I never used to question this thing on my head Until I changed schools at age 13, wearing this thing on my head My mother asked me if I really wanted to continue Carrying on this practice or starting anew I said ya, sure why not? It’d feel sort of naked with an […]
This week, we discussed the reformist and revival Islamic movements during the 18th to 20th centuries. This was the period during which the European imperialists powers were colonizing Africa and Asia – in effect destroying the thriving Muslim Empires. These reformist movements emerged as as a solution to this problem. Some Muslims behind these movements […]
This week, we delved deeper into cases studies of reform and revolution: one in Pakistan inspired by Muhammad Iqbal, and the other, the Iranian Revolution. Thinkers like Iqbal emerged during the reform movements in the postcolonial era. They believed in empowering Muslims through adaptive and integrative methods, in other words integrating Western “foreign” models within […]
This week, we discussed how stories of the Prophet and his companions are depicted in the theatric arts of different cultures – mainly the taziyeh, the traditional performance of the martyrdom of Hussain and his family by Yazid in Karbala, Iran. We were exploring the differences between Shia and Sunni traditions and how the taziyeh […]
This week in section, we discussed the Beggar’s Strike, a Senegalese satire of the transactional relationship between the common people of the town, the beggars and the marabouts. We discussed the interesting dynamic of who was really the most powerful force in the story, whether it was God, the citizens, the beggars, or the marabouts. […]
This week, we were talking about the significance of the Quran as not just a written religious scripture but also as an oral tradition. We learned about different styles of recitation and the repetition of sounds in the poetic verses. We discussed how the Quran was never compiled in written form during the Prophet’s time, […]
Prologue Coming into this class, I honestly thought that I would be learning about the same type of Islam that I learned in elementary and middle school. I am Muslim and for the first 13 years of my life, I attended a Sunni Muslim school in Maryland. Therefore, my foundational knowledge of my religion is […]
