Dance by Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Dance by Design - Essay Example However, despite this, it is important to explore the effect that hip-hop has on youth sexuality as well as the cultural impact that it has on youth culture in general precisely because of this importance. The purpose of this essay is to explore the links between the use of the body in hip-hop culture and this much explored and maligned sexuality that is associated with hip-hop dance. In doing this exploration, it will become clear that there are many positive forces associated with hip-hop, although there are definitely negative aspects of the strong link between hip-hop and sexuality, particularly female sexuality. Hip-Hop Culture Hip-hop culture is one that is usually described by scholars as being ‘misunderstood’ (Rose, 2010, p59), despite the fact that it generates millions or billions of US dollars in its industries and many people believe that it ‘ascends to the level of art and cultural heritage’ (Rose, 2010, p59). There are many reasons for the misu nderstanding associated with hip-hop culture. ... e itself is at its most influential and important in the United States (Dimitriadis, 2009), where it is commonly associated with African Americans or Latinos, and therefore many of the elements of hip-hop culture are direct derivatives of these two influences (Rabaka, 2011). It is important to note that hip-hop culture itself is not just limited to the music (which is commonly seen to include rap), but includes a whole variety of different dance styles (including breaking, locking and popping) as well as art forms such as graffiti and cinematography (Rabaka, 2011). In this way, hip-hop can be seen to be associated with a greater scheme of design, rather than just being limited to a music genre. It is perhaps from this perspective that it becomes obvious how such a wide-ranging culture has come to be associated with sexuality, because it permeates all aspects of life for those immersed in it (Dimitriadis, 2009). Traditionally, hip-hop is associated with youth (or seen as a youth movem ent) precisely because of the age of the culture (having started as a movement in the 1970s) and the people that partake in hip-hop dance (Schloss, 2009). The Relationship between Hip-Hop and Sexuality One important factor involved in the fact that hip-hop is perceived as a youth movement is that it will probably always be involved in some discourse on sexuality, predominantly because of the obvious link between young people and emerging sexualities. There are a number of reasons why hip-hop (dance in particular) and sexuality have often been highlighted as having such a strong link. One is that there is a hugely sexual range of motions involved in hip-hop dance, particularly with the phenomenon of grinding (Schloss, 2009). This type of dance is so sexually explicit that many towns in the

Monetary policy responses by central banks during the early part of Essay

Monetary policy responses by central banks during the early part of the past decade aggravated the recent financial crisis - Essay Example The sub-prime mortgage market in particular was the target of these speculative flows which also made their way into the securities and equities markets as well. It can be said that the monetary policy of the Fed in the early years of the last decade encouraged excessive speculation in the United States economy (Mishkin, 2011, 23). However, to assign blame to the monetary policy of the Fed alone would be to exaggerate its role in the present global financial crisis as the issues of regulation and supervision of â€Å"exotic† financial products was one of the contributing factors as well. However, there is a consensual view which is increasingly being shared by many that at the heart of the reasons for the global imbalances lies the fact that the Fed kept interest rates â€Å"too low for too long† (Taylor,2008,14). This line of thought holds that by keeping the interest rates too low, the Fed encouraged the â€Å"real rate of return† in the US T-Bills or Treasurie s to increase leading to the rest of the world financing the yawning and steadily increasing current account deficit of the US. Further, the fact that these countries (led by Japan and China) were exporting huge amounts of goods and services gave them an incentive to â€Å"recycle† their dollar surpluses back into the US economy. Hence, it can be said that though the monetary policy of the Fed was aimed primarily at a domestic audience, due to the integrated and interconnected nature of the global economy indirectly contributed to the ongoing global financial crisis (BOE, 2010). It should be noted that the overly loose global monetary policy may have contributed to the weakening of the anchor on which â€Å"price stability† rested leading to excessive risk taking and by unleashing a global wave of euphoria contributed to the speculative tendencies in the financial sector. And this was a global phenomenon as well as central banks all over the world took their cue from t he Fed and pursued similar policies which had a cascading effect on the global economy in so far as the lethal combination of excessive liquidity and a lax regulatory structure combined to produce the global financial crises with which the world is even now struggling to cope with (Federal Reserve, 2010). References Blanchard, Dell’Ariccia, and Mauro, OB, G & P, 2010. Rethinking Macroeconomic Policy. IMF, Feb 2010, 1-18. ECB. (2010, April 9), â€Å"Could Monetary Policy have helped prevent the financial crisis?† Available from: http://www.ecb.int/press/key/date/2010/html/sp100409.en.html Mishkin, F, 2011. Monetary Policy Strategy: Lessons from the Crisis. National Bureau of Economic Research, Jan 2011, 1-65. Monetary Policy (2010), (Federal Reserve), Available: http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/default.htm (Accessed: 2011, Mar 14). News Releases (2011), (Federal Reserve), Available: http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/default.htm (Accessed: 2011, Mar 14 ). News Releases (2011), (Bank of England), Available: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/news/2008/index.htm (Accessed: 2011, Mar 14). Taylor, JBT, 2008. The Financial Crisis and the Policy Responses: An Empirical Analysis of What Went Wrong. Stanford

