In Class: In class this week, we went over the syllabus and watched the movie “I am Khan.” I had actually heard of this movie previously, and was excited to see it. The first half of the movie made it unclear as to why we were watching it in an Intro to Islam class, but as soon as the 9/11 bit became obvious, the connection and relevance was clear. Mistreatment, prejudice and hatred directed towards Muslims after the 9/11 attacks are a real issue and I can’t wait to watch the end if the movie and see what happens.

Readings: In the “One God, Many Names” reading, I was brought to think about an aspect of Islam, and my own religion (Catholicism), that I’d never really thought about. The article was interesting because it talked about the similarities between Islam, Judaism and Catholicism, which are more obvious because of their common origins and mentions of them in the Qur’an. What I enjoyed the most, however, was the comparisons to the less “main-stream” religions.

Islam: I am excited to take this class. Last semester I took “Into to the Qur’an” class, which the same wonderful professor. While I enjoyed that class as well, I felt like, because I was unfamiliar with ISlam in general, that sometimes I was in the dark. If I could re-do it, I would take Intro to ISLAM before Intro to the Qur’an. I’m excited to take what I learned last semester and apply it to this class!

Response: In response to the Iranian nuclear scientist murder. It’s such a shame, though not all that surprising, that religion is soo tied up in all aspects of life, especially in governments. There is so much going on in the Middle East, and while know that religion is at the center, I wonder what would be accomplished if it were taken out of the equation.