Author: mkdenner

I really enjoyed reading the poems Dr. McGrath posted.  Specifically, I liked some of the shorter poems.

Poem 7:

Walk to the well.
Turn as the earth and the moon turn,
circling what they love.
Whatever circles comes from the center.

I believe poems can be interpreted in many different ways based on who the reader is.  For me, this poem spoke to finding your passion.  The line, “whatever circles comes from the center”, is referring to finding that true passion within you. Sometimes in life people from outside your “center” try to influence and push you in different directions.  However, to find what you truly love you must listen to your heart.

Poem 16:

Don’t forget the nut, being so proud of the shell,
The body has its inward ways,

the five senses. They crack open,
and the Friend is revealed.

Crack open the Friend, you become
the All-One.

Sometimes in life it seems tough to be appreciative of the small things.  In this poem it refers to not forgetting the nut, while being so proud of the shell.  In my life, I have often taken small things for granted.  For example, as the senior year winds down with online classes, I started to reflect on my four years at Butler.  I took for granted a lot of the little things, while I enjoyed the big picture aspect of being in college.  It is important to stop and slow down at times to take a moment and appreciate the things you have.

Unfortunately, with everything going on with the coronavirus we were not able to participate in the events planned with the IACA.  However, to still give back to the community and be involved with the IACA we were assigned with three tasks.  First, develop a one page flyer for IACA which I will attach below.  Second, we wrote an essay detailing the impact the coronavirus has had.  Specifically, I talked about the treatment of Chinese Americans and the hardships they have gone through as the virus has worrsened.  Then lastly, we created a 3-minute long PSA about the importance of understanding during these tough times.  Each of the three assignments gave me new insights and information on how people are being affected by this.  For me, my senior year and golf season were cancelled.  However, Chinese Americans who are facing discrimination and hate during these times are dealing with much tougher obstacles than I am.  It reminded me to always keep things in perspective.

[embeddoc url=”http://blogs.butler.edu/ghs208spring2020/files/2020/04/IACA-one-page-flyer.docx” download=”all” viewer=”microsoft”]

The fourth chapter details the battle between Muhammad and Quraysh.  Although Muhammad left Mecca, Quraysh still has not forgotten about him.  Muhammad’s declaration that Yathrib was a sanctuary city was not taken well by Quraysh.  Although it is true that Quraysh are charging toward Yathrib, Muhammad announces that his plans are to stay put and wait for the enemies to come to him.  His plan is to let the Quraysh attack the oasis and then all men will fight them in the streets, while children hurl stones from palm trees.

One part I found interesting was how Muhammad’s followers were skeptical as to his plans.  They were thinking back to the brutal loss they received at Badr a year ago.  They were quoted saying, “Lead us out to our enemies so that they may not think we are too cowardly and weak to face them.”  In the end, after his most trusted advisors were even questioning his plan he decided to face off in a plain a few miles northwest of Yathrib.  This change of mind was very interesting to me as I did not think Muhammad would go back on his initial plan.

In the end, Muhammad and the Quraysh made a truce.  Muhammad eventually marched on the Mecca, but everyone surrendered peacefully.

The beginning of chapter two details the arrival of pilgrimage season.  During these months the Mecca transforms into a crowded city with millions of people traveling to attend.  I really enjoyed how detailed and specific the author was when describing the appearance of the city.  For example, he wrote, “The homes on the outer rings are made of mud and straw: impermanent structures inevitably swept away by the annual floods that inundate this valley.  Closer to the city center, the homes are larger and more permanent, though still made of mud.”  This sentence helped me visualize the city very well and allowed me to relate more to the reading.

Another part of the reading I really was when Aslan talked about the Ka’ba transformed surronding areas into sacred grounds, basically making the city of Mecca a neutral zone. This neautral zone encouraged individuals to use the area as a center for trade.  I found this very interesting as most likely without the Ka’ba most of these trades might not happen.

Lastly, I found the section of the reading where he talks about one of the problem with Mecca was the concentration of wealth.  A few of the ruling families had a large amount of the wealth, which destroyed the “tribal ethic”.  There was no longer any concern for the poor and people no longer believed that the tribe was only as strong as its weakest member.  This to me seems similar to the United States and how the top 1% own up to 40% of the countries wealth.

The New Renaissance is an article written by Hasan Al-Bannã in which he counters an article written by Taha Husayn.  Hasan argues that Egypt is born again in its Islamic identity.  He says that a “western tint” is no longer an option for Egyptians. He starts out his article with is ideas on how we currently view the political, social, and moral spheres of people.  Specifically, he talks about how more people are constantly proclaiming the necessity to return to the principles and ways of Islam.

