Upcoming lectures, exhibits, and performances relating to the Middle East and Muslim civilizations

Notes:
Parallel public events and performances are in green
Deadlines and important dates are in red
* = Instructor out of town

I. Introduction to the Study of Islam

1.  Aug. 24    The Study of Islamic Civilization Today
Reading: Ernst, Following Muhammad, Preface and Chapter 1, "Islam in the Eyes of the West." Notes

Recitations, Aug. 25: Website: Read the first article about the UNC Qur'an controversy and scan the other items. Why was this such a big deal? Why did this become a national issue?

2.  Aug. 29    Religion and Islamic Civilization
Reading: Berkey, Formation of Islam, pp. 1-9; Ernst, Following Muhammad, chapter 2, "Approaching Islam in Terms of Religion." Notes.
Study question: changing meaning of "religion" and "religions" from antiquity to the colonial era

3.  Aug. 31   Islamic Civilization and History.
Reading: Berkey, 11-53 Notes
Notes: Islam and the World of Muhammad
al-Khazina ("the Treasury"): Princeton web site on Islamic studies
Historical maps

1. http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/islam.htm; note that other parts of the site (http://www.jesus-is-lord.com) are very anti-Catholic, including a truly horrific "Anti-Christ Slideshow."
2. Jack Chick cartoon conversion tract archived at http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0042/0042_01.asp. Note that he regards Islam as not only false but also a Catholic plot.

• how should advocacy/attack religious websites be evaluated?How does one determine the point of view of a religious website?How does one distinguish between neutral information and advocacy/denigration?
• What drives the extreme fundamentalist rejection of Islam?
  
  

II. Sources of Islamic Tradition

4. Sept. 5. The Prophet Muhammad.
Reading: Ernst, Following Muhammad, pp. 71-93, 108-119; Berkey, pp. 57-69; Notes

5.  Sept. 7    Interpreting the Qur'an
Reading: Following Muhammad, pp. 93-105;  Notes
The Sura of the Cave (Qur. 18), trans. W. N. Crest  (you will need userid and password no. 1); See "Questions to Consider" in the prefatory remarks to this reading, for suggested study questions on "You" verses and "Say" verses

6.  Sept. 12     Islamic Arts, especially calligraphy
Reading: Following Muhammad, pp. 182-197 (notes); Ernst, "The Spirit of Islamic Calligraphy: Baba Shah Isfahani's Adab al-Mashq" (requires a UNC address; alternate site)
Web Site on "The Art of Arabic Calligraphy"
"The Hilya, or the Adornment of the Prophet" from the web site of calligrapher Rasheed Butt
Also recommended: The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, "Islamic Art," I. Introduction, esp. sections 1 (Definition) and 8 (Subject-matter) (requires a UNC address)
Film: ART AND THE ISLAMIC WORLD 1993 (V-4475)
Study Question:  The art of calligraphy  and the avoidance of images in Islamic art

III. Gender and Textual Authority in Early Islam 

7.  Sept. 14    Texts as the basis of authority
Reading: Mernissi, The Veil, pp. vi-ix, 1-48  Notes
Study questions: why would feminist Mernissi find it necessary to go into biographical criticism of hadith regarding the political role of women? for what purposes can sacred texts like the hadith be used? what are the issues that govern the estimation of hadith as authentic or fabricated?

Recitations, Sept. 15:  Museum Tour. Recitation sections will meet in the Ackland Art Museum (click here for a map) at times scheduled below to tour the small permanent Islamic art collection.

8.  Sept. 19  Questions on Misogyny 
Reading: Mernissi, The Veil, pp. 49-101.  Notes
Study questions: misogyny and different religions; different meanings of "veil"
Gender and Scripture in Islam: Some Thorny Issues (online PowerPoint presentation) 
Muslim Women Lawyers Association, Karama

9.  Sept. 21   Rethinking women in early Islamic society 
Reading: Mernissi, The Veil, pp. 102-152  Notes
Study question: the role of the Prophet Muhammad's wives
Web site: THE VEIL DEBATE IN FRANCE

10.  Sept. 26   Women and politics
Reading: Mernissi, The Veil, pp. 153-195  Notes
Study question: gender and politics

IV. The Dome of the Rock and the imperial politics of the Caliphate

*11.  Sept. 28.  Film: Islam, Empire of Faith
Reading: Makiya, The Rock, pp. 3-67 (notes); Berkey, pp. 70-83

