Cultural Reporter Project

            The definition of culture I will be using for my project is one presented by Wen Shu Lee which is, shared languages beliefs and values. While I understand her issue with this definition I believe it will work best for the project. The culture group I will be looking at is the Muslim community in Lincoln Nebraska. The religion of Islam fits well within this definition of culture because Islam does more than just give spiritual guidance but also guidance on how one should live their life day to day and how one should interact with others. This encompasses the beliefs and values but it will also include a shared language. This is because the Koran according to some should be read spoken in Arabic.

Meca

            In my research I hope to speak to as many sects of Islam as possible but obviously I will focus my research on the two major sects, Sunni and Shia. In order to do this I will be contacting some local Islamic organizations and mosques in Lincoln.

            Some of the major questions I will be looking into are why they believe what they believe, any actions they have done if any to combat the idea that “all Muslims are extremist”, where they see the future of their religion going among other. I plan to ask these questions to multiple people in order to see the difference or similarities in their answers.

            Two major pieces of background that some may not know that is important to Islam is that Muhammad is not generally regarded as a divine prophet such as Jesus but a man who heard the voice of God. A second major point is the split between Sunni and Shia is based around who was supposed to succeed Muhammad after his death. The Sunni’s believe that that Abu Bakr, the father of Muhammad's wife was suppose to succeed him while the Shia’s believe that his cousin and son in law Ali was suppose to.

            In my research I hope to come to a better understanding of Islam, its practices, history, and impact it has had throughout the years.