Class 8 - September 28th, 2011

Homework Due this Class:  Study for Vocabulary Quiz #2

In this class we focused on learning more about one of the five pillars of Islam, the Hajj.  We begun class with a prayer by Michael McCarthy on taking a stand and taking action against general injustice in the world.  We then took our second Islam Vocabulary Quiz on the following words:

  Qur'an - The sacred scripture of Muslims, regarded as the word of God dictated by Muhummad by God through the archangel Gabriel.  The prophet received and recited the messages over approximately twenty years.
  Shahada - Means witnessing.  The Muslim profession of faith.  There is but one God and Muhummad is his rasul or messenger.
  Tawhid - The Muslim Doctrine of the unity of God.  Islam denies any partners to God such as Christians are believed to have in their trinity.

After the quiz, we read an excerpt from "Islam:  The Straight Path" on the sacred pilgrimage of the hajj.  It explained the hajj in further detail.  It talked about the origin of the hajj, why Muslims travel to the Ka'ba, and its connection with Muhummad himself.  It talks about how the hajj fits into the Muslim calendar and how it is decided when it takes place.  It then explains the practices that occur when one is on his/her hajj.  It really only focused on the technical aspect of the hajj instead of the spiritual significance.

Then we got a more personal supplement by watching a documentary by National Geographic about inside Mecca and it also followed a modern Muslim convert on her hajj with lots of her thoughts and observations.  It gave a different angle to looking at the hajj and why it's important.

Homework Due Next Class:  Study for Vocabulary Quiz #3

This is a picture of Muslims on their hajj at the Ka'ba.  It really emphasizes how serious this experience is and the high the magnitude of people that visit the Ka'ba is.  The photo expresses how humongous and important this pillar of Islam is to their religious experience.





My first connection is an article on the Washington Post about the hajj of 2010, reflecting afterwards.  It has some lovely photos of the religious experience Muslims have on their hajj.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2010/11/as_hajj_ends_eid_al-adha_prepa.html

My second connection is a video of a first person perspective of the hajj.  It is helpful if you wanted to know what it actually looks like in Mecca at the time of the hajj.  It is quite inspiring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjwZZBDGSHI&feature=related

Class 7 - September 26th, 2011

In this class, we learned about the next two five pillars of Islam: Salat and Sawm. We learned that before Salat, wudhu must be done. This is a ritual washing performed by Muslims before prayer, always in Arabaic. They must always be cleaned when praying to Allah.


Steps:



1. Hands (right then left, 3 times)

2. Mouth (3 times)

3. Nose (3 times)

4. Face (essential- at least once but usually 3 times)
5. Arms (right then left, 3 times- essential)

6. Hair (once- compulsory act)

7. Ears (wiped inside and behind)

8. Feet (right then left- compulsory act- 3 times)



These must be performed after falling asleep, going to the bathroom, passing wind, bleeding heavily, vomiting, etc. You notice that three appears a number of times. This is because three is a symbol for the ultimate of something.


Video on how to make Wuduh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y5Fj7Ob27M&feature=related



Three ratkahs are done at all five times of prayer:


Steps:


1. Takbir
2. Qiyaam

3. Ruku

4. Brief Qiyaam

5. Sujud

6. Brief Sitting
7. Sujud

8. Tashannud

9. Peace to right

10. Peace to left




The next pillar is called Sawm. This is fasting primarily during the month of Ramadan. Muslims abstain from drinking, eating, gambling, and all sensuous pleasures from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, one of the most important times of a Muslims year.



The class came up with words that describe why Muslims do this. What do they benefit from fasting and not even being able to brush their teeth? These things seem so essential to us that we take them for granted. A Muslim fasts during Ramadan in remembrance, for sacrifice, (re)dedication, clarity and purification. A Muslim benefits a lot from Sawm because he/she remembers all that Allah has given them and is thankful for all that they have. They constantly remember and to forget (shirk) is the biggest sin, so Sawm is helpful. Also, they sacrifce a lot for their religion, but this is all for Allah. Sawm requires dedication and clarity because one needs to be focused and completley reverent during Ramadan. The Muslim is also purified through Sawm.








The song, "How Great Thou Art" connects to this class because it talks about how great God is and says, "Then I shall bow, in humble adoration and there proclaim, my God how great Thou art!" which relates to how Muslims respond to Allah and the way we bow is like the way they salat, only they do it many times a day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLLMzr3PFgk

Class 6 - September 20

Ms. Egan's B2 Class experienced its fine foray into the study of Islam. Events of this class include:

• An in house produced documentary by CPD on Islam and how to approach its subscribers. Clearly, customs such as avoidance of direct eyesight, the removal of shoes, and the daily five periods of prayer were addressed as well as the wide diversity of the Muslim community.
• A powerpoint presentation on the subject of Islam and its background, including of course, its founder Muhammad, its sacred text the Qur'an, as well as other factoids. For instance, the fact that the majority of Muslims inhabit the African and Asian continents and that in global total they are approximately 1.3 billion in number.
• Another video documentary of Islam and its background, links here: http://www.youtube.com/user/jarhood?ob=5#p/u/21/mhYt7s0MWtk http://www.youtube.com/user/jarhood?ob=5#p/u/20/mAbli9wqSGs

Islam, like all other religions, deserves respect and compassion from all. Just as was addressed in the CPD documentary, Islam and its followers are really quite ordinary people. We must all keep an open-mindedness and dismiss all notions of "weirdness" or "foreignness". A small, radical fraction of a people is not at all enough to stereotype. Again, Islam is a young system; it was not more than 500 years ago that the warriors of Christendom were acting out the Inquisition and Crusades.

