The relationship between the Islamic world and science is going through recent shifts. The stagnation that had long been prevailing in the field of science and Islam is now returning to the Islamic world. Before that, there had been ages in which Islamic world’s focused its attention on scientific development more than other Western countries.

During just one year 2005, Harvard University managed to publish more scientific papers than did 17 Arabic countries together. Fifty-seven Muslim countries included in OIC (Organization of the Islamic Countries) spend an insignificant amount of their GDP on scientific research and growth; it is alomst 0.81 percent whereas America has kept the greatest science budget in the world with total spending of 2.9 percent in this field.

A lot of critiques say that theses clashes are due to the aggression of Muslims towards science. This is the reason they tend to spend more attention to other fields than science. 1.6 billion Muslims of the world have managed to produce only two laureates in Physics and Chemistry, and both of them moved to the West. The one still-alive is a chemist at the California Institute of Technology. It has been claimed that this is because most of the Muslim countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and India are concerned more with false concept of learning; they tend to focus on book study rather than practical and critical thinking and analysis of the subjects.

It might be because of the traditional Islamic view that there are certain natural facts that cannot be explored and answered by science. On the other hand, the Western world attempted to reject all the superstitions and explore the natural facts on the basis of scientific developments.

However, this reason given by the critiques to explain the gap between Islamic world and scientific discoveries is not true necessarily because the situation seems to be improving. The gap that prevailed previously is narrowing down, and Muslims are increasingly contributing to the scientific world.

According to research from 2000 to 2009, the publication of scientific papers in Turkey had increased from 5000 to 22,000 while in Iran; the figure went up from 1300 to almost 15000. This increase in quantity did not lead to a small decline in quality; because the journals and scientific articles published in the Islamic world were still widely read and cited for academic purposes.

A research in 2011 conducted by Thomson Reuters, an information firm, displays that in the early 1990s other producers cited scientific documents from Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey (the most productive Muslim countries) four times fewer than the universal average. This number had increased significantly by 2009. Today, the Islamic world is flourishing tremendously in the field of mathematics papers where Iran has a good score and in other scientific fields, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are performing much better.

In a nutshell, the distance between the Islamic world and scientific publications has narrowed down greatly with the Muslims rising again and contributing in science.

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Daniel Pipes has written an article claiming that his home town of Philadelphia has "become the capital of the Western world as regards female Islamic garb as an accessory to crime".

According to Pipes, "the Philadelphia region has witnessed 14 robberies (or attempted robberies) of financial institutions in the past six years in which the thieves relied on an Islamic full-body cover". His solution? "Ban the niqab and burqa in public places, as the national governments in France and Belgium have recently done."

Joel Mathis points out some flaws in this argument:

It's important to understand, though, that Pipes' "crisis" looks a little less disturbing when looked at closely. He justifies a ban because, by his count, at least 14 robberies have been committed in Philadelphia using Muslim garb … since 2007. That's less than three a year. If you need more perspective, consider this: The 14 robberies that Pipes counts adds up to maybe one really busy shift for the police department. In the 28-day period ending Feb. 17, there were 507 robbery reports to city police – if 14 of those robberies had been committed by burqa-wearing assailants, that wouldn't even be 3 percent of the total. Trying to calculate what those 14 cases look like compared to six or more years of robberies? You couldn't even see a number that small with the naked eye.

So one doesn't have to be politically correct to respond to Pipes by saying we don't have a "burqa crisis." All one needs, really, is math.

The Philly Post, 26 February 2013

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Pakistan is bestowed with many opportunities to combat the hard times. All it requires is good governance to take the citizens through the difficulties of murky phase. It’s hard to invest the trust into the current government. It demands seriousness by the government to avail the opportunities and face the challenges in a strong manner.

Series of major problems such as security, law, order, militancy, extremism and terrorism situations have been lined up; kidnapping and fighting between our people and foreigners on Pakistani territory needs some settlement and government must resolve these issues. In order to meet the solutions of various problems, government introduced reconciliation policy to overcome solidarity issues in the country

Reconciliation policy proved to be of paramount importance as it was the need of the hour. We have been attacked several times by foreign forces. The country, being a vast cultural territory, has already been divided by the differences in language, appearance, living styles and thus affecting their thoughts. Since Pakistan has gone through turbulent phases time and again, several parts of the country remained deprived of basic facilities. Political instability has been a core reason for not having unity and harmony in the country.

