Month: March 2020

This chapter revolves around who the first Muslims were and their significance to the city of the prophet. I also wanted to state how much I enjoy how these chapters are transitioning through this story very efficiently. As these chapters continue, it is incredibly fascinating how Muhammad has instilled such change into most people’s lives at this moment. There are new movements the Muslim citizens are doing, especially the Hijra, which was a secret operation for “daughters to sneak out of their fathers’ homes at night, young men gathering whatever provisions they could carry on their backs for the arduous week-long journey through the barren wilderness” (Aslan, 48). This was a long journey for many people who could not receive homes in Yathrib. It was also interesting to note how the Medinan period helped shape and model the religious ideology of Islam and the Islamic Empire came to be after Muhammad’s death with the Medina.

Once many couldn’t find homes in Yathrib, the area was mostly controlled by the Jewish population as well as the Bedouin tribes. However, there was a huge quarrel between the Was and the Khazraj. However, the Constitution of Medina was a document Muhammad created signaling that he was the leader for all the tribes and religions in Yathrib in order to stop the disputes. This constitution is the model for the power of a specific ruler for the Muslim people, who designates responsibilities and rights to the various communities. This created more equality amongst the communities as well as the blood-worth in order for one’s life to not be less valuable than another. He outlawed usury, supported the needy, as well as supported and fought for more equality with women. However, Muhammad’s wives did practice wearing a veil that is still used to this day, but it is used to protect women, especially in the Middle East. After Muhammad’s death, the legacy he left for equality in the Muslim community was next to none. Overall, this chapter was very fascinating to see how Muhammad utilized his power to influence the Islamic communities as well as others in Yathrib as well as Medina.

As I am writing this, something that I never thought would be the case has become the case. The United States has overtaken China in total number of coronavirus cases. Today is March 30th, and the stark differences of the handling of the outbreak in China as compared to the United States is the clear reason as to why the US numbers just keep skyrocketing. According to the WHO’s daily coronavirus statistics reports the United States currently has 122,653 total cases, and 19,332 “new” cases. The WHO defines a “new” case as one occurring within the last 24 hours. Meanwhile China currently has a total of 82,447 cases, just 106 of those being “new” cases. Now, to me, something about the handling of this virus in the US seems very off, because China has more than three times as many people as the US does, and yet, they have far fewer cases than we do. Yes, don’t get me wrong, China still has a lot of cases, currently they rank third in the world for most cases behind Italy, and the US. However, in a country in which the outbreak began, and that has over 1 billion people, keeping the case count that low is quite impressive to me. Our two countries have taken very different approaches to this catastrophe. China and president Xi have taken a hardcore approach, locking down everything they could as soon as they could to keep everyone indoors and got the necessary testing out as often and as numerous as they could. Meanwhile president Trump has said things like the virus was a hoax, and he along with many lawmakers have not taken this virus seriously, and as a result, we not only have overtaken China, we are the world leaders in coronavirus cases. The WHO daily situation reports can be found here

Since my theme for blogs this week has been news in the Middle East and Corona Virus in the Middle East. I figured that it would be appropriate for me to write about what I’m reading from their news compared to what I’m experiencing in my own home.

While reading news about the Middle East it’s very easy to tell that the virus there is taking control of the entire region, with it’s statistics rapidly approaching those of Italy. The US is also exponentially climbing in number infected as well as number dead, this number just surpassed over 2,000 people today.

Of course not on the same level as the Middle East, but definitely similarly, Indianapolis simply does not have enough tests to test people who aren’t high risk. As I am a healthy 19 year old, I have been presumed positive by the state, and asked to self quarantine for 2 weeks. My mother can’t even get tested yet, and she has Lupus which puts her at a very high risk of being a fatality from this disease.

This though just doesn’t even touch the fact that many people, such as in Lebanon like we talked about earlier. Just aren’t even being communicated with simply because of documentation. I just found it interesting to compare what’s happening in my house, to what I can access on the news.

I recently read an article about the Corona Virus in Lebanon and how it’s being handled. Quite frankly it was tough to read, whilst reading through it it wasn’t hard to be able to see that the government is struggling to figure out what they need to do to combat the virus.

As nerves continue to rise in Lebanon the hospitals are now turning away undocumented people of Lebanon with no test at all, or requesting a ridiculous price for the test. The effect of this is leaving many people afraid and untested, possibly fearful for their lives. In some cases this isn’t even their fault, as an awful practice in Lebanon is for abusive migrant employers to take their employee’s documents when they begin work to discourage them from leaving their post. It’s a sad, but interesting situation happening in Lebanon.

All of the information presented was given by Aljazeera, I’m not claiming any as my own simply analyzing and discussing it.

The coronavirus has caused difficulties around the world, and in Lebanon, it is no different. Undocumented immigrants are struggling to get access to coronavirus tests. Many migrant workers do not have identification because they have had to escape abusive employers. It is common for these employers to confiscate passports and IDs. Due to this problem, undocumented immigrants are sent away from hospitals or forced to pay extremely high amounts to get tested. It is also difficult for these immigrants because they are often living in poverty, often in close quarters with many people. Lebanon has 417 cases of the coronavirus and eight deaths. While these numbers are significantly lower than many parts of the world, the cases cannot be accurate especially if undocumented immigrants are not able to get tests. The spread will also increase if these immigrants continue to be turned away. Although this sounds appalling, undocumented immigrants in the United States might face some of the same fears as the immigrants in Lebanon. They might face retributions if they attempt to get tested, and this could continue the spread in the United States.

This chapter revolves more around the rise of Muhammad. I find this fascinating as I never learned too much about Muhammad, or how he became the prophet that he is. The reading states that there was a dominance in Mecca at the end of the fourth century by “an ambitious young Arab named Qusayy who had managed to gain control of the Kaaba by united a number of feuding clans under his rule” (Aslan, 32). It appeared that these clans were comprised of extended families, and some of these family clans merged based on their political beliefs and intermarriage alliances.

There is an interesting debate about the trade that went on in Mecca. Some people believe that Mecca was an International trading ground and others view the opposite that it rarely attracted much trade at all. However, both sides do agree that whatever trade did go on in Mecca, it was due to the importance and significance of the Kaaba. However, there was a problem in Mecca that the wealth had destroyed the tribal ethic and the egalitarianism was swept away. It also weakened the structure of the tribes and could not protect the community.

This article gets back into Muhammad’s life as he was basically rescued and later married a wealthy female merchant named Khadija. She also had hired him for work. The marriage “paved the way for Muhammad’s acceptance at the highest levels of Meccan society and thoroughly initiated him into the religious-economic system of the city” (Aslan, 37). From having little to no family, Muhammad almost had no chance of being accepted by society until this marriage. This shows that almost anything can happen to anyone at any time, even if the odds seem stacked against it. Another fascinating story was of Muhammad’s “burning bush” revelation about a spirit forcing him to recite words that revealed how he knew he became a prophet. This revelation helped spread the word of God and other right and wrong morals, and the people who had wrong morals or who believed in injustice were punished by God. This caused a backlash with the Quraysh, and they boycotted his clan. His clan moved to Yathrib for Muhammad to spread his wisdom. This chapter sheds incredible light on how Muhammad came from nothing and rose to become this prophet.