Many others attribute this shift to the following factors.  Some explain this shift as a reaction to present day economic and political pressures. While others attribute it to the growth of extremist organizations.  However, he believes it comes down to one of the following three: The failure of the West, the Perfection of Islam, and the development of social conditions.

When talking about the failure of the west he mentions how the current Western way of life is bounded on knowledge, discovery, and invention.  He says that man is not an instrument and that naturally, we become tired of materialistic conditions and desires.  This was a viewpoint that I had never thought about before.

The other cause I found interesting was when he talked about the development of social conditions.  He points out that the world has long been ruled by democratic systems and has glorified the idea of democracy.  He talks about German Nazism and Italian Fascism and their effects on peoples’ mindsets.  All of these different regimes and events led to the conlcusion that to free onself from exisitng states of affairs, it is necessary to allow people to return to Islam.  This article gave me a unique perspective on the return of Islam.

Today I read both the How to Perform Salah and the step by step guide to Hajj articles that Dr. McGrath posted on the schedule.  Hajj is the Muslim pilgrimage following the actions of Muhammad nearly 1,377 years ago.  It occurs in the 12th month of the Islamic calendar between the eigth and thirteenth days.  All healthy and financially capable Muslims feel the obligation to take part in this pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime.  One shocking part to me is the large amount of people who attend.  Millions of Muslims from all over the world gather to attend.  With all of the travel restrictions with the coronavirus I was curious to see if it had been postponed or cancelled.  I did some research and if it were to be cancelled it would be the first closure of the event in Mecca since 1798.  Obviously no one wants an event such as this one to be cancelled, but with how many people who attend I feel like it is necessary.

As I continued to read the article it gave a more detailed description of what each day looks like.  For example, on day 2 the spend the day at Arafat.  Mount Mercy at Arafat was where Muhammad had his final sermon. After sunset, they travel 9 km to Muzdalifah.  I was very interested in the details of each day and how they relate to their religious beliefs.

In the other article, I learned more about Salah.  To start you have to make sure you are clean and in the right attire.  For males, it is anything that covers from the naval to the knees, and for women it is covering the whole body except for the face and hands.  The article was very descriptive on what to say and what positions to say it in.  It was very fascinating to learn about how they pray compared to how my family prays.

The introduction talks about how after the attacks on September 11th, politicians and preachers in the United States declared a clash of civilizations between the Western Societies and the Middle East.  Many people had this bias that Western Civilization was democratic and enlightened while the Middle East was barbarous and archaic.  However, the author goes on to explain how it is more of class of monotheisms.  One line from the passage that I found interesting was, “Religion, it must be understood, is not faith.  Religion is the story of faith.  It is an institutionalized system of symbols and metaphors that provides a common language”.  He then goes on to talk about how this clash of monotheisms occurs when this faith becomes entangled in religion.

Chapter 1:  The Sanctuary in the Desert

The first chapter begins by talking about the sanctuary called Ka’ba.  I really liked how the author described in great detail the appearance of the Ka’ba.  It helped me visualize something that I had never seen before.  There are said to be three hundred and sixty idols housed at the Ka’ba.  Each one representing different gods in the Arabian Peninsula.  One part of the reading that surprised me is when the author talks about how no one knows who built or how long the Ka’ba has been there.  One theory is that since the Ka’ba is near an underground spring known as Zamzam, that wandering tribes used the Ka’ba as a secure place to store various objects used in rituals.

Another part of the chapter I enjoyed was when he discussed the term Jahiliyyah.  Jahiliyyah is defined by Muslims as an era of moral depravity.  Jahiliyyah Arabs were thought of as polytheistic individuals who engaged in bad behavior with little thought of their moral consequences.

Through just the intro and the first chapter of this book I already have been exposed to Islamic culture and religious beliefs that I previously did not know about.  I look forward to the next chapters of this book.

On March 3^rd I attended an event put on by Butler’s seminar on religion and global affairs. This event was part of their series about incarceration.  Specifically, tonight’s event talked about incarceration nationalism and religious identity in China.  Unlike the other seminars in this series, tonight’s presentation had three speakers who all spoke for an equal amount of time.  The first speaker was Professor Gross.  Professor Gross is an associate professor of china studies at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.  His work has been published in the China journal and also on CNN.  One of his more well known pieces is a book titled Negotiating Inseparability.  He started off his presentation by going into detail about a significant event that greatly impacted how religion was looked at in China.  In 2016 Xi Jinping delivered a speech in which he demanded all religions in China merge their doctrines with Chinese culture and laws.  This speech had a great impact on religion in China. Since this speech mosques have been destroyed in the Gansu province, religious buildings were destroyed in the Sichuan Province, and more than 1,700 crucifixes were removed from churches across China.  Professor Gross then pointed out that China’s constitution states that people are allowed to enjoy freedom of religious belief.  However, the constitution says nothing about the freedom of expressing these beliefs. This gives the government a way to control the religious ideas of the people without implicitly saying so.

