Sufism Syllabus 161003
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ISLAMIC SPIRITUALITY (WS-639) Yahya M. Michot This course explores the nature and diversity of Sufism by looking at the origins and development of Islamic spiritual thought and practices in history. The course will remain anchored by focusing on important personalities in the mystical trad- itions of Islam through their literature and poetry, devotional path and/or music. Class will meet during 10 days: from Tuesday January 3, 2017 to Saturday 7, and from Monday January 9 to Friday 13, 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Each of these classes will have two parts: A) Lecture; B) Discussion of the required readings. Course Objectives 1) Students should be able to find their way around in the major reference works on Sufism. 2) They are expected to gain an acquaintance with the ways classical Islamic spirituality developed, the historical and ideological contexts in which it evolved, its key figures and the main doctrines, schools or movements it crystallized into. 3) In reference to the classical period, they should also be able to have an informed opinion on modern Sufi developments and debates. 4) They should be able to benefit from the methodological approach adopted in these classes and apply them for their own studies and/or research projects. Course Requirements 1) It is strongly recommended that the student arrive at the first class already having a general knowledge about the religion of Islam, as well as about the history and geography of Muslim peoples. They should also be able to find their way around in the major reference tools for Islamic Studies (Encyclopaedia of Islam, Index Islamicus…). 2) Daily preparations and readings (THE ASSIGNMENTS ARE ESSENTIAL), class participation, final presentation. 3) Attendance in class is required. If you know that you will be unable to attend a class please inform the professor in advance. Missing two classes will result in an automatic lowering of your final grade by 30%. Missing three or more classes will result in automatic failure of the course. The final grade will be based upon the following: 1) Active class participation (50%). 2) The presentations during Class X (January 13). Each student, or group of students, will be responsible for the oral presentation and discussion of a pre-modern Muslim spiritual master and his/her social-cultural context. This oral presentation (30%) will be based on an original written research paper (8 pages maximum, 20%), to be submitted to the teacher, and circulated on paper in the class, before the presentation. The topic should be chosen by the end of class V in consultation with the professor. * All written work is to conform to the seminary writing guidelines, which can be found online at: http://www.hartsem.edu/student/forms/researchpaperguide.pdf. It must use the transliteration system given in class I. It must be run through a grammar and spell-check program or read by the writing tutor if necessary before submission. The Hartford Seminary Grading Guidelines will be the standard of evaluation for work in the course. IMPORTANT: Plagiarism, the failure to give proper credit for the words and ideas of another person, whether published or unpublished, is strictly prohibited. All written material submitted by students must be their own original work; where the words and ideas of others are used they must be acknowledged. Credit will not be given for work containing plagiarism, and plagiarism will lead to failure of a course. Please see the Hartford Seminary Catalogue for the full plagiarism policy. General references ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ISLAM, INDEX ISLAMICUS… ENDRESS, Gerhard, Islam: An Historical Introduction. Translated by Carole HILLENBRAND (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002 – 2d ed.), viii & 301 p., ISBN 0-7486-1620-9. RUTHVEN, Malise, with Azim NANJI, Historical Atlas of the Islamic World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 208 p., 0-19-860997-3. HEWER, Christopher, Understanding Islam: The first ten steps (London: SCM Press, 2006), xi & 244 p. 0334-04032-9. KNYSH, Alexander, Islamic Mysticism. A Short History (Leiden: Brill, 2000), xii, 358 p., 90-04-10717-7. SCHIMMEL, Annemarie, Mystical Dimensions of Islam (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, [1975]), xxi, 506 p. CHITTICK, William C. (ed.), The Inner Journey. Views from the Islamic Tradition (Sandpoint: Morning Light Press, 2007), xix & 318 p., 1-59675-016-2. AMIR-MOEZZI, Mohammad Ali (Sous la direction de), Le voyage initiatique en terre d’islam. Ascensions célestes et itinéraires spirituels (Paris: Le Cerf, “Islam. Nouvelles approches”, 2015), xvi &376 p., 978-2-204-10481-4. RENARD, John, Friends of God. Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), xx, 346 p., 978-0-52025198-4. SHIHADEH, A. (ed.), Sufism and Theology (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007), vi, 201 p., 978-0-7486-2605-2. ARBERRY, Arthur John, Sufism: an Account of the Mystics of Islam (London: Unwin, 1990), [1], 11 - 141p. NICHOLSON, Reynold A., The mystics of Islam (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1975), vii - 178 p., 0-7100-1892-4. JAMAL, Mahmood, Islamic Mystical Poetry. Sufi Verse from the Mystics to Rumi. Edited with translations and introduction (London: Penguin Books, 2009), 40 & 336 p., 978-0-140-42473-7. MORRIS, James, An Arab Machiavelli? Rhetoric, Philosophy and Politics in Ibn Khaldun’s Critique of Sufism, in Harvard Middle Eastern and Islamic Review, 8 (2009), p. 242-291. MORRIS, James, Situating Islamic ‘Mysticism’: Between Written Traditions and Popular Spirituality, in R. A. HERRERA (ed.), Mystics of the Book: Themes, Topics, and Typologies (New York: Lang, 1993), p. 293-334. HALICI, Nevin, Sufi Cuisine. Translated by Ümit HUSSEIN. Foreword by Claudia RODEN. Original Miniatures by Ahmet EFE (London: Saqi, 2005), 240 p., 9-780863-565816. CLASS SCHEDULE Class I. Tuesday Jan. 3. INTRODUCTION. CONTROVERSIAL ORIGINS General references: KNYSH, Alexander, Historiography of Sufi Studies in the West, in A Companion to the History of the Middle East, ed. Youssef M. CHOUEIRI (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2005), p. 106-131. ERNST, Carl W., The Shambhala Guide to Sufism (Boston & London: Shambhala, 1997), xxi, 264 p., 1-57062-180-2. Chapter 2: The Sacred Sources of Sufism, p. 32-57. ‘AṬṬÂR, Farîd al-Dîn, The Conference of the Birds - Manṭiq al-Ṭayr. Translated with an introduction by Afkham DARBANDI and Dick DAVIS (Harmondsworth - New York: Penguin Books, 1984). Reading assignments: a. SCHIMMEL, Annemarie, Mystical dimensions of Islam — Chapter I: What is Sufism?, p. 3-22 b. MACDONALD, Duncan Black, Aspects of Islam (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1911) — Lecture VI: The mystical life and the darwish fraternities continued, p. 176-209. c. Copy from the press, magazines, or internet, some article or video exploring the nature of Islamic spirituality, for presentation and discussion in class. Class II. Wednesday Jan. 4. FIRST DEVELOPMENTS General references: KARAMUSTAFA, Ahmet T., Sufism. The Formative Period (Berkeley - Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2007), xiii, 202 p., 978-0-520-25269-1. SELLS, Michael A., Early Islamic Mysticism. Sufi, Qur’ān, Mi’rāj, Poetic and Theological Writings. Translated, edited and with an Introduction. Preface by Carl W. ERNST (New York - Mahwah: Paulist Press, “The Classics of Western Spirituality”, 1996), xi, 398 p., 0-8091-3619-8. BALDICK, Julian, Mystical Islam. An Introduction to Sufism (London - New York: Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2000 - 2d éd.), 208 p., 1-86064-631-x. — Chapter I: Sufism’s beginnings, p. 13-33. MELCHERT, Christopher, The Ḥanābila and the Early Sufis, in Arabica, 58, 2001, p. 352-367. CORNELL, Rkia Elaroui, Early Sufi Women. Dhikr an-Niswa al-Muta‘abbidât aṣ-Ṣûfiyyât by Abû ‘Abd al-Raḥmân as- Sulamî. Edited and translated from the Riyadh manuscript with Introduction and notes (Louisville: Fons Vitae, 1999), 334 p., 1-887752-06-4. SMITH, Margaret, Râbi‘a the Mystic and her Fellow-Saints in Islam. Being the Life and Teachings of Râbi‘a al- ‘Adawiyya al-Qaysiyya of Baṣra together with some Account of the Place of the Women Saints in Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1984), xxxv - 219 p. ‘ABD AL-QÂDIR, ‘Alî Hasan, The Life, Personality and Writings of al-Junayd. A Study of a Third/Ninth Century Mystic with an Edition and Translation of his Writings (London: Luzac, 1976). Reading assignments: a. HOMERIN, Th. E., Ibn Taimîya’s Al-Ṣûfîyah wa-al-Fuqarâ’, in Arabica, XXXII (Leiden: 1985), p. 219-244. b. MELCHERT, Christopher, Baṣran Origins of Classical Sufism, in Der Islam, 82, 2005, p. 221-240. Class III. Thursday Jan. 5. AL-ḤALLÂJ & NORMALISATION General references: LOSENSKY, Paul, Farîd ad-Dîn ʻAṭṭâr’s Memorial of God’s friends : lives and sayings of Sufis. Translated and introduced. Preface by Th. Emil HOMERIN (NewYork: Paulist Press, 2009). MASSIGNON, Louis, The Passion of al-Ḥallāj, Mystic and Martyr of Islām. Translated from the French with a biographical foreword by Herbert MASON, 4 vols. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, “Bollingen series, 98”, 1982). —, The Passion of al-Hallâj, Mystic and Martyr of Islâm. Translated and edited by Herbert MASON. Abridged edition (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), xxxi, 292 p., 0-691-01919-3. MICHOT, Yahya, Ibn Taymiyya’s Commentary on the Creed of al-Îallâj, in A. SHIHADEH (ed.), Sufism and Theology (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007). — P. 123-136. KALÂBÂDHÎ, Muḥammad ibn Isḥâq (AL-, d. 380/990?), The Doctrine of the Sufis (Kitâb al-Ta‘arruf li-madhhab ahl al- taṣawwuf). Translated from the Arabic by A. J. ARBERRY (Cambridge: CUP, 1977), xviii, 173 p. QUSHAYRÎ (AL-, d. 1072), Principles of Sufism (al-Risâlat al-Qushayriyya fî ‘ilm al-taṣawwuf). Transl. from the Arabic by B.R. VON SCHLEGELL, with an introd. by Ḥâmid ALGAR (Berkeley, Calif.: Mizan Press, [1992]), xix, 366 p., 0- 933782-20-9. HUJWIRÎ, ‘Alî b. ‘Uthmân (AL-, d. 1077), The Kashf al-Maḥjûb.