Al-Ghazali\u27s integral epistemology: A critical analysis of the jewels of the Quran

The Jewels of the Quran by renowned Islamic scholar Abu Hamid al-Ghazali has usually been published as a two-volume publication, consisting of al-Ghazali’s hierarchy of sciences, followed by a thematic classification of verses from the Quran. A recent edition of the book includes a third chapter which is often published alone as The Book of Forty Religious Principles, but which al-Ghazali makes reference to in his introduction. A thorough, contextualized, critical analysis of the 3-chapter publication reveals al-Ghazali’s more comprehensive integral framework of knowledge – one which stems from and is held by a core experience of the Divine, and where levels of knowledge, practice, intuition, endowed spiritual states and evolving stations form an integral cycle of learning. The new outline of Al-Ghazali’s theory explains his earlier skepticism and emotional crisis, and justifies his post-crisis views on the methodologies of philosophy, science, mysticism and law

The Concept and Practice of De-radicalisation in the PREVENT Strand of the UK Counter-terrorism Strategy: What is De-radicalisation?

De-radicalisation has become increasingly prevalent in the UK’s counter-terrorism policy as a strategy for tackling the threat of religiously inspired violence/extremism. Recently, British citizens fighting in Middle Eastern conflicts have rekindled the preoccupation of policymakers with the radicalisation of British Muslims. In fact the work of PREVENT post 2011 has primarily been recalibrated towards a greater focus on de-radicalisation interventions, which is delivered by the police through the Channel programme. Channel is perceived by policy-makers to be a more streamlined and effective way of dealing with radicalised/extremist individuals than the wide remit of PREVENT initiatives between 2006 and 2010. Indeed since becoming placed on a statutory footing in 2015, PREVENT requires public institutions, like schools and universities, to identify ‘vulnerable’ individuals’ at risk of radicalisation. And yet despite the greater attention on de-radicalisation, very little continues to be known about what makes violent individuals leave terrorism behind. De-radicalisation in PREVENT is characterised by the absence of credible research, little or no empirical evidence for policy development, confusion surrounding its conceptual framework, and conflicting policy logics. The following thesis is based on a case-study examination of de-radicalisation with 27 PREVENT practitioners. Through qualitative semi-structured interviews, my investigation seeks to address the problems that arise from the concept and practice of de-radicalisation in PREVENT by ascertaining (a) an ontological understanding of de-radicalisation and (b) the practice of de-radicalisation. The findings of the fieldwork data revealed the existence of multiple conceptions of de-radicalisation and a number of conceptual features unique to the UK context. Despite yielding a more fruitful conceptual and empirical understanding of de-radicalisation, the data in itself nevertheless could not fully explicate the relationship between several critical themes comprehensively within an analytically generative framework. With the inductive method falling short, I draw on Michel Foucault’s concept of the ‘technologies of the self’. Comprising of discursive, disciplinary, and confessional technologies, it is argued that the technologies of the self allows us to reframe the concept beyond the narrow confines of counter-terrorism policy and place it within wider governmental relations. Situated within neo-liberal governmentality, the technologies of the self encourage individuals to work on themselves and regulate their behaviour through a wide range of discursive, practical, and technical interventions. Seen in this way, de-radicalisation is therefore less about the mitigation of violence and more about the making of a particular political and ethical subjectivity. Ultimately, the technology of the self eschews the conceptual problems inherent in the PREVENT conception of de-radicalisation, the limitations evident in the literature, whilst amplifying the salient findings of my fieldwork data. It provides a more robust concept and theory that successfully captures and explains de-radicalisation in the UK context. This thesis thus makes an original contribution to knowledge by (1) being the first study to gather primary data on de-radicalisation in the UK; (2) offering an alternative concept of de-radicalisation; and (3) contributing to theories on the governmentality of radicalisation policies, focusing on the micro-politics of identity in neoliberal governance

