Comparative Analysis of the Controversies Among the Orientalist About the Epilepsy Imputed to the Holy Prophet S. A. W

The opponents of Islam and its prophet, Muhammad (p) including some of the orientalists, have always tried their best to distort the real image of Islam and malign the person of the holy Prophet. They have produced many baseless stories and notions about the teachings of Islam and the person and life of the holy Prophet. They accused the Prophet (p) of having compiled the Qur’an out of the teachings of Christianity, Judaism and the customs of pre-Muhammadan Arabs. They maintain that Muhammad (p) was caught by epilepsy and trances, out of which he pretended to having received the Quranic revelation. They mention the incident of ‘Shaq al-Sadr’ (splitting up of the bosom of the prophet in his childhood) and the shivering condition of the holy Prophet(p) while receiving the revelations as hallucination of epileptic fits. But the history, medical science, the logical reasoning and the impartial orientalists have absolutely rejected their biased allegations on the personality of the holy Prophet. They certified that Muhammad (p) had never suffered from any type of such ailment like epileptic fits, seizers, trances or the falling sickness. The author is this paper refutes the allegation of epilepsy to the prophet with the help of impartial studies of the orientalists and evidences from the medical science, thus, highlighted the superficiality of the investigations of some orientalists about Islam and Its Prophet.

Use of Inquiry for Teaching Social Studies in a Lower Secondary Class at a Private School in Karachi

Social Studies is the integration of the Social Sciences and Humanities in order to promote competence in students. It enables learners to become useful citizens of the society. However, the teaching and learning of such an important subject is not satisfactorily addressed in our schools for various reasons; mainly teachers tend to rely on teaching in a traditional manner. It is perceived that teachers are knowledge givers, while students are recipients of that knowledge, and hence, the children's conceptual understanding in the subject doesn't get developed. Considering that this subject prepares children to become informed citizens, it is necessary that constructive methods and strategies should be introduced in schools for teaching Social Studies. Literature also supports innovative ideas and strategies such as discovery, problem-solving, project-based and web-based teaching and learning in order to enhance students' thinking skills and conceptual understanding. The study was undertaken in a grade seven Social Studies classroom in a private school in Karachi. The methodology used was action research as this is a practitioner's research, which enables the researcher to study the implementation of inquiry through approach using web-resources in the teaching of Social Studies. As a part of methodology, I engaged in the reconnaissance stage and made a general plan of action for carrying out the study. The cycle of action research contained; planning, action, observation and reflection. The data was collected through classroom observations, field notes, and semi-structured interviews. The findings of the study revealed that students when involved in the process of inquiry began participating actively in the lessons. Furthermore, a shift was observed in students from their dependency on textbook to independent searching and collecting information from the internet. It also provided students the opportunity of developing their communication and information-seeking skills and increased their motivation. Students were seen constructing their own knowledge, which facilitates teaching and learning in Social Studies classroom.