|
'Project Infinite Peace’ is a collective effort to investigate the phenomenon of
revealed knowledge from a global perspective. It aims to involve scientists for an
elaborate and impartial effort in this direction.
How can scientists
verify any information believed to have non-human origin?
The reality
of revealed knowledge is unacceptable to scientific community because the basic premise on which it
rests, the claim of its non human origin, does not have any credible
precedence. If such a claim can be scrutinized somehow for its truth or
falsehood using a scale of probability, it would then become easier for anyone to
accept or reject this window of information on logics alone and not as an
inherited legacy. Logically
a possible line could be the investigation of the presence of knowledge ‘ahead of its time’ in any ancient document.
If such information can
be demonstrated to exist clearly and unambiguously, it may effectively establish its
non-human origin. This is the criterion suggested in a verse of Quran (Fussilat
41:53) and also by
scientists like Dr Sagan in his book ‘Contact’.
[1]
Fulfilling this criterion, more than 184 hints have been presented in two research based books on the
possible origins of ‘life and man' and the 'creation and fate of universe’. The work shows the existence of
complex information in Quran which seems to lie far beyond the intellectual
level of humanity of the time. The interlinked information also demonstrates how a symbiotic effort between the rational
and the revealed knowledge can benefit the humanity.
Unfortunately, pointing
the mere presence of this data alone is not enough, however unambiguous the
hint may be. The information can always be interpreted in a subjective way and
rejected. Therefore, a sound
scientific approach is also required to objectively investigate this information. One such approach is based on William
Dembski ’s
information theoretic work on Intelligent Design[2].
Dembski, a mathematician,
argues that whenever an intelligent cause acts, it chooses from a range of
competing possibilities. An
accidental ink spill onto a sheet of paper and a message written by someone on
the paper, both represent the application of ink to the paper and realization of
one among an almost infinite set of possibilities. Yet in one instance
design is inferred, while in the other – the chance. The relevant difference
here, according to him seems to be our ability to specify a particular
contingency conforming to a given pattern which can be independently formulated.
A message written with ink on paper is specifiable, while a random ink blot
cannot be specified. Therefore he suggests that to detect an intelligent cause three criteria
should be utilized - actualization of one among several competing possibilities,
exclusion of the rest, and specification of the possibility that was actualized.
Actualization establishes
that the pattern was indeed made or the possibility in question is the one that
actually occurred. Exclusion (demonstrating the existence of other live
possibilities and the fact that these were ruled out) establishes that the
contingency is not incidental but genuine. Specification establishes that the actualized
possibility conforms to a pattern given independently of its actualization. The
specification in this case thus becomes the means to distinguish choice
(directed contingency) from chance (blind contingency).
Actualization and exclusion
together guarantee we are dealing with contingency (a unique pattern was indeed
made). Specification guarantees we are dealing with a directed contingency
(pattern was made by an intelligent cause). The
Actualization-Exclusion-Specification triad is therefore what we need to
identify an intelligent cause behind the choice. But the triad alone
is not enough. The world of physical laws and random events occasionally
produce something that may make sense but not be due to an intelligent cause. A
radio signal from a pulsar was actually confused by scientists as coming from an
alien intelligence initially. To rule out such possibilities, Dembski suggests
the consideration of an additional factor - ‘complexity’. The signal from pulsar was recognized because of its
simplicity. A long and complex message, would have ruled out the possibility of
a non intelligent cause. If a rat is placed in a simple maze, he may just take few correct
turns by chance, and exit the maze, but if the maze is complex and a rat has to
take several left and right turns in a correct sequence to exit the maze, the
factor of chance or luck will recede or be ruled out. In such a maze, only a rat
trained by an intellect will be able to exit.
Dembski had used these
criteria to demonstrate that life’s evolution is the product of Design; and
behind that Design an Intelligent cause exists. Critics of Dembski’s analysis
accept the method but question its application on the evolution of life
scenario.
We believe that applying
Dembski’s ‘Actualization Exclusion Specification and Complexity
principles’ to the ‘complex hints ahead of their time’ in Quran, the human or
non human origin of revealed knowledge can be ascertained more objectively,
using a scale of probability.
