History in this age needs to record and analyze the events in the light of modern concept of contemporary world. When the historians narrate the brutal condition of Indo-Pak history, they never forget the work and services of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi to transform the society according to the current values. For his services, he is hailed as Mujaddid Alf-I-Thani. The Muslim society had degenerated when Mujaddid Alf-I-Thani appeared on the horizon. A number of Hindu customs and practices had become the (...) part of their creed. The commandments of Shariat and Sunnah were being floated. Moreover, the Mughal emperor Akbar had adopted controversial policies detrimental to the very existence of Muslim society. Mujaddid Alf -Thani made strenuous and constant efforts to turn the tide. When Mujadded-Alf-Thani started his social reform movement, he found that the Muslim society was embracing un-Islamic practices such as widespread belief in Karamat had developed under the influence of Hindu thinking. Moreover, the Islamic teachings had been vitiated by adopting customs and practices of other religions such as inter marriages between Hindus and Muslims and ban on cow slaughter etc. Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi never entered into any political conflict directly. He endeavored to restore pure doctrine to Islamic thought and to compel the Muslims to follow Shariat and Sunnah in letter and spirit. He was a social reformer, great Alim, Sufi and Mujaddid. He initiated a process of social change, inspired by Islamic Ideal, in an age, which was becoming secular. This research paper is an attempt to mention the role of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi for saving the society from un-Islamic values and customs in the sub-continent and its impact on society. By utilizing the historical method, this paper aims at analyzing the effect of social reforms of Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi on Muslim society. (shrink)

