Final Exam

                Originally when I enrolled in anthropology 310 while I expected to absorb information, I did not expect it to have an impact on me on a personal level.  However, it did not take very long for me to discover that this would not be the case.  For me this was due mainly to the many mediums in which we learned and the way in which the class was structured.  The personal experiences and wisdom that both guest speakers and our peers shared had the most impact on me.  The current way in which our society views Muslims and the Islamic faith has been greatly skewed by popular media and the actions of minority population of those very radical Muslims; however taking this class helped me to see through the lines much of the global population has drawn.

                A large part of my personal “ignorance” beforehand stemmed from a lack of very basic knowledge of the Islamic faith.  As with any structure a strong foundation must be built, this foundation can be found in the Five Pillars of Islam.  These are: Shahadah (accepting there is no god except God accepting Muhammed as the last Prophet), Sawm (fasting/self-sacrifice), Salat (five daily payers), Zakat (charitable giving), and Hajj (pilgrimage). Before going into this class I had a very basic knowledge of these 5 pillars but I did not quite have a grasp on exactly what they stood for.  As time progressed I realized not only that I did I lack basic knowledge but that there was so much I did not know about the both about the Muslim culture and the Islamic religion.  I understood that Ramadan was a an Islamic ‘holiday’ but I didn’t know that it was made up of 3 parts or that it doesn’t occur at the same time every year and that it was dependent on when the 9^th month of the Islamic calendar which begins when the thinnest crescent moon is barely visible.  These are very basic things that alone do not change the way in which I viewed Muslims but I believe that the more knowledge one has about a culture/religion the more they are able to both be more tolerant and accepting. 

                As the class progressed I found myself noticing very small things when going about my daily routine that I would not have noticed 6 months ago.  When watching the news and hearing things about Sunni and Shi’a Muslims and understanding what that difference meant and what it did not mean.  When out and about I noticed more Muslim people and it was in a more ‘positive’ manner than before.  When I passed a female wearing a hijab, my first thought changed from “she’s wearing a headdress” to “she’s wearing a hijab because she takes her faith seriously” and I understood the meaning behind it as well.  As well I understood why they wore more modest clothing than as American’s we have become accustomed to. 

                To preface my next point, before I took this class, I would not consider myself racist or prejudice in any way.  However, I would say that in there were a couple times after 9/11 where I was on an airplane and there was a Muslim and my mind went to “hmm…should I be suspicious of this person?”  While this never progressed past the point of wondering, it was still something that I find myself somewhat ashamed of to this day.  In further studying Islam, I began to realize just how much of Islam is about peace, not violence.  I began to realize how many misconceptions most people have about Muslim’s and that many  Muslim’s are more than willing to take time to explain things to a person not of the Islamic faith so that these misconceptions can be quelled. One of the most common of these misconceptions is that all Arabs are not Muslim’s and vice versa.  Personally, I have to admit that I did not truly understand just how much of the global population are Muslim.  Most people would be blown away to see a map that shows the distribution of the Muslim population.

                One of the biggest things that I took away from this class is that culture and religion have very different roles in the Muslim population.  The ideas and theories that were discussed throughout the class had a very personal effect on me.  The most important thing that I feel that I took away from this class is the feeling that I can go out in the world with not only a better understanding of Islam and Muslims personally, but also knowing that I can continue to spread this knowledge to my friends and/or total strangers whose misconceptions may be skewing their point of view.