12.  Oct. 3
Reading: Makiya, The Rock, pp. 69-142 (notes)
Web site: The Noble Sanctuary

13.  Oct. 5
Reading: Makiya, The Rock, pp. 142-204 (notes)
Web sites: BiblePlaces.com (Christian site); ArchNet.com (academic site at MIT); TempleMountFaithful.com (Zionist site for rebuilding Solomonic temple)
Images from power point presentation available at ArtStor (register, log on, select folder "Early Islamic Architecture," select group "Artwork")

Recitations, Sept. 22. Exercise: Visiting the Dome of the Rock. Examine the Qur'anic inscriptions in the Dome of the Rock as summarized by Bruce Lawrence (here; logon and password necessary). Why were these verses chosen? What would be the impact of reading them as one circumambulates the shrine?

14.  Oct. 10 
Reading: Makiya, The Rock, pp. 205-275 (notes)

*15.  Oct. 12    Overview of the early Caliphate - 1
Guest speaker: Prof. Omid Safi, UNC Dept. of Religious Studies
Reading: Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddima, pp. 123-170, 180-183

16.  Oct. 17   Overview of the early Caliphate - 2
Reading: Berkey, pp. 84-129 (notes)
Web sites: Exhibit on Ibn Khaldun in Seville and its catalog
Who conquered the Middle East?
Flash Presentation: Al Askariyah Shrine Tragedy, Samarrah, Iraq
op-ed piece in today's New York Times: "Can you tell a Sunni from a Shi'ite?" by Jeff Stein
Midterm essays due

Fall break

17.  Oct. 24     Shi`ism
Reading: Following Muhammad, pp. 168-174; Berkey, pp. 130-140    Notes
The Shi'a, By Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai, sections on "The Imamate and Its Role in the Esoteric Dimension of Religion" and "A Brief History of the Lives of the Twelve Imams." Note: Allamah Tabatabai is an eminent Iranian Shi`i theologian who died in 1981.
Study question: spiritual mediators as connections to God  
Web sites on Shi`ism

Photos of tombs of the Imams in Medina -- why would the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia have destroyed all these tombs in 1925?
Photos of shrines relating to Ali
Photos of shrines relating to the martyrdom of Husayn
Photos of shrines relating to the 10th, 11th, and 12th Imams
Tears for Kerbala, a children's book on the martyrdom of Husayn
Chart of the 14 Infallibles, Chart of Shi`i Groups

18.  Oct. 26    Nomads and cities
Reading: Ibn Khaldun, 91-122, 263-95    Notes
Study question: the character of nomadic ("Bedouin") society and its interaction with sedentary civilization; the nature of "group feeling"
Map: breakup of the Caliphate

19.  Oct. 31    Science and philosophy
Reading: Following Muhammad, pp. 119-126; Ibn Khaldun, 333-354, 371-98   Notes
Classification of the sciences according to al-Farabi and Ibn Khaldun

*21.  Nov. 2   Sufism
Guest speaker: Prof. Omid Safi, UNC Dept. of Religious Studies
Reading: Following Muhammad, pp. 164-168, 174-182; Berkey, pp. 152-58, 231-247; Ibn Khaldun, pp. 358-367
  
22.  Nov. 7    Islamic religious scholars (`ulama')
Study questions: characteristics of Sunni Islam in the 12th century; Ibn Khaldun's recommendations for education in North Africa
Reading: Berkey, 189-202; Ibn Khaldun, 354-358, 398-405, 411-426   Notes

23.  Nov. 9   Arabic Literature
Reading:
Ibn Khaldun 443-59. Notes
Read a couple of the following excerpts, and be prepared to discuss one of them on Friday in recitation:

• Pre-Islamic Arabia: The Hanged Poems, before 622 CE: read The Pre-Islamic poem of Imru-Ul-Qais
• Abul Hasan Ali Al-Masu'di (Masoudi) (ca. 895?-957 CE): The Book of Golden Meadows, c. 940 CE; read "The Caliphate of al-Mansur" (founder of Baghdad)
• Yakut: Baghdad Under the Abbasids, c. 1000 CE
• Story from the Thousand and One Nights [caution: very rude!].
• Usamah Ibn Munqidh (1095-1188): Autobiography: Excerpts on the Franks, c.1175 CE. (about the Crusaders)
• The Role of Women in Arabic Literature