How To Revive Ijtihad And Reopen Closed Doors Religion Essay

How To Revive Ijtihad And Reopen Closed Doors Religion Essay This third chapter is to seek what caused stagnation in Ijtihad, than find answers for how to possibly revive and initiate a Revolutionary Contemporary Ijtihad? It looks also at its common misconceptions and finally cites the newly existing subjects; which need an urgent attention from current mujtahids. What Caused Stagnation In Ijtihad? Current Ijtihad is severely suffering crisis of thought and lack of prospective. Ijtihad à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦began to be viewed as limited to legal matters, rather than as methodology for dealing with all aspects of life. (Al-Alwani, 2005, p.65). And even the broad judicial matters that relate to methodology of all aspects of life become narrowed and confined into few legal matters. This limitation made Ijtihad to become more duplicate and unable to prompt solutions, or meet the current challenges. The causes of stagnation are actually at multiple levels; political, social, moral, but the most important for this project is that related to intellect of mujtahids and Ijtihad itself. The methods of reading and interpreting the Islamic heritage itself also suffered from serious lapsesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦reflected in doctrinal splits, political and intellectual muddles. (Tamimi Esposito, 2002, p. 153). There are serious debates and criticism that the Contemporary Ijtihad school has been initiated to oppose the orthodox schools which strictly adheres to Al-Shafi orthodox formulation of the principles of shariah Law, and criticise the Abbasids political coercion of what existed of Ijtihad outside the sphere of the four officially adopted Sunni schools of thought. These debates and criticism reveal the unbridgeable chasm between the adherents of classical schools and some modernist tendencies to seek  more flexible and liberal approach to Ijtihad. People seeking knowledge were thus caught between following alien contemporary thought or sticking to old traditional ways of thinking (Al-Alwani, 2005, p. 1). The core of dispute appears to be about the role and function of Prophetic Sunnah/ Hadith, in the equation of Ijtihad; bedsides to the revering grade of secondary sources such as; consensus, analogy, and Shafi principles! A healthy process of Ijtihad should seek continually for the best way to improve its ways and contemplate on what cause stagnation; rejection of each-others, chronic sectarianism, political oppression, social injustices, economic slowdown and nesting fanaticism. Regrettably  these negativities are even aggravating and running out of control; the Muslim nation lives in turbulence; Palestinian lands are still occupied, imperialist west and sectarian wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somali, Sudanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Muslims are turning against each others, dictatorships flourishing The tricky problem is what caused stagnation in the first place? Imam Shafi as the other early Muslim jurists set the foundation of Muslim classical jurisprudence principles; in order to wipe out the prevailing confusion and bring unity to the Muslims. In theory, Shafii distinguished simply between the argument taken from traditions and the results of systematic thoughtShafii created the usul alfiqh. (Semerdjian, 2008, p.16) He introduced the grade of precedence for the compiled testimonial Based-Hadith of the Prophet as well as the secondary conjectural sources of consensus, analogy, and logical jurisprudential principles, then empowered them to become as revered as the Quranic teachings. He might have a noble intention seeking Muslim unity, but his method is for sure erroneous; as his formulation of principles surely proved not always to be bright. He must have caused a significant problem for every generation, as creativity has stayed confined for over a millennium! The fear of traditionalist that theological debates may create havoc and uncertainty is groundless; as there is already a great deal of havoc and uncertainty because of the accumulated Ijtihad methods and absolute policies. The traditionalist school has to defend its position in free open theological debates, on the base of Quranic teachings that human are able to rationalise for themselves; as it is baseless to claim that such debated matters have already been argued and resolved along before. To advance positively the civilization; every generation need to revise and sift its heritage by retaining the good facets and discarding the bad ones. Within the shariah spheres; the theological debates have to be liberated again from Shafis traditional-blockade. There is prevailing concurrence asserts that the Muslim-thought continued to thrive luminously for three centuries after the Prophets death, introducing such top-calibre historian such as al-Tabari, mathematician such as Al-Khawarizmi, astronomer such as al-Battani, physicist such as Al-Biruni, and many others.  (Said Khan, 1996, p.44). The orthodox school with its anti-evolutionary and absolutist attitude is still the major obstacle for the modern school to re-conquest the Ijtihads territories that was owned once, in the early centuries! This liberal modernist relativist attitude does not wide-open the doors for revolutionary Ijtihad; it is just an add-on tension to the conflict where orthodox Muslims have sporadically labelled them as non-believers and issued death-religious-edicts against them! It will be better to have comprehensive outlook  where absolutism and relativism coexist and cooperate rather as a pair.   One of the key problems challenging the Muslim nation now is frequently swamped in nostalgia for long-ago glories and confined into the past customary approaches of Ijtihad. The hard-hitting equation that the past Muslim scholars paved the way for Western notions of reason which tended to be sophisticatedly categorised for example Western critique of reason is outstandingly segmented into various types of reasoning: critical reason, functional reason, instrumental reason, imperialist reason, abstract reasonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ While the Muslim scholars of Ijtihad are still oblivious which definition should be given to reason whether analogical or consensualà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Instead of seriously looking how to revive their Ijtihad and enriching it with the new scientific achievements! 02. How to Revive Ijtihad? The classical mujtahids in naÃÆ' ¯ve attempt to establish a uniting universal rules to solve the legislative problems of their time; they ended in abating the Ummah intellectual powers. A proper Ijtihad would not be initiated unless the call to Ijtihad becomes widespread intellectual (Al-Alwani, 1993a, p.234); emancipated from the existing traditional schools of thought while its religious institutions independent from the manoeuvring of political regimes.   What the Muslim Ummah should bear in mind; without the mean of Ijtihad; it will never rise to the Muslims inspiration, solve their problems, and earn a respectful place in the current world! Regarding the question of who is eligible to practice Ijtihad, Allah endowed every human with the right to reason for himself; it would be absurd to claim that access to reasoning in Muslim Ummah is the exclusive right of a few qualified? Ijtihad is not only open to the ones who displays moral excellence of piety and equity, further attained a high status in Arabic linguistics and branches of jurisprudence; deep understanding of the fundamentals of the original sources and Islamic historyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦In fact, every Muslim has the full right to engage in creative and scientific reasoning, as he should not allow Ijtihad to be hijacked by legal scope, a political authority or handful of male jurists, whose Ijtihad achievement is private and suspending female and collective contributions?   Ijtihad should now confront, in Muslim societies, the reality of current circumstances and variations; which urge a serious study of the Muslim societal needs and aspirations for social justice, freedom of expression, economic prosperity,  and moral governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Hence, the required Ijtihad should be revolutionary and make the present-world patent in the light of Islam not rather Islam interpreted in the shade of the present-world as it is reflected indirectly in the tendencies and forms of liberal contemporary Ijtihad. 03. Revolutionary Contemporary Ijtihad: To escape this long lasting vicious circle, the Muslims should think outside the models of past Ijtihad! By going back to the simple basic Quranic precepts such as Let there arise out of you a group of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining the good (Al-Marà »f) and forbidding the wrong (Al-Munkar). And it is they who are the successful. (Quran, 3:104) You (Muslims), the best nation ever raised up to mankind commanding the right, warding off the mischief and believing in Allah. (Quran, 3:110) yet, so simple, but religious theologians mystified them by their inconsistent and idiotic offers such as Muslim would get blessing from Quranic recitals even if he might not grasp a word of what he recites; simultaneously, Muslims should not attempt to comprehend the Quran as it is beyond their comprehensions; in actual fact distancing the Muslims from the essence of Islamic message-the actual Quran itself. How it comes that the Sunni traditionalists have claimed for more revered secondary sources because the Quran for them contains finite rulings; whereas Allah himself certified in his Book that is complete: All the creatures on earth and all the birds that fly with wings are communities like you. We did not leave anything out of this scripture, to their Lord; all these creatures will be summoned.(Quran, 6:38). The Quran offers great comprehensive teachings and a right life-guidance to all mankind; as its moral aspects are potently reflected in the successful model of all Allahs Prophets and His last Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon all of them). Onceas a source of Muslim creativity the proper theological debates and proper Quranic teachings are liberated, then Ijtihad as rationale and method will automatically rehabilitate and the creative intellectual activity will mechanically flow. On the basis of the universal dogma taught in the Quran; the contemporary Ijtihad should take two principal forms: the practical and the theoretical, In spite of the preservation about philosophy because of 12th century Ghazzalis eminent philosophy-refutation. Muslim societies should allow and encourage the Critical philosophical thinking for inquisitive thought according to the Quranic teachings. While the practical form of Ijtihad should not be just confined in rituals and the dichotomy of what is permissible and not permissible; it has rather to be bravely involved in all levels of legislations at the fields of politics, economics, and social life. Similarly the academic credentials should not be equalised to stern thought or an apprehension for society. Figure.05 summarises what contemporary Ijtihad, in my view, should encompass to stir a revolutionary move towards a fruitful Ijtihad?   