163 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Have Black lives ever mattered? /
No full text"'This collection of short meditations, written from a prison cell, captures the past two decades of police violence that gave rise to Black Lives Matter while digging deeply into the history of the United States. This is the book we need right now to find our bearings in the chaos'--Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States; 'Mumia's writings are a wake-up call. He is a voice from our prophetic tradition, speaking to us here, now, lovingly, urgently'--Cornel West; 'He allows us to reflect upon the fact that transformational possibilities often emerge where we least expect them'--Angela Y. Davis; In December 1981, Mumia Abu Jamal was shot and beaten into unconsciousness by Philadelphia police. He awoke to find himself shackled to a hospital bed, accused of killing a cop. He was convicted and sentenced to death in a trial that Amnesty International has denounced as failing to meet the minimum standards of judicial fairness. In Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? Mumia gives voice to the many people of color who have fallen to police bullets or racist abuse, and offers the post-Ferguson generation advice on how to address police abuse in the United States. This collection of his radio commentaries on the topic features an in-depth essay written especially for this book to examine the history of policing in America, with its origins in the white slave patrols of the antebellum South and an explicit mission to terrorize the country's Black population. Applying a personal, historical, and political lens, Mumia provides a righteously angry and calmly principled radical Black perspective on how racist violence is tearing our country apart and what must be done to turn things around. Mumia Abu-Jamal is author of many books, including Death Blossoms, Live from Death Row, All Things Censored, and Writing on the Wall"--Provided by publisher
Are HIV epidemics among men who have sex with men emerging in the Middle East and North Africa?: a systematic review and data synthesis.
No full textBACKGROUND: Men who have sex with men (MSM) bear a disproportionately higher burden of HIV infection than the general population. MSM in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are a largely hidden population because of a prevailing stigma towards this type of sexual behavior, thereby limiting the ability to assess infection transmission patterns among them. It is widely perceived that data are virtually nonexistent on MSM and HIV in this region. The objective of this review was to delineate, for the first time, the evidence on the epidemiology of HIV among MSM in MENA. METHODS AND FINDINGS: This was a systematic review of all biological, behavioral, and other related data on HIV and MSM in MENA. Sources of data included PubMed (Medline), international organizations' reports and databases, country-level reports and databases including governmental and nongovernmental organization publications, and various other institutional documents. This review showed that onsiderable data are available on MSM and HIV in MENA. While HIV prevalence continues at low levels among different MSM groups, HIV epidemics appear to be emerging in at least few countries, with a prevalence reaching up to 28% among certain MSM groups. By 2008, the contribution of MSM transmission to the total HIV notified cases increased and exceeded 25% in several countries. The high levels of risk behavior (4-14 partners on average in the last six months among different MSM populations) and of biomarkers of risks (such as herpes simplex virus type 2 at 3%-54%), the overall low rate of consistent condom use (generally below 25%), the relative frequency of male sex work (20%-76%), and the substantial overlap with heterosexual risk behavior and injecting drug use suggest potential for further spread. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review and data synthesis indicate that HIV epidemics appear to be emerging among MSM in at least a few MENA countries and could already be in a concentrated state among several MSM groups. There is an urgent need to expand HIV surveillance and access to HIV testing, prevention, and treatment services in a rapidly narrowing window of opportunity to prevent the worst of HIV transmission among MSM in the Middle East and North Africa. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary
Estimate of vertical transmission of Hepatitis C virus in Pakistan in 2007 and 2012 birth cohorts.
