Combination of contracts in Islamic finance practices in light of hadith on prohibition of ‘two contracts in one contract’ (Bay’atan fi Bay’ah): A shari’ah investigation

To cater the dramatic changes in market demands, Islamic financial institutions supply various types of Islamic financial products and services. Some of them are categorized as a hybrid in nature, which combines more than one contract. Essentially this would be assumed to trigger the shari’ah compliant issue because, in more than one narration, the Prophet (SW) prohibits the combination of two contracts in a single agreement. As reported in many sources, the Prophet (SW) prohibited two sales in one sale (bay’atan fi bay’ah) and two agreements in one agreement (safqatan fi safqah). Also, he prohibited the combination of sale and loan contracts (bay’ wa salaf) in a single arrangement. Thus, this study investigates the shari’ah status of Islamic financial hybrid products in light of these prophetic narrations. This study is qualitative, and a method of document analysis, both classical and contemporary, has been followed to achieve the study's objective. The study concludes that the combination of more than one contract in a single arrangement is not prohibited in general; it shall be subject to the nature and essence of the contracts instead. A combination of partnership with the lease contract is not prohibited as both contracts are not inconsistent with each other. While a combination of a loan contract with another contract that begets benefit for the loan is not permissible as such combination converts the arrangement into a usurious transaction

Comparative spectroscopic studies on luminescence performance of er3+ doped tellurite glass embedded with different nanoparticles (Ag co and fe) at 0.55 μm emission

The spectroscopic performance of Er doped glass at 0.55 μm emission contain different nanoparticles NPs have been comparatively evaluated. Glass containing 1.0 mol % of Er doped with different NPs (Ag, Co and Fe ) have been prepared using melt quenching technique. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals the all the prepared samples are amorphous. The UV-Vis absorption spectra of all glasses show several prominent peaks at 525 nm, 660 nm, 801nm, 982 nm and 959 nm due to transition from ground state I15/2 to different excited of H11/2, F9/2, I9/2, I11/2, and I13/2. The emission of Er at 0.55 μm for glass contain Ag NP shows significant enhancement about 3 folds up to 0.6 mol%. On the other hand, the emission of Er at 0.55 μm for glass containing Fe NPs and Co NPs intensely quench probably due to the energy-transfer from Er ion to NPs and magnetic contributions

Characteristics of physical environment in Arabic classroom: A preliminary study in Malaysian public universities

This study discusses the characteristics of the physical environment in the classroom at Malaysian public universities. The study of the physical environment is essential because the mastery of Arabic learners is crucial. Research is usually done only on aspects of teaching and learning. While aspects of the environment are rarely found, therefore, this study will describe the characteristics of the physical environment conducive to teaching and learning in the classroom at Malaysian public universities. A total of 494 students from eight Malaysian public universities responded to the questionnaire distributed. This study uses descriptive quantitative research methods. The instruments are composed of four structures, namely furniture and equipment, lighting, technology and air quality indoors. The researcher uses the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS-22) software for factor analysis ( EFA), and factor validation analysis (CFA). The result found that the nature of the physical learning environment in the Arabic classroom has been interpreted from the analysis of the perceptual score obtained. Although students at public universities in Malaysia regard the Arabic language learning atmosphere in this classroom favourably, they wish to enhance the real learning experience in the classroom in all four constructs

New hybrid BFGS-CG method for solving unconstrained optimization

Conjugate gradient method and quasi-Newton (QN) method are both well known solvers for solving unconstrained optimization problems. In this paper, we proposed a new conjugate gradient method denoted as Wan, Asrul and Mustafa (WAM) method. This WAM method is then combined with the QN method to produce a new hybrid search direction which is QN-WAM. Based on numerical results, the proposed hybrid method proved to be more efficient compared to the original quasi-Newton method and other hybrid methods

