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Mr. RK. Ahmadh Riffai Kariapper
Faculty of Applied Sciences
Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
+94718080883

http://arkariapper.blogspot.com/

A Five-Minute Routine to Keep Your Bathroom Clean

Cleaning the bathroom may very well be the worst of all the household chores, but Apartment Therapy has put together a quick five minute daily routine that can save you the suffering of scrubbing for hours on end.

The basic idea of Apartment Therapy's routine is to break bathroom cleaning into five 60 second chunks that you can do at any point in the day. Here's the basic breakdown:

• Minute one: clearing off surfaces.
• Minute two: surface cleaning.
• Minute three: straightening.
• Minute four: wipe down mirrors and fixtures.
• Minute five: assess and wipe down anything else.

You can mix things up a bit to fit your needs. For instance, my bathroom is the size of a small closet so clearing off surfaces is pretty much non-existant, but I could spend that minute sweeping instead. The important part to remember is to keep it short and do it daily so you don't have to do a deep scrub down the line. Head over to Apartment Therapy for a breakdown of each minute and more cleaning suggestions.

Thanks for www.lifehacker.com

 

Splitting of the moon

The splitting of the moon (Arabic: انشقاق القمر‎) was a miracle attributed to Muhammad in Islamic tradition.It derives from the Qur'anic verse "Sura Al-Qamar, verse 1-3"54:1-2: The HOUR (of Judgment) is nigh and the moon did split. And if they see a sign they turn away, and say: "This is transient magic." Sura Al-Qamar Qur'an verse in Arabic: بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيم اقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَانشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ وَإِن يَرَوْا آيَةً يُعْرِضُوا وَيَقُولُوا سِحْرٌ مُّسْتَمِرٌّ




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http://rkark.blogspot.com
http://hockalmunai.blogspot.com

10 Worst Computer Viruses of All Time

Computer viruses can be a nightmare. Some can wipe out the information on a hard drive, tie up traffic on a computer network for hours, turn an innocent machine into a zombie and replicate and send themselves to other computers. If you've never had a machine fall victim to a computer virus, you may wonder what the fuss is about. But the concern is understandable -- according to Consumer Reports, computer viruses helped contribute to $8.5 billion in consumer losses in 2008 [source: MarketWatch]. Computer viruses are just one kind of online threat, but they're arguably the best known of the bunch.

Computer viruses have been around for many years. In fact, in 1949, a scientist named John von Neumann theorized that a self-replicated program was possible [source: Krebs]. The computer industry wasn't even a decade old, and already someone had figured out how to throw a monkey wrench into the figurative gears. But it took a few decades before programmers known as hackers began to build computer viruses.

While some pranksters created virus-like programs for large computer systems, it was really the introduction of the personal computer that brought computer viruses to the public's attention. A doctoral student named Fred Cohen was the first to describe self-replicating programs designed to modify computers as viruses. The name has stuck ever since.

­In the good­ old days (i.e., the early 1980s), viruses depended on humans to do the hard work of spreading the virus to other computers. A hacker would save the virus to disks and then distribute the disks to other people. It wasn't until modems became common that virus transmission became a real problem. Today when we think of a computer virus, we usually imagine something that transmits itself via the Internet. It might infect computers through e-mail messages or corrupted Web links. Programs like these can spread much faster than the earliest computer viruses.

We're going to take a look at 10 of the worst computer viruses to cripple a computer system. Let's start with the Melissa virus.

10: Melissa

In the spring of 1999, a man named David L. Smith created a computer virus based on a Microsoft Word macro. He built the virus so that it could spread through e-mail messages. Smith named the virus "Melissa," saying that he named it after an exotic dancer from Florida [source: CNN].

Rather than shaking its moneymaker, the Melissa computer virus tempts recipients into opening a document with an e-mail message like "Here is that document you asked for, don't show it to anybody else." Once activated, the virus replicates itself and sends itself out to the top 50 people in the recipient's e-mail address book.