All other sciences Challenge/ traditions Primary -Quran Imaginative impulse Qua creative Analogical/ legal Both genders Collective/ communal Consultative/ expertise Figure.05 The Essential Possible Components of revolutionary Ijtihad What Revolutionary Ijtihad should encompass! THE ENTITLED SEVERAL SOURCES CONSULTATIVE APPROACH THE SCOPE SPHERES Sciences Sphere Politico-Societal sphere Religious Sphere TOOLS of RATIONALE/ Rational inquiry Rational Criticism Theological debates In short, the Algerian scholar Malik   Bennabi in his book Les Conditions de la Renaissance (1948) has brought up, the foremost independence; is the mind independence from the lasting effects of both traditional Ijtihad tenets and Western colonialism which nurtured the Muslim feelings with inferiorities and shaped Muslim-mind with fluctuated ideologies. To realise this mind independency, the very basic concept of monotheism (tawhid) should be restored to its origins that a Muslim fears and bows only to Allah, all human are free intellectually and socially equal. From here He would seek and follow what Allah has already defined in His own words as the right-path, this is, in fact, the most significance step towards Ijtihad revival far from misconceptions of the Western influence and classical Ijtihad. 4. Misconceptions in Ijtihad: The aforementioned views concerning current Ijtihad are due to some key misconceptions that have slithered into mujtahids mindset: some scholars state that the Ijtihad-doors are closed because the early scholars have discussed every issue and settle it; simultaneously to practice Ijtihad you need to have the knowledge of one of those leading scholars such as Shafi; the scope of Ijtihad include only definite matters as shariah rule. Ijtihad is the field of only selected elite and only allowed in the absence of clear textà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Ijtihad is not a private privilege of some religious or scholarly elite as it does not occurs only in legal areas; therefore Islamic evidences have to be discussed directly upon any novel issues. Ijtihad should be open for private and collective mujtahids based on autonomous ground; as it should cover all areas of a Muslim-life. Ijtihad is also an individual obligation of every Muslimwhether man or women with sound rationale to be involved in the contemporary Ijtihad that can reflect on different old and new subjects. 5. New subjects for Ijtihad: The subjects of Ijtihad are as multiple as the spheres of life; as well as its scope are so-broad and unlimited. Ijtihad subjects might envelop all simultaneous matters of a Muslim-life while its scope might encompass all matters that hold the Muslims interests. Indeed, Islam deals with all life-aspects and covers all human situations. It is therefore not true that Ijtihad should not stipulate upon the complex and far-attaining subjects which need now to be examined and investigated. 1. The mission statement of modern Ijtihad is to spread and imply the creator message of mercy and wisdom to benefit the whole mankind and globe, Islam hence as divine message is global and not monopole of tribe, race, or particular society in particular land. Message of Islam embeds a humanitarian and global spirit; Muslims therefore should reinterpret the classical narrow outlook to divide the world into what is world of Islam and what is world of no-Islam. Emphasis should be placed on responsible citizenship for the whole mankind in the whole globe with all its add-on aspects of other creatures and environments 2. Shariah objectives should be more explored; as its scope in the Quran go beyond the five universal tenets introduced by Al-Shatibiprotection of faith, intellect, life, property, and lineage to safeguarding morality and freedom, prevailing peace and mercy, establishing social justice and order, and protecting peoples stability and interests in all events. Hence; every Ijtihad should observe synchronically ihsan in all the shariah objectives whether universal or conventional; simultaneously eliminate their paradoxes of mental and physical servitude, tyranny, injustice, cruelty, disorder, immorality and harm. The modern Ijtihad should indeed preserve and observe the Shariah objectives and Shariah constitutes. 3. Political and social realities of Modern life have generated about countless and complex problems in the Islamic societies. Following this comprehensive broadened approach necessitates that the contemporary Ijtihads fields and scope should cover all the spheres of what the Muslim-life noticeably occupies and should not stay confined in the jurisprudential notions and their terminological implications; or confined into legal matters in the proficient notions, but they should also cover political, economic, social, administrative, medical, educational, scientific and circumstantial aspects plus any aspect associated in time with the Muslim society. 4. Islamic Economics today need radical U-turn to procure creatively novel Islamic economic theories fully binding to the Quranic ethical guidelines and far away from adaptation to western fluctuated secular economic theories and also far away from reconciling tendencies on the expenses of Islamic Shariah equitable aims. Indeed without denying the due process that incorporates modern elements of the existing economic theories. What cause the Muslim world impoverishment and how can it be altered? How could Muslims build correlation with world economics without compromising their equitable principles of Islam? 