Welcome to George H. Smith's Excursions into Libertarian Thought, a production of Libertarianism.org and the Cato Institute, narrated by Daniel Highland. Methodology of the Human Sciences As explained in last week's essay, by human sciences I mean those specialized cognitive disciplines that are devoted to a sustained and systematic study of some aspect of purposeful human action. The human sciences may be divided into two broad categories. Using the standard terminology of Wilhelm Windelband, 1848 to 1915, we have nomothetic disciplines, such as economics, that attempt to establish general laws, and idiographic disciplines, such as history, that deal with non-recurrent particulars. I previously distinguished the human sciences from the natural sciences on the one hand, and from philosophy on the other hand. The distinction between the human sciences and the natural sciences is, as I shall argue in a later essay, necessitated by crucial methodological differences between the two kinds of inquiry, whereas the distinction between the human sciences and philosophy is largely as a matter of convenience. I also use the term social science. By this I mean those nomothetic human sciences, such as economics and sociology, that attempt to formulate general concepts and principles that can be applied to a broad range of particular facts. The social sciences are theoretical disciplines in contrast to the historical sciences, which seek knowledge of concrete human actions that occurred in the past. This is simply the distinction between nomothetic or generalizing sciences and idiographic or individuating sciences. This classificatory scheme has its problems, to be sure, especially since we find a good deal of overlap and fuzzy boundaries among the human sciences. Moreover, it may seem odd to classify history as a science of any kind, but I must postpone discussing this problem until a later essay. The human sciences do not represent airtight compartments where each is insulated from the others by solid prefabricated barriers. These disciplines were not designed as mutually exclusive categories or constructed according to a master plan. Rather, they developed over time, spontaneously and bit by bit, and were sometimes in conflict as the champions of one discipline challenged the conclusions and supremacy of their competitors. For example, Karl Marx, 1818 to 1883, called on sociology and history to refute the widely accepted theories of classical economics. Descartes, 1596 to 1650, a founder of modern philosophy, dismissed history as little more than storytelling, a product of the imagination that cannot yield reliable knowledge. Hegel, 1770 to 1831 in contrast, treated history as a philosophical discipline of fundamental importance, one that enables us to discover the universal laws of historical development. When Auguste Comte, 1794 to 1859 coined the word sociology, he offered it as the supreme human science, the pinnacle of man's intellectual development, and he christened himself the Galileo of that science. Moreover, in his famous classification of the sciences, Comte failed to include economics, which he despised for its individualistic bias, and psychology, which he dismissed as unscientific because of its reliance on introspection. Little wonder then that many social philosophers greeted Comte's universal human science with less than enthusiastic acclaim. If we understand that the human science has developed gradually over many years, and sometimes in a competitive environment, we can appreciate why these disciplines do not exhibit neat logical structures in which the subject matter of each science is clearly delimited from the others. The human sciences, as they evolved historically, were piled on top of one another, so to speak, rather than developing alongside one another. And this piling on resulted in a good deal of overlap, which in turn has led to a good deal of confusion and debate over their respective cognitive boundaries. Let us now turn to an overview of methodology. The Greek word for method, which appears to have been coined by Plato, suggests a path that leads to a desired destination. Similarly, Emmanuel Comte defined method as procedure according to principle. A method in this sense is normative rather than descriptive. It prescribes how the practitioners of a given discipline ought to proceed if they wish to achieve their cognitive goal of attaining knowledge. Methodology is the study of method. A systematic investigation of the subject matter, point of view, explanatory principles, epistemological ideals, and basic concepts of a given discipline. This suggests a broader concept of method than the one I just cited, which referred to rule-governed procedures. Indeed, methodology as the term is used today rarely concerns itself with the technical procedures of a particular science. Such matters are wisely left to the collective judgment of specialists within that science. Nor is methodology restricted to the investigation of means, as if more fundamental issues, such as the type of knowledge appropriate to a given discipline, have already been established beyond reasonable doubt. The human sciences are rife with controversies over matters of fundamental importance, and those controversies fall within the jurisdiction of methodology. In short, methodology or the philosophy of method is concerned with the philosophical presuppositions and implications of a particular cognitive discipline or science. Methodology, therefore, is a philosophical undertaking, not a scientific one. One needn't be an expert in the technical features of a science in order to reflect philosophically upon that science. Some of the best philosophers of method have been non-scientists, and technical proficiency in a particular science does not guarantee excellence or even competence in the field of methodology. Here I must caution against a possible misunderstanding. In maintaining that methodology falls within the domain of philosophy rather than science, I am not suggesting that scientists should seek the advice, assistance, or approval of philosophers before they proceed with their business. It would be absurd to elevate professional philosophers to this imperious station. Any confusion here is caused by a failure to distinguish between philosophy as a professional discipline and philosophy as a cognitive discipline. The institutional division of intellectual labor, as we find in the modern university, assigns the label philosopher only to those who specialize in that field of study. But this does not mean that only certified academics are competent to engage in philosophical reasoning, far from it. Every person may philosophize, more or less, to the degree that he or she thinks systematically about fundamental issues. Hence the distinction between a science per se and a methodological analysis of that science, which is a philosophical undertaking, is by no means the same as the distinction between science and philosophy qua academic disciplines, or between the scientist and the academic philosopher. We are here concerned with the cognitive division of labor, and this pertains to different intellectual perspectives that may occur within the same person at different times. This is why the scientists need not defer to the professional philosopher when investigating the methodological problems of his science. The scientist need only step out of his role as scientist and view his specialty from a broader philosophical perspective. It is often said that scientists can get along quite well without consulting what philosophers of science have to say about their disciplines. There is a good deal of truth in this statement, at least as it pertains to the natural sciences. A natural science, such as physics, normally operates within an established paradigm that has gained nearly universal acceptance among its practitioners. A dominant paradigm to use Thomas Kuhn's label. This is sometimes not true of the human sciences, however, which are frequently divided into conflicting schools of interpretation. Methodological disputes have been far more prevalent in the human sciences than in the natural sciences. Those debates often reflect profound disagreements over fundamental issues, such as whether there exists a distinct social entity, society, that is something more than the individuals who comprise it, methodological wholism, or whether social entities are ultimately reducible to the actions, beliefs, etc. of individuals, methodological individualism. I shall discuss some of these controversies in subsequent essays. According to sociologist Robert K. Merton, 1910-2003, the prevalence of methodological debates in the social sciences reflects the growing pains of an immature discipline. Only the practitioners of a fledgling discipline that is haltingly moving toward scientific status find it necessary to laboriously spell out the logical grounds of their procedure.  