The virus spread rapidly after Smith unleashed it on the world. The United States federal government became very interested in Smith's work -- according to statements made by FBI officials to Congress, the Melissa virus "wreaked havoc on government and private sector networks" [source: FBI]. The increase in e-mail traffic forced some companies to discontinue e-mail programs until the virus was contained.

After a lengthy trial process, Smith lost his case and received a 20-month jail sentence. The court also fined Smith $5,000 and forbade him from accessing computer networks without court authorization [source: BBC]. Ultimately, the Melissa virus didn't cripple the Internet, but it was one of the first computer viruses to get the public's attention.

Flavors of Viruses

In this article, we'll look at several different kinds of computer viruses. Here's a quick guide to what we'll see:

• The general term computer virus usually covers programs that modify how a computer works (including damaging the computer) and can self-replicate. A true computer virus requires a host program to run properly -- Melissa used a Word document.
• A worm, on the other hand, doesn't require a host program. It's an application that can replicate itself and send itself through computer networks.
• Trojan horses are programs that claim to do one thing but really do another. Some might damage a victim's hard drive. Others can create a backdoor, allowing a remote user to access the victim's computer system.

9: ILOVEYOU

A year after the Melissa virus hit the Internet, a digital menace emerged from the Philippines. Unlike the Melissa virus, this threat came in the form of a worm -- it was a standalone program capable of replicating itself. It bore the name ILOVEYOU.

The ILOVEYOU virus initially traveled the Internet by e-mail, just like the Melissa virus. The subject of the e-mail said that the message was a love letter from a secret admirer. An attachment in the e-mail was what caused all the trouble. The original worm had the file name of LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs. The vbs extension pointed to the language the hacker used to create the worm: Visual Basic Scripting [source: McAfee].

According to anti-virus software producer McAfee, the ILOVEYOU virus had a wide range of attacks:

• It copied itself several times and hid the copies in several folders on the victim's hard drive.
• It added new files to the victim's registry keys.
• It replaced several different kinds of files with copies of itself.
• It sent itself through Internet Relay Chat clients as well as e-mail.
• It downloaded a file called WIN-BUGSFIX.EXE from the Internet and executed it. Rather than fix bugs, this program was a password-stealing application that e-mailed secret information to the hacker's e-mail address.

Who created the ILOVEYOU virus? Some think it was Onel de Guzman of the Philippines. Filipino authorities investigated de Guzman on charges of theft -- at the time the Philippines had no computer espionage or sabotage laws. Citing a lack of evidence, the Filipino authorities dropped the charges against de Guzman, who would neither confirm nor deny his responsibility for the virus. According to some estimates, the ILOVEYOU virus caused $10 billion in damages [source: Landler].

Now that the love fest is over, let's take a look at one of the most widespread viruses to hit the Web.

8: The Klez Virus

The Klez virus marked a new direction for computer viruses, setting the bar high for those that would follow. It debuted in late 2001, and variations of the virus plagued the Internet for several months. The basic Klez worm infected a victim's computer through an e-mail message, replicated itself and then sent itself to people in the victim's address book. Some variations of the Klez virus carried other harmful programs that could render a victim's computer inoperable. Depending on the version, the Klez virus could act like a normal computer virus, a worm or a Trojan horse. It could even disable virus-scanning software and pose as a virus-removal tool [source: Symantec].

Shortly after it appeared on the Internet, hackers modified the Klez virus in a way that made it far more effective. Like other viruses, it could comb through a victim's address book and send itself to contacts. But it could also take another name from the contact list and place that address in the "From" field in the e-mail client. It's called spoofing -- the e-mail appears to come from one source when it's really coming from somewhere else.

Spoofing an e-mail address accomplishes a couple of goals. For one thing, it doesn't do the recipient of the e-mail any good to block the person in the "From" field, since the e-mails are really coming from someone else. A Klez worm programmed to spam people with multiple e-mails could clog an inbox in short order, because the recipients would be unable to tell what the real source of the problem was. Also, the e-mail's recipient might recognize the name in the "From" field and therefore be more receptive to opening it.

