Sultan Qaboos University Journal for Science [SQUJS]

The Intended Blessed Tree in the Quran - Is it Olive Tree or Palm Oil Tree?

Mostafa Koutb — 2023-11-21

This article aims to provide an alternative scientific interpretation for verse 35 in Surat An-Nur. This verse addresses the very famous simile in the Quran which describes the light of Allah. In this verse Allah mentioned that ꞌAllah (is the) light (of) the heavens and the earth. (The) example (of) His Light (is) like a niche in it (is) a lamp; the lamp (is) in a glass, the glass as if it were a star brilliant (which) is lit from a tree blessed - an olive, not (of the) east and not (of the) west, would almost its oil glow, even if not touched it fireꞌ ^[1]Despite all the most commentators who have addressed this verse singled the olive tree as the blessed tree, the intended tree still has one characteristic that is enigmatic. Regarding this characteristic ꞌnot east and not westꞌ, all previous interpretations directed this characteristic to the compass directions. But they did not give any logical and acceptable justification. Dealing with this verse with another linguistic concept, particularly with three words in the verse ꞌzaytūnatin, sharqiyyatin, and gharbiyyatinꞌ can change the story of the intended blessed tree. The first word in the Arabic language could be considered as an adjective for exaggeration meaning a high oil producer rather than the genus olive. More interestingly, this word has been mentioned as an indefinite noun without ꞌAlꞌ which makes the noun definite when it is used as a prefix; therefore, in this case, it is not specific to olive but it could refer to any tree producing high amount of oil. The second word ꞌsharqiyyatinꞌ comes from the verb ꞌsharekꞌ, which in Arabic means, particularly for dates, that they became reddish in color as a sign of maturity. The third word ꞌgharbiyyatinꞌ derives its meaning from the verb ꞌgharbꞌ which means it became black. When these new meanings are applied to the verse, the first word will now mean any tree with high oil production. The other two words, will mean reddish and black colors of the fruit not the east and west directions. These two characteristics could be considered to be distinguishable features for palm oil tree not for olive trees. In this paper two additional evidences supporting this idea have been addressed. Therefore, the palm oil tree, particularly the subspecies nigrescens could be a potential candidate for the blessed tree in the Quran.

[1] ꞌٱللَّهُ نُورُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَ ٰتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِۚ مَثَلُ نُورِهِۦ كَمِشۡكَوٰةࣲ فِیهَا مِصۡبَاحٌۖ ٱلۡمِصۡبَاحُ فِی زُجَاجَةٍۖ ٱلزُّجَاجَةُ كَأَنَّهَا كَوۡكَبࣱ دُرِّیࣱّ یُوقَدُ مِن شَجَرَةࣲ مُّبَـٰرَكَةࣲ زَیۡتُونَةࣲ لَّا شَرۡقِیَّةࣲ وَلَا غَرۡبِیَّةࣲ یَكَادُ زَیۡتُهَا یُضِیۤءُ وَلَوۡ لَمۡ تَمۡسَسۡهُ نَارࣱࣱۚꞌ (النور– 35)

Impact of Climate Change on Rare Species in Arid Environments

Hamada Ali — 2023-11-21

Climate Change discusses the long-term metrological conditions and patterns. Besides nature, human development has drastically increased the chances of climate change by burning fossil fuels, including oil, gas, and coal. That resulted in turbulence among humans and plants, and animals. This vulnerability or changing climate dynamics has impacted the plants that are the earth's primary source of life. Egypt is one of the countries where the temperature has risen in the past decades due to climate change. In this country, the plants are affected by the vulnerability of this dynamic change of climate, especially the rare plant species. One of the most essential and abundant tools for determining plant species' biological and conservation activity is the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red list. Two species, namely Micromeria serbaliana and Veronica kaiseri, which are called out as critically endangered species, are evaluated in this study. After evaluation, it was seen that Micromeria serbaliana falls under the category of B1ab (iii) + 2ab (iii) and is termed an Endangered (EN) specie. The same situation is for another targeted species which is Veronica kaiseri, which qualifies as Endangered (EN) under categories B1ab (iii) +2ab (iii). Both species are declining and severely getting fragmented in their fields.

