2021 Oct 31 – JJ – F 33 – Week 8
Is Halloween a haram (forbidden) holiday? This is one of the main topics we discussed in today’s class, along with the holiday Diwali, Ice Cream (or Intellectual Curiosity), some new vocabulary words, homework expectations, heaven and hell, morality and leadership. I arrived at today’s class two and a half hours late. The teacher was in […]
2021 Oct 17 – JJ – F33 – The Day Before Mawlid
Today’s class was one day before Mawlid, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)’s birthday. This is a topic we discussed in addition to others such as the movie The Message, the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH, depictions of Muslims in the news, biographies of the Prophet Muhammad, class acronyms, parts of the Quran, tajwid (Quranic recitation), […]
2021 Oct 10 – JJ F33 – Week 5
One very interesting thing that was said today is that the Quran is a repetition of itself. So 114 chapters convey the same message over and over—a message of the oneness of God, and the importance of doing good works, like charity. Our instructor also said his class is a repetition of itself. There […]
2021 July 18 – JJ – F 33 – What Makes Someone a Good Muslim?
What makes someone a good Muslim? Is it doing all of one’s prayers? Or is it just being a good person? That was one of the topics of today’s class, along with the following others: the Arabic name for God versus the English name, Fatima, Sunnis and Shias, Ibrahim’s wife Hagar, Zam Zam water, sleep/dreams, […]
2021 July 11 – JJ – F33 – Eid Al Adha
As a revert to Islam, it seems strange to me that every year millions of animals are sacrificed for the holiday Eid Al Adha. In Pakistan alone, 10 million animals are slaughtered on Eid days according to the International Business Times (1-25-16). Eid Al Adha was one of the topics covered at today’s class, along […]
2021 June 27 – JJ F33 – Imran Khan Controversy
Prime Minister Imran Khan ignited controversy when he stated the following on an Axios interview that aired June 20th, 2021: “If a woman is wearing very few clothes it will have an impact on the man unless they are robots. It’s common sense.” In response, several news outlets accused Pakistan’s Prime Minister of promoting rape […]
2021 June 20 – JJ – F 33 – Class on Father’s Day
If your father died tomorrow, would you be content with how you treated him? For those who have fathers who have already passed, do you have any regrets? This is one of the topics we discussed at today’s class since it was Father’s Day. Yet there were also many other topics, such as meditation, Juneteenth/slavery, […]
2021 June 13 – JJ F33 – Are Prayer and Romantic Relationships Connected?
Are prayer and romantic relationships related? You might say Astaghfirullah! (God forgive me!) to see someone suggest such a thing. But read this essay and prepare to be surprised. At today’s class, I came in thinking that the focus would be learning our prayers in English and Arabic, and that was certainly the focus at […]
2021 June 9 – JJ – F33 – The How and Why of Prayer and Wudu
In today’s class, I learned about wudu (ritual washing) and the physical steps of the salat (Islamic prayer). I recently converted to Islam in 2020 and took an online class that was not part of GS. Thus I came in with a rudimentary idea of what Muslims do in their ritual washing and prayers, […]