مارجر جس ،مفارہ ،مریم ؑ اور موم بتی
مسجد عمر و بن العاص کے قریب ہی ایک پرانا کلیسا مارجر جس ہے جو اپنی قدامت اور طرزِ تعمیر کی وجہ سے نہ صرف عیسائی بلکہ مسلم ،یہودی اور دوسرے مذاہب کے زائرین اور سیاحوں کو بھی اپنی طرف متوجہ کر تا ہے ۔مارجر جس سے منسوب کنویں کو عیسائی مقدس مانتے ہیں ،اطمینان ِ قلب کے لیے ایک یادگار بھی یہاں بنی ہے جہاں زائرین موم بتیاں جلاتے ہیں ۔ اس کلیسا کے ساتھ ہی ایک اور کلیسا المفارہ ہے جو دو عیسائی پیشوائوں سرجیوس اور باخس کی یاد میں تعمیر کیا گیا ہے ۔یہاں حضرت عیسی ؑ کے ان دونوںپیرو کاروں کو قتل کر دیا گیا تھا ۔ المفارہ کے صدر دروازے پر ایک بڑا بورڈ آویزاں ہے جس پر اس سفر کا نقشہ کھینچا گیا ہے جس کے بارے دعویٰ ہے کہ حضرت عیسیؑ کی پیدائش کے بعد حضرت بی بی مریم نے فلسطین کے اس وقت کے بادشاہ کے خوف سے کیا تھا ۔ دس سال مصر میں جلا وطنی کے بعد واپسی کے سفر میں جن جن راستوں مقامات سے ہو کر بی بی مریمؑ گزری تھیں نقشے میں انھیں واضح کیا گیا ہے ۔ مسافر کوبی بی مریم ؑ کے اس سفر اور نقشے میں موجود سفری لکیروں نے تاریخ کی ورق گردانی کی جانب راغب کیا کہ آیا حضرت بی بی مریم ؑ نے واقعی یہ سفر کیا تھا یا عیسائی زائرین کو تاریخ اور حقائق سے دور رکھ کر صرف سیاحت کے فروغ کی خاطر یہاں ایک مذہبی کشش پیدا کر نے کے لیے کہانی گھڑی گئی ہے ۔
اس حوالے سے جامعہ کراچی کی تاریخ کی پرو فیسر اور کئی کتابوں کی مصنفہ ڈاکٹر نگار سجاد ظہیر کی رائے معتبر لگی ۔وہ لکھتی...
It’s always the people who define the status of a society. If the people of a society are civilized, the society will be called an ideal society. Moral reforms and behavioural therapy of individuals of the society are basic factors to establish an ideal society. Such an ideal society was established by Prophet Muḥammad (P.B.U.H) in Madina where he laid the foundations of brotherhood and equality among citizens of that state. He showed tolerance towards people belonging to different religions by protecting all their human rights and by providing indiscriminate and quick justice. He not only made the social institutions strong but also developed a history of human civilization. We simply need to work on our moral values and behaviours. We should study the daily life of Muḥammad (P.B.U.H) and mould our lives according to that. Dire need of the modern world is the rectification of human behavior in the light of the ideal life of Muḥammad (P.B.U.H). It will give an opportunity to breathe the same spirit into the contemporary social attitudes so that our society may become peaceful.
Changing climatic conditions in combination with increasing salinity and drought stress is a real challenge in developing robust crop plants with sustainable growth and production. Pakistan is the fifth top-most grower but 11th largest producer of sugarcane. Abiotic and biotic stresses are major impediments lowering its yield. Advancements in molecular approaches provide a swift solution to alleviate these stresses. Sugarcane has complex genome and various endogenous stress responsive genes have potential to combat abiotic stresses. A novel stress responsive gene Scdr1 was charcaterized in indigenous elite sugarcane genotypes. Phylogenetic analysis revealed prevelance of thisstress responsive gene in various monocots including maize, sorghum, wheat and rice etc. Seven indigenous sugarcane genotypes (S2003-US-127, S2006-US-272, CP-77400, CPF-246, CPF-247, S2003-US-778 and CPF-248) were grown in pots and exposed to salt stress (170 mM). Expression analysis of Scdr1 gene was carried out in the aforementioned genotypes by realtime quantitative PCR. It appeard to be salt stress inducible as expression of the gene was higher in salt treated plants as compared to plants growing under normal conditions. However, its expression was maximum in CP-77400 and minmum in genotypes CPF-246 and S2003-US-778 under salt stress. For the functional characterization and localization of the Scdr1 protein, it was translationally fused with GFP as well as co-transformed with endoplasmic reticulum fluoresent marker (CD3-959-ER-rk). Moving protein bodies were observed in the cytoplasm of N. benthamiana leaf cells under confocal laser scanning microscope but appropriate location of the protein was not traceable, perhaps owing to overexpression of the protein. Y2H cDNA library was constructed to identify the potential interactors of this stress responsive protein. It appeared to interact with the proteins involved in abiotic as well as biotic stress tolerance. To validate, its role in biotic stress tolerance, red rot resistant (CPF-246, S2006-US-658) and susceptible genotypes (S2003-US-127, SPF-234) were inoculated with Colletotrichum falcatum and quantitative expression analysis was performed. Scdr1 was significantly up-regulated in resistant genotypes whereas down-regulated in susceptible genotypes. Hence, in addition to abiotic stress tolerance, Scdr1 was proposed to play some crucial role in biotic stress tolerance as well. Considering the importance of Scdr1 gene in biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, it was synthetically developed and cloned under maize ubiquitin promoter (Ubi), nos terminator and was physically linked with selectable marker gene (bar) cloned under CaMV35 S promoter and terminator. Scdr1 construct (Ubi P:Scdr1:nos T::35S P:bar:35ST) was transformed into tobacco as well as in dark proliferated sugarcane calli. Bombarded calli/ leaf discs were shifted to regeneration medium supplemented with PPT. Putative transgenic plants were confirmed with PCR using maize ubiquitin promoter and nos terminator specific primers. Quantitative real time PCR was performed to seek for transcript level of the recombinant Scdr1. It appeared to be 1.4 folds higher in the transformed plants as compared with un-transformed plants of the genotype S2003-US-778.Hence, sugarcane plants with over-expression of recombinant Scdr1 gene were developed which are expected to be better tolerant to abiotic and biotic stresses.