501 research outputs found
sj-docx-1-inq-10.1177_00469580241237106 – Supplemental material for Variability in Reproductive Choices: A Comprehensive Analysis of Women’s Working Status and Fertility Behavior in Pakistan
No full textSupplemental material, sj-docx-1-inq-10.1177_00469580241237106 for Variability in Reproductive Choices: A Comprehensive Analysis of Women’s Working Status and Fertility Behavior in Pakistan by Muhammad Atif, Gohar Ayub, Javed Zeb, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Ilyas, Muhammad Shafiq and Syed Habib Shah in INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing</p
Travelogue "Butterfly Rays and Tornadoes" Intellectual Review
No full textTravel is part of human nature. He wants to get acquainted with the culture and way of life of
the place where he is traveling. The First travelogue is “Ajaibat e Farang” the author of which
is Yousaf Hussain Kambal posh. After him Sir Syed Ahmed khan, Allama Shibli Noumani and
Muhammad Hussain Azad also wrote travelogues. The twinth century remained popolur
because of travel. Travelogues of Shafiq ur Rehman, Ibn e Insha and Begum Akhtar Riaz ud
Din came to light during this period. Women travelogues Sheen Farukh, Bushra Rehman and
Parveen Atif. Parveen Atif wrote two Urdu travelogues “Kiran Titli Or Bagoly” and “Taper
Wasni”.Her travelogues are beautiful gift in intellectual terms.
 
Mysticism and ethics in Islam
No full textIncludes bibliographical references.Standardized name for editor Bilal Orfali from the Library of Congress is: Urfahʹlī, Bilāl http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2010019407The relationship between Sufism or Islamic mysticism and ethics is largely untilled land. Mysticism and Ethics in Islam attempts to survey this fertile area of investigation by attempting to come to a clearer idea of what is meant by the terms “ethics” and “mysticism,” both in relation to each other and to Islam. The articles in this volume do not have an eye so much on defining what mysticism and ethics in Islamic civilization are per se, as much as on coming to terms with the parameters and boundaries within which they have historically been conceptualized. As such, the book falls into four clearly demarcated time periods and foci: early, classical, late pre-modern, and modern and contemporary. Taken as a whole, this collection of contributions by leading specialists in their fields offer rich insights into some of the most important articulations of Sufi ethics to have animated the tradition, from past to present, in such geographically diverse regions and countries as Egypt, India, West Africa, Iran, Turkey, Russia, Central Asia, and China.Editors' introduction -- I. EARLY PERIOD -- Aḥlām al-mutaṣṣawwifah wa-atharuhā ʻalá ʻilm al-taʻbīr al-Islāmī, fī al-qarnayn al-rābiʻ wa-al-khāmis lil-hijrah / Lina Jammal -- To grieve or not to grieve? The ambivalence of Ḥuzn in early Islam / Riccardo Paredi -- The treasurers of God : Abū Saʻīd Al-Kharrāz and the ethics of wealth in early Sufism / John Zaleski -- On patience (Ṣabr) in Sufi virtue ethics / Atif Khalil -- Min naqd al-taṣawwuf ilá iṣlāḥ al-akhlāq : al-kashf ʻan aʻmāl Shams al-Dīn ʻAbd al-Malik al-Dulaymī (t. 593 H/ 1197M) / Khaled Abdo -- Does Al-Ghazālī have a theory of virtue? / Sophia Vasalou -- II. CLASSICAL PERIOD -- Theo-Fānī : ʻAyn Al-Quḍāt and the fire of love / Mohammed Rustom -- Marātib Al-Taqwā : Saʻīd Al-Dīn Farghānī on the ontology of ethics / William Chittick -- Transcending character and the quest for union : the place of union (al-jamʿ) in commentaries on Anṣārī's Waystations / Cyrus Zargar -- Seeing is believing : Sufi vision and the formation of the ethical subject / Richard McGregor -- Disciplining the soul, freeing the mind : spiritual practice (al-riyāḍa) in Fakhr Al-Dīn Al-Rāzī's Sharḥ Al-Ishārāt Wa-l-Tanbīhāt / Nora Jacobsen Ben Hammed -- al-Nasaq al-maʻrifī li-iʻādat intāj al-mafāhīm al-akhlāqīyah ʻinda al-Ṣūfīyah > namūdhajan / Chafika Ouail -- ʻAḍud Al-Dīn Ījī's ethics : a translation of Al-Akhlāq Al-ʻAḍudiyya and some notes on its commentaries / Feryal Salem -- III. LATE PRE-MODERN PERIOD -- ʻAbd Al-Wahhāb Al-Shaʻrānī's Laṭāʼif Al-Minan and the virtue of sincere immodesty / Matthew Ingalls -- Finding new life among the dead : the ethical mysticism of The Book of Pure Gold / Paul Heck -- Sufism and ethics in the works of Shāh Walī Allāh / Marcia Hermansen -- "Dogs have left you in the dust!" Mockery in Panjabi Sufi poetry / Syed Rizwan Zamir -- Churning nectar on the path of Muhammad : of ethical