اعتناء المستشرقين بالواقدي وكتابه المغازي دراسة تحليلية

Muhammad ibn ‘Umr Al-W฀qid฀ is considered to be one of the most famous early Muslim historians. Despite being disputed among the circle of Muhaddith฀n, he was popular among the early Muslim historians. He got recognition and fame as a historian in the 2nd half of 2nd century of Hijrah. In fact, he was an outstanding historian who introduced new trends in writing and composition of historic narratives. The early Muslim historians cited and quoted Al-W฀qid฀ freely where they needed him without any kind of reluctance. It is well to know that western orientalists pay special attention to AlW฀qid฀ and his book "Al-Magh฀z฀ ". Perhaps it is not due to their biasness or impartiality, but for the excellent work of Al-W฀qid฀. In this regard, they think that Al-W฀qid฀ is more accurate and clear in giving details and judgments about historical events than any other early Muslim historian. Al-W฀qid฀ 's dating of historical events is more acute and correct. He owns what he produces and narrates. Moreover, he seems to be sensitive and aware of consequences of what he writes in his book " Al-Magh฀z฀ ", that is why we see him sometime indulging in some issues extra-ordinarily and proving and disproving what he thinks right or wrong by logical (internal and external) criticism. Al-W฀qid฀ explores historical events and tries to know about root causes of their happening and finally analyzes their consequences. These are some special qualities of Al-W฀qid฀ 's work in the eyes of western orientalists. In this article, I have tried to highlight these aspects of Al-W฀qid฀ 's work from the oriental literature.

Biochemical, Nutritional and End Use Aspects of Stevia As Potential Natural Sweetener

Lifestyle related health matters are among grave challenges to society which are prevalent due to sedentary contemporary habits and poor dietary patterns. Nutritional and health augmenting facets of Stevia rebaudiana as intense natural sweetener have been studied in different parts of world. Current research was designed to enlighten biochemical, nutritional and end use perspectives of well adapted and cultivated indigenous Stevia. Results of this study have established that the chemical attributes include carbohydrates, crude protein, fat, fiber and mineral content. Functional attributes have been well observed with slightly acidic to neutral pH 6.14, exhibits good swelling power, WHC, OHC, Bulk density. K, P, Mg, Na, Fe are found in maximum amount coinciding their ADI. Saturated, mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids like Palmitic, Palmitoleic, Stearic, Linoleic, Linolenic and Oleic have been identified in appreciable quantities like 28.31%, 2.17%, 2.39%, 13.65%, 25.48 and 4.95% respectively. Steviosides structure and functional groups determination was done by FTIR and concluded alcohols, alkanes, ketones, amines, esters, carboxylic acids, alkenes, hydroxyl groups as the major functional groups in raw powder and water extracts of Stevia. Appreciable amount of phytochemicals extracted from different solvents exhibited total phenolic and content ranging 24.24±0.48 to 38.22±0.05mg GAE/g and total flavonoid content as 19.88±0.11 to 32.10±0.54 mg CE/g respectively. The antioxidant activity of Stevia is expressed by DPPH (42.41±1.05 to 57.99±1.49% inhibition) and FRAP assay (236.57±1.37 to 345.36±3.27µMol Fe2+/g) respectively. Extracts from water, ethanol, methanol and supercritical were characterized for Steviosides/SGs and found to be in appreciable quantities as Stevioside (665.34±27.27 to 1107.95±50.96 mg/kg), Rebaudioside A (383.38±17.25 to 792.15±38.02 mg/kg) and Steviol (357.26±14.64 to 485.25±22.32 mg/kg). Stevia cookies were prepared by replacing sucrose with Stevia powder (10, 20, 30%), water extract (1, 2, 3%) and supercritical extract (1, 2, 3%). Overall acceptability was good in 10% powder treatments, 3% water and supercritical extracts. Bio efficacy rats modeling trials were done in order to check their impact against hyperglycemia and hypercholesterolemia disorders. Blood glucose level was reduced from 4.54 to 7.00% due to diets enriched with stevia powder and extracts as compared to control. Moreover, increase in insulin level was observed as 4.27 to 6.13 as compared to control. In hypercholesterolemic rats, up surged cholesterol level was reportedly reduced as a function of Stevia powder and extracts from 1.28 to 5.47%. Substantial increment in HDL, reduction in LDL and triglycerides was recorded in Stevia leaves powder and extracts treatments as 2.79-6.66%, 2.68-4.16% and 3.12-5.36 correspondingly. Therefore it can be deduced from the outcomes that in addition to sweetness, Stevia possess a lot to provide for health betterment. Conclusively, Stevia based products are recommended for health sustenance and controlling the metabolic disorder.