God and Tawhid in Classical Islamic Theology and Said Nursi's Risale-i Nur

Theology is a rational endeavour to understand everything about God, from within a faith tradition and its scriptures, and in response to problems posed by the conditions of a particular time and place. Islamic theology, in particular, has been a reactive discipline. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1876-1960), as a prominent scholar in the modern era, lived through a tumultuous period witnessing the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the emergence of secular nation states for the first time in Muslim history, two world wars, and the challenges imposed by European modernity on traditional Muslim societies and Islam. Unlike other revivalist leaders, in dealing with the complexity of circumstances and the social and political restrictions around him, Nursi chose to respond following a theological revival method, where he attempted to revive Islam by renewing faith in people through his theological writings. By loading so much significance and revivalist objectives to theology, Nursi produced an original and fresh expression of Islamic theology based on the Qur’an. In this thesis, my original contribution to knowledge is the critical evaluation of Nursi’s writings about God and identification of his contributions to Islamic understanding of God and tawḥīd as the central doctrine of Islam

Baldcypress Restoration in a Saltwater Damaged Area of South Carolina

Baldcypress (Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich.) seed was collected in 1992 from nine different estuarine areas in the southeastern United States (Winyah Bay, SC, Ogeechee and Altmaha Rivers in GA, Loftin Creek, FL, Ochlockonee River FL, Mobile Bay, AL, West Pearl River, LA, Bayou LaBranche, LA, and Lake Chicot, LA) and planted in Clemson University\u27s Hobcaw nursery in the spring of 1993. Germination ranged from a low of 16 percent for seed from FL to 58 percent for seed from NC. Seedlings were grown in the nursery for two growing seasons, lifted, and planted in an area killed by saltwater introduced by Hurricane Hugo\u27s (1989) storm surge. Half of the seedlings were protected with tree shelters. Seedlings averaged 122 cm tall upon planting. Survival after 6 years was 99 percent. Height growth of seedlings in tree shelters was significantly higher than those not in tree shelters for each year except during year 3. Among the seed sources, seedlings from the Loftin Creek, FL source have shown greatest growth, with and without protection, for all growing seasons except the first year. After 6 years, average height of tree-shelter protected seedlings was 393 cm while the average height of non-protected seedlings was 281 cm. Tree-shelters increased early growth of seedlings, but once they emerged from the tree-shelter, growth differences between shelter and no-shelter treatments decreased and seems to be more related to the degree of deer herbivory experienced by unprotected seedlings

Percutaneous coronary intervention of a single coronary artery arising from the right sinus of Valsalva

Anomalous origin of the left main coronary artery from the right sinus of Valsalva is extremely rare when not associated with other congenital cardiac anomalies. In this report we present a patient with a single coronary ostium, with both the left and right coronary artery systems arising from it. The right coronary artery was found to contain a significant flow-limiting lesion that was successfully treated with percutaneous coronary intervention

Religiosity, Attitudes on Diversity and Belonging Among Ordinary Australian Muslims

Islamic incompatibility is a core discourse of fringe political parties, mostly from the right of the political spectrum, who have agitated against religious diversity and also against immigration of Muslims, especially from certain parts of the world. Smaller scale political alliances, against mosque developments, private Islamic schools or halal certification, also draw heavily on this pre-supposition. Despite the preponderance of such despondent commentary, there is surprisingly little by way of empirical analysis of this assumption of incompatibility. This paper draws on a community survey (n:585) and the results show high rates intercultural mixing in workplaces, educational settings and socially, with little evidence for separatism. These Australian Muslims have very positive views about cultural diversity, most perceive there to be consistency between Islam and Australian norms, and they see themselves as Australian. Those with stronger levels of religiosity have even more positive views on diversity and consistency. We offer two explanations, one based on official multiculturalism, and the other on tenets of Islamic thinking on toleration and moderation

Forested Wetlands of the Southern United States: A Bibliography

The term forested wetland covers a variety of forest types including mangroves, cypress/tupelo swamps, bottomland hardwoods, pocosins and Carolina bays, flatwoods, and mountain fens. These forests are dominated by woody species that have morphological features, physiological adaptations, and/or reproductive strategies enabling them to achieve maturity and reproduce in an environment where the soils within the rooting zone may be inundated or saturated for various periods during the growing season. Although alluvial floodplains occur along most streams of the United States, they are most extensive in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal Plain, and Mississippi Alluvial Plain. Only about half of the original floodplain forests remained by the 1930s, and conversion to agriculture continued at an accelerated pace during the 1960s and 1970s.The purpose of this bibliography is to provide a detailed listing of references for students and researchers of the varied studies conducted in these forest types

Islam in Brief

48 hal,:Ilust.;21cm

Islam In Brief

48 hal,:Ilust.;21cm

Why did we disown the Muslim brotherhood?

