Essay 3 will help students develop critical thinking and information literacy skills by demonstrating knowledge of one global religion[Islam] and thinking critically about its weaponization and political deployment in recent decades by Geopolitical Axis1 against Geopolitical Axis2 in order to achieve complex geopolitical goals.
The religion of Islam has been in the spotlight in recent decades, especially since the September 11 attacks and the seven scheduled wars on terror. This assignment should help the student develop some basic understanding of Islam (as a religion and a culture) through a brief introduction to (1) Monotheism (belief in the existence of only one god, slides 1-9), (2) the Quran (the sacred scripture of Islam, slides 14-19 and 7), (3) Prophet Muhammad (the man who established or re-established Islam, slides 50-54), (4) the Five Pillars of Islam (the five worship rituals incumbent upon adult and able Muslim males and females, slide 87), (5) the guiding principle of bringing benefits and warding off harms to the individual and society under Islamic law (slide 89), (6) Islamic values of human brotherhood and good action and intention (slide 129), (7) the geopolitical origins and ramifications of ‘Jihadism’ and ‘terrorism’ in Afghanistan in the 1980s and in Syria since 2011 (slides 112 and 125), and (8) how religion per se is NOT really the problem (slide 131) unless states/governments decide to weaponize it. For example, in 1952 religion was identified in a “Top Secret” Annex to U.S. National Security Council 129 as an important Cold War asset. In the 1980s the U.S. government launched a full scale weaponization and political deployment of Islam including funding, arming, and training Jihadists/Mujahideen in Afghanistan and designing Jihadist curricula for Muslim children and adults in a way that may not be congruent with Thomas Jefferson [author of the Declaration of Independence and third President of the United States]’s understanding and interpretation of the clause about religion in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution [“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”] as a “wall of separation” prohibiting specifically the U.S. federal government from any involvement in religion in the United States and implicitly in other countries (slide 119).
Based exclusively on the PowerPoint slides for Essay3 and the Videos for Essay3, SELECT each one of the following 8 listed items and EXPLAIN its significance and relevance to OUR time/era (before you select the next one). To find out about what ‘significant’ or ‘relevant’ could mean in this context, read carefully the short Hadith at the bottom of slide 65 in light of the current proliferation and dissemination of ‘fake news’ via ‘social media’, and read also the moral/legal discussion about the ‘duty to rescue’ and the other THREE Hadith and the BBC and Washington Post stories in slide 67.
Select ONE verse from the many Quran verses in the following slides 1-9, 16-31, 33-48, 77-82, 86-87, 89-90,
Select ONE hadith from the many hadith/sayings by Prophet Muhammad in the following slides 64-76, 84-85, 88; see slides 62 and 63 for the definition of ‘hadith’,
Select ONE of the Five Pillars of Islam and the verse(s) mandating it in slide 87,
Select ONE of the FIVE necessary benefits that must be protected under Islamic law in slide 89 and the Quran verse indicating its necessary protection in slides 90 and 34,
Select ONE major difference between Islamic law and the Western legal system (slide 89),
Select ONE of the Islamic values (slide 129),
Select ONE issue of concern to Western Muslims today (Western Muslims: Issues and Concerns, VideoA (1 to 6, 10 mn each)
Select the top two or three most important things you have learned about Islam and the Quran while watching Hamza Yusuf answer Jordan Peterson’s questions in VideoB (1h:33mn): “What We Can All Learn From Islam & The Quran.” Hamza Yusuf & Jordan Peterson.
First, you provide separately and in sequence the full quote of each one of the EIGHT selected items in the body of the essay (the source of the quote and its PowerPoint slide number (or Video reference–VideoA number 1 to 6, minute 1 to 10; and VideoB minute number) should be referenced in properly entered footnotes, according to the Sample Format Page followed immediately (i.e.,before the next item to be selected) by a concise explanation of its significance and relevance to our time/era from your own perspective and in your OWN words.
Second, based on your learning from your EIGHT selections and from PowerPoint slides 112 and 125 (covering how the US and its allies sponsored ‘Jihad’ wars in Afghanistan in the 1980s and in Syria since 2011), you should provide a thoughtful explanation of the geopolitical origins, ultimate goals, and ramifications of those wars in Afghanistan in the 1980s and in Syria since 2011.
Note that governments/states often take credit for success in war (see slide 170 where Saudi Foreign Minister boasted about US-Saudi cooperation in the Afghanistan war: “We worked together in Afghanistan and we prevailed”) and blame their adversaries or blame each other or blame culture/terrorism for failure (see for example the revelations made by US Vice President Biden and former Qatari Prime Minister Bin Jasim in slide 125 when they failed in Syria; see also what Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in slide 112 when he acknowledged that “Al-Qaeda leaders, ISIS leaders, they were all Muslim Brotherhood first… We used the Muslim Brotherhood in the Cold War—we did, both of us [Saudi Arabia and the United States]… This is what America wanted us to do.” Your essay should be 900-1200 words, EXCLUDING the text of the EIGHT quotes of your selections.
