Introduction
to Islamic Religion and Muslim Americans
Religious
Studies 143 (AMES 136)
|
|
Course
Description
Recently
the United States Supreme Court Justices convened a special session
to make a ruling. In the end, the ruling was that patrons and
the sculptor of the figure of Muhammad in the historical frieze
encircling their courtroom had only honorable intentions. Concerns
about depicting the Prophet of Islam, raised by some American
Muslims, were addressed and the frieze remains unchanged. Religious
aversion to figural art is a well-known sentiment among many Muslims,
Jews, and, at certain periods, Christians. What else does Islam,
the last of the three Abrahamic monotheistic religions, share
with Judaism and Christianity? Of the world’s one billion Muslims,
about five million reside in the United States today. How is "the
fastest-growing religion in America" practiced by Muslims
from a wide range of backgrounds, especially in the African-American
community?
This
course is a comprehensive introduction to Islam in a variety of
geographic settings from the rise of the religion in the seventh
century to the present. We try to understand Islam in contemporary
experience as well as in religious texts. In the first part of
the course, we will explore the Qur’an, the life of Muhammad in
political and sacred history, sectarian developments, and Sufism
(Islamic mysticism). In the second part of the course, we focus
on Islamic "fundamentalism" and the West, American Islam,
and Islamic feminism. The course lectures are supplemented with
discussion, slide presentations, and films. Although not required,
students are encouraged to take part in a class visit to the Overbrook
Mosque in Philadelphia. (We will discuss the best time for going
to the Mosque in class.)
|
|
Course Outline
|
September
7
|
Introduction
to Islam and the Modern Muslim World
|
|
Film:
"Smithsonian World of Islam" and discussion
|
|
|
|
|
Decide
time for film "The Message" (Biography of Muhammad)
Reading:
- Esposito
Islam: The Straight Path 1-17
- Martin
Lings Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources
(entire, complete by September 19)
Writing
assignment: Creative autobiography
(due Tuesday September 26 in class)
Give
yourself an Arabic name, tribe, and identity in the lifetime
of Muhammad. You can be a pagan, a Jew, Christian, or Muslim.
Write a first-person account of your dealings with Muhammad
and his movement. You are an individual history has not discovered
until now. Do not take on a famous personality. 2-3 pages.
|
|
|
|
September
12-14
|
Muhammad
and the Background of Islam
|
|
Biography,
Family of the Prophet, Mecca and Medina, Miracles and Cosmic
Imagery, Muhammad the Beloved
|
|
|
|
Reading:
- Continue
Lings Muhammad
- e-reserves
(http://www.franklin.library.upenn.edu/ select "Course
Reserves" then enter my name under "Instructor"): Annemarie
Schimmel "The Light of Muhammad and the Mystical Tradition"
from And Muhammad is His Messenger
|
|
|
|
|
September
19-21
|
The
Qur’an
Creation
and cosmology, Revelation and prophetology, Oral to written
scripture, Major themes of the Qur’an, Interpretation, Jews
and Christians in the Qur’an, Hagar the Mother of Islam
Reading:
- Esposito
Islam 17-31
- Michael
Sells Approaching the Qur'an (entire, with CD)
- e-reserves:
A. Ali, trans., The Qur'an "Surat al-Ma'idah"
(Chapter of the Feast)
|
|
|
|
|
|
September
26-28
|
Islamic
History and "Cairo, The City Victorious"
Conquest
and conversion, Islam and other religions, Imperial civilization,
After the caliphs
Reading:
- Esposito
Islam 32-67
- e-reserves:
N. Levtzion, "Toward a Comparative Theory of Islamization,"
Texts from Norman Stillman The Jews of Arab Lands,
B. Lewis, "The Judeo-Islamic Tradition" from The Jews
of Islam, and B. Lewis, Islam from the Prophet
Muhammad to the Conquest of Constantinople
|
|
Creative
autobiography due September 26
|
|
|
|
October
3-5
|
Theology
and Legal Studies
Codification
of the divine law (Shariah), sayings of the Prophet
(hadith), the sunni law schools (madhabs). Beliefs
– ontology, afterlife, free-will and determinism
Guest
lecture by Joseph Lowry, JD, Ph.D.
Reading:
- Esposito
Islam 68-100e-reserves:
- Law
text selections (hadith and fiqh on intoxication;
hadith on social interactions)
- From
my homepage http://www.ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~bvon:
: "The Ajwiba: An Islamic Catechism"
and "Fiqh al-akbar"
|
|
|
October
10-12
|
Sufism
and Spiritual Experience
Mystical
Islam, Drunk and sober Sufism, unio mystica, Three
masters (al-Ghazali, Ibn ‘Arabi, and Jalal al-Din Rumi), Crystallization
of Sufi orders and their role in Muslim societies
Film
"Sufism in Sudan"
Reading:
- Esposito
Islam 100-109
- W.
Chittick Sufism: A Short Introduction (entire)
|
|
|
Midterm
essay questions handed out in class Thursday October 12
|
|
October
17-19
|
Shi’ism
Sects
in Islam, Religious and political authority, Shi’i doctrine
and practice
Video
"Lebanese Shi'i Mourning Procession"
Reading:
- Esposito
Islam 109-114
- e-reserves:
Selections from al-Muzaffar Faith of Shi’a Islam, S.