Essentially the same point has been made many times. The mathematician Henry Poncare, 1854-1912, sarcastically remarked that natural scientists discuss their results, whereas social scientists discuss their methods. The economist Joseph Schumpeter, 1883-1950, repeatedly insisted that methodological arguments have contributed nothing to the advance of economic science. The great Catholic scholar and historian Etienne Jusson, 1884-1978, suggested that no true science ever began by wondering whether or not it is an authentic science. And the philosopher of science Stephen Tullman, 1922-2009, dubbed the social sciences with the possible exception of economics, would-be disciplines that have yet to attain the credibility of the natural sciences. The implication of such remarks is clear. Only an immature or a counterfeit science will be plagued by methodological disputes. Here we encounter the problem, or pseudo-problem, of what constitutes a legitimate science. This pseudo-problem evaporates when we agree to bestow the title of science on any specialized cognitive discipline. This is the approach I took in my last essay. The value of a cognitive discipline, by whatever name we call it, depends on its ability to generate knowledge, not on whether it can mimic the procedures of the natural sciences. Methodological issues, as I said before, are fundamentally philosophical in nature. A specialized discipline, such as history or economics, cannot justify its own existence, nor can it delimit its fear of inquiry, nor can it establish its relation to other sciences, nor can it vindicate its presuppositions. These are philosophical issues. Thus, contrary to the tribe of critics, methodological controversies in the human sciences are not necessarily symptoms of immaturity. Rather, such controversies indicate that the human sciences, far more than the natural sciences, are closely related to philosophy. Fundamental disagreements in the human sciences reflect the lack of agreement that has always existed and will always exist in philosophy. If the human sciences tend to focus on methodological issues, this is because they have close epistemological ties to philosophy itself. They are far more dependent on philosophical concepts than are the natural sciences. The human sciences investigate various aspects of human action, and our understanding of human action is inextricably linked to the idea of meaning. When we seek to analyze and understand the complex phenomena associated with meaning, we enter the domain of philosophy. To the extent that the various human sciences concern themselves with the meaning of human action, they may be described as applied philosophical reasoning. It may, of course, be said that a human science, such as economics, can arrive at justified conclusions without the aid of philosophy. Even if we grant this, however, such conclusions must be interpreted in the light of other knowledge pertaining to human action, and this is a distinctively philosophic enterprise. The human sciences focus on the same subject matter, human action in the broadest sense, but they do so from different perspectives. No single science can explain human action in all its complexity. So each science necessarily abstracts some features, focusing on them while omitting others. Only philosophy can integrate these diverse perspectives into a unified body of knowledge. The economist, or sociologist or psychologist, who believes that his discipline can explain all that is worth knowing about human affairs, suffers from a professional conceit, a cognitive myopia that often breeds a disdain for methodology. The academic who lives comfortably in his professional enclave secure in the belief that his corner of the cognitive world is the entire universe has little need for philosophy, which he regards as a descent into idle speculation. Philosophy for this academic is an irritating enterprise, one that might call into question his most cherished assumptions. Methodology demands that we move beyond the narrow confines of a science and question the assumptions on which that science depends. This can be an unsettling enterprise, but it is essential if we wish to determine when social scientists are speaking nonsense, a fairly common occurrence I am sorry to say. Thank you for listening to Excursions. To learn more about Libertarian philosophy and history, visit www.libertarianism.org.


Our beloved messenger was sitting alone in a room and he was praying in the night, in the depth of the night in the darkness. And as he was praying his beard had become completely drenched with his tears and literally his tears were dripping from his from his beard onto his clothes.  And his companions asked like Ya RasoolAllah, like what's wrong? Like what is it? Like what has happened that has you weeping like this? And he said my ummah, my ummah. And he just kept repeating this like my ummah, my ummah, my ummah. And then subhanAllah on another narration he says I miss my brothers. And they said Ya RasoolAllah we're right here. We're right here with you. You don't have to miss us. Like we're with you Ya RasoolAllah. He said no. You're not my brothers. You're my companions. My brothers and my sisters, they're the ones who believe in me and they follow me and they've never seen me. That's you. You've never seen the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam wa alayhi. I'm not in person maybe in your dreams be admirable but if you've seen him in your dreams and you've seen him. But yet this is he's weeping for you. This is something that I want us to understand like as we're in this month. What is the blessing? What is the na'ama that Allah Azawajal has granted us?  You are the ummah that when Prophet Musa alayhi sallallahu alayhi sallam wa alayhi sallam, I saw that there is an ummah that they literally covered the entire horizon in their numbers. Ya Allah let that be my ummah. He said no. This is the ummah of Ahmad. He said Ya Allah I see in the ummah food. I see that there is an ummah that one day of their ibadah is a lifetime of ibadah.  