عصر حاضر میں مسلم معاشروں کو درپیش نظریہ الحاد کا فکری چیلنج اور اسلامی تناظر میں اس کا حل

Ideological Challenges of Atheism to the Muslim Societies and their Solutions from Islamic Perspective It’s a matter of fact that Muslim Societies are facing many socio-political and religious challenges within contemporary dominant waves of thought. One of the serious challenges being faced by the Muslim in the current scenario is Atheism. Although in past era, the Atheism couldn’t become influential with general acceptance of commoners but recently, the ideology of Atheism is spreading fast with statistically reported impact on all religions and civilizations. Atheism is a lack of belief in God, gods or any supernatural being along with the rejection of belief that any deities exist. The philosophy of atheism is nothing new, but it has changed its manifestations over a period. This is obvious that Atheism has now become a serious challenge ideologically and morally for Muslim societies. We are living in a fast-changing society, where preservation of Islamic belief is a challenging task particularly for the new young generation and modern educated lot. Atheists use every possible and available mean and tool for preaching their thoughts and beliefs i.e. Print media, electronic media and above all social media. In this context, this study will explore the questions that; what are the effects of Atheism in Muslim Societies and what is its solution in Islamic perspective? Analytical research methodology will be used in this study. This study perceives that the public and private sector universities are the soft target of Atheism. There is suggested legal, ethical & ideological mechanisms to protect Muslim Societies from threat of Atheism.

Biodiversity of Insects Associated With Rice Oryza Sativa L. Crop Agroecosystem in the Punjab, Pakistan

In this study, factors regarding the excessive use of pesticides and those particularly involved in the cultivation of high input and low input rice crop were investigated. Farmers’ sources of Basmati rice seed acquisition and perception of pest insects’ incidence and their management practices in rice crop were also evaluated. Results indicated that the main reason for farmers’ adoption of high input rice farming was to get better yields and profit. The main sources of rice seed acquisition were the home retained, local market and seed companies. Farmers were well aware of major pest insects of rice and reported moderate incidence of rice stem borers and high incidence of rice leaffolder but little was known about natural enemies and diseases. The most common reason for excessive use of insecticides was the misconception that pesticides were necessary to increase the yield. Farmers still relied to a great extent on chemicals to control the pests in rice crop and majority of them ignored economic threshold levels (ETL) recommended for the control. But the effective and economic suppression of insect pests in rice ecosystem by the judicial use of pesticides on the basis of ETL is utmost essential. Therefore, ETLs for the chemical control of rice stem borers (Scirpophaga incertulus Wlk. & S. innotata Wlk.) and rice leaffolder (Cnaphalocrosis medinalis Gn.) in the traditional Basmati rice growing area, the Kallar tract were also determined to be 5% dead-hearts (DH) and 3% folded leaves for stem borers and rice leaffolder respectively. The use of insecticides ignoring recommended ETLs along with higher doses of fertilizers is not only the cause of economic losses but also harmful to the insect biodiversity. So the effect of high inputs (HIP) farming practices on insect communities was also investigated. The higher number of species richness and abundance were measured for low input (LIP) systems. On the other hand some insects were abundant in HIP systems because of their adaptation to such kind of habitat. The insect species richness and abundance increased with rice crop age and showed close relationship with crop. All the major trophic guilds, except non rice pest (NRP), were also in abundance for LIP systems. Some species of insect were found sensitive to agrochemical pollution and were regarded as bioindicators. The higher Shannon’s value in some cases for HIP farms suggested that agrochemicals had a significant impact in eliminating the rare species and hence increased the Shannon’s and evenness values among the species. The overall effect of HIP rice farming on insect species richness and abundance was significantly negative. The LIP systems were found having greater diversity along with supporting a good number of rare species.