In vitro antiviral activity of plant extracts from Clinacanthus nutans

Clinacanthus nutans is generally used to treat many diseases in folklore remedies. Whole dried plants were macerated with methanol for crude extract preparation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxicity and antiviral activities of C. nutans crude extract. Cytotoxicity screening against Vero cells using MTT assay showed that the CC50 values for crude extract of C. nutans was 1.625 mg/mL. These results demonstrate that the extract prepared from C. nutans was non-cytotoxic to the cell with potential antiviral activity. Plaque reduction assays were carried out to evaluate the antiviral activity of C. nutans extract against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). These include post-treatment, pre-treatment and virucidal assays. The selective indices (SI = CC50 / EC50) of C. nutans extract in post-treatment, pre-treatment and virucidal assays were 11, 6 and 3 respectively. In conclusion, this study showed that C. nutans extract has promising potential to be explored as anti-HSV-1 agent regardless of the mode of treatment

A comparative study of ebay and amazon electronic commerce platforms

The key target of this documentation is to study and compare e-commerce platforms between e-Bay and Amazon. While Amazon.com gained more promotions and underlying exposure to web-based businesses, eBay has secretly built inventories that are truly Internet-friendly. The research used an analytical method to find the difference between these two platforms. Initially, Amazon was only trying to reproduce a list of action plans on the web. The innovation may be inventive, but the design of the action is certainly not. Once again, eBay has a great idea of the Internet network and has empowered supply and demand on the web with incredible outcomes. The sales position is the winner. Besides, eBay clearly shows that the benefits do not need to be in the idea of development - a dispute that Bezos never made. Amazon initially centered around BN.com as a competitor. After a while, Amazon saw eBay as a competitor. The underlying attack was a tremendous disappointment. Currently, Amazon is endeavoring to contend with eBay by driving sales and consolidating its partner programs

Role of design and innovation to enhance new product development among Malaysian small and medium manufacturing enterprises (SMEs)

The role of design and innovation through NPD process can be a good platform for Malaysian SMEs to enhance their competitiveness. However, less study has been conducted to examine how the process has been implemented by SMEs. NPD process requires a proper planning and commitment from the company. Managing the NPD process by utilized design as a source of innovation will improve the quality of the product. But, many of the SMEs not utilize the potential of design and innovation as their sources to gain competitiveness. Therefore, there are gaps on how the process has been conducted by SMEs such as how they implementing, managing and who are the parties should be involved in the process. The objective of this paper is to explore the process of new product development conducted by small and medium manufacturing industries (SMEs) through design and innovation in creating added value to a product, based on an empirical study covering product, furniture, and automotive manufacturing industries in Malaysia. A mixed-method was applied consist of 450 respondents for questionnaire survey and 12 selected participants from different group's namely industrial designers marketers, and decision-makers. The results reveal the positive effects of managing design and innovations in the industries are important to improve product value and to enhance company performance through product development processes

Art appreciation of the Malaysia independence day logo 2020

From the perception of Art Appreciation, requires two main aspects, namely formalistic and content. These two aspects come together to form a work of art. The logo is one of the results of art in the form of digital art that are always used in graphic design. This paper is conducted to identify the visual characteristic of the Malaysian Independence Day logo. Researchers only chose Independence Day for the year 2020 to be analyzed because it is the logo for the current year and is the latest logo design created compared to the previous two years using the same logo. To achieve the purpose, this method of this study is qualitative, which is to use the study of art appreciation evaluation analysis in the context of form and content. It clearly shows the formalistic aspects used in translating the literal and implicit meanings in the Independence Day 2020 logo. This logo features various artistic elements of art and principles of design, as described in this study. It also gives sense to the events that took place during the year. This study has combined the theoretical aspects of Formalistic art with graphic design that is the study of the Independence Day logo. A logo can be considered successful if all sections of society understand it. This logo is created every year, according to the theme and identity of the country. The logo design refers to the symbolism of a multiracial society that is pluralistic and dignified the culture in this country. Through the analysis that has been made, the creation of the Independence Day 2020 logo can be accepted because the logo is simple and easy to understand by the community. The use of the right logo can change people's perception of something