An Overview of Islam: The World's Second Largest Monotheistic Religion

This course will be an overview and general introduction to the religion of Islam. In the course the learners will discover the following:

1) What Islam means.
2) When and how the religion began
3) The Five Pillars of Islam and the other core beliefs that make it a unique monotheistic religion.
4) How the sects, or different type of belief in Islam began.
5) The major holidays of Islam and how they are observed.
6) The part Muslims play in the world today.

While the class does address a specific religion it is taught from a wholly secular viewpoint. I am a historian and social scientist. the focus of the information on Islam is on its historical origins and practices, and the impact these have had through history, and continue to have today.

My class will include a little lecture, possibly a short instructional video, and then a lot of discussion involving all the students. The class information will be delivered through Zoom with links to resources provided for the learners. 

I am a professional school teacher with many years of experience in middle school and college level teaching. 

My teaching style is will incorporate elements of neuroscience to reinforce memory, and use a lot of humor, and examples, with plenty of time for the learners to teach each other, teach me, and ask questions. If you can teach an idea that indicates you actually know it. We will use one or more games to let the learners test their knowledge with no penalty for wrong answers, just feedback and corrections.

This class will be addressing Islam from an anthropological and historical secular perspective.

There is no prior knowledge requirement for this course.