Lahore University of Management Sciences SS 101 Islamic Studies Fall 2009 Instructors: Kamaluddin Ahmed Ejaz Akram Sadaf Ahmed Noman ul Haq Basit Kosul Ali Nobil Abdur Rahman Magid Shihade Iftikhar Zaman This short survey course has clearly defined aims. Conversely, this means that it has its limitations too. Its overriding aim is to introduce the student to the academic study of Islam Islam here denoting both a religious system, grounded upon certain normative revealed sources, as well as a civilization unfolding over time as a complex network of cultures shaped by historical contingencies. The course remains totally indifferent to the personal beliefs of the students, to any sectarian identity they espouse, and any doctrinal point of view they hold. We shall begin by a fundamental methodological question: How does one study a given religious system? What are the scholarly tools and conceptual frameworks for exploring a civilization radiating from a religious core? What are the limitations of an academic study of Islam? In what way is it different from the account and conception of the believer or, in the case of cultures, of the actor. From here we move on to a historical overview of Islam, looking at the web of Muslim intellectual, doctrinal, and cultural pluralities, all woven into an unmistakable spirit of an Islamic identity reverberating through them. Following this, we survey various local Muslim communities from the perspective of the social sciences, aiming to understand their diversities, and arriving now at the substantive nucleus of our discourse the doctrinal, normative, textual, spiritual, and legal contents of Islam, analytically treated. Then, carrying out an exploration of Islamic intellectual history, with particular reference to Greek civilization and Alexandrian Hellenism, we take up a general study of aesthetics in the context of Islamic literary
expressions and material culture, particularly in the realm of art and architecture. The course ends with a discussion of Islam and Muslims in the contemporary world, looking at the post-17 th century revivalist, reform, and modernist movements, the two World Wars, colonialism, and secularism. Course Format and Disciplinary Issues This is a lecture course taught by a team of faculty members but coordinated centrally by Dr. Syed Nomanul Haq and any concerns should be addressed to him. Timely attendance is mandatory, and three consecutive absences or late appearances will be subject to penalties, except in the case of emergencies. Students are required to complete the readings assigned prior to the class meeting which to which they relate. Grading Instruments Attendance Weight 10% Midterm Examination Weight 35% Quiz Weight 15% Final Examination Weight 40% Course Readings A full bibliography for the course is to be provided. Currently, a course reader is in preparation including the following works, complete or partial: J. L. Esposito, ed. Oxford History of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. C. Ernst. Shambhala Guide to Sufism. Boston: Shambhala Press, 1997. V. Gonzalez. Beauty and Islam: Aesthetics in Islamic Art and Architecture. London: I. B. Tauris, 2004. Syed Nomanul Haq. al-fārābī in N. Trakakis ed. History of Philosophy of Religion. London: Acumen, 2009. M. G. Hodgson. The Venture of Islam, vol. I. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1974. O. Grabar and R. Ettinghausen. Islamic Art and Architecture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. Ali al-hujwīrī. Kashf al-mahjub, R. A. Nicholson, tr. Delhi: Taj Company, 1982.
Ibn Khaldun. Muqaddima, F. Rosenthal tr. 3 vols. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967. Ibn Mansur al-hallaj. Kitāb al-tawāsīn, Abd Ar-Rahman tr. Berkeley, 1974. Fatima Jayyusi, ed. The Legacy of Muslim Spain. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2004., ed. City in the Islamic World. Leiden: Brill, 2008. M. Mamdani. Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, Cold War, and the Roots of Terror. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004. W. Paden. Interpreting the Sacred: Ways of Viewing Religion. Boston: Beacon Press, 1999. Jalaluddin Rumi. Mathnavi, R. A. Nicholson tr. Repr. Lahore: Sang-e Meel, 2004. M. Sells. Approaching the Qur an: The Early Revelations. Ashland: White Cloud Press, 2007.. Early Islamic Mysticism. New York: Paulist Press, 1996. M. Shihade. Internal Violence: State s Role and Society s Responses, Arab Studies Quarterly, Fall 2005. M. Watt. A History of Islamic Spain with Additional Sections on Literature by Pierre Cachia. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1977. Z. Ziad. The Magnificent Mughals. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. (Note: This is not the complete course bibliography) COURSE OUTLINE I. Methodological Issues and Historical Surveys On the Contemporary Academic Study of Religion: Its Scope and Limitations (NH) As Society, So Religion: What Do the Sociologists Say? (NH) Back to Ibn Khaldun. (NH) Interpretations of the History of Religion and Comparative Perspectives. (NH) Speaking for the Believer. (NH and IZ) Historical Survey. (AN)
Readings (Partial List): 1- Paden, Interpreting the Sacred, pp. 15-86. 2- Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddima, selections. 3- Hodgson, Venture, selections. 4- F. Donner, Political History of the Islamic Empire up to the Mongol Conquest in Esposito, ed., Oxford History. II. Local Muslim Communities: Anthropological Perspectives Local Muslim Communities of South Asia. (SA) III. Doctrinal, Normative, and Primary Textual Surveys - The Qur an. - Prophecy and the Prophet (Upon Whom be Peace). - Sharī a and Fiqh. - Law and Legal Theory. Eight or more lectures (IZ, KA, SA) IV. Sufism: The Inner Resolutions The Nature of Islamic Spirituality. Poetic Resolutions: Hallaj, Rumi, and Ali Hujwīrī. (KA, NH) Readings (Partial List): 1- Ernst, Shambhala Guide, selections. 2- Hallaj, Tawāsīn, selections. 3- Hujwīrī, Kashf, selections. 4. Rumi, Mathnavi, selections. 5. Sells, Approaching the Qur an, selections.
V. Philosophical Developments, Hellenism, and Rationalistic Trends Muslims and the Greek Intellectual Legacy: The Case of al-fārābī. (NH) Islamic Discourses on Reason and Revelation and the Question of Science and Religion. (BK) Readings (Partial List): S. Nomanul Haq, al-fārābī in Trakakis, Philosophy of Religion. VI. Literary Expressions and Material Culture Aesthetics of the Word and Visual Culture (NH) Readings: 1- Faruqi, Urdu Literature in Magnificent Mughals. 2- Thackston, Persian Poetry in Magnificent Mughals. 3- Gonzales, An Aesthetic Approach to Surat al-mulk, Beauty and Islam. 4- Grabar, Introduction, Islamic Art. 5- Jayyusi, Muslim Spain, selections. 6- Watt, Islamic Spain, selections. VII. Islam and Muslims in the Modern World Understanding Modern Muslim Categories (MS) Ibn Khaldun s Methodology and Modern Violence. (MS) VIII. Perspectives on Ideology, Modernity, and Secularism Revisiting Secularism. (EA) Islam and the West. (EA) Abbreviations KA = Kamaluddin Ahmed EA = Ejaz Akram SA = Sadaf Ahmed
NH = Nomanul Haq BK = Basit Kosul AN = Ali Nobil AR = Abdur Rahman MS = Magid Shihade IZ = Iftikhar Zaman