Influences of ‘Allāma Muḥammad Iqbāl on Thoughts of Dr. Isrār Aḥmad
Dr. Isrār Aḥmad(d:1431A. H/2010A. D) admits this fact that his personality is deeply influenced by Dr. ‘Allāma Muḥammad Iqbāl(d:1357A. H/1938A. D). In his book titled Da‘vat Rujū‘ ilā al-Qur’ān kā Manẓar-o-Pasmanẓar, he writes:
“The foremost and the deepest imprint on my mind is that of late ‘Allāma Iqbāl’s Urdu Poetry as I spent my high school life (1941-1947A. D) in reading and humming of bāng-e-darā, bāl-e-Jibra’īl, zarb-e-Kalīm and verses of armughān-e-Ḥijāz. This aroused in me a national passion so I, in that era, found the only like-minded group of the Muslim League, associated myself as per my little ability with the Muslim Students Federation- a body of the Muslim League movement. [1]
At another point in the same book, he further writes:
“No denying the fact that like howal awwalo wal ākhiro, my thoughts and vision have the initial and final impact of late ‘Allāma Iqbāl; the former mostly being ‘passionate’ with the outcome of ‘Passion for the Community’ whereas the latter is purely ‘Conceptual’; thus, my concept has the objectivity of “Studying the Qur’ān in the background of Modern Concepts” or “Analysis and Review of the Modern Thoughts in the Light of the Qur’ān”. [2]
The above lines explain that the vision of Dr. Isrār Aḥmad(d:1431A. H/2010A. D) had the initial impact on ‘Allāma Iqbāl’s personality. The thoughts propounded by Dr. Isrār Aḥmad all his life have the footprints leading to the poetry of Iqbāl.
Political System in Islām
Politically, ‘Allāma Iqbāl was strictly against a democratic government as he says:
tou nay kiā dekhā nahi maghrib kā Jamhōri...
The learning of Arabic language like any other foreign language contains four main aspects; reading, writing, speaking and understanding while listening.[i] This learning process can be enhanced if the most appropriate Learning Strategy is used. In this paper the most appropriate Learning Strategy of Arabic Language is suggested. The course outlines for Arabic language are thoroughly studied and several professors and experts of Arabic Language from Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Sudan are interviewed. The author, who himself has vast experience in teaching Arabic language, also had the opportunity to sit in the Arabic language classes to observe various strategies and methodologies adopted by different professors while teaching Arabic. In this paper the time spent on teaching Arabic to the students is also discussed. The appropriate size of the class room i.e, the number of students in Arabic language class also matters in improving the quality of Arabic among the students. The matter of teaching Arabic in Arabic only or in the native language of the students will also be touched in here. As the time has changed and the world is moving ahead on a fast pace, it seems necessary to apply the “Direct Method” while teaching Arabic or any foreign language.[ii] This paper will shed light on what is meant by “Direct Method”. The idea of making the student sit and memorize the dry rules of grammar has become obsolete. The idea of telling the student what part of the phrase is subject or predicate, or what is object and what is a noun or verb, may come later. The idea of memorizing the bulk of new vocabulary in the beginning can also be postponed. Hence a paradigm shift is needed here while talking about the Methodology of Teaching Arabic Language, under the heading of “Direct Method”. [i] Muhammad Abdul Khaliq, Professor of Arabic and co-author of 'al-Arabia baina Yadaik'. The author of this research paper had a personal interview with him on 21.03.2014, in the Institute of Arabic Language, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. [ii] This method is adopted roughly by some great scholars of Arabic language like Dr. V. Abdur Rahim who taught Arabic language for decades in the Islamic University of Madina, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The author was fortunate to meet with him many times and get benefitted from his experience. See for details: Abdurrahim, V. (1999), Arabic Course for English-Speaking Students, Leicester: UK Islamic Academy. See also: Abdullah, F. Ibrahim. (1999), Iqra Arabic Reader. Chicago: Iqra International Educational Foundation. Moreover see: Fawzan, Abdurrahman and others. (2004), Al-Arabia Baina Yadaik, Riyadh: Ministry of Education.