imaginaries in Kashmiri Sufi poetry / Peter Dziedzic -- The Chinese classics in the light of Ibn Al-ʻArabī's Metaphysics -- IV. MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY PERIODS -- Sufism and ethics in Central Asia : Ṣūfī Allāhyār's Thabāt Al-ʻĀjizīn and its legacy / Alexandre Papas -- Sufism, ethics, and the Muslim modernist project / Ahmed El Shamsy -- Sufism and modern Muslim ethics in 14th/20th century Russian Islamic thought / Leila Almazova -- A Nietzschean mystic : Muhammad Iqbal on the ethics of selfhood / Muhammad Faruque -- The transcendent ethics of Tarbiya : Ibrahim Niasse's Maqāmāt Al-Dīn al-Thalāth / Oludamini Ogunnaike -- Becoming what one is : liberative knowledge and human perfection in the writing of Seyyed Hossein Nasr -- Author biographies
Accelerated SVD-based initialization for nonnegative matrix factorization
No full textpeer reviewedAbstractNonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) is a popular dimensionality reduction technique. NMF is typically cast as a non-convex optimization problem solved via standard iterative schemes, such as coordinate descent methods. Hence the choice of the initialization for the variables is crucial as it will influence the factorization quality and the convergence speed. Different strategies have been proposed in the literature, the most popular ones rely on singular value decomposition (SVD). In particular, Atif et al. (Pattern Recognit Lett 122:53–59, 2019) have introduced a very efficient SVD-based initialization, namely NNSVD-LRC, that overcomes the drawbacks of previous methods, namely, it guarantees that (i) the error decreases as the factorization rank increases, (ii) the initial factors are sparse, and (iii) the computational cost is low. In this paper, we improve upon NNSVD-LRC by using the low-rank structure of the residual matrix; this allows us to obtain NMF initializations with similar quality to NNSVD-LRC (in terms of error and sparsity) while reducing the computational load. We evaluate our proposed solution over other NMF initializations on several real dense and sparse datasets
Identity and the politics of representation: the case of Muslim youth in Bradford
No full textWhat are the dialectics of the endogenisation of ‘otherness’? This thesis is a study into the interaction between social representations, identities and power in relation to South Asian, Muslim, male youth in Bradford (UK) within the historical context of the ‘Rushdie affair’. The methodology is structured in order to investigate alternative locations of the identity-representation interaction. The studies include participant observation followed by 18 interviews with ‘specialists’, a rhetorical analysis of five television programmes that were aired on national television during and on the Rushdie affair, and an examination of the manner of reception of one of these programmes through 8 focus group discussions. The findings are that ‘otherness’ and difference are central to notions of identity for South Asian Muslim male youth, as they are surrounded by representations of themselves as ‘Muslim’ and ‘Paki’. Their identities take the form of three ideal-types – ‘coconuts’, ‘rude boys’ and ‘extremists’ – which rhetorically engage differentially with the representations. The Rushdie affair is interpreted firstly as a moment of subaltern contestation of its representation through ‘identity politics’ discourse, and secondly, dialogically as both rhetorical positions (hegemonic and subaltern) attempt to psychologically distance themselves from each other – through the construction of the ‘Bradford Muslim’ on the hegemonic side. However, both positions shared techniques of rhetoric, types of discourse, and a common narrative. Furthermore, ‘identity politics’ discourse (for two of the ideal-type identities) acted as the interpretative prism through which the reception of the programme made sense in relation to, for example, the content and manner of reception, the reception of representatives and the call for strategic essentialism. The thesis shows that attempts to escape negative evaluation result in the incorporation of representations, discourses and rhetorical techniques that position identities firmly within the hermeneutics of the hegemonic discourse
Critical Review of 'A Simple Model of Firm Heterogeneity, International Trade and Wages'
