(Download) "In the Image of the Machine (Technology and How It Changes People) (Essay)" by Islam & Science # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: In the Image of the Machine (Technology and How It Changes People) (Essay)
- Author : Islam & Science
- Release Date : January 22, 2010
- Genre: Religion & Spirituality,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 202 KB
Description
On November 15, 2010, some three million men, women, and children stood on the plain of 'Arafat, the ancient site of Hajj, the annual pilgrimage which began some four thousand years ago when Prophet Ibrahim, upon him peace, proclaimed it as a directive from God: And proclaim Hajj for all mankind so that they come to you on foot and mounted on lean camels from every distant point to witness the benefits in store for them, and pronounce the name of Allah during the appointed days over the cattle that He has provided them. So eat of it and feed the distressed and the needy (Q 22:27-8). None of them used camels; rather, they travelled on planes, buses, cars, and some of them arrived via a newly opened monorail--a $1.7bn project, linking the sanctified city of Makka with the sacred sites of Mina, 'Arafat, and Muzdalifa, which has become a showpiece for the large-scale technological transformation of the Muslim world. Beyond 'Arafat, the entire landscape of contemporary Arabia, where Islam first appeared some fourteen and a half centuries ago, has changed so drastically during the last thirty years that even those who have had first-hand experience of the arrival of supersonic jets, modern highways, cellular phones, and numerous other devices in their country feel alienated by the sudden technological rush in a land where most people travelled on camels in lonely deserts under the open, star-studded skies and lived in direct contact with nature. This technological dislocation is not limited to contemporary Saudi Arabia; it is the most characteristic feature of the Gulf States, where the race to construct the tallest buildings on Earth reminds one of the Prophetic saying which describes the signs of the End of Time: "You shall see the naked, the barefoot, and the shepherds build higher and higher." (1)