Wednesday, November 4, 2009

MOON

Hi all, do you see any special thing with the word I wrote above? Or...maybe you think it is just a piece word composed by four letters - M, double O and N? Well, whatsoever you may say, one thing for sure, now at this moment I’m eager to share with you and the world's citizen about a piece of this word. A moment ago an inspiration just flashed on my mind and I thought it would be great if I materialize it in what is so called writing, on a blog though.

Tonight at 8.20 p.m. (Nov 2, 2009) is nothing but extraordinary for me. I start typing and gazing the moon miles away there from my dorm, as you know I live in the city of Bandung where the sky is much brighter than in Jakarta (our capital). Gazing the night sky has apparently become my just-unveiled-hobby since my partaking of astronomy course at the University of Arizona in 2008. It is definitely true that I am writing this article under the glow of the moon, what an awesome night. Ups…a plane has just passed right under the moon, it even makes tonight more stunning, subhanallah. Well, let me talk first about the moon’s appearance I am staring tonight. From dorm of mine I see it yellowish. It is because my sight is sort of hindered by cloud or fog. It looks beautiful though as God has created it in the perfect shape and of course with its meticulous calculation beyond our thinking. We can never gauge God's perfect creation, period!

As it has been fully known that the moon is the one and only satellite that our earth has. Earth is different from any other planets in our solar system as it only has one satellite. Mars for example has 2 satellites and Jupiter has even 16 which pretty much orbit and revolve around them. Io, Europa, and Callisto are three most familiar Jupiter's satellites I know. Moon in this case also does the same. It never goes away so that the earth will be always “followed” by moon. Moon is much smaller that the earth and what I’ve known that it was formed from the earth long time ago. It is proven by similar material found on the earth's surface and the moon's. Yeah, professor Don who taught us astronomy explained us that there is theory which says so, unfortunately I forgot that.

Someday I've ever thought what will happen if our earth doesn't have moon. Can anyone answer it? What I know is that the moon has many functions and benefits for us – the earth citizen. For one, moon causes tide at seashore. Korean people have been using wave for generating electricity and it helps so much to be less dependent on fossil fuels which are scarce today. Although not all countries uses it, I think Korean people do a very good job and we need to take lesson from them. Secondly, many farmers in many countries use moon's appearance to calculate and determine their harvest or planting time. It's been prevailed even since long time ago. Thirdly, our Islamic calendar uses moon as its calculation system. Our calendar system is very much based on the moon's appearance. It is used to date special occasion such as Eid al Fitr, Ramadan, Islamic new year etc. Therefore it is a great bless from Allah that our Earth has moon. Moon is not an accessory like what we have in our room, it is not just such-a-sheep person who always follows someone for no reason. Instead, it is a thing that benefits a thing it is following. We can learn from the moon, can't we?

Well, in this dimly moonlight, I concur that this moment is such an awesome time to contemplate and reflect anything in my life either my past or my future. The moon I am seeing now shows me the might of God who thoroughly creates and takes care of the entire universe. Every single of us does have problems or hurdles in this life, but we can't just give up. We have God and He will always show us the way if we ask Him for help. Let's ask for God's help by reading, contemplating and understanding this universe.
Only God knows, Allah is great..., thank You Allah for such a superb and wonderful moon :)

*Unedited

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