Summer Programme on Islam 2008
Knowledge Societies: Contemporary Contexts and Historical Perspectives
Professor Azim Nanji and Dr. Shainool Jiwa
Objective(s) to:
a) Understand the ethos and perspectives on acquiring knowledge in foundational sources.
b) Explore the conceptual principles and historical exigencies that have shaped the intellectual tradition in Muslim societies.
c) Appreciate the institutionalisation of the learning culture through select examples from Islamic history.
d) Examine the precepts and features of contemporary knowledge societies and our engagement with them.
Readings – Contemporary Contexts
1. Address by His Highness the Aga Khan at the Commencement Ceremony of the American University in Cairo June 15, 2006. Available online at www.akdn.org.
2. Address to Aga Khan University 2006 Convocation by His Highness The Aga Khan, Chancellor of Aga Khan University, December 6, 2006. Available online at www.aku.edu.
3. “Global Education and the Developing World" - The 2008 Peterson Lecture, delivered by His Highness the Aga Khan at the Annual Meeting of the International Baccalaureate, marking its 40th Anniversary. 18 April 2008. Available online at www.akdn.org.
Readings – Historical Perspectives
4. Reinhart, Kevin A. "Intellectual Life in Islam" in The Muslim Almanac. Azim Nanji (Ed.). New York: Gale Research Inc., 1996.
5. Nanji, Azim. "Learning and Education" in The Muslim Almanac. Azim Nanji (Ed.). New York: Gale Research Inc., 1996.
6. Halm, Heinz. "The Mission of the dā'īs and the 'Teaching Sessions'" in The Fatimids and Their Traditions of Learning. London: I.B. Tauris,
Introduction to a Reflexive History of Islam
Professor Mohammed Arkoun
A message from Prof. Arkoun: Each student should read the set texts carefully and come to the session prepared with questions about the readings (ideas, vocabulary not understood, points of curiosity) so that the session can address these questions rather than imposing content on them.
Objective(s) to:
a) Examine the reception of the events of modernity in contemporary Muslim societies
b) Understand how the concept of reason has changed since 9/11 and how this continues to impact contemporary Islamic thought
Readings
1. Arkoun, Mohamed. “Introduction” in Islam: to Reform or to Subvert? London: Saqi Books, 2006, p. 15-52
2. Arkoun, Mohammed. “Authority and Power in Islamic Throught” in Islam: to Reform or to Subvert? London: Saqi Books, 2006, p.201-263.
3. Arkoun, Mohamed. “Return to the Question of Humanism in Islamic Contexts” [unpublished chapter]
Evening Programme
IIS: Pathways & Priorities
A Talk by Professor Azim Nanji
A Talk by Professor Azim Nanji
Readings:
Encountering Islam: Exploring Diversity through Worship and Practice
Mr. Rizwan Mawani
Objective(s) to:
a) Explore the diversity of ritual and practice amongst Muslim communities and provide frameworks and intellectual tools for understanding and making sense of this diversity.
b) Address larger questions of Muslim religious identity through contemporary practice and situate these expressions of piety and identity through a number of interactive case studies.
c) Explore Ismaili diversity through piety and ritual and contextualize this diversity through culture, language and geography.
d) Situate contemporary practices of diverse Muslim communities – including the Ismailis – upon the larger canvas of the Muslim ummah.
e) Explore the diversity of religious space in the Muslim world and to situate the jamatkhana within this diversity.
Readings
1. Manger, Leif. “Muslim Diversity: Local Islam in Global Contexts,” in Muslim Diversity: Local Islam in Global Contexts, ed. Leif Manger. Quadrant/Curzon Press, 1999, pp. 1-19 [and references from pp. 29-36].
2. Woodward, Mark R. “The ‘Slametan’: Textual Knowledge and Ritual Performance in Central Javanese Islam” in History of Religions, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Aug 1998), pp. 54-89.
