Al-Quran as a source of knowledge : a theological perspective in early Islam

The idea of discussing the concept of faith in a thesis is to show the reliance of this concept to the absolute authority of the Quran and supplemented by the explanations of theSunnah. All along the Quran exerted a steady and moderate influence and thus eliminates all extremes fanatic notions in the conceptions of faith. Nothing demonstrates this more convincingly and decisively than the Quran. The book aims at analysing the facts of the earlier stage of Islam on the problems on the concept of faith, and the later stage the rise of the Sunni scholars and jurists often scarcely distinguished in theearly centuries, realised that being plainly subordination to Allah is absolute. They rose to the occasion and led the majority of the Muslims to a remarkable level of understanding and unity in the main issues of faith. The book consists of six chapters. The first chapter is the introduction. The chapter shall consist of a general statement, the objective of the study, problem statement, research questions and literature review. The second chapter deals with the emergenceof sects in early Islam: the period after the death of the Prophet (s.a.w), the early caliphate, the Kharijite movement, the appearance of the Shia, the opposition toKharijite movements, the Qadarites and Jabrites, the Mutazilites and conclusion. The third chapter deals with the theological positions of varioussects: theology of the Kharijites, theology of Murjiites, theology of the Shia, theology of the Qadarites and Jabrites, Mutazilite's theology and conclusion. Chapter four will discuss the consolidation of Sunnism: the emergence of Sunnism, aftermath of the Mihna,the rise of Mutakallimun, the contribution of Sunnite theologians and conclusion

Non-muslim citizenship in Islamic law: juristic polemics and Malaysian reality

The status of non-Muslim minorities in a Muslim nation in present day societies is a contested issue in modern Islamic law. Most of Muslim legists advance the view that non-Muslim minorities cannot enjoy equal rights with Muslims as they are dhimmis. Another group arguing for equal rights, however, maintains that today`s Muslim nation states are totally new political structures to which much of the traditional aspects of classical Islamic law including the notion of dimmah does not apply. This study attempts to show that the traditional concept of dhimmi still somewhat defines the position of non-Muslim minorities in the thinking of the legal scholars. Nevertheless, on critical and fundamental issues of rights, non-Muslims in Malaysia enjoy much greater rights which their counterparts in Muslim majority countries never dreamt of during pre-modern times

The role of intellect (al-'qal) in the discourse of Harun Nasution

Harun Nasution is an important name in the reformation of religious thought in Indonesia. His ideal of reformation is modelled along the classical rational thought of Mu'tazilah. He had acquired the profound interest in the theology of the latter while writing his PhD thesis at McGill University, Canada. To him, the Mu'tazilah theology demonstrated the importance of human intellect, that is, Islam is a rational religion, a religion which runs in tandem with reason. The mindset of the society needs to free from dogmatic and legalistic traditions to enable it to realize its potentials and abilities to change from a traditional society to a contemporary society in tandem with the demands of modernization. Harun Nasution believed that Islam is not hosed on narrow and rigid doctrines but in its real essence has a broad and wide horizon and that it allows space for interpretation via allegorical and liberal manner

Thinking from the Qur’ānic perspective

The Qur’ān is the main reference and source of knowledge for Muslims. It logically follows that understanding the concept of thinking should also be referred to the Qur’ān. Even though the word ‘intellect’ is mentioned 49 times in the Qur’ān, and there are hundreds of verses that urge Muslims to think, the theory of thinking from the Qur’ānic perspective has not been extensively explored to guide Muslim educators, curriculum designers and developers. Hence, this paper attempts to explore the concept of good thinking from the Qur’ānic perspective. It extensively examines verses of the Qur’ān pertaining to the intellect and thinking to come up with a theory of good thinking. From the analysis of the relevant Qur’ānic verses, the research found that the intellect is capable of rational and spiritual cognition as a result of applying critical, creative, ethical and spiritual thinking. Therefore, the research posits that good thinking from the Qur’ānic perspective is multi-dimensional; the dimensions are critical, creative, ethical and spiritual thinking. Furthermore, according to the Qur’ān, the aim of good thinking is to achieve wisdom. Hence, this paper also explicates the meaning of wisdom from the Qurānic perspective

