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MAJOR ISSUES IN
CONTEMPORARY ISLAM
RELI 356
MWF 11-12
Instructor: David Cook. Office (HUM 211); [email protected]; office number (713) 348-2440.
Prerequisites: None.
Requirements: Attendance (any student missing more than three lessons without a medical
reason will drop a full letter grade), participation and weekly reading (30%), mid-term (10%),
final examination (30%), one paper (12-18 pages) (30%).
Note: Any student with a disability requiring accommodations in this course is encouraged to contact me
after class or during office hours. Additionally, students will need to contact Disability Support Services
in the Ley Student Center.
1. Introduction to Contemporary Islam
Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Islam in Modern History, chapter 2 “Islam in Recent History.”
Ibrahim Abu-Rabi`, Intellectual Origins of Islamic Resurgence in the Modern Arab World, chapters 4-6.
2. Islamic Theories of Government
Charles Kurzman (ed.), Liberal Islam: A Sourcebook, chapter 9 (Rachid Ghannouchi, “Participation in
Non-Islamic Government”).
Mansoor Moaddel and Kamran Talattof, Contemporary Debates in Islam, pp. 273-300 (AllEncompassing Program of an Islamic State).
Internet research: A Draft Constitution for a Muslim State at http://www.hizb-uttahrir.info/english/constitution.htm.
3. Sunnis and Shi`ites
Ayatullah Ruhullah al-Khumayni, Islam and Revolution.
Ahmad Hamzeh, In the Path of Hizbullah, chapter 3.
Internet research: polemics between Sunnis and Shi`ites, Iraq, Pakistan
4. Arab Muslims and non-Arab Muslims: Confronting the Past
Svanberg and Westerlund, Islam outside the Arab World, chapters 2 (Nigeria), 3 (Senegal), 8 (Iran,
Afghanistan and Tajikistan), 11 (Indonesia and Malaysia).
Vitaly Naumkin, Radical Islam in Central Asia, chapters 1-4.
Martha Olcott, Roots of Radical Islam in Central Asia (Carnegie Papers).
5. Muslims and Minorities: Human Rights Issues
Yohanan Friedmann, Tolerance and Coercion in Islam, chapters 3-4.
Mohamed Talbi, “Religious Liberty,” in Liberal Islam, chapter 18 (pp. 161-8)
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Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na`im, “Shari`a and Basic Human Rights Concerns,” in Liberal Islam, chapter 24
(pp. 222-38).
Ann Elizabeth Mayer, Islam and Human Rights, chapters 4-5, 7-8.
Abu Abdallah Shibli Zaman, “The Buddhas of Bamiyan: Refuting those who call for the preservation of
Idols in the name of Islam” at alribat.com.
Internet research: Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Islam and the environment:
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-EnglishAsk_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503544830.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-EnglishAsk_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503544830.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1119503549616&pagename=IslamOnline-EnglishAsk_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaEAskTheScholar.
6. Islamic Feminism
Fatima Mernissi, “A Feminist Interpretation of Women’s Rights in Islam,” in Liberal Islam, chapter 13
(pp. 112-26)
Amina Wadud-Muhsin, “Qur’an and Woman,” in Liberal Islam, chapter 14 (pp. 127-38).
Robert Dannin, Black Pilgrimage to Islam, chapter 8 “The Many Dimensions of a Muslim Woman.”
Mayer, chapter 6.
Internet research: Amina Lawal, Amina Wadud, honor killings in the west, Jordan, and Egypt, RAWA,
http://www.sistersinislam.org.my/.
7. Muslims in the Minority
Ibn Baz and Ibn `Uthaymin, Muslim Minorities: Fatawa regulating Muslims living as Minorities.
Omid Safi (ed.), Progressive Muslims, chapter 11 (Amina Wadud, “American Muslim Identity”).
Jytte Klausen, The Islamic Challenge, chapters 4-6, conclusion.
Quintan Wiktorowicz, Radical Islam Rising, chapters 2-3.
Internet research: Sufism—Wahhabism, Ayodhya, Salman Rushdie, Danish cartoons [Jytte Klausen, The
Cartoons that Shook the World], Tariq Ramadan, five pillars in contemporary life.
MIDTERM: take-home (due March 9, 2014)
8. Muslims and Perceptions of the World
Khaled Abou El-Fadl, “Islam and the Theology of Power” at islamfortoday.com.
Kramer and Schmitke (eds.), Speaking for Islam, pp. 181-217 (Gudrun Kramer, “Drawing Boundaries:
Yusuf al-Qaradawi on apostasy”).
Salah al-Sawi, “A Commentary upon the Fatwa issued concerning the Permissibility of Muslims
participating in Military Operations against the Muslims in Afghanistan,” at maktabah-alsalafiyah.org
(Nov. 2001).
