مکی دور نبوی ﷺ کے فنون ِ لطیفہ کے معاشرتی مظاہر کا تجزیاتی مطالعہ

Fine Arts, shows the aesthetic side of any society and it is very important part of any culture, as its presence expresses the cultural diversity and richness and connects different segments of society. This article throws a light on the fine arts of Makkah society before the Prophet Hood. It is very common among historians and orientalists to accuse the society of Makkah void of any cultural expression apart from its love for poetry, which is not true. The matter of the fact is that this society was fully developed aesthetically despite its nomadic and barren desert life. The cultural expressions of storytelling, poetry, architecture, painting, sculpture making were true and pure to this part of world without any influence from outside world. The tradition of storytelling was an essential element of Makkah cultural life and it was common among the elite of Makkah to have night sittings, where along with drinking, music they used to narrate anecdotes of past.  Although the architecture of Makkah people was simple, it was self-sufficient to the needs of the environment. This research paper is an attempt to look into the various forms of Fine Arts of Makkah and how these expressions were deeply embedded in the society.

Trade Liberalization, Economic Growth and Poverty: A Case Study of South Asian Countries

WTO (World Trade Organization) that replaced GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), claims speedy growth and reduction of poverty through greater trade expansion. This study evaluates the existence and impact of relationship between trade liberalization, economic growth and poverty in the context of selected South Asian countries namely Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives. Time series and cross sectional data is pooled and divided into two sub periods as pre liberalization (1960-1980) and post liberalization period (1981-2011) to compare the relationship of trade with growth and poverty between the two periods. GLS technique is used with countries’ Fixed and Random Effect Models. Variables are trade openness, average income growth, poverty, income inequality, unemployment, infrastructure development (transport and communication sector development) government consumption, investment, life expectancy at birth, literacy ratio, secondary school enrolment ratio, skilled labor, inflation rate, and population growth. First, trade openness along with other variables is estimated to see its impact over growth and then trade openness and growth along with other variables are estimated to see their impact over poverty of the South Asian region during both periods. Results show in the pre liberalization period an insignificant positive relationship of trade openness with average income growth and significantly negative relationship with poverty. During post liberalization period this impact is significant and positive over growth and poverty in South Asian region. The relationship is weak in both cases. Per capita income growth shows a strong, positive and significant impact over poverty. Gini (income inequality) is negatively related with average income growth and positively with poverty. Unemployment reduces growth of income (mostly significantly) but an ambiguous relationship with poverty. Government consumption and investment show strong, positive and significant impact over growth and a positive impact over poverty of the region. Infrastructure development raises growth weakly and lowers poverty strongly, Inflation lowers economic growth and raises poverty, population growth shows a strong, negative impact on economic growth that enhances poverty. These all results are significant. Life expectancy at birth, literacy ratio, secondary school enrolment ratio and skilled labor also show a positive and significant association with average income growth and significantly strong and negative relationship with poverty. The overall results of South Asian countries suggest that liberalization policies can play an effective role if they are made sufficiently pro-poor and pro-growth. For this purpose complementary policies are needed to strengthen the institutional capabilities and improve the poverty situation in South Asian region.