This article reviewed the influence of pre-Islamic religions such as Mithraism and Zoroastrianism on decorative elements of ancient Persian rugs. The article then evaluated the effect of the Islamic religion on Persian rugs. This was examined through extant evidence from pre–Islamic empire artefacts and publications in Persian carpet history, iconography and religious studies. Using spiritual motifs on some ancient rugs results from the important position of rugs in ancient Iranians’ lives. Believing the existence of religious motifs on Persian carpets is (...) because the first carpet in history (Pazyryk) was attributed to the ancient Achaemenians, decorated with symbolic motifs from Mithraism and Zoroastrianism. Pazyryk shows how rug-weaving evolved during the Achaemenids, and it represented spiritual foundations through visual concepts. This article reviewed the symbolic Persian rug motifs from ancient religions through Pazyryk, with support from museum collections. With the emergence of religions, these effects are seen in all aspects of life, including the production of rug design. Contribution: The main contribution of this research was that it investigated the effects of religion on Persian art focusing on the Persian rug. The findings showed that religion had directly influenced the decorative motifs of the Persian rug among high-class families that might have cascaded into visual elements found on commoners’ rugs. (shrink)

This article reviewed the influence of pre-Islamic religions such as Mithraism and Zoroastrianism on decorative elements of ancient Persian rugs. The article then evaluated the effect of the Islamic religion on Persian rugs. This was examined through extant evidence from pre–Islamic empire artefacts and publications in Persian carpet history, iconography and religious studies. Using spiritual motifs on some ancient rugs results from the important position of rugs in ancient Iranians’ lives. Believing the existence of religious motifs on Persian carpets is (...) because the first carpet in history (Pazyryk) was attributed to the ancient Achaemenians, decorated with symbolic motifs from Mithraism and Zoroastrianism. Pazyryk shows how rug-weaving evolved during the Achaemenids, and it represented spiritual foundations through visual concepts. This article reviewed the symbolic Persian rug motifs from ancient religions through Pazyryk, with support from museum collections. With the emergence of religions, these effects are seen in all aspects of life, including the production of rug design.Contribution: The main contribution of this research was that it investigated the effects of religion on Persian art focusing on the Persian rug. The findings showed that religion had directly influenced the decorative motifs of the Persian rug among high-class families that might have cascaded into visual elements found on commoners’ rugs. (shrink)

On political and social life issue in Malaysia.

Bu makale, Osmanlı Devleti’nin Halep’teki en güçlü dönemi olan Kânûnî Sultan Süleyman döneminde Halep’in me ş hur alimi Radıyyüddin İ bnü’l-Hanbelî’nin dönemin en me ş hur divân-ı hümâyundaki ba ş kâtib ve ni ş ancısı Celâlzâde Mustafa Çelebi’ye ithafen yazmı ş oldu ğ u bir risalenin tahkikini içermektedir. Eser, devlette kâtiplik ve in ş â ilmi alanında yazılmı ş önemli ve litaretürde yeri olacak bir eserdir. Eseri önemi kılan birçok etken bulunmaktadır. Bu etkenlerin ba ş ında büyük bir dil âlimi (...) ve tarihçi bu iki ilimle me ş hur bir ilim ailesi mensubu bir ş ahsiyet tarafından kaleme alınmasıdır. Eseri önemli kılan bir di ğ er etken, Osmanlı Devleti’nin zirvesi addedilen Kânûnî’nin döneminde, devletin en me ş hur ba ş kâtibi ve ni ş ancısına ithafen yazılmı ş olmasıdır. Zira “Kânûnî” Sultan Süleyman’nın bu lakabı almasında en önemli rolü Celâlzâde Mustafa Çelebi üstlenmi ş tir. Eseri üç ana ba ş lık altında ele almak mümkündür. Müellif birinci ba ş lık altında, kâtiplerin ihâta etmeliri gereken Kur’an-ı Kerîm, hadis-i ş erifler, dil ve ş iir gibi alanlar hakkında örneklerle tafsilâtlı bilgiler vermektedir. İ kinci ba ş lıkta, kâtiplerin faziletleri ve üstünlükleri hakkında önemli bilgi ve ya ş anmı ş örneklerden sonra üçüncü bölümde, eserin ba ş ından beri gizledi ğ i Celâlzâde Mustafa Çelebi’nin ismini içeren ve onu meth eden bir beyt ş iiri, uzun bir kasidenin birinci harflerine gizlemi ş tir. Eserin son sayfasında beyt açık bir ş ekilde yazılmı ş eserin müellifin babası tarafından Edirne’de istinsâh edildi ğ i aktarılmaktadır. (shrink)

