ASIF IFTIKHAR

Fall Semester 2018- 2019

 Lahore University of Management Sciences
SS 101 – Islamic Studies
Fall Semester 2018-2019
Course Catalog Description
This short survey course has clearly defined aims. Conversely, this means that it has its limitations too. Its overriding aim is to introduce the
student to the academic study of Islam—Islam here denoting both a religious system, grounded upon certain normative revealed sources, as well
as a civilization unfolding over time as a complex network of cultures shaped by historical contingencies. In other words, it may be called as the
study of Islamic religious traditions. The course remains indifferent to the personal beliefs of the students, to any sectarian identity they espouse,
or any doctrinal point of view they hold. The course also does not take any sides. It aims to report, as much as possible, what has been discussed
within Islamic religious traditions.

We shall begin by building a historical understanding of the field of Islamic studies while also opening up the question of revision and criticism of
historical timelines. From there we move to the fundamental methodological question: How does one study a given religious system? What are
the scholarly tools and conceptual frameworks for exploring a civilization radiating from a religious core? What are the limitations of an academic
study of Islam? In short, how do we approach the study of Islamic religious tradition in the modern world in a university?

From here, we move on to a historical overview of the tradition. We look at the “doctrinal” aspects including the Qur’ān, Ḥadīth, and the life of
the Prophet (ṣalla Allāh ‘alayh wa sallam [sws]). We move to the “intellectual” aspects exploring the legal/jurisprudential, theological and
philosophical developments and discussions in the Muslim experience. Next, we delve into the spiritual realm looking at the mystical tradition of
Sufism. We also take up a general study of aesthetics in the context of Islamic literary expressions and material culture, particularly in the realm of
th
literature, art and architecture. The course ends with a discussion of Islam and Muslims in the contemporary world, looking at the post-18
st
century revivalist, reformist, and modernist movements and connecting it with the 21 century critical issues such as extremism and violence.

Course Details
Credit Hours 2
Core Yes
Elective
Open for Student Category All
Closed for Student Category

Course Prerequisite(s)/Co-Requisite(s)
None

Course Offering Details

Lecture(s) No. of weekly 1 Duration 1 hour 50 Timings TBA
Lectures minutes and Venue
each
 Lahore University of Management Sciences
Instructors Asif Iftikhar
Room No. 140-A Academic Block Ground Floor Opp. REDC
Office Hours Asif Iftikhar: Friday (10:00-1:00pm )
Email asif.iftikhar@lums.edu.pk
Telephone Ext: 2194 (Asif Iftikhar)

Head TA Zainab Ahsan Malik

Email zainab.malik@lums.edu.pk
Course URL (if any) LMS

Course Learning Outcomes

Apart from the general objectives associated with a Humanities course, students will go away with the following specific learning
outcomes.
CLO1: The students will be able to define key terms, concepts in Islamic law, jurisprudence, philosophy and theology.

CLO2: They will be able identify key events and personalities in Islamic history.

CLO3: They will be able to discuss different points of view in discourses in Islamic law, jurisprudence, philosophy and theology.

CLO4: They will be able to explain underlying reasons for these differences and approaches particularly vis-a-vis the Qur’ān, Ḥadīth, Sīrah,
theology, Islamic jurisprudence and law.
CLO5: They will be able to compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of competing points of view in Islamic law, jurisprudence,
theology and philosophy.
CLO6: They will be able to select from amongst the contested opinions those that they find more consonant with chosen foundations and
justify this selection vis-a-vis pertinent epistemic and hermeneutical approaches.
CLO7: They will demonstrate a stronger academic approach in dealing with diversity and contestations in Muslim discourses and intellectual
traditions, which approach requires a tolerant yet critical understanding of various academic and intellectual points of view.

Relation to SS Program Outcomes

SS-101
Related PLOs Levels of Learning Teaching Methods CLO Attainment checked in
CLOs
CLO1 PLO1 Cog-1 Instruction, Assignments Lectures, Midterm, Assignments, Final

CLO2 PLO1 Cog-1 Instruction, Assignments Lectures, Midterm, Assignments, Final

CLO3 PLO2 Cog-2 Instruction, Assignments Lectures, Midterm, Assignments, Final

CLO4 PLO6 Cog-3 Instruction, Assignments Lectures, Midterm, Assignments, Final

CLO5 PLO10 Cog-4 Instruction, Assignments Lectures, Midterm, Assignments, Final

CLO6 PLO8 Cog-6 Instruction, Assignments Lectures, Midterm, Assignments, Final

CLO7 PLO12 Cog-6 Instruction, Assignments Lectures, Midterm, Assignments, Final

 Lahore University of Management Sciences

Grading Breakup and Policy

Attendance: 10%
Reading Assignments: 15%
Midterm exam: 35%
Final exam: 40%

Course Overview

Session Related CLOs &

Topic Readings
No: Additional Remarks

i. Nicholas Badcott, “Timeline,” Pocket

Timeline of Islamic Civilizations.
Introduction to the Course CLO1
1
ii. Robert Gardner, “Islam: Empire of
Faith” (documentary clips; in-class)

i. Neal Robinson, Islam: A Concise

Introduction, 174-187

ii. Richard Martin, updated by Heather

Empey, “Islamic Studies,” Oxford
Approaching the Islamic Encyclopedia of the Islamic World.
2 CLO2
Religion and Civilization Oxford Islamic Studies Online.

iii. Husnul Amin, “Our Textual Religiosity.”

