R.B 12 M May 3 2026 week 27

In today’s class, I learned about the deep connection between our actions, our history, and our faith. We started the day with a period of meditation and Salah, which is the formal Islamic prayer. This time of quiet helped us get focused and calm before we began talking about our mothers. We spent a good portion of the morning writing notes to them to show how much we appreciate everything they do. This activity led to a big debate in class about whether Mother’s Day is haram, which is the Arabic word for something that is forbidden in Islam. Some students thought it was forbidden because we are taught that we should love and honor our mothers every single day of the year, not just on one specific Sunday in May. However, our teacher told us that Mother’s Day is not forbidden because everything in life should be done in the right proportion. I learned that in the early days of Islam, before there were many specific rules and laws, the main focus was simply on a person’s belief and being accountable for what they do. It’s important to remember that kindness to parents is a core part of being a good person.

A major part of the lesson was about the history of the Prophet Ibrahim, who is known as Abraham in other faiths. We talked about how the Qibla, which is the direction Muslims face when they pray, changed over time. At first, the early Muslims prayed toward Jerusalem. However, after the Prophet Muhammad went to the heavens during a miraculous journey, he received a message to switch the prayer direction toward the Kaaba, the cube-shaped building in Mecca. Our teacher explained that this was done to help differentiate Muslims from other religious groups like Christians and Jews. We also discussed Ibrahim’s family. He had two sons: Isaac, who is a major figure in Judaism and Christianity, and Ismael, who is a key figure in the history of Islam. Because Ibrahim’s first wife could not have children at the time, he had a son with a woman named Hajar. When Ismael was just a tiny baby, Ibrahim followed a command from God and took Hajar and the baby into the middle of a hot, empty desert. This spot would eventually become the city of Mecca, but at the time, there was nothing there.

I learned that many of the important things Muslims do today during Hajj, which is the major pilgrimage to Mecca, or Umrah, which is the shorter, minor pilgrimage, actually come from the story of Hajar. When she was left in the desert, she ran back and forth seven times between two hills called Safa and Marwa. She was desperately looking for food or water to keep her baby alive. Because of her hard work and her sincere prayers, the Angel Jibreel (the Arabic name for the Angel Gabriel) appeared and showed her a place where water was bubbling out of the ground right where baby Ismael was hitting his foot on the sand. This water is known as Zamzam, and people still drink it today. Later Ibrahim received a very difficult message to sacrifice his son. Even though this was an “impossible test,” both Ibrahim and Ismael were willing to do it because they knew it was what God asked for. Because they showed so much trust, God stopped the sacrifice and gave them a sheep to sacrifice instead. This is exactly why we celebrate Eid al-Adha, which translates to the “Festival of Sacrifice.” This holiday lasts for three days so we can remember the incredible faith and trust Ibrahim had in God’s command.

After our classroom discussion, we took a trip to a graveyard called Fairfax Memorial Park. The goal was to see how different people are buried. We learned about things like buying a grave plot before or after someone dies, and we also learned about cremation, which is when a body is burned and the ashes are put into urns or crypts. In Islam, we have rules for burial: we do not use coffins or embalming, which is using chemicals to preserve a body. Instead, we return the body to the earth naturally. However, I learned an interesting fact: in places like Louisiana where the ground is very swampy and low, Muslims are sometimes buried in crypts, which are stone chambers above or in the ground, to keep the remains safe. This trip made me think about the Day of Judgment. We learned that every human who has ever lived will eventually gather at a place called the Plains of Arafat in their soul form. This reminded me that humans have free will to make their own choices in life, whereas animals just follow their instincts.

The teacher also talked to us about how we should use the Quran, which is our holy book. He emphasized that the Quran was not just created so that people could recite the words beautifully; it was created so that we can actually act on what is written inside of it. I learned that instead of trying to read the whole thing at once without understanding, we should try to read just a few lines a day with sincerity. The teacher warned us that on the Day of Judgment, many people will ask God for more time to go back and be charitable or kind if they didn’t take their life seriously while they were alive. We also learned an important rule from the Quran: “no compulsion in religion.” This means we should never force our beliefs on others and we should never say bad things about what other people believe.

We also spent some time talking about Fiqh, which is the Arabic word for Islamic jurisprudence, or the study of the “do’s and don’ts” of the religion. Long ago, four major Imams, who were very wise religious leaders, created these rules to help people live correctly. Their successors were the ones who decided that the second Eid, Eid al-Adha, should be three days long. They did this for a very practical reason: it takes a few days for everyone in the community to have the chance to sacrifice their sheep and share the meat with those in need. The teacher also explained the difference between things that are halal, meaning allowed, and haram, meaning forbidden. Some things might be halal only under certain conditions, like meat being slaughtered in God’s name. This part of the lesson helped me understand that there is a lot of thought and logic behind the rules we follow.

To finish the class, a graduate student came in to teach us that we can find a deep, personal meaning in almost any verse of the Quran if we look closely enough. He said that when you truly love someone, even the smallest, most normal things they do remind you of them. He used an example about a mother: if you know your mom loves flowers and you give them to her to make her happy, you will eventually start to love flowers yourself because you associate them with her happiness. This was the final step of the lesson: taking action to get closer to the people and the faith that you love. By doing good things and staying steadfast in our prayer, we develop a love for those actions in our hearts. Eventually, we start to dislike doing bad things because our hearts are focused on what is good. This class taught me that faith is about taking the stories of the past and using them to become a better person today.