Download Introduction to Early Islamic Literature - Moodle

REL326: The Islamic Path
Professor Steven Daniel Sacks
Office: Prall 108
MTW 12:30-3:00 T 9:00-11:00 F 10:00-12:00
This course will provide a thematic introduction to the major trends within the diverse Islamic tradition. Within
the context of a single course, we will strive to introduce a breadth that will allow the student to attain fluency in
the language of the tradition. The course will provide depth in pervasive notions of Islam as they relate to the
construction of the tradition.
All readings are listed below, due on the day that they appear, and December be downloaded from our Moodle
forum. PLEASE BRING ALL READINGS TO CLASS. Our textbooks are:
Denny, F.M. An Introduction to Islam (4th Edition) ISBN: 013814477X
Qur’an ISBN: 9780199535958
Students’ responsibilities during the daily activities of the course include:
1. 100 word responses and an original study question to be posted on the “moodle” forum by 10:00 AM on
the day of class, unless class is held in the morning in which case it is 8:00 AM.
2. One presentation on a study question, and one leadership of a secondary (non-textbook) reading.
3. One exam.
4. One paper of six to eight pages in response to a prompt (minimum 1500 words) due December 9.
5. One original research paper on a primary source of eight to ten pages (minimum 2000 words) due on
December 21.
Grading:
Class Participation (including Moodle entries and Presentations)
Exams (1)
Final Paper (2)
20%
20%
60%
Class attendance and participation are compulsory for this course, as is the originality of your work; three absences
without verifiable cause or plagiarism will be cause for a failing grade. Late submissions of written assignments
without verifiable and suitable cause (computer errors, for example, are not considered suitable cause) will be
penalized by loss of one full grade at minimum, and if you have not completed the readings, bring them to class
and prepared the assignments, you will be considered unprepared, and lose class participation credit.
Cornell College expects all members of the Cornell community to act with academic integrity. An important
aspect of academic integrity is respecting the work of others. A student is expected to explicitly acknowledge
ideas, claims, observations, or data of others, unless generally known. When a piece of work is submitted for
credit, a student is asserting that the submission is her or his work unless there is a citation of a specific source. If
there is no appropriate acknowledgement of sources, whether intended or not, this December constitute a
violation of the College’s requirement for honesty in academic work and December be treated as a case of
academic dishonesty. The procedures regarding how the College deals with cases of academic dishonesty appear in
The Catalogue, under the heading “Academic Honesty.”
Students who need accommodations for learning disabilities must provide documentation from a professional qualified to
diagnose learning disabilities. For more information see cornellcollege.edu/disabilities/documentation/index.shtml
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I will hold regular office hours, but please feel free to contact me at any time if you have questions or concerns
about the course. The present schedule and/or readings are liable to be amended as is necessary. Students are
expected to complete a significant amount of work outside of the course which supplements scheduled hours
within the classroom, and exceeds the government’s regulations on course credit equivalency.
1. What is required in “class participation”?
There are three things required for class: preparation, participation and attendance.
Class Preparation: Every student is required to have an intimate knowledge of the day’s readings and assignments,
and should bring the current readings and assignments to class. In order to prepare, you will be required to write a
response of approximately 100 words for the Moodle forum, and an original question. These daily entries will
take the form of a written “response” to a question of the day. The response will be due at 10:00 AM on the day
the reading is due –postings after the deadline are late!
Class Participation: Each student is expected to speak in class on a daily basis in order to demonstrate his or her
comprehension of the material. The degree of preparation will largely determine your ability to intelligently
participate in our discussions, and to be an asset to your classmates in group work.
Class Attendance: The student should only miss class under exceptional circumstances, and must be accompanied
by note from the health center, or similar form of verification. Three absences is considered to be the outer limit,
and must be justified by means of verifiable evidence in order to avert a failing grade; exceptions December be
made in circumstances deemed exceptional by the instructor.
The grade for class participation will be categorized as follows: “A” for exceptional contributions to our daily
discussions and the Moodle forum, with no missing or late assignments. “A-“ for exceptional contributions, with
one missing or late assignment; “B+” for excellent and consistent contributions to our daily discussions and the
Moodle forum; “B” for solid contributions to our daily discussions or Moodle forum, with one or two missing or
late assignments; “B-” for uneven contributions to our daily discussion or the Moodle forum; C+ for uneven
contributions to our daily discussion and the Moodle forum, with two or three missing or late assignments; “C”
and below for poor effort to participate in our daily discussions and the moodle forum, with three or more missing
or late assignments.
