text:
Talk:Lot in Islam

Historicity
As with any stories relating to religion, this is one that is taken from books like the Quran and Hadith, and may not be real history. Depends on your view really. DigiBullet 08:45, 18 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Should this be moved to Luth?

 * Well should it?--58.105.62.86 10:55, 11 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Erm ... I don't think so. Currently Luth redirects to Leatherback Sea Turtle, which is a little strange. Is "Luth" an alternative romanisation of the Arabic name? Dr algorythm 12:26, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Merge proposal
In my view, the Qur'anic character, Lut, is fully identified with the Biblical character Lot. The two sets of information should be linked. However, since Jewish and Christians traditions about Lot do not encmpass the traditions of the Qur'an, it would be best for Wikipedia to maintain two separate articles, but to include in each one a reference to the other.

My proposal:
 * Lot (person), now redirects to Lot (Bible)
 * Judeo-Christian view of Lot, now Lot (Bible)
 * Islamic view of Lot, now Lut

Lot (person) will contain the undisputed views, while the two other versions will be sub-articles that the main article link to and will include the more specific views. This will link all articles together, remove the bias of one article having the prefered and only correc english title, and will also eliminate any confusion regarding mulitple persons. -striver

 * Oppose - I say merge them all. None of them is long enough to justify its own entry, but all of them together makes a nice article. -Justin (koavf)·T·C·M 15:25, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

 * Oppose the Oppose - If this and Lot (Bible) are to be merged, under what title would that be? Would Lut redirect to Lot or visa verca? Either way I predict accusations of favouratism. It seems to me that the character of Lot receives attention solely due to the central role he and his family play in the tale of the destruction of Sodom. The Sodom and Gomorrah article is well written and covers Christian, Islamic, Jewish, and secular views. So this article and the Lot (Bible) article are inevitably going to be little "satellite articles", and I don't think the fact that they are both short is a sufficient reason to combine them. Dr algorythm 12:26, 12 October 2006 (UTC)
 * So, can i have more input on my proposal? I do agree that merging might not be a good idé.--Striver 09:44, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Oppose - I would oppose any attempt to merge them, as there would be no neutral name. We have many short articles in wikipedia, and the separation allows the separate traditions to be read separately, but linked. William Quill 11:25, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Taliban
The Taliban note seems out of place, but I did not remove it. --Error (talk) 20:32, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Major revamp
As is obvious, a major chunk of the article contains direct cites of verses from the Glorious Qur'an. While the Qur'an IS considered to be the MOST authentic text on subjects it chooses to speak about, directly citing verses into WP doesn't help much to WP's goals as an encyclopaedia. I am thus re-vamping the article, (taking subject matter from my own contributions to Biblical narratives and the Qur'an) and hope to see positive edits from everyone else as well InshaAllah. 'Abd el 'Azeez (talk) 11:08, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Islamic views on Abraham which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 20:14, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Abraham in Islam which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 14:58, 26 December 2012 (UTC)

In Islam
Why is the Bible repeatedly used as a source?!--عبد المؤمن (talk) 10:56, 24 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Are you talking about this article or another one? There are 29 different references in this article and 23 of those are from the Quran and 0 from the Bible. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 20:48, 24 April 2013 (UTC)
 * The Quran is a primary source, we should use reliable, published secondary sources in order to avoid original research. Rupert Loup (talk) 17:17, 21 January 2018 (UTC)

Inaccurate
According to the Bible, Sodom was destroyed because its inhabitants broke Jewish law by not being welcoming to foreigners. There is even disagreement over whether homosexuality is in the story at all. There are two tellings of the exact events but both agree with my first sentence. In light of this, is this article inaccurate in relation to Sodom. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.45.192.35 (talk) 23:54, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

 * THIS IS A PAGE ON ISLAM — Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.154.200.160 (talk) 15:40, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

 * Don't scream, please. Debresser (talk) 15:51, 3 June 2016 (UTC)
 * This is true, but it's also technically inaccurate for similar reasons - the People of Lut were not destroyed due to homosexuality, even if Islamic Clerics state otherwise. It's an issue because "officially" it is the case, however as Islam is not a centralised religion, the Schools of Jurispudence are guidelines, not law. Most Muslims live by a mix of one or two, or one more loosely. 89.19.79.35 (talk) 22:52, 10 June 2023 (UTC)

Check the monument
I would like someone to check the info under monument it is from a christian source i want someone to find a muslim source if there is one. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 39.40.105.200 (talk) 15:52, 7 September 2016 (UTC)

Lookup Tables
I can't believe this doesn't link to a disambiguation page, LUT can mean any numbers of things, such as Lookup Tables or Lower Urinary Tract for that matter. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 161.74.220.32 (talk) 16:09, 28 November 2018 (UTC)

Improve references
Can anybody find the specific reference inside the source indicated in this 2018 edit? Debresser (talk) 14:51, 30 December 2020 (UTC)

Requested move 15 February 2023

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: not moved. (non-admin closure) Rotideypoc41352 (talk · contribs) 15:15, 22 February 2023 (UTC)

Lot in Islam → Lut (Quran person) – Per the article, the spelling is "Lut" not "Lot". Though the person is the same as the one spelled "Lot" in other contexts, it doesn't seem WP:NATDAB to use a mis-spelling with respect to the article's own context. Lut already directs here, so alternative is to move this article to that name...a different spelling is obviously an approved DAB method (with hatnotes). However, others have also mentioned here on talkpage that this subject might not be the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC for this word. Therefore, I instead lean towards switching the Lut DAB to point to Lut (disambiguation) and moving this page to a "Lut ..." with some DAB term added. I filed Redirects for discussion/Log/2023 February 15 because it's a semi-independent idea as part of this larger shuffling. DMacks (talk) 18:36, 15 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Oppose; current title is consistent with other Abrahamic figures "in Islam" articles, like Jesus in Islam, Abraham in Islam, Adam in Islam, and Noah in Islam. Lot is also the WP:COMMONNAME for this individual, and more WP:RECOGNIZABLE than Lut. BilledMammal (talk) 00:21, 16 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Oppose per WP:NATURALDISAMBIGUATION and WP:USEENGLISH. "Lot" is how this person is known in English, and a naturally disambiguated title is preferable. Rreagan007 (talk) 00:44, 16 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Oppose per other editors, very clunky name proposal too. --Killuminator (talk) 14:24, 16 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Oppose a clunky name indeed. If a dab parenthetical should ever be desired, please keep it limited to "(Quran)", or more appropriately, "(Islam)". But the current title describes much better what the article is actually about, as do our other "X in Islam" articles, with which this one should be consistent. Finally, RS (I mean historians of Islam, religious studies scholars, etc.) use "Lot" not "Lut", also in the context of Islam (as they use the common English names for all Biblical figures, also in Islamic contexts). ☿ Apaugasma  ( talk  ☉) 18:45, 16 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Oppose per others. "Lot" is not a mis-spelling. Srnec (talk) 00:24, 17 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Comment/explanation The basis of this (admittedly-unrefined) proposal is that the article is titled "Lot..." and the lede sentence is "Lut...is a prophet of God in the Quran". Now obviously I elided some side-comments and qualifiers, but that's facially confusing and seems to be the emphasis a reader might find if one doesn't already know something about the topic. Feels like I'm either at the wrong article, or there's a typo or something. Obviously one should always read carefully to make sure one isn't skipping over an important detail, but equally one should write in a way that is needlessly unsettling to the reader. DMacks (talk) 16:41, 17 February 2023 (UTC)
 * This is because most or all of these 'X in Islam' articles are in a dismal state, written as they are by editors who regard them as legitimate POV-forks of the 'X' articles, in which it is okay to write from a religious/Islamic rather than from a scholarly/neutral point of view. The article should speak consistently about Lot and only mention once or twice that in Arabic this is Lūṭ. But this is only one small thing among a great many things that are wrong with this and other 'X in Islam' articles, and my impression is that competent and experienced editors have largely given up on them. I know I have after having been confronted one time too many with ignorant POV-pushers insisting that 'since this is about the Islamic figure, it should be written according to the Islamic view'. They just misunderstand the nature of the enterprise here. ☿ Apaugasma  ( talk  ☉) 17:20, 17 February 2023 (UTC)
 * I agree that the article should use "Lot" throughout and just mention that "Lut" is the Arabic transliteration. Rreagan007 (talk) 19:24, 18 February 2023 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Consider changing the redirect...
Dasht-e Lut :: The Lut Desert, widely referred to as Dasht-e Lut, or the Lut. 2A00:23C7:CA0C:4F01:3874:BCF1:5D75:1BB3 (talk) 19:16, 15 February 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Lot in Islam


text:
Time series

In mathematics, a time series is a series of data points indexed (or listed or graphed) in time order. Most commonly, a time series is a sequence taken at successive equally spaced points in time. Thus it is a sequence of discrete-time data. Examples of time series are heights of ocean tides, counts of sunspots, and the daily closing value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

A time series is very frequently plotted via a run chart (which is a temporal line chart). Time series are used in statistics, signal processing, pattern recognition, econometrics, mathematical finance, weather forecasting, earthquake prediction, electroencephalography, control engineering, astronomy, communications engineering, and largely in any domain of applied science and engineering which involves temporal measurements.

Time series analysis comprises methods for analyzing time series data in order to extract meaningful statistics and other characteristics of the data. Time series forecasting is the use of a model to predict future values based on previously observed values. While regression analysis is often employed in such a way as to test relationships between one or more different time series, this type of analysis is not usually called "time series analysis", which refers in particular to relationships between different points in time within a single series.

