Mosque Visit and More

After another early breakfast, we had our first lecture of the day on Islam in the Modern World. I was pretty sad that we ran out of time just as we started talking about Osama bin Laden and the type of Islam he followed. After a short coffee break, we had a guest speaker come talk to us about Islams in Britain. He was Muslim, but was very friendly and interested in answering all type of questions, so at lunch we had a long discussion with him on all different subjects. I found it most interesting when we talked about gender inequality and the repression of Muslim women. The things we discussed became even more real to me when we visited a local mosque after lunch. The three women in our course all had to wear scarves to cover our hair. It felt really uncomfortable for me to be singled out in such a way. Of course I didn't mind wearing the scarf in order to respect their customs, but it still did not feel right to me. Dr. Marshall (the head lecturer for this course) warned Ellen, the other woman, and I that the man who guided our tour might not shake our hand because we are women and they do not believe in shaking the hands of women who are not related to them. This did not end up being an issue as the man who showed us around the mosque did not shake anyone's hand. The tour was pretty interesting since I had never been inside a mosque before. We had to take off our shoes to go into the mosque. We saw the rooms with the running water where all Muslims have to wash their legs up to their knee, their arms up to their elbow, and their faces three times in order to be clean enough to pray. There was an area in the main part curtained off for women to pray since they have to be separate from the men. Apparently when the mosque is completed then they will have their own room.

After our visit to the mosque, the group from WAC walked down High St. into a much more bustling part of Oxford to get some passport photos for our ids that will admit us to the Bodleian Library where we will be doing research next week. It was so neat to see all the old, intricate architecture right next to the new modern architecture. Words simply don't do it justice. While there, Ellen and I explored an awesome print shop that had lots of old maps and drawings. I found a great print of a George Stubb's painting (famous English painter who is famous for his horse paintings) but it was something like 300 pounds. Ellen bought a nice print of the Oxford skyline. We ran into Jim on the way back. He had gone to buy some books for his thesis at a theology bookstore. That made me feel a bit unproductive because my thesis work has not really been touched or thought about recently.

Church near where I am staying

It is much more crowded in this area than down where I am staying

I thought it was so funny that this bar is named Lan Kwai Fung because that is the name of the bar district in Hong Kong where all the foreigners go to party

Awesome print in the print shop

 

This evening I finally had a meal that filled me up - spaghetti, salad, and chocolate brownie cake thing with ice cream. First satisfying meal in days. After dinner, we had another lecture about Islamic views of Christianity. It was quite interesting and I may elaborate more on it in tomorrow's posting since it is so late now. I spent some time in the common room with everyone before I came back to my room to talk to Will on skype. It was nice to talk to someone from home who I can have a conversation with that is not intensely religious/philosophical/controversial. Tomorrow is the last day of the course. The days seem so long yet so short here.