noun: successive, alternating, or changing phases or conditions, as of life or fortune; ups and downs
This word is used in the introductory paragraph of the article "Indigenous Australia's Pilgrimage to Islam" by Peter Stephenson, which describes how the indigenous population of Australia is shifting towards the Islamic faith in order to get back in touch with their precolonial roots. The word "vicissitude" jumped out at me because, firstly, I had no idea what it meant. Then, once I looked it up, I realized what an amazing word it is. This one word describes culture, to and through every way it affects life: religiously, politically, linguistically. These peoples are trying to disassociate themselves with everything negative colonization brought to their culture by embracing another. Islam appeals to the Aboriginal peoples because it is not a major political power that tried to suppress their indigenous culture, but a lifestyle that has co-existed in Australia for nearly 300 years. The Aboriginal and Muslim peoples have intermarried without one or the other needing to bend or comply with any standard. This kind of harmony is appealing to anyone, especially the peoples who have been under pressure to mesh with Western society for hundreds of years. The Aborigines and the Muslims have faced the same pressures to conform to the images of the Western world, so it only makes sense that they get along so well. Each knows the struggle and the hardships that has come along with colonization. This kind of understanding naturally leads to friendship, kinship, and eventual mixing of the two cultures in one way or another. It is the kind of mutual understanding of each other that the West should try to conform to, not force its views of "normalcy" upon.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
If I were a traveler...
Response to "Sharia-compliant hotels" by Joan C. Henderson
Sharia-compliant hotels are simply hotels that cater to the specific needs of Muslims. These hotels aid in the Islamic tourist's religious experience by regulating dress codes, food options, gender integration, alcohol availability, and by incorporating prayer rugs and arrows pointing to Mecca in every room. The purpose of these hotels is to accommodate Muslims as they travel by providing a place where they can stay without fear of straying from their religious path. These hotels have also tried to appeal to the non-Muslim by offering a unique cultural experience with a "quieter and cleaner ambiance". If I were to travel to the Middle East, where these hotels are most common, I would choose to stay in one. The experience they offer is so close to submersion into the Islamic culture, which would be extremely appealing to a traveler . These hotels aim at a Muslim demographic; however, a hotel cannot survive on such a limited income. The non-Muslims that would be interested in a hotel like this, would be those who have an interest in the Islamic lifestyle and that want to be involved in it directly, even to the point that they are driven out of their comfort zone to adapt to a different standard of living. Luckily, these are the types of people who travel to the Middle East by their own will. It would be amazing to live as a member of the Muslim community while remaining individual and somewhat separate from other people. The environment that a Sharia-compliant hotel offers is that of peace and serenity because it is associated with a religion that revolves around the concept of paradise. This is the image that every hotel in the world tries to project. The negativity that surrounds a Sharia-compliant hotel is related to the negativity that surrounds the entire Middle East. But because those who willingly travel to the region are interested in the Islamic culture, the Sharia-compliant hotels will be successful by providing a religious experience to Muslims and a culturally saturated experience to non-Muslims.
Sharia-compliant hotels are simply hotels that cater to the specific needs of Muslims. These hotels aid in the Islamic tourist's religious experience by regulating dress codes, food options, gender integration, alcohol availability, and by incorporating prayer rugs and arrows pointing to Mecca in every room. The purpose of these hotels is to accommodate Muslims as they travel by providing a place where they can stay without fear of straying from their religious path. These hotels have also tried to appeal to the non-Muslim by offering a unique cultural experience with a "quieter and cleaner ambiance". If I were to travel to the Middle East, where these hotels are most common, I would choose to stay in one. The experience they offer is so close to submersion into the Islamic culture, which would be extremely appealing to a traveler . These hotels aim at a Muslim demographic; however, a hotel cannot survive on such a limited income. The non-Muslims that would be interested in a hotel like this, would be those who have an interest in the Islamic lifestyle and that want to be involved in it directly, even to the point that they are driven out of their comfort zone to adapt to a different standard of living. Luckily, these are the types of people who travel to the Middle East by their own will. It would be amazing to live as a member of the Muslim community while remaining individual and somewhat separate from other people. The environment that a Sharia-compliant hotel offers is that of peace and serenity because it is associated with a religion that revolves around the concept of paradise. This is the image that every hotel in the world tries to project. The negativity that surrounds a Sharia-compliant hotel is related to the negativity that surrounds the entire Middle East. But because those who willingly travel to the region are interested in the Islamic culture, the Sharia-compliant hotels will be successful by providing a religious experience to Muslims and a culturally saturated experience to non-Muslims.
