The Islamic Center Of Akron / Kent Essay

On November 12, 2015 Friday evening I had the pleasure of visiting the Jewish Community Center which is part of the Judaism faith and is located in 1529, 16th Street, NW, Washington DC, 20036. Personally, I am part of the Muslim faith as well is my entire family. Throughout my childhood and teenage years my faith was strongly emphasized in my household. My mother would take my siblings and I to Quran teachings every day after school to learn more about our faith and learn the holy text. I try to practice the Islamic faith to the best of my ability. Praying five times a day in my faith has kept me close to my faith and has helped me come over any struggles or worrying I

In the article “An Imam in America”, author Andrea Elliott (2006) argues that flexibility and creativity should be given higher priority in Islam or other religions when it comes to the assimilation to the modernity of America. Her article is a fine illustration and narrative of the life an imam has to endure in America. Elliot (2006) mentions that in Egypt, where the imam was raised and educated, "imams are appointed by the government and monitored for signs of radicalism or political dissent."(Elliott, 2006). Consequently, there job is spiritual as well as political. However, his life in America proves to be the exact opposite of the training and environment he gained in Egypt. The liberality and modernity of America is a stark contrast to

Ever since moving here from Saudi Arabia, I have been a member of the local Muslim community. I did all the normal things a little Muslim boy does. I went to Sunday school, I attended Friday prayer with my father, and I had Muslim friends. As I grew up, I stopped attending Sunday school, I only went to Friday prayer when school was out, and I grew apart from my childhood Muslim friends. Yet I was, and currently am, a part of the Muslim community. A community which encourages a person to relax their mind and soul through prayer. While this is all great, there are some interesting aspects of the Muslim community that I am not completely familiar with.

The Islamic Society of Tampa Bay is an organization, which strives to serve the religious, educational, and societal needs of members and non-members. Their goal is to keep the Muslim community growing by reaching out to others out of the faith, in order to inform them more about their religion. Islam’s presence is felt in all walks of life, from international politics to religious and ideological circles to personal lifestyle (NVCC). Hafsa, a Muslim woman of the Islamic faith, was able to inform me about her religion and what her commitment is to the society from her point of view.

I visited the Toledo Muslim Community Center last Wednesday on April 5th. They allowed me to sit in the back and observe the Quran study time. They were studying in a gathering room with tables and chairs and not the sanctuary itself. While I was there, younger children were studying and learning the Quran with the help and guidance of teachers who were experts on the Quran. The teachers had various Qurans available for the children to use to practice memorizing the Quran. They had all the important verses needed for prayer printed out with translations on them. They would focus on memorizing the Quran verse by verse instead of by passages. They found it is easier for the children to memorize and recite it verse by verse and then recite all

The Oakridge Muslim Student Association (MSA) is a very diverse group of individuals hailing from numerous backgrounds from around the world. Acquainting myself with people from different walks of life opened my eyes to the injustice occurring around the world. One of the most galvanizing of these was the Syrian Civil War.

To successfully navigate the Middle East, the new message must appeal to people of that region. I traveled to all the mosques in the city, and spoke with many imams and discovered that Muslims and people from the Middle East believe in this message, their praise is effusive and they say it’s beautiful, beloved by all Muslims as if it is the answer they have been waiting for.

Introduction and Arrival: I attended the Islam site visit at the River Oaks Islamic Center on Wednesday May 3rd. I chose to go to the Islam site because it was the first site visit I could attend because of the Lacrosse season. I was also excited to go to the Islam site visit because I know so little about Islam, apart from what the news says. I expected to see a lot of women with full scarves, long dresses and cloth slippers, accompanied by their husbands dressed in suits. I expected the mosque to be really large with intricate architecture on the outside. I also envisioned pews when we walked in, like a church. I thought we would walk in to a large room, with pews in the back and prayer rugs at the front. I also pictured an altar, but now

