Blog #3

Posted by: ilovegoodreads on: February 7, 2012

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In the last class we talked about the religious life of Mecca and the Prophet’s early life- things such as his background, how he was an orphan, his marriage, the revelations, among other things. We also discussed the reasons people believe religion or lack thereof.  We also talked about traditional versus modern and how the younger people were more reluctant to follow the Prophet’s teachings; whereas the older people were to set in their ways to change.

The readings for this week were long but overall it was not too hard to follow. In “The Prophet Muhammad in Ritual” the three central ritual acts were mentioned. They were the five daily prayers, fasting during Ramadan, and the pilgrimage to Mecca.  Believers of Islam have not only followed the teaching of Prophet Muhammad but there is an intimate presence of him, which they feel in their daily lives. A believer loves and respects the Prophet immensely.

I am currently reading a book called “Zeitoun”  by  Dave Eggers. It is an account of the experiences of a New Orleans contractor, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, during and after Hurricane Katrina. Zeitoun is mistaken for a terrorist and subjected to a series of humiliations. The quote that stood out to me was “Every time a crime was committed by a Muslim, that person’s faith was mentioned, regardless of its relevance. When a crime is committed by a Christian, do they mention his religion? … When a crime is committed by a black man, it’s mentioned in the first breath: ‘An African American man was arrested today…’ But what about German Americans? Anglo Americans? A white man robs a convenience store and do we hear he’s of Scottish descent? In no other instance is the ancestry mentioned.” I think this is very true, even in the news when a follower of Islam commits a crime; the first thing that is mentioned is their religious affiliation. I think when it comes down to it; people’s religious affiliation should not be mentioned if it does not have anything to do with what they did. It happens too often to Muslims and others, even African Americans and other minorities.

In response to therealgretchenweiners, about honor killings and how you thought Islam was supposed to be a religion of mercy. It is a religion of mercy! The people, who partake in honor killings and commit them, are misinformed. It is people like that who have taken the religion and its texts and basically twisted the words to make it fit what they are doing. It is just like terrorists who “claim” that killing non-Muslims is the righteous thing to do. My point is that there are many Muslims out there that think what they are doing is Islamiclally right, but it is not. And that goes for every religion.