Antivirus Software

It's important to have an antivirus program on your computer, and to keep it up to date. But you shouldn't use more than one suite, as multiple antivirus programs can interfere with one another. Here's a list of some antivirus software suites:

• Avast Antivirus
• AVG Anti-Virus
• Kaspersky Anti-Virus
• McAfee VirusScan
• Norton AntiVirus

Several major computer viruses debuted in 2001. In the next section, we'll take a look at Code Red.

7: Code Red and Code Red II

­The Code Red and Code Red II worms popped up in the summer of 2001. Both worms exploited an operating system vulnerability that was found in machines running Windows 2000 and Windows NT. The vulnerability was a buffer overflow problem, which means when a machine running on these operating systems receives more information than its buffers can handle, it starts to overwrite adjacent memory.

The original Code Red worm initiated a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on the White House. That means all the computers infected with Code Red tried to contact the Web servers at the White House at the same time, overloading the machines.

A Windows 2000 machine infected by the Code Red II worm no longer obeys the owner. That's because the worm creates a backdoor into the computer's operating system, allowing a remote user to access and control the machine. In computing terms, this is a system-level compromise, and it's bad news for the computer's owner. The person behind the virus can access information from the victim's computer or even use the infected computer to commit crimes. That means the victim not only has to deal with an infected computer, but also may fall under suspicion for crimes he or she didn't commit.

While Windows NT machines were vulnerable to the Code Red worms, the viruses' effect on these machines wasn't as extreme. Web servers running Windows NT might crash more often than normal, but that was about as bad as it got. Compared to the woes experienced by Windows 2000 users, that's not so bad.

Microsoft released software patches that addressed the security vulnerability in Windows 2000 and Windows NT. Once patched, the original worms could no longer infect a Windows 2000 machine; however, the patch didn't remove viruses from infected computers -- victims had to do that themselves.

6: Nimda

Another virus to hit the Internet in 2001 was the Nimda (which is admin spelled backwards) worm. Nimda spread through the Internet rapidly, becoming the fastest propagating computer virus at that time. In fact, according to TruSecure CTO Peter Tippett, it only took 22 minutes from the moment Nimda hit the Internet to reach the top of the list of reported attacks [source: Anthes].

The Nimda worm's primary targets were Internet servers. While it could infect a home PC, its real purpose was to bring Internet traffic to a crawl. It could travel through the Internet using multiple methods, including e-mail. This helped spread the virus across multiple servers in record time.

The Nimda worm created a backdoor into the victim's operating system. It allowed the person behind the attack to access the same level of functions as whatever account was logged into the machine currently. In other words, if a user with limited privileges activated the worm on a computer, the attacker would also have limited access to the computer's functions. On the other hand, if the victim was the administrator for the machine, the attacker would have full control.

The spread of the Nimda virus caused some network systems to crash as more of the system's resources became fodder for the worm. In effect, the Nimda worm became a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.

Phoning it In

Not all computer viruses focus on computers. Some target other electronic devices. Here's just a small sample of some highly portable viruses:

• CommWarrior attacked smartphones running the Symbian operating system (OS).
• The Skulls Virus also attacked Symbian phones and displayed screens of skulls instead of a home page on the victims' phones.
• RavMonE.exe is a virus that could infect iPod MP3 devices made between Sept. 12, 2006, and Oct. 18, 2006.
• Fox News reported in March 2008 that some electronic gadgets leave the factory with viruses pre-installed -- these viruses attack your computer when you sync the device with your machine [source: Fox News].

Next, we'll take a look at a virus that affected major networks, including airline computers and bank ATMs.

5: SQL Slammer/Sapphire

­In late January 2003, a new Web server virus spread across the Internet. Many computer networks were unprepared for the attack, and as a result the virus brought down several important systems. The Bank of America's ATM service crashed, the city of Seattle suffered outages in 911 service and Continental Airlines had to cancel several flights due to electronic ticketing and check-in errors.