Musa alayhi sallallahu alayhi sallam has answered the dua of even Prophet Musa. He said no. This is for the ummah of Ahmad. This is la ilat of qadr. That even Musa alayhi sallallahu alayhi sallam is saying Ya Allah there is an ummah so blessed. Even subhaninikhanik when Isa alayhi sallallahu alayhi sallam returns. There will be people who will go to Isa in worship and he said no no no. Today I am not your prophet. Today I am from the ummah of Muhammad. Allahumma salli wa sallam alaihi wa sallam alaihi wa sallam. And that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has granted you that. He has gifted you to be from the or asking Allah Ya Allah make me from that ummah. And yet Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has granted you that. The tawfiq will look as a gift to you. So then how do we show our gratitude? That's the question. How do we show our gratitude to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala for blessing us to be from amongst the greatest ummah? Do we even begin to say Ya Allah? I know it's not because I'm worthy. It's not because of all of my salawat. It's not because I make ten thousand salawat today. It's not because you know I do everything that the Prophet sallallahu wa sallam alaihi wa sallam said to do. It's not because it's not because I'm so great Ya Rabbi. It's only by your mercy. It's only a chance. It's an opportunity. Allah is saying I'm gonna open the door for you. Because also you're from Akhir Zaman. You're from the end of time. So literally I'm gonna open the door for you and give you a chance. Literally there's a narration that talks about like at the end of time there's some people Allah will literally just elevate them and elevate them and elevate them. Why? Because he's saying that he's looking for those who are willing to grasp Nur Muhammadiyyah. Who understand just a little bit of the sweetness of what it means to say I want to be like. I want to speak like. I want to walk like. I want to behave like. I want to eat like. I want to pray like. Habibullah sallam The one who's cool. But the reality in order for us to be grateful we have to understand the magnitude right of who he is but also what he brought. What is it that the Prophet sallam has done for you specifically? If you were to ask yourself what has the Prophet sallam done for you specifically? The first the first thing if we were just to look at ourselves as women. Yes we've read the books. He elevated your status. He raised your rank. But he's deeper than that. He actually confirmed your value at a time when everyone else was devaluing you. He actually was confirming how important you are to even at a time even in our day and time when literally people are like you know girls actually they're not really a thing. Like anybody could be a girl or woman. You're not really a thing. And the Prophet sallam said no no no. She's something great. Like don't get it. Don't get it twisted. That Allah literally created the woman from his name for the Prophet sallam to say like I want to tell you who you are.  Right. No don't let society tell you who you are. Right. Don't let anybody else define your femininity.  Let me tell you who you are according to the one who created you. Why? So you can take your place in your position so that you can play your role. And to let you know it I'm going to exemplify it for you time after time after time in every stage of your development. For example when Habib Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was unable to be sitting in a circle amongst men. Right. Important men. And our beloved Fatima Zahra alayha sallam. I said why did you say Fatima Zahra alayha sallam when you say Allahumma salli ala sayyidina Muhammad. And then what do you say? So Fatima Zahra alayha sallam. That when she would walk into a room, the beloved messenger of Allah alayhi sallatu sallam as a young girl, he would get up, welcome her, kiss her hand and then sit her in his place and he would move over. What is he saying? He says you belong here. He said you have a place here. He's saying I will not allow someone right to push my daughters out. That you have a place next to the messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And I love you to sit here. I love you to be beside me. When we look at Subhanallah even the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's love for our mother Khadija. Love for the mother of Fatima. Like it's the way in which their interaction and their love and their sweetness right between them. There's no question when we read the Seat of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam how he worked for her, how he made sure that her business was successful, that he made sure that she didn't lose dollars, she didn't lose business, that her business would expand. But then Subhanallah, even when he would climb in the cave of Hira and Jabal al-Nur, there would be moments where our mother Khadija would actually climb up the mountain and sit with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. She would bring him food and they would share loving moments. There wasn't ever a time he was like, you know, what are you doing here? Like, don't you know him? I'm praying. I'm in Khalbo. I stay home. I'll be back.  Even when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was toward the end of his life, he witnessed, he just picked up a necklace right of our mother Khadija, and just looking at her necklace and having the memory of it being around her neck, it would bring him to tears. Think about that for a moment. That his level, he's not just sentimental, but this level of love that he has, that even once, I won't say who in this moment, right? Said like, what business do you have with this old Quraishi woman? And the Subhanallah, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, alayhi wa sallam, he said he became angry than anyone had ever seen him. And he began to list her qualities. She believed in me when no one else believed in me.  And this level, subhanallah, like, I think about what it means to be hafizat edil ghayb, what it means for the woman to be the one who is the guardian of the unseen. That's mentioned in Surat al-Nisaa. What does it mean to be hafizat edil ghayb, that she's a guardian over the unseen? The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam describes that for us in his relationship with Khadija, like how she supported him, how she assuaged his fears when he was in that moment of revelation, when literally the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is coming down from like the most important moment of his life, right? And he has just absolute, he has doubt, he has concern, he's like I don't know what just happened to me, I don't know if I've been touched by a jinn, I don't know if an oracle has happened, like I have no idea what just happened. But I have enough trust in you and respect for the way that you treat me and the way that you hold me and the way you're just willing to understand that he runs to Khadija and she looks at him and she knows, are you worried that you would be touched by a jinn or he'd never, he could have went to his friends, he could have went to Abu Waqar, said he didn't, he went to our mother Khadija, what is he teaching you about you in that moment? What is he teaching you about the power that you have? What is he teaching you about how your rank is elevated, that how she is the one who then took him to Waqa and said I have no doubt, I'm not in question about who you are, we just need the details, right? We just need to know what we call it, but I'm clear.  And I'm going to prove, let me prove it to you. She even has enough knowledge in and of herself that when, he says I see him now, right? She just slight, she removes her scar, do you still see him? He says, I don't see him now that you've removed your scar. She says see I told you that was an angel, because had it been a jinn he would never be shy from me. What is he telling, in this narration, what is he telling you that the power of a knowledgeable woman, that the power of a woman who understands the difference in the qualities of the jinn and the melaika, then she takes him, subhanAllah, again, to waqa her cousin and he confirms, hey, you're the last prophet and she's like, How do we know about what Sumayah brought? What is it that gave her that kind of courage, that kind of heart is her proximity to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, it's her following, right? It's her looking at the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in his strength, in his example and saying that I can withstand anything from this dunya, if I get to be with you in the Akhir Yalasullah.  