Sep. 27, 2010

Today's class started off with prayers by Celine and Molly. The quiz we took today featured three words from the chapter on Islam in our book: Tawhid, Qu'ran, and Shahada. The Qu'ran is the sacred scriptures of Muslims dictated by God to Muhammad, through the Angel Gabriel. Muhammad received these words over a course of 20 years. Tawhid is the Muslim doctrine that explains the unity of God. Islam denies any partners to God such as Christians believe in the Trinity. The shahada is the first pillar of Islam and it means "witnessing". It is the Muslims' profession of faith.

After the quiz, we did a worksheet that reviewed the Mosque and the Hajj. The Mosque is a place of prostration which is empty inside, there are no statues or pictures. The Hajj is the pilgrimmage to Meca once a year to promote bonds of Islamic brotherhood and sisterhood by showing tha everyone is equal in the eyes of Allah.

We then learned more about the Hajj. During the Hajj:

• men shave their heads and women cut a lock of hair
• no deoderant is used
• no killing or hunting
• no fighting or arguing

We watched a National Geographic youtube video  that taught the class more about the events that occur during the Hajj in Mecca.