Wrapping it up

I really liked the outcome of this project, because I think our idea of having the two Muslims talk back and forth was really unique. Some of the tweets sounded a little forced, and I think some were awkward simply because people don't casually tweet what year it is. But besides that, this was a ton of fun! Heena and I both followed some other Islam-related twitters, Heena gained a random follow (who I'm sure was confused), and I accidentally followed a ton of Muslim twitters on my personal account the first time around. We got to poke fun at each other and think outside the box with our research, which I really enjoyed. I would love to do something like this again the future. Muhammad the Quran lover will always have a place in my heart.

Bibliographies are boring

But unfortunately, they're necessary. Here's mine:


 "Crusades." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 12 Jan. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades>.

 Rickard, J. (24 March 2001), Sixth Crusade, 1228-1229, http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_crusade6th.html

 "Sixth Crusade." Packrat Productions. Web. 12 Jan. 2012. <http://www.packrat-pro.com/crusades/crusade6.htm>.

 Bentley, Jerry H., and Herbert F. Ziegler. Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past: Volume A: From the Beginning to 1000. Boston: McGraw Hill, C2011., 2006. Print.

Bing continues to disappoint me

I rarely use Bing, because it tends to lead me around in circles and it likes to autocorrect everything I type in. Which explains why I was having difficulty finding articles on the "piece crusades". Hmm. Well, Bing was decent for this project, but the best page it could provide me with was Wikipedia. Not everything seemed reliable, and often the articles would simply mention "peace" or "Crusade" or "Is Islam a friendly religion?" and not actually be talking about the crusades. Google was slightly better, but I was surprised by the lack of quality articles I found using it. I love Google. But apparently it's not the best for history projects. Yahoo, shockingly to me anyways, provided some nice articles that I used during my research. There wasn't a lot of irrelevant stuff in the middle, which is nice and it saves time. Sweetsearch was the best, because it linked to lots of informative articles and didn't give me too much random stuff to sift through.

The only other reference we used was the textbook, which I put in the bibliography.

Tweet War

So Heena and I did make a series of tweets, which are almost completed now. Our hashtag is #APworldSillyCrusades , and looking back, it may have been wise to shorten it. Anyways. It goes back and forth between Heena's account, @Allah_Luvs_me, and mine - @Quran_4evah. Heena / Fatima is tweeting back and forth with me / Muhammad about the crusades, and what's going on, and how we see it happening. We included a picture of an accurate portrayal of how Muslims pray, and some of the text was written in Arabic (with English translations, of course). Now what's mostly left to do is organize our sources, make a bibliography, and link everything. It's the final stretch!

It Begins

Despite the fact that I had to cancel all my social plans due to rigorous Chemistry studying, Heena and I did start planning on what we're doing for the project. We're most likely going with the 1st crusade, the 4th crusade, and the peace crusade. Of course, we'll have an honorable mention of the children's crusade, our favorite. We're going to do a series of tweets, possibly including some pictures of ourselves (can you guess who will be playing the Muslim girl?). I've started some of the research, but not deep enough to post anything about search engines yet.

Eid

Eid is an Islamic holiday that is usually compared to Christmas. Muslims celebrate it at a slightly different date each year, depending on the position of the moon. They exchange gifts and spend time with family, similar to how Christians (and a lot of non-Christians today) celebrate Christmas. Islam was huge in the earlier eras, and its even bigger now.

Those poor Europeans just wanna have fun

Benedict's Rule was extremely strict, so you could be sure that these monasteries would have no funny business. Or fun. There are the basic rules of respect and patience, but laughing was practically forbidden.  Followers were instructed not to speak often, and to not have "excessive laughter". But the rules also clearly state that seniors must be respected, believe in God, and show benevolence towards everyone. So the people making up the monasteries would be rigidly faithful people who keep to themselves and are kind to everyone around them. There would be no distractions, corruption, or issues (or, once again, fun). They would literally do nothing besides worship God.

The Rule tells us that religion was still an important aspect of social life. People were in constant fear of going to hell. In fact, one of the rules clearly states "To be in dread of hell". People yearned for a structured religion to keep them on track, to ensure that they had a pleasant afterlife. Most people probably felt guilt deep down about their past sins or mistakes, so they wanted to repent. To do this, they put all of their focus in God and didn't waste their time with impious things, like being tired, and talking...such horrible sins would surely destroy their souls! Economically, there must have been people who were still struggling from poverty, since The Rule mentions helping the needy in more than one way. People were instructed to feed, clothe, console, and relieve the poor.