He's saying women, you got this, you have this.  The way that she cares for him when Khadijah, passes away. Her level of love, when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is literally making Sulaa, he's making Sujood in front of the Kaaba and the warring Arabs at the time literally make this plot to harm him.  But it's not just guts, it's like also entrails.  Abu Bakr Siddiq, he sees this, right? And he runs, he sees the Prophet this way, he runs that way to go get help. He passes Fatima Zahra alayhi wa sallam, he passes Fatima Zahra, Fatima Zahra, what's happening?  Why do we have these narrations? To tell you about who you are from the youth of you, from the youngest of you, to the eldest of you, that you have the ability, Suhana Allah, when you walk inside Nur Muhammadiyah, when you have proximity to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, there's so much you can change, there's so much power that you have. That's the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who tells Abu Khaira, that the womb is connected to the throne of Allah. Alhamdulillah, our scholars will say, this is not about the woman, this is sila to Rahim, this is about lineage. I say, okay, that's no problem, but can you get sila to Rahim without the Rahim? And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he doesn't mince words nor does Allah azza wa jala, so if he wanted to say sila to Rahim, it's just sila to Rahim, but yeah, he just said the Rahim. I'm just saying, like you can't get that without the other. Why did he tell you that? He's telling you that when it comes, he's teaching you about even your natural relationship with Allah sra, he's teaching you about your natural relationship. There's a reason why in the story of Khawla, when she runs to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, about what happens between her and her husband, they have a disagreement, they have an argument. And she runs to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I love this moment. He's like, I've got some idea about it, but I'm not going to give you an answer, because Allah hasn't commanded me yet. So what does she do? She runs to Allah sra, she prays to Rahim, she goes back to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, what answer do you have for me now? What does she know? What has he taught her about herself? He's taught her that your dua'ahs will be answered.  Time and time again, then Allah came to her rescue, right? And revealing Surat al-Mujaddillah. And then he lays out the rules of restorative justice between her and her husband. And so what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is just is teaching us about ourselves. He's literally like the more we study him, the more Allah sra, the more he drowns out the noise, the more he pushes back all those dunya weird voices who don't know what they're talking about. But then in his prophetic example, he taught us how to be loved by Allah subhanahu he taught us how to be loved. What is it that you have to do? Like Allah has literally set you up for all levels of success, right? And every aspect of your nature, Allah azawajal loves you so much, he set you up in the best manner. Now what will you do to say, Ya Allah, I'm so grateful. I will mold and shape myself according to your most beloved, according to Habibullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, why so that I can be worthy of what you have created me to be. So I can be worthy of the blessing that you gave me that even other Anbiya wanted. But you gave him to me without even with subhan Allah. Very little, did we do, if anything, honestly. Did we do that Allah said, I'm choosing you for this? But how do we hold on to it? How do we hold on to this rope of Allah? Because it's for sure the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is the rope of Allah.   He's the one that will pull us away from hellfire. He's the walking Quran. He's the example of what the Quran looks like lived. He's the living example of what the Quran is subhan Allah. It's meanings. It's wisdom. It's light. And so then when we look at the Seerah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, we read the books about the contents of his character. I want us to make every time we read something about a hadith about his character, make the intention to do it. I make the intention that say, even if once in my lifetime, I will do this. And it will be difficult. I'll tell you a funny story. If I didn't tell you this before, I think I told you this before, but I have to tell you again. So once I was in, I had taken a class on hadith and you know, we were learning about actions and, you know, character of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And so we came across the narration where literally a tea, a fly dropped in his drink. And so he said that, you know, basically dip the fly, the fly drops in your drink and dip the fly because the anecdote is in, the sickness is in one wing and the anecdote is in the other.  You read something about the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and then you make the intention to shout out once in my lifetime, I'm going to do it. My son was like Bismillah. Then I read that hadith and I was like la la la la la. Because you know, we're Americans, we're straight germophobes. Take us very little to deviate. La la la la la. The very next day, no easy exaggeration. I'm at a friend of mine's house. She pours tea. May Allah, Allah, Yerhamah. She used to make the best tea. I mean the best tea. And so I don't know, we're drinking tea and I'm like, this is so good and I sit it down. And what happens? A fly lands in my tea. And I was like, I looked at it. I immediately knew. I was like, oh, okay, this is a test. Of course, I was like, y'all know, please have mercy on me. Please forgive me.  Flies, y'all, y'all. But just because, right? Just because. I was like, okay, I just have to do this. Literally, I can't tell y'all go up there. I took the tiniest sip. It was like this when I did it. But it's true, right? That's difficult. I'm telling you. Oh no, I know we're germaphobes. But honestly, anytime you read something about the character of the Prophet when you go through the pages, I just say, oh, Allah, make me like this, mold and shape me to speak like this, to sit like he sat, to behave with my family the way that he behaved. Oh, Allah, bless me to be with my neighbors the way that he was with his neighbors. Oh, because why? Why are you asking for that? Because he's Habibullah. So, Allah, he is the beloved of Allah. And so, if you become like that, what's going to happen? You're going to become beloved to Allah, Subhanallah. What is the result of becoming beloved to Allah? We're all familiar with the narration where Allah tells the Prophet, he said, I wage war. Allah says, I wage war against those who try to harm my beloveds, my Awliya. I wage war. Then Allah says, when I love a servant, like Allah is telling them, right? Like Allah is saying, when I love a servant, I announce it to Jibrael. I tell, yeah, Jibrael, I love Fulam and Fulah. Oh, Jibrael, I love such and such. I love Fatima. I love Khadija. I love Latifa. I love, like, yeah, Jibrael, I love her. And then Jibrael says, yeah, Allah, I love her. And then Jibrael goes to the other chief angels. He tells Mikhail, the biggest one I'm concerned about is that he tells Israel. That's what I'm concerned about. Ya Rabbi, please tell Israel, you love me. Why? So when he comes, he can say, this is one of Allah's beloveds. Please don't snatch my soul. Please, please, Ya Rabbi. But he tells the other angels, Allah, he gives a Senate for it. And Jibrael loves such and such. So they love them. And then, literally, that love is thrust into them. And then Mikhail, and Israfil, and