Time series data have a natural temporal ordering. This makes time series analysis distinct from cross-sectional studies, in which there is no natural ordering of the observations (e.g. explaining people's wages by reference to their respective education levels, where the individuals' data could be entered in any order). Time series analysis is also distinct from spatial data analysis where the observations typically relate to geographical locations (e.g. accounting for house prices by the location as well as the intrinsic characteristics of the houses). A stochastic model for a time series will generally reflect the fact that observations close together in time will be more closely related than observations further apart. In addition, time series models will often make use of the natural one-way ordering of time so that values for a given period will be expressed as deriving in some way from past values, rather than from future values (see time reversibility).

Time series analysis can be applied to real-valued, continuous data, discrete numeric data, or discrete symbolic data (i.e. sequences of characters, such as letters and words in the English language ).

Methods for analysis
Methods for time series analysis may be divided into two classes: frequency-domain methods and time-domain methods. The former include spectral analysis and wavelet analysis; the latter include auto-correlation and cross-correlation analysis. In the time domain, correlation and analysis can be made in a filter-like manner using scaled correlation, thereby mitigating the need to operate in the frequency domain.

Additionally, time series analysis techniques may be divided into parametric and non-parametric methods. The parametric approaches assume that the underlying stationary stochastic process has a certain structure which can be described using a small number of parameters (for example, using an autoregressive or moving-average model). In these approaches, the task is to estimate the parameters of the model that describes the stochastic process. By contrast, non-parametric approaches explicitly estimate the covariance or the spectrum of the process without assuming that the process has any particular structure.

Methods of time series analysis may also be divided into linear and non-linear, and univariate and multivariate.

Panel data
A time series is one type of panel data. Panel data is the general class, a multidimensional data set, whereas a time series data set is a one-dimensional panel (as is a cross-sectional dataset). A data set may exhibit characteristics of both panel data and time series data. One way to tell is to ask what makes one data record unique from the other records. If the answer is the time data field, then this is a time series data set candidate. If determining a unique record requires a time data field and an additional identifier which is unrelated to time (e.g. student ID, stock symbol, country code), then it is panel data candidate. If the differentiation lies on the non-time identifier, then the data set is a cross-sectional data set candidate.

Analysis
There are several types of motivation and data analysis available for time series which are appropriate for different purposes.

Motivation
In the context of statistics, econometrics, quantitative finance, seismology, meteorology, and geophysics the primary goal of time series analysis is forecasting. In the context of signal processing, control engineering and communication engineering it is used for signal detection. Other applications are in data mining, pattern recognition and machine learning, where time series analysis can be used for clustering, classification, query by content, anomaly detection as well as forecasting.

Exploratory analysis

A straightforward way to examine a regular time series is manually with a line chart. An example chart is shown on the right for tuberculosis incidence in the United States, made with a spreadsheet program. The number of cases was standardized to a rate per 100,000 and the percent change per year in this rate was calculated. The nearly steadily dropping line shows that the TB incidence was decreasing in most years, but the percent change in this rate varied by as much as +/- 10%, with 'surges' in 1975 and around the early 1990s. The use of both vertical axes allows the comparison of two time series in one graphic.

A study of corporate data analysts found two challenges to exploratory time series analysis: discovering the shape of interesting patterns, and finding an explanation for these patterns. Visual tools that represent time series data as heat map matrices can help overcome these challenges.

Other techniques include:

 * Autocorrelation analysis to examine serial dependence
 * Spectral analysis to examine cyclic behavior which need not be related to seasonality. For example, sunspot activity varies over 11 year cycles. Other common examples include celestial phenomena, weather patterns, neural activity, commodity prices, and economic activity.
 * Separation into components representing trend, seasonality, slow and fast variation, and cyclical irregularity: see trend estimation and decomposition of time series

Curve fitting
Curve fitting is the process of constructing a curve, or mathematical function, that has the best fit to a series of data points, possibly subject to constraints. Curve fitting can involve either interpolation, where an exact fit to the data is required, or smoothing,  in which a "smooth" function is constructed that approximately fits the data. A related topic is regression analysis, which focuses more on questions of statistical inference such as how much uncertainty is present in a curve that is fit to data observed with random errors. Fitted curves can be used as an aid for data visualization, to infer values of a function where no data are available, and to summarize the relationships among two or more variables. Extrapolation refers to the use of a fitted curve beyond the range of the observed data, and is subject to a degree of uncertainty since it may reflect the method used to construct the curve as much as it reflects the observed data.

For processes that are expected to generally grow in magnitude one of the curves in the graphic at right (and many others) can be fitted by estimating their parameters.

The construction of economic time series involves the estimation of some components for some dates by interpolation between values ("benchmarks") for earlier and later dates. Interpolation is estimation of an unknown quantity between two known quantities (historical data), or drawing conclusions about missing information from the available information ("reading between the lines"). Interpolation is useful where the data surrounding the missing data is available and its trend, seasonality, and longer-term cycles are known. This is often done by using a related series known for all relevant dates. Alternatively polynomial interpolation or spline interpolation is used where piecewise polynomial functions are fitted in time intervals such that they fit smoothly together. A different problem which is closely related to interpolation is the approximation of a complicated function by a simple function (also called regression). The main difference between regression and interpolation is that polynomial regression gives a single polynomial that models the entire data set. Spline interpolation, however, yield a piecewise continuous function composed of many polynomials to model the data set.

Extrapolation is the process of estimating, beyond the original observation range, the value of a variable on the basis of its relationship with another variable. It is similar to interpolation, which produces estimates between known observations, but extrapolation is subject to greater uncertainty and a higher risk of producing meaningless results.

Function approximation
In general, a function approximation problem asks us to select a function among a well-defined class that closely matches ("approximates") a target function in a task-specific way. One can distinguish two major classes of function approximation problems: First, for known target functions, approximation theory is the branch of numerical analysis that investigates how certain known functions (for example, special functions) can be approximated by a specific class of functions (for example, polynomials or rational functions) that often have desirable properties (inexpensive computation, continuity, integral and limit values, etc.).

Second, the target function, call it g, may be unknown; instead of an explicit formula, only a set of points (a time series) of the form (x, g(x)) is provided. Depending on the structure of the domain and codomain of g, several techniques for approximating g may be applicable. For example, if g is an operation on the real numbers, techniques of interpolation, extrapolation, regression analysis, and curve fitting can be used. If the codomain (range or target set) of g is a finite set, one is dealing with a classification problem instead. A related problem of online time series approximation is to summarize the data in one-pass and construct an approximate representation that can support a variety of time series queries with bounds on worst-case error.

To some extent, the different problems (regression, classification, fitness approximation) have received a unified treatment in statistical learning theory, where they are viewed as supervised learning problems.

Prediction and forecasting
In statistics, prediction is a part of statistical inference. One particular approach to such inference is known as predictive inference, but the prediction can be undertaken within any of the several approaches to statistical inference. Indeed, one description of statistics is that it provides a means of transferring knowledge about a sample of a population to the whole population, and to other related populations, which is not necessarily the same as prediction over time. When information is transferred across time, often to specific points in time, the process is known as forecasting.
 * Fully formed statistical models for stochastic simulation purposes, so as to generate alternative versions of the time series, representing what might happen over non-specific time-periods in the future
 * Simple or fully formed statistical models to describe the likely outcome of the time series in the immediate future, given knowledge of the most recent outcomes (forecasting).
 * Forecasting on time series is usually done using automated statistical software packages and programming languages, such as Julia, Python, R, SAS, SPSS and many others.
 * Forecasting on large scale data can be done with Apache Spark using the Spark-TS library, a third-party package.

Classification
Assigning time series pattern to a specific category, for example identify a word based on series of hand movements in sign language.

Signal estimation
This approach is based on harmonic analysis and filtering of signals in the frequency domain using the Fourier transform, and spectral density estimation, the development of which was significantly accelerated during World War II by mathematician Norbert Wiener, electrical engineers Rudolf E. Kálmán, Dennis Gabor and others for filtering signals from noise and predicting signal values at a certain point in time. See Kalman filter, Estimation theory, and Digital signal processing

Segmentation
Splitting a time-series into a sequence of segments. It is often the case that a time-series can be represented as a sequence of individual segments, each with its own characteristic properties. For example, the audio signal from a conference call can be partitioned into pieces corresponding to the times during which each person was speaking. In time-series segmentation, the goal is to identify the segment boundary points in the time-series, and to characterize the dynamical properties associated with each segment. One can approach this problem using change-point detection, or by modeling the time-series as a more sophisticated system, such as a Markov jump linear system.

Clustering
Time series data may be clustered, however special care has to be taken when considering subsequence clustering. Time series clustering may be split into
 * whole time series clustering (multiple time series for which to find a cluster)
 * subsequence time series clustering (single timeseries, split into chunks using sliding windows)
 * time point clustering

Subsequence time series clustering
Subsequence time series clustering resulted in unstable (random) clusters induced by the feature extraction using chunking with sliding windows. It was found that the cluster centers (the average of the time series in a cluster - also a time series) follow an arbitrarily shifted sine pattern (regardless of the dataset, even on realizations of a random walk). This means that the found cluster centers are non-descriptive for the dataset because the cluster centers are always nonrepresentative sine waves.

Models
Models for time series data can have many forms and represent different stochastic processes. When modeling variations in the level of a process, three broad classes of practical importance are the autoregressive (AR) models, the integrated (I) models, and the moving-average (MA) models. These three classes depend linearly on previous data points. Combinations of these ideas produce autoregressive moving-average (ARMA) and autoregressive integrated moving-average (ARIMA) models. The autoregressive fractionally integrated moving-average (ARFIMA) model generalizes the former three. Extensions of these classes to deal with vector-valued data are available under the heading of multivariate time-series models and sometimes the preceding acronyms are extended by including an initial "V" for "vector", as in VAR for vector autoregression. An additional set of extensions of these models is available for use where the observed time-series is driven by some "forcing" time-series (which may not have a causal effect on the observed series): the distinction from the multivariate case is that the forcing series may be deterministic or under the experimenter's control. For these models, the acronyms are extended with a final "X" for "exogenous".