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| sharia-compliant hotel, UAE |
Monday, October 24, 2011
Teaching Islam
Academic Article Review: "Teaching Islam: a look inside an Islamic school in Malaysia", by Lihanna Borhan
This article explores what qualifies a preschool as an Islamic school versus a secular school. In Malaysia, the schools are funded largely by the private sector and non-governmental organizations, so the curriculum of the school is directly associated with its sponsor's beliefs as to how a child should be educated. Although the schools are required to teach the children under specific guidelines of the national preschool curriculum such as science and math, each school may choose to add to this curriculum to suit their community's religious philosophy such as learning to read the Quran, praying, and local mannerisms or customs. Borhan expresses that because Islam is the declared national religion, each school in Malaysia must have some Islamic studies involved in the curriculum of the class, it is the focus on the religion in the majority of what is taught at a school that makes it an Islamic school. In the same way that in the US, Catholic schools integrate Christian Catholicism into the every day lives of the students, the Islamic schools attempt to integrate Islamic teaching into the everyday language and everyday learning of the children. Parents send their children to the religiously affiliated preschools in the hope of incorporating the respective religious values in their young children.
The article described in detail the typical day of a child in the Islamic school, which to me, did not seem very different than the preschool I attended as a child. The children in Malaysia receive a similar form of education that the children across the world receive. The reason these religious schools have such negative connotations is because they are associated with the only form of Islamic schooling we in the US know of: extremist madrasas. Borhan shows through her dissection of an Islamic school that the lives of children across the world are so similar, we are only divided by thin veils created by regional customs. Borhan states in her conclusion that "in general, by going to this Islamic preschool the children learned to develop
various skills and knowledge that were mandated by the national preschool curriculum in an environment which was steeped in Islamic values. What the school attempted to do was to make the boundary between ‘secular’ and ‘religious’ education disappear. And, perhaps more importantly, the school made the children feel that learning was not a chore (p 12)."
This approach to teaching is found in schools across the US. By integrating fun aspects like songs, folktales, and other regional customs, the children not only learn their heritage, they learn what is necessary to continue on an academic path. Religious schools do not have to be synonymous with extremism. It is as easy to understand as looking in a mirror. If put under the microscope, our preschools in the US do exactly what the Islamic schools do: teach the children under academic requirements through the use of songs and story in order to incorporate morality in their primary education. This article not only closely examines Islamic preschools, it allows the reader a broad understanding of education worldwide.
Source:
Borhan, Lihanna. "Teaching Islam: a look inside an Islamic school in Malaysia". Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, Volume 5, p 1-13, Number 3, 2004.
This article explores what qualifies a preschool as an Islamic school versus a secular school. In Malaysia, the schools are funded largely by the private sector and non-governmental organizations, so the curriculum of the school is directly associated with its sponsor's beliefs as to how a child should be educated. Although the schools are required to teach the children under specific guidelines of the national preschool curriculum such as science and math, each school may choose to add to this curriculum to suit their community's religious philosophy such as learning to read the Quran, praying, and local mannerisms or customs. Borhan expresses that because Islam is the declared national religion, each school in Malaysia must have some Islamic studies involved in the curriculum of the class, it is the focus on the religion in the majority of what is taught at a school that makes it an Islamic school. In the same way that in the US, Catholic schools integrate Christian Catholicism into the every day lives of the students, the Islamic schools attempt to integrate Islamic teaching into the everyday language and everyday learning of the children. Parents send their children to the religiously affiliated preschools in the hope of incorporating the respective religious values in their young children.