Discourse markers: Functions of /jacni/ in educated Egyptian Arabic

This is a study in conversation analysis focusing on the analysis of the discourse marker /jacni/ in Egyptian Arabic. Markers are defined as discourse deictic expressions that link together, and signal boundaries between, discourse structures. They operate on all three levels of discourse proposed by Halliday (1970) - textual, ideational and interpersonal. Using direct observation techniques, the distribution, form and function of the marker /jacni/ were examined in the language of educated Egyptian subjects on radio and television interviews. Two variables were taken into account - speaker gender and topic type. Using syntactic position and phonological form as guidelines for interpretation, seven categories of functions were identified for /jacni/ in a 20,000 word corpus. Using a two-tailed \u27z-test\u27, function frequencies across counterparts of each independent variable proved statistically significant. The findings were interpreted within the framework of \u27deixis\u27 and \u27Interpersonal Rhetoric\u27 (Leech, 1983)

Editors' introduction: neoliberalism and/as terror

The articles in this special issue are drawn from papers presented at a conference entitled “Neoliberalism and/as Terror”, held at the Nottingham Conference Centre at Nottingham Trent University by the Critical Terrorism Studies BISA Working Group (CSTWG) on 15-16 September 2014. The conference was supported by both a BISA workshop grant and supplementary funds from Nottingham Trent University’s Politics and International Relations Department and the Critical Studies on Terrorism journal. Papers presented at the conference aimed to extend research into the diverse linkages between neoliberalism and terrorism, including but extending beyond the contextualisation of pre-emptive counterterrorism technologies and privatised securities within relevant economic and ideological contexts. Thus, the conference sought also to stimulate research into the ways that neoliberalism could itself be understood as terrorism, asking - amongst other questions - whether populations are themselves terrorised by neoliberal policy. The articles presented in this special issue reflect the conference aims in bringing together research on the neoliberalisation of counterterrorism and on the terror of neoliberalism

Status of HIV and hepatitis C virus infections among prisoners in the Middle East and North Africa: review and synthesis.

INTRODUCTION: The status of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections among incarcerated populations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the links between prisons and the HIV epidemic are poorly understood. This review synthesized available HIV and HCV data in prisons in MENA and highlighted opportunities for action. METHODS: The review was based on data generated through the systematic searches of the MENA HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Synthesis Project (2003 to December 15, 2015) and the MENA HCV Epidemiology Synthesis Project (2011 to December 15, 2015). Sources of data included peer-reviewed publications and country-level reports and databases. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: We estimated a population of 496,000 prisoners in MENA, with drug-related offences being a major cause for incarceration. Twenty countries had data on HIV among incarcerated populations with a median prevalence of 0.6% in Afghanistan, 6.1% in Djibouti, 0.01% in Egypt, 2.5% in Iran, 0% in Iraq, 0.1% in Jordan, 0.05% in Kuwait, 0.7% in Lebanon, 18.0% in Libya, 0.7% in Morocco, 0.3% in Oman, 1.1% in Pakistan, 0% in Palestine, 1.2% in Saudi Arabia, 0% in Somalia, 5.3% in Sudan and South Sudan, 0.04% in Syria, 0.05% in Tunisia, and 3.5% in Yemen. Seven countries had data on HCV, with a median prevalence of 1.7% in Afghanistan, 23.6% in Egypt, 28.1% in Lebanon, 15.6% in Pakistan, and 37.8% in Iran. Syria and Libya had only one HCV prevalence measure each at 1.5% and 23.7%, respectively. There was strong evidence for injecting drug use and the use of non-sterile injecting-equipment in prisons. Incarceration and injecting drugs, use of non-sterile injecting-equipment, and tattooing in prisons were found to be independent risk factors for HIV or HCV infections. High levels of sexual risk behaviour, tattooing and use of non-sterile razors among prisoners were documented. CONCLUSIONS: Prisons play an important role in HIV and HCV dynamics in MENA and have facilitated the emergence of large HIV epidemics in at least two countries, Iran and Pakistan. There is evidence for substantial but variable HIV and HCV prevalence, as well as risk behaviour including injecting drug use and unprotected sex among prisoners across countries. These findings highlight the need for comprehensive harm-reduction strategies in prisons

