The END:

So today was our last day of class in SSK1212.. If I have to write a summary of this semester, I would say that this SSK was harder then the previous one. We had complicated things to do, since MLA is very complex and every punctuation counts.. Looking for information for my research felt like a duty not a pleasure.. I liked reading the articles on the internet. EBSCO was very useful, and other religious websites too. The best part of this project was making the powerpoint, even though the presentation didn't go so well! However, the worst thing was the referencing, even though this class is all about referencing!! I didn't know what I was expected to do in the blog, but I did what I think was right..

I strongly believe that the Israeli-Palestinian war can end if both sides took the time to look at their similarities, and consider themselves as brothers, and put the fear that accumulated through the years aside, and make a step for making peace for our present world, and for the coming generations. It is amazing how these two religions are similar, but people tend to care about the differences and focus only on that, which is the opposite thing to do if you really want peace!

PEACE!

Holy Scriptures..

Muslim Alphabet:

Jewish Alphabet:

Jewish Quotes:

• Then you will begin to seek God your Lord, and if you pursue Him with all your heart and soul, you will eventually find Him. (Deuteronomy, 4:29)
• And you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5)
• Remain in awe of God, serve Him, cling to Him. (Deuteronomy, 10:20)
• And the Lord your God will give to you and to your seed a circumcision of the heart, so that, loving him with all your heart and all your soul, you may have life.(Deuteronomy, 30:16)
• Listen Israel, God is our Lord, God is One. (Deuteronomy, 6:4)
• That you will know that God is the Supreme Being and there is none besides Him.(Deuteronomy 4:35)
• God your Lord is the God of gods and the Master of masters. (Deuteronomy, 10:17)
• But now see – it is I! I am the only One! There are no (other) gods with me!(Deuteronomy 32:39)
• God said to Abram … “I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you great. You shall become a blessing. I will bless those who bless you I will curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”(Genesis, 12:2-3)
• God said to Jacob … All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. I am with you. I will protect you wherever you go and bring you back to this soil. I will not turn aside from you until I have fully kept this promise to you. (Genesis, 28:14)
• I am the Lord your God who have separated you from all other nations. (Leviticus, 20:24)

Islam Quotes:

• He is the One GOD; the Creator, the Initiator, the Designer. To Him belong the most beautiful names. Glorifying Him is everything in the heavens and the earth. He is the Almighty, Most Wise. [59:24]Those who believed and led a righteous life are the best creatures. [98:7]
• Their reward at their Lord is the gardens of Eden with flowing streams, wherein they abide forever. GOD is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him. Such is the reward for those who reverence their Lord. [98:8]
• O children of Adam, we have provided you with garments to cover your bodies, as well as for luxury. But the best garment is the garment of righteousness. These are some of GOD's signs, that they may take heed. [7:26]
• Your Lord has commanded that you worship none but Him, and be kind to parents. If either or both of them reach old age with you, do not rebuke them, but speak to them in terms of honor and kindness. Treat them with humility, and say, 'My Lord! Have mercy on them, for they did care for me when I was little'. [17:23-4].
• Fight in the cause of God against those who fight you, but do not transgress limits. God does not love transgressors. [2:190].
• If they seek peace, then seek you peace. And trust in God for He is the One that heareth and knoweth all things. [8:61]
• O mankind! We created you from a single soul, male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may come to know one another. Truly, the most honored of you in Gods sight is the greatest of you in piety. God is All-Knowing, All-Aware. [49:13]
• "There shall be no compulsion in religion: the right way is now distinct from the wrong way. Anyone who denounces the devil and believes in GOD has grasped the strongest bond; one that never breaks. GOD is Hearer, Omniscient.". [2:256]
• Hold to forgiveness, command what is right; but turn away from the ignorant." [7:199]
• "Have patience with what they say, and leaves them with noble (dignity)." [73:10]
• "And the servants of Allah . . . are those who walked on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say 'Peace'" [25:63]
• "Allah is with those who restrain themselves." [16: 128]
• "And if you punished, let your punishment be proportionate to the wrong that has been done to you; but if you show patience, that is indeed the best course. [16:126]

MLA

I personally believe that learning how to write an MLA reference is not useful, since nowadays there is the internet that can make it for you, and there are laptops that offer this option. For me personally, the MLA homework only made my grades drop! Of course I can't only talk about it's negative side. I never understood how the MLA format really worked, I thought that it was extremely hard ( which is the case) but now I know how it works, and how a comma or a period counts enormously when writing a reference. However, the only course I write essays in is expecting students to write their references in APA format. I haven't used MLA this semester only for SSK, but I know that the more courses I take, the more essays I'm going to write, and more MLA referencing I will be doing, so learning how to write MLA is always beneficial!

The Essay:

Writing the essay wasn't that difficult. The research I made for my powerpoint helped me organize the essay and made it possible for me to write more than six pages. I started doing an outline then I started doing the essay. Finally, I haven't used the research books that I got from the library, but I got good information from the internet. I don't know if my essay is good, I tried to make it as complete as possible by talking about almost every aspect of Islam and Judaism. It is not easy to write about religion especially when you need to write six pages! I almost finished m essay, I still need to write about Judaism as a religion, and then talk about the differences between Islam and Judaism, and eventually a conclusion..

