Religion 329 (Islam and
the Modern World)
Spring 2003
By: Omid Safi
Meeting times: Monday/Wednesday 2:45-4:00
Place: Saperstein Center
Catalogue Description:
This course examines the key issues with which Muslim thinkers
the modern period (defined here as the colonial and post-colonial
periods) have been concerned. A significant portion of the class
will be spent examining liberal Islamic thought, in the sense of
intellectual responses that have taken the engagement with
modernity seriously. As such, we will critically examine some
Muslim responses to post-colonialism, feminist and womanist
constructions, democratization of politics, pluralism, religious
violence, extremism, and authoritarianism. The class will be
conducted in a seminar format, and will consist of close reading
and discussion of texts.
Prerequisite: None required. Students with no
background in Islam will be expected to read an additional text,
introducing them to the basic tenets of Islam in the first few
weeks of the course.
Course Requirements:
The students’ participation, measured through in-class
participation and intellectual journals, will comprise fully 20%
of the grade. The rest will come from a 15-20 page research paper
(40%), and a final exam (40%). Class attendance and active
participation is mandatory. The final is an open
book, take home exam, drawing upon the sources for all semester.
Students who fail to show up and contribute to class discussions can hope for no better than a D in this class. You will be asked to turn in 2-3 page daily reflections (a.k.a. intellectual journal) on the readings. These are for my benefit, and will not be returned to you. You get a grade for turning them in, and for the effort you put into them. We also use them as a resource for building further class discussion. In each reflection, I ask you to bring up 2-3 critical questions about the reading that you can raise for discussion in the class.
There are very specific dates for your semester long research project, which will proceed in a step by step format. Each step contributes to the 40% of your grade, meaning that missing any step will result in a significant deduction of your total grade. Please mark these dates carefully in your calendar.
Wednesday, Feb. 19th: Topic turned
in.
Wednesday, March 12th: annotated bibliography
turned in.
Wednesday, April 2nd: Outline and first three
pages
Wednesday, April 16th: Final version of the
Research paper turned in.
Required Texts:
1. Na'eem Jeenah and Shamima Shaikh, Journey of Discovery: A
South African Hajj (this book will be a few weeks
getting in, but do keep checking in after about Feb. 1st).
2. Eqbal Ahmad, Confronting Empire
3. Tayyib Saleh, Season of Migration to the North
4. Tariq Ali, Clash of Fundamentalism
5. Charles Kruzman, ed., Liberal Islam
6. Khaled Abou El Fald, Speaking in God's Name
7. Bruce Lawrence, Shattering the Myth
8. Michael Sells, The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide
in Bosnia
9. Ghassan Kanafani, Palestine's children: Returning to Haifa
and Other Stories
10. Omid Safi, Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender,
and Pluralism (you will be purchasing this book from Jeanie
Newlun, our angelic secretary sometime in late February,
insha'allah. It is too new to be available through the
bookstore!)
Syllabus
Unit 1: Colonialism and Post-Colonialism
*Monday, January 20th (first day of courses)
[Students in the class without sufficient background in Islam are
encouraged to read up on Jamal Elias, Islam]
*Wednesday, January 22nd: Tayyib Saleh, Season of Migration
to the North, pp. 1-87.
Articles on “imperialism”, “colonialism” [you
will look these up from various encyclopedias, copy them, and
bring them to class.]
*Monday, January 27th: Season of Migration,
pp. 88-end.
plus selections from Franz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth
[handed out]
Film selection: Battle of Algiers, or Wedding in Galilee
Unit 2: Islam, Modernity, and the Great Western
Transmutation
*Wednesday, January 29th: M. Hodgson, “Great
Western Transmutation” [handed out]
Articles on “modernity”, “post-modernity”,
“modernization”, [you will look these up from various
encyclopedias, copy them, and bring them to class.]
Unit 3: Liberal Muslim thinkers
*Monday, February 3rd: No class.
*Wednesday, February 5th: Charles Kruzman, ed., Liberal
Islam, pages 3-142. [long class]
*Monday, February 10th: no class. [Library
research for paper topic]
*Wednesday, February 12th: Liberal Islam, pages 144-340.
Unit 4: Islam and the Problem of Violence:
*Monday, February 17th: Lawrence, Shattering
the myth, intro., chapters 1, 2, 3 [library research]
*Wednesday, February 19th: Lawrence, Shattering the myth,
chapters 4, 5, 6, conclusion.
