As-salaam ‘alaykum one and all from your Chaplain (Carolyn Baugh)!   After having gotten to know some of you, and hearing what you’re thinking about and what you’re up to, I’ve set up the following “Chats” on the couches in the Religious Activities Common in the Basement of the Grad Student Center.   Please come, hang out, and bring your thoughts and questions and ideas.  [It is HIGHLY PROBABLE there will be food; I’ll keep you updated--- what, after all, is spiritual enlightenment without pizza?]

Our major themes will be PILLARS and Common Ground.  There will also be a couple programs for health and well-being, so please scan the following schedule!  And come on, what could you possibly have going on Wednesday nights that you can’t come hang with your peeps?  Get out your little iCalendars and your pretty pink planners RIGHT NOW and SAVE THESE DATES.

Pillars:

How often have we defined Islam as being the Pillars we practice?  But what is their importance?  Who benefits?  By practicing the Five Pillars, what do we gain?  These chats are aimed at exploring the spirituality behind what we do, and in sha Allah the goal of the discussions is to help us find meaning in what sometimes becomes routine.

There will be TWO Pillars chats this semester and three more next semester.  The speakers thus far will be me, Adnan, Dr. Sadik Kassim, and Marc Manley.

Common Ground:

Muslims these days are complaining about misperceptions and intolerance from other religious groups.  How much do WE really understand about non-Muslims?  Further, when we argue for “religious tolerance,” can we really claim to be accepting of other groups within Islam itself?   These programs are NOT YOUR AVERAGE INTERFAITH meetings.  We will be exploring substantive areas of similarity (and difference) with Christians, Jews, Twelver Shiites and Ismaili Shiites.  The goals are to come away with deeper understanding that will generate real, workable mutual cooperation, as well as to generate discussion for ourselves of the concepts mentioned.  (For example, Jews practice tsadaka which is the equivalent of sadaqa in Islam.  What does sadaqa mean to us?)

Our speakers will be, Steve Kocher from the Chaplain’s office, Rabbi Joel Nickerson, Dr. Sadik Kassim, and a member of the Ismaili Shiite community.  Only Steve will be speaking this semester, and the other discussions will take place next semester.

Wednesday 10/13:  PRAYER.  Discussion leader:  YOURS TRULY!!

Why do we pray five times a day?  What did the Prophet, pbuh, say about the spiritual benefits of prayer?   The Prophet LOVED prayer so much-- why don’t we LOVE praying??  If we pray five times a day, we are saying the Fatiha 17 TIMES DAILY!!  What are we saying and WHY?  I will talk about the explanation (tafsīr) of the Fatiha and about some ways to slow prayer down and increase its meaning in our lives.

Wednesday 10/27: Cancelled.

Wednesday 11/3:  SELF DEFENSE (6PM, not 6.15PM)! For Sisters only, we’ll have the Penn Public Safety representatives coming to teach us how to be SAFE—both strategies for avoiding attacks and strategies for kicking an attacker’s butt.  Do not miss it!  We’ll let you know when and where!

Wednesday, 11/10:  CHRISTIANITY.  Discussion leader:  Steve Kocher.  This discussion will touch on Christian concepts of mercy/compassion, forgiveness, charity and righteousness.  Please bring your questions regarding “everything you wanted to know about Christianity but were afraid to ask” to this relaxed atmosphere.  For every point he plans to talk about, we’ll have a handout explaining this idea in Islam that should lead to fruitful inter-Muslim discussions.

Wednesday, 12/1:  STRESS MANAGEMENT!!!!  Just in time for FINALS, we’ll have two representatives from CAPS coming to share strategies about how to cope with academic stress.  DO NOT BE SNOOTY.  You too could benefit from a chill pill administered by people who have long experience dealing with stress and its by-products.  We will also discuss some MUSLIM STRESS-RELIEF strategies.