The Scope of the Death Penalty under the Sharia Law

The death penalty is one of the core issues which have been widely discussed around the world. As capital punishment has been the part of the Islamic legal system, the Quran and hadith explicitly established the penalties in various serious crimes. A majority of the world‟s nations has abolished the death penalties from their constitutions, but most of the Islamic countries firmly believe in this system. One root cause of it is that the Holy Quran and hadith provide the justification for capital punishment. Further, several Islamic countries where Islam has the status of the state religion, allow the application of the death penalty. This work has prompted us to expose that the Islamic penal code is well-established in the legal and political systems of Islamic countries and the impact of religious traditions have an indirect impact on the implication of the death sentence. Since the death penalty is even now broadly established in Muslim countries, there is also increasing support in several of these states to abolish of the death penalty. Some secular activists have distorted the Quranic verses dealing with the death penalty to support their instance. For different reasons, they claim that political governments may use the death penalty as cover to suppress their political rivals. Our findings reveal that secular propaganda against the Islamic penal system is based on wrong assumptions and a result of Islamophobia. This research article can provide a logical discussion on the issue of capital punishment, rooted in the true spirit of the Islamic punishment system.

Effect of Oxytocinonmilkcomposition of Sahiwal Cowat Different Lactation Stages

The present study was planned to investigate the effect of oxytocin administration to Sahiwal cow, local breed of Pakistan on milk composition with respect to lactation stages (mature milk, peak production and end production). Sixteen cows were divided into two groups. One group was subjected to intramuscular injection of oxytocin (20IU) and other group kept as control. Milk samples were collected from both groups at different lactation stages and evaluated for various parameters. The pH, fat, protein, total solids and ash increased, lactose and acidity decreased, whereas solid not fat were not affected by the lactation stages. Oxytocin administration to cows resulted in decreased of milk fat, lactose, protein, total solids, solids not fat and increased in ash content. Phosphorous and sodium concentration increased while copper, zinc and potassium decreased with lactation stages. Magnesium, calcium and chloride content first decreased at peak production stage then increased at the late lactation stage. Administration of oxytocin also resulted in increased concentration of sodium, chloride and decreased in potassium content at all lactation stages whereas increase in copper content in oxytocin treated milk at end production was observed. The concentration of fatty acids (from C4:0 to C14:0) increased upto peak production and then decreased at the end of lactation stages. The palmatic acid (C16:0) increased while stearic acid (C18:0) and oleic acid (C18:1) decreased with the progress of lactation stages. There was no effect of oxytocin on the C4:0, C8:0, C10:0, C14:0 and C18:0 fatty acids while C6:0, C12:0, C16:0 and C18:1 fatty acid decreased on oxytocin administration. Electrophoretic study indicated maximum intensity of casein in milk at mid lactation stage, whereas whey content was found to be the highest at end production stage of milking. Casein (as1, as2 and β-CN) fractions and whey protein fractions (Ig, BSA, β-Lg and α-La) showed lighter bands in oxytocin injected milk as compared to control. Lactoperoxidase and acid phosphatase decreased while lipase activity increased with the progress of lactation. Alkaline phosphatase activity first increased then decreased at the end of lactation. Thiocyanate content also increased with lactation. Acid phosphatase increased and alkaline phosphatase and lipase decreased while there was no effect on the lactoperoxidase activity when the oxytocin was injected for a longer period. Thiocyanate content increased with the administration of oxytocin.