The culprit was the SQL Slammer virus, also known as Sapphire. By some estimates, the virus caused more than $1 billion in damages before patches and antivirus software caught up to the problem [source: Lemos]. The progress of Slammer's attack is well documented. Only a few minutes after infecting its first Internet server, the Slammer virus was doubling its number of victims every few seconds. Fifteen minutes after its first attack, the Slammer virus infected nearly half of the servers that act as the pillars of the Internet [source: Boutin].

The Slammer virus taught a valuable lesson: It's not enough to make sure you have the latest patches and antivirus software. Hackers will always look for a way to exploit any weakness, particularly if the vulnerability isn't widely known. While it's still important to try and head off viruses before they hit you, it's also important to have a worst-case-scenario plan to fall back on should disaster strike.

A Matter of Timing

Some hackers program viruses to sit dormant on a victim's computer only to unleash an attack on a specific date. Here's a quick sample of some famous viruses that had time triggers:

• The Jerusalem virus activated every Friday the 13th to destroy data on the victim computer's hard drive
• The Michelangelo virus activated on March 6, 1992 -- Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475
• The Chernobyl virus activated on April 26, 1999 -- the 13th anniversary of the Chernobyl meltdown disaster
• The Nyxem virus delivered its payload on the third of every month, wiping out files on the victim's computer

Computer viruses can make a victim feel helpless, vulnerable and despondent. Next, we'll look at a virus with a name that evokes all three of those feelings.

4: MyDoom

The MyDoom (or Novarg) virus is another worm that can create a backdoor in the victim computer's operating system. The original MyDoom virus -- there have been several variants -- had two triggers. One trigger caused the virus to begin a denial of service (DoS) attack starting Feb. 1, 2004. The second trigger commanded the virus to stop distributing itself on Feb. 12, 2004. Even after the virus stopped spreading, the backdoors created during the initial infections remained active [source: Symantec].

Later that year, a second outbreak of the MyDoom virus gave several search engine companies grief. Like other viruses, MyDoom searched victim computers for e-mail addresses as part of its replication process. But it would also send a search request to a search engine and use e-mail addresses found in the search results. Eventually, search engines like Google began to receive millions of search requests from corrupted computers. These attacks slowed down search engine services and even caused some to crash [source: Sullivan].

MyDoom spread through e-mail and peer-to-peer networks. According to the security firm MessageLabs, one in every 12 e-mail messages carried the virus at one time [source: BBC]. Like the Klez virus, MyDoom could spoof e-mails so that it became very difficult to track the source of the infection.

Oddball Viruses

Not all viruses cause severe damage to computers or destroy networks. Some just cause computers to act in odd ways. An early virus called Ping-Pong created a bouncing ball graphic, but didn't seriously damage the infected computer. There are several joke programs that might make a computer owner think his or her computer is infected, but they're really harmless applications that don't self-replicate. When in doubt, it's best to let an antivirus program remove the application.

Next, we'll take a look at a pair of viruses created by the same hacker: the Sasser and Netsky viruses.

3: Sasser and Netsky

Sometimes computer virus programmers escape detection. But once in a while, authorities find a way to track a virus back to its origin. Such was the case with the Sasser and Netsky viruses. A 17-year-old German named Sven Jaschan created the two programs and unleashed them onto the Internet. While the two worms behaved in different ways, similarities in the code led security experts to believe they both were the work of the same person.

The Sasser worm attacked computers through a Microsoft Windows vulnerability. Unlike other worms, it didn't spread through e-mail. Instead, once the virus infected a computer, it looked for other vulnerable systems. It contacted those systems and instructed them to download the virus. The virus would scan random IP addresses to find potential victims. The virus also altered the victim's operating system in a way that made it difficult to shut down the computer without cutting off power to the system.

The Netsky virus moves through e-mails and Windows networks. It spoofs e-mail addresses and propagates through a 22,016-byte file attachment [source: CERT]. As it spreads, it can cause a denial of service (DoS) attack as systems collapse while trying to handle all the Internet traffic. At one time, security experts at Sophos believed Netsky and its variants accounted for 25 percent of all computer viruses on the Internet [source: Wagner].

