جان ون سنک کا انتقال
لیڈن کے مشہور مستشرق ڈاکٹر ایرنٹ جان ون سنک کا گزشتہ ستمبر میں انتقال ہوگیا، یوروپین مستشرقین میں ڈاکٹر موصوف کے علم و فضل کا پایہ نہایت بلند تھا، وہ ۱۸۸۲ء میں پیدا ہوئے، ۱۹۱۲ء میں لیڈن یونیورسٹی میں عربی کے لکچرر مقرر ہوئے، اور پھر ۱۹۲۷ء میں اس کے شعبہ عربی کی صدارت تفویض ہوئی، وہ انسائیکلوپیڈیا آف اسلام کے چیف اڈیٹر بھی تھے۔
ان کو شروع میں سامی زبان سے بڑی دلچسپی تھی، چنانچہ انھوں نے سامی علاماتی تخیل پر بہت سے مضامین لکھے، اس کے بعد وہ سریانی زبان کی طرف مائل ہوئے اور اس زبان کے صوفیانہ لٹریچر کا گہرا مطالعہ کیا اور برہیرس کی Book of Dove اور Mystical Treatises of Isaac of Ninerer کا ترجمہ کیا، پھر سریانی زبان کے صوفیانہ لٹریچر کے نئی معلومات کے نام سے ایک کتاب بھی لکھی۔
مگر وہ اسلامیات کے ایک مستند عالم کی حیثیت سے زیادہ مشہور تھے، فن حدیث پر انھوں نے مندرجہ ذیل کتابیں لکھیں:
(1) Mohammeden de joden te Medina.
(2) Handbook of early Muhamaden tradition.
(3) Concordonce et Indices de la tradition Masulmane.
(4) The Muslim Creed.
انسائیکلوپیڈیا آف اسلام میں مختلف موضوع پر ان کے مضامین بکثرت ہیں۔
(صباح الدین عبدالرحمن، مارچ ۱۹۴۰ء)
It is an admitted fact that Islam is “Universal Din” and a complete code of life. Its universality and conciseness is proved from Quran itself. Quran identifies the universality and surmounts it upon all over other Ady┐n and says, “And He sends his messenger along with righteousness and fait Din-e- ╓aq, so that surpass it upon other Dins, though it will be unpleasant for the polytheists”. The Holy verses shows and argues that Dine- Islam is a superior to all other Dins, it may be through love, arguments, conclusiveness or through state and governed on its completion Quran says, “Today I completed your “Din” for you along with all the blessings and liked Islam as a Din for you”. In a nutshell, the above two mentioned the Holy verses indicate clearly the universality and comprehensiveness, because the “Din” which will be superior and must be universal and precise. Islam is the only religion which is beneficial for all mankind in each and every aspect. Its universality is declared that it is a surety for mankind prosperity. Allah says in His Holy Book, “The Holy Quran” that do justice as it is more nearer to piousness. Allah has described “Justice twenty six times His Holy Book and it is also among one of His qualities. All these show the importance of justice.
This study is anattempt to determine the extent to which the English language textbook, “English for Class 8”(taught at grade VIII) by the Punjab Textbook Board fulfills the needs of the students‟ learning English as foreign language in Pakistan. The study aimed to analyze: mechanical practice, meaningful practice, and above all communicative (oral) practice as used in the current English language textbook. This textbook is currently used in public sector schools across Punjab. Interpretive research paradigm had been employed for this study, which implies that principally it is a qualitative study; however, quantitative method were also used to investigate the main aspects of the research study. The main qualitative methods included semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. The only quantitative method used were the survey questionnaires. The purpose of this study was to investigate as to what extent the suggested textbook facilitates language acquisition and its meaningful application. For this purpose, grade VIII English language textbook was selected to see as to what degree it includes communicative tasks, and in this respect, how it encourages the development of Communicative Competence (CC, Oral proficiency). The participants of this research were selected from public sector schools and organizations including teachers, policymakers, curriculum developers, subject specialists, and students to examine the effectiveness of English language textbook (grade VIII) on students‟ performance with special reference to Oral CC. For content analysis, an evaluation checklist was developed as the main tool to measure the efficiency of the textbook (in developing oral Communicative Competence) under focus. It allowed a more in-depth evaluation of the textbook in reference to a set of generalizable evaluative criteria. Based on the review of the literature on the textbook evaluation checklists, the researcher developed a point five Likert scale to suit the purpose of present research. Data analysis for quantitative portion used descriptive statistics illustrated through tables, and figures, whereas for the interpretation of qualitative data, themes were developed, coded and summarized in a descriptive mode. In the end the researcher offers a model (teaching unit) to be followed by the policy makers and practitioners in order to make the existing English language textbook more effectives in terms of oral CC and language skill development. The results of this study reflect that the relevant textbook does not cater to the target learners‟ future academic and professional language needs because the tasks/activities offered ,do not focus on sociolinguistic and discourse- level of the target language. Besides, many activities present in the textbook offer meaningless and discrete-point exercises which do not contribute to any skill development. There is limited oral interaction presented in the form of “oral skill development”.