Self-authorship in Egyptian first year students

Self-authorship has, in recent years, emerged as a leading theory in understanding cognitive, social and interpersonal development of undergraduate students, and how this process impacts learning. This mixed methods study explored the manifestations of self-authorship in Egyptian students who have completed a first year program in an American liberal arts university in Egypt, in order to understand how these students experience the process of self-authorship, and what they identify as significant curricular experiences that foster this process. The findings identified various cultural and environmental impacts that characterize the development of self-authorship in this population of students, including political turmoil, diverse sub-cultures and intergenerational family obligations. Pedagogical recommendations for enhancement of this process in the first year are made. Directions for future research include the need for further study of the self-authorship development of students in this region of the world, and the investigation of the cultural and environmental factors that impact this process

A simple scoring system to predict early prognosis of patients undergoing loco-regional therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract: Introduction: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common cancer and is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and its incidence is increasing. Aim of work: was to identify potential prognostic factors affecting survival in patients with unresectable HCC treated with local ablation. and proposing a new scoring system to predict early prognosis of those patients. Patients and methods: 150 consecutive patients with HCC who underwent RFA and/or TACE at National Liver Institute, Menoufiya University during 1 year were included in the study. Data of demographic, clinical, laboratory parameters and Triphasic spiral CT scan were collected. All patients were re-evaluated one month after intervention by laboratory testing and CT or MRI for detection of complications and detection of the effect of intervention Then all patients were followed up for 6 months for detection of mortality rate and prognostic factors related to survival. Results: 79.3% were males with mean age of 57.8 ± 9 year. Total bilirubin and serum creatinine significantly elevated one month after intervention (p< 0.001). Serum albumin and AFP significantly decreased (p< 0.001). Most of our patients were Child A and B. One month after intervention 49 (32.6%) remain Child (A) and 28 of them had no added points to their baseline child score, 76 (50.7%) patients had Child (B), Child (C) patients increased to 25 (16.7%). During 6 months follow up, upper GIT bleeding (due to bleeding esophageal varicies) occurred in 3 patients. Also, 3 patients developed infections and 12 patients developed hepatic decompensation. Development of complications was seen with (4.95 cm, tumor size with sensitivity of 78.9% and (p < 0.01), AFP level of 184 ng/ml with sensitivity of 73.7% and (p < 0.05), serum albumin level < 2.35 g/dl with sensitivity of 73.7%, Child score > 6.5 with sensitivity of 94.7%, MELD score > 14.5 with a sensitivity of 78.9%. 14 patients died within 6 months of intervention (the mortality rate was 9.3%). The cause of death in most cases was progression of disease and/ or development of hepatic failure. The number of nodules significantly correlated with mortality (p < 0.01). Tumor size above 5.9 cm, AFP >330.5, serum albumin <2.55 g/dl associated with increased mortality rate. Moreover, increased mortality was associated with Child score >8.5 and MELD score >13.5. Finally, we proposed a simple scoring system that could be used to predict outcome and stratify patients with unresectable HCC undergoing loco-regional therapy. Three factors; albumin < 2.9 g/dl, AFP > 330 and size of dominant tumor > 5.3 cm were used in this score. A scoring system was derived by allocating one point for each factor that was elevated above the defined cut-off for AFP and tumor size or below the cut-off for the albumin; score 1=0 points, 2=1 point and score 3=>1 point. The survival rate after six month from intervention for those with a score 1, 2 and 3 was 100%, 92.4% and 86.4% respectively. Conclusion: the new scoring system can be used easily to predict outcome in patients with HCC who are eligible to locoablative therapy. This scoring system needs to be validated on more patients. [Zaghla H, Gomaa AI, Elshimi E, Abdelaal EM, Elwaraki M, Gameel K and Badra G. A simple scoring system to predict early prognosis of patients undergoing loco-regional therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma. Life Sci