No full textUNLABELLED: Despite a combination of high Hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence, a large adult population and high fertility, no published estimates of the scale and contribution of vertical transmission to HCV incidence in Pakistan exist. The objective of this study was to estimate the number of new HCV infections occurring in Pakistan as a result of vertical transmission. We adapted a published mathematical model based on HCV antibody and viraemia prevalence, fertility rates, risk of HCV vertical transmission and children mortality rates to estimate the number of infections in the 2007 and 2012 birth cohorts nationally and in four subnational regions. We estimated that 19 708 (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 15 941-23 819) children were vertically infected by HCV in 2007 and 21 676 (95% UI: 17 498-26 126) in 2012. The majority of these cases (72.9% and 72.5% in 2007 and 2012, respectively) occurred in Punjab. We estimated that vertical transmission as a mode of exposure accounted for a quarter of HCV infections among children under 5 years of age (25.2% in 2007 and 24.0% in 2012). CONCLUSION: Our results showed that one in 260 children born in Pakistan in 2007 and 2012 acquired HCV vertically. While currently no interventions during pregnancy and childbirth are recommended to reduce this risk, prevention, testing and treatment strategies should be considered to reduce the burden of vertical HCV infections among young children. Other routes of transmission appear to contribute the majority of HCV infections among children and must also be clarified and urgently addressed
The challenge to Mahmoud Abu Rayyah's thoughts on the significance of Abu Hurairah and Ka'b Al-Ahbār in hadīth narration
No full textIn response to Mahmoud Abu Rayyah's accusations against Ka'b al-Ahbār, this study attempts to address the claims that he was the ‘first Jewish’ in Islam, that deceit and hypocrisy led to his conversion to Islam, and that he was the first to support the Jewish people's movement in Jerusalem. This study uses qualitative methods with a type of literature analysis supplemented by analysis of content to analyze to understand Abu Rayyah's thoughts on his criticism of the relationship between Abu Hurairah and Ka'b al-ahbar. In this case the author also analyzes the criticism with the method of criticism of Abu Rayyah's thoughts. In response, the following was said: Regarding the Islamic conversion of al-Ahbār: There is universal agreement among historians regarding the validity of al-Ahbār’s conversion to Islam, having previously served as a Jewish priest. Ka'b was among the wisest Jews in his generation. He addressed Arabic with ease and had extensive knowledge of both the Prophet's Sunnah and the Holy Qur'an. As a result, Ka’b al-Ahbār 's conversion to Islam helped Muslims gain a thorough understanding of Judaism and played a significant role in converting Jews to Islam. Considering the connection between Abu Hurairah and Ka'b al-Ahbār, all historians concur that Abu Hurairah used to obtain numerous hadiths from al-Ahbār, who was one of his narrators. The Israeli hadiths and their attribution to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, were not transmitted to Abu Hurairah by al-Ahbār, albeit these claims are unsupported. The hadiths from Ka'b al-Ahbār were verified by other sources, according to evidence that Abu Hurairah once collected. On the authority of the Prophet, regarding the hadiths recounted by Abu Hurairah
Astrology in literature: how the prohibited became permissible in the Arabic poetry of the mediaeval period
No full textThis thesis is concerned to position the art of astrology within the context of classical Arabic poetry, primarily by investigating and elucidating attitudes to the notion of
qadar (fate) and the ideology in which it was embedded. These attitudes were revelatory of the broader world view of the Arabs of those periods, and their shifts from those held in the pre-Islamic and early Islamic eras tell us a good deal about the importance given to the nature and role of fate and about the various understandings of its influence. The pre-Islamic Arab's notion of qadar was in some ways similar to that of the early Muslims: both emphasised predetermination and the irresistible power of fate. But while the jahilf (Pre-Islamic) Arabs identified fate with the malign power of dahr (Time), the Muslims believed the power of fate lies in the hands of God the
Omnipotent, who alone is responsible for the fate of the whole universe. Thus the astrology of the pre-Islamic era was one aspect of divination (kihana) and claimed to be
able to reveal in advance an individual's destiny, which could be avoided by taking certain precautions. These precautions, however, were considered effective only in
relatively trivial cases; they were useless in the areas of major impact: a person's happiness or misery (shaqiiwa aw sa ada), sustenance (rizq) and one's term (ajal), the
three inevitable and irresistible manifestations of fate. In the Islamic period not only these major aspects of life are governed and controlled by the Omnipotent; the destiny
of the universe, in even its most minute details, is determined and controlled by God alone. Astrology was considered to be of no value whatsoever, and its practitioners were subject to the death penalty. These two irreconcilable views are evident in early Islamic poetry, which reflected clearly the response of poets, and society, to astrology from the perspective of qadar.
