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Religion/History 408: Islam in the Modern World

by Dr. Anna Bigelow , North Carolina State University

Course Description
This course on Modern Islam will track the history of Islam from the rise of the "modern" in the late 18th century until today. The course will explore the histories, individuals, movements, events, and expressive traditions that comprise the diverse world of global Islam. With more than a billion adherents worldwide we will study both the shared traditions and the regional and local formations of Muslim culture. The course begins with a historical survey, then we will focus on several key issues such as gender, justice, colonialism, orientalism, violence, reform and piety movements, and human rights. The last part of the course will be devoted to artistic and creative expressions such as literature, film, and the visual arts.

Objectives
By the completion of this class student will be able to:
• Identify the major elements of Islam and understand the cultural contexts of the religion.
• Research and evaluate how Islam appears in the modern media and how media representations of Islam impact society.
• Read and critically evaluate often challenging primary and secondary texts from a variety of periods and places in recent Islamic history.
• Research and write three substantial research papers on topics relating to Islam in the Modern World.
• Synthesize and compare the insights gained from the course materials and lectures and critically evaluate the relative merits of their argumentation, sources, and theories.

Prerequisite
Upper level History or Religion course or permission of the instructor

Texts
• Esposito, John. Islam in Transition.
• Abou el Fadl, Khaled. The Place of Tolerance in Islam. Boston: Beacon Press, 2002.

Course Readings
Much of the class material will be placed online through the library course reserves:
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/reserves/
Additional materials may be posted at the class website:
http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/~bigelow/rel408/

Course Schedule
The reading assignments listed for a particular date and lesson must be read prior to that class, at least once. Readings must be brought to class in some form.
ER = Electronic Reserves through the library website
IIT = Islam in Transition, course text

January 10: Introduction

January 15: The Best-selling poet in America: Jalaluddin Rumi
Reading: Eboo Patel, "Islam and America" Crosscurrents, 2006 – ER
Amira El Zein, "Spiritual Consumption in the US: The Rumi Phenomenon"
– ER
Find and bring in a poem by Rumi

January 17: Sufism in Theory and Practice
Reading: Carl Ernst, Chapter 1 “What is Sufism” and Chapter 8, “Sufism in the Contemporary World” from The Shambhala Guide to Sufism, (Boston; Shambhala Press, 1999) – ER

January 22: Cemalnur Sargut, Sufi Master of the 21st Century
Reading: Samiha Ayverdi, from Camille Helminski. Women of Sufism. Boston:
Shambhala, 2003. – ER
Kabir Helminski, “What Sufism Is” http://www.sufism.org/books/livinex.html

January 24: The Qur’an and other Islamic essentials
Reading: Elias, “Birth of Islam” and “Beliefs, Rituals, Practices” – ER
Sells, “Introduction” to Approaching the Qur’an, pp. 1-31 – ER

January 29: The Qur’an and Controversy
Reading: selections from the Qur'an – ER
Readings about the UNC controversy:
Christopher Buck, "Discovering" The Blackwell Companion to the Qur'an,
London: Blackwell, 2006. – ER
Tariq Ramadan, "Reading the Qur'an" The New York Times, Jan 6, 2008
Religion & Ethics Newsweekly
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week551/sells.html
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week551/news.html
A critique of the reading assignment by William F. Buckley
http://www.nationalreview.com/buckley/buckley081602.asp
Student reaction at UNC
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i02/02a04801.htm
other materials (many links no longer work) at:
http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/UNC_ApproachingTheQur'an.htm

January 31: The Qur’an and Modern Interpretation (tafsir)
Reading: Read Surat al Kafirun (109), Surat al Ikhlas (112), Surat al Nisa 1-6 (4:1-6)
If you do not have a Qur’an, see course website for online Qur’an resources
Sayyid Qutb, commentary on Surat al Kafirun
(http://www.islamworld.net/qutb/s109.txt) and Surat al Ikhlas
(http://www.islamworld.net/qutb/s112.txt)
Abu Ala’ Maududi, commentary on Surat al Kafirun, Surat al Ikhlas, and
the Ayat al-Kursi at
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/maududi/
Alama’ Taba’taba’i, from al Mizan Volume , commentary on the Ayat al
Kursi, 2:255 http://www.almizan.org/Tafseer/Volume4/Baqarah65.asp
Amina Wadud, “Qur’an, Gender and Interpretive Possibilities,” Hawwa,
Vol. 2, No 3, 2004

February 5: 18th & 19th Centuries
Reading: John Voll, “Foundations for Renewal and Reform” in John Esposito, editor,
Oxford History of Islam, (NY; Oxford University Press, 1999) - ER