5. Muslims today are confronting many new issues that require urgently attention to be inferred such as: The role and rights of women in Islam has to be reconsidered carefully by examining the original scripture-the Quran. The Sunnis and Shiites doctrinal gap and that one existing in between various Islamic schools of thought need a well-devised system to promote similarities and eliminate prejudices; why not dissolve the sectarian spirit among Muslims through spreading tolerance and dialogue. 6. How to create a Unity among Muslim states despite their contingent differences, at the same time how to form Islamic political authority systematically without being subject to influence by the historically formulated Islamic political systems after the demise of the Prophet, and even far from the western doctrine of democracy. How can Muslim states collaborate together and how to create preliminary unity among Muslim states? How to create proper Ethical-based Islamic governmental system that could become even a model to promote democratic systems in the whole world. 7. Modern Ijtihad should look for better concept of formulating treaties whether among the Muslim or across the other humanitarian societies, in a way it preserves the universal ethics and looks for conventional grounds to manage conflicts and clash between mankind societies. Proper Islamic Ijtihad should be used to guide Muslims and to act as model for none Muslims. 8. Ijtihad should inevitably foster a better communication for mutual relations with people of diverse faiths and cultures to promote positive dialogue and peace among various groups and nations around the globe instead of encouraging the impression of a clash across cultures and civilizations. Conclusion: If the current Ijtihad remains unclear and our thinkers stay still captive to that restrictions imposed upon Muslims a long time ago; leaving them with a lot of misconceptions and little room for creative and incentive free thought; there would be never any change in the Muslim Ummah situation: Thus, Allah does not change the condition of any people unless they themselves make the decision to change. If Allah wills any hardship for any people, no force can impede it; for they have none beside Him as Lord and Master. (Quran, 13:11) Hence, all stratums of Muslim-societies regardless to their gender and sect; religious jurists and academic scholars should project mutual sincerity, tolerance, openness, and dialogue to make a change and build a fruitful Ijtihad with a greater Muslim world to represent the Muslim nation with an ideal-image of Islam; work also hand in hand to find an alternative approach for more effective creative Ijtihad which can cope with our current piling-up problems! Chapter IV: Is there any alternative approach to new effective Ijtihad? Introduction: This last chapter is devoted to seek for an alternative approach to Ijtihad where creative impulse and the faculty of imagination are employed to broaden the scope of Ijtihad beyond the narrow legal compass to include all the other subjects of modern life. Then it looks for the suitability of each type of Ijtihad, by pointing out the key points that risen a dispute among Sunnis and Shiite regarding opinionative Ijtihad, and what type of Ijtihad should be forbidden for mujtahids to engage in. Islamic Ijtihad is the sole legitimate device for intellectual rationale within the house of Islam; historically tracing its developments reveals three different modes: for Muslim Ijtihad as a interpretive and legislative tool, a type of technical reasoning for jurists; while for common Muslims Ijtihad was a creative and imaginative impulse. Muslim scholars are still speculative and imprecise about Ijtihad nature and generally the Ijtihad term implies either to an interpretive approach or legal analogical reasoning. Unlike the privileged jurists who knowledgably practiced their Ijtihad technicalities in their private auspices; ordinary Muslims before the nine century employed their initiative, imaginative and creative impulse to practice Ijtihad in their day-to-day life and environment to meet their life necessities within the framework of their Islamic set of beliefs, ethics, and Quranic notions. An Alternative Approach: Qua Creative and Imaginative Impulse: 1. An Alternative Approach: Creative Impulse The contemporary Iranian sociologist, Dr. Ali Shariati suggests an alternative approach to Ijtihad i.e creative impulse and imagination (Ibrahim, 2008, P.188); essentially to emancipate Muslim prospects and construct a new world that would stimulate the Islamic civilization to flourish. Earlier Muslim thinkers of the second period of the nineteenth centuries initiated such a trend of thinking, unfortunately such a refreshing wave was suffocated by the reputed jurists of the time; because for them it might create among the Muslims confusion and disunity which were already swamping the nation. In realty, they did not like the very idea of Ijtihad as creative` and imaginative impulse; because they were captives of classical technical Ijtihad; they also perceived this movement as a threat to their social status and even to their source of revenues. For example the Quran has a great creative impulse as inspiring force behind the birth of the flourishing sciences at a time when Muslim began reflecting on Quranic notions and its inductive reasoning. The dynamic notions of creation and universe in the Quran stirred evolutionary movements; the Quran knowledge also constitute of historical notions that urged its readers to rethink the cited experience of mankind in the