The main idea of this study is to disclose the content of the theological and political ideas of modern Salafism of the ideology of the “Muslim Brotherhood” on the example of the work of Anwar al-Jundi. The fundamental question that Anwar al-Jundi has in all of his writings is to show how Muslims can preserve their Islamic identity. Hence the al-Jundi’s idea of the paramount importance of “optimizing Islamic rebirth and awakening”. An important place in understanding and maintaining Islamic identity (...) is occupied by the theory of the “political conspiracy” of the West in relation to the Muslim world. This predetermines the political vision of Anwar al-Jundi, for whom the whole history of the relationship of the West with the Islamic world and Islam is links in a chain of overt and covert conspiracy. In the combined approach of Anwar al-Jundi, the theological vision and mentality prevail, reducing reality to a sample that substantiates the dogmas of religion and faith. As a result, a political vision of the theological type inevitably arises. It takes by Anwar al-Jundi the form of a methodology for criticizing the cultural and civilizational parameters of a political idea. His method in some of its aspects is not devoid of a scientific approach and contains deep criticisms, but remains within the framework of the same traditions of theological pedantry, which turns science, history and reflection into tools for serving religious dogmas. (shrink)

The article deals with the main ideas of the political philosophy of Abu Abdallah Ibn al-Azraq al-Garnati (1427-1491), a well-known Muslim statesman, supreme judge of Granada, lawyer, diplomat, supporter of Arab Muslim peripatetism, a student of the outstanding thinker of the Muslim Middle Ages Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406). In the history of the political philosophy of the Muslim East, a number of major transformations in the development of the Arab Caliphate from the Medina state of the prophet to the Sultanate in (...) the Abbasid period should be noted, which were reflected in the development of the theory of the Arab-Muslim state (caliphate). The main problem of the theory of the caliphate was connected with the question of the relationship between power and authority in the context of the moral foundations of the state. The creative heritage of Ibn al-Azraq is mainly known for his work in the genre of adab ("mirrors of princes") “Miracles on the way, or the Nature of dominion”. The treatise became a classic of the political philosophy of the Muslim Middle Ages, in which, under the influence of Aristotelian ideas, a special place was given to the moral foundations of power and the state, that is, ethics was considered as a political science. In the form of instructive parables, the rulers and heirs to the throne were explained the basics of state administration as part of their studies and education. His doctrine of the virtues can be viewed as ethical rationalism with a belief in the moral perfection of people in power and subjects of the state. Since morals are largely acquired and a person can control them, the task of purifying his own morals and curing them is entrusted to him. In addition, accordingly, it is possible and necessary to cultivate virtues in rulers, since the well-being of the state and the ummah depends on their morals. The moral foundations of power determine the strength of political authority. (shrink)

Liquidity risk arises from the inability to unwind or hedge trading positions at the prevailing market prices. The risk of liquidity is a wide and complex topic as it depends on several factors and causes. While much has been written on the subject, there exists no clear-cut mathematical description of the phenomena and typical market risk modeling methods fail to identify the effect of illiquidity risk. In this paper, we do not propose a definitive one either, but we attempt to (...) derive novel mathematical algorithms for the dynamic modeling of trading volumes during the closeout period from the perspective of multiple-asset portfolio, as well as for financial entities with different subsidiary firms and multiple agents. The robust modeling techniques are based on the application of initial-value-problem differential equations technique for portfolio selection and risk management purposes. This paper provides some crucial parameters for the assessment of the trading volumes of multiple-asset portfolio during the closeout period, where the mathematical proofs for each theorem and corollary are provided. Based on the new developed econophysics theory, this paper presents for the first time a closed-form solution for key parameters for the estimation of trading volumes and liquidity risk, such as the unwinding constant, half-life, and mean lifetime and discusses how these novel parameters can be estimated and incorporated into the proposed techniques. The developed modeling algorithms are appealing in terms of theory and are promising for practical econophysics applications, particularly in developing dynamic and robust portfolio management algorithms in light of the 2007–2009 global financial crunch. In addition, they can be applied to artificial intelligence and machine learning for the policymaking process, reinforcement machine learning techniques for the Internet of Things data analytics, expert systems in finance, FinTech, and within big data ecosystems. (shrink)

