The aim of this paper is to find how much AI can be useful or as an aid in developing listening skill. A review has been made to past studies as well as the recent developments and innovations made by linguists and teaching community, yielding relevant observations. The present writing is an attempt at exhibiting how much the latest technology is effective which has been tailor-made to suit determined purpose directed at developing the listening skills of EFL learners. It is (...) well established being significant and continues to gain importance in serving needs of education, sparking interest among students and teachers, the latter for innovating delivery of lessons. Teaching EFL college level students uses English as the medium of instruction for language teaching subjects. It is, however, noticed that difficulties crop up at school, where the students use native language for learning syllabi-related subjects, and where it is noticed that there is low comprehension capacity in the learners that needs to be pushed up to learn second language with success. The present research effort has brought to light the difficulties experienced by students in English learning as they struggle to reach a reasonable level of learning with success. This is despite there being other materials to use where old/traditional system is otherwise thought adequate. Modern approaches were brought into use by which AI-powered tools have removed difficulties they used to experience learning the traditional way resorting to written prescribed books; they experienced that books were monotonous and boring. The researchers made quite a few studies in different educational institutions and recognized the ability of AI aided media to make listening skill learning and teaching of English interesting and easy. AI has enabled educators to develop material and make it user-friendly and student-oriented for facilitating language learning easy. Language Listening builds enhanced capacity enabling EFL students to hear sounds of words of English using AI-aided tools. The present paper has discovered the utility of modern virtual tools as significant in facilitating learners’ success in developed listening skill. Tools which are created using AI have proved very help as they extend tremendous help in increasing and developing practical listening skills of not only the teachers but also, and primarily, the EFL students. (shrink)

This study contributes to the limited literature on VAT’s impact on student populations by assessing the financial strain on university students in Oman. The research provides novel insights into policymaking, suggesting VAT exemptions for essential educational goods and proposing financial literacy programs for mitigating the adverse effects of VAT which employs chi-square tests and regression analysis to quantify the financial effects of VAT on students' purchasing behavior, revealing that VAT negatively impacts purchasing power with a statistically significant p-value (< 0.05). (...) The findings highlight substantial financial strain on students, particularly those in lower-income brackets, prompting policy recommendations for VAT exemptions on essential educational goods and the inclusion of financial literacy programs aimed at helping students mitigate the tax's adverse effects. This study evaluates the financial implications of the Value Added Tax (VAT) introduced in Oman in 2021, focusing on its impact on consumer behavior among university students at A’sharqiyah University. Utilizing a quantitative methodology, including chi-square tests and regression analysis, and a sample of 53 students, the research investigates the effects of VAT on purchasing power and consumption patterns. The findings demonstrate a significant disruption to students' financial capacity, with the majority reporting challenges in affording essential educational materials. By contributing to the limited body of literature on VAT’s effects on low-income populations, this study provides valuable insights into how students rationalize their consumption and cope with increased financial strain. Policy recommendations include VAT exemptions for educational goods and the implementation of comprehensive financial literacy programs to help vulnerable groups manage the tax's adverse effects. (shrink)

Accurate and reliable prediction of Perfobond Rib Shear Strength Connector is considered as a major issue in the structural engineering sector. Besides, selecting the most significant variables that have a major influence on PRSC in every important step for attaining economic and more accurate predictive models, this study investigates the capacity of deep learning neural network for shear strength prediction of PRSC. The proposed DLNN model is validated against support vector regression, artificial neural network, and M5 tree model. In the (...) second scenario, a comparable AI model hybridized with genetic algorithm as a robust bioinspired optimization approach for optimizing the related predictors for the PRSC is proposed. Hybridizing AI models with GA as a selector tool is an attempt to acquire the best accuracy of predictions with the fewest possible related parameters. In accordance with quantitative analysis, it can be observed that the GA-DLNN models required only 7 input parameters and yielded the best prediction accuracy with highest correlation coefficient and lowest value root mean square error. However, the other comparable models such as GA-M5Tree, GA-ANN, and GA-SVR required 10 input parameters to obtain a relatively acceptable level of accuracy. Employing GA as a feature parameter selection technique improves the precision of almost all hybrid models by optimally removing redundant variables which decrease the efficiency of the model. (shrink)

