Thursday, December 16, 2010

Some people think the Islamic civilization is a scary and an isolated part of the world.  Honestly, they are a well put together civilization.  There are many traditions based on their religion in the Islamic community.  Ramada and the five pillars are great examples of religion in everyday life.  The arts are beautiful and the Islamic community even had some great inventions.  The people of Islam are really smart and great people.   
 People of Islam have an interesting and fulfilling writing history.  Shortly after they learned how to make paper, it influenced literature.  People of Islam started making money by storytelling and writing poetry.  A famous Islamic story is A Thousand and One Nights.  It is a collection of stories made overtime by the Islamic civilization.  A Majority of the stories written in the Islamic community take place in Muslim cities.  Other stories might take place in other famous areas in the world, like China, India, and Egypt.  Some stories are even beloved in Islam communities today.                                                                        
The government in Islam is similar to the government we have here in America.  This is an example of the government of Israel, that’s similar to other Islam governments.  First there’s the legislative authority and there’s 120 members and they are elected for a term of 4 years.  A nationwide election selects who’s going to be the leaders of the country.  The next authority is the executive authority which the Prime Ministers are a part of.   The last authority is the Judicial System and courts.   So the government in Israel is much like the government we have here.    
The food supply of Islam is mainly vegetarian foods, but there are tons of foods that you can’t eat.  Foods that are allowed to eat are called Haram.  Haram foods include grains, eggs, nuts, peanut butter, and tofu.  Only meat of a certain kind can be eaten, non carnivorous animals, and can only be eaten if it has been slaughtered in a way by the Islamic law.  Foods that are forbidden to eat are called Halah.  The people of Islam weren’t allowed to eat these foods because of religious reasons.  Halah foods are mainly carnivorous animals.  The food that is not allowed and not even questionable to eat is swine (pork).   Eating choices could be difficult and not easy to choose for the Islamic community. 
 The arts in the Islam community have been going strong for years and years.  The Islamic arts are based on religion like every other characteristic of the civilization of Islam.  They believe that god is the ultimate reality and only he can make something alive.  Therefore, no one draws pictures or paints any human figures.  There are two examples of Islam art, calligraphy and geometric floral design.  Geometric floral design is a never ending design and calligraphy is beautiful writing.  Calligraphy is also a form of writing to make poems and books.  So just look around the school, even in the cafeteria.  The never ending design you see was first thought of by the Islamic civilization.    
The technology had many influences in the Islamic community.  One of the studies Islamic people majored in was astronomy, the study of space.  The people of Islam used astronomy to study the objects of the universe.  It could also be used for finding the location of Makkah, a holy city where people of Islam go to stand equal before god every year in the twelfth month.  The next study is zoology, the study of animals.  Many people of Islam were interested in zoology.  Some even have found cures for animals.  Muslims established zoos where many animals were displayed, also known as a zoological garden.  Muslims established great uses of technology that people can use all around the world.               
The Islam religion is well put together.  There are five types of pillars in the Islamic religion.  Pillars are rules that every person of Islam must do every single day.  In no specific order, one is Salah, the importance of praying every day.  Another is Zakah, a religious tax that everyone must pay.  The next pillar, Sawn, is the act of not eating any food in the month of Ramada from sunrise to sunset.  Hajj is another pillar where people of Islam go to Makkah in the twelfth month and stand equal before god or Allah.  Finally, the last but most important pillar is Iman, the belief in God and Muhammad.  The Islam religion has plenty of rules and important priorities.                               
   There was not that much to the social structure of the Islamic civilization. There were three main social classes of ancient Islam.  The first one was Clergy and Nobles who led the civilization in religious beliefs. They constantly reminded everyone of their duties of following the five pillars, praying every day for example.  The next social class was the merchants and businessmen.  They took care of selling and promoting books when the literature age of the Islamic community came into publicity.  The last social class was the slaves and did many of the difficult jobs in the Islamic civilization, like take care of an owner’s yard. The social structure of the Islamic community is pretty simple.      
   Islam comes together to be a great civilization. To the beautiful geometric arts to their astronomy technology, it all fits together pretty well.  Their government is similar to ours, but is based on a well put together religion.  Their writing and literature are great examples of storytelling and poems.  Their food supply, even though it’s filled with forbidden foods, is interesting with lots of vegetarian foods.  So some people might think that people of Islamic people are bad, but they are really thoughtful and religious people.                                                                                                


1 comment:

  1. Dominique,

    I was prepared to give you an A, you have such good structure to your writing and your sentences flow so well. Then I got to social structure. With such a dedicated group of people, you can't tell me that it is that hard to find social structure. Who was the ruler? Was he equal to everyone else? What a bout the division between men and women? that is social structure too. Please find info on this characteristic before midnight tomorrow so I can finish grading.

    ReplyDelete