3. Schubel, Vernon James. “The Nature of Shi ‘ism in its South Asian Context” in Ritual Performance in Contemporary Islam: Shi‘i Devotional Rituals in South Asia. University of South Carolina Press, 1993, pp. 11-33.
History, Identity and Community:
Dr. Nadia Eboo-Jamal
Objective(s) to:
a) Underscore the importance of studying history and understand the role of historiography within the context of a faith community.
b) Enable participants to develop a sensibility of and appreciation for the skills of historical thinking.
c) Provide a chronological and thematic overview of the key junctures and features of Islamic history.
Readings
1. Aziz Esmail “Why History?”
2. Azim Nanji and Aziz Esmail, “Ismailis in History” in Ismaili Contributions to Islamic Culture, edited Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Tehran, (1977), pp. 227-265
Evening programme:
A walking tour of Cambridge led by a blue-badge certified guide.
More details to be announced.
Introduction to the Holy Qur’an
Dr. Walid Saleh
Objective(s) to:
a) Enable participants to be better informed about the Qur’an, its compilation, organisation and context of the revelations
b) Appreciate its place in Muslim religious life by illustrating its use in ritual, poetry, art, calligraphy, performance, etc.
c) Examine selected ayats to highlight how the Qur’an is/has been interpreted by different groups of Muslims (mystics, jurists, etc.)
d) Discuss the notion of revelation and scriptures and understand its genesis in Muslim discourse.
Readings
1. Lawrence, Bruce. The Qur’an: A Biography. London: Atlantic Books, 2006. (Chapters 1, 5 and 6 required).
Group Work/Discussion Preparation: Each student should come with at least one question from the readings or a general question about the Qur’an. Moreover, each student should discuss one aspect of the reading that she or he found interesting or worth raising in the discussion.
The Prophet and the Prophetic Tradition
Dr. Eric Ormsby
Objective(s) to:
a) Discuss the notion of prophethood in Muslim societies and compare the different perspectives generally held by Muslims, Christians and Jews regarding the subject
c) Examine how the Holy Prophet exercised his authority and how authority was exercised in his name after him, and modern understandings of these historical developments
Readings
1. Sheppard, Gerald T and William E. Herbrechtsmeier. “Prophecy” in Mircea Eliade (ed.) The Encyclopedia of Religion (Vol. 12). New York: Macmillan, 1987, p. 8-14.
2. Rubin, Uri. “Muhammad” in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an (vol. 3). Jane Dammen McAuliffe (ed.). Leiden:E.J. Brill, 2003, pp. 440-458.
3. Guillaume, Alfred. The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978, pp. 180-187 (paragraphs 261-271).
Evening programme:
Film Screening and Discussion
More details to be announced.
Esoteric Traditions in Islam
Dr. Ali Asani
Objective(s) to:
a) Survey the development of esoteric traditions within Islam (including the ‘Alid tradition), discussing the relationship between Shiism and Sufism
b) Discuss the role played by Imam ‘Ali and Imam Jafar as-Sadiq in these developments
c) Explore the development of intercessory and barakah centered forms of Islam, with special emphasis on Shiism, and the role of figures such as the Prophet, Shii Imams, the Sufi shaykh/pir.
Readings
1. Sells, Michael. Early Islamic Mysticism. Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1996, p. 29-56 and p. 75-89.
Key Moments and Critical Junctures in Ismaili History
Dr. Farhad Daftary
Objective(s): to
a) Provide an overview of the representations of Ismailis in history, discussing the roots and continuing impact of the myths and legends associated with the Ismailis
b) Orient the participants to modern trends in Ismaili historiography with a focus on the IIS Golden Jubilee related publications.
Readings
1. Daftary, Farhad. “Ismaili History and Historiography: Phases, Sources and Studies” in A Short History of the Ismailis: Traditions of a Muslim Community. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998, p. 1-20.
2. Daftary, Farhad “Ismaili Studies: Medieval Antecedents and Modern Developments”, in Ismaili Literature. London: I. B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2004, pp. 84-103.