Applying Dembski ’s
method to revelations
The basic objective in
applying Dembski’s
method to revelations
is to ascertain the identity of the Source of revelations. Unlike the
‘evolution of life’ scenario, the aim here is not to prove the existence of
an intelligent cause behind revelations, but to determine which intellect cause is responsible for this information, whether a human intellect
or some supra
Intellect far beyond the level of humanity.
If we can demonstrate that
more than 184 such hints in Quran, cited in the two books
are beyond the human ability of the time, it would help us exclude
the human origin of revealed knowledge.
Now, to apply
Dembski’s criteria step by
step, identification of
the information in the revelations correctly is the crucial first step. By
laying out clearly ‘what has been said’,
we can
demonstrate that
the possibility in question
is the one that actually occurred (the pattern was indeed made). Further, by showing that there
were other live possibilities, and that these were ruled out, we can establish
the contingency as genuine or uniqueness of the pattern made (Exclusion
principle). Later we can show that the actualized possibility conforms to a
pattern given independently of its actualization (Specification). Lastly, the
large number of such hints and more than a fourteen hundred years gap between the ‘pattern
and the ability to specify it’ can demonstrate the complexity of information and
help rule out the possibility of chance in this exercise.
Step one -
(Actualization of a contingency)
Demonstrating the existence of
a pattern involves two exercises. Corroborating the information from the
original preserved manuscripts of Quran reaching close to Prophet’s period and
knowing exactly what has been said in the text. Since Quran is known to
be the best preserved text, the first step is easy. The exact original Arabic
words in the verses can be ascertained with reasonable certainty, but establishing the
meanings of each word objectively would require work.
Logically, referring to a
standard Arabic Dictionary or Encyclopedia should be enough to solve the
problem, irrespective of the faith of the compiler. But unfortunately this is
not so. The languages in general evolve with time. The words acquire
connotations that may not have been present in the original, through interaction
with new people and situations. The experts of various hues have also tried to
study the text of revelations in different times, to explain and rationalize its
meaning as per their own understanding. Sometimes, this exercise has given
meanings to a word that was different from the original understanding of the
word. The dictionaries tend to include all such meanings under a particular
word. Unfortunately, this availability of ‘choice’ provides an opportunity for
persons to accept or reject the particular meaning, depending upon their
perspective. The problem before us therefore is how to exclude the unintended
extra meanings and identify the true meaning of the word objectively?
Fortunately, revelations
themselves have guided in this regard. The Quran mentions that its medium is
simple straight forward Arabic without any deviations. Therefore, how the word
was understood originally becomes crucial, and analyzing the medium of
communication in this regard becomes the most important exercise.
Four basic characteristics of Arabic language[3] are important in this regard -
Simultaneous existence
of a standard language and a colloquial
In every area of the world
where Arabic is spoken, a peculiar situation exists. The Arabic seems to operate
through not one but two different languages. One is used for reading,
writing, and high register speech, while the other for daily common
interactions. One is a standard language used uniformly throughout the Arab
world, while the other can be any of the thousands of dialects that are spoken
natively by Arabs. The standard uniform language has been derived from the
Classical language of the Quran and is called ‘Modern Standard Arabic’ (MSA),
while the others are known simply as Colloquial Arabic.
A language caste in
stone
In the very early period of
Islam, grammarians during the Abbasid period had standardized the phonology,
morphology and syntax of the classical language of Quran, freezing it in its tracts. In
subsequent years, the desire to preserve the proper pronunciation and reading of
the Holy Quran has been the driving force behind the maintenance of Classical
Arabic as the standard par excellence for the Arabic language.
Linguists do not have any
difference of opinions over it. They term this exercise virtually as ‘casting
the language in stone’. The colloquial dialects however do not have any such
restrictions, and have evolved unchecked and as per their situations.
Experts have named this
situation Diglossia. Regarding its evolution and development, there is
much difference of opinion. The experts are divided over the question, whether
Diglossia is an inherent characteristic of Arabic or is it a subsequent
development. Whatever the final outcome of the debate, the Diglossia
seems to have provided a safe outlet for humanities’ natural tendencies of
change and flux in a language situation where any distortion would have lost the
true information in the Quran.
The ‘Modern Standard
Arabic’ is closest to its ancestor
Third important point pertains
to its historical roots. Linguistically, Arabic is a member of the
Arabo-Canaanite sub-branch, the central group of the Western Semitic languages
of the Afro-Asiatic group of world languages. The common ancestor for all
Semitic languages (i.e. Hebrew or Amharic) in the Afro-Asiatic group is called
Proto-Semitic. Linguists have determined through reconstruction efforts many of
its phonological, morphological, and syntactic features.
