Islam and Christian Traditions Essay Example for Free

Islam and Christian Traditions Essay Christianity and Islam see recurring themes in beliefs and practices. They share stories from past prophets that declare they know the word of God. God tells prophets about a time before earth and gives them knowledge to spread to man. Life holds sanctity that is not for man to wander and do as their physical bodies might allow. Both Islam and Christian traditions make examples and tell the history of how God desires man to live. There are foretellings of vast destruction when man lives among evils and sin. Muslims say that, like God, Allah will see and end of man and will only accept the faithful into paradise. Traditions of Christianity and Islam can relate to each other by commemorating a higher power as known as God. The higher power in Christianity is known as God, while the higher power in Islamic traditions is known as Allah. In Islamic traditions, Allah shouldnt be confused with the God known in Christianity because the word Allah is translated as the God in Arabic. Christian and Islamic traditions have cosmogony, eschatology, afterlife, moral codes, and duties that serve the purpose in their existence. Both Islamic and Christian traditions will see some similarities and recurring prophecies that exist in their practices. Christian traditions and cosmogony can be found in the Bible. The Bible is many stories that contains passages from prophets of God and is compiled of several books. The book of genesis describes how God created the universe. He made light, darkness, heaven, earth, fruits and vegetables. On the fifth and sixth day of the week to create the universe and earth, God made beasts and made man that resembles the appearance of God. Genesis 1:29 said to man, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food (BibleGateway, 2011). God warns Adam and Eve, the first of all mankind, that there is forbidden fruit that cannot be touched. Genesis 3:3 says, But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die (King James Bible Online, 2013). When Adam and Eve consumed the forbidden fruit despite Gods warning, Adam and Eve were cursed by God to multiply the earth. Eve, the first woman, was created by God to provide Adam, the first of all man, companionship. It was in her mistake that Adam fell under temptation to then be commanded by God to take power of beasts and man to begin the teachings of God on earth. Prophets of God taught man to obey commandments in order to be prepared for the end of the world. Prophets, pastors, preachers, or bishops in Christian sects will preach the gospel of the Bible that predict when Christ will return to earth and reach final days before heaven. Most interpretations of the Bible explain how there is good and evil; Evil will cause suffering for mankind. Christians believe that Christ will return and save those who are faithful to God when there is a final judgment of man. Matthew 24:14 reads, And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come (Christian Bible Reference, n.d.). Evil will be taught through deception, so God will need true believers. There will be a place in heaven for Christians to live with God after their trial on earth. Man will be accepted into heaven if he upholds morals and duties that Christians are taught. Many Christians believe that heaven is a place on earth. The book of Luke (21:32-33) reads, Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away (King James Bible Online, n.d.). In heaven there will once be so much evil that the wicked will overpower the good through violent wars. Like earth, God will create a new heaven for the blessed people. Heaven will be free from evil for many years until its end of days only through destruction and misery upon its holy place. In heaven killing is much of a sin as earth. God commands man not to sin such as killing, adultery, worshiping idols, and stealing among other things. If man upholds these morals and duties, he will be accepted to heaven when salvation comes. Traditions in Islam are similar religious practices that are commemorated through the Quran and are told how the earth and man were created. Like Christians, Muslims believe that Allah, or the God, created a heaven, a world, and the universe with all materials in it that are living or not. The book of Surat Al-Baqarah (2:29), in the Quran, reads, It is he who created for you all of that which is on the earth. Then he directed himself to the heaven, (his being above all creation), and made them seven heavens, and he is knowing of all things (Quran, n.d.). Islamic traditions began when the prophet Muhammad spoke with Allah. Allah told Muhammad of the creation of the first man on earth, who is known as Adam, who had a female companion. Allah also told Muhammad how Adam ate the forbidden fruit when he was restricted not to do so. Muslims eschatology tells how there will be an evil presence who will be violent and cause destruction. There is also an afterlife of heaven and hell as Christians believe. Although the evil are wicked, they too will be brought to heaven and see a final judgment from Allah. And as for those who disbelieves, I will punish them with a severe punishment in this world and the hereafter, and they will have no helpers (Quran, n.d.). Islamic traditions say how there will be an end of