This class was one of the most interesting classes I have taken in UCLA so far. Professor Sayeed takes care to ensure that we learn outside of the classroom, and frequently invites different guest speakers to lectures so as to provide us with different perspectives. Her lectures and slides are incredibly clear and well organized, and she highlights key terms that would definitely come out for the quizzes and midterms. There was once she brought the first and only Muslim judge into lecture to speak with us, and many other times where she brought in various PHD candidates from other universities specialising in a variety of topics to teach us too. Grades comprise of 30% participation (in discussion sections only, not for lectures - but active participation is required i.e. students have to come prepared with answers for reading prompts. This really depends on your TA - I had a pretty strict one, where even though I attended all the sections and responded to every prompt earnestly, I received 97% for participation), 15% quizzes (there are 2 pop quizzes, normally given nearing the end of the course. Quizzes do require you to study beforehand), 10% midterm (requires memorisation of arabic terms, and ID and response for readings), 20% papers (2 papers 10% each, TAs tend to grade harshly at the start and more leniently towards the end) , and 25% of the final paper. The final paper requires a field trip to a local Muslim institution of your choice (note that transportation is not provided, although Professor Sayeed makes the effort to coordinate with select institutions beforehand). There is a lot of flexibility in the paper as long as you consult your TA/Professor before embarking on the project. There are many extra credit opportunities to take advantage of, many of which are extracurricular seminars where Professor Sayeed was the facilitator. Overall, even though the class was a lot of work, the assignments and lectures were all very interesting and engaging. Would definitely take this class again.

Islam in the West with Professor Sayeed was one of my favorite classes at UCLA. Her lectures are very engaging and thought-provoking. The discussion sections are also fun; I had a lot of meaningful discussions with my TA and classmates. By taking this class, you will be one step ahead of everyone else in understanding issues regarding Muslims in the West.

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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.

Prof. Sayeed is very intelligent and engaging. However, there were a few things about this class that I didn't like...

1. She doesn't allow any form of technology in class (so all notes must be handwritten) and only posts a few of the slides from lecture. Because I'm a slow writer, I ended up missing a lot of the information and couldn't refer back to most of the slides because they weren't available. :(
2. The tests were very inconsistent! The first one was incredibly easy and the last two were pretty hard. They include fill-in-the-blank, short answer, and multiple choice reading comprehension questions.

The breakdown is as follows: 3 midterms, 0 finals, 1 six-page paper, and participation points for showing up to discussion. There are a lot of readings (which I didn't really do) and there was 1 pop-quiz that was just factored into participation. We also got one 5-point extra credit assignment and study guides for all of the midterms.

Overall, I feel like I learned meaningful information and liked the class material. It was stressful at times but if you study enough for the exams you should get at least an A-. The paper was also graded really generously so that's a plus!