Non-linear dependence of the level of a series on previous data points is of interest, partly because of the possibility of producing a chaotic time series. However, more importantly, empirical investigations can indicate the advantage of using predictions derived from non-linear models, over those from linear models, as for example in nonlinear autoregressive exogenous models. Further references on nonlinear time series analysis: (Kantz and Schreiber), and (Abarbanel)

Among other types of non-linear time series models, there are models to represent the changes of variance over time (heteroskedasticity). These models represent autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARCH) and the collection comprises a wide variety of representation (GARCH, TARCH, EGARCH, FIGARCH, CGARCH, etc.). Here changes in variability are related to, or predicted by, recent past values of the observed series. This is in contrast to other possible representations of locally varying variability, where the variability might be modelled as being driven by a separate time-varying process, as in a doubly stochastic model.

In recent work on model-free analyses, wavelet transform based methods (for example locally stationary wavelets and wavelet decomposed neural networks) have gained favor. Multiscale (often referred to as multiresolution) techniques decompose a given time series, attempting to illustrate time dependence at multiple scales. See also Markov switching multifractal (MSMF) techniques for modeling volatility evolution.

A hidden Markov model (HMM) is a statistical Markov model in which the system being modeled is assumed to be a Markov process with unobserved (hidden) states. An HMM can be considered as the simplest dynamic Bayesian network. HMM models are widely used in speech recognition, for translating a time series of spoken words into text.

Many of these models are collected in the python package sktime.

Notation
A number of different notations are in use for time-series analysis. A common notation specifying a time series X that is indexed by the natural numbers is written
 * X = (X1, X2, ...).

Another common notation is
 * Y = (Yt: t ∈ T),

where T is the index set.

Conditions
There are two sets of conditions under which much of the theory is built:
 * Stationary process
 * Ergodic process

Ergodicity implies stationarity, but the converse is not necessarily the case. Stationarity is usually classified into strict stationarity and wide-sense or second-order stationarity. Both models and applications can be developed under each of these conditions, although the models in the latter case might be considered as only partly specified.

In addition, time-series analysis can be applied where the series are seasonally stationary or non-stationary. Situations where the amplitudes of frequency components change with time can be dealt with in time-frequency analysis which makes use of a time–frequency representation of a time-series or signal.

Tools
Tools for investigating time-series data include:

 * Consideration of the autocorrelation function and the spectral density function (also cross-correlation functions and cross-spectral density functions)
 * Scaled cross- and auto-correlation functions to remove contributions of slow components
 * Performing a Fourier transform to investigate the series in the frequency domain
 * Discrete, continuous or mixed spectra of time series, depending on whether the time series contains a (generalized) harmonic signal or not
 * Use of a filter to remove unwanted noise
 * Principal component analysis (or empirical orthogonal function analysis)
 * Singular spectrum analysis
 * "Structural" models:
 * General state space models
 * Unobserved components models
 * Machine learning
 * Artificial neural networks
 * Support vector machine
 * Fuzzy logic
 * Gaussian process
 * Genetic programming
 * Gene expression programming
 * Hidden Markov model
 * Multi expression programming
 * Queueing theory analysis
 * Control chart
 * Shewhart individuals control chart
 * CUSUM chart
 * EWMA chart
 * Detrended fluctuation analysis
 * Nonlinear mixed-effects modeling
 * Dynamic time warping
 * Dynamic Bayesian network
 * Time-frequency analysis techniques:
 * Fast Fourier transform
 * Continuous wavelet transform
 * Short-time Fourier transform
 * Chirplet transform
 * Fractional Fourier transform
 * Chaotic analysis
 * Correlation dimension
 * Recurrence plots
 * Recurrence quantification analysis
 * Lyapunov exponents
 * Entropy encoding

Measures
Time-series metrics or features that can be used for time series classification or regression analysis:

 * Univariate linear measures
 * Moment (mathematics)
 * Spectral band power
 * Spectral edge frequency
 * Accumulated energy (signal processing)
 * Characteristics of the autocorrelation function
 * Hjorth parameters
 * FFT parameters
 * Autoregressive model parameters
 * Mann–Kendall test
 * Univariate non-linear measures
 * Measures based on the correlation sum
 * Correlation dimension
 * Correlation integral
 * Correlation density
 * Correlation entropy
 * Approximate entropy
 * Sample entropy
 * Fourier entropy
 * Wavelet entropy
 * Dispersion entropy
 * Fluctuation dispersion entropy
 * Rényi entropy
 * Higher-order methods
 * Marginal predictability
 * Dynamical similarity index
 * State space dissimilarity measures
 * Lyapunov exponent
 * Permutation methods
 * Local flow
 * Other univariate measures
 * Algorithmic complexity
 * Kolmogorov complexity estimates
 * Hidden Markov model states
 * Rough path signature
 * Surrogate time series and surrogate correction
 * Loss of recurrence (degree of non-stationarity)
 * Bivariate linear measures
 * Maximum linear cross-correlation
 * Linear Coherence (signal processing)
 * Bivariate non-linear measures
 * Non-linear interdependence
 * Dynamical Entrainment (physics)
 * Measures for phase synchronization
 * Measures for phase locking
 * Similarity measures:
 * Cross-correlation
 * Dynamic time warping
 * Hidden Markov model
 * Edit distance
 * Total correlation
 * Newey–West estimator
 * Prais–Winsten transformation
 * Data as vectors in a metrizable space
 * Minkowski distance
 * Mahalanobis distance
 * Data as time series with envelopes
 * Global standard deviation
 * Local standard deviation
 * Windowed standard deviation
 * Data interpreted as stochastic series
 * Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient
 * Spearman's rank correlation coefficient
 * Data interpreted as a probability distribution function
 * Kolmogorov–Smirnov test
 * Cramér–von Mises criterion

Visualization
Time series can be visualized with two categories of chart: Overlapping Charts and Separated Charts. Overlapping Charts display all-time series on the same layout while Separated Charts presents them on different layouts (but aligned for comparison purpose)

Overlapping charts

 * Braided graphs
 * Line charts
 * Slope graphs
 * GapChart

Separated charts

 * Horizon graphs
 * Reduced line chart (small multiples)
 * Silhouette graph
 * Circular silhouette graph

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Time series


text:
Hōjō Tokiyori

Hōjō Tokiyori (北条 時頼, June 29, 1227 – December 24, 1263) was the fifth shikken (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate in Japan.

Early life
He was born to warrior monk Hōjō Tokiuji and a daughter of Adachi Kagemori, younger brother of Hōjō Tsunetoki and grandson of Hōjō Yasutoki.

Rule
Tokiyori became shikken following his brother Tsunetoki's death. Immediately after the succession, he crushed a coup plot by former shōgun Kujō Yoritsune and Tokiyori's relative Nagoe Mitsutoki. In the next year, he let Adachi Kagemori destroy the powerful Miura clan in the Battle of Hochi. He recalled his experienced grandfather's brother, Hōjō Shigetoki, from Kyoto and appointed him as rensho. In 1252, he replaced Shogun Kujō Yoritsugu with Prince Munetaka, and so successfully solidified the power base.

Reforms
Tokiyori has been praised for his good administration. He worked on reforms mainly by writing various regulations. He reduced service of the vassals to guard Kyoto. He worked toward resolving the increasing land disputes of his vassals. In 1249, he set up the legal system of Hikitsuke or High Court.

Personal life and dictatorship
In 1252, he started to make policies at private meetings held at his residence instead of discussing at the Hyōjō (評定), the council of the shogunate. In 1256, when he became a Buddhist priest, he transferred the position of shikken to Hōjō Nagatoki, a son of Shigetoki, while his infant son with women named Akiko, Tokimune, succeeded to become tokusō, the head of the Hōjō clan and his son with Tsubone Sanuki, Hōjō Tokisuke succeeded as the head of rokuhara. thus separating the positions for the first time. He continued to rule in fact but without any official position. This is considered the beginning of the tokusō dictatorship. Tokiyori invited Lanxi Daolong, a monk from Southern Song Dynasty, to construct Kenchō-ji temple. He later invited Dōgen to teach him.

Legends
There are a number of legends that Tokiyori traveled incognito throughout Japan to inspect actual conditions and improve the lives of the people. This is the reason for which a 'pilgrimage legend' famous as a Noh play entitled "Hachi no ki” is based off. Tokiyori owned one of the Tenka Goken Onimaru Kunitsuna which was used to kill an oni threatening him.

Death
In 1256, Tokiyori became ill, and consequently he surrendered the regency to his relative, Hōjō Nagatoki, whereupon he became a priest and called himself Meigetsuin Nyudo. However, it is said that Tokiyori in fact managed politics after his retirement from the regency. At that time, Tokimune, Tokiyori's eldest son (born in 1251), was only six years old, and therefore it was impossible for Tokimune to take over the regency. It is said that such circumstances gave rise to Tokiyori's intention to appoint Nagatoki to serve as a regent in place of Tokimune until Tokimune's attainment of manhood and thereafter to have Tokimune assume the regency from Nagatoki. Contrary to his intention, Tokiyori assumed real political power after his retirement, and this heralded the Tokuso family in the Hojo family. Tokiyori died in 1263 at the age of 36.

title: Hōjō Tokiyori


text:
Jacob in Islam

Yaqub ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Azar (يَعْقُوب ابْنُ إِسْحَٰق ابْنُ إِبْرَاهِيْمُ ابْنُ آزَر, ), later given the name Israil (إِسْرَآءِیْل, ), is recognized by Muslims as an Islamic prophet. He is held to have preached the same monotheism as his forefathers: Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac.

