Islam and Modernity
Spring 2005

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 response to readings, will comprise fully 15% of the grade. The rest will come from a midterm (20%) a final exam (30%), two brief critical papers (each 10%).    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 1-2 page daily reflections (a.k.a. intellectual journal) on the readings. These are for my benefit, to give me a sense of how you are doing on them.  You will post them on blackboard..  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 30% 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.

 Reading schedule

January 17        M      First Day: Special schedule for 20 minute meetings for all classes.  

January 19        W        Ernst,  Following Muhammad

January 24        M         Ernst,  Following Muhammad

January 26        W        Kurzman, Liberal Islam
           

January 31        M         Kurzman, Liberal Islam

February 2       W        Kurzman, Liberal Islam

February 7       M         Kurzman, Liberal Islam

February 9       W         Rahman, ISLAM AND MODERNITY

February 14     M         Rahman, ISLAM AND MODERNITY

February 16     W       Hourani, Arabic Thought in a Liberal Age

February 21     M         Hourani, Arabic Thought in a Liberal Age

February 23     W        Hourani, Arabic Thought in a Liberal Age

February 28     M         Reports due on Islamophobes (group 1)   See the section at the bottom of this screen.

March 2           W        Report due on Islamophobes (Group 2)

March 7           M          finish up oral reports
 

March 9           W    Omid lecture on Wahhabism.  Look up articles on Wahhabis, and bring to class.              
Also, read about the 2002 Qur'an controversy at UNC

March 12-20    Mid Term Recess

March 21         M         An-Na’im, Toward an Islamic Reformation

March 23         W        An-Na’im, Toward an Islamic Reformation

March 28         M         An-Na’im, Toward an Islamic Reformation

March 30         W        Mernissi, Veil and The Mail Elite

April 4              M         Mernissi, Veil and The Male Elite

April 6              W        Mernissi, Veil and The Male Elite

April 11            M         Rauf, What’s Right With Islam, xvii-111

April 13            W        Rauf, What’s Right With Islam, 111-172

April 18            M         Rauf, What’s Right With Islam, 173-291

                                    Report on Modern Muslim thinkers due today

April 20            W        Safi, Progressive Muslims, Introduction plus Part 1

April 25            M         Safi, Progressive Muslims, Part 2

April 27            W        Safi, Progressive Muslims, Part 3

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Assignment on Islamophobia:

The assignment on Islamophobia in Spring of 2004 caused a minor uproar from two of the Islamophobes that we were studying: Robert Spencer and Daniel Pipes.   This actually creates a very useful pedagogical opportunity for us, to notice the connection between rightwing Christian polemicists like Spencer and rightwing Zionists like Pipes. 

There are two elements I want to highlight:

1)   There is a suggestion in many writings of people like Spencer that there is in fact no such phenomena as Islamophobia.   Sadly, organizations like the United Nations disagree with him on this matter.  See here for the UN Seminar on Islamophobia.

2)   I want you to study, in some depth, the reports of Daniel Pipes and Robert Spencer on the "Islam and Modernity" class in spring of 2004.   I am providing a link for you to consider them here.

Now, let's move on to our assignment:

Brief reports: (two of them)

Report on Islamohpobia:

You are each required to turn in a report on a significant person who contributes to a negative public presentation of Islam and/or Muslims; whose political views and/or scholarship shape how Islam is presented today.  This group is a broad coalition that includes folks from diverse backgrounds, such as unrepentant Orientalists, outright Islamophobes, Neo-conservatives, Western Triumphalists, right-wing Christian Evangelicals, etc.: 

Report:  4 pages.  Include: a  brief biography, intellectual history, and comments on Islam (and/or Middle East where relevant)

-1) Bernard Lewis, 2)Samuel Huntington, 3)Fouad Ajami, 4)David Frum, 5)Paul Wolfowitz, 6) Leo Strauss, 7) William Kristol, 8) William Bennett, 9) Daniel Pipes, 10) Charles Krauthammer, 11) Alan Bloom, 12) Robert Spencer, 13) David Pryce-Jones, 14) Stephen Schwartz, 15) Bat Yeor,16) Jerry Falwell, 17)Pat Robertson, 18) Francis Fukuyaman, 19)Franklin Graham  20) Niall Ferguson 21) Robert Kagan 22) Dore Gold 23) Ibn Warraq

[*Stephen Schwartz directs his critique at the Wahhabis, and is affiliated with Sufism, but he has fully identified himself with Neo-con think tanks and political ambitions.]

Report on Modern Muslim intellectuals/leaders:

You will also turn in a four page report on a major 20th century Muslim intellectual.  Four page Critical Report on important Muslim thinkers who in some way has contributed to the engagement of "Islam and modernity":  Brief biography, intellectual genealogy, and how they are dealing with Islam, modernity, tradition, etc.

-1 Muhammad Iqbal, 2Muhammad Abduh, 3Jamal al-Din Afghani, 4Rashid Rida, 5Ali Shari'ati, 6Khomeini, 7Mohammad Khatami,8 Sa'd al-Din Ebrahim, 9Nasr Abu Zayd, 10Mohammed Arkoun, 11 Fatima Mernissi, 12Muhammad Ashmawi, 13Rachid Ghannouchi, 14Abd al-Karim Soroush, 15Mohsen Kadivar, 16 Nurcholish Madjid, 17 Farzlur Rahman, 18 Yusuf al-Qaradawi, 19 Chandra Muzaffar, 20 Farish Noor, 21  Alija Izetbegovic, 22 Tariq Ramadan 23  Shirin Ebadi

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Required texts:

1)      Ernst, Following Muhammad

2)      Kurzman, Liberal Islam

3)      Rahman, Islam and Modernity

4)      Mernissi, Veil and The Mail Elite

5)      Hourani, Arabic Thought in a Liberal Age

6)      An-Na’im, Toward an Islamic Reformation

7)      Rauf, What’s Right With Islam

8)      Safi, Progressive Muslims

Further info on Islamophobia: