RELI 2070

Shankar is a wonderful professor and a wonderful person. Please take his class. He's such a good lecturer and incredibly kind, always willing to give extensions or aid if needed. The reading can be a bit burdensome if you have a lot but it's not all strictly necessary. The class has 4 essays, all 5 pages or less and double spaced. If you want a traditional lecture-style class with engaging material, I cannot recommend this class enough.

Professor Nair is one of the best I've ever had. He's so intelligent, passionate and caring and speaks so well. There was a lot of reading to do for the class but you won't have to do all of it if you just pay attention in class and take thorough notes. One thing I didn't like about this class is that your grade depended heavily on the TA you got. One of them was very harsh on grading and the other was more fair. I do recommend this class as it opened my eyes about a lot of things but just be aware that your grade depends on the TA

I really enjoyed this class and Professor Nair's insights into the history of Islam. The reading did take a significant amount of time, but you are able to get around doing all of it and can focus on only what is required for discussions. Overall, I would recommend this class to anyone looking to better understand Islam.

You learn about the history of Islam which is not the most interesting. Professor Nair is nice and explains in a lot of detail, some of which is overwhelming, but the exams and final were all take-home and open note (except for an in-class definition matching part). The readings are more so that you can participate in discussions, but unless you really understand everything in the reading, it's still sometimes going to be hard participating. You can get by without doing most of the readings. But work hard on the finals and midterms. Those are the only grades and with them being take-home, Professor Nair and the TAs expect a lot of synthesis and analysis.

The professor is absolutely wonderful. He is helpful and very clear in his lectures. He is also more responsive to emails than some of the TAs (cough cough Naomi -.-) if you want an A in a 3 credit class, fulfill a requirement or explore your interests in this religion, take this class, seriously, and make sure to take Zany's section.

Professor Nair made the information he was presenting very interesting and offered cool perspectives to his students. He also cares a lot for his students, shown when he extended the due date of the thesis paper, offered help on the midterm, and made our final online because it was on the last day of finals! If you're looking for a course in which you learn a lot, this is definitely worth it! A lot of misconceptions were cleared and the current role of Islam in the world was discussed in discussion despite it being a classical course. However, the TA you get definitely controls how difficult the grading is. The TA I got seemed to be a bit harsher of a grader and wanted more participation in class, versus Zain, who I had once this semester and was a lot more easygoing and knowledgeable. The class is graded on the midterm, which is a ~6 page response to a few questions based on readings and lecture, a 8 page thesis paper, the final, and discussion. Overall, not too much work, you can get by without doing all the readings but not doing a majority of the readings.

Professor Nair is a wonderful professor who is super kind to his students and very knowledgeable about the topic. There are a lot of readings for this class, around 150 pages per week and they are difficult readings. However, the TA is very helpful and the effort is definitely worth it.

Professor Nair is incredible! A great class that that I think everyone in the Western World should be required to take. Very eye-opening and thoughtfully taught. 10/10 would recommend. My TA wasn't great, which was a bit of a bummer, so try to get the best TA you can!

Professor Nair and Zain, the very helpful and cooperative TA, are excellent educators. They truly care for their students and their subject matter, proving this by diligently going over material. The papers and tests have guidelines set forth beforehand so you're never taken aback. Great class.