الشفاء بتعریف حقوقِ مصطفیٰ ﷺ کا تعارفی و تجزیاتی مطالعہ An Analytical Study of the “Al-Shifā Ba Ta‘rīf-e-Ḥuqūq-e-Muṣṭafā”

The most prominent and living name among the African biographers is Qazi Ayaz Mālkī. His book “Al-Shifā Ba Ta‘rīf-e-Ḥuqūq-e-Muṣṭafā” has an important place in the books of Sīrah and also has the status of the most popular book among all kinds of people. This book is also called Kitab-e-Shifā (meaning the one who revives hearts and heals from heart diseases). The reason for writing this book was that the people were becoming oblivious to the obligatory status and virtues of the Holy Prophet ﷺ and were becoming completely incapable of paying their dues. In these circumstances, the demand for preparation and compilation of a collection of rights and manāqibs related to it became intense and he compiled this magnificent book. On the one hand, it teaches love and respect for the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and on the other hand, it mentions his rights and rewards for fulfilling them. The writing style of the book is simple and smooth as well as eloquent. The book is not so long that it would be too long for the reader to comprehend, nor is it so short that it would not be possible to get access to the concepts and demands due to its brevity. The people have made this book their favorite and have been studying it and the biographers have adopted Al-Shifā as an authoritative and reliable source. Because of its importance and usefulness, an introductory and analytical study of this book will be presented in this article.

Feminism and Beyond: A Post-Structuralist Reflection on the Image and Identity of Pakistani Women

This qualitative-cum-descriptive piece of research aims at highlighting the popular conventions of (re)presentation with which women of Pakistani society have been portrayed and given voice to in the mainstream indigenous feminist discourse. Since fact and fiction both constitute the making of such conventions, therefore, the study focuses on the fictional and theoretical aspects of Pakistani women's identity and image in the contemporary feminist debate within Pakistan and seeks to see what brand of feminism is born out of it. The literary and imaginative conventions are critiqued side by side with the theoretical assumptions as espoused by indigenous feminism. What informs such analysis is a constant sense of inadequacy in terms of giving voice and representations to Pakistani women in matters of their identity and status. The insight drawn out of such analysis is the need to revise the perspectives and patterns with which to analyze and understand the position and image of Pakistani women as well as to incorporate and include multiple and diverse perspectives in order to appreciate and understand the complex yet lived realities of women in their peculiar socio-cultural milieu. Given the diversity and multiplicity of views and voices, the principal operating assumption of my work is to suggest patterns (of behavior and thought) which could "unify" and "include" rather than "alienate" and "exclude". My work attempts to see and seek the identity and image of Pakistani women to be reformulated and remolded by encompassing a wide range of women with their unique and shared perceptions about their own identity in particular and other women in general.