Essay on My Muslim Grandmother's Shock with Canadian Culture

Context and Research Question: In August 2015, after capturing the ancient Roman site of Palmyra, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) spectacularly exploded the remains of the Temple of Bel and the Temple of Baalshamin. They immediately spread the images of their destruction online by creating videos and news reports. ISIL’s acts of destruction mark the largest-scale mass destruction of antiquities by one group since the Second World War (Kulish and Myers 2016), and their videos are extremely effective in disseminating their spectacles outside of the Middle East. Scholars in art history, archaeology, and law consider these acts the destruction of cultural heritage (Harmanşah 2015; Bauer 2015; Brodie 2015; Drasewska 2015; He 2015; Kila 2015). In particular, ISIL’s videos seek to defy Western European ideas about cultural heritage which are often cast as universal (Meskell 2002, 568) and engage a worldwide audience through carefully articulated performances. However, the many Canadian journalists using digital media to protest the destruction and reassert their own humanitarian, cosmopolitan, and civilized heritage values clearly mark the success of this strategy (Manley 2016). In fact, a trend emerged where popular news stories claim that ISIL is destroying the heritage that belongs to all of humanity (Harmanşah 2015, 173). Some scholars dispute the validity of this

Culture can be defined as the behaviours and belief characteristics of a particular social, ethnic,

In Kecia Ali’s book “Sexual Ethics and Islam” we are given a unique perspective on various subjects within Islam. The chapters deal with topics that have been widely ignored or partially approached, she addresses them in a way that seeks to not only spark a conversation but ensure the conversation is uncensored and gets to the root of the issue. Of the nine chapters this book, chapter six was perhaps the most significant because it is here that we are given a firm grasp on what Ali is aiming to convey with this book. Through an analysis of this chapter it will become clear that this chapter was used to fully develop her idea of readdressing what is considered Islamic, the actions of Muslims, the way scholars justify beliefs, and issues

Concerning the social context, honor and respect are two significant values that the ‘hijab’ represents. By wearing the hijab, a woman is less likely to be attractive to men and being approached by them, she creates a ‘barrier’ that implements respect between her and another person, by consequent, she preserves her sexual chastity and keeps the family’s honor intact. This is an important detail in the Middle East culture; honor is more a group matter than an individual matter, and in this case, honor’s family is related to women’s sexual abstinence before marriage; in case the honor is lost, it can’t be regained.

This observation made me come to the conclusion that unmarried couples especially of Arabic decent did not display a public affection. Yet that did not mean they weren’t in

Introduction "A perspective is a hypothesis of the world, utilized for living on the planet. A world view is a mental model of reality — a structure of thoughts and states of mind about the world, ourselves, and life, a far-reaching arrangement of convictions." (Rusbult, C., 2016.) An individual on the planet has an alternate hypothesis or aura on perspective; which can be conventional more than other individuals that are positioned. Most profound sense of being additionally has an alternate significance to everybody.

By preserving the sanctity of the family, the Islamic system provides a strong foundation for a high standard of morality, and values that support the society from friction and subversion. Islam organizes the interaction of men and women in public and private life, establishes a dress code for both, encourages marriage at an early age and impose severe punishments for adultery, fornication and homosexuality. (2)

Islam, a religion of people submitting to one God, seeking peace and a way of life without sin, is always misunderstood throughout the world. What some consider act of bigotry, others believe it to be the lack of education and wrong portrayal of events in media; however, one cannot not justify the so little knowledge that America and Americans have about Islam and Muslims. Historically there are have been myths, many attacks on Islam and much confusion between Islam as a religion and Middle Easter culture that is always associated with it. This paper is meant to dispel, or rather educate about the big issues that plague people’s minds with false ideas and this will only be touching the surface.

In class we have been discussing the analogy of perspectives. A perspective is a way of seeing, also thought of as a ‘point of view’. This mental view or outlook can both enhance and constrain how we view the world in our own eyes. In the field of psychology and sociology there are many ways to perceive our world in which we live. No one perspective alone can define the world. Each perspective has its own distinctive strengths and blind spots. In class we have discussed different theories and analogies to better understand the complexity of perspectives.

