Empathy and inclusivity to people from different cultures

The day men came to exist on this planet they became conscious of their differences when compared to others. Things like colour, language, dialect, ethnicity, tribe, religion, religious denomination, country of origin, culture, tradition, etc. can be factors that divide humanity. At times, such division can cause hatred, discrimination, racism and perhaps cause nations to go into war against one another. On the contrary, qualities like feeling empathy and inclusivity can make an individual to be thoughtful and sensitive towards one another. Through this webinar session with the students of COMM 3090 IIUM, we were able to communicate some Islamic ideas to the students and general audience. Ideas from the team were communicated via the Cyberworld. The findings indicated that schools, students, learning institutions, governments, nations around the globe, plus the United Nations should campaign against racism, marginalization of minorities, sectarian violence, foreign occupation, war, etc. in order to create a better world where peace and harmony prevail and people can live in acceptance of one another

The role of custom in managing child custody: a juridico-psychological analysis in local context

Child custody is one of most important matters in managing the after effects of divorce as far as their impact on the child is concerned. Guided by the general principles of the Qur‖an and Sunnah on parenting and parental role, classical jurists developed their own theory of managing such impacts in tandem with what was realistically work-ing for their time and environment. With the changes in the pattern of parenting and traditional family structure in societies like Malaysia, it is suggested the fiqh of child custody has to be relevantised so as to result in minimizing debilitating after effects of parental separation on the children. The Current practice of mostly awarding the custo-dy to the mother is not a full remedy, thus this study using juridico-psychological meth-ods of analysis argues for finding juridical basis for joint-custody. Data related to the research were collected from print and internet sources. The textual and content-analysis methods were used in interpreting the relevant data. The research findings highlighted that the solution to the problem with regard to child custody should be in line with the modern psychological needs of the child so long it is within the parameters set by the Shariah and brings greater benefit to the child. Moreover, if both the parents of the child are Islamic in their orientation of thinking, a joint-custody will be more re-warding towards the child‖s psychological needs and growth

A psycho-spiritual life of the ego: an Iqbalian perspective

Over the centuries many great minds regardless in the East or West were preoccupied in the investigation on human nature and personality. Despite the existence of divergent theories on man in the West, quite a sizable number of biologists, psychologists and others who have influenced by the Darwinian Theory of evolution concluded that man is nothing more than an extension from the ape family. Yet others felt that is no connection between the body and mind. Some just believed in the mechanistic nature of the human brain in processing information at the expanse of rejecting the existence of the mind concept in man. While in the Freudian context the human psyche is divided into three warring parties; namely the Id, Ego and Superego. On the overall, the entity of the human soul has been rejected by mainstream psychologies in the West for the obvious reason that it is invisible/non-observable and intangible. In the maze of an ongoing debate in many areas of knowledge as to whether man is just made up of body or body-mind and soul, this paper intends to investigate Iqbal’s ideas on the life of the human ego. Particularly, the researchers are interested in investigating Iqbal’s ideas on man, the nature of the ego and the stages it has to journey in life before it reaches a state of immortality. During the course of writing the paper, the research team would make some sparing comparison to the Freudian concepts on human nature and personality. As a qualitative study, the research team would refer to Iqbal’s ideas present in his philosophical writings and poetry. Data related to the research will be collected from print and internet sources. The textual and content-analysis methods will be employed in interpreting the relevant data