How to Write a Movie Review

How to Write a Movie Review Writing a movie review is no easy task and requires not only a critical eye, but also a certain knack. Although you may not necessarily possess an inclination to this kind of work, you may very well develop the skill of doing it and deal with most assignments of this type. When writing a movie review, it is very important to decide from the very beginning what you are going to say, how lengthy your review is going to be, in what succession all the major points will be commented on. But first of all, you should understand two things: first, determine your impression about the movie and follow this idea afterwards, second – take into account the fact that a review is not a reaction paper, and your opinion isn’t the most important thing about it, though you can hardly dispense with it. Don’t retell the plot, especially if it is interesting and plays the major role in the movie’s perception. If the screenplay and dialogues are dumb, however, it may be a good idea to mock them, for in this case you are likely not to advise the reader to watch the movie, and are free to write whatever you want. Note the points that are usually illuminated in every movie review and give them a bit of your attention. Actors’ play, their individual characterization, the plot and its notable features, camera work, decorations, costumes, special effects, screenplay, dialogues and some other moments – they all should be mentioned in your review, though there are, of course, no rigid regulations on the presence of any of them as well as the sequence in which they come. The more you step away from these and any other recommendations, the more original your piece of writing is. The important thing, though, is not to pursue the originality for the sake of originality one can always tell when it is the case.

Benefits of Learining through Play - 1325 Words

Before exploring the benefits of learning through play, it is important to gain an understanding of what play is. It is difficult to define exactly what play is. Play can vary amongst different types of activities, social contexts, and also age groups. Free, imaginative play is vital for normal social, emotional and cognitive development. Play is important for children’s learning as it helps them to become socially adept, managing with stress and developing cognitive skills such as problem solving. Through play children explore social, material and imaginary worlds and their relationship with them. There are many different reasons why children play, sometimes they are discovering or learning new things. Play can be a way of building or strengthening relationships with either other children or adults. Children more often play simply for the fun and enjoyment it offers them. Many theorists have tried to make a concrete definition of what play is. Play has been defined as a dynamic process that develops and changes as it becomes progressively more varied and complex. Play is considered a crucial facilitator for learning and development, and reflects the social and cultural contexts in which children live (Christie, 2001) According to Piaget (1969), play is a way for children to combine experiences, knowledge and understanding. Vygotsky (1966) stated that play was a vehicle for a child behaving more maturely than at other times. In fantasy play he believed that children canShow MoreRelatedEssay on Behavioral Modeling2181 Words   |  9 Pagesthe solution to their problem in the way that the professional solved it on the video, after viewing the video. The individuals then behaviorally rehearse situations and receive feedback on their performances; they are also given the opportunity to play possible roles of the other person so they will gain the same insight. The individuals then discuss their new skills and ways to apply them on their job (Aamodt, 2010). For this training method to be successful; the videos must represent the commonlyRead MoreActivity 11 Identify Four Possible Consequences Essay examples3066 Words   |  13 Pagesunsure what is causing the performance issue and decide to pay closer attention in order to get to the bottom of it. What feedback processes could you use to uncover the problem? The coach could use feedback techniques such as: Examine play statistics Video the games and play them back to analyse them Have a team discussion where everybody is encouraged to provide feedback Hold one-on-one meetings with each player, assistant coaches and other administration employees Activity 5 1 Standards are set byRead MoreStalin Final Draft2334 Words   |  10 Pagesthe â€Å"Great Retreat,† entailed the discouragement of divorce and making abortion illegal since it threatened to break population growth in 1936 (Oxbridge). Women were rewarded with medals for giving birth to ten or more children, and were expected to play a role in the expansion of the Russian economy, taking the place of men during WWII in the factories and collective farms (Rudbeck). Stalin realized the strength of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia and decided to act upon it. Stalin demonized

