Location Discontinued 13 12: Fill & Download for Free

Method 1Petition against the FDA 201ff3bii under the FD&C Act & DEA patent 6630507 sign my Petition https://www.change.org/p/norml-the-fdaclaims-natural-hemp-produce-are-adulterated-why-chemical-drug-investigation-cbdHow to Grow Organic Cannabis Indoors1Know the law. Currently 28 states and DC have enacted laws to legalize medical marijuana.[1] A handful of states have broader laws, allowing for recreational use as well. It's important to know the laws where you live. If you are getting into this business and live in the wrong place and/or do not have a doctor's recommendation for the use of medical marijuana, you are in violation of the law. •Check up on the policy for where you live. Though legalization seems to be the way of the future, plenty of places are lagging behind.2Know the difference between the strains. Marijuana can be categorized into two main strains: Cannabis Sativa and Cannabis Indica. The former gives the feeling of euphoria and content; the latter gives the classic, heavier, stoned feeling. However, most strains available today are hybrids, which means they have a mix of indica and sativa traits. •Indicas tend to be shorter and more compact in size; Sativas are longer and leggier.•There is also a "ruderalis" or "auto-flowering" strains of cannabis. These strains are hybrids that have been bred to have an ability to start making buds automatically after a few weeks. Auto-flowering strains are usually ready to harvest in about 3 months, and they are available in many popular or famous strains.3Get your mitts on some seeds. Surprisingly, this isn't super hard. There are a number of companies that are "reputable" and can get the deed done swiftly and discreetly. The best seed sources offer a guarantee. •Herbies – Located in the United Kingdom they have over 2,500 different seed strains. They deliver worldwide and offer excellent customer service.•Sensi Seeds – One of the oldest and most respected seed companies based in Amsterdam. The guys over there have spent millions of dollars on their seed stock production and they always offer amazing quality. They do not always send worldwide but you can usually buy their branded seeds from companies that do, like Herbies Sensi Seeds.•Bonza Seeds – They ship worldwide, free discreet shipping, fully tracked delivery no signature required, delivery guarantee. Bonza mate!•Gorilla Cannabis Seeds - These guys are UK based and offer great strains like Super Cheese Feminized with historically high 20.94% THC levels and Jack Herer Feminized by Green House Seeds. Contact is excellent with Gorilla Seeds, they actually have a phone they answer and a price-match guarantee.4Choose a spot and/or method. There are advantages and disadvantages to choosing how and where to grow your plant. You can do it indoors, outdoors, or hydroponics style. It's all up to you. •Growing weed indoors has many advantages when compared to the risks associated with growing marijuana outdoors makes, what with threats from theft and possibly the law if it is illegal to grow where you live. By growing marijuana indoors you can control the ambient conditions just exactly as you want them and grow a nice healthy cannabis plant.•Growing your plant in the wild allows you to avoid any nosy neighbors and avoid being caught red-handed, but it does force you to relinquish an element of control: You can't control the weather, disease, thieves, or how they grow. However, outside also eliminates the need for an indoor growing room, saving you loads of money initially.•Hydroponics is the term for growing plants (any kind) without soil. Believe it or not, they don't actually need it. While soil is obviously a source for nutrients, they can be had in alternative ways.Method 21In early June, buy yourself some pre-fertilized potting soil. Although this is not usually organic this will be the easiest route and considering that the grower will probably be suffering from a condition of some kind, this will be better. It must have: •Sufficient nutrients. If you pick up a bag and it says "N-P-K = x%-y%-z%," it's a keeper. This is indicating the levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium within the soil.•A pH between 5.9 and 6.5. You can change it yourself, of course. Even the organic fertilizers you buy in the store tend to have pHs that are too low.[2]2Fill a small paper cup with enough of the soil to fill to just below the rim. Moisten the soil and plant the seed about one centimeter deep (1/2"). Do this for each seed you wish to grow. Place the cups in a warm (approx. 70 degrees° F (21°C)) sunny area. •Water your plant and keep it warm. When your plant sprouts, keep the soil moist and let it grow until the seedling becomes root bound. The entire pot will be filled with roots and will hold the shape of the cup when removed.3Fill a 5 gallon (18.9 L) bucket with holes drilled in the bottom with the soil. Gently remove the seedling from the original container by turning it upside down and gently shaking the container. Gently insert the roots into the soil by making a small hole in the center of the 5 gallon (18.9 L) container and cover the stem to about 2 centimeters (1") from the first set of leaves.4Water your plant until the soil is completely saturated and water only when the soil becomes dry to the touch. Fertilize after about one month with nitrogen fertilizer (follow the instructions for the fertilizer as if you were growing vegetables). Keep the plant in a sunny area at least 8 hours a day and use a natural pesticide if necessary. •You will hopefully have more than one seed to work with because this is the dicey part. If your plant starts to grow small pods that eventually split and release pollen, you have a male plant -- this contains less of the medicinal qualities and is mostly useful only for cooking. When a male appears, quickly separate it from the other (presumably female) plants and harvest it for cooking (simmering the dried plant material in butter is the most effective way).5Keep an eye on it. The arrival of the male plants (usually in August) will be your cue to fertilize for budding. Use a high Potassium plant food for this and discontinue adding nitrogen. Potassium accelerates the budding process and promotes bud production.6Be patient. When small clusters of white "hairs" appear you will know you have a viable female plant. Wait until the buds are completely mature, usually in mid October. The buds will have hairs that are all orange to a reddish-purple color and be covered in resin containing tiny tri-chromes. Use a magnifying glass and when these turn an amber color they are ready for harvest.7Cut the plant at the bottom and place in a warm, dry, well-ventilated area. The rafters of a barn or garage are usually good for this. By no means is any moisture good; mold will quickly grow and destroy the buds. Hang the plant upside down with newspaper underneath to catch any parts that fall off. •Cut off all the buds. After they have become "crispy" on the outside, put them into a large plastic bag. On the following day remove the buds and put them in a paper bag for another week or so.8Making sure the buds are completely dry, store them in mason jars for storage and place in a cool dark area. •This article in no way condones the illegal sale, cultivation, or use of this plant by anyone except those with a valid medical condition and a state issued license. This is intended as a reference only.Method 31Master the lighting. When growing outdoors, the sun is all these guys need. But since you're working under a roof, you'll need to recreate the power of that big ball of fire. When they're young, the plants need blue light; when they're older and budding, they need yellow, amber and red light. You have a few different options in building your system: • High Intensity Discharge (HID) lights such as High Pressure Sodium (HPS) and Metal Halide (MH) lights. These lights produce a lot of heat and are quite powerful, but they use more energy than other types.• Fluorescent lighting. This type is great for young plants and doesn't use very much electricity. However, once your plants get older, you'll need to get them more light somehow.• Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs). These are easy to find and also don't use much electricity -- because of that, you'll need to stock up. These may be better used as a supplement to a different type of lighting. CFLs should be kept as close as possible to plant leaves without burning them.• LED lights. As far as types go, LEDs use less electricity and produce less heat than their competitors. Though when you go about purchasing some, know that certain brands well outrank others in efficacy and durability of product.[3] •The technology behind LEDs is getting more refined and the new trend is in broad-spectrum LED grow lights. They cover the 420 to 730 growing range and use 82% less electricity than the narrow-spectrum devices. They generally keep cool, don't emit a lot of heat, and last for up to 60,000 hours.2Set up your hydroponic system. There are number of methods to choose from and a plethora of devices that are out there just waiting to be bought. Do the research before you go about choosing anything. [4] • Wick system: This uses just one pump to keep the solution aerated and a grand total of zero to keep it moving -- super easy for beginners to maintain and use successfully. The plant actually takes in just the amount of solution (nutrients) it needs through the wick (a thick acrylic cord works well), giving it only what it needs.• Ebb and flow system: This system uses a timed pump and reservoir to give the plants their food about 4 times a day (at least to start). You simply place the plants in pots, then place those pots in a tray that holds about 6" (15 cm) of the nutrient solution you're using. If you're using Rockwool, this system is ideal.• Top feed growth system: This system is one of the more complex, at least mechanically. Each plant is fed at its base and any run-off is drained back into the reservoir. If you do choose this method, a 15-minute feed 3 or 4 times a day is where you should start.3Get the right hydroponic nutrients. As mentioned before, when you go about purchasing plant food and/or solutions, look for the N-P-K format on the label. Generally, your two options will be 15-15-15 and 20-10-5. •If you are buying hydroponic nutrients, get the powder kind that mixes with water. It is much cheaper over the long run when you compare it with already mixed solutions.4Germinate your seeds. The standard thing to do is use a Rockwool cube to start the seed on and surround it with whatever growing media you use. Keep the Rockwool cube so that the bottom 70% or so is submerged when the water is at its maximum, but keep the top part above the water so that the seed is never submerged. [5] •You may also use Vermiculite, Perlite, or clay pellets (in addition to soil). Beginner growers are usually better off buying a medium from the store, whether that be brands like Pro-Mix or Sunshine. When you become more advanced you will want to save money by creating your own medium and generally they are created using the same bases such as sphagnum, peat moss or coco coir.[6] •That being said, the main advantages of soil are its natural buffering ability in keeping pH constant and it is very forgiving in the event of electrical or mechanical failure when feeding or watering.•After the seeds have germinated and the root is about a quarter of an inch long, place the seed, root down, on your grow cube or media in your hydroponic cups.5Watch for the first stage. The first phase of marijuana growth is called the vegetative phase. If you plan on using LED, MH or HPS right away, start with about 20 inches or more above the top of the plant (less for LEDs) and lower the light an inch or so daily until you think the height is right. Too close and the plants will dry and turn brown; too far and the plants grow too tall as they stretch to get closer to their light source. •Start high and lower the light an inch or two daily until you think the height is right and the light emitted is being caught well by the plants.•During the first stage of growth, keep the light on 18 to 24 hours a day minimum. The longer it is on, the faster the plants will grow (but the higher your electricity bill will be).6Watch for flowering. This is when the THC, CBN, and CBD are produced -- the ingredients needed to reach a high. It's only produced on the females and the process is fairly evident; the growing process will slow as the plants devote more energy to creating the buds. •When the plants are at least 6" (15 cm) high and have 4 sets of leaves, you're in the clear to start the flowering process. For most hydroponic plants, this takes 2-4 weeks, so be patient. When you think your greens are ready to flower, cut the light back to 12 hours a day.•If your plant has reached that 6" mark and you start flowering anyway, it'll keep growing for up to a month. It should then stop, putting all its energy into producing flowers. If you wait for it to mature a bit more, the process should only take around 10 days.[7]7Consider limiting the height of your plants. Though your first thought should be to mess with the area, not your actual plant. The easiest thing to do is to adjust the height of the light. You can experiment with growing stunted plants, but each method takes a lot of skill and expertise and therefore won't be outlined here.8Be patient. If you did go the hydroponic route, it'll take about 3 to 4 months for your plants to flower. However, there are two methods that speed up the process, though they're quite difficult and should only be left to the pros. But if you're curious: •Sea of Green, or SOG, is a way of growing cannabis that forces the plants into the flowering stage when young and small. By starting the flowering phase of your marijuana plants after about two weeks of vegetative growth you can harvest many weeks earlier than you would if you grew your plants to full size.[8]•Screen of Green, or SCROG, is one of the most productive systems for growing weed that there is. Cannabis plants are trained through a horizontal screen placed above them, spreading the tops of the plants along a horizontal plane and encouraging bud formation along the normally neglected branch stems.[9]9Make it dark. You want to get as close to simulating a patch in the woods as possible. During flowering, everything should be dark, dark, and darker still. That means no room light, sunlight, or any other light for half the day (that's 12 hours). The only light that's even remotely acceptable would be equivalent to that of the moon. •Light that is any stronger could delay flowering. Your plant could become stunted and stay in the vegetative phase, never flowering at all.•When you start seeing light white hairs near the buds, your plants have started to flower. This should happen just short of or up to 2 weeks into the flowering light cycle. When your plants hit this stage, remove the male plants. Unless you have all female clones, that is. Once alone, the pistils will become the red or white hairs that turn into beautiful buds.10Flush the plants with clean, nutrient-free water. Do this once during the flowering phase and again after 6 weeks and then again just before harvesting. This will help remove any build up of fertilizers within the plants or growing medium, making for a cleaner smoke.11Harvest your plant. It's absolutely imperative, once again, that you are patient. No one can tell you the exact time to harvest your plant -- it varies plant to plant and strain to strain. Normally, the process takes around 2 to 3 months. Once you've been to the rodeo a few times, you'll know. •As the female flowers grow they form heavy "kolas" or cones. You will notice each ovary swell and tiny crystals will be visible around the flowers. The flowers will become sticky to the touch and the aroma will become pungent. As the flowers swell the white pistils begin to darken, growing from white to a reddish brown. Most growers wish to harvest marijuana plants when THC production has reached its maximum. A rough guide is to wait until around 60% of the white pistils have darkened.[10] •During this time, you may notice some of the larger leaves yellowing and wilting. This is not cause for alarm and is perfectly natural. Remove these, if you'd like, to allow more light to the rest of the plant.12Dry your marijuana. Leave only the buds when you're ready to dry your weed. Attach them to a wire or string and hang them upside down in a cool, dark room. Get the fan circulating or turn on the air as plenty of air movement is necessary for adequate drying. However, know that buds that are forced to dry too quickly get a nasty "green" taste (this is due to the retained chlorophyll). •Allow your plants around 4 – 7 days to dry completely. Squeeze the buds between your forefinger and thumb -- is it dry? When they are, you should seal them in an airtight jar or bag. For the next few days let them breathe for 15 minutes, twice a day. This cures the buds, ensuring all water is removed and makes them better to smoke -- they get a smooth, sweet taste and have an even burn.Method 41Pick your site. Choosing the right location is crucial to having a successful harvest. The last thing you want them to be is detected by humans and the second to last thing you want them to be is detected by animals, so choose carefully. Look for tracks and choose an area that you can get to, but that isn't too obvious. Here's what to consider: •A good, reliable source of water is mandatory. A site situated by the side of a river or stream is ideal, but remember that flooding is a risk in spring or autumn. Look for high water marks, debris in trees or water marks on rocks.