Keeping in mind several grave problems the government came up with an absolute idea to cement the diffused mind-sets in the country. If there would be unity among the country, no foreign force will weaken the spirits. Sovereignty shall be protected, and the country will move on the road to success.

Pakistan’s political scenario has dynamically evolved in past many decades, due to improper governmental system the people have been distracted and failed to develop firm belief towards each other’s performances. Keeping an eagle eye on diffused and scattered opinion, Pakistan People’s Party came up with a solution to bind them all. Movements which were not only envisaged to bring peace and progress among the masses but also were envisioned to provide the opportunity to several political parties. Those parties provide their services for the greater good of the country, a healthy working environment, enlivening the enthusiasm, spirit and courage which were to be directly proportional to bringing unity and coordination.

The policy of reconciliation was thought to up lift mutual understanding for the progress of Pakistan. PPP continues to emboss the democratic values in the county. To date, it has let people and masses enjoy raising their voices and implementing welfare policies for the betterment of people’s lives. It was due to reconciliation policy that PML-N could form a government in Punjab.

MQM could be part of the governmental body in Sindh. Similarly, efforts were made - by the PPP - to lessen the claims of Baluchistan of being deprived of governmental heed towards its core problems. As a result, Baluchistan has always been given special attention by the PPP Government. Ever since independence the province of Baluchistan has been the victim of negligence, which in turn has provoked its people to develop a feeling of grief.

Meanwhile, foreign invaders started to play their cards to create agitation among the people. People’s Party with its “Baluchistan package” embedded a breeze to cement them with the rest of the provinces of Pakistan. The name given to the package is Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan (AHB) package; which was aimed bringing down the sense of alienation, grief and deprivation and to provide privilege to the people of Baluchistan with political, cultural and economic rights.

The package has 61 policy actions, and it has been implementing rapidly. Every individual, especially the youth, would be benefited, it would up lift the living standards and this encouragement will help people to grow out of the shells of ignorance and despondence. Mainly, the package would demolish trust deficit with the most wanted families Barhamdagh Bugti, Nawab of Kalat Suleman Dawood and Hairbiyar Marri with peace talks, and they can return to their families.

Increasing Baluchistan share in national resources is a true prove of functionality of reconciliation policy; which is bringing the mind gaps and building nation strong and united closer against all odds. This would eradicate the sense of deprivation and grief, sustain the integrity, and solidarity of the country.

President Zardari considers the policy of reconciliation in the “greater interest of the nation”, it should never be taken as the weakness of the party rather it should be seen with a broader vision to bind all together where all can help the drowning nation to touch new heights.

As the media role so far, it has not left any stone to pinch and needle PPP for any of its policy in past 3 years. It has been in the greater interest of media to pull the legs of PPP leaders, involve them in every possible deviant act. Although leaders aren’t perfect, but unfortunately, they have been gazed for everything they do or did. Media hasn’t been encouraging in wide spreading the policy of PPP. Rather it considered it to be PPP’s another manifesto.

All moves for the benefit of the country, bringing prosperity, creating sufficient consensus was portrayed in a negative manner. It not only shows that PPP isn’t in the good books of media but also shows that it might never even make it. Government who played a vital role in several key issues including freedom of media still remains foe to it. Several talk shows present the PPP’s agendas in not so happening manner.

On the other hand, print media has been criticizing it at greater length. It’s the responsibility of the media to take forward the policies and dialogues that can bring solutions to abundant problems. It’s undeniable how efforts are being done to cement all culturally distinct groups in Pakistan together.

Moreover, President’s visit to India will tighten the oars. Such cordial and brotherly relations will eventually help us focus more on education, health and freedom. We can fight against all odds inside the premises such as terrorism, load shedding, poverty corruption etc. But media’s watchdog spread its tentacles to grab all possible loop holes of the present government.

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▶▶▶▶▶▶ https://twitter.com/Momo_khanTweets ........ ❤(◕‿◕)❤º•○º•○º•○º•○

Life has given you wings to fly, why to crawl through your life !!
Freelance writer and an agony aunt to my friends.
Dreamer, Love my family and certainly a peaceful creature until pinched :) !!

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Marriage is just like a parcel or a gift; you open it and continue to live happily with it for the rest of your live.

As all brides come closer towards their wedding day, they start to fantasize about their prince charming and how magical their lives would be when they step into the new world with him. That thought comes crashing down when her expectations are not met and we find girls filing for divorce. This issue has increased as we observe the rising rate of split-up. No society prefers to see divorces taking place, and we need to find out ways to stop them because both parties need to understand the union and think rationally before taking such a step.