The region of the Middle East and its inhabitants have always been a wonder to the Europeans, dating back to the years before the advent of Islam and the years following the Arab conquest. Today, the Islamic world spreads from the corners of the Philippines to the far edges of Spain and Central Africa. Various cultures have adopted the Islamic faith, and this blending of many different cultures has strengthened the universal Islamic culture. The religion of Islam has provided a new meaning to the lives of many people around the world. In the Islamic world, the religion defines and enriches culture and as a result the culture gives meaning to the individual. Islam is not only a religion, it is in its own way a culture. It may be this very

Worldviews, whether or not we realize it, affect the way we evaluate different aspects of reality. In this paper, I will be discussing Christianity and Islam. More specifically, pertaining to the concept of self, or the question “What is a human being?” Different understandings of the concept of a human being result in different ways of valuing and treating other people, including the patients we care for in our nursing practice. Although both Islam and Christianity are monotheistic religions, in the Islam faith, humans are regarded as being born inherently good; in Christianity humans are created in God’s image and are born with original sin. Examining scriptures from both faiths and each religion’s concept of a human being allows for deeper insight into their respective worldviews.

As a child, I didn’t think my life’s situations and experiences were too different from others being a Muslim in Canada. I only came to the realization of this as I grew older. Living as a Muslim we celebrated different holidays, wore different types of clothing, and valued things differently. I grew up in Cambridge, Ontario, and only moved to Mississauga in the ninth-grade grade where I realized how much differently I was treated. It wasn’t always ignorance; they were just unknowledgeable and unaware and I couldn’t blame them as I was apart of a religious minority. I looked at the understanding of my life’s events being apart of an Islamic subculture from a conflict theorist’s perspective where social life was looked at as “privileged groups

This is a significant aspect of the course because the article examines the strengths and weaknesses of femininity through a cultural Muslim perspective and the reading is a prime example of how ideologies regarding race affect those involved. In class we have discussed the significances of social constructs and how assumptions are made on the basis of physical characteristics. In this situation, identity is related to gender as Muslim women are categorized as both good/respectful and rebellious/evil individuals because they are apart of a culture where they are both oppressed and liberated simultaneously.

The HBO Documentary, Koran by Heart, directed by Greg Barker, further reiterates the importance of the Quran on the daily lives of Muslims. Though in the past, we have learned that the Quran is the holy text of Islam, making stark comparisons to the holy texts of other Monotheistic religions such as the Bible for the Christians and the Torah for the Jews, but in retrospect, the Quran delves into other matters beyond just religion. Dr. Salem Abdel-Galil, Deputy Minister of Egypt’s Ministry of Religious Affairs, says that the Koran for Muslims is not just a book of worship, but it serves as a guide for life. In other words, the Quran is not just a compilation of religious accounts; rather it holds information to further develop a follower’s interpersonal and communicative skills along with guidance on how to live a tolerant and peaceful life with others.

In the first centuries following the death of Muhammad, to be Muslim was to be Arab. However, as Islam gained political and social influence around the world, Muslim identity became less intertwined with a certain ethnicity. Today, there are 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, comprising nearly 25% of the world’s population. Yet, only 206 million of these 1.8 billion Muslims actually speak Arabic, the language of the Qur’an (Brown, 5). In fact, the country with the greatest population of Muslims is Indonesia, where Indonesian and Malay are predominately spoken. Thus, for the nearly 1.6 Muslims who do not speak Arabic, they must rely on translations of the Qur’an to guide their practice. These translations have extreme importance, as they influence how the majority of Muslims interpret and practice Islam. On Quranic translations, Michael Sells notes, “In any translation, there is a loss and an effort to compensate for that loss” (26). It is vital to endeavor to identify these losses in meaning and form, as they inform how the majority of the Muslim community practices Islam. An analysis of three different translations of Surah 92: The Night will identify the losses in Quranic translations and how various translators attempt to make up for this loss. Although translations of the Qur’an lead to certain losses in meaning and form, if the same message is maintained between Surah translations, then these losses are effectively inconsequential.