جان ون سنک کا انتقال
لیڈن کے مشہور مستشرق ڈاکٹر ایرنٹ جان ون سنک کا گزشتہ ستمبر میں انتقال ہوگیا، یوروپین مستشرقین میں ڈاکٹر موصوف کے علم و فضل کا پایہ نہایت بلند تھا، وہ ۱۸۸۲ء میں پیدا ہوئے، ۱۹۱۲ء میں لیڈن یونیورسٹی میں عربی کے لکچرر مقرر ہوئے، اور پھر ۱۹۲۷ء میں اس کے شعبہ عربی کی صدارت تفویض ہوئی، وہ انسائیکلوپیڈیا آف اسلام کے چیف اڈیٹر بھی تھے۔
ان کو شروع میں سامی زبان سے بڑی دلچسپی تھی، چنانچہ انھوں نے سامی علاماتی تخیل پر بہت سے مضامین لکھے، اس کے بعد وہ سریانی زبان کی طرف مائل ہوئے اور اس زبان کے صوفیانہ لٹریچر کا گہرا مطالعہ کیا اور برہیرس کی Book of Dove اور Mystical Treatises of Isaac of Ninerer کا ترجمہ کیا، پھر سریانی زبان کے صوفیانہ لٹریچر کے نئی معلومات کے نام سے ایک کتاب بھی لکھی۔
مگر وہ اسلامیات کے ایک مستند عالم کی حیثیت سے زیادہ مشہور تھے، فن حدیث پر انھوں نے مندرجہ ذیل کتابیں لکھیں:
(1) Mohammeden de joden te Medina.
(2) Handbook of early Muhamaden tradition.
(3) Concordonce et Indices de la tradition Masulmane.
(4) The Muslim Creed.
انسائیکلوپیڈیا آف اسلام میں مختلف موضوع پر ان کے مضامین بکثرت ہیں۔
(صباح الدین عبدالرحمن، مارچ ۱۹۴۰ء)
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.
Title: Subscription or Subversion: Gender Representation in Pakistani TV Commercials. The current interdisciplinary research falls into the domains of semiotics, linguistics and cultural studies. Television commercials, having the power to (re)frame the ideology of larger audience through its visual/linguistic content and agency to pave the way to social change have become one of the most viable social institutions of disseminating information to a wider audience. In any of its forms, media construct the image of men and women differently associating with them specific traits regarding their activities, roles and position. The commercials are considered persuasive and efficient modes of representation, having strong impact on the social perception of the viewers. The current study aims to investigate the representation of gender-binary relations in the Pakistani television commercials. The study also imbues the broader socio-cultural factors which help to identify the representational and positional value of men and women. The study analyzes whether gender representation in the Pakistani television commercials subscribes to or subverts the traditional gender narratives. The researcher finds a gap in the area of research, as most of the studies have been produced on gender equality and representation in the Euro-American sphere and a few in Pakistani context, but there is a wide scope of research on gender representation with semiotic perspective. The current study draws its theoretical foundation on the theory of semiotics propounded by Dyer (1982) in her book Advertising as Communication. Semiotics is conceived as an appropriate tool for the critical inquiry of the television commercials because of its widely ranging acceptability and reliability in the meaning making process as suggested by Williamson (1978), Dyer (1982) and Jhally (1990). The data for the current study comprises television commercials broadcast on famous Pakistani television channels. The sampling technique is based on non-probability purposive sampling with the rationale of choosing this technique to include only those commercials which largely reflect gender representation. The study finds that the commercials present layers of meanings via semiotic modes at symbolic level where men and women are displayed in stereotypical manner, subscribing to patriarchal structures. The study recommends the change in the content of the televised material and also highlights the unexplored avenues which can be brought under considerations by the future researchers.