A contextual approach on the views of Muslim feminists interpreters of the Qur'an regarding women and their rights in the society

The interpretation of the texts of the Qur’Én regarding the rights, role, and status of women is a challenge and much debatable subject. The Qur’Én is seen by almost all Muslims as the literal words of Allah (swt). The majority Muslim exegetes interpreted the verses of the Qur’Én by applying a method of literal reading. In modern context, regarding women’s rights, Muslim feminist interpreters of the Qur’Én have applied a contextual approach with regard to the historical, social, and political context in which the verses were revealed in order to disclose an underlying liberal intent, which may liberate Muslims from a literal reading of the Qur’Én. However, feminists face a particular challenge and accusation from traditional Muslim exegetes. The accusation is that feminist scholarship is not loyal to the teachings of Islam and its heritage, but produces liberal Islam and liberal Shar’ÊÑah, influenced by the Western values and imposed upon Islam. The article focuses on how the method of contextualization is applied to some contentious verses in the Qur’Én, which are related to the rights, role and status of women in Islam. These verses represent the arguments at which feminists face a great challenge. Two questions on the basis of those verses will be examined; one is the question of men’s authority over women and the other is woman’s leadership in modern context. For instances, the contentious verse 4:34 recognizes man’s authority and superiority over woman for certain tasks and the verse 9:71 also recognizes the sovereign power of women ‘al-WilÉyah al-Mutlaqah’ equally in participating nation-building. We examine how two contemporary feminists Muslim thinkers; Fatima Mernissi, a Moroccan sociologist and Aminah Wadud Muhsin, an African- American professor of Islamic Studies use the hermeneutical method of contextual reading to interpret the texts of the Qur’Én. The article evaluates the theoretical and practical challenges faced by them from traditional exegetes and argues that whether such a methodology strengthens their arguments and a fuller discussion of the issues that it raises regarding woman’s rights? It is also argued that through the interpretation of the contextualization one may find difference with the previous interpretation of the Qur’Én, which is central to feminists exegesis

Ted Hughes’s ‘Hawk Roosting’: A Posthumanist Perspective

The entire body of Ted Hughes’s poetry has enjoyed and is still enjoying a wide readership for the brilliant treatment of its theme which is at once unique and universal. The style with which he has graced his poems, mostly on birds and animals, also showcases his craftsmanship as a poet. Accordingly, much scholarship is available on the poet and his poetry. Ted Hughes is outwardly designated or commonly understood as an animal lover/poet. But this is not or ought not to be his only identity, for a recent reading of most of his poems unearths his another side–a side that is present within the thematic texture of these poems but has not been explored as such. Some of his poems robustly deal with his posthumanist thinking. Under the garb of symbol, the poems foreground, among other aspects, the poet’s criticism of the humanist discourse of man as a distinguished and sublime creature occupying the centre of creation. One of these poems, which has been chosen for its relatively more poignant edge of such criticism, is ‘Hawk Roosting’, which tears asunder the veil over ‘man’ to display his greed, selfishness and brutality. The poem breaks the humanist bastion of man into pieces and locates him on the ground of reality by exposing his bleak characteristics which posthumanism tends to focus upon. This paper will, therefore, argue for the unfailing presence of Hughes’s posthumanist facets in the given poem through a discourse-based qualitative methodology

Exploring Mobile Commerce Adoption Maturity: An Empirical Investigation

With the proliferation of mobile devices, studies on Mobile Commerce (MC) adoption have received increasing attention from researchers in Information technology. While there are many studies in the literature that have investigated MC adoption by individuals, these studies mainly investigate the factors that lead to usage. However, they do not examine how individuals may progress or mature from basic use of mobile devices to more sophisticated usage. In this study, we develop MC Adoption Maturity Model to show how individuals may mature in MC adoption. This model is examined by conducting qualitative data with 10 individuals. The study enriches our understanding of technology adoption by individuals because it explains how existing users of a technology, such as mobile technology, advance in their MC usage

Pakistani Youth in Relation to CPEC and Their Future as Entrepreneurs

The objective of the study is to reveal whether the Pakistani youth accepts CPEC as their future and have shown positivity to become an entrepreneur. Our study reveals that; the youth in Pakistan feels that it is a need of time for their country and to take this opportunity as positive indicator towards their country prosperity and economic revival in no times. The research is focused on the samples based upon the youth of Lahore specifically the university students who directly have impact over being the entrepreneurs of Pakistan We use frequency analysis for our resultants, that helps us to interpret the data at a glance initially for the subject problem identified. It also helps us to evaluate and highlight the factors involved with the composition of its involvement as variable