Abdullah Al-Nadim is one of the most important intellectual and political figures in modern Egyptian history. He played a major role in all significant stages of the Egypt nineteenth century. He was called "the orator of the revolution." He left his mark on various aspects of Arab social, political, and cultural life and awareness. So now it is very important to study and analyze his intellectual legacy, especially in contemporary circumstances, in which we see the rise of the new barbarism (...) of various primitive religious Salafism. Abdullah Al-Nadim was one of the fine examples of the free intellectual. He committed to issues of society, national Idea, freedom, and progress. This study aims to trace the emergence and development of political, social, and literary ideas of Abdullah Al-Nadim. In their outcome, these ideas were the outcome of the Egyptian social, political, and national struggle against Ottoman despotism and its ruined remnants in the historical existence at that time. In his research and positions, critical and satirical ideas, precise clarity, depth, and loyalty to the truth and the nation's supreme interests are united. His creativity was a model for critical vision and mockery of the remnants of a collapsing world. He sought in all his works for alternatives to development and social progress, calling for modern civilization and freedom. His defense of women, their rights, and freedom was among the most dramatic at that time. Abdullah Al-Nadim sacrificed himself for these endeavors and goals. But at the same time, he revealed the possibility of synthesizing the poetic spirit and truth in theoretical and practical creativity. They are the issues and aspects that form the focus of this research. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Diacritics 30.4 (2000) 102-122 [Access article in PDF] How To Tell a Mestizo from an Enchirito® Colonialism and National Culture in the Borderlands Michael Hames-garcia I began to think, "Yes, I'm a chicana but that's not all I am. Yes, I'm a woman but that's not all I am. Yes, I'm a dyke but that doesn't define all of me. Yes, I come from working class origins, but I'm (...) no longer working class. Yes, I come from a mestizaje, but which parts of that mestizaje get privileged? Only the Spanish, not the Indian or black." I started to think in terms of mestiza consciousness. What happens to people like me who are in between all of these different categories? What does that do to one's concept of nationalism, of race, ethnicity, and even gender? I was trying to articulate and create a theory of a Borderlands existence.... I had to, for myself, figure out some other term that would describe a more porous nationalism, opened up to other categories of identity. —Gloria E. Anzaldúa, InterviewsOne of the most crucial questions facing leftist activists and intellectuals today is the question of nationalism and its relation to liberation struggles. 1 A century ago, the period [End Page 102] of nation-state consolidation in Europe seemed to come to an end with the unification of Germany and Italy. European leftists of the era tended to address "the national question" primarily with regard to those European nations that were shut out or suppressed by nation-state formation. Debates about national culture resurfaced in a revolutionary context when independence movements swept Africa and Asia during and after World War II, and a substantial body of literature attempting to integrate anticolonial struggle, national liberation, and socialism arose from the capitalist "periphery." Much of this literature, and the wars for independence out of which it grew, adapted the language of nationalism to its own purposes. These movements gave new hope that national liberation struggles would prove compatible with greater human freedom and equality. Despite that hope, the destructive effects of nationalism are today visible everywhere: for example, the devastating wars in the Balkans, the repression of indigenous peoples by national bourgeoisie throughout the Americas, religious-national strife between Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka, the vertiginous intensification of national chauvinism in the United States, Western Europe, and Australia. Simultaneously, and in the context of feminist criticisms of nationalism [see, for example, Chatterjee, Nation; Lutz et al.; Mosse], attempts to unite the struggle to liberate "the nation" from colonial or neocolonial domination with progressive struggles against capitalist exploitation and against sexual- and gender-based domination continue [see, for example, Trask]. In Latin America, anticapitalist struggles lauded by Western socialists regularly take the form of national liberation struggles, such as the EZLN (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional [Zapatist National Liberation Army]) in Mexico and the FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional [Sandinist National Liberation Front]) in Nicaragua. Additionally, lesbian and gay activists and theorists in the United States have frequently sought to appropriate nationalist rhetoric even as black and Chicano nationalist movements have been on the decline [see, for example, Berlant and Freeman; Moraga 145-74].Debates about anticolonial struggle and "Third World" nationalism may seem at first to be an odd context into which to introduce the work of Gloria Anzaldúa. Critical writing on Anzaldúa's work has tended not to consider its relevance to debates on the relations among capitalism, colonialism, and national culture. 2 Instead, her major work, Borderlands/La Frontera, is usually discussed (or, more often than not, simply cited) as a contribution to feminist and antiracist discussions about the construction of the self within multiple contexts of domination and about that self's resistance to oppression and struggle for recognition. 3 While acknowledging the importance of Anzaldúa's contributions to these discussions, this essay examines Borderlands as offering a forward-looking alternative to nationalism, specifically, to Chicano cultural nationalist positions articulated during the... (shrink)

