پروفیسر مقبول احمد
یہ سطریں زیر تحریر تھیں کہ ایک بڑے عالم و فاضل اور محقق پروفیسر مقبول احمد کی وفات کی خبر ملی، اِناﷲ وَ اِنا اِلَیہ رَاجِعُون۔ وہ علی گڑھ مسلم یونیورسٹی کے شعبہ عربی و اسلامیات سے برسوں وابستہ رہے، انہی کی کوششوں سے یونیورسٹی میں ویسٹ ایشین اسٹڈیز کا شعبہ قائم ہوا، پھر کشمیر چلے گئے اور کشمیر یونیورسٹی میں سینٹرل ایشین اسٹڈیز کا سینٹر اور اسلامی کتب و نوادر کا میوزیم قائم کیا، شاہ حسین کی دعوت پر مشیر تعلیم کی حیثیت سے اردن گئے۔ مغربی ممالک کی سیاحت بھی کی برسوں آل انڈیا اسلامک اسٹڈیز کے جنرل سکریٹری رہے، جس کے باوقار سیمینار ملک بھر میں ہوتے تھے، حکومت ہند کے عربی مجلہ ثقافۃ الہند کے مدیر اور ذاکر حسین انسٹی ٹیوٹ کے سہ ماہی رسالہ ’’اسلام و عصر جدید‘‘ کی ادارت سے بھی منسلک رہے، ریٹائرڈ ہونے کے بعد پروفیسر ایمرٹس ہوئے، تصنیف و تالیف سے برابر اشتغال رہا اور مختلف علمی و تحقیقی کام انجام دیئے، شریف ادریسی کی شہرہ آفاق تصنیف نزہۃ المشتاق فی اختراق الآفاق کے ہندوستان سے متعلق حصے کی اشاعت ان کا بڑا کارنامہ ہے، جس کو ان کے عالمانہ مقدمہ، انڈکس اور محققانہ حواشی نے چار چاند لگادیا ہے، اﷲ تعالیٰ عالم آخرت میں بھی ان کے درجات بلند کرے، آمین!! (ضیاء الدین اصلاحی، اپریل ۱۹۹۸ء)
The present study is aimed to examine the relation of Holy Qur’ān recitation and psychological wellbeing among the Muslim Youth. People find no time for offering prayers and reciting Holy Qur’ān because they are very busy in their daily routines and if they do so, they do it for short period of time when they are in some trouble. The objectives include firstly the exploration of the relationship of Holy Qur’ān recitation and psychological wellbeing. Second objective of the study is to explore the correlation of the Holy Qur’ān recitation with depression, anxiety and stress among young Muslims. Study sample comprises of 100 young Muslims (43 males and 57 females) falling between 17 and 25 years from Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Instruments used for data collection include psychological wellbeing scale by Kamman and Flett (1983) and DASS (depression anxiety stress scale) by Lovibond and Lovibond (1995) and a demographic sheet. Results of the study showed that significant positive relationship exists between Holy Qur’ān recitation and psychological wellbeing among young Muslims and Holy Qur’ān recitation negatively relates with depression, anxiety and stress. The present study findings support that those young Muslims who had more rate of Holy Qur’ān recitation were psychologically more stable as compared to non-frequent reciters. In the light of findings of current study, it can be declared as a quintessence that Holy Qur’ān Recitation can serve as an influential element in ensuring the positive mental health of youth. Educators and Policy makers can play a crucial role in promotion of Holy Qur’ān familiarity which will make certain the psychological and mental health of youth and of the society at large.
Pakistan: a site of orientalist journalism (selected texts of Ethan Casey and Mary Anne Weaver This thesis is an attempt to analyze texts socially within linguistics. The discourse analysis shows how language becomes the tool for constructing representations of the `other,' and in a larger context, across a variety of social institutions. The researcher draws upon Foucault's knowledge, language and power framework, its impact on linguistics, and the emerging positions for analyzing spoken or written language under the rubric of actual discourse analysis. Focusing on the importance of the produced text, it exemplifies power and knowledge relationship within the 'eurocentric discourse. 'This study establishes a relationship between language and power as expressed in the post 9/11 Western journalistic writings on Pakistan. The researcher believes that the tradition of Orientalism places shackles on the Western journalists who set out to explain Pakistan to a larger audience. The researcher has tried to interpret Orientalism from the Pakistani perspective, and contends that though the present-day Western journalists are conscious of maintaining objectivity in their representation of Pakistan, they operate within the Orientalist discursive framework. Journalistic representations make Pakistan a site of Orientalist journalism, where discursive structures such as eurocentrism and generalizations construct a reality about it. Orientalism, however, should not be understood as a monolith, denying a possibility of resistance. Instead, representations emerge from conflicting discourses. Consciousness of this fact is the first step of emancipation. There are, consequently, many methods of resistance that Pakistanis can work on to counter the hegemonic and imperialist designs, expressed in the Western Journalistic discourse. The researcher's theory of resistance in the Pakistani framework does not blame the journalists, as they operate within the specified discursive frameworks. Resistance does not imply sheer oppositionality; it requires entering in the dominant discourse and destabilizing it.