Muslim-Christian Relations in the Era of Prophet Muhammad: Review of Najrān Delegation’s Case in Modern Context

Muslim–Christian relations are as mature as Islamic history itself. Historical evidences state the first interaction of Muslims and Christians occurred in 5th year after nabuwwah (615 AD) when Muslims migrated to Ḥabshah (Abyssinia) and second contact was established after immigration of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) to Madinah. After getting socio-political stability in 8th hijrī (629 AD), Muhammad (PBUH) sent letters and ambassadors to different statesmen and religious leaders to spread the Islamic Mission and Message globally. One letter was also sent to the chief Bishop of Najrān. In response, the chief Bishop of Najrān accepted the invitation and personally came to meet the Prophet (PBUH) with his reputed delegation. The beloved Messenger (PBUH) warmly welcomed this delegation. As a result, the peace agreement was reached after some theological debate and discussion. Later on, throughout history, the relations between Muslims and Christians have been in situation of up and down. It’s also a fact that over the centuries, the Muslims-Christians relations had sometimes been one of enmity, sometimes one of rivalry, competition, and encounter. In spite of it, the Najrān’s delegation case has a historical significance in Muslim-Christian relations in the literature of both religions. Therefore, in this study efforts were made to explore the event of Najrān delegation as theological foundations for Muslim-Christian relations in times of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and how can we get benefit from it in modern era. Moreover, this study perceives that the case of Najrān delegation was the first practical interaction between Muslims and Christians of that age. Hence, we could get benefit from it with its modern applications and interpretations. The analytical, comparative and historical approaches have been adopted in this study with qualitative paradigm. I compared and analysed the case in Islamic and Christian context and then gave recommendation for its application.

Exploring the Perceptions of Secondary Schools Science Teachers About Nature of Science

Science teachers' perceptions and understanding of Nature of Science (NOS) is central to scientific literacy worldwide. This qualitative case study aimed to explore the perceptions of nine secondary school science teachers about NOS from six private schools of Gilgit. The three important tenets of NOS relevant to school science were, science being tentative in nature, empirical nature of science and scientific laws and theories. The schools and participants; three teachers from each discipline; chemistry, biology and physics were chosen through purposive sampling. Data was collected via two tools which were written in English and Urdu. The research tool, Views of Nature of Science (VoNOS) had six open-ended questions to be answered in written, while Nature of Science Research Protocol (NOSRP) was a semi-structured interview tool with four critical incidents to elicit verbal responses which were audio-taped with their consent. The data was thematically analyzed after transcription, verbatim, translation from Urdu to English and coding.Their responses were categorized into the three predominant themes as informed, adequate and inadequate by using a rubric adapted from Khan (2014). The results were noteworthy; it was revealed that despite not having read explicitly about NOS participants' held informed perceptions about science being tentative and empirical NOS. They believe that science is not fixed rather it is an on-going process, based on observation, experimentation and inferences. However, majority had adequate perceptions about laws and theories. They believed that that theories and laws are different but sometimes theories can convert into laws when proven right. Hence, this study recommends that the stake holders need to revisit the content of textbooks for updated knowledge about laws and theories and add many examples regarding it. The findings of this study can help science teachers, educators and researchers to understand the three aspects of NOS and become aware of the misconceptions about them.