Nuclear Weapons essays

Nuclear Weapons essays A group of junior high students assembled outside of their school early one morning. The teachers instructed the students to form lines facing towards the school when something caught one of the students eyes. Soon the other students noticed what appeared to be an airplane in the sky. They all pointed and jumped as they saw the aircraft fly overhead. The teachers then ordered the students to stop watching the plane and face the front. While the students looked away a bright blue flash appeared in the corner of their eyes. Then the whiteness came. The students were thrown from their positions, some for ten meters. The childrens clothes had been torn to rags from the intense heat and their skin hung from their bodies like their clothing. The children stumbled around, many of them intensely burned. One child began to wander off from the playground in search of his house. He approached a river where he jumped in to squelch the burning he felt throughout his body. He saw a ma n whose entire upper body was peeled of its skin, it hung from him like a half-peeled banana. There was a woman there whose eyes protruded from her sockets as if they were forcing themselves from her head. Fires burned all around, four to five meters high and more and more people came out of their houses (Takahasi). This event is a true story that took place on August 6th, 1945 during World War II. At 8:15 am an American B-29 named the Enola Gay dropped a three-meter long 20,000-ton atomic bomb named Little Boy on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. At the point of impact the temperature of the bomb was estimated at several millions of degrees Celsius and a fireball was created with a fifteen-meter radius. The bomb threw air and earth into the sky created a giant mushroom cloud. The top of the mushroom cloud itself reached to 17,000 meters. The bomb caused a huge shock wave, which demolished anything within its path. Th...

The Islam Faiths Views on Life Support and Euthanasia

The Islam Faith's Views on Life Support and Euthanasia Islam teaches that the control of life and death is in Allahs hands, and cannot be manipulated by human beings. Life itself is sacred, and it is therefore forbidden to end life deliberately, either through homicide or suicide. To do so would be to reject  faith in Allahs divine decree. Allah determines  how long each person will live. The Quran says: Nor kill (or destroy) yourselves: for verily Allah hath been to you Most Merciful! (Quran 4:29) ...if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. (Quran 5:23) ...take not life, which Allah has  made sacred, except by way of justice and law. Thus He does command you, that you  may learn wisdom. (Quran  6:151) Medical Intervention Muslims do believe in medical treatment. In fact, many scholars consider it  mandatory in Islam to seek medical help for illness, according to two sayings of the Prophet Muhammad: Seek treatment, believers of Allah, for Allah has made a cure to every illness.   and Your body has a right over  you. Muslims are encouraged to search the natural world for remedies  and use scientific knowledge to develop new medicines.  However, when a patient has reached the terminal stage (when  treatment holds no promise of a cure) it is not required to sustain excessive life-saving remedies.   Life Support When it is clear that there is no treatment left available to cure a terminal  patient, Islam advises only the continuation of basic  care such as food and drink.  It is not considered homicide to withdraw other  treatments in order to allow the patient to die naturally. If a patient is declared brain-dead by doctors, including situations in which there is no activity in the brain stem, the patient is considered dead and no artificial  support functions need to be provided. Ceasing such care is not considered homicide if the patient is already clinically dead. Euthanasia All Islamic scholars, in all schools of Islamic jurisprudence,  regard active euthanasia as forbidden (haram). Allah determines the timing of death, and we should not seek or attempt to hasten it. Euthanasia is meant to relieve the  pain and suffering of a terminally-ill patient. But as Muslims, we are never to fall into despair about Allahs mercy and wisdom.  The Prophet Muhammad once told this story: Among the nations before you there was a man who got wounded, and growing impatient (with pain), he took a knife and cut his hand with it. The blood did not stop until he died. Allah (Exalted be He) said, My slave hastened to bring about his demise; I have forbidden Paradise to him (Bukhari and Muslim). Patience When a person is suffering from unbearable  pain, a Muslim is advised to remember that Allah tests us with pain and suffering in this life, and we must patiently persevere. The Prophet Muhammad advised us to make this dua  on such occasions: Oh Allah, make me live as long as life is better for me, and make me die if death is better for me (Bukhari and Muslim). Wishing for death simply to alleviate suffering is against the teachings of Islam, as it challenges Allahs wisdom and we must be patient with what Allah has written for us. The Quran says: ...bear with patient constancy whatever befalls you (Quran 31:17). ...those who patiently persevere will truly receive a reward without measure! (Quran  39:10). That said, Muslims are advised to comfort those who are suffering and  make use of palliative care.