Navigation by Sun: finding East-West Axis

One of the easiest way to get direction during the day is to use the shadow of an object.
Of course, finding the East at sun rise or West during sun set is not what is meant here. It is about finding more accurately the East-West direction, during the day.
By pointing to the shadow of the tip (emphasize again: tip) of an object across 15-20mn time, one can easily trace an axis East-West as developed in the pictures below.
What you will notice, is that the tip of the shadow takes the path of a straight line, indicating East-West direction. This could easily be seen in the following pictures:

Keep focus on the shadow cast by the "tip" of the pillar

Same pillar in the afternoon, note the different direction taken by the sun

Using the tip of an object and putting a reference point on its shadow

The shadow of the tip of the pillar has moved in a straight line

Straight line clearly shown - Shadow of the pillar's tip

This pictures shows the sun might be changing direction, but the tip of the pillar casts a straight line

Sun approaching zenith

Dohor Time, sun passed the zenith

Comparing the cast of shadow with compass

Late afternoon, the shadow will continue to elongate, and the tip would continue to cast a straight line

What is better, a loan or a charity?

Just came across this issue, and although both charity and loan have been recommended in Islam and are part of our Ibadah (worship), it looks that given a nice loan in Islam has greater rewards than giving charity, and Allah Knows Best.

First of all, let us look at some definitions:

Loan: an amount of money given to somebody on the condition that it will be paid back later

Charity: the voluntary provision of money, materials, or help to people in need

Examples of Charity (sadaqah):

• Monetary donations
• Donations in kind
• Endowments
• Feeding the poor
• Supporting orphans and widows
• Spending on family expenses
• Providing assistance to somebody
• Saying a cheerful word or smiling
• Advising or counseling
• Volunteering in the community
• Removing rubbish from the paths

Loan in Quran:

 In the Holy Quran, Allah (SWT) recommends us to do both of these: charity and also loans. The term "loan" in Quran is often attached to an adjective; "beautiful/goodly/nice/pleasant" loan (Ar. Qardh hassan).

245  Who is it that would loan Allah a goodly loan so He may multiply it for him many times over? And it is Allah who withholds and grants abundance, and to Him you will be returned..  Al-Baqarah [2:245]

Spending in the cause of Allah is called metaphorically "a beautiful loan". It is excellent in many ways: (1) it shows a beautiful spirit of self-denial; (2) in other loans there may be a doubt as to the safety of your capital or any return thereon; here you give to the Lord of All, in Whose hands are the keys of want or plenty; giving, you may have manifold blessings, and withholding, you may even lose what you have. If we remember that our goal is Allah, can we turn away from His cause?

11. Who is he that will Loan to Allah a beautiful loan? for ((Allah)) will increase it manifold to his credit, and he will have (besides) a liberal Reward. Al-Hadid [57:11]

18. For those who give in Charity, men and women, and loan to Allah a Beautiful Loan, it shall be increased manifold (to their credit), and they shall have (besides) a liberal reward. Al-Hadid [57:18]

17. If ye loan to Allah, a beautiful loan, He will double it to your (credit), and He will grant you Forgiveness: for Allah is most Ready to appreciate (service), Most Forbearing,- Al-Taghabun [64:17]

When we give a loan to Allah, it not only increases our credit account manifold, but obtains for us the forgiveness of our sins, and the capacity for increased service in the future. 

The following quote is from Islamqa.com, ref: http://islamqa.com/en/ref/38161

There are some reports which speak of what is written on the gate of Paradise. The strongest report that we have found is that which was narrated by al-Tabaraani and al-Bayhaqi from Abu Umaamah (may Allaah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “A man entered Paradise and saw written on its gate ‘Charity receives a tenfold reward and a loan an eighteenfold reward.’” 

Classed as hasan by al-Albaani. See Saheeh al-Targheeb wa’l-Tarheeb, 1/537. 

Although some scholars were inclined to accept the attribution of this hadeeth to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), others – including Ibn al-Jawzi, al-‘Iraaqi, al-Manaawi and others – classed it as da’eef (weak), because the narrators who transmitted it from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) include a narrator who is very weak. 

[note: Islamqa website did not put the rest of the hadith, where The Prophet said: "O Jibril, how can the loan be more meritorious than charity?" He replied: "Because one asking for charity may still have some need left, while the borrower does not borrow except his need is fulfilled."

What if the people I lend to will not return the money?

Many have lent money to people who never returned it. If we base on the above, Allah will still replace you the loan value by 20 times. By own experience, we have always found Allah to Help us even though the money we lent to different people was not returned.