: ‘Alā’ al-Dawla al-Simnānī (d. 736/1336) was a Kubrawī sheikh lived in Simnān one hundred years after Ibn al-Arabī (d. 638/1240). He authored around ninety works in Arabic and Persian on various fields within Sūfism, raised many disciples. His contribution to the sūfī tradition mainly come to forefront regarding problems like unity, latāif (subtle organs), rijāl al-ghaib (men of the unseen), wāqia (dream-like mystical experiences) and tajallī (manifestation). Simnānī’s understanding of the unity influenced subsequent sūfī’s and specifically Ahmad Sirhindī (d. (...) 1034/1624) and his sheikh Bāqībillah’s (d. 1012/1603) views of the unity overlap with Simnānī’s one. In Maktūbāt, Sirhindī who developed the idea of unity of the seen against the unity of the existence expresses that his understanding of being is the same with Simnānī’s one. Simnānī is also known as the first critic of Ibn al-Arabī’s conception of the unity among sūfī’s. Such that, whenever his name is mentioned the first thing comes to one’s mind has been his criticism against Ibn al-Arabī. However, his criticism against Ibn al-Arabī was not studied as a whole looking at his ouvre. Studying Simnānī’s works, it is seen that his criticism is concentrated on two main problems. First is Ibn al-Arabī’s employing the concept wujūd al-mutlaq (absolute being) for God. He maintains that it is not convenient to use this concept for al-Haq. His second criticism is against a sentence mentioned in al-Futūhāt: “سبحان من أظهر الأشياء وهو عينها”. In this article, causes for Simnānī’s critiques will be discussed and both sūfī’s conceptions of wujūd al-mutlaq and ‘ayn (quintessence) will be studied.Summary: One of the famous names in the Kubrawī tradition, ‘Alā’ al-Dawla al-Simnānī is a sheikh who lived in the city of Simnān in the contemporary Iran between 659-736/1261-1336. In his youth, he served in the service of Arghūn Khan (r. 1284-1291) in the Īlkhānid Palace; and later, after a spiritual experience, he left the palace and turned to a Ṣūfī life. For a certain period, he continued worshipping and riyādhat (spiritual fight against the evil commanding self) on his own, and looked for a guide convenient to his character. Eventually, he became the disciple of the Kubrawī sheikh in Baghdad, Nūr al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Isfarāyīnī (d. 717/1317), and obtained ijāzah (permission) for irshād (guidance). After that, with the instruction of his sheikh, he went back to Simnān; and spent rest of his life with guiding his disciples and writing scholarly works. He authored around ninety works in Arabic and Persian on various fields within Sūfism. His contribution to the sūfī tradition mainly comes to forefront regarding problems like unity, latāif, rijāl al-ghaib, wāqia and tajallī; and influenced subsequent sūfī’s. Simnani’s influences can best be seen on the founder of the Mujaddidiyya branch of Naqshbandiyya, Ahmad Sirhindī (d. 1034/1624), and Sirhindī’s sheikh Bāqībillah (d. 1012/1603). In a letter Bāqībillah wrote to Sirhindī, he mentions certain differences between Simnānī’s understanding of unity and unity of the existence by stating that Simnānī’s path is not that of unity of the existence, and that his shuhūd (seen) is the most perfect shuhūd. Also in the Maktūbāt, Sirhindī expresses that his understanding of being is the same with that of Simnānī’s. Simnānī is also known as the first critic of Ibn al-Arabī’s conception of being and unity among sūfī’s. It would not be incorrect to say that he is more famous for this critique so much so that whenever his name is mentioned the first thing comes to one’s mind has been his criticism against Ibn al-Arabī. The main reason for this is that a letter Simnānī wrote to one of the followers of Ibn al-Arabī, ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Kāshānī (d. 736/1335) in which Simnānī criticizes Ibn al-Arabī’s conception of unity, was included in the famous work of Abd al-Raḥmān Jāmī (d. 898/1492), Nafakhāt al-uns. This letter’s presence in the Nafakhāt played a vital role in its publicity. For this reason, it can be said that Nafakhāt made Simnānī famous. Yet, it should also be said that the fame stemming from Nafakhāt is incomplete and it is just about one aspect of Simnānī, a scholar who authored dozens of books on the Sūfism. Moreover, it is not correct to defend that Simnānī’s statements in that letter reflects a full picture of his opinion about Ibn al-Arabī. Hence, to have a better understanding of his criticism and thoughts about Ibn al-Arabī, one should explore other works of Simnānī as well. Studying Simnānī’s works, it is seen that his criticism is concentrated on two main problems. First is Ibn al-Arabī’s employing the concept wujūd al-mutlaq for God. His second criticism is against a sentence mentioned in al-Futūhāt: “سبحان من أظهر الأشياء وهو عينها”. To understand the first criticism, one needs to know the meaning both sūfī’s attribute to the concept of wujūd al-mutlaq; and for the second the meaning they attribute to the concept of ‘ayn. First, it should be known that Ibn al-Arabī did not think of being as a form category the members of which are beings. To the contrary, he uses wujūd exclusively for the Eternal, and refrains from using the concept of wujūd for the creation; and calls them mawjūd. In other words, Ibn al-Arabī differentiates between being and existence; and limits the concept of being only for the al-Haqq. Ibn al-Arabī states this view repeatedly in statements such as “al-Haqq (the Truth) is being; things, however, are attributes of being.” What Ibn al-Arabī means by wujūd al-mutlaq is al-Haqq who is wajib al-wujūd (the Necessary Being) and free from all restrictions. Thus, in a certain sense wujūd al-mutlaq means wajib al-wujūd. By writing that “Wujūd al-Haqq is the essence of wajib al-wujūd who is qualified with the perfect attributes of eternity and infinity. Absolute Being is the actions emanating from these attributes. Wujūd al-Muqayyad (the Limited Being) is the outcome that comes into existence as a result of these actions”, Simnānī explicitly states that for him Absolute Being is the actions of al-Haqq. What one can understand from the statements of both sūfī’s is that while by wujūd al-mutlaq Ibn al-Arabī refers to wajib al-wujūd (i.e. the essence of al-Haqq), for the same term Simnānī refers to actions of al-Haqq. Since in criticizing Ibn al-Arabī, Simnānī takes into account his own definition of the term Wujūd al-Mutlaq as the actions of al-Haqq, his criticisms are not valid. In fact, both exonerate al-Haqq from all the conditions. However, while Ibn al-Arabī chooses to verbalize the existence of God with the concept of “Absolute Being”, Simnānī only approves to express the existence of God with the concepts of wājib al-wujūd and al-Wujūd al-Haqq and differing from Ibn al-Arabī attributes the meaning of the actions of God to the concept of Absolute Being.Simnānī’s second critique against Ibn al-Arabī is related to this sentence: “سبحان من أظهر الأشياء وهو عينها”. An annotation that is written by Simnānī on a page which is out of his gloss on al-Futūhāt is highly harsh reads as follows: “O, followers of the most deviant leader! If you hear that one says that your sheikh is identical with his beard, put the claim that he is identical with his rejectomenta aside, should you accept this and tolerate him?” It is understood from these sentences that Simnānī considers the concept “al-ayn” as the essence of that thing. Though, the word “al-ayn” is one of the most multi-meaning word in the Arabic language and in Ibn al-Arabī’s works it is used with various meanings such as eye, the quintessence, spring, water source, tangible being of a thing, the essence of a thing and so on. The usage as “the essence of a thing” is very much common in Ibn al-Arabī’s works. It is interesting that while this word has so many meanings, Simnānī takes one meaning as base and blaspheme against Ibn al-Arabī. It is obvious that the main cause for Simnānī’s critique against Ibn al-Arabī in both problems is his attribution to the concepts different meanings than Ibn al-Arabī and then judging him in the context of his attributes. (shrink)

