Islamic Studies: a Disciplinary Introduction – Spring 2015 Prof
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Islamic Studies: A Disciplinary Introduction – Spring 2015 Prof. Hina Azam Graduate Seminar – MEL 380 (40845), MES 386 (41190) R S 390T (43330) Day/Time: T/Th 12:30-2:00 Office: CAL 506 Location: CAL 422 Off Hrs: T/Th 3:30-4:30 or by appt Course Description This graduate seminar is designed to acquaint students with the academic study of Islam within the broader discipline of religious studies, in part to prepare students for possible doctoral work in Islamic studies. We will explore the field of Islamic studies - its history and major contributors, salient theories and debates, methods and sources. A further objective of the course is to provide students with a rudimentary knowledge of major subfields within Islamic Studies, such as those pertaining to the Qur'an and its exegesis, to the life and legacy of Muhammad, to law and legal theory, and to the study of gender in Islam. A final area of attention will be pedagogy in Islamic studies, the objective here being to help prepare students to teach courses on Islam. To this end, we will review a number of introductory textbooks in Islam. Course grade will be based on class participation, in-class presentations, a syllabus project, and a research paper. Course Requirements 5 In-class presentations on readings, 8% each 40% Term paper (20%) 20% Syllabus project (20%) 20% Attendance, preparedness & participation (12%) 20% In-class Presentations Unit presentations are to include the following: a) a handout (for all students and me) including full bibliographic information, table of contents (TOC), summary for each component of TOC, and a brief assessment of the work – no more than 3 pp b) a brief oral presentation on the above elements – 15 min maximum Term Paper Option 1: Research paper Students with Arabic ability should formulate a project that engages Arabic primary texts within one or more of the classical Islamic studies disciplines (Qur’anic studies/tafsir, ḥadīth studies/isnād criticism, fiqh uṣūl or furū`, taṣawwuf), with topic to be approved by me. Option 2: Review essay / survey of the field If you are not able to work in Arabic primary texts, you may write a review essay of the core secondary literature available on a particular topic of your choice, approved by me. Inclusion of secondary works in languages other than English is encouraged. The paper will be due in stages: a) A proposal including background to your chosen topic (personal interest and/or academic relevance) and a tentative reading list (ie bibliography). You may include works from our course texts. Due on class #6. b) A complete outline of the paper, showing topical progression and planned utilization of source materials, as well as a draft introduction to the paper. Due on class #14. b) The final paper. This should be 5,000-6,000 words long (approx. 15pp), and should be submitted electronically by midnight on the due date. It should include a proper title page, pagination and a bibliography/sources list. Any citation method is permissible, as long as you are consistent. Due on Thursday May 7. Syllabus Project This course will also offer an opportunity to create your own syllabus for a course of your choosing. Your proposed course should ideally be relevant to the type of job opening you might apply for, or may be for an Introduction to Islam course. You may base your course around your paper project. This assignment will be due in stages and consist of multiple components: a) The course proposal, consisting of a short (1-2 paragraph) description of your proposed course, is due on class #10. b) The syllabus, as it would be handed to students, including a title, course description, class schedule (including lecture topics, required readings, and assignments due), and explanation of grading structure and other policies, is due on class #18. c) A companion essay of 5 pages, explaining your choices of course topic, course themes, structure, readings and assignments, is also due on class #18. Attendance, Preparedness, & Participation You are expected to arrive to class each week on time and prepared to contribute to the classroom environment. You will be permitted one absence in the course of the semester; more than once absence may adversely impact your grade. Course Readings Articles are all required readings for all students. They will be made available in pdf format and will be discussed in class. The books listed below are available at PCL unless otherwise noted. Each student is required to read and present on at least one entry for each unit. We will determine who will present on which book in advance. Introductory Textbooks – Unit 1: • John Esposito. Islam: the straight path, 3rd edition. 2005 [1991] – BP 161.2 E85 • Andrew Rippin. Muslims: their religious beliefs and practices. 2001 [1993] - BP 161.2 R53 • David Waines. An introduction to Islam. 1995 – BP 161.2 W29 • Frederick M. Denny. An introduction to Islam. 