Islam and Religious Diversity Joseph Lumbard NEJS 188b Fall 2014 Course Description and Objectives The position of Islam vis-à-vis other religious and secular traditions and its place in a pluralistic world has become an important topic of discussion. Questions such as the place of religious freedom, the rights of women and minorities, and the Islamic doctrine of jihad are discussed in many outlets. Some maintain that Islam bears a tradition of tolerance testified by theological, legal and historical realities. Others maintain that there is a fundamental hostility in Islam towards non-muslims, some have even compared Islam to totalitarian ideologies. The course will examine the panorama of varying Muslim discourses about the self and the other throughout Islamic history. It will underline the significance of understanding, the manner in which Muslims have seen Islam and themselves instead of relying primarily on the evaluations of non-muslims. The guiding premise is that in order to understand the other, whether it is a system of thought, a religion, or a culture, it is necessary to learn to see the world through the eyes of the other to the extent that one is able. After situating Islam in the world today, the course will examine the Quran, the foundational source of Muslim belief and practice, focusing on verses that deal with questions of religious diversity. It will then examine the concept of prophecy, which undergirds the Islamic conception of religious pluralism, and the particular example of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, in relation to religious others. We will then look at the manner in which different schools of Islamic thought and practice have dealt with religious others, specifically Christianity, Judaism, Hindu traditions, Buddhism, and the Chinese religions. This historical and theological foundation will serve as the foundation for examining the manner in which new discourses on religious diversity are being developed in the contemporary period by Muslim intellectuals and scholars and how they relate to global issues of identity, otherness, and pluralism. By the end of the course, students should be able to understand the multiplicity of ways in which Muslims have theorized religious difference and approached religious others, through specific disciplinary methodologies and interpretations and through historical encounters. Students should also be able to draw their own conclusions about the possibilities of engagement between Muslims and others in the contemporary world. Required Texts 1. Muhammad Hassan Khalil, Islam and the Fate of Others: The Salvation Question (Oxford, 2012). 2. Muhammad Hassan Khalil, ed. Between Heaven and Hell: Islam, Salvation and the Fate of Others (Oxford, 2013). 3. Hugh Goddard, A History of Muslim-Christian Relations (Edinburgh, 2000).
All other required readings will be posted on Latte Assignments and requirements Each class will be focused on a particular topic with a specific assigned reading. All students are required to submit a short reflection paper (500 to 700 words) once a week on any of the week s readings that demonstrates their engagement with the material and answers the question(s) the instructor will provide to navigate each reading. Reflections are due by 5PM on Sunday of each week. Each student may skip two of these short reflections over the course of the semester. All students must submit a final paper (or two shorter papers) or a final project. The topic of the paper or project must be decided in conversation with the instructor for which the student must set up a conference with the instructor. The final paper must be 10-12 typed double-spaced pages and use a consistent citation format (preferably from the Chicago Manual of Style: see http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html for examples). If the option for two shorter papers is taken, each paper should be 5-6 typed double-spaced pages with consistent citation and answer a specific question that is raised in the readings and discussed with the instructor. Further instructions on the papers or project will be provided in class. Class discussion is a central element of this class and all students are required to participate in it. If you have any reasons for difficulty with this requirement, please discuss it with instructor. Grades 40% Final paper or 2 shorter papers or project 35% Weekly assignments 25% Participation Attendance Attendance is part of participation and is thus necessary. For excused absences, which include but are not limited to illness, health emergencies, family emergencies, and participation in university sports or other activities, the instructor must be informed in advance. Any more than two unexcused absences will result in an adverse effect on your grade. It is your responsibility to acquire notes of the class lecture/discussion if absent. Policy on Late Work and Incompletes: Late work will be penalized by half a letter grade for each day overdue (including weekends and holidays). Extensions will be granted only in very exceptional circumstances, and in no case after the original deadline for completion has passed. Students who anticipate difficulty in meeting deadlines should contact me as far in advance of the due date as possible. A course grade of incomplete will only be granted for compelling reasons. University Statement on Academic Integrity: Academic integrity is central to the mission of educational excellence at Brandeis University. Each student is expected to turn in work completed independently, except when assignments specifically
