Traditionalist forbidding of wrong in ‘Abbasid Baghdad

Artikkelen omhandler den formative perioden av juridiske tradisjoner i ‘Abbasidenes Bagdad, med særlig fokus på “tradisjonalisme”, hvor Ibn Hanbal (d. 855) var en forløper. Fokus er på konfliktsituasjonen relatert til tolkningen av islam, spesielt på 900-tallet, da flere konflikter førte til vold og opptøyer i byen. Formålet er å vise hvordan noen av Tradisjonalistene søkte å diskreditere andre islamtolkninger og praksiser, og å belyse deres syn på hvordan ikke-tradisjonalister skulle behandles ifølge deres forståelse av plikten til å “forby det onde”. Bagdad er konteksten, og den sosiale, økonomiske og politiske situasjonen i byen fungerer som en forklarende bakgrunn for de tolkninger og konflikter som blir nevnt i artikkelen. Etter at uroen og volden er adressert, gis noen korte kommentarer til årsakene til at en mer”passiv” hanbalisme siden har dominert. Dette i forhold til oppfatninger av hvordan man i praksis skulle behandle de som ikke var hanbalitter

‘One of the most important questions that human beings have to understand’: Salafism as Islamic deferentialist fundamentalism

In the present article, the authors argue that the study of Salafism as a contemporary Islamic new religious movement could benefit from an analytical perspective separating fundamentalism into the modes of inferentialism and deferentialism. The basics of these concepts are outlined and discussed in relation to different aspects of contemporary Salafism as well as in relation to previous tendencies in Islamic history. As a case study, the authors employ the concept in an analysis of a contemporary Swedish Salafi discourse on the ‘wiping of the (leather) socks’ in the context of ritual purity. The authors argue that the concept of ‘deferential fundamentalism’ has a potential in the study of Salafism in that it allows for comparative analysis, both cross-religiously and diachronically, in contextualising Salafism historically. It also allows for an analysis of Salafi thought and practice in relation to theories of how human beings in general process social information

Editorial

Editorial for Vol. 12, Issue

Engaging the history of religions – from an Islamic studies perspective

The future and relevance of the history of religions discipline in the Swedish context has been discussed lately. This article is a response to this debate from an Islamic studies perspective. The authors argue that the history of religions discipline may become more relevant if a more self-critical approach is adopted, an interdisciplinary attitude upheld, and if there is an openness to learn from other disciplines studying religion such as Islamic studies. Moreover, a reflection on ‘history’ in the history of religions is necessary if elitism and a too narrow definition of the discipline are to be avoided. Furthermore, the article addresses the question as to whether or not scholarly engagement in disseminating findings in public should be an intellectual and moral requirement

Solvation behavior of cellulose and xylan in the MIM/EMIMAc ionic liquid solvent system – parameters for small scale solvation

Ionic liquid treatment has been reported by several researchers as a possible step in the process of fractionating lignocellulosic biomass within the biorefinery concept. However, understanding how solvation can be achieved and how the feedstock biopolymers are affected is needed prior to a viable implementation. An effective two component solvent system for the wood components cellulose and xylan has been developed. Furthermore, the solvation of these components in the system consisting of the ionic liquid (IL) 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (EMIMAc) in a novel combination with the co-solvent 1-methylimidazole (MIM) is investigated. Focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) particle characterization in combination with microscopic analysis and molecular weight determinations (xylan) shows that cellulose and xylan can be most efficiently solvated using only 3 to 4% IL (n/n anhydro-glucose units and n/n anhydro-xylose units) and 9% IL, respectively, while still avoiding any significant polymer degradation. A model for a two-step process of cellulose solvation in the present system is proposed

The Microbial Community of a Terrestrial Anoxic Inter-Tidal Zone: A Model for Laboratory-Based Studies of Potentially Habitable Ancient Lacustrine Systems on Mars