Terms to remember include:

Islam - The religion and desirable "straight path" of the Islamic faith. Meaning "submission".

Muslim - A follower of Islam, translating to "submitter".

Muhammad - Revered founder of Islam. Born of the Quraysh tribe in Arabia. Had Gabriel appear before him to lead what would be a cultural and religious revolution.

Connections: Here is a spin on the Kanye West song "Jesus Walks", in which fellow hip hop artist Lupe Fiasco gives his take from a Muslim perspective.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSIkgRLdWYQ&feature=related

Homework: Article Who is Allah?

Review notes and terms

Class 5-September 10th, 2011

Vocabulary: Chapter 10 Islam

Sunna- This is the custom or tradition of Muhammad, which supplements the Qur'an as a source for the Shari'a.

Sunni- These are the traditional, majority or Muslims who accept Mu'awiyah as the next leader after 'Uthman.

Tawhid- The Muslim doctrine of the unity of God because the faith denies any partners of God. Unlike the Chritian Doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

Timothy Drew- Was a contributor to the Black Muslim movement in the U.S., and he taught that blacks are Asiatics or Muslims.

'Ulama'- are Muslim clerical scholars

Ummah- an Arabic word for community or nation, it is the Muslim community throughout the whole world.

Wahhab- In Islam, Muslims call God 'Alah,' however that is not his only name. Wahhab is one of the ninety nine names they use, this name means The Servant of the Bestower.

Zakat- In the Islamic culture, the payment of a due to support the community, which is an act of purification through giving.

Chapter 10: First 10 pages

The first portion of this chapter is an introduction to Islam. it discusses the earliest foundation of it and it's birth by the prophet Muhammad. We learn about his early life, and how he began to fall into the new religion which he is responsible for. His goals are relayed to us by his administrative, military, and spiritual leadership.

Although Islam is one of the world's youngest religions it has surprised us all with its rapid growth in followers. As of 2007 Islam was already the world's largest religion ahead of Catholicism, however Christianity as a whole is still larger than Islam.

The two colors of green represent Islam.

One aspect of Islam I found surprising was its policy to "lead, defend, and avenge the members of [his] tribe" (331). They live by honor and retaliation. However, this is something most people misinterpret, especially Muhammad's creation of an Arabian military. So, we should not think that Muslims are violent people, but believe strongly in dignity and respect.

This video shows just how important Muhammad is, not only to Islam, but to the whole world.

He is honored as one of the most influential persons in history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-8AW6g4WwQ&feature=player_detailpage

Class 4 - September 6th, 2011

Today's class was focused on preparing our mind to be respectful towards other religions of the world, no matter how different they may be from our beliefs.  We may naturally look at other's religions and practices and say something like, "Wicca?!  Modern-day witches?  That's preposterous!  Who would ever practice something as unreasonable as that!".  Instead, we should view a person's religion from their point of view, returning to John Dunne's idea of passing over and coming back.

We began class with a prayer very nicely led by Stefano Belloni.  Afterwards, in a power-point/handout Ms. Egan presented to us, we looked over some things to avoid when passing over in order to study other religions with respect.  Some terms were Out of Hand Dismissal (viewing from a distance and mocking was seems foreign or complex, often using stereotypes), Museum Shelf Viewpoint Method (viewing something from a distance and seeing it as distant or unconnected to personal everyday life), Premature Assimilation (Making unreasonable generalizations or connections like 'Bhrahman is the Hindu Jesus'), and Idealization (Liking one part of a faith does not make you a member of that religion.  We glossed over some more outlandish (excuse the word) religions and practices to get the idea across on how to view a belief openly.  We finished class by working on a RAFT with a topic of Respectfully Approaching World Religions.

This lesson was all about not instantly labeling something ridiculous as crazy.  Something being different or unfamiliar doesn't make it wrong.  A great example are geniuses of history.  Just to name one:  Albert Einstein.

This may not connect directly to the theme of class, but when you look at this picture, you instantly assume the man is crazy.  You may never guess that this man was one of the greatest thinkers of all time, developing the theory of relativity among other things.  You're instant human reaction to this photograph is the mental process we were learning to avoid in class today.  He may look silly, but there is more sense to this man than you would expect.

As the theme of this class was properly studying things that may seem to us at first ridiculous, the first connection involves ridiculous-seeming things as well.  This video, in addition to being one of the finest British comedy sketches of all times, shows two people who at first may seem extremely silly or crazy, but after a while you realize they are both very serious about what they do and respect each other about it.

My second connection is more serious.  It is an article about Pope John Paul II respect for the Jewish church.  It references him placing a prayer note in the Western Wall, respecting Jewish tradition instead of saying, "Wha-What?!?!  Jesus isn't the Son of God?!  Ridiculous!"  John Paul II is a great example of how respectful and open we should be to other religions throughout the world.

CLASS 3 - August 31, 2011

This class was mainly about discussing "passing over and coming back" and relating that to Gandhi. Passing over and coming back is a term used to describe someone who leaves their religion, discovers and respects others, but always come back to their own religion. Why is it important to us? Although most of us haven't experienced this, it may happen in your life. It opens us up to a whole new world that we haven't been shown. It gives us a chance to expand our knowledge of other's religions and perhaps practice them.

Gandhi was the number one example that we discussed in class. He gave up everything he had, left his religion (Hinduism), left his wife and children, and discovered a whole new world of religions. But in the end, he of course "came back" to Hinduism.

A poem about Gandhi:

http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/santosh-sharma/mahatma-gandhi-6/

This is also a link to a song called The Scientist by Coldplay. Although the song is about losing a loved one, the refrain says, "I'm going back to the start," and can relate so much to returning to our religion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqWLpTKBFcU&ob=av2n