ibn Harm

Author: harmenscholte

  • Language and encryption

    I am not sure that encryption is still needed in the 21st or 15th (AH) century since language is so convoluted that there might not be a single text which is free from abiguity. Milan Kundera noted the same phenomenon in his The unbearable lightness of being which describes a romantic failure as a lack of patience regarding “learning each other’s idiosyncratic language.”

    Kundera wrote that each person has her own language, and that a succesfull romantic relationship consists of learning the language of the other, of having the patience of learning the “code” of the other.

    If this is not ambiguous enough for you consider one of my projects https://encryption.zoam.nl/1 which uses obfuscation and a Roman cipher. I created it a while ago but I remember sending it to a friend who has a masters in computer science and who could not crack it.

    1. It needs a password but if you know my background it should not be too difficult to crack. ↩︎

  • Literature studies: Harry Potter II (Harry potter and philosophy)

    The second part in the series. Philosophy from the title does not refer to the first part of the series (Harry potter and the philosophers stone). Likewise “II” does not refer to book two but refers to the second part in this online series on Harry Potter and companions.

    There are a lot of intertextual references in the HP series. This study will consider the situations from “HP and the prisoner of azkaban” and “HP and the order of the phoenix.”

    In the prisoner of azkaban Harry at first has trouble conjuring a “patronus” which has to protect him from certain magical creatures. The trouble in his performance of magic arises from his lack of certitude vis-a-vis intention.

    When performed correctly the “patronus charm” should protect Harry from “dementors,” which are creatures which make their subjects relive their worst experiences. Since Harry Potter’s parents were murdered by “Voldemort,” who embodies “literal evil” Dementors make Harry reexperience the death of his parents.

    However since Harry has no real memory of them (they died when Harry was a baby) the attack of the Dementors is in this stage of his life the only thing that at least can make Harry remember his parents (albeit their last moments). For this reason his intention to succesfully perform the “charm” which protects him from a dementor-attack is not fully there.

    This same inability to perform “magic” recurs in Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix when Harry has difficulty with the performence of “occlumency,” a certain practice which should shield the mind of external influences. In this particular example Harry does not fully want to master occlumency since he is curious to certain dreams that he has, which again disrupts his complete intention to correctly perform a “mode of magic.”

    In philosophical speak these examples are interesting because there is a dilemma. Should Harry learn/remember the death of his parents? Is ignorance bliss? In the books Harry’s coming to knowledge of the details of his parents death is not “punished” by a change of fortune rather for the first time in seven years his “house” wins the annual quidditch competition.

    However in the order of the Phoenix Harry’s curiosity is punished since ultimately he losses his godfather, which can causually be traced back to Harry’s choice of dismissing occlumency for a (at the moment) gratifying continuation of his dream.

    There are two caveats to this interpretation:

    1. The events that follow his inability of performing occlumency also reveal to the wizarding world that “the dark lord” has indeed returned, so from a cold utilitarian standpoint the consequences are positive.
    2. If Harry does not know what are the positives of learning “occlumency” it is not illogical that he neglects it over a certain “knowledge” that he finds through his dreams. Continue below.

    As Harry gets lessons in occlumency by Professor Snape, who is fated to be Harry’s non-evil enemy it is possible to understand that Harry does not have an easy time to find meaning in the lessons.

  • Bookreview: fahrenheit 451

    Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury portrays a dystopian world in which books are banned. Shakespeare, the bible, and plato, all are banned. It was originally penned in 1953. Note the publication dates of similar books: brave new world (1932), 1984 (1949). Brave new world has been featured once on this blog already. 1984 has not been featured yet, hopefully I can cover it in the future.

    Where in brave new world which is featured in England the banning of books seems incidental to a point, in fahrenheit 451 the banning of books is the main theme of the story. There are a number of similarities between the stories. There is for example the presence of a supervisor who has access to books (while they are banned to the general public.)

    It is not made explicit in fahrenheit 451 but there are scenes in which the chief fireman tries to demonstrate the demonic character of books by quoting some. The possession of books by the chief is assumed but not confirmed. In contrast in brave new world we are explicitly told that the world controller has a safe with a bible and with shakespeare.

    Interestingly quite recently (jan. 2026) a university in America did in fact ban Plato from university curriculae.1 Combined with the efforts of a certain individual (who is on the epstein list) to limit all research which documents the horrific crimes of a certain nation that should not exist it2 shows that some of these dystopian ideas are in fact manifesting itself in reality.

    1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2026/01/08/texas-am-forbids-a-plato-reading-in-an-intro-philosophy-course/, accessed june 29th 2026. ↩︎
    2. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/24/whats-in-the-200m-deal-trump-has-struck-with-columbia-university, accessed june 29th 2026. ↩︎

  • Higher education

    University lecturers have an impossible job since they have to balance a path between diversity and approachability.

  • Islamophobia (3)

    Just because it is so fun to argue with bigots I present part three in the series on Islamophobia. Specifically the topic of the stronger sex is often a point of contention.

    First let us consider the bible which states: “and you (man and women) will be a test for each other.” In the context of satan tempting Eve to taste the forbidden fruit. The biblical version also has Eve tempting Adam in turn.

    The Quran on the other hand states “and you are a source of peace … for each other.” As well as “and you are garments to each other.” Lastly, the Quran or “al-Kitab” has surahs resoectively exclusively on women “suraht an-Nisa” and on the person of Maryam “surah Maryam.”

  • On learning

    While learning Farsi I realized that since I had heard all the phrases already, learning is more about getting confident in using the language rather than the actual transformations (good morning = sob al-kheir)

    Afterwards I wondered if this would also apply to other fields. For example learning to ride a bycicle, whether it is more about becoming confident in innate abilities rather than perfecting the transformations (in this example the movements that you learn.)

  • Language (١١)

    Let us consider the following propositions in sha Allah:

    • I will finish this
    • I will be finishing this
    • I am finishing this

    The second proposition has a sense of time, whereas the first proposition seems less subject to time. Maybe “I will be finishing this,” is in the same linguistic category as “we have been waiting,” (compare “we have waited”).

  • Philology (sette)

    A small adendum to the previous post about love of language. To believers “šay” is even more brilliant since the Qur’an repeatedly reads “and he is over all things competent.”Things comes here from “kulli shay(in).” (Wa huwa ‘ala kulli shay’in qadeer)

    So with this adab to start a sentence with “šay” can be understood as “although I know that the all-Mighty has already decreed the matter, ….” So šay in the sentence already delineates a philosophical anchor.

  • Parlare (philology 6)

    The middle eastern šay is used in the same way as alors is used in french. Compare with yani (Egyptian) and allora (Italiano), the following seems to be:

    • Šay: can be used to ask the attention of the listener f.e. “šay, hadhi barid al yawm.” (If you know the difference between hadhi and hadhihi please Lmk)
    • Allora: as far as we know allora is used to continue a speech, perhaps a synonym of apropos…
    • Yani: same functions as allora
    • Alors: same function as allora

  • Polygyny and Islam

    Muslims make jokes about second wives etc. but they do not actually want that to happen. I remember as a child the codeswitching between two sides of the family at birthdays. Nobody voluntarily chooses that. There are very specific circumstances in which polygyny is allowed and intelligent and they do not occur in socialist countries.