45,954 research outputs found
A critical analysis of Christian responses to Islamic claims about the work of the Prophet Muhammad, ‘the Messenger of God’.
Get PDFThe aims of this study are to analyse critically the different Christian responses to the Islamic understanding of the work of Muhammad. Chapter one consists a short introduction leading to an appraisal of Muhammad which incorporates historical, hagiographal and Quranic source material, and in the light of relevant Christian and Muslim scholarship. The second chapter presents a summary critical analysis of Muhammad in Christian theological perspective, from 661 A.D. to modern times. Chapter three presents a critique of Christian responses to the Muslim allegations that the text of the Bible has been infected with corruption; and that Muhammad's advent and status are foretold in the unadulterated' scriptures, and in the Gospel of Barnabas. Chapter four examines the theological significance of the work of Muhammad for Christians. Thus, Jesus and Muhammad are critically assessed and contrasted in order to ascertain the importance, for Christians, of the Muslim claims in respect of Muhammad as ’the messenger of God’. Chapter five provides a critical evaluation of the various Christian responses to Muhammad. It is argued that many of the said responses have been entangled in myths and misperceptions which have severely distorted the true account of Muhammad's work. Consequently, many Christians have failed to appreciate the divine legitimacy of Muhammad's call to prophethood. Further, it is argued that Christians should accept that Muhammad is a genuine prophet, and the messenger of God. However, Muhammad's use of the power-structure in order to maintain Islam is in sharp contrast to Jesus’ decision to face the consequences of his ministry passively through faith in God. Accordingly, orthodox Christian belief in the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus provides another dimension to prophethood, where the messenger and the message become one, an identification which finds no parallel in Islam, and which, in the nature of the case, cannot find a parallel
And Muhammad Is His Messenger The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety
No full textCover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. Biographical and Hagiographical Notes -- 2. Muhammad the Beautiful Model -- The Shamā'il and Dalā'il Literature -- The Prophet's Physical Beauty -- The Prophet's Spiritual Beauty -- 3. Muhammad's Unique Position -- 4. Legends and Miracles -- 5. Muhammad the Intercessor, and the Blessings upon Him -- 6. The Names of the Prophet -- 7. The Light of Muhammad and the Mystical Tradition -- 8. The Celebration of the Prophet's Birthday -- 9. The Prophet's Night Journey and Ascension -- 10. Poetry in Honor of the Prophet -- The Arabic Tradition -- The Poets' Longing for Medina -- Na'tiyya Poetry in the Persianate and Popular Tradition -- 11. The "Muhammadan Path" and the New Interpretation of the Prophet's Life -- 12. The Prophet Muhammad in Muhammad Iqbal's Work -- Appendix: The Noble Names of the Prophet -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index of Koranic Quotations -- Index of Prophetic Traditions -- Index of Proper Names -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z -- Index of Technical Terms and Concepts -- A -- B -- C -- D -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- W -- Y -- ZDescription based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
Liquid racism and the Danish Prophet Muhammad cartoons
Get PDFThis is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2010 The Author.This article examines reactions to the October 2005 publication of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. It does so by using the concept of ‘liquid racism’. While the controversy arose because it is considered blasphemous by many Muslims to create images of the Prophet Muhammad, the article argues that the meaning of the cartoons is multidimensional, that their analysis is significantly more complex than most commentators acknowledge, and that this complexity can best be addressed via the concept of liquid racism. The article examines the liquidity of the cartoons in relation to four readings. These see the cartoons as: (1) a criticism of Islamic fundamentalism; (2) blasphemous images; (3) Islamophobic and racist; and (4) satire and a defence of freedom of speech. Finally, the relationship between postmodernity and the rise of fundamentalism is discussed because the cartoons, reactions to them, and Islamic fundamentalism, all contain an important postmodern dimension.ESR
Conversion of African Americans to Islam : a sociological analysis of the Nation of Islam and associated groups
Get PDF'Conversion of African Americans to Islam: A Sociological Analysis of the Nation of
Islam Associated groups' is an empirical study of the religious experience of people
who had/have distinctive features in terms of race, ethnicity and historical experience.
The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate how African Americans' (AAs) conversion
experience in general, and the Nation of Islam associated groups' conversion in
particular, differ from the studies of recruitment and conversion in the sociology of
religion and New Religion Movements (NRMs). More specifically, their recruitment
and conversion experiences to Islam diverge from those who converted to mainstream
Islam. The study investigates how AAs' historical experience, soci-economic
difficulties and the racism they encountered shaped and influenced their religious
understanding.