•Avoid areas with pine trees -- the soil is probably too acidic; go for the grassy knoll. Look at what else is already growing at the site. If there are plenty of grasses, weeds and nettles then chances are the location is already blessed with decent soil and water. Woodland sites may also be worth investigating, but think about how the sunlight will filter through the canopy. When inspecting the site, think about how it'll change over the course of the next few months. The sun will get higher (making it hotter) in the summer, getting your plants baked before you do.•Find a place where your plant can get at least 5 hours of direct sunlight a day. Where will it hit in the morning, the day, and into the evening? How about over the course of the seasons?2Prepare the site. It's easiest to start with a smaller number of plants -- each one should have about 10 feet (3.0 m) in diameter from the next. That sounds like a lot, but it's only 5 feet (1.5 m) on either side for the leaves to grow from. And keep in mind that they could grow up to 5' (1.5 m) tall! •Clear away any weeds in the immediate vicinity and dig some decent size holes; they should be at least 2 feet (0.6 m) deep and two feet wide. It is best to replace the original soil with your own "clean" soil from the garden supply shop which should include compost and fertilizer. The original woodland soil will usually harbor a number of pests and diseases and may not be of the best quality anyway. It is a good idea to add a thick layer of mulch to the top surface of the growing area to help keep moisture in the ground below.3Plant your seeds. Planting should take place early in the season, around April or May, after the last frost. Obviously the exact timing will depend on where you live -– this is based on the Northern hemisphere (i.e. in time for spring and summer). •For the southern hemisphere (where spring begins on the 1st of September), watch for a warm spell after that date. Marijuana plants will not tolerate frost so it’s better to be safe than sorry.•Plant the seeds, sideways, around 1.25cm (1/2”) deep into your prepared soil. Make sure that they are well watered and will not dry out if there are some sunny days. In addition, make sure you keep them moist at all times. After approximately 48 hours you should start to see the first signs of the seed cracking open and the first shoots coming out.4Give your plants a constant source of water. One of the best solutions is to have a stream, river, or lake nearby and hook up a small solar powered pump with a timer on it. That said "best," not "easiest." Think about watering the plants in the early morning and then in the early evening. •Another solution is to devise your own sort of wick system, as discussed previously. Cut a small half pea size hole into the bottom of a 5 or 10 gallon (or more) bucket or plastic container. Place the bucket near the plant and use a cloth or cotton rope to form a wick that funnels the water (or nutrient solution) from the hole in the bucket to the soil near the plant.•You have to get the amount of water down pat. Too much and your plants drown (you'll know when the leaves turn yellow); too little and they just don't grow. You'll end up using around 20 to 40 gallons (75.7 to 151.4 L) each season. It all depends on the type of soil you use, the strain, and the amount of sun your plants get.5Feed your plants with fertilizer. Once established your seedlings will soon enter a vigorous vegetative growth stage. From such fragile beginnings plants quickly become full and robust. It is a good idea during this phase to feed your plants well with some quality, nitrogen rich, fertilizer. •Unlike growing marijuana indoors you have no control over the duration of the vegetative growth stage and over the course of a summer plants can become huge. But hey, at least there's no marijuana in your house.6About 3 weeks after planting, go and weed around your plants. If your garden is out in the wilderness, unfriendly (and threatening) weeds will soon take over and overcrowd your loveable little seedlings. There’s no need to start a forest fire; just clear an area about 3 feet (1 m) around each plant. •Repeat this process again around 3 weeks later. It may be necessary to repeat it again after a further 3 weeks, depending on your site. Most plants, by this time, should be strong enough to make their own space and crowd out weed growth.•If the weather has taken an unfortunate turn of events, go check your plants for damage. Heavy winds, rains, and drought can all take their tolls on your efforts. However, don't jump the gun -- these plants can hold their own, so don't panic if you live in Seattle.[11]7Sex the plants. Although generally considered one of the trickiest parts of growing your own marijuana, sexing is quite straightforward and will become easier as you gain more experience. The reason for sexing your plants is so that you can remove male plants before they have a chance to pollinate the females. If this occurs the females will start to develop seeds and this will divert their energy from THC production. •Towards the end of the summer, as the hours of daylight decrease, changing light levels will trigger your plants to produce flowers. The appearance of pre-flowers at branch junctions is what you are looking for.•Male pre-flowers should be clearly visible to the eye, although a magnifying glass will make your job easier. Male flowers form at the junctions of the branches and stem and the pollen sacs form little balls. Remove these.[12]8Watch for flowering. The female flowers will start to form kolas around the branch junctions with a main one at the growing tip of the plants. If you look closely you will see the seed pods and these will swell; either with seeds if your plant has been pollinated or with THC as false pods if you have removed the males. •As the flowers become ready for harvest the pistils will darken and the seed pods will be swollen and sticky with resin and THC trichomes. Once most of the pistils are dark, you're ready!9Harvest your crop. Plan this one out (and plan it well) because, if everything goes according to plan, you will be venturing back home with a load of smelly, sticky bud in your trunk. If possible, a nighttime visit would be preferable (you probably figured). Ideally plants will be ready to harvest when the buds have darkened, swollen and are glistening with THC crystals. •However, guerrilla gardening isn’t always ideal, so keep an eye on the weather forecast. If extreme weather, or worse, an early frost is imminent and your plants are budding, but not fully ripe, it might be worth harvesting early. This is a judgement call and no guide can fully cover all eventualities.•Harvest the buds with a clean, sharp knife. The fan leaves are usually discarded although some growers like to use them for cooking.10Dry your marijuana. Don’t spoil it now (so close!) by being impatient. The best smoke will come from buds that are dried slowly. Hang the buds separately in a cool, dark, well ventilated area. Allow around 5 days for them to dry properly. •Some growers use microwaves to dry them out more quickly but this is detrimental to both the quality and the taste of the smoke. Don't do it. 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Thanks for helping us achieve our mission of helping everyone learn how to do anything.How to Grow Marijuana Outdoors, LegallyMonday September 12, 2016By PotGuide.com StaffGrowingCultivationHelpful GuideGrowingWhen I drive through the high deserts of northern New Mexico, back to my home in Colorado, I sometimes fantasize about being the Johnny Appleseed of weed. I’d like to plant plants hither and dither creating little cannabis nurseries in the wild.According to author Michael Pollan, in his book The Botany of Desire, Johnny spread the useful and healthful apple tree as a form of religious devotion and faith in humankind. Even though I don’t smoke pot, or benefit from it financially, that’s how I feel about the flashy green plant.Cannabis is a Link Between Man and NatureCannabis represents a dynamic link between man and nature, two species leaning on each other for mutual benefit and survival. Man receives medicine, paper, cloth, and visions. Cannabis gets cultivation, transportation, and pollination.In modern life, these natural links seem to be missing, or disappearing beneath the tides of an acidic ocean and the hot blasts of the latest “worst ever” heat wave. When I find these links, they give me hope. Hope that our species might survive, despite our best efforts to exterminate ourselves. These links encourage the daft idea that contrary to the evidence, we might even thrive.In my road trip fantasy, I picture a giant, healthy weed growing up between the posts of the "Welcome to Colorado" sign. Its iconic, five-pointed leaves wave like flags of liberty in the breeze, whispering to all who notice it that freedom is good and right, and that a humble ditch weed can be just as American as apple pie.Alas, I'm no Johnny Appleseed — and although I think highway ditches overgrown with cannabis would make for a brilliant piece of living guerrilla art — the authorities, I'm sure, would see it differently. They might even see it as something sinister.So, in an effort to bring my fantasy to the right side of the law, I spoke to experienced weed farmer and master grower, Cole Whitaker, about how to grow weed outdoors — legally. Whitaker regularly coaxes hundreds of cannabis plants to bud for the benefit of the patrons of Santé, a medical and recreational marijuana dispensary with locations in Denver and Durango, Colorado. At Santé, he grows his plants indoors using a deep water culture and hydroponic techniques.Santé uses hydroponics to create a highly controlled growing environment that allows Whitaker to daily feed his plants a nutrient cocktail of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous. According to Whitaker, with hydroponics, "you get more buds per plant and a higher THC profile." In addition to growing in water, Whitaker has grown marijuana outside, and in a greenhouse. But he prefers to use hydroponics because "it's cleaner." When you grow indoors using soil and water — the soil and water make mud, and sludge — and you end up "spending hours cleaning it up."However, growing outdoors does have distinct advantages, says Whitaker. "Outside, flowers bloom riper because they grow off the sun," which makes them stronger and more potent. "And you can grow completely organic."I brought my questions about growing outside to Whitaker during a recent phone call. "How would I go about, landscaping my yard with weed, like they do in Jamaica?" I asked."You'd start with a fence and a padlock," I learned. And that's just a start. In Colorado, the current law states that marijuana must be grown in a fully enclosed space, to modestly cover its blushing buds and fanning leaves.The Colorado.gov marijuana website interprets the home grow law conservatively, arguing that the plant can’t even be grown outside. After some digging, I found that the Colorado Constitution Amendment 64 states, in section 3 governing the personal use of marijuana, "the following acts are not unlawful...provided that the growing takes place in an enclosed, locked space, is not conducted openly or publicly, and is not made for sale."As a gardener and chronic bootstrap do-it-yourselfer, I'm still surprised by this hardliner stance. I’m encouraged that in the other states that have legalized, the laws are more pro-gardening. For example, in Alaska, you can grow up to six plants as long as someone can’t see them “without the use of binoculars, aircraft, or other optical aids.” Meanwhile, in Oregon you can grow up to four plants out of public view). And although Washington state still does not allow home grown marijuana for recreational use, it does allow a group of licensed medical marijuana users to form a cooperative garden that grows “up to a maximum of sixty plants” behind an 8-foot fence. However, it’s worth noting that in Washington, DC you must grow indoors.As a gardener and an American, I'd like to see these laws progress. And someday I'd like to try my hand at growing marijuana outside. For now, I'll bring this article into the theoretical, because for me, landscaping with weed isn't a legal option. If I had my pick, I'd grow six of these valuable and highly regulated plants under the sun. I'd like to put one beside my barbecue grill, one in a pot on my porch, and a few in showy clumps along my fence. They're beautiful, and unique plants, even if you don't harvest any part.Guard Your GrowWhen you do harvest marijuana's fall bounty, it can be worth a lot of cash — and this sometimes attracts unwanted attention to you and your plants. The law's requirements for locks and gates isn't just for childproofing. It's meant to deter garden thieves too. Whitaker wisely advised me, and now you, that when encountering masked marijuana bandits, to just, "let them steal, and call the police."Even though pot farming comes with potential legal troubles, and thieving troubles, and all the customary gardening troubles with blights and pests such as powdery mildew and spider mites that eat cannabis — you might be surprised to hear that Whitaker still thought growing marijuana outdoors was worthwhile. Rewarding even. Plus Whitaker pointed out, growing your own is a cheaper way to get your medicine, and makes it easier to make your own juices and edibles. Selfishly thinking of myself, and my goal of growing weed, I asked Whitaker, "Do you think if more people were to grow marijuana it would make a difference?""Yes," he said. "I do."It certainly could improve the chances of marijuana being reclassified by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, and that in turn, could lead to a change in regulations. Currently, the DEA still considers marijuana as one of "the most dangerous drugs," and classifies it as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin. Schedule I drugs are considered to be "drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence." A damning pronouncement for marijuana. So, in the spirit of freedom and liberty, here's what I learned about growing marijuana outdoors — should I ever have the opportunity — broken down into five easy steps.Step One: Heed the Rules"I recommend people do their research first and get the laws. Once you know the law, then go for it," Whitaker said. I second this opinion. Although buying weed no longer takes a lot of research, growing it legally still does. Be prepared to spend some time on this step. I found the marijuana information website NORML.org helpful with this step.Step Two: Choose Your PlantYou'll choose between Indica, Sativa and Indica-Sativa hybrid strains. According to Whitaker, Indica's are the prettier plant, with fat, dark green leaves. They're smaller than Sativa, but can still grow a full six feet tall and can stretch six to eight feet across.If you're looking to harvest, Indica's are a good bet, with a shorter growing season. To encourage higher yields, Whitaker recommends staking Indica plants like a tomato and cutting the bushes into a lollipop shape just before they bloom.Sativa, on the other hand, can grow an impressive, and hard to conceal, 15 feet tall. However, most ring in at 10 to 12 feet tall. They're a little narrower than Indica, growing four to five feet wide. Their leaves are as big as your hand, with long slender fingers. Since I'm not that interested in harvesting buds, and I like impressively large plants, I'd probably grow some of these just for their looks. Whitaker recommends Panama Red, Golden Goat, and Blue Dream as good Sativa strains to try.Step Three: Pick Your SpotAs I've discussed earlier, you may be limited as to where you get to grow. If you're lucky enough to grow outdoors, put your marijuana inside a tall locked fence in full sun. During my research, I saw some people using smaller movable pots to regulate the sunlight their plants got when they had difficult growing conditions.In a more perfect world, Whitaker thought weed might look nice in the backyard next to a swing. But he said "it's gonna stink," its blooms producing their iconic skunky smell during harvest time, and "your neighbors might not like it." So keep your plant's stench in mind when you choose your location. Or you could find yourself trimming away the offending parts.Step Four: Buy Seed from a Seed BankPotGuide recommends Growers Choice Seeds. Growers Choice offers high-quality feminized seeds in popular strains that are guaranteed to flower. Feminized seeds often make the process of growing at home easier by ensuring all your plants are female. Due to the limits each state sets on the number of plants one can grow, using feminized seeds helps to avoid growing non-flowering male plants.Step Five: Plant OutsideFor my area of Southwest Colorado, Whitaker recommends planting outdoors around the 12 or 15 of June. Adjust for your location accordingly. You're trying to keep your plants climate at 30 percent humidity, Whitaker said. That may be a bit challenging outdoors, so don't be surprised if your plants suffer.Keep in mind that weed is a bit more difficult to grow than some other plants. Whitaker said first-timers have a fifty-fifty chance of keeping their plants alive long enough to have a successful harvest. However, he added, second timers show a marked improvement, with an 80 percent chance of bringing in their crop in mid-October or November.Whitaker described weed varieties as being similar to ski runs. You have "blues, greens, and blacks," from expert to easy. So if you're new to growing, or don't have green thumbs, look for the easier strains. If you run into powdery mildew Whitaker recommends spraying with a mix of apple cider vinegar and water, diluted three tablespoons to a quart.To fight spider mites, Whitaker makes his own organic and dangerously potent habanero spray, but it's something I wouldn't try at home. He cooks up one pound of habanero until it turns to a paste, adds it to water and sprays. While literally wearing a HAZMAT suit. He warns that this spray will burn you, but it won't harm your pretty plants.Final verdictEven though today I can’t legally grow a bamboo-looking Sativa privacy screen for my home in Colorado, I’m encouraged that someday I’ll be allowed to. I think that with talented growers like Whitaker, and the others like him working in the marijuana industry — who freely share their knowledge and expertise, there will be a day in the near future where both you and I can plant outdoors. Until that day, I’ll keep a spot in my garden reserved for a few leafy plants.5 Horrible Things Nobody Tells You About Legally Growing PotWe're not interested in taking one side or other in the whole pot-legalization thing. Maybe you're passionate about legalization, maybe you're not. Maybe you use the stuff, maybe you don't. We're not here to make assumptions.But unless you're rich (and you're not -- we will make that assumption), you've surely thought about what an easy life it must be for people who are able to legally grow the stuff, right? After all, nothing pays like drugs -- you'd be like Scarface, without the part where he gets shot at the end. Or maybe you'd keep it small, and just be a laid-back dude hanging with the stoners. In some states, all you need is a license to grow medicinal marijuana and you're set.Or, maybe not. Before you renew that subscription to High Times and quit your day job, there are some things you need to take into consideration ...5Even Where It's Legal, the Regulations Will Make Your Life HellSay you're an aspiring pot grower living in one of the states where medicinal marijuana is legal. First you have to stop and realize what "legal" means. In California, arguably the most lenient of the "legalized" states, they've seen a string of raids on medicinal marijuana dispensaries, even after Obama and the DEA said they wouldn't prosecute legal growers in states that allow it if the number of plants does not exceed 99.GettyPresident Obama, seen here demonstrating the largest legally acceptable blunt size.Confused? Well, there are all sorts of loopholes that can give the DEA an excuse to come down on a grower. For instance, you are not legally allowed to grow or distribute anywhere within 1,000 feet of a school, or more specifically, anywhere where children may gather regularly. That could technically mean a church, a local park, a zoo, a movie theater or even neighbors' houses, if they have children.↓And even if you steer clear of all of their rules, there are hundreds of other little conditions to consider, like the number of "mature" plants you are allowed to have (and what qualifies as "mature") and how much "manicured" product you're allowed to carry at any given time. Having it in your home is fine, but legally you can't drive very easily with it in the most lenient states.Getty"Alright, we'll overlook the pot, but we've got to ticket you for not buckling it up."But even if the DEA doesn't come knocking, many homeowners' associations have their own stringent regulations that forbid residents from setting up pot farms in the suburbs. Basically, growing weed for a living is like willingly adding your name to the sex offender registry: Your neighbors no longer trust you, and the authorities forbid you from coming into contact with children.Read Next5 Big-Time Players In Your Fav Movies (Who Got NO CREDIT)And then there are all of the regulations surrounding the disposal of damn near everything in a grow operation. We'll get into the logistics of growing in a moment, but let's just say there are all sorts of heavily regulated chemicals involved, and waste that is even more heavily regulated. Like synthetic fertilizers. The word "synthetic" is the big operator here, because a lot of them are toxic. Dump that out improperly, or in the wrong area, and a person could be charged with purposefully contaminating the groundwater, which qualifies as terrorism. Is growing weed for a living worth having a Toby Keith song written about you? Think it over.GettyDon't worry, though -- contaminating plain old river water is perfectly legal.That doesn't just mean your waste water, either: Your medium (whatever it is you grow your plants in, be it dirt or rock wool) is also contaminated with toxins. Legally, you're supposed to dispose of all of this much like you would toxic waste.Then, if you navigate that legal minefield, there's still the particular social stigma that goes along with being a marijuana professional. In short, people who think drugs are immoral and outlawed for good reason don't suddenly start thinking more of drug dealers and users just because weed is technically legal. You think you can just keep it from them? You're not going to be leaving home on any daily routine, and your neighbors are going to be asking questions. Expect things like: "What do you do?" Getty "So you're basically a wussier version of the guy from Breaking Bad?" "Do you live alone?" "Are you planning to murder anyone with a hammer?" Now ask yourself: How much excuse do you think they will need to call the police on you the moment they think you've stepped out of line? If you're so dedicated to the task of growing medicinal marijuana that you're willing to deal with all that, then you'll need to buckle down and raise a whole bunch of cash. That's because ...4Getting Started Costs More Than a Used Car Let's say you find a handful of marijuana seeds in the cushions of your couch. Toss in some dirt and light and you should be on a direct path to indoor weed farming glory, right? Just put the dirt and the seeds into a pot, set it on the windowsill like a spider plant and wait for the magic to happen. Hell, it's like growing money! Getty Better, even. Smoking cash just gives you a terrible lung inflection.↓Well, not quite. We'll address the lights first. We're not talking about buying a four-pack of 100-watt GE bulbs and calling it good. We're talking very specialized, highly powered, eye-burning-bright lights. Unsurprisingly, they retail for a wallet-burning $300 each. Any at-home weed operation will need at least six of these lights if the goal is to make any sort of cash at all.SearsThat's $1,800 spent, and you aren't even high yet.And then we have the dirt. As in, you really can't use it. Growing pot at home isn't like growing tomato plants on your balcony -- growing in dirt brings all sorts of uninvited guests to the smoke party, like spider mites and other bugs that will damage the plants, and maybe even your health. So if you're serious about growing weed indoors, you need equipment ($850 for each unit, and it usually takes four of these systems to generate enough crop to turn a profit, so we're talking about more than $3,400). That's right, aspiring pot kingpin -- you're more than five grand in the hole before you've grown a single plant.And we're not done. All of that shit runs on electricity -- an at-home weed farmer faces electric bills that run as much as $1,500 per month. If you aren't lucky enough to have a private well, water bills can scale to similar heights. Then you factor in other random necessities like timers, extension cords, pest control, carbon filters and countless other bells and whistles that keep a grow operation growing. An enterprising young pot farmer will need to come up with nearly $13,000 in investment money just to get started. Getty Dropping a few seeds in your neighbors salad garden just won't cut it. OK, so you max out all of your credit cards and come up with the 13 grand. That's all right -- the sweet, sweet weed money is about to come rolling in! Actually, most grow operations don't even turn a profit for three months at least, so every joint sold is going to be paying down start-up debt for a long, long time. Getty "Here's a quarter pound. Can you put half in my IRA?"↓And the money is just part of the cost. Next you have to deal with the fact that ...3It's a Shitload of Hard Work Have you ever tried to create an environment identical to the outdoors? One meant to sustain not just life, but exceptional life? You know, playing God? It's absolutely as difficult as it sounds, and it's absolutely what you must do to successfully grow weed at home. Getty He's only laughing because a stray tear could throw off the pH balance. Plants are living, breathing things that require ideal conditions to thrive. On top of providing all the air flow, 24 hours a day, you'll need an entire room that, in the middle of the day with the lights off, looks like this all over: That's not nearly as easy as it seems, and it has to be done every time you add a fan or make a correction to a grow room. Then you have the heavy equipment that needs be set up, as well as running high voltage (read: DANGEROUS) wiring and industrial-quality ventilation to your new weed cave. Grow Works It looks kind of like a thermos ... and it costs $244.↓Basically, you have to be a carpenter, plumber, electrician, gardener and some type of lab technician by the time you're finished just setting up that room. If plumber and electrician stick out as two skills that shouldn't be in the same room with each other at the same time, that's because they really shouldn't. So, if this for some reason sounds like the career path for you, study up on your electric skills, lest you wind up electrocuted to death like this poor fella.Of course, you can always hire trained people to do all of this work for you, adding to the start-up debt that you've already sold one and a half kidneys to pay. Getty "So this is for a home welding set-up? In your basement?" Hey, speaking of dealing with other people ...2Your Life Is Full of Crazy People Growing marijuana for a living puts a person in a "club" of sorts, and that club is stocked with crazy. The cost makes trying to run a grow operation alone a near impossibility, which means partnering up with all sorts of sketchy characters to handle things like trimming plants, selling the product and all the other stuff you need help with once you realize you're in way over your head. No matter what the movies may tell you, weed enthusiasts are not comprised entirely of laid-back stoners. For every one of those that you might encounter during the course of a business day, there are probably two or three who are more like the guy who uses an alligator as a guard animal. Probably not the person to bond with over a shared love of Bob Marley and Rastafarian culture. Getty The ones who reek of Nag Champa are usually safe. But then you've got that to deal with.↓When you're dealing with what still amounts to a quasi-black market fringe industry, it's inevitable that some of the people involved will be criminals, and they are going to rip someone off at some point. If you clicked that link, which points to a very brief story about a man who was ripped off by a "friend" in the industry, you may have noticed that it took all of two comments before someone chimed in with a transcript of a scene from the movie Snatch that explains how to properly dispose of a body. If you decide to set up a grow operation, these are your new friends. And very soon, one of those crazy paranoid types is going to be you. A person immersed in a life of selling drugs, legal or otherwise, is going to live in a constant state of paranoia -- it's just a fact of life. Part of that has to do with constantly walking such a fine line between legal and illegal, knowing that it doesn't take much of a mistake to get tossed in jail and to see your entire investment vanish. Getty Remember what we said about how easy it is to go astray of the regulations? Well, the police don't need much of an excuse to come in and inspect your operation. Like, for instance, if you have spent the last three hours trimming product. The smell of fresh marijuana being trimmed is almost as pungent as a skunk from the same distance, which is why so many ideas are thrown around to conceal the smell. After handling the plant at all, its scent is on your clothes, your hands and, most importantly, your hair. That pungent smell is enough to warrant a search in some states. And, as we established, even if you've got your license to grow and your prescription blown up to a wall-sized poster, chances are good the police will find a reason to take your entire operation away if they come knocking. Getty "This smells like either a skunk farm or the devil's lettuce!"↓And that's just the cops. What about the threat of home invasion from all those shady types who know your house is full of weed (and, they probably assume, cash)? Growers have been murdered during the process of armed robbery -- and that wasn't an isolated incident.Then when the police respond to that crime, they start treating you like a criminal, too. It happened to Steve Sarich, a weed activist from Finn Hill, Washington. Five men broke into his home and shot him. When police arrived and spotted his (perfectly legal) grow operation, the crime scene turned into a marijuana raid. And that's not even the most depressing thing about growing weed for a living. That would be the fact that ...1The Payoff Sucks After going through all of the bullshit listed here so far, a successful grow operation should come out the other end with five to six pounds of sweet, delicious weed to show for it. Guess what, though: That shit don't buy groceries, and it certainly doesn't pay the bills. So the next step is to take the harvested crops to a dispensary and cash in. And this is precisely where dreams of riches die for most people who enter into this industry. Getty "I'm sorry sir, but I can't take a jay in exchange for coffee." As shitty luck would have it, legal cannabis dispensaries don't pay very well. No matter how great the product, the guy behind the counter at that dispensary has seen it and better a million times before. These are licensed professionals doing stacks of paperwork and constantly watching their legal asses as much as anyone entering into the profession should.↓At the end of the day, after taxes, prices might not reach much higher than $2,800 a pound. If that sounds like a pretty sweet deal, let this message board full of people who would know far more about the matter reassure you how incorrect you are. When you factor in the exorbitant costs involved with keeping a grow operation going, $2,800 per pound amounts to about $4,200 in profit per month ... and that's before taxes (unless you're one of those legal weed farmers who doesn't bother paying taxes, in which case, enjoy prison) and before splitting the money with all those people brought on to help. And that's if everything goes perfectly, which it never does. Getty Sometimes the pot decides to smoke itself. Think about all of the factors earlier -- from the seed to the lights to the water to the temperature to the cops to plain old Murphy's Law. If any one of them goes wrong, it can ruin an entire crop. At best that's costing a few thousand dollars in baby plants, at worst costing an entire mature crop, meaning the loss of all the time and the rent and the power bills that went into growing it. And all of this occurs while you're trying to pay off those start-up costs we mentioned earlier. You're learning on the job, and every mistake costs money. It's at this point that most people decide all the time and effort wasn't worth it, leaving them with not much more than a few years of empty space on the "previous jobs" section of their resume. That might not all sound bad, except you're not 18 years old and behind the gym smoking pot anymore, you're an adult now, and you've come to the painful realization that you permanently crippled your ability to buy a home and become an actual member of society anytime in the next few years.Getty "We're really looking for someone with more of a background in Coke dealing, but thanks for your time. "Buzz kills don't get much bigger than that. For more insider insights, check out Why Tech Support Sucks: A Look Behind the Scenes and The 5 Most Impractical Aspects of Superhero Costumes.

