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ISLAMIC STUDIES

School

Hartford International

TH-553-1

Intro to Islamic Theology

BTI Category

Semester

Islamic Studies

SP25

This course explores the content and structure of Islamic belief, as elaborated by Muslim classical thinkers (7th-15th centuries), in relation to a selection of representative texts. The Introduction questions the nature and modalities of theology in Islam. History studies the origins and growth of the science of Kalâm in its interaction with the other major religious disciplines of Sunnism -- exegesis, Prophetic tradition, jurisprudence, sects, Sufism and philosophy (falsafa). The Creed is then analyzed more theoretically in its major components: the lordship and divinity of God, the mediation of the Messenger, the servitude and ethics of the believers. Society offers a last avenue for enquiry, in so far as it was shaped by particular theological doctrines. The Way/Law (sharî’a), power, love, innovation, and alterity -- religious or other -- are among the topics envisaged. No knowledge of Arabic is required for this course.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Laher, Suheil

W

5:00pm-6:50pm

Grading Option

Letter, P/F, Audit

Credits

3

Professor Approval Req'd?

N

Online?

N

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

N

School

Hartford International

HI-625

Modern Muslim Histories

BTI Category

Semester

Islamic Studies

SP25

This course offers an in-depth introduction to modern Muslim histories from the 16th to the 21st centuries. Utilizing a variety of sources, from primary to secondary and fiction, it engages big questions – modernity, “Muslim World,” colonialism, nationalism, globalization, diversity, memory, and religion – through case studies centered in and across sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East/Europe, south and southeast Asia, and North America.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Kamaly, Hossein

T

7:00pm-8:50pm

Grading Option

Letter, P/F, Audit

Credits

3

Professor Approval Req'd?

N

Online?

Y

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

N

School

Harvard Divinity School

HDS 3175

Indian Ocean Islam

BTI Category

Semester

Islamic Studies

SP25

Does thinking oceanically influence the study of Islam? Can we remember a people�s history of the Indian Ocean world? This course considers these questions and others as it focuses on religious worlds within port cities and the networks of Indian Ocean Islam. The course examines how religion in port cities and islands was centered upon a plethora of saints, missionaries, divinities and other agents of Islam, who have been marginalized in academic literature on the Indian Ocean. It simultaneously examines how oceanic religion was intimately connected to economic, political and technological developments. Students will be introduced to scholarship on oceanic Islam and monsoon Islam, before they are introduced to a variety of sources on transregional Islamic networks and agents of Islam, including biographies, hagiographies, travelogues, novels, poems and ethnographic accounts. Students will, moreover, be encouraged to consider ways in which approaches to studying Islam could be enhanced by a focus on religious economies and networks, as well as the lives of �subalterns� who crossed the porous borders of the Indian Ocean world and shaped its religious worlds. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1821 and Islamic Civilizations 136.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Teren Sevea

M

3:00pm - 5:30pm

Grading Option

Letter

Credits

4

Professor Approval Req'd?

N

Online?

N

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

N

School

Hartford International

TH-553-2

Intro to Islamic Theology

BTI Category

Semester

Islamic Studies

SP25

This course explores the content and structure of Islamic belief, as elaborated by Muslim classical thinkers (7th-15th centuries), in relation to a selection of representative texts. The Introduction questions the nature and modalities of theology in Islam. History studies the origins and growth of the science of Kalâm in its interaction with the other major religious disciplines of Sunnism -- exegesis, Prophetic tradition, jurisprudence, sects, Sufism and philosophy (falsafa). The Creed is then analyzed more theoretically in its major components: the lordship and divinity of God, the mediation of the Messenger, the servitude and ethics of the believers. Society offers a last avenue for enquiry, in so far as it was shaped by particular theological doctrines. The Way/Law (sharî’a), power, love, innovation, and alterity -- religious or other -- are among the topics envisaged. No knowledge of Arabic is required for this course.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Laher, Suheil

W

5:00pm-6:50pm

Grading Option

Letter, P/F, Audit

Credits

3

Professor Approval Req'd?

N

Online?

Y

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

N

School

Harvard Divinity School

HDS 3063

Spiritual Care from a Muslim Perspective

BTI Category

Semester

Islamic Studies

SP25

This course introduces students to practices of spiritual care from a Muslim Perspective. As we will survey spiritual care practices of different Muslim cultures, our focus will be the relevant application of these practices in North America with a special focus on contemporary issues. We will study meditative/ritualistic, medical, philosophical, counseling, and psychological practices that have relevance and meanings in personal journeys of Muslim spiritual experience in different settings such as hospital, prison, university, community, social, and professional settings. Through a combination of readings, class discussions, practical exercises and expert guest lecturers in each class, students will begin to develop their own approaches to spiritual care in different circumstances such as the issues involving spiritual crises, trauma, mental illness, marriage/divorce, refuge related mental and spiritual complications, substance abuse, and others. Different stake holders such as pastoral care/chaplaincy (minister) candidates, students in education, social work, counseling, psychology, and health sciences as well as medical school students will find much value and benefit in this course. Class format will include weekly expert guest speakers including medical doctors, counselors, social workers, psychologists, clergy, and chaplains, from different disciplines who provide service to Muslim clients, patients, students, or inmates followed by a class discussion.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Yunus Kumek

M

12:00pm - 1:59pm

Grading Option

Letter, P/F, Audit

Credits

4

Professor Approval Req'd?

N

Online?

N

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

N

School

Harvard Divinity School

HDS 3983

Logic in the Islamic Intellectual History: A Feminist Critical Reading

BTI Category

Semester

Islamic Studies

SP25

Islamic philosophers, theologians, jurists, and mystics have grappled with the nature of logic. This course explores this challenge through the lens of feminist criticism. As many feminist philosophers argue, knowledge cannot be a purely theoretical activity. Even logic, the most theoretical form of knowledge, is rooted in the practical (social, cultural, and political) aspects of embodied, material life. In this course, we will: 1) Review the history of struggles for and against logic in the Islamic tradition. 2) Uncover hidden layers of logic in the logical treatises of Muslim scholars. 3) Interpret and understand these hidden logical structures in terms of what feminist critics refer to as the material conditions of knowledge. Readings, all in English, include feminist and Muslim philosophers, Muslim theologians, jurists, and Sufis.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Zahra Moballegh

R

3:00pm - 4:59pm

Grading Option

Letter

Credits

4

Professor Approval Req'd?

N

Online?

N

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

N

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