Surprisingly, out of all the
Semitic languages, Arabic, the language which is considered youngest, has been
found to be closest to the original Proto Semitic. Very few changes have taken
place between the two. And, of those changes that have taken place, many are
simple phonological changes. Incidentally, this lack of change is applicable
only to Modern Standard Arabic – the language of Quran. The several
thousand colloquial or spoken dialects of modern Arabic have not preserved the
Proto-Semitic features in such abundance.
Tri-consonantal roots
and existence of patterns
In MSA, the "tri-consonantal
roots" are the basic building blocks from which other elements of the language
have been derived, following a surprisingly regular set of word patterns.
Beginning from simple "Form I" roots, the verbs are altered in various ways
extending and refining the verbal idea in different directions. Arabic had
originally fifteen such derivational patterns, but only ten are in common use
today. This produces a kinship in the verbs which is easy to detect.
Additionally, similar patterns also exist that are used to form nouns,
adjectives and even (sometimes) prepositions and other parts of speech.
All this "root-and-pattern"
system can help to isolate the correct meanings of a word clearly and
transparently by a team of linguists.
The remarkable similarity of the language of Quran with its
‘Proto-Semitic’ ancestor thus shows that the language used in Quran was not a
haphazard collection of terms from different languages. It had a clearly defined
structure that had remained unchanged for several centuries, with roots reaching
deep in history. The subsequent act of casting this language in stone, after the
arrival of Quran by early grammarians, made sure of its preservation; and the
existence of an outlet of dialects that can absorb the natural tendencies of
humanity for creating change and distortion, has further helped to keep it such
over subsequent centuries. All factors collectively show that we can rely on the
fidelity of the information in the text of Quran. In such a preserved text, a
panel of linguists can easily identify the meanings of each word from
‘roots-and-patterns’ system, and objectively establish what has been said
exactly.
Examples
Taking a specific pointer of
‘information ahead of its time’ in the revelations, we can see how the first
important step in the Dembisiki’ method, the ‘actualization of a contingency’
can be established. The pointer pertains to the ‘expansion of space’ and the
crucial word is musi’una, which is the plural present participle of the
verb ausa’a. This verb has two listings in the Arabic English Dictionary
by F Steingass[4] - ‘to make wider’ and ‘more
spacious’. In Quran it has been used twice, once with respect to widening
of space-time [51:47], and another with respect to the widening or expansion
of resources of person [Al-Baqr 2:236]. To explain the reference
regarding expansion of resources [Al-Baqr 2:236], Al-Qurtubee,
a tenth century commentator has used a synonym aghnaynaakum, which means
"we enriched you". Most of dictionaries (e.g. F Steingass) have not mentioned
‘enrichment’ as the meaning of the verb ausa’a, yet some scholars[5] have made this ‘word of
explanation’ as the basis to cast doubt in the clear meaning of the verb
ausa’a. Such doubt then becomes the basis for rejection of this
information by others[6] who argue that the verse is in fact
saying something else, and the meaning of the word has been stretched to
retrofit a scientific theory or fact.
Formation of a panel of
linguists who can identify the correct meaning of the word from the roots and
help exclude the unnecessary additions, is the only logical solution for
this problem in the objective establishment of ‘actualization of a contingency’.
Step two - Exclusion
(ruling out of
other live possibilities)
An
unavoidable difficulty in this regard is that the hints in Quran pertain to
universal truths that can also be found in partial or distorted form in other
scriptures and some of
the cosmogonies and myths of past civilizations. Such information
although lies surrounded by lots of superfluous data, its basic similarity with
revelations becomes a difficulty in its acceptance. Instead of being considered
as coming from
the same extra-terrestrial Source, the information, which may exist as part of a
distant shadowy core, becomes unfortunately the basis for creation of doubt in
the non-human origin of revealed knowledge.
Applying
the principle of exclusion - the second step of Dembski ’s process, can
rationally solve this problem. Investigation by science historians can
identify the exact information present in the seventh century in
different sources or the superfluous data that accompanied the pattern
under investigation. By demonstrating the availability of redundant
information or other live possibilities at the time and assigning
probabilities regarding the involvement of chance in the inclusion and
exclusion of particular
information in the revelations, the actualization of pattern can be established
as genuine, especially in the absence of any means available at the time to
verify the truth or falsehood of any of the alternatives at the time.
