FALL 2005 ISLAM IN AMERICA (REL 196A/B) TIME: TUESDAY AND THURSDAY, 8:50-10:00 AM (A) OR 12:50-2:00 PM (B) LINC CATEGORY: M3 (ULTIMATE QUESTIONS) INSTRUCTOR: SHALAHUDIN KAFRAWI CLASSROOM: COMENIUS 114 CONTENT: The course deals with the characters of Islam in the United States of America. It focuses on the question of whether Islam is compatible with American worldview. The course compares Islamic values with American ideals, such as the struggle for equality, peace, justice, democracy, human rights, and multiculturalism. COURSE OBJECTIVES: At the end of the course, students are expected to achieve the following objectives: 1. to talk about common misconceptions about Islam in the United States of America; 2. to elaborate on the characteristics of American Islam; 3. to recognize Islamic and American ideals; 4. to discuss the challenges Muslims face in America; 5. to point the challenges American Muslims face in their search for their Islamic identity; 6. to compare what Muslims practice in the Middle Eastern countries with that in the U.S. GRADING FORMAT: 1. Participation (20%); Active participation includes asking questions, making comments and giving answers to problems or questions posed to students. 2. Two short papers (2-4 pages each; 20%); the assignments will be posted on the Blackboard and the papers should be sent to Blackboard s digital drop box. 3. Mid-term exam (10%); 4. Research paper (8-15 pages; 30%); research proposal and first draft of the paper are required prior to final submission; 5. Final exam (20%); 6. Perfect Attendance (5% extra). ACADEMIC HONESTY: Students are required to honor academic integrity. The course imposes the application of Moravian College s Academic Honesty Policy. The policy is to be found at Moravian College s Student Handbook: 2004-2005, pp. 52-8. 1
ATTENDANCE POLICY: Students are encouraged to attend all scheduled meetings for this course. Those with complete attendance will receive A (worth 5% extra percent of the total). Students have the liberty to miss four classes without any reason. Those who miss more than the allowed four absences will be downgraded by a point for each additional missed class. Those who miss a class with written justifiable reason(s) may be waived from absence if they take an assignment to substitute the missed class. PAPER SUBMISSIONS: All papers including (1) short papers, (2) research proposal, (3) draft of research paper and (4) final research paper should be electronically submitted through Blackboard on or before the indicated dates. If for some reason there is a problem with electronic submission, the printed copy of the paper should be submitted to the instructor s office on the same day. Late submissions will be downgraded for that specific assignment by one point per day. Students are encouraged to rewrite the two short papers. Final research papers cannot be rewritten. The rewritten papers are due within a week after the papers are electronically distributed. Unsatisfied reflective papers should be rewritten within a week after distribution. Since the grades of the rewritten papers can be better or worse than the originally submitted papers, the best grades will be counted toward the final. CONTACT INFORMATION: Office: Zinzendorf 201 Phone: (610) 861-1628 E-mail: skafrawi@moravian.edu Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 10:30 AM-12:30 PM; or by appointment. READINGS AVAILABLE AT THE COLLEGE BOOKSTORE: Bukhari, Zahid H. at el, eds. Muslim place in the American Public Square: Hope, Fear and Aspirations. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press, 2004. Muhaiyaddeen, M.R. Bawa. Islam and World Peace: Explanation of a Sufi. Philadelphia: The Fellowship Press, 1987. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2002. Safi, Omid, ed. Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender and Pluralism. Oxford: Oneworld, 2003. Smith, Jane I. Islam in America. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. Spencer, Robert. Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions about the World s Fastest Growing Religion. San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2002. READINGS AVAILABLE AT THE REEVES LIBRARY RESERVES: Delong-Bas, Natana J. The Trajectory of Wahhabism: From Revival to Reform to Global Jihad. In Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Pp. 227-279. Er-Rashid, Haroun. Muslims and the West: A Paradigm for Polarization. In Michael J. Thomson, ed. Islam and the West: Critical Perspectives on Modernity. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003. Pp. 5-20. 2
