The Dress Code for Muslim Women: A Linguistic Analysis of the Qurānic Verses and the Prophetic Traditions

It is not uncommon to find cases of Muslim women being harassed or bullied in many of the Muslim-minority countries because of their dress. These Islamophobic attacks, unfortunately, are not merely conducted by radicalised individuals; but the subjugation of the rights of Muslim women also comes from institutional bodies and governments. Secular nations, such as France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Switzerland, USA, UK, Canada, China, and Russia have either imposed restrictions on Muslim women regarding their dress code. They see veil as a non-acceptance of progressive or cumulative values which is unsurprisingly not welcomed by the Muslim community. In such environment, it is inevitable for the Muslims to understand what the Qur’ān and Sunnah really say about the dress code for Muslim women in order to explain what their religion really requires from them and to communicate it appropriately to the government officials, journalists, politicians, and other relevant stakeholders. It is also essential from the perspective of segregating cultural aspects from the religious aspects. Many of the commonly used words for the dressing of Muslim women are more rooted in culture than the religion. It is accordingly vital to understand what the Qur’ān and Sunnah really command about the women dressing and how it has been interpreted in various Islamic societies and cultures. This paper accordingly presents an analysis of all the relevant Qur’ānic verses and the prophetic traditions (from the 6 most renowned books of ahadith). The linguistic analysis employed in this paper results in the identification of items of dress that were worn by Muslim women to safeguard their modesty during the times of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). The same principles are relevant for today’s age and time and the Muslims can use those guidelines to delineate cultural practices from the religious injunctions.

Seismic Performance Evaluation of Indigenous Brick Masonry Infill Panel Walls in Reinforced Concrete Structures

Infill walls are normally considered as nonstructural components in Reinforce Concrete (RC) frames, and are often neglected in the structural analysis and design because of their complex behavior. In Pakistan, which is the 6th most populous country of the world, RC frames with infill walls is popular form of construction. Therefore, the principal objective of this research is to investigate the effect of infill walls on RC frame structures under lateral loading designed to BCP-SP2007. To achieve the desired objectives, this research was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, six full scale, single story and single bay RC frames were tested. The variables, in these frames were opening type, opening location and quantity of infilled material used. These frames were representative of typical construction in Pakistan. Before the construction of the frames, engineering properties of the constituent materials were determined according to the ASTM standards. Frames were tested in displacement-control under quasi-static loading arrangement and crack propagation, collapse hierarchy and damaged levels were studied in detail. Discussion includes crack and failure patterns, hysteresis curves, energy dissipation, back bone curve, stiffness degradation, strength, displacement ductility, ductility factor, over strength factor, response modification factor and performance levels obtained. It was concluded from this phase that infill wall increased the strength and stiffness of the reinforced concrete frame. By providing door opening at the center, not at the side of infilled wall strength increased but stiffness decreased. Strength and stiffness are related to quantity of infilled wall used. Energy dissipation and performance levels are affected by infilled wall, and also affected by opening type and opening location in the infilled wall. It was also concluded that response modification factor is more sensitive to material strength and geometric configuration (period of structure) as compared to the single value of 8.5 for concrete special moment resisting frame being adopted by Building Code of Pakistan Seismic Provisions (BCP SP-2007). In the second phase of this research, a half scale model of two story and two bay prototype was tested on a 6DOF/60-ton capacity shake table. The prototype was designed for Zone IV as per BCP SP-2007. Similitude relations based on dimensional analysis were drawn before the construction of the model. It was the first large scaled model designed according to BCP SP2007. It was tested on newly installed largest shake table in the history of Pakistan. Acquisition ii of material was done according to the scale of the models. Before the construction of model on the shake table, it was validated with 18-ton and 48-ton service loads, because the shake table was operated for the first time and it was necessary for design of experimental testing of program. Infill walls were provided at various locations with different combinations of door and window openings. Three different test runs were performed on the model, using shake table. Before and after performing each run of high intensity, ambient and free vibration tests were performed to compute the natural frequency and damping of the model. To capture full range of the performance of the model, it was subjected to a series of sinusoidal motion with increasing frequency starting from 0.4, 0.5, 0.75 to 7.5 Hz with the increment of 0.25 Hz. The duration of the sinusoidal motion was kept around 20 seconds, and the data was recorded for 25 seconds at a sampling frequency of 200 Hz without applying any anti-aliasing filter. Acceleration response histories and displacement response histories from the respective accelerometer and displacement transducers installed at the top, mid and base/bottom of the model were interpreted from which hysteretic curves were drawn. Energy dissipation was calculated for the first story, second story and for whole structure by finding area enclosed by the hysteretic curves. It was concluded from this phase that masonry infilled panel wall alters the global response of the structure by decreasing the natural time period of the structure. After the generation of the cracks and dislodging of portions of infill walls, the natural frequency of the structure decreases and it follows different patterns depending on the properties and geometry of the infilled panel. Infilled panel with door and window openings is more vulnerable to lateral loadings, and nonuniform distribution of the infilled wall produces torsion in the structure. The RC frame design behaved well (expect in fills) thus showing worthiness of BCP-SP 2007, however update to codes are needed based on this research and special attention to Nonstructure components is needed.