A collective
investigation can thus help resolve the question whether the claimed information
is an act of plagiarism from an existing earthly source or both the hints have
originated from the same non-human Source.
Example
Quran and
Genesis both mention the birth of man from dust. The Genesis also calls man ‘son
of mud’ several times, but the information does not go beyond this level.
The Quran on the other hand reveals numerous hints mentioning different stages
of a process that corroborates a particular scientific model regarding creation
of life from dust. The pointers also tell us how the first man is connected with
this process and seem to resolve some of the anomalies perplexing the scientists.
Moreover, creation
myths of some other ancient civilizations, such as Greek, Babylonian, Chinese
and Indian too contain information on this topic. Some of it
resembles the knowledge from Genesis and Quran, while the bulk of such
information is superfluous. A Chinese creation myth is an ideal example to
elaborate this point. It
informs us –
‘In the beginning,
there wasn't a heaven or an earth. Everything was one giant mass. The lightness
of this mass, called yang, slowly rose while the darkness, called yin, sank. In
the middle of it all was a giant black egg. Sleeping inside the egg was Pan Gu.
The separation of the lightness and darkness took 18 thousand years to happen,
creating the seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Pan Gu awoke from his
sleep and cried out. It was this cry that cracked the shell open and freed Pan
Gu. Pan Gu was so large that when he stood, his head touched the sky and his
feet planted on the ground. It was then that heaven and earth was created.
Pan Gu separated
heaven and earth for 18 thousand years. Tired and weak, Pan Gu died. His last
breath became the wind and clouds, and his last cry became thunder. Stars came
from his hair. One eye became the sun, the other the moon. His arms and legs
became the four points of the compass and the five great mountains of China. His
blood flowed to become water of rivers and seas while his bodily hair sprouted
up to become forests. His flesh became soil fertilized by the rocks and minerals
from his bones.
It was Nu Kua who decided to put people on the earth. She
was lonely and had idle time. She molded yellow fertile clay to make men one at
a time. This took too much time and too much effort. So she made mud from the
clay, dipped a cord from around her waist. The mud which fell from the cord
became men, but not as strong as those who she molded by hand. The strong and
the weak, Nu Kua loved them all for they were her children and her loneliness
went away.
Two demi-gods,
Kung Kung and Chuan Tsu, watched Nu Kua make her little men. When she wasn't
watching, they came to earth and created havoc for the men. Sometimes they would
eat a man or two. One day Kung Kung and Chuan Tsu had a big fight over who was
going to eat the next human. They rolled in between mountains and caused the sky
to rip open. The earth rumbled with earthquakes and rainstorms.
Nu Kua heard the
cries of the men and rushed to earth to save them. She caught a giant tortoise
and used its feet to hold up the space in between heaven and earth. She caught a
black dragon and stuffed it in the rip in the sky, trying to stop the
rainstorms. By doing this, she scared off all demons and monsters from visiting
earth. Because the dragon was too small to fill the rip, it continued to rain.
So she found five magic stones, crushed them together, and used this paste to
mend the sky. All of this was so exhaustive to Nu Kua that she laid down to
sleep. Her body was transformed in to the vast mountain range in the middle of
China.’[7]
This Chinese
myth also seems to corroborate the creation of man from clay, but it has
sizable differences with the narrative of Genesis and Quran. The claim about
Quran is that it represents the continuation of the Judeo Christian tradition of
the revelations through a chosen prophet, and thus its similarities with the
‘Books of Bible’ is expected to be sizable, but considerable differences
exists too.
The process
of exclusion can help a lot in this exercise to exclude the alternatives present
at the time, and establish the genuineness of the pattern in each case.
Step three
(Specification)
The next part
of Dembski’s process is to specify the information presented in
revelations with an independent pattern that can be recognized unambiguously.
This is the third step of the process and is also very important. Dembski has
pointed out two main problems through appropriate examples.
Post hoc patterns
Dembski
explains the first problem through the example of an archer standing before a
large blank wall with bow and arrow. Three alternative scenarios have been
outlined. In one scenario the archer simply shoots and hits the blank wall. In
the second, he paints a target on the wall, and then shoots at it, squarely
hitting the bull's-eye. In the third, he shoots at the wall, and then
paints a target around the arrow so that the arrow seems to stick squarely in
the bull's-eye.
