Dans un signe ayant un sens profond et un souffle ayant le parfum de l'âme purifiée, règne le discours spirituel d'at-Tawhîdî dans son ouvrage Les Signes divins et les souffles spirituels. Connu comme un homme de lettres et un intellectuel des salons, après son retour définitif dans sa ville natale, il nous suggère qu'il peut concentrer en sa personne un modèle scrupuleux et parfait, et, à son auditoire, il divulgue qu'il peut encore accéder au rôle d'intercesseur dans le sens des (...) titres qu'on accorde aux "Justes de l'au-delà". Pour conceptualiser cette expérience spirituelle tardive, il signale que le salut consiste dans une ascension, corps et âme. Faut-il donc interroger ce cheminement ou rester muet devant l'amertume de cette ascension? Pour l'un comme pour l'autre, l'auteur délivre à son auditoire un message d'espérance utile dans ce long Moyen Age, mais effrayant, surtout quand il s'agit d'un discours relevant de l'eschatologie. (shrink)

The devastating impact of the national opioid epidemic has given rise to hundreds of lawsuits. This article details the extremely broad range of legal claims, compares the opioid cases to other public health litigation efforts, including tobacco, and describes the special mechanism — a multidistrict litigation — through which more than 700 opioid-related cases have been consolidated thus far, with settlement almost certain to follow.

By endowing technology with the attributes of autonomous agency, human beings are ethically sidelined. Individuals are relieved of responsibility. The suggestion of being in the grip of irresistible forces provides an excuse for rejecting responsibility for oneself and others, thus creating conditions for inappropriate or antisocial behavior. It also impedes the search for solutions to pressing social problems associated with applications of technology. Failure to assign and accept responsibility for decisions to deploy “conventional” technology will inevitably impede our ability to (...) deal with the social and ethical challenges of robotics. (shrink)

Cet article examine le degré de visibilité des ṣāliḥāt dans quatre documents hagiographiques du Maghreb médiéval ainsi que la manière de les nommer; il tente une réflexion sur les formes de l'expérience religieuse et les modalités de présence de ces saintes à la vie de la cité. La walāya feminine dans cet espace-temps de l'islam médiéval est marquée du sceau de l'ambivalence, oscillant volontiers entre esseulement et compagnonnage, sédentarité et pérégrination, inqibāḍ et inbisāṭ aux préoccupations et attentes des contemporains. Il (...) suggère de voir dans ce soufisme non dépourvu d'originalité, agrée et reconnu, matière à nouvelle approche de la sainteté féminine en Islam. (shrink)

Este artículo pasa revista a la presencia de salihat en cuatro documentos hagiográficos del Magreb medieval, así como a la manera de calificarlas. Intenta una reflexión sobre las formas de la experiencia religiosa y las modalidades de presencia de estas santas en la vida de la ciudad. La walaya femenina en este espacio-tiempo del islam medieval (V-IX (IV-XV) está marcada por la ambivalencia, oscilando entre aislamiento y vida comunitaria, sedentaridad y peregrinación, inqibad (retraimiento) y inbisat (apertura) a las preocupaciones y (...) expectativas de sus contemporáneos. Sugiere que se debe ver en este sufismo, no desprovisto de originalidad, materia para una nueva aproximación a la santidad femenina en el Islam. (shrink)

Este artículo aborda la cuestión de la visibilidad del samā‘ en la literatura de los manāqib, los diccionarios biográficos, los manuales de sufismo y la producción jurídica del Magreb de los siglos VII/XIII a X/XVI. Se examinan las formas atestiguadas de esta práctica, en los madyanī, šāḏilī, rifā‘ī y los ‘Arūsiyya-Salāmiyya, en los círculos literarios de Túnez, Qairawān, el litoral de Ifrīqiya y el área tripolitana. Se explora la gran variedad de posicionamientos de los juristas magrebíes con respecto a esta (...) práctica, así como los intentos de dilucidar, por parte de las autoridades sufíes, los fundamentos escriturales, doctrinales y éticos del ḏikr y el samā‘ que han jalonado los procesos de codificación de estas dos prácticas. A pesar de la desconfianza generada por las «innovaciones», consideradas blasfemas y estigmatizadas por algunos šayjs que recomendaban la supresión de estas prácticas, percibimos más bien una intención de regular, de prevenir, más que de prohibir dichas prácticas. El samā‘, más allá de las palabras utilizadas para designarlo, parece ser una práctica dotada de una gran capacidad de resistencia; su importancia atestigua su resonancia en las experiencias de santidad en el Magreb a lo largo de la Edad Media. (shrink)

The next steps in health reform, like all such efforts before it, will have to engage the issue of American health care federalism – the relationship between the federal and state governments in the realm of health law and policy. Since its enactment in 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has offered a robust example of modern federalism and revealed new complexities. This article recounts the findings of our five-year study of the federalist and nationalist features of ACA (...) implementation. Contrary to the claims of ACA opponents that the law marked a federal “takeover,” the ACA's governance structures have advanced rather than suppressed state power. But we also found that the advances in state power occurred seemingly independently of the statute's structural arrangements; that is, the ACA's nationalist and federalist features both enhanced state power over health policy. These findings raise questions about whether cherished American federalism values are unique to federalist structures; they also raise the question of what exactly health care federalism is for, and why we continue to design health policy with federalism front and center. It is not clear that enhanced state power has brought better health policy. If it has not, is federalism for its own sake worth the trade-off? (shrink)

