www. Study of Islam .org

Islam and Reform

by Dr. Omid Safi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Course description:
Iran has been labeled by the Bush administration as part of the “Axis of Evil”, and it is most frequently presented in the Western media either through the lens of its nuclear ambitions or the anti-Semitic ranting of its new president, Ahmadinejad.   Paradoxically, the same Iran is also home today to one of the most intellectually sophisticated religious reform movements in the Muslim world. Less than one generation after the 1979 Iranian revolution which was seen as the harbinger of Islamic fundamentalism around the world, the Iranian public discourse on Islam has become nuanced, self-critical, and refreshingly bold, questioning the very presuppositions of religious authority, hermeneutics, women’s rights, and the role of the state.

This is a graduate-level course designed to study some of this reformist intellectual movements in modern Islam.   Particular close attention will be paid to the case of post-revolutionary Iran. The issues discussed will include the compatibility of Islam and human rights, women’s rights, democracy, and fresh hermeneutical approaches to scriptures.

Course requirements:
The course will be ran in a seminar format.  Advanced knowledge of Islamic thought is a requirement prior to taking this course.   It is vital that the participants complete the readings prior to class, and prepare a 2-3 page book report for each week. In addition, each student will write a 20-25 page research paper, due at the end of the semester.  

Language requirement:
The discussion and the bulk of the readings will be in English.   However, since some of the readings are in Persian, we will spend 45 minutes every week reading the primary sources closely.

Readings:

Thursday August 21st:
Background to the Reform movement, plus overview of relevant portions of Iranian history
*Hamid Algar, Roots of the Islamic Revolution in Iran  [selections]
* “Omid Safi, “Islamic Modernism”, Encyclopedia of Religion, Second Edition.  [as PDF]
*Arjomand, Said Amir.  “The Reform Movement and the Debate on Modernity and Tradition in Contemporary Iran,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 34 (2002): 719-731.

Thursday August 28th:
*selections from Ayatollah Khomeini, writings on Islamic Government
*Browse Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Persian selection:  Khomeini, Hokumat-e Islami.

Thursday September 4th:
Ali Shari’ati:   A Muslim Socialist/Humanist
Hamid Algar, Roots of the Islamic Revolution in Iran  [relevant selections]
Read all of: Sociology of Islam, plus selections of:
Religion Vs. Religion;  And Once Again, Abu Dharr; or Hajj
Persian selections from Shariati.com

Thursday September 11th:
Mohammad Khatami, former President of Iran:
http://www.khatami.ir/
Reading:    Islam, Liberty, and Development 
*Khamenei’s response to Khatami: http://cnn.com/WORLD/9801/16/iran.us/index.html
* Check out the following web-page: http://cnn.com/SPECIALS/1998/iran/
interview with Amanpour:  http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9801/07/iran/interview.html
“Khomeini was the biggest reformist”:  http://www.baztab.ir/news/72076.php
“Ethics of Tolerance in the Age of Violence” (pdf, online), talk at Harvard 2006, JFK School of Government.
Comparison:   Samuel Huntington, Bernard Lewis
Persian reading TBA

Thursday September 18th:
Mohsen Kadivar:  The Modernity Intellectual
All readings from Kadivar.com 
“The Principles of Compatibility of Islam and Modernity”
and
“Political Innovative Ideas and Influence of Molla Mohammad Kazim Khorasani”
and
“An Introduction to the Public and Private Debate in the Islamic Culture” [in documents section]
and
“Velayat-e Faqih and Democracy” [in documents section]
and
“The freedom of thought and religion in Islam”
and
“Political rights of people in islam”

Persian selection:  read selections from:    Hokumat-e Velayi
معنوي [Islam-e Tarikhi ta Islam-e Ma’navi]
[Islam va hoquq-e basher] both on line.
“Women in the qur’an”

Comparison:  Habermas, Jurgen.  "Modernity--an Incomplete Project." The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture.  Ed. Foster, Hal, ed.  Seattle: Bay P, 1983.

