اسلام میں سد ذرائع کی اہمیت

The Islamic laws prevent us from the evil deeds. As well as, according to Shariah, it is permissible and sometimes even compulsory to save the believers from the actions that may lead them towards the banned activities. Therefore, the ruling of prohibition from these types of activities is called Sadd-e-Zaree’a. This is the principle extracted from the Quran and Sunnah. As Almighty Allah forbade the believers to say ‘Ra’ina’ because this word was used by Jews knowingly in a wrong manner with evil intentions, whereas, Muslims presented their requests by this same word in the highest court of The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for seeking easiness and relaxation in their concerned matters. As in Quran: O People who Believe, do not say (to the Prophet Mohammed- peace and blessings be upon him), " Ra’ina (Be considerate towards us)" but say, " Unzurna (Look mercifully upon us)", and listen attentively in the first place. [Baqarah 2: 104]. (To disrespect the Holy Prophet – peace and blessings be upon him – is blasphemy.) Another example by Hadith, in this regard, it is also evidenced by the good character of The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that sometimes He stopped himself intentionally from the permissible activities lest the common masses may involve in undesired activities on the basis of The Holy Prophet’s act. Concisely, keen consideration is required on rational basis when explaining the Shariah rulings of any matter. Otherwise, the beauty andbenefits of the Shariah may be lost. Consequently, to prevent from the future turmoil is actually the spirit of Sadd-e-Zaree’ah. As this is the actually basic need and prerequisite of Shariah. It saves and prevents its believers form expected turmoil. Therefore, if the risk of turmoil would trigger with committing the permissible activity it must be abandoned due to the risk of turmoil.

Marketing Chain of Cotton in the Punjab, Pakistan: Skills Gap Analysis of Stakeholders

Cotton is an important source of fiber used as main input in the textile industries throughout the world and it also has significant position in the world trade. Pakistan is 4th in terms of cotton production and 10th in terms of yield. From last few years in Pakistan, there is a serious decline in production of cotton due to untrained stakeholders. In the marketing chain of cotton in Pakistan, three stakeholders i.e. cotton growers, commission agents and ginners are the most important. The lower level of knowledge, skills, and attitude of the stakeholders results in less productivity and lower quality products. Ultimately, stakeholders get small returns due to which they lack competence and incentive to spend in technological upgradation of the cotton farming. This study addresses the skills gap of the stakeholders involved in marketing chain of cotton, constraints faced by the stakeholders and methods of bridging those gaps by providing better extension strategies. Multistage random sampling technique was used to select the study respondents. The total sample size of the study was four hundred respondents (300 cotton growers, 50 commission agents and 50 ginners). Separate interview schedules were prepared to collect the data from three types of respondents. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). It appeared that most of the cotton growers had skills gap in production practices, assessment of quality characteristics of cotton, control of factors involved in low production and quality, skills regarding value addition options, skills regarding management of marketing costs and skills gap regarding packing material. Commission agents had skills gap in assessment of quality characteristics of cotton, acquiring price information, labor and its costs management, transportation, storage, grading, packaging, control of losses, control of factors affecting price and quality of cotton. Ginners had skills gap in assessing quality characteristics of cotton, getting price information, managing operations involved in ginning process, management of problems, labor management, upgradation of machinery, business competitiveness, quality management, marketing strategies, knowledge of government policies, promotion of institutional linkages, transportation, storage, capacity of losses management, getting extension services, packing and acquisition of technical knowledge