Every person who participates in the event of marriage should play their role wisely, be it the bride, the groom, the mother-in-laws, the sister-in-laws or the father-in-laws. They all should come forward and help in joining the newly born relation rather than chipping in their favor or separating it. They all should act rationally and bear in mind that the other person holds value too.

Even though there should be a guideline for all the relations present in the bond of marriage, but we will concentrate on the bride, in this article.  A bride, is a strong party in this relationship, she is the person who can keep the entire connection intact or can even shatter it. If given the correct instructions she can conquer all hurdles in her way; here are a few heads-up for the bride:

1. Being Judgmental won’t Help:

When a bride steps into a new household, she should not be eager to pass judgement on people around, rather than she should try to observe her given situations and act accordingly. she should think that she is hiking a mountain and the more the need to move forward, the more stable her footings should be. She should have an open mind and a steady mind set.

2. Give Respect and Get Respect:

One should always remember that the person they married embrace respect, the same way you would do. A husband is not a toy made out of rubber that one can easily twist and turn him and make him of any shape that you desire. Do not enter into marriage thinking you’re the boss and everyone else should bow before you. If you need to make yourself heard, do it with respect.

3. Learn to Value the Family:

If you think your husband is an apple that you plucked from a tree, and now you can easily benefit from it, you should remember that until you don’t honor the tree the apple would not taste as good as it is. The relation that you have just started holds a minor position because he also is a major part of that clan and he needs to be sincere to them too. You need to realize his relations with his family and learn to value them too because they are important. He cannot cut himself loose from them as they are his family, the quicker you understand this bond the easier it will be for you to live within the given circumstances.

4. Do Not Complain:

Once you have entered the new household you will find yourself being scrutinized more than you can expect, this is because they are also observing and judging you just like you are doing to them. If in the middle of all this you find yourself caught in an argument do not run to tattle it all to your husband. He will most likely be found on their side rather than on yours. This will not only create a rift between you two but will also make you standings weakest in the family and you will lose vital position. Try to find rational ways to conquer situations calmly on your own rather than crying and complaining about them.

5. Be Calm and Give them Time to Realize your Importance:

It is up to you to understand them, you cannot expect them to give you the charge of everything the next day. They have been living in a pattern for their whole life in its you who has to keep calm and give them space to let you in their circle of life. You cannot take the lead rather than humbly ask for a place. This way, once you get the hang of their system in time, you can work accordingly with a little adjustment of your own. Also you will strengthen your bond with your husband and his family.

6. Give Importance to your New House:

Yes, your mother’s place is the one place you miss the most, but it can wait. You don’t need to rush there all the time. This will give an impression that you are not happy with the new family and will raise eyebrows towards your sincerity. Try to be obliged to the new environment, the people and slowly things will turn out your way.

7. Do not Show off your Background:

This is one point where you really need to think wisely if you show off your background in front of your in-laws, they will definitely get triggered by it. They will start to think of you as a proud person who purposely talks about such things to insult them. This will not get you any good. It will bring about jealousy, rude behavior and disadvantages to you.

8. Slow and Steady Wins the Race:

Be friendly, but do not be very friendly. You may think that you are being best friends with them, but they might be getting the feeling that you are invading their privacy. Having a new person in their territory is already the piece of cake they wanted and now seeing that person stride about in the whole household might be more than they can digest. Relax, keep your behavior and yourself calm also be cautioned at all times, let them open up to you rather than enter by force with a smile.

9. The Relation is Not a Competition:

Try to win hearts with your attitude. Don’t think you are playing a game or are enrolled in a competition that you have opponents. They are all your family now, and you have to abide by them and love them.

10. Divorce is Not an Alternative:

Why get married when a card of divorce is in your deck. One can never win if they have thought of giving up in their heads. If divorce is stirring up in the back of your mind you will never take extreme measures to save your relationship. Rather than that, you will try to bail out whenever possible. This is not the solution, apart from when there are severe measures.

Lastly, always remember that men are from mars and women are from Venus. They are all in all very different from each other, but they can produce best results when put as one. One just needs to understand and calmly create a path to walk in together. This is the best solution to live happily ever after.