Gerges, Fawaz A. Islam and Muslims in the Mind of America: Influences on the Making of U.S. Policy. Journal of Palestinian Studies. Vol. 26.2 (Winter 1997). Pp. 68-80. Kepel, Gilles. Farrakhan in the Looking-Glass of America. In Allah in the West. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997. Pp. 44-78. Kepel, Gilles. The Three Lives of Malcom X. In Allah in the West. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997. Pp. 34-43. Langman, Lauren and Douglas Morris. The Roots of Terror. In Michael J. Thomson, ed. Islam and the West: Critical Perspectives on Modernity. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003. Pp. 49-74. Mazrui, Ali A. Between the Crescent and the Star Spangled Banner: American Muslims and US Foreign Policy. International Affairs. Vol. 72.3 (1996). Pp. 493-506. Nyang, Sulayman S. Convergent and Divergence in an Emergent Community: A Study of Chanllenges Facing U.S. Muslims. In Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, ed. The Muslims of America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Pp. 236-49. Pipes, Daniel. Is Islam a Threat. In Militant Islam Reaches America. New York: W.W. Northon, 2002. Pp. 3-14. Riddell, Peter G. and Peter Cotterell. Responses to Terrorism. In Islam in Context: Past, Present, and Future. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2003. Pp. 195-210. Riddell, Peter G. and Peter Cotterell. The Muslim Masses and Westophobia. In Islam in Context: Past, Present, and Future. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2003. Pp. 149-63. Turner, Richard Brent. Malcom X and His Successors: Contemporary Significations of African American Islam. In Islam in the African-American Experience. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997. Pp. 174-237. Vahdat, Farzin. Critical Theory and the Islamic Encounter with Modernity. In Michael J. Thomson, ed. Islam and the West: Critical Perspectives on Modernity. Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2003. Pp. 123-138. Voll, John O. Islamic Issue for Muslims in the United States. In Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, ed. The Muslims of America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Pp. 205-16. SCHEDULE: No. Date Topic and Reading Due Dates 1. 8/30 Introduction [Reading: Syllabus] 2. 9/1 Islam and the West: A Paradigm [Reading: Haroun Er-Rashid, Muslims and the West: A Paradigm for Polarization, in Michael J. Thomson, Islam and the West: Critical Perspectives on Modernity, 5-20.] 3. 9/6 Is Islam a Threat to America? [Readings: Robert Spencer, Does the West Really Have Nothing to Fear from Islam?, in Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions about the World s Fastest Growing Religion, 165-76 and Daniel Pipes, Is Islam a Threat, in Militant Islam Reaches America, 3-14]. 4. 9/8 Is Islam a Threat to America? 3
[Reading: M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, Part Two: Holy War, in Islam and World Peace: Explanation of a Sufi, 37-96]. 5. 9/13 Pillars of Islam [Reading: Jane I. Smith Muslim Faith and Practice, in Islam in America, 1-21; M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, The True Meaning of Islam, in Islam and World Peace: Explanation of a Sufi, 141-4; and Jane I. Smith, The Public Practice of Islam, in Islam in America, 150-76]. 6. 9/15 The Coming of Islam [Reading: Jane I. Smith, Islam Comes to America, in Islam in America, 50-75]. 7. 9/20 African-American Muslims 1 [Reading: Gilles Kepel, The Three Lives of Malcom X, in Allah in the West, 34-43 and Jane I. Smith, Islam in the African American Community, in Islam in America, 76-103]. 8. 9/22 African-American Muslims 2 [Reading: Richard Brent Turner, Malcom X and His Successors: Contemporary Significations of African American Islam, in Islam in the African-American Experience,174-237]. 9. 9/27 African American Muslims 3 [Reading: Gilles Kepel, Farrakhan in the Looking-Glass of America, in Allah in the West, 44-78]. 10. 9/29 Islamic and American Values 1: Peace 1 [Reading: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Compassion and Love, Peace and Beauty, in The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity, 201-36]. 11. 10/4 Islamic and American Values 2: Peace 2 [Reading: Robert Spencer, Is Islam a Religion of Peace?, in Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions about the World s Fastest Growing Religion, 7-37]. 