Islam Geography

Islamic geography was driven by a number of factors: the Islamic Golden Age, Islamic astronomy and mathematics.
The Islamic empire began to expand beyond the Arabian Peninsula after the death of the prophet and founder of Islam, Mohammed. In the eighth century, all of northern Africa, the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), India and Indonesia became Islamic lands.






Author: Juanita Jaramillo
Co-Editor: Sara Aguirre

Islam Core Ideas

*Islam means "worship to Allah", and Allah is the only God.

* It teaches that people are here on earth just for one reason, only to obey His command and worship Him.

*It also says that Allah sent a book/scripture called Koran, where the laws to follow are written on it, and other way this book is also used by the Muslims, is to make life safer and better.

*If they act as good as the Koran says, the result will be shown in the other life, meaning that Muslims believe in a life after death, where their reward will be depending of their behavior in this world; if they follow the laws as the Koran says the next life will be great, if not it will be sad.

*The next life also depends on the worship, in how Muslims worship Allah. Islam describes the other life as the one of reward and no work.

*Islam is an equal religion , this means that Allah see us with the same eyes and no one is better than any other, no race or color is discriminated; the only thing that differences one from the others is your worship, how you pray to Allah and obey him.

*As many religions this one has his messenger, for example catholic religion with Jesus, but in this case the messenger is called Muhammad, whom spread the religion and taught about it.

*Basically Islam consists in:

- believing in Allah, worship him and testify that He is the only one.
- believing in Muhammad (his messenger)
- believing in the Koran (the book with the laws)
- believing in the resurrection after death
- To pray every day
- to pay a obligatory charity for poor and sick people that need help , called Zakat.
- To pilgrimage in Mecca (the most important temple) once in your life.



Author: Sara Aguirre
Co-Editors: Maria Andrea and Melissa Lopez

Buddhism

If you want to know something about Buddhism the first thing you have to do is stop seeing it as a religion, is more of a philosophy or a way of life. The name Buddhism came from the word Budhi which means to be awaken, and it has its origins about 2500 years ago when Buddha (Siddhartha Gotama) was awaken himself, then he spread his believes and teachings.

Buddhism shows us the real meaning of life, the real happiness. It teaches us how material things are nor is what is important in life, the really important thing peace and being happy, truly happy; also it teaches us how to be wiser and have a bigger mind, not in size or intelligence but in being more open to understand other people’s life and believes.

Buddhism is based on the four noble truths. The first one consists in knowing that we are suffering and the material world is not helping us, realizing that by living upon material things we are not doing any good, in other words being aware of the Dukkha . The second truth talks about wanting to change that, the next step is the will to stop our suffering and simply want to be a better human being. The third one is about knowing that it all can be ended if we want to and the fourth noble truth is take the path to end the suffering, try to reach the nirvana, which is the freedom of the Dukkha.

The path is all about meditating and following the eightfold path, being one with your true self. The eightfold path consists in eight points that should be important in everybody’s life. The right view, the right intention, the right speech, the right discipline, the right livelihood, the right effort, right mindfulness and finally the right concentration.

Also, Buddhist have strong believes in Karma, which is a believe in that every action has a reaction. In other words, if you do good in this world you’ll get good things in return, in contrast if you do nothing but bad, that’s all you would be getting, bad things in return.

As I said before, more than a religion Buddhism is a philosophy, with believes dos and don’ts. The special things about Buddhism is that there is not an specific way of practicing it, someone teaches you all about it, the fourth noble truths, the eightfold path and other aspect of it and you take all of it and apply it in your own way, you take the path, however the path is not all ready written, you are the one who decide where to go, when to start and how to do it; that’s why Buddhism is very practiced all around the world and in fact, in changes from country to country.



By: Santiago Gil
Co-edited by: Maria Jose Lopez

Hinduism

*This religion is one of the major religions; the etymology of the name comes from the Indus River where Hinduism Came. It was originated between 2000 and 1500 BC.


* One of the interesting facts that are known about the religion is that when the Aryans absorbed the rituals of the natives, they created the Hinduism.

* The Information about the Hinduism is very few; there’s not a specific date, a single founder, theological system, holly text or a prophet. Most of religions have a prophet or an important person that create or made the expansion of the religion; but the Hinduism Does not. The authors of the sacred texts remain unknown in the actuality.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hinduism.htm.