Dembski says
that in all the three scenarios, highly complex information has been actualized
by the strike of arrow at a particular spot. This is because the arrow might
have landed anywhere on the wall and thus the contingency actualized is
one out of thousands of such possibilities. Yet the conclusions drawn
from each of the exercise is different. In the first scenario, the information
follows no pattern, and therefore, nothing can be concluded from the strike
about the archer's ability. In the second scenario, it follows a pattern, and we
get the evidence of the archer's skill. The information thus becomes specified
in this case. In the third scenario, although highly complex patterned
information has been actualized, it cannot be claimed that specified
information has been actualized. By first shooting the arrow and then painting
the target around it, the pattern is not specified but merely read off the
information.
These post
hoc patterns that are simply read off already existing information do not tell
us anything. Information wise, the situation remains the same in the first and
the third scenario. Only in the second scenario, when the pattern is given
independently of the arrow's flight does a hypothesis other than chance come
into play, and we get to know that we are dealing with a skilled archer.
Therefore, only in the second scenario the pattern constitute a specification.
In the first scenario there is no pattern and in the third, the pattern
constitutes a fabrication.
The
distinction therefore is that the actualization of a possibility (i.e.,
information) is specified if independently of the possibility's actualization
the possibility is identifiable by means of a pattern. If not, then the
information is unspecified.
How the problem is
related to revelations from Quran?
The problem
outlined above, relates directly to the identification of advanced information
in the revelations of Quran. In the initial few centuries, Muslim scientists had
made intense symbiotic effort between revealed and the rational knowledge,
resulting in tremendous all-round development and growth of knowledge. The early
struggle between the rationalists and traditionalists, gave the upper hand to
traditionalists, after the death of Caliphs who believed in the rationalist
movement. The victory of traditionalists produced a backlash against the
scientists, who were the ardent supporters of the rationalist movement. Later,
fearful of the resurgence of muntazala (rationalist) movement, which was
favored by most of the scientists, the traditionalists through the establishment
of schools that did not include the study of rational sciences in their
syllabus delinked the sources of education with the study of sciences. Moreover,
they also banned the ijtehad, the dynamic interpretation of Quran,
freezing its interpretation in its tracks. The wheel of progress that had been
running in full force in Iraq, Egypt and Spain, took time to slow down. The
emergence of Ottoman and Mughal empires carved their own destiny in the
intervening years, but gradually almost all original work stopped, and Muslims
lost their dynamism and edge in different fields. But, while the chaos began to
reign in the Muslim world, the order began to emerge in Europe. The plague that
had destroyed the one third population of Europe provided the incentive for the
industrial revolution, through the lack of population. Together with the
infra structure provided by the fall of Muslim Spain, a new age dawned in
Europe, and a different wheel of progress began to turn in this part of world.
All of this resulted in the fashioning of a rational civilization that may have
been burdened occasionally by racism or Euro centrism, but has the capability to
rise above these limitations and question all the established concepts that have
not been tackled before, whether these relate to physics or metaphysics.
In the Muslim
world on the other hand, the attempt to link rational with the revealed began
again from the twentieth century onwards, but the scientific inactivity of
centuries resulted in a dichotomy. Those who know the rational sciences better
do not know the revealed knowledge sufficiently, while those whose job is to
study the revealed sources remain as distant from the rational sciences as ever.
Thus such attempts are few and far between, often sub-standard and full of
innocent enthusiasm. The learned ones of community, unsure of their own
knowledge, and afraid to connect the changeless with the changing, have tried to
discourage all such attempts. They only allow that interpretation to emerge,
which has already been proved beyond any doubt by the western scientists. The
Muslims thus become happy simply to show that what has been achieved by west has
already been mentioned in the Quran fourteen hundred years ago.
The western
critics as mentioned earlier reject all such claims and ask the community the
obvious question - if such information was already there in the revealed Book,
why did they wait for the western scientists to discover and tell them about it?
The critics call the exercise of identifying such information as
the scientific-hermeneutic
approach to the Qur'an, where
the
scientific theories and concepts are retrofitted into some vague words in Quran.
It almost seems to resemble the situation mentioned in the third scenario
described by Dembski, where
the target has been painted around the arrow.
