Islam 101
This week was Islam week in History 111. And I couldn't have been happier about it. Most students at some point in their education have learned about Egypt or Rome or whatnot in their middle school or high school history classes, but very few have ever been exposed to even the basic facts of the history and nature of Islam. It's ridiculous, because despite not knowing a THING about it, most students come in with pretty strong opinions and preconceived notions.
It was great. We covered the basics about the life of Muhammad, the basic beliefs and requirements of Islam, its relationship to Judaism and Christianity, the Sunni and Shiite split, the spread of the Islamic Empire, and its cultural and intellectual developments. The students, especially in my Wednesday group, asked a lot of questions. And for once it seemed like they were really asking because they just wanted to know things like, "what do Muslims think of Jesus?" or "Which sect is the majority of Muslims, Sunnis or Shiites?" or "What's with the black square in Mecca?" etc, and not just because they needed to get it right in their notes for the test. I also like that I'm comfortable enough in my studies to give confident and complete answers to the questions they asked. I'm looking forward to this second half of the class because we're finally moving out of the ancient world and into the periods I study, and I can give much better answers to their questions. :-)
One of my students even raised his hand and said "Yeah, I've got a question, How come I've never been taught any of this before?!" The class laughed and agreed that it was good to finally learn something about Islam. I even had a few students thank me at the end of class for answering their "stupid" questions (they weren't stupid at all, many were quite thoughtful) and clarifying things. I'm always surprised at the misconceptions they have coming into this class - many think Islam is older than Christianity, or that Muhammad is a god in Islam (a la Jesus), or that Allah is a different God from the Hebrew and Christian God, etc. I still can't get over hearing students make surprised sounds at basic facts I take for granted (like that there was an Islamic kingdom in Spain for 700 years!) and it reminds me of how exciting and revelatory I found it all to be when I was first learning this history in Professor Miller's class back at Cornell.
And now, reading their reflection paragraphs on the Islamic texts we read for class, it's amazing to read students explaining what they had thought about Muslims (usually its about Muslim radicals), and how these texts and the chapter changed their opinion and understanding about Islam as a whole. It's extremely gratifying seeing students learn things that affect the way they understand their world. I know its not much, but its lessons like this one that make me feel like what I do matters, at least a little bit. :-)
It was great. We covered the basics about the life of Muhammad, the basic beliefs and requirements of Islam, its relationship to Judaism and Christianity, the Sunni and Shiite split, the spread of the Islamic Empire, and its cultural and intellectual developments. The students, especially in my Wednesday group, asked a lot of questions. And for once it seemed like they were really asking because they just wanted to know things like, "what do Muslims think of Jesus?" or "Which sect is the majority of Muslims, Sunnis or Shiites?" or "What's with the black square in Mecca?" etc, and not just because they needed to get it right in their notes for the test. I also like that I'm comfortable enough in my studies to give confident and complete answers to the questions they asked. I'm looking forward to this second half of the class because we're finally moving out of the ancient world and into the periods I study, and I can give much better answers to their questions. :-)
One of my students even raised his hand and said "Yeah, I've got a question, How come I've never been taught any of this before?!" The class laughed and agreed that it was good to finally learn something about Islam. I even had a few students thank me at the end of class for answering their "stupid" questions (they weren't stupid at all, many were quite thoughtful) and clarifying things. I'm always surprised at the misconceptions they have coming into this class - many think Islam is older than Christianity, or that Muhammad is a god in Islam (a la Jesus), or that Allah is a different God from the Hebrew and Christian God, etc. I still can't get over hearing students make surprised sounds at basic facts I take for granted (like that there was an Islamic kingdom in Spain for 700 years!) and it reminds me of how exciting and revelatory I found it all to be when I was first learning this history in Professor Miller's class back at Cornell.
And now, reading their reflection paragraphs on the Islamic texts we read for class, it's amazing to read students explaining what they had thought about Muslims (usually its about Muslim radicals), and how these texts and the chapter changed their opinion and understanding about Islam as a whole. It's extremely gratifying seeing students learn things that affect the way they understand their world. I know its not much, but its lessons like this one that make me feel like what I do matters, at least a little bit. :-)