Syllabus Introduction class, namely introducing people and the style of the class.
Class Structure
Every single class has homework. Reading complex arguments, histories, facts; reading primary, secondary, and tertiary sources is both how you will get information in this class— but also how you practice the skills needed to do critical thinking and analytical work in any classroom, any workplace. You are to read your readings before class, so that you are prepared to learn from lecture and discussion that day. Written assignments or quizzes are listed in the “graded assignments” column. And I’ve included tips for reading or tackling the assignment in the “hot tips” column
Word Nerds
The words we use to talk about religion really matter. Lots of people(most American adults, statistically) make big mistakes about word that have to do with Islam.
Key Idea
Religion is what people do
What is Islam?
Lots of thing, actually.
Mostly: one way roughly 2 billion people express their culture, belief history, ethics , and identities.
A key property of this is that everyone values different things at a different scale. There is a nuance.
Main Definitions
Islam: the religion Muslim: a person who follows Islam Allah: the name for a God in Arabic Qur’an: Islam’s holiest text
Some Denominations
Main Denominations
Arab Vs Arabic
An Arab is an ethnicity and a group of people. Arabic is a language.
Most Muslims in the world live in Asia, roughly .
Most Muslims are not Arabs, nor is Arabic their primary language.
The United States
Muslims speak all kinds of languages, represent many ethnicities, and are The most diverse religion in the USA!.