1994 – BP 161.2 D46 • Sachiko Murata. The vision of Islam. 1994 – BP 161.2 M78 • David Norcliffe. Islam: faith and practice. 1999. – BP 161.2 N68 • Neal Robinson. Islam, a concise introduction. 1998. – BP 161.2 R59 • Malise Ruthven. Islam: a very short introduction. 2000. – BP 161.2 R86 • Ira Zepp. A Muslim primer: beginner’s guide to Islam. 2000. – BP 161.2 Z46 • Mahmoud Ayoub. Islam: faith and history. 2004. – BP 161.3 A96 Qur’an and Tafsir Studies – Unit 2: • Bruce Lawrence. The Qur’an: a biography. 2007. – BP 130.74 L39 • Andrew Rippin, ed. The Qur’an: formative interpretation. 1999. – BP 130.45 Q67 • Andrew Rippin, ed. Approaches to the history of the Interpretation of the Qur’an. 1988. – BP 130.45 A66 • G. R. Hawting and Abdul-Kader A. Shareef, eds. Approaches to the Qur’an. 1993. - electronic resource • John E. Wansbrough. Qur’anic studies: sources and methods of scriptural interpretation, with foreword and notes by Andrew Rippin. 2004. – BP 130.45 W46 • Walid Saleh. The formation of the classical tafsir tradition: the Qur’an commentary of al- Tha`labi (d.427/1035). 2004. – BP 130.45 S336 • Meir Bar-Asher. Scripture and exegesis in early Imami-Shiism. 1999. – BP 130.45 B3713 • Barbara Stowasser. Women in the Qur’an, traditions and interpretation. 1994. – BP 134 W6 S76 • Gregor Schoeler. The Oral and the Written in Early Islam. – check PCL Hadith Studies – Unit 3: • G. H. A. Juynboll. Muslim tradition: studies in chronology, provenance and authorship of early hadith. 1983. • G. H. A. Juynboll. Studies on the origins and uses of Islamic hadith. 1996. – BP 136 J892 • Harald Motzki, Hadith: origins and development. 2004. – BP 135.66 H33 • Muhammad Zubair Siddiqi, Hadith literature: its origins, development, special features and criticism. 1961. – 297 SI13H • Herbert Berg, The development of exegesis in early Islam: the authenticity of Muslim literature from the formative period. 2000 . – BP 136.4 B47 • Jonathan Brown. The canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim: the formation and function of the Sunni hadith canon. 2007. – BP 135 A128 B76 • Scott Lucas. Constructive critics, hadith literature, and the articulation of Sunni Islam: the legacy of the generation of Ibn Sa`d, Ibn Ma`in and Ibn Hanbal. 2004. – BP 166.1 L83 Legal Theory and Development – Unit 4: • Ignaz Goldziher. Introduction to Islamic theology and law. ca. 1910. - BP 161 G5713 • Joseph Schacht. An introduction to Islamic law. 1964. - BP 144 S322 • Joseph Schacht. The origins of Muhammadan jurisprudence. 1950. - 297 SCH11O • Noel J. Coulson. A history of Islamic law. 1979 [1964]. – BP 144 C684 • Norman Calder. Studies in early Muslim jurisprudence. 1993. - BP 145 C34 • Wael Hallaq. A history of Islamic legal theories: an introduction to Sunni usul al-fiqh. 1997. – BP 144 H235 • Wael Hallaq. Law and legal theory in classical and medieval Islam. 1995. – BP 144 H236 • Mohammad Hashim Kamali, Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence. 2003. – KBP 440.7 K35 2003 • Brannon Wheeler. Applying the canon in Islam: The authorization and maintenance of interpretive reasoning in Hanafi scholarship. 1996. – BP 144 W48 • Harald Motzki. The origins of Islamic jurisprudence: Meccan fiqh before the classical schools. 2002. – (Law) KBP 440.7 M6713 Legal Institutions & Practice – Unit 4: • M. K. Masud, B. Messick and D. S. Powers, Islamic legal interpretation: muftis and their fatwas. 1996. – BP 144 I76 • Christopher Melchert. The formation of the Sunni schools of law, 9th-10th centuries C.E. 1997. – (Law) KBP 285 M44 • Devin Stewart. Islamic legal orthodoxy: twelver Shiite responses to the Sunni legal system. 1998. – (Law) KBP 50 S83 • Wael Hallaq. The origins and evolution of Islamic law. 2005. – (Law) KBP 55 H35 • M. K. Masud, R. Peters and D. S. Powers, Dispensing justice in Islam: qadis and their judgments. 2006. – (Law) KBP 1610 D57 • Leila Ahmed. Women and gender in Islam: historical roots of a modern debate. 1992. – HQ 1784 A67 Ethics & Gender – Unit 5: • A. Kevin Reinhart. Before revelation: the boundaries of Muslim moral thought 1995 – BP 166.1 R45 • Michael A. Cook. Forbidding wrong in Islam: an introduction. 2003. – electronic resource • Amina Wadud Muhsin. Qur’an and woman. 1992. – BP 134 W6 W28 • Asma Barlas. “Believing women” in Islam: unreading patriarchal interpretations of the Qur’an 2002 – BP 173.4 B35 • Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam • Kecia Ali. Sexual ethics and Islam: feminist reflections on Qur’an, hadith and jurisprudence. 2006. – HQ 32 A45 • Kecia Ali. Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam. • Ayesha Chaudhry, Domestic Violence and the Islamic Tradition • Marcia Hermansen and Ednan Aslan, eds., Muslima Theology: The Voices of Muslim Women Theologians • Aysha Hidayatullah. Feminist Edges of the Qur’an. Class Schedule Unit 1: Introduction to the Field of Islamic Studies • Jacques Waardenburg, “Islamic Studies and the History of Religions.” In Mapping Islamic Studies, ed.