Though, the tradition of Muslim religious-scientific work in the Indian Subcontinent can be traced back to 12th century, especially Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindī, Shaykh Abd al-Haqq Muhaddith Dihlawī, Shaykh Abdur Rahim and Shah Waliullah are the most important figures of 18th century and later. Examined carefully the works on aqaid and ‘ilm al-kalām written by these scholars of Sunni tradition, in the light of the method adopted by them, it is seen that they are either regarded as traditionalist, modernist or rationalist. (...) Meanwhile, Shiism, which was already present in the Subcontinent since the rise of the Safavid Dynasty with scholars from Ithnā ‘Ashariyah (Twelver Shiites) and Ismā‘ilīyah, is also influential in the region with their thoughts and works. Similarly, considering the works of later Shiite scholars, it can be said that some are considered to have a traditionalist perspective while others to have modernist. Apart from all these, Qādiyānīs, except Lahor branch, took also place in the history of Indian Subcontinent thought as a heretic formation within the Islamic tradition. The aim of this study which was prepared via the data obtained by the support of Erciyes University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit under grant number 8217 is to present a bibliographical survey of the works on aqâid and ‘ilm al-kalām focusing on the development of Islamic thought in the Indian Subcontinent, especially after Shah Waliullah. (shrink)

The aim of present paper is to introduce the concept of ‘expressive perception’ in Ernst Cassirer’s philosophical mythology. Having Cited Dorothy Emmet’s methodological objection, the author, by recalling Kantian aspect of Cassirer’s thought and referring to the concept of ‘expressive perception’, would make an attempt to reply on his part: according to Cassirer, this level of perceptive experience is the origin of the mythical form of thinking as a whole and, at the same time, is the original and irreducible altogether. (...) Thus, taking ‘mythical thought’ as an independent form of thinking, beside the ‘critical-empirical’ form of thinking, is, for one thing, completely cogent; for another, due to its dependency upon expressive form of perception, mythical thought would never be quite omitted, rather, keep living latently beneath the skin of mental life. In addition, author explains how much Cassirer owes, regarding to the concept of ‘expressive form of perception’, to Max Scheler. Avoiding to elaborate on Scheler’s detailed argument, Cassirer relies strongly on the consequences Scheler draws from his considerations in his work ‘Wesen und Formen der Sympathie’. Restating Scheler’s argument briefly should help in understanding Cassirer’s idea. (shrink)

This article proposes an analysis of changes implemented during Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's administration (20032003), which displayed bias against changes and introduced schemes to justify the systems it upheld. Transmutations wrought during Abdullah's tenure may have been neither substantial nor totalizing, but within the conservative paradigm which had long gripped national politics, Abdullah's deviations were significant nevertheless.

Guidelines on ethics and military life for new officers of Malaysian Army.

All types of logic started with Aristotle and have been corrected as a traditional, formal, conditional, classical logic and even modern logic carry the main problems of Aristotelian logic. Despite their important differences, because of these core commonalities they are all called Classical Logic. The fundamental limitations of classical logic make it impossible to advance the knowledge necessary to solve growing human problems. All human knowledge, especially scientific knowledge is based on the logical principles that seem to hinder the knowledge (...) of reality rather than facilitate it; although in the beginning, this logic has helped mankind in acquiring knowledge. Fuzzy logic has been successful as an effective solution in science and in practice, but it lacks the necessary philosophical foundations so it has faced with several major problems and on important paradox in theorizing. First, the main challenges in classical logic are diseased in this article, then it is explained how to solve the problems and most important paradox to apply the fuzzy logic for scientific discoveries in a new approach. Finally, the new paradigm of Fuzziological Epistemology (fuzzy based epistemology) has been proposed in term of Dynamic Fuzzy Puzzle Theory. (shrink)

The paper describes the design of an intelligent tutoring system for teaching Introduction to Computer Science-a compulsory curriculum in Al-Azhar University of Gaza to students who attend the university. The basic idea of this system is a systematic introduction into computer science. The system presents topics with examples. The system is dynamically checks student's individual progress. An initial evaluation study was done to investigate the effect of using the intelligent tutoring system on the performance of students enrolled in computer science (...) curriculum at Al-Azhar University, Gaza. The results showed a positive impact on the evaluators. (shrink)

The weaponizing of scientific expertise to oppose regulation has been extensively studied. However, the relevant studies, belonging to the emerging discipline of agnotology, remain focused on the analysis of empirical corruption: of misinformation, doubt mongering, and other practices that cynically deploy expertise to render audiences ignorant of empirical facts. This paper explores the wrongful deployment of expertise beyond empirical corruption. To do so, I develop a broader framework of morally subversive expertise, building on recent work in political philosophy (Howard, 2016). (...) Expertise is subversive if it sets up its audience to fail morally, either intentionally or negligently. I distinguish three modes of subversive expertise: empirical subversion (the focus of agnotology), normative subversion and motivational subversion. Drawing on these distinctions, I offer a revisionary account of the Trump Administration’s regulatory science as a case study. I show that the Trump Administration’s use of expertise to dismantle climate regulation, contra the standard charge, cannot be explained using the resources of agnotology alone: the Administration produced highly reliable climate assessments, detailing the risks of climate change, candidly admitting the harms of its proposed policies, and still successfully deployed these findings to justify massive climate deregulation. The lesson of the analysis is that dismissing the expertise that underpins climate deregulation as empirically corrupt ‘anti-science’ both obscures its actual role in the politics of climate change and understates its wrongfulness: it misses the breadth of the assault on moral agency that sustains climate injustice. (shrink)