Sven Jaschan spent no time in jail; he received a sentence of one year and nine months of probation. Because he was under 18 at the time of his arrest, he avoided being tried as an adult in German courts.

So far, most of the viruses we've looked at target PCs running Windows. But Macintosh computers aren't immune to computer virus attacks. In the next section, we'll take a look at the first virus to commit a Mac attack.

Black Hats

Just as you'd find good and bad witches in Oz, you can find good and bad hackers in our world. One common term for a hacker who sets out to create computer viruses or compromise system security is a black hat. Some hackers attend conventions like the Black Hat conference or Defcon to discuss the impact of black hats and how they use vulnerabilities in computer security systems to commit crimes.

2: Leap-A/Oompa-A

Maybe you've seen the ad in Apple's Mac computer marketing campaign where Justin "I'm a Mac" Long consoles John "I'm a PC" Hodgman. Hodgman comes down with a virus and points out that there are more than 100,000 viruses that can strike a computer. Long says that those viruses target PCs, not Mac computers.

For the most part, that's true. Mac computers are partially protected from virus attacks because of a concept called security through obscurity. Apple has a reputation for keeping its operating system (OS) and hardware a closed system -- Apple produces both the hardware and the software. This keeps the OS obscure. Traditionally, Macs have been a distant second to PCs in the home computer market. A hacker who creates a virus for the Mac won't hit as many victims as he or she would with a virus for PCs.

But that hasn't stopped at least one Mac hacker. In 2006, the Leap-A virus, also known as Oompa-A, debuted. It uses the iChat instant messaging program to propagate across vulnerable Mac computers. After the virus infects a Mac, it searches through the iChat contacts and sends a message to each person on the list. The message contains a corrupted file that appears to be an innocent JPEG image.

The Leap-A virus doesn't cause much harm to computers, but it does show that even a Mac computer can fall prey to malicious software. As Mac computers become more popular, we'll probably see more hackers create customized viruses that could damage files on the computer or snarl network traffic. Hodgman's character may yet have his revenge.

We're down to the end of the list. What computer virus has landed the number one spot?

Breaking into Song

While computer viruses can pose a serious threat to computer systems and Internet traffic, sometimes the media overstates the impact of a particular virus. For example, the Michelangelo virus gained a great deal of media attention, but the actual damage caused by the virus was pretty small. That might have been the inspiration for the song "Virus Alert" by "Weird Al" Yankovic. The song warns listeners of a computer virus called Stinky Cheese that not only wipes out your computer's hard drive, but also forces you to listen to Jethro Tull songs and legally change your name to Reggie.

1: Storm Worm

The latest virus on our list is the dreaded Storm Worm. It was late 2006 when computer security experts first identified the worm. The public began to call the virus the Storm Worm because one of the e-mail messages carrying the virus had as its subject "230 dead as storm batters Europe." Antivirus companies call the worm other names. For example, Symantec calls it Peacomm while McAfee refers to it as Nuwar. This might sound confusing, but there's already a 2001 virus called the W32.Storm.Worm. The 2001 virus and the 2006 worm are completely different programs.

The Storm Worm is a Trojan horse program. Its payload is another program, though not always the same one. Some versions of the Storm Worm turn computers into zombies or bots. As computers become infected, they become vulnerable to remote control by the person behind the attack. Some hackers use the Storm Worm to create a botnet and use it to send spam mail across the Internet.

Many versions of the Storm Worm fool the victim into downloading the application through fake links to news stories or videos. The people behind the attacks will often change the subject of the e-mail to reflect current events. For example, just before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, a new version of the worm appeared in e-mails with subjects like "a new deadly catastrophe in China" or "China's most deadly earthquake." The e-mail claimed to link to video and news stories related to the subject, but in reality clicking on the link activated a download of the worm to the victim's computer [source: McAfee].

Several news agencies and blogs named the Storm Worm one of the worst virus attacks in years. By July 2007, an official with the security company Postini claimed that the firm detected more than 200 million e-mails carrying links to the Storm Worm during an attack that spanned several days [source: Gaudin]. Fortunately, not every e-mail led to someone downloading the worm.

