I've been thinking about the design of this class and its stated purpose - showing that Islam is as much a religion of the pen as of the sword. I must say that this class has broadened my perspective in many ways: I'm more familiar with a culture that was almost completely foreign to me at the beginning of the semester, my knowledge of the geography and recent history of South Asia has grown considerably, and I have a broader sense of world events and the U.S. place in it. While my initial belief was never that Islam was a religion of the sword on the whole - despite 9/11 and all of the negative portrayals of Islam in the media since then - it's amazing to learn so much about the human experience of living in a different culture; my eyes have been opened to concepts and societies I would never have known about had I not taken this class. The literature we've read has certainly defied my expectations; I suppose I was expecting the texts to have more of a Thanawian bias.