Friendly Little Writing Assignment, Fall 2001

Dear friends…

Well, you asked, and here it is: your first midterm:

As I have mentioned in class, these questions do not have a right or wrong answer. They require you to weave together your readings, the discussions in class, my lectures, and your own thoughts.

A few things: do be sure to type the papers, put your name on top, have page numbers, and staple them. When you refer to specific readings, it is sufficient to put the name of the author and then the page number, or in the case of the Qur’an the chapter and verse (i.e. 13:24). I want to see you use the books (Chittick, Qur’an, and the big green Islamic law book).

Here are the question: I expect responses of at least 31/2 to 4 pages for each of the first two questions, and a short one page response to the third. In the past years, I have generally seen the better papers on this exam be around 9 pages or so. Some of you are very gifted in being able to express things in a pithy format, so you may not need that much. In general, these are hard questions, and I think you will need around 9 pages to deal with the first two.

1) I want to hear your reflections on the first part of the Shahadah: La ilaha illa Allah. Go beyong “there is no god but God.” What does this statement mean to Muslims? How does it shape our worldview? Their way of conceptualizing the relationship between God, humanity, and the cosmos? Here is my favorite question in the whole midterm: From the point of view of the Qur'an, what is truly Real, and what is illusion ("veil")?
Who is responsible for that distinction, and why should it exist at all? In your answers, be sure to invoke such concepts as tawhid, aya, fitra, transcendence and immanence, and Divine Names (if not all of them, at least some). Demonstrate to me that you have read and absorbed the Chittick book, but also use your own insights. I would love to see you weave Qur’anic verses into this discussion.

2) Let me hear your reflections on the five pillar of Islam? Again, I want you to go beyond the normal lists (shahadah, prayer, fasting, charity, and pilgrimage). I am looking again for the question of meaning: demonstrate to me something of what these pillars seem to mean to our Muslim friends in terms of helping them construct a relationship between themselves and the Divine (what might be termed a vertical relationship) and among themselves (what might be called a horizontal relationship). In answering this question, certainly use the Chittick book and the Qur’an, but I also want to see you make extensive use of the Reliance of the Traveller book that has been assigned to you.

3) Give me a sense of what you think the purpose of Prophets and Messengers in Islam is? How have their communities historically responded to them? What about them is “the same”, from a Qur’anic perspective? Why should they sound similar, from a Qur’anic perspective again?

I hope this helps you get started in writing your midterms. I am willing to give you two weeks to do this, and turn it in by Thursday October 11th, at midnight.

much love to you,

omid