Due to the tremendous progress in technology and the methods used in its application to facilitate and refine human's life, Intelligent Tutoring System was created to contribute in this era. In this study, the Intelligent Tutoring System was adopted as a platform in linking the complex Technological fields for obtaining information smoothly, and highlighting the importance of water issues and in the Gaza strip. In the light of the absence and inability of the formal education system to raise awareness of (...) the water crisis and its consequences on the daily life of the Gazans, the current Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) has been utilized to disseminate knowledge and enhance awareness of water problems. The ITS aims to embrace a new water conservation practices and ensure the sustainability of fresh water. Basically the software of the tutoring system is used to create a program which could be easily used by the public population and specialists in the water field. The resulting program was fed with plenty of information about the current local water status and its related problems which are considerably useful for anyone interested to raise his/her level of knowledge and awareness about the local water status in addition to the researchers by reducing their dependency on human sources. The ITS system was presented to two groups of people: The first one consists of specialized water experts and the other consists of master student enrolled in Institute of Water and Environment in Al-Azhar University in Gaza who are interested in water problems. Both groups were requested to use the final version of the system and give their feedback by filling a questionnaire, and then the averages of the answered questions were measured for each group. It was found that the overall impressions of the users were positive. (shrink)

This paper examines the Bahāʾī philosophy with all its religious values and humanitarian practices to assess their relevance to the modern times. The rationale behind the choice of this subject was to find out whether the Bahāʾī philosophy could be yet another force and potential ideology to offer a solution to modern time challenges that are faced globally. Using a qualitative research design, the data was collected through a content analysis and close reading of Bahāʾī scriptures, tablets, letters and other (...) library sources. A close study of the Bahāʾī doctrines, values and faith revealed that the Bahāʾī philosophy extended the message of uniting the whole humanity by uniting all religions and sects, despite their apparent differences. All religions, according to the Bahāʾī faith, are manifestations of God and work towards an identical and universal divine plan to educate the human race. The social ethics of the Bahāʾīs emphasized upon the “oneness of humanity”, abolition of racial discrimination, class distinction, and religious prejudices, without any need of priesthood or rigid rituals of worshipping. If implemented and complied universally in principle, the Bahāʾī philosophy could be one of the potential ideologies to resolve the racial and religious conflicts. (shrink)

The two significant zoonotic bacterial infections that have remained a concern due to the complex dynamics involved in transmission and global prevalence are anthrax and brucellosis. The present paper attempts to address some of the most important zoonotic pathogens, highlighting their epidemiology, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention strategies. Anthrax is largely transmitted through direct contact with the infected animals or their products resulting in cutaneous, inhalational, and gastrointestinal forms, all with specific clinical outcomes and approaches for treatment. Similarly, the (...) genus Brucella primarily transmits brucellosis to humans by occupational exposure and consumption of contaminated animal products. Its presentation may be acute, chronic, or in relapse. Diagnosis is made by a combination of serological, molecular, and culture-based techniques, while the treatment focuses on antimicrobial regimens specific to the pathogen. However, this increases the problem of antimicrobial resistance, which makes their effective management challenging, necessitating an integrated approach. Mitigating risks through biosecurity measures, vaccination, public health education, and a One Health approach that includes human, animal, and environmental health, all facilitate prevention and control of an outbreak. Advanced surveillance and diagnostic technologies further support the prompt interventions to contain outbreaks. It then goes on to highlight the importance of interdisciplinarity for decreasing the global burden of zoonotic bacterial diseases. (shrink)

The _Epic of Gilgamesh_, a 3600-year 12-tablet collection, was looted from an Iraqi museum during the 1991 Gulf War, and fraudulently imported into the United States. In September, 2021, UNESCO facilitated its repatriation to Iraq, which is seen as an occasion to consolidate Iraq’s efforts to rebuild its legacy, since the _Epic of Gilgamesh_ is of immense cultural, historical and religious value for Iraq The current study examines the _Epic of Gilgamesh_ in the light of the ancient Sumerian and Akkadian (...) traditions. This collection of tablets carries a great legacy of the contemporary Babylonian and Mesopotamian beliefs and socio-religious values, also evident in the use of cuneiform and clay tablets, being ancient forms of writings. The study made use of content analysis and historical and analytical approaches to retrieve data through a documentation research design. The study found that the _Epic of Gilgamesh_ is not only a work of religious literature, but a treatise on civilization. On one hand it narrates the stories engrained in the Mesopotamian mythology, such as those of Ninsun, Shamash and Utnapishtim; on the other hand, owing to its content, literary style and tone, characterization and symbolism, this study would be a great contribution to relive the story of Gilgamesh from current literary, and socio-religious perspective and provide a comprehensive account of the legacy and inheritance that it brings in for the modern generation. (shrink)