The News. Available from
Thenews.com.pk.

i. Mustansir Mir, “The Qur’an, the Word

of God” in ed. Vincent Cornell, Voices
of Islam, Vol. 1, 47-61.

ii. Jonathan Brown, “How Should

3 The Qur’ān
Rationalists Deal with Dogmatism? –
The Case of the Birmingham Quran
Pages,” Dr. Jonathan Brown. Available
CLO1
from DrJonathanBrown.com.

iii. Mustansir Mir, “Foundational Sources

of Muslim Discourse,” The Oxford
Encyclopedia of Modern Islamic World,
st
1 ed., Vol. 4, pp. 169-175.

iv. Selected readings from the Qur’ān (in-

class)
 Lahore University of Management Sciences
Sirah – The Life of Prophet
4 (PBUH)
5 The Hadīth Tradition
6 The Islamic Legal Tradition I
7 The Islamic Legal Tradition II
Theological Reflection and
8
Kalām Tradition in Islamic
Thought
i. Kecia Ali, The Lives of Muhammad, 6-
26.
ii. Tarif Khalidi, Images of Muhammad:
Narratives of the Prophet in Islam
CLO1, CLO2
across the Centuries, 208-220.
iii. Shiblī Nu‘mānī, Sīrat al-Nabī (Trnasl.
The Life of the Prophet [Ṣalla Allāh
‘Alayh wa Sallam]), vol.1, 36-63.
i. Muftī Muḥammad Taqī Uthmānī, The
Authority of Sunnah, 78-82, 115-126.
ii. Jonathan Brown, Hadith:
Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval CLO1, CLO2, CLO3, CLO4,
and Modern World, 16-34. CLO5
iii. Wael B. Hallaq, “Authenticity of
Prophetic Ḥadīth: A Pseudo Problem”
Studia Islamica, 89 (1999), 75-90.
i. Robinson, Islam, 150-170
ii. Wael Hallaq, An Introduction to Islamic CLO1, CLO3, CLO4, CLO5
Law, 14-37
i. Azam, Hina. "Rape." In The [Oxford]
Encyclopedia of Islam and Law. Oxford
Islamic Studies Online.
CLO1, CLO2, CLO3, CLO4,
CLO5
ii. – "Competing Approaches to Rape in
Islamic Law." Feminism, Law, and
Religion (2016): 327-341.
i. John Renard, Islamic Theological
Themes, 3-24.
ii. Frank Griffel, "Kalām." Encyclopedia of
Medieval Philosophy, 665-672. CLO1, CLO2
iii. Timothy Winter. "The Theology of the
Koran." Lecture. Available from
Loveofwisdom.co.uk.
 Lahore University of Management Sciences
i. John Renard, “Aesthetics: From
Allegory to Arabesque,” Seven Doors
to Islam: Spirituality and the Religious
Adab: The Islamic Literary Life of Muslims, 106-125. CLO1, CLO2
9
Tradition
ii. Selected readings from primary
sources (in-class).

i. John Renard, “Aesthetics: From

Allegory to Arabesque,” Seven Doors
to Islam: Spirituality and the Religious
Aesthetics and Cultural Life of Muslims, 125-141. CLO1, CLO2
10
Expressions
ii. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "Principles of
Islamic Art." Lahore. 1995. Lecture.

i. Omid Safi, "Is Islamic Mysticism Really

Islam?" The Huffington Post. Available
from TheHuffingtonPost.com

ii. Al-Ghazzālī, Al-Munqidh Min al-

Dalal. Trans. Richard Joseph
McCarthy, Deliverance from Error: Five
Key Texts Including His Spiritual
Autobiography, Al-Munqidh Min al-
Dalal. Reprinted online by the
American University of Beirut, 1-13;
18-25.

iii. Al-Ghazzālī. "A General Exposition of

the Means by Which Good Character
May Be Acquired." Trans. T. J. Winter.
On Disciplining the Soul: Kitāb Riyāḍat
al-nafs & On Breaking the Two Desires: CLO1, CLO2
11 Sufism; Introduction to Islamic
Kitāb Kasr Al-sh̲̲ ahwatayn, Books XXII
Spirituality
and XXIII of The Revival of the
Religious Sciences: Iḥyāʼ ʻulūm al-dīn,.
31-38.

iv. Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi, Maktubāt.

Trans. Muhammad Abdul Haq Ansari,
Sufism and Sharıāh:̄ A Study of Shaykh
Aḥmad Sirhindı's̄ Effort to Reform
Sufism, 173-176.

v. Ibn Taymiyyah. Al-Farq bayna Awliyā'

Allah wa Awliyā' Al-Shayṭān. Trans.
Salim Abdallah ibn Morgan. The
Criterion between the Allies of the
Merciful and the Allies of the Devil, 43-
56. Available from Islamhouse.com.
 Lahore University of Management Sciences
i. Amina Wudud, Qur’an and Women, 1-
11; 74-78; 85-86

ii. Shahab Ahmed, What Is Islam? The

Importance of Being Islamic (Princeton
University Press, 2016), 542-546.
12 Islam, Modernity, Reform and CLO3, CLO4, CLO5, CLO7
Revival
iii. (Optional) William E. Shepard, “Islam
and Ideology: Towards a Typology,”
International Journal of Middle
Eastern Studies 19 (1987): 307-335.

i. Rudolph Peters, Jihād in Classical and

Modern Islam: A Reader (Princeton,
NJ: Markus Wiener, 1996), 1-7, 27-51.

13 Critical Issues; Extremism, ii. Wael B. Hallaq, The Impossible State: CLO3, CLO4, CLO5, CLO7
Violence, Jihad, ‘Islam’ and the Islam, Politics, and Modernity's Moral
‘West’ Predicament (Columbia University
Press, 2012), 23-36.

Examination Detail

Yes/No: Yes
Combine Separate: Combine
Midterm
Duration: 120 minutes
Exam
Preferred Date: TBA
Exam Specifications: TBA

Yes/No: Yes
Combine Separate: Combine
Final Exam
Duration: 120 minutes
Exam Specifications: TBA