Sect and House in Syria: History, Architecture, and Bayt Amongst the Druze in Jaramana

This paper explores the connections between the architecture and materiality of houses and the social idiom of bayt (house, family). The ethnographic exploration is located in the Druze village of Jaramana, on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus. It traces the histories, genealogies, and politics of two families, bayt Abud-Haddad and bayt Ouward, through their houses. By exploring the two families and the architecture of their houses, this paper provides a detailed ethnographic account of historical change in modern Syria, internal diversity, and stratification within the intimate social fabric of the Druze neighbourhood at a time of war, and contributes a relational approach to the anthropological understanding of houses

Oral cysteamine as an adjunct treatment in cystic fibrosis pulmonary exacerbations: An exploratory randomized clinical trial

Background Emerging data suggests a possible role for cysteamine as an adjunct treatment for pulmonary exacerbations of cystic fibrosis (CF) that continue to be a major clinical challenge. There are no studies investigating the use of cysteamine in pulmonary exacerbations of CF. This exploratory randomized clinical trial was conducted to answer the question: In future pivotal trials of cysteamine as an adjunct treatment in pulmonary exacerbations of CF, which candidate cysteamine dosing regimens should be tested and which are the most appropriate, clinically meaningful outcome measures to employ as endpoints? Methods and findings Multicentre double-blind randomized clinical trial. Adults experiencing a pulmonary exacerbation of CF being treated with standard care that included aminoglycoside therapy were randomized equally to a concomitant 14-day course of placebo, or one of 5 dosing regimens of cysteamine. Outcomes were recorded on days 0, 7, 14 and 21 and included sputum bacterial load and the patient reported outcome measures (PROMs): Chronic Respiratory Infection Symptom Score (CRISS), the Cystic Fibrosis Questionnaire–Revised (CFQ-R); FEV1, blood leukocyte count, and inflammatory markers. Eighty nine participants in fifteen US and EU centres were randomized, 78 completed the 14-day treatment period. Cysteamine had no significant effect on sputum bacterial load, however technical difficulties limited interpretation. The most consistent findings were for cysteamine 450mg twice daily that had effects additional to that observed with placebo, with improved symptoms, CRISS additional 9.85 points (95% CI 0.02, 19.7) p = 0.05, reduced blood leukocyte count by 2.46x109 /l (95% CI 0.11, 4.80), p = 0.041 and reduced CRP by geometric mean 2.57 nmol/l (95% CI 0.15, 0.99), p = 0.049. Conclusion In this exploratory study cysteamine appeared to be safe and well-tolerated. Future pivotal trials investigating the utility of cysteamine in pulmonary exacerbations of CF need to include the cysteamine 450mg doses and CRISS and blood leukocyte count as outcome measures. Clinical trial registration NCT03000348; www.clinicaltrials.gov

The Mahdi's Legal Methodology as a Mechanism for Adapting the Sharî'a in the Sudan to Political and Social Purposes

Muhammad Ahmad b. 'Abd Alläh (mieux connu sous le nom de Muhammad al-Mahdî) dirigea, à la fin du XIXe siècle, un mouvement politico-religieux de renouveau de l'islam (Mahdiyya). L'aptitude du Mahdi à consolider une théocratie radicale au sein d'une société gérée par des coutumes tribales était dépendante des capacités d'adaptation de la charia orthodoxe aux événements que la coutume ne pouvait manquer de rencontrer et à permettre à son leader charismatique de manœuvrer en vue de résoudre les problèmes politiques et sociaux qui se posent quotidiennement au sein d'une théocratie.Pour y parvenir, le Mahdi mit en place un système législatif unique en son genre lui assurant une autorité illimitée pour établir les règles sans la moindre contrainte institutionnelle provenant des oulémas orthodoxes. Il abolit toutes les écoles juridiques (les madhhab-s) pour reconnaître trois sources de la loi : la Sunna du Prophète, le Coran et sa propre inspiration (ilhâm), que le Prophète lui avait attribuée, l'ijtihâd duMahdi n'a donc rien à voir avec l'ijtihâd classique.L'application de ce système législatif permit au Mahdi d'introduire des innovations dont certaines étaient bien loin de la charia orthodoxe. Cet article analyse quelques-unes de ces innovations dans différents domaines du droit musulman, élaborées en fonction du projet du Mahdi. Il est basé sur un corpus de plus d'un millier de documents produits par le Mahdi depuis son émergence en 1881 à sa mort en 1885.Muhammad Ahmad b. 'Abd Allâh (best known as Muhammad al-Mahdî) headed a religious-political movement for the revival and reform of Islam (Mah-diyya) in the late 19th century. The success of the Mahdi's endeavour to consolidate a radical theocracy in a society well-entrenched in tribal customary law was dependent on the transformation of orthodox shan'a to the extent that was necessary to meet custom half-way and to enable a charismatic leader enough room to manœuvre to solve daily political and social problems arising within a theocracy.For this purpose, the Mahdi created a unique legal methodology that provided him with unlimited authority to enact legal rules without any institutional restriction on the part of the orthodox 'ulamâ'. He abolished all schools of law (madhâhib) and acknowledged three sources of law : the Prophetic sunna, the Quran and inspiration (ilhâm) transmitted to him by the prophet Muhammad. The Mahdi's version of ijtihâd is not compatible with classical theory.The application of his legal methodology enabled the Mahdi to introduce innovations, some of which were far-reaching deviations from orthodox sharî'a. This essay analyses some of these innovations in various domains of Islamic law arranged according to goals promoted by the Mahdi. It is based on a small sample out of more than 1,000 legal documents issued by the Mahdi from the time of his manifestation in 1881 until his death in 1885