When the orthodox caliphate was replaced by dynastic rule the status of astrology was changed dramatically. The idea that the stars, as indicators, play a role in the life of
human beings found popowerful supporters in some governors of the Islamic world, who allowed astrology to fulfil a public function regardless of the hostility of the official
religion of that society. This social phenomenon generated rich material of a controversial character in the realm of literature. Investigating the factors, motivations
and impact of mediaeval political, theological and philosophical attitudes to astrology, in relation to the notions of free will and predestination, is the concern of this study
Mobilizing for Mumia Abu-Jamal in Paris
No full textThe strike halted all railways, subways, and buses. Bumper-tobumper traffic flooded the narrow streets of Paris, and walking became the fastest way to travel. The grey beauty of the Seine felt soothing that December morning as I walked by the river looking for number 19 Quai Bourbon, the law office of Roland Dumas. It was only Friday, but so much had happened that week, my head was spinning. It felt like the time I first met Dumas, back in the seventies.
Eldridge Cleaver and I, among hundreds of other revolutionaries, lived clandestinely in Paris then, and Dumas was our lawyer. A deputy in the French Assembly at the time, he petitioned the government to legalize Eldridge\u27s presence when he was a fugitive Black Panther leader facing imprisonment in the United States.
Cities were still going up in flames after Martin Luther King\u27s assassination that night Eldridge was arrested with eight other Panthers following a gun battle with the Oakland Police in 1968. Once his parole was revoked it looked as though he would spend his next four years in prison regardless of how the shoot-out trial ended. But to everyone\u27s astonishment, he won a habeas corpus petition that June, and was out on bail a week after Bobby Kennedy was killed in Los Angeles. Eldridge was the presidential candidate of the Peace and Freedom Party and the author of the best-selling Soul On Ice, and thousands of people turned out to hear him speak. He claimed over and over that the San Quentin guards would murder him if he ever returned to prison, and I believed it. When the appellate court ordered him back to prison, Eldridge fled to Cuba, and later to Algeria, where I joined him in 1969. Four years later we reached France, where Dumas\u27s legal effort failed to win asylum, but our friendship with him remained alive for years
Mobilizing for Mumia Abu-Jamal in Paris
No full textThe strike halted all railways, subways, and buses. Bumper-tobumper traffic flooded the narrow streets of Paris, and walking became the fastest way to travel. The grey beauty of the Seine felt soothing that December morning as I walked by the river looking for number 19 Quai Bourbon, the law office of Roland Dumas. It was only Friday, but so much had happened that week, my head was spinning. It felt like the time I first met Dumas, back in the seventies. Eldridge Cleaver and I, among hundreds of other revolutionaries, lived clandestinely in Paris then, and Dumas was our lawyer. A deputy in the French Assembly at the time, he petitioned the government to legalize Eldridge's presence when he was a fugitive Black Panther leader facing imprisonment in the United States. Cities were still going up in flames after Martin Luther King's assassination that night Eldridge was arrested with eight other Panthers following a gun battle with the Oakland Police in 1968. Once his parole was revoked it looked as though he would spend his next four years in prison regardless of how the shoot-out trial ended. But to everyone's astonishment, he won a habeas corpus petition that June, and was out on bail a week after Bobby Kennedy was killed in Los Angeles. Eldridge was the presidential candidate of the Peace and Freedom Party and the author of the best-selling Soul On Ice, and thousands of people turned out to hear him speak. He claimed over and over that the San Quentin guards would murder him if he ever returned to prison, and I believed it. When the appellate court ordered him back to prison, Eldridge fled to Cuba, and later to Algeria, where I joined him in 1969. Four years later we reached France, where Dumas's legal effort failed to win asylum, but our friendship with him remained alive for years
INVESTIGATING THE FACTORS THAT CAUSE COST AND TIME OVERRUN IN THE RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN THE UAE: PROJECT MANAGERS PERSPECTIVE
No full textThe construction industry is considered an essential element to stabilize countries economically. In the UAE, this sector has received a lot of attention and development since the discovery of oil. This has enhanced the continuous expansion in construction activities. Recently, the construction projects in the UAE and KSA together reached 60% of the whole projects in the Middle East region, and the majority of it was in Dubai, which in 2018 enhanced its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to reach 14.5%. Therefore, the decision-makers apply multiple methods at different projects in order to achieve the prime factors for project success which are: cost, time, quality, and safety. However, there are different variables and unpredictable causes that are faced by the construction industry, such as the availability of the main resources, different environmental conditions, financial issues, political conditions, poor productivity, and contractual relations. Meanwhile, there is a great interest in delivering residential construction projects to cover the demand of shelter on time and within the estimated cost limits, and most importantly with the required quality, taking into account all that variables.