What is the relationship between personality and health Free Essays

string(40) " impatient but also type B personality\." Introduction In order to evaluate the research conducted by Friedman and Rosenman, it is important to understand the relationship between personality and health. In a study of health and illness by Bury (2005), health is an incredible riddle and hard to define but simple to spot. However, in management of health promotion and developing healthy organisation and community written by Simnett (1995) says that health approval is sunshade expression for a very wide range of performances that improve good health and well-being and put a stop to ill health. We will write a custom essay sample on What is the relationship between personality and health? or any similar topic only for you Order Now On the other hand, personality is define as psychologies with the aim of recognizing the uniqueness in human characters and understanding people’s differences in organisation (Buchannan and Huczynski, 2010). Although, the researcher suggests that personality and health seems to be link in a way particularly relevant to organisational behaviour. However, this essay will critically evaluate the relationship between personality and health in organisation and discuss the behavioural syndromes that measures stress level in organisation. Furthermore, evaluate type A personality and B personality and also discuss how the stress levels would differ amongst the two types of personality. It would also analyse the factors and trait of the personality and suggest reasons on how these factors relate to levels of stress taken upon an individual in organisation. In addition, a discussion of the strategies management that should be used to sustain the employee stress levels and conclude. One of the main links between personality and health involves health quality base on what individuals do. The research carried out by Friedman and Rosenman, 1974 in (Buchannan and Huczynski, 2010) shows that smoking and alcohol are relate to a number of personality behaviours such as, disobedience, ferociousness, estrangement, impulsivity, and low confidence. However, those individuals with such specific personality take bigger risk with their health and could die early. For example, it is nature and social predicament at early days that lead to drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and other drugs mistreatment in adolescent years (Cooley, 2009). Consequently, the rate of health inconvenience and premature death has increased significantly because of smoking and drinking alcohol. In contrast, personality has been long considering major intermediary/moderator of stress in organisational behaviour (Antoniou and Cooper, 2005). In addition, stress is a prototype of emotional states and ph ysiological reaction taking place in response to difficulty from within or outer surface of organisation (Blonna, 2010). However, world health organisation (1992) defines behaviours syndrome as a different between people or individual in organisation. Although, the syndromes that assess the stress levels are frontal lobe syndromes that follow skull shock which adequately split in the direction of losing consciousness that include a number of different symptoms such as annoyance, vertigo, (normally lack the characteristic of true dizziness), tiredness, bad temper, and complexity. These symptoms might be accompanies by emotion of sadness or anxiety resulting from loss of self-esteem and fear of permanent brain damage in persons in organisation (World Health Organisation, 1992). One of the strongest arguments against Friedman and Rosenman theories are the difference between type A and B personality. However, Friedman and Rosenman (1974) argued that everybody on earth has unrelated and distinctive personality. In addition, they said that each individual could be placed into one of the two personality types such as type A personality or type B personality. The Type B personality is the median. It is the normal person. They are at most times quiet and composed. It takes a lot to annoy them. They are hardly overstressed, and when feeling pressure they lean to be positive than negative. It is clearly that Type B persons do not mind driving behind an unhurried car. They do not care too much if the queue is long at the grocery store. Their velocity is calm and they are not in a rush to get things done. Type B people are patient (Friedman and Rosenman, 1974). They also state that type A personality were three times more likely to experience heart infection than ty pe B personalities. Typical type A thrives on extended hours, large amounts of work and fixed deadlines. These are together and organisationally useful quality, as competitiveness and a high need for success. Moreover, those who are type A personality may not be able to relax extensively, stand back from multifaceted difficulty to make an efficient and comprehensive analysis, and need the tolerance and comfortable style required in some administrative positions. Furthermore, problem lies in the fact that their intolerance and aggression can increase the stress levels in those who have to work with them. For instance, a type A personality can emerge to have many venerable facets, but these behaviour syndromes can be dysfunctional for the entity, and for others. However, Friedman and Schustack, (2009:pp391) states that â€Å"the struggle of Type A person is most likely to be the one of a â€Å"choleric†, angry against the arbitrary controls of his or her job or life. Such a p erson will also have generally interpersonal relations†. However, there is currently high-quality confirmation that person who guide aggressive, resentfully, ready for action and ambitious lives are more likely to experience heart infection at the age of 45 than type B personality. In disagreeing with Friedman and Rosenman theories which suggest that Type B personality cannot easily get annoy and also that type A personality were three times more likely to suffer heart disease than type B, not all the type A persons suffer heart disease. For example, most people are type B, but they are not competitive, stressful, worried and hard to annoy, but have heart disease due to smoking or drinking alcohol or accident. According to Schill (2008) argue that, the type B personality loves social gathering, meeting with people, trek and be part of the groups and is often the centre of concentration. They love enthusiasm and are often impatient and difficult because of being a fattening ty pe of personality. However, not only the type A personality is impatient but also type B personality. You read "What is the relationship between personality and health?" in category "Essay examples" In addition, some persons can be both type A and B at the same time, it is irrelevant whether type A and B are related, what matters is that one person can become both type of personality. Moreover, many researchers argue that, is not only two-type of personality. A personality type is very broad and many, for example, type C and D personalities. According to Carbonell (2008) state that, type C personality is a person with cautious, competed, careful, compliant, contemplative and calculating. In clinical psychology and heart disease, written by (Molinari, Compare, and Parati, 2006) shows that, D personality type is an individual who feel anxious, unhappy, worry and have pessimistic vision of life and they can easily get irritated The big five personality traitsThe characters Neuroticismemotional instability, tend to be stressed, anxious, worrisome, restless and changeable, Openness(Nightmare, aesthetics, emotion, performance, information and values) Conscientiousness(Capability, command, dutifulness, and success determined, self-control, and reflection) Extraversionsociability, ferociousness, action, excitement-seeking, optimistic emotion Agreeableconviction, honesty, unselfishness, disobedience, humility, and caring, mindedness One of the major factors in personality traits, which relate to stress level upon individual, is neuroticism. According to Eysenck in wood (1985), neuroticism are people who are highly measured on emotional instability, tend to be stressed, anxious, worrisome, restless and changeable, while those who are low in neuroticism tend to be relaxed, stay peaceful, displeasure and stable. However, other researchers analyse openness, conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeable. However, openness is one of the factors of personality traits, which indicate how open-minded a person is. There are six characters describing openness such as dream, aesthetics, emotion, performance, information and values sprint on a variety commencing traveller at one tremendous to â€Å"preserver† at the previous. The traveller (Openness+) traits are helpful for hypothetical scientists, architects, entrepreneurs, artists and modify agents. The preserver on the other hand, which is (Openness-) traits are useful for plan managers, practical scientists, theatre performers, and sponsorship managers (Costa, 1943, McCrae, 1949 in Buchannan and Huczynski, 2010). Furthermore, conscientiousness is also one of the personality traits that have traits such as capability, command, dutifulness, success determined, self-control, and reflection sprint from determined to flexible determined conscientiousness plus traits which are useful for leaders, senior executives and other high achievers, while flexible conscientiousness minus traits are useful for researchers, detectives and management consultant. While on the other hand, extraversion is part of personality traits that relate to human behaviours. The characters related to extraversion are sociability, ferociousness, action, excitement-seeking, and optimistic emotion. Lucas et al, (2000) in comprehensive handbook of personality and psychopathology written by Thomas, (2006) state that extraverts and hospitality are consequences of satisfying pe ople in organisation. They also argued that extraverts have tendency in the direction of antagonism and power in organisational behaviour. Therefore, social behaviours in organisation are a means of satisfying the need of rewarding personality in organisation. Agreeableness is referring to human being capability to get along among other people in organisation. Agreeableness causes a number of people to become moderate, helpful, pardoning, and considerate and good nature in their communication with other people in the workplace (Griffin, 2008). He also argued that highly agreeable persons would have a superior working relationship with other colleague, contributory and sophisticated manager in organisation than those with less agreeableness. It is clear that those with high agreeable behaviour will not have fastidious good working relationship with internal and external persons in organisation (Costa and McCrae, 1992). The reason why the five big factors of personality traits relates to stress level in organisational and individual is that it contains several factors of symptoms personality traits. For example, neuroticism is one of the factors that have negative emotional unstableness, which connects to introvert-neurotic and extravert-neurotic. Introvert-neuroticism has eight characters, which are calmness, unsociable, shyness, unenthusiastic, serious, inflexible, nervous and unstable. While extravert-neurotic have eight characters as well such as aggressive, restless, quick-tempered, excitable, changeable, impulsive, optimistic and active (Costa, 1943, McCrae, 1949 in Buchannan and Huczynski, 2010). One of the main reasons for management strategies is to reduce the stress levels on employees. Lehrer, et al, (2007) define stress management as a set of techniques used to help an individual to cope more effectively with difficult situation in order for them to feel good emotionally, improve behavioural skills and to enhance the feeling of the organisation. However, Cunningham (2000), states that stress management is define as interventions design to reduce the impact of stressors in workplace. Greenberg and Baron (2008) argued that pressure stems from many diverse factors and circumstances with the intention of eliminating it entirely from our lives. However, they state that organisations or companies still have many things to do in order to help reduce the stress level on employees. They also said that you can manage your own stress by using your time wisely, social support, eat a healthy diet and be physically fit, relax and meditation, get a good night’s sleep and avoid i nappropriate self-talk. It is quite accepte for them to bring in different organized programs to help employees reduce and stop the stress levels. The reasons for these assumption is to help the employees minimize the adverse reactions to stress, so that they will be better, present, and consequently more industrious on the work which in return have positive effects on the foundation line of the organisations. It is clear that many companies in the world today have professionals in each program design to help manage the stress level of employee. The systematic programs designed to reduce the stress on employees are stress management programs, wellness programs and presents programs. That is to say, that the systematic programs designed for management is helpful to reduce the stress level on employees. In conclusion, types A personality seem to have link with behavioural syndrome than type B. it also increase an individual stress levels in organisation. However, much research has be conduct by different psychologies with different types of personalities; argue that is not only type A and B personality, but also type C and D personality. It is hard to conclude personality type with accuracy, For example, Schill (2008) argue that type B personality is impatient while the research conduct by Friedman and Rosenman 1974 in (Buchannan and Huczyski, 2010) state that B personality are patient. Not clear which part of personality types that cause stress level in organisation and individual. The correlation data-cannot assume causal link between the variables. In order to improve Friedman and Rosenman research there is a need to identify other types of personality and eliminate stress. References Antoniou G, A and Cooper L C. (2005). Research companion to organisational health psychology. United Kingdom. Edward Elgar Blonna, R. (2010). Stress less live more. USA. New harbinger Bury, M. (2005). Health and illness. Cambridge. Polity Buchanan A, D and Huczyski A, A. (2010). Organisational behaviour. England. Pearson Education Cunningham B, J. (2000). The stress management sourcebook. New York. McGraw-hill Cooley H, C. (2009). Human nature and the social order: seventh edition. New York. Transaction Costa P and McCrae R, R. (1992). NEO PI-R: professional manual. Odessa, Florida. Psychological assessment resources Friedman M, and Rosenman R, F. (1947). Type A behaviour and your heart. New York. Knopf Griffin W, R. (2008). Fundamentals of management. U.S.A. Houghton Miffin Greenberg J, and Baron A, R. (2008). Behaviour in organisations: ninth edition. New Jersey. Pearson Education Lehrer M, P. Woolfolk L, R and Sime E, W. (2007). Principle and practice of stress management. New York. Guilford press Molinari E Compare A and Parati G. (2006).clinical psychology and heart disease. Italy. Springer-verlag Simenett I. (1995). Managing health promotion: developing health organisations and communities. New York. John Wiley sons Schill B. (2008). Stalking darkness. U.S.A. Brian A schill Thomas C, J. (2006). Comprehensive handbook of personality and psychopathology. Canada. John Wiley sons World Health Organisation. (1992). The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders: clinical. Switzerland. World Health Organisations Wood C. (1985: pp12). New scientist. The healthy neurotic. 105, 1442. 7 February How to cite What is the relationship between personality and health?, Essay examples

Definition of Courage free essay sample

Over the past 3 years, Allison has never lost hope, she constantly strives for recovery and right now she is ready to face her results that will have an immense effect on her life. Allison is courageous. Courage is defined as the ability to do something that frightens one. One of the main factors in striving towards success is that of courage. The amount of courage you possess will determine how successful you are in the end. Courage is determination. Courage is bravery. Courage is being dauntless. By pursuing something that you are exceedingly fearful of, you demonstrate a vast amount of courage that most will never come to uphold. Courage is standing up and fighting for our country instead of ridiculing the government and saying war is unbeneficial. Courage does not have to be a grand act such as sprinting into a burning building in order to save numerous lives. An eleven year old kid confronting a vicious bully at school also requires a massive amount of bravery which in turn qualifies standing up for oneself an act of courage as well. We will write a custom essay sample on Definition of Courage or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Courage is shown in any situation where someone is confronting and overcoming anything they are uncomfortable with varying from waiting for life altering results to simply asking a crush out on a date for the first time. Courage is not power. Ruling over someone and making hasty decisions that will affect people other than oneself is not courage, such is confidence in authority. Courage is not fearlessness. Someone who is fearless has no doubts to overcome; therefore there would be no situation where courage could be expressed. Courage is definitely not anger, or rash action. Courage is generally always accompanied by fear, a plummeting gut, and quivering knees. Overall, courage is the seeming weak rising up against a supposed strong. Weather the weak will overpower the strong depends on how much courage the weak is willing to put forth. Weather Allison will recover from her disease depends on how much she is willing to fight against the horrible illness. Courage is an active characteristic that everyone is capable of displaying, but is actually shown by few.

