: 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, 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 . 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 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. Azim Nanji. 181-219. • Hermansen, M. K. “Trends in Islamic studies in the United States and Canada since the 1970s.” American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences. 10:1 (1993): 96-118.

#1) Tue 1/20 Course Introduction; Field Overview and Key Terms/Concepts

#2) Thu 1/22 Study the Fihris of al-Suyuti’s Itqān

#3) Tue 1/27 Discuss Waardenburg and Hermansen articles

#4) Thu 1/29 Unit 1 book presentations 1-3

#5) Tue 2/3 Unit 1 book presentations 4-6

Unit 2: Qur’an and Tafsir Studies Topic A) History/field of Qur’anic studies and types of tafsir • Mahmoud Ayoub, “The Speaking Qur’an and the Silent Qur’an: … Imami Shii tafsir.” • Bruce Fudge, “Qur’anic Exegesis in Medieval Islam and Modern Orientalism.” • Andrew Rippin, “Tafsir.” Topic B) Qur’an, history and literature • Angelika Neuwirth, “Qur’an and History – a Disputed Relationship …” • Mustansir Mir, “The Qur’an as Literature.” Topic C) Traditional content topics, part 1 • Sebastian Günther, “Muḥammad, the Illiterate Prophet” • Leah Kinberg, “Muḥkamāt and Mutashābihāt (Koran 3/7): … Medieval Exegesis” Topic D) Traditional content topics, part 2 • David Powers, “The exegetical genre nasikh al-Qur’an wa mansukhuhu” • Roberto Totolli, “Origin and use of the term Isra`iliyyat in Muslim literature.”

#6) Thu 2/5 Discuss Unit 2, Topic A readings Literature review proposal w/ bibliography due

#7) Tue 2/10 Unit 2 book presentations 1-3

#8) Thu 2/12 Discuss Unit 2, Topic B readings

#9) Tue 2/17 Unit 2 book presentations 4-6

#10) Thu 2/19 Discuss Unit 2, Topic C readings Course proposal due

#11) Tue 2/24 Discuss Unit 2, Topic D readings

Unit 3: Ḥadīth Studies Topic A) Introductory • Kevin Reinhart, “Juynbolliana, Gradualism, the Big Bang, and Ḥadīth Study in the 21st Century” Topic B) History/trends in traditional ḥadīth sciences • Adis Duderija, “Evolution in the Canonical Sunni Ḥadith Body of Literature” • Robert Gleave, “Between Ḥadith and Fiqh: the Canonical Imami Collections of Akhbar” Topic C) Structure of and compilations • Sebastian Gunther, “Assessing the Sources of Classical Arabic Compilations” • R. Marston Speight, “Narrative Structures in the Ḥadīth” • Marston Speight, “A Look at Variant Readings in Ḥadīth” Topic D) Ḥadīth criticism and authenticity debates • G. H. A. Juynboll, “(Re)appraisal of some technical terms in ḥadith science” • Wael Hallaq, “The Authenticity of Prophetic Ḥadīth: A Pseudo-Problem” • Harald Motzki, “The Muṣannaf of `Abd al-Razzāq al-San`ani as a Source of Authentic Aḥādīth of the First Century AH”

#12) Thu 2/26 Discuss Unit 3, Topic A reading

#13) Tue 3/3 Discuss Unit 3, Topic B readings

#14) Thu 3/5 Discuss Unit 3, Topic C readings Outline with Introduction due

#15) Tue 3/10 Discuss Unit 3, Topic D readings

#16) Thu 3/12 Unit 3 book presentations 1-3

SPRING BREAK (Monday 3/16 – Friday 3/20)

#17) Tue 3/24 Unit 3 book presentation 4-6

Unit 4: Legal Studies: Theory (usul and furu`) and History Topic A) Relationship between fiqh, sunna and ḥadīth • Christopher Melchert, “Traditionist-Jurisprudents and the framing of Islamic law.” • Scott Lucas, “Where are the Legal Ḥadith? A Study of the Muṣannaf of Ibn Abī Shayba.” • Yasin Dutton, “`Amal vs. ḥadīth in Islamic law: the case of sadl al-yadayn.” Topic B) Shi`i fiqh and theology • Said Amir Arjomand, “The consolation of theology: the absence of the Imam …” • Norman Calder, “Doubt and prerogative: the emergence of an Imami Shi`i theory of ijtihad.” • Wilferd Madelung, “The sources of Isma`ili law.” Topic C) Miscellaneous • Christopher Melchert, “How Hanafism came to Originate in Kufa and Traditionalism in Madina.” • Mohammad H. Kamali, “Qawa`id al-Fiqh: The Legal Maxims of Islamic Law.”

#18) Thu 3/26 Discuss Unit 4, Topic A readings Syllabus and companion essay due

#19) Tue 3/31 Discuss Unit 4, Topic B readings

#20) Thu 4/2 Discuss Unit 4, Topic C readings

#21) Tue 4/7 Unit 4 book presentations 1-3

#22) Thu 4/9 Unit 4 book presentations 4-6

Unit 5: Gender and Ethics Topic A) Law, Ethics and Gender • David Johnston, “A turn in the epistemology and hermeneutics of 20th c usul al-fiqh” • Ebrahim Moosa, “Contrapuntal Readings in Muslim Thought.” Topic B) Qur’anic Interpretation and Gender • Asma Barlas, “The Qur’an and Hermeneutics: Reading the Qur’an’s opposition to patriarchy” • Manuela Marín, “Disciplining Wives: A Historical Reading of Qur'ân 4:34” • Joseph Witztum, “Q 4:24 revisited” Topic C) Ḥadīth and Gender • Asma Sayeed, “Women and ḥadīth transmission” • Sa`diyya Shaikh, “Knowledge, women and gender in the ḥadīth” Topic D) Law and Gender • Scott Lucas, “Perhaps you only kissed her?” • Mohammad Fadel, “Two women, one man” Topic E) Islam and Feminism • Valentine M. Moghadam, “Islamic Feminism and Its Discontents” • Margot Badran, “Between secular and Islamic feminism/s”

#23) Tue 4/14 Unit 5, Topic A readings

#24) Thu 4/16 Unit 5, Topic B readings

#25) Tue 4/21 Unit 5, Topic C readings

#26) Thu 4/23 Unit 5, Topic D readings

#27) Tue 4/28 Unit 5, Topic E readings

#28) Thu 4/30 Unit 5 Book Presentations 1-3

#29) Tue 5/5 Unit 5 Book Presentations 4-6

#30) Thu 5/7 Course Wrap-Up Final papers due by midnight