kayleigh
Junior Member
I'm doing an essay exam for my anthropology if Islamic societies and cultures, and I was hoping I could pick your brains about a few things. It's due tomorrow, and I've got it mostly done, but I wanted some more ideas/to see if what I've written so far is correct.
1. Presentism is, if I understand it correctly, when you use your own modern day values and understanding of things and project them into the past to evaluate and judge things. I have to write on presentism when it comes to understanding the terms Muslim, shirk, mu'minun, and mushrikun. But I need another example. Would the way people view polygyny and Muhammad's marriage to Aisha presentism as well?
2. How did the ulema develop during Umar's reign? Meaning, what political events or what social environment was there at the time that would have pushed the ulema to develop? Is it because Umar was big on learning and because people needed a way to understand and learn Islam once Muhammad had died? Secondly, how did one become an alim at that time?
3. How are monotheisms different? I know this is really vague, but that's all I've been given. If it helps, the rest of the questions before and after this deal with polytheism, paganism, and monotheism, and how they relate to tolerance and a pragmatic world view.
Any input would help. I'm familiar with basic Islamic theology and very history, so that isn't really what I need. It's anthropology, not theology. This professor is really intimidating and I'm terrified or writing something stupid in my paper.
Thanks in advance.
1. Presentism is, if I understand it correctly, when you use your own modern day values and understanding of things and project them into the past to evaluate and judge things. I have to write on presentism when it comes to understanding the terms Muslim, shirk, mu'minun, and mushrikun. But I need another example. Would the way people view polygyny and Muhammad's marriage to Aisha presentism as well?
2. How did the ulema develop during Umar's reign? Meaning, what political events or what social environment was there at the time that would have pushed the ulema to develop? Is it because Umar was big on learning and because people needed a way to understand and learn Islam once Muhammad had died? Secondly, how did one become an alim at that time?
3. How are monotheisms different? I know this is really vague, but that's all I've been given. If it helps, the rest of the questions before and after this deal with polytheism, paganism, and monotheism, and how they relate to tolerance and a pragmatic world view.
Any input would help. I'm familiar with basic Islamic theology and very history, so that isn't really what I need. It's anthropology, not theology. This professor is really intimidating and I'm terrified or writing something stupid in my paper.
Thanks in advance.