In the target article, Bowers et al. dispute deep artificial neural network (ANN) models as the currently leading models of human vision without producing alternatives. They eschew the use of public benchmarking platforms to compare vision models with the brain and behavior, and they advocate for a fragmented, phenomenon-specific modeling approach. These are unconstructive to scientific progress. We outline how the Brain-Score community is moving forward to add new model-to-human comparisons to its community-transparent suite of benchmarks.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of radiologists and paramedics regarding accident and emergency preparedness in hospitals in the southern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and how to improve their role. Materials and methods: This was a descriptive, cross‑sectional online survey that was carried out among radiologists and paramedics in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A self-structured, close-ended questionnaire that was administered that consisted of 19 questions was included. The questionnaire (...) validity and reliability were evaluated for vetting and remarks. The questions were circulated through Google Forms, and it was circulated among the study participants through online mode. The data were collected systematically, and SPSS Statistics version 26.0 was used for data analysis Results: There were 139 responses, (77 specialist's radiology and 62 paramedics) participated in the study through Google Forms. In the study group, 84 (61.4%) were know the main steps for emergency response in major emergencies (p-value 0.000). Among the 19 questions used to assess the KAP, 12 questions were significant with a p-value less than 0.05. More than 72.6% agree the Management must be adequately prepared when emergencies and accidents occur. The respondents’ attitude toward emergency preparedness was generally positiveو Only a minority, that is, 43 (30.9%) of the respondents think it is possible for cooperation between radiologists and paramedics to interpret emergency cases and develop treatment plans in the emergency department. Conclusion: The level of knowledge was satisfactory among the radiologists and paramedics with a neutral level of attitudes, practice and knowledge regarding disaster preparedness. Follow-up research is essential to maximize the preparedness of the accident and emergency department. (shrink)

In their paper “Should Methodological Naturalists Commit to Metaphysical Naturalism?” Zargar et al. try to show that the correct answer to the question that the title of their paper poses is positive. They argue that methodological naturalism has a metaphysical presupposition, namely causal closure, and an epistemological consequence, namely evidentialism. Causal closure and evidentialism imply metaphysical naturalism. Thus, they conclude, one who believes in methodological naturalism should also endorse causal closure, evidentialism, and metaphysical naturalism as a result. In this paper, (...) I criticize their argument and argue that it is deficient in (at least) two different ways. First, what they consider to be methodological naturalism is in fact a strawman: that is another – more radical – thesis that may be called methodological anti-supernaturalism. Second, and most importantly, even methodological anti-supernaturalism does not in essence need causal closure for its justification. Then, methodological naturalists are not required to adhere to causal closure or metaphysical naturalism. (shrink)

Los estudios modernos sobre derecho islámico han puesto de relieve la necesidad de estudiar los procedimientos jurídicos en el Islam y el papel desempeñado por la práctica judicial en su formación. Se considera en general que, en el período temprano, los cadíes disponían de mayor libertad en lo relativo a testigos y métodos para establecer pruebas. Posteriormente y de forma gradual el sistema se volvió más rígido y restrictivo. En relación a este desarrollo, los investigadores han propuesto distintas fechas, que (...) van desde la segunda mitad del siglo VII hasta el siglo VIII e incluso hasta el siglo XI. Estos investigadores han tratado la doctrina de al-yamīn ma‛ al-šàhid como una excepción dentro del procedimiento establecido por la šarī‛a que, según ellos, se basaba estricta y mecánicamente en la doctrina de los dos testigos. Para dichos investigadores, la doctrina de al-yamīn ma‛ al-šàhid surgió bajo la influencia de determinadas locadidades o bien por influencia judía. Este artículo propone que esa doctrina debió de surgir en el contexto del período de la guerra civil, cuando las cuestiones sobre qiṣāṣ, qawad, qasāma y ḥakam fueron discutidas con frecuencia en relación con el Corán y la sunna común y cuando se sintió la necesidad de reformar la institución del ḥakam. Sobre la base de afirmaciones dispersas de ulemas que vivieron en fechas cercanas a ese período, afirmaciones que se ven confirmadas por los comentarios de Wakī‛, se concluye que Mu‛āwiya fue quien introdujo ese método para reformar la institución del ḥakam. La práctica judicial de esta doctrina también confirma que estaba demasiado difundida como para poder considerarla una práctica medinense o una práctica local, tal y como pretenden algunos juristas clásicos, los tradicionistas y algunos investigadores modernos. (shrink)