No full textThis report critically analyses the paper "A Simple Model of Firm Heterogeneity, International Trade and Wages' authored by, Stephen Ross Yeaple. Yeaple (2005) introduces a static model in which ex-ante homogeneous firms are differentiated based on heterogeneity in technology adoption and skill selection. The process of decision making is based on comparative study of revenues and costs associated with acquisition of technology and labor. By segmenting technology into high- and low-tech, and labor into high- and low-skilled, Yeaple suggests that high-tech firms hire skilled labor at greater wages and yield the access to international market, while on the other hand, the low-tech firms hire moderate skilled labor, pay lower wages and supply to the domestic market only. Furthermore, he shows that under an open economy, a reduction in costs of international trade leads to an increase in share of high-tech (exporting) firms and induces some low-tech firms to switch to the high-tech industry
Critical Review of the Paper 'A Simple Model of Firm Heterogeneity, International Trade and Wages', Stephen Ross Yeaple (2005), Journal of International Economics, vol. 65, pp. 1-20
No full textThis report critically analyses the paper "A Simple Model of Firm Heterogeneity, International Trade and Wages' authored by, Stephen Ross Yeaple. Yeaple (2005) introduces a static model in which ex-ante homogeneous firms are differentiated based on heterogeneity in technology adoption and skill selection. The process of decision making is based on comparative study of revenues and costs associated with acquisition of technology and labor. By segmenting technology into high- and low-tech, and labor into high- and low-skilled, Yeaple suggests that high-tech firms hire skilled labor at greater wages and yield the access to international market, while on the other hand, the low-tech firms hire moderate skilled labor, pay lower wages and supply to the domestic market only. Furthermore, he shows that under an open economy, a reduction in costs of international trade leads to an increase in share of high-tech (exporting) firms and induces some low-tech firms to switch to the high-tech industry
Identity and the politics of representation: the case of Muslim youth in Bradford
No full textWhat are the dialectics of the endogenisation of ‘otherness’? This thesis is a study into the interaction between social representations, identities and power in relation to South Asian, Muslim, male youth in Bradford (UK) within the historical context of the ‘Rushdie affair’. The methodology is structured in order to investigate alternative locations of the identity-representation interaction. The studies include participant observation followed by 18 interviews with ‘specialists’, a rhetorical analysis of five television programmes that were aired on national television during and on the Rushdie affair, and an examination of the manner of reception of one of these programmes through 8 focus group discussions. The findings are that ‘otherness’ and difference are central to notions of identity for South Asian Muslim male youth, as they are surrounded by representations of themselves as ‘Muslim’ and ‘Paki’. Their identities take the form of three ideal-types – ‘coconuts’, ‘rude boys’ and ‘extremists’ – which rhetorically engage differentially with the representations. The Rushdie affair is interpreted firstly as a moment of subaltern contestation of its representation through ‘identity politics’ discourse, and secondly, dialogically as both rhetorical positions (hegemonic and subaltern) attempt to psychologically distance themselves from each other – through the construction of the ‘Bradford Muslim’ on the hegemonic side. However, both positions shared techniques of rhetoric, types of discourse, and a common narrative. Furthermore, ‘identity politics’ discourse (for two of the ideal-type identities) acted as the interpretative prism through which the reception of the programme made sense in relation to, for example, the content and manner of reception, the reception of representatives and the call for strategic essentialism. The thesis shows that attempts to escape negative evaluation result in the incorporation of representations, discourses and rhetorical techniques that position identities firmly within the hermeneutics of the hegemonic discourse
Intoxication and self-defence : a comparative study of principles of English law and Shari'ah
No full textThe study is based upon an analysis of the general principles of criminal liability in English law and Shari 'ah. It is hoped that it may provide a valid basis for discussion of the future development of criminal law.