This study examined the relationship between urban culture and street vending. Prior research on this topic is limited and inconclusive. Therefore, we have proposed an integrated model to test the positive effect of urban culture on street vending using multiple mediations of consumption patterns, resistance, and microfinance. We tested a sample of 425 responses that reflect the public opinion in Baghdad, Iraq. These responses were collected between September and November 2018. A partial least squares–based structural equation modeling is employed to (...) test the validity of measurement models and the significance of the entire structural model, predictive power, and mediation analysis. We found that resistance mediates the effect of urban culture on street vending; low-income consumption and resistance sequentially mediate the effect of urban culture on street vending, while resistance mediates the effect of a lack of microfinance on street vending. The direct impact of culture on street vending is not significant, and a lack of microfinance positively influences the pervasiveness of trading on streets. This study contributes to the extant literature as it proposed and tested a novel and comprehensive model to analyze the relationship between urban culture and street vending, simultaneously examining the effects of culture, consumption, resistance, and microfinance on street vending. (shrink)

Authors endure considerable hardship carrying out biomedical research, from generating ideas to completing their manuscripts and submitting their findings and data to a journal. When researchers submit to journals, they entrust their findings and ideas to editors and peer reviewers who are expected to respect the confidentiality of peer review. Inherent trust in peer review is built on the ethical conduct of authors, editors and reviewers, and on the respect of this confidentiality. If such confidentiality is breached by unethical reviewers (...) who might steal or plagiarize the authors’ ideas, researchers will lose trust in peer review and may resist submitting their findings to that journal. Science loses as a result, scientific and medical advances slow down, knowledge may become scarce, and it is unlikely that increasing bias in the literature will be detected or eliminated. In such a climate, society will ultimately be deprived from scientific and medical advances. Despite a rise in documented cases of abused peer review, there is still a relative lack of qualitative and quantitative studies on reviewer-related misconduct, most likely because evidence is difficult to come by. Our paper presents an assessment of editors’ and reviewers’ responsibilities in preserving the confidentiality of manuscripts during the peer review process, in response to a 2016 case of intellectual property theft by a reviewer. Our main objectives are to propose additional measures that would offer protection of authors’ intellectual ideas from predatory reviewers, and increase researchers’ awareness of the responsible reviewing of journal articles and reporting of biomedical research. (shrink)

The development of the Minimalist Program, Noam Chomsky's most recent generative model of linguistics, has been highly influential over the last twenty years. It has had significant implications not only for the conduct of linguistic analysis itself, but also for our understanding of the status of linguistics as a science. The reflections and analyses in this book contain insights into the strengths and the weaknesses of the MP. Among these are, a clarification of the content of the Strong Minimalist Thesis (...) ; a synthesis of Chomsky's linguistic and interdisciplinary discourses; and an analysis of the notion of optimal computation from conceptual, empirical and philosophical perspectives. This book will encourage graduate students and researchers in linguistics to reflect on the foundations of their discipline, and the interdisciplinary nature of the topics explored will appeal to those studying biolinguistics, neurolinguistics, the philosophy of language and other related disciplines. (shrink)

The article charts my trajectories as a feminist activist/academic seeking to research, write and talk about gender-based violence in relation to the Middle East. More specifically, I am drawing on research and activism in relation to Iraq, Turkey and Lebanon to map the discursive, political and empirical challenges and complexities linked to scholarship and activism that is grounded in both feminist and anti-racist/anti-islamophobic politics. While reflecting on my positionality, the article aims to challenge the binary of activism and academia as (...) well as Western and Middle Eastern contexts in terms of knowledge production. (shrink)

Although the particular cases and dilemmas regarding business ethics alter and change with time, the underlying principles and theoretical issues rarely do. Business ethics is about doing "the right thing for the right reason" in our private and public lives, especially in our work and on the job. Business ethics asks: What ought we do in relation to others? Beyond rules and requirements, what do I owe the people I work with (fellow employees), work for (managers-owners), and the people I (...) come to work to serve (customers)? Given the basic fact of change, textbooks, like the times, also need to change. The fifth edition of Case Studies in Business Ethics offers a series of new and updated cases and essays on some of the most pertinent ethical issues in today's business environment. This edition has replaced 80 percent of the cases and essays and offers two entirely new sections entitled "Privacy, Ethics, and Technology" and "Leadership." New Cases/Essays: Sex, Lies, and Advertising Racism in the Workplace Is Your Family Wrecking Your Career? Enron: Paragon to Pariah? The Good Old Boys at WorldCom Ford-Firestone Edible Rugs, Anyone!? Sweatshops Rippers, Portal Users, and Profilers Moral Leadership/Moral Mazes Besides a number of cases that are drawn from current news headlines, this edition continues to offer a selection of classical cases and essays that exemplify a number of perennial topics and questions in the field: Tylenol's Rebound Ford Pinto Sex Discrimination at Eastern Uptown, Dakota, and Powermaster Let the Buyer Beware Truth Pays Deceit, Denial, Cover Up Gender Bias, Public Image Advertisement Profits versus Principles. (shrink)

