Prof. Yvonne Haddad HIST 364 Office: ICC 167 Tel: 7-2575 Office Hours: Tues. 1-2 (also by appointment) E-mail: [email protected]
History 364 – Islamic Revolutionary Movements
I. Course Description The course will investigate the revolutionary message of the Qur'an and how it has been interpreted and utilized by a variety of Muslims throughout fourteen and a half centuries. It will cover the early Shi`ite and Abbasid revolutions, the jihads of West Africa and the Sudan as well as the modern Islamic movements: Muslim Brotherhood, the Iranian Revolution, Takfir wa Hijra, Islamic Salvation Front, Hamas, Hizbullah, Jihad Islami, Taliban. and al-Qaeda.
II. Course Structure The class session will be a combination of lecture, student reports and discussion. Audiovisual material will be used where appropriate.
III. Requirements (a) Each student is expected to have read carefully all assigned readings for each session before class. (b) Each student is responsible for all the material covered in class, (including audio-visual and handouts.) (c) Attendance is expected at all sessions; absences will be excused only with a letter from a doctor or the Dean. Absences negatively affect a student's grade for class participation. (d) Each student is responsible for obtaining any handouts, viewing audio-visual material, and learning of announcements for any class missed. Missing a class will not be a valid excuse for "not knowing." Each student is responsible for signing the attendance sheet for each class and for keeping track of their absences. (e) The final grade will be based on the following: (1) Class Presentation (30%) (2) Class Participation (30%) (3) Research Paper [15 pp. undergraduate] [25 pp. graduate] (40%). Topic to be determined in consultation with the instructor.
IV. Honor System Upon application to the College or the School of Foreign Service, all students pledged to abide by Georgetown University's Honor System. Each student is to be familiar with the University's Honor System, especially topics covered under "Standards of Conduct" which is found in the Undergraduate Bulletin or on line at
V. Basic Texts *Available at the Bookstore – other assigned material available on reserve
Brown, Carl, Religion and State: The Muslim Approach to Politics (Columbia University Press, 2000). Kepel Gilles et al, Al Qaeda in its Own Words, Harvard University Press, Mitchell, Society of the Muslim Brotherhood, Oxford University Press Mottahedeh, Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran, Oneworld Norton, Augustus Richard, Hezbollah: A Short History, Princeton: Princeton: University Press, 2007 Rashid, Ahmed, Taliban (Yale University Press, 2010). Tamimi, Azzam, Hamas: A History from Within, Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press, 2007
COURSE OUTLINE January 11 – Introduction to the Islamic Worldview
January 16 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (no class)
January 23 – The Qur'an and the Prophetic Model Reading: Brown, chs. 17 Peters, Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam, ch. 2.
January 30 – The Abbasid Revolution/ Reform and Revolution Reading: Humphreys, Islamic History: A Framework for Inquiry, pp. 104-127. Wellhausen, The Arab Kingdom and its Fall (Williams, trans.), pp. 492-566 The History of al-Tabari: The Abbasid Revolution, pp. 70-81, 115-119, 152-159. (on reserve) Background information is available on Blackboard ! Brown, chs. 8-12 Juergensmeyer, “Holy Orders: Religious Opposition to the Modern State” (on reserve) February 6 – The Revolt of Islam: Wahhabis, Fulanis Reading: Hiskett, The Sword of Truth, pp. 70-79, 100-169 (on reserve) Waldman, The Fulani Jihad: A Reassessment (on reserve) Keddie, “The Revolt of Islam,” 1700 to 1993 (on reserve)
February 13) Resistance against Colonialism: Sudan and Algeria Reading: Julia Clancy-Smith, “Saints, Mahdis, and Arms: Religion and Resistance in Nineteenth-Century North Africa,” in Burke and Lapidus, Islam, Politics, and Social Movements, ch. 4; (on reserve) Holt, The Mahdist State in the Sudan, pp. 1-57, 73-116 (on reserve)
February 20 President’s Day (no class)
February 27 Resistance against Colonialism: Palestine/ Algeria Reading: Ted Swedenburg, “The Role of the Palestinian Peasantry in the Great Revolt,” in Burke and Lapidus, Islam, Politics and Social Movements, ch. 9 (on reserve) Faruqi, “Islam and Zionism” (on reserve) Algeria: Revolution Revisited, chs. 3 & 8 (on reserve)*
TITLE, OUTLINE & WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY OF RESEARCH PAPER DUE
March 5 Spring Break (no class)
March 12 – Resistance against Post-Colonialism: The Muslim Brotherhood/ Jama`ati Islami Reading: .Brown, chs. 13-14 Haddad, "The Qur'anic Justification for an Islamic Revolution: The Views of Sayyid Qutb" MEJ 37:1, 1983 (on reserve) Qutb, Milestones (Available on Blackboard) Mawdudi, Meaning of the Qur’an, pp. 146-151, Towards . Undersanding the Qur’an, pp. 150-153 (on reserve) Jama`ati Islami, The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World (on reserve) March 19 Egyptian Revolutionary Movements Reading: Jansen, The Neglected Duty, pp. 159201 (on reserve) Mitchell, Society of the Muslim Brotherhood March 26 Iranian Revolution Reading: Brown, ch. 15 Roosevelt, Countercoup, ch. 1 (on reserve) Mottahedeh, Mantle of the Prophet Khomeini, Islam and Revolution (selections on reserve) “Iranian Revolution” power point on Blackboard
April 2 Palestinian Revolutionary Movements Reading: Tamimi, Hamas: A History from Within Mishal & Aharoni, Speaking Stones, chs. 1&2 (on reserve) Hamas powerpoint available on Blackboard
* RESERCH PAPER DUE
April 9 Easter Break No class
April 16 Hizbullah in Lebanon Reading: Norton, Hezbollah: A Short History Hizbullah powerpoint available on Blackboard
April 23 al-Qaeda Reading: Bin Laden, Messages to the World, Introduction, 1, 3, 11, 12, 21 (on reserve) Hoffman, “The Changing Face of al-Qaeda” (on reserve) Kepel, Al-Qaeda in its Own Words
April 30 Taliban Reading: Rashid, Taliban