Islamic movements had seemed to be ubiquitous, but a little work had profoundly looked at the internal issues of those movements that marked their increase and influence. Some Islamic movements are reckoned as intermediate, missionary, or terrorist Islamic groups. However, in this research paper, we ascertained that giving much attention to one of the most influential Islamic movements globally, the Muslim Brotherhood “Ikhwanul Muslimin”, will conceivably provide ample information for the literature regarding, not just Ikhwanul Muslimin. But generally, Islamic movements such as Ikhwanul Muslimin are considered the mother and fulcrum of political Islam and the emergence of Islamic movements. Conclusively, this research paper interviewed the exmembers of Ikhwanul Muslimin in exile to investigate why they disowned Ikhwanul Muslimin? Moreover, to closely understand the current role of those ex-members in society and whether they joined other Islamic movements, for instance. This research paper ascertained that Ikhwanul Muslimin leaders would likely play a business role by launching schools and companies in Turkey instead of leading the Egyptian opposition against al-Sisi

Islamic Studies in Australia’s Universities

Islamic studies is an in-demand discipline area in Australia, including both classical Islamic studies and contemporary Islamic studies. While the field of classical Islamic studies has evolved over the centuries alongside the needs of the societies it serves, it has, nevertheless, remained within a well-established Islamic framework. This type of knowledge is sought by many, especially Muslims. Contemporary Islamic studies also plays a critical role in understanding Islam and Muslims in the contemporary context. The higher education sector in Australia contributes to this knowledge base via the Islamic studies courses it offers. This article discusses the positioning of the higher education sector in fulfilling Islamic educational needs, especially in the presence of other non-accredited education institutions such as mosques and madrasas. Despite the presence of other educational institutions, the higher educational sector appeals to a large pool of students, as evidenced by the number of Islamic studies courses offered by fourteen Australian universities. The teaching of classical Islamic studies in the higher education sector is not without its challenges. These challenges can be overcome and have been overcome to a large degree by the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation (CISAC), Charles Sturt University (CSU). CISAC was used as a case study, as it is the largest Islamic studies department offering the greatest number of classical Islamic studies focused courses with the highest number of Islamic studies students in Australia. This article, overall, demonstrates that there is an ongoing need for Islamic studies to be taught, both in a classical and contemporary capacity, in the higher education sector

Calculation for the thermodynamic properties of an alternative refrigerant (R508b) using artificial neural network

ARCAKLIOGLU, Erol/0000-0001-8073-5207WOS: 000241706500031This study proposes a alternative approach based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) to determine the thermodynamic properties - specific volume, enthalpy and entropy - of an alternative refrigerant (R508b) for both saturated liquid-vapor region (wet vapor) and superheated vapor region. In the ANN, the back-propagation learning algorithm with two different variants, namely scaled conjugate gradient (SCG) and Levenberg-Marquardt (LM), and Logistic Sigmoid transfer function were used to determine the best approach. The most suitable algorithm and with appropriate number of neurons (i.e. 7) in the hidden layer is found to be the LM algorithm which has provided the minimum error. For wet vapor region, R-2 values - which are errors known as absolute fraction of variance - are 0.983495, 0.969027, 0.999984, 0.999963, 0.999981, and 0.999975, for specific volume, enthalpy and entropy for training and testing, respectively. Similarly, for superheated vapor, they are: 0.995346, 0.996947, 0.999996, 0.999997, 0.999974, and 0.999975, for training and testing, respectively. According to the regression analysis results, R-2 values are 0.9312, 0.9708, 0.9428, 0.9343, 0.967 and 0.9546 for specific volume, enthalpy and entropy for wet vapor region and superheated vapor, respectively. The comparisons of the results suggest that, ANN provided results comfortably within the acceptable range. This study, deals with the potential application of the ANNs to represent PVTx (pressure-specific volume-temperature-vapor quality) data. Therefore, reducing the risk of experimental uncertainties and also removing the need for complex analytic equations requiring long computational time and efforts. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved