23. Al-Mu’minun/The Believers
I/We begin by the Blessed Name of Allah
The Immensely Merciful to all, The Infinitely Compassionate to everyone.
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a. Indeed, The Believers will succeed.
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a. The Believers are those who humble themselves in their Salat/Prayers,
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a. and those who avoid frivolous talk and behavior,
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a. and those who regularly pay out the Zakat/annual charity,
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a. and those who guard their chastity -
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except from their spouses or from those whom their right hands possess -
for then, indeed, they are free from blame.
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a. But whoever seeks beyond that limit, those - they are the transgressors,
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a. and those who faithfully keep their trusts, pledges, contracts, and promises,
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a. and those who guard their Salat/Prayers from worldly distractions.
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a. It is they - they are the inheritors -
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who will inherit the Paradise of Firdaws,
they will live therein forever!
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And, indeed, WE created the human being out of the essence of clay.
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Thereafter, WE made him as a mingled drop in a secure repository of the female’s womb.
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And, then, WE made an embryo/clot from the drop,
and then WE made a lump from the embryo/clot,
and, then, WE made bones from the chewed-up lump,
and, then, WE clothed the bones with flesh and muscles.
And, then, out of that tiny drop, WE structured him into yet another creation.
So Exalted is Allah - the Best Creator of all creators!
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was interested in history and history-writing. His areas of interest were Islamic and South Asian history. In this essay, we examine certain relevant facets of this interest and its manifestation. There are a vast number of studies on the life, achievements and goals of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan [1817-1898]. His essays have been collected from his journalism in 18 volumes by Muhammad Ismail Panipati1 and his other writings, lectures and letters have also received editorial attention. A useful tool in this regard is the compilation titled Kitabiyat-i-Sir Syed made by Ziauddin Lahori.2 As this paper focuses on Sir Syed’s historical writings, we may mention here a recent doctoral thesis of Syeda Jabin Zehra on this very topic.3 As a matter of fact, any and all of Sir Syed’s writings be they on education or religion now come under the ambit of history but our narrower focus will be on those writings that deal with history as history alone though they may also admit of other classifications.
Production of vigorous seedlings and transplanting at proper age is a primary feature to get good paddy yield. Due to the shrinkage of world water resources rice cultivation is in shift from flooded to aerobic condition. This shift may alter the soil condition that can cause the problem of boron and zinc uptake, which leads toward reduction in final yield. Two field experiments were conducted during 2008 and 2009 growing seasons at Agronomic Research Farm, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (310-25’N,730-09’E), Pakistan. The first one studied the seeding densities, nitrogen fertilization rate and seedling age in the rice nursery that is used for transplanting. Such treatments were evaluated in term of seedling vigor, plant growth, yield and yield attributes. The study revealed that fertilized seedlings older than 10 days and grown with low seeding density at nursery-bed, significantly improved seedling vigor. Maximum paddy yield (3.7 t/ha) was observed with transplanting youngest seedlings (10-days older) but transplanting of 20-days older fertilized seedlings grown at low seeding densities resulted in almost similar yield (3.6 t/ha) with younger. Older seedlings leads to reduced yield and the lowest yield (2 t/ha) was observed after transplanting unfertilized 40- days older seedlings grown at high seeding density. The best benefit cost ratio (BCR) was observed with S1 (1.59) followed by S2 (1.40) while in nursery management, fertilized seedlings grown with low seeding density found the highest BCR (1.53) in year 2008. The second experiment investigated the nutrition effect of boron and zinc in different rice cultures. Boron and zinc are supplementary nutrients were used as basal fertilizers in the rice fields that had different water management. Results showed that the rice crop significantly reduced yield (42 %) and impair quality when it was subjected to grow in aerobic condition without nutrients application. However, nutrients application in crop grown with periodic flooding and drying improved yield (4.81 t/ha) and quality as compared with aerobic culture (2.89 t/ha) and performed as good as the normal flooded rice. Maximum paddy yield (5.02 t/ha) was recorded in flooded rice with the combined application of boron and zinc which was statistically similar with treatment of periodic flooding and drying. In addition to this the best BCR was achieved with field under periodic flooding and drying (1.89) followed by flooded rice (1.75) and the minimum BCR (1.39) was found in aerobic rice culture . Fertilizer application revealed that maximum BCR (2.05) was recorded with micronutrients application as compared to control during 2008. These findings sustenance the young seedling components of System of Rice Intensification and illustrate that making a minor additional investment in raising a healthy and vigorous seedling in nursery seed-bed, farmers can harvest a reasonable yield benefits. Results also demonstrated that introduction of aerobic rice cultivation for fine rice can increase the deficiency problem of micronutrients (B & Zn) in calcareous soils.