Hadiths that have been discussed in this paper consist of narrations regarding divine attributes and having some problematic meanings between supporters of Bişr al-Marīsī and ʿUthmān al-Dārimī. These narrations were mostly accepted denounced (munkar) by Bişr al-Marīsī and his sopporters due to having an anthropormophist and corporealist content about God. They rejected divine attributes according to their understanding of God based on incomparability (tanzīh) which provided by Mutazilite approach towards divine attributes even though they conveyed some features of Ahl al-Ra’y. (...) They found contradicted of attributing human features to God based on their tanzīh understanding, therefore, they interpreted such this kind of narra-tions in terms of their approach or rejected at all. At the other hand, a hard Hadith scholar Uth-man al-Darimi believed that one should accept divine attributes as they are in the Qur’an and Sunna. According to his belief, he considered the explicit meanings of the narrations without interpretation of divine attributes, and based on his perpective he denied Bişr al-Marīsī and his supporters’ interpretations claiming they would cause divesting God of all attributes (ta‘tīl). He argues that these narrations should be taken into considerations based on their explicit mea-nings. The discussions on these hadiths are important due to showing different approaches of scholars from the schools of Ahl al-Ra’y and the ones from Ahl al-Hadith towards the hadith du-ring the period when the main Hadith works were collected. Discussions on the narrations stu-died in this paper reveal two schools’ understandings of divine issues, their approaches to divi-ne attributes, as well inform us their perspectives of hadith in general.Summary: The present paper examines the debates between ʿUthmān al-Dārimī (d. 280/894) and the supporters of Bishr al-Marīsī (d. 218/833) on the divine attributes mentioned in some hadiths in the period when the main hadith books were composed (i.e., III/IXth century). These debates that took place between the scholars of Ahl al-Hadith and Ahl al-Ra’y concern the un-derstanding and interpretation of the hadiths in a certain way.It could be stated that the debates focus on how the hadiths should be understood, or whether it is the explicit meaning of the words or the possible methaphorical meanings beyond them that should be considered.It is worth briefly introducing the parties who discussed the hadiths studied here. The aforementioned discussions about some hadith narrations are between the supporters of Bishr al-Marīsī and ʿUthmān al-Dārimī, one of the important figures of the Ahl al-Hadith who wrote a separate work on these hadiths. This work was written as a rejection of the views of Bishr al-Marīsī and his two students on the attributes of God and some issues regarding hadith.Bishr al-Marīsī was regarded as an important scholar of Kalam who received fiqh education from Abū Yūsuf (d. 182/798). He is a scholar of Ahl al-Ra’y who made scientific dis-cussions with many scholars including Imam al-Shafiʿī (d. 204/820). He was on the council of the Caliph Al-Mamūn (d. 218/833) and had a significant role in the adoption of the idea of the createdness of the Qurʾān (khalq al-Qurʾān).Uthmān al-Dārimī,on the other hand, was a scholar of Ahl al-Hadith who learned ha-dith from the authorities of his era such as Yaḥyā b. Maʿīn (d. 233/847), ʿAlī b. al-Madīnī (d. 234/848), Isḥāq b. Rāhawayh (d. 237/851), and Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal (d. 241/855). Having visited all the important cities for the training of hadith, he learned the hadiths and conveyed them.With the understanding of proving the divine attributes and the opposition of the misin-terpretation of the narratives related to them, the groups advocating the appropriation of these lines in accordance with the understanding of incomparability (tanzīh) have complied the works since the first period. According to ʿUthmān al-Dārimī, the rejection of the divine attributes by Mu'tazila was influential in the emergence of the criticism literature of the Ahl al-Hadith and many authors wrote works in this direction.Regarding a narration by Abū Hurayra, an opponent reports that this narration gives the impression that God has the eyes and ears as we know. ʿUthmān al-Dārimī reports that this hadith proves sight and hearing not the eyes and ear organs. He indicates that God has no like by no means. Therefore, it is slanderous to refer the claim that Allah is made of organs to the Ahl al-Hadith. Abū Dāwūd states that with this hadith the attributes of sight and hearing for God are proved and Jahmiyya’s denial of the divine attributes are rejected.The opponent also considered Abū Hurayra's narration referring to the Prophet: "Faith is from Yemen, wisdom is from Yemen! I feel the breath of your Lord from Yemen!" as denounced (munkar). Because, according to Bishr al-Marīsī and his companions, breath can only come from those with an abdominal cavity, and Allah is free from it. According to ʿUthmān al-Dārimī, the opponent misunderstood. What is meant here is the wind that blows from Yemen and comforts people. In the context of this narration, we see that supporters of Bishr al-Marīsī evaluate the narrative literally, while ʿUthmān al-Dārimī interpret the narrative.Regarding the narration, "You can not approach Allah with something more virtuous than what comes out of it (the Qur'ān)" Ibn al-Saljī reports that Mushabbiha understands this as one with an abdominal cavity and from whom speech