Istisnā’- a Realistic Approach to the Concept in Islamic Finance and its Application to the Agricultural Sector in Pakistan

Farmers predominantly belong to lower class of the society, particularly in developing and under developing countries. This actuality really put them on back-foot in every sphere of life, including their various agricultural activities.  For instance, they always face problems to fulfil their agricultural requirement, both for crop and non crop activities, and hence, not in position to get utmost benefits from their efforts. Being citizens of a developing country, Pakistani farmers come across the identical situation. As they are Muslims, therefore, avoid securing interest based loan from the financial institutions. Islamic financial system provides an alternate to such interest based arrangement in the shape of various financing techniques. Among these, Istisnā’ (manufacturing) is the most important one which can be used effectively for the fulfilment of various agricultural requirements. However, its role is more dominant in the satisfaction of non crop agricultural activities that is for example, manufacturing of some heavy agricultural machinery and equipments, installation of tube-wells and channels for appropriate irrigation system, construction of small houses for farmers in their lands etc. The present work discusses the theoretical background of this mode, available in the scholarly work of classical and contemporary Muslim jurists’ work, followed by the description that how it can be used for financing various sectors of agriculture. Study reveals the transaction is equally viable for the development of all sectors of agriculture like local farming, fish farming, dairy farming, poultry farming, horticulture etc. The intended results can be achieved when the financial institutions apply the transaction in its true spirit and philosophies envisaged for it by Islamic commercial law, and not mere a source of earning profit.

Sageretia Thea Osbeck. Mediated Synthesis of Multifunctional Nanoparticles and Their Possible Applications

We successfully performed green process using the aqueous leaf extracts of medicinal plant Sageretia thea (Osbeck.) to produce multifunctional metal oxide nanoparticles. The biosynthesized Zinc oxide (ZnO), Iron oxide (Fe2O3), Nickel oxide (NiO), Cobalt oxide (Co3O4) and Lead oxide (PbO) nanoparticles were subjected to intensive physical characterization techniques like XRD, FTIR, Raman, EDS, SAED, HR-SEM and HR-TEM. Debye Scherer approximation was used to determine the size of the biogenic nanoparticles. Average sizes of the nanoparticles were calculated as 12.5 nm (ZnO), 29 nm (Fe2O3), 18 nm (NiO), 27 nm (PbO) and 20.03 nm (Co3O4). As synthesized nanoparticles were investigated for their possible biological applications. Antimicrobial, cytotoxic, enzyme inhibition, antioxidant and biocompatibility assays were performed. Antibacterial properties against 6 pathogenic bacterial strains using disc diffusion assay and their MIC’s were calculated. Significant antibacterial potential was revealed for ZnO nanoparticles. Furthermore, the effect of UV-illumination in the enhancement of antibacterial properties was studied. Agar tube dilution method for linear mycelial growth inhibition was used to determine the antifungal potential of biogenic metal oxide nanoparticles. Significant cytotoxicity was revealed against Artemia salina. Dose dependent cytotoxicity is reported for the biosynthesized nanoparticles against Leishamnia tropica (promastigotes and amastigotes) and HepG2 cell lines using MTT cytotoxic assay, while their biocompatibility was assessed against freshly isolated human macrophages and RBC’s. Median lethal concentration (IC50) values were calculated. Significant protein kinase inhibition is indicated by Fe2O3 nanoparticles while insignificant alpha amylase inhibition is reported for biosynthesized nanoparticles. Moderate DPPH radical scavenging activity while insignificant total antioxidant and total reducing potential was indicated. In addition, ZnO nanoparticles were deposited on the 3D porous substrate (nickel foam) to fabricate electrode material for supercapacitor applications. The fabricated NiF/ZnO electrode showed high specific capacitance of ~ 453 F g-1 at a relatively high current density of ~ 2 A g-1. The electrode also showed excellent cycling performance with 86% specific capacitance retention after 1000 cycles. Our results suggest that biosynthesized metal oxide nanoparticles can be used in diverse applications.