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the theory of limits 185for this. The amount needed differs according to air temperature,humidity, human activity, and other external factors.8. The minimum speed required to overcome gravitation forces is11km/s, while there is no limit for the maximum speed. However,if a spaceship reached the speed of light, the spaceship would turnitself into light.9. The fastest possible way to travel is at the speed of light. No higherspeed has ever been recorded. The minimum speed, however, isnot zero m/h, because this would be an absolute standstill. Onlywhen a body moves will it qualify as having speed.10. The minimum requirement for organic life is the existence ofwater (i.e., humidity) and oxygen.11. The minimum amount of subshells circling an atomic nucleus isone, and the maximum amount is seven. Hydrogen, for example,has only one subshell, while others have seven, such as radium.Therefore, the number of circling subshells always varies betweenone and seven.These examples are sufficient to demonstrate how nature and societyfunction between upper and lower limits, adherence to which is vitalfor the preservation of life.The first person in the history of Islam who recognised the significanceof the ÈanÊfiyya disposition of change and nonlinearity wasAbraham. He, followed by other prophets and messengers after him,came to believe that nothing in nature and society should be forcedto become fixed and stable, since this would mean turning somethinginto ‘straightness’, a quality that only God alone can possess. Topretend ‘straightness’ for something that is naturally ‘curved’ is toviolate Allah’s unity and commit shirk All§h. That is why in verse 161of Sårat Al-An#§m the tauÈÊd of Abraham’s faith is contrasted to theshirk of the unbelievers:Say: “Verily, my Lord has guided me to a way that is straight [ßir§ãmustaqÊm]—a religion of right—the path (trod) by Abraham, the truein faith [ÈanÊf an ], [↔] and he (certainly) joined not gods with God."( Al-An#§m 6:161)In light of this verse, we say that Abraham’s faith consisted of hisbelief in the ÈanÊfiyya disposition of nature (curvature and change)and in the existence of Allah’s straightness in the form of limitsbetween which the ‘curved progression of nature’ occurs. It was