Israel, and the chief angels, and Ridwan, the one who is the guardian of the gates of Jannah. Says, oh, I love this one. What happens if Ridwan loves you? What happens if the angels of Jannah love you who are decorating your home, Ya Rabbi? What happens if they love you? And then they tell the other angels, and then those angels keep the lower angels until the people on earth love that person. And then the people on earth say, I just love, I love her. Why do you love her? I don't know what I love her. Feel about Shekhani Ha'ad. I just love her. Obviously. And then Allah says, and then my servant draws near to me. They come to me with what I've made farmed upon them. What does that mean when you said you draw near to them? When Allah says, like, my servants use that Ibadah to become closer to me. Meaning, they're not the type that just do it out of obligation. They're not the type that says, you know, I got to check the box. I pray to the Lord. I pray to the author. They're not those type. They're the type that's saying my farmed, right, is what I used to become near to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Not the type that they pray in order to only distance themselves from Hellfire.  They're the type that if you're, if your shala is bringing you near and closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it means you have it with khusho. You're doing it with, with hudur. You have a presence. You have a concentration. Let your, your, your relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has a sweetness to it.  Yeah, I'm ready to pray. Let me just go ahead and pray. Let me go ahead and pray my sunnah. I'll just sit here until it's, it's time. And then they continue to draw near to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, right, with the involuntary, the voluntary involuntary, the sunnah. The extra obligatory. That which isn't farmed. It's something you like, I just, I don't, it's, I don't have to come to you. I want to come to you. Y'all don't be, I need to talk to you. I don't be whether it's, it's not just because it's bad. I just want to talk to you because you're Allah. I just want to, I just want to, I just want to tell you how much I love you, subhanahu wa ta'ala. Y'all Allah, I want to thank you for the Prophet, Salatullah wassalaamu alayhi, who gave us the doors, the gateways to jannah. Y'all Allah, I want to thank you for making me from amongst us. They're making, they have extra worship, extra ibadah. Allah says, and they keep coming close to me until I love them. And when I love them, I become the eyes in which they see, the ears in which they hear, the mouth in which they speak, the hands in which they take action, and the feet in which they travel. Do you know, what do you understand what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala saying? Like the level of basirah, the level of wisdom and understanding and commitment and tawfeeq and afya. The Prophet, Salatullah wassalaamu alayhi, you cannot do the fara'id unless you learn it from the Prophet, Salatullah wassalaamu alayhi. You can't learn the sunnah and you can't draw nearer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala even with the extra obligatory unless you do it through the Prophet, Salatullah wassalaamu alayhi. So you're not going to be loved by Allah unless you go through his gateway. This is what he is to us. He is literally Babur Rahman. He is literally the doorway to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He's like, and it's not, he's not a mystery. This is what Allah, Allah is so great. He's not a mystery. There's like, you, every single detail about my life, you have it. What I said at this time, how I behaved at this time, how I sat, how I walked, when I brushed my teeth, what I did, when I woke up in the morning, what I said to my wife, how I was with the children, you have every single detail of it. You can't say like, this life is without a map. It's literally like, okay, what did he do this time? Okay. And then at this time of the day, he prayed Salatullah. And then at this time of the day, he did this. It's, it's literally subhanallah, like, you know, color by number. That's how alhamdulillah wassukrilah. My shaykh thought this is, it's actually not so difficult. We think it's like very difficult as a matter of just saying, I submit.  Ya Habibi Ya Rasulullah. I'm coming to you. Put me under that cloak, on that burda. Make me under that. Be on me with that. I close with this. I didn't hear the adhan on the other side. I just heard the phone. But I'm looking at the sky and I know it must be Maghrib. I just want to, to end with this. Our beloved messenger, Salanullah Anima, I need you to send them, reminded us on the day of judgment, there will be people who will be running, running. There's some people who will be so nervous they will eat their fingers to the, to this level. Then there's some to their knuckles, some to the ear, some will go all the way up to their shoulder. Some will drown in their own sweat out of fear. And they'll be running, looking for somebody, anybody who can help them, anybody who can save them, anybody who can speak for them, anybody who can advocate for them. They will run to Ibrahim Anayhi Salam and he said, I'm not suited for this. And he will speak out of adab about some things that he did. And then they will run to Mosa, Mosa Anayhi Salam and say, I'm not suited for this. Go to Ahmed, Mosa Anayhi Salam. They will go to Issa and Issa will say, I am not suited for this.  Now, the great thing is, if we were from amongst those who already made that submission, that promise in this dunya, he already knows our name. He's already advocating for us.  Every little Jama'a, he's already making istikfar. He's already making the offering, he's already making shukr for your good deeds. If you make that promise, truly. That's already granted to you. You're not going to be a stranger. You're not going to be running around looking for somebody to help you. You're going to be like, I already know who can help me. And I'm standing next to him. That's what I just want to tell us, that if we increase in our salawat, and I don't just mean the dicker of the tongue, I mean the salawat of the body, the salawat of the heart, the salawat of our soul, the salawat of our character. Let everything about us be a salawat. Let everything about us testify to Allah, I'm not looking blind. I'm not running. Ya Rabb. We ask you by your infinite mercy that you mold and shape us into servants of yours with whom you're well pleased. Ya Rabbi, mold and shape us according to the character of Habibullah, ask that you please bless us to be from amongst those who see him often and much. Ya Rabbi, in our dreams. Ya Rabbi, when we pass from this dunya, let it be him. Ya Rabbi, that greets us into our graves. Ya Rabbi, let it be his hand that pulls us out of our graves on Yomo Qiyama. Ya Rabbi, let it be beside him next to him that we stand. Ya Rabbi, on Yomo Qiyama. Ya Rabbi, let it be from his blessed hand that we take a drink from. Ya Rabbi, at the hold from the rivers of Kofun. Ya Rabbi, let it be with him that we stand.  Ya Rabbi, by his intercession that you grant us entrance into gender to Firdous al-A'la. Ya Rabbi, with him. And Faht al-Mazahra, without reckoning. Ya Rabbi, by your mercy. Ya Rabbi, by your mercy. Ya Rabbi, grant us a complete and perfect pardon. After which there is no sin nor stain of it. Ya Rabbi, make us from amongst those who are enveloped in your kindness. Ya Rabbi, make us from amongst those. Ya Rabbi, that you have protected from every harm and destruction. Ya Allah, bless us and our children to be from the Qani teen, the Saliheen, the Siddiqeen, Ya Ar-Rahm Al-Rahmeen, and those who have foes on Aadim. Allahumma, Saniya, Nasa'idina, Wa Habibina, Wa Mudana, Muhammad. Wa la ilihi wasum bihi wa sallam. Alhamdulillah.


