مسالک کے مشترکات کے ادراک کی اہمیت: پاکستان کے تناظر میں تجزیاتی مطالعہ

Signaficance of the Understanding of Intra-faith Similerties: Analytical Study in the Context of Pakistan Muslims are commanded to foster unity as breaking into sects is forbidden by Allah. Islam teaches about broadness of vision and the emergence of different denominations in Islam is because of this broadness. There are different school of thoughts that emerged due to the broader perspective of Shar’ῑah rulings like Hanfῑ, Shᾱfῑ, Mᾱlikῑ and Hanblῑ, J'afrῑ etc despite that there is an essential unity in beliefs and practices among the Muslims. They all worship Allah, follow the last Messenger, Muhammad (ﷺ) and the last revelation Qur’an. They face the same Qibla while praying, prostrate to Allah five times a day, and believe in finality of prophet hood. Qur'an and Ahᾱdῑth are a source of jurisprudence for all Muslims. The difference between Muslims is in understanding and interpreting the Scripture and Ᾱhᾱdῑth of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) in the matters related with implementation of certain religious, social, political, and other duties. Islam rejects sectarianism, intolerance and extremism. Keeping in mind all of the above-mentioned points, in the article an attempt has been made to analyze the major challenges facing the intra-faith unity in Pakistan. The first is ignorance. Second is the role of media and scholars. Third is curriculum and fourth is intolerance. In the beginning the introduction of different schools of thought is given, and then forbearance demonstrated from the life of ‘Salaf Sᾱlihῑn’ has been described to establish an atmosphere of harmony in the present time, especially in Pakistan. The importance and significance of foundations of harmony is explained in such a manner that every Muslim should understand that the differences between the Muslims are very small, as they are only minor disagreements. Other than that, they are united in beliefs and practices. Finally, in the end, recommendations have been proposed.

Ethnoecological Studies of Wild Flora of Central Punjab, Pakistan

The current work on ethnoecology was designed to document the indigenous knowledge on the wild flora including their percentage cover and frequency of eight districts of Central Punjab, viz; Faisalabad, Pakpattan, Lahore, Nankana Sahib, Narowal, Sahiwal, Sialkot and Vehari, by interviewing local people through a questionnaire (Annexure III) during 2008-12. The people of this area had their unique customs, way of life, believe and culture. A total of 286 species belonging to 69 families were recorded in the study area, with Poaceae and Asteraceae as the most abundant families. People were found utilizing local plants for various purposes, viz., agricultural implements, roof thatching, mats and baskets, religious purposes, particularly as medicinal plants from generations. The plant species were photographed, collected, properly pressed, identified, fixed on herbarium sheets, assigned voucher number and submitted to Dr. Sultan Ahmad Herbarium, Department of Botany, GC University, Lahore. Regardless of the abundant species recorded in the study area, the number of frequent species was not very great. Only a limited number of species exhibited dominance throughout the study area. The dominant species e.g., Acacia nilotica, Dalbergia sissoo, Ricinus communis, Calotropis procera, Withania somnifera, Parthenium hysterophorus, Amaranthus viridis, Trianthema portulacastrum and Cynodon dactylon indicated wide ecological amplitude in the study area. However, there were differences in the rank of frequency and cover of these species in different districts due to variegated soils and diversified climate of each district. The floristic data, analyzed by TWINSPAN, Computer program provided baseline information and classification of the study area. Two major (plant associations) and at least three sub communities (sub associations) were identified in each district. The soil in the study areas was generally neutral to alkaline, the lowest pH i.e., 7.4 in Lahore District and highest, i.e. 8.7 in Nankana Sahib District. The lowest pH values in water samples from Faisalabad District and highest, 8.19 from Pakpattan District. Electrical conductivity of the soil samples in different districts ranged between 0.73 dS m-1 to 15.73 dS m-1 with a mean value of 8.23 dS m-1, being highest in Sahiwal district due to the presence of high concentration of salts in soluble form, while, least in Vehari district. The electric conductivity was observed highest in water samples from Pakpattan District due to the presence of high concentration of salts in soluble form while Faisalabad District, had least value. The water content of the soil ranged from 08 % to 14 % with a mean value of 11 %. The soils of study areas were brown, light Yellowish and light Brown in colour, indicating less amount of organic matter. The impact of any environmental variable in grouping together of vegetation, as determined by CANOCO analysis was not found well pronounced. Overall, by analysis of the biplot figures for all the eight districts, the impact of water pH and EC, Soil pH and water content seemed to influence the distribution of species reasonably well along two axes. The study concluded that the area was under heavy biotic and abiotic pressure. Low rate of regeneration and overexploitation of economically and medicinally important plants has caused many plant species to reach the brink of extinction. Conservation of wild flora can best be achieved after proper time of sustainable harvesting, which is possible with the participation of local communities.