‘Abd al-Karim Soroush:   3-4 week section.
Main website:  http://drsoroush.com/

Thursday September 25th: 
Reason, Freedom, and Democracy in Islam.  (Oxford University Press)
Enlightenment and Philosophy in Islam --  An Interview with Abdulkarim Soroush

Mysticism in contemporary Islamic political thought: Orhan Pamuk and Abdolkarim Soroush.(Essay) -- John von Heyking 

'Religion of War, Religion of Peace' -- Lecture of Abdolkarim Soroush 

The Muddled Dream of Returning to Tradition -- An interview with Abdulkarim Soroush

“Islam versus the West” and the Political Thought of AbdolKarim Soroush  -- Hassan Abbas  

Whether by the Fire of Freedom or by the Fire of Zeal -- Dr. Soroush

Contentious Public Religion: Two Conceptions of Islam in Revolutionary Iran; Ali Shari`ati and Abdolkarim Soroush -- Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi 

Treatise on Tolerance

The Expansion and Contraction of Abdolkarim Soroush -- Dr. M. Shirvani

Persian selection:  Qabz o bast-e teorik-e shari’at

Thursday October 2nd:
Expansion of Prophetic Experience [selections]
What Religious Intellectualism Isn't -- Abdulkarim Soroush

Militant Secularism -- Abdulkarim Soroush

The Relationship between the Mathnawi and the Qur'an --Abdulkarim Soroush

The Beauty of Justice --An interview with Abdulkarim Soroush

On Reason -- Abdolkarim Soroush

Thursday October 9th:  
Soroush finds Rumi, plus the controversy on Qur’an as words of God and the Prophet

Islam, Revelation and Prophethood -- An Interview with Abdulkarim Soroush

Muhammad’s Word, Muhammad’s Miracle -- An Interview with Abdulkarim Soroush

The Word of Mohammad --  An Interview with Abdulkarim Soroush 

Comparison:   Fazlur Rahman on Prophecy, Ibn Sina
For Montazeri on Wahy, see:   http://www.kadivar.com/Index.asp?DocId=2092&AC=1&AF=1&ASB=1&AGM=1&AL=1&DT=dtv

Thursday October 16th:   UNC Fall Break
Assignment:  Topic for Research paper

Thursday October 23rd:  Comparing Soroush and Tariq Ramadan
Reading: Tariq Ramadan, Western Muslims and the Future of Islam

Thursday October 30th:
Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari: The Modern Theologian

Thursday November 6th:
Hermenutic, Scripture, and Tradition

Interviews:  http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-575/_nr-3/i.html
And
http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-478/_nr-
783/i.html?PHPSESSID=4b3267c32fbdae53d691c88e705dd8fe
and
http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-478/_nr-787/i.html

plus: Shabestari, “Religion, reason, and the New Theology” [pdf on line]

Persian Selection:  Iman Va Azadi

Thursday November 13th:  Possibility Omid may be in Iran, insha’allah
Shirin Ebadi, Iran Awakening [whole book]

Browse through: Tarikh-che va asnad-e hoquq-e bashar dar Iran.  Tehran: Roshangaran, 1373/1994.   English translation and abbreviation by Nazila Fathi as History and Documentation of Human Rights in Iran.  New York:  Bibliotheca Persica Press, 2000.

“Nobel Peace Prize lecture, 2003:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2003/ebadi-lecture-e.html

Background: First two chapters of Sa’di’s Rose Garden (Gulestan)
Comparison: Selection from Amina Wadud (Qur’an and Woman).

Persian selection: Nobel Peace lecture.

Thursday November 20th:
Internal criticism: Akbar Ganji, The Road To Democracy in Iran

Republican Manifesto II:
http://freeganji.blogspot.com/2005/06/republican-manifesto-ii.html
and
http://freeganji.blogspot.com/2006/06/shamed-by-ghorme-sabzi-of-liberalism.html
and
Letter to Soroush:
http://freeganji.blogspot.com/2005/07/letter-to-dr-abdolkarim-soroush.html
and
to Montazeri:
http://freeganji.blogspot.com/2005/07/letter-to-ayatollah-montazeri.html

Manifest I:  http://redinblack.netfirms.com/manifest/
Persian reading:  TBA

Thursday November 27th: Thanksgiving

Final papers due at exam week.

If you'd like to share your syllabus, please send it to us as an MS Word attachement at studyofislam@gmail.com.

	Bruce Lawrence, The Qur'an: Books That changed the World, Grove Press, 2008.
	Omid Safi, The Politics of Knowledge in Premodern Islam: Negotiating Ideology and Religious Inquiry, Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2006.
	Ebrahim Moosa, Ghazali and Poetics of Imagination, Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2005.