Something that I find myself guilty of is seeing that there is a revolution in the Middle East and passing by the news as if it is nothing new. I dislike the fact that I have become immune to news of uprisings in the Middle East and I think this stems from a lack of …
Author Archives: apentala
Empowerment of Women by the Hijab
In the last reading from “No God but God” I found the information about the changes in Islam to be the most interesting. In the book, Reza Aslan mentions that the Muslim population is actually very young. “…nearly three-quarters of them (Muslims) are under the age of thirty-five. In some parts of the world, most …
Modern Day Sufism
Sufism is a dimension of Islam that emphasizes introspection and spiritual closeness with God while shunning materialism. Some of the most famous pieces stemming from Sufism are written by the poet Rumi. The modern view of Sufism is of love peace and tolerance which is why Sufism is sometimes targeted by extremist groups. I found …
IPS Newcomer – 3
This past Friday at Newcomer was a typical Friday in the science classroom. One of the things that was the most shocking to me was the struggle that students had figuring out how to create a line graph. I always grew up with the perception that math and science were taught universally across the globe. …
IPS Newcomer – 4
This week at Newcomer started out a little rough and was even more eye-opening to the issues surrounding the Indianapolis community. Each week that I have been here has been a very positive experience and has really opened my eyes to how open these children are to learning. Today, the classes were a little older …
The Hajj
Learning about the Hajj was very interesting. Prior to watching the documentary, I knew a little bit about the pilgrimage to the Ka Ba but I didn’t know much about what actually happened. The Hajj really teaches the importance of faith and life while stripping away all of the human values of wealth, pride, and …
Qur’an Reflection
I found Sura 2 to be very interesting as it lays out the base fundamentals of Islam. Sura 2 explains how a faithful person should live and what they should and shouldn’t do. I was shocked by how many similarities there were between this section of the Qur’an and the Bible. For example, the story …
BCR Reflection
Last night I attended the religion seminar “The Most Merciful: Muslim Work with Ex-Offenders” and it was one of the most interesting seminars I have been to. The four presenting panelists were able to share stories, opinions, and a lot of wisdom on topics that I have never been exposed to or even considered. At …
IPS Newcomer- 2
This Friday was my second time at the IPS newcomer program and I was able to experience and learn so much more. I was placed in Mr. S’s science classroom. The students were learning about the solar system and planets. The students in the first class were still in the very beginning stages of learning …
China Lights in Milwaukee
Last weekend I was able to go home and I came just in time for the annual China Lights Festival that happens in my hometown. The China Lights Festival is a display of lanterns that represent different cultural treasures and historical symbols. You can walk around between the different lanterns and read about their meaning …