The Presentation:

On the day of the presentation, we had some technical problems, but it didn't make us avoid presenting! I had to start the presentation, and I realized that I had so many information to present in a very short amount of time!! I was very anxious to be standing at the front of the class and presenting my powerpoint. I think that I ran out of time because my slides were too long, eventhough I cut almost half of the original information I wanted to put on there! In general, the presentation went well, we were all relevant with our topics, except for the Christian architecture I think.. I believe that even though Amal had to talk about the Ottoman Empire and its architecture, she knew how to make it relevant to Islam and Judaism.. On the overall I think that we could've done better, but it wasn't that bad after all!!

Power Point Presentation:

The powerpoint presentation was helpful since it gave me the opportunity to gather most of my information in it, and make ideas clear. My powerpoint was way too long when I finished it, I did more than 15 slides in total! Before the presentation, my team and I met at the library and checked if we all didn't have the same information, and changed the backgrounds to make it somehow the same. I think that the best part of all this project was to make a powerpoint eventhough we had to limit ourselves with the information..

Internet Research:

The internet searching was more fun than the library "searching". I am so thankful that the internet exists! I found so many interesting things on the internet, it's amazing! What I enjoyed the most is reading articles on websites that were for Palestine and Israel to reconcile. Also, the research that I made about Islam and Judaism was very instructive since the information was brief but important. There are many things that I learned about Islam and Judaism. Surfing on the internet was more beneficial than going to the library for my part..

Library:

I went to the library several times to work on my research. I did not have a hard time finding the necessary books since we had a workshop that showed us and guided us through the library. I never thought that the library was so organized. I wonder how much time did it take them to put all the books in their right places and according to each different topic! Anyways, I was saying that I got many books from the library such as the "Israel and Ishmael" book, the "Islamic Traditions", the "Jewish Traditions", and I skimmed through books that were exposed in the library that were about Jewish Moroccan culture. I honestly did not have the time to read all of the books, but I got a general idea on each one of them..

Jews in Morocco:

When tourist come to Morocco, they usually don't know that there is also a Jewish "Morocco". Jews had an important role in Moroccan society. Jews and Arabs lived a harmonious existence until the middle of the 20th century. The Kings of Morocco protected the Jews from harm and helped some of them increase their wealth that helped the kingdom for many years. Contrarily to 1950 where there were 300,000 Jews living in Morocco, today, no more than 5000 Jews remain living in the country. Most fled to Israel, Canada, the United States and France. The Jewish culture still remains in Morocco. Mimouna is celebrated by Moroccan Jews on the night following the last day of Passover. Mimouna started in Morocco, but it is now practiced in Israel, France and Canada..

The Jewish 10 Commandments:

The Ten Commandments:

• You shall not worship any other god but YHWH.
• You shall not make a graven image.
• You shall not take the name of YHWH in vain.
• You shall not break the Sabbath.
• You shall not dishonor your parents.
• You shall not murder.
• You shall not commit adultery
• You shall not steal.
• You shall not commit perjury.
• You shall not covet.

The Five Pillars of Islam:

The Five Pillars of Islam:

• Faith or belief in the Oneness of God and the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad
• Establishment of the daily prayers
• Concern for and almsgiving to the needy
• Self-purification through fasting
• The pilgrimage to Mecca for those who are able physically and financially.

Internet Research:

Muslims and Jews have a lot in common. I made some research on the internet and I found very interesting facts. First of all, Muslims and Jews worship the same God, they are both descendents of Abraham. In both religions, the males are circumcised. Muslims and Jews come from the same Semetic origins and Jerusalem (El Quods) is the Holy City. The two religions share many advances in medicine, technology, philosophy, law, literature, and poetry. On both sides, there are the ones that want to make peace, and others that are extremists and narrow minded.
Like I said earlier, Abraham is the originator of both religions. The Temple Mount is where Abraham brought his son for sacrifice. Adam was buried in this temple, Solomon built his temple on the same rock, Jesus prayed there, and finally Mohammed the Prophet ascended there, aslo. Contrarily to Christianity, Islam and Judaism are similar in their fundamental religious outlook, structure, and practice.
The Qur'an and the Torah both share the idea of a revealed scripture. Enven though they don't have the same exact text, and same interpretations, the two Holy Books share alot of narrative as well as injunctions. They both share fundamental religious concepts such as the belief of the Day of Judgement, the after life, and of course Heaven and Hell. In the Qur'an the Jews are mentioned as the "People of the Book".


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"ISRAEL and ISHMAEL'': Studies in Muslim-Jewish Relations Editor: Tudor Parfitt

The book “Israel and Ishmael: Studies in Muslim-Jewish Relations'', edited by Tudor Parfitt, is a collection of essays written and published mostly by universities (Hebrew University, University of Haifa, University of Tel Aviv etc..). The main goal of this book is the modern period, and the Jewish relationship with its Arab neighbors in Lebanon, the Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco, and Israel/ Palestine are covered in this collection of essays.