Jacob is mentioned sixteen times in the Quran. Two further references to "Israil" are believed to be mentions of Jacob. In the majority of these references, Jacob, identified as a son of Isaac, is mentioned alongside fellow Hebrews as an ancient and pious prophet who stayed in the "company of the elect" and asserted the tawhid (The oneness of God) throughout his life. In Islam, as in Judaism and Christianity, it is stated that Jacob had twelve sons, who went on to father the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Jacob plays a significant role in the story of his son Joseph. The Quran further makes it clear that God made a covenant with Jacob, and that Jacob was made a faithful leader by divine command. His grandfather Abraham, his father Isaac, his uncle Ishmael, and his son Joseph are all recognized as Islamic prophets.

In the Quran
Jacob is mentioned by name in the Quran sixteen times. Although many of these verses praise him rather than recount an instance from his narrative, the Quran nonetheless records several significant events from his life. In Islamic culture and literature, the earliest event involving Jacob in the Quran is that of the angels giving "glad tidings" to Abraham and Sarah of the future birth of a prophetic son by the name of Isaac as well as a prophetic grandson by the name of Jacob. The Quran states: "So after he had left them and what they worshipped besides Allah, We granted him Isaac and Jacob, and made each of them a prophet."

The Quran also mentions that Abraham taught the faith of pure monotheism to his sons, Ishmael and Isaac, as well as Jacob. The Quran records Abraham telling Ishmael, Isaac and Jacob: "Oh my sons! God hath chosen the Faith for you; then die not except in the Faith of Islam." The Quran also mentions the gifts given to Jacob as well as the strength of his faith, which became stronger as he became older. The Quran mentions that Jacob was "guided"; given "knowledge"; "inspired"; and was given a "tongue of truthfulness to be heard". The Quran later states the following regarding Jacob:

"And We blessed him with Isaac ˹as a son˺ and Jacob ˹as a grandson˺, as an additional favour—making all of them righteous. We ˹also˺ made them leaders, guiding by Our command, and inspired them to do good deeds, establish prayer, and pay alms-tax. And they were devoted to Our worship."

"And remember Our servants: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the men of strength and insight. We truly chose them for the honour of proclaiming the Hereafter. And in Our sight they are truly among the chosen and the finest."

Jacob and his sons
Jacob's next significant mention in the Quran is in the narrative of the surah Yusuf. Joseph's story in the Quran opens with a dream that Joseph had one night, after which he ran to his father Jacob, saying: "Behold! Joseph said to his father: "O my father! I did see eleven planets and the sun and the moon: I saw them prostrate themselves to me!" " Jacob's face filled with delight at what he had heard from the young Joseph, and the ageing prophet immediately understood what the dream meant. Jacob could foresee that his son would grow up to be the next prophet in the line of Abraham and it would be Joseph who would keep the message of Islam alive in the coming years. Jacob's older sons, however, felt that their father loved Joseph and Benjamin, Jacob's youngest son, more than them. Jacob knew about their jealousy and warned the young Joseph about it. Joseph's ten older brothers then decided to kill him. As the Quran narrates their discussion:

"˹Remember˺ when they said ˹to one another˺, “Surely Joseph and his brother ˹Benjamin˺ are more beloved to our father than we, even though we are a group of so many. Indeed, our father is clearly mistaken. Kill Joseph or cast him out to some ˹distant˺ land so that our father’s attention will be only ours, then after that you may ˹repent and˺ become righteous people!”"

One of the brothers (usually understood to be Reuben ) however, felt that instead of slaying Joseph(Yusuf) they should instead drop him into a well, so that a caravan may come and pick him up. Thus, they asked their father whether they could take the young Joseph out to play with them, on the condition that they would keep watch over him. Although Jacob feared that a wolf would devour his son, the rebellious older sons forcefully took Joseph away and threw him into the well. When the sons came back to Jacob that night, they pretended to weep and they further told him that the wolf had devoured Joseph. To trick their father, they stained Joseph's(Yusuf) shirt with false blood, but Jacob, who had been gifted with knowledge, knew this was a false concoction that they had devised. Although Jacob did worry over the loss of Joseph, he remained steadfast to God throughout his grief.

As the years passed, the young Joseph grew up into a man in Egypt; Jacob, meanwhile, was back at home in Canaan, where his sons would constantly bother him about his repeated praying to God for the return of Joseph(Yusuf). Although Jacob frequently complained to God it was never for God's doings, but out of the distractions of his mind and his occasional breaking out of the bounds of patience he had set for himself. He constantly ignored the wicked taunting of his sons, forgave them, and tried to give them sound advice. One day, Jacob decided to send his sons on an errand, telling them to go to Egypt in search of Joseph and Benjamin. His sons, for the first time, listened to him and departed for Egypt. When one of Jacob's sons returned to Canaan with the good news of Joseph and Benjamin in Egypt, he came with a shirt that Joseph had given him, which he had told him to cast over their father's face, to remove Jacob's blindness and grief. Thus, the son followed the instructions and did as Joseph said, restoring Jacob's physical and mental vision.

Once Jacob's sight had been restored, the whole family began their trek to Egypt, to meet Joseph and the other sons again. Once they arrived, the father and son met each other with great love and were reunited in peace once again. The now powerful Joseph provided a home for his parents with himself and, as the Quran says, raised them high on a 'throne of dignity'. It was now that the whole family, together, could turn to God through the prophetic offices of both Jacob and Joseph.

Jacob's last advice to his people
The whole of the Children of Israel were called to bow down to faith in Islam (Submission to God) before Jacob died. Jacob wanted to make sure that his children die only in Islam, and, therefore, took one last promise from them. When he asked them who they would worship after his death, they replied that they would continue in Islam and bow down to and worship God. Although the death-bed scene relates to Jewish tradition, and mentioned in the Book of Genesis, the Quran mentions it to emphasize the notion that Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, and Jacob were all Muslims, as they bowed down in full faith to God and God alone. The Quran narrates:

"This was the advice of Abraham—as well as Jacob—to his children, ˹saying˺, “Indeed, Allah has chosen for you this faith; so do not die except in ˹a state of full˺ submission.” Or did you witness when death came to Jacob? He asked his children, “Who will you worship after my passing?” They replied, “We will ˹continue to˺ worship your God, the God of your forefathers—Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac—the One God. And to Him we ˹all˺ submit.”"

Prophetic legacy
Jacob is very special in Islam for carrying on the legacy left by his forefathers. Muslims believe God bestowed His utmost grace upon Jacob and chose him to be among the most exalted men. The Quran frequently mentions Jacob as a man of might and vision and stresses he was of the company of the good and elect. As the Quran says:

"This was the argument We gave Abraham against his people. We elevate in rank whoever We please. Surely your Lord is All-Wise, All-Knowing. And We blessed him with Isaac and Jacob. We guided them all as We previously guided Noah and those among his descendants: David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, and Aaron. This is how We reward the good-doers."

Ali ibn Abi Talib, when asked about the prophets who were bestowed special names, narrates in Hadith that Ya'qub ibn Ishaq was known by his people as Isra'il.

Instances in the Bible involving Jacob wrestling with an angel are not mentioned in the Quran, but are discussed in Muslim commentaries, as is the vision of Jacob's Ladder. Jacob tricking Isaac into blessing him by impersonating his twin, Esau, is also not in the Quran, but is in Muslim commentaries.

Muslims, who do believe Jacob was a great patriarch, stress the belief that Jacob's main importance lay in his great submission to God and his firm faith in the right religion. As a patriarch, Jacob, alongside Abraham, may be the most fruitful according to tradition. From his twelve sons were to come many other great prophets, including Jonah, (David), Solomon, and Jesus.

Tomb in Hebron

Jacob is believed by Muslims and Jews alike to be buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs (known by Muslims as the Sanctuary of Abraham). The compound, located in the city of Hebron, is the second holiest site for Jews (after the Temple Mount in Jerusalem), and is also venerated by Christians and Muslims, both of whom have traditions that maintain that the site is the burial place of three Biblical couples: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah.

Quranic references to Jacob

 * Appraisals for Jacob:, , ,
 * Jacob's prophecy:, , , ,
 * Jacob's preaching, , , ,
 * Food refusal:
 * Love for Joseph:, , ,
 * Jacob's attributes:, ,
 * Jacob's family:, , , ,

title: Jacob in Islam


text:
Talk:For Us, the Living

Social Creditism
I wouldn't view SC as a leftist ideology. It's a strange one to peg, but I'd say it's rightwing. Where I live actually had SC once (50 years ago), and it quickly converted itself to conservatism/christian democract beliefs. (Dec 26)

I removed mention of libertarianism, since in the context of 1938, libertarianism did not exist as such. -- Jussi-Ville Heiskanen 08:55, Dec 18, 2003 (UTC)

In the edit I made today, I removed material written by Paul Robinson in an amazon.com review. Without further info, it should probably be treated as possible copyrighted material. I have appended it immediately below. Hu 01:31, 2004 Dec 25 (UTC)

 * Text removed. Jkelly 22:32, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

"Eerie foreshadowings?"
For Us, the Living contains eerie foreshadowings of Heinlein's later writings How would it be "eerie"? It doesn't seem to me that there's anything eerie about an author using certain elements in an early book that are reused in later books. Indeed, it's quite common Nik42 08:35, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

Agreed. Changing "eerie" to "many", which is more accurate. Oni no Maggie 22:54, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

Cleanup
I removed this line:
 * There is even a Door Into Summer. (page 45)

The title & inspiration for The Door into Summer came from a random comment made by Virginia Heinlein in 1955. I don't think it's possible to make a connection between that comment and the glass-domed deck Heinlein wrote about in 1938. -- Jim Douglas (talk) (contribs)  05:50, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Re the reference to Ayn Rand: In The Moon is a Harsh Mistress there are discussions of how the new government will be formed, and a "Randian" is mentioned in one of them. Presumably, a Randian is a follower of Ayn Rand's views, and as I recall, the major character known as Pop, says he could work with a Randian. Submitted by Janice Vian. 96.45.6.201 (talk) 05:08, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:RobertAHeinlein ForUsTheLiving.jpg
Image:RobertAHeinlein ForUsTheLiving.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 04:49, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Feminist Critique
I'm not sure who Cynthia Brown was, but giving her such space for such large quotations seems absurd when she seems to have barely skimmed the book. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.197.15.219 (talk) 04:19, 2 August 2010 (UTC)

90% made-up WP:OR
The article is almost completely made-up analysis and opinion. Huge swaths (of said opinion) are completely uncited.