Quran à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦etc Then in so being, by the fourteenth century, a new trend of theological, mathematic, scientific, astronomic and philosophical inquiries were initiated. Sadly this legacy did not last for long, and then the qua creative of Islamic thought endured rapid decline as a result of internal Muslim-turbulences such as the occurrence of rational conservatism Muslims, sectarian storms; sciences declined rapidly while more stiff theory of Ijtihad rulings and narrower prospectus prevailed. The door for Ijtihad was closed and never opened again? Any attempts to free qua creative of Islamic thought -have been tainted by the orthodox and dogmatic radical trends with cynicism kufr and innovations bidah up till now. It seems that the application of Ijtihad that was approved by the Prophet is qua creative thinking as he did not restrain it by methodology; similarly although there is no explicit Quranic text on Ijtihad, the Quranic plea to sensible enquiry and thinking is also not attached by certain attitude of Ijtihad. Hence, it becomes so clear that the Prophet, peace be upon him, also considered Ijtihad as a creative impulse rather than technical and legal reasoning which later was developed in affluence. Alas, the methodology of Ijtihad has been encapsulated in the scope of principle of jurisprudences while they are themselves an artefact of Ijtihad. In the course of time; this methodology has been dramatically shaped by several factors; such as sectarianism, political atmosphere of monarchic caliphate, figurative thought such as analogy (qiyas) and clustered accord such as consensus; and so resulted into an unpleasant cost for Ijtihad. It ludicrously imposes restrictions on thinking by construed culture and untouchable traditions; alternatively, free imaginative and creative reasoning would be enhanced and orientated with an ethical and innate Islamic approach of regulations. 2. An Alternative Approach: Imaginative Thinking to Ijtihad: Imaginative insight is not yet encapsulated by procedures and definitions framework of Ijtihad; Quran seems to provide symbols and markers of the unique thinking attribute such as innateness, imagination, and constructive criticism which inspire quite often the creative mind for new ingenious ideas. The thinking is one of the greatest Creators gifts and sign of His creation that can fit as divine example of Gods power of creation. The imaginative thinking of bien-fait mind of a Muslim thinker can be also glistened by sources and tainted by cultural and religious influence, it is therefore to be explored and explained adequately to avoid being trapped in its deceptive prospects! For instance, imagination is required to grasp the essence of these Sunnis Prophetic statements upheld in a famous hadith in which the Prophet instructed Pursue knowledge even to China, for its pursuance is the sacred duty of every Muslim. ( Al-Bukhari , V. 4, p.357} and in a further hadith explained that wisdom was the lost property of the believer; he was permitted to it wherever he found it. (Al-Tirmidhi, v.1, p.245) Hence, wisdom and knowledge must, therefore have been the ultimate achievements of human marvellous and creative thinking. The outcomes of creative thinking are often experienced in global spirituality and far beyond geographical settings or physical objects. Hopefully those sages of Muslim societies wisely adopt an imaginative thinking in their agendas of deliberations to inspire them into the genuine visions; caused them to narrow the remoteness and division between the intellect and the culture; commit themselves to better serving human fraternity, solidarity and g lobal civilization. Furthermore; Quranic verse which states that Good and evil cannot be equalised. Repel evil with goodness; those who are foes become your best friends. (Quran, 41:34), incite you to envisage a different future, reasoning on this verse without using imagination does not help to get near its essence. So imagination is here an input to a better future, it is also the input to a fine society. Imaginative Ijtihad must cooperate with legal reasoning without being hampered by it. Imaginative and creative Ijtihad should be therefore adopted by mujtahids to practice true Ijtihad, which cannot be a true Ijtihad unless scholars are free to express their opinions and others are free to criticize them if they make errors. (Smock, 2004, p.4) Novelty and success of Muslim nation necessitates the absolute involvement of the average Muslims in practice of a creative impulse Ijtihad to unravel their every day dilemmas. The Rationale is not the only legitimate way to revelation, theological debates should be also left open to average Muslims to express their alternate notions of reality within the given sense of human innateness, which enables them to morally sense what is right and what is wrong. Performing Ijtihad as imaginative impulse, creative thinking or legal reasoning accrues potential dangers that of being confined in the retrains of the past Ijtihad. For example although few Muslim scholars had attempted to ban slavery such as the Algerian scholar Ahmed b. Yahya al-Wansharisi whose famous fatwa described slavery as a humiliation and a servitude caused by previous or current unbelief, and having its purpose as to discourage unbelief(Clearence-Smith, 2006, p.28); most traditional scholars have failed to prohibit slavery, neglecting the essential universal Quranic teachings of human social-equality; since the slavery practice had always subsisted, the scholars were letdown by their poorer imagination and subdued them from accomplishing an insight-change as they could not imagine a world free of slaves, so-many Muslim scholars rather hold on the