Web sites:

24.  Nov. 14  Persian Literature
Reading: Notes

• "Persian Literature" (from a 1965 Iranian Ministry of Culture publication, reproduced in Iranianonline)
• Description of the Shahnama (brief note on Firdawsi's Book of Kings, ca. 1020), from The Shahnama Project (Cambridge University), with links to database of miniature illustrations
• Sa`di's Gulistan (1258): read the first 3 stories in both chapter 1 ("The Manners of Kings") and chapter 2 ("The Morals of Dervishes").
• Poems of Rumi (d. 1273): read sections on "The Popularization of Rumi," "The Difference Between Versions and Translations," and "Examples of Distorted Versions and Translations From Versions By Coleman Barks" (Ibrahim Gamard's Dar-al-Masnavi website)
  
• Poems by Hafiz (d. 1391): read poems number 1, 2, and 4

Study questions: Persian poetry and politics; Persian poetry and Sufism
Web sites:

• Persian language and literature (Iran Chamber Society)
• The Packard Humanities Institute: Persian Texts in Translation
• Persian Literature (Columbia University libraries)
• UNESCO celebration of Rumi's 800th birthday in 2007
  

25.  Nov. 16    Overview of Islamic Civilization up to the Mongol conquest (1258)
Study questions: the impact of the schools of law on the formation of Sunni identity; relations of Muslims and non-Muslims in the caliphate; consequences of the decline and fall of the caliphate
Reading: Berkey, 141-51, 159-188 Notes

*26.  Nov. 21     The Mongol Invasions
Reading: The Islamic World to 1600: Mongol Invasions (University of Calgary Islamic World to 1600 Project) -- read all four links
Study question: the effect of the Mongol invasions on Islamic civilizations; a journal entry on this topic may focus on the film and be submitted the following Tuesday.
Film:  MONGOL HORDES: STORM FROM THE EAST, Four-part Series 1993 V4466
An epic four-part series, produced by BBC and NHK [Japan], chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the empire of Genghis Khan, the largest land-based empire in history. In documenting the extraordinary achievements of the Mongols, the image of Mongols as "Horsemen of Death" or mere marauding barbarians is transformed. The cinematography of the series is brilliant.
III. TARTAR CRUSADERS 46min [Europe, Middle East, Central Asia] Starting with the journey from Europe of John of Plano arpini to visit the new Great Khan, Part III examines the Mongol invasion of the Middle East from the devastation in Iran, the incursions in Aleppo and Damascus to the interaction with the Crusaders and storming of their castles  in the Holy Land. Exec. Prod Robert Marshall. Dir. [NHK]: Takashi Inoue. Prod.[BBC]: Habie Schwartz, [NHK] Tomohide Terai.

Thanksgiving

27.  Nov. 28  Later Political philosophy -- the Relationship between Religion and Empire
Reading: Davani's Jalalian Ethics (written in 15th-century Persia by the philosopher Davani, as a "mirror for princes" for the Aq-Qoyunlu king, Uzun Hasan, who ruled 1457-1478).
Study questions: significance of Davani's lists (2 kinds of government, 7 qualities of emperors, 4 classes of people, 5 divisions of humanity, 10 pillars of justice, 3 qualities of army); punishment and forgiveness; the character of kings (and their praise).  Notes

28.  Nov. 30   Islamic society in Muslim Spain
Reading: The Routes of al-Andalus: spiritual convergence and intercultural dialogue (UNESCO publication)
Study Question: multiple religious traditions in the society of al-Andalus
Recommended: ISLAMIC AND CHRISTIAN SPAIN IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES: Comparative Perspectives on
Social and Cultural Formation, by Thomas F. Glick, chapter 9, "CULTURAL PROCESS IN MEDIEVAL SPAIN"
Convivencia and the Aesthetics of Architecture in al-Andalus (PowerPoint presentation)
Andalusian Legacy (Spanish cultural tourism site)
UN "Alliance of Civilizations" meeting in Istanbul, Nov. 13, 2006; Press release

29.  Dec. 5     Conclusions
Reading: Charles Tilly, "Europe of Columbus and Bayazid"; Berkey, 261-269; Following Muhammad, pp. 200-213
Notes

Final Exam Essay Due Fri., Dec. 8, 3:00 pm

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