Overall a very interesting and well-put-together, organized course. I took this with distance learning, but the video lectures were so professional and engaging. Definitely the best organized class in regard to having everything online, lectures were broken into short chunks with small activities in between. Professor Sayeed is also just genuinely a good lecturer. She is very knowledgeable and composed, and cares deeply about making learning about Islam rewarding and accessible. I learned a lot, but it was a pretty tough GE in terms of workload. There's a ton of required reading (2 books, many primary sources per week, articles, research papers, and documentaries), which can get tedious. That said, if you do your stuff, getting a good grade is not hard...The midterms/final were all open note, and you could choose 6 questions/prompts to answer from a list of 8. AND she gave us a list of (maybe 20 or so) questions that she would pull from a week beforehand, so you could prepare really well. The final paper was made optional for us. Overall, it was a challenging course, but it was engaging and rewarding. I don't regret taking it, and would recommend it to anyone who's willing to shift/broaden their perspective.

I took this class for my diversity requirement, so this was my first being exposed to this subject. Prof. Sayeed did a great job introducing and explaining the material to the class, and I really enjoyed listening to her lectures. As expected, there was a mandatory discussion, which was also very engaging and helpful because we went over the class material more thoroughly. Some of the reading materials were challenging to grasp but overall, it was not too bad. What I liked the most is the format of the exams - each exam had 4-5 essay topics but we were given study guides prior to that, which included all the possible essay questions that would appear on the exam. So, as long as you finish the study guide before the exam and answer those questions, you are pretty much set for the exam. There were also weekly quizzes and small assignments but they were pretty easy and short. The quizzes could be retaken multiple times until you get a perfect score, so they can be considered as free points.

The Global Islam Cluster is truly excellent! I really loved and appreciated being able to diversify my knowledge on rich religious and cultural tradition. Dr. Sayeed, and the rest of the professors, and TAs are so kind, inclusive, and considerate of all student concerns. The entire teaching team is incredibly receptive of varying backgrounds and are understanding of limited prior knowledge on the course material. They were very willing to adjust deadlines/workload upon receiving student feedback regarding different circumstances and academic pressures. I always looked forward to lectures because the entire teaching team is very passionate and truly wishes to help students and they encourage questions! The Zoom environment can be intimidating but it truly was not the case with this course!
Discussions are very enjoyable as well; all the TAs are excellent and they truly encourage positive and productive discussions. The readings could often take quite some time and thoroughness since they can often be written in specialized academic language, but were very interesting overall. TAs are always willing to go over information from lecture and help with difficult concepts. The workload is not extreme at all, however. It is important to plan out and organize readings and writing assignments to ensure ample time.
Receiving help during office hours (TA and Professors) and from the library liaison and peer research and writing specialist (they are all very supportive!) truly helps on enhancing research strategies, gaining new perspectives on one's writing, crafting outlines for papers, etc.
I would definitely recommend this course for anyone who wants to learn more about Islam and its vast impacts and rich history, and for the benefits on receiving GE credits. It was the first year it was taught when I took this cluster and I truly cannot stress enough how my first year of college was impacted as a result: it is very rewarding and the resources/skills (research abilities, critical analytical skills, specialized knowledge, etc.) one can receive are indispensable!

This class is a great option for the philosophical and linguistic analysis GE. Professor Sayeed's lectures are highly informative and use very interesting examples, and she is very open to advice about planning the course. Weekly assignments can seem daunting, with readings often approaching 100 pages, but most of these readings can simply be skimmed for quotes to use in the short reading response assignments that are assigned most weeks. These reading responses can be graded fairly harshly; make sure to follow the directions exactly and ask questions if they seem too vague. There are online quizzes pertaining to lecture material and other sources that can sometimes be a bit challenging, but they shouldn't hurt your grade too much. Also lumped in with these are short discussion assignments that don't really add much to the course. Discussion sections are really weird; they're synchronous, but almost nobody participates. You should definitely try to speak at least once, however, as your weekly participation in discussion sections is tracked and graded. There's also a very easy final paper that uses sources that are provided to you by the professor to discuss a term relevant to how people talk about Islam.

The grade breakdown is as follows: 35% online discussions and quizzes, 15% short reading responses, 15% Perusall "annotations" (this is really just writing a few short blurbs throughout a reading assignment; there are only a few of these and they aren't time-consuming), 20% discussion participation, and 15% final paper.

