World Peace in the Light of Sīrah of the Prophet Muḥammad SAW

The advancement in science and technology has made the world peace and prosperity very important at this time in the human history. We find in the human history, since it was recorded, that almost all the civilizations were very intolerant, brutal to their opponents, especially, to the believers of other religions. On the other hand, the Islamic states were the most tolerant and accommodating to other religions. This fact is proved from the early history of Islām during the period of the Prophet Muḥammad (r) and his immediate successors. Similar is the case in the later history of the Muslims, during the period of the Abbasid, the Umayyids in Spain, the Turks, the Mughal era and in the Far East. Human and economic losses in wars were very huge during the first, the second world wars, and the current wars being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. The human and material losses are horrible. The author believes that the Prophet Muḥammad (r) ’s teachings and traditions of moderation, tolerance, human respect, freedom of religious practice are the only ways to peace and prosperity in the world.

Intertextuality: RE Interpreting Dante's Inferno and the Postmodern World in Gaiman's Season of Mists

Intertextuality: (RE) Interpreting Dante's Inferno and the Postmodern World in Gaiman's Season of Mists The study is built upon the belief that an act of creation does not take place in isolation, especially for a writer, who is inevitably linked equally with the age and time to which he belongs, as well as to the past. Gaiman’s work is part of the postmodern scenario as the world he creates is a response to the postmodern norms and characteristics, which propagated the idea of meaning being unstable and multiple. The study is a comparative analysis, through the lens of intertextuality, of Dante’s The Inferno with the Graphic Novel series The Sandman Vol. 4 ‘Season of Mist’. The research questions that guide the analysis are to compare the selected works in terms of how the classic is transmuted into the current with the aim to highlight the prevalent themes of the postmodern era and the shape given to them in the selected work. The theoretical framework based on the hermeneutic circle and the theory of intertextuality has been utilized to explore what this still new and emerging form of the graphic novel contributes to narrative representation, and the understanding its readers can gain about the contemporary world from works that are both verbal and visual. It attempts to highlight how the social and the fantastic meet to create an intertextual referential framework that can help us in understanding the world within which we live. Riddled with references to other literary or popular texts, Gaiman’s works create meaning based on the knowledge he possesses as writer and creator, and in light of the age to which he belongs. The study attempts to frame within the present moment and the increasing accessibility of this new literary and popular genre, how the graphic novel has become part of an expanding literary field of contemporary fiction and its contribution to narrative representation by explaining the visual and the verbal modes.