In recent years, researchers have paid special attention to religiosity and the practice of religious beliefs. If people put religiosity at the forefront of their affairs and maintain the roots of religion in various aspects of work and family life, they will see God present and watchful in doing all things, and the result of such a vision will be the successful performance of deeds and walking the path of perfection. Having a heartfelt belief in the value of work and (...) adhering to it will result in a greater desire to work. Religiosity is a variable that can be related to job variables. In addition, it can play an important role in the behaviours of employees. In Islam, work is a virtue and is necessary to balance the personal and social life of the individual. Given the importance of this issue, the present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between Islamic religiosity and job satisfaction of Muslim teachers in Malaysia. In total, 2200 Muslim teachers of Kuala Lumpur and Penang were selected for the study by simple random sampling. Data were collected by using standard questionnaires and analysed by Pearson's correlation coefficient in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). According to the results, there was a significant and positive relationship between teachers' Islamic religiosity and job satisfaction as P = 0.784 and T = 0.000 which was less than the Sig level of 0.05. CONTRIBUTION: According to Islamic teachings, working for a Muslim is like worship. Based on the findings of this research, teachers with higher Islamic religiosity enjoy higher job satisfaction. (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)

All geopolitical change represents the creation of a new order and this entails the alteration of the spatial conditions and, therefore, the modification of the way of understanding borders. Carl Schmitt, especially in his last stage, aimed at delineating a new international configuration made up of large spaces (Grossräume), once the time of sovereignties typical of the Ius publicum europaeum was over. The goal of this study is to analizy to which extent and how Schmitt 's analytical tools around borders (...) can be useful to understand the current state of globalization. Todo cambio geopolítico representa la creación de un nuevo orden y ello conlleva la alteración de las condiciones espaciales y, por tanto, la modificación de la manera de entender las fronteras. Carl Schmitt, especialmente en su última etapa, apuntó al delineamiento de una nueva configuración internacional conformada por grandes espacios (Grossräume), una vez que el tiempo de las soberanías propias del Ius publicum europaeum había terminado. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar hasta qué punto y de qué manera las herramientas analíticas de Schmitt en torno a las fronteras pueden ser útiles para comprender el estado actual de la globalización. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to propose and develop an intelligent e-learning system based on advanced document management techniques at Al-Quds Open University. In this article, we focus on a case using e-mail contents as supplement educational materials at QOU. We describe how the interactive classification system based on concept hierarchy can simplify this task. This system provides the functions to index, classify, and retrieve a collection of e-mail messages based on user profiles. By automatically indexing e-mail messages using (...) our E-mail Classification System for e-Learning, instructors and/or students can easily find their messages and find the topics. The test results of our system evaluation showed that a good classification quality has been achieved, with a precision of 77.4%, recall of 90%, and F-measure of 82.8. (shrink)

In his commentary on the Light Verse (Q. 24:35), the Andalusian mystic and Qurʾān exegete Abū al-Ḥakam Ibn Barrajān (d. 1141) presents the blessed tree (al-shajara al-mubāraka) not simply as a terrestrial olive tree in Syria or even as a mystical allegory, but as the ultimate locus of divine disclosure and the highest metaphysical entity in the cosmos that subsumes the world of creation. This article assesses the originality of Ibn Barrajān’s contribution to the heavenly tree motif by examining his (...) unique mystical and exegetical theories informing his ontological reading of the blessed tree, including the concept of the ‘reality upon which creation is created’ and the ‘universal servant’. In addition to analysing the internal logic of Ibn Barrajān’s discourse, this article explores the larger interpretive themes recurrent across exoteric, Sufi, and philosophical interpretations of the Light Verse up to the twelfth century that the author may have had access to in al-Andalus, including the treatises of the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwān al-ṣafā) and Biblical sources. Finally, this article highlights how Ibn Barrajān weaves the Qurʾānic good tree (al-shajara al-ṭayyiba) and the lote tree of the furthest boundary (sidrat al-muntahā) into his overarching understanding of the blessed tree. It also considers how his reading may have contributed to later readings by Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240) and some of his intellectual heirs. (shrink)

The Mystics of al-Andalus: Ibn Barrajān and Islamic Thought in the Twelfth Century. By Yousef Casewit. Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. Pp. xvi + 353. $100, £95.

Nazariyat, Journal for the History of Islamic Philosophy and Sciences, issued twice a year in English and Turkish (Nazariyat İslam Felsefe ve Bilim Tarihi Araştırmaları Dergisi), is a refereed international journal. It publishes original studies, critical editions of classical texts and book reviews on Islamic philosophy, kalām, theoretical aspects of Sufism and the history of sciences. The goal of Nazariyat is to contribute to the discovery, examination and reinterpretation of the theoretical traditions in the history of Islamic thought, by giving (...) special attention to the post-classical period of it. **ISSN: 2148-8088 E-ISBN: 2547-9415**. (shrink)

The development of the Minimalist Program, Noam Chomsky's most recent generative model of linguistics, has been highly influential over the last twenty years. It has had significant implications not only for the conduct of linguistic analysis itself, but also for our understanding of the status of linguistics as a science. The reflections and analyses in this book contain insights into the strengths and the weaknesses of the MP. Among these are, a clarification of the content of the Strong Minimalist Thesis (...) ; a synthesis of Chomsky's linguistic and interdisciplinary discourses; and an analysis of the notion of optimal computation from conceptual, empirical and philosophical perspectives. This book will encourage graduate students and researchers in linguistics to reflect on the foundations of their discipline, and the interdisciplinary nature of the topics explored will appeal to those studying biolinguistics, neurolinguistics, the philosophy of language and other related disciplines. (shrink)

This case is designed to help students analyze decision making from various ethical perspectives and to use stakeholder analysis. The case perspective is that of the CEO of Degussa AG, a multispecialty chemical company, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. Degussa is considering whether to submit a bid to supply its anti-graffiti coating, Protectosil ® , for a new Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Europe being planned for Berlin. Degussa’s ethical dilemma is that a former Degussa subsidiary, Degesch, manufactured and supplied (...) the Zyklon B nerve gas used by the Nazis to kill Jews in the concentration camps during World War II. Although Degussa has made attempts both to acknowledge and to atone for its war-time Nazi collaboration, public disclosure of its bid has the potential to engulf Degussa in controversy when activists and Jewish leaders learn of it. Students are asked to evaluate the bid’s benefits and costs to Degussa’s stakeholders, to consider the relevance of a company’s historical legacy to contemporary decision making, and to explore how German corporate history during and after the Holocaust has parallels to human rights issues in other countries. (shrink)

Philosophy and joke telling do not share the same pedigree, but both can have an allied function and purpose. Philosophy and joke telling can help us to organize, interpret, possibly understand, or, at least, hopefully face and confront the fundamental issues of existence.Let me be more precise about what I mean by using humor and jokes in teaching philosophy. Humor, joke telling, can serve as a narrative playlet to metaphorically illuminate a complex philosophical concept. However, every class should not simply (...) be played for laughs and comedic effect. Rather, through the judicious use of joke telling, the instructor needs to create an atmosphere of “respectful playfulness” which allows students an opportunity to comfortably address some of the complexities, confusions, and conundrums of the human condition. (shrink)

In the first part of this text, the author attempts to demonstrate that sacral kingship might, in anthropological terms, be regarded an Elementary Form of socio-political life; not an autonomous elementary form, but one falling under the category of rulership. The reference to the anthropological notion of Elementary Forms renders virtually irrelevant the rigidity with which categorical distinctions are made between polytheistic and monotheistic kingship, as well as any civilisational divisions that might be imagined between Orient and Occident. The second (...) part of the text provides an illustration of these presuppositions, the author taking several examples from the history of monarchy – both in the Western World and in the Arab World. (shrink)

This work is about the deceptive nature of psychotherapy. In particular, it is about those therapies that claim to provide the client with insight and self-knowledge when in practice they are a means of social control absorbing clients into socially acceptable norms. Through a philosophical analysis of key concepts such as knowledge, insight, and subjectivity, and through an examination of mechanisms intrinsic to psychotherapeutic practice, such as power, interpretation, and suggestion, this monograph unveils how psychotherapy deludes clients into believing they (...) have discovered their true self. Rather than gaining self-knowledge and insight into their true or core self, clients are subtly reconstructed and reconfigured along prevailing social values. Furthermore, the very epistemological and metaphysical world-view clients are deceived into believing is highly suspect and founded upon a fascistic understanding of knowledge. As an alternative to such domination, psychotherapy needs to reconstruct itself along Nietzschean-Deleuzian lines where the focus is on multiple identities, difference, and creativity. Rather than focusing on an analysis of past memories to alleviate symptoms such as anxiety or depression, therapeutic intervention should aim for a non-repressive conception of self-knowledge and insight based upon a creative future and not a regretful past. This entails a different understanding of knowledge and reality that is not based on subjugating the world to what we know about it, but on immersing ourselves within reality in all of its concrete richness. And such an approach is preferable not because it is “true” but because it is more liberating. (shrink)

The first issues of the journal Hypatia, published from 1983 through 1985, truly heralded the rebirth of a feminist philosophy. Women in philosophy had been silenced since the days of the fourth-century Alexandrian woman philosopher and mathematician, Hypatia. With the establishment of the journal by the Society for Women in Philosophy, feminist issues and philosophy were legitimized. The first three issues of the journal were actually published as special issues of Women's Studies International Forum. From this unique incubational arrangement, the (...) journal has grown to be a successful independent voice for feminist philosophical concerns. In response to demand, essays from those early, now out-of-print issues are being published in book form as a testament to the rebirth of feminist philosophy. (shrink)

The aim of the research is to shed light on the nature of the organizational structure prevailing in Palestinian governmental universities and to identify the most important differences in the perceptions of employees of the organizational structure in the Palestinian governmental universities according to the demographic and organizational variables. The researchers used the descriptive analytical method, through a questionnaire randomly distributed to the sample of the employees of Al-Aqsa University. The study was conducted on a sample of (80) administrative staff (...) from Al-Aqsa University. The study found that there is a moderate degree of satisfaction with the nature of the organizational structure prevailing in the Palestinian governmental universities from the point of view of the administrative staff, with a percentage of (63.11%). The absence of differences between the sample according to the gender variable in their perception of the nature of the organizational structure prevailing at Al-Aqsa University, the absence of differences in their perception of the nature of the organizational structure depending on the age variable. There are statistical significance differences in the perception of the elements of the organizational climate depending on the variable of scientific qualification in their perception of the nature of the organizational structure in favor of holders of a bachelor's degree, the absence of differences in their perception of the nature of the organizational structure depending on the variable years of service, and the absence of differences in their perception of the nature of the organizational structure depending on the variable level of career (Director, Head of Department, and Administrative Officer). The study reached a number of recommendations, the most important of which is that the management of the Palestinian governmental universities in general and Al-Aqsa University in particular should be given special attention to the organizational structure and modified in a way that achieves the goals of the university and the aspirations of the employees. The universities should have the opportunity to participate in the restructuring of the organizational structure, the importance of solving the problems of employees and giving them the opportunity to contribute to solving their own problems, and the need to use the method of rotation of employees and periodically. (shrink)