There is an interesting story from James Irwin, the Apollo 15 astronaut who was launched to the moon in 1971. James Irwin was initially raised in religion, but then became skeptical. After returning from a scientific expedition mission to the moon, he felt enlightened and said, "I felt the power of God, as I'd never felt it before."
Irwin was one of three American astronauts sent to the moon with David Scott and Alfred Worden. Since childhood, he had dreamed of going to the moon. His dream was nurtured until he studied at the US Naval Academy and the University of Michigan in aeronautical engineering.
Selected to be an astronaut, he trained for four years. Studying geology, astronomy, spacecraft design, lunar geology, to name a few. The success of the mission earned him an award. However, his impression after returning from the moon was important: that achievement was nothing compared to the universe created by God. There is a divine awareness, that above all that humans can achieve, there is a God who is greater than human achievement.
While on the moon, their task was to map seismic activity, collect high-energy particles emitted by the sun, and take core and rock samples. They brought 77 kg of rocks. One of the rarest is a white rock they call 'creation rock' or genesis rock, a type of anorthosite that is 4.1 billion years old. The rock, which is now stored at the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility, Houston, Texas, is younger than the moon. It was formed after the moon's crust hardened (initial assumption: this rock is a component of the moon).
The word 'genesis' is a clue and rebuttal to evolutionists. That they - at least Irwin - are pro-creationists. If evolutionists believe that the world was created from evolution - without involving God - then creationists believe that the universe was created by God. Added to this extensive research, Irwin - after returning to earth - came to believe that Darwinism was wrong, creationism was right.
After retiring as an astronaut, Irwin created a foundation, called the High Flight Foundation. Its focus is on research related to 'Biblical sites', namely sites mentioned in the holy book. Regarding the question 'where is the ark of Prophet Noah', he answered it with research into the Ararat Mountains, Turkey. But he is not sure that it is there.
Another option is Mount Suleiman, 50 miles from the capital of Iran. The findings there: there are rocks like blocks thirteen thousand feet high on the mountain. It is predicted that it used to be petrified wood. There is also a place of worship, shell fossils on the peak, a diversity of ecosystems in the area, and in 1965 the Caspian horse was found, one of the very ancient domestic horse varieties.
In addition, wanting to know about the global flood in the time of Noah about 5000 years ago, Irwin also wants to find out exactly where the site of the crossing of Prophet Moses with the Children of Israel in the Red Sea is. Both the exact location of Prophet Noah's ark and the location of Prophet Moses have not been confirmed by Irwin, but the enthusiasm to study and prove what is in the holy book is interesting to use as a starting point.
In the oldest Jewish congregation in Western Pennsylvania, dating back to the 1840s, there is a garden where many plants mentioned in the Jewish holy book are planted. It is called the Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden. It is 0.3 hectares in size. It is located in Downtown Pittsburgh. It could be called: "The Botanical Garden of the Bible." It is still young, since 1987.
There are about 100 plants that were once grown in ancient Israel, including cedars, date palms, figs, olives, and pomegranates. All are labeled with Bible verses, or names that are in the Bible. The garden also includes waterfalls, deserts, and a representation of the Jordan River from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.
What James Irwin did above--through research--and Rabbi Walter Jacob and his wife, a horticulturalist Irene Jacob, can be seen as part of a religious awareness to seek, find, and bring faith into the real world. What is in the text is then tried to be presented in empirical reality. One of the goals is to increase belief and bring belief closer to knowledge that is generally still viewed in an oppositional manner.
In the Islamic tradition, efforts to bring science closer to the Qur'an have also been carried out under many names, including integration and Islamization. The establishment of an Islamic campus, for example, cannot be separated from efforts to 'Islamize secular knowledge' in a variety of ways. The 'Islamization of knowledge' project also has pros and cons, but it cannot be separated from the intention to present the truth in the real world.
There are already many knowledge parks, from kindergartens to universities. However, parks that grow the diversity of plants in the Qur'an are still lacking.
Among the plants in the Qur'an are: figs (At-Tin: 1), olives (At-Tin: 1, Abasa: 29), dates (Asy-Syu' fig': 148), grapes (Abasa: 28), pomegranate (Ar-Rahman: 68), ginger (Al-Insan: 17), mustard greens (Al-Anbiya': 47), cucumber (Al-Baqarah: 61), garlic (Al-Baqarah: 61), vegetables (Al-Baqarah: 61), fennel beans (Al-Baqarah: 61), red onions (Al-Baqarah: 61), grass (Abasa: 31), lote tree (Al-Waqi'ah: 28), trees that bear bitter fruit (Saba': 16), trees of the sugar cane type (As-Shaffat: 146), fruits (Ar-Rahman: 11) and various thibbunnabawi plants, ' other Prophetic treatments.
In Islam, for example, just having good intentions is considered rewarded. Especially if you have done it. That is why in Islam the spirit of doing good is appreciated from the intention or intention. In fact, the power of intention--whether it is intention, plans, plots, schemes, etc.--that is rewarding, but there are quite a lot of intentionalities and works of scientists that do not get a good position in society. This is also an obstacle, so that many manuscripts are just left to gather dust, even lost. Some others are simply lost because of the lack of academic awareness to continue the work of the scientist.
James Irwin needed to reach the moon first to see the 'beautiful marbles from afar', and believe in God again. However, divine awareness can actually be achieved by looking at ourselves. How our eyes, ears, nose, and body can function properly.
How we can crawl, stand, and run. It can also be a 'journey of the universe' in the 'small universe' that is ourselves. Seeing our journey grow -development, our interactions with others, what makes us peaceful and unpeaceful, enlightened and unenlightened, and what makes us healthy and what makes us sick. None of this is in vain; there is always a lesson to be learned. quoted. Closing this article, it is good for us to reflect on the following verse: "..and (also) within yourselves, then will you not see?" (Adz-Dzariyat: 21).
YANUARDI SYUKUR is an Indonesian writer who is also a lecturer, editor, researcher and speaker at various conferences and expert resource person on several Indonesian television stations and ministries. He has participated in various international programs in Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, the United States, as well as Ukraine. He is an anthropologist at Khairun University who is interested in various global issues. He is currently also active as Vice Chairman of the Islamic and Middle East Research Center (IMERC) of the University of Indonesia and is active in the Commission on Foreign Relations and International Cooperation of the Indonesian Ulama Council. E-mail: yanuardisyukur@gmail.com.
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