Over the past week each of my math classes has had to face their first formal assessment.  Before any test I usually like to give some extra credit.  This time was no different.  I offered the students a few extra points if they were willing to explain to me what the above equation meant to them in terms of Ramadan and/or Islam.  Below are some of the more interesting answers I read through:

To relate this equation Islamically you will have to think about it very closely.  So the — or the 2 minuses will change to ++.  So Islamically the meaning of this equation is that 1 good deed + another good deed = 2 good deeds.  We should always do good deeds and Allah will reward us with double the deeds.

^ Not quite what I had in mind, but good. ^

I think that this equation can tell a lot about Islam.  One way is that if there is a good influence people will be affected. So what we can relfect off this math problem is that if there is a good person who has good iman and is a really good person, and there is another person but he is bad when it comes to this behaviors, that one person can influence him to be a better person.  So when you get that bad out of him, then tehre will be two people with good iman, etc.

^ This had an illustration to go with it! ^

If there is a non-Muslim and you are there when he/she converts to Islam, then now you have 2 muslims.

^ I do agree that when I see people take the shahada, it renews my faith ^

First of all, math, especially algebra, was first introduced by Al-Barooni.  So math relates to Islam a bit.  And this equation right here means to me that if there is a bad person (-1) that does all haram things like backbites, lies, cheats, drinks, etc and he stays with the company of a good person (1) that is pious and follows the way of Allah and does good things like prays, read Qur’an, gives to the poor, takes care of his family, etc, then that bad person will eventually become a good person and goes on to the straight path and becomes a better Muslim.  So now there will be two good Muslims (+2) following the way of Allah and so and so forth.  So that is what this equation means to me in Islam.

^ Very detailed, right? ^

Well, it shows that if one person works together even if they have different religions a positive and a negative they can work together and be a positive.

^I think she meant that the -(-1) is a person of a different religion ^

The expression means that 2 negative people can become positive with the impact of one good person.

^A very short and simple idea ^

And finally my favorite… a little hard to follow, but fantastic all around.

This math expression is related to Islam.  This is the reason why.  The negative outside the parenthesis is the environment and the negative sign in the parenthesis is the person’s heart and the positive one (+1) is the good person.  The negative person and his diseased heart is surrounded by a negative environment.  Then one day this sad negative person with his negativ heart meets this very positive individual who relfects his positive akhlaq and imaan to change the 2 negatives into positives.  Then the negative person’s heart and it’s environment become positive and the two positive individuals become a strong force of two to spread the message of Islam.

^ Moral of her story… spread some positivity!  It might affect a negative heart ^