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Monday, January 4, 2010

Qatar Pre-trip post #1

Only a few days until I leave, so I thought I would get started in writing a bit here. I will be doing my very best to blog my experiences while I'm on the trail, and I hope I manage to be consistent. I'm not exactly sure what my schedule will be until I arrive, but I'm counting on regular internet access at least for the first week while we're in a hotel stay and on campus.

As part of the pre-trip sequence of activities, all of us were asked to read through a collection of literature to get us acquainted with the environment and culture we will be a part of for the next several weeks. I chose the book by John Esposito entitled "What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam". I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in familiarizing yourself with the many questions surrounding the Islamic faith. It does a masterful job of writing up 'anticipating' answers on a variety of religious and cultural questions.

Several answers I found to be of note:

1. How Mary and Jesus are perceived
2. What are the main differences between Sunni and Shii Muslims
3. Tolerance of other religions
4. Similarities of Islam and Christianity and Judaism
5. Cultural customs (the separation of men and women)

Please check it out if you can!

More to come...

2 comments:

  1. Good luck on the trip. I look forward to hearing about and seeing the experience through your eyes.

    ReplyDelete