So, really, I'm just here to be thanking you for participating in this event. Most of all, thanking you, Sparia and NetBall for the great cooperation in organizing this day. So, tomorrow here at Human Technical we will be inaugurating formal year labs that are around Palazzo Italia. But I think that this, to me, we started Human Technical three and a half years ago, is as important an event as the inauguration of the labs. Because when we designed and decided to implement Human Technical, what we were thinking was about the need of having also in Italy a place that had high-end technologies able to do research in the frontier of life science and being able to deliver technologies open to researchers that could then bring their own research one step ahead or maybe ten steps ahead thanks to the incredible speed in which different type of technologies are developing. But at the same time, having a place where the link between science and industry could be stronger and more direct and more open and that had a clear idea why this is so important. So I love to, I was lucky to be here, unfortunately I was busy with other events today and I couldn't attend the entire seminar but I'd like to hear the stories you told a few minutes ago because of course there are personal reasons why you want to be interested in technology transfers, in technology transfer there can be reasons linked to the viability of university and the viability of research but there's also I think a broader reason why we do this, which is that what happens in the lab, there's always, I mean I'm sorry I'm an economist and there's something called the opportunity cost, meaning if you're spending five years for your pizza you can spend five years for your ice cream you have to make a choice and so the price of the pizza is also the price of not eating the ice cream. So science and research for people who don't do science and research it is an opportunity cost, should we fund research institutes or should we fund a football pitch and this is not an example that I'm saying by chance because some other people suggested that here instead of having research center we should have three new football pitches which you know for people who play football there was probably a very very good idea. Now the opportunity cost of science is also the impact that has on people and the impact that science can have on people also comes of course comes through new diagnostics also comes through new medicines that you can discover and new devices but all these have the need of industrial development to be available to everyone. So there is an inherent link that Italy as a country was not really able to nail and this is one of the weakness of the Italian particularly Italian scientific system of producing great research and being extremely weak when it comes to producing patents or developing new companies and this has nothing to do with money nor with capacity it has a lot to do with some institutional complexity and something to do with culture and and and habits of researchers and that is why we have developed a center that is led by Fabio Terrane who I think very very much for the incredible effort he puts into this that has the aim of playing also that role so that both roles of human technical well there's more than that more than two but at least these two the science and the economy transfer are developed fully fledged now I think that this is the first event important event but has to be therefore just the starting phase because to be and I think the attendance was impressive the the the participants were individually impressive scientists and young scientists but of course I think we can develop more targeted type of courses for different type of phase in which technology transfer can happen we will have to develop different type of plans to link better finance and research so that the funding can reach the researchers groups when is the right time to develop their prototypes or their proof of concepts or whatever stage that particular invention or discovery is and this is one key mission of our of our institute of course we can do it and we want one to do this in isolation it's absolutely crucial that we do this cooperating with other institutions like UCI netball and other institutions because what makes this place working so far and that all by place I don't mean only human human technical but the entire neighborhood is the idea of ecosystem and ecosystem is a place where everybody is doing their job and they have a mission like our mission is to build the human technical and do it as as well as we can but our strength also depends on the strength of the others that are around us and our partners and that it works and typically that what makes innovation that what makes advancement that what makes also well-being for people in the given territory so I think today for me personally is a great day I hope and I think I'm sure you had a very very interesting two-day seminar and I look forward for the next one and actually look forward for a new fully-fledged program on technology transfer and then in a short while I look forward to see the new companies and the new products being developed by us thank you very much


Hi. Let's see here. All right. So real quick, my name is Lucy, beer. I have been doing WordPress things since about 2004 and been doing training and teaching and helping people how to WordPress since around 2009. And I'm currently working for WP Rocket, which is a caching plugin, and I do customer support for those guys. So that's the boring stuff out of the way. So the fun stuff. Customizing without hacking, a.k.a. no hacks, no worries. So when we talk about hacking, we're not in this case talking about security issues. We're not talking about someone coming in and taking over your site. When we talk about hacking and not doing things in a hacky way, we're talking about hacking up the code and sort of hacking your site to pieces and making a mess of it. So that's what we're trying to avoid with this whole local setup and all of that. So we basically want to show you guys the right way to do things because, you know, no matter what theme that you've got or plugins, there's always going to be something that you're going to want to change, either about your theme or WordPress itself. And there are sort of good and bad ways to do that.   And, you know, maybe you don't know that that guy isn't speaking good truth forwards to you because I don't know if you know this, but not everything on the internet is true, nor should it be believed. So we want to show you some kind of best practice ways to do things so that you can continue to update, you can update WordPress, you can update your themes, you can update your plugins and not lose any changes that you've done or not cause any issues. You know, another important reason to kind of do things in the sort of best practice way is just to give you peace of mind and confidence. That's the whole reason that we're using desktop servers so that you can experiment without having any fears about breaking your site or, you know, creating some kind of a problem. So all of these things are designed to give you confidence so that you can test things out and experiment and, you know, not blow things up. And finally, we want to do things in kind of a WordPress way. That just means, you know, using best practices so that you can keep updating things without breaking stuff. And so that, you know, in the future, maybe someone else is going to help you with your site, another developer, or maybe you're building sites for other people, you want to do things in a way such that other people can come into the site and kind of figure out where things are and you haven't done some crazy off the wall thing that they don't know how to work with. So that's kind of why we're doing things this way.  Like I said, you don't want to modify the WordPress core files directly. Pretty much the only thing that you can safely edit, like we saw before, is WP config and maybe your HD access file, but all the other stuff, all the stuff when you install WordPress, that first set of files, you don't want to touch those directly at all. Likewise, you want to avoid changing your main theme files directly. Once you start modifying those, it means that you won't be able to update the theme without losing something. So the whole point is to keep your custom changes safe. Keep them separate from your core theme so that you can keep updating that, but without losing your customizations. And I think someone already mentioned this, but we never want to go to a parent and editor and start doing stuff in there, especially with PHP files, because as I think Matt or Greg said, you can easily white screen your site if you mess around with PHP files and you miss a bracket or something, your site will go down and you won't be able to access it. So that's just one of the reasons we don't go in there and mess around. And then we don't want a cowboy code, which Greg mentioned earlier.  