We must not forget also that this case is described in the Quran, where Allah recommends us to give delay to any person who is in difficulty, then He (SWT) recommends to transform that loan into Charity

{ وَإِن كَانَ ذُو عُسْرَةٍ فَنَظِرَةٌ إِلَىٰ مَيْسَرَةٍ وَأَن تَصَدَّقُواْ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ }

"And if any man, in debt, should be in difficulties, then, let him have, respite, a postponement, till things are easier (read maysara or maysura, meaning ‘a time of ease’); but that you should give (tassaddaqū, where the second tā’ of the softened form, tatasaddaqū, has been assimilated with the sād), the one in difficulty, a voluntary almsgiving, by waiving his debt, is better for you, did you but know, [if you know] that it is better for you, then do it." Al Baqarah [2:280]

In a hadīth it is said, ‘Whoever gives respite to one in difficulty, or waives his debt, God will place him under His shade, on a day when there shall be no shade except God’s’, as reported by Muslim. 

Conclusion:

If you give one dinar sadaqah (charity), Allah replaces it with 10 dinars (this is the minimum amount, it could go to unlimited reward that only Allah Knows).

If you give one dinar loan, Allah replaces it with 20 dinars (18 dinars in some versions, which was debated by Shaikh Shaarawi and reconciled the two version by highlighting that your dinar in charity is replaced within the 10 received back in the reward, so in fact you get 9 bonus, and the loan is double the reward of charity, i.e you will get 9 x 2 = 18, there are thus no discrepancies in the reports, whether you consider 18 dinars or 20 dinars it will be the same).

There are certainly good in both of Charity and in Loan. Allah Will make different people crossing your life, the main thing is that you do not stay apathetic and greedy when facing these people.

So the next time someone rings your bell asking for charity, make sure you remember that it is Allah Who Sent him/ her to you.

And next time someone approaches you for a loan, make also sure to remember that it is Allah Who put him/her in your path, you must thus study what you could do to help without harming yourself financially of course, and do not be scared to ask for guarantees, and then lend the amount of money you judge satisfactory for both parties. (important: any loan must be logged and written down and signed by both parties).

One last comment: if you reject the one asking you for loan, you may put that person in a very difficult situation, as he/she might not have approached you only after having exhausted all the other resources available to him/her, so do not let this person left with no choice but to get a riba loan, or a shark loan, or something more evil..In the same time, do not put yourself in trouble by helping others and sleeping with no funds not knowing how you will do your groceries the following morning, the best matters are the middle ones always.

Wooden toys: Aircraft

It is a known fact that children love to play more with wooden than plastic ones. I made for my kids a wooden toy in the shape of a plane, that had a winch on top of it, so that they could hook stuff and have some good time. I noticed that they tend to like hooking stuff, they trashed a previous crane they had, and kept just the hook part of it and played with it for weeks. This lead me to the idea of making a hook and winch with their aircraft.
Anyway, the following are just sharing some ideas on how you could also make similar toys for your kids to keep them busy for a while. With my two boys giving hard tests to every single toy they have, and knowing their aptitude to give each toy a Go-No Go test, I decided to make their plane heavy duty to resist rough tests and to survive for at least a week (the previous prototype made of plastic survived only a day!).
It has now been over 3 months and the plane is still surviving, so I guess my clients are happy...

Steps for building the wooden plane:
I wanted the plane to be made of recycled parts, so many components were just used to act as raw materials for new uses. I left the plane unpainted to avoid any issue of toxicity etc., after all, nothing is better than natural wood.

Early construction phase, securing the wings and engine supports

Crane, fully rotational with guide for the cable, the knob will lift the  hooked load. The whole mechanism is much more complex than it looks and it took more than a couple of hours to have all the parts drilled and put in place.

Close details of the heavy duty winch, with buffers to keep the cable in the drum, about 1m of cable is available.

Engine support: I added straps for extra help

It starts to take shape

This work space keeps getting improved every week!

Staple gun used to reinforce the straps and keep them in place

Belly of the fuselage, shampoo bottles used as engines

L-Shapes supports for the back tires.

Front tires, taken from a curtain system. Tires can fully rotate

Securing the hook, I used superglue to make sure it won't come off

Securing the "engines" onto the wing, glue + plastic straps

Rudder & back engines made of used batteries. Some details of the winch is shown too.

Plane is ready for test flight

Let me see if I can make it fly !

Plane in action, lifting heavy goods here and there

Cradle for lifting goods, kids like it as they can carry some cars inside it, they like to make it free fall due to weight then winch it up

The cradle is made out of an empty USB box, I used fish thread for the slings

Plane - Right side. The idea of shampoo bottles is to fill them with water for extra fun (fuel level / fire extinguisher)

Plane - Left side

Plane, over 3 months old and still surviving.

Plane performance:

I have seen the plane dragging about a large 12KG toy basket across the floor and across the living room carpet, so that winch, cable & crane did a perfect job resisting the test. I guess that was the heaviest item the kids managed to find, they got scolded hard after that, as that was really pushing the plane to extreme limits!..