Question

Okay, here is a paper that I wrote in my class.
Your grades and comments, please:
(essay posted)

Answer 1

this is about my religious site visit, that I had for my Religion course.
I had to discuss:
1) (Site name and date visited)
2) (Observation description)
3) (Rituals or beliefs)
4) (Personal Response to experience)
5) (Describe any interaction I had with others)

and here is my paper....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Solomon Zelman.
Tuesday 9/30.
Religious site visit 1.
(The Zuhr Service)

1) (Site name and date visited)
I chose Islam from my first religious site visit. The mosque I went to is called “Al-Farooq” and the visit took place on September 28, later in the afternoon. The address is 442 14th Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30318. (When I searched the address on Google it said 434 instead of 442, however when I got to the mosque, I saw the correct number on the front wall.)

2) (Observation description)
Looking from the street while I was observationally broaching the mosque, it appeared like a two-floor building, with a nice brick fence with sharp metal poles sticking upwards. On the top of the building, there were some towers, which as I thought were belfries, but I couldn't see the bells in them, because they were enclosed. The building and the fence had a very light brown color; somewhere about a color of a coffee beverage that contains way more milk than coffee. What really attracted me is how the white cement in between the bricks merging with the sky, together with these coffee color bricks gave the entire image a soothing and pleasing character.
There were a bunch of entrances on the front side of it, but all of them were closed, so I entered from a side. From the side, I was able to see the real view of the edifice; it was more than three floors high. I walked into a front yard with a water fountain in the middle and a vast parking behind it, and on the side from me there were a couple of steps to a big brown gate, the main entrance into the building. I came in to the gateway, previously taking my shoes off which I placed in a shoe shelf as I was directed to. Not a long time since I entered the people inside saw that I am lost and showed me where to go. I entered a huge room entirely covered with a light color carpet, and hexagonal pillars that were successively spaced every fifteen feet or so. This room was the place of prayer. In this room, which itself was a dome, there was an engraved shape of a high dome-like building.
The people in the mosque were dressed in different ways. Men that seemed to be constantly in the mosque, who appear to be Islamic followers or students were dressed in white. They wore white skullcaps, long white shirts that reached their knees, and white pants. Others who looked like people who just drop by to attend the service to then go back to what they were doing before, were dressed in different kinds of clothing , but all of the people were dressed modestly having their legs covered, long sleeves and wore something to cover their heads with. The women were primarily dressed fully in white, similarly to men and covered everything besides their faces. Nonetheless, I saw a small, but a recognizable number of Muslim women that didn't cover their hair, as well as some man with uncovered head. For instance, I saw two guys with uncovered heads that came and set on the side of the room, relevantly far from the preacher. They wore jeans and t-shirts.
Expectedly, the prayer took place in the big dome. The leader was preaching and the rest of the people were sitting down with legs crossed, opposite to the leader, facing the front of the room. Along with the main preach when the leader was preaching, there were some Muslims that were coming in, praying next to the pillars in the back of the room without sitting close to the leader, and leaving. They were standing, then they bounded down, silently prayed, got up and repeated that cycle two or three times. After finishing their single prayers, they would leave the dome.

3) (Rituals or beliefs)
In the speech, the preacher spoke about some principals of the Islamic principles. He said that killing others is very bad; Muslims should help others. Ignorance brings fear. And the speaker also pointed out that everyone is important. People have to care and take action to prevent any Violence. The leader also informed the audience that preaching and teaching the Islamic faith to other people is a very important and righteous thing to do. Often times, people volunteered to go preach too different countries and even very far continents, such as Australia, as well as many other very far places where they would live in new environment and in different conditions.
The most interesting ritual that I saw was the body washing to purify themselves for the prayer. They washed their hands from fingers to elbows, their lower half of the body from knees to feet, and their faces. This ritual took place before the prayer, and in a designated area specifically for this washing ritual.
In the prayer, which was the Zuhr service, the preacher was talking calling out some principles of Islamic faiths, supporting the principle with an explanation and examples, but every once in a while, when he finished the point, he would say “I pray for” which to me was similar to a toast.