opinionative Ijtihad of there is nothing wrong with maintaining the evil institutions of slavery up-till- now! Dispute over Opinionative Ijtihad: Verily, the Muslim Shiites and Sunnis opinions are clashingly divided on the issue of what kind of Ijtihad is forbidden in Islam! Unlike fiqh Al-ather narrative based hadith approach to Ijtihad-that thrived in Shiite Jafari, Sunnis Malliki and Hanbali schools, fiqh alray developed in Iraq as (jurisprudence based on personal analogical efforts; This trend, which early on crystallized in the Hanafi School, fostered reasoning by analogy (Qiyas or Ijtihad Alray) and juridical preference (Istihsan). (Crow, 2005, p. 12). But how each school envisaged the trend of Ijtihad is a contradictory problem? This sort of Ijtihad is forbidden according to Shiite Islam and Hanbali School while it is permitted in other Sunni schools and considered as valid proof as Quran and Sunnah in determining Shariah rulings; believing that the Islamic rulings available in Quran and Sunnah are finite and limited while situations and actions are not. They therefore ruled out in the cases which had no ruling by divine text, the mujtahids must exercise his personal thinking to derive a new ruling. This permission has been grounded on some narrated ahadith from the Prophet and the most famous one is the Prophets hadith when he sent to Yemen, the companion Muadh Ibn Jabal, he question him on how he would issue rulings there. He replied: In compliance with the Book. And if it is not in the book? I will exercise the Sunnah of the Prophet. And if it is not in the Sunnah of the Prophet? I will exercise my own opinion (Ajtahidu ra yi) he replied. (Abu Dawud, V.3, p. 303) In fact, Sunni Muslims differ on what is Ijtihad al-ray and how is going to be envisaged as binding testimony in shariah? Al-Shafi`i maintains that the sole valid Ijtihad is qiyas. Nevertheless some other Sunni jurists see beside qyias as Ijtihad alray; finding judicial preference istihsan by jurists personal deliberations in quite independent cases on the base of justice and truth. Similarly with public-interest istislah as weighing one thing as more convenient than another some others counted too as an add-on in opinionative Ijtihad besides to the principles of jurisprudence. (Coulson, 1964, p. 53-64) In contrast; the Shiite Islam believes, that Quran and Sunnah are complete and adequate; it therefore rejects and prohibits both Ijtihad alra y, especially analogy. Shiite Jurists back up their view with so many relevant Quranic verses and ahadith from their Imams and reject the very idea of revering qyias as absolute; because it is a type of conjecture and misleading methodology that can generate various errors. Despite their anti-qiyas attitude, they anonymously adopted the aspects of the principle of jurisprudence. The right of such Ijtihad proved the Sunnis wrong in practice; if everyone is allowed to exercise and revere his own interpretive opinion, and then Islam as religion would be distorted. It might have been for this reason that the validity of independent Ijtihad was gradually cancelled by instructing Sunni mujtahids to exercise taqlid of the four Sunnis famous schools of thought, in the absence of the Abbasid political impulsion. Nevertheless, Ijtihad should not be left hijacked by classical sectarian schools fundamentals and special elite of Muslim scholars whether in Shiites or Sunnis, then what kind of Ijtihad should be forbidden in Islam? 4. The kind of forbidden Ijtihad: Whether is the narrow legal definition of Ijtihad as a struggle of intellectual process to interpret primary sources and derive rulings;

Audrey and John from The Hollow :: Drama

Discuss in detail, how you would play either Audrey or John in the selected scene. You will need to refer to voice, movement, gesture and facial expression, as well as to how your chosen character responds to others on stage. Scene sixteen, "The Hollow." This scene is set in a natural grassy scooped out hollow in the midst of the trees. The five children have plunged for safety because Raymond thought he heard something. He thinks it may have been the mysterious "him" but is not sure. This play is set in the 1940's, and this was when the country was at war, so they would have been scared that the Ities would capture them. The scene includes six characters: John, Angela, Willie, Audrey, Raymond and Peter. Angela is described as being pretty, with ringlet curls in blue ribbons. Audrey is said to be short, with straight hair and "cheap owl-like metal framed glasses" These descriptions suggest that Angela has more authority, or a higher status throughout the play. Angela is described to be everything that Audrey isn't, but she really wants to be just like Angela. In this scene, the five are very scared, and are huddling up to each other. If I were Audrey, I would be trying not to show I was scared, because she is more of a boy than Angela and does not care for dolls, or prams. I would be trying to show that I was brave. Audrey is trying to take interest in what the guards will do to the mysterious "him" if they catch him. If I was playing her, I would be very close to the boys, as if to be more on their side and more brave and boyish than Angela. Audrey is described as saying "never mind the pram," belligerently. This means that she is getting fed up with Angela because they have more important things to worry about. If I were Audrey, I would wave my hand at Angela as if to tell her to shut up, and get out the way. Audrey I trying to get in with the boys and the least she needs is Angela worrying about her stupid baby. When Audrey told Angela to literally shut up, this showed that she had the higher status. She resents the fact that Angela is always attracting attention from the boys, and this time, she has stuck up to her and the boys are on her side. She likes this. When John is told to go and have a look over the top, it is obvious that he doesn't want to, but he has taken on the sort of leader in the

