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Imam Serahsi's work, Al-Mabsut examines the relationship between faith and action from the Hanafi-Maturidi perspective, at the intersection of Islamic law and theology. This work provides a comprehensive analysis of the fundamental issues of Islamic thought, exploring the relationship between belief and behavior that has persisted since the early days of Islam. Serahsi meticulously addresses the rulings related to apostasy, the deeds of infidels and polytheists, and the views of the sect leaders on these matters. The emphasis placed on combating disbelief and preserving faith within the work is critical for understanding Islamic law and the belief system. Disbelief is defined as the opposite of faith, and in this context, the struggle against disbelief is fundamental to the preservation of faith. Serahsi's in-depth analyses aid in understanding the core principles and beliefs of Islam, helping Muslims to maintain their faith and avoid the negative impacts of disbelief. This study significantly contributes to understanding the complex structure of Islamic law and theology in terms of the relationship between faith and action, guiding solutions to contemporary issues related to this relationship. Additionally, the examination of the behaviors of different faith groups, such as believers, infidels, and polytheists, within the boundaries of faith and disbelief, facilitates a deeper understanding of Islamic creed and belief principles. Thus, al-Mabsut highlights the close relationship between Islamic law and theology while illuminating complex issues related to religion and faith, serving as a significant academic resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quran and Hadith are perfect sources of such perfection can be estimated by their use of words in them which are multifarious / manifold. Therefore the word kufur is one of such words which has multitudinous possibilities, according to an order, kufur has two kinds. Major unbelief (Kufur e Akbar those who fall into this category are transgressors and declared out of Islam) Minor unbelief (Kufur e Asghar the transgressors do not go beyond the Islamic Laws) But for both kinds the word kufur is used only that is why it becomes complex to comprehend that for which verse word Major unbelief is used and for which verse the word Minor unbelief is used. This remains the matter of kinds of kufur only. Many of the verses are there in which other words are used for kufur such as the word Zulm (cruelty) is also used for kufur. As well as for Shirk (polytheism / sin of idolatry) the word kufur is also used. In the same way the word kufur is used for disobedience [Fisk] also. Hence a research is made in this article that in which verse the term kufur is used as a Major unbelief and in which verse the term Minor unbelief is used. After comprehending the accurate meaning of kufur it will be easy to understand the problem of Takfeer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting establishment and invasiveness risks of non-native (NN) species are fundamental aspects in the development of preventing measures and management plans. The main aim of the present study was to identify potential establishment rate and invasive of NN fish species using the Freshwater Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) and climate matching model (CLIMATCH) respectively. The Anzali Wetland Complex (AWC) was selected as risk assessment (RA) area which is located in the southern Caspian Sea basin. Overall, fifteen NN fish species were assessed in the RA area. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve showed that the two models identified reliably high potential establishment rate and invasive NN fishes in the RA area. FISK and CLIMATCH were calibrated to produce RA area-specific threshold values. The threshold values were 11 and 0.87 for FISK and CLIMATCH, respectively. FISK and CLIMATCH categorized 73.3 and 60% of NN fish species as high invasive risk and high probability of establishment, respectively. Six out of 15 NN fish species (i.e. Carassius gibelio, Cyprinus carpio, Gambusia holbrooki, Hemiculter leucisculus, Gasterosteus aculeatus and Pseudorasbora parva) that were assessed to pose both high risk of being invasive and high probability of successful establishment in the AWC. The results suggest that the FISK and CLIMATCH can be an effective decision-support tools for identifying potential high risk NN fish species in the wetlands connected to the Caspian Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The freshwater Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) has been applied in 35 risk assessment areas in 45 countries across the six inhabited continents (11 applications using FISK v1; 25 using FISK v2). The present study aimed: to assess the breadth of FISK applications and the confidence (certainty) levels associated with the decision-support tool's 49 questions and its ability to distinguish between taxa of low-to-medium and high risk of becoming invasive, and thus provide climate-specific, generalised, calibrated thresholds for risk level categorisation; and to identify the most potentially invasive freshwater fish species on a global level. The 1973 risk assessments were carried out by 70 + experts on 372 taxa (47 of the 51 species listed as invasive in the Global Invasive Species Database www.iucngisd.org/gisd/), which in decreasing order of importance belonged to the taxonomic Orders Cypriniformes, Perciformes, Siluriformes, Characiformes, Salmoniformes, Cyprinodontiformes, with the remaining ≈ 8% of taxa distributed across an additional 13 orders. The most widely-screened species (in decreasing importance) were: grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella, common carp Cyprinus carpio, rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix and topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva. Nine 'globally' high risk species were identified: common carp, black bullhead Ameiurus melas, round goby Neogobius melanostomus, Chinese (Amur) sleeper Perccottus glenii, brown bullhead Ameiurus