The narrative of ‘al-ghraniq al-‘ula’ in the qur’an: a myth or reality

The story of ‘Al-Gharaneeq al-‘Ula’ or ‘prominent deities’ concerns about a historical narrative in the early stage of Islam. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is reported to have recited the Surah an-Najm to a large group of Quraysh people, and reached the ayat 19-23, where he uttered the names of their ‘great deities’ such as Lat, Manat and ‘Uzza, he involuntarily recited تلك الغرانيق العلى، وإن شفاعتهن لترتجى “they are the prominent deities, and their intercession is much sought for”. This narrative caused a great havoc among the intellectual circles of the Qur’an and History. The historians, mufassirun and muhaddithun have cited this narrative in their books in details. This has led the readers of the Qur’an, Sunnah and the history of Islam into confusion. The narrative was used by the famous Orientalists like William Muir, Joseph Schacht and others as a tool to dissociate the Qur’an from the divine origin. The claim has also been made that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was supportive of the pagan deities in the early stage of his mission as a way of getting closer to the Arab Mushriks. The scholars used three Qur’anic ayat for this purpose, which are: Surah An-Najm 19-23, Surah al-Isra 73-75 and Surah al-Hajj 52-54. A careful and closer reading of these Qur’anic ayat reveal the fact that the ayat were interpreted out of the contexts by the interpreters, historians and story tellers. The present research is carried out in order to discover the true fact behind this controversial incident. The research would deal with the incident and its credibility from historical, narrative, sanad and textual perspective to see if it carries some genuineness or is a total fabrication by some anti-Islamic forces to create doubt about the origin of the Qur’an. The study is a narrative, descriptive, analytical and critical one based on the original authentic literatures. It is expected that the article may come out with some clear insights which would help to remove confusion about the incident and the ayat to a large extent

A study of prevalence, severity, stages, conception rate and associated problems in patients with endometriosis

Background: Endometriosis should be suspected in women with sub-infertility, dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia or chronic pelvic pain. However, these symptoms can also be associated with other diseases. Endometriosis may be asymptomatic even in some women with more advanced disease. The objective of this study was to prevalence, severity, stages, conception rate and associated problems in patients with endometriosisMethods: Present study was retrospective and prospective study from January 2007 to September 2012 which included 200 infertile patients who underwent laparoscopy and were diagnosed with endometriosis in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Owaisi Hospital and Research Centre, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.Results: Majority of the patients belonged to the age group of 18-25 years i.e. 45.5%. The most common symptom with which the women presented to the hospital was abnormal uterine bleeding seen in 26% of the cases. Out of total cases, 64% had primary infertility and remaining i.e. 36% had secondary infertility. Ovarian endometrioma was seen in 22% of the cases. Majority of the patients had dysmenorrheal in 62% of the cases. Majority were found out to be present in the stage one or minimal endometriosis i.e. they constituted 78 women which amounted at 39% of the total cases. As the severity of the endometriosis increased, the symptomatic relief rate after laparoscopy decreased. As the severity of the endometriosis increased, the conception rate following laparoscopic laser fulguration decreased.  As the severity of the endometriosis increased, the requirement for ART increased.Conclusions: Laparoscopy is considered to be better than laparotomy since there is less morbidity and less adhesions and tissue trauma

Advancing Public Education in Pakistan Through a Teacher Exchange Program in the United States

This study examined a multi-year teacher exchange program to understand its possible impact on advancing Pakistan’s public education.  A major goal of the study was to analyze how educators in the program viewed, interpreted, and could transform the new knowledge and strategies learned in the program into effective practices in their Pakistani educational settings. Data were gathered from open-ended questionnaires and focus groups discussions with 37 in-service secondary teachers who attended a 6-week professional development program in the United States. Participants indicated that low-class size, technological tools, diversity, teacher-student interactions, social and cultural practices, and classroom structures were some of the major differences between the US and Pakistan’s classrooms. Information on differences, similarities, and culturally acceptable adaptations are shared.