How Does Acting Out Of Self-Interest Drive The Theory Of Determinism

How does acting out of self-interest drive the theory of determinism well†¦ , what is determinism it is defined as the ‘means universal causation? For everything that occurs there is a corresponding cause. † In philosophy it is known as â€Å"the doctrine that all events, including human decisions, are completely determined by previously existing causes. † One states that it is corresponding cause while the other states that it is previously an existing cause.So, how does acting out of Self-Interest drive the theory of determinism; that is to say determinism is claimed that our existence is ‘pre-determined’, the that free will is, but an illusion. Many who believes in a destiny-path or so form of supernatural (Religious-faith), will be hard to believe or even comprehended determinism. Determinism, for those that are religious the decision they make them believe it’s be ordain by their decisions.But if you think about it, whatever ‘fre e-will’ choices we make that path has been destine to occur, if we chooses wrong, or right, or the alternative of right and wrong, or non-religious path what waits us, seem to be somewhat ordain by our discussion where it was ‘free-will’ of self-interest, or of religiously –â€Å"free will†. Determinism, seems to be like a line game they use to determine the path of result of one will do, well in terms of one of school. This line game is of ‘free-will’ that we chose. This line chosen will take us too many directions but, in the end the result seems somewhat pre- destine to occur.This choice we made, was out of our (students ) ‘free-will’ or â€Å"religiously- free-will’, that led us to choose that line . That line has already seemed to be pre-destining what the result will be at the end of the line. It is a very common game, in my previous school, in Japan this is how we are fairly chosen-(freely) or, destine to do what states at the end of the line. This was basically done so, we knew what we were ‘free-will’ chose our decision or ‘ordain’ to have a result when it came to doing chores and projects in school.Is there any real freedom in our behavior, or is it determined by a series of uncontrollable events, well I would say we do have a freedom to choose but, it will fall in the end or, determined in the end, the choices we made during these series of uncontrollable events. That we acted out of our own â€Å"freedom† Uncontrollable events in our life, in many result will be of our knowledge or faith that we choices out of ‘freedom’ or, of ‘free-will’ or, ‘religiously-free will’.

Are Parents the Best Teachers?

Obviously, the first teachers we have in our lives in most cases are our parents. They teach us to walk, to speak, and to have good manners before we reach â€Å"the real world. † More than even the professional teachers that we have in school, parents are generally the most involved in the development and education of children. Almost for sure our parents are the best teachers at the beginning of our lives, which actually corresponds to the parents' role in nature. Parents are most committed and involved in teaching their children; they have a kind of instinct to sacrifice a part of themselves for the betterment of their children.They love us and have great patience while passing down their knowledge to us. They wish us a success and thus will not teach us bad things. And of course, implicit learning occurs when children unconsciously copy some of their parents' habits and styles of behavior. During the second stage of child development, adolescence, parents can still be in t he best position to offer advice even though the children might not accept it. In this case, perhaps the child's friends would be the best teachers. Adolescents are notoriously rebellious in many cultures and may automatically reject any advice from their parents.My first marriage for instance, was solely a matter of doing the opposite when my parents tried to intrude in offering their advice. So in such matters, parents should be much more flexible and be rather the partners with their children. So we can see that being a teacher of growing child become more and more complicated case as the time passes and many parents are simply not able to meet the increased demands. On the other hand, I would say that parents are not professional teachers and they tend to be very biased by their love of their children.So wishing good things and an easy life may prevent children from maturation. In any case, parents usually can present only one viewpoint of the world, while good teaching should b e based on different attitudes. Thus, when children go to school and have a great diversity of teachers, they learn much more than their parents could probably give them. Furthermore, once our parents get older, they become more conservative and cannot always be objective in regard to modern trends and fashions. Thus we need to take their advice with caution during that period.However, some kind of intuition which I believe shared between relatives about what everybody needs and great love which exists in a families still makes our parents very good teachers and advisers at any time. In conclusion, while parents are not the ideal teachers, and well-rounded children will generally need a great diversity of teachers in their lives in order to have a more accurate view of the world, parents are generally the most committed of all teachers and have the greatest emotional investment in their children and their future.