An efficient sensor based on anodic activation of graphene oxide for sensitive and selective determination of dopamine in blood serum

EMAD ALDEEN Khudaish — 2023-11-21

A native graphene oxide (NGO) prepared by Hummers modified method was used as the template materials for the fabrication of electrochemically oxidative graphene oxide (OGO) onto a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The fabrication of OGO-GCE persuaded via anodic reversible potentiodynamic of NGO base surface materials that increases the concentration of oxygen functionalities. The development of a new aldehyde/alcoholic functional group on OGO-GCE characterized by XPS analysis is a marked signal for oxygen richness surface which provoked on the cost of sp2 hybridized function. The EIS data underline that OGO-GCE promote the electron transfer kinetics much more than NGO-GCE by 9 times as estimated by the rate constant calculation. The XPS and EIS data highlight the influence of anodic treatment on increasing the interlayer spacing distance between the resultant OGO. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) results were evident for a promising efficiency of OGO-GCE on the simultaneous determination of dopamine (DA), ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA). In addition, the selectivity of the proposed sensor for DA quantification in the presence of high concentrations of AA and UA was achieved successfully with a detection limit (DL₃_s) approach to 12 nM. The analytical performance of OGO-GCE on serum blood revealed its potential application for trace DA quantification.

Preparation and Characterization of Iron Oxide Nano-adsorbent by Enteromorpha Flexuosa Algae obtained from Yanbu Red Sea, Saudi Arabia

Imran Ali — 2023-11-21

Water contamination caused by toxic cadmium metal ions is a worldwide problem. There is a need to explore new methods of cadmium removal from water. The green algae Enteromorpha flexuosa, obtained from the Red Sea in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, was used to prepare iron nanoparticles. TEM, FT-IR, XRD, and SEM techniques were used to characterize the prepared nanoparticles. The prepared nanoparticle's surface was rough, with nanoparticle sizes ranging from 10 to 50 nm. The developed nanoparticles were used to adsorb cadmium ions from water in batch mode. With a 25.0 µg/L concentration, a temperature of 25˚C, 7.0 pH, 60 minutes contact time and 0.5 g/L dose, the maximum removal of cadmium was 48.2 µg/g. The sorption efficiency was measured using the Dubinin-Radushkevich, Temkin, Langmuir and Freundlich models. The amounts of ΔG° were -8.0, -9.93 and -12.24 kJ/mol while the values of ΔS° and ΔH° were -30.96 x 10^-3 kJ/mol and 37.79 x 10^-2 kJ/mol. These data confirmed the endothermic nature of cadmium metal ions removal. Along with the liquid film diffusion process, the adsorption adopted the kinetics of pseudo-second-order type. The recorded adsorption method is fast, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly and can be applied for testing the elimination of cadmium metal ions in natural waters.

Analysis of Fractional Linear Multi-Step Methods of Order Four from Super-Convergence

Haniffa Mohamed Nasir — 2023-11-21

We analyze two implicit fractional linear multi-step methods of order four for solving fractional initial value problems. The methods are derived from the Grunwald-Letnikov approximation of fractional derivative at a non-integer shift point with super-convergence. The weight coefficients of the methods are computed from fundamental G unwald weights, making them computationally efficient when compared with other known methods of order four. We also show that the stability regions are larger than that of the fractional Adams-Moulton and fractional backward difference formula methods. We present numerical results and illustrations to verify that the theoretical results obtained are indeed satisfied.

Knowledge and Attitude Towards COVID-19 and Associated Mental Health Status among Students of Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

M Mazharul Islam — 2023-11-21

This study examined the COVID-19-related knowledge and attitude towards COVID-19 and associated mental health status during COVID-19 among the students of Sultan Qaboos University in Oman using an online cross-sectional survey conducted from 26 March - 25 April 2021 among the students of Sultan Qaboos University (SQU). Both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques, including multiple logistic regression analysis, were used for data analysis. Of the 1,951 respondents, 60% were females with a mean age of 22 years. About 13% were tested COVID-19 positive and 3.6% were tested positive. Overall, students demonstrated a high level (81%) of knowledge and a positive attitude (83%) towards COVID-19. Knowledge appeared as a significant predictor of positive attitude. Despite the high level of knowledge and positive attitudes, there prevails some misconceptions or stigma to a group of students as about one-third of the students opined COVID-19 was a natural catastrophe and 13% of students were in favor of keeping it secrete if infected. The study documented a high prevalence of mild to severe levels of depression (66.3%), anxiety (69.2%), and stress (71%) among the students. Younger age, female, undergraduate students, single marital status, college of study, and good knowledge about COVID-19 appeared as significant predictors of mental health problems among the students. For improving the mental health and well-being of the students, the SQU authority should provide feasible psychological support to the students, with particular attention to the identified sub-group of students. Efforts should be made to remove the COVID-19-related stigma through mass-media campaigns.