(actual note(s) from student(s)) submitted withing one week of class \u2013 Start date Sep 2019 – this student is one year on the program as of Nov 19<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(These notes are mostly unedited and represent a GISLA students \nunderstanding of the previous class the attended.) Student attend class \non Sunday and submit their essay of what they learnt before the next \nclass. Interestingly, as can be seen below the same class yields \ndifferent lessons for each student even though the content of the class \nthey hear was the same.)<\/em> Week of 9\/6\/19 By: HH, age 16<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This week, I didn\u2019t come\nto class prepared, I was supposed to learn the English for surah Maun, and I\ndidn\u2019t. For next week, I need to have that done as well as read part of the\nspeech by Imran Khan at the UN this year. At the beginning of class, we talked\nabout a newspaper article on a Tera Bloomer\u2019s first day of school outfit. She\nwas wearing Jordan\u2019s with leggings, a crop top, and a jacket over it. The\narticle described that after she left her room, her mom proceeded to call her a\nwhore and a prostitute and her father said that she needed to change, and upon\ngetting into a friends car and leaving, her dad calls her and says that her\noutfit was not appropriate for school. She called him a misogynist and hung up.\nIn my opinion, I think that her parents were being rash; I understand the need\nfor wanting to protect their child, but the comments that were made will only\nmake her more upset with them and she will more likely continue to wear\nclothing like the one described just to rebel more. This situation is common\namong many teens and their parents and often they aren\u2019t handled right. It is\nof no fault of the parents or the teens, its due to the disconnect between\nteens of this modern age and their parents, weather they were born and raised\nhere or immigrants. The best way to mend that disconnect is through better\ncommunication, without parents and teens in any situation can\u2019t hope for a\nbetter outcome. This situation also brought up the discussion of moderation.\nMany people, especially Muslim parents who are fearful of more Western\ninfluences such as the outfit described would proceed to wear nikab (Islamic\nclothes that cover everything except their eyes). While there is nothing wrong\nwith this, it demonstrates the two extremes, and in today\u2019s modern America, a\nnikab is something that many people stop to stare at. This brings about one of\nmy favorite point of Islam: the teaching of moderation. While I personally have\nnothing against girls who wear clothes to express themselves, like Tera, I\npersonally try to wear clothes that are moderate, because it\u2019s what I\u2019m most\ncomfortable in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During the next part of\nclass, we discussed the teaching that the way we interact with and treat out\nfellow human beings is a function of our understanding of God and his message.\nThis means that the more we learn about and understand the layers of God\u2019s\nmessage, much like the layers of a rose, which is also one of the concepts we\nare tasked with memorizing (metaphors of everyday things and Islamic topic that\nhelp us better understand them) we better learn how we should treat our fellow\nhuman beings, and that the purpose of rituals, like prayer, was to strengthen\nour relationship with God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Week\nof 10\/13\/19 By: HH, 16-year-old girl <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This\nweek, I did come to class prepared; with my surah Maun in Arabic and English,\nand my Imran Khan speech. I didn\u2019t have to opportunity to present my speech,\nbut I did present my surah and for next week I need to memorize the English for\nsurah Naas and Falaq. At the start of class I did two raaqs (one cycle of\nprayer) and then did zikr (meditation). I found that the zikr we did this week really\nhelped me refocus and calm myself after a stressful week. I want to try to do zikr\nmore often to help me destress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After\nzikr, we had a guest speaker, one of our teacher\u2019s daughter. She is a senior\nabout to graduate from Emory. She was a business major with a concentration in\nfilm and media management. It was cool hearing about her college experiences;\nshe started her own radio show that showcases brown women and their struggles\nand the challenges they face in the real world. She also interned on the\nTonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. She said she hope to one day produce a TV show\nalso directed towards and starring brown women. She really inspired me to work\neven harder in school so that I too can one day really make an impact on\npeople\u2019s lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After\nshe left, we had another guest speaker come in and talk to us about how the\nKaaba was the naval of the Earth, in other words where the Kaaba is located was\nthe center for which Earth formed around. The naval can be compared to the\numbilical cord in a human. In the Quran, it says that everything was created in\nperfect proportion and we can prove that by using Fibonacci\u2019s golden ratio. The\ngolden ration is approximately the decimal 1.6; I can be found in the ratio A\/B\nand B\/C where A is the full distance, B is the distance from the bottom to the middle\nand C be the distance from the middle to the top. If we think about a sphere, there is not top\nor bottom, but in terms of the Earth, this problem is solved by it\u2019s natural\ntilt on an axis. This tilt creates the North and South poles. Now the Kaaba is\na little North of the equator at 21.4 degrees latitude. Now we know there are\n180 degrees in a line if we add 90 to 21.4 degrees, we get 111.4 degrees which\nis the distance from the Kaaba down to the South Pole. Now if we subtract 111.4\nfrom 180 degrees, we get 68.6 degrees, which is the distance from the Kaaba to\nthe North Pole. Now if we divide 111.4 by 68.6 degrees, we get the magic\nnumber, 1.6. Now I\u2019ll admit it\u2019s a little confusing to understand but as you\ncan see there is mathematical evidence that the Kaaba is truly the naval of the\nEarth, and it is also why we face the Kaaba or the Qibla, for prayer. It is\nalso stated in the Vedas and is said that it was established here so that our\nprayers could be heard from the heavens. I think this is an accurate\ntranslation, I\u2019m not 100% sure. I thought that this was interesting, and it\ntruly gave me an irrefutable justification as to why we partake in such rituals\nlike facing the Kaaba for prayer. I hope we can learn more of the logic behind\ndifferent rituals in Islam because it helps provide me with the why. I can use\nto further my understanding of Islam and how it can apply to my life as a\nteenager in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After\nthis lecture, we had another guest speaker who talked to us about mini life\nlesson. Things like why we should be using the internet and technology to our\nadvantage, because in our modern day, it is the best tool we have for\ninformation. The last bit of information he