THE QUR’AANANDMODERN SCIENCECOMPATIBLE OR INCOMPATIBLE?ByDr. ZAKIR NAIKISLAMIC RESEARCH FOUNDATIONWe grant you an open license to reproduce or translate this booklet as well as every other publication of ours. You may publish them for sale or for free distribution without any prior permission. We ask for no royalties or ‘copyrights.’To make good quality reprint, you may contact us to obtain free copies of computer print files of this book.It will be appreciated if a few copies of the reproduction are posted to us for our records.1st print March 2000 – 10,000 copies.THE QUR’AANAND MODERN SCIENCECOMPATIBLE OR INCOMPATIBLE?ByDr. ZAKIR NAIKISLAMIC RESEARCH FOUNDATIONCONTENTSIn the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most MercifulINTRODUCTIONEto understand Nature, his own place in the scheme of Creation and the ver since the dawn of human life on this planet, Man has always soughtpurpose of Life itself. In this quest for Truth, spanning many centuries and diverse civilizations, organized religion has shaped human life and determined to a large extent, the course of history. While some religions have been based on books, claimed by their adherents to be divinely inspired, others have relied solely on human experience.Al-Qur’aan, the main source of the Islamic faith, is a book believed by Muslims, to be of completely Divine origin. Muslims also believe that it contains guidance for all mankind. Since the message of the Qur’aan is believed to be for all times, it should be relevant to every age. Does the Qur’aan pass this test? In this booklet, I intend to give an objective analysis of the Muslim belief regarding the Divine origin of the Qur’aan, in the light of established scientific discoveries.There was a time, in the history of world civilization, when ‘miracles’, or what was perceived to be a miracle, took precedence over human reason and logic. But how do we define the term ‘miracle’? A miracle is anything that takes place out of the normal course of life and for which humankind has no explanation. However, we must be careful before we accept something as a miracle. An article in ‘The Times of India’ Mumbai, in 1993 reported that ‘a saint’ by the name ‘Baba Pilot’ claimed to have stayed continuously submerged under water in a tank for three consecutive days and nights. However, when reporters wanted to examine the base of the tank of water where he claimed to have performed this ‘miraculous’ feat, he refused to let them do so. He argued by asking as to how one could examine the womb of a mother that gives birth to a child. The ‘Baba’ was hiding something. It was a gimmick simply to gain publicity. Surely, no modern man with even the slightest inkling towards rational thinking would accept such a ‘miracle’. If such false miracles are the tests of divinity, then we would have to accept Mr. P. C. Sorcar, the world famous magician known for his ingenious magical tricks and illusions, as the best God-man.A book, claiming Divine origin, is in effect, claiming to be a miracle. Such a claim should be easily verifiable in any age, according to the standards of that age. Muslims believe, that the Qur’aan is the last and final revelation of God, the miracle of miracles revealed as a mercy to mankind. Let us therefore investigate the veracity of this belief.I would like to thank Brother Musaddique Thange for his editorial assistance.May Allah (swt) reward him for his efforts, AameenTHE CHALLENGE OF THE QUR’AANLiterature and poetry have been instruments of human expression and creativity, in all cultures. The world also witnessed an age when literature and poetry occupied pride of position, similar to that now enjoyed by science and technology.Muslims as well as non-Muslims agree that Al-Qur’aan is Arabic literature par excellence - that it is the best Arabic literature on the face of the earth. The Qur’aan, challenges mankind in the following verses:“And if ye are in doubt As to what We have revealed From time to time to Our Servant, then produce a Soorah Like thereunto; And call your witnesses or helpers (If there are any) besides Allah, If your (doubts) are true. But if ye cannot –And of a surety you cannot. hen fear the Fire Whose fuel is Men and Stones – Which is prepared for those Who rejectFaith.” [Al-Qur’aan 2:23-24] [1]The same notation is followed throughout the book. References and translation of the Qur’aan are from the translation of the Qur’aan by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, new revised edition, 1989, published by Amana Corporation, Maryland, USA.The challenge of the Qur’aan, is to produce a single Soorah (chapter) like the Soorahs it contains. The same challenge is repeated in the Qur’aan several times. The challenge to produce a Soorah, which, in beauty, eloquence, depth and meaning is at least somewhat similar to a Qur’aanic Soorah remains unmet to this day. A modern rational man, however, would never accept a religious scripture, which says, in the best possible poetic language, that the world is flat. This is because we live in an age, where human reason, logic and science are given primacy. Not many would accept the Qur’aan’s extraordinarily beautiful language, as proof of its Divine origin. Any scripture claiming to be a divine revelation must also be acceptable on the strength of its own reason and logic.According to the famous physicist and Nobel Prize winner, Albert Einstein, “Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.” Let us therefore study the Qur’aan, and analyze whether The Qur’aan and Modern Science are compatible or incompatible?The Qur’aan is not a book of science but a book of ‘signs’, i.e. ayats. There are more than six thousand ‘signs’ in the Qur’aan of which more than a thousand deal with science. We all know that many a times Science takes a ‘U-turn’. In this book I have considered only established scientific facts and not mere hypotheses and theories that are based on assumptions and are not backed by proof.I. ASTRONOMYCREATION OF THE UNIVERSE: ‘THE BIG BANG’The creation of the universe is explained by astrophysicists in a widely accepted phenomenon, popularly known as the ‘Big Bang’. It is supported by observational and experimental data gathered by astronomers and astrophysicists for decades. According to the ‘Big Bang’, the whole universe was initially one big mass (Primary Nebula). Then there was a ‘Big Bang’ (Secondary Separation) which resulted in the formation of Galaxies. These then divided to form stars, planets, the sun, the moon, etc. The origin of the universe was unique and the probability of it occurring by ‘chance’ is zero. The Qur’aan contains the following verse, regarding the origin of the universe: “Do not the Unbelievers see That the heavens and the earth Were joined together (as one Unit of Creation), before We clove them asunder?” [Al-Qur’aan 21:30]The striking congruence between the Qur’aanic verse and the ‘Big Bang’ is inescapable! How could a book, which first appeared in the deserts of Arabia 1400 years ago, contain this profound scientific truth?THERE WAS AN INITIAL GASEOUS MASS BEFORE THE CREATION OF GALAXIESScientists say that before the galaxies in the universe were formed, celestial matter was initially in the form of gaseous matter. In short, huge gaseous matter or clouds were present before the formation of the galaxies. To describe initial celestial matter, the word ‘smoke’ is more appropriate than gas. The following Qur’aanic verse refers to this state of the universe by the word dhukhanwhich means smoke.“Moreover, He Comprehended In His design the sky, And it had been (as) smoke: He said to it And to the earth: ‘Come ye together, Willingly or unwillingly.’ They said: ‘We do come (Together), in willing obedience.’” [Al-Qur’aan 41:11]Again, this fact is a corollary to the ‘Big Bang’ and was not known to the Arabs during the time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). What then, could have been the source of this knowledge?THE SPHERICAL SHAPE OF THE EARTHIn early times, people believed that the earth is flat. For centuries, men were afraid to venture out too far, lest they should fall off the edge. Sir Francis Drake was the first person who proved that the earth is spherical when he sailed around it in 1597. Consider the following Qur’aanic verse regarding the alternation of day and night: “Seest thou not that Allah merges Night into Day And He merges Day into Night?” [Al-Qur’aan 31:29]Merging here means that the night slowly and gradually changes to day and vice versa. This phenomenon can only take place if the earth is spherical. If the earth was flat, there would have been a sudden change from night to day and from day to night.The following verse also alludes to the spherical shape of the earth: “He created the heavens And the earth In true (proportions): He makes the Night Overlap the Day, and the Day Overlap the Night.” [Al-Qur’aan39:5]The Arabic word used here is Kawwara meaning ‘to overlap’ or ‘to coil’– the way a turban is wound around the head. The overlapping or coiling of the day and night can only take place if the earth is spherical.The earth is not exactly round like a ball, but geo-spherical i.e. it is flattened at the poles. The following verse contains a description of the earth’s shape: “And the earth, moreover, Hath He made egg shaped.” [2][Al-Qur’aan79:30]The Arabic word for egg here is dahaha, which means an ostrich-egg. The shape of an ostrich-egg resembles the geo-spherical shape of the earth. Thus the Qur’aan correctly describes the shape of the earth, though the prevalent notion when the Qur’aan was revealed was that the earth is flat.THE LIGHT OF THE MOON IS REFLECTED LIGHTIt was believed by earlier civilizations that the moon emanates its own light. Science now tells us that the light of the moon is reflected light. However this fact was mentioned in the Qur’aan 1,400 years ago in the following verse:.“Blessed is He Who made Constellations in the skies, And placed therein a Lamp And a Moon giving light.” [Al-Qur’aan 25:61]The Arabic word for the sun in the Qur’aan, is shams. It is referred to as siraaj, which means a ‘torch’ or as wahhaaj which means ‘a blazing lamp’ or as diya which means ‘shining glory’. All three descriptions are appropriate to the sun, since it generates intense heat and light by its internal combustion. The Arabic word for the moon is qamar and it is described in the Qur’aan as muneer, which is a body that gives nur i.e. light. Again, the Qur’aanic description matches perfectly with the true nature of the moon, which does not give off light itself and is an inert body that reflects the light of the sun. Not once in the Qur’aan, is the moon mentioned as siraaj, wahhaaj or diya or the sun as nur or muneer. This implies that the Qur’aan recognizes the difference between the nature of sunlight and moonlight.Consider the following verses related to the nature of light from the sun and the moon: “It is He who made the sun To be a shining glory And the moon to be a light (Of beauty).” [Al-Qur’aan 10:5]“See ye not How Allah has created The seven heavens One above another, “And made the moon A light in their midst, and made the sun As a (Glorious) Lamp?” [Al-Qur’aan 71:15-16]THE SUN ROTATESFor a long time European philosophers and scientists believed that the earth stood still in the centre of the universe and every other body including the sun moved around it. In the West, this geocentric concept of the universe was prevalent right from the time of Ptolemy in the second century B.C. In 1512, Nicholas Copernicus put forward his Heliocentric Theory of Planetary Motion, which asserted that the sun is motionless at the centre of the solar system with the planets revolving around it.In 1609, the German scientist Yohannus Keppler published the ‘Astronomia Nova’. In this he concluded that not only do the planets move in elliptical orbits around the sun, they also rotate upon their axes at irregular speeds. With this knowledge it became possible for European scientists to explain correctly many of the mechanisms of the solar system including the sequence of night and day.After these discoveries, it was thought that the Sun was stationary and did not rotate about its axis like the Earth. I remember having studied this fallacy from Geography books during my school days. Consider the following Qur’aanic verse: “It is He Who created The Night and the Day, And the sun and the moon: All (the celestial bodies) Swim along, each in its Rounded course.” [Al-Qur’aan 21:33]The Arabic word used in the above verse is yasbahûn . The word yasbahûn is derived from the word sabaha. It carries with it the idea of motion that comes from any moving body. If you use the word for a man on the ground, it would not mean that he is rolling but would mean he is walking or running. If you use the word for a man in water it would not mean that he is floating but would mean that he is swimming.Similarly, if you use the word yasbah for a celestial body such as the sun it would not mean that it is only flying through space but would mean that it is also rotating as it goes through space. Most of the school textbooks have incorporated the fact that the sun rotates about its axis. The rotation of the sun about its own axis can be proved with the help of an equipment that projects the image of the sun on the table top so that one can examine the image of the sun without being blinded. It is noticed that the sun has spots which complete a circular motion once every 25 days i.e. the sun takes approximately 25 days to rotate around its axis.In fact, the sun travels through space at roughly 150 miles per second, and takes about 200 million years to complete one revolution around the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.“It is not permitted To the Sun to catch up The Moon, nor can The Night outstrip the Day: Each (just) swims along In (its own) orbit (According toLaw).” [Al-Qur’aan 36:40]This verse mentions an essential fact discovered by modern astronomy, i.e. the existence of the individual orbits of the Sun and the Moon, and their journey through space with their own motion. The ‘fixed place’ towards, which the sun travels, carrying with it the solar system, has been located exactly by modern astronomy. It has been given a name, the Solar Apex. The solar system is indeed moving in space towards a point situated in the constellation of Hercules (alpha Layer) whose exact location is firmly established.The moon rotates around its axis in the same duration that it takes to revolve around the earth. It takes approximately 29½ days to complete one rotation. One cannot help but be amazed at the scientific accuracy of the Qur’aanic verses. Should we not ponder over the question: “What was the source of knowledge contained in the Qur’aan?”THE SUN WILL EXTINGUISH AFTER A CERTAIN PERIODThe light of the sun is due to a chemical process on its surface that has been taking place continuously for the past five billion years. It will come to an end at some point of time in the future when the sun will be totally extinguished leading to extinction of all life on earth. Regarding the impermanence of the sun’s existence the Qur’aan says: “And the Sun Runs its course For a period determined For it; that is The decree of (Him) The exalted in Might, The All-Knowing.” [Al-Qur’aan 36:38] [3]The Arabic word used here is mustaqarr, which means a place or time that is determined. Thus the Qur’aan says that the sun runs towards a determined place, and will do so only up to a pre-determined period of time – meaning that it will end or extinguish.THE PRESENCE OF INTERSTELLAR MATTERSpace outside organized astronomical systems was earlier assumed to be a vacuum . Astrophysicists later discovered the presence of bridges of matter in this interstellar space. These bridges of matter are called plasma, and consist of completely ionized gas containing equal number of free electrons and positive ions. Plasma is sometimes called the fourth state of matter (besides the three known states viz. solid, liquid and gas). The Qur’aan mentions the presence of this interstellar material in the following verse: “He Who created the heavens And the earth and all That is between.” [Al-Qur’aan 25:59]It would be ridiculous, for anybody to even suggest that the presence of interstellar galactic material was known 1400 years ago.THE EXPANDING UNIVERSEIn 1925, an American astronomer by the name of Edwin Hubble, provided observational evidence that all galaxies are receding from one another, which implies that the universe is expanding. The expansion of the universe is now an established scientific fact. This is what Al-Qur’aan says regarding the nature of the universe: “With the power and skill Did We construct The Firmament: For it is We Who create The vastness of Space.” [Al-Qur’aan51:47]The Arabic word mûsi‘ûn is correctly translated as ‘expanding it’, and it refers to the creation of the expanding vastness of the universe. Stephen Hawking, in his book, ‘A Brief History of Time’, says, “The discovery that the universe is expanding was one of the great intellectual revolutions of the20th century.”The Qur’aan mentioned the expansion of the universe, before man even learnt to build a telescope! Some may say that the presence of astronomical facts in the Qur’aan is not surprising since the Arabs were advanced in the field of astronomy. They are correct in acknowledging the advancement of the Arabs in the field of astronomy. However they fail to realize that the Qur’aan was revealed centuries before the Arabs excelled in astronomy. Moreover many of the scientific facts mentioned above regarding astronomy, such as the origin of the universe with a Big Bang, were not known to the Arabs even at the peak of their scientific advancement. The scientific facts mentioned in the Qur’aan are therefore not due to the Arabs’ advancement in astronomy. Indeed, the reverse is true. The Arabs advanced in astronomy, because astronomy occupies a place in the Qur’aan.II. PHYSICSTHE EXISTENCE OF SUBATOMIC PARTICLESIn ancient times a well-known theory by the name of ‘Theory of Atomism’ was widely accepted. This theory was originally proposed by the Greeks, in particular by a man called Democritus, who lived about 23 centuries ago. Democritus and the people that came after him, assumed that the smallest unit of matter was the atom. The Arabs used to believe the same. The Arabic word dharrahmost commonly meant an atom. In recent times modern science has discovered that it is possible to split even an atom. That the atom can be split further is a development of the 20th century. Fourteen centuries ago this concept would have appeared unusual even to an Arab. For him the dharrah was the limit beyond which one could not go. The following Qur’aanic verse however, refuses to acknowledge this limit: “The Unbelievers say, ‘Never to us will come The Hour’: say, ‘Nay! But most surely, By my Lord, it will come Upon you – by Him Who knows the unseen – From Whom is not hidden The least little atom In the Heavens or on earth: Nor is there anything less Than that, or greater, but Is in the Record Perspicuous.’”