Lauren Kenst

Professor Dardery
Aspects of Muslim Culture Reflection

On the topic of Salat prayers, our presentation was not able to capture a complete image
of their importance in Islam. Being so brief, our group tried to focus mainly on the aspects of
prayers aligning with the passage of the sun, and the state of taqwa or God-consciousness. Salat
is the second pillar of Islam, meaning they are important. There are many other subtopics that
we could have gotten into such as how to pray, leaders of prayer, the ritual cleansing prior to
prayer, etc.

This topic, however, was very interesting to learn more about. Where I live, there are
several Muslim families in the population. I find that people are very discriminatory towards
them. There is seemingly no reason, other than ignorance, for this discrimination. To understand
the pillars of other religions is important because it helps one understand that stereotypes are not
always true or valid.

Through this topic, I have learned that Islam is not something to fear. They do not go off
to hide and do nothing in secret as some might think. There was a show I watched recently,
called Homeland, and it was about a POW who returns after several years in the Middle East and
he goes to pray in his garage. His family begins to believe that he is making bombs and plotting
terrorist attacks because they hear him speaking in Arabic and worshipping Allah. They think he
is working with the organization that held him hostage for all those years. Little do they know;
he is simply praying to the God that he came to know during the time he spent overseas
imprisoned. The character was ashamed to be truthful about his religion because he knew the
media would spin it and label him as a “bad guy”.

In school, I always wondered why Christian traditions sort of were catered to by

governing bodies, but never Jewish or Islamic traditions. I hope that one day it is acceptable for a
student of any faith to not feel like they must hide themselves in order to fit the model their
school district has in mind. When students wear items such as cross necklaces, no one bats an
eye, but if a female student were to wear a headscarf as an expression of faith, she would be
labelled as a terrorist and people would begin to whisper about her. If one were to pray during a
free moment, they might receive strange looks from others.

In essence, I strongly believe that there are many things that we should learn about each
other before we judge someone. Everyone does everything for a different reason, and for some
people the reason might be clear to others. For others, the reason may be hidden beneath the
surface. Understanding other religious traditions is so important. In Islam, keeping an ongoing
and open communication with God seems of utmost importance to many Muslim people. With
this topic, I would like to bring awareness to fellow classmates about the importance of respect
for traditions different than our own. Knowledge is power.