GHS208-01 Spring 2020 China and the Islamic Middle East

Within the United States, church closures have been widespread as a result of COVID-19. Many churches and religious organizations have therefore turned to online forms of worship in order to fill the void that has occurred as a result. Although this unexpected change has been hard, it appears as if most Christians (including myself) have adapted appropriately. That being said, I was interested in gaining a deeper understanding for how this has impacted Muslims, and Islam as a whole, throughout the world. Through reading Shaykh Sajid Umar’s article Closing Mosques – Islamic Justifications for Coronavirus Lockdowns, I learned a lot about Islam through their response to this current crisis.

Umar began by acknowledging that this is the first time that the world’s mosques have been closed to the public since Bilāl, a Sahabah of Muhammad, had initially raised the call to prayer. This initial doing was over 1400 years ago. This unprecedented motion is therefore seen by many Muslims as a despiteful action by Shaytān. According to my research, Shaytān is most commonly transcribed as being a devil like spirit or jinn. I found this reflection to be very insightful and revealing. Although as a Christian it is very unfortunate that we aren’t able to have regular religious gatherings at this time, my first reaction isn’t to blame satan for “hijacking” life as we know it. Additionally, Umar commented heavily on the way of the Sharia. Within our previous in-class discussion on “Sharia Law,” I gained a better understanding of its meaning, as well as its close relation to beliefs found within both the Qur’an and Hadith. According to the Sharia, preservation of life holds great value. Within the Hadith, the profit is reported to have said: “If you hear of a disease outbreak in a land, do not go there, and if you are there during an outbreak, then do not flee from it” (Umar). Both of these revelations ultimately do support the Islamic jurisdiction’s decision.

In many of my classes at Butler I have learned about the importance of physical education in school systems. I value and support physical education, especially as I continue to learn about how physical activity benefits learning in school.

The United States has an organization called SHAPE America. It stands for Society of Health and Physical Educators. It is a national organization that serves as a voice for health and physical education professionals across the nation. They provide programs, resources, and advocacy that supports an inclusive, active, kinder, and healthier school culture. The mission of SHAPE America is, “To advance professional practice and promote research related to health and physical education, physical activity, dance and sports”(SHAPE America). The standards provided by SHAPE America are a resource for educators to use as guidelines and expectations for their lesson plans. The standards expect students to; have the ability to demonstrate a variety of motor skills and movement patterns, apply knowledge of concepts, strategies and tactics, demonstrate the knowledge and skills to achieve a health-enhancing level of physical activity and fitness, and recognize the value of physical activity.

In China physical education is a part of the curriculum sheet set by The Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. The curriculum sheet is from primary school up to the second year of college. In China grades one and two should have four hours of physical education per week, and three hours for grades three to six. In the United States elementary schools are recommended to provide one hundred and fifty minutes, thirty minutes shorter than grades three to six in China. The schools in China are required to organize extra-curricular physical activities like “morning exercises, class-break exercises, competitions, events, and after-school sports”(Kajanus). Similar to Shape America, the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China provides standards and teaching materials for the curriculum. The curriculum includes fundamental motor skills, athletics, games, gymnastics, martial arts, and other traditional sports. Also like the SHAPE America standards, the curriculum outlines “goals for knowledge about sports, health and safety, and psychological development that emphasizes resilience and cooperative skills” (Kajanus).

Overall China and the United States have very similar value in Physical Education in school. Both SHAPE America and the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China provide curriculum for their teachers and set health standards for the students throughout their years in school.

Sources:
https://www.asianstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/physical-education-in-chinese-schools-role-models-repetition-and-winning.pdf
https://www.shapeamerica.org/standards/pe/

As I have talked about in previous blog posts, the Chinese government is doing their best to control the narrative around the coronavirus in their country. They are attempting to do it yet again in regards to their economy, but it is not working so well, according to this report from the Associated Press. After visiting Wuhan in March Chinese President Xi Jinping declared the coronavirus situation in China under control and allowed factories and some shops to reopen in order to try to stimulate the Chinese economy that has taken major hits just the same as most of the economies throughout the world. In theory, opening the factories and shops would definitely reignite the economy. However, the Chinese people are extremely wary about even leaving their houses based on what has happened over the last few months. “Data due out Friday is expected to show the economy contracted by up to 9% in January-March, its worst performance since the late 1970s.”. Again, there is no surprise there as most of the world’s economies are suffering. However, the surprising aspect of this story to me is the fact that the Chinese people do not seem to want to go back out even though some shops have been opened. I think this sentiment is wildly different to the way many Americans are feeling at this point in time. I think given the opportunity, most Americans would be straight back out into the shops if they were to open back up today. However, the Chinese people are still very wary to going back out into the opened shops. I think this is a classic example of the Chinese culture of discipline, and many Americans simply do not have that kind of discipline to make sure those around them are able to stay healthy and safe.

