National tragedies such as the September 11th attacks (also known as “911”), the San Bernardino attack on December 2, 2014 and the Orlando murders at Pulse nightclub on June 13, 2016, which were all committed by sympathizers of Islamic terrorist groups, have fueled anti-Muslim sentiment and have led to a spike in hate attacks on Muslims (Siemaszko, 2015). Sadly, these acts of terrorism have created a climate of Islamophobia, or “an exaggerated fear, hatred, and hostility toward Islam and Muslims that is perpetuated by negative stereotypes resulting in bias, discrimination, and the marginalization and exclusion of Muslims from social, political, and civic life” (Gallup, 2015). Since the results of a 2015 Gallup report found 43% of Americans have some degree of prejudice toward Muslims, this manuscript will address the following question: “Can the Islamic belief system and the ethics of social work be reconciled?” To respond to the primary research question, we will address the following three quest...

Islam in the 21st century: Can the Islamic belief system and the ethics of social work be reconciled?

Background : Caring is an essence of nursing and many studies enlighten about caring for various populations and settings. Caring science within Islamic contexts has gained more attention from nurses, especially in the area related to cultural and spiritual care. Purpose : The aim of this study was to discuss the concepts of caring science within Islamic contexts. Methods : We extracted 27 articles in both qualitative and quantitative studies, inthe English language, based on PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) method. The date and years were limited from January 2008 to 2014 from several databases. Keywordswere ‘caring science’, ‘Islamic caring’, ‘and Islamic Perspectives’ and combined with words of ‘Nursing’, ‘caring’, and ‘care’. Result : There were 4 themes in caring within Islamic context: 1There were 6 themes in caring within Islamic context: 1) theoretical definition of caring; 2) foundation of caring; 3) comparison of caring theories; and 4) caring in Islamic culture; 5) caring practice in Islamic perspectives;and 6) caring outcomes Conclusion : In Islamic nursing, caring is based on well-being improvement and healing, and concentration on all domains of nursing care and relationship between different dimensions of human (bio-psycho-social-spiritual dimensions). Within these contexts, a better understanding of the diverse conceptualizations of nursing is needed in order to ensure that nurses across all contexts can provide optimal care.

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Caring Science within Islamic Contexts: A Literature Review

Ablution it has become synonymous with water because in terms of language ablution an act uses of water at a particular body to cleanse itself from small impurities. In Islam ablutions is spiritual washing before performing the prayers. Ablution process normally requires about six to nine litres of water volume, but according to Islamic hadiths, about half to two litres only will be used for ablution. However, those inefficient will take greater volume of water than it should. Furthermore, Islam introduced a specific place to perform ablution, to facilitate Muslims to perform the ritual of ablution. All ablution station is in many design variations. In variations include human behaviour and human gestures will affect the way they perform ablution. From the consolidation between ablution ritual and product design is expected to facilitate the practical implementation of ablution and without a sense of any doubt, it also will engage on minimum usage of water for the ablution ritual but still complies with its general rules.

Human behaviours influence framework of the ablution tub design

Objective 

Religion is a social determinant that is positively associated with cognitive function. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the link between religion and cognitive function; however, no studies have yet examined the interactions between religion and risk genes. The current study sought to examine the effects of religiosity on cognitive functioning in a large Chinese sample.

Method 

A total of 2,410 community residents aged 55 years and older were recruited from the Ningxia province of China. Apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene polymorphisms were detected using the high-resolution melting curve method. The Mini-Mental State Exam and Duke University Religion Index were administered to assess cognitive function and religiosity. The logistic regression model was used to examine the relationships.

Results

Participants with the AEAÂÂÂ4 allele and without high religiosity had the highest risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (OR=1.95; 95% CI: 1.24-3.07); the synergy index was 0.40 for religiosity and the AEAÂÂÂ4 allele and was 1.55 for religiosity and the AEAÂÂÂ2 allele. The logistic regression model revealed a significant negative interaction effect between the AEAÂÂÂ4 carrier status and high religiosity (OR=0.45; 95% CI: 0.25-0.84).

Conclusion 

This study provides the initial evidence of a beneficial modifying effect for religiosity on relationship between the APOE AEAÂÂÂ4 carrier and MCI, however, further prospective studies are needed to confirm the finding.

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Interactions between Apolipoprotein E Genes and Religiosity in Relation to Mild Cognitive Impairment

This article explores Islamic based caring and the role of Islamic theory in nursing practice. The article also reviews the concept of caring in Islamic perspective in the nursing science.A literature review was conducted by analyzing 20 scholar papers including research articles, theses/dissertations, and books which met the inclusion criterias. Data were searched through CINAHL, Medline, PubMed, Springer-link, Science Direct, and Wiley & Wilkins. The keywords used were ‘care’, ‘caring’, ‘caring behavior’, ‘caring practice’, combined with , ‘nursing’ and ‘Islam’. The result of analysis presents five themes related to Islamic-based caring: caring in Islamic perspective, nursing Metaparadigm in Islam, the conceptual meaning of caring in Islamic perspective, the philosophical meaning of Islam in nursing science, and the pattern of knowledge in Islamic based caring. The nursing scholars noted that the Islamic culture bringsabreakthrough of research in nursing science. Islam can be used as a framework of nursing to develop a new nursing model to improve quality care for patients, families, even among nursing colleagues .

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Naim A. Sefein

Papers

Islamic Beliefs and Practices