Revelations about Islam

While I knew some about Islam before the trip, I have learned a great deal since being here. The cultural differences and similarities a very intriguing to encounter day-to-day. However, there are two main aspects that surprised me about Islam: gender and misconceptions. 

Gender
In terms of gender and Islam, they have a very complicated history. From our first discussion, we learned that Morocco follows the Sufism paradigm of Islam. Sufism is the mystical realm of Islam that is meant to bring beauty to the world. Personally, I was surprised at how many different context of Islam and how vastly different they all are. Sufism is so engrained in Moroccans’ version of Islam that it influences all aspects of their lives. Even within Sufism, there are a plethora of different ways in which they Koran can be interpreted. Today, we learned how men and women could interpret Islam differently; especially depending on if they take a leftist or traditional approach to Islam. For me, the most intriguing part was when our second lecturer said: “the future of Islam is a woman.” Around the world, women are becoming Imams and leading prayer; something not seen in Africa or the Middle East. I found it to be very enlightening to hear a man talk about how women have often been excluded from history and their point of views forgotten. Gender and Islam remain a complex dichotomy that will not be resolved anytime soon. I found the conversation about gender and Islam to be enlightening. 

Misconceptions 
The second topic that surprised me about Islam is all of the misconceptions that U.S. Americans have about Islam and Morocco. On the news, it seems as though Islamic countries are incredibly repressive when that is not always the case. Today when we talked about jihad, I was surprised at how different interpretations of the Koran can be so drastically different. Moreover, U.S. American media always paints Islam in such a negative way, that it is easy to forget about the main components of it: love and equality. Lastly, the abundant misconceptions about Sharia law. Whenever we hear about Sharia Law it is always in the context of Iran or Saudi Arabia and often when talking about something negative the government has done. In reality, sharia law has a very wide range of meanings and practices. Sharia law does not always have to be incredibly serious, but can be used as a political tool as in Morocco. Overall, the vast misconceptions found about Islam are often what fuels ignorance and hatred, but in reality, Islam has numerous interpretations and ways of practicing. 

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