time. There will be warnings from Allah on earth. An antichrist will appear before the last day who will be cruel to man. Followers of the antichrist and the unbelievers of Allah may never reach heaven. Heaven will be a paradise that the Quran describes, No empty talk will they hear there, nor any call to sin, but only the tiding of inner soundness and peace (Religious Tolerance, 2005). Morals and duties are important to Muslims in order to avoid sin and reach heaven. Allah tells prophets of his commandments so that man will be holy and plentiful. The ones who break the covenant of Allah even after its (binding) compact and cut (off) what Allah has commanded to be held together and corrupt in the earth, those are they (who are) the losers (Quran, n.d.). Allah tells man not to steal, murder, disobey parents, covet, or commit adultery among other things. When man disobeys Allah, they are expected to know sin from righteousness and should repent for forgiveness. ..Except for those who repent after that and correct themselves. For indeed, Allah is forgiving and merciful (Quran, n.d.). The man who doesnt repent may be a sinner for life and will be questioned on judgment day. The Islam and Christian traditions both believe in a God that share similar interests for mankind. God and Allah teach man how they can return to heaven after their days on earth after Adam and Eves tribulations. Prophets will spread the knowledge to man from God as a lesson not to fail under certain temptations and have faith in God to live in paradise with him one day. After time, the rise of evil is bound to cause awfulness when man turns to disobedience and non believing even during a salvation. Heaven will be free from sin and man can live in a peaceful place until it is once again ruined by tribulations. God will continue to confide with man in order for glory to persevere.

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1.0 Introduction The brain is composed of billions of tiny neurons all combined to create a hierarchy of complex networks. Much is unknown about intelligence and our understanding and perception of intelligence is shaping the way in which we in the 21st century are creating computer based intelligent neural networks. An intelligent system is able to retract information from its environment and comprehend without prior knowledge of the information the process, reason about the relationships between variables contained in the information and learn about the process and its operating conditions without human input. A computational approach to network dynamics focuses on the networks ability to think logically, process data and react to changes in the data which can lead to future evolution of the network. Traditional rule based computational techniques failed to meet the requirements of search, optimisation and machine learning in large biological and industrial systems and therefore had to evolve which shaped the route in which computational intelligence had taken in the 21st century. A network is said to be computationally intelligent if it can deal with low level data analysis such as small numerical data has pattern recognition components. The main emphasis on neural networks and computationally based network systems was to come up with a learning algorithm that could be used to increase the intelligence of any given system. Fuzzy Logic was first proposed by Professor Lotfi Zadeh in1969 in the University of California Berkley. He created Fuzzy Logic to define between data by using partial set membership rather than crisp set membership or non-membership. Professor Zadeh explained that people do not need precise numerical inform... ...dimension of the prototype memories where the network stores all memories within a stable state. 3.0 Fuzzy Logic Systems: Fuzzy Neural Network 3.1 What Is Fuzzy Logic? Fuzzy Logic is a problem solving methodology that lends itself to implementation in a range of systems and can be implemented into networks. It allows an accurate outcome based on vague, ambiguous, imprecise input information. Fuzzy Logic is mainly used for control situations although it can be used over a variety of scenarios in situation based computing making it ideal for use within Neural Networks and they require a wide range of input variations. Fuzzy Logic processes user defined rules and therefore it can be readily modified to improve network performance, it can be used to model and control nonlinear data that would beforehand be impossible model mathematically. 3.2 Crisp Sets and Fuzzy Sets

Culture and History of Spain Essay

