Understanding the Qur'an : a reflection

The Qur'an represents the last revelation from on high. It addresses the entire humanity, Muslims and non-Muslims, Jews and Christians, Arabs and non-Arabs, the sincere and the hypocrite, the friends and the opponents, the ypung and the old, the male and the female, the rich and the poor, the educated and the illiterate, the master and the slave, the king and the subject. It seeks to lead them to a blistful life in both the mundane world and in the hereafter. This relationship between the Qur'an and man entails the latter's visiting and understanding the former. But today the man is in a dilemma, knowing not how to grasp the original message of the Qur'an revealed fifteen centuries ago. He finds before him multitudes of Qur'anic commentaries that are, at times mutually conflicting with one another. He is very much keen to take a step forward towards the Qur'an but feels shy rather hesitant to do that due to his lack of confidence to identify a sound methodology of understanding the Qur'an. This book may be deemed as a modest attempts towards the quest for that sound methodology the application of which may ensure true understanding of the Qur'an

The theory of abrogation : a critical evaluation

Abrogation (naskh) in the Qur'an constitutes one of the most controversial issues in the Islamic legacy. There are two groups of scholars, one supporting it and the other denying its existence in the Qur'an. A number of works representing both the views are available. This work attempts to critically analyze the arguments and the views of the supporters of the theory of nasakh, advancing a crystal clear picture that the concept of naskh in the sense of permanent abrogation hence practical invalidity of certain ayat in the Qur'an, either five (5) or five hundred (500), is untenable. All the reports concerning the views of sahabah and tabi'un scholors have been scrutinized in two chapters of this book. Most of these reports are unreliable from both the sanad (chain) and the matan (text) angles. Certain traditions reporting the matter concerning naskh appear to be authentic from sanad point of view but from the dimension of the matn they may not be acceptable. This work represents a humble endeavor of the author to prove the everlasting practical validity of each and every single statement of the Qur'an. The notion of naskh in the Qur'an starkly contrasts with the fact that the Qur'an is al-haqq (the truth) from the Lord of the universe. The author has made a modest effort to highlight and reassert the same undeniablity valid reality that the Last Revelation of Allah is the truth, hence the claim of availability of abrogated rulings in the Qur'an may be considered valid

Experimental investigation on mean crushing stress characterization of carbon–epoxy plies under compressive crushing mode

A challenge in numerical simulation of crashworthiness study is to be able to predict the crush damage modes, their evolution during crushing and the energy absorption in any composite structure from elementary material characterisation data. Therefore, it is important to know the behavior of one ply subjected to crushing load, and especially to determine the mean crushing stress that could be used for simulation. For that purpose, quasi-static crushing tests are performed for different configurations of two CFRP materials, UD and fabrics to determine the mean crushing stress of plies alone and inside a laminate. This study shows there is a linear relationship between crushing load and the contact surface of the plies being crushed on a metallic base which enables actually to define a mean crushing stress for a ply. The method to calculate this value is presented in this paper, based on image analysis of specific crushing tests. Experimental results show that for the UD material, the mean crushing stresses in 0° and 90° plies are very close. The value for a balanced fabric is also similar, approximately 270 MPa

Robust vehicle suspension system by converting active and passive control of a vehicle to semi-active control ystem analytically

This research article deals with a simplified translational model of an automotive suspension system which is constructed by considering the translation motion of one wheel of a car. Passive Vehicle Suspension System is converted into Semi Active Vehicle System. Major advantage achieved by this system is that it adjusts the damping of the suspension system without the application of any actuator by using MATLAB® simulations. The semi-active control is found to control the vibration of suspension system very well

Ethical Leadership and Follower’s Work Attitude: The Role of Moral Identification

Drawing on moral self and social identity theory, this study investigated the mediating mechanism of moral identification in the relationship between ethical leadership and employee work attitudes: affective commitment and turnover intention. The sample for this study was drawn from telecom sector in Pakistan. Results for this sample showed that ethical leadership was positively associated with affective commitment, while negatively associated with turnover intentions. Furthermore, moral identification mediated the effects of ethical leadership on affective commitment and turnover intentions. This study discussed the theoretical and practical implications for study results.   Keywords: Ethical leadership, Moral Identification, Affective Commitment, Turnover Intention

Robust adaptive anti-synchronization control of multiple uncertain chaotic systems of different orders

The precise anti-synchronization control of uncertain chaotic systems has always remained an interesting problem. The anti-synchronization control of multiple different orders uncertain chaotic systems increases the complexity and enhances the security of the information signal in secure communications. Hence, it confines the hacking in digital communication systems. This paper proposes a novel adaptive control technique and studies the double combination anti-synchronization of multiple different orders uncertain chaotic systems. The proposed adaptive feedback control technique consists of three fundamental nonlinear components. Each component accomplishes a different objective; (i) stability of the closed-loop, (ii) smooth and fast convergence behaviour of the anti-synchronization error, and (iii) disturbance rejection. The theoretical analysis in (i) to (iii) uses the Lyapunov stability theory. This paper also provides parameters adaptation laws that stabilize the uncertain parameters to some constants. The paper discusses the simulation results of two representative examples of four different orders uncertain chaotic systems. These examples demonstrate anti-synchronization among hyperchaotic Lü, uncertain chaotic Shimizu Morioka, uncertain second-order nonlinear duffing, and uncertain parametrically excited second-order nonlinear pendulum systems. The computer-based simulation results certify the efficiency and performance of the proposed anti-synchronization control approach and compare them with peer works

Environment Friendly Products: Factors that Influence the Green Purchase Intentions of Pakistani Consumers

This study examines the influence of various factors on the green purchase intentions of Pakistani consumers. To this end, a conceptual model has been proposed and subjected to empirical verification with the use of a survey. The survey results obtained in two major Pakistani cities provide reasonable support for the validity of the proposed model. Specifically, the findings from the correlation matrix, simple regression followed by multiple regression analysis confirm the influence of OGI, EK, EC and PPP&Q on consumers purchase intentions toward green products. The OGI, EK and EC, in turn, also seem to affect consumers green purchase intentions via the moderating role of PPP&Q of a green product. Although the present findings provide a better understanding of the process and significant antecedents of green purchasing intentions, this also highlights one area for more thorough investigation. This is the significant moderating role of PPP&Q variables in consumers’ green purchasing process. As the findings suggest that respondents have a high positive attitude regarding green products and are ready to buy green products more often, but as for as the product price and quality are concerned, green products must perform competitively just like the traditional products. This study also discusses how the present findings may help the Pakistani government and green marketers to fine-tune their environmental programs

Association Mapping of Root Traits for Drought Tolerance in Bread Wheat

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L., 2n = 6x = 42, AABBDD) is one of the most important crops, making staple food for more than 40 countries and over 35% of the global population. Drought stress is among the major constraints to wheat production as it affects plant growth, gene expression and yield potential of the crop. Development of elite wheat cultivars with the ability to grow and reproduce in water-limited soils seems to be the most enduring solution of addressing drought stress. A total of 100 lines including well-adapted wheat cultivars were evaluated for important root traits and complemented with 102 PCR-based markers aiming to understand their genetic structure and to identify molecular markers that are closely associated to quantitative trait loci (QTLs) of important root traits. Alleles per locus are counted and polymorphic information content (PIC) values are calculated. Population structure of these lines was analyzed with general linear model (GLM) and mixed linear model (MLM) approaches for identification of QTLs associated with important root traits. The results indicated the presence of two novel QTLs on the homoeologous group 2 and group 5 of wheat that may be related to drought stress resistance. Our results may facilitate the development of agronomically desirable drought stress-resistant wheat germplasm