4) (Personal Response to experience)
At first, the washing ritual is different from my expectations. Their washing was more similar to the washing ritual that the Cohen (or Jewish Priests) did in the past before bringing sacrifices on the altar. I think though, that this means that they give the prayers the same significance as to the sacrifice.
Secondly, the praying temple was absolutely empty, as I actually have expected, since I knew that Muslims believe in one God, and don’t have icons in their temples. What I did wonder about though, is that it was empty of furniture just like a Protestant Church; it didn't have any chairs, tables just a carpet, walls, sealing, and the gravure of the mosque in the front.
The way that Muslims mostly dressed in white really makes me what to think that there is some importance about a white color, or at least about the light color. I have noticed two men that wore light clothing that appeared to be clean, but they had a small tint of a brown. This led to a conclusion that the significance is the light color clothing, not just white.
The way women covered themselves, obviously shows their modesty. Hear, as the most beautiful part of woman’s body, or at least one of them, should be covered. (Just like other beautiful parts of the woman’s body that have to be covered.) It appears to me though that covering hear is a custom rather than an absolute law, because many women didn't cover hair outside the mosque, but covered inside the mosque. I was inside for about an hour and ten minutes.

5) (Describe any interaction I had with others)
Actually, and probably unfortunately, I didn't have much interaction with anyone at the mosque. Someone told me how to enter and where to go and put my shoes. And another person told me to leave because I wasn't Muslim.

Answer 2

(if you see question marks, please refresh the page, or if that works, then re-enter the post.)

Answer 3

Tl;dr

Answer 4

@AnswerMyQuestions

Please do not be rude to other people's opinions as it is very disrespectful.

Answer 5

...

Answer 6

Good job! @SolomonZelman
It is very well-written! Keep it up!

Answer 7

what grade would you give it, if you were a teacher?

Answer 8

Well you covered all the points that the teacher wanted and went into great details. I would have given you 100! (And a medal)

Answer 9

My teacher gave me a 95, but this is probably b/c it is a college paper.

Answer 10

tnx for the courage though:)

Answer 11

The 95 was probably because of very little interaction with people there...
But if she graded on determination and effort put in you would have made 105 :)

Answer 12

Actually the teacher (he) gave us 50 minutes (of the 1h, 15min lecture) for the paper, and then he sent us our the pdf docs of the papers....
so I wouldn't say it was so much effort, but in a short time, I have to say it was a quite decent job. (Especially for a foreigner who has recently moved to US)

Answer 13

us, the pdf docs. (word our shouldn't be there)

Answer 14

50 minutes? Now I would have given you definitely 105! :)
I can't even write that much in 2 hours... lol

Answer 15

Yeah, I was many times translating from Russian. Not that my sentence structures don't satisfy me, but just the way I think in this paper is unusual even for me.
Anyway tnx again for the inspiration,

and I guess will see what others have to say.

Answer 16

No problem! And keep up the awesome work!

Answer 17

:D

Answer 18

I give an A+ it's awesome :)

Answer 19

+ tnx:) +

Answer 20

\(\large\color{black}{T~~H~~A~~N~~K\displaystyle\int\limits_{~}^{~}}\)

Answer 21

(ignore the notation error)

Answer 22

well it depend's on your belief , and your intension going there...

Answer 23

the notation error I meant is only that it is supposed to be \(\large\color{black}{\displaystyle\int\limits_{~}^{~}f(x)~dx}\).
Just the integral was written incorrectly in "thanks" and I told you to ignore this

Answer 24

\(\large\color{black}{ {\LARGE\rm _{anyways,~...}^{\bf\text{____________}}} }\) that's not the matter...

Answer 25

This is extremely well written. I am not very good at writing, but I can tell when something is good, and this is extremely good. Keep up the great work! And in 50 minutes? That just makes it even better. :)

Answer 26

oh, tnx for such a positive feedback, i'm encouraged... I appreciate that!

Answer 27

:)

Answer 28

arigth I got to go right now:D

Answer 29

You are welcome!

Answer 30

:D

Answer 31

I am exceptionally impressed, particularly because of the command you seem to have over the English language. I noted that you said that English is not your first language. It does not appear that way. Overall, your paper is very impressive. I would most certainly give you an A.

Answer 32

tnx again!!!

Answer 33

Great job, good grammar, ect. Make sure you close the question!

Answer 34

^ Why should he close the questions? He is a very old user and will not forget when the time is right :)

Answer 35

\(\star\) \(\bbox [5pt,skyblue, border:5px dotted blue]{ WOW~ Amazing!}\) \(\star\)