107. Al-Ma'un/Small Kindnesses
I/We begin by the Blessed Name of Allah
The Immensely Merciful to all, The Infinitely Compassionate to everyone.
107:01
a. Have you ever considered the one who denies and belies the coming of the Time of
Resurrection and Final Judgment?
107:02
a. He is the one who pushes away and mistreats the orphan,
107:03
a. and does not encourage or motivate others in feeding and clothing the needy.
107:04
a. So woe to those who Pray just out of custom,
107:05
a. but who – they are knowingly unmindful of the meanings and demands of their Salat//
Prayers,
107:06
a. who – they do some good but wish to be noticed and be considered pious and reverent,
107:07
a. and yet refuse to extend the smallest of kindness to ordinary people.
This study is conducted to analyze the novel Bina Shah’ novel A Season for Martyrs, from the perspective of New Historicism. This novel presents history of Sindh blended with fiction. It highlights the main Historical events of Sindh; from the arrival of the British in 1827 and occupation of Sindh by Charles Napier till the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in present century. Shah has narrated the history to show its link with the present political and social situation of Sindh. The novel has focused social and political discourses of Sindhi society such as: Significance of love with the land and people’ faith in mystics. The novel has narrated various myths and tales about famous mystics belonging to Sindh. The novel presents story of Ali, a young media reporter, who faces identity problem because of social and psychological issues but when he realizes that his land needs his services, he becomes political activist. This study analyses historical facts and some social and political discourses presented in the novel. Effort is done to interpret the novel according to the theory. Cultural context and social environment of the author is analyzed by observing facts from her social and personal life. Social and political situation of present era are discussed to find the impact of present situation on the interpretation of the author.
In Pakistan English, as a Foreign and as a Second Language, is being taught from primary classes. In such classes teaching is based on rote-memorization with little meaningful activities. Teachers provide very few opportunities to students to relate their learning with their experiences in daily life. Students are mostly asked to listen passively to the teacher or read from the textbook and copy down the answers from the blackboard or from the textbook and memorize them in order to re produce them in the examinations. The study was undertaken to explore how ESL teachers could be helped to develop their students' speaking skills in ESL multilingual classroom. Using an action research approach within the qualitative paradigm, the students were engaged in different activities, which allowed the teacher and the researcher to examine the effectiveness of the strategies employed in developing students' speaking skills in English. Data collection in this study occurred in three stages. At the reconnaissance stage, observations and semi-structured interview were conducted in order to explore the teacher's understanding, and her existing practices in developing students' speaking skills in English. At the initial implementation stage, the researcher tried and tested out some strategies recommended as effective in developing students' speaking skills in English in order to examine their effectiveness in developing students' speaking skills in the multilingual school contexts, where this research was conducted. At the second implementation stage, the participant teacher was provided with the opportunity to try out the strategies in her classroom, and see the effectiveness of the strategies in developing students speaking skills in English.