The golden age of Spain does not refer exactly to the economic and military hegemony of Spain, as Spain was on the verge of political, economic, and military collapse during this time. Spain engaged in expansionist policy abroad that had necessitated the government to impose an increased taxation, which leads to the revolts in 1640 first in Catalonia, then in Portugal. From then on, Spain was weakened economically, politically and culturally. Rather, the golden age refer to the flourishing in arts and literature in Spain. The main topics during this period were literature and the arts rather than economic or military victories abroad. The period of the Spanish golden age according to John A. Crow and Patricia Craig as featured by AOL Hometown in their article â€Å"Spain’s Cultural life: Literature and the Fine Arts† was between 1530 and 1680. During this time, theatre works, poetry and novels were very popular, and the most well known was the work of Cervantes entitled Don Quixote published in 1605. (AOL Hometown) Among the most popular names were dramatists like Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, and Calderon, which had premiered fine works of Spanish theatre. Spanish Famous artist during this time includes Velasquez, El Greco, Zubaran, Rebera and Morales which were held to be the greatest of their times. The reason behind Spain’s golden age was perhaps the existence of these fine artists whose works captivated even the highest nobility. The golden age of Spain according to history (an article entitled â€Å"Spain†) began with the ascension of Philip II to the Spanish throne. It was during his time that the popularity of arts and literature reached to highest level. However, the consequence of the golden age was the political and economic as well as military decline of Spain both in the home front and in overseas. An article entitled Spain in History (iExplore) pointed out that because of the prominence of art, the Hapsburg monarchy became increasingly less able to deal the empire’s somber problems particularly during the 17th century causing the empire’s gradual economic collapse. Most historians attributed this economic failure to the inability of the monarch to rule the empire because their interest was in the arts rather than in improving the economy. Another consequence of the golden age is the ‘feminization of Spain. Feminization refers to the gender emphasis that proliferated in the Spanish societies during the golden age. Men during this time adopted the customs of women such as mode of dressing and cosmetics. In the summary of Sidney Donnell’s book Feminizing the Enemy featured in the website article LAFAYETE the article pointed out that the gender anxieties during the golden age was related to the emphasis on arts and culture that was prevailing during this period of Spanish history. The Role of Religion in the Rules of the Hapsburg (or Habsburg) Kings During the period of 16th and 17th centuries, Spain was under the rule of the Habsburg dynasty, which was the dominant power in the Central Europe with capital in Vienna, Austria. Spain then was ruled by many kings that brought Spain both success and fall; and that, the â€Å"church enlarged its already dominant position in Spanish life† (High Beam Encyclopedia, par. 27). The Obvious topic during this time was Catholic Faith and Church membership as the reigning Monarchs were committed to impose Catholicism through the empire. The role of religion in the rules of Hapsburg kings according to Victor Perez Diaz (1998) was that the Hapsburg viewed society in the context of teleocratic state, which put society in a secondary position. It means that in view of the Hapsburg Kings, society can be a sphere in which they can generate resources to be use by the ruler to accomplish its mission. The implication of this was that the Hapsburg Kings uses religion or the so- called politics of faith to fulfill their mission. In other words, religion has become a powerful apparatus with which they achieved their aims. According to Diaz, although the Hapsburg kings respected the socioeconomic order, yet they were also devoted to some shared goals that necessitate systematic interventions in the social fabric to reinforce the sovereign’s authority. Thus the Hapsburg, Diaz pointed out, marshaled resources for protecting Catholic faith and shaped the moral character of its subjects, making membership in the church the means to recognition in the political community (Diaz). The reason for this was, the Roman Catholicism became the official state religion in Spain in 1492 after Ferdinand V of Aragon, and Isabella I of Castile married which linked the kingdoms. Because both monarchs were devout Catholics they wanted to impose the purity of the Catholic faith as well as to enhance the royal power. Because of the close relations of the Hapsburg to the Holy Roman Empire they were so dedicated to the Catholic Church prompting them to establish the Inquisitor in order to prosecute, and confiscate property owned by the Moors (Spain Life and Culture). Ferdinand and Isabella imposed religious uniformity through out Spain by aggressive campaign to convert the Moors and the Jews or they face expulsion (Spain Life and Culture). However, the consequence of their emphasis in the purity of Catholic faith, leads to the persecutions of Protestants, which resulted to war with protestant England. This prompted Philip to send a great Spanish Armada against England in 1558 unfortunately, it was defeated, and it marked Spain’s decline of power (Spain). Thus the consequence of the Hapsburg use of religion to enhance their power and to strengthen their rule was costly and it cost the gradual collapse of the Spanish hegemony not only in the home front but also abroad. The Bourbon kings in Spain (efforts to improve Spain) The Spanish Bourbon was one of the most vital royal families in Europe that held thrones in Spain during the 17th century. Philip V of Spain became the first Bourbon ruler of Spain after the death of Charles II (1665-1700). The bourbons ascended to the Spanish thrones during the end of Spain’s hegemonic