After the plot summary, the rest of the article could justifiably be removed en masse.

Instead, I plan to begin to remove some the most egregious of it one by one. That will result in a large numbers of deleting edits by an IP. You will hate me for that. But, you all should follow suit.

Wikipedia is not a place for literature enthusiasts to show off how smart they are with all their analysis and connections and made-up "themes". You might have made some very good analysis, but it's only includable if it's published somewhere in a cited reliable source -- not by you on your blog.

73.219.90.8 (talk) 01:16, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

I've read RAH's better known books but not this one. However, it seems like the article writers are not clear about the meaning of the word "secular," which only means non-religious, rather than atheistic, so that "two years" of a "completely secular" education---most Americans have thirteen years of secular education now, before the ones who go to college for another four years of secular education---is hardly revolutionary or utopian. nearly all secular colleges, including government colleges, have chapels and even paid religious staff like Catholic priests and nuns and Protestant ministers. Our secular armed forces have chaplains. It seems that For Us, the Living, presents an anti-religious (supposed) utopia, but the word "secular" simply doesn't mean anti-religious but rather non-religious. The Boy Scouts are secular, but they have religion-based awards, the Religious Emblems Programs, and they even used to ban atheists from taking part in Scouting. 2601:701:C002:FD40:D16:9BD6:9939:4A9 (talk) 14:05, 27 October 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:For Us, the Living


text:
Yale romanization

The Yale romanizations are four romanization systems created at Yale University for the following four East Asian languages:

 * Yale romanization of Mandarin, developed in 1943 by the Yale sinologist George Kennedy.
 * Yale romanization of Cantonese, developed by Gerard P. Kok and published in 1958.
 * Yale romanization of Korean, developed by Samuel Elmo Martin and his colleagues at Yale University around 1942 about half a decade after McCune–Reischauer. It is the standard romanization of the Korean language in linguistics.
 * JSL romanization, a system for Japanese devised by Eleanor Jorden, which is sometimes called "Yale romanization".

title: Yale romanization


text:
User talk:Stuart Little~enwiki

Hello Stuart, welcome to Wikipedia.

You might find these links helpful in creating new pages or helping with the above tasks: How to edit a page, How to write a great article, Naming conventions, Manual of Style. You should read our policies at some point too.

If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my talk page. I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian!

Angela. 08:56, 18 Dec 2003 (UTC)

=== Many thanks, Angela. But :
 * 1) I'm able only on Christianism and optionnaly, in some French subjects :-))
 * 2) I'm not English mother tongue. I'm  fluenter  in Spanish.

Stuart Little

Your account will be renamed
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Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 19:16, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Stuart Little~enwiki


text:
Joseph in Islam

Yusuf (يوسف ٱبن يعقوب ٱبن إسحاق ٱبن إبراهيم, lit. 'Joseph, son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham') is a prophet and messenger of God mentioned in the Quran and corresponds to Joseph, a person from the Hebrew and Christian Bible who was said to have lived in Egypt before the New Kingdom. Of Jacob's children, Joseph reportedly had the gift of prophecy through dreams. Although the narratives of other prophets are presented in a number of surahs, Joseph's complete narrative appears in only one: Yusuf. Said to be the most detailed narrative in the Quran, it mentions details that do not appear in its biblical counterpart.

Yusuf is believed to have been the eleventh son of Ya'qub (يعقوب) and, according to a number of scholars, his favorite. Ibn Kathir wrote, "Jacob had twelve sons who were the eponymous ancestors of the tribes of the Israelites. The noblest, the most exalted, the greatest of them was Joseph." The narrative begins with Joseph revealing a dream to his father, which Jacob recognizes. In addition to the role of God in his life, the story of Yusuf and Zulaikha (Potiphar's wife in the Old Testament) became a popular subject of Persian literature and was elaborated over centuries.

In the Quran
The story of Joseph in the Qurʾān is a continuous narrative. There are over one hundred verses, encompassing many years; they "present an amazing variety of sciences and characters in a tightly-knit plot, and offer a dramatic illustration of some of the fundamental themes of the Qurʾān." The Quran notes the story's importance in the third verse: "and We narrate unto you aḥsanal-qaṣaṣ (أحسن ٱلقصص)." Most scholars believe that this refers to Joseph's story; others, including al-Tabari, believe that it refers to the Quran as a whole. It documents the execution of God's rulings despite the challenge of human intervention ("And God hath full power and control over His affairs; but most among mankind know it not").

Before the dream
Muhammad at-Ṭabari provides detailed commentary on the narrative in his chapter on Joseph, relaying the opinions of other well-known scholars. In al–Ṭabari's chapter, the physical beauty of Joseph and his mother Rahyl is introduced; they were said to have had "more beauty than any other human being." His father, Jacob, had given him to his oldest sister to be raised. Al–Ṭabari writes that there was no greater love than what Joseph's aunt felt for him, since she raised him as her own; reluctant to return him to Jacob, she kept him until her death. According to al–Ṭabari, she could do this because of a belt given to her by her father, Isaac: "If someone else acquired it by guile from the person who was supposed to have it, then he would become absolutely subject to the will of the rightful owner." Joseph's aunt puts the belt on Joseph when Jacob is absent; she accuses Joseph of stealing it, and he remains with her until her death. Jacob is reluctant to give Joseph up, and favors him when they are together.

The dream
The narrative begins with a dream, and ends with its interpretation. As the sun appeared over the horizon, bathing the earth in morning glory, Joseph (son of Jacob) awakens delighted by a pleasant dream. Filled with excitement, he runs to his father and reports what he saw.

"Joseph said to his father: "O my father! I did see eleven stars and the sun and the moon: I saw them prostrate themselves to me!"

- Qur'an 12:4

According to Ibn Kathir, Jacob knows that Joseph will become important in this world and the next. He recognizes that the stars represent his brothers; the sun and moon represent himself and Joseph's mother, Rachel. Jacob tells Joseph to keep the dream secret to protect him from the jealousy of his brothers, who are unhappy with Jacob's love for Joseph. He foresees that Joseph will be the one through whom the prophecy of his grandfather, Ibrahim, would be fulfilled: his offspring would keep the light of Abraham's house alive and spread God's message to mankind. Abu Ya'ala interpreted Jacob's reaction as an understanding that the planets, sun, and moon bowing to Joseph represented "something dispersed which God united." Jacob tells Joseph, "My son, relate not thy vision to thy brothers, lest they concoct a plot against thee: for Satan is a clear enemy to humanity. Thus your Lord has selected you and given you the knowledge to interpret dreams, and has perfected His blessing upon you and upon the family of Jacob just as He perfected it on your forefathers before: Ibrahim and Is-haq (Isaac). Your Lord is Knowing, Wise" (Qur'an, Surah 12 (Yusuf) Ayat 5–6).

Joseph does not tell his brothers about his dream (unlike the Hebrew Bible version), but they remain very jealous. Al–Ṭabari writes that they said to each other, "Verily Joseph and his brother (Benjamin) are dearer to our father than we are, though we may be a troop ('usbah). By usbah they meant a group, for they were ten in number. They said, "Our father is plainly in a state of aberration." Joseph has a gentle temperament and is respectful, kind, and considerate, like his brother Benjamin; both are Rachel's sons. From a hadith (حديث):

"Narrated Abu Huraira: Some people asked the Prophet: "Who is the most honorable amongst the people?" He replied, "The most honorable among them is the one who is the most God-fearing." They said, "O Prophet of God! We do not ask about this." He said, "Then the most honorable person is Joseph, NabiyyUllah (نبي الله), the son of a NabiyyIllah, the son of a NabiyyIllah the son of KhalilIllah (خليل الله).""

- Sahih al-Bukhari, collected by Muhammad al-Bukhari

Plot against him
The Quran continues with Joseph's brothers plotting to kill him: "In Joseph and his brothers are signs for those who seek answers. When Joseph's brothers said about him: "He is more loved by our father than we are, and we are a group. Our father is in clear error. Let us kill Joseph or cast him to the ground, so that your father's face will be toward you, and after him you will be a community of the truthful." One brother argued against killing him and suggested throwing him into a well, said to be Jubb Yusif (جب يوسف); a caravan might rescue and enslave him: "Slay not Joseph, but if ye must do something, throw him down to the bottom of the well: he will be picked up by some caravan of travelers." Mujahid ibn Jabr identifies the brother as Simeon. Suddi identifies him as Judah; Qatadah writes that it was the eldest, Reuben: Scholars suggest that Joseph may have been as young as twelve when he was thrown into the well. He would live to be 110 or 120.

The brothers ask their father to let them take Joseph into the desert to play, and promised to watch him. Jacob hesitates, aware of their resentment of their brother. Al–Ṭabari writes that Jacob's excuse is that a wolf (ذئب) might hurt him. The brothers insist, and then throw Joseph into a well. They return with a blood-stained shirt, saying that he had been attacked by a wolf, but Jacob does not believe them.