We want to use desktop server or something like that to do things safely. So what we're going to do today is I'm going to show you an example of how you can modify your CSS code, an example of modifying some PHP code. And then if we have time, we'll talk briefly about what a child theme is. So the CSS is going to be an example of something that, you know, you might read a tutorial, for example, that says, you know, go into styles.css and make this change. So I'm going to show you a way to do that in a plugin so that you don't have to touch that file if you don't already have a child theme. So you should have the plugins that you need. But so for this example, we're just going to modify in 2016, we're just going to modify the site title, the size of that font and the color. And I'm going to give you the code for this and for the other example so you don't have to worry about code. This is just showing you a process that you can use. We're going to use a plugin called modular custom CSS. So if you use the Lucid, if you lucid your site, then you already have the two plugins that we'll need. But if you didn't, then you can install the plugin modular custom CSS. So we're going to install that. And then there is a code snippet on the, oh no, not that one. Where is it? Hi, here we go. Oh no, what am I doing? Yes, it is on the website. I'm just trying to pull it up just in case anyone, what is it? Slides? Oops. Okay, so if you go to Matt's site where he's got the slides, so for the first exercise, this is what we're going to be using. Just right here. So you're going to install modular custom CSS. You're going to come grab those few lines of code. And then let's see here. So then when you go into, why is this? Where is the modular custom CSS? Is it in the sidebar? Yeah, I'm going to get rid of that. And then I'm going to show you where to put the code. I actually kind of like it, but it's not going to work. Wait, did it see actually? Okay, perfect. So where that shows up, you go into customize. And then you'll see down here at the bottom, custom CSS. And you've got two boxes. For this example, you're going to use the top box because we're doing something to the theme. So you're going to paste the code right in there. And why don't I do that too so you can? What's your question? Where are you pasting that code? You go to customize and then you see the custom CSS tab at the bottom under appearance. Appearance, customize, custom CSS. And then you get here and then you paste it in this top box. And then voila. Now you have a giant red site title. If you have a really long site title, it's going to look terrible probably, but it looks fine with a small one. But you know, this is not necessarily how to design your site. This is just an example. All right, so let's even publish that. Did everyone do that? No? Who needs? Anyone need help? All right, I saw some thumbs down over here. Where did the code come from? Or how did I get here? Oh, okay, so go to appearance, then customize, then custom CSS. Do you see it? Okay, let me show you. Here. Appearance. All right, most people got there, right? Yeah, okay. So basically, this plugin lets you put custom CSS changes. It's an alternative way to do that instead of using a child theme. If you just need to make a few CSS tweaks, you don't necessarily need to go through the process of making a child theme. You can basically just use this plugin instead. And it's going to keep your code safe. And so you can continue to update your main theme and your changes will still apply. So it's just an alternate way of doing it. Is there a question? Okay, so where do you get the code? Okay, so you go to appearance, customize, and then look at the bottom. There's a tab that says custom CSS. And then you get here. All right. So yeah, this is an alternate to doing changes in styles.css. But it serves the same purpose, which is keeping your changes safe. Yes? The difference between code there is changing the theme versus the other box. Oh, good question. So the question is, what's the difference basically between using these two boxes? The difference is that if you're modifying something in the theme itself, like we are now, you want to use the top box because it's going to stay with the theme. If, for example, you were modifying something about a plugin, I don't know, let's say you have a social sharing plugin and you want to change the font size on that, you would put that code in the second box because that's going to, that means that if you change the theme, your code for that plugin will still be there. So it depends on if you're modifying the theme style or plugin style, basically. Yeah. So I understand that you modify. So it doesn't matter which screen we actually use or retain code in this CSS code, or is it just for the currently used? It's going to stay, hmm. Because I understand obviously like the current theme, if the publisher modifies the theme or not, the idea is that we can touch your code here because it's not actually in the parents' team coding. But my question is like, if we're using 2016 right now, are we going to be changing to CSS 12 or CSS 14 for another theme somewhere else that we get? Will that code still apply? Do we just pass it there? I'm trying to remember how this plugin works. I think it will try to, but if the class names are different, for example, then it just won't do anything. So you base this code on the class names that were specific to this theme? Exactly. This is code that's specific. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. This is specific to this particular theme. Okay. So we're out of this for publicism. We're using this particular theme and the publisher for whatever reason has changed the theme of coding like through an update or something. Right. Yeah. Exactly. You got it. You got it. All right. Okay. So it's an example of some CSS. So now we're going to do a similar thing for some PHP. So in this example, what we're going to do is create a new widget area and we're going to have it show up at the bottom of your page. So this is something that ordinarily you would paste this code into functions.php, which is another theme file. So again, this is by using this plugin, My Custom Functions, we're bypassing the step of editing our theme file. Now, if you've already got a child theme that you're using, then you can do things in there. This is really if you're not at the stage where you want to create a child theme. If you just need to, you know, you read a tutorial that says drop this into functions.php of your theme, then you can do it via this plugin instead. And again, your changes are going to be separate, so they're going to be safe. So if you don't already have it, then you can install the plugin My Custom Functions. And once again, the code that you need is down here. It's the PHP snippet. So you're going to grab all of that. And then that plugin shows up under appearance and then custom functions. My Custom Functions. And so actually, let me just chime in.   