nebulosus, eastern mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki, largemouth (black) bass Micropterus salmoides, pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus and pikeperch Sander lucioperca. The relevance of this global review to policy, legislation, and risk assessment and management procedures is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We define a new lifetime distribution from a direct cumulative distribution function composition of the two parameter Fisk distribution and two parameter Weibull distribution with an asymptotic adjustment. The new four parameter distribution is called the adjusted Fisk Weibull (AFW) distribution. The AFW distribution is analytically appealing and some of its statistical properties are expressed in closed forms. The maximum likelihood method of parameter estimation was used to estimate the parameters of the new distribution and the usefulness and possible applications of the distribution was illustrated with two real and uncensored data-sets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: South Africa, as a signatory of the Convention on Biological Diversity, has an obligation to identify, prioritise and manage invasive species and their introduction pathways. However, this requires knowledge of the introduction pathways, factors influencing establishment success, invasive potential, current distributions and ecological impacts. Objectives: To evaluate the Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) to predict the invasion risk posed by fish species proposed for introduction into South Africa. Method: FISK assessments were compiled for species whose invasion status in South Africa was known. A Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was conducted to calibrate the FISK for South Africa. The calibrated FISK was used to evaluate the risk that three species recently proposed for importation for aquaculture could become invasive in South Africa. Results: A FISK score of 14 was identified as the threshold to delineate between species that could become invasive in South Africa and those that are unlikely to become invasive. Of the three species evaluated, Silurus glanis had a high risk of becoming invasive in South Africa, Lates calcarifer was likely to be invasive and Oncorhynchus tshawytscha was unlikely to be invasive in South Africa. Conclusion: FISK was demonstrated to be a useful risk assessment tool to evaluate the invasion risk posed by species proposed for use in aquaculture. For the large number of fish imported for the pet trade, a rapid screening assessment to flag potentially high risk species was recommended prior to a full FISK assessment for flagged species.

The Freshwater Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) v2 and Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit (AS-ISK) risk identification screening tools were used to assess the invasiveness potential of 24 non-native (NNS) freshwater fish species in the River Neretva catchment (Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia), a risk assessment (RA) area that is an important Mediterranean hotspot for fish endemism. The two assessors assigned similar scores for the invasiveness potential of the NN fishes, and both screening tools successfully distinguished invasive from non-invasive species. Mean calibrated threshold scores were 10.25 for FISK and 10.00 for AS-ISK, with the latter increasing to 12.62 when questions that assess the likely impact of predicted future climate conditions on the RA were taken into consideration. These relatively low threshold values are characteristic of areas with an elevated number of translocated species and suggest that NN fishes pose a considerable threat to native species and ecosystems. FISK ranked 50.0-62.6% of the species as being of 'high risk' compared with 58.4-59.3% using AS-ISK. The highest scores ('very high risk') were attributed to gibel carp Carassius gibelio (Bloch, 1782) and pikeperch Sander lucioperca (Linnaeus, 1758). The generic screening tool for aquatic species (AS-ISK) provided similar risk rankings to its predecessor, FISK, as regards invasiveness potential. For this reason, it is likely to be an effective tool for evaluating the potential invasion risk of NNS freshwater fishes for other RA areas in the Balkans. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Screening tools are being increasingly used to identify more effectively non-native species that pose an elevated risk of being invasive. Of the available decision-support tools, the Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) has been widely used, but has recently been replaced by a generic screening tool, the Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit (AS-ISK), which is applicable to any aquatic species and complies with the minimum requirements for risk tools under the new EC alien invasive species Regulation. With its unique zoogeography and rich native fauna, Turkey is highly susceptible to non-native species' introductions and translocations. In order to inform non-native species policy and management regarding fishes in Turkey, AS-ISK was used to re-assess species previously screened using FISK and to assess additional non-native and translocated fish species. In this first calibration study of AS-ISK for Turkey, a basic score threshold of 28 was achieved, which reliably distinguished between potentially invasive (high risk) and potentially non-invasive (medium to low risk) fishes. Of the 64 species assessed, only one was ranked as 'low risk', 40 were categorised as 'medium risk', and the remaining 23 as 'high risk' of which five were translocated. Non-native species currently not present in Turkey, but that pose a high risk of being invasive, were Ameiurus melas, Ameiurus nebulosus, Hemiculter leucisculus, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Micropterus salmoides, Perccottus glenii, Pimephales promelas; whereas, the highest scoring translocated species were Cyprinus carpio, Esox lucius and Silurus glanis. When the potential effects of climate change on the assessments were considered, risk scores increased for some (sub)tropical fishes of which two are translocated species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic decision-support tools are now an essential component of government strategies to battle non-native species, with taxon-specific, paper-based risk analysis schemes often being replaced by taxon-generic tools. This study reports on the development of a decision-support tool for aquatic species, the Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit (AS-ISK), which replaces five taxon-specific toolkits for amphibians, freshwater and marine fish and invertebrates (FISK, MFISK, FI-ISK, MI-ISK, Amph-ISK). Adapted from Pheloung et al.'s Weed Risk Assessment (WRA), the “-ISK" toolkits were also “self-automated workbooks" in Excel® VisualBasic® architecture of the 'WRA. In creating AS-ISK, we incorporated the conceptual approach (questions and guidance) of the generic risk screening module of the European Non-native Species in Aquaculture Risk Analysis Scheme (ENSARS) into a single “turnkey application" that was based on the Excel® VisualBasic® architecture used by the WRA and its “-ISK" derivatives. Applicable to virtually all climatic zones and all aquatic plants and animals regardless of ecosystem (marine, fresh, brackish water), AS-ISK comprises 49 basic questions on the taxon's biogeographical and historical traits and its biological and ecological interactions. In compliance with the “minimum requirements" for use with the new EU Regulation on invasive alien species of EU concern, AS-ISK includes a preamble of background information on the species as well as questions on its potential socio-economic impacts and those on ecosystem services, and an additional section (six questions) for the assessor to predict how forecasted changes in climate are likely to influence the risks of introduction, establishment, dispersal and impact of a species. Following a concise but detailed description of AS-ISK, an example assessment of the Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum is provided, with the French northern coastline as the risk assessment area, to demonstrate use of this decision-support tool. AS-ISK is available for free download at: http://www.cefas.co.uk/nns/tools/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) has proved to be a useful tool for assessing and screening the risk posed by potentially invasive fish species in larger risk assessment (RA) areas (i.e. country or multi-country level). In the present study, non-native freshwater fishes were screened for a smaller RA area, the closed and vulnerable but economically important drainage basin of Lake Balaton (Hungary). Receiver operator characteristic analysis of FISK scores for 26 fish species screened by four assessors identified 21 species with scores of ≥11.4 to pose a 'high risk' of being invasive, with five species ranked as 'medium risk' and none as 'low risk'. The highest scoring species were gibel carp Carassius gibelio and black bullhead Ameiurus melas, with three Ponto-Caspian Gobiidae identified as amongst the species posing the potentially greatest threat to the catchment. The results of the present study indicate that FISK can be applied to risk assessment areas of smaller geographical scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of faith and its nature has been one of the most hotly debated issues by the Islamic sects from the early times. The main framework of this discussion constitutes what the distinction should be between faith and unbelief and how to define the boundaries of muslim, unbeliever and siner. Various issues around Islam, faith, ingenuity, profess and action concepts, the condition of the great sinner, faith - act relationship, increase and decrease of faith and the relationship faith -Islam have been discussed. This article, after giving general information about the debate over faith, discusses Mu'tazilah's related views and evidences about the issue. In addition, after the Ahl al- Sunnah the criticism against Mu'tazilites has been mentioned, general assessment of the works of the debate around the concept of faith will be made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquarium trade has been recognized as one of the major pathways of introduction of non-native fishes into new regions. Nearly 43 million freshwater ornamental fish of different species and varieties are annually commercialized in Mexico and there is a high probability for the establishment of some of these species because of their invasive attributes and the diverse climatic zones existing in the country. Within this context, the identification of high-risk species is of paramount importance considering the potential threat to Mexico's great biological diversity. In the present study 700 freshwater aquarium fish species commonly imported and produced in the country were filtered for synonyms/varieties, resulting in 368 species, which where submitted to revision for invasive reports using specialized invasive species databases. This allowed ranking the main invasive species and the top 30 were subjected to risk analysis using the Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK). Calibration of FISK was carried out after generating the reports. A receiver operating characteristic curve was made to determine the FISK ability to discriminate between invasive and non-invasive species in Mexico. Thereafter, Youden's index was calculated and a threshold of 24 was obtained, representing the cut-off value for defining high-risk species. A total of 17 species out of 30 were classified under a high-risk category, among them several species of the genus Xiphophorus, Pterygoplichthys and Poecilia. Most of the species were native to Asia, Central and South America. Some of these species are already invasive in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The aquarium fish trade is characterized by an enormous number of species. Aquarium fish may have an impact on native biota by means of their invasiveness as well as through pathogen transfer. The Czech Republic has become a gateway for aquatic pets into the European Union. The aims of this study were to