Hamdard Islamicus Vol. LXIV, No. 4 7 … EDITORIAL Allah Almighty, the Most Merciful has bestowed a comprehensive and comfortable code of life upon us. He has named it ‘Islam’. Islam is a great blessing for all the creatures of the universe, directly or indirectly. It provides detailed and elaborated guidelines for each and every sphere of life. Allah Almighty has blessed us through the platform of our research journal of international repute, Hamdard Islamicus, to present beautiful aspects of life, its contemporary issues and guidelines of Islam for resolving them. We have tried to decorate it with a variety of fragrant flowers having thoughtful guidance regarding different walks of life, like ×adÊth and its compilation, fiqh, Islamic History, Islamic Finance and Islamic Medicine. This is the last issue (No. 4, Oct-Dec) of 2021 (Vol. XLIV) of the Hamdard Islamicus which encompasses five research articles of remarkable significance. The first article entitled “Makkah al-Mukarramah in The Pan-Islamic Thought of Jamaluddin Al-Afghani” discusses the immense importance of Makkah al-Mukarramah as a central and pivotal place of the world in uniting all the Muslims of the world. This city has the distinction of having a title of Umm al-qura (mother of all the cities) given by the Holy Qur’Én. The author has tried to appraise the struggle by a radical and reformist Muslim leader Jamaluddin Afghani for unifying Muslims of the entire world for mutual co-operation, brotherhood and embracing them in a single state. Regardless of some controversial and suspicious information about Afghani, it is undeniable that Afghani, in his short span of life not only motivated a large number of Muslims of the then world, but he seeded the creation of the World Muslim Congress, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Makkan Congress as well. Allah Almighty has provided detailed instructions to human beings for every aspect of life through His book the Holy Qur’Én and Prophetic traditions called ×adÊths. These meaningful and full of erudition ×ÉdÊths have reached us through the last Prophet (Øal Allah-u-‘alaihe wa sallam) of Allah Almighty. After passing the last Prophet (Øal Allah-u-‘alaihe wa sallam), a number of leading scholars have worked hard to scrutinize, 8 Editorial … compile and save authentic ×adÊths by sorting and managing them into different chapters pertinent to separate topics. The process of compiling and preserving is still continued even in the Sub-continent. The second article of this issue “Shaykh Abū Al-Ṭayyib Shams Al-Ḥaqq Al- ‘Aẓīmabādī & His Scholarly Contribution in Serving the Ḥadīth Legacy” throws light on the meticulous work of the 19th century’s one of the greatest scholars of Hadith, Shaykh Abū Al-Ṭayyib Shams Al-Ḥaqq Al- ‘Aẓīmabādī. The author discussed comprehensively, the significant role of ‘AzimabÉdÊ in spreading the legacy of Ḥadīth, defending Sunnah in India beside authoring international relied scholarly books that serve in the cause of ×adīth and call for implementing the holy Qur’Én and Sunnah. The third article is also related to ×adīth. In this article “The Isnād cum Matn Analysis of ZakÉt al-FiÏr Traditions: An Analysis of Harald Motzki’s Method”, the author has tried to analyse the contribution of an accomplished scholar of ×adīth who, in the end of twentieth and beginning of twenty first century, used historical critical method in his studies by offering a combination of isnād and matn analytical techniques. The author critically analysed this method in his study on Zakāt al FiÏr traditions and pointed out some of the shortcomings of its application. The author views the method under discussion as one which can offer meaningful results if it is applied to ×adīth objectively and more accurately. Our Creator has provided us with detailed guidance on the issues and questions that arise in every aspect of life. One of the various issues faced by us is abortion of malformed janÊn having anomalies. There are differences of opinion among the scholars on this issue. The fourth article entitled “Abortion of Janīn (embryo+foetus) due to Human Birth Defects (Anomalies)-An Islamic View with Special Reference to Sharīʻah Maxims (Qawā‘id al Fiqhiyyah)” presents an appraising study, comparing different views of earlier and contemporary scholars and concludes that when the developing foetus is endangering the life of the mother, abortion becomes permissible. Beside it, in case of embryo with congenital anomalies, if the life of the mother is not in danger then it is impermissible to induce abortion after one hundred and twenty days of foetal life in order to avoid a defective child. In mutual transactions, injustice with either party is highly possible. That is why, our Lord has given detailed commands in this regard. It is perfectly permissible in SharÊ‘ah to take a loan to meet one’s needs, but if for some genuine reason the debtor is unable to repay the loan on time Hamdard Islamicus Vol. LXIV, No. 4 9 … and the creditor imposes the debtor to restructure the debt and demands more than the required amount of debt, it is prohibited and is called ribā al-jāhiliyyah (interest during the era of ignorance). To overcome this issue, experts of Islamic banking and finance, have tried to find a way out for providing a SharÊ‘ah compliant relieving plan to debtors. In the fifth article of this issue entitled “A Juristic Study of Qalb Al-Dayn in Islamic Banks from Sharī‘ah Perspective” the author, qualitatively and descriptive analytically reviewed classical and contemporary scholars’ views about restructuring and rescheduling the debt (Qalb Al-Dayn). After elaborating their differences of opinions, the author concludes Islamic banks may strictly use a rescheduling of a financing facility instead of restructuring a facility while following the guidelines provided by the scholars. Dr. Muhammad Wasie Fasih Butt Editor