Reproductive technology: a critical analysis of theological responses in christianity and Islam

Reproductive medical technology has revolutionized the natural order of human procreation. Accordingly, some have celebrated its advent as a new and liberating determinant of kinship at the global level and advocate it as a right to reproductive health while others have frowned upon it as a vehicle for “guiltless exchange of sexual fluid” and commodification of human gametes. Religious voices from both Christianity and Islam range from unthinking adoption to restrictive use. While utilizing this technology to enable the married couple to have children through the use of their own sexual material is welcome, the use of third party, surrogacy, and reproductive cloning are not in keeping with the sacrosanct principles of kinship, procreation through licit sexual intercourse, and social cohesiveness for building a cohesive family as uphold by both Christianity and Islam. To examine such larger issues emanating from these new ways of human procreation, beyond the question of legality, is a point which legal scholars in both Christianity and Islam, when issuing religious decrees, have not anticipated sufficiently. The article proposes to be an attempt to that end through a qualitative critical content analysis of selected literature written on the subject

Experimental and simulation Studies of a Two Seater Light Aircraft

This paper presents the aerodynamic studies carried out on a three-dimensional aircraft model. The test model is a 15% scaled down from a two-seater light aircraft that close to the Malaysian made SME MD3-160 aircraft. The aircraft model is equipped with control surfaces such as flaps, aileron, rudder and elevator and it is designed for pressure measurement testing and direct force measurement using a 6-components balance system. This aircraft model has been tested at two different low speed tunnels, at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia tunnel sized 1.5 x 2.0 meter2 test section, and at Institute Aerodynamic Research, National Research Council of Canada sized 3 x 2 meter2 tunnel. The speed during testing at UTM and IAR/NRC tunnels was up to 70 meter/second, which is corresponds to Reynolds numbers of 1.3 x 106.The longitudinal and lateral directional aerodynamic characteristics of the aircraft such as coefficients of pressure, forces (lift, drag, side) and moments (roll, pitch and yaw) have been experimentally measured either using direct force measurement or pressure measurement method. The data reduction methods include the strut support interference factor using dummy image and the blockage correction have been applied in this project. The results showed that for the undeployed flap configuration, the stalling angle of this aircraft is 160 at CLMax = 1.05 measured by UTM - LST, compared to CLMax =1.09 at stalling angle 150 by IAR- NRC. Beside the experimental study, simulation also be performed by using a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code, FLUENT Version 5.3. Experimental works at UTM and IAR – NRC tunnel show that the aerodynamic characteristics of this light aircraft are in a good agreement with each other. Simultaneously, the aerodynamic forces obtained from experimental works and CFD simulations have been compared. The results proved that they are agreeable especially at a low angle of attack

Influence of inulin addition on physical properties and sensory of `Dadih`.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the physical and organoleptic properties of 'dadih' supplemented with inulin among students and staffs in University Putra Malaysia during the year 2004. Supplementation of inulin was shown to increase hardness, fracturability and cohesiveness but decrease syneresis of the resulting 'dadih'. In addition, sensory evaluation showed that trained panelist judged 'dadih' made from skim milk and fresh milk as acceptable. The whole study indicates that inulin can be used as additives in 'dadih' making in order to improve the physical properties and sensory of 'dadih' product. © 2006 Asian Network for Scientific Information

Strategic human resource management: A framework from an Islamic perspective

An effective human resource management is crucial for every organization’s success. The main purpose of human resource management is to ensure that an organization achieves the optimal level of benefits from its employees while at the same time giving them the material and psychological rewards for their accomplishment. In view of the ever-changing environments at the workplace due to the changes in the industry, technology, policy and competition, human resource management becomes a strategic and comprehensive approach in managing people. The paper attempts to shed light on the salient features of Islamic framework in the strategic human resource management. Against this background, the paper endeavors to highlight the capabilities and strengths of the framework which enables the employees to contribute effectively and productively to the overall direction of the organization in meeting its goals and objectives. This paper concludes that Islam is not only a religion but also is a way of life