COURSE OUTLINE
Instructors: Dr. Iftikhar Zaman
Asif Iftikhar
Basic objectives:
Along with learning facts and figures, an undergraduate education in Islam should develop the
ability in students to understand different points of view and come to their own decisions
regarding them. To develop this ability in the students, this course will proceed in two streams of
class sections: a hundred minute section and a fifty-minute section.
Stream 1:
The students will learn about Islam through English language sources, most of which have been
penned by Orientalist scholars or have been written with their scholarship in mind. The first part
of the course, until the Mid-term exams, will prepare the students to understand the concerns that
are in the background to Orientalist scholarship.
The second part of the course will focus on the ways in which Muslims have understood Islam.
The section on Islamic history will provide the students with a perspective on the way in which
the body of knowledge and attitudes that are known as Islam have come to us. This will help
understand the sources for diversity in the Muslim World, both in their practice of Islam and in
their approach toward the "Islamic Project". After this, there is a section on the way in which
Muslims have approached the issues raised by economics and social sciences in the modern
world. Finally, there is a section on what the morality of a Muslim means in the modern world.
Stream 2:
It is essential that any student of Islam read the basic text of this religion: the Quran. This is
especially so since the Quran is only about 400 pages or so in translation. The students will read
through the book quickly, with attention to broad themes and topics. They will not be asked to
look at any exegesis or secondary works: the idea is to just familiarize them with the broad
demands the Quran makes of humanity and the manner in which it makes them.
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Readings preceded by a dot (as in the beginning of this line) are recommended. Their
contents will be summarized in class. However, the students will find it useful to read
them.
For those who may be interested, optional readings listed as Additional will very useful
but usually a little difficult.
The required readings and the recommended readings are included in the photocopied readings
package for this class. The additional readings are available for download from the class
website.
Students may use any translation of the Quran, in Urdu or English for the Quran readings. For
the sake of being consistent in class we will refer to the translation of M. A. S. Abdel Haleem
so each student should purchase this one.
All the readingsincluding the readings package and the Quran translation are available for
download from the same place. But please note: these downloadable materials are for
students study during this class only: they are not to be reproduced or distributed in any
form.
The Page numbers in the Readings by Lecture are page numbers as in the originally published
books. These original page numbers are recorded in this reading package between square
brackets: [xx]. The Table of Contents following that section refers to the continuous page
numbers in this reading package.
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Readings by Lecture
09/02 History of Islam: The Narrative on the Life of the Prophet
R. G. Collingwood The Idea of History Who Killed John Doe? pp. 266-268.
Bernard Lewis The Arabs in History Muhammad pp. 36-48
H A R Gibb Mohammadenism Muhammad pp.27-35
Fred Donner The Early Islamic Conquests Introduction pp. 3-9
Additional Reading:
Carl G. Hempel Philosophy of Natural Science
09/03 Quran Readings: Introductory Lecture
Additional Reading:
Mustafa Azami The Text of the Quran. This book is easy reading and very useful and every
student should read it. But, since there are already enough readings for the class, only a small
portion of it has been selected for the required and recommended readings.
09/09 History of Islamic Textual Sources: The Preservation of the Quran
In Mustafa Azami The Text of the Quran
Preface xv-xxii,
Introduction 3-13,
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Additional Readings
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Abu Hamid al-Ghazali Faysal al-Tafriqa (On the Boundaries ofTheological Tolerance in
Islam) tr. Sherman Jackson (translated text from pp. 85-132).
10/15 Quran Readings: suras 26-36
Suras 26-36
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Table of Contents
C H . 20 Closing Remarks........................................................................................................
PREFACE..............................................................................................................................
Grading Plan:
Quizzes: 20 %
Assignment: 20%
Mid-term Exam: 25%
Final: 35%
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