[Al-Qur’aan 34:3] [4]This verse refers to the Omniscience of God, His knowledge of all things, hidden or apparent. It then goes further and says that God is aware of everything, including what is smaller or bigger than the atom. Thus the verse clearly shows that it is possible for something smaller than the atom to exist, a fact discovered only recently by modern science.III. GEOGRAPHYTHE WATER CYCLEIn 1580, Bernard Palissy was the first man to describe the present day concept of ‘water cycle’. He described how water evaporates from the oceans and cools to form clouds. The clouds move inland where they rise, condense and fall as rain. This water gathers as lakes and streams and flows back to the ocean in a continuous cycle. In the 7th century B.C., Thales of Miletus believed that surface spray of the oceans was picked up by the wind and carried inland to fall as rain. In earlier times people did not know the source of underground water. They thought the water of the oceans, under the effect of winds, was thrust towards the interior of the continents. They also believed that the water returned by a secret passage, or the Great Abyss. This passage is connected to the oceans and has been called the ‘Tartarus’, since Plato’s time. Even Descartes, a great thinker of the eighteenth century, subscribed to this view. Till the nineteenth century, Aristotle’s theory was prevalent. According to this theory, water was condensed in cool mountain caverns and formed underground lakes that fed springs. Today, we know that the rainwater that seeps into the cracks of the ground is responsible for this.The water cycle is described by the Qur’aan in the following verses: “Seest thou not that Allah Sends down rain from The sky, and leads it Through springs in the earth? Then He causes to grow, Therewith, produce of various Colours.” [Al-Qur’aan 39:21]“He sends down rain From the sky And with it gives life to The earth after it is dead: Verily in that are Signs For those who are wise.” [Al-Qur’aan 30:24]“And We send down water From the sky according to (Due) measure, and We cause it To soak in the soil; And We certainly are able To drain it off (with ease).” [Al-Qur’aan 23:18]No other text dating back 1400 years ago gives such an accurate description of the water cycle.WINDS IMPREGNATE THE CLOUDS“And We send the fecundating winds, Then cause the rain to descendFrom the sky, therewith providing You with water (in abundance).”[AlQur’aan 15:22]The Arabic word used here is lawâqih, which is the plural of laqih from laqaha, which means to impregnate or fecundate. In this context, impregnate means that the wind pushes the clouds together increasing the condensation that causes lightning and thus rain. A similar description is found in the Qur’aan: “It is Allah Who sends The Winds, and they raise The Clouds: then does He Spread them in the sky As He wills, and break them Into fragments, until thou seest Raindrops issue from the midst Thereof: then when He has Made them reach such Of His servants as He wills, Behold, they do rejoice!” [Al-Qur’aan 30:48]The Qur’aanic descriptions are absolutely accurate and agree perfectly with modern data on hydrology. The water cycle is described in several verses of the Glorious Qur’aan, including 3:9, 7:57, 13:17, 25:48- 49, 36:34, 50:9-11, 56:68-70, 67:30 and 86:11.IV. GEOLOGYMOUNTAINS ARE LIKE PEGS (STAKES)In Geology, the phenomenon of ‘folding’ is a recently discovered fact. Folding is responsible for the formation of mountain ranges. The earth’s crust, on which we live, is like a solid shell, while the deeper layers are hot and fluid, and thus inhospitable to any form of life. It is also known that the stability of the mountains is linked to the phenomenon of folding, for it was the folds that were to provide foundations for the reliefs that constitute the mountains. Geologists tell us that the radius of the Earth is about 3,750 miles and the crust on which we live is very thin, ranging between 1 to 30 miles. Since the crust is thin, it has a high possibility of shaking. Mountains act like stakes or tent pegs that hold the earth’s crust and give it stability. The Qur’aan contains exactly such a description in the following verse: “Have We not made The earth as a wide Expanse, And the mountains as pegs?” [AlQur’aan 78:6-7]The word awtad means stakes or pegs (like those used to anchor a tent); they are the deep foundations of geological folds. A book named ‘Earth’ is considered as a basic reference textbook on geology in many universities around the world. One of the authors of this book is Frank Press, who was the President of the Academy of Sciences in the USA for 12 years and was the Science Advisor to former US President Jimmy Carter. In this book he illustrates the mountain in a wedge-shape and the mountain itself as a small part of the whole, whose root is deeply entrenched in the ground.[5] According to Dr. Press, the mountains play an important role in stabilizing the crust of the earth.The Qur’aan clearly mentions the function of the mountains in preventing the earth from shaking: “And We have set on the earth Mountains standing firm, Lest it should shake with them.” [Al-Qur’aan 21:31]The Qur’aanic descriptions are in perfect agreement with modern geological data.MOUNTAINS FIRMLY FIXEDThe surface of the earth is broken into many rigid plates that are about 100 km in thickness. These plates float on a partially molten region called aesthenosphere. Mountain formations occur at the boundary of the plates. The earth’s crust is 5 km thick below oceans, about 35 km thick below flat continental surfaces and almost 80 km thick below great mountain ranges. These are the strong foundations on which mountains stand. The Qur’aan also speaks about the strong mountain foundations in the following verse: “And the mountains Hath He firmly fixed.” [Al-Qur’aan 79:32] [6]V. OCEANOLOGYBARRIER BETWEEN SWEET AND SALT WATERSConsider the following Qur’aanic verses: “He has let free the two bodies Of flowing water, Meeting together: Between them is a Barrier Which they do not transgress.” [Al-Qur’aan 55:19-20]In the Arabic text the word barzakh means a barrier or a partition. This barrier is not a physical partition. The Arabic word maraja literally means ‘they both meet and mix with each other’. Early commentators of the Qur’aan were unable to explain the two opposite meanings for the two bodies of water, i.e. they meet and mix, and at the same time, there is a barrier between them. Modern Science has discovered that in the places where two different seas meet, there is a barrier between them. This barrier divides the two seas so that each sea has its own temperature, salinity and density. [7]Oceanologists are now in a better position to explain this verse. There is a slanted unseen water barrier between the two seas through which water from one sea passes to the other.But when the water from one sea enters the other sea, it loses its distinctive characteristic and becomes homogenized with the other water. In a way this barrier serves as a transitional homogenizing area for the two waters. This scientific phenomenon mentioned in the Qur’aan was also confirmed by Dr. William Hay who is a well-known marine scientist and Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado, U.S.A. The Qur’aan mentions this phenomenon also in the following verse: “And made a separating bar between the two bodies Of flowing water?” [Al-Qur’aan27:61]This phenomenon occurs in several places, including the divider between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean at Gibralter. But when the Qur’aan speaks about the divider between fresh and salt water, it mentions the existence of “a forbidding partition” with the barrier. “It is He Who has Let free the two bodies Of flowing water: One palatable and sweet, And the other salty and bitter; Yet has He Made a barrier between them, And a partition that is forbidden To be passed.” [Al-Qur’aan 25:53]Modern science has discovered that in estuaries, where fresh (sweet) and saltwater meet, the situation is somewhat different from that found in places where two seas meet. It has been discovered that what distinguishes fresh water from salt water in estuaries is a “pycnocline zone with a marked density discontinuity separating the two layers.” [8]This partition (zone of separation) has salinity different from both the fresh water and the salt water. [9][10]This phenomenon occurs in several places, including Egypt, where the river Nile flows into the Mediterranean Sea.DARKNESS IN THE DEPTHS OF THE OCEANProf. Durga Rao is an expert in the field of Marine Geology and was a professor at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah. He was asked to comment on the following verse: “Or (the Unbelievers’ state) Is like the depths of darkness In a vast deep ocean, Overwhelmed with billow Topped by billow, Topped by (dark) clouds: Depths of darkness, one Above another: if a man Stretches out his hand, He can hardly see it! For any to whom Allah Giveth not light, there is no light!” [Al-Qur’aan 24:40]Prof. Rao said that scientists have only now been able to confirm, with the help of modern equipment that there is darkness in the depths of the ocean. Humans are unable to dive unaided underwater for more than 20 to 30 meters, and cannot survive in the deep oceanic regions at a depth of more than 200 meters. This verse does not refer to all seas because not every sea can be described as having accumulated darkness layered one over another. It refers especially to a deep sea or deep ocean, as the Qur’aan says, “darkness in a vast deep ocean”. This layered darkness in a deep ocean is the result of two causes:1Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red (VIBGYOR). The light ray A light ray is composed of seven colours. These seven colours are Violet,undergoes refraction when it hits water. The upper 10 to 15 metres of water absorb the red colour. Therefore if a diver is 25 metres under water and gets wounded, he would not be able to see the red colour of his blood, because the red colour does not reach this depth. Similarly orange rays are absorbed at 30 to 50 metres, yellow at 50 to 100 metres, green at 100 to 200 metres, and finally, blue beyond 200 metres and violet and indigo above 200 metres. Due to successive disappearance of colour, one layer after another, the ocean progressively becomes darker, i.e. darkness takes place in layers of light. Below a depth of 1000 meters there is complete darkness. [11]2thus causing a layer of darkness under the clouds. This is the first layer . The sun’s rays are absorbed by clouds, which in turn scatter light raysof darkness. When light rays reach the surface of the ocean they are reflected by the wave surface giving it a shiny appearance. Therefore it is the waves which reflect light and cause darkness. The unreflected light penetrates into the depths of the ocean. Therefore the ocean has two parts. The surface characterized by light and warmth and the depth characterized by darkness. The surface is further separated from the deep part of the ocean by waves. The internal waves cover the deep waters of seas and oceans because the deep waters have a higher density than the waters above them. The darkness begins below the internal waves. Even the fish in the depths of the ocean cannot see; their only source of light is from their own bodies.The Qur’aan rightly mentions: “Darkness in a vast deep ocean overwhelmed with waves topped by waves”.In other words, above these waves there are more types of waves, i.e. those found on the surface of the ocean. The Qur’aanic verse continues, “topped by(dark) clouds; depths of darkness, one above another.”These clouds as explained are barriers one over the other that further cause darkness by absorption of colours at different levels.Prof. Durga Rao concluded by saying, “1400 years ago a normal human being could not explain this phenomenon in so much detail. Thus the information must have come from a supernatural source”.VI. BIOLOGYEVERY LIVING THING IS MADE OF WATERConsider the following Qur’aanic verse: “Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one Unit of Creation), before We clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing.Will they not then believe?” [Al-Qur’aan 21:30]Only after advances have been made in science, do we now know that cytoplasm, the basic substance of the cell is made up of 80% water. Modern research has also revealed that most organisms consist of 50% to 90% water and that every living entity requires water for its existence. Was it possible 14 centuries ago for any human-being to guess that every living being was made of water? Moreover would such a guess be conceivable by a human being in the deserts of Arabia where there has always been scarcity of water? The following verse refers to the creation of animals from water: “And Allah hascreated Every animal from water.” [Al-Qur’aan 24:45]The following verse refers to the creation of human beings from water: “It isHe Who has Created man from water: Then has He established Relationships of lineage And marriage: for thy Lord Has power (over all things).” [Al-Qur’aan 25:54]VII. BOTANYPLANTS CREATED IN PAIRS, MALE AND FEMALEPreviously humans did not know that plants too have male and female gender distinctions. Botany states that every plant has a male and female gender. Even the plants that are unisexual have distinct elements of both male and female. “‘And has sent Down water from the sky.’ With it have We produced Diverse pairs of plants Each separate from the others.” [AlQur’aan 20:53]FRUITS CREATED IN PAIRS, MALE AND FEMALE“And fruit Of every kind He made In pairs, two and two.” [Al-Qur’aan13:3]Fruit is the end product of reproduction of the superior plants. The stage preceding fruit is the flower, which has male and female organs (stamens and ovules). Once pollen has been carried to the flower, they bear fruit, which in turn matures and frees its seed. All fruits therefore imply the existence of male and female organs; a fact that is mentioned in the Qur’aan.In certain species, fruit can come from non-fertilized flowers (parthenocarpic fruit) e.g. bananas, certain types of pineapple, fig, orange, vine, etc. They also have definite sexual characteristics.EVERYTHING MADE IN PAIRS“And of everything We have created pairs.” [Al-Qur’aan 51:49]This refers to things other than humans, animals, plants and fruits. It may also be referring to a phenomenon like electricity in which the atoms consist of negatively – and positively – charged electrons and protons.“Glory to Allah, Who created In pairs all things that The earth produces, as well as Their own (human) kind And (other) things of which Theyhave no knowledge.” [Al-Qur’aan 36:36]The Qur’aan here says that everything is created in pairs, including things that the humans do not know at present and may discover later.VIII. ZOOLOGYANIMALS AND BIRDS LIVE IN COMMUNITIES“There is not an animal (That lives) on the earth, Nor a being that flies On its wings, but (forms Part of) communities like you.” [Al-Qur’aan6:38]Research has shown that animals and birds live in communities, i.e. they organize, and live and work together.THE FLIGHT OF BIRDSRegarding the flight of birds the Qur’aan says: “Do they not look at The birds, held poised In the midst of (the air And) the sky? Nothing Holds them up but (the power Of) Allah. Verily in this Are Signs for those who believe.” [Al-Qur’aan 16:79]A similar message is repeated in the Qur’aan in the verse: “Do they not observe The birds above them, Spreading their wings And folding them in? None can uphold them Except (Allah) Most Gracious: Truly it is He That watches over all things.” [Al-Qur’aan 67:19]The Arabic word amsaka literally means, ‘to put one’s hand on, seize, hold, hold someone back,’ which expresses the idea that Allah holds the bird up in His power. These verses stress the extremely close dependence of the birds’ behaviour on Divine order. Modern scientific data has shown the degree of perfection attained by certain species of birds with regard to the programming of their movements. It is only the existence of a migratory programme in the genetic code of the birds that can explain the long and complicated journey that very young birds, without any prior experience and without any guide, are able to accomplish. They are also able to return to the departure point on a definite date.Prof. Hamburger in his book ‘Power and Fragility’ gives the example of ‘mutton-bird’ that lives in the Pacific with its journey of over 15,000 miles in the shape of figure ‘8’. It makes this journey over a period of 6 months and comes back to its departure point with a maximum delay of one week. The highly complicated instructions for such a journey have to be contained in the birds’ nervous cells. They are definitely programmed. Should we not reflect on the identity of this ‘Programmer’?THE BEE“And thy Lord taught the Bee To build its cells in hills, On trees, and in (men’s) habitations; Then to eat of all The produce (of the earth), And find with skill the spacious Paths of its Lord.” [Al-Qur’aan 16:68-69]Von-Frisch received the Nobel Prize in 1973 for his research on the behaviour and communication of the bees. The bee, after discovering any new garden or flower, goes back and tells its fellow bees the exact direction and map to get there, which is known as ‘bee dance’. The meanings of this insect’s movements that are intended to transmit information between worker bees have been discovered scientifically using photography and other methods. The Qur’aan mentions in the above verse how the bee finds with skill the spacious paths of its Lord.The worker bee or the soldier bee is a female bee. In Soorah Al-Nahl chapter no. 16, verses 68 and 69 the gender used for the bee is the female gender (fa’slukîand kulî), indicating that the bee that leaves its home for gathering food is a female bee. In other words the soldier or worker bee is a female bee. In fact, in Shakespeare’s play, “Henry the Fourth”, some of the characters speak about bees and mention that the bees are soldiers and that they have a king. That is what people thought in Shakespearean times. They thought that the worker bees are male bees and they go home and are answerable to a king bee. This, however, is not true. The worker bees are females and they do not report to a king bee but to a queen bee. But it took modern investigations in the last 300 years to discover this.SPIDER’S WEB / HOME IS FRAGILEThe Qur’aan mentions in Soorah Al-‘Ankabût, “The parable of those who Take protectors other than Allah Is that of the Spider, Who builds (to itself) A house; but truly The flimsiest of houses Is the Spider’s house – If they but knew.” [Al-Qur’aan 29:41]Besides giving the physical description of the spider’s web as being very flimsy, delicate and weak, the Qur’aan also stresses on the flimsiness of the relationship in the spider’s house, where the female spider many a times kills its mate, the male spider.LIFESTYLE AND COMMUNICATION OF ANTSConsider the following Qur’aanic verse: “And before Solomon were marshaled His hosts – of Jinns and men And birds, and they were all Kept in order and ranks. “At length, when they came To a (lowly) valley of ants, One of the ants said: ‘O ye ants, get into Your habitations, lest Solomon And his hosts crush you (Under foot) without knowing it.’” [Al-Qur’aan 27:17-18]In the past, some people would have probably mocked at the Qur’aan, taking it to be a fairy tale book in which ants talk to each other and communicate sophisticated messages. In recent times, research has shown us several facts about the lifestyle of ants, which were not known earlier to humankind. Research has shown that the animals or insects whose lifestyle is closest in resemblance to the lifestyle of human beings are the ants. This can be seen from the following findings regarding ants:(a) The ants bury their dead in a manner similar to the humans.