Research methods involved participant observations, a survey questionnaire, interviews,
conversations, personal communications and correspondence. To collect ethnographic
data eleven months field research was conducted mainly in the Chicago area and on two
short visits to Detroit, and three years continued communications with Muslim officials
and academics in the area. During the field research and afterwards through personal
communication 181 survey questionnaire responses were received, and 23 Muslim
officials, academics and ordinary Muslims were interviewed through semi-structured,
unstructured interviews, conversation and correspondence.
The thesis begins with a brief history of Islam and Muslims in general and the African
American Muslims (AAMs) in particular. More emphasis is given on the historical
development of the Nation of Islam (NOl). Then in Chapter III, discussions of schisms
in the history of the NOT are examined from sociological perspectives of social and
religious movements. In Chapter IV I aimed to formulate my own perspective to
analyse and study the conversion experiences of AAMs to Islam. I used a multivariate
approach, considering selectively widely held conversion and recruitment theories in the
sociology of the religion. I consider in Chapter V the predisposing conditions for AAMs
that influence their decision-making to join in the NOT, for example, political and
nationalistic sentiments and socio-economic deprivations. In Chapter VI I have applied
different terms to describe their religious experiences, such as conversion, alteration and
reversion. I have analysed further their encounters with the NOT, the methods of
recruitment they used and their major motives for joining the NOT and converting to
Tslam. In the concluding chapters (Chapter VII VTTT) I describe the different responses
of AAMS to Islam following the death of Elijah Muhammad. It is found out that the
Islamic appeal has polarised. While Farakhan's NOT appeared to continue the tradition
and style of the old NOI with the emphasis on nationalistic and socio-economic factors,
Tmam W. D. Mohammed's community turned more to the religious and spiritual aspects
of Tslam. These different approaches led to a polarisation of the appeal of Tslam to
AAMS.
This thesis contributes to knowledge in four key areas; the sociology of religion and
religious movements, the sociology of social and nationalistic movements, religious and
Islamic studies
Evaluating the status of vitamin 25(OH) D levels among females of all age groups in Karachi, Pakistan.
Get PDFIntroduction: Vitamin D plays an important role in growth, metabolism and reproduction. Deficiency of this vitamin is highly prevalent globally and leads to various disorders besides different skeletal deformities. Women of different reproductive ages are at higher risk of developing bone diseases because of low vitamin D levels.
Objective: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of vitamin D deficiencies in females of different ages in Karachi, Pakistan
Methodology: A retrospective investigation of vitamin D levels during a six month period at the Clinical Lab, Al-Khidmat Diagnostic Center, Karachi; Pakistan was performed. Serum vitamin 25(OH) D levels of 1035 female were measured by Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) assay. The data was analyzed through SPSS version 16.
Results: Among 1035 participants of different reproductive ages, 26.1% (n= 270) showed severe vitamin D deficiency, 44.3% (n=458) displayed mild to moderate Vitamin D deficiency while 29.7% (n=307) were having normal levels of serum vitamin D.
Results: The data of 1035 subjects was examined and the mean serum vitamin 25(OH) D levels of the studied subjects were found as 21.04±14.13 with the minimum and maximum range of 4.97ng/ml to 70.71ng/ml
Conclusion: 70.4 % of our studied population had lower levels of vitamin D representing that the majority of Pakistani womenfolk have vitamin D Deficiency.
Keywords: Vitamin 25 (OH) D levels, Female population, Karachi.
 
Near-capacity iterative decoding of binary self-concatenated codes using soft decision demapping and 3-D EXIT charts
Get PDFIn this paper 3-D Extrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) charts are used to design binary Self-Concatenated Convolutional Codes employing Iterative Decoding (SECCC-ID), exchanging extrinsic information with the soft-decision demapper to approach the channel capacity. Recursive Systematic Convolutional (RSC) codes are selected as constituent codes, an interleaver is used for randomising the extrinsic information exchange of the constituent codes, while a puncturer helps to increase the achievable bandwidth efficiency. The convergence behaviour of the decoder is analysed with the aid of bit-based 3-D EXIT charts, for accurately calculating the operating EbN0 threshold, especially when SP based soft demapper is employed. Finally, we propose an attractive system configuration, which is capable of operating within about 1 dB from the channel capacity
Ryojius latus Muhammad & Wang & Zhang 2023, sp. n.
