Role of Islamic ethics in building the society.

Ismailites -Doctrines ; Assassins (Ismailites).

Ẓuhūr al-amān (The advent of security) is a book on civics published during the reign of Ammanullah Khan (1919-29) as amir of Afghanistan. The book's title pays homage to the name of Ammanullah Khan himself. In its treatment of the duties of the members of Afghan society to the ruler and to each other, Ẓuhūr al-amān appears to highlight the challenges faced by Ammanullah Khan in his efforts to modernize Afghanistan. The book is divided into more than 30 short chapters (...) describing the rights and responsibilities of the ruler, of persons living within a family unit, and of members of Afghan society as a whole. Some sections, such as one on the rights that are to be afforded to the king (ḥuquq-i lazima bar padishah), are further divided into subsections. The book begins with several chapters on religious matters, including those on tauhid (the unity of God), on ʻibada (worship), and on fahm-i sharīʻat-i rasūl ʻalayhi al-salām (the sharia). Ẓuhūr al-amān was published on October 11, 1923, by the then newly established Ministry of Education. The author of the work, a religious scholar by the name of ʻAbd al-Haqq, lists his father as ʻAbd al-ʻAziz from the village of Lower Arghanda in the township of Paghman, near Kabul. He highlights, as well, his tribal affiliation with the well-known Pushtun tribe of Suleimankhel. (shrink)

In this paper Iain McFadyen highlights a modern ethical dilemma. In each case the fetus was recognised to be in danger, but in both cases the advice given in the fetal interest was refused by the mothers. Both the mother and the physician were concerned for the fetus, but their differing actions and reasons pose the dilemma--who decides?

We acknowledge that empirical support for universal colour categories in colour cognition is insufficient: it relies too heavily on Rosch-Heider's work with the Dani. We offer new evidence supporting universal perceptual-cognitive colour categories. The same data also support language modulating colour-cognition: Universal structures are fine-tuned by language.

This article reports on the development and teaching of compulsory courses on ethics and engineering at Delft University of Technology (DUT). Attention is paid to the teaching goals, the educational setup and methods, the contents of the courses, involvement of staff from engineering schools, experiences to date, and challenges for the future. The choices made with respect to the development and teaching of the courses are placed within the European and Dutch context and are compared and contrasted with the American (...) situation and experiences. (shrink)

The issue is whether Christianity, of its nature, would seek to prevent a justifiable breach of confidentiality or could endorse it, under certain circumstances, as the act which is fundamentally more loving or more truthful. The individualistic nature of Western Christianity is noted. The Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer is used to show Christian support for dynamic rather than literal truth telling, and for awareness of the contexts and power relations within which persons stand.

The attractive format and readable style of this paperback might have proved useful to achieve the author's purpose of acquainting "the beginning student with the forest before he is hopelessly lost among the trees." But the material selected is restrictive, and Sprague prefers to be clever rather than just.--R. I.