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The Hawa Mahal, Palace of winds, in Jaipur looks like a beautiful palace when you approach it from the front but when you go round to the back you see it has no rooms! It has only passages opening out into balconies.
It was built 200 years ago by Maharaja Sawai Partap Singh to enable the ladies of the court to watch parades and processions in the street below without being seen as in those days women observed purdah and no one was allowed to see their faces.
There are over 900 windows and balconies in the huge 5-storeyed structure.
Death of Caliph Osman
The Caliph Osman Ibn Affan was killed on June 19, 655 AD. The Third caliph, Osman was from Quraish and related to the Prophet (Pbuh). He was born in Makkah in 574 AD and was a merchant and one of the wealthiest members of the Quraish tribe.
Caliph Osman was the fourth man to enter Islam. He employed his wealth to serve the Da’wa. He was married to two of the daughters of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) Ruqaya and Umm Kulthum.
He migrated with his first wife Ruqaya to Abyssinia and then later to Madina.
On the day of the Battle of Badr Ruyaya died and in the third Hijra year he married the second daughter of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) Umm Kulthum, who died six years later.
Caliph Osman is one of the 10 companions of the Prophet who were given the good tidings that they would go to paradise. He became Caliph when he was 70 years of age after the assassination of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab. His reign lasted for 13 years and was characterised by conquests which reached India, eastern Turkistan and the Atlantic Ocean. Caliph Osman was killed on Dhul Hijja 18 in the year 35H while he was reading the Qru’an. The copy of the Qur’an which bears traces of his blood is now kept in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.
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Our Oceans
* The Oceans of the world contain so much of salt that it could be enough to cover the land with a 100-meter thick layer.
* The Red Sea has the saltiest water.
* There are over 1,600,000 kilometres or one lakh miles of coastlines around the continents and the Islands of the world.
* The Tides are caused by the pull of gravity from the moon and the sun. Twice a day they make the level of the sea rise and fall.
* The deepest spot in the Ocean is about 11000 meters or 3,089 feet deep.
* Billions of Tiny sea-plants use sunlight to make oxygen. Scientists think they produce 70% of all the oxygen breathed by living things on the earth.
Source : Amazing Sea Facts, Mitchell Beazely International Ltd., London.
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CHILDREN'S WORLD
Zain and Ali went on an outing to a park with their father. The park was very beautiful. It had tall green trees, lush green fields and beautiful flowers of different colours. A stream was flowing through the centre of the park and ducks and swans were busy swimming in it. The ducks swam effortlessly in the water, occasionally putting their heads in the water, catching something and eating it.
“Zain”, said Ali to his brother, “See how easy it is for them to swim. Do you wish you could swim like that?” “Look at that duck that has come out of the water. Look how it is shaking its wings. Look at its feet. Its quite dry; as if it was never in the water at all why don’t the duck’s wings soak up water? Look at that duck! Look at it flying off! If its wings were still wet it wouldn’t be able to fly like that.”
Zain looked at the ducks and said, “You are right. It seems that the duck’s wings don’t become wet, but I don’t know why. Lets go and ask Father.”
Ali and Zain ran up to their father and said, “Father! come and see the ducks swimming in the water; see how their wings don’t become wet! Tell us, Father, why the duck’s wings don’t become wet.”
All of them went together to the side of the stream. Their father said, “Well done, for now you want to understand. People must think about the things they see, and whenever they see something they don’t understand they must ask someone who does, so that their knowledge increases.”
“The reason, the duck’s wings don’t get wet by water is because they are oily. If the duck’s wings weren’t oily, they would become wet and heavy and the ducks wouldn’t be able to swim in the water or fly in the air.”
“Father,” said Zain, “who created the ducks with oily wings? Surely the duck itself doesn’t know how to oil its wings?” His father replied, “Allah, the All-knowing and kind, who created all things, gave the ducks this special characteristic. Allah created the duck to swim in the water as well as to fly in the air with ease.”
Ali and Zain now realised how Merciful and perfect Allah is. His perfection and greatness can be seen in even the smallest creature and the smallest plants that live around us. We should value this well-balanced and picturesque nature in which we live.
At some point of time in our lives we have marvelled at Allah’s creation. Every bit of nature, from a tiny dewdrop, to the sweet call of a cuckoo bird, to a twinkling star in the night sky glorify the greatness of Allah.
Within 50 words write about any aspect of nature that you admire most. Send in your entries within of 20 days. The best 10 entries will be published with your names! and a free gift of one audio cassette.
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