The second speaker was Professor Anderson.  She has dual PHD’s from Indiana University in which she recently graduated in the last year. In her introduction it was mentioned she is a vocalist, musician, dancer, and even had an appearance in a musical reality TV show in China.  She is currently working at the Uyghur Human Rights Project and wanted to really focus more on Uyghur.  She talked about the individual oppression that is currently going on in the North West part of china (Xinjian region)

The third speaker was a professor from Purdue.  He has focused his studies over the years on the sociology of religion and immigration/religion in the United States.  It was interesting to hear his ideas on the various topics and how they relate to what we have talked about in class this semester.  I really enjoyed the three speakers and it was really interesting to see how their speech differed from Dr. Fleet Mauls that I attended earlier in the semester.  This series that Butler put on exposed me to new and different ideas that I most likely would have never heard if I had not attended event.

Chinese culture has traditionally attributed The Great Learning to Confucius, however the overall consensus today is that they were written to closely represent his views and his ways of reasoning.  People now believe Zeng Shen, often called Master Zeng, is the author of these writings.  The Great Learning is the shortest work in the Confucian Canon, and also has a chapter in the Book of Rites.  The assigned reading on the canvas page gives a great description of the Great Learning, and really helped me understand some of the ideas Confucius lived by.  Below I will talk about some of the main points of the Great Learning, and how I feel like they relate to myself and the modern world.

9. Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere.

This was the one of the parts of The Great Learning that really stuck out to me.  It reminds me of one of the chapters in the Tao Te Ching where it talks about how solving larger problems is accomplished through small tasks.  Similarly, in the above text in order for ones thoughts to be sincere, they must first investigate the topic.  Then once they have investigated, their knowledge on the topic will become more complete and now they are ready for their ideas and thoughts to be sincere and genuine.  I feel like this really relates to me and the current political situation.  Unfortunately, I have not been following the candidates as closely as I would have wanted to as the Presidential election approaches.  When I am around friends and family and they talk politics I usually avoiding giving my voice because I feel like my thoughts aren’t as educated as I would like.  Based of The Great Learning once I investigate and research the candidates more, my knowledge will become more complete.  Then it will be possible to voice my thoughts and allow them to be more sincere and genuine.

15. It never has been the case that what was of great importance has been slightly cared for, and, at the same time, that what was of slight importance has been greatly cared for.

I also really enjoyed this thought from the passage.  It reminds me of the priorities I currently have in my life.  Currently as I prepare to graduate within the next few months my effort and thoughts often revolve around jobs and the future.  However, by doing this am I giving very little thought to some of the smaller things in my life this semester such as leaving my friends and the place I have lived the past few years.  I really enjoyed reading The Great Learning and connecting it to other class material as well as my life.

While doing the assigned readings in the Tao Te Ching there were a few selections that really had an influence on me.  First, was Chapter 7.  Chapter 7 is all about the idea of no self interest.  It talks about how the reason Heaven and Earth can last forever is that they do not exist for themselves.  One direct quote I really liked was, “Place themselves last but end up in front.”  This quote reminded me of a saying my parents would often say to me growing up.  Whenever I would get in trouble or do something wrong they would remind me to always treat others how I would want to be treated.  This just emphasized how important selflessness is in today’s world.  Another Chapter I read with a similar message was Chapter 49.  Chapter 49 was all about not judging people and treating others how you want to be treated.  My favorite quote from this chapter was, “Those who believe, I believe them.  Those who do not believe, I also believe them.”

Another chapter that I felt had a really great message was Chapter 63.  This chapter revolved around the idea of the largest and most difficult problems in the world must be completed in little things.  The chapter states, “Plan difficult tasks through the simplest tasks.  Achieve large tasks through the smallest tasks.”  Growing up my parents always emphasized the importance of setting small goals.  Looking back at it these small goals were just a small part of the overall larger goal my parents had for myself.  I feel like this chapter also relates to current problems going on throughout the world.  For example, with all of the issues with the Coronavirus there will not be one large solution to this epidemic.  It will take many small tasks of washing hands, and disinfecting objects to contain this massive health problem.

I look forward to reading more chapters as the semester progresses and making connections with my life and the world around us.