This article is an attempt to explore and explain the complex processes and mechanisms involved in creating myth signs as presented in Roland Barthes’ Mythologies (1957) through an interdisciplinary and an interdiscursive approach. The article presupposes that the mythic system of signification occupies a liminal space of a multiplicity of disciplines and discourses. The mythic sign integrates a myriad of epistemological spaces philosophical, scientific, and cultural. Therefore, this article wants to cross the borderlines between fields of knowledge to understand the (...) unique position of the mythic sign. We are going to use scientific discourse of virology to investigate the parasitic and viral nature of the mythic sign. Moreover, we investigate the role of the mythologist in exploring the signs that are infected by ideology and how to demystify their intentionality and artificiality. Finally, we are going to rely on quantum physics to investigate the superposition of the mythologist and the role this position plays in understanding the ambiguous and multidimensional nature of the mythic sign. (shrink)

Culture is determined by a historical, that is, a temporal perspective, and by another that is atemporal, the transcendental scale of values. Diversity, within the limits of a certain harmony that embraces the whole, is an enriching factor far more than one tending to dispersal or division. The ancient Egyptian and Coptic, Muslim and modern heritage in Egypt and black Africa, as well as the Assyrians’, Phoenicians’, Berbers’, and then the legacy from black Africa coming from Mesopotamia, the Levant, North (...) Africa, Sudan and Somalia respectively, are contributing to the emergence of a new though historical humanism. The author takes the view that the Arab mentality, contrary to a common and widely held belief, is nourished by a pluralism that is both surprising and stimulating. (shrink)

Street vendors are prominent on public streets and in traditional markets in most developing countries. They raise significant problems for public authorities, residents, pedestrians, and formal retailers. Their informal business is problematic, leading to conflicts and sometimes violence. Moreover, unlicensed street vendors employ children and women and are accused of counterfeiting and drug trading. However, they participate in reducing poverty and unemployment. The current data article aims to formulate a public perception on the problematic issue of street vending pervasiveness by (...) describing a survey dataset on street vending and its main driving factors. Street vending has traditionally be examined by linking it with one or more determinants; thus, the dataset covers poverty, lack of education, immigration, unemployment, urban culture, low-income consumption, resistance, and lack of microfinance as latent constructs. Five measurable variables are introduced that reflect each construct. All variables are measured via seven-point Likert scales. Using a Google Form, 425 responses were collected that reflect the attitudes of the general public in Baghdad, Iraq. This dataset is useful for research on socio-economic problems; more specifically, it introduces reliable measurement models for street vending and the eight factors driving it. (shrink)

In the first part of this text, the author attempts to demonstrate that sacral kingship might, in anthropological terms, be regarded an Elementary Form of socio-political life; not an autonomous elementary form, but one falling under the category of rulership. The reference to the anthropological notion of Elementary Forms renders virtually irrelevant the rigidity with which categorical distinctions are made between polytheistic and monotheistic kingship, as well as any civilisational divisions that might be imagined between Orient and Occident. The second (...) part of the text provides an illustration of these presuppositions, the author taking several examples from the history of monarchy – both in the Western World and in the Arab World. (shrink)

The big five personality traits and entrepreneurial mindset are crucial individual-level elements that determine entrepreneurial intention. This study examines the impact of big five personality traits and EM, on EI using the theory of planned behavior. Besides, this study examined the role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and attitude toward entrepreneurship influences EI. To achieve the research objectives, a quantitative approach was used. Structural equation modeling and path analysis were conducted using SmartPLS software. Data were collected from 270 respondents through online questionnaires. (...) Findings of the study revealed that big five personality traits influence ESE and ATE which led to EI. Finally, the moderating role of entrepreneurial passion was also found to have strong effect on influence ESE and ATE. This study offers evidence and insights that academics, educators, and others involved in the creation or expansion of entrepreneurial knowledge can use as a reference point. (shrink)

This paper presents a model for integrating research ethics training into an undergraduate research program. The Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URSP) is a five-semester training program designed to teach research methods to multidisciplinary undergraduate students at Zayed University. The main challenge for the URSP ethics training is to be relevant and broad and this is best addressed through the use of the Triplex teaching model which consists of three integrative approaches: contextualization, conceptualization and problem-centering. The Triplex model uses teaching techniques (...) such as case studies, role-plays, and discussion which enable students to examine real-world ethical problems encountered by researchers in a variety of contexts. This article discusses the URSP program at Zayed University and highlights the manner in which the Triplex model is embedded within an undergraduate research-training curriculum. Future work will assess the success of this model after additional iterations of implementation. (shrink)