الملخص قاعدة "الأصل" و "استصحاب الحال" قراءة في منهج النحاة من الاستعمال إلى التعليل إلى القاعدة ملخص تعدّ فكرة "الأصل" (=علة الأصل) منهجـًا اتّبعه النّحاة لتقديم تفسيرات منطقية في بعض مسائل الكلم في العربية، إذ أخذ النحاة إجراء منهج تحليليّ يعتمد افتراض أو استحضار مكوّن بنيوي على أنّه "أصل الاستعمال" غاية إيجاد مقاربات منطقية تربط الاستعمال المنجز بالقاعدة، فـ"الأصل"–وفق النحاة- إمّا "نمطٌ لغويٌّ مهجورٌ غير أنّه اُستعمل في طور من أطوار العربية"، أو "نمط لغوي افتراضي" يجريه النحاة على معيارية الاستعمال (...) بحيث يصحّ عدّه منجزًا لغويًا تقابليًّا لاستعمالات تجري والقاعدة؛ وقد أجرى سيبيويه منهج قياسٍ افتراضي وَفْقَ عبارته:"وهذا تمثيلٌ ولم يُتكلّم به" ليجعل "المكوّن" الافتراضي شاهدًا نحويًّا يمثّل "أصل الاستعمال" ويصحّ الرجوع إليه في اشتقاق القاعدة والوصول إلى التعليل. يدرس البحث علاقة الوظيفة التعليلية بين "الأصل" و"استصحاب الحال" أجْل الوقوف على منهج النحاة في إطلاق الأحكام القواعدية في المسائل التي اعتمدوا فيها فكرة التعليل بـ"الأصل"، وهل كانت أحكامهم في تلك المسائل مقنعة أو غير مقنعة؟ ويسعى البحث إلى بيان العلاقة بين فكرة "الأصل" و"أدلة النحو" (الأصول) من وجهة تسعى إلى بيان منطق التعليل بـ"علة الأصل". The original rule of the historical usage of the primary sentence and the semi-original rules of the grammatical thinking A reading in the grammarian's approach, from usage to the reasoning to the rules Abstract The original rule of the historical usage of the primary sentence is considered one of the methods that followed by the grammarians to provide a logical explanation sequence for some of the language issues. Most of the grammarians assume that there is a new sentence style that referred to an old usage in some of the sentence’s structure. According to the grammarians that these old structures are being the reference rules and evidences to explain the structure of the new structure style. Also based on the grammarian approach the old structure is divided into two parts: the first, sentence structure that have been actually used in the language history. The second is an imagination assumption where such kind of structures have not been used before and therefore can be considered as a hypothetical lingual style only, Sebaweeh has conducted a standard approach according to his phrase "This is a an example only, it has not been spoken". It is important to know that the grammarians have followed an analytical approach to make a center point between the original rule and the semi-original rule so as to provide a logical explanation of these structure styles. This research seeks to study the relation between the original rule and semi-original rules of the grammatical thinking. In addition, this search seeks to study the relation between the original rule and the Grammatical evidence (=OSOL) Key Words: The original rule - the semi-original rules -/- الكلمات المفتاحية أصول النحو، قاعدة الأصل، استصحاب الحال. (shrink)

The setting of evidential standards is a core practice of scientific assessment for policy. Persuaded by considerations of inductive risk, philosophers generally agree that the justification of evidential standards must appeal to non-epistemic values but debate whether the balance of non-epistemic reasons favours varying evidential standards versus maintaining fixed high evidential standards in assessment, as both sets of standards promote different and important political virtues of advisory institutions. In this paper, I adjudicate the evidential standards debate by developing a novel (...) argument from justice, drawing on the IPCC’s assessment of climate impacts as a case study. I argue that in assessments marked by background evidential inequality, maintaining fixed high evidential standards results in an unequal distribution of ‘epistemic power’ among stakeholders, producing a ‘powerful assessment’ for the data-rich (a high rate of findings) and a ‘weak assessment’ for the data-poor (a low rate of findings). Where such inequalities of epistemic power disadvantage those in data-poor regions with respect to fundamental interests, such as basic human rights, we have decisive reasons of justice to vary evidential standards. (shrink)

