This discussion week is open for two weeks because of reading week. It’s only expected that you do one week’s work of writing, as usual. Because we all have different schedules, feel free to take your time off whenever is most convenient for you. When you’re ready, we’ll continue exploring the historical and religious connections between Judaism and Islam (and Christianity, as we’ll see). In the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, Abraham and Moses are mentioned over two hundred times and Jesus is referred to nearly as much. Since the story of Hagar and Ishmael (p. 108), the stories and poetry of early Islam have frequently hearkened back to the feelings of being strangers in a strange land. “Be in this world as though you were a stranger or a traveler,” it is written (p. 108). This feeling like we’re not fully at home is a common feature of Judaism and Islam, and one of the reasons Muslims have long held a special place for the homeless and the dis-empowered. Much of what we now consider an unreachable ideal in Canadian hospitals (that people who don’t think or look like we do should still have access to free health care and be taken “care” of in body and spirit) was common practice in Muslim countries throughout the Middle Ages (p. 111). Describe a time when you felt like a stranger. How did it color your thoughts and your actions? How does the one God (Allah, in Arabic) come to the aid of strangers in the stories of Judaism and Islam and make people feel more at home? What other values get passed on through these stories? In the Middle Ages, Sufi poets (pp. 112-113) described the “groaning,” “yearning,” and “deep lament,” in the human appeal to the one God. Let’s dig into the psychology and art of such yearning. Listen to the singing of 20th century Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum. How would you describe these expressions of longing? Be as specific as possible. What is one longing for in such appeals to each other, or to Allah? What different types of longing do you see, hear, and feel in these songs and stories? In which ways are such yearnings universal? Finally, watch the recent episode of The 99, based on the comic book series by psychologist Naif Al-Matawa (p. 112). In this episode, the Muslim girl Sharifa uses her power to be “a living library with access to all the accumulated knowledge of mankind” (3:40). As the leader of the 99 says, “Knowledge is power and as history has proven, it is not always strength that prevails (4:14).” What does this mean? What kind of knowledge is being discussed? At the end of the video, the leader says, “It’s the difference between knowledge and wisdom.” (22.33). What’s the difference? What roles do knowledge and/or wisdom play in the Muslim stories of the one God?