This research aims to shed light on two of the construction management constraints which are the project’s cost and time. The author of this thesis focuses on two main objectives. First, exploring and understanding the contributing factors of cost escalation and schedule delay in the residential construction projects in the UAE. Secondly, ranking the factors according to their impacts and risk ratio on projects, which are based on the viewpoint of respondents. A Mixed-method approach was used in this study, starting with the exploratory sequential design to feed the first objective of the study, by using a simple thematic approach to analyze the qualitative data. The author applied this study during 2020 and 2021 by conducting semistructured interviews with thirty construction project managers in the UAE, whose experience range between 5 and 20 years. Followed by the analytical quantitative stage by using the Relative Importance Index (RII) technique on the most frequent factors that were affecting the project’s cost and time from the literature review. The same participants rank these factors by conducting a 7-point Likert scale.
The study highlighted some factors that lead to mismatching between the estimated and actual cost and time specified in the residential construction projects, as it has shed light on the most significant causes factors such as poor coordination between the staff, lack of contractors experience, delays in materials delivery, contractor’s payment delay, complex surrounding of the site, estimation errors, lack of consultants experience, requirements changes by the client, client’s payment delay, fluctuation of material’s price, labor and equipment availability, unskilled labor, manufacture issues, authority regulations, and Covid-19.
This study contributes to adding further data and growing the literature on construction management in the UAE. This research has opened the door for several future studies on the local level to take the necessary procedures that mitigate the impacts of these factors and thus increase the expansion of the construction industry and productivity to serve the stakeholders
Manahil al-Safa fi Jamal al-Mustafa by Abu al-Abbas Ahmed bin Abd al-Hay al-Halabi al-Fassi (1120 AH) - study and investigation -
No full textThis research is a study and investigation of a manuscript on the biography, beauty and morals of our Noble Prophet Muhammad bin Abdullah, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, whose name is (Manahil al-Safa fi Dhat al-Mustafa, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him) by Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Abd al-Hayy al-Halabi al-Fassi (d. 1120 AH), which is a manuscript of nine papers, in which he spoke. The author before describing the beauty of the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, with an introduction to the meaning of beauty and majesty in the language, and he mentioned benefits and warnings in it, then he described the beauty of God Almighty, and after that he mentioned the images of the Prophet Muhammad, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, physical and moral beauty that God Almighty preferred and distinguished him from other prophets And other people and made it a reason to win the hearts of many people and their entry into the religion of God Almighty. In his words, the author of the manuscript cited verses from the Noble Qur’an, hadiths from the Sunnah, and verses from Arabic poetry, in addition to the rhetorical and jurisprudential sayings of scholars, through which he clarifies the intended meaning of the images of beauty mentioned or mentioned by scholars who preceded him, relying on various sources, including: Books Interpretation of the Noble Qur’an, books of the Prophet’s biography, books of the noble Prophet’s hadith, books and dictionaries of the Arabic language, books of jurisprudence, books of mysticism and faith
DISTORSI SEJARAH ISLAM PADA MASA AL-KHULAFĀ AR-RĀSYIDŪN DAN DAULAH UMAYYAH (Tinjauan Kritis Buku Ajar Sejarah Kebudayaan Islam Madrasah Aliyah)