Although the Storm Worm is widespread, it's not the most difficult virus to detect or remove from a computer system. If you keep your antivirus software up to date and remember to use caution when you receive e-mails from unfamiliar people or see strange links, you'll save yourself some major headaches.

Want to learn more about computer viruses? Take a look at the links on the next page, if you dare.

Malware

Computer viruses are just one kind of malware. Other types include spyware and some kinds of adware. Spyware spies on what a user does with his or her computer. That can include logging keystrokes as a way to discover login codes and passwords. Adware is a software app that displays ads to users while they use a larger application like a Web browser. Some adware contains code that gives advertisers extensive access to private information.

 

(source from http://www.howstuffworks.com)

--
regards

Mr. RK. Ahmadh Riffai Kariapper
Faculty of Applied Sciences
Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
+94718080883

http://arkariapper.blogspot.com/

Concept of God (Allah) in Islam

Every language has one or more terms that are used in reference to God and sometimes to lesser deities. This is not the case with the word "Allah." Allah is the personal name of the One True God. Nothing else can be called Allah. The term has no plural or gender. This shows its exclusivity when compared to the word 'god' which can be made plural, i.e. 'gods' or feminine, i.e. 'goddess.' It is interesting to note that Allah is the personal name of God in Aramaic, the language of Jesus (peace be upon him). The word Allah is a reflection of the unique concept that Islam associates with God. To a Muslim, Allah is the Almighty, Creator and Sustainer of the universe, who is similar to none and nothing is comparable to Him. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was asked by his contemporaries about Allah. The answer came directly from God Himself in the form of a short chapter of the Qur'an that is considered the essence of the Unity of God or the motto of monotheism.

Say: He is Allah, the One; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten, and there is none like unto Him.

[Surah Al-Ikhlas 112:1-4]

Some non-Muslims allege that the concept of God in Islam is that of a stern and cruel God who demands to be obeyed fully. He is not loving and kind. Nothing can be farther from the truth than this allegation. It is enough to know that with the exception of one, each of the 114 chapters of the Qur'an begins with the verse:

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful…

In one of the sayings of Prophet Muhammad we are told:

God is more loving and kinder than a mother to her dear child.

Besides being Merciful, God is Just too. Hence evildoers and sinners must have their share of punishment and the virtuous their rightful reward. Actually, God's attribute of Mercy has full manifestation in His attribute of Justice. People suffering throughout their lives for His sake and people oppressing and exploiting other people all their lives should not receive similar treatment from their Lord. Expecting similar treatment for them will amount to negating the very belief in the accountability in the Hereafter and thereby negating all the incentives for a moral and virtuous life in this world.

The following verses from the Qur'an are very clear and straightforward:

Verily, for the righteous are Gardens of delight in the Presence of their Lord. Shall we then treat the people of Faith like the people of Sin? What is the matter with you? How judge you?

[Surah Al-Qalam 68:34-36]

Islam rejects characterizing God in any human form or depicting him as favoring certain individuals or nations on the basis of wealth, power or race. He created the human beings as equals. They may distinguish themselves and earn His favor through virtue and piety alone.

The concept that God rested on the seventh day of creation, that God wrestled with one of His soldiers, that God is an envious plotter against mankind, or that God is incarnate in any human being are considered blasphemy from the Islamic point of view.

The unique usage of Allah as the personal name of God is a reflection of Islam's emphasis on the purity of the belief in God. This belief in the Unity of God, is the essence of the message of all the Prophets of God. Because of this, Islam considers associating any deity or personality with God as a grave sin that God will never forgive if the person dies without repenting.

The Creator must be of a different nature from the things created because if He is of the same nature as they are, He will be temporal and will therefore need a maker. It follows that nothing is like Him. If the maker is not temporal, then He must be eternal. But if he is eternal, He cannot be caused, and if nothing caused Him to come into existence, nothing outside Him causes Him to continue to exist, which means that He must be self-sufficient. And if He does not depend on anything for the continuance of His own existence, then this existence can have no end. The Creator is therefore eternal:

He is the First and the Last, the Evident and the Immanent: and He has full knowledge of all things.

