Introducing an Unexplored South Asian Treatise on I‘jāz Al-Qur’an

The present paper explores and introduces a manuscript on i‘jaz al-Qur’ān (inimitability of the Qur’ān) named Nūr al- Īqān bi i‘jaz al-Qur’ān written by a profound South Asian Sindhi Scholar, Maulana Muhammad Ismā‘īl al-Ūdvī. The field of i‘jaz al-Qur’ān has been and is the field of interest of many Muslim as well as non-Muslim theologians and scholars. Many Muslim scholars of the Middle East and the West have written books and research papers from third/ninth Century up to present times. The main and significant reason for this is that the doctrine of i‘jaz al- Qur’ān proves the prophecy of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. This paper argues that Shaikh al-Ūdvī is the first South Asian Sindhi Muslim Scholar, who wrote a separate treatise in Arabic on the doctrine of i‘jaz al-Qur’ān, which is not introduced properly in academic circles of the day. In this treatise, al-Ūdvī has advanced some new and original arguments to support the doctrine and the prophecy of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.

Synthesis and Characterization of Potentially Biologically Active Phenoxy Iso-Butyric Acid Derivatives.

The work in this thesis describes the synthesis and characterization of phenoxy isobutyric acid derivatives and their biological screening which includes anti-bacterial, antioxidant, biofilm inhibition and mutagenic assay. First part of this research work consists of alkylation of substituted phenols to get 4-chlorophenoxy isobutyric acid (131) and 4bromophenoxy isobutyric acid (179). These acids were converted into 4-chlorophenoxy isobutyrate (132) and 4-bromophenoxy isobutyrate (180) followed by their hydrazinolysis to obtain 2-(4-chlorophenoxy)-2-methyl propane hydrazide (133) and 2-(4-bromophenoxy)-2methyl propane hydrazide (181).Condensation of these hydrazides 133 & 181.with substituted benzaldehyde and aromatic acetophenone yielded N’-benzylidine-2-(4-chlorophenoxy)-2ethylpropanehydrazides (155-178) and N’-benzylidine-2-(4-bromophenoxy)-2- methyl propane hydrazides (182-196) respectively. In another series, chalcones (110-130) were synthesized by Claisan condensation reaction. These chalcones were react with 2-(4-chlorophenoxy)-2-methylpropanehydrazide (133) in ethanol and acidic environment to yield a novel series of 2-(4-chlorophenoxy)-[1,diphenylallylidene]-2-methylpropanehydrazides. (134-154). In the second part, all the compounds were characterized by spectroscopic techniques like IR, NMR, mass spectrometry and X-ray crystallography. In third part, all the compounds were subjected to biological screening, which includes anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant, biofilm inhibition, and mutagenic assay and it was found that these compounds have a great potential to act actively in drug discovery.