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Muslim is a person who believes in Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and that there is only one ALLAH. A person cannot be a Muslim if he does not believe in other Prophets of ALLAH. Prophets who were sent for the guidance of people at different times and in different places. So this way Muslims do believe in the Prophet Hood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Book Bible because this is part of their belief. This way Muslims view Christians as the “people of the book”.

Muslims only believe in Jesus Christ as Prophet of ALLAH. He is a messenger to people and not as a “Begotten” son. Muslims also believe that on the day of Judgment everything rest with Almighty ALLAH, the most merciful and All- Knowing. It is mentioned in Quran that all people who have done good deeds will see them, and all sinful deed will also be shown. So those who do the good deeds shall stand full of success, and those who don`t have ever-lasting punishment.

Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) asked the Christians to worship only one ALLAH without any associate like son, partner or any companion. In Quran the Holy book of Muslims, it is mentioned to deal kindly with the Christians and cooperate with them, unless they do any harm to you or attack your religion or expel Muslims from their religion or homes.

In Muslim countries, Christians are allowed to carry on their activities in a peaceful manner. They were not being disturbed or forced to abandon their any religious activities. It is also prohibited, in Muslim countries, to force someone to convert to Islam, as Islam does not allow this.

ALLAH says in the Holy Quran about the people of the book:

“Not all of them are alike: Of the People of the Book are a portion that stand (For the right): They rehearse the Signs of Allah all night long, and they prostrate themselves in adoration. They believe in Allah and the Last Day; they enjoin what is right, and forbid what is wrong; and they hasten (in emulation) in (all) good works: They are in the ranks of the righteous. Of the good that they do, nothing will be rejected of them; for Allah knows well those that do right.” [Qur'an 03:113]

“Verily! Those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians, and Sabians, whoever believes in God and the Last Day and do righteous good deeds shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve .” [Qur'an 2:62]

Islam is a religion of peace and brotherhood. Islam asks its followers to act upon the guidelines of the Holy Prophet and the Holy Quran in the living and relations with fellow Muslims and Non Muslims. In Islam, the rules of everything are clearly mentioned. You as a Muslim have to follow them to be successful in this life and the life hereafter.

Even in wars Muslims are not allowed to kill anyone who do not fight against them, you cannot kill women, children, old citizens and people who are working in their fields and do not fight you. You cannot destroy any school or cut any tree. So how Muslims can think of violence against any other religion and its followers?

 

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Passionate about writing, Muslim academy is perfect platform to get knowledge and Experience. Looking Forward for your feedback on my work.

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It has been revealed that despite nearing bankruptcy, the Egyptian government last month spent £1.7 million GB Pounds on 140,000 U.S. sourced tear-gas canisters; amid a wave of police brutality that 21 human rights groups this week labelled a return to Mubarak-era state repression.

The emergency order was made at the end of January by Egypt’s interior ministry, according to records retrieved by Egyptian newspaper al-Masry al-Youm. It came at the start of a week of civil unrest sparked by protests against President Morsi, his Muslim Brotherhood party, and severe police malpractice.

At a time when Egypt’s foreign reserves have halved since 2011, with the government now unable to pay for fuel subsidies and much feet dragging about a much delayed $4.8 billion IMF loan, opposition activists in Egypt are questioning whether this is the best use for the money.

The opposition also see it as another example of the government’s unwillingness to rein in the police force, whose brutality was a major cause of the 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak, and whose behaviour has come under renewed scrutiny this year.

Hussein Abdel Ghany, a spokesman for the National Salvation Front, a disparate collection of non-Islamist opposition parties told the media “It’s the same tactics the Mubarak regime used – spending taxpayers’ money to kill the sons of taxpayers and at the same time they’re cutting gas subsidies and raising taxes on cigarettes, which the only way some people get any joy.”

Tear-gas has been repeatedly used during protests this year, at times so much has been used that it has made parts of Cairo unsafe to travel through. At one point in January, Tahrir Doctors – a group of volunteer medics who treat protesters hurt in clashes – warned that teargas in Tahrir Square had reached dangerous levels.

But the teargas is just one part of a wave of violence that led 21 Egyptian rights groups to claim on Thursday that police brutality is as serious – or in some cases worse – than it was the dictatorship of Mubarak.  Since the start of the current unrest, sparked by the two-year anniversary of Mubarak’s toppling on 25 January, activists say at least 70 protesters have been tortured, with hundreds more detained without trial. In some cases, protesters have been murdered and raped.