power with the death of Charles II. In the view of J. Clayborn Laforce, with distressing vulnerability Spain slipped into an embarrassing sequence of decline, which continued until all of Spain’s greatness was gone. However, with the ascension of Philip V, Spain crossed a new threshold marked by the extraordinary progressive participation by government in Spanish economic dealings. The main topic during the Bourbon’s rule was economic recovery, in which the Bourbon monarch had implemented series of economic measures designed to improve the economic condition of Spain. Obviously a learned man, Philip’s knowledge in French mercantilism had helped him in improving the economic condition of Spain. Philip launched a series reform policy and programs for commercial and industrial revival and promotes the production of merchandise of high value that previously had been purchased abroad. The next Bourbon king to inherit the Spanish throne was Charles VII (1759-88) Like Philip; Charles was one of the most enlightened Spanish Monarch, which had contributed to Spain’s short-lived cultural and economic revival. The reason behind all these efforts was that through production of these commodities, the government would minimize its dependency on imported commodities. The third Bourbon Monarch to rule Spain was Ferdinand VII (1784-1833) which perhaps marked the end of the short economic revival started by Philip V and continued by Charles VII. It was during the brief reign of Charles IV, an incompetent Bourbon monarch that the flame of economic revival dies down. The reason for the short live economic revival was the squabble in the royal family that prompted Napoleon of France to invade Spain, and gave the Spanish throne to his brother Joseph Bonaparte. Spain after this was engaged in wars that halted its economic hope of revival. The consequences of disunity in the royal family had not only weakened the economic reforms put in place by Philip V but it also invited napoleon to invade Spain and claimed the Spanish throne for himself. It also led to war against England that further pushed Spain to humiliation and defeat. Indeed the misery of Spain cannot be attributed to the Bourbon rule as they merely inherited a declining kingdom. Had the momentum of economic growth that was laid out by the first two-bourbon monarch, Spain could have recovered from its drooping. Spain’s history was indeed very intriguing and full of difficulties, which are a good source of both learning and inspirations for the student of Spanish history. It features the rise and fall of the empire that had conquered much of the known world through sword and religion, but it had collapsed also because of religion and sword when it wage against protestant England in the name of religion. Work Cited Diaz, V. P. (1998) State and Public sphere in Spain during the ancient Regime Vol. 137 La Force, J. C Royal Textile factories in Spain, 1700-1800 The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 24 No. 3(Sep. , 1964), pp. 337-363 Http://links. jstor. org/sici? sici=0022-0507(196409)24%3A3%3C337%3ARTFIS1%3E2. 0. CO%3B2-N http://www. questia. com/googleScholar. qst;jsessionid=HRpGVQQzlhZJSZhM6QdwhnXtr7jp8dDwrBlY2dyNPJ6GGnyjVrvH! 1976250333? docId=5001368566 Spain http://www. geocities. com/CapitolHill/8823/aboutes. html Spain’s Cultural Life http://www. hometown. aol. com/antmagictg/culture. html Spain History I Explore http://www. iexplore. com/dmap/Spain/History Spain. http://www. geocities. com/CapitolHill/8823/aboutes. html Spain. High Beam Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 7, 2008. http://www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1E1-Spain. html Sidney Donnell will Talk about â€Å"Drag Performance and Hapsburg Spain† today. Lafayete http://www. lafayette. edu/news. php/view/5137/

Active Music Therapy For Parkinson s Disease An...

In the article â€Å"Active Music Therapy in Parkinson’s Disease: An Integrative Method for Motor and Emotional Rehabilitation† by Claudio Pacchetti, MD, Francesca Manni, MD, Roberto Aglieri, Cira Fundaro, MD, Emilia Martignoni, MD, and Giuseppe Nappi, MD published in Psychosomatic Medicine (2000) states that active music therapy is an effective method of rehabilitation for Parkinson’s Disease. As of now Parkinson’s disease (PD) has no effective cure, so all that can be done for those that are affected is symptom control and improvement of quality of life. This is most commonly done through physical therapy (PT), but it has been shown that active music therapy (MT) can also have positive effects on the â€Å"motor and emotional functions in patients with PD† (Pacchetti, Mancini, Aglieri, Fundarà ³, Martignoni, Nappi, 386). Music Therapy proved to be an effective tool in managing PD in a three-month study of Thirty-two patients with PD. Patients wer e randomly split into 2 groups, sixteen patients took part in weekly MT sessions and the other sixteen took part in weekly sessions of PT. Examinations were done periodically, as well as 2 months after the study had ended, to assess patients emotional and physical states. Music Therapy has been used for many diseases, and has been shown to improve patients with PD’s emotional states as well as motor skills, because of this MT should be implemented into PD rehabilitation programs. Body of Paper Parkinson s disease shows up mostly in