When I am not spending my time within a class room, I spend most of my time trying to better myself as a person spiritually and physically. To enhance my spiritual side, I invest my time reading books about religion, watching lecture videos or even attending a lecture at a mosque with the Iman. Obtaining knowledge about my religion helps me to develop a connection and better understanding of my beliefs, instead of blindly following them. Not only do I obtain knowledge about my religion, but also of other religions as well. By doing so, it helps me develop an understanding of other’s beliefs and their perspective on certain topics and why they believe what they do. Religion in general simply fascinates me and I strive to learn more each and

On April 8th, 2016 I attended an Islamic service at the Central Illinois Mosque and Islamic Center in Urbana, Illinois. I attended a Friday Prayers service. This specific mosque is not only a place for worship but also a center for multiple activities such as Sunday school. Those that attended the service, other than myself, were Muslim and partook in the worship. Amongst those in attendance there was much diversity. Also, they were very kind, sociable people that did all they could to make myself feel as comfortable as possible.

I chose to research the Muslim religion for my site visit. I wanted to have in depth experience with this religion since I did my group project about Sikhism and during class we went into great detail about every other religion. I did not know what to expect when visiting a mosque, it was a pretty nerve-wracking experience for me being a non-Muslim. I have been raised with Christian morals my whole life even though I have only gone to church a few times in my whole life. Almost all religions have a house of prayer; Jews have synagogues, Buddhists/Hindus have temples and Catholic and Christians have churches and cathedrals. Muslims have mosques; each religious center has their own different rules, rituals and services that need to be followed. A mosque is a place of prayer for Muslims within the Islamic belief. Another word for mosque in Arabic is Masjid. Kind of like a church, a mosque is where Muslims worship and bow before Allah to declare their obedience and loyalty. Mosques date back till the time of the prophet. In order to find a mosque, I went on the Internet and stumbled upon Masjid Beit El-Maqdes.

The setting for my ethnography study was Ottawa Main Mosque, located on Northwestern Avenue. The masjid (the Arabic word for mosque) is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The certain features present on the architectural design of this mosque are, the brick walls, the domed roof, and the highly visible minarets. On the interior of the masjid, there are two separate different sides with their own entrances, one for men and the other for women.

The temple that we visited was the Abu Bakr Mosque, a Sunni temple, and the largest Islamic Mosque in the state of Colorado. The temple can accommodate up to 3,000 people at its maximum. Abu Bakr is a part of the Colorado Muslim Society and is the first masjid in Colorado after the building was purchased in 1974 and relocated to its current location. My first impression of the masjid was that it did not seem like a religious building at first sight. Because of the simple masonry of the exterior, I would have assumed that it was a school or office building. I originally expected more windows and more of a radial pattern of the site. Everyone that I encountered outside of the temple was friendly and wanted to interact and teach me more about about Islam. One man in the multicultural room of the temple said that he couldn’t distinguish if I was muslim or not because I had the traditional head scarf on as well as being covered to my wrists and ankles. He said that I was very respectful by dressing conservatively. The people seemed more conservative with the separation of the sexes and with the timeliness of the prayer, but we were told that we were completely separated to eliminate distraction for both men and women, and the exact timing of the prayer helped because it was a Saturday, and it was easier for the attendants to be more on time. They are also very understanding of schedules because the masjid is open all day to accommodate everyone. The community was very

The course showed me how people across the world are alike when it comes to religion, but at the same time very different.. Everybody that is part of a religion has one common goal which is some

Although Islam is the second largest religion in the world with a following of 1.8 billion followers, no other religion has faced more scrutiny and hardship in the past decades. This has been caused by media and governments labeling Islam as a whole with their extremist groups like Al Queda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. I even thought that the principals held by these extremist group were more common in Islam than they are. After studying Islam and gaining more information I came to respect this religion more than any other we studied this semester because of its seriousness and unity. The Quran and Hadith provide concrete details and instructions to follow in the faith of Islam. No texts from any other religion are as upfront with their beliefs than these. Muhammad was and continues to be a powerful and understanding leader that has led it to becoming the world’s fastest growing religion. I enjoyed studying the powerfulness of Muhammad and the direct voice of God in the Quran that is sets Islam apart from Judaism and Christianity.