Caring for the Aged

Islam and Postmodernism Essays

Islam and Postmodernism Essays Islam and Postmodernism Essay Islam and Postmodernism Essay p. 119. 19. Personal interview via e-mail, 23 October 2001. 20. Distorted Imagination: Lessons from the Rushdie Affair, Grey Seal, London, 1990. 21. Malise Ruthven, A Satanic Affair: Salman Rushdie and the Wrath of Islam, The Hogarth Press, London, 1990; revised edition, p. 186. 22. Postmodernism and the Other, Pluto Press, London, 1998. 23. Sardar with Merryl Wyn Davies and Ashis Nandy, Barbaric Others: A Manifesto on Western Racism, Pluto Press, London, 1993; Westview Press, Boulder, Colo. 1993, p. 3. 24. Ziauddin Sardar, ‘On Serpents, Inevitability and the South Asian Imagination’, Futures, 24 (9), pp. 942–9 (November 1992). 25. ‘When the Pendulum Comes to Rest’, in Sheila M. Moorcroft (editor), Visions for the 21st Century, Adamantine Press, London, 1992, p. 101. 26. Distorted Imagination, p. 276. 27. See Ziauddin Sardar, ‘Development and the Location of Eurocentism’, in Ronaldo Munck and Denis O’Hearn (editors) Critical Devel opment Theory: Contributions to a New Paradigm, Zed Books, London, 1999. 28. Ziauddin Sardar, ‘alt. civilisation. aq: cyberspace as the darker side of the West’, in Ziauddin Sardar and Jerome R. Ravetz (editors), Cyberfutures: Culture and Politics on the Information Superhighway, Pluto Press, London, 1996; also David Bell and Barbara M. Kennedy (editors), The Cyberspace Reader, Routledge, London, 2000, pp. 723–52. 29. Ziauddin Sardar, ‘Asian Cultures: Between Programmed and Desired Futures’, in Eleonora Masini and Yogesh Atal (editors), The Futures of Asian Cultures, Unesco, Bangkok, 1993; and Unesco, The Futures of Cultures, Unesco, Paris, 1994. 30. Personal interview via e-mail, 23 October 2001. 31. Ziauddin Sardar, ‘Paper, Printing and Compact Discs: The Making and Unmaking of Islamic Culture’, Media, Culture, Society, 15, pp. 43–59 (1992); see also Chapter 6 of this book. 32. Ibid. , p. 46. 33. ‘Currying Favour With Tradition’, Herald (Glasgow), 29 April 1998, p. 27. 34. Postmodernism and the Other, p. 281. 35. Ziauddin Sardar, ‘What Makes a University Islamic? ’, in Sardar (editor) How We Know: Ilm and the Revival of Knowledge, Grey Seal, London, 1991. 36. Ziauddin Sardar, ‘Waiting for Rain’, New Scientist, 15 December 2001. 37. Originally published in Arts and the Islamic World, 21, pp. 5–7 (Spring 1992); a revised version appeared in New Renaissance, 8 (1), pp. 14–16, 1998. 38. ‘Currying Favour With Tradition’. Islam 1 Rethinking Islam Serious rethinking within Islam is long overdue. Muslims have been comfortably relying, or rather falling back, on age-old interpretations for much too long . This is why we feel so painful in the contemporary world, so uncomfortable with modernity. Scholars and thinkers have been suggesting for well over a century that we need to make a serious attempt at ijtihad, at reasoned struggle and rethinking, to reform Islam. At the beginning of the last century, Jamaluddin Afghani and Muhammad Abduh led the call for a new ijtihad; and along the way many notable intellectuals, academics and sages have added to this plea – not least Muhammad Iqbal, Malik bin Nabbi and Abdul Qadir Audah. Yet, ijtihad is one thing Muslim societies have singularly failed to undertake. Why? The ‘why’ has acquired an added urgency after 11 September. What the fateful events of that day reveal, more than anything else, is the distance we have travelled away from the spirit and import of Islam. Far from being a liberating force, a kinetic social, cultural and intellectual dynamic for equality, justice and humane values, Islam seems to have acquired a pathological strain. Indeed, it seems to me that we have internalised all those historic and contemporary western representations of Islam and Muslims that have been demonising us for centuries. We now actually wear the garb, I have to confess, of the very demons that the west has been projecting on our collective personality. But to blame the west, or a notion of instrumental modernity that is all but alien to us, would be a lazy option. True, the west, and particularly America, has a great deal to answer for. And Muslims are quick to point a finger at the injustices committed by American and European foreign policies and hegemonic tendencies. However, that is only a part, and in my opinion not an insurmountable part, of the malaise. Hegemony is not always imposed; sometimes, it is invited. The internal situation within Islam is an open invitation. We have failed to respond to the summons to ijtihad for some very profound reasons. Prime amongst these is the fact that the context of our sacred texts – the Qur’an and the examples of the Prophet Muhammad, our absolute frame of reference – has been frozen in history. One can only have an interpretative relationship with a text 27 28 Islam, Postmodernism and Other Futures – even more so if the text is perceived to be eternal. But if the interpretative context of the text is never our context, not our own time, then its interpretation can hardly have any real meaning or significance for us as we are now. Historic interpretations constantly drag us back to history, to frozen and ossified contexts of long ago; worse, to perceived and romanticised contexts that have not even existed in history. This is why, while Muslims have a strong emotional attachment to Islam, Islam per se, as a worldview and system of ethics, has little or no direct relevance to their daily lives apart from the obvious concerns of rituals and worship. Ijtihad and fresh thinking have not been possible because there is no context within which they can actually take place. The freezing of interpretation, the closure of ‘the gates of ijtihad’, has had a devastating effect on Muslim thought and action. In particular, it has produced what I can only describe as three metaphysical catastrophes: the elevation of the Shari’ah to the level of the Divine, with the consequent removal of agency from the believers, and the equation of Islam with the state. Let me elaborate. Most Muslims consider the Shari’ah, commonly translated as ‘Islamic law’, to be divine. Yet, there is nothing divine about the Shari’ah. The only thing that can legitimately be described as divine in Islam is the Qur’an. The Shari’ah is a human construction; an attempt to understand the divine will in a particular context. This is why the bulk of the Shari’ah actually consists of fiqh or jurisprudence, which is nothing more than legal opinion of classical jurists. The very term fiqh was not in vogue before the Abbasid period when it was actually formulated and codified. But when fiqh assumed its systematic legal form, it incorporated three vital aspects of Muslim society of the Abbasid period. At that juncture, Muslim history was in its expansionist phase, and fiqh ncorporated the logic of Muslim imperialism of that time. The fiqh rulings on apostasy, for example, derive not from the Qur’an but from this logic. Moreover, the world was simple and could easily be divided into black and white: hence, the division of the world into dar al-Islam and dar al-harb. Furthermore, as the framers of law were not by this stage managers of society, the law became merely theory which could not be modified – the framers of the law were unable to see where the faults lay and what aspect of the law needed fresh thinking and reformulation. Thus fiqh, as we know it today, evolved on the basis of a division between those who were governing and set themselves apart from society and those who were framing the law; the epistemological Rethinking Islam 29 assumptions of a ‘golden’ phase of Muslim history also came into play. When we describe the Shari’ah as divine, we actually provide divine sanctions for the rulings of bygone fiqh. What this means in reality is that when Muslim countries apply or impose the Shari’ah – which is what Muslims from Indonesia to Nigeria demand – the contradictions that were inherent in the formulation and evolution of fiqh come to the fore. That is why wherever the Shari’ah is imposed – that is, fiqhi legislation is applied, out of context from the time when it was formulated and out of step with ours – Muslim societies acquire a medieval feel. We can see that in Saudi Arabia, the Sudan and the Taliban Afghanistan. When narrow adherence to fiqh, to the dictates of this or that school of thought, whether it has any relevance to real world or not, becomes the norm, ossification sets in. The Shari’ah will solve all our problems’ becomes the common sentiment; and it becomes necessary for a group with vested interests in this notion of the Shari’ah to preserve its territory, the source of its power and prestige, at all costs. An outmoded body of law is thus equated with the Shari’ah, and criticism is shunned and outlawed by appealing to its divine nature. The elevation of the Shari’ah to the divine level also means the believers themselves have no agency: since the law is a priori given, people themselves have nothing to do except to follow it. Believers thus become passive receivers rather than active seekers of truth. In reality, the Shari’ah is nothing more than a set of principles, a framework of values, that provide Muslim societies with guidance. But these sets of principles and values are not a static given but are dynamically derived within changing contexts. As such, the Shari’ah is a problem-solving methodology rather than law. 1 It requires the believers to exert themselves and constantly reinterpret the Qur’an and look at the life of the Prophet Muhammad with ever changing fresh eyes. Indeed, the Qur’an has to be reinterpreted from epoch to epoch – which means that the Shari’ah, and by extension Islam itself, has to be reformulated with changing contexts. 2 The only thing that remains constant in Islam is the text of the Qur’an itself – its concepts providing the anchor for ever changing interpretations. Islam is not so much a religion as an integrative worldview: that is to say, it integrates all aspects of reality by providing a moral perspective on every aspect of human endeavour. Islam does not provide ready-made answers to all human problems; it provides a moral and just perspective within which Muslims must endeavour to 30 Islam, Postmodernism and Other Futures find answers to all human problems. But if everything is a priori given, in the shape of a divine Shari’ah, then Islam is reduced to a totalistic ideology. Indeed, this is exactly what the Islamic movements – in particularly Jamaat-e-Islami (both Pakistani and Indian varieties) and the Muslim Brotherhood – have reduced Islam to. Which brings me to the third metaphysical catastrophe. Place this ideology within a nation-state, with divinely attributed Shari’ah at its centre, and you have an ‘Islamic state’. All contemporary ‘Islamic states’, from Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan to aspiring Pakistan, are based on this ridiculous assumption. But once Islam, as an ideology, becomes a programme of action of a vested group, it looses its humanity and becomes a battlefield where morality, reason and justice are readily sacrificed at the altar of emotions. Moreover, the step from a totalistic ideology to a totalitarian order where every human situation is open to state arbitration is a small one. The transformation of Islam into a state-based political ideology not only deprives it of all its moral and ethical content, it also debunks most of Muslim history as un-Islamic. Invariably, when Islamists rediscover a ‘golden’ past, they do so only in order to disdain the present and mock the future. All we are left with is messianic chaos, as we saw so vividly in the Taliban regime, where all politics as the domain of action is paralysed and meaningless pieties become the foundational truth of the state. The totalitarian vision of Islam as a state thus transforms Muslim politics into a metaphysics: in such an enterprise, every action can be justified as ‘Islamic’ by the dictates of political expediency as we witnessed in revolutionary Iran. The three metaphysical catastrophes are accentuated by an overall process of reduction that has become the norm in Muslim societies. The reductive process itself is also not new; but now it has reached such an absurd state that the very ideas that are supposed to take Muslim societies towards humane values now actually take them in the opposite direction. From the subtle beauty of a perennial challenge to construct justice through mercy and compassion, we get mechanistic formulae fixated with the extremes repeated by people convinced they have no duty to think for themselves because all questions have been answered for them by the classical ulema, far better men long dead. And because everything carries the brand name of Islam, to question it, or argue against it, is tantamount to voting for sin. The process of reduction started with the very notion of alim (scholar) itself. Just who is an alim? hat makes him an authority? Rethinking Islam 31 In early Islam, an alim was anyone who acquired ilm, or knowledge, which was itself described in a broad sense. We can see that in the early classifications of knowledge by such scholars as al-Kindi, alFarabi, ibn Sina, al-Ghazzali and ibn Khauldun. Indeed, both the definition of knowledge and its classification was a major intellectual activity in classical Islam. 3 So all learned men, scientist s as well as philosophers, scholars as well as theologians, constituted the ulema. But after the ‘gates of ijtihad’ were closed during the Abbasid era, ilm was increasing reduced to religious knowledge and the ulema came to constitute only religious scholars. Similarly, the idea of ijma, the central notion of communal life in Islam, has been reduced to the consensus of a select few. Ijma literally means consensus of the people. The concept dates back to the practice of Prophet Muhammad himself as leader of the original polity of Muslims. When the Prophet Muhammad wanted to reach a decision, he would call the whole Muslim community – then, admittedly not very large – to the mosque. A discussion would ensue; arguments for and against would be presented. Finally, the entire gathering would reach a consensus. Thus, a democratic spirit was central to communal and political life in early Islam. But over time the clerics and religious scholars have removed the people from the equation – and reduced ijma to ‘the consensus of the religious scholars’. Not surprisingly, authoritarianism, theocracy and despotism reign supreme in the Muslim world. The political domain finds its model in what has become the accepted practice and metier of the authoritatively ‘religious’ adepts, those who claim the monopoly of the exposition of Islam. Obscurantist mullahs, in the guise of the ulema, dominate Muslim societies and circumscribe them with fanaticism and absurdly reductive logic. Numerous other concepts have gone through a similar process of reduction. The concept of ummah, the global spiritual community of Muslims, has been reduced to the ideals of a nation state: ‘my country right or wrong’ has been transposed to read ‘my ummah right or wrong’. So even despots like Saddam Hussein are now defended on the basis of ‘ummah consciousness’ and ‘unity of the ummah’. Jihad has now been reduced to the single meaning of ‘Holy War’. This translation is perverse not only because the concept’s spiritual, intellectual and social components have been stripped away, but because it has been reduced to war by any means, including terrorism. So anyone can now declare jihad on anyone, without any ethical or moral rhyme or reason. Nothing could be 32 Islam, Postmodernism and Other Futures more perverted, or pathologically more distant from the initial meaning of jihad. Its other connotations, including personal struggle, intellectual endeavour, and social construction have all but evaporated. Istislah, normally rendered as ‘public interest’ and a major source of Islamic law, has all but disappeared from Muslim consciousness. And ijtihad, as I have suggested, has now been reduced to little more than a pious desire. But the violence performed to sacred Muslim concepts is insignificant compared to the reductive way the Qur’an and the sayings and examples of the Prophet Muhammad are bandied about. What the late Muslim scholar Fazlur Rahman called the ‘atomistic’ treatment of the Qur’an is now the norm: almost anything and everything is justified by quoting individual bits of verses out of context. 4 After the September 11 event, for example, a number of Taliban supporters, including a few in Britain, justified their actions by quoting the following verse: ‘We will put terror into the hearts of the unbelievers. They serve other gods for whom no sanction has been revealed. Hell shall be their home’ (3:149). Yet, the apparent meaning attributed to this verse could not be further from the true spirit of the Qur’an. In this particular verse, the Qur’an is addressing the Prophet Muhammad himself. It was revealed during the battle of Uhad, when the small and ill-equipped army of the Prophet faced a much larger and better-equipped enemy. He was concerned about the outcome of the battle. The Qur’an reassures him and promises that the enemy will be terrified by the Prophet’s unprofessional army. Seen in its context, it is not a general instruction to all Muslims; it is a commentary on what was happening at that time. Similarly hadith are quoted to justify the most extreme behaviours. And the Prophet’s own appearance, his beard and clothes, have been turned into a fetish: so now it is not just obligatory for a ‘good Muslim’ to have a beard, but its length and shape must also conform to dictates! The Prophet has been reduced to signs and symbols – the spirit of his behaviour, the moral and ethical dimensions of his actions, his humility and compassion, the general principles he advocated, have all been subsumed by the logic of absurd reduction. The accumulative effect of the metaphysical catastrophes and endless reduction has transformed the cherished tenets of Islam into instruments of militant expediency and moral bankruptcy. For over two decades, I have been arguing that Muslim civilisation is now so fragmented and shattered that we have to rebuild it, ‘brick by brick’. It is now obvious that Islam itself has to be rethought, idea by idea. Rethinking Islam 33 We need to begin with the simple fact that Muslims have no monopoly on truth, on what is right, on what is good, on justice, nor on the intellectual and moral reflexes that promote these necessities. Like the rest of humanity, we have to struggle to achieve them using our own sacred notions and con cepts as tools for understanding and reshaping contemporary reality. The way to a fresh, contemporary appreciation of Islam requires confronting the metaphysical catastrophes and moving away from reduction to synthesis. Primarily, this requires Muslims, as individuals and communities, to reclaim agency: to insist on their right and duty, as believers and knowledgeable people, to interpret and reinterpret the basic sources of Islam: to question what now goes under the general rubric of Shari’ah, to declare that much of fiqh is now dangerously obsolete, to stand up to the absurd notion of an Islam confined by a geographically bound state. We cannot, if we really value our faith, leave its exposition in the hands of undereducated elites, religious scholars whose lack of comprehension of the contemporary world is usually matched only by their disdain and contempt for all its ideas and cultural products. Islam has been permitted to languish as the professional domain of people more familiar with the world of the eleventh century than that of the twenty-first century we now inhabit. And we cannot allow this class to bury the noble idea of ijtihad in frozen and distant history. Ordinary Muslims around the world who have concerns, questions and considerable moral dilemmas about the current state of affairs of Islam must reclaim the basic concepts of Islam and reframe them in a broader context. Ijma must mean consensus of all citizens leading to participatory and accountable governance. Jihad must be understood in its complete spiritual meaning as the struggle for peace and justice as a lived reality for all people everywhere. And the notion of the ummah must be refined so it becomes something more than a mere reductive abstraction. As Anwar Ibrahim has argued, the ummah is not ‘merely the community of all those who profess to be Muslims’; rather, it is a ‘moral conception of how Muslims should become a community in relation to each other, other communities and the natural world’. Which means ummah incorporates not just the Muslims, but justice-seeking and oppressed people everywhere. 6 In a sense, the movement towards synthesis is an advance towards the primary meaning and message of Islam – as a moral and ethical way of looking at and shaping the world, as a 4 Islam, Postmodernism and Other Futures domain of peaceful civic culture, a participatory endeavour, and a holistic mode of knowing, being and doing. If the events of 11 September unleash the best intentions, the essential values of Islam, the phoenix will truly have arisen from the ashes of the twin towers. Notes 1. For a more elaborate exposition, see ‘The Shari’ah as Problem-Solving Methodology’, Cha pter 5 of Ziauddin Sardar, Islamic Futures: The Shape of Ideas to Come, Mansell, London, 1985. 2. I first argued this thesis in The Future of Muslim Civilisation, Croom Helm, London, 1979; second edition, Mansell, London, 1987. 3. See Franz Rosenthal, Knowledge Triumphant, Brill, Leiden, 1970. 4. Fazlur Rahman, Major Themes of the Qur’an, Biblioteca Islamica, Chicago, 1980. 5. Ziuaddin Sardar, The Future of Muslim Civilisation. 6. Anwar Ibrahim, ‘The Ummah and Tomorrow’s World’, Futures, 23 (3), pp. 302–10 (April 1991). Source: Originally published in Seminar, 509, January 2002, pp. 48–51. 2 Reconstructing Muslim Civilisation When thinking and writing about Islam, most Muslim intellectuals, both modernists and traditionalists, work within a very narrow and confining canvas. Islam is often presented as a religious outlook: the modernists are happy to confine Islam to the boundaries of personal piety, belief and rituals: while the traditionalists always describe Islam as ‘a complete way of life’. What is meant by the phrase is that Islam touches all aspects of human living – particularly the social, economic, educational and political behaviour of man. However, while these approaches to the study of Islam are extremely useful, they are restrictive. Each approach itself determines the boundary of exposition: note that in their monumental output, both Maulana Maududi and Syed Qutb find no space for discussing epistemology and science, technology and environment, urbanisation and development – all burning, indeed pressing, issues for contemporary Muslim societies as well as for the dominant west. Moreover, the picture of the ‘Islamic way of life’ that emerges from these authors is a very atomised and segregated one. While Islam is presented as a complete way of life, the various aspects of human living, economic activity, political behaviour, educational development, are treated in isolation from each other as though each had no real bearing on the others. There is no integrated, interdisciplinary methodology in action in Maulana Maududi’s or Syed Qutb’s work. The result is that while it is repeatedly emphasised that Islam is a ‘complete way of life’, nowhere is it really represented as an integrated, holistic worldview. More recently, Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and Sheikh Murtada Mutahhari showed much promise in developing an interdisciplinary methodology from within the realms of traditional scholars. Sayyid Baqir al-Sadr did much work on an integrated Islamic political economy. Sheikh Mutahhari, with his strong background in philosophy and irfan (gnosis) tried to apply these to contemporary sociopolitical realities. Both these scholars were martyred in their forties, cutting short their promising initiatives. In a different vein, this time from the ranks of modern scholars, Ali 35 36 Islam, Postmodernism and Other Futures Shariati devoted much effort to developing a multidisciplinary base for an Islamic worldview. His hectic schedule and early death did not allow him to systematise his thoughts into a theory and his ideas remain scattered in numerous articles and lectures. The more avant-garde Muslim intellectuals have sought to project Islam as an ethical system. For example, in his essay ‘Islam, the concept of religion and the foundation of ethics and morality’, Naqib al-Attas argues that din of Islam can be reduced to four primary significations: indebtedness, submissiveness, judicial power and natural inclination. He then proceeds to present Islam as a ‘natural’ social and ethical system. Parvez Manzoor equates the Shari’ah to an ethical system and has used his analysis to develop a contemporary Islamic theory of the environment. 