different religions it seems that humans are good at inventing myths and ``the God of gap`` is one of them. As human understanding is getting better this gap is being pushed away to the end and might remain at the end of the chain for ever.
Every believer thinks of his religion as being the only true one. Every religion has a god, sacred text, prophet, miracles and surprisingly prophecies which are coming true all the time. This god is not out somewhere but in side the human mind. God is a feeling, a state of mind, a subjective truth, only for the believer.

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth Dear Urstruly
It would be very kind of you to elaborate your understanding of the ``Prime mover``. I have not specially read Aristotle but I read few of his writing in different places. The notion of absolute mover is ``unintelligible`` which in other words is inherently flawed.

God`` a necessary being`` cannot be a creator of `contingent`` world. According to laws of reason, from necessary proposition only necessary proposition follows. A necessary being could only create necessary being not a contingent being. So if by definition God is a necessary being that he cannot be a creator of contingent beings like us.

According to the logical positivists like A.J.Ayer and Russell all metaphysical statements are ``meaningless`` because there is no way of proving them right OR wrong.

Occam`s principle states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating, or ``shaving off,`` those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis. In other words`` ``All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the best one.``

Putting God at the end of chain does not provide any more understanding. Its like trying to solve a problem by another problem which again needs to explained.

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth Dear friends
What`s the big deal in Hindus believing in gods. How different is it from the belief in one God. From my perspective, the point you leave reason and go for the realm of superstition, it really does not matter if you believe in one or thousand gods.
After scanning through few of the posts, I realized that a lot of people are missing the point. They are implying, in different ways, the first cause argument which read something like`` Nothing happens by itself, every thing needs a cause and God is the final cause``. The first problem is that the ``premise`` ``everything has a cause`` contradicts the ``conclusion`` ``God is the final cause`. If everything has a cause then God must have a cause or the argument is not valid.
Secondly, if we apply this argument, we should take it to its logical conclusion and not use it as a taxi to get to our desired destination and do not care what happens to the taxi afterwards. Logical conclusion binds us to ask the question, ``Whets caused God``. If God can be without a cause then why go so far, why not accept the universe to have it own cause. If God can have its own cause, why not the universe.

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth Mr.Gill
A very good article. All known laws of physics break down at singularity, so it seems as if humans are incapable of knowing anything beyond that. The very concept of existence loses its meaning. I guess for now we should accept it as a brute fact that the universe exist and keep looking for a way to find the ultimate truth.
Introducing God does not solve the problem. It’s like trying to solve a mystery by introducing another mystery.

God is a Metaphor Dr. Sohail
Another good contribution. You are right in saying that its pointless when an atheist and a believer argue against or in favor of God. To me statements like these are meaningless, for which there is no way of proving either right or wrong. This is the view held by the school of logical positivists, like A.J.Ayer and to a large extent by Russell as well.
Obviously one cannot apply the ``theory of correspondence`` to verify the existence of God. Even the ``theory of coherence`` cannot help us understand the concept of a personal God. Science fails us as well for there is no way of knowing, what happened before the singularity as all know laws of physics breaks down.

In spite of all the above discussed problems, I think an atheist and a believer are quite similar as neither can come up with a way to verify there respective positions. Therefore I think the only reasonable alternative is being as agnostic and keep searching for the truth
Regards

Brampton. Canada

Honored Dear Dr.Sohail
Congratulations. Its good to see someone from Pakistan being awarded and that too by the humanist society. Keep it up

Science, Psychology and Spirituality Dr.Sohail
I really like your article. We need rational people like you. I have read the book`` CAN WE BE GOOD WITHOUT GOD``. Its an interesting book. I would also recomend the readers to read ``THE MASK OF GOD`` BY Joseph Campbell, where he describes some basic ``folk ideas`` and tells how its a common theme in most of the ancient cultures. Ideas like, life after death, virgin birth. It explains how religion evolved out of mythology and that religious concept are better understood if taken metaphorically.