authorize collaborative effort. It is not acceptable to use the words or ideas of another person-be it a world-class philosopher or your lab partner-without proper acknowledgement of that source. This means that you must use footnotes and quotation marks to indicate the source of any phrases, sentences, paragraphs or ideas found in published volumes, on the internet, or created by another student. Violations of University policies on academic integrity, described in Section Three of Rights and Responsibilities, may result in failure in the course or on the assignment, or in suspension or dismissal from the University. If you are in doubt about the instructions for any assignment in this course, it is your responsibility to ask for clarification. Disabilities: A student who requires accommodation for a documented disability of any type should see the instructor immediately to discuss modifications for any assignments. Syllabus Week 1 Sept. 3 Introduction: review syllabus and course overview Reading: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity (San Francisco, 2002), Ch. 1: One God, Many Prophets: The Universality of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations, 1 54. Week 2 Sept. 8 10 Islam as the other: Islam and the West, Islam in the West Reading: John Esposito, The Future of Islam (Oxford, 2010), Ch. 1: The Many Faces of Islam and Muslims, 10 55. Richard Bulliet, The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization, Ch. 1. The Case for an Islamo-Christian Civilization, 1 46. Viewing: Edward Said on Orientalism on YouTube. Week 3 Sept. 15 17 9/30 The Quran: pluralism or exclusivity? Readings: Quran: Sūrahs 3 and 5. Joseph Lumbard, Covenant and Covenants in the Quran. Abdulaziz Sachedina, The Qur an on Religious Pluralism (Washington, DC, 1999). Week 4 Sept. 22 24 The Islamic tradition: A religious tradition and its many interpretations Reading: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Heart of Islam, Ch. 2: The Spectrum of Islam: Sunnism, Shi ism, and Sufism and Traditional, Modernist, and Fundamentalist Interpretations of Islam Today, 55 111. Week 5 Sept. 29 Oct. 1 The Doctrine of prophecy: self and other in Islam
Readings: Sachiko Murata and William Chittick, The Vision of Islam (St. Paul, 1994), Ch. 4: Prophecy, 132 63, 164 192. Week 6 Oct. 6 8 The other according to Islamic Law Reading: Yohanan Friedmann, Toleration and Coercion in Islam (Cambridge, UK, 2003), Ch. 2: Classification of Unbelievers, 54 86. David Friedenreich, The Food of the Damned in Between Heaven and Hell: Islam, Salvation, and the Fate of Others, ed. M. H. Khalil. Week 7 Oct. 15 Islam, Judaism and Christianity Readings: The Constitution of Medina in Fred Donner, Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam (Cambridge, MA, 2010), Appendix A, 227 32. Bernard Lewis, The Judaeo-Islamic Tradition in The Jews of Islam, 67 106. Hugh Goddard, A History of Christian-Muslim Relations, Chs. 1-6. Week 8 Oct. 20 22 Theological Perspectives Regarding the Question of salvation: Reading: Muhammad Hassan Khalil, Islam and the Fate of Others, Intro and Chs. 1 and 3 Week 9 Oct. 27 29 The Question of salvation: metaphysical perspectives Readings: Muhammad Hassan Khalil, Islam and the Fate of Others, Ch. 2. William Chittick, Imaginal Worlds: Ibn al-ʿarabī and the Problem of Religious Diversity, Chs. 8 10. Week 10 Nov. 3 5 The Question of salvation: modern and contemporary perspectives Reading: Muhammad Hassan Khalil, Islam and the Fate of Others, Ch. 4 Week 11 Nov. 10 12 Islam and the East: Readings: Yohanan Friedmann, "Islamic Thought in the Indian Context" Carl Ernst, "The Limits of Universalism in Islamic Thought: in Relation to Indian Religions." Reza-Shah Kazemi, Common Ground between Islam and Buddhism, 1 28; Hamza Yusuf, Buddha in the Qurʾān? in ibid., 113 136. Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, The Dao of Muhammad: A Cultural History of Muslims in Late Imperial China (Cambridge, MA, 2005), Ch. 4: "Muhammad and His Dao: Knowledge and Identity in the Han Kitab," 163 213. Week 12 Nov. 17 19 Contemporary Muslim discourse on self and other: dialogue or polemic
Readings: Reza Shah-Kazemi, The Other in the Light of the One, Ch. 4: Dialogue, Diatribe, or Da wa? 210 78. Frithjof Schuon, The Diversity of Revelation in his Gnosis: Divine Wisdom (London, 1959) 29 34. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Religion and Religions in Religion and the Order of Nature (Oxford, 1996), 9 28. Week 13 Nov. 24 Contemporary Muslim discourse: Salafism, Jihadism and Pluralism Reading: Joas Wagemakers, "The Transformation of a Radical Concept: al-wala' wa-l-bara' in the Ideology of Abu Muhammad al-maqdisi" in Roel Meijr, ed., Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement (New York, 2009), 81 106. Sherman Jackson, Jihad in the Modern World, The Journal of Islamic Law and Culture, 7:1 (Spring/Summer 2002). Week 14 Dec. 1 3 Muslims and Interfaith Dialogue in the contemporary U.S. Reading: Jane I. Smith, Muslims, Christians, and the Challenge of Interfaith Dialogue, Chs. 1, 3 5, 7. Week 15 Dec. 8 Conclusion