2 The exposition of Islam as an ethical system takes us a step further. An underlying ethical system can permeate all human endeavours an d questions of ethics can be raised in all contemporary situations whether they involve the impact of science on Muslim societies or of technology on the natural environment or of planning on the built environment. And, because everything is examined from the perspective of a total ethical system, a more integrated and coherent exposition of Islam comes to the fore. However, reducing Islam to one denominator, namely ethics, is still very confining. The excessive concern with ethics generates an illusion of moral superiority and ignorance of power realities. In Islam, ethics is a pragmatic concern: it must shape individual and social behaviour. But methodologically, discussion and analysis of ethical criteria – what is right and wrong, what are our duties and obligations – produces a strange mirage. It leads to the erroneous belief that by doing right, by being righteous, by fulfilling our duty, Muslim societies, and hence Islam, will triumph and become dominant. Ethical analysis substitutes piety for pragmatic policy, morality for power, and righteousness for bold and imaginative planning. Piety, morality, righteousness are the beginning of Islam: they are not an end in themselves. Ethics is our navigational equipment: it is not the end of our journey. Ethics ensures that we tread the right path, avoiding pitfalls and quicksand, and reach our intended destination. But within the ethical geography, there are no limitations to where we take ourselves and our societies. We can only give our imagination and intellect full reign, something that is demanded of us by God, if we think, conceive and study Islam as a living, dynamic civilisation of the future. Only by Reconstructing Muslim Civilisation 37 approaching Islam as a civilisation can we really do full justice to the din of Islam. It is worth noting that when Naquib al-Attas discusses the many manifestations of din, he stops short of noting that one connotation of din is medina, the city state which marked the beginning of Islamic civilisation. From Medina onwards, Islam ceased to be just a religion or an ethical system or even a political institution – it became a civilisation. And it has continued to be a civilisation since: Islam was a civilisation as much in its ‘Golden Age’ as during its nadir under colonialism; and, it continues to be a civilisation now that the Muslim world has been divided into 50 or so Muslim ‘nation-states’. However, whenever Muslim writers and intellectuals have discussed Islam as a civilisation, it has always been as a historic civilisation; never as a contemporary or a future civilisation. By limiting the civilisational aspects of Islam to history, they have neglected its future. Moreover, they have concentrated discussion on either the self-evident aspects of Islam such as ethics and belief or further increased the fossilisation of the already stagnant body of jurisprudence, legal thought and scholastic philosophy. Unless we break this suffocating mould, Muslim societies are doomed to a marginalised existence. Furthermore, only by presenting Islam as a living, dynamic civilisation, with all that that entails, can we really meet the challenge that comes to us from the west. Encounters in the arena of religion and theology, philosophy and ethics, may generate good intellectual writings, but, essentially, they are marginal. But an encounter of two civilisations, seeking rapprochement as well as asserting their own identities, is a completely different phenomenon. Only such an engagement can produce a beneficial dialogue and mutual respect between two equals. At this juncture of our history, however, we are not in a position to present Islam as a total civilisation. Having failed to do our homework in this area, we find ourselves as a rather truncated and limping civilisation. Many of our essential civilisational features, having been neglected for over four centuries, are dormant and in urgent need of serious surgery. Islam and Muslim societies are like a magnificent but old building on which time, and years of neglect, have taken their toll. The foundations are very solid, but the brickwork needs urgent attention. We need to reconstruct the Muslim civilisation; almost brick by brick, rebuilding the House of Islam from the foundations upwards. 38 Islam, Postmodernism and Other Futures The reconstruction of Muslim civilisation is essentially a process of elaborating the worldview of Islam. The ‘complete way of life’ group of scholars are content with restating the classical and traditional positions as if the old jurists and scholars had solved all the problems of humanity for all time! The avant-garde seems to believe that casting contemporary concerns in ethical moulds is enough. We need to go beyond all this and produce distinctively Islamic alternatives and solutions to the vast array of problems faced by our societies. We need to do this by producing a whole array of theoretical alternatives and by demonstrating these alternatives practically. I am talking not of abstract, metaphysical theories: we have enough of these. I am talking about a pragmatic theoretical edifice that gives contemporary meaning to the eternal guidelines laid down in the Qur’an and the Sunnah. I am talking about a body of theory that can be translated into policy statements and produce practical models that can guide us towards a complete state of Islam. The reconstruction of Muslim civilisation is both a theoretical and a practical process, each feeding on the other; theory shaping practice and behaviour and practice polishing the theory. But even before we take the initial steps towards reconstruction of our civilisation, we must begin to think, individually and collectively, like a civilisation. Our commitment and aspirations should be directed not towards some parochial objectives, but towards a civilisational plane. We, the Muslim ummah, are a holistic aggregate – despite the fact that we at present live in different polities, come from a kaleidoscope of ethnic backgrounds, hold and express a complex array of opinions and ideas, are united by a ingle worldview, the hallmark of our civilisation. That means that our political differences are only temporary; and we should behave as though they are temporary. It also means that the old differences of opinion and expression between us should be placed on the lowest rung of history. While history should always be with us, we should not live in it. In general, civilisations have been studied in terms of large historic units. For example, in his A Study of History, A. J. Toynbee3 points to 21 civilisations in the known history of the world, each with distinctive characteristics, but all sharing certain features or qualities which enable them to be distinguished as members of the same category. Sociologists speak of ‘modern civilisation’, by which is meant contemporary urban and industrialised societies. These approaches to the study of civilisation ‘fix’ them to a particular Reconstructing Muslim Civilisation 39 historic epoch. Thus, by definition, civilisation becomes a historic entity with a finite lifetime. Ibn Khaldun spoke of the rise and fall of civilisations thus presenting a cyclic view of history. 4 But Muslim civilisation is no more fixed to a particular historic epoch or geographical space than the teachings of the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The Muslim civilisation is a historic continuum; it has existed in the past, it exists today and it will exist in the future. Each step towards the future requires a further elaboration of the worldview of Islam, an invocation of the dynamic principle of ijtihad which enables the Muslim civilisation to tune in to the changing circumstances. Whether it is rising or declining, or indeed purely static, depends on the effort exerted by the Muslim ummah to understand and elaborate the teachings of Islam to meet the new challenges. There are essentially seven major challenges before us. However, none of these can be tackled in isolation. If we were to describe the Muslim civilisation as a flower-shaped schema, then we can identify the seven areas which need contemporary elaboration. The centre of the flower, the core, represents the Islamic worldview: it produces seeds for future growth and evelopment. The core is surrounded by two concentric circles representing the major manifestations of the Islamic worldview: epistemology and the Shari’ah or law. The four primary petals represent the major external expressions of the Weltanschauung: political and social structures; economic enterprise; science and technology; and environment. The flower also has a number of secondary petals representing such areas as architecture, art, education, community development, social behaviour and so on, but here we will limit our discussion to the primary petals. A detailed elaboration of the ‘flower’ and hence the development of a theoretical edifice, practical models and distinctive methodologies is an essential prerequisite for the reconstruction of Muslim civilisation. For example, the worldview of Islam needs to be continuously elaborated so that we can understand new developments vis-a-vis Islam. Essentially, the worldview of Islam consists of a few principles and a matrix of concepts to be found in the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The principles outline the general rules of behaviour and development and chalk out the general boundaries within which the Muslim civilisation has to grow and flourish. The conceptual matrix performs two basic functions: it acts as a standard of measure, a barometer if you like, of the ‘Islamicness’ of a particular situation, and it serves as a basis for the elaboration of the worldview of Islam. 40 Islam, Postmodernism and Other Futures Figure 2. 1 The challenges before us The principles of the Islamic worldview, largely related to social, economic and political behaviour, have been well discussed in Islamic literature. For example, the principle forbidding riba (all forms of usury) has been written about extensively. However, to turn it into a fully-fledged theory, and develop working models from it, we need to operationalise and develop a contemporary understanding of the relevant concepts from the conceptual matrix. For example, we need to have a detailed and analytical understanding of such concepts as shura (co-operating for the good), zakah (alms), and zulm (tyranny). Each one of these and many other concepts needs to be elaborated so that it becomes a fully developed body of knowledge from which further theoretical understanding can be derived and practical models developed. The most interesting feature of the worldview of Islam is that it presents an interactive and integrated outlook. Therefore, a contemporary understanding of one concept, say istislah (public Reconstructing Muslim Civilisation 41 interest), may lead to a theoretical understanding of economics, science, technology, environment and politics. Similarly, lack of understanding of a key concept may thwart developments in all these fields. A primary task, without which all future work will be hampered, is the development of a contemporary theory of Islamic epistemology. Epistemology, or theory of knowledge, is in fact nothing more than an expression of a worldview. All great Muslim scholars of the ‘Golden Age’ devoted their talents and time to this task: for epistemology permeates all aspects of individual, societal and civilisational behaviour. 5 Without a distinct epistemology, a unique civilisation is impossible. Without a way of knowing that is identifiably Islamic we can neither elaborate the worldview of Islam nor put an Islamic stamp on contemporary issues. For the Muslim scholars of the past, an Islamic civilisation was inconceivable without a fully-fledged epistemology; hence their preoccupation with the classification of knowledge. Without the same concern amongst contemporary Muslim scholars and intellectuals, there is little hope of a Muslim civilisation of the future. Why is epistemology so important? Epistemology is vital because it is the major operator which transforms the vision of a worldview into a reality. When we think about the nature of knowledge, what we are doing is indirectly reflecting on the principles according to which society is organised. Epistemology and societal structures feed on each other: when we manipulate images of society, when we develop and erect social, economic, political, scientific and technological structures, we are taking a cue from our conception of knowledge. This is why the Islamic concept of knowledge, ilm, is so central to the Muslim civilisation. However, for some reason, thinking about the nature of knowledge in western societies has been an abstract and obscure endeavour; it has led the western philosophers to a paralysis of mind. But as the history of Islam demonstrates so clearly, issues of Islamic epistemology are pragmatic issues; and we need to develop a highly pragmatic, contemporary epistemology of Islam. Classical scholars like al-Ghazzali, al-Baruni, al-Farabi, al-Khawarizmi, and others, have laid a solid foundation for a practical epistemology of Islam. Their work has to be dragged from history and given a dynamic, modern form. It is one of the most urgent tasks awaiting the attention of Muslim scholars. 42 Islam, Postmodernism and Other Futures The Shari’ah, or Islamic law, too is a pragmatic concern. Shari’ah, rather than theology, has been the primary contribution of Muslim civilisation to human development. Like epistemology, the Shari’ah touches every aspect of Muslim society. It is law and ethics rolled into one. As Parvez Manzoor says, all contradictions of internalised ethics and externalised law, of concealed intentions and revealed actions are resolved in the allembracing actionalism of the Shari’ah because it is both a doctrine and a path. It is simultaneously a manifestation of divine will and that of human resolve to be an agent of that will. It is eternal (anchored in God’s revelation) and temporal (enacted in human history); stable (Qur’an and Sunnah ) and dynamic (ijma and ijtihad); din (religion) and muamalah (social interaction); divine gift and human prayer all at once. It is the vary basis of the religion itself: to be Muslim is to accept the injunction of the Shari’ah. 6 Yet, we have allowed such a paramount and all-pervasive manifestation of the Islamic worldview to become nothing more than an ossified body of dos and don’ts. Without a deep and detailed contemporary and futuristic understanding of the Shari’ah, Muslim societies cannot hope to solve their local, national and international problems. The belief that the classical Schools of Islamic Thought have solved all societal problems is dangerously naive. We need to go beyond the classical schools and build a contemporary structure on the foundations laid down by earlier jurists. What is needed is not a reworking of the classical works in the realm of prayer and ritual, personal and social relations, marriage and divorce, dietary laws and rules of fasting: these have been taken care of admirably. What is needed is the extension of the Shari’ah into contemporary domains such as environment and urban planning, science policy and technology assessment, community participation and rural development. In many instances this amounts to reactivating hitherto dormant Shari’ah concepts and institutions and giving them a contemporary life. For example, the Shari’ah injunctions about water laws need to be studied from the perspective of modern environmental problems, and such Shari’ah institutions as harem (inviolate zones of easement), hima (public reserves), and hisbah (office of public inspection) have to be given a living form. Moreover, the Shari’ah needs to be extended beyond law and turned into a dynamic problem-solving methodology. Most jurists Reconstructing Muslim Civilisation 43 would agree that the chief sources of the Shari’ah are the Qur’an; the Sunnah, or the authentic traditions of the Prophet Muhammad; ijma, or the consensus of opinion; qiyas, or judgement upon juristic analogy and ijtihad, or independent reasoning by jurists. The supplementary sources of the Shari’ah are said to be istihsan, that is prohibiting or permitting a thing because it serves or does not serve a ‘useful purpose’; istislah, or public interest; and urf or custom and practice of a society. Classical jurists used ijma, qiyas, ijtihad, istihsan, istislah and urf as methods of solving practical problems. It is indeed tragic that their followers have abandoned the methods and stuck to the actual juristic rulings despite that fact their benefits were obviously limited to a particular historic situation. The blind following of these rulings has not only turned the body of the Shari’ah into a fossilised canon but now threatens to suffocate the very civilisation of Islam. Relegating the pronouncements of classical jurists into eternal principles and rules is not only belittling the Shari’ah, it is detrimental to Muslim societies as well. The reconstruction of Muslim civilisation begins by setting the Shari’ah free from this suffocating hold and giving it the status it truly deserves in the Muslim civilisation; a dynamic problem-solving methodology which touches every aspect of human endeavour. We now come to the four external expressions of the Islamic Weltanschauung. All four areas have received attention in modern Islamic literature: political theory and economics have received extensive attention for almost 30 years now; science, technology and the environment have only recently begun to be studied from the Islamic perspective. Thus, there is plenty of original scholarship here to build upon and to streamline within a civilisational framework. Islamic economics, in particular, has developed considerably in the last decade. However, much of modern work in Islamic economics has been descriptive; and most of it has been trapped in western epistemological concerns and economic frameworks. Indeed, with the sole exception of Nawab Haider Naqvi’s Ethics and Economics: An Islamic Synthesis,7 works on Islamic economics have used description (excessive in the work of Nejatullah Siddiqui) and reduction (overdone in the writing of Monzar Kahf). Moreover, Islamic economics has been developed as a ‘discipline’ (a shadow of western economics perhaps? ) and not as an integrated field destined to become a pillar of the Muslim civilisation. Note that Nejatullah Siddiqui’s Muslim Economic Thinking: A Survey of Contemporary 44 Islam, Postmodernism and Other Futures Literature8 does not contain a single citation linking economics to political theory, science and technology or the environment. Considering that technology is the backbone of modern economics, information a prime commodity, environmental degradation a major outcome, it is indeed surprising that the advocates of Islamic economics are silent on these issues. The atomised development of Islamic economics as a unitary discipline, and an obsessive concern with western epistemology, have elegated it to a marginalised existence. Perhaps this is an unfair criticism. But the fact remains that any major advances in Islamic economics can only be made if it becomes a truly interdisciplinary field of endeavour pursued within a civilisational framework. Much the same criticism can be made of the recent works on Islamic political structures and social organisations. M ost of the writings here are trapped in the mould cast by the nation-state and such concepts of western political theory as nationalism, democracy, socialism, bureaucracy and the like. Such works as The Nature of the Islamic State by M. Hadi Hussain and A. H. Kamali9 beg the obvious question: Is Islam a state? Is the nation-state the only expression of an Islamic polity? When it comes to the issue of governance, Muslim political scientists reveal themselves to be true victims of history; only monarchy or Caliphate, best exemplified by Maulana Maududi’s (as yet not translated into English) controversial Urdu treatise, Caliphate or Mulukiat (Caliphate or Kingship? )10 appear to be the viable options to most authors! In the vast universe of ideas that is Islam, is there no other method of governance? Apart from political theory, social structures have also received little interdisciplinary attention. Syed Qutb and Ali Shariati are among the very few who seem to have realised that social exploitation is a dominant theme in Muslim society (an excellent treatment of which is to be found in Syed Qutb’s Social Justice in Islam). 11 The related issues of population and urban decay, the blatant exploitation of women, community development and cultural awareness are conspicuously absent from the social analysis of modern Muslim writers. Both in the fields of political and social structures and of economics, we need interdisciplinary theories, models and methodologies which synthesise these fields with Islamic epistemology and the Shari’ah as well as with the other main external expressions of the worldview of Islam: science and technology and the environment. Very little has been written about the environmental perspective of Islam. However, the few works on the subject are of exceptionally Reconstructing Muslim Civilisation 45 good quality and concentrate on conceptual analysis. For example, various papers of Othman Llewellyn on ‘Desert Reclamation and Islamic Law’12 and Parvez Manzoor’s ‘Environment and Values: The Islamic Perspective’13 provide good indications that a totally contemporary, conceptual as well as pragmatic Islamic theory of the environment can be developed relatively easily and translated into pragmatic policy statements. Similarly, Waqar Ahmad Husaini’s attempt to develop a modern theory of Islamic Environmental Systems Engineering,14 although requiring much elaboration, demonstrates that the conceptual matrix of the worldview of Islam can be fruitfully used for analytical purposes. Science and technology, on the other hand, have not fared so well. In this field, the hold of western epistemology and social models on the minds of Muslim scientists and technologists is almost total. The link between what purports to be a scientific ‘fact’ and epistemology is not easy to grasp. The point that ‘scientific facts’ are not something we can take for granted or think of as solid rocks upon which knowledge is built is, to a modern scientist working in western paradigms, slightly mind-boggling. The epistemological and methodological point is that facts, like cows, have been domesticated to deal with run-of-the-mill events. Hence, the connection between facts and values is not always obvious; and the notion that knowledge is manufactured and not discovered is not appreciated by many Muslim scientists. Thus, the bulk of the literature of ‘Islam and science’ is pretty naive; and some works like Maurice Bucailles’s The Bible, the Qur’an and Science15 are highly dangerous (what can be proved by science can also be disproved by the same science; where does that leave the Qur’an? ) The process of reconstruction of the Muslim civilisation amounts to meeting the seven challenges outlined above. Muslim societies have to think about and study their future not in terms of a resurgence, but as a planned and a continuous process of reconstruction of their civilisation. This process involves, not ‘Islamising’ this or that discipline, but casting the external expressions of Muslim civilisation in the epistemological mode of Islam and the methodology of the Shari’ah. It involves elaborating the worldview of Islam and using the conceptual matrix that is at the heart of the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The mental outlook of this process is based on synthesis and interdisciplinarity. What is the