No full textRyojius latus sp. n. (ṀRĀĦ) Figures 15, 16 Type material. Holotype male: CHINA: Chongqing, Wuxi County, YNR, Guanshan Forest farm, Shizhuzi, 31°32′15.29″N, 109°41′49.82″E, elev. 2147 m, 30.IX.2020, Z.S. Zhang et al. leg. (SWUC-T-LIN-30-01). Etymology. This epithet derives from the Latin adjective “ latus ” meaning “broad” and referring to the anterior terminal apophysis broad in male palp. Diagnosis. Ryojius latus sp. n. resembles R. flosculus sp. n. in having the similar paracymbium (Fig. 15A–D; Fig. 14A–D), but can be distinguished by the distal tip of long arm of lamella characteristca bifurcated in R. latus sp. n. (Fig. 15A, B, D), vs., flower-shaped in R. flosculus sp. n. (Fig. 14B, D). Description. Male (Fig. 16B): Total length: 2.13. Carapace 0.99 long, 0.83 wide, brown; fovea, cervical and radial grooves distinct. Clypeus 0.13 high. Chelicerae with 6 promarginal and 5 retromarginal teeth. AER recurved, PER straight, slightly wider. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.04, ALE 0.08, PME 0.07, PLE 0.07, AME–AME 0.02, PME–PME 0.05, AME–ALE, 0.04, PME–PLE 0.05, AME–PME 0.03, ALE–ALE 0.31, PLE–PLE 0.33, ALE–PLE contiguous. Length of legs: I 2.76 (0.79, 0.95, 0.59, 0.43), II 2.52 (0.73, 0.86, 0.54, 0.39), III 2.02 (0.61, 0.64, 0.44, 0.33), IV 2.65 (0.77, 0.91, 0.59, 0.38). Tm I 0.31 and Tm IV 0.19. Tibial spine formula: 2-2-2-2. Abdomen 1.04 long, 0.75 wide, oval, grey, mid dorsally with black patch; ventral side grey. Palp (Fig. 15A–D): Patella as long as tibia; tibia with one retrolateral and one dorsal trichobothria and two apophyses; retrolateral tibial apophysis strongly sclerotized, wider than long, pointing laterally in dorsal view, dorsal tibial apophysis wither than long, with round tip. Cymbium with shallow depression at base retrolaterally. Paracymbium strongly sclerotized, distal arm tip triangular. Distal suprategular apophysis small, most of proximal part covered by the tegulum, distal end sclerotized, with narrow hook-shaped tip. Radix C-shaped. Lamella characteristica with 2 branches; posterior horn-shaped and anterior one long, extending towards the cymbial apex, tip bifurcated. Terminal apophysis longer than wide, tip serrated. Embolus conspicuously large, posteriorly curved about half circle, apex strongly sclerotized, finger-shaped with blunt tip; thumb short, covered by the lamella characteristica; embolus proper blunt. Female. Unknown Distribution. Known only from the type locality.Published as part of Muhammad, Irfan, Wang, Lu-Yu & Zhang, Zhi-Sheng, 2023, One new genus and nine new species of Linyphiidae spiders from Yintiaoling Nature Reserve, Chongqing of China, pp. 82-114 in Zootaxa 5257 (1) on pages 100-101, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5257.1.7, http://zenodo.org/record/776606
al-Misbāh fī al-Nahw By Nāsir al-Dīn al-Mutarrizī al-Nahwī (d. 610/1213) A Critical Edition of the Text with the Life History of the Author
Get PDFNāsir al-Dīn al-Mutarrizī al-Nahwī (d.610/1213) was one of the most renowned figures in the field of Arabic Grammar. He has left an indelible mark on the world of Arabic language and literature. He is also known as the successor of al-Zamakhsharī.
He wrote a number of books but his al-Misbāh fī al-Nahw gained prominence at a level that no other book in this field could claim to achieve. For this reason, a great number of commentaries have been written in every age, of which the most famous are al-Daw and Khulāsat al-I‘rāb written by Tāj al-Dīn al-Isfrā’īnī and ‘Abd al- Karīm al-Tūsī (better known as Hājjī Bābā) respectively. Moreover, its translation into other languages also demonstrates its value as a useful book.
Although al-Misbāh has been edited on more than one occasion, the published editions do not fulfil the needs and requirements of modern academic research criteria. The basic aim of this thesis is to present this book with a current modern research style so that the students, teachers and ordinary readers of Arabic language and literature may benefit from this work.
This thesis is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the life history of the author and his other works. A brief note of the environment under which he grew up (generally referred to as the ‘Seljuk’ period) is also included in this part.
The second part consists of a text edition that deals with the derivation (Takhrīj) of syntactical issues together with the differing opinions of grammarians on syntactical/grammatical issues. This part also proffers the idiomatic English translation of al-Misbāh
Sinogone Muhammad & Wang & Zhang 2023, gen. n.