gave us was to use our time wisely\nbecause there is never enough. Even at my young age, I see the effects of this,\nand I try every day to remind myself of this and so I can push myself to do the\nbest I can, especially, for school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Week\nof 11\/2\/19 By: HH, 16-year-old girl <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This week, I came to class prepared. I had memorized the entire prayer in Arabic and English. I was proud of myself because I have been in this program for more than a year now and it\u2019s such a relief to finally be done with memorizing this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m excited for what comes with level 2 and the new information I\u2019m going to learn. I started class with zikr like normal, but this week, I found it hard to concentrate. I must have been too stressed or not able to think clearly. Next week, I want to be able to really focus on the zikr because I found it really calming in the past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After zikr, we moved on to studying concepts. Our teacher wasn\u2019t here this class so we couldn\u2019t have a lecture like we normally do, so most of the class was spent re learning the concepts. I need to know all 70 or so of them to pass level 1. We reviewed many of them. These concepts are all metaphors for concepts in Islam that are important for us to learn. The ones that I found most interesting was the jug of oil, fast and furious, the bees and wheelbarrow, pen and pencil, tree trunk and branches, and universal values. I will try to explain them as best I can. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The jug of oil concept is that hypothetically, we are all born with an invisible jug of oil attached to us. As we go on through life and we do good deeds, a drop of oil come out. By the time we die, we want an empty jug of oil because, that oil can burn in Hell. This is supposed to represent the idea that we should always do good deeds. This week in class, we had a new student and he asked, \u201cWhy is the metaphor not that we are born with an empty jug of oil and every time we do a bad action, a drop of oil fills the jug?\u201d Our teacher assistant replied with, \u201cBecause fear is more motivating then hope.\u201d While I agree with this, that people are more likely to do something if they\u2019re scared, I also don\u2019t think it\u2019s a very good mentality. I have multiple friends that have told me that as a kid they had been so scared of what God would do if they did something bad. I think this was caused partly from the way religion is taught and partly because we teach with fear instead of hope. I think that if religion was taught more as God is forgiving, which he is, than to never do bad thing, because it just unrealistic. We are only human; we are bound to do things that are not always good and to be reassured by the fact that if we are truly sincere in our apology that God will indeed forgive us, would in my opinion, help many people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The next concept was fast and furious. In the Fast and Furious movies, they often rig their cars with a NO2 can. When they are neck and neck in a race, the NO2 can give them the extra boost they need to win. This is used as a metaphor to represent the power of prayer and duas. If you are ever in a situation like for example, you are going against someone else for a job and it\u2019s a very close pick, those duas and prayers you\u2019ve done can help boost you and edge out your competition. The next two the wheelbarrow and bees and the pencil and pen go together. Imagine that you wake up on a normal day and on your way to work and as your passing by a building you look up, and suddenly a wheelbarrow full of bricks coming falling. What are the chances you could survive that? Now let\u2019s say you made it to work and you enter the conference room and its filled with bees. What are the chances you could survive that? This relates to the concept of prayer and duas and how powerful they can be. It also relates to the other concept of the pen and pencil. When you write something in pencil, you can erase it and change it. But when something is written in pen, it can\u2019t be changed. In Islam, this relates to the belief that there are some parts of your life that are written out in pencil, things that can be changed with your actions, intentions, etc. However, there are also things like your death which are definite, written in pen and cannot be changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two concepts are related in that if, when passing by that building when the bricks were falling and it was indeed the way you were going to die, then no amount of previous prayer and dua could\u2019ve saved you. But if it wasn\u2019t your time, you would\u2019ve been saved, which means that event was written in pencil. But something like the room full of bees is unavoidable, and it must\u2019ve been written in pen. There is no logical way that you could enter a room full of bees and not be stung and almost every principle or concept I\u2019ve learned about Islam so far has made logical sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The next set of concepts I like to group together is the tree trunk and branches and universal values. The tree trunk relates to a common and strong belief in a God. The branches represent all the other beliefs that come from it, like belief in one God and the different variation of that. This is meant to represent that although almost everyone beliefs in something different, we all can share on common belief. Universal values are the concept that there are certain beliefs that are shared by people international. Things like no stealing, no killing. Etc. This relates to the tree trunk and branches because they highlight what we all have in common. IN today\u2019s world, I\u2019ve noticed that people are quick to point out all their difference rather than embracing what makes them similar. I feel that by focusing on what brings us together we can solve problems more efficiently and just eliminate lots of overall, and in my opinion unnecessary, fighting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, I really liked today\u2019s\nclass. It was more laid back than what we are used to. We got to have a lunch\nbreak and I got to talk with some of my classmates and I liked it. The only\nthing lacking was the lecture. I may sound nerdy, but I like listening to our\nteacher\u2019s lecture; I learn a lot of new information and it\u2019s things that I\ngenuinely find interesting. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (actual note(s) from student(s)) submitted withing one week of class \u2013 Start date Sep 2019 – this student is one year on the program as of Nov 19 (These notes are mostly unedited and represent a GISLA students understanding of the previous class the attended.) 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\nStudents graduate level 1 IF and WHEN they pass the Level one exam \n(some do it in 6 weeks and some take 3 years and counting\u2026) and students\n from anywhere in the world can test out to pass and earn the GISLA \nLevel one trophy)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n