Dr. Ali A. Asani, Associate Professor of Indo-Muslim Culture, Harvard University, and Hussein Rashid, doctoral candidate, Harvard University

Abstract

Traditional courses on Islam at the college level usually emphasise a historical approach or are overly concerned with looking at Islam in a socio-political context. Notwithstanding the scholarly validity of these approaches, their principal drawback is that they leave students with little or no awareness of the richly textured nature of Muslim religious experience inspired by varied literary and visual arts. With this in mind, Prof. Asani recently introduced at Harvard a new course on Islam, the central theme of which was to explore the manner in which literature and the arts are employed as vehicles for the expression of Muslim religious worship and devotion. In his paper, he discussed various aspects of the course, its drawbacks and student feedback. He also examined the use of computer and electronic technology in the teaching of the course and the humanities in general.