ملخـــص -/- بشارات، أحمد محمد. التفسير الدلالي في إعراب المضارع-الجزم أنموذجًا. رسالة ماجستير في جامعة اليرموك. 2007م. (المشرف: أ.د. فيصل صفا). هدف البحث إلى إعطاء تفسيرات دلالية لظهور إعراب الجزم في تركيبات الجملة الفعلية، وحاول تعليل ارتباط الجزم بفكرة التعليق الشرطي، وتعليل عدم الجزم في بعض التركيبات الشرطية، وحاول أن يقدم تفسيرًا دلاليًا لاختلاف آخر المضارع، وتعليلاً لاختلاف آخر المضارع المنفي (لا/ لن/ لم/ يفعل) مختلف الصورة الإعرابية بالرفع مرة والنصب أخرى والجزم ثالثة. وسعى البحث في ظاهرة الجزم إلى الكشف (...) عن حالة الإعراب في المضارع أهي بالمشابهة للأسماء أم بالأصالة، والكشف عن فكرة الإعراب في المضارع أيقدم إعراب المضارع معنىً نحويًا أم أنه حالة من الإعراب تخرج عن فكرة النحاة القائلة بأن الإعراب فرع المعنى. وقد جاء البحث في مقدمة وتمهيد وبابين وخاتمة، عرضت في المقدمة أهمية البحث في ظاهرة الجزم، وذكرت الدراسات السابقة لهذا البحث، مبينًا أهم نتائجها، ووضحت في المقدمة خطة البحث ومنهجيته. أما الباب الأول فقد جاء في فصلين: الأول عنوانه" الجزم في الدرس النحوي القديم" عرضت فيه لمصطلح الجزم لغةً واصطلاحًا غاية ربط مفهوم المصطلح بفكرة الدلالة في الإنجاز اللغوي، وبحثت في مصطلحات الإعراب الأخرى لغةً واصطلاحًا، وعرضت لفكرة إعراب المضارع علةً ودلالةً، والفصل الثاني وعنوانه" علة إعراب المضارع ودلالته في الدرس النحوي الحديث" بحثت فيه علة تشكل علامة الإعراب أهي بالمعنى أو بالعامل؟ وعرضت فيه لفكرة المحدثين في بحثهم معنى الإعراب في المضارع. أما الباب الثاني، فقد جاء في فصلين: الأول عنوانه" التفسير الدلالي لظاهرة الجزم، وعرضت فيه علة اختلاف آخر المضارع محاولاً ربط الشكل الإعرابي بالدلالة النحوية، وعرضت فيه لمعاني الفعل(الإسناد والزمن والحدث) محاولا ربط علامة آخر المضارع بدلالة الإسناد فيه. والفصل الثاني عنوانه" معنى الجزم في السياقات اللغوية، عرضت فيه لمعنى الجزم في التركيبات اللغوية، وعرضت فيه لفكرة الجزم في صيغ الأمر معللاً حالة الاخر في صيغ الأمر على نحو يربطها بمسألة الإعراب. وقد خضعت الدراسة لمنهج تحليليّ. وخرج البحث ببعض النتائج، نذكر منها: - إن إطلاق المصطلحات الإعرابية يرجع إلى ملحظ صوتيّ حسب، فلا يتوافق معنى المصطلح الإعرابي مع واقع الإنجاز اللغوي. - المضارع معرب بالأصالة لا بالمشابهة؛ ذلك أن المضارع المنصوب والمجزوم لا يقع موقع الأسماء، والموقعية علة في إعراب الفعل. - معاني النحو هي المعاني الوظيفية للسياق، وقول النحاة إنّ المعاني النحوية هي الفاعلية والمفعولية والإضافة قول غير دقيق؛ لأن النعت والحال والوصف والإسناد وغيرها معانٍ نحوية تعتور على السياق. - يرتبط إعراب المضارع بفكرة الإسناد في الفعل، فالرفع للإسناد الواقع، والنصب للإسناد الغائي، والجزم يدل على عدم وقوع الإسناد. -/- الكلمات المفتاحية: الجزم، دلالة الجزم، إعراب الجزم، إعراب المضارع، الإسناد، التعليق الشرطي، الجزم والتعليق الشرطي، الأدوات الجازمة. دلالة الإعراب في المضارع. (shrink)

Interfaith dialogue is a vital tool for promoting understanding and cooperation between different religious communities. This article presents a comparative study of the Islamic and Buddhist perspectives on interfaith dialogue. Drawing on primary sources from both religions, this study explores the theological foundations of interfaith dialogue and the practical strategies employed by Muslims and Buddhists in promoting interfaith understanding. The similarities and differences between the two religions’ approaches to interfaith dialogue are analysed, examining how their respective beliefs, practices, and histories (...) shape their attitudes towards religious diversity. The research design is qualitative using library research by emphasizing content analysis on Islam and Buddhism scripture. The results show that Islamic paradigms of interreligious dialogue is da’wah (propagation, invitation or introducing Islam) that rooted from Tawḥīd, in contrast Buddhism, promotes on liberation from human suffering which rooted Bhavana and mindfulness. The study contributes to the principle of interfaith dialogue and provides insights into the potential of interfaith relation for sustaining harmony, peace, and mutual respect in diverse societies. Studies suggest the understanding of each fundamental to encourage Muslim and Buddhists scholars to produce comprehensive interreligious dialogue, theologically and philosophically. (shrink)

Two sample populations, one refugee and one resident, were studied. The frequencies of consanguineous marriages came out to be 49·8% and 55·4%, respectively, for the refugees and the residents. Caste endogamy was dominant both in the residents and the refugees. The mean coefficient of inbreeding was calculated to be 0·0303 for the refugee population and 0·0332 for the resident population samples. First cousin marriage was the dominant type of marriage in both samples; fathers daughter (FBD) marriage was more frequent among (...) the refugees while mothers daughter (MBD) marriage was more frequent among the residents. Education has no decreasing effect on the incidence of consanguineous marriages. A significant difference in the pattern of marriages in the refugees is observed after the Saur Revolution of 1979. (shrink)

