GHS208-05 Fall 2019 China and the Islamic Middle East

At the Weekend School on Sunday we had a pretty short class. There was only one student for each group, so instead of doing any real assisting, I got to sit down and learn with our only student. We read Surah 86, “The Night-Visitant” which talks about how to treat non-believers, and how to guide them to Allah. We used an entirely Arabic Qur’an, which made it very interesting to try to find where I needed to be. We also had a fully English Qur’an with us to help with understanding. We talked a bit about the different versions of Qur’an available. We also talked about religion, and how religion comes from a debt that we feel toward our Creator for the life that we have and the things that we are given. Then the teacher had us play a game to assist in helping our student learn about debt and what it feels like to be in debt, and what it feel like to be out of it. Finally, we ate lunch, cleaned up and left. Though it was a short day, it was nonetheless quite rewarding.

While at a service banquet I attended for my service at Nur-Allah, I met a family that consisted of the parents and four grown daughters. The parents of the family were given an award for pioneers of the year, and within their award acceptance, they spoke about the Hajj. They were introducing their daughters, and they said that two of their daughters and their partners did the Hajj in 2019. She then talked about how she and her husband had done the Hajj twice together, and her husband did the Hajj one other time. After they stated that they had done the Hajj along with two of their daughters, the entire crowd gave a huge round of applause. The extent of the applause for the family doing the Hajj reminded me of the video and the class discussion we had about the Hajj. I did not know how big of a deal the Hajj was in the Islamic faith. I knew that it exsisted, and was a pillar of Islam, but I did not know how important it was. When they were speaking about their Hajj experience, they talked about how life-changing it was to make the trip to Mecca and everything that they did during the Hajj and how close it brought them to God. Seeing the topics that we talk about during class and do readings on in real life is such a cool experience. I think that hearing real stories, first-hand, has the deepest impact on learning, and hearing how influential the Hajj was to this family really showed how big of a deal the Hajj is in the Islamic faith.

While reading Chapter 10 in Aslan, we hear early on about how many families and children escaped Iran in a time of need for safety and allowing for their children to miss out on military duty. In this chapter we see how the life of people can change rapidly for those who were able to leave vs those who were not. This happened early on in the chapter when they are on the plane arriving back to their homeland and finally reaches the passport window an sees the repercussion of staying in Iran could do. The guy behind the counter was said to be roughly the same age, younger late twenties or early thirties, but looked much older because of the wear and tear on his body from having to stay in Iran. This was eye opening to just see how lucky the people who fled were.

 

This concept of people fleeing for safety and from getting out of military service got me to think directly with the Vietnam War, and how over 2 Million Americans fled to Canada just so they wouldn’t have to get drafted to the Vietnam war. The connection between these events is crazy, and we can see that is does indeed have a major impact on the individuals themselves.

 

In the US we saw that those who left would face hefty legal actions if caught or try to return back home, where we read about those who left Iran were finally allowed to comeback, but only for short visits and limited times. Overall, those who left might have thought they won, while others who persevered might think they have won because they were staying true to their countries of origin.

 

Until next time,

Patrick

This was my second day volunteering at the International Festival at the state fairgrounds. Overall I would say it was a similar experience to the first day with some minor differences. All of the booths that were there on the first day were also there on the 9th, which gave me a chance to discover more foods and talk to different groups than the first day. I know this doesn’t necessarily relate to our class, but I had a very good conversation with the German booth at the event. We discussed soccer and the Krinklemart Christmas event that takes place in Carmel every year. I attended last years Krinklemart so it was nice to talk to them about that.

Now, actually getting into the more specific details of what I did at the event. I worked behind the IACA like the first day, but I did not perform on stage this time. Instead I participated in the “International Parade” which consisted of all the countries at the event walking around the venue while spectators watched. I enjoyed being in the parade because I felt as if I was part of something, all of the people watching were very intrigued by the parade. I was just a flag waver in the parade, but we did have a lion. Something happened during the parade that was a little out of the ordinary, a child actually cried when the lion costume went by. I feel a little bad, but it was honestly pretty funny. Overall, I enjoyed my experience at the International Festival and look forward to more volunteering opportunities in the future.

While studying the Qur’an at Sunday school for my service, we actually studied and read from an Arabic Qur’an. We were given the book and then were instructed to open to a certain Surah. The Arabic language is read from back to forward. It took me a good five minutes to try and figure out the correct page and Surah that I was supposed to be on. The Qur’an was fully in Arabic, including the numbers, so I could not find the right Surah due to the fact that I do not know Arabic numbers. After finally finding the correct Surah, the teacher read the Surah in Arabic- which was beautiful. We watched that video in class of the man reciting a Surah, and the teacher also recited in kind of a song and it was very impressive and interesting. After she read the Surah in Arabic, we got out a translated version of the Qur’an and read the Surah and analyzed it in English. The Surah was about how Allah is the guide, just like how the night time was a guide. It talked about helping non-believers in finding their way to Allah. It was interesting seeing the translation of the Qur’an because there were a lot of words that were in parenthesis, which makes me think that the translation was not exact. Seeing the two Qur’an’s next to each other was really interesting. I attached a photo below of the two Qur’an’s next to each other.

