Al-Shajarah Journal of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC)
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SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY: A CRITICAL REVIEW FROM ISLAMIC THEORIES OF ADMINISTRATION
No full textEarly management theory consisted of numerous attempts at getting to know some newcomers to industrial life at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, in Europe and United States. As far as these newcomers were concerned, almost all fields of industry expected that they could open a new way of pattern in the area of conceptualizing the management field with new ideas and thoughts. One of these newcomers was the scientific management theory, the theory of Frederic Winslow Taylor (1896-1915). This paper is a critical review on scientific management theory looking from the descriptive and normative angles of Islamic theories of administration. Starting from the background of the author, and his theory, the paper highlights some of the criticisms arose from the West, followed by Islamic dimensions on the theory of administration, focusing on the individual and social aspects. The paper argues that the values should be taken from Islamic theories of administration which refers to the present world as well as hereafter. Further, some of the implications and possible areas of practicing Islamic theory of administration in higher education management are presented
MODERN CRITICISM OF THE SAHABAH: AN APPRAISAL
No full textThe relationship between the sahabah and Qur’an and sunnah iscrucial in terms of the reliability of the texts because its narrations are closely linked to the reliability of the narrators and the sahabah in general. Muslims can reach the sacred texts only through thesahabah; there is no other material means. The issue of the sahabah is not merely a story of some people who lived during a certainperiod of time. They are not objects of history or the science ofnarration. The issue of the sahabah is very sensitive because theirposition plays an important role not as individual biographies, but becasue of the role they played in transmitting of the ahadith of the Prop ophe het () This study analyzes the sensitivity of this issue and the disputes on the sahabah in terms of theory and practice from theirhistorical and modern critical perspectives
THE TRUE INVENTOR OF SOME EARLY MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DEVICES AND MECHANISMS
No full textFor centuries the inventions of automated crankshaft, camshaft, reciprocating double-action piston suction hydraulic pump with suction pipes, overshot curvaceous water turbines, andcrank-connecting rod mechanism have been credited to Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) and Lester Allan Pelton (1829 – 1908). Recently,the concepts of these proven significant inventions in fluid mechanicsand energy conversion systems have been found mentioned in themanuscripts of an inventor whose name is Abu-Aliz Al-Jazari(1136-1206). Leonardo da Vinci got these ideas from Al-Jazari’smanuscripts and did not acknowledge Al-Jazari in his relevantmanuscripts. In Lester Allan Pelton receives the credit for inventingthe over-shot curvaceous water turbine whereas the over-shotcurvaceous water turbine was described in Al-Jazari’s manuscriptwhich was made publicly available for reading many centuriesbefore the time of Lester Allan Pelton. The concepts of theseinventions which are described in Al-Jazari’s manuscripts provesthat his manuscripts were among the sources from which Leonardoda Vinci got these ideas and that Al-Jazari invented the over-shotcurvaceous water turbine many centuries before Lester Allan Peltonare presented in this paper. It has been virtually proved that the trueinventor of automated crankshaft, camshaft, reciprocating double-action piston suction hydraulic pump with suction pipes, overshot curvaceous water turbines, and crank-connecting rodmechanism is Abu-Aliz Al-Jazari
THE CONCEPT OF EUROPE AS A CULTURAL IDENTITY
No full textThe long discussion on the making of Europe’s identity, from a political, economic, cultural or religious aspect, has paved the way for the unity of European nations as well as created manymisconceptions in the mind-set of both the élite and the masses, the developed and undeveloped nations. The worry about the absorptionof core principles of one’s culture within European community andthe superiority of a high or an élite culture towards popular cultureor low culture has created numerous obstacles for the construction ofEurope’s cultural identity. The thrust of this paper is to study theconcept of Europe as a cultural identity, which is very essential forthe unity of Europeans, as well as for its motivation for its membersto have a peaceful sense of self and co-existence. This contributes totheir overall wellbeing and brings them closer together regardless oftheir differences. The formation of Europe’s cultural identity wasexamined by looking first at the development of major concepts, like“Europe,” “European culture,” “European language,” “culturalidentity,” and second the essential elements of Hellenic, Roman,Christian, and scientific traditions. The descriptive and analyticalmethodologies have been employed in this paper. The findings have given insights to the reality of the unity of European nations underthe banner of culture
THE NEVER-ENDING KASHMIR DISPUTE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON THE CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL GOVERNANCE AND PEACE