This research drew on the authors’ long experience in the implementation of the “_Hikmah_ Pedagogy” which is based on the Philosophy for Children’s teaching method. Specifically, the study examined the influence of the pedagogy on the participants’ perceptions of and feelings about their thinking and reasoning skills. The sample comprised 188 Malaysian and international students from an international secondary school in Malaysia. This consisted of students in four Grade levels, ranging from Grades 7 to 10. An instrument named “_Hikmah_ Feedback (...) Survey - HFS” was employed for data collection. The findings were supportive of the positive influence of the pedagogy on students’ abilities to think and reason better after experiencing the programme. Furthermore, the participants demonstrated a considerable improvement in their cognitive and social-communicative skills, as evidenced in the scores obtained for the post-programme’s test. This affirms the fact that the _ḥikmah_ pedagogy is highly recommended in Malaysia’s march towards its Vision 2020 developmental goals. Implications of the study were discussed and suggestions were proposed to educators and stakeholders in secondary school education. (shrink)

Physicians try hard to alleviate mental and physical ailments of their patients. Thus, they are heavily burdened by observing ethics and staying well-informed while improving health of their patients. A major ethical concern or dilemma in medication is that some physicians know their behavior is unethical, yet act against their moral compass. This study develops models of theory–practice gap, offering optimal solutions for the gap. These solutions would enhance self-motivation or remove external obstacles to stimulate ethical practices in medicine. The (...) Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology is applied here where the participants and the main researcher mutually interacted with each other. Data collection was performed through qualitative methods including observation and semi-structured interviews with 21 physicians and medical students. Initial and focused coding was done, from which principal concepts were later extracted. MAXQDA software was used for analyzing data. Analysis of twelve major concepts in the study resulted in two factors and solution groups, from which four general notions influencing the ethical theory and practice gap in medicine were extracted: providing effective education to change attitude and behavior; considering motivational and emotional factors; reconstructing regulations and processes to facilitate ethical practice; conducting comprehensive and systematic studies. The existing medical educational system needs to be reconsidered to add to individual internal motivation, including optimizing persuasion strategies, maximizing participation of students, adhering to virtuous ethical theories, and fostering emotions. Additionally, regulations and processes can be reconstructed to remove practical obstacles and promote ethical practice with insignificant damages to individual self-motivation. (shrink)

Physicians try hard to alleviate mental and physical ailments of their patients. Thus, they are heavily burdened by observing ethics and staying well-informed while improving health of their patients. A major ethical concern or dilemma in medication is that some physicians know their behavior is unethical, yet act against their moral compass. This study develops models of theory–practice gap, offering optimal solutions for the gap. These solutions would enhance self-motivation or remove external obstacles to stimulate ethical practices in medicine. The (...) Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology is applied here where the participants and the main researcher mutually interacted with each other. Data collection was performed through qualitative methods including observation and semi-structured interviews with 21 physicians and medical students. Initial and focused coding was done, from which principal concepts were later extracted. MAXQDA software was used for analyzing data. Analysis of twelve major concepts in the study resulted in two factors and solution groups, from which four general notions influencing the ethical theory and practice gap in medicine were extracted: providing effective education to change attitude and behavior; considering motivational and emotional factors; reconstructing regulations and processes to facilitate ethical practice; conducting comprehensive and systematic studies. The existing medical educational system needs to be reconsidered to add to individual internal motivation, including optimizing persuasion strategies, maximizing participation of students, adhering to virtuous ethical theories, and fostering emotions. Additionally, regulations and processes can be reconstructed to remove practical obstacles and promote ethical practice with insignificant damages to individual self-motivation. (shrink)

This study concerned validating academic integrity survey, a measure developed in 2010 to investigate academic integrity practices in a Malaysian university. It also examined the usefulness of the measure across gender and nationality of the participants. The sample size comprised 450 students selected via quota sampling technique. The findings supported the multidimensionality of academic dishonesty. Also, strong evidence of convergent and discriminant validity, and construct reliability were generated for the revised AIS. The testing of moderating effects yielded two outcomes. While (...) the gender invariant analysis produced evidence that the three-dimensional model was not moderated by gender; the nationality effect was inconclusive, probably due to a noticeable imbalance in respondent distribution for the nationality group. The significance of this study lies not only in the rigorous statistical methods deployed to validate the dimension and psychometric properties of the AIS; but establishing the gender invariance of the model. It is understood from the findings that although male and female students may vary in their academic misconducts, the underlying factors for these conducts are the same and can be addressed effectively using a non-discriminating approach. (shrink)

The present study ascertained the validity and reliability of the Attitude towards Islam measure, modified from Francis's short version Scale of Attitude towards Christianity . 443 Arab Muslims from high schools and colleges in Israel with an age range of 17-38 years participated in the study. Factor analysis revealed two dimensions of the measure, labelled experiential and judgemental, in each of the samples. The findings also revealed high validity and reliability of the measure in the case of the whole scale (...) and experiential dimension, and less so in the case of the judgemental dimension. (shrink)