Evidence indicates that Gale crater on Mars harboured a fluvio-lacustrine environment that was subjected to physio-chemical variations such as changes in redox conditions and evaporation with salinity changes, over time. Microbial communities from terrestrial environmental analogues sites are important for studying such potential habitability environments on early Mars, especially in laboratory-based simulation experiments. Traditionally, such studies have predominantly focused on microorganisms from extreme terrestrial environments. These are applicable to a range of Martian environments; however, they lack relevance to the lacustrine systems. In this study, we characterise an anoxic inter-tidal zone as a terrestrial analogue for the Gale crater lake system according to its chemical and physical properties, and its microbiological community. The sub-surface inter-tidal environment of the River Dee estuary, United Kingdom (53°21'015.40" N, 3°10'024.95" W) was selected and compared with available data from Early Hesperian-time Gale crater, and temperature, redox, and pH were similar. Compared to subsurface ‘groundwater’-type fluids invoked for the Gale subsurface, salinity was higher at the River Dee site, which are more comparable to increases in salinity that likely occurred as the Gale crater lake evolved. Similarities in clay abundance indicated similar access to, specifically, the bio-essential elements Mg, Fe and K. The River Dee microbial community consisted of taxa that were known to have members that could utilise chemolithoautotrophic and chemoorganoheterotrophic metabolism and such a mixed metabolic capability would potentially have been feasible on Mars. Microorganisms isolated from the site were able to grow under environment conditions that, based on mineralogical data, were similar to that of the Gale crater’s aqueous environment at Yellowknife Bay. Thus, the results from this study suggest that the microbial community from an anoxic inter-tidal zone is a plausible terrestrial analogue for studying habitability of fluvio-lacustrine systems on early Mars, using laboratory-based simulation experiments

A scalable approach to the computation of invariant measures for high-dimensional Markovian systems

Abstract The Markovian invariant measure is a central concept in many disciplines. Conventional numerical techniques for data-driven computation of invariant measures rely on estimation and further numerical processing of a transition matrix. Here we show how the quality of data-driven estimation of a transition matrix crucially depends on the validity of the statistical independence assumption for transition probabilities. Moreover, the cost of the invariant measure computation in general scales cubically with the dimension - and is usually unfeasible for realistic high-dimensional systems. We introduce a method relaxing the independence assumption of transition probabilities that scales quadratically in situations with latent variables. Applications of the method are illustrated on the Lorenz-63 system and for the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation data of the α-synuclein protein. We demonstrate how the conventional methodologies do not provide good estimates of the invariant measure based upon the available α-synuclein MD data. Applying the introduced approach to these MD data we detect two robust meta-stable states of α-synuclein and a linear transition between them, involving transient formation of secondary structure, qualitatively consistent with previous purely experimental reports

Foraging behaviour of common murres in the Baltic Sea, recorded by simultaneous attachment of GPS and time-depth recorder devices

Global positioning system and time-depth recorders were deployed in combination to investigate the foraging behaviour of common murres Uria aalge breeding at Stora Karlsö Island, Baltic Sea, during the chick-rearing period. In the pre-breeding period the main prey species of murres, sprat Sprattus sprattus, is targeted by commercial fisheries, likely reducing prey availability during the breeding season. Foraging trips typically consisted of a short flight followed by a period sitting on the sea surface (0.39 ± 0.48 h), followed by several (5.3 ± 3.8) diving bouts interspersed by flights and water surface activity. Following the final diving bout, murres returned directly to the colony. Overnight foraging trips lasted longer than daytime trips, and that result corresponded with greater diving activity and reduced dive depths around dawn and dusk, likely times of high prey accessibility. High outward flight groundspeeds (20.0 ± 2.8 m s-1) were aided by tailwinds, and lower inward flight groundspeeds (15.1 ± 2.5 m s-1) were impeded by headwinds. Flights following the wind direction may reflect a strategy to reduce crosswind drift. Foraging intensity was lower than reported by most other studies of murres, suggesting more abundant or aggregated prey

Viable metabolisms in a simulated martian environments

Microbes have multiple ways of producing energy. Which of these methods are possible depends on the chemistry of the environment the microbes are in (e.g. not enough of a metal or too much salt), with only specific methods working in certain environments. The same would be true of any waters that might continue to exist on Mars. To narrow down which methods of producing energy would be theoretically possible we simulated martian waters using a collection of minerals that are chemically similar to the chemistry measured by the Mars rover Curiosity in a crater on Mars. We added mud from an estuary to the simulated martian water and identified which microbes were able to grow. We then repeatedly transferred the growing microbes to fresh “martian” water to dilute out the nutrients from the mud. Over time we observed that most of the microbes from the mud have been lost but a few specific microbes were growing well. From this we hope to investigate changes in the chemistry of the water that happen because of these microbes, to try and identify specific chemistries that can be looked for by the future rover missions on Mars seeking evidence of life