No full textThe Kashmir dispute is one of the oldest unresolved conflicts in theannals of the United Nations. India has concealed its duplicitybehind “democracy” in this dispute. As a result of the romanticfascination for his ancestral land, the first Indian Prime Minister,Jawaharlal Nehru, wanted to retain Kashmir as a part of India whichturned out to be one of the deadliest international conflicts of the 20thcentury. On the surface Nehru wanted to demonstrate India’s “secular” character by incorporating Muslim-majority Kashmir intoIndia. The Delhi administration has consistently manipulated thisdispute in India’s favor through political, diplomatic, emotional andintellectual means and has successfully used the media andthink-tanks to solicit support for it. Pakistan, on the other hand,although initially committed to the idea of self-determination for thepeople of Kashmir, has been inconsistent and undiplomatic insupporting the cause. Clandestine agencies have created groupsamong Kashmiri people, and occasionally made them fight againstone another. The conflict in neighboring Afghanistan contributedto the deteriorating situation in Kashmir. Overall, Kashmir hasbecome a source of constant intimidation within the Muslim societytoday
THE JEWISH QUESTION IN VICTORIAN HISTORICAL ROMANCES
No full textThe essay examines the use of racial stereotyping as a means oftracing the development in the portrayal of Muslim and Jewishcommunities in Victorian historical romances at “home” in Englandand “abroad” in the Middle East, through the analysis of threehistorical romances from the Victorian era: Benjamin Disraeli’s TheWondrous Tale of Alroy (1833), Edward B. Lytton’s Leila or TheSiege of Granada (1838) and Hall Caine’s The Scapegoat (1890). As these novels were highly inspiredby Sir Walter Scott’s contribution tothe genre of historical romances in The Talisman and Ivanhoe, theyconfirmed and challenged Scott’s racial and cultural stereotypes ofMuslim and Jewish communities, and in doing so, prepared for a newversion of Orientalism which progressively revised the perception ofJewish communities within Muslim communities “abroad” andwithin Christian communities at “home” in England and underChristian rule in Spain. Thus these texts not only emphasized the roleof the Victorian novel in shaping and reinforcing certain existingracial stereotypes of the Muslim East, Islam and Muslims worldwidethat persist until today, but also contributed to the rise in thedepiction of an increasingly sympathetic view of Jews in Victorianfiction well pronounced in political novels such as Disraeli’s Tancred(1840) and George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda (1876)
WILFRED CANTWELL SMITH ON THE MEANING OF RELIGION AND ISLAM: A PLURALIST DILEMMA REEXAMINED
Get PDFWilfred Cantwell Smith deserves attention for the following two reasons: his critical, straightforwardness against the conventional Christian and Western secular viewpoints on religion and his interest for, and yet deconstructive insights, on the meaning of Islam. Smith indeed, was a scholar of a versatile academic background. He was a Christian theologian and a pluralist who rejected exclusivism (as a position in religion), a historian of religion and a phenomenologist who struggled to live the meaning of the sacred and the profane (in his redefinition of religion) and a missiologist who was fascinated with Islam (and yet deconstructed its meaning). This article relies heavily on textual, critical and comparative analysis and reexamines Smith’s understanding of religion and Islam. It is supposed that his ideas on religion and Islam were much shaped by his pluralist stance.WILFRED CANTWELL SMITH ON THE MEANING OF RELIGION AND ISLAM: A PLURALIST DILEMMA REEXAMINE
EMBEDDED OPTIONS AND THE ISSUE OF GHARAR: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM MALAYSIA
Get PDFDespite its accelerating use in the financial market, embedded options receive contradicting opinions with regards to its permissibility based on Shari‟ah principles. This study will examine the existence of the gharar element in the pricing of embedded options (warrants), especially in the case of mispricing. The Black Scholes Option Pricing Model (BSOPM), a robust set of methods, is used to analyze the pricing efficiency of warrants market and to detect any mispricing in warrants contracts in Malaysia. Looking from the perspective of an informationally efficient market, there seems to be a pricing inefficiency in the local warrants market in reference to its theoretical values. This mispricing of warrants indicate inefficiency in the warrants market and the element of gharar in a warrants contract is viewed from the mispricing detected in the study. Mispricing of warrants in the Malaysian market indicates speculative activities, and speculation is not allowed in Islam. Speculation is prohibited in Islam as it may contain excessive gharar (uncertainty) and maysir (gambling). These may then result in wealth accumulation at the expense of the jahil (ignorance) other parties‟. This activity violates the concept of adl (justice), does not serve the concept of maslahah (public interest) and does not comply with maqasid al-shari'ah
THE DOCTRINE OF SANCTITY OF LIFE FROM THE ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE
Get PDFMuslims believe that only Allah swt has the ultimate will and powerover life and death. Life is merely a gift and a loan entrusted tomankind until death takes place. It is therefore forbidden for anyperson to intentionally end a life; to do so would be to commit agrievous transgression against Allah. Islam holds life in the highestesteem to the extent that the duty to preserve life forms one of thecore principles in maqasid al-shari’ah. Protection of one’s lifeincludes taking care of one’s body, health and mind from that whichwould lead to harm and death. All lives are equally inviolable; Islamdoes not discriminate one’s life on the basis of nationality, race orreligion. In order to ensure a just order that protects both individualand public interests at large, Islam prescribes certain legitimatesituations where the dimensions of sanctity of life are qualified, forexample, by permitting to end life in self-defence or in due course oflaw. There is thus a need to understand the wisdom behind thesanctity of life principle in Islam, not only by studying its importance,but also the overall scope in which it operates