So, for example, let me show you. If I just delete this bracket at the bottom, and I save changes, it's going to tell me that it created an error, so it doesn't actually apply it. Now, if I wasn't using this plugin, if I just did it directly in functions or god forbid, I did it in appearance and editor, your site would be white screen right now. So this one is super helpful for like a safety net, so you don't break things. So it unfortunately doesn't tell you exactly what the problem is, but at least it won't let you break your site. The true example is perfect. It's common that you leave off the last person's bracket. Right. Yeah. PHP doesn't like that. So once you've, sorry, was there a question? Thanks. So once you've added this code, what you then should see is if you go to your widgets screen, now you've got a new widget area called footer widget. So you can just put something in there. Let's just put the calendar. And then it should show up. I'm not saying it's going to look awesome, but it will show up at the bottom of your site. Right. So adding custom widget areas and stuff. Put something in it. Just drag something in there and it'll show up. There you go. Can you miss it? So did everyone, was everyone able to do that? Yeah, any issues? All good? All right. So yeah. So once again, that is, that will help you any time you see something that tells you to put something in functions.php. So we'll just talk really briefly about child themes. You've probably heard a lot of talk about this. So a child theme is its own theme and that it has its own folder in the theme's directory, but it's dependent upon another theme. So a common example of this is like Genesis. Genesis is a parent theme and then you can also get child themes for Genesis. So Genesis needs to exist in order for the child theme to work. But a child theme can be simple. It can just be basically a style.css and a functions.php. And it's just a place where you can customize the parent theme. And again, it keeps everything separate so that the parent theme can continue to be updated. So if you're going to do pretty extensive modifications, then you'll probably need to get into a child theme. If you just need to do some CSS, you can do as we did and use modular custom CSS. If you just need to do a little bit of something in functions.php, you can just use my custom functions. But if you're going to do a whole new design, if you're going to start, definitely if you need to start editing header.php or footer.php or any of those main theme files, then you're definitely going to need to create a child theme. And if you're building sites for other people and such, then you probably will start getting into child theming. So any questions? We have a special guest here, satellite. No, that's it. No questions? All right. Well, on this slide, I have just some further resources if you want to go even further with your customizations. The first two are sort of what we've covered today. And then why and how to create a child theme. So that's going to go into more detail about the specifics that you would need to do to create a child theme. Functionality plugins, that's, you know, oftentimes if you're building sites for other people and you have a core set of PHP customizations that you're doing for them or certain features just for that site, that are not part of the theme, but you can create your own functionality plugin to keep all those things. You can even put that on multiple sites if you do the same customizations for each. And then WordPress hooks. So this is getting a little bit further. More advanced hooks, which again, Genesis and some other themes are make a lot of use of and WordPress core itself has hooks. This is just a way of modifying the way that WordPress behaves or the way that a theme behaves without touching the core files. So anyway, that's a whole other concept, but it's there if you want to go a step further. So that's all I have. So any questions about anything?


The researchers studied the effects of gold deposits on glassy carbon electrodes, GCEs. They found that these deposits can be used as catalysts, increasing the rate of oxidation of tetracycline by up to two times. Additionally, they were able to develop a volatometric method for detecting tetracycline levels in milk samples. This article was authored by LG Shaterova, A.V. Gidmina, V. Insiatkina, and others.


Hi, this is Robert Gephardt again, freelance translator and person who hires freelance translators. Today I wanted to talk to you about sales. When you're approaching prospective clients, potential clients, how to sell yourself and your services. This ties into a book I'm reading right now. It's called New Sales Simplified by Mike Weinberg. I haven't finished it yet. So far the book's good and I want to share a couple points that I can relate to what I've been through and what I've seen and that's about selling yourself and your services. Most people, when they sell their services, they talk about everything they can do and that they can offer, all their skills. They'll say something like, why can translate 4,000 words a day? I have been the translator for 20 years. I have this certificate and that certificate and I've translated this, that and the other. Now that's fine, but it's not good. It's definitely not great because when the potential client is going through potential translators to hire, it's not what's most important to them. What's most important to them is how their lives can get better. It has to pass the sell what test. I can translate 4,000 words a day. So what? I've been doing this for 20 years. So what? Those don't really pass the sell what test and in fact you need to get to the sell what. That means talking less about your skills and more about benefits. You need to talk about how you can benefit the client. So what benefits can you provide? This will depend obviously on what your specialization is and what the potential client does. Something along the lines of, I can make your website pop. Correspond this will flow smoothly with new translations in XYZ language. Do you want a competitive advantage in dealing with customers in this country or that country? Are you embarrassed about bad translations in the past? You don't have to worry about that anymore. Or just something like, do you want a friendly client or translator to deal with? If that's your strong point, then by all means, it differentiates you and it shows a benefit to them. You need legal and financial if those are two things you do or someone who could do translation and transcription or simply do you just want peace of mind? All of these offer a benefit to the end client rather than just talking about yourself saying, I study and so and so and then I lived here for many years and my mother speaks that language, my father speaks that language and I can translate X number of words a day. It's useful, but it's not what will catch their eye. If you do have these skills, by the way, I'm not saying you shouldn't mention them, but you should wait. If a potential client needs a new website done, they say, Hey, do you want a website in this language that can reach all these people that live in that country and do you want it to pop and be localized? And so it attracts their attention. But yeah, that's exactly what I want. That's exactly what I'm looking for. And then you get on to what you can provide. And even when you're talking about what you can provide, it's not just what you can offer. Like I can do X number words day, blah, blah, blah. You need differentiators. What makes you different from the other people? My clients come to me because or clients have chosen me because my current clients stick with me because it gives validation to what you're saying. If you can give an anecdote or a story yet, as long as you can keep it short and sweet, then that helps as well. So it's just a better way to approach the client. So yeah, that's what I got from this book. Once again, it's called new sales simplified. In fact, let me share some of the examples that they have in the book. Obviously, the book doesn't deal with translation per se. The example here is security services provider. The ones where they talk about the benefits. The examples he has here are potential clients say building owners look to us when they're seeking a competitive advantage by offering the finest security available to tenants and guests be frustrated that their current system is not doing what was promised when it was sold to them or see facing excessive liability exposure and so on and so forth. You get the idea. These are things that the person reading them might relate to and say, Oh no, I'm in that situation too. They can feel drawn in and then you can talk about your offerings or differentiators. I'll read a couple of those as well. We are a true one stop shop that provides real integrated solutions. We offer in-house financing and leasing options. We are quote unquote vendor agnostic just things that differentiate them from other companies that these potential clients might be talking to. I hope that helps. It's just something to keep in mind. Please let me know if I missed something out in the comments below. Feel free to subscribe for more videos like this freelance translation tips. Also, let me know if you like this spiffy blazer I'm wearing. That's about it. If you found this useful, please click like because that always helps and I'll talk to you in the next video. Thanks. Bye.