Internet research: Safar al-Hawali, Yusuf Qaradawi, Hisham Kabbani, Hitchens versus Hooper (ISNA).
9. Da`wa to Non-Muslims; Converts to Islam
Larry Poston, Islamic Da`wa in the West, chapters 6-8, 9-10.
Jeffrey Lang, Struggling to Surrender, chapter 4; Even Angels Ask, chapter 6.
Muhammad Khalid Masud (ed), Travelers in Faith: Studies of the Tablighi Jama`at, chapters 2, 6, 8-9,
11.
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Internet research: Gospel of Barnabas, Murad Hoffman, Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Ingrid Mattson,
Umar Lee (blogspot), Robert Crane, Roger Garaudy, Ibrahim Hooper, Ahmad von Denffer, Adam
Gadahn, Yusuf Estes, Ha Mim Nuh Keller, Miriam Jameelah, “Jihad Sheilas”, Jack Roche, Abdul Hadi
Palazzo, Haroon Yahya, Jews for Allah.
10. The Challenge of Radical Islam
Netana Delong-Bas, Wahhabi Islam, chapters 1-2, 5-6.
David Commins, The Wahhabi Mission, chapters 5-6.
William Shepard, “What is ‘Islamic fundamentalism’?” Studies in Religion 17 (1988), pp. 5-26.
Bruce Lawrence, Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden, pp. 23-30, 58-99.
Internet research: martyrdom videos (Fatima’s fiancée, Muhammad Siddique Khan),
10 Nullifiers of Islam at http://theclearsunnah.wordpress.com/2007/05/05/10-nullifiers-of-islam/.
Lions of the Ummah, Where is the honor of the Muslims? Virgins of Paradise
(Qutb, Milestones, http://www.youngmuslims.ca/online_library/books/milestones/hold/index_2.asp)
11. Islamic Education and Science
Toby Huff, The Rise of Early Modern Science, chapters 3, 5-6.
Javaid Saeed, Islam and Modernization, chapter 4 (pp. 45-71)
Muzaffar Iqbal, Science and Islam, chapter 7.
http://www.chowk.com/articles/10314
http://www.chowk.com/articles/4091
Internet research: polio vaccinations,
http://fethullahgulenconference.org/houston/read.php?p=philosophy-islamic-education-classical-viewsfethullah-gulen-perspectives; the International Islamic University (Islamabad, Kuala Lumpur), “Qur’an
and Science” (Maurice Bucaille); Abdallah b. Baz and the flat earth.
12. Authority: Qur’an, Tradition and Religious Elites
Daniel Brown, Rethinking Tradition, chapters 5-6.
Muhammad Qasim Zaman, The Ulama in Contemporary Islam, chapters 2, 4, 6 and epilogue.
M.B. Hooker, Contemporary Indonesian Islam, introduction, chapters 1, 5.
Masud, Brinkley and Powers (eds), Islamic Legal Interpretations, chapter 27 (Yvonne Haddad,
“Operation Desert Storm and the War of Fatwas”).
Internet research: Nasir Abu Zayd, Nasir al-Din al-Albani, Fethullah Gulen, Abu Bakr Ba’asyir, Yusuf alQaradawi, Lindsey Wise, Words from the Heart: New Forms of Islamic Preaching in Egypt [on Amr
Khaled];
ROUGH DRAFT OF PAPER DUE (April 11, 2014)
13. Islam and Contemporary Ethics (Medical and Financial)
Donna Lee Bowen, “Abortion, Islam and the 1994 Cairo Population Conference,” International Journal
of Middle Eastern Studies 29 (1997), pp. 161-84.
Vardit Rispler-Chaim, Islamic Medical Ethics, chapter 10 “Euthanasia.”
Fatawa Islamiyya: Islamic Verdicts, i, pp. 68-70, 85-91, viii, pp. 225-32.
Abul Fadl Mohsin Ebrahim, Abortion, Birth Control and Surrogate Parenting: An Islamic Perspective;
Organ Transplantation: A Contemporary Islamic Legal/Ethical Perspective.
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GUEST LECTURE by Prof. Mahmoud El-Gamal (of the Baker Institute) on Islamic Economics and
Finance.
14. Islam and Globalization
Samuel Huntington, “A Clash of Civilizations?” Foreign Affairs 72 (1993), pp. 22-49.
Avishai Margalit and Ian Buruma, “Occidentalism,” New York Review of Books, Jan. 17, 2002.
Tariq Ali, The Clash of Fundamentalisms, chapters 20-22.
Oliver Roy, Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah, chapters 1-2, also pp. 257-89.
FINAL DRAFT OF PAPER DUE (April 25, 2014)
FINAL EXAM (take-home, due at the end of the test period, May 7, 2014)
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