The number of male activists raped in custody is higher than it has been for at least a decade according to the director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Hossam Bahgat..

Mohamed el-Guindy, a left-wing activist, was abducted for four days before being found at a hospital in a coma. Authorities claimed he had died in a car crash, but rights activists said they found torture marks on his tongue, as well as signs of strangulation and electrocution. Lawyers said he was abducted by police after a protest in late January before being held in a police camp outside Cairo. “You couldn’t recognise his face from a photograph, it was so swollen,” said Islam Khalifa, a human rights lawyer investigating Guindy’s death, who had visited him in hospital before he died.

Despicably, hundreds of children are also being targeted. At least 200 have been arrested, and many beaten, according to Amr Imam, a lawyer at the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre. “The government thinks these children hold the torch of the revolution,”.  The government views many of them as potential revolutionaries that must be destroyed.   In one particularly abhorrent report,  a 13-year-old cancer patient from Alexandria, Mahmoud Adel, was detained in an adult penal facility for more than a week without access to his cancer treatment.

Allies of Morsi argue that it is unreasonable to blame the president for police malpractice, arguing that it will take 15 years to reform institutions so powerful and self-serving as the interior ministry and the police. ”If it took them 60 years to build a system that corrupt, imagine how long it will take to reform it,” said the Muslim Brotherhood’s Gehad al-Haddad last month.

But Heba Morayef, head of the Egypt branch of Human Rights Watch, said Morsi has shown little inclination for police reform so far. “It’s not just that he hasn’t delivered on any changes, it’s that he hasn’t publicly acknowledged that there is a serious problem of police abuse,” Morayef has said.

About the author

Stephen Liddell has both a Masters and BA Hons degree in African and Asian Politics specialising in the Middle-East and Islam. Stephen has backpacked throughout North Africa and much of the Middle-East living with locals and Bedouin along the way having amongst other locations, crossed the Sahara twice and sank on the Nile twice.
A published novelist through his first book 'Let Me Help', a true to life historical fiction epic set in the Middle East and Central Asia and keen blogger at http://stephenliddell.wordpress.com His major remaining travel wish is to travel the silk road, spend time on the Mongolian Steppe and have a cup of tea in a shop on the Si-o-Seh bridge in Isfahan, Iran.

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The G20 has become the most globally accepted space in economic and financial affairs, incorporating the highest political level in their Summits and giving a firm step towards the democratization of the international economic affairs management.

Its agenda is composed of three major elements, with direct consequences for every economy in the world: The consolidation of a sustainable growth of the economy and a global re-balancing,  the reform of the international financial architecture and the reform of the international financial regulatory system.

Within this institution, that brings together the world´s major economies, there are three Muslim countries. The first one is Indonesia; the state with the largest Muslim population in the world and an important member of the ASEAN. The second country is Saudi Arabia; the world oil market regulator. The third is Turkey; a hinge between the Asian and European continents.

After the international financial crisis, the inability of the financial regulatory system was evidenced and the measures that should be implemented to recover the belief that the system could work in a smooth and stable way were discussed within the group.

However, unlike the collapse of the banking giants that were considered “Too large to fall”, the Islamic banks and funds outperformed the financial crisis without big loss.

In this respect, the positive feedback of the Islamic finance from various corners of the world, during the crisis, could be interpreted as a vote for the confidence in the Islamic financial industry.

Economists believe that the current global financial crisis is set to create a “New International Economic Order” and to restructure the global economic institutions.

Given the fact that three developing Muslim-led countries are among the top 20 economies, they should encourage Islamic finance to exploit existing opportunities and demonstrate its worth by offering momentous alternatives to the international economic community.

In the last meeting of the Islamic Development Bank, that brings together the representatives from Islamic banks and invest funds, Indonesia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia expressed they will follow a joint strategy within the G20 in order to boost not just economic growth, but also the formation of a more fair society based on the Islamic values.

According to the finance minister of Indonesia, “The three countries have common values due to their Islamic population”. The minister stated that “different ways of high risk speculation, considered co-responsible of the outbreak of the crisis, are forbidden by the Sharia”, affirming that “it is a mechanism incorporated to minimize the risk”.

It sounds ironic that to rescue capitalism from its last crisis and restore the system stability, the solutions should come from the Islamic economic base. But like after the Second World War, when many of the social claims stated by socialism forced capitalism to give an answer under the form of the Welfare State, today the financial Islamism may force capitalism into a new model, more focused on people and in the real economy.

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