Pictures from the Hubble Telescope

Carina Nebula
Don't feel bad if your digital camera can't quite capture this type of imagery. This photo of the central region of Carina Nebula is a mosaic of 48 frames taken during March and July 2005 with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and Cerro-Tololo Interamieracn Observatory's Blanco Telescope and MOSAIC2 camera. What you see is an artist's impression of a giant planet passing in front of its parent star, also known as a transit.

Aquarius
See that little white dot at the center of the image? That's a White Dwarf Star, also known as a dead star, that is 650 light-years away and, apparently, refusing to burn out peacefully. The colorful gaseous material was once part of the star. The image is a composite from Hubble (visible data) and the Spitzer Space Telescope (infrared data).

Bug Nebula
This ethereal image, taken in 2004, shows us the Bug Nebula's dusty surroundings near the heart of the brighter inner nebula in the upper right. A star, hidden by dust, exists in the inner nebula but has never been seen. But we know it's there and it generates a not-so-comfortable temperature of at least 250,000 degrees C.

Eskimo Nebula
The Hubble captures this luminous view of a planetary nebula. It was nicknamed the Eskimo Nebula because when seen through a ground-based telescope it resembled a fur parka hood surrounding a face. The 'parka' is actually a ring of comet-shaped objects streaming away from the dying star at its center.

Sombrero
M 104, the Sombrero Galaxy, is a bright white core surrounded by round thin spiral arms. This galaxy is 50,000 light-years across and a mere 28 million light-years from where you're sitting right now. By the way, light travels at the grandmotherly pace of 186,000 miles per second.

Hubble Telescope: Tendrils
What's taking place here is a gathering of thick clumps and tendrils of interstellar hydrogen that are in the process of forming stars. Bet you never thought a planet could be made of gas. In fact, hydrogen is the primary component of Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System.

Van Gogh
In what has been described as "space phenomenon imitates art", variable star V838 Monocerotis is surrounded by walls of swirling interstellar dust. The Hubble image has been compared to "Starry Night", the painting by Dutch post-impressionist Vincent van Gogh. A variable star changes in brightness over time. V838 is 20,000 light years away.

Mutual Funds: Are they allowed?

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

A mutual fund is simply a financial intermediary that allows a group of investors to pool their money together with a predetermined investment objective.  The mutual fund will have a fund manager who is responsible for investing the pooled money into specific securities (usually stocks or bonds).  When you invest in a mutual fund, you are buying shares (or portions) of the mutual fund and become a shareholder of the fund. 

Mutual funds are one of the best investments ever created because they are very cost efficient and very easy to invest in (you don't have to figure out which stocks or bonds to buy).

By pooling money together in a mutual fund, investors can purchase stocks or bonds with much lower trading costs than if they tried to do it on their own.  But the biggest advantage to mutual funds is diversification.
Diversification is the idea of spreading out your money across many different types of investments.  When one investment is down another might be up.  Choosing to diversify your investment holdings reduces your risk tremendously.

The most basic level of diversification is to buy multiple stocks rather than just one stock.  Mutual funds are set up to buy many stocks (even hundreds or thousands).  Beyond that, you can diversify even more by purchasing different kinds of stocks, then adding bonds, then international, and so on.  It could take you weeks to buy all these investments, but if you purchased a few mutual funds you could be done in a few hours because mutual funds automatically diversify in a predetermined category of investments (i.e. - growth companies, low-grade corporate bonds, international small companies).


The ruling with regards to mutual funds from an Islamic perspective can be determined by understanding the Shar�i ruling on shares and bonds.

The ruling with regards to investing in shares is that this is permissible (according to the majority of contemporary scholars), provided the following conditions are met:

1)     The main business of the company must be lawful (halal). Therefore, to purchase shares of a company whose main business is unlawful, such as interest bearing banks, insurance companies, companies manufacturing and selling liquor, etc will not be permitted.

If the main business of the company is Halal, such as a textile company or a telecommunication company, then it will be permissible to subscribe to its shares.

2)     Many companies, despite their main business being Halal may be involved in interest dealings in one way or another. Due to this, the following is necessary:

 a)     One should object to the interest dealings, preferably in the annual AGM. By doing so, the responsibility will be deemed fulfilled.
b)     When the dividend is distributed, the proportion of the company�s income which was gained by interest dealings must be given in charity without the intention of receiving reward, as is the case with unlawful money in general. This amount (interest accumulation) may be known by means of the income statement.

3)     The company whose shares one intends to purchase must have some illiquid assets in its possession. It must not all be in liquid form (i.e. cash, cheques, bonds, etc�). If all of the company�s assets are in liquid form, then the share cannot be sold or purchased except at face value.

