Volume 7: Shaping Global Islamic Discourses : The Role of al-Azhar, al-Medina and al-Mustafa

Claims abound that Saudi oil money is fueling Salafi Islam in cultural and geographical terrains as disparate as the remote hamlets of the Swat valley in Pakistan and sprawling megacities such as Jakarta. In a similar manner, it is often regarded as a fact that Iran and the Sunni Arab states are fighting proxy wars in foreign lands. This empirically grounded study challenges the assumptions prevalent within academic as well as policy circles about the hegemonic power of such Islamic discourses and movements to penetrate all Muslim communities and societies. Through case studies of academic institutions, the volume illustrates how transmission of ideas is an extremely complex process, and that the outcome of such efforts depends not just on the strategies adopted by backers of those ideologies but equally on the characteristics of the receipt communities. In order to understand this complex interaction between global and local Islam and the plurality in outcomes, the volume focuses on the workings of three universities with global outreach (Al-Azhar University in Egypt, International Islamic University of Medina in Saudi Arabia, and Al-Mustafa International University in Iran) whose graduating students carry the ideas acquired during their education back to their own countries, along with, in some cases, a zeal to reform their home society. Masooda Bano is Associate Professor and University Research Lecturer at the Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford; Keiko Sakurai is Professor at the Faculty of International Research and Education, School of International Liberal Studies, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.https://ecommons.aku.edu/uk_ismc_series_emc/1008/thumbnail.jp

Les madrasas chiites afghanes à l’aune iranienne : anthropologie d’une dépendance religieuse

En tant qu’institutions sociales, les madrasas doivent être analysées dans leur rapport au changement social, économique et politique, et dans leur relation de complémentarité avec l’enseignement public dont elles reproduisent l’organisation bureaucratique. Dans le cas de l’Afghanistan, elles sont en particulier indissociables de la guerre et de ses conséquences, telles que l’émigration et la recomposition des appartenances ethnoconfessionnelles. Financées et gérées par la diaspora, elles permettent à la minorité chiite, notamment hazara, de renégocier sa place dans l’Etat central et de contrebalancer la domination pachtoune. Elles participent également à la scolarisation des jeunes filles ou d’élèves issus de milieux défavorisés. La dépendance de l’enseignement religieux chiite afghan par rapport au clergé iranien constitue de ce double point de vue une ressource organisationnelle, théologique, financière et symbolique. Mais elle va de pair avec un processus de réinvention du modèle iranien et d’autonomisation par rapport à celui-ci qui devrait conduire, dans l’esprit des autorités religieuses, à l’émergence d’un chiisme national afghan dont Kaboul ambitionne d’être la capitale spirituelle. L’interaction asymétrique irano-afghane illustre la pertinence de la notion de « dépendance religieuse ».As a social institution, the madras must be analyzed in terms of their relationship to social, econmomic and political change and to the public educational system whose bureaucratic organization they have copied. In the case of Afghanistan they cannot be disassociated from the war and its consequences, such as emigration and the reconstitution of ethno-religious affiliations. Financed and run by the diaspora, they enable the Shiite minority, notably Hazara, to reestablish itself in the central State and to provide a counterweight to the Pachtoune domination. They also contribute to the education of girls and children from disfavored social classes. The dependeance of Shiite education in Afghanistan on the Iranian clergy has organizational, theological, financial and symbolique benefits. But it is accompanied by a reinvention of, and separation from, the Iranian model which should, in the minds of the religous authorities, lead to a national schism in Afghanistan of which Kaboul hopes to be the spiritual capital. The asymetric Irano-Afghan interaction illustrates the relevance of the notion of « religous dependence »

Prevalence of virulence factors in Staphylococcus intermedius isolates from dogs and pigeons

BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus intermedius has been isolated from healthy dogs and pigeons as well as diseased dogs. Similar to Staphylococcus aureus, S. intermedius is known to carry many virulence factors but most of these factors remain to be studied. In this study, we examined 106 S. intermedius isolates (44 dog isolates and 62 pigeon isolates) for their hemolytic activity, biofilm formation, protease activity, and clumping factor and protein A production. RESULTS: Forty-three dog isolates (97.7%) and all pigeon isolates were hemolytic on sheep RBCs with a mean hemolytic titer of 336.7 and 47.32, respectively, whereas 43 dog isolates (97.7%) and 11 pigeon isolates (17.7%) exhibited a significant difference in their hemolytic activity on rabbit RBCs with a mean hemolytic titer of 11.04 and 3.76, respectively (p < 0.0005). The mean biofilm formation activity for dog isolates was 0.49, which was significantly higher than that (0.33) for pigeon isolates (p < 0.0005). Twenty-four dog isolates (54.5%) and 11 pigeon isolates (17.7%) were protease positive. Twenty-four dog isolates (54.5%) were clumping factor- and protein A- positive. CONCLUSION: S. intermedius strains carrying the virulence factors examined in this study were more prevalent in dogs than pigeons

Preventive effect of fermented brown rice and rice bran on spontaneous type 1 diabetes in NOD female mice

Consumption of brown rice and rice bran fermented with Aspergillus oryzae (FBRA) suppresses spontaneously occurring diabetes in female NOD mouse. While control diet-fed mice showed glucosuria and hyperglycemia at around 20 week of age and the ratio reached to 57% at 30 weeks of age, the ratio did not increase in the 0.5% FBRA-containing diet-fed group. The FBRA-fed group at 30 weeks of age kept higher ratio of intact islets and showed significantly lower insulitis score compared to the control diet group, with dose-dependency from 0.25% to 0.5% dietary concentration of FBRA. The percentage of diabetic mice was significantly lower at 24 weeks of age as compared to the control group (p = 0.01, log rank test). These results indicate that the suppressive effects of dietary administration of 0.5% FBRA in delaying the spontaneous onset of diabetes in NOD mice is probably achieved by maintaining the number of intact islets

Follow-up nationwide survey on predictive genetic testing for late-onset hereditary neurological diseases in Japan

A follow-up nationwide survey on predictive genetic testing for late-onset neurological diseases in Japan was conducted. A questionnaire was sent to 89 institutional members of the Japan's National Liaison Council for Clinical Sections of Medical Genetics, and was returned by 60 (67.4%). A total of 301 clients with an interest in predictive testing were accumulated from April 2006 to March 2011. The greatest interest was shown for spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD, n = 110), followed by myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1, n = 69), Huntington's disease (HD, n = 52) and familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP, n = 35). The ratios of clients who actually underwent predictive testing were: SCD, 21.8%; DM1, 39.1%; HD, 26.9%; and FAP, 74.3%, indicating that predictive testing was conducted very cautiously for untreatable neurological diseases in Japan. Clinical geneticists were predominantly involved in genetic counseling, whereas the participation of non-medical doctor (non-MD) staff, including nurses, clinical psychologists and genetic counselors, was not common. Lack of non-MD counseling staff was one of the most serious issues in conducting predictive testing, which has not been improved since the previous survey performed in 2006. Institutional arrangements, such as revision of medical insurance system regarding genetic testing and counseling, might be necessary to resolve this issue.ArticleJOURNAL OF HUMAN GENETICS. 58(8):560-563 (2013)journal articl