The article described in detail the typical day of a child in the Islamic school, which to me, did not seem very different than the preschool I attended as a child. The children in Malaysia receive a similar form of education that the children across the world receive. The reason these religious schools have such negative connotations is because they are associated with the only form of Islamic schooling we in the US know of: extremist madrasas. Borhan shows through her dissection of an Islamic school that the lives of children across the world are so similar, we are only divided by thin veils created by regional customs. Borhan states in her conclusion that "in general, by going to this Islamic preschool the children learned to develop
various skills and knowledge that were mandated by the national preschool curriculum in an environment which was steeped in Islamic values. What the school attempted to do was to make the boundary between ‘secular’ and ‘religious’ education disappear. And, perhaps more importantly, the school made the children feel that learning was not a chore (p 12)."
This approach to teaching is found in schools across the US. By integrating fun aspects like songs, folktales, and other regional customs, the children not only learn their heritage, they learn what is necessary to continue on an academic path. Religious schools do not have to be synonymous with extremism. It is as easy to understand as looking in a mirror. If put under the microscope, our preschools in the US do exactly what the Islamic schools do: teach the children under academic requirements through the use of songs and story in order to incorporate morality in their primary education. This article not only closely examines Islamic preschools, it allows the reader a broad understanding of education worldwide.
Source:
Borhan, Lihanna. "Teaching Islam: a look inside an Islamic school in Malaysia". Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, Volume 5, p 1-13, Number 3, 2004.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Mark Meehan and the Institute of Traditional Islamic Art and Architecture
Mark Meehan has some incredible views of Islamic art, many of which have never been brought out to be examined. He opened his lecture with the quote "Allah is beautiful and loves beauty", which entirely encompasses the meaning behind traditional Islamic art. When you are a Muslim, your entire goal in life is to be like Allah and reflect him in your lifestyle. If Allah loves beauty, then you should also love beauty, and try to surround yourself with it. This religion and culture not only justifies the use of beauty it endorses it 100%. When a society is as obsessed with beauty and filling the world with it, how can that society be anything but beautiful itself? The kind of perfection achieved in Islamic art through geometry is simply outstanding. The dedication and patience it requires is something to be praised, not questioned. We can learn something about life through their art. To them, art is a reflection of the soul. The more beautiful and magnificent, the more peaceful the person. Americans can take away something from this. How is it possible to generate hostility against something like this?
Monday, October 3, 2011
Heavy Metal in Baghdad
This film is the best view of the Iraqi common people I have ever seen. Throughout the film, you see how the war has changed the lives of young people in Iraq in such an in-your-face sort of way. Wars are seen from two viewpoints: the oppressors and the heroes. Never before do you see how the lives of every day normal people are changed by what is going on around them. These young men are searching for freedom away from their homes and families, hoping to find new lives. This is much easier said than done, obviously, as they struggle with guilt and remorse for leaving their homeland behind. They have such a passion for their music and for each other that makes them so relatable, so similar to the twenty year-olds in America, that the veil the media has placed over these Middle Eastern people, disintegrates quickly. You suddenly realized that Iraqis are not all extremely religious Muslims brainwashed to believe anything their government tells them. They are just as pissed off about the war, if not more so, than we are. They are tired of seeing their country laid to waste, families and friends lost to a bloody cause. Being a refugee is more than being malnourished in a camp, it is a life on the run, doing what you have to so you can stay alive, and even more importantly, happy. The dream of being a heavy metal band in Iraq is a difficult thing to realize, but the guys in the documentary are working harder to make their dreams come true because this dream is the only thing keeping them going. When everything is taken from you, you can quickly see what is the most important thing in your life. For these guys, it's getting their message across through their music.
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