Oleg Grabar has argued that there was not a system of visual symbols in Islamic culture; consequently it is difflcult to hold that an Islamic architecture exists; that is, if we were to stand before a mosque and try to experience it aesthetically or see what kind of building it is we would not be able to say that it is a mosque. In this paper we argue against this proposition. We, first, present a brief analysis of Grabar's view. Second, (...) we critically evaluate this view. Third, we explicate how the mosque as an architectural type embodies uniquely Islamic symbols. We shall illustrate this point by an analysis of one basic Islamic symbol: the Mihrab. The thesis we defend is that there are basic Islamic symbols and that these symbols inhere in the mosque. It is this fact that lends credibility to the claim that an Islamic architecture exists. /// Oleg Grabar defendeu a tese de que não existe um sistema de símbolos visuais na cultura islâmica; consequentemente, é difícil defender a existência de uma arquitectura islâmica; ou seja, se estivéssemos diante de uma mesquita e tentássemos fazer uma experiência estética da mesma ou analisar que tipo de edifício se trata, não seríamos capazes de dizer que se trata de uma mesquita. No presente artigo, os autores argumentam contra esta proposição. Em primeiro lugar, os autores começam por apresentar uma breve análise do ponto de vista de Grabar. Em segundo lugar, avaliam criticamente esta posição. Em terceiro lugar tentam explicar até que ponto a mesquita como tipo arquitectónico apenas incorpora símbolos islâmicos. Os autores exemplificam este ponto mediante a análise de um dos símbolos básicos do Islamismo: o Mihrab. O artigo defende, portanto, a tese de que existem símbolos islâmicos básicos e de que estes símbolos estão presentes na mesquita. Ora é precisamente este facto que dá credibilidade à afirmação de que existe uma arquitectura islâmica propriamente dita. (shrink)

After more than 40 years of practice, the Islamic finance industryis composed of products with claim of Islamicity but questionable on theirShariʽah credentials. The industry is increasingly exposed to cynicism anddecline in popular interest. This paper restates the essence of riba prohibitionfrom an economic perspective. It evaluates the Shariʽah scholars approach tovalidation of contracts as well as the monetary authorities’ attitude towards theShariʽah content of Islamic finance transactions. It points out the advantagesof Islamic finance within an Islamic macroeconomic environment. It (...) looks intothe problem of convergence of Islamic finance to conventional finance, andreasons behind the convergence. This study finds that several violations of thetrue paradigm of Islamic finance are because of its advantages being all externaland impossible to internalize. The paper concludes with some proposals forchecking the convergence. (shrink)

This thesis is an examination of human maturation as portrayed in Plato's Phaedrus. Adulthood is reached when a transition from an appetitive attitude into an intellectual focus has been accomplished. The practice of philosophy, considered as the "love of wisdom", represents the greatest actualization of human potential. Facilitation of this transition is realized by a process of initiation into philosophy, and Plato makes full metaphoric use of the phenomenon of religious initiation in his description of becoming a philosopher. Much of (...) the dramatic content of the dialogue can thus be explained as a reference to the cultic practice of initiation. This religious background alerts the reader to Plato's arguments that maturation into a philosophical perspective is a necessary condition to human survival, both on an individual and community-wide basis. ;Metaphysically, this problem can be understood as a result of the perspective that emphasizes the discreteness of the parts in any system. When the parts of a political community are understood as private individuals that are discrete, their obligations towards one another vanish. Similarly, if the individual is understood as a bare aggregate of parts, no unifying principle is in place to provide a sustained functioning order. In both cases, Plato explicates the divisive force within the system as the ascendancy of appetitive concerns in the determination of conduct. The solution to this problem rests in philosophy's ability to order the parts such that an organic whole is achieved. Phaedrus' role as a profaner of the cult of Eleusis opens the question of whether philosophy is capable of actually providing this unifying basis for the community, or whether it itself is open to the dissent and separation evidenced by Phaedrus' behaviour towards the cult. In response to this question, The Phaedrus establishes philosophy as a non-profanable enterprise, both because of a basic inexpressibility of the deeper insights of philosophy, and because of the unending process of initiation involved in becoming a philosopher. (shrink)