A CRITICAL STUDY OF CLINTON BENNETT’S THOUGHTS TOWARDS SIRAH OF THE HOLY PROPHET ﷺ

Sirah of the Holy Prophet ﷺ is the topic on which a lot of work has been done both in the Muslim and non-Muslim world. For Muslims it was the source of aspiration and adaptation for the practical purposes of social life while for the non-Muslims it was the source of inquisitiveness and understanding Islam as a successful religion in the past and present time. Therefore, Muslim enthusiastic interest in the biography of the Holy Prophet ﷺ developed and evolved into a regular science while the west has modified the knowledge of biography according to their own order of preference but within the same biographic precedents. Both have tried to reconstruct the biography of the Holy Prophet ﷺ historically, chronologically and logically. Clinton Bennett is one of the western scholars who has contributed not only in the Islamic literature but also the biographic field. His work consists of numerous issues in Islam. Whatever he has learned from Islam and the Sirah of Holy Prophet and thus concluded in the form of his own thoughts, he has expressed most of them in his famous five books for example ‘In Search of Muhammad’, ‘Muslims and Modernity’, ‘Studying Islam’, ‘Interpreting the Qur’an’, and ‘Victorian Images of Islam’ (doctoral thesis)’. This study focuses on Clinton Bennett’s work on Sirah specifically with his broader view of the subject. This research is descriptive and analytical in nature and presents a detailed analysis of the work it is based upon.

Salicylic Acid-Mediated Alleviation of Cadmium Toxicity in Basmati Rice Oryza Sativa L.

The Cd accumulation might result disturbances in plant metabolism causing several physio-biochemical and structural changes ultimately declining the crop productivity. Having recognized the adverse effects of Cd on plants it is imperative to understand the mechanisms of Cd effects through its accumulation, transportation and the relationships of Cd effects with growth, antioxidant systems and the mineral nutrients, and then the contribution of SA in alleviating the Cd toxicity in basmati rice. The experiments were conducted in two phases (plant and callus) under different combinations of Cd (control, 100, 500, 1000 and 1500 μM) without or with SA (0.0 and 0.1 mM) with four genotypes of basmati rice (Basmati-198, Basmati-2000, Basmati-370 and Kashmir Basmati). The results revealed variable Cd accumulation pattern in the both culture systems (seedling and callus). Roots showed higher Cd accumulation as compared to shoot and callus. The lower Cd accumulation of callus than root exhibited less sensitivity of callus to Cd-induced stress. A two phase linear concentration-dependent Cd accumulation pattern was observed in root and shoot whereas in callus Cd accumulated in a linear concentration-dependent fashion with the elevating Cd levels in the both culture media. However, protective effect of SA on root or shoot and the callus inhibited the Cd accumulation from the both media revealing the possibility of occurrence of the formation of stable SA-Cd complexes. Higher amounts of H 2 O 2 and MDA caused Cd-induced oxidative stress elevating the activities of antioxidants (CAT and POD) which accelerated the accumulation of solutes disturbing mineral nutrients and water status in the both media. The uneven SOD activity exhibited that differences existed among the genotypes to withstand the Cd toxicity. The application of SA in combination with the elevating Cd stress showed improvements in the SOD activity indicating that higher SOD activity might modulate the activities of other enzymes and regulate the solutes maintaining water relations under Cd-induced oxidative stress and ultimately the growth in the both culture media. Based on Cd translocation factor and the root STI, and the callus BCF and STI factors, Basmati-198 showed more tolerance to Cd toxicity followed by Basmati-2000 and Basmati-370 whereas Kashmir Basmati was observed prone to Cd toxicity.