No full text<i>Sinogone</i> gen. n. (ḲȐĦM) <p> <b>Type species</b>: <i>Sinogone caesuma</i> <b>sp. n.</b></p> <p> <b>Etymology.</b> The genus name is a combination of “ <i>Sino</i> ” (refers to Chinese) with the second part taken from subfamily “ Erigoninae ”. Gender is feminine.</p> <p> <b>Diagnosis.</b> <i>Sinogone</i> <b>gen. n.</b> cannot be placed in any of the genus groups proposed by Millidge (1977). Male of <i>Sinogone</i> <b>gen. n.</b> can be differentiated from all other Erigoninae genera by the following unique combination of characters: 1) cephalic lobe absent rather than cephalic region elevated; cephalic pits conspicuous located behind the PLEs (Fig. 23A, B); 2) dorsal tibial apophysis with bifurcated apex, pointing retrolaterally in ventral view; 3) distal suprategular apophysis unmodified; 4) radix give rise to long curved embolus and round to oval anterior radical process (Fig. 21A–D); 5) paracymbium U-shaped, distal arm with hook-shaped tip (Fig. 21B). Female can be identified with unique structure as pair of lateral arms originate from the anterior margin of ventral plate of epigyne and extending posteriorly above the epigastric furrow, these lateral arms do not have any connection with the copulatory ducts or copulatory opening; ventral plate extending posteriorly above the epigastric furrow with copulatory opening as in genus <i>Dicristatus</i> Irfan, Wang & Zhang, 2023 (Fig. 22A–F; Fig. 9A–F).</p> <p> <b>Composition.</b> Since <i>Sinogone caesuma</i> <b>sp. n.</b> doesn't fit into any known Erigoninae genera, we propose <i>Sinogone</i> <b>gen. n.</b> to accommodate the new species.</p>Published as part of <i>Muhammad, Irfan, Wang, Lu-Yu & Zhang, Zhi-Sheng, 2023, One new genus and nine new species of Linyphiidae spiders from Yintiaoling Nature Reserve, Chongqing of China, pp. 82-114 in Zootaxa 5257 (1)</i> on page 105, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5257.1.7, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/7766060">http://zenodo.org/record/7766060</a>
Dicristatus modaoxiensis Muhammad & Wang & Zhang 2023, sp. n.
No full textDicristatus modaoxiensis sp. n. (QHffl¿ȒĦ) Figures 7–10 Type material. Holotype male: CHINA: Chongqing, Wuxi County, YNR, Guanshan Forest Farm, Modaoxi, 31°31′0.4097″N, 109°44′33.7624″E, elev. 1958 m, 22.IX.2022, L.Y. Wang et al. leg. (SWUC-T-LIN-27-01). Paratypes (9 males and 7 females): 8 males and 3 females, same data as holotype (SWUC-T-LIN-36-02~12); 1 male, YNR, Baiguo Forest Farm, Hongqi Management and Protection Station, 31°31′22.19″N, 109°49′36.80″E, elev. 1194 m, 10.IV.2022, Z.S. Zhang et al. leg. (SWUC-T-LIN-27-13); 1 female, YNR, Guanshan Forest Farm, Tianchiba, 31°31′12.31″N, 109°47′5.39″E, elev. 1692 m, 10.IV.2022, Z.S. Zhang et al. leg. (SWUC-T-LIN-27-14); 1 female, YNR, Daguan Mountain, Pianyanwu Cave, 31°29′43.32″N, 109°44′13.41″E, elev. 2292 m, 02.IX.2020, Z.S. Zhang et al. leg. (SWUC-T-LIN-27-15); 1 female, YNR, Baiguo Forest Farm, Hongqi Management and Protection Station, Qinglongtan, 31°30′49.88″N, 109°49′23.60″E, elev. 1155 m, 02.IX.2020, Z.S. Zhang et al. leg. (SWUC-T-LIN-27-16~17). Etymology. This epithet derives from the type locality. Diagnosis. Dicristatus modaoxiensis sp. n. resembles D. minutus Irfan, Wang & Zhang in having the similar morphology of male palp and epigyne (Figs 7 A−D, 9A−F; Irfan et al. 2023, figs 9A−D, 10A−E), but can be distinguished by the lower comb-shaped process of dorsal tibial apophysis with six teeth in D. modaoxiensis sp. n. (Fig. 7B), vs., with seven teeth in D. minutus (Irfan et al. 2023, fig. 9B); the upper comb-shaped process of dorsal tibial apophysis with five teeth in D. modaoxiensis sp. n. (Fig. 7B), vs., with seven teeth in D. minutus (Irfan et al. 2023 fig. 9B); anterior radical process oval in retrolateral view in D. modaoxiensis sp. n. (Fig. 7B), vs., comma-shaped in D. minutus (Irfan et al. 2023, fig. 9B). In epigyne, the anterior margin of dorsal plate round in D. modaoxiensis sp. n. (Fig. 9E), vs., V-shaped in D. minutus (Irfan et al. 2023 fig. 10E). Description. Male (holotype, Fig. 10A): Total length: 1.65. Carapace 0.77 long, 0.58 wide, yellow, posteriorly lateral margin with grey strip on each side, cephalic region slightly elevated; fovea, cervical and radial grooves distinct, cephalic lobe and pits absent. Clypeus 0.11 high. Chelicerae with 6 promarginal and 5 retromarginal teeth. AER straight, PER slightly recurved. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.04, ALE 0.06, PME 0.07, PLE 0.06, AME–AME 0.02, PME–PME 0.03, AME–PME 0.05, AME–ALE, 0.03, PME–PLE 0.02, ALE–ALE 0.24, PLE– PLE 0.27, ALE–PLE 0.01. Length of legs: I 2.41 (0.69, 0.81, 0.53, 0.38), II 2.13 (0.61, 0.72, 0.45, 0.35), III 1.83 (0.52, 0.61, 0.41, 0.29), IV 2.35 (0.68, 0.82, 0.53, 0.32). TmI 0.28. Tibial spine formula: 2-2-1-1. Abdomen 1.01 long, 0.59 wide, oval, light grey, mid-dorsally with black patch, ventral side light grey. Palp (holotype, Figs 7 A−D, 8A, B): Patella short, medially grooved. Tibia with one retrolateral and one dorsal trichobothrium, retrolateral tibial apophysis absent; dorsal tibial apophysis large, longer than tibia, tongue-shaped in ventral view, retrolateral margin with a row of comb macrosetae, ventrally with a pair of comb-shaped process; lower process with six teeth and upper process with five teeth; cymbial retrobasal process with a small projection, extending retrolaterally, covering basal part of paracymbium, retrolaterally with small triangular projection; paracymbium J-shaped, distal arm tip with an indent; protegulum small; suprategulum with a sharp median tooth on distal suprategular apophysis; distal suprategular apophysis robust, distally bifurcated, completely covering the embolus. Embolic division: tailpiece horse hoof-shaped; anterior radical process oval in retrolateral view, strongly sclerotized, outer surface serrated; embolic membrane reduced, curved with pointed end; embolus black, strongly sclerotized, minute with pointed end, hardly visible on undissected palp. Female (Fig. 10B): Total length: 1.47. Carapace 0.69 long, 0.47 wide, yellow, posteriorly lateral margin with grey strip on each side, cephalic region slightly elevated; fovea, cervical and radial grooves distinct. Clypeus 0.10 high. Chelicerae with six promarginal and five retromarginal teeth. AER straight, PER slightly recurved. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.04, ALE 0.05, PME 0.05, PLE 0.06, AME–AME 0.01, PME–PME 0.03, AME–PME 0.06, AME–ALE, 0.02, PME–PLE 0.03, ALE–ALE 0.21, PLE–PLE 0.23, ALE–PLE 0.01. Length of legs: I 2 (0.58, 0.66, 0.41, 0.35), II 1.73 (0.49, 0.57, 0.38, 0.29), III 1.53 (0.45, 0.48, 0.33, 0.27), IV 1.98 (0.58, 0.68, 0.44, 0.30). TmI 0.21. Tibial spine formula: 2-2-1-1. Abdomen 0.85 long, 0.53 wide, oval, light grey, ventral side light grey. Epigyne (Fig. 9 A−F): Epigynal plate wider than long; ventral plate extending posteriorly covering the copulatory ducts, forming broad loop, extending above the epigastric furrow; copulatory openings situated mid-ventrally in inner margin loop of copulatory ducts; dorsal plate heart-shaped, longer than wide, anterior margin round, posterior margin round, with a deep depression at center. Vulva: spermathecae round, antero-laterally positioned, pointing away from each other. Fertilization ducts antero-mesally oriented. Distribution. Known only from the type locality.Published as part of Muhammad, Irfan, Wang, Lu-Yu & Zhang, Zhi-Sheng, 2023, One new genus and nine new species of Linyphiidae spiders from Yintiaoling Nature Reserve, Chongqing of China, pp. 82-114 in Zootaxa 5257 (1) on pages 90-92, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5257.1.7, http://zenodo.org/record/776606
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