Atheism is an ideology that rejects the existence of God and has gained increasing prominence in societies globally, including Malaysia. Atheism significantly challenges the religious orientation of Malaysian society. Specifically, atheism challenges spiritual and ethical foundations, unity, and cultural heritage linked to religious beliefs. Understanding these challenges is vital to formulate proactive measures, education, and informed dialogue to mitigate the negative impact of atheism on Malaysian society. This study explored the effects of atheism on Malaysian religious society via library research (...) analysis. Scholarly articles, books, and reputable online resources on religious and atheism underwent content analysis, which yielded five key findings. Firstly, atheism leads to the loss of spiritual guidance and morality. Secondly, atheism potentially erodes ethical values and societal norms, and subsequently reduces social trust and cohesion. Thirdly, atheism contributes to moral relativism and ethical ambiguity, which potentially undermines established moral frameworks and social norms. Fourthly, atheism can weaken community cohesion. Lastly, atheism threatens religious institutions and practices. Additionally, the absence of the role of God might undermine the cultural and heritage importance of religion. This study presented critical insights on the negative societal effects of atheism. By exploring the potential consequences of atheism on social cohesion, moral foundations, and existential perspectives, this study highlighted the need for religious education as part of atheism prevention and rehabilitation. (shrink)

This paper offers preliminary notes on Buddhism in modern Muslim exegesis with an emphasis on Tafsir al-Qasimi by Muhammad Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi (1866–1914) and al-Mizan fi Tafsir al-Qurʾan by Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaʾi (1892-1981). The research adopts a qualitative design using content analysis to collect the data. In this paper two main questions regarding both exegetes will be explored. The first question concerns the sources of both scholars for their information about Buddhism by including the discussion in their exegesis. The second (...) question concerns the methodology they used to discuss Buddhism in the Qurʾan since this has not been done by any classical exegetes nor among the most modern exegetes. Studies have found that the approach of the two exegetes is different from both the classical and modern exegetes because their work also contains resources from the fields of comparative religion and the history of religion to make their work relevant in the current context and reliable to be referred to by any parties. The author concludes that both al-Qasimi and Tabatabaʾi used analysis (taḥlil) in discussing verses related to the position of the Buddha. (shrink)

Little is known about the background of atheism in Malaysia and how Muslims respond to the phenomenon, although provocations by Malaysian atheists often take place on social media. This study addressed the gap by exploring the atheism phenomenon in Malaysia’s ethnoreligious-oriented society. Data were collected from in-depth interviews and content analysis using the qualitative method. All data were analysed thematically using the software for qualitative analysis, ATLAS.ti. The resulting superordinate themes that emerged from the analysis include the phenomenon of Malaysian (...) atheism, the factors for becoming atheists and the theme of arguments. The study’s findings are three-fold. Firstly, atheism started in Malaysia after globalisation began. Secondly, most Malaysian atheists were influenced by internal factors based on emotional–psychological elements rather than being scientifically oriented. Last but not least, the main themes of Malaysian atheist arguments are ‘God’s justice’, ‘the problem of evil’ and ‘science rationalism’. As a response, Muslims counter the atheism phenomenon by providing an effective approach to preserving social cohesion and harmony in an ethnoreligious society.Contribution: This article suggests that although atheism is regarded as a challenge to society since Malaysia is an ethnoreligious-oriented society, atheism needs to be countered through proper education as early prevention, besides encouraging healthy discussions. (shrink)

In this paper, we present a non-geometrodynamic quantum Yang–Mills theory of gravity based on the homogeneous Lorentz group within the general framework of the Poincare gauge theories. The obstacles of this treatment are that first, on the one hand, the gauge group that is available for this purpose is non-compact. On the other hand, Yang–Mills theories with non-compact groups are rarely healthy, and only a few instances exist in the literature. Second, it is not clear how the direct observations of (...) space–time waves can be explained when space–time has no dynamics. We show that the theory is unitary and is renormalizable to the one-loop perturbation. Although in our proposal, gravity is not associated with any elementary particle analogous to the graviton, classical helicity-two space–time waves are explained. Five essential exact solutions to the field equations of our proposal are presented as well. We also discuss a few experimental tests that can falsify the presented Yang–Mills theory. (shrink)

