بین المذاہب ہم آہنگی اور عصر ی تقاضے : الہامی تعلیمات کی روشنی میں تجزیاتی مطالعہ

Inter-Faith Harmony and Contemporary Demands: An Analytical Study in the Light of Divine Teachings Abstract Over the course of time and with the rapid increase in human population need for mutual relations become crucial. Resultantly on behalf of this closeness, separation, anti-standpoints and comparisons also emerged. As the time passed by hatred and hypocrisy and other social vices spread on large scale. Thus human society was waiting for such liberator who may lead and work for the betterment of this society. With the dawn of Islamic civilization all such issues were not only resolved but also provided with a model for containing the difference of opinion and multiple traditions under its unique worldview. Islamic History presents itself as a model where the minorities were provided with the opportunities of participating in political, social, educational and collective affairs. Thus in a society where tyranny, injustice, un-forbearance, religious intensity, terrorism and the activities of violating the human rights were very common, were substituted by the Islamic ideal  of forbearance. It is argued here that the solution of all these issues was only in religion contrary to what is being claimed about an idea of social harmony where religion is not given its due position. Today it’s our dire need to develop a sense of harmony, modesty, affection and peacefulness among the masses of various religions of Pakistani society. It is further argued that for this very noble cause all the religious scholars and their followers can come forward playing their pertinent role. Keywords: Interfaith harmony, present era, divine books, religious personalities, Peace

Phytochemical and Pharmacological Profiling of Dysphania Botrys

Dysphania botrys L. is an annual herbaceous plant belongs to family Amaranthaceae, native to Asia and Europe found in Pakistan, India and Iran. In the folk medicine D. botrys has been utilized for the treatment of different ailments like asthma, cold, influenza, head ach, liver and digestive problems and healing of wounds. The current work was designed to evaluate methanolic crude extract (MCE) of D. botrys for different in-vivo pharmacological activities and its various solvents fraction for phytochemical analysis and different in-vitro activities, in order to provide scientific authentication to its ethno-medicinal uses. Qualitative phytochemical study of MCE and solvent fractions of D. botrys confirmed the presence of phenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, sterols, tannins and saponins, however in n-hexane fraction (HxF) only flavonoids and saponins were detected. In quantitative analysis, amongst all the solvents, ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) had highest amount of phenol (27.4 mg/g), flavonoids (15.5 mg/g) and alkaloids (3.14 mg/g), while MCE displayed maximum amount of saponins (34.3 mg/g). In the proximate analysis, nitrogen-free extract were present in higher amount (38.45 ± 0.83%) followed by protein (30.26 ± 0.72%) while crude fibers were found least in amount (1.43 ± 0.53%). Among different minerals, reasonable amount of calcium (3268 ± 0.53 μg/g), potassium (2873 ± 0.71 μg/g), sodium (591 ± 0.23 μg/g) and iron (223 ± 0.46 μg/g) were found, while no cadmium and chromium was detected. MCE and EAF displayed considerable antibacterial activity against Xanthomonas campestris and Pseudomonas aeruginosa causing 12.6 ± 0.54 mm and 20.6 ± 0.53 mm zone of inhibition respectively which was analogous to that of cefixime, used as standard drug. In case of antifungal activity MCE hindered the growth of Fusarium oxysporum effectively, causing 19.3 ± 0.41 mm inhibition zone, while effect of other solvents was low to moderate. Highest phytotoxic effect was shown by MCE (1000 μg/ml) against the growth of Lemna minor, causing 70% reduction in its growth. EAF exhibited maximum scavenging activity against 1, 1- diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2, 2-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6- sulfonic acid (ABTS) radicals causing 57.17 ± 0.49% and 72.46 ± 0.59% scavenging activity respectively as compared to standard, ascorbic acid. The activity of lipoxygenase (LOX) enzyme was inhibited effectively by EAF (64 ± 0.16%), while HxF displayed least inhibiting effect (22 ± 0.21%). In the in-vivo pharmacological activities of crude extract of D. botrys, acute toxicity analysis showed no sign of mortality up to an amount of 2000 mg/kg. Crude extract (200 and 400 mg/kg) showed considerable (p<0.05) anti-inflammatory effect at early and late phase of carrageenan˗stimulated paw edema while in case of xylene˗induced ear edema dosage of 400 mg/kg was highly effective (p<0.01) in reducing ear inflammation (73.2%). Dose of 200 mg/kg of plant extract displayed considerable (p<0.05) peripheral analgesic activity at both phases of analgesia, causing 60.71% and 67% reduction in severity of pain while in case of 400 mg/kg, its effect was highly significant (p<0.01) causing 78.57% and 82.14% pain inhibition. In the central analgesic activity (hot plate model) the effect of 400 mg/kg was highly significant (p<0.01) after 120 min of assessment time interval. In the antipyretic assay, effect of 400 mg/kg of plant extract was extremely significant (p<0.001) at all the assessment time intervals (1h-5h) and was comparable to that of standard drug paracetamol in reducing body temperature to normal, increased by brewer‟s yeast. In the antidiarrheal activity, plant extract of 400 mg/kg effectively (p<0.01) increased the latent period of diarrhea and caused a decline in the total wet fecal frequency and mean weight of fecal drops as compared to control. The elevated blood sugar induced by alloxane monohydrate in the anti-diabetic activity was significantly reduced by crude extract (400 mg/kg), however its effect was highly significant (p<0.01) at the 3rd and 4th hour of evaluation time. In the hepatoprotective assay, MCE of plant at dosage of 400 mg/kg markedly (p<0.05) declined high level of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (179.22 ± 3.41 mg/dl) and total bilirubin (TB) (3.64 ± 0.13 mg/dl) while its effect was highly significant (p<0.01) in reducing the level of serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) (31.2 ± 1.28 U/ml) and serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) (48.31 ± 1.87 U/ml)) when compared to toxic control. Plant extract (100 and 200) showed a significant (p<0.05) synergetic effect on the thiopental induced hypnosis caused an early arrival of sleep and effectively (p<0.01) prolonged the duration of sleep from 88.80 ± 1.91 min to 145.20 ± 1.76 min. In the pentalyne tetrazol (PTZ) induced convulsion activity, plant extracts (200 and 400 mg/kg) effectively (p<0.05) delayed the onset of first clonus from 5.09 ± 0.22 min to 6.03 ± 0.28 min and 6.99 ± 0.07 min and prolonged the time of death from 9.72 ± 0.44 min to13.57 ± 0.6 min and 19.56 ± 0.15 min, respectively. The immobility time was significantly (p<0.05) decreased by MCE of plant from 193.98 ± 1.35 seconds to 96.78 ± 1.39 seconds, in the antidepressant activity.