According to the Quran, "They said: "O our father! why dost thou not trust us with Joseph, – seeing we are indeed his sincere well-wishers? Send him with us tomorrow to enjoy himself and play, and we shall take every care of him." (Jacob) said: "Really it saddens me that ye should take him away: I fear lest the wolf should devour him while ye attend not to him." They said: "If the wolf were to devour him while we are (so large) a party, then should we indeed (first) have perished ourselves!" So they did take him away, and they all agreed to throw him down to the bottom of the well: and We put into his heart (this Message): 'Of a surety thou shalt (one day) tell them the truth of this their affair while they know (thee) not' Then they came to their father in the early part of the night, weeping. They said: "O our father! We went racing with one another, and left Joseph with our things; and the wolf devoured him.... But thou wilt never believe us even if we tell the truth." They stained his shirt with false blood. He said: "Nay, but your minds have made up a tale (that may pass) with you, (for me) patience is most fitting: Against that which ye assert, it is God (alone) Whose help can be sought"..."

- Qur'an, Surah 12 (Yusuf) Ayat 1118

Al–Ṭabari writes that Judah stops the brothers from further harming Joseph, and brings him food. Ibn Kathir writes that Reuben suggested that they put him in the well so he could return later to bring him home. When he returns, Joseph is gone: "So he screamed and tore his clothes. He put blood on the coat of Joseph. When Jacob learned of this, he tore his clothes, wore a black cloak, and was sad for many days." Ibn Abbas writes that the "reason for this trial of Jacob was that he had slaughtered a sheep while he was fasting. He asked a neighbor of his to eat it but he did not. So God tested him with the matter of Joseph." He interprets Joseph's revelation in the well: "When they were unaware" (12:15) means "you will tell them about what they did in a situation in which they will not recognize you." A possible reason for Joseph's enslavement was that after Abraham left Egypt with slaves, "Abraham did not dismount for them (following barefoot). Therefore God revealed to him: 'Since you did not alight for the slaves and those walking barefoot with you, I will punish you by selling one of your descendants into his country.

God's Intervention
A passing caravan takes Joseph after it stops by the well to draw water and sees the boy inside. The brothers, nearby, sell Joseph for a very low price, only wanting to get rid of him. The caravan rescue him and sell him into slavery in Misr (مصر, Egypt), to a rich man, the Pharaoh's vizier, known as Al-'Aziz (ٱلعزيز) in the Quran and Potiphar in the Bible. 'Aziz is also known as Qatafir or Qittin. Joseph is taken into 'Aziz's home, and the man tells his wife to treat him well.

"Then there came a caravan of travellers: they sent their water-carrier (for water), and he let down his bucket (into the well) ... He said: "Ah there! Good news! Here is a (fine) young man!" So they concealed him as a treasure. But God knoweth well all that they do. The (Brethren) sold him for a miserable price, for a few dirhams counted out: in such low estimation did they hold him! The man in Egypt who bought him, said to his wife: "Make his stay (among us) honourable: maybe he will bring us much good, or we shall adopt him as a son." Thus did We establish Joseph in the land, that We might teach him the interpretation of dreams (and events). And God hath full power and control over His affairs; but most among mankind know it not. When Joseph attained His full manhood, We gave him power and knowledge: thus do We reward those who do right."

- Qur'an, Surah 12 (Yusuf) Ayat 1922

Scholars of Islam cite this point as central to Joseph's story. Joseph rises to a high position in Al-'Aziz's household and, when his brothers later come to Egypt, they do not recognize him. He reaches manhood, and 'Aziz's wife tries to seduce him. Al–Tabari and others note that Joseph is also attracted to her, and al–Ṭabari writes that he does not succumb to her because when they were alone, the "figure of Jacob appeared to him, standing in the house and biting his fingers ... God turned him away from his desire for evil by giving him a sign that he should not do it."

"But she in whose house he was, sought to seduce him from his (true) self: she fastened the doors, and said: "Now come, thou (dear one)!" He said: "Allah forbid! Truly (thy husband) is my lord! He made my sojourn agreeable! Truly to no good come those who do wrong!" And (with passion) did she desire him, and he would have desired her, but that he saw the evidence of his Lord: thus (did We order) that We might turn away from him (all) evil and shameful deeds: for he was one of Our servants, sincere and purified."

- Qur'an, Surah 12 (Yusuf) Ayat 2324

Zulaikha, 'Aziz's wife, rips the back of Joseph's shirt as they race one another to the door where her husband is waiting. She tries to blame Joseph, suggesting that he had attacked her, but Joseph's account of Zulaikha's attempted seduction is confirmed by a member of the household; Azīz believed Joseph and told his wife to beg forgiveness." The household member tells 'Aziz to check Joseph's shirt. If the front is torn, Joseph is guilty; if the back is torn, Zulaikha is guilty. The shirt is torn in the back, and 'Aziz reprimands his wife for lying.

Zulaikha's friends think that she is infatuated with Joseph, and ridicule her for falling in love with a slave. She invites them to her home, and gives them apples and knives to peel them with. Zuleikha then has Joseph walk through the room; the women are so distracted by his handsomeness that they cut their fingers with the knives, and she says that she sees Joseph every day. Joseph prays, saying that he would prefer prison to succumbing to Zuleikha and her friends. According to al–Ṭabari, 'Aziz later "grew disgusted with himself for having let Joseph go free ... It seemed good to them to imprison him for a time." The popular story of Joseph and Zulaikha differs in the Quran from the Biblical version, in which Potiphar believes his wife and imprisons Joseph. After 'Aziz's death, Joseph reportedly marries Zulaikha.

Dream interpretation
This account refers to the interaction between Joseph and the ruler of Egypt. Unlike references to the pharaoh in the account of Moses, the story of Joseph refers to the Egyptian ruler as a king (ملك) rather than a pharaoh (فرعون). After Joseph had been imprisoned for a few years, God gives Joseph the ability to interpret dreams, a power which makes him popular amongst the other prisoners. Before his imprisonment, two royal servants had been thrown into the dungeon for attempting to poison the food of the king and his family. Joseph asks them about their dreams; one said that he saw himself pressing grapes into wine, and the other said he saw himself with a basket of bread on his head and birds eating from it. Joseph says that the first servant will be released and return to the king, but the second will be executed; both came to pass.

He asks the servant who will be released (Nabu, according to al–Ṭabari) to mention his case to the king. Asked about his time in prison, al–Ṭabari writes that Muhammad said: "If Joseph had not said that – meaning what he said (to Nabu) – he would not have stayed in prison as long as he did because he sought deliverance from someone other than God."

The king is frightened by his dream that seven fat cows were eaten by seven thin ones and seven ears of corn were replaced with shriveled ears; none of his advisors could interpret it. When the servant who was released hears about it, he remembers Joseph and persuades the king to send him to Joseph for an interpretation. Joseph tells the servant that Egypt will face seven years of prosperity followed by seven years of famine, and the king should prepare for it.

Scholars debate whether Joseph agreed to interpret the dream immediately or if he said that his name should be cleared in the house of 'Aziz first. Al–Ṭabari writes that when the messenger came to Joseph and invited him to come to the king, Joseph replied: "Go back to your lord and ask him about the case of the women who cut their hands. My lord surely knows their guile." Ibn Kathir agrees with al–Ṭabari, saying that Joseph sought "restitution for this in order that 'Aziz might know that he was not false to him during his absence" and Zulaikha eventually admitted that nothing happened between them. Al–Ṭabari inserts an interaction between Joseph and the angel Gabriel in which Gabriel helps Joseph gain his freedom and admit his desires.

Joseph said, "What you cultivate during the next seven years, when the time of harvest comes, leave the grains in their spikes, except for what you eat. After that, seven years of drought will come, which will consume most of what you stored for them. After that, a year will come that brings relief for the people, and they will, once again, press juice." (Quran, 12:4749) When he learns about Joseph's innocence, the king says: "Bring him to me that I may attach him to my person." He tells Joseph, "Verily, this day, you are with us high in rank and fully trusted",(Quran 12:54) recognizing his virtues, ability, brilliance, and good conduct and perfect mannerisms. Joseph says,, "Set me over the storehouses of the land; I will indeed guard them with full knowledge" (Quran 12:55).

Use of "king" and "pharaoh"
In the Quran, the ruler of Egypt during Joseph's time is said to be the "king"; the ruler during the time of Moses is said to be "pharaoh", without a definite article. The title "pharaoh" began to be used to refer to rulers of Egypt with Thutmose III in 1479 BCE, about 20 years after Joseph's death. In the biblical story of Joseph, "king" (Melekh) and "pharaoh" are used interchangeably in Genesis 39 to 41.

"The King (of Egypt) said: "I do see (in a vision) seven fat kine, whom seven lean ones devour, and seven green ears of corn, and seven (others) withered. O ye chiefs! expound to me my vision, if it be that ye can interpret visions.""

- Qur'an, Surah 12 (Yusuf), Ayah 43,

"Then after them We sent Moses with Our Signs to Pharaoh and his chiefs, but they wrongfully rejected them. So see how was the end of al-Mufsidin (ألمفسدين, "the Mischief-makers" or "the Corrupters")."

- Qur'an, Surah 7 (Al-Araf), Ayah 103

"And the King said: "Bring him to me." But when the messenger came to him, He (Joseph) said: "Return to your lord and ask him, 'What happened to the women who cut their hands? Surely, my Lord (God) is Well-Aware of their plot."

- Qur'an, Surah 12 (Yusuf), Ayah 50,

"And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were bound; and he was there in the prison."

- Genesis 39:20

"Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt."

- Genesis 40:1

"And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt."

- Genesis 41:46

"And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded."

- Genesis 47:11

Family reunion
Joseph became powerful; Ibn Kathir writes that the king of Egypt had faith in him, and the people loved and revered him. He was reportedly 30 years old when he was summoned to the king. "The king addressed him in 70 languages, and each time Joseph answered him in that language." According to Ibn Is-haq, "The king of Egypt converted to Islam at the hands of Joseph."