Applying the dormitory system for thousands of santri (student of Islamic boarding school in Indonesia), Quranic pesantren (Islamic boarding school) has been considered as one of the main culprits in the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Such assumption is created solely from the applicable health protocols and protective measures to avoid COVID-19 transmission in pesantren. As a matter of fact, pesantrens are known to have applied a distinctive way of coping with COVID-19. This study aims to elucidate the (...) theology of health of Quranic pesantren in the face of COVID-19. Research data were generated through observational method on three Quranic pesantrens in Yogyakarta, interviews with caregivers, the COVID-19 task force of the pesantren, santri and documentation related to the handling of COVID-19 in the three pesantrens. The results showed that the Quranic pesantren as a subculture has a distinctive way of dealing with COVID-19 pandemic by integrating modified health protocols in accordance with the actual conditions of the pesantren and by applying rituals of Islamic spirituality by reciting verses of the Qur’an, salawat (prayers for the Prophet), prayers and hizib (prayer for salvation and rejecting calamities). Three pesantrens chose these methods by drawing on the belief that COVID-19 is God’s creature and, thus, it only works on God’s orders and will stop if God wills. In line with this, this study suggests a method for handling COVID-19 by not only emphasising the health protocols and medical procedures but also taking into account the importance of local wisdom. Contribution statement: This article contributes to the strategy of COVID-19 handling by combining the health protocols of COVID-19 and the applicable local wisdom, such as religious ritual as practiced by numerous pesantren in Indonesia. (shrink)

This volume offers interreligious and interdisciplinary insight into the cinematic-serial and literary narration of evil. Evil is an important motif in literature, film and series. We encounter it in the most diverse forms - be it the Joker from The Dark Knight, Goethe's Mephisto or in the Shiite theatre ritual of the Taʿziya. This volume attempts a closer exploration of what we know as evil, and yet find difficult to comprehend. In addition to Christian and Islamic perspectives, philosophical and mystical (...) considerations are also addressed. Evil, its aesthetic reception and the resulting perspectives on its reality are the focus of the multidisciplinary contributions. With contributions by Prof. Dr. Thomas Jürgasch, Prof. Dr. Ahmad Milad Karimi, Prof. Dr. Walter Lesch, Prof. Dr. Konrad Paul Liessmann, Dr. Maryam Palizban, Iyad Shraim and Prof. Dr. Reinhold Zwick. (shrink)

The globalization in business and tourism becomes crucial more and more for the economical sustainability of local communities. In the presence of an epidemic outbreak, there must be such a decision on the policy by the host community as whether to accept visitors or not, the number of acceptable visitors, or the condition for acceptable visitors. Making use of an SIRI type of mathematical model, we consider the influence of visitors on the spread of a reinfectious disease in a community, (...) especially assuming that a certain proportion of accepted visitors are immune. The reinfectivity of disease here means that the immunity gained by either vaccination or recovery is imperfect. With the mathematical results obtained by our analysis on the model for such an epidemic dynamics of resident and visitor populations, we find that the acceptance of visitors could have a significant influence on the disease’s endemicity in the community, either suppressive or supportive. (shrink)

The purpose of this work is to elaborate an empirically grounded mathematical model of the magnitude of consequences component of “moral intensity” (Jones, Academy of Management Review 16 (2),366, 1991) that can be used to evaluate different ethical situations. The model is built using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) (Saaty, The Analytic Hierarchy Process , 1980) and empirical data from the legal profession. One contribution of our work is that it illustrates how AHP can be applied in the field of (...) ethics. Following a review of the literature, we discuss the development of the model. We then illustrate how the model can be used to rank-order three well-known ethical reasoning cases in terms of the magnitude of consequences. The work concludes with implications for theory, practice, and future research. Specifically we discuss how this work extends the previous work by Collins ( Journal of Business Ethics 8 , 1, 1989) regarding the nature of harm variable. We also discuss the contribution this work makes in the development of ethical scenarios used to test hypotheses in the field of business ethics. Finally, we discuss how the model can be used for after-action review, contribute to organizational learning, train employees in ethical reasoning, and aid in the design and development of decision support systems that support ethical reasoning. (shrink)

Purpose This paper aims to study the developed countries’ experience on the cyberbullying legal regulation among adolescents, to identify existing shortcomings in the developing countries’ laws and to develop recommendations for regulatory framework improvement. Design/methodology/approach The authors have studied the state regulatory practice of the UK, the USA, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa, Turkey, UAE and analyzed the statistics of 2018 on the cyberbullying manifestation among adolescents in these countries. Findings The study results can encourage countries to create separate cyberbullying legislation (...) and periodically review and modify already existing legislation. Originality/value The study provides a list of the recommendations to regulate cybercrime in developing countries and prevent it as well. The results may contribute to creating laws related to the regulation of cyberbullying in countries where such legislation does not exist yet or existing regulatory legal acts do not bring the expected results, namely, in Post-Soviet countries and other developing countries of the world. (shrink)

Relationship-oriented questions have always been at the crossroads of ethnoreligious identity, religious freedom, religious conversion, religious prejudice, and religious pluralism throughout Muslim-Buddhist co-existence in the sixth century within the Malay Archipelago. Other faiths could be freely practised except for propagation towards Muslim communities with Islam being the religion of the federation. This study aimed to explore Muslim-Buddhist relation types and the issues underpinning the following themes: history, identity, and concerns. Content and thematic analysis as well discourse analysis were utilised as (...) the study method for data collection and evaluation. Resultantly, the Muslim-Buddhist interaction pattern in Malaysia has occurred (culturally and religiously) from the early establishment of both religious communities. This relation, which has shifted in ethnoreligious orientation at every interaction level, opens more avenues and complexities requiring holistic management. (shrink)

