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IMPRINT,
[ Translation of the meaning verse 9: 128 ] The
comprehensive
by Muhammad
FORUM
Friday, March 3, 1995
of the Qur’anic
religion
Elrabaa
The following is a sermon delivered by prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to about 124,000 muslims during his last pilgrimage to Mecca. He died the following year, and this sermon became one of his most famous sermons. 1 hope the readers will see why. “0 People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether, after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and TAKE THESE WORDS TO THOSE WHO COULD NOT BE PRESENT HERE TODAY. “0 People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners, Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your LORD, and that He will indeed reckon your deeds. Allah has forbidden you to lake usury (interest), therefore all interest obligations shall henceforth be waived, “Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so
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beware of following him in small things. “0 PeoplL: it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, BUT THEY ALSO HAVE RIGHTS OVERYOU. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and closed in KINDNESS. DO TRE,4T YOUR WOMEN WELL AND BE KIND TO THEM for they are your PARTNERS and committed HELPERS. And it is your right that they do not make friends with anyone of whom you do not approve, as well as never to commit adultery. L‘O People, listen to me in earnest, worship Allah, say your five daily prayers , fast during the month of Ramadan, and give your wealth in charity. Perform pilgrimage if you can afford to. You know that EVERY MUSLIM IS THE BROTHER OF ANOTHER MUSLIM. YOU ARE ALL EQUAL. NOBODY HAS SUPERIORITYOVEROTHER EXCEPT BY PIETY AND GOOD ACTION. Remember, one day you WILL APPEAR BEFORE Allah and ANSWER for your deeds. So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone. “0 People, NO PROPHET OR APOSTLE WILL COME AFTER ME AND NO NEW FAITH WILLBE BORN. Reason well, therefore, 0 People, and understand my words which I convey to you. I leave behind me TWO things, the QUR’AN and my EXAMPLE, and if you follow these you will never go astray. All those who listen to me shal1 pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness 0 Allah, that I have conveyed your message to your people.”
Tuesday
by David
Lynch
Before I go into my grievances with the language classes, let me first point out why languages are so important. First, they can help you later in life, regardless of your faculty. Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, and French are all going to become extremely important as North America extends its relationships further west, south, and east. Pcopie here complain that our Oriental population doesn’t speak English. Well, their English is a lot better than my Mandarin or Japanese. And frankly, if they work harder and know more languages than we do, they deserve the jobs they are so often accused of “stealing.” It is a shame that UW does not have a strong and well funded modem languages department. More ofour ever-shrinking budget should be given to this part of the ailing Arts faculty, as languages will soon be just as important as any other skill a person might have.. . Last term I took a couple of language courses here at UW, and while I did learn something, I could have learned much more. Both courses were taught in roughly the same manner. Grammar exercises were assigned and later taken up in class, short compositions were written, an oral lab was held each week, and so on. On the surface, this seems a sensible and efficient way to learn or enhance one’sknowledge of a foreign language. However, both courses asked very little of the student and often made poor use of precious class time. When grammar exercises are assigned, they are habitually taken up in class. This is fine, as long as there is a need for this. Often exercises are easily understood by the entire
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class. Mistakes are made, but they too arc often self-evident and, given the correct answer, the student can easily identify why the mistake was made and learn from it. Of course, not all of these exercises arc easy to understand. But why not post or distribute the answers to the exercises? The students could check for themselves that their answers are correct. To ask this is not unreasonable. Students can raise problems as they arise. More importantly,, valuable class time would not be wasted taking up exercises that cvctyone already understands. Naturally, the professor has to use some discretion. People do not learn at exactly the same rate. But at least this way, the pact: of learning would adjust better to the students in each class, rather than the students adjusting to the course’s excessively slow or fast pace. The class time gained from this could be used in a number of ways -- to cover more material, to write supplementary compositions, or to have more oral practice and dixcussions. Speaking the language, and speaking it as spontaneously as possible, is the most important goal. In my oral labs, we were often asked to preparc short answers to discussion questions before class. Regurgitating answers to prepareId exercises does not improve a person’s fluency. Any idiot can read out a prepared statement - even I can do that. These labs should be used for spontaneous discussion -no preparation, except for some key vocabulary or ideas where necessary. While reading, writing, and a strong grammatical base are important, more of an effort could be made to ensure that our language programs produce more fluent students.
Thursday
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Friday
Lunch Time WorkshoPs “Anti Racism” Workshop WPIRG
“Common Struggles” Workshop
11:30-1:30 Davis Centre Room 130-l
“Women’s Equity-Why” “Ontario Women”
to explore economic policies that effectwomen globally- Global Community Centre 11:30-I:30 Davis Centre Room 1301
I
film
Film “Out’
and discussion about discrimination issues Ontario Women’s Directorate Mary Helen Spence II:30
]
Davis Centre Room 1301
1
Niaht Time WorkshoDs ‘Chinese
Medicine
and Shiatsu”
Talkand Hands-on Workshop 7:00 p.m. - IO:00 p.m. Modem Languages room 105
*u c --*r 4 4
+ *
u 4
Open House COMETo THE WQmyn’s Wine and Cheese w 9 MYN% too - 4:oo Campus Centre Room 238 CENTREm “LES BELLES SOEURS” SEEOUR NEW by Michael Tremblay Centre
SPACE
directed
by Darlene
Spencer
Wo myn’s
and Discussion NFB film on gay and lesbian youth in Canada 11:30- I:30 Davis Centre Room 33Gl
Circle
12:oo Campus Centre Room 238 This event is ONLY
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n
“Feminist Prof Night” 790 pm. Needles Hall Room 3001 -Sat 8:00 p.m. Humanities Theatre $10 general public/$8 students Wed
“Feminism
and The Politics
Hope” Lecture by Sandra Butler 7130 p.m. Siegfried Hall, St. Jeromes ($5
- $10
sliding
sale) I
of