[Surah Al-Hadid 57:3]

He is self-sufficient or self-subsistent or, to use a Qur'anic term, He is Al-Qayyum. The Creator does not create only in the sense of bringing things into existence. He also preserves them and takes them out of existence and is the ultimate cause of whatever happens to them.

Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the Guardian and Disposer of all affairs. To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth: and those who reject the Signs of Allah,- it is they who will be in loss.

[Surah Az-Zumar 39:62-63]

There is no moving creature on earth but its sustenance depends on Allah: He knows the time and place of its definite abode and its temporary deposit: All is in a clear Record.

[Surah Hud 11:6]

God's Attributes

If the Creator is Eternal and Everlasting, then His attributes must also be Eternal and Everlasting. He should not lose any of His attributes nor acquire new ones. If this is so, then His attributes are absolute. Can there be more than one Creator with such absolute attributes? Can there be for example, two absolutely powerful Creators? A moment's thought shows that this is not feasible.

The Qur'an summarizes this argument in the following verses:

No son did Allah beget, nor is there any god along with Him: (if there were many gods), behold, each god would have taken away what he had created, and some would have lorded it over others! Glory to Allah! (He is free) from the (sort of) things they attribute to Him!

[Surah Al-Muminun 23:91]

The Oneness Of God

The Qur'an reminds us of the falsity of all alleged gods. To the worshippers of man-made objects it asks:

Do you worship that which you have (yourselves) carved? But Allah has created you and your handwork.

[Surah As-Saffat 37:95-96]

Say: Do you then take (for worship) protectors other than Him, such as have no power either for good or for harm to themselves?

[Surah Ar-Ra'd 13:16]

To the worshippers of heavenly bodies it cites the story of Abraham:

When the night covered him over, He saw a star: He said: "This is my Lord." But when it set, He said: "I love not those that set." When he saw the moon rising in splendor, he said: "This is my Lord." But when the moon set, He said: "Unless my Lord guide me, I shall surely be among those who go astray." When he saw the sun rising in splendor, he said: "This is my Lord; this is the greatest (of all)." But when the sun set, he said: "O my people! I am indeed free from your (guilt) of giving partners to Allah. For me, I have set my face, firmly and truly, towards Him Who created the heavens and the earth, and never shall I give partners to Allah."

[Surah Al-An'am 6:76-79]

The Believer's Attitude

In order to be a Muslim (i.e., to submit oneself to God), it is necessary to believe in the Oneness of God, in the sense of His being the only Creator, Preserver, Nourisher, etc. But this belief, later on called Tawhid Ar-Rububiyyah, is not enough. Many of the idolators knew and believed that only the Supreme God could do all this. To acquire Tawhid Ar-Rububiyyah one must add Tawhid Al-Uluhiyyah, i.e. one acknowledges the fact that it is God alone who deserves to be worshipped, and thus abstains from worshiping any other thing or being.

Having achieved this knowledge of the One True God, man should constantly have faith in Him, and should allow nothing to induce him to deny the truth. When true faith enters a person's heart, it impacts the person's outlook and behavior. The Prophet said:

Faith is that which resides firmly in the heart and which is proved by deeds.

One of the striking results of faith is the feeling of gratitude towards God, which could be said to be the essence of Ibada (worship). The feeling of gratitude is so important that anyone denying the Truth is called kafir, "one who is ungrateful." A believer loves, and is grateful to God for the bounties He bestowed upon him. He is aware of the fact that his good deeds are far from being commensurate with Divine favors, and therefore he is always anxious to please God. He remembers God often. The Qur'an promotes this feeling of gratitude by repeating the attributes of God very frequently.