No full textDistortion in the history of Islam has been occured since the first codification of the history of Islam which supported by Shi’ites historian such as Abu Miḥnaf Luṭ bin Yahya and others. Distortion in modern era refers to hegemony of orientalism which has big influence and power in this field. Distortion was caused by religion, sect, money motive etc. This distortion spread from society to school. The distortion happened at Rashidun Caliphate’s time, which was started by rebellion toward Uṡmān. The rebelllion cause Uṡmān death. That killing has great implications; Jamal and Siffīn wars, Kharijites revolts, hatred from some groups toward Umayyad Caliphate and in other effects at ummah. This writing aims to find out a method in studying the history of Islam, distortion and its implications, different opinions between ṣaḥābat and Islamic view toward it. Author applied in writing this thesis bibliography method with historic-philoshopic approach from datas and evidences. Based on datas and evidences, the author can conclude that methods at researching, writing and teaching history of Islam is very important to purify the history of Islam from distortion. Distortion means attempt to mislead datas or misinterpert intentionally or unintentionally. Distorsions have bad effects at Islam and ummah. If datas and histories are distorted, it will estrange people from Islam slowly which found out at some people and groups. Teaching history of Islam at schools which also distorted need to be totally reformed started from researching, writing and teaching method. The different opinions between ṣaḥābat because of the death of Uṡmān. Ṣaḥābat had different opinions about hastening or postponing qiṡās to Uṡmān murderers which cause Jamal and Siffīn wars. The implications of different opinions between ṣaḥābat have big influence in people creed toward ṣaḥābat from that day until now. It also causes hatred from some people and sects toward Umayyad Caliphate because Mu’āwiyah; founder Umayyad Caliphate has some different opinions with Ali-raḍiyallahu’anhuma- besides other hatred factors. Distorsi sejarah Islam terjadi sejak masa awal penulisan sejarah Islam yang terutama dimotori oleh Syiah melalui periwayatan sejarawan seperti Abu Miḥnaf Luṭ bin Yahya dan lainnya. Pada masa sekarang terutama karena hegemoni orientalisme yang begitu kuat. Distorsi tersebut terjadi karena motif agama, sekte, materi dan lainnya. Hal tersebut menyebar di masyarakat hingga level sekolah. Distorsi tersebut terutama pada fase khulafaurrasyidin dengan pemberontakan terhadap Uṡmān hingga ia terbunuh yang berimplikasi panjang; perang Jamal dan Siffīn, pemberontakan Khawārij, kebencian sebagian kalangan kepada Daulah Umawiyyah dan efeknya yang lain di tubuh umat dalam banyak bidang. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengetahui cara orisinil dalam studi sejarah Islam untuk menangkal distorsi, distorsi dan dampaknya serta perselisihan diantara para ṣaḥābat dan pandangan Islam menyikapi perselisihan tersebut. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian bibliografi dengan pendekatan historis-filosofis dari data yang didapatkan. Berdasar data dapat disimpulkan bahwa metode studi sejarah Islam penting dalam upaya menjaga kemurnian sejarah Islam dari distorsi. Distorsi itu sendiri bermakna upaya menghancurkan Islam terlepas sengaja atau tidak sengaja. Dampak distorsi berpengaruh pada Islam dan umat, ketika informasi dan sejarah yang diterima terdistorsi, hal itu akan menjauhkannya dari agama secara perlahan-perlahan sebagaimana yang terjadi pada sebagian kalangan. Pengajaran sejarah Islam di sekolah pun ikut terdistorsi yang menunjukkan urgensi perbaikan menyeluruh yang harus dimulai dari metode penelitian, penulisan dan pendidikan yang orisinil. Perselisihan antar ṣaḥābat dipicu kematian Uṡmān yang terzalimi. Mereka berbeda ijtihad antara menyegerakan atau menunda qiṡās yang menyebabkan terjadinya perang Jamal dan Siffīn. Dampaknya di umat terasa terutama dalam masalah akidah terhadap ṣaḥābat sejak itu hingga sekarang. Hal tersebut juga mempengaruhi pandangan sebagian kalangan terhadap Daulah Umawiyyah mengingat posisi Mu’āwiyah; pendiri Daulah Umawiyyah yang berselisih dengan Ali -raḍiyallahu’anhuma- disamping sebab-sebab kebencian yang lain.</jats:p
- …
