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This study aims to investigate risks associated with climate change vulnerability and in response the adaptation methods used by farming communities to reduce its negative impacts on agriculture in Pakistan.

The study used household survey method of data collection in Charsadda district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, involving 116 randomly selected respondents.

Prevalent crops diseases, water scarcity, soil fertility loss and poor socio-economic conditions were main contributing factors of climate change vulnerability. The results further showed that changing crops type and cultivation pattern, improved seed varieties, planting shaded trees and the provision of excessive fertilizers are the measures adapted to improve agricultural productivity, which may reduce the climate change vulnerability at a household level.

The major limitation of this study was the exclusion of women from the survey due to religious and cultural barriers of in Pashtun society, wherein women and men do not mingle.

Reducing climate change vulnerability and developing more effective adaptation techniques require assistance from the government. This help can be in the form of providing basic resources, such as access to good quality agricultural inputs, access to information and extension services on climate change adaptation and modern technologies. Consultation with other key stakeholder is also required to create awareness and to build the capacity of the locals toward reducing climate change vulnerability and facilitating timely and effective adaptation.

This original research work provides evidence about farm-level vulnerability, adaptation strategies and risk perceptions on dealing with climate-change-induced natural disasters in Pakistan. This paper enriches existing knowledge of climate change vulnerability and adaptation in this resource-limited country so that effective measures can be taken to reduce vulnerability of farming communities, and enhance their adaptive capability.

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) laid the foundations of the Islamic state in Medina in 622 A.D. The state expanded gradually during the 10‐year rule of the Prophet (pbuh). The Arabian Peninsula and Southern Palestine were conquered during that period. The state expanded enormously during the reign of Umar (RA). Many countries of the Roman and Persian empires comprising an area of more than 2.2 million were annexed. Historians have noted that this framework played a vital role in integrating these people which in turn strengthened the state.

This paper aims to shed light on how children's literature in Africa deserves to be studied because African writers “decolonize” the minds of African children and children and adults around the world.

This paper defines children's literature from an African perspective and the “decolonization of the mind.” This is done to examine how two African writers provide narratives for children inspired by their cultures. They deal with themes, characters and symbols that interest children and adults.

Achebe and Youssef crossed many borders: the world of children and adults, animals and humans, vice and virtue, supernatural and real. Their stories take the reader on journeys that involve enriching, engaging and inspiring adventures.

Youssef and Achebe are prolific writers. Providing a survey of what is available in Arabic and Nigerian literature for children, is beyond the scope of this paper.

This paper sends a message to those in charge of the curriculum in schools in Egypt, the Arab countries, Africa and the world at large: decolonize the syllabi in schools because the world is not black and white. Literature for children that encourages critical thinking is available by African writers in Egypt, Nigeria and elsewhere.

The works discussed show that African writers are creative, and their works inspire the African child with pride in his/her identity, culture and heritage.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, no one has compared Egyptian and Nigerian literature for children before. Youssef and Achebe provide evidence that “Good literature gives the child a place in the world … and the world a place in the child.” – Astrid Lindgren.

Pakistan is one of the most climate change and natural disaster-affected countries in the globe, where the lives and livelihoods of people are repeatedly affected due to these natural disasters. Over the past few decades, the country has been impacted by numerous devastating floods, droughts, and storms. As a result, households face enormous complications, particularly those dwelling in disaster-prone areas. Therefore, this study intends to explore the status of household vulnerability and resilience practices of hazard-prone communities in Pakistan from existing literature. This study has identified the 17 most relevant documents. It argues that household vulnerability is increasing consistently with the increasing rate of disaster intensity. Frequent flooding, landslide, erosion, and crop loss are the leading causes of household vulnerability. This study reveals five types of household vulnerability components which look into several livelihood vulnerability indicators of Pakistani households. Moreover, the study unfolds that the main causes of disaster vulnerability are widespread crop loss, a lack of water, loss of soil fertility, and low socioeconomic situations. The major vulnerability components of dwellers are exposure (increasing summer duration, the rapid increase of population house build-up in the riparian areas, and increasing occurrence of hailstorms), sensitivity, low access to education facilities, human loss, diseases infestation, food insecurity, and social conflict), and less adaptive capacity (social networks, migration, poor emergency services, multiple income sources, and less access to the health facility). To address the household vulnerability, this study has also identified four key aspects of resilience, like social resilience, economic resilience, institutional resilience, and physical resilience. The findings will effectively help to understand the dynamics of household vulnerability and resilience and its measurement and management strategy from developed indicators.

