Foreword Two
Brother Dr. Badr Hashemi has devoted care and attention to the tone and approach of the Translation and Paraphrasing of The Qur’an which is non-sectarian, true to the spiritual intent of Allah-consciousness, sincere toward leading to piety and righteousness.
The style of presenting the Translation, which proceeds smoothly in strict conformity with the Sacred Arabic Text and Paraphrasing (in italics) is persuasive that is inviting both for Muslim readers and others.
This is the most profound scholarly work of Brother Badr Hashemi. His monumental translation and annotation serve as a matchless aid to understanding the Holy Book of Islam and provides in itself a complete education in the faith. If one is new to the Holy Qur’an, I hope this book will provide a balanced view of the heart of the Qur‘an. If one is already a student of the Holy Qur’an, I hope this will perhaps awaken a new appreciation for the universal spiritual wisdom of the Book.
Reading a good translation such as this one can help us not only gain wisdom but also articulate this wisdom for others. I trust it would equally help in refining and fine tuning what everyone knows about the Qur’an, Islam, and Muslims.
May Allah accept this service to His Book, and enable his readers - especially students in colleges and universities - to make the best use of this valuable contribution to the Study of
The Qur’an.
Prof. Dr. Hafiz Abdur Raheem.
Dean
Faculty of Islamic Studies and Languages, Bahauddin Zakaria University, Multan, Pakistan.
This study aims to identify the significance of driver’s socioeconomic demographics (SEDs) in the decision to speed and crash involvement. A questionnaire was designed consisting of a driver’s SEDs, speeding propensity, and crash experience. This questionnaire was conducted with the students and employees of the University of Nizwa and other drivers at the selected locations. A total of 604 usable samples were obtained. Simple frequency distribution and discriminant multivariate analysis were conducted on the driver’s responses. Survey results revealed that about 47.7% of the drivers have experienced a crash. The driver’s gender nationality, profession, age, type of vehicle drive, driving experience, and past crash experience are significant attributes of the driver’s speeding behavior. Ordered probit analysis for speeding behavior and simple probit regression analysis for crash involvement was conducted. The male drivers and those who are under the age of 30 years and have driving experience of more than 3 years have more likelihood to exceed the speed limits than other drivers. Similarly, the driver’s gender, age (≤ 30 years), and those who are employees have a significant correlation with the propensity of crash involvement. Male and young drivers have more likelihood to be involved in a crash.
Editorial cartoons form a key part of newspapers, offering much-needed comic relief to acres of news stories. Godfrey Mwapembwa, popularly known by his pen name Gado, has been described by the Financial Times as East Africa’s most important syndicated cartoonist. Yet no extensive scholarly study has been done on the way Gado frames his drawings. This study analysed how politics, politicians and political issues are framed in Gado’s editorial cartoons by looking at his illustrations published by The Standard between November 1, 2018 and October 31, 2019. It starts with a brief look at modern trends in editorial cartoons. The study was guided by three objectives: (i) to determine the main characters and symbols in Gado’s political cartoons; (ii) to analyse the dominant themes in Gado’s political cartoons, and; (iii) to analyse the framing of politics, politicians and political issues in Gado’s political cartoons. To answer the research questions, guided by the framing theory, the study collected 60 cartoons through a systematic random sampling technique and employed a thematic analysis to understand and interpret the data. By executing a framing analysis of select cartoons, this study found that characters, symbols and words –the main elements used by Gado to frame the messages in his illustrations- help advance and push the boundaries of press freedom in saying the unsayable and writing the unprintable in a way no other media can do and in ways that are more provocative than in traditional media. The study also concluded that Gado’s interpretations of news events deepen and extend newspaper readers understanding of news developments and that by use of simple lines, words, characters and symbols, cartoonists effectively breakdown and communicate complex developments for the masses.