Search

As the world population grows, the aquaculture sector faces challenges in the use of production systems to ensure the adequacy of the food supply. Technical efficiency analysis has been shown to be useful for improving resource management and production. This study provides a literature update and uses meta‐regression analysis to examine the variations in aquaculture mean technical efficiency (MTE) scores based on 101 studies published from 1998 to 2023. The findings show that studies with larger model dimensions, different output measures, an input‐oriented model specification and that analyse the exogenous variables of efficiency scores, freshwater aquaculture, and European data produce a narrower variance in MTE scores. In contrast, studies that use panel data and nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) generate wider variance in MTE scores. As a result of these investigations, the findings suggest the importance of selecting appropriate variables and sample sizes for efficiency estimates. Robustness checks of efficiency scores from the DEA and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) approaches are recommended for future studies. Different policies and regulations should be implemented in different countries and across different farming systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muhammad 'Uthman El-Muhmmady was one of the famous Islamic thinkers in Malaysia and archipelago. He had a great influence on the intellectual development and spread of da'wah. His significance can be felt in all aspects of his life in the Muslim communities in the archipelago. Hence, the contribution of his thinking and struggle has become the main focus of this study. This study uses a qualitative method which is based on historical and descriptive analysis of his works. The findings show that Muhammad 'Uthman El-Muhammady was known as a diehard member of Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah. In fact, the concept of his thinking from the perspective of spreading Islamic da'wah was more focused on the teachings of the Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah. His concern for the fate of ummah in the problems of religious issues especially from practice and the attacks of western thought and this made him to find and solve in a wise way based on the teachings in the Quran, al-Sunnah, al-Ijma' and al-Qiyas. Indeed, he was also a fighter in opposing the elements of modern thought and ideology brought from western movements such as Liberalism, Secularism and Religious Pluralism. The findings show that Muhammad 'Uthman El-Muhammady's intellectual work and thoughts can be used as a lesson and reference to Muslims in facing and dealing with asaults on thinking that are against the teachings of Islam in the best possible way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of the People of the Book has long been of central significance to Islam and later to the study of comparative religion. Many Muslim and European scholars have hence taken close heed of the People of the Book and their role as the holders of sacred books. The question of the People of the Book becomes more crucial when Muhammad ‘Abd al-Karīm al-Shahrastānī (d.548/1153) develops another category identified as “Man Lahu Shubhat Kitāb,” (those who possess doubtful sacred scrolls) or “Ahl Shubhat Kitāb” (the People of a Dubious Book), the term that may be considered similar to that of al-Shahrastānī. The question of the People of a Dubious Book remains vague or confusing for many people. This confusion occurs not only among lay Muslims, but also among the Jews and Christians. In effect, the condition of these groups has not yet been systematized properly, although they have been treated in several major works of theology as well as in Qur’ānic commentary. The present analysis is an attempt to evaluate the nature of the People of a Dubious Book as exclusively developed by al-Shahrastānī. Considering the fact that some of the Muslim scholars have considered these groups as belonging either to People of the Book or Polytheists, a critical study shall be attempted to investigate why al-Shahrastānī exclusively expands this concept in Islamic Religious Tradition. It is hoped that the study will provide a preliminary yet clear understanding of the People of a Dubious Book, which hopefully can inspire further investigation leading to a critical study on these groups of peoples. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Thetafakkur(reflections) concept in Islam is the best means to educate man's thoughts that will then control man's behavior toward righteousness. The activities oftafakkurinvolve thinking, emotions, perception, imaginations, and ideas of an individual that will then influence his behavioral development. What is meant by his behavioral development includes his beliefs, tendencies, activities, and good and bad habits. The constant reflections and remembrance of Allah, it is believed, will control each of man's actions. This is based on a Quranic verse: “Those who fear Allah, when a thought of evil from Satan assaults them, bring Allah to remembrance, when lo! they see (aright)!” (al-A'raf 7:201). The first effect oftafakkuris the filling of man's heart and man's thoughts on the realization of Allah's greatness, which in turns result in the best of morality (akhlak). The sustainability involving man's relationship with the other creatures of Allah, or more holistically if seen as this world, is closely related to man's role as khalifah (highest leader, successor, or representative) of Allah on this earth. As such, it has become man's responsibility to lead and administer this world. As such, thetafakkurconcept in Islam is the best spiritual mechanism in conserving the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The term‘al-Sābiū’n,’as literally employed in the Qur’ānic commentaries, denotes “peoples who shift from one religion to another” or “peoples who take on a new religion other than their own.” This term is the plural ofsābī’and it derives from the rootsabā, which signifies “turn to” or “lean towards to.” The termal-Sābiū’nas applied in the Qur’ān indicates various technical meanings, since almost all commentators of the Qur’ān and the earliest scholars have left the identification ofal-Sābiū’nvague. Such a vague identification is plausible, sinceal-Sābiū’nis represented by a conglomerate of various views comprising remnants of sects who were oriented to cultic practices, ancient heathen sects of several nationalities, namely Greeks, Persians, and Indians, and sects who were Neo-Platonic in their origin and character. This article thus has a distinct purpose. It attempts to exhibit the features of the Sabians as perceived and conceived by the Quranic Commentators, Theologians, and Jurists. It is hoped that the article will provide a preliminary yet clear understanding of the Sabians as interpreted by themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the misconception of the revealed religion in the "Qur'an." The "Qur'an" constantly reminds its audience that Dīn al-Fiţrah or the Ever-True Religion has been the same throughout all of human history. The essence of the revelations of Allah is the same as the "Qur'an" states in the prophets "Surat al-Anbiya." All of the earlier prophets, especially Musa and Isa, discovered the same revealed religion called Din al-Fiţrah, which is officially declared Islam. Judaism and Christianity are not revealed religions, according to the article, because the prophets Musa and Isa had never been instructed to establish these religions.