Background: Family therapy is considered as the gold standard in treatment of adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN). Among the different types of family therapy, multi-family therapy (MFT) is increasingly used for treating AN, and shows promising results. In this article, our focus relied on the patients’ and their parents’ perceptions of the effectiveness and the underlying mechanisms of the MFT. Methods: The present pilot exploratory qualitative study included two focus groups conducted using a semi-structured approach: one with the adolescents (n= (...) 3), and another with one or two of their parents (n= 4 mothers;n= 2 fathers). The subjects discussed were the changes observed in both AN symptoms and family interactions following therapy, and the mechanisms underlying these changes. We crossed the perspectives of the adolescents and of the parents on these two points. Results: Qualitative analysis revealed that while both adolescents and parents had difficulties relating the changes they observed in the last year to MFT, they were able to say that the group cohesion had several positive effects and that their family dynamics had improved. In the light of analysis the adolescents perceived more improvements related eating disorders symptoms than their parents did, while parents were concerned about a negative effect of MFT on their children. Discussion: While both patients and parents perceived improvements in both AN symptoms and family interactions in the past year, it was not clear if they considered MFT to have led to these improvements. FG also explored the MFT mechanisms underlying changes. Both adolescents and their parents stressed the beneficial effects of identification to others members of the group and shared experience to overcome social isolation. Parents also mentioned the sympathy they felt for each other. The idea that they give a central place to families in the therapy was also described by the families. (shrink)

This paper attempts to discuss Halal food industry in Southeast Asiaand its global role. The increasing number of Muslim tourists in non-Muslimcountries opened an opportunity to develop halal food Indonesia, Malaysia, andBrunei to become reference for non-Muslim majority countries in developingthis industry. The goal of this paper is to give a reference for non-Muslimcountries in developing similar industry in their home countries. This studyfocuses on: understanding halal food, how Muslim majority countriesregulate policy regarding halal food standardization, and, the opportunityto implementing (...) the similar regulation to the non-Muslim countries. The needto accommodate Muslims’ food requirements abroad especially in non-Muslimcountries found that some countries have already been promoting halal food.The growing demands for Halal food for Muslims either visiting or living innon-Muslim countries can open opportunity for global spread of halal foodindustry. (shrink)

Litigation cannot solve a public health crisis. But litigation can be an effective complementary tool to regulation by increasing the salience of a public health issue, eliciting closely guarded information to move public opinion, and prompting legislative action. From tobacco to opioids, litigants have successfully turned to courts for monetary relief, to initiate systemic change, and to hold industry accountable For years, litigators have been trying to push firearm suits into their own litigation moment. But litigation against the gun industry (...) poses special challenges. Not only has the regulatory regime failed to prevent a public safety hazard, Congress has consistently underfunded and understaffed the relevant regulatory actors. And in 2005 it legislatively immunized the gun industry from suit with the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. This paper surveys the field of litigation in response to gun violence, tracking the limited successes of victims and stakeholders suing the gun industry. We find that victories remain confined to individual actors and unlike high-impact public litigations in other areas, aggregate class actions and major public litigation led by state attorneys general are noticeably absent in the firearm context. (shrink)

This volume reaffirms the indispensable place of the arts in any coherent curriculum. The author hopes that the specific arguments formulated in the book will advance the conservationist post-Modernist aesthetic.

The outcome of this is explored, in detail, in relation to the teaching of literature, creative writing and drama.

At once provocative and inspiring_, Against the Flow_ is a work of polemic from an internationally respected writer and thinker on arts education. Peter Abbs argues that contemporary education ignores the aesthetic and ethical as a result of being in thrall to such forces as the market economy and managerial and functional dictates. He identifies the present education system as being inimical to creativity and authentic learning and instead, narrowly focused on the quantitative measuring of results. This absence of a (...) creative and ethical dimension in education has implications for art making in wider society. Art is shown as emerging from, and appealing to, the ironic postmodernist sensibility and mass media-led culture, while being devoid of philosophical significance. This book opens up a fresh and timely debate about the vital power of creativity in modern education. Drawing on examples from modern poetry, literature and visual art, it is an eloquent and passionate argument for the need to develop ethical and aesthetic energies to confront the growing vacuity of contemporary culture. (shrink)

This paper closely examines Strauss’ conception of “Medieval Enlightenment”. It focuses on the central role that Arab philosophy has played in the development of Strauss’s thought and discusses the validity of the uses he makes of it. It also emphasizes the interest of Strauss’s analyses as regards Arab philosophy while drawing attention to the tensions they create. It claims that Strauss’ involvement in the quarrel between Ancients and Moderns aims at showing that medieval philosophy cannot be reduced simply to the (...) effort to reconcile philosophy and religion. The ideas of some Arab philosophers cropped up throughout Strauss’s philosophical development and determined his interpretation of Maimonides and Plato as well as his stance in opposition to the moderns. However Strauss’s idea of the “medieval Enlightenment” remains fundamentally ambiguous. Is that Enlightenment supposed to be an argument for the preservation of faith alongside reason or does it rather express a kind of atheism or disguised materialism? (shrink)