comes out. This understanding is in-valid since God is "samad" in the sense that He has no void. With this hadith, it is meant that the Qur'ān comes out of Allah’s presence rather than Allah. According to ʿUthmān al-Dārimī, the real aim of Ibn al-Saljī is to deny God's attribute of speech. There is no doubt that the Qur'ān comes from Him, and those who do not accept it merely deny His attribute of speech.Attributed to Ibn Abbas; The meaning of "yamīn Allah" (the right hand of Allah) in narration "Black Stone (al-ḥajar al-aswad) is the right hand of Allah on earth, handshakes with the people" is not the right hand that we know according to Ibn al-Saljī, it is blessing and grace of Allah. According to ʿUthmān al-Dārimī, who acknowledges that Black Stone is not meant to be a hand, the purpose of Ibn al-Saljī is to deny the two hands mentioned in the verses and ha-diths about Allah with invalid interpretations.ʿUthmān al-Dārimī, who criticized that Ibn al-Saljī quoted from another narration which Ibn Abbās heard from the Prophet, says that such poor narrations should not be spread. In addition, he points out that Ibn al-Saljī's interpretation is ugly and he criticizes it. Because Allah who is mentioned in the narrative is depicted as a young man with curly hair in a green suit. Such a narration is also an untrustworthy narration as it contradicts the authentic narrations of the Prophet. ʿUthmān al-Dārimī, who made this assessment of the narration, rejects the com-ments that the opponent made about the narration. According to the opponent, the phrase "I have come to Allah" means "to come into the presence of Allah in the Garden of Eden." Accor-ding to ʿUthmān al-Dārimī’s understanding, such complicated hadiths should not be only narra-ted.About the narration that are based on the Prophet and he does not know the answer to what he has come to know of himself, then he feels the coolness of his fingers as he puts his hand on his back and learns everything, the opponent evaluates the following: He was not Allah who came to the Prophet, but a well-behaved angel who was being directed by Allah and he was the angel who put his hand. ʿUthmān al-Dārimī rejects this interpretation of that oppo-nent. This comment is also contrary to other authentic hadiths. After he refused to the com-ment of the opponent about relevant narration, ʿUthmān al-Dārimī stated that he could not trust this comment on the basis of the authentic narrations he mentioned.Salaf scholars have preferred to be silent in this regard, as it is seen among the most difficult subjects to talk about divine attributes. However, subsequent generations have held dif-ferent paths in this regard. The basic approaches to understanding the divine attributes can be summarized in three main titles: tafwīd, tashbīh, and ta’wīl. Tafwīd is the path adopted by the early salaf scholars and means to leaving the knowledge about Allah’s entity and attributes to His knowledge. Tashbīh means to compare Allah to the created or the created to Allah. Ta'wīl is to interpret the Qur'ānic verses and hadiths that give the impression that Allah is like the crea-tures with semantics and rational deduction. The ones who deny the adjectives are called as Muʿattila and those who prove their attributes are called as Sifatiyya. According to Ahl al-Ra’y, it is necessary to appropriately make interpretation (ta'wīl) of the attributes giving the impression of anthropomorphism in terms of the dictionary. In the divine attributes, Muʿtazila advoca-ted the incomparability (tanzīh), whereas Ashʿariyya and Māturīdiyya adopted interpretation in accordance with incomparability. Mushabbiha and the Wahhābī-Salafī understanding has also taken the expressions regarding divine attributes with their explicit meanings.The debate between the scholars who lived in the ages II/VIII and III/IX, when the most important works are composed in the science of hadith, is important in that it is the first turn. In addition to this, the debate also contains important information on the approach to the Qur'ānic verses and hadiths, in that it shows two basic approaches, one of which represents the school of Ahl al-Ra’y, and the other represents the school of Ahl al-Hadith.ʿUthmān al-Dārimī generally advocates adhering to the explicit meaning of the narra-tion, while Bishr al-Marīsī and his companions criticize the narration labeling it as denied (mun-kar) or making an interpretation. On rare occasions, the places where ʿUthmān al-Dārimī re-jects the narration and makes interpretation, or where Bishr al-Marīsī and his companions de-fend the narrative can be seen.Interpretations made by Bishr al-Marīsī on the problematic narratives have influenced on the next scholars. Alongside Muʿtazilite scholars such as al-Jubbāʾī (d. 303/916), Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār (d. 415/1024) and Abū l-Ḥusayn al-Baṣrī (d. 436/1044), his interpretations have been quoted by Sunni scholars such as al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111), Ibn ʿAqīl (d. 513/1119) and Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210).The fact that the truth can be put forward in the science of hadith, which is based on the narration, does not favor one of the "narration" and "ra’y", it should be kept in mind that both of these depend on the proper and balanced use of both. To reveal the truth, the narration is in need of the opinion and the opinion (ra’y) is in need of the narration. Narration and opinion sho-uld be seen as complementary elements, not each other's opponents. (shrink)