Joseph's brothers suffer while the people of Egypt prosper under his guidance. Jacob and his family are hungry and the brothers go to Egypt, unaware that Joseph is in a high position there. Joseph gives them what they need, and questions them. They say that there were once twelve of them, and the one most loved by their father (Joseph) died in the desert. Joseph tells them to bring Benjamin, the youngest, to him. They return home and persuade Jacob to let Benjamin accompany them to secure food, swearing that they will return with him. According to Ibn Kathir, Jacob orders the brothers to use many gates when returning to Egypt.

When the brothers return with Benjamin, Joseph reveals himself to him. He gives the brothers the promised supplies, and puts the king's cup into one of the bags. Joseph accuses them of stealing, which the brothers deny. He tells them that whoever stole the cup will be enslaved to the owner; the brothers agree, not realizing the plot against them. Al–Ṭabari writes that the cup is found in Benjamin's sack.

After much angry discussion, the brothers try to get Benjamin released by offering themselves instead; Reuben stays behind with Benjamin. When the other brothers tell Jacob what has happened, he does not believe them and goes blind from weeping for his missing sons. Forty years after Joseph was taken from his father, Jacob still misses him. He sends the brothers back to find out about Benjamin and Joseph. Upon their return, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and gives them one of his shirts to give to Jacob.

When Jacob receives the shirt, he presses it to his face and his vision is restored. He says "Did I not tell you that I know from God what you do not know?" (12:96). According to al–Ṭabari, this means that "from the truth of the interpretation of Joseph's dream in which he saw eleven planets and the sun and the moon bowing down to him, he knew that which they did not know."

Joseph is reunited with his family, and his childhood dream comes true when he sees his parents and eleven brothers prostrating themselves before him in love, welcome and respect. Ibn Kathir writes that his mother had died, but al–Ṭabari says that she was alive. Joseph eventually dies in Egypt; when Moses leaves Egypt, he reportedly takes Joseph's coffin so he will be buried with his ancestors in Canaan.

Death and burial
According to Islamic tradition, Joseph is buried in Hebron next to the Cave of the Patriarchs, where a medieval structure known as the Castle of Joseph (Arabic: Yussuf-Kalah) is located.

Legacy
Joseph is revered in Islamic history. Descended from the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he also has the gift of prophecy. According to Kisai, one of the foremost biographers of the Quranic prophets, Joseph was given a staff of light with five branches. On the first branch was written "Abraham, friend of God," on the second, "Isaac, pure of God," on the third, "Ishmael, sacrifice of God", on the fourth, "Jacob, Israelite of God," and on the fifth, "Joseph, Righteous of God."

The Quranic story of Joseph may be one of the book's most detailed accounts of the life of a prophet. Joseph symbolizes beauty, and is admired as a preacher of Islam who is strongly committed to God and tries to persuade people to follow the path of righteousness. The Quran recounts Joseph's declaration of faith: "And I follow the ways of my fathers, – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and never could we attribute any partners whatever to God: that (comes) of the grace of God to us and to mankind: yet most men are not grateful."

- Qur'an, Surah 12 (Yusuf) Ayah 38

Joseph is described as having the three characteristics of the ideal statesman: pastoral ability (developed when he was young and in charge of his father's flocks); household management (from his time in Potiphar's house) and self-control, as seen on a number of occasions: "He was pious and God fearing, full of temperance, ready to forgive, and displayed goodness to all people."

Commentaries
Joseph is largely absent from the hadith. Discussions, interpretations and retellings of his life may be found in tafsir, histories by al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kat̲h̲īr and others, and in the poetry and pietistic literature of a number of religions. According to Ja'far al-Sadiq, a great-grandson of Muhammad and prominent source of hadith, Joseph was righteous and moral.

Joseph is a model of virtue and wisdom in spiritual literature, extolled in Ṣūfī works such as Abū Naṣr al-Sarrād̲j̲'s K. al-Lumaʿ as a paragon of forgiveness. "He also epitomizes the chastity that is based on complete trust in God, for it was his absolute piety that prompted God to personally intervene to prevent him from the transgression of succumbing to sexual temptation." Joseph is an archetype of wisdom and faith, although still human (as in his interactions with his brothers in Egypt). His beauty is frequently noted, especially in post-Qurānic literature. According to Firestone in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, "His beauty was so exceptional that the behavior of the wife of al-ʿAzīz is forgiven, or at least mitigated, because of the unavoidably uncontrollable love and passion that his countenance would rouse in her. Such portrayals are found in many genres of Islamic literatures, but are most famous in Nūr al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Dijāmī's [q.v.] Yūsuf wa Zulayk̲h̲ā, which incorporates many of the motifs and attributes associated with his beauty in earlier works." From the seventh century AH (13th century CE) to the 10th century (16th century CE), Joseph was incorporated into Persian poetry and other literature, paintings and other forms of art.

Esoteric commentaries in Arabic
The story of Joseph has esoteric Arabic commentaries which fill gaps in the narrative, make connections and identify characters. Additional details are common, and most complement information in canonical texts. According to Encyclopædia Iranica, much is derived from the Esra'Illiyat: traditions drawn from knowledge about Biblical events and people shared by Christians, Jews, and early Muslims. Sources of these traditions are Ibn 'Abbas (d. ca. 687) and Esma'il b. 'Abd-al-Rahman Soddi (d. 745). Al–Ṭabari includes the greatest number and variety of traditions supplying information not found in the Quran. "All the Arabic commentaries on Surat Yusuf include explanations and discussions of lexicography and grammar to clarify the literal meaning of the Qurʾānic story of Joseph. They focus on smaller details, not big-picture meaning."

Additional themes include the nature of God. Mustansir Mir writes that Joseph's story vindicates God's dominion and the fulfillment of his will. According to Mir's 1986 article in The Muslim World, this surah highlights the way dominion is established; God is al-Latif (الـلَّـطـيـف), and is also al-'Alim (الـعَـلـيـم) and al-Hakim (الـحَـكـيـم). The Story of Joseph in Arabic Verse is a poetic medieval version of the Quranic story.

Persian commentaries
Farsi tafsir vary in the extent to which they include explanatory discussions and Arabic questions, and some Persian commentaries on Joseph resemble their Arabic counterparts. Other commentaries consist mainly of a translation of the verses and storytelling, unlike al–Tabari's style. Mystical readings of Joseph from the six6th century AH (12th century CE) tafsir of Maybundi are examples of this influence.

Storytelling becomes more prominent in Persian tafsir, which are known for their colorful, dramatic depiction of scenes in the narrative. Often described as "lively," it can be seen in Joseph's interactions with his brothers. Another example of Persian expansion of the story is when the brothers realize that Joseph is going to keep Benjamin in Egypt. One of the brothers, often Reuben, threatens Joseph that he will yell so loudly that every pregnant woman would immediately give birth.

Judaeo-Persian literature also strongly influenced medieval Islamic writings. Scholars note that Judaeo-Persian literature seemed to have been developed during the Īl-K̲h̲ān dynasty in Persia, from the end of the seventh to the 13th centuries.

Sufi commentaries
Sufi tradition focuses on the lessons and deeper meanings "that may be elicited from the Qur'anic verses and the story of Joseph provides them with ample scope to draw lessons of mystical, ethical and theological and metaphysical significance." Commentaries in this tradition emphasize the themes of predestination and God's omnipotence. Two teachings stand out: "the first is that God is the controller and provider of all things and that human beings should have complete trust in Him and the second is the prevailing of the divine decree over human contrivance and design."

The theme of love transcends the story of Yusuf and Zulaikha. Jacob becomes an archetypical mystic lover of God; Zulaikha evolves from a temptress to a lover, and from human to divine love. There were two kinds of love in the story: the passion of a lover and the devotion of a father to his lost son. Joseph also represents eternal beauty as it is manifest in the created world. "The Persian versions include full narratives, but also episodic anecdotes and incidental references which occur in prose works, didactic and lyrical poetry and even in drama. The motif was suited to be used by Sufi writers and poets as one of the most important models of the relationship between the manifestation of Divine beauty in the world and the loving soul of the mystic."

There was also a Jewish presence. According to W. J. Fischer (2013), "Persian Jews, far from living in a cultural vacuum in isolation, took also a keen interest in the literary and poetical works of their Muslim neighbors and shared with them the admiration for the classical Persian poetry." Similar styles of meter and form translated easily between the two. The poet D̲j̲āmī is known for his reflections on stories such as Yusuf and Zulaikha, which were made accessible in Hebrew transliteration and are preserved.

Shia commentaries
In Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni's Kitab al-Kafi, when the fire was set for Abraham, Gabriel brought him a shirt from paradise and made him wear it. With the shirt on, cold or heat would not harm him. When Abraham was dying, he wrapped it up gave it to Isaac; Isaac gave it to Jacob. When Joseph was born, it was given to him. When he took it out in Egypt, Jacob said, "I smell Joseph's scent. I hope that you will not accuse me of senility (12:94)". It was the same shirt which was sent from paradise.

Medieval Muslim retellings of Sūrat Yūsuf
The story of Joseph has been widely retold and influential in the Muslim world. The story has attracted extra elements which have become common in Islamic tradition. For example, the wolf whom Joseph's brothers accuse of killing Joseph miraculously speaks to Jacob, revealing the true story. In the versions known as Yūsuf and Zulkaykha, Joseph eventually marries his one-time seductress, the wife of Potiphar.

The following retellings of Joseph's story are based fairly closely on the Quranic Sūrat Yūsuf, unlike the more divergent Yūsuf and Zulkaykha narratives, and are stand-alone texts, unlike the Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ, which recount Joseph's life as part of a larger collection of prophets' biographies.