During the present research work three plants, i.e. Mansoa alliacea, Tecomaria capensis and Tecoma stans belonging to family Bignoniaceae were evaluated for their ethnopharmacological importance. Stem and leaf powder of all the plants were used for steady state maceration using n-hexane, chloroform, ethanol and water as solvents. The maximum % extraction yield was observed in leaf aqueous extract of T. capensis, T. stans and M. alliacea, i.e. 17.98%, 15.48% and 12.52%, respectively. The phytochemical investigation showed the presence of alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, reducing sugars, saponins, tannins and terpenoids in most of the extracts of all the plants. FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) spectrum of the powder plant parts showed the presence of polysaccharides, saponins, lipids, terpenes, polyphenols, etc. Maximum amount of flavonoid content was observed in stem aqueous extract of T. capensis and M. alliacea, i.e. 341.54 mg RE/g of the extract and 231.21 mg RE/g of the extract, respectively. Minimum amount of flavonoid was observed in stem aqueous extract of T. stans, i.e. 26.15 mg RE/g of the extract. Total phenolic contents were expressed in maximum amount in leaf aqueous extract of T. stans, i.e. 354.85 mg GAE/g of the extract followed by stem ethanol extract of M. alliacea, i.e. 143.17 mg GAE/g of the extract and leaf ethanol extract of T. capensis, i.e. 123.39 mg GAE/g of the extract. Total antioxidant activity was found maximum in leaf aqueous and ethanol extract of M. alliacea followed by leaf aqueous and stem ethnol extracts of T. stans, i.e. 100.25, 99.45, 93.82 and 89.09 AE μg/mL, respectively. The metal chelating activity by % inhibition of ferrozine complex formation was observed maximum in stem aqueous extract of M. alliacea followed by leaf ethanol extract of T. capensis and ethanol stem extract of T. stans, i.e. 94.31%, 93.82% and 92.75%. The % inhibition of lipid peroxidation was best observed in stem aqueous and ethanol extract of T. capensis followed by stem aqueous extract of M. alliacea, i.e. 97.39%, 94.50% and 93.92%, respectively. The DPPH radical scavenging potential was found maximum in leaf aqueous extract of M. alliacea with IC50 22.66μg/mL followed by ethanol extract of the stem, i.e. 25.46μg/mL. For T. capensis good IC50 was showed by leaf ethanol extract followed by stem ethanol extract, i.e. 25.03μg/mL and 27.17μg/mL, respectively. Leaf and stem ethanol extract of T. stans exhibited good IC50 among other extracts of this plant, i.e. 30.11μg/mL and 29.74μg/mL, respectively. Best antibacterial activity as zone of inhibition was showed by n-hexane stem extract of M. alliacea against Escherichia coli, i.e. 42.20mm with 1.25mg/mL MIC. The stem extract of T. cpaensis was found more active against Bacillus subtilis as stem ethanol and n-hexane extracts exhibited 37.60mm and 36.80mm zone of inhibition with 2.5mg/mL MIC. Stem chloroform and n-hexane extracts of T. stans exhibited zone of inhibition 26.13mm and 25.30mm with 2.5mg/mL MIC against P. aeruginosa and E. coli, respectively, while leaf n-hexane extract showed zone of inhibition 26.80mm and 25.37mm with 2.5mg/mL MIC against E. coli and P. aeruginosa, respectively. PCR of the virus confirmed the FMDV type O as its genome was consisted of 1301bp. The cytotoxic and antiviral effect was checked on BHK-21 cells in the form of cell survival percentage (CSP). The stem and leaf n-hexane extracts of M. alliacea were found antiviral at the concentration range of 15.62-125μg/mL and 15.62-250μg/mL with CSP more than 50%. Similarly the range of 31.25-125μg/mL was antiviral for chloroform stem and leaf extracts. The ethanol and water extracts of stem and leaf were found active against virus at 15.62-125μg/mL. The n-hexane and chloroform extracts of T.capensis and T. stans were not antiviral, while the ethanol extracts of these plants were found active at 31.25-125μg/mL. The aqueous extracts of T. capensis and T. stans were antiviral at 31.25-62.5μg/mL and 31.25-125μg/mL, respectively. The cell survival percentage at all these extracts was more than 50%. Overall results showed that M. alliacea had good antioxidant, antibacterial and antiviral agents as compared to T. capensis and T. stans, respectively.
