A True Vision of Human Rights in Islam

If one accepts the premise of the Old Testament that Adam was created in the image of God, this implies that the divine stamp gives human beings a high value of worth. In similar vein, the Quran says: Surely we have accorded dignity to the Sons of Man. So too, in the Bhagavad-Gita: Who sees his Lord Within every creature deathlessly dwelling amidst the mortal: That man sees truly. Put another way, in a religious context, every human being is considered sacred. Believing in a common universal Divine force, which gives rise to a common humanity and from this flows a universality of certain rights. Since the rights stem from a divine source, they are inalienable by mortal authority. This concept is found not only in the Judaeo-Christian tradition but in Islam in its more advanced and wider perspective. The present study is an attempt to provide an epilogue on human rights given in the Qur’an and Sunnah. It is an in-depth analysis of Human Rights and dignity of person, encompassing its various dimensions. The study is an attempt to understand the true philosophy of human rights in Islam. It aims at providing an ethical and legal basis for the realization of implementation of human rights in the world states in general and in the Muslim states in particular.

Improving Students English Reading Comprehension Skills Through Reciprocal Teaching Approach Rta

While reading comprehension is an integral part of English language teaching, it should aim to equip students with basic strategies to help them construct meaning from English texts. However, through my personal experiences at different levels as an English teacher and from the evidences of the reconnaissance of this study, it emerged that reading comprehension was a challenging issue among students in the context of this particular study. The study was conducted in the context of a private school in Gilgit Baltistan. The purpose of the study was to improve grade eight students' English reading comprehension skills by using Reciprocal Teaching Approach (RTA). RTA is embedded in four basic strategies of reading, such as predicting, questioning, clarifying and summarising. Data for the study was collected from a sample of six participant students and the subject teacher through qualitative tools like observation, interview, pre and post-tests, reflective journals and field notes. The data of the study was analysed at three stages of the action research that is, reconnaissance, the action research and post-action research stage. Analysis of the gathered data revealed that there was a reasonable improvement in students' understanding of the reading strategies. By the end of the study, they were found to be more proficient, skilful and self-reliant in reading. Thus, it revealed that the strategies of RTA were helpful in enhancing the skills of six students of grade 8 in the context of the study. The study recommends future researchers to conduct separate action research studies on each of the four strategies of RTA at different grades in different contexts. Such a study would help the future researchers to investigate how a particular strategy can be helpful in enhancing students' reading skills in English. The study also recommends replicating the same study in a public school context.