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Readings in the Shi'i Tradition Spring, 2016 Instructor Seyed Ammar

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Readings in the Shi'i Tradition Spring, 2016 Instructor Seyed Ammar Readings in the Shi’i Tradition Spring, 2016 Instructor Seyed Ammar Nakhjavani Email [email protected] Course Description SYLLABUS This course is intended to familiarize students with the rich diversity of Shi’i primary sources in English translation. Although students who took my course on Shi’i Thought and History may find the readings chosen for this course especially relevant, the two courses are independent, neither of them is a prerequisite for the other. The course will be conducted as a graduate seminar, where student participation is essential. Brief lectures introducing a given topic or theme will be presented as needed. Attendance and on-time arrival is expected at all class sessions. If you are unable to attend a class session please inform the instructor or teaching assistant in advance so arrangements for make-up work can be made. Since attendance and participation constitute 10% of your grade, excessive tardiness or absence will lower your grade. Students who miss more than three classes will not be able to successfully pass the course. Course Schedule and Weekly Readings Most readings, unless otherwise noted, will be found in the extensive library of Shi’i sources online:www.al-islam.org Week 1: Introduction to the course Week 2: Kitab Sulaym b Qays al-Hilali http://almahdiyouth.org/wp- content/uploads/2015/01/Kitab_Sulaym_PI.pdf Week 3: Ismailism An Anthology of Ismaili Literature: A Shi'i Vision of Islam: Samira Sheikh (Editor), K. Kassam (Editor), H. Landolt (Editor) part 2 Week 4: Shi’i Islam: Origins, Faith and Practices by Mohammad Ali Shomali–entire book, this book is an easy and quick read. Week 5: Biographies of the Imams Muhamad Ibn Ali, his son Ja’far al-Sadiq, and the Twelfth Imam in Kitab al-Irshad by al-Mufid. These are in SonisWeb under week 5. Week 6: Interpretation (tafsir) of the Qur’an and the worlds of the Imam. a. Mahmoud Ayoub – Principles and Development of Shi’a Tafsir. b. Selections from Al-Mizan http://www.shiasource.com/al-mizan/ look up Surah 2 verse 124 c. Nahjul-Balaghah: letter 31 to Imam al-Hasan, http://www.al-islam.org/nahj/ d. Usul al-Kafi: Books 1 and 4: http://al-kafi.org/Contents.htm Week 7 Shi’I Devotions and the Ethos of Martyrdom: a. Selections from Sahifa al-Sajjadiyyah http://www.al-islam.org/sahifa/ :Supplication 1, 20 and the “Whispered Prayers” 69-83 b. Dua’ al-Kumail http://imamalinet.net/en/k/kumail/kum1.HTM c. Kitab al Irshad, al Husayn (on SonisWeb) d. M. Ayoub Redemptive Suffering in Islam chapter 4 on Martyrdom and the Suffering of the Imam Husayn and his family (on SonisWeb) Week 8: Jurisprudence (fiqh) a. Questions on Jurisprudence (by Sharaf al-Din al-‘ameli explaining the peculiar Shi’i juridical viewpoints) http://www.al-islam.org/masail b. Contemporary Legal Rulings in Shi’i Law by Ayatullah ‘Ali Sistani Week 9 Shi’I Beliefs and Doctrines: Doctrines of Shi`i Islam: A Compendium of Imami Beliefs and Practices by Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani (Author), Reza Shah Kazemi (Translator) – Chapter 2 Week 10: Shi’I Theology (Kalam) Shiite Creed by al-Shaykh al-Saduq (Ibn Babawayh al-Qummi) Shiite Creed can be found online: http://www.scribd.com/doc/7620120/Shia- Creed Week 11 Shi’i Mysticism and Gnosis (‘irfan): Light within me, an anthology of writings by Mutahhari, Khomeini and Tabatabai http://www.al-islam.org/lwm/ parts 1 and 2 by Mutahhari and Tabatabai Week 12: Contemporary Sociological Shi’I Thought: On the Sociology of Islam: Lectures by Ali Shari’ati by Hamid Algar (editor) the following lectures: Man and Islam, The Worldview of Tauhid, Anthropology, The Ideal Society, The Ideal Man Week 13: Contemporary Shi’a political thought: Islam and Revolution 1: Islamic Government from Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini translated and edited by Hamid Algar p. 27- 167 Week 14: Class presentations Week 15: Completing class presentations and concluding the course. Course Requirements All students are expected to read all weekly readings on time and participate in discussions. Every week two students will be assigned the task of introducing the readings for the week and lead the discussion on them. Every student will prepare a final term paper of 12-15 pages in length, with proper footnotes or endnotes and bibliography. All students will be asked – weeks 14 and 15 -to share the fruits of their research and ideas for the final paper with the rest of the students in a 15-20 minutes class presentation. Grading Grades will be computed as follows: -Class attendance and general participation 10% -Introducing the readings and class presentations 40% -Final term paper 50% Required Texts for purchase Algar, Hamid (translator).Islam and Revolution 1: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini, Mizan Press, 1981. Algar, Hamid (translator). On the Sociology of Islam: Lectures by Ali Shari’ati, Mizan Press, 1979 For Further Reading Awsaf al-Ashraf. Attributes of the nobles By khwajaNasir al-Din al-Tusi (All readings are on line) http://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/awsaf/ Ayoub, Mahmoud. Redemptive Suffering in Islam: a Study of the Devotional Aspects of ‘Ashura’ in Twelver Shi’ism, the Hague, Mouton Publishers, 1978 ----------------------.TheCrisis of Muslim History: Religion and Politics in Early Islam, Oxford, Oneworld Publications, 2003 Brunner, Ranie and Werner Ende, eds. The TwelverShia in Modern Times: Religious Culture and Political History. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2001 Corbin, Henry. Cyclical Time and Ismaili Gnosis. London: The Institute of Ismaili Studies Ltd., Kegan Paul Int’l with Islamic Publications, 1985 ed Chittick, William, AShi’ite Anthology , London: Muhammadi Trust of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1980 Daftari, Farhad.A Short History of the Ismailis.Edinburgh University Press 1998 Halm, Heinz.Shiism. Second Edition. New York: Columbia University Press 2004 Halm, Heinz.Shi’a Islam: From Religion to Revolution. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 1997 Jafri, S. Husain M. The Origins and Early Development of shi’aIslam.Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2002 Kitab al-irshad - http://www.al-islam.org/ Khamenei’sAjwibat al-Istifta’at (Practical Laws of Islam) http://dlserver.yasinmedia.com/v87/English_Page/books_en_html/books/Practical%2 0Laws%20of%20Islam/ Martin, Vanessa. Creating an Islamic state: Khomeini and the making of New Iran. (London: I.B. Tauris, 2000) Nasr, SeyyedHossein, HamidDabashi and SeyyedVali Reza Nasr, (eds). Expectation of the Millennium: Shi’ism in History. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988 Sachedina, Abdulaziz A. Islamic Messianism: The Idea of the Mahdi in TwelverShi’ism. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1981 Sadra,Mulla, The Elixir of the Gnostics: A parallel English-Arabic text, William Chitick trans. (Islamic Translation Series), Bringham Young University, 2002 Tabataba’i, ‘AllamahSayyid Muhammad Husain, SeyyedHoseynNasr(translator). Shi’ite Islam. London: George Allen &Unwin, 1975 a. Tenets of Islam by Nasir al-Din Tusi Tabataba'I, ‘AllamahSayyid Muhammad Husayn (Author), SeyyedHosseinNasr (Contributor), Mohammad H. Faghfoory (Contributor), Sayyid Muhammad HusaynHusayniTihrani (Contributor).Kernel of the Kernel: A Shi’a approach to Sufism, Suny Press, 2007 Walker, E. Paul. Orations of the Fatimid Caliphs: Festival Sermons of the Ismaili Imams (Ismaili Texts and Translations), IB Tauris, 2009 For further research and additional readings, please consult the extensive library of Shi`ite sources on line: www.al-islam.org. .
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