(b) They have a sophisticated system of division of labour, whereby they have managers, supervisors, foremen, workers, etc.(c) Once in a while they meet among themselves to have a ‘chat’.(d) They have an advanced method of communication among themselves.(e) They hold regular markets wherein they exchange goods.(f) They store grains for long periods in winter and if the grain begins to bud, they cut the roots, as if they understand that if they leave it to grow, it will rot. If the grains stored by them get wet due to rains, they take these grains out into the sunlight to dry, and once these are dry, they take them back inside as though they know that humidity will cause development of root systems and thereafter rotting of the grain.IX. MEDICINEHONEY HAS HEALING PROPERTIESThe bee assimilates juices of various kinds of flowers and fruit and forms within its body the honey, which it stores in its cells of wax. Only a couple of centuries ago man came to know that honey comes from the belly of the bee. This fact was mentioned in the Qur’aan 1,400 years ago in the following verse: “There issues From within their bodies A drink of varying colours,Wherein is healing for men.” [Al-Qur’aan 16:69]We are now aware that honey has a healing property and also a mild antiseptic property. The Russians used honey to cover their wounds in World War II. The wound would retain moisture and would leave very little scar tissue. Due to the density of honey, no fungus or bacteria would grow in the wound. A person suffering from an allergy of a particular plant may be given honey from that plant so that the person develops resistance to that allergy. Honey is rich in fructose and vitamin K. Thus the knowledge contained in the Qur’aan regarding honey, its origin and properties, was far ahead of the time it was revealed.X. PHYSIOLOGYBLOOD CIRCULATION AND THE PRODUCTION OF MILKThe Qur’aan was revealed 600 years before the Muslim scientist Ibn Nafees described the circulation of the blood and 1,000 years before William Harwey brought this understanding to the Western world. Roughly thirteen centuries before it was known what happens in the intestines to ensure that organs are nourished by the process of digestive absorption, a verse in the Qur’aan described the source of the constituents of milk, in conformity with these notions.To understand the Qur’aanic verse concerning the above concepts, it is important to know that chemical reactions occur in the intestines and that, from there, substances extracted from food pass into the blood stream via a complex system; sometimes by way of the liver, depending on their chemical nature. The blood transports them to all the organs of the body, among which are the milk-producing mammary glands.In simple terms, certain substances from the contents of the intestines enter into the vessels of the intestinal wall itself, and these substances are transported by the blood stream to the various organs.This concept must be fully appreciated if we wish to understand the following verse in the Qur’aan: “And verily in cattle there is A lesson for you. We give you to drink Of what is inside their bodies, Coming from a conjunction Between the contents of the Intestine and the blood, A milk pure and pleasant for Those who drink it.” [Al-Qur’aan 16:66] [12]“And in cattle (too) ye Have an instructive example: From within their bodies We produce (milk) for you To drink; there are, in them, (Besides), numerous (other) Benefits for you; And of their (meat) ye eat.” [Al-Qur’aan 23:21]The Qur’aanic description of the production of milk in cattle is strikingly similar to what modern physiology has discovered.XI. EMBRYOLOGYMAN IS CREATED FROM ALAQ A LEECH-LIKE SUBSTANCEA few years ago a group of Arabs collected all information concerning embryology from the Qur’aan, and followed the instruction of the Qur’aan:“If ye realise this not, ask Of those who possess the Message.”[AlQur’aan 16:43 & 21:7]All the information from the Qur’aan so gathered, was translated into English and presented to Prof. (Dr.) Keith Moore, who was the Professor of Embryology and Chairman of the Department of Anatomy at the University of Toronto, in Canada. At present he is one of the highest authorities in the field of Embryology. He was asked to give his opinion regarding the information present in the Qur’aan concerning the field of embryology. After carefully examining the translation of the Qur’aanic verses presented to him, Dr. Moore said that most of the information concerning embryology mentioned in the Qur’aan is in perfect conformity with modern discoveries in the field of embryology and does not conflict with them in any way. He added that there were however a few verses, on whose scientific accuracy he could not comment. He could not say whether the statements were true or false, since he himself was not aware of the information contained therein.There was also no mention of this information in modern writings and studies on embryology. One such verse is: “Proclaim! (or Read!) In the name Of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created – Created man, out of A (mere) clot Of congealed blood.” [Al-Qur’aan 96:1-2]The word alaq besides meaning a congealed clot of blood also means something that clings, a leech-like substance. Dr. Keith Moore had no knowledge whether an embryo in the initial stages appears like a leech. To check this out he studied the initial stage of the embryo under a very powerful microscope in his laboratory and compared what he observed with a diagram of a leech and he was astonished at the striking resemblance between the two!In the same manner, he acquired more information on embryology that was hitherto not known to him, from the Qur’aan. Dr. Keith Moore answered about eighty questions dealing with embryological data mentioned in the Qur’aan and Hadith. Noting that the information contained in the Qur’aan and Hadith was in full agreement with the latest discoveries in the field of embryology, Prof. Moore said, “If I was asked these questions thirty years ago, I would not have been able to answer half of them for lack of scientific information”Dr. Keith Moore had earlier authored the book, ‘The Developing Human’. After acquiring new knowledge from the Qur’aan, he wrote, in 1982, the 3rd edition of the same book, ‘The Developing Human’. The book was the recipient of an award for the best medical book written by a single author. This book has been translated into several major languages of the world and is used as a textbook of embryology in the first year of medical studies.In 1981, during the Seventh Medical Conference in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Dr. Moore said, “It has been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements in the Qur’aan about human development. It is clear to me that these statements must have come to Muhammad from God or Allah, because almost all of this knowledge was not discovered until many centuries later. This proves to me that Muhammad must have been a messenger of God or Allah.” [13]Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson, Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, U.S.A., proclaims: “...these Hadiths, sayings of Muhammad (pbuh) could not have been obtained on the basis of the scientific knowledge that was available at the time of the writer (7th century). It follows that not only is there no conflict between genetics and religion (Islam) but in fact religion (Islam) may guide science by adding revelation to some of the traditional scientific approaches… there exist statements in the Qur’aan shown centuries later to be valid which support knowledge in the Qur’aan having been derived fromGod.”MAN CREATED FROM A DROP EMITTED FROM BETWEEN THE BACK BONE AND THE RIBS“Now let man but think From what he is created! He is created from A drop emitted – Proceeding from between The back bone and the ribs.”[Al-Qur’aan 86:5-7]In embryonic stages, the reproductive organs of the male and female, i.e. the testicles and the ovaries, begin their development near the kidney between the spinal column and the eleventh and twelfth ribs. Later they descend; the female gonads (ovaries) stop in the pelvis while the male gonads (testicles) continue their descent before birth to reach the scrotum through the inguinal canal. Even in the adult after the descent of the reproductive organ, these organs receive their nerve supply and blood supply from the Abdominal Aorta, which is in the area between the backbone (spinal column) and the ribs. Even the lymphatic drainage and the venous return goes to the same area.HUMAN BEINGS CREATED FROM NUTFAH(Minute Quantity of Liquid)The Glorious Qur’aan mentions no less than eleven times that the human being is created from nutfah, which means a minute quantity of liquid or a trickle of liquid which remains after emptying a cup. This is mentioned in several verses of the Qur’aan including 22:5 and 23:13. [14]Science has confirmed in recent times that only one out of an average of three million sperms is required for fertilising the ovum. This means that only a 1/three millionth part or 0.00003% of the quantity of sperms that are emitted is required for fertilisation.HUMAN BEINGS CREATED FROM SULALAH(Quintessence of liquid)“And made his progeny From a quintessence Of the nature of A fluid despised.” [Al-Qur’aan 32:8]The Arabic word sulâlah means quintessence or the best part of a whole. We have come to know now that only one single spermatozoon that penetrates the ovum is required for fertilization, out of the several millions produced by man. That one spermatozoon out of several millions, is referred to in the Qur’aan as sulâlah.Sulâlah also means gentle extraction from a fluid. The fluid refers to both male and female germinal fluids containing gametes. Both ovum and sperm are gently extracted from their environments in the process of fertilization.MAN CREATED FROM NUTFATUN AMSHAAJ(Mingled liquids)Consider the following Qur’aanic verse: “Verily We created Man from a drop Of mingled sperm.” [Al-Qur’aan 76:2]The Arabic word nutfatin amshaajin means mingled liquids. According to some commentators of the Qur’aan, mingled liquids refers to the male or female agents or liquids. After mixture of male and female gamete, the zygote still remains nutfah. Mingled liquids can also refer to spermatic fluid that is formed of various secretions that come from various glands.Therefore nutfatin amsaj, i.e. a minute quantity of mingled fluids refers to the male and female gametes (germinal fluids or cells) and part of the surrounding fluids.SEX DETERMINATIONThe sex of a fetus is determined by the nature of the sperm and not the ovum. The sex of the child, whether female or male, depends on whether the 23rd pair of chromosomes is XX or XY respectively. Primarily sex determination occurs at fertilization and depends upon the type of sex chromosome in the sperm that fertilizes an ovum. If it is an ‘X’ bearing sperm that fertilizes the ovum, the fetus is a female and if it is a ‘Y’ bearing sperm then the fetus is a male. “That He did create In pairs – male and female, From a seed when lodged (In its place).” [Al-Qur’aan 53:45-46]The Arabic word nutfah means a minute quantity of liquid and tumnâ means ejaculated or planted. Therefore nutfah specifically refers to sperm because it is ejaculated. The Qur’aan says: “Was he not a drop of sperm emitted (In lowly form)? “Then did he become A clinging clot; Then did (Allah) make And fashion (him) In due proportion. “And of him He made Two sexes, male And female.” [Al-Qur’aan 75:37-39]Here again it is mentioned that a small quantity (drop) of sperm (indicated by the word nutfatan min maniyyin) which comes from the man is responsible for the sex of the fetus.Mothers-in-law in the Indian subcontinent, by and large prefer having male grandchildren and often blame their daughters-in-law if the child is not of the desired sex. If only they knew that the determining factor is the nature of the male sperm and not the female ovum! If they were to blame anybody, they should blame their sons and not their daughters-in-law since both the Qur’aan and Science hold that it is the male fluid that is responsible for the sex of the child!FOETUS PROTECTED BY THREE VEILS OF DARKNESS“He makes you, In the wombs of your mothers, In stages, one after another, In three veils of darkness.” [Al-Qur’aan 39:6]According to Prof. Keith Moore these three veils of darkness in the Qur’aan refer to:(i) anterior abdominal wall of the mother(ii) the uterine wall(iii) the amnio-chorionic membrane.EMBRYONIC STAGES“Man We did create From a quintessence (of clay); Then We placed him As (a drop of) sperm In a place of rest, firmly fixed; Then We made the sperm Into a clot of congealed blood; Then of that clot We made A (foetus) lump; then We Made out of that lump Bones and clothed the bones With flesh; then We developed Out of it another creature. So blessed be Allah, The Best to create!” [Al-Qur’aan 23:12-14]In this verse Allah states that man is created from a small quantity of liquid which is placed in a place of rest, firmly fixed (well established or lodged) for which the Arabic word qarârin makîn is used.The uterus is well protected from the posterior by the spinal column supported firmly by the back muscles. The embryo is further protected by the amniotic sac containing the amniotic fluid. Thus the foetus has a well protected dwelling place. This small quantity of fluid is made into alaqah, meaning something which clings. It also means a leech-like substance. Both descriptions are scientifically acceptable as in the very early stages the foetus clings to the wall and also appears to resemble the leech in shape. It also behaves like a leech (blood sucker) and acquires its blood supply from the mother through the placenta. The third meaning of the word alaqahis a blood clot. During this alaqah stage, which spans the third and fourth week of pregnancy, the blood clots within closed vessels. Hence the embryo acquires the appearance of a blood clot in addition to acquiring the appearance of a leech. In 1677, Hamm and Leeuwenhoek were the first scientists to observe human sperm cells (spermatozoa) using a microscope. They thought that a sperm cell contained a miniature human being which grew in the uterus to form a newborn. This was known as the perforation theory. When scientists discovered that the ovum was bigger than the sperm, it was thought by De Graf and others that the foetus existed in a miniature form in the ovum. Later, in the 18th century Maupertuis propagated the theory of biparental inheritance. The alaqah is transformed into mudghah which means ‘something that is chewed (having teeth marks)’ and also something that is tacky and small which can be put in the mouth like gum. Both these explanations are scientifically correct. Prof. Keith Moore took a piece of plaster seal and made it into the size and shape of the early stage of foetus and chewed it between the teeth to make it into a ‘Mudgha’. He compared this with the photographs of the early stage of foetus. The teeth marks resembled the ‘somites’ which is the early formation of the spinal column.This mudghah is transformed into bones (izâm). The bones are clothed with intact flesh or muscles (lahm). Then Allah makes it into another creature.Prof. Marshall Johnson is one of the leading scientists in US, and is the head of the Department of Anatomy and Director of the Daniel Institute at the Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia in US. He was asked to comment on the verses of the Qur’aan dealing with embryology. He said that the verses of the Qur’aan describing the embryological stages cannot be a coincidence. He said it was probable that Muhammad (pbuh) had a powerful microscope. On being reminded that the Qur’aan was revealed 1400 years ago, and microscopes were invented centuries after the time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), Prof. Johnson laughed and admitted that the first microscope invented could not magnify more than 10 times and could not show a clear picture. Later he said: “I see nothing here in conflict with the concept that Divine intervention was involved when Muhammad (pbuh) recited the Qur’aan.”According to Dr. Keith Moore, the modern classification of embryonic development stages which is adopted throughout the world, is not easily comprehensible, since it identifies stages on a numerical basis i.e. stage I, stage II, etc. The divisions revealed in the Qur’aan are based on distinct and easily identifiable forms or shapes, which the embryo passes through. These are based on different phases of prenatal development and provide elegant scientific descriptions that are comprehensible and practical.Similar embryological stages of human development have been described in the following verses: “Was he not a drop Of sperm emitted (In lowly form)? Then did he become a clinging clot; Then did (Allah) make and fashion (him) In due proportion. And of him He made Two sexes, male and female.” [Al-Qur’aan 75:37-39]“Him Who created thee, fashioned thee in due proportion, And gave thee a just bias; In whatever Form He wills, Does He put thee together.” [AlQur’aan 82:7-8]EMBRYO PARTLY FORMED AND PARTLY UNFORMEDAt the mugdhah stage, if an incision is made in the embryo and the internal organ is dissected, it will be seen that most of them are formed while the others are not yet completely formed.According to Prof. Johnson, if we describe the embryo as a complete creation, then we are only describing that part which is already created. If we describe it as an incomplete creation, then we are only describing that part which is not yet created. So, is it a complete creation or an incomplete creation? There is no better description of this stage of embryogenesis than the Qur’aanic description, “partly formed and partly unformed”, as in the following verse: “We created you Out of dust, then out of Sperm, then out of a leech-like Clot, then out of a morsel Of flesh, partly formed And partly unformed.”