|
RELIGIOUS STUDIES 025
(ASIA 036)
Introduction to Islamic Civilization
Home
| Information | Schedule
| Requirements | Links
Schedule
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
(available online here),
and Chapter 1, "Islam in the Eyes of the West." (online version here
requires username/password). Notes
Study question topic: the nature of anti-Islamic prejudice
2.
Aug. 26 Religion and Islamic Civilization
Reading: Ernst, Following Muhammad, chapter 2, "Approaching
Islam in Terms of Religion" (online version here
requires username/password). Notes.
Study question: changing meaning of "religion" and "religions" in the
colonial era
Recitations, Aug. 27: Website: Read
the first two articles about
the UNC Qur'an controversy
Why was this such a big deal? Why did this become a national issue?
3.
Aug. 31 Islamic Civilization and History.
Reading: Bloom & Blair, pp. 7-65
Notes: Islam and the World of Muhammad
al-Khazina
("the Treasury"): Princeton web site on Islamic studies
Historical
maps
II. Sources of Islamic
Tradition
4.
Sept. 2. The Prophet Muhammad.
Guest speaker: Prof. Edward Curtis IV (UNC-Chapel Hill)
Reading: Ernst, Following Muhammad, pp. 71-93, 108-119
Recitations, Sept. 3: Web
assignment. Examine one of the
following extreme Christian fundamentalist sites on Islam:
- 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."
- 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.
Questions that can be
addressed
include:
- 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?
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; See "Questions to
Consider" in the prefatory remarks to this reading, for suggested study
questions on "You" verses and "Say"
verses
6. Sept. 9 Islamic
Arts, especially calligraphy
Reading: Following
Muhammad, pp. 182-197 (notes); Ernst, "The
Spirit of Islamic Calligraphy"; Web Site on "The Art of
Arabic Calligraphy"
"The Hilya,
or the Adornment of the Prophet" from the web site of calligrapher
Rasheed Butt
See also a translation of Jazuli's Dala'il
al-Khayrat (one of the manuscripts on display)
Also recommended: The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, "Islamic
Art," I.
Introduction, esp. sections 1 (Definition) and 8 (Subject-matter)
Film: ART AND THE ISLAMIC WORLD 1993 (V-4475)
Recitations, Sept. 10: Museum Tour. Recitation sections
will meet in the Ackland Art Museum (click here for a map) at
normally scheduled times to tour the Ahmed
Moustafa exhibit in the Five
Artists*Five Faiths project, plus the small permanent Islamic art
collection.
7. Sept. 14
Reading: Makiya, The Rock,
pp. 3-67 (notes)
Notes: Succession in the early Muslim state
8. Sept. 16
Reading: Makiya, The Rock,
pp. 69-142 (notes)
Web sites: The
Noble Sanctuary (Muslim site); BiblePlaces.com
(Christian site); ArchNet.com
(academic site at MIT); TempleMountFaithful.com
(Zionist site for rebuilding Solomonic temple)
9. Sept. 21
Reading: Makiya, The Rock,
pp. 142-204 (notes)
10. Sept. 23
Reading: Makiya, The Rock,
pp. 205-275 (notes)
Log into the Electronic Media
Cooperative, click on Courses, and examine photos of the Dome of
Rock
Recitations, Sept. 24. Exercise:
Visiting the Dome of the Rock. Examine the Qur'anic inscriptions in the
Dome of the Rock as summarized by Bruce Lawrence (here).
Why were these verses chosen? What would be the impact of reading them
as one circumambulates the shrine?
11. Sept. 28 Shi`ism.
Reading: Following Muhammad, pp. 168-174;
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
12. Sept. 30 Sufism.
Reading: Following Muhammad, pp. 164-168,
174-182; Islam:
Basic Beliefs and Mystical Interpretation (online PowerPoint
presentation)
Ernst, Teachings of Sufism, chapter
1, "Lives
of Women Saints" (password no. 1 required)
Kenan Rifai Sufi web site
13. Oct. 5 Intellectual
Traditions. Guest Lecturer: Prof. Seyyed Hossein Nasr (George
Washington University)
Reading: Bloom & Blair, pp. 119-155; Following Muhammad, pp. 119-127
14. Oct. 7 Overview
of Empire and Civilization up to the Mongol conquest (1258)
Reading: Bloom & Blair, pp. 65-117 (notes)
Islamic Civilization to 1500
Recitations, Oct. 8. Sa`di's elegy on the fall of Baghdad to the
Mongols. How do you reconcile this lament with the fact that his patron
assisted the Mongols?
*15. Oct. 12
Film: "Islam: Empire of Faith" (part 1)
Midterm essays due
Fall break
V. Samarkand: Religion, History, and
Culture in Seljuk Persia
16. Oct. 19 Omar
Khayyam in fact and fiction
Reading: Maalouf, Samarkand, Book 1 (pp. vii, 1-81)
on Samarkand
Notes
17. Oct.
21 The
Assassins in fact and fiction
Reading: Maalouf, Samarkand, Book 2 (pp. 83-152)
Seljuks,
Umayyads, and Fatimids
Notes
18. Oct. 26 The
Past
in the Present: in Search of Omar's Manuscript
Reading: Maalouf, Samarkand, Book 3 (pp. 153-223)
a
fake Omar manuscript
Notes
19. Oct. 28 The
Past in the Present: Omar, Baskerville, and Middle Eastern modernity
Reading: Maalouf, Samarkand, Book 4 (pp. 225-301)
Iran's
American Martyr
American
wife of a missionary in Tabriz writes on Baskerville's death
the
1906 Consitutional Revolution in Iran
Notes
21. Nov. 2
Reading: Shadows of the
Pomegranate Tree, pp. 1-61
The
History of Moorish Spain
Notes
22. Nov. 4
Reading: Shadows of the
Pomegranate Tree, pp. 62-123
Convivencia
and the
Aesthetics of Architecture in al-Andalus (power point)
23. Nov. 9
Reading: Shadows of the
Pomegranate Tree, pp. 124-182
Notes
24. Nov. 11
Reading: Shadows of the
Pomegranate Tree, pp. 183-240
Notes on the Moriscos
VII. Concluding overview of
Islamic Civilization ca. 1400-1500
20. Nov. 16 Women
and Arabic Literature
Reading: al-Freih, The
Role of Arab Women in Poetry as an Art Form (excerpts)
25. Nov. 18
Political philosophy in North Africa and Iran -- What is the
Relationship between Religion and Empire?
Readings: Choose one of the two following texts:
Ibn
Khaldun, The Muqaddima
(electronic reserve). Study questions: the nature of group feeling; the
relation between nomads and sedentary society; religion and the
establishment of dynasties.
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).
(journal entries may be written on either reading)
*26. Nov. 23 Film: "Islam:
Empire of Faith" (part 2)
Reading: Bloom & Blair, pp.
159-180
Thanksgiving
*27. Nov. 30 Philanthropy
and Civil Society in the Ottoman
Empire. Guest Lecturer: Dr. F. Canguzel Zulfikar
Reading: Miriam Hoexter, "The Waqf and the Public Sphere"
28. Dec. 2
Conclusions
Reading: Charles Tilly, "Europe
of Columbus and Bayazid"; Bloom & Blair, pp.
181-219;
Following Muhammad, pp. 200-213
Final Exam Essay
Due Thur., Dec. 9, 5:00 pm
|