The Events Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Events Industry - Essay Example In this study, a report will be presented in relation to the business/trade event sector. The report will be intended towards the presenting to a new events based company Phoenix Event Planning which is looking forward to diversify into business/trade sector of event industry. Historical Development Event management is one of the fastest growing industries all over the world. It includes hosting of numerous events of distinct stature. It has been noted that arranging for birthday parties and weddings is considered as one of the social issues that needs to be managed by the trained professionals (JuliaSilvers, 2011). It was identified by UK Events Market Trends Survey (UKEMTS) that the revenues generated by the event management companies in the years 2006-2008 had been 7.2 billion. The event industry of the UK presents numerous career opportunities. There are various organisations that tend to deliver the events such as the corporate companies, agencies, publishing companies, venues a nd festivals (Leicester Shire Promotions, 2010). There are large companies who have an in-house event team such as in banks, retail companies and automotives. Most of the organisations conduct numerous events all over the year such as conferences, management meetings, customer focused events and external events such as sports and arts. Venues in the UK are capable of offering themselves as an event venue. Even at the publishing companies, there are live events that are generally conducted all through the year. With the greater scope in the event management sector, most of the companies are entering into the event management industry. One of them has been Phoenix Event Planning that entered into the markets of the UK, Lancashire in the year 2008 and is providing its services all around the UK. It aims at providing tailored services to its clients (FreeIndex, 2011). It has been noted that since the past three years the company has organised numerous parties, weddings and events for di fferent clients (Pheonix Event Planning, n.d.). It can be mentioned that the company is already into social events and cultural events. In planning to diversify into a new sector; the company can enter into business/trade shows. Tradeshows can also be known as exhibitions where the traders are allowed to demonstrate regarding their latest products to the public. Trade shows are conducted at a continuous basis by all the markets and thus tend to attract the members of the public. Exhibition has been into existence since a long period of time and the first trade show took place approximately 2500 years ago (Pyramid Visuals, n.d.). It has been noted that huge amount of money is spent in business or tradeshows/exhibitions by the marketers every year. The tradeshow organisers are providing learning contents, consultative opportunities and demonstration theatres as few of the main characteristics of the events. The companies as well take benefits of the opportunities (Conventions, 2011). Demographic Profiling It has been noted that for executing a major event, it takes almost 150 hours for an event planner as well as the staffs of the planner to execute a major event. There are innumerable numbers of business/trade events that are held in the United Kingdom. Most of the business/trade shows take place twice in a year as well. The different trade shows held are International Fire Expo, the UK national footwear exhibition, the UK national

