عظیم شخصیات کے اوصاف وخصائص: سیرت طیبہ کی روشنی میں

Great lineage, good manners, trustworthiness, sincerity, courage and bravery, obedience, generosity, modesty, humility, thankfulness, absolute trust in Allah, education and upbringing, affection and compassion towards the elderly, the youth, slaves and animals, the regard for truth, the endurance and patience etc. Are such features that at them neither was the match for the Holy Master (saw) born, nor will any such person be ever born. In addition, let alone friends, his enemies were helpless to hold him as-Sadiq (the Truthful) and al-Ameen (the Trustworthy) due to these and many other great attributes; and they would say: Muhammad is not a liar at all, but we can’t believe in him as a prophet sent by Allah. Moreover, even a non-Muslim or polytheist has never criticized his character to this day, nor will anybody do till the judgment day. Whenever the greatest personalities of the world were listed or somebody committed to writing on the said topic, the Holy Prophet (saw) remained at the top of the list. Drawing of the swords of father and son against each other, the change of the standard of friendship and enmity, fighting of master and his slave against each other, chanting the slogan of Ahad-Ahad (the only One, the only One) on the blazing sand, giving priority to martyrdom over the utterance of a word of unbelief, taking a husband away from his wife and separating a mother from her infant, deforming the condition after a blasphemous blow on the blessed face, forced migration to Habsha (Abyssinia) at times, and laying siege to Shb-e-Abi Talib (the valley of Abi Talib) at times.

Antioxidant Properties of Medicinal Plants from Coastal Pakistan

Plants have been a major source of chemicals that are useful in treating various human diseases. Synthetic medicines have gained considerable importance but the necessity of drugs extracted from plants is still high because of the greater beneficial effects and lesser side effects of natural products. Natural substitutes of synthetic products are therefore being investigated from plants that are inexpensive and safe to use. The aims of this study were to conduct detailed ethno-medicinal surveys of the rural communities distributed along coastal and sub-coastal regions of Pakistan; to evaluate antioxidant activity and polyphenolic composition of known medicinal plants; and to identify plant species rich in natural antioxidants. I identified about 100 plant species with medicinal properties and most of them were perennials. Decoctions of above-ground plant parts were commonly used to cure 17 different types of ailments by local inhabitants. Halophytes had higher antioxidant potential and phenolic content compared to non-halophytes. Highest antioxidant capacity was recorded in methanol (80%) extracts of Thespesia populneoides, Salvadora persica, Ipomoea pes-caprae, Suaeda fruticosa and Pluchea lanceolata, which was more than that of synthetic antioxidants. These halophytes accumulated significant amounts of total phenolics (TPC), flavonoids (TFC) and proanthocynidins (PC) with high antioxidant activity in their above ground vegetative parts (leaf and stem) compared to roots and seeds. A strong positive correlation was also observed between polyphenols (TPC, TFC and PC) and antioxidant activity using different testing systems. Major phenolics were salicylic, gallic, and chlorogenic acids while dominant flavonoids were kaempferol, rutin and quercetin dihydrate. My data indicate that halophytes represent a rich source of natural antioxidants besides their medicinal uses and could also be considered as potential alternative to synthetic antioxidants for food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and other industrial products. These plants could provide sufficient biomass at commercial scale using brackish water and saline lands while sparing fresh water and prime agricultural lands for conventional agriculture.