مولوی محمد امین زبیری
افسوس ہے کہ گزشتہ مہینہ اردو کے ایک پرانے اہل قلم مولوی محمد امین صاحب زبیری نے کراچی میں انتقال کیا، ان کا وطن مارہرہ تھا، لیکن ان کی عمر کا بڑا حصہ بھوپال میں گزرا وہ ریاست بھوپال کے شعبۂ تاریخ کے مہتمم تھے اور بیگم صاحبہ بھوپال کے تحریری اور تصنیفی کاموں میں بھی مدد دیتے تھے، مولانا شبلی مرحوم سے خاص تعلقات تھے، چنانچہ مکاتیب شبلی میں ان کے نام بہت سے خطوط ہیں، بیگم صاحبہ بھوپال نے سیرۃ النبیؐ کی تالیف کے لئے دوسو ماہوار کی جو امداد مقرر کی تھی اس میں امین زبیری صاحب کی کوشش کو بھی دخل تھا، پھر مولانا شبلی کی وفات کے بعد انہی کی کوشش سے یہ امداد دارالمصنفین کی جانب منتقل ہوگئی اور ان کے تعلقات دارالمصنفین سے بھی برابر قائم رہے، مگر وہ سرسید ان کی پالیسی اور علی گڑھ تحریک کے بڑے پرجوش حامیوں میں تھے، اس کے خلاف کوئی بات سننا گوارا نہ کرتے تھے، اس لیے حیات شبلی کی اشاعت کے بعد ان کو دارالمصنفین سے شکایت پیدا ہوگئی تھی، مگر پھر وہ خود ہندوستان سے ہجرت کرگئے، ان کی پوری زندگی تالیف و تصنیف میں گزری، نواب محسن الملک، نواب وقار الملک، ڈاکٹر ضیاء الدین اور آغا خان کے حالات میں انھوں نے مستقل کتابیں لکھیں، ان کے علاوہ متعدد تصانیف ان کی یادگار ہیں، انتقال کے وقت نوے سال کی عمر تھی، ان کی موت سے ایک پرانی یادگار مٹ گئی، اﷲ تعالیٰ ان کی مغفرت فرمائے۔ (شاہ معین الدین ندوی، اکتوبر ۱۹۵۸ء)
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.
Drought is one of the major abiotic stresses among all the abiotic factors and it is recurrent climatic factor usually faced by plants in arid and semiarid areas and serious threat to food security. Biochar is a carbon rich product of pyrolysis, which have high water retention capacity due to its high surface area and highly porous nature. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are group of microorganisms in the rhizosphere, which improves plant growth through different mechanisms i.e. hormone production, ACC deaminase and exopolysaccharides production etc., under stress conditions. Simultaneous application of biochar and rhizobacteria could be an effective approach for improving growth, physiology and yield of maize under drought stress. In this study crushed corn cobs biochar was produced at 300 and 400 ̊C pyrolysis temperature. Three levels of biochar (0, 1 and 3%) were applied into the soil to find best biochar type and level for improving drought resilience in maize. Drought levels (100, 70 and 40% FC) were maintained gravimetrically. Biochar application significantly improved the growth and physiology of maize under drought stress. Overall 3% biochar produced at 400 ̊C significantly improved shoot and root length, shoot and root dry weight, relative water content and protein content in maize under drought stress. Among soil quality parameters, aggregate stability, carbon pool index (CPI), lability index (LI) and soil moisture contents were also increased significantly with 3% (400 ̊C) biochar as compared to control and increase in aggregate stability and moisture content was 80 and 132% more as compared to control at drought level 70% FC, respectively. Therefore, 3% biochar produced at 400 ̊C was selected for further evaluation in the pot trial along with PGPR under drought stress. A number of rhizobacterial strains were isolated from maize rhizosphere from arid and semi-arid areas of Punjab, Pakistan. Fast growing rhizobacterial isolates were subjected to drought tolerance assay and further screening was done under drought stress. Nine most effective isolates (LK2, LK7, LK9, LK13, LK16, LK18, LK21, LK24 and LK29) were selected to evaluate their potential for improving growth and physiology of maize under drought stress. Inoculation of LK13 and LK16 significantly improved maize seedling growth, fresh and dry weight, photosynthetic activity, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance and water use efficiency as compared to control. Isolate LK-13 and LK-16 showed maximum growth promotion and were selected for pot trial. Biochar at 3% (produced at 400 ̊C) was applied in combination with PGPR strains LK-13 and LK-16 for improving growth, physiology and yield of maize (Zea mays L.) under drought stress. Combined application of biochar and PGPR significantly improved the growth, yield and physiological parameters compared to control. Results also revealed that antioxidant enzymes (CAT, SOD, POD, APX, GPX) activity in plant leaves was reduced while soil enzymes (acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase & β-glucosidase) activity and microbial biomass C and N were improved significantly as compared to control. Grain yield was increased significantly upto 80% with biochar + LK-16 compared to control at 70% FC. Finally, is was concluded that biochar application @ 3% produced at 400 ̊C) along with rhizobacteria significantly improved the growth, physiology and yield of maize under drought stress. However, further evaluation should be needed for practical application under field conditions.