Charter Oak State College Middle Eastern Folktales Discussion
AssignmentsReadBefore Islam, Middle-Eastern folktales“Aladdin” adapted the Blue Fairy Book (http://www.storynory.com/2006/11/19/aladdins-lamp/)Text and audio available at this site“The Princess Farmer” –a Hindu story ()“The Iraqi Cinderella” (http://www.365cinderellas.com/search/label/Iraq)The basic, authentic stories of Islam: The Muhammad story The Muhammad story - Alternative Formats , located in Course Materials, left column.The Quran: someone said that reading sacred text is like learning a new language, so please be open-minded.There is an audio version and a text version on this site (http://clearquran.com/) The Qu’ran is not arranged in chronological order. The opening chapter captures the tone of the book. Remember, this is an introduction, not a thorough education, to the Islamic faith. Read:Chapter 1, IntroductionChapter 4, WomenChapter 12, JosephChapter 14, AbrahamChapter 19, MaryChapter 71, NoahWhen a young person wants to be expert in the knowledge of this holy book, he (usually a boy) memorizes it and recites in a way that sounds like singing:()Two informational books; authors and/or books recognized by the Middle East Book Awards Rukhsana Khan, The Big Red Lollipop ()David Macaulay, Mosque. Kindle version available.Finally, a less serious Islamic story, “Dad’s Brownies” (https://wisdomshare.com/stories/dads-special-brownies/)QuestionsWhat have you learned about Muhammad, peace be unto him, and his life? What surprises you about his personal story?Are there parallels to other stories we’ve read?What did you learn from the Quran readings about the beliefs and practices of Islam?Khan’s book is written for an audience of outsiders, conveying both literature and information. She is also talking about the immigration experience, from her own experience and from other points of view as well, especially her mother’s. What should college-age readers learn from this book?Mosque has a lot of information in it, both about Islam and about architecture.What is Macaulay’s point about architecture? What is he trying to convey about Islam?What are the cultural markers that make the Iraqi Cinderella story a middle-eastern one? If Cinderella became a Muslim, what changes would you expect the author to make in order to accommodate the faith practices?How do we show the cultural values of Islam to our readers? What should we emphasize? What should be the Muslim values we emphasize for children.Remember, this is a world-wide religion with many different approaches to its practice.ResearchEvaluate these websites for inclusion in our textbook:Boom in Arabic Literature for Children (http://www.middleeasteye.net/in-depth/features/renaissance-childrens-literature-2112890178)Bilal’s Bed-time Stories (http://www.al-islam.org/bilal-s-bedtime-stories-a-h-sheriff-a-s-alloo)How Muslims, Often Misunderstood, Are Thriving in America (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/05/being-muslim-in-america/) (This article is posted for you in announcements) Hansen, Liane. “Macaulay Returns to Sacred Space with 'Mosque'.” NPR, NPR, 9 Nov. 2003, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1497354.Middle East Book Awards http://guides.library.unlv.edu/c.php?g=403811&p=45...Extra for ExpertsAnother Nobel Prize winner, this time a Muslim teen, this time the Peace Prize.Malala’s UN speech ()There are several books about her, written for children, written/ghost-written by herself. There is even a movie. Choose one and review it for the class. To get you started:I Am Malala. With Christine Lamb. Boston: Little, Brown and Hachette, 2013Karen Leggett Abouraya, Malala Yousafzai: Warrior with Words. Illus. L.C. Wheatley Great Neck, NY: StarWalk Kids Media, 2014Dinah Brown, Who Is Malala Yousafzai? (Who Was...? series). Illus. Andrew Thomson. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 2014Rebecca Langston-George. For the Right to Learn (Encounter: Narrative Nonfiction Picture Books). Illus Janna Bock. Mankato, MN: Capstone Young Readers, 2015Davis Guggenheim. He Named Me Malala [movie]. Twentieth Century Fox, 2015—available on youtube.Lesson 11 LectureFor some students, this lesson is distasteful even before you get started. Please try to be open-minded; few Muslims are terrorists, just as Christians and Jews have varying practices and beliefs among their various denominations. Muslims are not required to hate Americans, Jews, or Christians. The more you know, the more you can decide for yourself. And as Joe Hayes said, “Enemies are people whose stories we don’t know.”Arab influence on the worldYou probably write in Arabic all the time—our numbering system comes from Arabic, not Greek or Roman—adding and subtracting in Roman Numerals is pretty difficult, right? All those XLCMIII letters. Here’s an interesting presentation about the everyday items we use that originated in the Middle East:8 Great Modern Innovations we Can Thank Muslims For (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/06/8-inventions-we-can-thank_n_6424836.html)No one book can convey the total experience of a region or a faith, and fiction about Islamic topics has been sparse and unavailable for this course. This is a lesson of shorter sources, concentrated in the Middle East, so that you have the flavor and experience of a dominant part of the world from authentic points of view.Remember, we started the course with literature from the Middle East with the Bible. There are other traditions besides the Judeo-Christian cultures and for this course, knowing about Islam, some parts of its culture, and the highlights of the faith and practice are important, especially since Islam is the third largest religion in the world.Informational BooksBy now, you have probably figured out that you can learn a lot by reading a book for children. The purpose of informational books is to teach—to impart information, rather than to entertain or to teach a lesson. Unlike a textbook, an informational book usually goes into depth on a single topic.Macaulay’s Mosque will teach you about the architecture of the building in a way that incorporates fiction about the Middle East as well as a sense of place in the Middle Ages. The book is part of a series on architecture that he has written for children, starting with Cathedral (1973) . He is a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design with a flair for writing about complex topics for children. He encouraged a couple of other professors, Chris van Allsburg and David Weisner, to write for children as well—you might recognize the precision with which each of these Caldecott winners draws a building. Before you beginSurah 112:In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful.1. Say, "He is God, the One.2. God, the Absolute.3. He begets not, nor was He begotten.4. And there is nothing comparable to Him." This is the first verse that most children and most converts learn from the Quran. So now you can say you’ve at least begun the reading.Timeline 1445 BCE The Exodus from the Bible is said to have occurred 600-400 BCE The Book of Exodus is written down, edited, and finalized 35 ACE Life of Jesus 150 ACE The books to be included in the Christian Bible are agreed upon 570 The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is born 609 Beginning of the recording of the Quran As you can see, there is a whole lot of history going on in the Middle East before the events of this lesson. And not everyone in the region was a pagan, a Christian, or a Jew before 609—so there are some folk stories set in the period before Islam in the assignment. You’ll be able to see the kind of ornate, tricky world that the Prophet found himself in—many faith traditions, many practices and gods and goddesses, and lots of different beliefs about the relations of men and women.
