Blog 1

Posted by: daisysimple on: January 30, 2012

In: Uncategorized
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The first two classes we spent watching a Bollywood movie called “My Name is Khan.” I really enjoyed the movie for several reasons. I am very interested in Autism. I have a cousin who is autistic, so although there were many differences between Rizvan Khan’s Aspergers and my cousins functional autism, I was immediately invested in Khan’s success. I also really enjoyed the overly dramatic portrayal of every single character. I knew that the movie was going to be dramatic because it’s a Bollywood movie, but I wasn’t quite expecting it to that level!

I’m having a bit of trouble with all of the readings because I have NO knowledge about Islam. That being said, I feel like the first two articles that we read were semi-helpful in terms of identifying who Allah is. I didn’t know anything, but now I know more about the origin of his name, who he is, and a little bit about who his people are. Mercy seemed to be a key factor in living a fulfilling life in the eyes of Allah. This is a concept that I wish more people would embrace. I really enjoyed the bit of lecture last thursday. I know nothing about Islam or it’s history, so that was a good start. However, I’m probably going to need to get more knowledge during class time instead of through the readings, so I don’t feel lost when it comes to writing assignments.

I’m very curious to learn about the biblical patriarchs and prophets as they are portrayed in Islam. I want to compare and contrast their purpose and stories. I am also very curious to know what role Jesus has in Islamic theology. All of these questions make me curious about how people follow this religion. What the main practices are, how people dress, act, live, etc. These are some things that I hope to learn by the end of the semester.

In response to “chicagoiscold,” the point you raised about the issue around the Christian-centric education was very familiar to me. I always saw this issue as it related to the Jewish holidays, simply because I don’t know many religions and their holidays. However, now that you’ve explained the importance of some of the holidays and the problems relating to the lack of accommodations by schools, it seems wrong that in a country full of diverse races, cultures, religions, sexual orientations, so on and so on, that we haven’t figured out a way to accommodate everyone’s needs.