A CRITICAL STUDY OF CLINTON BENNETT’S THOUGHTS TOWARDS SIRAH OF THE HOLY PROPHET ﷺ

Sirah of the Holy Prophet ﷺ is the topic on which a lot of work has been done both in the Muslim and non-Muslim world. For Muslims it was the source of aspiration and adaptation for the practical purposes of social life while for the non-Muslims it was the source of inquisitiveness and understanding Islam as a successful religion in the past and present time. Therefore, Muslim enthusiastic interest in the biography of the Holy Prophet ﷺ developed and evolved into a regular science while the west has modified the knowledge of biography according to their own order of preference but within the same biographic precedents. Both have tried to reconstruct the biography of the Holy Prophet ﷺ historically, chronologically and logically. Clinton Bennett is one of the western scholars who has contributed not only in the Islamic literature but also the biographic field. His work consists of numerous issues in Islam. Whatever he has learned from Islam and the Sirah of Holy Prophet and thus concluded in the form of his own thoughts, he has expressed most of them in his famous five books for example ‘In Search of Muhammad’, ‘Muslims and Modernity’, ‘Studying Islam’, ‘Interpreting the Qur’an’, and ‘Victorian Images of Islam’ (doctoral thesis)’. This study focuses on Clinton Bennett’s work on Sirah specifically with his broader view of the subject. This research is descriptive and analytical in nature and presents a detailed analysis of the work it is based upon.

An Analysis of Supervisory System for Government Boys High School of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

This descriptive study aimed at analyzing supervisory system for government boys’ high schools of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. The research was organized in seven districts of the Province, namely Abbottabad, Bannu, Buner, D.I.Khan, Kohat, Mardan, and Peshawar. These districts were randomly picked from respective divisions with a view to generalize the outcomes of the research to the whole province. The rationale of the research was based on the fact that at the secondary level quality of education in the province is deteriorating due to many reasons such as lack of commitment of the Principals, Districts Managers, inadequate training, feedback and support of supervisors to the teachers, to improve their productivity and effectiveness. The core objectives of the study were to draw indicators for development of tools in the light of identification and description of different supervisory concepts, models and supervisory practices and analyze the existing supervisory system of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, for knowing the strengths and limitations to provide solution of the problems. The tools of the research consisted three questionnaires for teachers, principals and districts managers. The items of the questionnaires were divided into six sections. The tools of the research were made reliable by Cronbach’s Alpha test statistics, objective approach and pilot study. The total sample population of the research in the randomly selected seven districts was 6281 in which 5815 were male teachers, 445 were male principals, and 25 were male DEO, DY, DEO and ASDEO each included. The sample size was determined by Krejcie and Morgan formula, which came out to be 1332 in which 1219 teachers, 92 principals and 21 districts managers were included. The data were obtained through questionnaires and tabulated. ANOVA and simple percentage formula as well as cross tabulation procedures were used for the analysis of the data. Main findings of the research show that the supervisors did not support supervisees to provide teaching and learning material, they were also not easily available to supervisees to support, and suggest how to teach. The present supervisory system did not help the teachers in the completion of courses in time and the system also was not appropriate. The study recommends introduction of new technologies in the present supervisory system, creation of supervisory cadre/unit and community participation in the supervisory system is necessary to increasing the frequency of visits and overcome the burden and challenges supervisors face. There is no systematic system for instructional supervision by school heads in the secondary schools of the province. It is the most important duty of school heads because the only concern of the department is to promote learning through effective teaching practices. It is therefore recommended that focus of the department should be on effective instructional supervision.