February 7: Wahhabi Movement
Reading: Michael Cook, “On the Origins of Wahhabism” Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society 1992, pp. 191-202 - ER
“Wahhabiyya” from The Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd Edition - in the library

February 12: Colonialism
Reading: S. V. R. Nasr, “European Colonialism,” in John Esposito, editor,
Oxford History of Islam, (New York; Oxford Univ. Press, 1999) – ER
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, “An Islamic Response to Imperialism” IIT p. 13-15

February 14: Independence Struggles
Reading: Marshall Hodgson, “The Drive for Independence in the 20th Century” in
The Venture of Islam, Volume 3, pp. 357-409 - ER
Film: The Battle of Algiers
MEET IN ERDAHL-CLOYD THEATER, DH HILL LIBRARY

February 19: Reformers and Modernists
Reading: Jamal al Din al Afghani, IIT p. 16-19
Muhammad Abduh, IIT 20-24
Rashid Rida, IIT 41-43
Sayyid Ahmad Khan, IIT pp. 35-37
Muhammad Iqbal, IIT pp. 71-73
Taha Husayn, 54-58
Abd al Rabhman al Bazzaz

February 21: Traditionalists and Revolutionaries
Reading: Maulana Maududi, 74-77
‘Ali ‘Abd al-Raziq, 24-31
Amir Shakib Arslan, 44-48
Sati’ al Husri, 49-53
Hasan al Banna, 59-63
Mu’ammar al Qadhdhafi, 83-86
Sayyid Qutb, 103-108
PAPER ONE DUE – Profile paper

February 26: Shi’a Islam
Reading: David Buchman, “Shi’ite Islam in Contemporary Iran” in Michael
Feener, ed. Islam in World Cultures. Santa Barbara: ABC/Clio, 2004. - ER
Abdolkarim Soroush interview, “The Responsibilities of the Muslim
Intellectual in the 21st Century” at MuslimWakeUp:
http://www.muslimwakeup.com/main/archives/2003/12/the_responsibil.php

February 28: Democracy and Governance
Reading: IIT, pp. 261-278, 307-330, 332-340

March 4 & 6: SPRING BREAK - NO CLASS

March 11: Tolerance and Pluralism
Reading: Abou el Fadl, The Place of Tolerance in Islam. Boston: Beacon Press, 2002.

March 13: MIDTERM EXAM (quotation explanation, short essay)

March 18: Muslim Literary Voices
Reading: Naguib Mahfouz, “Zaabalawi” – ER
Additional readings to be decided

March 20: Music
Reading: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, “Islam and Music: The Legal and the Spiritual
Dimensions,” in Lawrence Sullivan, editor, Enchanting Powers:
Music in the World’s Religions,” Harvard, 1997. – ER
Virginia Danielson, “The Voice and Face of Egypt” - ER
Film: The Voice of Egypt


March 25: Human Rights
Reading: Abdullahi an-Naim, “Human Rights in the Arab World” Human Rights
Quarterly. – ER

March 27: Jihad
Reading: IIT, pp. 394-429, 460-464

April 1: The War on Terror
Reading: IIT, pp. 430-459, 465-472

April 3: Gender Justice
Reading: IIT, pp. 157-202, 212-214

April 8: Ecology
Reading: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, “Islam, the Contemporary Islamic World, and
the Environmental Crisis” – ER
Fazlun Khalid, “Islam, Ecology, and Modernity: An Islamic Critique
of the Root Causes of Environmental Degradation” – ER

April 10: The Pope and Islam
Reading: Pope Benedict XVI, Speech at Regensburg September 12, 2006
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060912_university-regensburg_en.html
Open letter to the Pope from Muslim clerics, October 12, 2006
http://www.islamicamagazine.com/Online-Analysis/Open-Letter-to-His-Holiness-Pope-Benedict-XVI.html
Second open letter to the Pope from Muslim clerics, October 13, 2007
http://www.acommonword.com/

April 15: Islamophobia
Reading: Peter Gottschalk, excerpt from Islamophobia – ER
William Dalrymple, “Islamophobia,” The New Statesman, January 19,
2004 – ER

April 17: Making Space for Islam
Reading: Gulzar Haider, “Muslim Space and the Practice of Architecture: a Personal
Odyssey,” in Barbara Metcalf, editor, Making Muslim Space,
(Berkeley: UC Press, 1996) – ER
Vernon Schubel, “Karbala as Sacred Space among North American Shi’a: ‘Everyday is Ashura, Everywhere is Karbala’” – ER
PAPER TWO DUE – Issue paper

April 22: Islam in America
Reading: TBA, too many to choose from!

April 24: Wrap up and Catch up

May 1: FINAL EXAM, 8-11 am (quotation explanation, short essay, long essay)

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.