The pun is a tricky use of a word or phrase which has very different meanings that are closely interrelated, or of words with the same sound but different meanings. The Pun is a term with a dual meaning: “close” using obvious reference, and “far” using obscure reference. The hidden is usually meant. The close meaning is the sooner that comes to the listener’s mind. However, the speaker targets at the far one yet use the close to hide it. Translating the Quran text always raises several serious challenges in translation; these challenges are due to the different translations of puns and the misinterpretations between the intended meanings of a pun with their basic concepts, which could result in a certain amount of ambiguity. The study examines the Quranic corpus and its three versions of English translations. The study utilizes the typology of Delabastita᾿s for horizontal puns, Nida’s techniques of dynamic and formal equivalent and Newmark’s translation methods. This research attempts to investigate the semantic meaning of puns in the Quran translation and to define the translation techniques applied in translating the Quranic puns from Arabic into English.

Dining is a fundamental biological need which serves as a social function for binding people in a society. It is a human sociality that people eat together; however, it could turn to be very complex in a multi-religious society where people have different dietary requirements prescribed by their religions. Limited studies reveal halal dining practices and its influence on social cohesion in a multi-religious society. In this study, we investigated and explored how Muslims uphold their religious commitment of halal dining within the inter-religious context and how non-Muslims perceive halal dining and participate in this commensality. This study aims to explore the behavioral patterns of halal dining experiences among urban millennials in a multi-religious societal context. The study was undertaken to measure the influence of halal dining experience on the socialization process between Muslims and non-Muslims which may affect the condition of social cohesion among them. This study also attempts to explore the inclusiveness of halal diners and their interactions. Adopting a qualitative approach, interviews were conducted among Muslims and non-Muslims urbanite millennials residing in Klang Valley. This study finds that dining dissimilarities challenge aspects of multi-religiosity but do not cause a major disruption in building a cohesive society. Thus, the issue that comes to fore is the manner in which people positively or negatively deal with their differences during commensality. The outcome of this research aspires to serve as a reflection of halal dining experience in a multi-religious society towards building a cohesive and united society. � Universiti Putra Malaysia Press.

In the study of religion, syncretism has been conveyed as a controversial concept and has become an issue for debate because it depicts ‘impurity’ or ‘inauthenticity’. The term has been widely used by some Western scholars to elaborate on its practice among Ancient and Christian societies, and at the same time, it is also used in the context of Muslim communities, particularly in describing the practice of traditional cultures in Malaysia that were rejected by Muslim reformers. In practice, however, traditional culture cannot be easily distinguished from Muslim practices. Thus, what explains the desire of some Muslims to continue practising elements of their traditional culture associated with syncretism? This paper aims to discover the factors influencing the intention of the Kedayan people to practise elements their traditional culture that are associated with syncretism. Data were self-administered among 414 respondents and analysed using descriptive and inferential analyses of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The results of this study revealed that the Kedayan people have a tendency to continue with practices of their traditional culture that may still contain remnants of syncretism. In addition, the results also revealed their agreement with the common perception of traditional culture and subjective norms as factors influencing Kedayans’ intention to practise their traditional culture.

The Islamic Civilisation and Asian Civilisation course or more commonly known as Tamadun Islam and Tamadun Asia (TITAS) is a compulsory course for all students of institutions of higher learning in Malaysia and this includes University Malaysia Sabah (UMS). Therefore this course is among the courses that records a high enrolment of students every semester which has led to an increase in load for the lecturers of this course. Additionally, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) has launched a blended learning approach in teaching and learning. Hence, in order to streamline the curriculum as well as to lessen the load of the TITAS lecturers, the MOHE has developed the TITAS MOOCs learning module that is spearheaded by University Putra Malaysia (UPM). This paper will analyse the acceptance of the TITAS MOOCs learning module among the UMS students. The study shows that the reception of the UMS students towards the TITAS MOOCs module is positive and there is a high relation between the factors of acceptance, which consist of Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use and Social Influence, with the acceptance of the UMS students which is seen as Voluntary Usage. This research is essential to evaluate the relevance of the TITAS MOOCs module as well as the UMS environment in order to realise this blended learning approach in the TITAS course. � IAEME Publication.