For this weeks’ service at Nur-Allah, I assisted in helping the lesson on why Islam is their religion. There was only one student today so there was not a lot of assisting to do, but instead, I just listened and learned from the Sunday school teacher. The lesson began with listening to a speech from an Iman about why they choose to follow Allah and Islam. The speech talked about how the people of Islam are indebted to Allah and serve Allah every day. The speech then went on to talk about how every day the people of Islam must be thankful to Allah for everything that they have. For every good thing, such as food or family, Allah had given it, so people of the Islamic faith must be thankful. After the speech and the lecture from the teacher, we read the Qur’un a bit and then played a card game that represented being in debt and how Allah helps people out of debt. The lesson of the game was that being in debt is not fun and is a burden on life, so if you follow Allah, you will not be in debt and have a fulfilling life without burden. After this, we had lunch. It was a short, but always rewarding morning at the mosque.

Being a Political Science and International Studies major, I have studied democracy in multiple countries across the globe. I found chapter 10 in “No God but God” about democracy and Islam to be quite interesting. When Iran was adapting to a new democratic government, I find it quite interesting that they decided to do one electoral sect of the government and one part that was chosen by religious leaders. I believe that secular democracies are better in terms of making sure that everybody is served by the government feels both represented and has the right to practice their own religion. I understand that the Islam religion has been tied heavily in governemtns, especially in the middle east, but I think having religious leaders choose government officials is not the best system. I have to be sure to check my perspective, coming from someone that is not religious and also believes highly in the freedom to choose religions and the other freedoms that I receive by being a citizen of the United States. But, because Islam is so intertwined within culture and life in Iran, I understand why that was the choice for a democratic government.

I was so glad that we got the information about the Center for Citizenship and Community Drum Circle! I had no idea it was going to happen, and it was a really special thing to go see. The students participating were part of the drum circle that sounds like it’s part of a Butler ICR. Today’s presentation was like their final concert, where they shared the music and dance they’ve been learning about all semester. A lot of cultures and traditions were represented—there were pieces from Uganda, Japan, Guinea, and Puerto Rico. There was drumming, dancing, yoga, a flute solo, poetry, and a lot of participation from the audience, which was my favorite part!

The speakers and students involved talked a little bit about getting out of your comfort zone to learn something new, which I think is relevant to probably every GHS course at Butler. Not every conversation we have is familiar or easy, but I think that makes them even more valuable. Since there are so many different cultures, backgrounds, ideas, and beliefs in the world, one of the most valuable things we can learn is to be comfortable being uncomfortable! The drum circle was a really welcoming space that celebrated diversity and creativity, and on top of that, was just really fun. Butler’s drum circle meets every Wednesday at 5:30pm at North Liberty Christian Church, and every Sunday at 3pm in the South Campus basement. They welcome anyone any time, so if it sounds interesting to you, feel free to check it out!

I have been trying to follow up on recent news going on in Egypt since I am for one trying to catch up on everything going on around the world these days. However, I did find some very interesting information going on in Egypt, from the New York Times. This article was about how a man named Mohamed Ali, is known to be starting a new revolution in the “internet age”. His main focus is on President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and how corrupt the government is there supposedly. Mohamed was a former construction contractor for the Egyptian military, and he started posting videos on the internet about information about the government/ its secrets. He claimed the government was turning towards the worse and the people inside were corrupted. His videos created some tension, as well as, some protests have started amongst the citizens against the government. However, some people are not sure if Mohamed is in on this corruption as well, so it is partially backing firing on his part but just by a little. Anyways, this information can be found through this site on New York Times; where more information can be found.

Howdy there, this weekend I went home just because why not. AND I was talking about this class with my brother…well my dad being his wise, knowledgeable, and history self had to step in. I never mind talking about history with my dad its just I was tired and yes this talk went from nine pm till midnight. ANYWAYS, I told my dad that we have been talking about Islam since after fall break, and the many mechanisms, faith, and other religions which compare/contrast to Islam. He asked me, “have you ever heard about the Six-Day War?” I replied “No?… I don’t think so.” Well he went into detail to tell me how it happened in June of 1967, and was between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Not sure if anyone else knew about this war or learned about it from school because I for sure didn’t. It was very interesting to learn about and made me think to look more into it, since I can’t remember everything that was talked about in those three hours of a history lesson. But on this site it breaks down the build up, what happened each day, as well as, the ending to the Six-Day War (even though it kind of was seven days but they took a day off). Moreover, I was very intrigued with this information and wanted to know what else has happened in Israel. To my surprise, I did find another site but this time it was a blog post by someone. Although, the comments were very believing, some information is opinionated but it still was a good read with a different perspective.