[Al-Qur’aan 22:5]Scientifically we know that at this early stage of development there are some cells which are differentiated and there are some cells that are undifferentiated – some organs are formed and yet others unformed.SENSE OF HEARING AND SIGHTThe first sense to develop in a developing human embryo is hearing. The foetus can hear sounds after the 24th week. Subsequently, the sense of sight is developed and by the 28th week, the retina becomes sensitive to light.Consider the following Qur’aanic verses related to the development of the senses in the embryo: “And He gave You (the faculties of) hearing and sight and feeling (And understanding).” [Al-Qur’aan 32:9]“Verily We created Man from a drop Of mingled sperm, In order to try him: So We gave him (the gifts), Of Hearing and Sight.” [Al-Qur’aan76:2]“It is He Who has created For you (the faculties of) Hearing, sight, feeling And understanding: little thanks It is ye give!” [Al-Qur’aan 23:78]In all these verses the sense of hearing is mentioned before that of sight. Thus the Qur’aanic description matches with the discoveries in modern embryology.XII. GENERAL SCIENCEFINGERPRINTS“Does man think that We Cannot assemble his bones? Nay, We are able to put Together in perfect order The very tips of his fingers.” [Al-Qur’aan75:3-4]Unbelievers argue regarding resurrection taking place after bones of dead people have disintegrated in the earth and how each individual would be identified on the Day of Judgement. Almighty Allah answers that He can not only assemble our bones but can also reconstruct perfectly our very fingertips.Why does the Qur’aan, while speaking about determination of the identity of the individual, speak specifically about fingertips? In 1880, fingerprinting became the scientific method of identification, after research done by Sir Francis Golt. No two persons in the world can ever have exactly the same fingerprint pattern. That is the reason why police forces worldwide use fingerprints to identify the criminal. 1400 years ago, who could have known the uniqueness of each human’s fingerprint? Surely it could have been none other than the Creator Himself!PAIN RECEPTORS PRESENT IN THE SKINIt was thought that the sense of feeling and pain was only dependent on the brain. Recent discoveries prove that there are pain receptors present in the skin without which a person would not be able to feel pain. When a doctor examines a patient suffering from burn injuries, he verifies the degree of burns by a pinprick. If the patient feels pain, the doctor is happy, because it indicates that the burns are superficial and the pain receptors are intact. On the other hand if the patient does not feel any pain, it indicates that it is a deep burn and the pain receptors have been destroyed. The Qur’aan gives an indication of the existence of pain receptors in the following verse: “Those who reject Our signs, We shall soon Cast into the Fire; As often as their skins Are roasted through, We shall change them For fresh skins, That they may taste The Penalty: for Allah Is Exalted in Power, Wise.” [AlQur’aan 4:56]Prof. Tagatat Tejasen, Chairman of the Department of Anatomy at Chiang Mai University in Thailand, has spent a great amount of time on research of pain receptors. Initially he could not believe that the Qur’aan mentioned this scientific fact 1,400 years ago. He later verified the translation of this particular Qur’aanic verse. Prof. Tejasen was so impressed by the scientific accuracy of the Qur’aanic verse, that at the 8th Saudi Medical Conference held in Riyadh on the Scientific Signs of Qur’aan and Sunnah he proclaimed in public: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad (pbuh) is His Messenger.”CONCLUSIONTo attribute the presence of scientific facts in the Qur’aan to coincidence would be against common sense and a true scientific approach. The Qur’aan invites all humans to reflect on the Creation of this universe in the verse: “Behold! In the creation Of the heavens and the earth, And the alternation Of Night and Day – There are indeed Signs For men ofunderstanding.” [Al-Qur’aan 3:190]The scientific evidences of the Qur’aan clearly prove its Divine Origin. No human could have produced a book, fourteen hundred years ago, that would contain profound scientific facts, to be discovered by humankind centuries later. The Qur’aan, however, is not a book of Science but a book of ‘Signs’. These signs invite Man to realize the purpose of his existence on earth, and to live in harmony with Nature. The Qur’aan is truly a message from Allah, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. It contains the same message of the Oneness of God, that was preached by all prophets, right from Adam, Moses, Jesus to Muhammad (peace be upon them).Several detailed tomes have been written on the subject of Qur’aan and modern science and further research in this field is on. Inshallah, this research will help mankind to come closer to the Word of the Almighty. This booklet contains only a few of the scientific facts present in the Qur’aan. I cannot claim to have done full justice to the subject. Prof.Tejasen accepted Islam on the strength of just one scientific ‘sign’ mentioned in the Qu’ran. Some people may require ten signs while some may require hundred signs to be convinced about the Divine Origin of the Qur’aan. Some would be unwilling to accept the Truth even after being shown a thousand signs. The Qur’aan condemns such a closed mentality in the verse: “Deaf, dumb and blind, They will not return (To the path).” [Al-Qur’aan 2:18]The Qur’aan contains a complete code of life for the individual and society. Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah), the Qur’aanic way of life is far superior to the ‘isms’ that modern man has invented out of sheer ignorance. Who can give better guidance than the Creator Himself?I pray that this humble effort is accepted by Allah, to whom I pray for mercy and guidance (Aameen).[1]Al-Qur’an 2:23-24 indicates Soorah or Chapter No. 2 and Ayaat or Verses 23 and 24.[2]The Arabic word dahaha has been translated by A. Yusuf Ali as “vast expanse”, which also is correct. The word dahaha also means an ostrich-egg.[3]A similar message is conveyed in the Qur’an in 13:2, 35:13, 39:5 and 39:21.[4]A similar message is conveyed in the Qur’an in 10:61.[5]Earth, Press and Siever, p. 435. Also see Earth Science, Tarbuck and Lutgens, p. 157.[6]A similar message is contained in the Qur’an in 88:19, 31:10 and 16:15[7]Principles of Oceanography, Davis, pp. 92-93.[8] Oceanography, Gross, p. 242. Also see Introductory Oceanography, Thurman, pp. 300-301.[9]Oceanography, Gross, p. 244 and Introductory Oceanography, Thurman, pp.[10]-301.[11]Oceans, Elder and Pernetta, p. 27.[12]Translation of this Qur’anic verse is from the book “The Bible, the Qur’an and Science” by Dr. Maurice Bucaille.[13]The reference for this statment is the video tape titled ‘This is the Truth’. For a copy of this video tape contact the Islamic Research Foundation.[14]The same is also mentioned in the Qur’an in 16:4, 18:37, 35:11, 36:77, 40:67, 53:46, 75:37, 76:2 and 80:19.Source: Courtesy: http://sunnahonline.com/ilm/quran/qms.pdf

Please explain what and when the procedure was performed. Has the patient been seen since surgery by the physician? What was the reason provided for not seeing the patient?There is a patient abandonment issue. The person doing the surgery should do follow up for any complication related to the procedure he/she performed. Is it because of noncompliance, schedule conflict, non-payment etc?[Edit: Per additional history provided in the Comments section. The article below addresses medical management after bariatric surgery. The physician has tried to work up surgical complications. This is the section regarding nausea and vomiting. The authors mention antiemetic unless there are other issues. I hesitate to second guess what the surgeon’s train of thought is. I do think there should be response to the patient’s communications. I understand the frustration and the cost of repeat emergency room visits. Someone here has suggested contacting the chief of surgery. Post bariatric surgery recuperation can be problematic and I hope the symptoms resolve in time.Nausea and vomitingNausea and vomiting can often be helped by antiemetic or prokinetic drugs, however, some patients have chronic functional nausea and/or vomiting that does not fit the pattern of cyclic vomiting syndrome or other gastrointestinal disorders, hence particular attention should be directed to potential psychosocial factors post bariatric surgery. Therefore, low dose antidepressant medications and psychotherapy should be addressed. On demand CT scan and Gastroscopy could be the gold standard investigations in chronic situations[39,40].]World J Gastrointest Surg. 2014 Nov 27; 6(11): 220–228.Published online 2014 Nov 27. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v6.i11.220PMCID: PMC4241489Medical management of patients after bariatric surgery: Principles and guidelinesAbd Elrazek Mohammad Ali Abd Elrazek, Abduh Elsayed Mohamed Elbanna, and Shymaa E BilasyAuthor information ► Article notes ► Copyright and License information ►This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.Go to:AbstractObesity is a major and growing health care concern. Large epidemiologic studies that evaluated the relationship between obesity and mortality, observed that a higher body-mass index (BMI) is associated with increased rate of death from several causes, among them cardiovascular disease; which is particularly true for those with morbid obesity. Being overweight was also associated with decreased survival in several studies. Unfortunately, obese subjects are often exposed to public disapproval because of their fatness which significantly affects their psychosocial behavior. All obese patients (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m) should receive counseling on diet, lifestyle, exercise and goals for weight management. Individuals with BMI ≥ 40 kg/m and those with BMI > 35 kg/m with obesity-related comorbidities; who failed diet, exercise, and drug therapy, should be considered for bariatric surgery. In current review article, we will shed light on important medical principles that each surgeon/gastroenterologist needs to know about bariatric surgical procedure, with special concern to the early post operative period. Additionally, we will explain the common complications that usually follow bariatric surgery and elucidate medical guidelines in their management. For the first 24 h after the bariatric surgery, the postoperative priorities include pain management, leakage, nausea and vomiting, intravenous fluid management, pulmonary hygiene, and ambulation. Patients maintain a low calorie liquid diet for the first few postoperative days that is gradually changed to soft solid food diet within two or three weeks following the bariatric surgery. Later, patients should be monitored for postoperative complications. Hypertension, diabetes, dumping syndrome, gastrointestinal and psychosomatic disorders are among the most important medical conditions discussed in this review.Keywords: Obesity, Bariatric surgery, Postoperative care, Body-mass index, El bannaCore tip: Obesity is a growing health concern worldwide that impacts the life of individuals both physically and psychologically. There are several well-established health hazards associated with obesity. Additionally, obese subjects are often exposed to public disapproval because of their fatness which significantly affects their psychosocial behavior. Bariatric surgery is one of the definite solutions for obesity. In this review, we will briefly discuss the general guidelines that should be considered before bariatric surgery. Also, we discuss the protocols of patients’ postoperative care and the management of medical disorders that must be considered after bariatric surgery.Go to:INTRODUCTIONObesity is a chronic disease that impairs health-related quality of life in adolescents and children. In 2010, overweight and obesity were estimated to cause 3.4 million deaths, 3.9% of years of life loss, and 3.8% of disability-adjusted life-years worldwide. Obesity is increasing in prevalence, currently, the proportion of adults with a body-mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m or greater is 36.9% in men and 38.0% in women worldwide[1]. Attempts to explain the large increase in obesity in the past 30 years focused on several potential contributors including increase in caloric intake, changes in the composition of diet, decrease in the levels of physical activity and changes in the gut microbiome. More than 50% of the obese individuals in the world are located in ten countries (listed in order of number of obese individuals): United States, China, India, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, Germany, Pakistan and Indonesia. Although age-standardized rates were lower in developing than in developed countries overall, 62% of the world’s obese individuals live in developing countries. Recently, United States accounted for 13% of obese people worldwide, the prevalence of obesity was 31.7% and 33.9% among adult men and women, respectively. In Canada 21.9% of men and 20.5% of women are obese. Reported prevalence rates of obesity include: 27.5% of men and 29.8% of women in Australia, 24.5% of men and 25.4% of women in the United Kingdom, in Germany 21.9% of men and 22.5% of women, in Mexico 20.6% of men and 32.7% of women, in South Africa 13.5% of men and 42% of women, in Egypt 26.4% of men and 48.4% of women, in Saudi Arabia 30% of men and 44.4% of women and in Kuwait 43.4% of men and 58.6% of women Figure ​Figure11)[2].There are several well-established health hazards associated with obesity, e.g., nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), type 2 diabetes, heart disease, chronic kidney disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease, gastrointestinal motility disorders, sexual disorders, cerebrovascular stroke, certain cancers, osteoarthritis, depression and others[3-10]. The risk of development of such complications rises with the increase of adiposity, while weight loss can reduce the risk. Bariatric surgery could be the definitive clue in many situations[11-15]. Bariatric surgery is one of the fastest growing operative procedures performed worldwide, with an estimated > 340000 operations performed in 2011. While the absolute growth rate of bariatric surgery in Asia was 44.9% between 2005 and 2009, the numbers of procedures performed in the United States plateaued at approximately 200000 operations per year[16,17]. Starting in 2006, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, United States, restricted the coverage of bariatric surgery to hospitals designated as “Centers of Excellence” by two major professional organizations[18]. Medical management and follow up of patients who have undergone bariatric surgery is a challenge due to post operative complications.GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR SURGEONS/GASTROENTEROLOGISTSA well skilled physician or a surgeon has to consider the followings:(1) as the prevalence of obesity increases so does the prevalence of the comorbidities associated with obesity. Losing weight means overcoming illness at the present, complications in future and alleviating the economic burden in the present and future;(2) Overweight; BMI between 25 and 30, technically refers to excessive body weight, whereas “obesity” BMI ≥ 30 kg/m refers excessive body fat, “Severe obesity”, BMI ≥ 35 kg/m, or “morbid obesity” refers to individuals with obesity-related comorbidities. Furthermore, severe obesity and morbid obesity groups who failed dietary and medical regimens are candidates for bariatric surgery;(3) Children obesity; refers to children with BMI > 95th percentile for their age and sex and “overweight” refers to children with BMI between the 85th and 95th percentile for their age and sex;(4) Patients undergoing a bariatric operation should have a nutritional assessment for deficiencies in macro and micronutrients, also with no contraindication for such a major operation;(5) Most of bariatric procedures are performed in women (> 80%) and approximately half of these (> 40% of all bariatric procedures) are performed in reproductive aged women, accordingly, pregnancy planning and contraception options should be discussed in details with women who will undergo bariatric procedures. Fertility improves soon after bariatric surgery, particularly in middle-aged women, who were anovulatory. Additionally, oral contraceptives may be less effective in women who have undergone malabsorptive bariatric procedure. Therefore, it is better to delay pregnancy for 6-12 mo following bariatric surgery. Risk of preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and macrosomia significantly decrease post bariatric surgery, but the risk of intrauterine growth restriction/small infants for their gestational age may increase. Body contouring surgery is in high demand following bariatric surgery;(6) All bariatric operations are accompanied with restrictive and/or