Islam

When Dr. Kasas came to visit the class earlier in the week, I was not expecting the passages of the Qur'an we read through to be able to relate to a lot of non-Muslims. However, I felt as though everyone in the class was able to relate to what we read, and we all interpreted it in our own ways of thinking about the sacred in relation to the profane world around us. Dr Kasas was a very open and enthusiastic teacher, and it was an honor to be able to meet a man of God from another faith tradition.

Our visit to the Tri-State Islamic Center was an experience that opened my eyes to how beautiful other faith traditions are. When all of us were participating in the Friday prayers, I felt as though I was praying to the same God as Catholicism. It makes me think about how, perhaps God uses a variety of religions to bring people to Him because He knows that only that specific faith tradition will have success wherever it is brought about. It is almost like God us using faith as the Functional Belief sees it. He sees the hearts of everyone on earth and realizes what each community and culture needs to fall in love with Him.

After the prayers at the Islamic Center ended, the group of girls got a chance to talk to some of the women Muslims who go to the Mosque regularly. The thing that stuck out to me the most was when one of the women began to talk about how women are held at such a high regard in Islam. They are seen as princesses to their husbands. This is a very different view than the media seems to depict. One of the women also began to talk about the deep respect that is given to Jesus and Mary in Islam. This was one of the biggest surprises to me about Islam. I know that many Catholics view Muhammad as a great man of God, but they do not usually put his teachings to a high regard as the Muslims do for Jesus and Mary. This makes me recognize the brotherhood that Catholics, Muslims, and Jews share. Our teachings are very different, but, in what I have learned and experienced in class, each of these faith traditions is blessed by the God of Abraham.