Numerous critics have studied Jonathan Swift's use of animals as satirical tools in Gulliver's Travels. However, none has devoted sufficient attention to Swift's forerunning "ecocritical" concern with animal issues in relation to humans. Although the animal theme in Gulliver's Travels does involve satirical intentions, this paper aims at showing that it has more profound implications that manifest Swift's forward-looking ideas regarding the relation between humans and their natural environment, as represented in the human-animal relationship. The ethical stand and moral commitment to the natural world represented by animals, and the care for making the themes of a literary work a means to create connections between man and the natural environment around him, are basic ecocritical values that Swift stresses both explicitly and implicitly throughout the novel.

Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy has made a significant impact on English writers and many of its inspirations are still existing to this day. Famous English writers, such as Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14 th century, John Milton in the 16 th Century, and William Blake in the early19 th century to mention just a few, are so much impacted by the thirteenth century Italian poet's text. In the 20 th century, Dante's influence on T.S. Eliot is strong, and the suggestion of any certain relationships between T.S. Eliot and Dante lies in Eliot's famous article: "What Dante Means to Me." Thus, the purpose of this paper is two-folds; first, it provides a quick survey of Dante's influence on famous English writers starting from the fourteenth century up to 20 th century; then it explores the influence of Dante Alighieri and his epic poem La Divina Commedia on T. S. Eliot especially on his two famous poems: The Waste Land and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

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During the time of Prophet Muhammad in Madinah, Muslims' understanding of the Concept of the other was strictly similar to the one described in the Holy Quranic verses. The Prophet himself provides an exemplary practice of the Islamic view of the Other in writing a constitution for people of different religions, tribes, races and ethnicities, living in Madinah. Those others who had agreed to that constitution were allowed to worship in their own way and follow their own religious law, and were given a degree of self-government. However, After Prophet Muhammad, Muslims' conceptions of the other greatly changed partly because of political reasons and conflicts among themselves and in most cases, because of the western colonization of many Muslim countries. The purpose of this paper is to deal with the diverging concepts of the other in Islam. It makes close readings of some Quranic verses revealed in the holy cities of Makka and Madinah and finds that the theoretical concept of the other, as represented in the Quran is based upon positive difference among peoples and communities. Then the paper sheds light on two instances of how Prophet Muhammad positively applied this concept, namely, "The Last Sermon and the Madinah Charter." Next, it surveys the manifestations of the concept of otherness in contemporary theory and practice, especially with reference to colonialism. The last section of this paper tries to interpret the radical changes that have turned the Muslim concept of the other from a positive one to a completely negative view of the other. Muslim contemporary othering is a comprehensive process that is divided by the researchers into exterior othering related to non-Muslims and domestic othering related to Muslims among themselves.