2.
What am I expected to know in exams?
As this is not a course in the history of Islam, you will not be expected to familiarize yourself with every historical
detail. Nonetheless, you should make yourself familiar with the most crucial events, names, and places for the first
section of the midterm. In this section, you will ‘identify’ the relevant person, place or event in as much detail as
possible in reference to information provided in your readings or class discussion. The second section of the exam
will require longer, essay length, responses to questions that concern our daily readings. This section will be more
theoretical and abstract, and ask you to synthesize issues, compare arguments and harness your knowledge in the
details of the readings in order to formulate responses to its questions.
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Schedule
Monday, November 28: What is Islam?
Introduction, description of course and goals
Denny, chapter five, “The Basic Beliefs and Worship Practices of Islam,”
Tuesday, November 29: Idolatry and the Arabian Peninsula Prior to Islam
Denny chapter two, “Pre-Islamic Arabia: Beliefs, Values, Way of Life,”
Ibn Al-Kalbi The Book of Idols
Question: What is idolatry? Why is it important to study Islam within the context of this background?
Wednesday, November 30: Muhammad and the Revelation of the Qur’an
Denny, chapter three, “Muhammad and the Early Muslim Community”
Esack The Quran: A User’s Guide 30-55
Question: Who is Muhammad? What is the best way to describe his relationship to Islam?
Thursday, December 1: The Qur’an
Denny, chapter six “The Nature and Function of the Quran”
Esack, Quran: A User’s Guide 56-99
Question: How does the Qur’an compare with other sacred texts? Why?
Friday, December 2:
Film: The Message
Monday, December 5: Hadith and Tafsir
Denny, chapter seven “The Prophet’s Sunna as Preserved in the Hadith”
Esack Quran: A User’s Guide 100-145
Powers, “The Exegetical Genre Nasikh,” (in Rippin) 117-138.
Question: What is the relationship of the Hadith and Tafsir to the Qur’an? How do they compare?
Tuesday, December 6: The Qur’an in relation to Judaism and Christianity
Denny, chapter one “Early Civilizations and the Origins of Judaism and Christianity”
Hodgson, M. The Venture of Islam I “The Islamic Opposition,” 241-279.
Question: Is Islam a Judeo-Christian tradition?
Wednesday, December 7: Shi’ism
“Origins and Early Development of Shi’ism” 34-86.
Question: How does Shi’ism differ from Sunni Islam?
Thursday, December 8: Islamic Jurisprudence: Foundations and Schools of Law
Denny, chapter nine, “Law and the State in Classical Islamic Formulations”
Hodgson, M. The Venture of Islam I “The Shar‘i Islamic Vision,” 315-358
Selections from Al’Shafi’i
Question: What is Jurisprudence? How does it function?
Friday, December 9:
**FIRST PAPER DUE**
**Writing/Research Day**
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Monday, December 12: Islamic Philosophy
Denny, chapter eight “Muslim Creeds and Theologies: Their Purposes and Varieties”
Ibn Tufayl Hayy Ibn Yaqzan
Question: What is the meaning of philosophy in Islam?
Tuesday, December 13: Mystical Developments
Denny, chapters ten and eleven, “The Sufi Way of Mysticism and Fellowship,”
Selections from The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn Al-Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination (Chittick, W. trans)
Schimmel, A. Mystical Dimensions of Islam 23-97.
Question: What is mysticism? How does Sufism differ from non-mystical Islam?
Wednesday, December 14: Cultural Differences in Islam
Denny, chapter thirteen, “Ideals and Realities of Islamic Community Life”
Geertz, Islam Observed 1-55.
Question: What impact does culture and history have on the expression of Islam?
Thursday, December 15: Political Islam
Denny, chapter fourteen “Major Movements and Trends in Renewal and Reform”
Roy, O. Globalized Islam (Selections)
Friday, December 16:
***Writing/Study Day***
Monday, December 19:
EXAM
Tuesday, December 20:
Presentations/Review
Wednesday, December 21:
**Final Paper Due**
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