History of Islam: Muhammad to 1517.
Prof. Alexandra Cuffel
Webpage: http://www.macalester.edu/~cuffel/
Office: Old Main 308
Office hours: Tues: 2:00-5:00 and by appointment.
Phone: 6414
e-mail: cuffel@macalester.edu.
Description of the Course:
This course will survey Islamic history and culture up
through the Ottoman takeover of
Students will not be judged on their ability to memorize empirical facts, nevertheless students are asked to pay attention to and absorb basic terminology necessary in order to follow the discussions and readings, much of which is introduced in Berkey, Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Medieval Near East 600-1800, the first book assigned to the class. Class performance will be judged by students’ abilities to conceptualize ideas across traditional disciplinary boundaries and express their understanding both orally and in writing. Your abilities in these areas and your understanding of the readings and movies will judged based on your in-class discussions, web-based discussions, and your papers. Explanations of the assignments are provided either in-class or on my website under the appropriate subheading.
Required Books:
1) Jonathan Berkey, Formation
of Islam: Religion and Society in the Medieval Near East 600-1800
2) Qur’an
3) Islam from the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of
4) Paula Saunders, Ritual and Politics in Fatimid
5) The Baburnama: Memoires of Babur, Prince and Emperor. Trans. Jr. W. M. Thackston
6) Sundiata: Epic of Old
7) Al-Hariri, The
Assemblies of al-Hariri: fifty encounters with Shayck Abu Zayd of Seruj
IN addition there will be various readings on line marked @
Requirements for the course:
1) In-class discussion of readings: 20%
2) journal and online discussions: 20%
3) research questions: 5% Due Tues. Sept. 20
4) bibliography: 15% Due Thurs. Oct. 14
5) proposal 5% Due Thurs. Oct. 21
6) research paper: 30% Due Tues. Nov. 23
7) revised proposals/abstracts and presentation and discussion of research: 5% Written abstracts due Tues. Dec. 7. Oral discussion/presentation due last 2 days of class.
Thurs. Sept. 9:
Introduction to the class. Discussion of student expectations. Begin lecture on pre-Islamic religions in
Near East, Arabia, and
Assignment: Come up with 5 potential questions you think
would be interesting to research further based on the information given in Berkey and in the lectures next week, and a brief explaination of why you think these questions are
especially intriguing. Due
Tues. Sept. 20
Tues. Sept. 14:
Lecture: Pre-Islamic religions and politics. Spread of Islam into various parts of Africa
and
Thurs. Sept 16:
Lecture: Spread of Islam into
Tues. Sept. 20:
Discussion of Berkey
and students’ questions. Students
must sign up to meet me to discuss their research projects.
Thurs. Sept. 23:
Library meeting –doing research in
Islamic topics.
Tues. Sept. 27:
Discussion of texts.
Thurs. Sept. 30:
Discussion of texts.
Assignment: Watch the movie, The Messenger by Oct. 7. ( You may either rent it/get it from the library yourself or come to the common showing TBA.) Think about the particular slant or message the filmmaker was trying to give regarding the Prophet Muhammad. Why might he have chosen to portray the Prophet in this way at the time the movie was made and given the audience for whom it was made?
Tues. Oct. 5:
Discussion of texts – question what did it mean to be a prophet? To be from the Prophet Muhammad’s family? Review of Shi’ism.
Thurs. Oct. 7:
Discussion of texts and movie, The
Messenger.
Tues. Oct. 11:
Discussion of texts. Review Umayyads and art of Islamic Iberia.
Thurs. Oct. 14:
Discussion of texts. Bibliographies due.
Tues. Oct. 19
Discussion of texts. Review concept of mawali. Begin lecture: race and slavery in Islam.
Readings for next class: @ chapter from Sa‘id al-Andalusi, Book of the
nations; @ Buzurg; @ al-Jahiz
“In defense of Blacks”; @ selections from Mas’udi, Meadows of Gold;; @ selections
from Ibn Battuta, Travels. al-Hariri,
Assemblies no. 34. Begin reading
Sundiata.
Thurs. Oct. 21:
Discussion of texts. Proposals due.
Tues. Oct. 26:
Discusson of Sundiata.. Introduction to genre of maqamat and illuminative traditions. Links to images: @ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Fall Mid-Term
Break – Enjoy!
Tues. Nov. 2:
Discussion : Al-Hariri, the Islamic underworld, performance, travel, and other mischief.
Thurs. Nov. 4:
Continued discussion of al-Hariri. Begin
discussion of Lewis and Ritual and Politics.
Tues. Nov. 9:
Discussion of Ritual and Politics, Ibn Taymiyya, and Ibn Taghribirdi. Discussion of the nature of ritual, innovation (bida‘), “heresy,” and learning in medieval Islam. Bring your Qur’an to class.
Thurs. Nov. 11
Continued discussion of texts.
Tues. Nov. 16:
Discussion of texts.
Thurs. Nov. 18:
Discussion of texts. What is jihad?
Discussion of jihad and apocalypse. Research paper due
Readings
for next class: Begin reading the Baburname
Review
of Islam in India and elsewhere in India.
Discussion of Baburname
Presentation and discussion of students’ research
Presentation and discussion of students’ research. Wrapping up.
