Encountering Islam

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Background Information:
When studying the different religions of the world we tend of focus on the distinctions between these religions and understanding what makes them unique, however it is important to note that although these religions are distinct and unique in their own way, there are common themes and structures that can be applied to them. Some of the common elements present in the different religions that we will be studying this semester are:

Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Writings
Divinely inspired writings that contain origins of the religion, essential beliefs, and major teachings. Some religions also revere writings of prominent figures throughout their history who have contributed to expounding the theology of the religion (ex: writings of the Islamic saints)
Beliefs and Practices
Tenets of the religion that unify its community of believers on a variety of topics ranging from their relationship with the divine, soteriology, creation, eschatology, anthropology, etc.
Prayer and Worship
Liturgical practices that believers of the faith participate in throughout their daily lives. Some liturgical practices and rituals of prayer are performed in conjunction with the celebration of religious festivals at particular times of the week (ex: Sabbath) or times of the year (ex: Christmas)
Morality – Code of Ethics
Guiding principles that adherents of the faith abide by throughout their lives informed by the theology of the religion
History
Understanding how the religion was established and the advances of the religion throughout human history that shape the global image of the religion today while also recognizing changes in theology that have occurred throughout history due to major historical events
Instructions:

In your reading of Chapter 12 – Encountering Islam: The Straight Path of the One God you have gained a better understanding of what the religion of Islam is all about from the context of its history, sacred scriptures, beliefs and practices, code of ethics, etc. You will now use the information gleaned in the chapter to expand upon particular elements of Islam enumerated below:

Islamic Symbols and Names (.5 pages)
Identify a common Islamic symbol and explain its significance
Consider the following:
History/Origins of the symbol
Important religious figure(s) associated with the symbol and their involvement with it
How is the symbol utilized by Muslims today?
Is it used during prayer/worship?
Is it worm as an outward sign of faith?
Distinguish between the terms ‘Islam’ and ‘Muslim’ as it relates to the Islamic faith
Life of the Prophet Muhammed (.5-1 pages)
Discuss who the Prophet Muhammed was and the impact that he had on Islam.
Describe 2 key events from the Prophet Muhammed’s life.
Address how these events are commemorated by Muslims today
Sacred Scriptures (.5 pages)
Analyze what the Qur’an is and assess upon how Muslims use it today
Consider the following:
Importance of particular Surahs in the Qur’an
How the sacred text came into existence
Important religious figures mentioned in the Qur’an
Beliefs and Practices (2 – 3 pages)
In the religion of Islam there is set of beliefs that all Muslim’s must follow. These are known as the Articles of Faith and their foundations are found in the Qur’an. The 6 articles of faith tell Muslims what to believe in and then the 5 Pillars of Islam explain how to implement these beliefs in their daily lives.
Interpret the meaning of each of the Six Articles of Faith (1-1.5 pages)
Belief in the Oneness of Allah (God)
Belief in the Angels
Belief in the Books of Allah
Belief in the Prophets of Allah
Belief in the Day of Judgement
Belief in the Divine Decree – Will of Allah
Articulate the significance of each of the Five Pillars of Islam listed below and demonstrate how these pillars are lived out by Muslims today (1-1.5 pages)
Shahadah – Profession of Faith
Salah – Prayer
Zakah – Almsgiving
Sawm – Fasting
Hajj – Pilgrimage

Sample Solution

NAc can be sub-divided into two regions: the core and the shell. Both regions have different input and output projections (Zahm, 2000) and thought to play different roles in reward pathway (Ito et al., 2004). Recent studies have also reported on different dendritic compartments specifically the proximal and distal (Spruston, 2008). Cocaine regulation of dendritic spines can only be observed in thin, highly motile spine (Kasai et al., 2010) which were thought to be relevant to learning (Moser et al., 1994; Dumitriu et al., 2010) and addiction (Shen et al., 2009; LaPlant et al., 2010). Cocaine exposure caused an increase in spine density in the shell region but a decrease in proximal MSNs in the core region which is seen to be far more enduring (Dumitriu et al., 2012). This enduring change in core reciprocates the idea that shell is involved in addiction development while core in the learning of the addiction or long-term potentiation (Di Chiara, 2002; Ito et al., 2004; Meredith et al., 2008). In a study done by Kourrich and Thomas (2009), however, showed an increase in core MSNs and a decrease in shell MSNs raising the possibility that spine regulation may be compensating the changes in MSNs or spine regulation may be causing a homeostatic tuning of MSNs excitability. Few studies showed homeostatic increase in MSNs excitability following spine downregulation (Azdad et al., 2009; Ishikawa et al., 2009; Huang et al., 2011) supporting the latter but the clear association between both processes is still unknown. A possible mechanism behind the selective downregulation of core MSNs could be dopamine since cocaine withdrawal decreases dopamine levels (Parsons et al., 1991; Baker et al., 2003). Further support to this could be from the higher convergence of the dual glutamatergic and dopaminergic pathways in the core (Zahm and Brog, 1992).

Other than that, a study has found that there is also structural plasticity in input regions to the nucleus accumbens. These inputs include the ventral tegmental area (VTA) which is thought to be important for rewarding stimuli, ventral hippocampus (vPHC) for encoding contextual information, basolateral amygdala (BLA) for relaying emotional context and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) providing operational value (Nestler, 2004, Russo & Nestler, 2013). There are two types of medium spiny neurons in the nucleus accumbens specifically dopamine receptor-1-expressing (D1-MSN) and dopamine-receptor-2-expressing (D2-MSN) where D1-MSN is responsible for rewarding stimulation compared to aversive in D2-MSN (Lobo et al., 2010). After cocaine exposure, there was an increase in spine density in BLA and vHPC neurons firing to D1-MSN (Barrientos et al., 2018; Russo et al., 2010) and a decrease in spine projection in mPFC. Since BL

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