Globalization and State Power Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Globalization and State Power - Essay Example The South keeps on widening, it cannot be gainsaid that the political and military repercussions of this schism can significantly change the complexion and direction of inter-capitalist competition that, in turn, urn alter global politics in a manner that could change the nation-state as we now know it to be. In political society, we have governments (parliament the s; the legislature, executive, and judiciary), dominant political parties ("leftist", "centrist" and "rightist"), the police, the military service, penology, welfare service, central banks and national treasuries. The Constitution, of course, since it codifies the ideological will of political society. Many social foundations and educational institutions fall in this sphere. Included, too, are international global associations (World Bank, International Monetary fund, World Trade Organization, ASEAN, NATO, Warsaw Pact), etc. Civil war and war between states fall in this chunk. The capitalist nation-state is an embodiment of political society. The nation-state still clings to the throne as the prime cultural institution in contemporary political society. It is, however, fast losing grip. The end of the Cold War and the powerful wave of Globalization vastly reconfigured the world order. We have seen the end of the old colonial world and the rise of Islamic militancy in the mid-90s. Post-Cold War globalization served to unleash many pent-up social contradictions previously held hostage by the Cold War, like racial and ethnic clashes both within the North and South alike. The most profound changes, however, are in the economic realm. Globalization—the accelerated expansion and heightened contradictions of international capitalism -Â  is bound to intensify even more within the decade. (Hirst & Thompson, 2000) Vicious international competition among highly industrialized capitalist nation-states animates the world order. Economic globalization was mainly corporate-led.