With regards to bonds, the ruling is that, it is not permissible to invest in them. Premium bonds do not represent the ownership of the holder in a company or a financial institution; rather it only signifies giving a loan to the issuers of these bonds.

Due to this fact, the excess amount received on these bonds, which is stipulated and sought from the contract, is regarded as usury (riba), and is thus unlawful (haram).

Now, if investing in a mutual fund is regarded as purchasing the shares of the fund and becoming a share holder, then the ruling is that this is not permissible. The reason being, that one of the conditions for the permissibility of purchasing shares was that the company has some illiquid assets (see condition, 3), and the fund here is a combination of peoples investments.

If the case is that the fund is merely acting as an intermediary for the investment in shares and bonds, then this would also be impermissible. The reason being, that one is unaware what kind of companies the fund will invest into. Also, the funds normally invest in bonds, which have been declared unlawful.

And Allah knows best

Muhammad ibn Adam, UK

SOURCE

Trading in currencies

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
Scholars of the past considered paper currency to be representing gold and silver, hence they did not regard it to be something that had a value in of itself. Paper money was merely thought to be a certificate indicating that its holder owns gold and silver to the value of the note.

When one gave another a paper note, he was not giving any money that had a value in of itself, rather one was merely delivering a certificate that enabled the receiver to recover its amount in gold or silver.
Therefore, they stated that if Zakat was given in paper currency, one�s Zakat was not fulfilled, for one has not given any money to the poor. One�s Zakat will only be fulfilled when the recipient gets hold of gold or silver which the paper currency represents, or when one purchases an item with the money. Similarly, they stated that purchasing gold or silver with paper currency is not permissible, because it is like exchanging gold for gold, and the condition in exchanging gold with gold or silver is that both parties must take possession of the things exchanged in the same session, whereas here, the one taking the paper note is not physically taking possession of gold or silver. He is only receiving a certificate on the back of which there is gold or silver.

The Sound Position

However, most contemporary scholars such as Shaykh Taqi Usmani and others declared that paper currency has now become a medium of transaction in of itself; hence it is considered to be in place of gold and silver.
They state that the promise to pay gold and silver which appears on these paper notes is now meaningless and of no significance. The notes cannot be converted into gold, and they are accepted as money throughout the world. One cannot legally demand the one paying in notes that he must pay in gold or silver.
Paper currency no longer represents gold or silver, because in reality there is no guarantee of gold being on the back of every note. It is considered to be a legal tender and has now become a medium of transactions in of itself; hence it has taken the place of gold and silver.

Based on this, they state, the obligation of Zakat will be fulfilled by giving paper currency to the poor and needy. Also, one will be permitted to purchase gold and silver with these notes.
Moreover, Shaykh Taqi Usmani is of the view that paper currency is not to be treated as gold and silver, rather it is a separate unlimited legal tender. It would fall into the category of what the early Muslims called Fulus. (See: Buhuth fi Qadhaya Fiqhiyya Mu�asira, p. 147-161)

Trading in currency

Based on the above brief explanation, trading in currencies of the same country with excess on one side, like exchanging one pound for two pounds is unlawful, for that constitutes Riba. However, it would not be necessary that both parties take possession of money exchanged in the same session, as is the case with exchanging gold for gold. The reason being is that paper currency is not treated like gold and silver, rather it is legal tender and medium of exchange in of itself. However, one party must take possession in the session (majlis) of transaction, because departing (iftiraq) one another with debts on both sides is not permitted.
If the currency was exchanged at par value, such as exchanging one pound for one pound, then this is without doubt permissible.


As far as exchanging the currencies of different countries is concerned, this is permissible even with excess on one side, such as exchanging one pound for two dollars. The reason being is that the genus (jins) of both currencies is different, and when exchanging items of varied nature, it is permitted to have excess on one side.
Therefore, it is permitted to trade in currencies of different countries and to make profit from such trade. However, it would be necessary that one party takes possession of his currency at the time of transaction, for departing with debt on both sides is not permitted according to the Hadith.

Note that this permissibility is in normal circumstances, but scholars mention that trading in currencies at a rate that is against the rate determined by the government will not be permitted, although it can not be considered Riba.

This is based on the ruling that one must obey the law of the land in things that are not contrary to Shariah. Thus, if the government fixes a rate of exchanging pounds for dollars, then it will be sinful from an Islamic perspective also to trade in the black market at a different rate. However, one will not receive the sin of being involved in Riba.

And Allah knows best

Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari

Source