That Ibn Sīnā’s “Canon of medicine” figures among the major classics of the history of medicine is doubted by no serious historian of medicine, eastern or western, Islamic or non-Islamic alike. It is therefore all the more surprising that so far no serious critical edition of this text was available. Certainly, a first, very timid step toward a really critical edition was made at the Institute of the History of Medicine and Medical Research, under the direction of Hakeem Abdul Hameed. (...) It compared the four existing editions: Rome 1593; Būlāq 1877; Tehran 1878; and Lucknow 1905. In addition it used an ancient manuscript of Aya Sophia, dated 618, i. e. MS Aya Sophia 3686. With this new edition a further important step toward a full critical edition is made. Even if it is obvious that it does not yet present a “critical edition” in the full sense of the word, it has important merits. (shrink)

Being the largest Muslim country in the world, the conversation of Islam in Indonesian social media has grown to the distinctive opposite poles of belief among the Islamic communities. This study presents the discussions of theological selections among the application users, as evident from their contesting schools of thought. This study identifies the data by content analysis. It presents the information with the digital ethnography design by analyzing and interpreting data from online sources to identify themes, patterns, and trends. The (...) results show that social media greatly influences socio-religious development as religious organizations have responded to their participation in social media. The community then experienced social changes that prioritized relevant options in understanding religion according to their natural or developed preference, thus potentially creating an echo chamber. Some towering figures rise by the mobs with different proposals and will color the selection of Islamic ideology and views now and then. (shrink)

This study investigates the spatial distribution of industrial facilities within Dhi Qar Governorate. By analyzing geographical patterns, the research aims to identify clusters, hotspots, and potential areas for industrial development. The study utilizes geographic information systems (GIS) to visualize and analyze the distribution of industrial establishments across the governorate. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the industrial landscape, informing future planning and decision-making for economic development and resource allocation in Dhi Qar.

For quite a while homo religiosus has been marginalized and trivialized by homo techno-economicus, which gives more emphasis to the corporal and material dimensions of humanity. The negative effects of the techno-economicus paradigm engender the reemergence of homo ecologicus, which offers wisdom of life. Homo ecologicus has also been quite marginalized from the life of humanity. The reemergence of homo ecologicus, in turn, would give a new hope for the reemergence of the face of the homo religiosus, because of its (...) interrelated characteristics with the homo ecologicus. In fact, humans can be called homo eco-religiosus. The close tie between the two needs to be investigated more deeply with the help of philosophy. But, the philosophy we need is not just a Cartesian analytical philosophy, which means a merely intellectual exercise in the public domain. What we need is a philosophy as a philo sophia, love for wisdom, which will lead to an exercise of both feelings and soul in the private domain. Keywords: Homo techno-economicus (techno-economic humans), homo ecologicus (ecological humans), homo religiosus (religious humans), homo eco-religiosus (eco-religious humans), modernitas (modernitiy), religiositas (reli- giosity), filsafat (philosophy), cinta kebijaksanaan (love for wisdom), Henryk Skolimowski. (shrink)

