Ideas from Gender Discussion

Ahlan ya tulaab!

I wanted to share some of the great insights you all had while we were watching "Wajda" and having our discussion about gender and civil society in Saudi Arabia:

Water seems to be very valuable in this society...

Men have a lot of privileges, while women are protected, but restricted and forgotten.

There seem to be lots of superstitions about what women can do and cannot do.

Girls can't be heard by men outside.

Women can't drive, and they have laws against it.

They only get a certain amount of water each month...

Men are allowed to have multiple wives, and women don't always seem to like this.

In the movie, the mother won't get a job because it makes her mother jealous.

Schools are separated by gender.

If you ride a bike you won't be able to have children?

The women dress for their husbands, won't sing, won't cut their hair, can't have their name on the family tree. They're invisible.

The men don't even want women touching each other?

The Quran is a huge part of daily life, and affects people's opinion of you, sometimes.

Women seem to be afraid of what men think.

This was a great discussion! Thanks for all your work.

Music Day

Ahlan ya shabaab!

Thanks so much for an awesome day of music today. We had a guest lecture and demonstration from Dr. Lloyd Miller and Katherine St. John, who are experts in Iranian/Persian dance and music, and they played their instruments for us and had us join in with bells, tambourines, and spoons - so fun!

Next week continue with the alphabet and start our unit on gender in Islam, so get excited for that.

Ma salaama wa shukran!

Homework for Week 3

Ahlan ya tulaab - 

Thanks for a great week! I hope you had fun with our little food party on Thursday. For next week, make sure to review your letters and practice them, so you don't lose them, and check out this series of posts from a famous Iraqi female blogger:

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2003_10_01_archive.html

She wrote during the start of the Iraq war under the fake name "River Bend," to protect herself. She writes in very good, interesting, well-informed prose about her life as an Iraqi, as a Muslim, as a female, and as a citizen during her country's terrible war and America's terrible mistakes there. Her blog eventually got made into a book called "Baghdad Burning." Read the entry she writes about the month of Ramadhan, and explore her other posts if you have time.

Then read this short article about the five pillars of Islam, which we'll be talking about on Thursday:

http://www.islam-guide.com/ch3-16.htm

Ma salaama!

Homework Week 3

1: They don't portray Mohammed's face in paintings.

2: Why was having one god so new when Christianity and followers of Christ had been around for centuries?

3: Maybe Rome should have tried being a theistic government. They would have been even more powerful.

Reflections and Assignment for Next Week

Ahlan ya tulaab!

Shukran for another great week of class. We had a great discussion about the origins of Islam, about the life of the Prophet Muhammad, and about how to avoid stereotypes and ignorance, especially from our biased standpoint here in the United States.

Here's an interesting article from Al-Jazeera that discusses this week's Charlie Hebdo magazine cover and the controversy surrounding the attacks in Paris last week.

And here's a pretty awesome music video from our friend Nancy Ajram, the Lebanese pop star:




Have a good weekend!

Ma salaama,

Ustaaza Eliza

3 Questions

1: Why do Muslims pray five times per day?

2: Why is the Qur'an only pure in Arabic?

3: Why do they say ilhamdullillah so often?

Homework for Week 2

Ahlan, ya tulaab!

Here are some reminders about the homework assignment for next week.

For language class on Tuesday, 1/13:

1. Complete drills in Alif Baa for pages 10 through 18 (which should teach you letters ا، ب، ت، ث، و).
2. Practice saying "il-hamdu-lillah" a few times throughout the day, especially when something great happens.

For culture class on Thursday, 1/15:

1. Watch half or more of this documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX3UHNhQ1Zk
2. Read this introduction and images: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/isla/hd_isla.htm
3. Post three "central questions" about what you see, think, and hear from these resources.

Shukran!