identify the most common aquarium fish species on the wholesale market, to estimate temperature suitability for seasonal (winter and summer) survival in the EU, and also to assess the invasiveness risk of the most common aquarium fishes with the strongest temperature matching. Materials and methods. Data on aquarium fish species, their origin, and availability from producers and traders based in the Czech Republic were collected based on all available sources. The target area was defined as all member states of the EU. Estimation of the temperature suitability for each species was done using Climatch 1.0 software. The Freshwater Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) was employed for species with temperature suitability within the target area exceeding 10% in the coldest quarter of the year. Results. In total, 1118 fish species representing 51 families were identified. Thirty-three species belonging to 13 families were classified as "very common". Three sources of origin were identified: domestic production within the EU, farm production outside the EU, and wild harvests in the region of origin. The major suppliers outside the EU are in south-east Asia. Only one common species originated from wild harvests. FISK scoring divided the 11 species evaluated as having the strongest temperature suitability in the EU (TSEU) into seven species bearing medium risk and four species representing high risk. The family Cyprinidae was the most frequently represented among all evaluated taxa (seven species), but the majority of high-risk fishes belonged to the family Poeciliidae (three species). The highest score was earned by Carassius auratus (Linnaeus, 1758). Conclusion. The risk potential of aquarium fishes most traded in the EU seems to be not alarming. Attention should be focused on the possibility of novel pathogen transfer to native aquatic biota as an important aspect of regulating the aquarium fish trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Insufficiently controlled stocking compromises the high diversity of wild trout stocks of Serbia. Native brown trout, Salmo cf. trutta Linnaeus, 1758, and Macedonian trout, Salmo macedonicus (Karaman, 1924), reveal remarkable diversity assessed using the mtDNA molecular markers, with the eight exclusive and several more widely spread haplotypes found in them. Four alien trout species and strains and one strain of Macedonian trout were introduced into the home areas of the native wild trout stocks in Serbia. In addition to them, wild trout stocks were also affected by farmed rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum, 1792), and brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill, 1815), that regularly escape to streams, and from Ohrid trout, Salmo letnica (Karaman, 1924), and Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus (Linnaeus, 1758), stocked into streams and reservoirs. Risk of invasiveness that wild trout stocks are exposed to and their restoration were driving forces for this study. Materials and methods. Trout specimens from the Jerma River sampled in 2013 were additionally analysed for their mtDNA haplotype. The invasiveness potential of eleven alien trout species and strains introduced by stocking into wild brown- and Macedonian trout stocks in Serbia were assessed with the Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK). Results. Five of introduced trout species and strains were classified as having a high risk (sensu lato) and two of them as having a high risk (sensu stricto) of being (or becoming) invasive. Conclusion. Progressively rising and insufficiently controlled fi shing and management with stocking of non-indigenous trout in wild brown trout stocks are the main current threats to the original diversity. Alien brown trout strains cross breed with native brown trout and incorporate into their stocks. Currently, feral rainbow-, brook-, and Ohrid trout reveal great invasive potential by naturalization in waters heavily stocked with them. The fi sheries measures aiming to control and/or to eradicate alien strains of brown trout involve the restriction of stocking, landing of trout suspected as of alien strain or species, as well as the stringent control of stocking material used for the restorative stocking. They are mandatory, regarding the conservational dependence of wild brown trout stocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-native species can cause negative impacts when they become invasive. This study entails a comparison of risk classifications for 25 aquatic non-native species using various European risk identification protocols. For 72% of the species assessed, risk classifications were dissimilar between countries. The pair-wise comparison of Freshwater Fish Invasiveness Scoring Kit (FISK) scores of in total 28 fish species from the UK, Flanders (Belgium) and Belarus resulted in a higher correlation for scores of Flanders- Belarus than that of Flanders-UK and Belarus-UK. We conclude that different risk classifications may occur due to differences in (1) national assessment protocols, (2) species-environment matches in various biogeographical regions, and (3) data availability and expert judgement. European standardisation of risk assessment protocols, performance of biogeographical region specific risk classifications and further research on key factors for invasiveness of aquatic ecosystems are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential invasiveness of 28 freshwater fishes in northern Kyushu Island, Japan, was evaluated using the Fish Invasiveness Scoring Kit (FISK). The five co-authors scored the level of invasiveness for each species and calculated the total FISK scores; the maximum and minimum scores were then eliminated, and the mean of the remaining three scores was used as the final score for each species. The mean scores ranged from 11.0 ( Hypomesus nipponensis) to 31.0 ( Cyprinus carpio). The receiver operating characteristic curve indicated that the threshold value between fishes that present a high risk of invasion and the other species were 19.8. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]