Jeremy Rifkin argues that as we push further into the Information Age fewer and fewer workers will be needed to produce our goods and services. Rifkin predicts that the era of near workerless factories and virtual corporations looms on the horizon. As one wagcommentator put it: “The factory of the future will be staffed by only two living things, a man and a dog. The man’s job will be to feed thedog. The dog’s job will be to keep the man (...) from touching any of the machines!” In a world that is phasing out mass employment, asksRifkin, how do we find alternate ways for individuals to earn a living, find meaningful and creative outlets for expressions and establishtheir own sense of self-worth and identity? In other words, in the absence of work, how will we come to define ourselves? What will wedo with ourselves? How will we stay sane? (shrink)

The accuracy of financial data within electronic accounting information systems plays a vital role in improving business efficiency. This paper investigates how the accuracy of data on financial information systems moderates the relationship between these systems and business efficiency. A questionnaire survey was applied to a sample of companies that specialise in the field of accounting information systems. The gathered data was analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. To be precise, financial data accuracy shows a higher positive return (...) on electronic accounting information systems in the alignment of business capabilities. To achieve the highest possible level of automated accounting systems, financial information accuracy is crucial. Data analysis techniques and overall improvement of the accounting information systems industry can achieve this. (shrink)

"Al-Farabi of Baghdad (c. 870-950) is the first major representative of the medieval Arabic Aristotelianism which came to influence the Christian West so profoundly. In the Islamic world his writings on logic set the pattern for the future and virtually created Islamic philosophy. He is also important as a witness to the study of Aristotle in late antiquity, demonstrating a knowledge of Galen and the exegetical tradition of Porphyry. This translation is based on a fresh study of the Arabic manuscripts. (...) An introduction and notes make this intriguing document accessible to all for whom it contains important matter.Classicists, historians of philosophy and logic, medievalists, Arabists, students of Islamic thought."--. (shrink)

This study explores the role of community initiatives in fostering peaceful coexistence within UAE society through the lens of philosophical and religious perspectives. By employing a descriptive and analytical approach, the study examines how these initiatives contribute to the promotion of tolerance, social harmony, and interreligious dialogue in a diverse society. Data were drawn from official reports, statements from the UAE Ministry of Tolerance, and prior scholarly work. The findings indicate that community initiatives in the UAE have been instrumental in (...) cultivating a culture of tolerance and peaceful coexistence, transcending cultural and religious differences. These initiatives are distinguished by their inclusive nature, engaging various societal groups, and offering a range of diverse activities that promote mutual understanding and respect. The study concludes that the UAE has established a unique model for religious and cultural harmony through its community initiatives, which draws on both philosophical values and religious teachings. It recommends strengthening institutional cooperation and expanding public engagement in these initiatives to ensure their continued success. Furthermore, the integration of tolerance and peaceful coexistence into educational curricula is advised, fostering these values from an early age to instill them across generations. (shrink)

Calls to decolonise the curriculum gain traction across the academe. To a great extent, the movement echoes demands of the decolonisation era itself, a period from which academics draw both impetus and legitimacy. In this article, we examine the movement’s purchase when applied to the teaching of international law. We argue that the movement reinvigorates debates about the origins of international law, centring its violent foundations as well as its Eurocentric episteme. Yet, like many critical approaches toward international law, the (...) movement is smitten with itself and with the regime. As a consequence, the outcome of its activism and critique is predetermined: both must redeem the Eurocentrism of international law and its associated pedagogy. Calls to decolonise the curriculum ultimately validate the epistemological limitations inherent to a stratified, international order, failing to offer a genuine alternative framework or epistemology. (shrink)

This chapter examines whether, why and how fundamental powers of human reflexivity deserve fuller consideration by liberal egalitarian theories of justice. The discussion focuses on two reflexive powers. Firstly, social reflexivity which can broadly be defined as each person’s capacity to formulate, respond and act on the question: ‘how should I make my way through the social world?’ Secondly, political reflexivity which can broadly be defined as each person’s capacity to formulate, respond and act on the question: ‘how can we (...) steer society together?’ I discuss why each of these reflexive powers matters all the more in the context of a morphogenic society; to what extent they seem to be missing from key theories of justice; what other personal powers are required for the realisation of these forms of reflexivity; and what sort of organisations might be conducive to fostering these powers. (shrink)