Having someone to represent you means not acting for yourself. How, Essay

Having someone to represent you means not acting for yourself. How, then, does representative democracy facilitate the participation of the people - Essay Example However, various countries have various forms of governments. Many have democratic systems, while others are having kingships. Democracy allows the people of the nation to choose their representative, which they think can fully put forward their views and concern at a first place. A proper election system is established in those countries and people are allowed to cast their vote against shortlisted candidates. The candidates achieving majority of the vote declares victory and has then the authority to have the command over the country ship from then on (Shughart, pp.157-159. 2003). The elected one is assumed the spokesperson and the way-looker for the nation and has to fulfill certain responsibilities. Having a person or a representative group of people working for some larger number of people is required because it helps to maintain the status quo at a first place which otherwise would result in a chaos, and on the other hand it is needed to unite the scattered and diverse group of people under one roof. Moreover, various institutions, apart from residents, also work under the core circle of a nation set of hierarchy. These institutions may include Hospitals, Security Departments, commercial houses, and educational institutions, which also have their demands and requisitions over the governing bodies. Smooth operations within institutions need a structural framework that is followed by both, people working in the organization as well as the people getting advantage from them (for example, clients or customers). Such operations are always headed by a single governing body, which is formed by professionals from integrated departments and working under mutual consent to carry forward all the needed tasks. Similar is the case with a whole country. Taking country as a bigger institution, aimed at giving its people a contributive environment for living also needs a representative body.

The Significance Of The Dorado Sequence

The Significance Of The Dorado Sequence In Candide by Voltaire, describes the transformation of the protagonist Candide, throughout the story. The author demonstrates the character development over the story starting with an innocent personality as a child who does not have responsibility to know, into a great man who experienced the life means. Basically Candide endures the human suffering to get his final destiny. During his crossing candide visited many cities which make him have different point of view about life experience such as El Dorado. It was a great place totally different from the rest of cities. In the story the language shows Candides progress towards maturity. When Candide was expulsed from the palace for his love to Ms. Cunegonde, he experimented a cruelty period of life. But it help him to face the philosophical view that all things in life are necessary for some greater good. As said his best friend and philosopher Pangloss. ,He sees that everything does not happen for the best as the philosophers and metaphysician Pangloss had told him in the Barons castle. (Philip Littell)Throughout Candides travels he develops a new philosophy of life, his eyes open to reality. In the story El Dorado have a big role in Candide ideologies about life. People in El Dorado have different ways of thinking and priorities with Europe or visitors. I simply cant understand , said he, the passion you Europeans have for our yellow mud; but take all you want, and much good may it do you.( Candide,408).El Dorado habitants know how the outsiders over appreciate money and gold. Also ,people from there ,know that materialistic things are important and indispensable for the visitors and most of the time the only way to meet happiness for a while they have those valuables were worthless for them. In constrat el Dorado is the notion of emotions such as love and care are freely chosen. People in El Dorado value the species and fellow human rather than having wars against each other for a ridiculous argument and ambition of possessing all the materialistic objects. Moreover, El Dorado is a really simple and humble city, where people do not need extravagant things, they only have the essential things and there are no disagreements between them, poverty is nonexistent. Cacambo its true my friend it again, the castle where I was born does not compare with the land where we now are; but Miss Cunegonde is not here.(Candide, 408).In this quote I could perceive the reason of candide to leave el Dorado, it was Miss Cunengonde. Candide was really in love with her and he wanted to be with her. The love of both was not accept for their different social classes. Candide to get his change goes through many adventures and gradually matures into an experienced and practical man. Finally, he decides to settle down and live by farming his own garden-this symbolizes his surrender to simple self-preservation and candide said that we must cultivate our garden.(Voltaire 30,438) After a long and difficult struggle in which Candide is forced to overcome misfortune to find happiness, he concludes that everything is not as good as it seems the way Dr. Pangloss, his tutor had taught him. Another important point in El Dorado is that people shared their belongings and there is no such a feeling as avarice and envy in this place. Even though the residents of El Dorado do, they do not have an organized religion and do not believe in a religious persecution. None of the inhabitants they all believe the same thing. In order Voltaire remarks that unlike Europe and the rest of the world in El Dorado people are free to follow and express their own faith and not be afraid of future consequences of others disapproval. Furthermore, in El Dorado there are not courts or prisons because everyone acted with a good attitude toward each other. By the way, their system of education is well organized and advanced compare to the rest. Unfortunately, the rest of the world is really different from El Dorado. In this part of the world we can see a lot of violence, corruption and misfortune thats why El Dorado tries to keep away from the rest of the world, because habitants does not want to be infected with this style of life. Everyone wants to been in a community without those problems, because the environment plays a big role in the way we live and, also in the way we interact with the others. Instead of living in an infected world we should be looking for a better lifestyle. We only request of your majesty, Cacambo said, a few sheep loaded with provisions, some pebbles, and some of the mud of country. The king laughed. I simply cant understand, said he, the passion you Europeans have for our yellow mud; but take all you want, and much good may it do you.(candide, 408) In addition, El Dorado dont need of gold and jewels to been happy like the rest world, that the main priority is have more and more money to be happy. A great and important value from the habitants of El Dorado is that always they demonstrate love, respect and confidence to their children and community. One thing important that i learned of the book el dorado is that they always is important show love, respect and confidence to their children and community and the thing materialistic dont need been the most important to them. In contrary, the rest world teach to children that materialistic things are important to reach the happy and I believe that is great problem that present the society today because they dont found confidence, respect and love. Then they use drugs to gain attention from their parents, because their parents dont have communications with them. Many teens use drugs because they are depressed or think drugs will help them escape their problems. El Dorado contrast to t he rest of the world in many different ways one is that rest word is materialistic and the effects that cause a society materialistic are the use drugs, alcohol and crime. It is the same as our addiction to all the materialistic things in the world. In addition, rest world have become extremely addicted to the material world. People El Dorado is different because they are peace-loving people determined to live a life of simplicity, sheltering themselves from the outside world to better focus on the spiritual world. The most important for El Dorado community is that they want to feel better of follow with the values of their community. Candide listened attentively and believed innocently; for he thought Miss Cunegonde extremely beautiful, though he never had the courage to tell her so. He concluded that after the happiness of being born Baron of Thunder-ten-Tronckh, the second degree of happiness was to be Miss Cunegonde, the third that of seeing her every day, and the fourth that of hearing Master Pangloss, the greatest philosopher of the whole province, and consequently of the whole world (candide 1, 378) During his adventures he realize that things not always happen for the best, he understand that it just happen in his innocent mind. El dorado have a great important to one of some changes of Candide was his philosophy really optimistic mind everything is for the best. It was a phrase of his teacher Pangloss He taught that everything was for the best and Candide, having never heard any other philosophies, agrees blindly. In his amazing journey he finds that every event in the world has a reason, and whether there are positive or negative moments you have to live them.