Overall, despite the few challenges I listed with this class, most of it is essentially free points. If you can manage your time decently, this class is a very easy A. It's also a great survey-style introduction to Islamic studies, and it touches upon aspects of the religion from the Quran to contemporary practices. Take this class if you're at all interested in the subject matter or just want to avoid taking a hard class for this GE requirement.

Highly recommend this class. I took it the first quarter it was offered and even completely virtual the class was super engaging and interesting. Since it's a cluster you spend a year focusing on Islam from a variety of different perspectives from some of the most knowledgeable and amazing professors on campus, and I have to say it has definitely changed the way I think about the social sciences. As a STEM major, like many others I took this class because it satisfied a lot of my GEs, but I got way more out of this class than that.
To start with, the papers that I've written in this class have been some of the most interesting and unexpected, and I've been able to learn analytical skills both within and outside the social sciences that I don't think I would've learned outside this cluster and that I'll probably continue to apply beyond this class. The professors are so approachable and are always willing to help with research for your papers or your understanding of a topic.
The third quarter of the cluster is also organized into small seminars where you delve into a subtopic with a small group of students and a TA (there are multiple seminars, each on a different topic, which you can chose from). I've had some of the most interesting discussions there and the small class size (it was about 10ish people) made the class way more engaging than your typical GEs. There was also a lot of focus on connections with present day issues, which also made the seminar an awesome opportunity to become more informed and aware of how the subject (and the social sciences more broadly) intersects with contemporary environmentalism, politics, science, etc., and learn things I can take with me beyond this class.
There is a bit of work and reading that comes with the class, but if you stick with it it will be worth it, and you'll be proud of the diversity of what you've learned and of the work that you've produced. It's not the easiest class you'll find, but in a way the challenge made it worth it :D

Professor Sayeed is one intelligent person. This class is an online course and it was not what I expected. Her lectures are professionally recorded which makes it easy to follow and understand the material (Impressive!). I have taken numerous Islamic courses (Art History/Architecture) but this was my first religious class. YOU WILL LEARN A LOT! Which is great but don't be fooled on the workload. There is quite a bit of reading and exercises that need to be done every week. Could feel like a burden after a while to be honest. However, I loved the lectures and Professor Sayeed.
As far as the discussion portion with the TA...ehhh. It's honestly not necessary. Just more busy work. My TA specifically sounded like she woke up half the time and made the hour seem like two. Nevertheless, I'm glad I took this course. Do I still have my opinions on the Islamic faith? Yes, but that goes towards all organized religions.

The workload for this class is intense and overwhelming. You do have to buy a textbook. Participation and attendance in the discussion sections are vital. Overall, if you have a lot going on in your life, this class is gonna be hard to manage. You have a series of lectures (3-6), quizzes (2-3), discussions, long readings, AND reading responses that make you quote each reading in one module/per week. Plus, you have to prepare to answer additional questions during the discussion sections. I like the lectures because they are clear and to the point, but this class would benefit from reduced assignments.

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This class is pure memorization. Professor Sayeed does not allow electronics, so no computers or iPads , but if you're a good notetaker and complete the study guides before each quiz, then you'll do really well. The course does not have a final -- only 3 quizzes and a final paper at the end which was pretty easy. Try to get Mohsin Ali as a TA. He's great, and if you send him answers to the discussion questions before your section that week, he gives you extra credit for participation (participation is about 20% of your final grade). Mohsin's office hours are very helpful, and he'll basically go over the quiz study guides with you (both the key terms and the short answer prompts). The quizzes are multiple choice and short answer, but there's an extra credit opportunity to receive 3-5 more points on a quiz if you attend an event with a guest speaker, and all you have to do is show up and sign in. This course does require a good amount of effort; Professor Sayeed's lectures are a bit dry, and she only has few slides each lecture but says a lot about each one; however, if you're willing to take good notes and memorize terms for a quiz, you'll succeed. There was one super easy pop quiz in lecture about the material we learned in that class period, so just go to class!

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Overall, the class is really easy if you like to memorize things! The exams are short essays though, and I believe she did easy quizzes throughout the quarter.

This class was asynchronous when I took it. There were no tests or midterms. Each week focused on a different module that we had to complete, and the modules consisted of video lectures, short quizzes that you have unlimited attempts at, and discussion posts. As long as you do all of these, you'll get full points. The final paper isn't based on course material, so you don't even really have to understand lectures and stuff to do the final paper. The paper has you choose from three different topics, and there are sources PROVIDED for you to use. So just read the sources thoroughly and you'll be fine. Super easy GE.