The Present Day Applications of Initial Muslim-Christian Interactions.

Throughout history, Interfaith Dialogue has been a continuous activity in Muslims and Christians alike. According to the historian, incident of Wafad-e-Najran[i] (Najran’s Delegation) was the first ever regular interaction between Muslims and Christians.  Therefore, this incident has an academic and historic importance in Muslim -Christian perspectives.  The Holy Quran describes this incident in detail. First 80 verses of Surah Ale-Imran were revealed in this context.  Further information is found in the books of Hadith, Seerah and Islamic History. This incident can become a base for modern Muslim- Christian Dialogue and we can derive from it some basic principles of Dialogue. This article elaborates the incident of Wafad-e-Najran, its importance and also derives some important rules from it. These principles are: interfaith tolerance, harmony, communication, understandings, peaceful co-existence, honour and respect, wisdom and beautiful reasoning, common basis for interfaith dialogue, Daw’ah and perfection of Hujjah. This article also describes its applications in the Present Dialogue.   [i] Wafad-e-Najran:   It is an Arabic word, used in Hadith History and other Islamic literature. It is meant by Najran’s Delegation and I shall use throughout the article as Wafad-e-Najran. 

Post Harvest Storage Stability of Kinnow Mandarin Through Applications of Silver Nanoparticles Based Coatings

Influence of carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) and guar gum based silver nanoparticles containing coatings was studied on the postharvest storage stability of kinnow mandarin (Citrus reticulata cv. Blanco) stored at 4 oC and 10 oC (85-95% relative humidity) for a period of 120 days. Physicochemical qualities, microbiological evaluations, quantities of three major aroma compounds (limonene, linalool, γ-terpinene) and sensory attributes were monitored after every 15 days of storage. Microbiological quality was assessed by monitoring the principal spoilage microbes (yeast and moulds, psychrotrophic bacteria, E. coli, Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus). Sensory evaluation was carried out using 9 point hedonic scale by a panel of 25 experienced penalists for peel colour, flesh colour, juice colour, fruit texture, fruit taste, fruit flavour and overall acceptability. Overall, the results revealed an increase in peel pitting, total soluble solids (TSS), total sugars, reducing sugars, non-reducing sugars, pH and weight loss in the fruits, but this increase was comparatively less significant in coated fruits stored at 4 oC. Ascorbic acid, total phenolics and antioxidant activity were significantly enhanced in coated fruits stored at 4 oC. Titratable acidity was significantly decreased during storage except for coated kinnow stored at 4 oC. In control samples stored at 10 oC, a high intensity of fruit rotting and no chilling injury was observed. Total aerobic psychrotrophic bacteria, and yeast and moulds were noticed in all treatments during storage, but the growth was not significant in coated fruits at 4 oC. Staphylococcus aureus was not noticed in coated fruits stored at 4 oC, while E. coli and Salmonella were not found in any treatment during storage. Limonene, linalool and γ-terpinene concentrations were significantly reduced during storage in uncoated, and those kinnows coated and stored at 10 oC. However, the storage did not alter the qualitative aroma profile of kinnow. Hedonic scores of sensory evaluation panel appeared to correlate well with the aroma profile and manifested the GC-MS results. Based on the present study, the quality of kinnow fruit can be kept good for 4 months, when stored at 4 oC and for 2 months at 10 oC.