Attending a Muslim Friday Prayer as an Atheist
Firstname Lastname
Instructor’s Name
Course Number
27 May 2013
Attending a Muslim Friday Prayer as an Atheist
Introduction
Growing up in the place where almost everybody was atheist, I have become increasingly curious about Islam, as a religion and the culture that comes along with it. As someone who has traveled and studied abroad, I always feel excited with meeting people from different backgrounds. But sometimes I sense that my lack of knowledge in some religion-related culture makes me hesitant in opening up topics during my discussion with foreign friends. Islam is a great religion with large number of followers (estimated 1.57 billion) (CNN). Although often underreported, China (my home country) actually has a sizable Muslim population living in Muslim neighborhoods across the country (Armijo). You cannot fully understand your country without understanding a major demographic group in the country. After the tragedy of 9/11, this religion was somewhat misunderstood by a proportion of public and media in some parts of the world. This also gave rise to the so called “Islamphobia” (Haddad).As someone not really interested in politics, I just wanted to get to know a culture that is seemly so different than mine but could be found right around the corner of my neighborhood. I hoped this would also give me a very different perspective about life and the world. Eventually, I chose a Friday Muslim prayer service to attend with my Muslim classmate. Coming back from such first-time experience, I would say this religion feels foreign but also familiar to me. I was shocked by the strong and genuine faith the followers showed, the genius creation of literal and architectural works in this religion, and the rich traditions they have kept for a long time. At the same time, I realized my daily life actually has something to do with this culture. Some of my favorite foods come from Muslim cuisine. The followers, once out of the mosque, are simply the nice neighbors
Instructor’s Name
Course Number
27 May 2013
Attending a Muslim Friday Prayer as an Atheist
Introduction
Growing up in the place where almost everybody was atheist, I have become increasingly curious about Islam, as a religion and the culture that comes along with it. As someone who has traveled and studied abroad, I always feel excited with meeting people from different backgrounds. But sometimes I sense that my lack of knowledge in some religion-related culture makes me hesitant in opening up topics during my discussion with foreign friends. Islam is a great religion with large number of followers (estimated 1.57 billion) (CNN). Although often underreported, China (my home country) actually has a sizable Muslim population living in Muslim neighborhoods across the country (Armijo). You cannot fully understand your country without understanding a major demographic group in the country. After the tragedy of 9/11, this religion was somewhat misunderstood by a proportion of public and media in some parts of the world. This also gave rise to the so called “Islamphobia” (Haddad).As someone not really interested in politics, I just wanted to get to know a culture that is seemly so different than mine but could be found right around the corner of my neighborhood. I hoped this would also give me a very different perspective about life and the world. Eventually, I chose a Friday Muslim prayer service to attend with my Muslim classmate. Coming back from such first-time experience, I would say this religion feels foreign but also familiar to me. I was shocked by the strong and genuine faith the followers showed, the genius creation of literal and architectural works in this religion, and the rich traditions they have kept for a long time. At the same time, I realized my daily life actually has something to do with this culture. Some of my favorite foods come from Muslim cuisine. The followers, once out of the mosque, are simply the nice neighbors
Cited: Greene, Richard, “Nearly 1 in 4 people worldwide is Muslim, report says.”, CNN, 12/10/2009. Armijo, Jackie. “Islamic Education in China" Harvard Asia Quarterly 10 (1), archived from the original on 28/9/2007. Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck. Muslims in the West: from sojourners to citizens. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. 2002. Tales from the Thousand and One Nights. London. Penguin Books Limited. 1973.