Gender and sexuality
The story of Joseph provides insight into Quranic models of sexuality and gender and an understanding of hegemonic masculinity. A prophet very different from other prophets in the Quran is encountered in the surah, but all prophets are chosen to guide other humans to God. Joseph is similar to other prophets in that his story conveys God's message, and his story "begins and ends with God. For this reason all prophets are equal: their sole purpose is to highlight God's divinity but not their own significance over against other prophets."

Ibn Kathir uses Joseph's resistance to Zulaikha as a basis for saying that men are saved by God because they fear him. Female scholars such as Barbara Freyer Stowasser consider this interpretation demeaning to women, suggesting that women do not have the same connection: "Both appear in the Hadith as symbolized in the concept of fitna (social anarchy, social chaos, temptation) which indicates that to be a female is to be sexually aggressive and, hence, dangerous to social stability. The Qurʾān, however, reminds human beings to remain focused on submission to God." In Islamic tradition, God does not disapprove of Joseph and Zulaikha's mutual attraction and love, associated factors, however, make their love affair impossible.

title: Joseph in Islam


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Robert Zoellner

Robert Emil Zoellner (April 26, 1932 – December 23, 2014) was an American investor and stamp collector who was the second person to have formed a complete collection of United States postage stamps, following Benjamin K. Miller, who had assembled a complete collection pre-1925.

Life and work
Zoellner was born on April 26, 1932, in Irvington, New Jersey, to parents Emil John Zoellner and Anna Elizabeth Morton. Raised in what is now known as Elmwood Park, New Jersey (then East Paterson), Zoellner graduated from Lodi High School in 1950. He attended Lehigh University, where he graduated in 1954 with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and engineering physics and played on the school's hockey team. He was a member of Lehigh's Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program and served for two years in the United States Air Force after graduating from college.

Following his military service, Zoellner went into the investment field, establishing the firm of E.J. Roberts in 1958 before joining Edwards & Hanly, a firm that named him in 1964 as its managing partner. Together with his wife Victoria, he formed the investment firm Alpine Associates in 1976, which focuses on merger arbitrage, bankruptcy and other investment strategies. By the time of his death, the firm based in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, had $1.7 billion in assets under management and claimed never to have had a losing year since its establishment.

Zoellner had been a resident of Cresskill, New Jersey, where he donated funds to build tennis courts and a baseball field. He moved to nearby Alpine in the 1980s, where he was the borough's largest individual property owner, loaned heavy equipment to the borough's Department of Public Works and donated funds to the Alpine Public School District. Alpine mayor Paul Tomasko described Zoellner as "one of our foremost residents".

As a benefactor to Lehigh University, Zoellner and his wife contributed $6 million towards the construction of the Zoellner Arts Center and a physical science building. Zoellner had also contributed towards the establishment of a model train show held annually at the New York Botanical Garden.

Zoellner began collecting stamps as a child, but only began building his collection in earnest in 1985. He completed the collection in 1996 and it was auctioned off in 1998.

He is succeeded by his grandson Robert "Bobby" Zoellner, who makes riddim dubstep under the alias "Send Help!".

Stamp collection
Like many philatelists Zoellner collected stamps as a child and had attempted to fill his entire stamp album of United States stamps. However, many US stamps are quite rare, and he eventually put the album aside. His interest was rekindled in 1984, and in 1985 he approached Scott Trepel of Siegel Auctions and asked whether it was possible to assemble a complete collection. At the time all of the major grill rarities were coming on the market and Zoellner had both the "means and the inclination" (to quote the Weill brothers) to obtain them. He purchased the 1 cent Z grill, the rarest US stamp, in November 1986 for $418,000, setting a new record for a US stamp sale.

In addition to singles of each type, Zoellner also bought strips, blocks, and covers. Since his original album had no spaces for these, he moved to a system of computer-generated pages designed for the additional items.

By 1996, only a few spaces remained to be filled. Zoellner accepted an invitation to exhibit the collection at Anphilex '96 and scrambled to complete the collection. The last stamp he acquired was the 30c gray black stamp of 1873, given as a gift by one of Zoellner's friends.

On October 8–10, 1998, the entire collection was auctioned off. Siegel's auction catalog was a 391-page work that included extensive description and documentation of the items, many of which were the "finest known" of their type, and sold for prices well above their nominal values. The 1c Z grill went to Donald Sundman of Mystic Stamp Company for $935,000.

References and sources

 * References

 * Sources
 * United States Postage Stamps, The Robert Zoellner Collection (Siegel, 1998)

title: Robert Zoellner


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Xishi

Xishi may refer to:

 * Xishi District (西市区), Yingkou, Liaoning
 * Xishi, Fuxing (西勢村), village in Fuxing, Changhua County, Taiwan
 * Xi Shi (西施; c. 506 BC – ?), one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient China

title: Xishi


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Shuaib

Shuaib, Shoaib, Shuayb or Shuʿayb (شعيب, ; meaning: "who shows the right path") is an ancient Midianite Prophet in Islam, and the most revered prophet in the Druze faith. Shuayb is traditionally identified with the biblical Jethro, Moses' father-in-law. Shuaib is mentioned in the Quran a total of 11 times. He is believed to have lived after Abraham, and Muslims believe that he was sent as a prophet to a community: the Midianites, who are also known as the Aṣḥāb al-Aykah ("Companions of the Wood"),   since they used to worship a large tree. To the people, Shuaib proclaimed the straight path and warned the people to end their fraudulent ways. When the community did not repent, God destroyed the community.

Alongside Hud, Saleh and Muhammad, Shuaib is understood by Muslims as one of the four Arabian prophets sent by God. It is said that he was known by Muslims as "the eloquent preacher amongst the prophets", because he was, according to tradition, granted talent and eloquence in his language.

The Druze revere Shuaib as an important figure in their faith, and hold an annual pilgrimage to Nabi Shu'ayb, the purported location of his tomb, in the Lower Galilee.

Historical context
The area to which Shuʿayb was sent to is named Madyan in the Qur'an, known in English as Midian, which is frequently referred to in the Hebrew Bible. The Midianites were said to be of Arab descent, though being neighbors of the Biblical Canaanites, they intermixed with them. It is said they were a wandering tribe, and that their principal territory at the time of Moses was the Sinai Peninsula.

Disputed identification with Jethro
Jethro is mentioned in the Bible (Exodus 3:1) as the father in law of Moses. Although Shuaib is frequently identified with the Midianite priest Jethro, most modern scholars reject this identification. Classical commentators, such as ibn Kathir, say Shuʿayb was a great-grandson of Abraham: Shuʿayb is believed to have been the son of Mikil, son of Midian, son of Abraham. That would render impossible the identification with Jethro, who lived at the time of Moses, purportedly hundreds of years after Abraham.

Prophecy in Midian

The Qur'an states that Shuaib was appointed by God to be a prophet to the people of Midian. The people of this land were said to be especially notorious for cheating others through dishonesty and for idolatry. Shuʿayb's prophecy mainly involved calling the Midianites to the correct path of God, and forbidding them to worship false gods.

It is also said he told his people to stop being dishonest in their daily activities. Although he preached and prophesied for a sustained period of time, the majority of the people refused to listen to him. Shuayb, however, remained steadfast. He consistently preached powerfully against the wicked, telling them of the punishment that had befallen the sinful before them. Shuʿayb warned the people that their ignorance would lead to the destruction of Midian, giving historical examples of earlier prophets, including Noah, Hud, Saleh and Lot, all of whose people had been destroyed by God.

The people taunted Shuʿayb and told him that, were it not for the prestigious family he came from, he would surely have been stoned to death. Shuayb replied, "Is my family of more consideration with you than God?" When the Midianites refused to believe, they were destroyed by a mighty earthquake. The Qur'an, however, mentions that Shuʿayb, and his believing companions, were rescued from the thunderous punishment.

Parallels with other prophets
Shuayb's mission is often mentioned in the Qur'an with the mission of Noah, Hud, Saleh and Lot. Scholars have pointed out that these five prophets exemplify the early prophetic missions: The prophet would be sent to his community; the community would pay no attention to his warning and would instead threaten him with punishment; after years of preaching, God would ask him to leave his community, while his people were subsequently destroyed in a punishment. Scholars chronologically interpret the listing of the five prophets, so Shuʿayb was a descendant of Noah (preached about the Great Flood) and Abraham.

Jordan, Wādī Shuʿayb
One claimed tomb of Shuayb is found in Jordan, 2 km west of the town of Mahis, in an area called Wādī Shuʿayb (وَادِي شُـعَـيْـب).

Israel, Galilee
The Galilean Shrine of Shu'ayb: the Druze believe the tomb of Nabi Shu'ayb is located near Hittin, in the Lower Galilee. Each year, on the 25th of April, the Druze gather at the site to discuss community affairs.

Iran, Guriyeh village
There is also a tomb in the southwest of Iran (in the village Guriyeh, Shushtar) which has been recorded as the tomb of Shuayb.

title: Shuaib


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Stillborn (disambiguation)

A stillborn is a baby born without signs of life.

Stillborn may also refer to:

 * Stillborn (album), by Malevolent Creation, 1993
 * Stillborn (band), a Polish heavy metal band
 * "Stillborn" (song), by Black Label Society, 2003

Other uses

 * Still/Born, 2017 film

title: Stillborn (disambiguation)


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Talk:Intersection (disambiguation)

where is the intersection of two lines?

 * Depends on where the two lines are pointing... Dysprosia 09:07, 18 Dec 2003 (UTC)

INTERSECT NEEDS NEW DEFINITION ADDED
Although I'm not qualified to write it, INTERSECT is an SQL construct similar to UNION. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mfstutz (talk • contribs) 20:07, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

 * I added a link to the article Set operations (SQL), which already covers this. --Zundark (talk) 20:21, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

title: Talk:Intersection (disambiguation)