The relationship between law and society is an organic one and this relationship in Shari'ah is based on revelatory text of precepts, law, and admonitions. Shari'ah is an
essential part of faith of every Muslim; a sound knowledge of its principles not only gives him a sense of inner fulfilment but enables him to order his life according to the dictates of his religion. On the other hand, in English law, religious beliefs and private morality might be viewed as not a matter for law. Religion is in that context generally conceived as a spiritual sphere of supra-human connotation distinct from law, which is basically a secular concern.
Both the systems of law under consideration are different in their sources and nature. English law, being a positive law, finds its source in legislation and other recognised
sources. Shari 'ah is a divine ordinance imposed upon people without having a freedom of choice and it has its roots in its primary sources, the Holy Qur'an, and the Sunnah.
However, the revelatory nature of Shari'ah does not render it entirely inflexible and immutable. The finality of authoritative legal texts is confined only to a limited number of injunctions in the primary sources. The secondary sources provide flexibility to meet the changing requirements of society. A legal system should strike a fair balance between flexibility and inflexibility of legal rules. A very flexible system of law may lead to inconsistencies, illogicalities and at the same time may be subject to abuse by judges while a rigid system, which leaves no room for judicial discretion is likely to
lead to injustice in certain cases. It is submitted that the very flexible nature of English law has left it full of inconsistencies and illogicalities, despite the appropriate use of judicial discretion.
The research offers a general view of modern thinking about the theoretical foundations and methodology of Shari'ah Shari 'ah recognises a variety of sources and methods from which a rule of law might be derived. Part-I of the thesis discusses the evolving principles of Islamic jurisprudence from their rudimentary sources. The specific relationship between socio-religious reality and the production of theoretical legal discourse is illustrated in Part-11 and III while dealing with the problem of intoxication
and private defence in society. It suggests that Shari'ah provides a framework in which the complex and sometimes competing needs of an individual and society can be fairly
apportioned.
The research will demonstrate that there is a well developed system of criminal law in Shari'ah that can be compared with the most developed and civilised criminal law of the contemporary world, for example, English criminal law. In order to compare the compatibility of both the legal systems, the approaches of both towards the problems of intoxication and self-defence have been taken as a parameter. Though Shari 'ah provisions seem to be predominantly prescriptive as compared to English criminal law, the comparison will show that it can provide practical solutions to problems faced by human society of any age. Shari 'ah being a revealed law is proactive in its nature. It takes action to cause changes and not only react to a change when it happens. This particular feature can be felt while dealing with the problem of intoxication. English
criminal law, on the other hand, being a positive law bears the characteristics of a reactive law. It reacts to events or changes rather than acting first to cause change or
prevent something. Another major difference between the two legal systems might be that English criminal law has passed through many evolutionary phases and reached at the present stage through the efforts of the political power and the state; whereas, Muslim states and governments throughout the centuries neither had a hand in the development of Islamic jurisprudence nor in the training and certification of jurists or jurisconsults whose task it was to formulate the law.
History suggests that using the combined forces of religion, morality and law Shari'ah has effectively eradicated social evils and created a peaceful environment for human coexistence, where every one can enjoy his rights without a fear of infringement by the others. In cases of infringement of such rights, the offender shall be liable to severe punishments. The principles of criminal liability are on a par with the corresponding principles of the English criminal law. While protecting the rights of the victim of the crime, Shari'ah does not ignore the rights of the offender for fair trail, impartial justice and liability for punishment proportional to the offence committed by him. At the same time it recognises excuse and justification defences under appropriate circumstances, as
it will be evident while comparing the defences of intoxication and self-defence with the same in English criminal law.
The study reveals that there are similarities and differences between English law and Shari'ah when considering the issue of crime and criminal liability. However, this may be considered as normal phenomenon of comparing any two different legal systems. The differences can be attributed to their sources, origin, history and nature of the social values to be protected. Similarities can be ascribed to zeal for social justice and stability.
The study of differences and similarities will provide an opportunity to illuminate our understanding of law and the process of its development. As both the systems have their
own methodology to tackle legal issues, a different approach to the similar problem will provide a fresh insight leading to revitalised solutions. It will also be helpful to understand the methodology and the legal reasoning of both the systems leading towards a better understanding of law in general and at the same time providing efficient means for improvement
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