Evening programme:
Free Evening
Free Evening
The Doctrine of Imamah
Dr. Farouk Mitha
Objective(s) to:
a) Survey the development of esoteric traditions within Islam (including the ‘Alid tradition), discussing the relationship between Shiism and Sufism
b) Discuss the role played by Imam ‘Ali and Imam Jafar as-Sadiq in these developments
c) Explore the development of intercessory and barakah centered forms of Islam, with special emphasis on Shiism, and the role of figures such as the Prophet, Shii Imams, the Sufi shaykh/pir.
Readings
1. Preamble, Ismaili Constitution 13 December 1986/12 Rabi ath-Thani 1407
3. “The Shia Ismailli Imamat” in The Ismaili Canada (2007 Golden Jubilee Edition). Toronto: Insha Canada Inc, 2007
4. “The Imamat and Its Institutional Capacity” in The Ismaili Canada (2007 Golden Jubilee Edition). Toronto: Insha Canada Inc, 2007
5. “Living History, Making History” in The Ismaili Canada (2007 Golden Jubilee Edition). Toronto: Insha Canada Inc, 2007
6. Daftary, Farhad and Nanji, Azim "What is Shiite Islam" in Voices of Islam (Vol. 1). Vincent J. Cornell (Ed.). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2007. pp.217-244.
Art and Architecture in Muslim Societies
Dr. Nancy Um
Objective(s): to
a) Provide a critical introduction to art and architecture in the Muslim world through major works and monuments.
b) Highlight the diversity of Islamic art/architecture as examples of local understandings and expressions of Islam
c) Present frameworks for seeing and interpreting Islamic art/architecture
d) Instill an appreciation of Muslim art and architecture
Readings
1. Grabar, Oleg. “Chapter 1: The Problem” in The Formation of Islamic Art (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973, rev. 1987), 1 – 18.
Evening programme:
Formal Dinner
After-Dinner Address by Dr. Modjtaba Sadria
“The Public Intellectual and the Muslim World”
Law and its Muslim Contexts
Dr. Anver Emon
Objectives: to
a) Introduce students to the origins and evolution of Islamic law in the formative period of Islamic history
b) Understand the range and diversity of legal thought in Muslim contexts.
c) Review competing concepts of Islamic law, whether as divinely ordained or historically contingent, and the consequences those concepts have on legal thought and praxis.
d) Explore contemporary applications of Islamic law through pertinent case studies.
Readings
1. Cherif Bassiouni and Gamal Badr, “The Sharia: Sources, Interpretation and Rule Making” in UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law 1 (2002): 135 et seq.
Women and Islam
Dr. Azizah al-Hibri
Objectives: to
a) Review the origins and genesis of the status, role and responsibilities of women in foundational sources and its crystallisation in the formative period of Islamic history.
b) Explore the shaping of absolutist, traditionalist, modernist, progressive and feminist conceptions of the role and status of women over the course of time in Muslim societies.
c) Discuss the role and status of women in contemporary Muslim societies and communities of interpretation
d) Highlight the challenges faced by women in many Muslim societies within the context of larger contemporary societal issues such as the role of the state, media, economics and technology.
Readings
1. al-Hibri, Azizah. “Divine Justice and the Human Order: An Islamic Perspective”, in Humanity Before God: Contemporary Faces of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Ethics, William Schweiker, Michael Johnson, and Kevin Jung (Eds.). (Augsburg Fortress Press, 2006).
2. Islamic Section. Sex, Marriage and Family in World Religions. Don Browning, Christian Green and John Witte (Eds.). (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006).
3. al-Hibri, Azizah. “The Nature of the Islamic Marriage: Sacramental, Covenantal, or Contractual”, in Covenant Marriage in Comparative Perspective. John Witte and Eliza Ellison (Eds.). (Wm B Eerdmans Pub Co., 2005)
Evening programme:
Punting on the Cam
More details to follow.
Keynote Address and Q & A with Dr. Aziz Esmail
Evening
Participants begin to depart
