Muhammad’s (Saw) Treatment of the Jewish Tribes: A Critique of Robert Spencer’s Views

It is incontrovertibly true that Islam advocates peaceful coexistence with the adherents of other creeds. The holy Qur’an, the primary source of Islamic Shari‘ah, vividly recommends freedom of conscience and religion. Similarly, the prophet (SAW), being the perfect role model for the entire humanity, preached and practiced the lofty ideals propounded by the holy Qur’an and peacefully coexisted with the followers of Judaism and Christianity. Furthermore, the four rightly guided caliphs exhibited tolerant attitude towards their Jews and Christian subjects. In the presence of these models, nonetheless, many contemporary critics of Islam are disinclined to admit this explicit reality. Robert Spencer also sees eye to eye with them. Robert Spencer is an American author and he has published twelve books. He is a member of Melkite Greek Catholic Church. He looks on Islam as a highly intolerant religion. In this connection, he singles out Muhammad’s (SAW) treatment of various Jewish tribes. He maintains that all Jewish tribes viz. Banu Na╔hir, Banu Qaiʽn┴q┐ʽ and Banu Qurai╔ah “received the wrath of Muhammad”. This brief study aims to prove that the treatment meted out to the Jews was not founded on religious prejudice and malice; it was rather commensurate with their wicked demeanor.

The Impacts of Teacher Absenteeism on Students? Performance at Public Secondary Schools; a Case Study in District Kech, Balochistan, Pakistan

Teacher absenteeism is a big dilemma in many educational institutions in Pakistan. The current work intends to extend our understanding of the causes of teacher absenteeism and the effects of absenteeism on students? performance at public secondary schools in district Kech (Turbat), Balochistan, Pakistan. The main purpose of the research was to find out the causes of teacher absenteeism and the effects of absenteeism on students? performance at public secondary schools of district Kech, Balochistan. This research adopted descriptive survey design to collect data from 10 headmasters, 5 headmistresses, 147 teachers and 646 students of Grade 9th and 10th from the public secondary schools of district Kech, Balochistan. For this research, 10 questionnaires for headmasters, 5 questionnaires for headmistresses and 147 for teachers were used as research instruments. In addition, 646 questionnaires for students of class 9th and 10th were also used as research instruments. and document analysis were used as research instruments as well. Reliability of the questionnaires was tested and enhanced coefficient of .876. Stratified sampling technique was used for selecting 10 males and 5 female public secondary schools out of 60 public secondary schools of district Kech, Balochistan. Random sampling technique was used for the selection of students and the purposive sampling technique was used to select teachers. Data were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The quantitative data were coded and analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentage in (SPSS) version 23.0. The study revealed that the teacher absenteeism has negative effects on students? performance. The study established that teachers illness, lack of regular supervision and assessment, high workload, teachers strike, teachers unions, other administrative duties, poor salaries, private business, attending test or interviews of other jobs, job dissatisfaction, lack of visit in schools by higher concern authorities, long distance or far from district education offices, lack of interest and non-availability of in-service teachers training, political approach ,poor infrastructure are the key causes of teachers absenteeism. In addition, this study also established that teacher absenteeism has negative effects on students? performance. The given course of the students cannot be completed. Low-grade marks in annual exams, the high dropout rate of students, violence among students in the classroom, poor performance, slow learning process, low quality of education are the effects of teacher?s absenteeism on students. This is also supported by this research that when a teacher is absent from the classroom, students learning is disrupted. When the teacher is repeatedly absent, students? performance can be significantly affected in a negative way. The results of the analysis also support the previous research findings that higher teacher absenteeism leads to lower student scores on standardized tests. The present study recommends that in order to reduce teacher absenteeism there is need to address the factors causing teachers absenteeism effectively. This research established that regular supervision, handsome salaries, good and conducive environment, adequate teachers, good infrastructure, guidance and counseling program, in-service teachers training can reduce the rate of teacher?s absenteeism in public secondary schools of district Kech, Balochistan. Moreover, Future teacher absenteeism studies also need to be conducted to identify the key determinants with more explanatory variables and computing the teacher absenteeism of the different level of schools in the entire Balochistan and in other parts of the country.