By: Laura Guzman

Buddhism: religion or worldwide lifestyle?

It is really common to confuse any lifestyle, philosophy or belief that includes Supreme Being with a religion. Buddhism in particularly has this problem, given that there is a misunderstanding between the meaning of it in western civilizations and in eastern civilizations. Sadly, we have not been able to understand that a lifestyle with spiritual beliefs does not necessarily have to be a religion. Once this is clear, we can now suggest that, because of the flexibility Buddhism includes, it is not a religion itself, as much as a lifestyle. In the place where Buddhism was born and its surroundings it is known Buddhism as a lifestyle, which anyone can follow; Buddhism does not impose a god or a goal, it just suggest and shows a variety of steps and instructions a person should follow in order to reach happiness in life and tranquility. On western civilizations it is sadly and wrongly considered a religion which follows a god called Buddha, and any follower must leave all its material possessions.

The history of western world proposes a theory of this behavior. Through all western history, kingdoms and people have been submitted to different religious dictatorships; reason why we always need to classify or catalogue everything around us, particularly what includes our faith. According to this, it is acceptable to declare that, is not that Buddhism is one religion among all the ones that exist, but it is considered like that for us. It is our historical and social trauma which does not let us understand anything beyond the concept of religion; and at the same time, catalogue everything spiritual under this category.

On modern societies, religion is a tabu topic, given the sensitivity of it in society. But, young generations have established a mark between the traditional behavior related to religion, and a new way to see, understand and apply them. A really discussed issue about religion is their strictness in what it is accepted or rejected within the same. Most religions set up a number of rules anyone must follow in order to reach a reward after this life. This matter has made young people skeptic about this topic because it is not enjoyable to follow a lot of rules. Therefore, youngsters have looked up for ways to substitute that spiritual need with beliefs that does not punish them or threat them with hell after this life; reason why Buddhism has been well accepted in our societies.

To conclude, we can say that Buddhism could be the routine someday we reach or set as goal in our societies or families. It does not need to believe in Buddha, it does not require reading a bible, it just demands a deep love for life, and the common idea of reaching happiness. All of this makes Buddhism a really flexible lifestyle which anyone could enjoy it, and one of the reasons why Buddhism has not extinct, instead of it, it keeps growing and adapting everyday to different lifestyles.

Why and where did Buddhism started?

This religion (not everybody thinks of it as a religion, but a lifestyle), started in the fifth century before Christ in Northern Ancient India. It is based on the teachings of Buddha Siddhartha Gautama (better known as Buddha).

It currently has about 376 million of followers and growing 8it is not an accurate number, it is an estimate) ; it is categorized as one of the oldest religions; because it has never ended since it was created.

It started when ancient India was invaded by the Aryans, who divided them into castes (social classes); first and most important was the priests; then landowners, warriors and rulers; after them the merchants, artisans and farmers, and lastly, there are the outcastes or the “untouchable” (those who were mainly slaves or people who nobody wanted). So Buddha said castes should not exist, because all humanity was equal, all with the same rules.

With this he got too many followers, mainly monks, who spread all his thoughts all around the continent and on all around the world. They maintained an oral tradition over 200 years. But then one of the monks went to king Ashoka’s empire, where the monk had a long conversation with the king. The king decided to devote himself into peace, and ordered his slaves to bring big rocks and write what Buddha had said. And that was the first time in many years that Buddhism had a writing evidence of it’s thoughts.




By: Natalia Hurtado

Edited By: Maria Jose Lopez

Wicca History

It is uncertain when does the practice of Wicca paganism religion started. But it started to come to light thanks to Gerald Gardner that made some studies about the covens where the practice was set and the in 1954 he published the book “Witchcraft today” where he explained what was Wicca about and what rules were involved in witchcrafts. Gardner affirms that he found that this religion was created by witches in New Forest and that between the 1920’s and the 1930’s it started to spread. This religion is practiced by spells and rituals. After Gardner, other occultists started to study this religion and to create new rituals. This religion is practiced with magic and it is not used to harm people.




By: Paola Iza Uribe

Edited by: Alejandra and Margarita Zuluaga