Strayer 11, Islam

10/24/2015

This chapter is pivotal to your success in this class, just as Islam has been pivotal to the course of world history! Study well, the strategies that worked with Strayer 9 and 10 will work well with this chapter as well, inshallah!

14 Comments

Sydney Han

10/25/2015 01:17:15 pm

MQ5: What accounts for the widespread conversion to Islam?

1. major elements of Islam (monotheism, ritual prayer and cleansing ceremonies, fasting, divine revelation, heaven and hell and final judgement) were familiar to Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians
2. Islam was associated with the sponsorship of a powerful state from the beginning
3. Islam conquest led to the questioning of the power of old gods as many became attracted to Allah
4. Forced conversion was rare but living in an Islamic-governed state gave motivation for claiming a Muslim identity
5. merchants found a religion friendly to commerce finding a huge and secure arena for trade in the Arab Empire
6. conversion to Islam could be seen as an aid to social mobility for people wanting official positions

I wonder where everyone is... if I'm missing anything or if there is a better way to answer the question please let me know

Bingham

10/25/2015 03:55:34 pm

That's a great answer. I don't know why people aren't here, perhaps they think there isn't a reading check even though it's on the calendar and in gradespeed.

Madeleine Spence

10/25/2015 07:30:41 pm

Hello!

MQ10 Why was Anatolia so much more thoroughly Islamized than India?

Would this answer be acceptable?

- More Turkic speaking people settled in Anatolia, and Anatolia also had a much smaller population than India.
-Anatolian society was also much more centralized than Indian society, so when Anatolian society took a turn for the worst it was more susceptible to becoming heavily influenced than the decentralized Indian society.
- Turkish rulers build a new society welcoming converts and the cultural barriers were less severe in Anatolia than India.
-*this is the one I'm unsure about* Islam was more connected to Christianity of Anatolia than Hinduism in India, so conversion was more likely in Anatolia than India.

Sorry this is late! Any input?

cathleen

10/25/2015 08:33:13 pm

Great! here's just some nit picky things:
anatolians were more susceptible to islam diffusion from the turks because more turks settled in anatolia, anatolia had smaller amount of people than india(which you said), but also had many famines and massacres and death-inducing stuff going on, which did not help its numbers.(this goes pretty hand in hand with exactly what you said. just the way strayer said it made it seem like it was an important addition)
and i agree with your last point. I think the religious differences made a huge impact on the amount of conversions and were significant between the two places.

Bingham

10/26/2015 04:46:51 am

Your "connection to Islam" is fine. That's the whole "people of the book" thing. Mohammad preached that he was the last of the prophets of God, as was Jesus, Moses and Abraham.

Madeleine Spence

10/26/2015 08:03:40 am

Thanks so much Cathleen and Mr. Bingham!

cathleen

10/25/2015 08:07:30 pm

What similarities and differences can you identify in the spread of islam among india, anatolia, west africa, and spain?
islam diffused to India and anatolia through invasions by turkic invaders. spain was invaded by arabs and berbers.West africa spread of islam was facilitated by muslim merchants
in both anatolia and india, sufis helped with conversion and developed a more popular kind of islam that appealed to these people. In west africa, sufis did not and would not help in those conversions until the 1700s.
Only anatolia had islam as the dominant religion-in india they also had several other religions in addition to islam and so did span and west africa.

What else is there? I feel like there's some more I didn't get at.

Also, found this gem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Ec70beiug&feature=youtu.be
kind of comforting, strayer.

Melissa Alter

10/26/2015 03:02:33 pm

For all grey day people: the calendar for this week shows the Strayer test on Thursday. I think we have it Friday due to early dismissal on Wednesday, but can anyone confirm this for sure? (Bingham... Bueller... Bingham...)

Bingham

10/26/2015 05:15:02 pm

The instructions at the top of the calendar page says only the first instance of an event is listed. If I see you the following day, then that is what you'll be doing.
Pretend Wednesday isn't happening

Melissa Alter

10/26/2015 05:28:55 pm

Okay, thank you!

elle (praying hands emoji) norman

10/26/2015 08:33:41 pm

Hey cathleen, Melissa, Sydney, Maddie, and Bingham (because apparently we are the only people on this forum), I was wondering if anyone could clarify the Sufi organization to me and how they are different than the ulama scholars. Were the Sufis the Shia imams or am I mistaken? Thanks pals!

Morgan Levine

10/27/2015 08:05:15 pm

Although not one of the people asked, I thought I'd give my take on the Sufis:

So, I don't think that they are Shia imams or Sunni ulama/scholars. They were a very different branch of mystics. They escaped the restrictions put between them and God by the other branches of Islam/Islam's general worldly expansion and tried to reach God via super cool spooky things like the arts and obliteration of the self. If you've ever heard of the Whirling Dervishes, that's those guys - going into a trance to get closer to the spiritual. Generally, they're pretty zany, and separate from the other branches of Islam. They were also deeply offensive to some Muslims due to their blatant disregard for sharia law and shifty, occasionally erotic and drunken, relationship with God.

Not sure if this is exactly what you were asking for, or if all of this was correct, but that's my take. Their fundamental difference is that they are focused purely on the spiritual - finding their pathway to God.

cathleen

10/28/2015 07:25:45 pm

riveting discussion, guys. here's a fun anecdote that i came up with that i think is pretty hilarious. If you're having trouble keeping shia and sunni straight, just think of shia as shia labeouf and sunni as someone else in hollywood. shia and shia labeouf are all like "wow we are minorities and so underappreciated and man, no one is talented or p(r)ays attention to allah the way i do and i can't help it i'm so talented- it's in my BLOOD*. i'm like the hollywood messiah. You other famous people|sunnis aren't as famous|religiously devout as me, SHIA labeouf."
*the caliph blood thing

Kendal LeFlore

10/29/2015 06:09:03 pm

God (Allah) bless this metaphor

Strayer 11, Islam

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