With my environmental philosophy class being right in the middle of our unit on climate change and global warming, with a lot of the focus on different possible solutions, I have begun to notice a lot of different connections between my environmental philosophy course and some of the different readings that we have gone through in this course over the semester. Today in class as discussed different ways to help prevent and alleviate climate change, the topic of educating people to be more empathetic and altruistic came up. The general idea was if society as a whole was taught to have more empathy for others and be overall more altruistic than maybe we could have more sympathy for our fellow and our planet in general. With this we might be able to turn back the clock on some of the damage we have already done and hopefully prevent more damage from occurring in the future. During this discussion I couldn’t help but think back to our discussions over Confucianism in the first half of the semester. Many of his teachings seemed to be focused on very similar concepts to what we discussed in my philosophy class. After class I revisited some of the Confucian readings and sure enough a lot of it fit together. For example one of my favorite quotes that I think embodies this says, “If you govern them by means of virtue and control them with propriety, they will gain their own sense of shame, and thus correct themselves.” I think that this fits very well with the discussion I had today in my philosophy class. If we were to govern and teach based more on virtue and propriety I certainly think they way we handle climate change and other problems with today’s society would improve greatly. Overall, I just thought this was an interesting comparison that I caught in class today.

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.

A new BBC article that came out today showed a photo and reported on a McDonald’s restaurant in Guangzhou banned black people from entering. The thoughts are that they did this because Guangzhou is one of China’s industrial cities sees many African tradespeople come through their city on a daily basis. According to the article, “Guangzhou is a hub for African traders buying and selling goods and is home to one of China’s largest African communities.”. Also, the article thinks that part of the reason this may have happened is, “Tensions have been running high between Africans and local people in the city. Last week, hundreds of Africans in Guangzhou were evicted from hotels and apartments after online rumors that coronavirus was spreading among African people, community leaders told the BBC”. Of course once McDonald’s found out about the incident they temporarily closed that branch. The Chinese government responded by saying, “It said it attached “great importance to some African countries’ concerns and is working promptly to improve” its way of operating.”.

Being kicked out of restaurants is far from the only discrimination that Africans are facing in China however. “Africans in Guangzhou say that they have been facing more than a week of discrimination. Health workers have reportedly gone door-to-door testing Africans for coronavirus, many say regardless of whether they show any symptoms, have traveled, or have been in contact with Covid-19 patients. Community leaders say that hundreds were forced out of their homes and hotel rooms and into quarantine.”. Regardless of what they are doing, where they’ve been or who they’ve been in contact with, they are being removed from their homes, thrown into quarantine, and tested. All over online rumors that coronavirus was moving through African communities.

For our Nur-Allah ICR requirement, David and I were asked to research Mental Health programs for Muslim residents in Indianapolis. As a healthcare student, this obviously peaked my interest. Not only in mental health, but all healthcare surrounding different religious groups has to be closely monitored for the patient’s unique needs.

In order to be culturally competent for Muslim patients–diet, religious events (such as Ramadan which involves fasting,) certain medication restrictions, and dress/privacy must be strictly respected and upheld while trying to maintain the patient’s health. This can be very problematic for healthcare workers, who traditionally try to prioritize the patient’s well-being over all. However, making sure the patient is happy is the most important facet of the healthcare field.

An example of how these two interests can conflict would be in the case of a physically-incompetent/comatose patient. This can be incredibly frustrating for the patient and the family of the patient for many reasons. First, for the devout Muslim, prayer is incredibly important in their day-to-day lives. Not being able to pray (which involves prostration,) is a difficult problem for a healthcare worker to make possible for the patient. Additionally, having a caretaker that is the same gender as the patient is very important for Muslim patients. This is in order to maintain privacy and modesty. The usage of a specific hand in order to feed is also important. The left hand is seen as unclean in Islamic culture, so the healthcare worker needs to make sure they use their right hand for activities such as feeding the patient or administering medication.

Paying attention to these small details for all patients, not just Muslim patients, is incredibly pertinent in order to achieve the utmost level of care possible. All groups of people and individuals have needs and desires that need to be met, and I am proud to be part of a field that can accommodate those needs for so many diverse belief-systems and people.