The solution
to this problem is obvious. Three factors can demonstrate that the pattern is not
being read off the information. The investigation into ancient records can show
that the pattern is not recent but exists in more than millennium years old
manuscripts. Second, more
than a thousand year gap between the ‘pattern and the ability to specify it’ can
demonstrate its
independence.
Third, the
investigation into roots of the words, can demonstrate that the information
content of the pattern is not vague but specific. Numerous scholarly works are
available that define how the root of the word was understood in that time.
Since the extant records are more than 1200 years old, it cannot be alleged that
the meanings have been manipulated to fit in with the latest scientific
findings. (Words like ambatakum or nabata are not vague. Their
root nbt is unambiguous in its meaning. It needs to be debated why such
words were used in connection with the birth of man, when the objective was to
describe the formation of a body from clay, so that God could turn this body
into man by simply blowing His soul in his nostrils?)
The learned
ones among the Muslim clergy should also remember that revealed knowledge is
meant to guide the humanity, and revelations by definition reveal the
information unknown to us. Therefore, allowing only that information to come
out which has been already discovered by western scientists is irrational.
It reduces the guiding potential of revelations immeasurable. Sub-standard
research or the possibility of a change in concept should never become the
criteria to discourage such researches.
Asymmetry between
specified and unspecified information
In this regard,
the existence of a directional asymmetry between
specified and unspecified information is also interesting. Dembski says that specified information cannot become
unspecified, but unspecified information may become specified once some unknown
but related information is discovered or applied. Dembski has given the example
of a cryptographic transmission that may look unspecified information but would
become specified if the key of the code is applied. Likewise, an utterance in
Chinese would appear gibberish to person who does not know the language. For
him, the utterance will be unspecified. But someone who understands Chinese
would recognizes it from a range of all possible utterances and specify the
utterance as coherent Chinese speech.
The above examples
demonstrate that any particular information that may look incoherent or
unspecified to a non expert at a time may not necessarily be so. A physicist would
understand better the pointers related to the creation of stars, earth, moon and
universe, while a biologist will understand the pointers related to his own fields such
as origin of life and man.
Complexity – the final
factor
As stated in the beginning
of this write-up, a complex structure of verifiable and non verifiable
information, related to the origin of life, man and cosmos has been shown to
exist in the revelations by this researcher. An apparent purpose of this
information in Quran is to guide the humanity.
Best
persons to judge this claim and asses the guiding potential of the
verses are professionals of the particular fields. A collective effort,
by a
panel of linguists, science historians and scientists of various fields can
help verify the information in the revealed knowledge, and identify the role of
chance behind the existence of that information in each case, using
scales of probability.
If the information presented gets verified by the scientists, the huge number of such hints will
rule out the element of chance in the data. The mere existence of some
information that can only be corroborated almost fourteen hundred years later,
and some other hints for which we do not have the experimental capabilities as
yet, would show further the immense complexity of the message. The Quran
mentions that this Message has been brought by a ‘non-human messenger’ to the
human messenger. If the statistical probability of advanced information in the
Text of Quran exceeds the rational limit covered by chance, this study by itself
would be able to verify the complexity and non-human origin of the information.
[1] CONTACT by Carl Sagan p-166-167
[2]
‘Intelligent Design as a Theory of Information’ by William
A. Dembski Copyright 1998, Downloaded from
http://www.arn.org/authors/dembski.html Official web site of William Dembski
is -
http://www.designinference.com/
[3] The arguments on the Arabic language have been
taken from two papers
‘A History of the Arabic Language’ by Brian Bishop April
24, 1998, downloaded from
http://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/ling450ch/reports/arabic.html and ‘The Nature of Old Arabic and its Change into Middle and then Modern Arabic’ by
Andrew T. Freeman downloaded from
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~andyf/hist_arab.html
[4] Arabic-English Dictionary by F Steingass, Oriental
University Press, ISBN 0746500556
[5] Denis Giron, "Islamic Science: Does Islamic
literature contain scientific miracles?"
[6]
Predicting Modern Science: Epicurus vs. Mohammed,
by Richard Carrier at Internet Infidels, Inc.
http://www.secweb.org/index.aspx?action=viewAsset&id=362 on 6/2 2/2004
[7] The Chinese myth adapted by:
Colette Chooey has been downloaded from Chinese Tea Stories;
http://firehorseportfolio.com/tea; | 