malabsorption maneuvers; less food intake and malabsorption concepts;(7) The most common types of bariatric surgeries performed worldwide are Sleeve gastrectomy (SG): This procedure involves the longitudinal excision of the stomach and thus shaping the remaining part of the stomach into a tube or a “sleeve” like structure. SG removes almost 85% of the stomach (Figure ​(Figure2);2); Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB): It reduces the size of the stomach to the size of a small pouch that is directly surgically attached to the lower part of the small intestine. In this procedure, most of the stomach and the duodenum are surgically stapled and therefore, bypassed (Figure ​(Figure3);3); The laparoscopic adjustable gastric band (AGB): This is one of the least invasive procedures, where the surgeon inserts an adjustable band around a portion of the stomach and therefore, patients feel fuller after eating smaller food portions (Figure ​(Figure4).4). Bariatric surgical procedures, particularly RYGB, plus medical therapy, are effective interventions for treating type 2 diabetes. Improvement in metabolic control is often evident within days to weeks following RYGB; and(8) Complications reported following bariatric surgery vary based upon the procedure performed. Cholilithiasis, renal stone formation and incisional hernia could be the delayed phase complications; on the other hand, bleeding, leaking, infection and pulmonary embolism could be the early phase complications following the bariatric procedure. The overall 30-d mortality for bariatric surgical procedures worldwide is less than 1%.Roux-in Y Gastrectomy, sleeve gastrectomy. and adjustable gastric band.POST OPERATIVE CARE AND FOLLOW UPEarly post operative period; (1-3) d post bariatric surgeryPatients undergoing a bariatric operation are admitted to the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) immediately at the conclusion of the operation. Usually, on postoperative day (POD) one, we begin oral therapy in tablet or crushed-tablet and liquid form if there is a naso-gastric tube after the gastrografin leak test. A basic metabolic profile (e.g., complete blood count, electrolytes, renal function, liver function, prothrombin time and partial thromboplastin time) should be obtained every 12 h for the successive two PODs, then every 24 h for another 3 d. Oxygen is administered by nasal cannula and weaned thereafter. The likelihood that, early specific complication, will arise for a given patient is determined by the nature of the procedure, the anesthetic techniques used, and the patient’s preoperative diseases. Respiratory problems are common complication in the early postoperative period following bariatric surgery. Patients with significant comorbidities, particularly neuromuscular, pulmonary, or cardiac problems are at a higher risk for respiratory compromise, but any patient can develop hypoxemia following bariatric surgery. For prophylaxis against Deep Venous Thrombosis (DVT) following bariatric surgeries, ultrasound evaluation is recommended for all patients, D-dimer test should be applied for suspected patients with DVT, especially after long operative time, repeat ultrasound or venography may be required for those with suspected calf vein DVT and a negative initial ultrasound investigation[19,20].Late post operative monitoringAfter the PACU period, most patients are transferred to the inpatient surgical postoperative unit. For the next 24-72 h, the postoperative priorities include ruling out an anastomotic leak following laparoscopic RYGB or laparoscopic SG. If no leak is observed, patients are allowed to start a clear liquid diet and soft drinks. The postoperative care team cares for the following: control of pain, care of the wound, continuous monitoring of blood pressure, intravenous fluid management, pulmonary hygiene, and ambulation. Post-bariatric nausea and vomiting is directly correlated with the length of the surgery; it also increases in females, non-smokers, and those patients with prior history of vomiting or motion sickness. Prophylaxis with pharmacologic treatment before the development of post operative nausea and vomiting significantly reduces its incidence after surgery[21-23].After hospital dischargeDiet: Usually patients are discharged 4-6 d after surgery. Most patients are typically discharged from the hospital on a full liquid diet, patients should be taught to keep monitoring their hydration and urine output. Approximately two-three weeks after surgery, the diet is gradually changed to soft, solid foods. The average caloric intake ranges from (400) to (800) kcal/d for the first month, and thus the daily glycemic load is greatly reduced. We encourage patients to consume a diet consisting of salads, fruits, vegetables and soft protein daily.To control the epigastric pain and vomiting, patients should be taught to eat slowly, to stop eating as soon as they reach satiety and not to consume food and beverages at the same time. For most patients suffering chronic vomiting, prokinetic therapy and proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) should be considered. Patients, who underwent SG, LAGB or RYGB, benefit from a well-planned dietary advancement. Patients should understand that the surgery has changed their body but not the environment, they have to choose healthy foods, do not skip meals and to visit the dietitian regularly in the first 12 mo after surgery. However, if food intolerance develops, patients may choose a more vegetarian-based diet. Nevertheless, fresh fruits and vegetables are usually tolerated without a problem. The daily protein intake should be between 1.0 to 1.5 g/kg ideal body weight per day[24]. The biliopancreatic diversion/duodenal switch (BPD/DS) is a malabsorptive procedure for both macro- and micronutrients. Hence, we encourage higher protein intake of 1.5 g to 2.0 g of protein/kg ideal body weight per day, making the average protein requirement per day approximately 90 g/d[25,26]. Alcohol is better prevented in the first 6-12 mo after surgery[27].Monitoring: Patients should generally have their weight and blood pressure measured weekly until the rapid weight loss phase diminishes, usually within 4-6 mo, then again at 8, 10 and 12 mo, and annually thereafter. Patients with diabetes are encouraged to check their blood glucose daily. Glycemic control typically improves rapidly following bariatric surgery. Patients maintained on antihypertensive or diabetic medications at discharge should be monitored closely for hypotension and hypoglycemia, respectively, and medications should be adjusted accordingly. We recommend that the following laboratory tests be performed at three, six, nine months and annually thereafter: (1) Complete Blood Count; (2) Electrolytes; (3) Glucose and Glucose Tolerance test; (4) Complete iron studies; (5) Vitamin B12; (6) Aminotransferases, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin, GGT; (7) Total protein and Albumin; (8) Complete lipid profile; (9) 25-hydroxyvitamin D, parathyroid hormone; (10)Thiamine; (11) Folate; (12) Zinc; and (13) Copper.Complications following the surgical treatment of severe obesity vary based upon the procedure performed. Secondary hyperparathyroidism, Hypocalcemia, Gastric remnant distension, Stomal stenosis/Obstruction, Marginal ulcerations, Cholilithiasis, Ventral incisional hernia, Internal hernia, Hiatus Hernia, Short bowel syndrome, Renal failure, Gastric prolapse, infection, Esophagitis, Reflux, Vomiting, Hepatic abnormalities and dumping syndrome are common late-phase complications after bariatric surgery. However, the clinician should aware of complications specific for every bariatric procedure[28,29]. Before therapy, the clinician should understand that the impact of various bariatric surgeries on drug absorption and metabolism are scarce. On the other hand, RYGB and other malabsorptive procedures that significantly exclude the proximal part of the small intestine, decrease the surface area where most drug absorption occurs and may result in a reduction in systemic bioavailability[30-32].Go to:COMMON MEDICAL CONDITIONS FOLLOWING BARIATRIC SURGERYHypertensionHypertension is not always related to obesity, and dietary interventions do not assure the normalization of blood pressure. However weight loss, whether by an intensive lifestyle medical modification program or by a bariatric operation, improves obesity-linked hypertension. Patients should be monitored weekly until the blood pressure has stabilized, and patients may need to resume antihypertensive medications, but often at adjusted doses[33].DiabetesPatients with diabetes should have frequent monitoring of blood glucose in the early postoperative period and should be managed with sliding scale insulin. Many diabetic patients have a decreased need for insulin and oral hypoglycemic agents after bariatric surgery. Oral sulfonylureas and meglitinides should be discontinued postoperatively as these medications can lead to hypoglycemia after bariatric surgery. Metformin is the safest oral drug in the postoperative period, since it is not associated with dramatic fluctuations in blood glucose. RYGB is associated with durable remission of type 2 diabetes in many, but not all, severely obese diabetic adults. However those who underwent LAGB generally exhibit a slower improvement in glucose metabolism and diabetes as they lose weight in a gradual fashion[34,35].RefluxMedications for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) may be discontinued after RYGB and Laparoscopic AGB, however, SG has been associated with an increased incidence of GERD in some procedures. Recurrent GERD symptoms after RYGB, particularly when accompanied by weight regain, should raise the possibility of a gastrogastric fistula between the gastric pouch and remnant, and should be investigated by an upper GI contrast study or CT scan and referred to the bariatric surgeon. Upper endoscopy is the best investigation to exclude other esophagogastroduodenal disorders. GERD may be associated with esophageal complications including esophagitis, peptic stricture, Barrett’s metaplasia, esophageal cancer and other pulmonary complications. Failure of the PPI treatment to resolve GERD-related symptoms has become one of the most common complications of GERD after bariatric surgery. Most patients who fail PPI treatment have Non Erosive Reflux Disease and without pathological reflux on pH testing. In patients with persistent heartburn despite of medical therapy, it is reasonable to recommend avoidance of specific lifestyle activities that have been identified by patients or physicians to trigger GERD-related symptoms[36-38].Nausea and vomitingNausea and vomiting can often be helped by antiemetic or prokinetic drugs, however, some patients have chronic functional nausea and/or vomiting that does not fit the pattern of cyclic vomiting syndrome or other gastrointestinal disorders, hence particular attention should be directed to potential psychosocial factors post bariatric surgery. Therefore, low dose antidepressant medications and psychotherapy should be addressed. On demand CT scan and Gastroscopy could be the gold standard investigations in chronic situations[39,40].Marginal ulcerationDue to increased risk of ulcer formation from nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), these medications should be discontinued postoperatively, especially after RYGB. NSAID use is associated with an increased risk of bleeding. If analgesic or anti-inflammatory treatment is needed, the use of acetaminophen is preferred in a dose of 1-2 g/daily[41-45]. Other factors associated with increased risk of ulcer formation are smoking, alcohol, spicy food, gastrogastric fistulas, ischemia at the site of surgical anastomosis, poor tissue perfusion due to tension, presence of foreign material, such as staples and/or Helicobacter pylori infection. Diagnosis is established by upper endoscopy. According to our strategy, all patients should undergo diagnostic upper endoscopy to exclude congenital or GI diseases prior to bariatric procedures. Medical management is usually successful and surgical intervention is rarely needed[46-48].Go to:DUMPING SYNDROMEDumping syndrome or rapid gastric emptying is a group of symptoms that most likely occur following bariatric bypass. It occurs when the undigested contents of the stomach move too rapidly into the small intestine. Many patients who underwent bariatric bypass experienced postprandial hypoglycemia. However, the dumping syndrome usually occurs early (within one hour) after eating and is not associated with hypoglycemia. It is presumed to be caused by contraction of the plasma volume due to fluid shifts into the gastrointestinal tract. Dumping syndrome may result in tachycardia, abdominal pain, diaphoresis, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes, hypoglycemia. The late dumping syndrome is a result of the hyperglycemia and the subsequent insulin response leading to hypoglycemia that occurs around 2-3 h after a meal. Dumping syndrome is a common problem that occurs in patients who have undergone RYGB and when high levels of simple carbohydrates are ingested. Accordingly, patients who have experienced postgastric bypass bariatric surgery should avoid foods that are high in simple sugar content and replace them with a diet consisting of high fiber and protein rich food. Eating vegetables and salad is encouraged; beverages and alcohol consumption are better avoided[49].Go to:PSYCHOSOMATIC DISORDERS/DEPRESSIONMany patients usually experience enhanced self esteem and improved situational depression following weight loss. Depression often requires continued treatment, specially that, many patients with severe obesity often use food for emotional reasons. Therefore, when those patients experience a small gastric pouch postoperatively they may grieve the loss of food. Many studies documented the relationship between eating disorder and anxiety disorder, depression or schizophrenia[50,51]. Displaced emotions can result in somatization with symptoms of depression and psychosomatic disorders. It is important that clinicians recognize the psychological aspect of food loss after bariatric surgery, and reassure patients that the symptoms are related to the small gastric pouch size. Antidepressants often help to decrease the anxiety related to grieving associated with food loss, although the use of antidepressants needs to be approached with an empathetic style. Behavioral and emotive therapies are reported to be very helpful[52,53].Go to:OUTCOMEBariatric surgery remains the only effective sustained weight loss option for morbidly obese patients. The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery estimated that in 2008 alone, about 220000 patients in the United States underwent a weight loss operation. The optimal choice for type of bariatric procedure, i.e., RYGB, SG, AGB or the selected surgical approach, i.e., open versus laparoscopic depends upon each individualized goals, i.e., weight loss, glycemic control, surgical skills, center experience, patient preferences, personalized risk assessment and other medical facilities. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy is the most common bariatric procedure. However weight re-gain after long-term follow-up was reported[54-58]. Prospective studies and reviews report a general tendency for patients with metabolic disorders to improve or normalize after bariatric surgery. However weight loss is highly variable following each procedure. Recent studies have evaluated the potential impact of obesity on outcomes in organ-transplant recipients, for example bariatric surgery may be an important bridge to transplantation for morbidly obese patients with severe heart failure[59-63].Go to:RECENT ADVANCES IN BARIATRIC SURGERYA modified intestinal bypass bariatric procedure (Elbanna operation), reported a novel surgical technique designed to maintain good digestion, better satiety, and selective absorption with less medical and surgical complications (Figure ​(Figure5).5). This procedure preserves the proximal duodenum and the terminal ileum and thus preserving the anatomical biliary drainage and enterohepatic circulation[64,65].Figure 5Novel ElBanna surgical procedure.Recently, a novel bariatric technique dedicated; Modified Elbanna technique in childhood bariatric, showed promising success in pediatric surgeries (non published data).Go to:CONCLUSIONThe rising prevalence of overweight and obesity in several countries has been described as a global pandemic. Obesity can be considered like the driving force towards the pre-mature deaths. It increases the like hood for the development of diabetes, hypertension and NASH. The American Heart Association identified obesity as an independent risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease. In order to minimize post-surgical cardiovascular risk, surgical weight loss may become a more frequently utilized option to address obesity. Currently, bariatric surgery passes through a plateau phase, hence medical management and follow up of patients who have undergone bariatric surgery is a challenge.Go to:FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONSChildren obesity has become one of the most important public health problems in many industrial countries. In the United States alone, 5% of children have severe obesity. It is imperative that health care providers should identify overweight and obese children so as to start early counseling and therapy. To establish a therapeutic relationship and enhance effectiveness, the communication and interventions should be supported by the entire family, society, school, public media and primary health care. Bariatric surgery could be considered in complicated cases that failed all other options.Go to:FootnotesP- Reviewer: Amiya E, Firstenberg MS, Narciso-Schiavon JL S- Editor: Tian YL L- Editor: A E- Editor: Lu YJGo to:References1. 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