[remember to bring $20 cash with you to class for the
Progressive Muslim book]
[By today you will discuss a potential topic
for their research paper.]
Unit 5: Rethinking
Islamic law in the Modern World
*Monday, February 24th: Khaled Abou El
Fald, Speaking in God’s Name, chapters 1, 2, 3, 4
[library research]
*Wednesday, February 26th: Khaled Abou El Fald, Speaking
in God’s Name, chapters 5, 6, 7, conclusion, appendix
By today, you will hand in your actual topic
for your research paper.
Unit 6: The Emergence of a
Progressive Muslim Movement
*Monday, March 3rd : Progressive
Muslims: On Justice,... [intro, chapters 1, 2, 3, 4,
5]
*Wednesday, March 5th: Progressive Muslims
[chapters 6, 7,8,9]
*Monday, March 10th:
Progressive Muslims [chapters
10, 11, 12, 13, 14]
Unit 7: 20th century Conservative
Muslim Movements
* Wednesday, March 12th: Lecture on
Wahhabism [look up info on Wahhabis from library, web,
etc.]
(by today, let's rethink and confirm your paper topic)
March 15th-23rd (spring break)
Unit 8: Islam and Global piety: A View
from the South Africa
*Monday, March 24th: Na’eem Jeenah and
Shamima Shaikh, Journey of Discovery: A South African Hajj,
whole book. [library research]
* Wednesday, March 26th: With Farid Esack today, in
class. Re-read his essay in Progressive Muslims
By the end of this week, you will hand in a bibliography
of critical sources, plus a 2-3 sentence description of how you
to plan to use each of them.. [sorry, web sources can
only be used to augment critical sources from the library of the
paper variety.]
Unit 9: Case Studies (Bosnia):
*Monday, March 31st: * Michael Sells, The Bridge Betrayed,
preface, chapters 1, 2, 3. 4, 5, 6, 7 (try to read as much of the
book as you can, come to class to discuss)
*Wednesday, April 2nd: * Michael Sells, The
Bridge Betrayed: finish discussion in class and movie.
Today, you will turn in an outline for your paper.
*Monday, April 7th: Eqbal Ahmad, Confronting
Empire [first half]
*Wednesday, April 9th: Eqbal Ahmad, Confronting Empire
[second half]
By this point, turn in the first 3 pages of your research
paper.
Unit 10: Case Studies (Palestine)
*Monday, April 14th: Ghassan Kanafani, Palestine’s
children: Returning to Haifa and Other Stories, (whole book)
[library]
*Wednesday, April 16th: Chris Hedges (Colgate grad,
New York Times Writer), "A
Gaza Diary", [read all 14 pages]
Unit 11: Post-colonial (secular?) Muslim intellectuals:
against US hegemony, against Muslim Literalism
*Monday, April 21st: Tariq Ali, Clash of
Fundamentalisms [parts 1 and II]
*Wednesday, April 23rd: Tariq Ali, Clash of
Fundamentalisms, parts III and IV, plus Appendix.
*Monday, April 28th: wrap up discussion.
*Wednesday, April 30th: [You will turn in the final
version of your research paper here.]
Friday May 2nd (last day of courses)
May 5th-9th final exam
Final exam question: Be sure to address all the questions in the two parts. Make sure that you refer amply and generously to the various texts you have read this semester. I want to see footnotes, but not just a string of quotes. I want to hear your own voice through all of this. The whole thing is to be typed, stapled, page number at the bottom, no more than 8 pages for both questions.
1) I want you to reflect on two key concepts for Progressive and Liberal Muslims: Tradition and Modernity. In what ways are these concepts engaged by various Progressive/Liberal Muslims? How do progressive Muslims approach the "tradition of Islam"? What aspects of it do they highlight, what facets do they marginalize? What particular "methodology" do they advocate in approaching the sources of Islam (Qur'an, hadith), etc. What facets of modernity do they engage? Is modernity defined vis-a-vis the Western experience of modernity? Do they posit an "Islamic modernity"? (no more than 5 pages)
2) I want you to pick an issue that you have seen many of
these Muslim thinkers engage (women's rights, democracy, colonialism, wahhabism,
social justice, etc.), and write a 2-3 page essay from that perspective. I
want you to place yourself in the line of liberal and progressive
interpretations of Islam that has come before (quoting from them, and other
non-Islamic sources that seem like potential allies), and offering an original,
creative progressive Muslim voice on that particular issue. (2-3
pages)