12. 10/6 Islamic and American Values 4: Justice [Reading: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Divine and Human Justice, in The Heart of Islam, 237-72]. 13. 10/11 Fall Recess No class 14. 10/13 Islamic and American Values 5: Human Rights 1 [Reading: Robert Spencer, Does Islam Respect Human Rights?, in Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions about the World s Fastest Growing Religion, 57-72]. 15. 10/18 Islamic and American Values 6: Human Rights 2 [Reading: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Human Responsibilities and Human Rights, in The Heart of Islam, 273-306]. 16. 10/20 Islamic and American Values 7: Women s Rights [Reading: Robert Spencer, Does Islam Respect Women?, Short Paper 1 Research proposal Mid-term exam Short Paper 2 4
in Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions about the World s Fastest Growing Religion, 73-92 and Jane I. Smith, Women and the Muslim American Family, in Islam in America, 104-25]. 17. 10/25 Islamic and American Values 8: Democracy [Reading: Robert Spencer, Is Islam compatible with Liberal Democracy?, in Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions about the World s Fastest Growing Religion, 93-9 and Ahmad S. Moussalli, Islamic Democracy and Pluralism, in Omid Safi, ed., Progressive Muslims on Justice, Gender, and Pluralism, 286-305]. 18. 10/27 Islamic and American Values 9: Modernity [Reading: Farzin Vahdat, Critical Theory and the Islamic Encounter with Modernity, in Michael J. Thomson, Islam and the West: Critical Perspectives on Modernity, 123-138 and Khaled Abou El Fadl, The Ugly Modern and the Modern Ugly: Reclaiming the Beautiful in Islam, 33-77]. 19. 11/1 Islamic and American Values 10: On Secularism [Reading: Robert Spencer, Can Islam be Secularized and Made Compatible with the Western Pluralistic Framework?, in Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions about the World s Fastest Growing Religion, 101-11]. 20. 11/3 Islamic and American Values 11: Tolerance [Reading: Robert Spencer, Is Islam Tolerant of Non- Muslims?, in Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions about the World s Fastest Growing Religion, 143-64 and Seyyed Hossein Nasr, One God, Many Prophets, in The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity, 143-64]. 21. 11/8 Islamic and American Values 12: Multiculturalism [Reading: Amir Hussain, Muslims, Pluralism and Interfaith Dialogue, in Omid Safi, ed., Progressive Muslims on Justice, Gender, and Pluralism, 251-69; and Aminah Beverly McCloud, Conceptual Discourse: Living as a Muslim in a Pluralistic Society, in Zahid H. Bukhari et al, Muslims Place in the American Public Square, 73-83]. 22. 11/10 Islam in America: Movie Presentation [Movie: Muslims: The Misunderstood Millions]. 23. 11/15 Terrorism: Historical and Theological Roots [Reading: Natana J. Delong-Bas, The Trajectory of Wahhabism: From Revival to Reform to Global Jihad, in Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad, 227-279]. 24. 11/17 Terrorism: Socio-Political Roots [Reading: Lauren Langman and Douglas Morris, The Roots of Terror, in Michael J. Thomson, ed., Islam and the West: A Critical Perspectives on Modernity, 49-74]. Draft of Research Paper 5
25. 11/22 Terrorism: Socio-Politico and Cultural Roots [Reading: Peter G. Riddell and Peter Cotterell, The Muslim Masses and Westophobia, in Islam in Context: Past, Present, and Future, 149-63]. 26. 11/24 Thanksgiving No class 27. 11/29 Counter-Terrorism [Reading: Peter G. Riddell and Peter Cotterell, Responses to Terrorism, in Islam in Context: Past, Present, and Future, 195-210]. 28. 12/1 American Muslims and the Question of Identity [Readings: John O. Voll, Islamic Issue for Muslims in the United States and Sulayman S. Nyang, Convergent and Divergence in an Emergent Community: A Study of Challenges Facing U.S. Muslims, in Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, ed., The Muslims of America, 205-16 and 236-49]. 29. 12/6 American Policy on Muslims and Its Impact on Muslims [Reading: Fawaz A. Gerges, Islam and Muslims in the Mind of America: Influences on the Making of U.S. Policy, Journal of Palestinian Studies, 26.2 (Winter 1997), 68-80 and Ali A. Mazrui, Between the Crescent and the Star Spangled Banner: American Muslims and US Foreign Policy, International Affairs, 72.3 (1996), 493-506]. 30. 12/8 Concluding Remarks Research Paper 6