Free Essays - A Schoolyard Lesson :: Personal Narrative Essays

A Schoolyard Lesson "Get up, get up you have school today," my mother blurted out, as I fell out of bed. I stood up and waddled to the bathroom. Looking into the mirror I smiled to myself; I knew today was going to be just fine. My family and I had just moved from Guatemala, and today was to be my first day at Bel Air Elementary School. I usually don't get worried about these situations, since I've been through the routine before, besides I tend to make friends easily. Why would today be any different, I told myself. I finished brushing my teeth and splashing my face, then continued to get dressed. I threw on some Bugle Boy caches, a Polo shirt, and some Nikes. After giving up on my hair; I ran into the kitchen and snatched my lunch box off the counter. Soon I was out the door and on to face my first day at my new school. After defeating the labyrinth of streets that we call our neighborhood, and meeting my first crossing guard; I made my way into the school. It was quite crowded , but I knew where I was headed. I proceeded up the stairs and down the hall to room 212, where I sat down in the front row. I turned around and took a quick peak at the class; scanning the room for someone to talk to. When I saw no opportunities I began to get a bit timid, but as soon as the bell rang I felt all right. We went through the motions for awhile: filling out paper work, introducing ourselves, all the first day stuff. I heard a few kids say they were new to the area, of which Brian Vedder was the only boy. He wasn't much to look at, not a soap opera star, or a great athlete, just a regular kid. Nonetheless I thought I'd like to meet him and talk to him later on in the day. By this time we all were becoming restless, and I definitely knew why. Everyone was waiting for recess, the time when kids get to have fun and let it all hang out. After all we didn't have class

Elderly Homelessness Essay

Although the elderly are homeless for all sorts of reasons, there are some common causes of homelessness for everyone. The causes of elderly homelessness are mostly financial. The most common cause of homelessness is income. The elderly retire and do not make the same income as they did while working. Because their income is low, they receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to live off of. However, SSI is usually very low and not even above the poverty line. The maximum SSI monthly benefit in Washington D. C. s $850 for an individual, which is well below the poverty line (NLIHC, 2007). These monthly benefits have to be used to pay bills, buy food, and pay for housing. SSI benefits do not last very long because they are so small and the cost of housing usually diminishes the benefit before it can go any further. The cost of housing is the second most common cause of homelessness among the elderly. It is hard to find affordable housing in many areas, especially in busy cities. The cost of a one bedroom apartment in Washington D. C. was $1,134 (NLIHC, 2007). Many of the elderly have a hard time paying for housing because SSI will only pay housing if the cost is thirty percent of their SSI benefit. Many of the elderly who are having issues paying for the cost of housing can apply for section 8 vouchers, but there is an ironic twist to this option. In order to receive section 8 vouchers to avoid homelessness, the person applying has to already be homeless. Once the person is homeless, it will be very difficult to apply for section 8 because they don’t have a permanent address or a way to keep in contact with any agencies. Some of the other causes of elderly homelessness include physical and mental health. The problem with the health of the elderly is that most of them have some sort of illness that prevents them from being able to take care of themselves and their home. The elderly are more likely to experience a disruption in their ability to care or provide for themselves and their homes because they are not physically or mentally able to. Their health causes them to stop working and ultimately leads to receiving the low SSI benefits, like a vicious circle. One of the causes of homelessness is the lack of social support from family and friends. Many elderly people become homes because they do not have anyone to help them, whether financially or emotionally. They do not ask for help because their family and friends may also be having financial issues and do not have space in their home for the elderly person to live with them. Because of this many elderly people feel like a burden and are too ashamed to ask their friends and family for help and they are left to fend for themselves, which leads to homelessness. The last common cause of elderly homelessness is the â€Å"knowledge deficit† that exists about available services. Many elderly people admit that they do not know which programs and services are available to them and which they are eligible for. Sometimes there are services and support that they are eligible for that they are unaware of and they feel like there is nothing they can do. This usually leads to becoming homeless because they ran out of time to apply for services and get help to prevent homelessness. Many of the elderly people who are homeless did not think they were eligible for services and many other elderly people were unaware of services that might be available to them. This is a huge problem because the elderly do not have the information they need to prevent being homeless and they are not receiving the support and services that they are eligible for. These elderly people are falling into situations that they don’t know how to get out of.

buy custom PERT versus CPM essay

buy custom PERT versus CPM essay Research as shown that the most common project estimation technique employed by project mangers include PERT and CPM. PERT is an acronym that stands for Program Evaluation and Review Technique. According to Scott (2006), this technique provides definitive estimates of how long it would take to complete tasks. It involves generation of three estimates to come up with a final estimate. The three estimates include; optimistic time, pessimistic time and most likely time. The most optimistic case (O), gives the best case estimate of time to complete a task and it indicates a situation when everything is working right. The most pessimistic case (P), gives the worst case estimate of time to complete a particular task and it indicates a situation of the worst occurrence. The last estimate is the most likely case (M) which gives the normal estimated time to complete a task. Basically, this is the time expected to complete a task given the normal problems and opportunities. The three estimates are combined to create a single number that best describes how long it would take to complete a given task and then a weighted average of the three estimates is created with the most likely estimate being four-times than either optimistic or pessimistic estimate. PERT estimation technique can be used in a number of situations. For instance, it can be used in estimating the feasibility of a given project in terms of cost and scheduled time for its completion. Kheter (2010) highlights the advantages and disadvantages of this method which can be used to determine the circumstances under which the method can be applied. One of the advantages of this method is that it has got added flexibility of fast tracking or slowing down the project as required. Therefore, where flexibility is of essence, PERT estimation method can be applicable. The other advantage is that it helps one to arrive at a realistic starting or ending date for project activities. This makes the method more appropriate in determining the most probable duration that a given projectwould take. This method also facilitates identification of a critical path thus reducing the overall project risk. Therefore, in situations where a project manager wants to identify and minimize risks, this method can be appropriate. However, due to its disadvantages, as pointed out by Kheter (2010), it may not be suitable to use where the number of tasks or activities and dependencies are many. This is because as these activities and dependencies increase, complexities emerge thus increasing the risk of project failure. In addition, its lack of objectivity in the criteria used for defining initial optimistic and pessimistic estimates limits one to rely on it in future as the same criteria may not be applicable at that time. Finally, in situations where one may want the actual estimate of time needed to complete a given task, this method may not be reliable as it may lead to under-estimation of actual project time in some instances. CPM is another commonly used estimation technique and its also an acronym that stands for Critical Path Method. It is a step-by-step technique used in project planning and defines critical and non-critical tasks with an aim of preventing time-frame problems and project failure (Linda and Brennan, 2006). According to the writers, this method is best suited to projects consisting of numerous activities that interact in a complex manner. Unlike PERT which uses three estimates, CPM uses a single point estimation of the completion time. In CPM, activities can be determined whereas in PERT, activity estimates are based on probability. As earlier stated, this method is best suited to projects that have got numerous activities that interact in a complex manner. This adds to many other advantages of this method as highlighted by Shari and Rosalind (2005). The method shows the activities that are critical to maintain the schedule and which are not. Therefore, in situations where one wants to determine the most important activities to focus on, this offers the best option. Also, using thhis method, a project manager can determine the actual date for completing each activity and also compare what should be happening with what is taking place and take the corrective measures. Therefore, in a situation where one would like to have good control and monitoring of the project, this method can be applicable. This method also provides a graphical view of the project in which dependencies are displayed to help in scheduling. This helps in the planning of the project thus making it reliable. In addition, activities and their outcome can be shown as a network. It evaluates the activities that can run parallel to each other. Therefore, this method can be applicable in situations where there are numerous and complex activities that are to be carried out together. However, in situations where scheduling of personnel or the allocation of resources is needed, this method is not suitable as it does not support it. In addition, where larger projects are involved, it is not advisable to use this method as it can be complicated in such projects. Also, in cases where the project manger involved does not have sufficient knowledge of the method, it is not advisable to use the method as it is not always clear and needs to be calculated carefully. Apart from PERT and CPM, there are other project management cost and scheduling techniques such as function point counting, weighted average (WAVE), bottom-up, top-down and extrapolation. However, though these techniques can also be applied to cost estimation and scheduling, they cannot override the benefits derived from using either PERT or CPM. As earlier indicated, they are the most common tools of estimation and are more reliable and accurate when it comes to estimation. In conclusion, though PERT and CPM are the most common methods of estimation, the other methods cannot be underestimated as they can also offer some benefits which PERT or CPM cannot offer. However, I one would prefer PERT because it recognizes uncertainty in project time estimation and cost. Buy custom PERT versus CPM essay