Wk #5: Interesting finds in Islam

I have heard so much about it, but honestly never took the time to look into it. In recent history there has been negative connotations with the Muslim community. I honestly enjoied reading chapter 9, The Worlds of Islam. I was able to learn some of the historical context associated with Islam and the many similarities to Christianity. Before reading this chapter all I knew about Islam is the very uninformed connection to Malcolm X and his association to the civil rights movement. What I took away from reading this chapter is the many connections Islam has with Christianity. Islam is associated with Muhammad Abdullah who was raised by his uncle after the death of his parents in a very humble background.This caught my attention as I thought that Jesus in the Christian faith was also born into a very humble way of life. Both eventually served in their own spheres to spread the message of their faith with others. Religion wise, I felt as if the 5 pillars of Islam could also be considered similarities. The first pillar stated allah is god, likewise christianity declares God as the only God making both religions monotheistic which served as a strong platform for both. The second pillar discussed prayer which both religions practice. The third pillar discussed giving the poor, actions to which both Muhammad and Jesus acted upon and urged its followers to do. The fourth pillar discussed fasting which demonstrates sacrifice of the flesh. The fifth pillar discussed pilgrimage, this particular one did not really connect for both groups however I felt as if Muslims have the goal to visit Mecca during their lifetime while Christians try to visit Israel during their lifetime.

Interesting finds...In this chapter I found a few things pretty interesting one of them being the conversion factor. Our text mentioned that there was some sort of tax imposed on those who did not identify as Muslim. This made me wonder if the increasing number in Muslim conversions were attributed to people trying to avoid fines. Additionally I learned about the division amongst two of the largest branches within the Islamic community which is the Sunni and the Shia. I had heard these names surface before this text, but I was now able to understand that the Sunni wanted to take a more democratic approach to selecting their leaders while the Shia wanted to take the path of lineage to select their leaders, (I am sure it’s more complicated than that, I just came to understand it this way). Lastly as we learn more about the concepts of trade, Islam did assist in fostering trade. The most obvious was the spread of its message in the vast EurAsian area but it was interesting to read that as members of islam made their way to Mecca they assisted in commerce which eventually lead Muslims to be some of the most dominant merchants in the region. This of course included their ability to exchange some of their products such as sugarcane, rice, watermelons (which seemed pretty interesting to me taking into account their climate),cotton, and artichokes. The crops that were interesting to me was sugarcane and cotton which were typically cultivated by slaves and surprisingly enough ended up sparking the Islamic Green Revolution which increased not only population and food, but the urbanization and industrialization of the islamic world as we know it.