Concept of Islamic Leadership in Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas’s Philosophy

Islamic leadership is defined as a divine trust (amanah) from Allah, based on the Tauhidic paradigm of oneness of Allah that is focusing to serve HIM as HIS servant, while at the same time be the servant of Allah, perform the role of Khalefah (vicegerent) of Allah fully adheres to the Sunnah central to Islamic personality, characteristics and aklaq (Islamic moral and ethical) that was exemplified by the prophet (s.a.w), leading followers to the organization goals and to the straight path of the success in the Hereafter. It is based on this adopted definition that the paper tries to look into the notion from perspective of a Malaysian Muslim Philosopher to the core, Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas, who believes in delivering amanah given to him, and at the same time perform the role of vicegerent of Allah. He suggests that lack of good leaders or rise of unqualified and false ones is one of the major problems of Ummah. Content analysis approach is engaged on both primary and secondary data collected. That is to say, it is a qualitative research in nature. The finding shows that the basis of Al-Attas’s concept of leadership is entrenched in Al-Qur’an and the tradition of the prophet in addition to his deep understanding on the Islamic Sciences such as Islamic theology, philosophy, and metaphysis and so on.

A Study of Fungal Communities Associated With Oak Forests of Swat and Dir Districts, Kpk, Pakistan

The present research work focuses on the study of ectomycorrhizal fungal communities associated with oak forests of Swat and Dir Districts, KPK, Pakistan. During the study, analyses of above ground and below ground fungal taxa associated with oaks were based on different molecular markers, along with morpho-anatomical characterization. Seven sampling areas viz. Kalam (stand 1), Shawar Valley (stand 2), Toa (stand 3), Sultanr (stand 4), Lamati (stand 5), Jetkot (stand 6) and Biar (stand 7) were selected in temperate areas of Swat and Dir Districts, KPK, Pakistan. For ectomycorrhizal communities study, 50 soil cores were randomly taken from each stand. Ectomycorrhizal fungi were identified by morphotyping and sequence analyses of ITS, LSU and SSU of DNA. For above ground communities study, collected sporocarps were morpho anatomically and phylogenetically characterized. A total of 256 fungal taxa were identified belonging to 58 genera. Among these, 223 species belonging to 41 genera and 28 families were designated as ectomycorrhizal. Ascomycota was represented by 9 families and Basidiomycota by 19 families. Above ground taxa was represented by 53 species belonging to 24 genera and 15 families. From below ground, 183 taxa were identified belonging to 33 genera and 25 families. Thirteen taxa were found from above ground as fruit bodies with their counter parts from below ground in the form of ectomycorrhizal morphotypes. The 34 species were found non mycorrhizal, 28 of which were collected as fruiting bodies belonging to 17 genera. The ectomycorrhizal community consisted of a few frequent and many rare fungal taxa. The community was analyzed in term of alpha, beta and gamma diversity by different diversity indices. Effects of edaphic, climatic factors as well as soil factors on fungal communities were also analyzed. From stand 1, Hortiboletus followed by Russula constituted the major part of above ground community while Russula and Cortinarius dominated the below ground community. From stand 2, Scleroderma was found to be most abundant, dominant and diverse genus. From stand 3, Rhizopogon and Cortinarius were found abundant as fruiting bodies while Amanita and Pachyphloeus dominated the below ground communities. From stand 4, Lactarius and Tricholoma were dominating above ground community and below ground community was dominated by Xerocomus. From stand 5, Russula was common in form of fruiting bodies along with Amanita as well as with Lactarius in the form of morphotypes. From stand 6 and 7, Scleroderma dominated above ground community while Russula dominanted below ground component of community. It was observed that host species and age, soil pH, soil nutrients and soil organic matter influenced the distribution pattern of fungal species. The stand 3 (Toa) with high pH represented hyperdiverse fungal taxa in form of fruiting bodies. The sampling stand 1 (Kalam) with maximum amount of P, EC and organic matter showed maximum frequency and colonization of fungal taxa from below ground community. These findings were supported by Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) and Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) analysis. These results indicate high fungal diversity associated with these forests. This hyperdiversity of taxa is due to many factors as these forests are natural forests of hundreds of years old, undisturbed, lack any anthropogenic activities and without undergoing any disaster which support such a divers communities associated with these forests. This study focused on parameters for community studies in terms of abundance, diversity, frequency and dominance to describe the distribution pattern of ectomycorrhizal fungi. Mopho-anatomical and molecular data deposited in different repositories could be utilized as a source of perspective for further taxonomic and phylogenetic work. The generated data during this study would helpful in forest and nursery management as well as restoration of rapidly declining oak forests to conserve them.