Islam

We started our unit on Islam the other day, which turned out to be extremely interesting. We listened to the chant they say 5 times a day. The dedication this requires immediately baffled me. Why must you pray 5 times to God? I understand praying to worship God or to receive things you want, but doing so 5 times a day seems unnecessary. I think God would want his/her people to do amazing things with their lives and not to center them around God. Simply praying and begging shouldn't be enough to get people what they want, they should work for it. I think there are also many unique aspects of Islam, such as the Hijra, which is a migration to Medina. This migration seems like a good idea though, for it brings you closer to your religion. Specifically for Islam it brings people closer to Muhammed/Allah. Having this one sacred place, Mecca/Medina, is something i think most religions have and it provides a necessary foundation to the religion. I also like the idea of Ummah, which is a community in Islam. i think community is extremely important to a faith, for being able to connect with your close ones makes the religion seem stronger.