Fear of rejection is a feeling experienced by every human, which influences everyday life. It impacts an individual’s physical and mental health. But still there is no valid and reliable measure to assess prevalence of fear of rejection because of interpersonal relationships and social factors. This paper aims to serve the purpose of the establishment of psychometric properties of a scale that measures the fear of rejection.

Data was gathered from focus groups to establish item pool and construct the instrument. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted on the data collected by administering fear of rejection scale (FRS) and it uncovered the structure of the developed scale. Principal component analysis method was conducted by using direct oblimin rotation.

A two-factor structure, which includes interpersonal relationships and social factors, was obtained as a result of EFA. The internal consistency of the scale is highly acceptable with a = 0.93, which indicated that the scale is highly reliable. High reliability of subscales was attained as a = 0.90 and 0.86, respectively.

This research paper is original, which aims to assess the fear of rejection in terms of social and interpersonal rejection. The data collected is valid and authentic. The FRS is constructed with highly reliable results and is a psychometrically sound instrument.

Like many other authors, Briffault recognises the immense contribution of Muslims to civilisation and its influence on the European renaissance. Unlike most other authors, however, Briffault realises that such a contribution was stimulated, motivated and guided by a “new spirit.” Insufficient attention, however, has been given to the source and roots of this “new spirit,” which emerged suddenly and powerfully in the Seventh Century initially among the Arabs who were not known for any significant contribution to science and technology. Nor was the sandy, mostly arid Arabia known as a centre of learning and research.

Following a crucial COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, the coronavirus has affected every academic institution, particularly libraries and information centres. To address this unprecedented scenario, libraries’ staff has decided to provide their services via digital access while staying close to the users. To predict users’ intention to use digital libraries after COVID-19, the authors combined the technology acceptance model (TAM), the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and perceived risk.

Data were collected via a paper-based questionnaire using a convenient sampling method which was distributed at two major libraries; Maulana Azad Library, Aligarh Muslim University and Dr Zakir Husain Library, Jamia Millia Islamia in India.

Empirical findings suggested that all the proposed hypotheses were supported, and the integrated model had strong explanation power as the proposed model explained a 74.5% variance in users’ intention to use digital libraries after COVID-19.

This study offers substantial information to librarians, digital libraries, universities, institutes and other stakeholders and sheds light on the potential for a developing nation to transition to an economy with a strong digital infrastructure. The scope of the study is constrained to the users in India only, hence, leading to the possibility that it may be challenging to generalize the findings.

According to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is one of the few studies to predict users’ intentions for using digital libraries after COVID-19 by applying the integrated model of TPB and TAM in an emerging economy. It helped understand the users’ attitudes towards using the digital services and resources available at the respective libraries. It also contributed considerably to the argument that users have grown accustomed to harnessing digital libraries during the post-COVID-19 period.

There has been much controversy, if not dispute, especially among non-Muslims over the attitude of Islam to tourism. One may claim that this debate is mainly due to non-Muslims' misunderstanding of the true nature of the religion and its Shari'a or Islamic law. This chapter attempts to show in some detail tourism from the perspective of the Islamic creed and to demonstrate that the religion does encourage tourism and regards it as legal. To do this the chapter reviews a number of sources including the holy Qur'an.

The purpose of this paper is to browse literature based on Aaker’s brand personality modal and highlight criticism on it. Furthermore, the study proposes an Islamic brand personality modal based on Islamic teachings.

Extensive research on Muslim characteristics based on Qur’an, hadith and scholarly work of traditional and modern scholars has been used to assess Aaker’s model. Expert opinions of faculty members from relevant field are also taken into consideration to propose Islamic brand personality model.

Aaker’s brand personality dimensions have been revised in the light of Islamic teachings. As a result, few pre-existing dimensions have been re-named and several new dimensions such as moral character and trustworthiness are also included.

Considering the gap found in literature, the need to conduct brand personality research in the service industry such as Islamic banks is highlighted.

Islamic brand personality model may help marketers effectively differentiate Islamic brands such as Islamic banks. It may also reinforce advertising techniques/tools to attract a large Muslim consumer market.

This paper is one of the early attempts to see brand personality from Islamic perspective.