turBo says - Hamdullilah...

...for waking up alive and being here in this world for another day - to do a little more good and to repent a little more!

...28th March was a big one for turBo (go on, guess my age and win a prize lol) and besides waking up alive and thanking God for blessing me, you know what makes this day extra special? Been woken up by my mum with her gorgeous smile and face that shines like the full moon on a clear night - ahhh this day every year - priceless!!!

Have a fantastic week peeps - keep popping round and don't forget to spread the word about turBo flow to to your family and friends. I still have quite alot of work on right now - another crazy month (even the weekends!) but I will try and make the blog more frequent once workload has calmed down - til then, I know you have plenty of posts to get through! :D

Words of Wisdom - by Jesus! (AS)

...sometimes, only a few words are enough! :)

Once Jesus (alayhi salam) met Iblis [Satan] and Iblis said, “Is it not true that only what has been decreed will happen?”Jesus replied, “That is true.” Then Iblis said, “So throw yourself down from the top of this mountain, and let us see if you live or not!” Jesus answered, “The servant does not test his master; rather, it is the master who tests his servant.”

From “Walk on Water The Wisdom of Jesus” by Hamza Yusuf

...Spring is hereeeeeeeeeeeee!

...Finally!

OK, well I say finally, but I think we still have more rain in store for us (Brum, UK) - but at least the winter snowy months have gone.

I mean, I do like the snow - it's fun - however it does get a bit too much sometimes! There's benefits in winter months as well as summer months - but December up until mid-Feb are not sooo good for me!

Oh and this year there has even been a shortage on tulips because of the unexpected cold wintry snowy months!

Well, lots more for me to get up to this year. I have set up my own business (turBo is a business lady - lol) and two more before the year ends and a fourth one this time next year - God Willing. With that I still have loads of study and lots more fun days ahead :)

And, yes I know you have noticed that I haven't blogged in the last three weeks - however I did put up some 'Guest Post' which I enjoyed alot and thought share with you all - so I do hope you all benefited. The Friday Reminder series is still there - but won't be as frequent as I was hoping.

But fear not - turBo is still here to entertain you - and if you are new to the blog then you have lots of catching up to do! :)

Keep me updated as well - what you are all up to - what's been happening in your lives - remember YOU are my global familia and you're all very important!

Catch you all later. Have fun and lets enjoy some warmer weather! :)

Guest Post: Cool Concepts - Cryptanalysis!

Taken from Friday Nasiha - www.fridaynasiha.com (subscribe and get a weekly Friday Nasiha email in your inbox!)

Communicating top secret information is a precarious and risky process, so to avoid vital statistics falling into the wrong hands, messages are scrambled, masked and coded so only those with the right information or tools can read them. This process is known as cryptography; the scrambling of a message is known as encryption and the de-scrambling is decryption. For anyone other than the intended recipient, the message is meaningless, unless that person uses cryptanalysis to break the code.

The real cryptanalysis milestone was passed by al-Kindi, who revolutionized the area when he wrote A Manuscript on Deciphering Cryptographic Messages. Part of this included a description of the method of frequency analysis, which means he noticed that if a normal letter is replaced with a different letter or symbol, the new letter will take on all the characteristics of the original one. So if all a's that appeared became t's, and all th's were replaced with g's, they would still have the features of the letter(s) they replaced. A word like athlete would become tglete! Even though the letters change, what cannot be disguised are certain characteristics a letter has, like its frequency of occurance.

If we look at the English language the letter e is the most common letter, accounting for thirteen percent of all letters. So, if e is replaced by symbol #, # would become the most common symbol, accounting for 13% of the 'new' symbols. A cryptanalyst can then work out that the # actually represents e.

From studying the Arabic text of the Quran closely, al-Kindi noticed the characteristic letter frequency, and laid cryptography's foundations which led many cryptographers from European Renaissance states to devise sever scheme to defeat it.

"The birth of cryptanalysis required a society which has reached a high standard of development in three disciplines, namely linguistics, statistics and mathematics. These conditions became available at the time of al-Kindi who had command of these three disciplines and more." - Dr. Simon Sing, The Code Book, 1999

Compiled From:"1001 Inventions:
Muslim Heritage in Our World" - Salim T S Al-Hassani, pp. 268, 269

Guest Post: The Essential Sunna

Taken from Friday Nasiha - www.fridaynasiha.com (subscribe and get a weekly Friday Nasiha email in your inbox!)

The technical definition of Sunna is all that the Prophet (peace be upon him) did, said, or approved. When the term Sunna is used, our minds are diverted immediately to the manners and morals which we are so careful to observe, while dressing and eating, walking and praying.

I have no intention of belittling the importance of these relatively minor acts that he left behind. It reminds me of a beautiful incident from his life. A man and his son came to meet the Prophet. As he came out of his house, the buttons of his shirt were open. Both of them shook his hand and went away. That was the only occasion in their lives when they came face to face with the Prophet. But, for their entire lives they always kept the buttons of their shirts open - not because it was obligatory, but once you fall in love with someone, each and every action that he does, and each and every thing that he says, becomes dear to the heart. It has to be followed.

If, however, you consider the technical definition of Sunna, and if you look at the life of the Prophet from the moment he received revelation in the cave of Hira till he breathed his last in Madina, what is it that stands out as his most dominant concern and his main activity? The most outstanding feature of his life was that every moment was spent in dawa, in inviting his fellow human beings to live in submission to their Creator. He lived every moment of his life in purifying individuals and making them grow in their love and submission to Allah. Every moment of his life, he talked about and carried out his mission. In the streets of Makka, in the valley of Taif, on the battlegrounds of Badr and Hunayn, and in the totality of affairs in Madina - dawa was his essential concern. That was his essential Sunna.

Compiled From:
"In The Early Hours" - Khurram Murad, pp. 92, 93