Allah is He, than Whom there is no other god; Who knows (all things) both secret and open; He, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Allah is He, than Whom there is no other god; the Sovereign, the Holy One, the Source of Peace (and Perfection), the Guardian of Faith, the Preserver of Safety, the Exalted in Might, the Irresistible, the Supreme: Glory to Allah! (High is He) above the partners they attribute to Him. He is Allah, the Creator, the Evolver, the Bestower of Forms (or Colors). To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names: whatever is in the heavens and on earth, doth declare His Praises and Glory: and He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.

[Surah Al-Hashr 59:22-24]

Allah! There is no god but He, the Living, the Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in His presence except with His permission? He knows what (appears to His creatures) before or after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He wills. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory).

[Surah Al-Baqarah 2:255]

O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) a Messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His messengers. Say not "Trinity,"  Desist, and it will be better for you: for Allah is one Allah: Glory be to Him. Far exalted is He above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.

[Surah An-Nisa 4:171]

[Source : World Assembly of Muslim Youth, Series on Islam]

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The basics of Islam

In writing about Islam, there is always a need to state some basic principles and beliefs and clear up a few misconceptions. A colleague once asked me what then things I would want every American to know about Islam, and this list was eventually developed.

1. There are two major sources of Islamic law and practices, the Quran and the Hadith. Muslims believe that the Quran (also spelled as Koran), is a book of revelation that contains the words of Allah (God) as conveyed to the Prophet Muhammad by the Archangel Gabriel. The Hadith is a collection of sayings, stories, and rules attributed to the Prophet Muhammad and inspired by Allah.

2. Allah means God and God means Allah. Allah is the Arabic word for God. Muslims believe He is the same God, whether it is Muhammad's God, or a Christian God or a Jewish God. It simply means God. An Arabic Christian and Arabic Muslim both use the same word for God. For example, the common words said by Arabs "Allah Ma'ak" literally translate into "God be with you."

3. Muslims do not worship Muhammad. He is a Prophet and a Messenger, chosen by God. He is not immortal or superhuman. He was born, got married several times, had children and died at the age of 63.

4. Jesus is an important figure in Islam. Muslims believe he is the Messiah. He is neither God nor the Son of God. God created him via a Virgin Birth. He is an important Messenger of God, with special powers to perform miracles. He never died, but ascended to heaven. Muslims, like Christians, are expecting his second coming.

5. Islam rejects the doctrine of the original sin, or being born into sin. In Islam, all individuals are born without sin. As individuals mature, their beliefs, deeds and behaviors will be judged by God alone.

6. Islam is based on five pillars (practices): Shahadah (declaration of faith), Salat (prayer), Sawm (fasting), Zakat (almsgiving) and Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca).

7. Jihad literally means 'struggle'. There are different types of Jihad. The most important Jihad in Islam is the struggle to control the evil temptations of the self. Jihad can also mean self-defense. For some, Jihad also means holy war. However, many Muslim scholars do not accept the concept of Jihad as a holy war. Jihad is not one of the five pillars of Islam.

8. Sharia is Islamic religious law. It is, to a certain extent, similar to theology in Christianity or Judaism. Sharia deals with many aspects of religious and social life including worship, family relations, and community affairs. Sharia requires Muslims to deal with non-Muslims in a just and fair manner. Sharia does not command Muslims to overthrow a non-Muslim government or turn it into a Sharia state. In the same manner, Muslims are not commanded to forcefully convert Christians or Jews to Islam.

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How to use windows system restore?

Windows restore is a wonderful utility for the protection of your windows. whenever you install fresh windows with all your required software.  (Please check if every software is working fine)  , you can create a restore point for that date. name that restore point with a little description. so that you can recall it later.windows will make a small registry backup for that date.

 

(you can also create a restore point every week , or after every two weeks , depending on your work load and installations.)

 

whenever you feel like that your windows registry is corrupt OR installed software are giving errors , OR you feel your system is getting slower , due to virus activities etc.  Now its the time to restore your computer to an earlier date when every thing was working very fine.

 

Click here to learn how to use windows system restore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.nkdvd.com/610/

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rk@+94718080883
http://rkark.blogspot.com
http://hockalmunai.blogspot.com