Islamic Perspective of Governance and Judiciary: A Literature Review

The aim of this research is to accumulate the literature related to an Islamic ideology for two of the basic components of a State, Governance and Judiciary; both have a strong impact on society. Pakistan is an Islamic ideological state, the only Islamic rule created on the name of religion after the state established by the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) in Medina. Its constitution and the style of governance should have its foundation based upon the principles of Islam; this is the main concept behind the creation of “Islamic Republic of Pakistan”. The paper will review some of the basic requirements for an administrative system to be qualified as Islamic way of governance and the judicial system in Islam includes the formulation of a comprehensive ideology of human equality and justice; the creation of a powerful incentive to adopt this ideology; and to establish a living example of equality and justice at all levels of life by defining the Islamic Judicial System & Its Legal Basis. Different Quranic verses, sayings and acts of Muslim jurists in this perspective are also studied. The paper has literature review in two major parts, first we will cover governance and Islam along with some basic terminologies from Islamic point of view and in the later part Judiciary, the concept of Justice and Judicial system in Islam will be discussed.

Bacterial Assisted Phytoremediation of Crude Oil-Contaminated Soil

Petroleum hydrocarbons are recalcitrant compounds and their adverse environmental and public health effects demand that efficient and eco-friendly remediation technologies be devised as countermeasures. The synergistic use of plants and bacteria is considered as one of the efficient technologies for the restoration of crude oil-contaminated soil. The studies performed in this thesis were aimed to (ⅰ) isolate and characterize bacteria associated with the plants growing well in crude oil-contaminated soil, (ⅱ) study the effect of augmentation of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria on plant growth and crude oil degradation in vitro and in vivo. A large number of hydrocarbon degrading bacteria were isolated from the rhizospheric soil, root and shoot interior of grasses (Lolium perenne, Leptochloa fusca, Brachiaria mutica) and trees (Leucaena leucocephala and Acacia ampliceps) vegetated in crude oil-contaminated soil. The rhizospheric soil yielded 22 (59.45%), root interior yielded 9 (24.32%) and shoot interior yielded 6 (16.21%) hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria. These bacteria possessed genes encoding alkane hydroxylase and showed multiple plant growth-promoting activities. Bacillus (48.64%) and Acinetobacter (18.91%) were dominant genera found in this study. Green house studies revealed that augmentation with crude oil-degrading bacteria enhanced plant growth and crude oil degradation. Colonization and metabolic activity of the endophytes were higher in the rhizosphere and endosphere of B. mutica than L. fusca. The plant species affected not only colonization pattern and biofilm formation of the inoculated bacteria in the rhizosphere and endosphere of the host plant, but also affected the expression of alkane hydroxylase gene, alkB. The beneficial plant-bacteria partnership was applied in the vicinity of an oil exploration and production company for the remediation of crude oil-contaminated soil. Bacterial augmentation improved plant growth, enhanced crude oil degradation, and reduced soil toxicity and these were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than those where plants or bacteria were used individually. A positive relationship (r = 0.70) observed xiv between alkB gene expression and crude oil reduction indicates that expression of catabolic gene (alkB) is important for hydrocarbon mineralization. On the basis of in vitro and in vivo studies, it is concluded that for practical application, support of potential bacteria combined with the grasses is more effective approach than the use of plants and bacteria individually. This technology can be applied for effective remediation of crude oil-polluted sites.