Haeri "Temporary Marriage," and M. Ayoub "The
House of Sorrows" from Redemptive Suffering in Islam:
A Study of the Devotional Aspects of 'Ashura' in Twelver
Shi'ism
Midterm
essay due in class Thursday October 19
|
|
October
20
|
Mosque
Visit (details in class)
|
|
October
26
|
The
Hajj Pilgrimage
|
|
Rituals
of a lifetime
|
|
Film
"Guests of God"
|
|
- e-reserves:Selections
from Michael Wolfe One Thousand Roads to Mecca and
R. Peters "The Pilgrimage of Islam" from A
Reader on Classical Islam
|
|
October
24
|
Library
Help Session for term paper research with Deb Bucher.
Class meets at Van Pelt Circulation Desk at 3:00 p.m.
|
|
Schedule
appointment with me to discuss research topic for the term
paper due Friday December 15
|
|
October
31-November 2
|
Muslim
Women
Women
in Islamic history – warriors, scholars, mystics. Islamic
feminism and the revision or transformation of tradition
Film:
"Divorce Iranian Style"
Reading:
- Esposito
Islam 223-252
- e-reserves:
S. Ernst "Women Saints" from Teachings of Sufism, Selections
from R. Roded Women in Islam and the Middle East, A.
Al-Hibri "An Introduction to Muslim Women's Rights" from
G. Webb Windows of Faith: American Muslim Women Activists,
and A. Wadud "Qur'an and Woman" from C. Kurzman Liberal
Islam
|
|
November
7-9
|
Modern
Islam
Revival
and reform in the 18th-19th centuries,
Responses to colonialism, modernity, and secularism, Fundamentalism
Readings:
- Esposito
Islam 115-157 and 158-203
- e-reserves:
Ali Bulac "The Medina Document" from C. Kurzman Liberal
Islam and selection from Abu-Rabi' Intellectual Origins
of Islamic Resurgence in the Modern Arab World (Sayyid
Qutb)
|
|
November
14-16
|
Islam
in the West, Islam and the West
Readings:
- Esposito
Islam 203-222
- e-reserves:
A. LeBor A Heart Turned East (France and Germany)
|
|
November
21
|
African
Muslims in the New World
- e-reserves:
Selections from S.A. Diouf Servants of Allah: African
Muslims Enslaved in the Americas and A.D. Austin, African
Muslims in Antebellum America: Transatlantic Stories and
Spiritual
|
|
November
23
|
Thanksgiving
Break (no class)
|
|
November
28-30
|
Islam
in 20th Century America: Part One
African-American
sunni Muslims, Early offshoots of Islamic teachings and the
Nation of Islam
|
|
Guest
speakers Abd al-Hayy (Daniel) Moore and Malik Mubashir
Video
"Louis Farrakhan Speaks"
Reading:
- Smith
and Haddad Muslim Communities of North America Chapters
2, 3, 5, and 21
- e-reserves:
Turner, "Malcolm X and His Successors: Contemporary
Significations of African-American Islam" from Islam
in the African-American Experience
|
|
December
5-7
|
Islam
in 20th Century America: Part Two
Immigrant
Families, Converts, Sufis, Mainstreaming Islam in the USA
Film
"Christian Science Monitor – Islam in America"
Reading:
- Haddad
and Smith Muslim Communities of North America, Remaining
chapters to be assigned in class
- e-reserves:
A. Quraishi, "American Muslims and American Law"
and Selections from S. Baraboza, American Jihad
Web
assignment (report in class): Visit at least three
different American Muslim groups’ WebPages (begin with links
from my homepage). Who are the sponsors of these sites? What
seems to be their motivations and how do they present themselves
for the non-Muslim audience? How has the web affected faith-based
groups in America in the last decade?
|
|
|
Term
paper due by 4:30 p.m. Friday December 15
|
Please
note: Out of consideration for students who turn their papers
in on time, late papers will be graded down one full step
(e.g. from a B+ to a B). Put the paper in my mailbox in the
Religious Studies Office, 201 Logan Hall, by 4:30 p.m. Hard
copies only. If you put a paper under the door of the Religious
Studies Office or under my office door, it will be considered
late. This applies to the midterm take-home essay as well.
|
|
Textbooks
Unless
otherwise stated, all textbooks are available at the new Penn
Book Center, 34th and Sansome Streets  Telephone
222-7600
|
|
|
- John
Esposito Islam: The Straight Path
- Martin
Lings Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources
- Michael
Sells Approaching the Qur'an
- Wm.
Chittick A SHort Introduction to Sufism
- Yvonne
Haddad and Jane Smith Muslim Communities of North America
|
|
Reserve
Books
|
Under
my name, all the required books, and
- The
Essential Koran, Th. Cleary
- The
Holy Qur’an, Yusuf Ali
- Qur’an
and Woman, Amina Wadud-Muhsin
- The
Life of Muhammad, Ibn Ishaq/Ibn Hisham
- An
Introduction to Shi’i Islam, J. Momen
- Voices
of Resurgent Islam, Esposito and Voll
|
|
Course
Requirements and Evaluation
The
semester grade is based on the following:
|
|
|
- 20
% Class attendance and participation, creative autobiography
(due September 26 in class, web assignment last week of
class)
- 20
% Midterm take-home exam (one 4-5 page essay, due October
19 in class)
- 30%
Final in-class exam (two essays and short ID's, time scheduled
by the Registrar's Office)
- 30
% A 10-15 page research paper on a topic chosen in consultation
with me (due Friday December 15, the first day of exam week)
|
|
|
