اسلامی فوجداریت کا ضابطۂ قرائن

Qara’in - usually translated as circumstantial evidence - is a derived form of Arabic word " " قر ن which literally means a fact associated or accompanied with an event or circumstances. But when an event or circumstances discloses such associated or accompanied fact then such a fact becomes circumstantial evidence. Both proto-juristic and modern legal terms held circumstantial evidence for an evidence which is offered to prove certain attendant circumstances from which the existence of the fact at issue may be inferred. In Islamic Law, majority of jurists do not endorse Qara’in as an authoritative evidence, particularly, in offences leading to corporal punishments. On the other side, Ibn Farhun from Malikites and Ibn Qayyem from Hanbalites terms it equal to the direct evidence of Iqrar and Shahadah. It is not very strange that Dr. Anwarullah, a prominent Muslim scholar and Prof. Robert Preach are of the opinion that circumstantial evidence is, after all, more authentic even than the aforesaid two evidences. Herbert Broom- a western legal expert- also says that certain hidden facts can be deducted from the mode of a relevant act or to some extent it is modus operandi which gives birth to a circumstantial evidence. In this shortened article the juristic opinion of some early and contemporary legal experts has been discussed as to judge the legal mode and authenticity of circumstantial evidence.

A Study of Students’ Alternative Conceptions of Selected Science Concepts and the Effectiveness of Related Instructional Strategies

The alternative conceptions of students are very important in determining the nature of science education in our schools. The purpose of this study was to investigate the alternative conceptions of students about “Energy”, “Living”, and “Chemical Change” and to assess the effectiveness of instructional strategies for changing students’ conceptions. During first phase of the study alternative conceptions of 267 students of 6th, 8th, and 10th classes from four Government high schools of Quetta were investigated through Interview about Instances (IAI) approach. The information about socioeconomic background, age and family of the sample students were also collected during the interview. The alternative conceptions of the sample students about ‘energy’, ‘living’, and ‘chemical change’ were found to be similar to alternative conceptions held by students of different nationalities / regions as reported in international research literature. The socio economic background of students did not appear to have any relation with their alternative conceptions. Similarly, no significant differences were found in the alternative conceptions of the students of different ages or classes. In the second phase, a two-tier conceptual-diagnostic “paper and pencil” test in Urdu language was developed to assess the alternative conceptions of students about the selected science concepts. This test was later used as posttest. Third phase of the study assessed the effectiveness of proposed instructional strategies. Sixteen (16) science teachers of two experimental schools were given training about instructional strategies in a training workshop. The science teachers of experimental and control group schools taught the related chapters of the textbooks in their respective classes. 25% students of class 9 of the experimental and control group schools were given the posttest. It was found that the alternative conceptions of the experimental group students about Energy, Living, and Chemical Change, were similar to the alternative conceptions of the control group students. The hypothesis that alternative conceptions of experimental group students were closer to scientists’ concepts, than those of control group students, was not proven. The findings of this study have significant implications for investigating the alternative conceptions of science teachers about teaching and learning; approaches to teaching; and the classroom instructional practices. The findings call for developing and using diagnostic techniques to elicit students’ alternative conceptions and for developing a repertoire of context based effective instructional strategies. It was recommended that science teachers should be involved in impact assessment process of their professional development activities and be encouraged to improve their instructional approaches to achieve desired conceptual changes among their students.