This study aims to explore whether a discrepancy exists between the ideal and communicated (disclosed) ethical identity of Islamic banks in Asia and, further, whether there is any association of communicated ethical identity with financial performance. To achieve the objectives, the study analyses data derived from annual reports of Islamic banks in Asia for the period 2006–2010. The results suggest that out of the seven banks studied, three of them are above average and the rest suffer from disparity between the (...) ideal and communicated ethical identities. Further, the study shows that the disclosure of a vision and mission statement; board of directors and top management; zakah, charity, and benevolent loans; and Shari’ah supervisory boards are negatively associated with performance, while the disclosure of products and services and commitment toward employees are positively associated with performance. (shrink)

Since the emergence of the global challenges of COVID-19 pandemic, its impact could be widely viewed in various human society aspects, such as education, business trading and also social interaction limit. Apart from many discussions on the pandemic from a wide range of such perspectives, scholarly attention is still rarely mainly in trying to elaborate the critical overview from an Islamic perspective following theological, historical, and sociological points of view. In this paper, the critical elaboration of the pandemic has been (...) widely discussed by analysing the contents of sacred scriptures and responses from an Islamic point of view. The literature was critically conducted from religious sources such as the Qur’an and Hadith, and also related contemporary works. The finding reveals that the pandemic has been given full attention as stated in the Qur’an and narrated in Hadith by taking a lesson from pandemics and strategically battling the pandemic. The following attentions were addressed in order to strengthen the Muslim community and society in order to support the health protocols arranged by the local and international health organizations. The value is that religion’s clear comprehension could give continued support to encourage the Muslim community especially and general society at large in the attempts to battle the spreading pandemic. -/- . (shrink)

The release of over 6,000 genetically modified mosquitoes (GMM) into uninhabited Malaysian forests in 2010 was a frantic step on the part of the Malaysian government to combat the spread of dengue fever. The field trial was designed to control and reduce the dengue vector by producing offspring that die in the early developmental stage, thus decreasing the local Aedes aegypti population below the dengue transmission threshold. However, the GMM trials were discontinued in Malaysia despite being technologically feasible. The lack (...) of systematic studies in terms of cost-benefit analysis, questionable research efficacy and safety-related concerns might have contributed to the termination of the field trial. Hence, this research aims to evaluate the feasibility of GMM release in Malaysia by using a holistic approach based on an Islamic ethical-legal assessment under the maslahah-mafsadah (benefit-risk) concept. Three main strategies based on the maslahah-mafsadah concept approach have been applied: 1) an evidence-based approach, 2) an impact-based approach and, 3) a priority approach. The analysis concluded that GMM could be categorised as zanniyyah (probable). GMM is a promising alternative for dengue control, but many issues must be addressed before its widespread adoption. (shrink)

According to property-emergentism, consciousness is an emergent property of certain aggregate neurological constructions, whereas substance-emergentism maintains that the emergence of consciousness depends on the emergence of mental substance or soul. In this article, we presented some arguments supporting substance-emergentism by analysing various properties of consciousness, including the first-person perspective, referral state, qualia, being active, causative, non-atomic, interpretative, inferential and inventive. We also explored the impossibility of representing big images on the small monitor and the incapacity of physical entities being conscious (...) because of their intrinsic multiplicity, absence and deficiency. These arguments, which apply the philosophy of Mulla Sadra, could be considered by philosophers of mind and religion, as well as theologians who follow some religious beliefs such as the afterlife on existence and survival of the soul. Also, we attempted to respond to property-emergentists' objections to substance-emergentism.CONTRIBUTION: This research contributes to prove and accept the emergence of the immaterial soul after the stages of natural evolution of the body. It uses the basics of emergentism, including natural evolution, to link science and religion in believing the existence of the immaterial soul. Demonstrating the immaterial reality of human existence provides the ground for theological issues such as afterlife and religious morality. (shrink)

This article examines the relationship between religion, tradition and identity as seen from the myth about eclipses in a village in Central Java. Javanese people in rural areas still hold beliefs passed down from their ancestors about eclipses, both lunar and solar eclipses. Using a qualitative approach, the results of the study showed that the villagers believe that eclipses occur because of evil giants called buto named Batara Kala who try to devour the sun or the moon. This natural phenomenon (...) is believed to bring disaster to pregnant women and livestock. To fight the disaster, they must perform certain ceremonies or rituals. Based on ethnographic studies, this research provides an overview of eclipse mythology for Javanese locals and analyses it from identity theory. This shows that mythical rituals reflect a continuous identity formation. Although the traditions associated with these myths to some extent transcend the boundaries of the Islamic religion, they remain unchallenged. CONTRIBUTION: This research suggests that myths play an important role in the life and identity of the people who believe in them and perform the rituals associated with them. (shrink)