Hadith Jibril: An Introduction to the Theological, Legal, and Spiritual Dimensions of Islam

Harvard Divinity School

Spring 2021
Instructor: Shaykh Yasir Fahmy
Class Sessions: Wednesday 3:00-4:59pm
Office Hours: By appointment
Email: yfahmy@hds.harvard.edu; james.c.whitacre@gmail.com

Course Description:

This course will engage in a critical reading and analysis of Hadith Jibril. Also known as Umm
Al-Hadith (or the mother of Prophetic narrations), this narration gathers the essential acts and
practices that are to be performed, internally and externally, in the life of a Muslim. Through
analysis of the context and language of this hadith (Prophetic tradition), we will develop an
understanding of adab (Islamic manners or etiquette) as well as the fundamental building blocks
of Islam: islam (the physical surrender of the body), iman (internal truth), and ihsan (excellence
and beauty). From these building blocks, we will develop a framework for understanding the
corresponding three core Islamic sciences: fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), ‘aqida (creed/theology),
and tasawwuf (spiritual purification). Throughout this intellectual exercise, we will reflect on how
this framework for understanding Islam enriches our religious and spiritual experience as
Muslims and enables a deeper engagement with the practical issues that affect our lives as
religious practitioners.

Learning Objectives:

• To gain an overview of the breadth of the Islamic intellectual, theological, spiritual

heritage
• To become conversant in the three primary dimensions of the religion: islam,
iman, ihsan
• To become familiar with the Islamic sciences
• To reflect about how a tridimensional conception of Islam (islam, iman, ihsan) enriches
our experience with faith in our day-to-day lives
• To practicing employing a tridimensional conception of faith to address and think
critically about issues affecting the lives of Muslim Americans today

Required Texts:
Tarsin, Asad. Being Muslim: A Practical Guide. USA: Sadala Inc. 2015
Brown, Jonathan A. C. Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford, England: Oxford
University Press, 2011.

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Required Articles/Chapters:
Al-Zarnuji, Burhan al-Din. Introduction of The Student: The Method of Learning. US: Starlatch
Press, 2003.
Al-Ghazali, AbuHamid. Forty Foundations of Religion. Translated by: Moosa Kajee. Last
accessed January 28, 2019.
https://archive.org/details/FortyFoundationsOfReligionImamGhazali
Baehr, Jason. “Is Intellectual Character Growth a Realistic Educational Aim?" Journal of Moral
Education 45, no. 2 (2016): 117-31.
Burge, Stephen Russell, and Hillenbrand, Carole. Angels in Islam: a commentary with selected
translations of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī’s Al-Ḥabā’ik fī akhbār almalā’ik (The Arrangement of the
Traditions about Angels). The University of Edinburgh, 2009. Accessed January 3, 2019.
https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/7410.
Hallaq, Wael B. The Formation of Islamic Law. New York: Routledge. 2016.
Shabana, Ayman. “Custom in the Islamic Legal Tradition." In The Oxford Handbook of Islamic
Law. : Oxford University Press, 2018-11-01.
Smith, Jane Idleman, and Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad. "The Eschaton, the Judgment, and the Final
Dispensation: Classical Islam." In The Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection,
The Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection, Chapter 3. Oxford University Press,
2002.
Soufi, Youcef. "The Historiography of Sunni Usul al-Fiqh." In The Oxford Handbook of Islamic
Law. : Oxford University Press,, 2018-11-01.
Spevack, Aaron. The Archetypal Sunnī Scholar : Law, Theology, and Mysticism in the Synthesis of Al-
Bājūrī. Albany, New York: SUNY Press, 2014.
Otterbeck, Jonas, and Anders Ackfeldt. "Music and Islam." Contemporary Islam 6, no. 3 (2012):
227-33.
Wright, Zachary Valentine. “Understanding Sufi Discipleship”. In Living Knowledge in West
African Islam : The Sufi Community of Ibrahim Niasse. Boston: Brill. 2015
X, Malcolm, and Alex Haley. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. 1st Ballantine Books ed.
New York: Ballantine Books, 1992.
Zaroug, Abdullahi Hassan. “AI-Ghazālī’s Ṣūfīsm: A Critical Appraisal." Intellectual Discourse 5,
no. 2 (1997): Intellectual Discourse, 01 December 1997, Vol.5(2).

Course Requirements:

Attendance and Participation 30%

Attendance and participation in class discussions are mandatory. Your active participation is
crucial to the success of this class, to the endeavor of our shared exploration, and to the process
of our collective learning. As a member of this class, you are expected to attend class whenever
the college is open, to arrive ready to engage in thoughtful discussion of the material, to pose
meaningful questions, and to forge eventually your own independent analysis.

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Reflection Papers 30%
You are required to submit three reflection papers over the course of the semester. Each paper
must be approximately 400 words, 2 double-spaced typed pages, on weeks of your choice. These
papers will offer you an opportunity to reflect on how the ideas discussed in class relate to your
prior knowledge and experience with Islam, to contemporary issues in the Muslim American
community and to the religious and spiritual practice of Muslim Americans. Examples of
questions you may ask include: How does the presentation of Islam discussed in class relate to
the presentation of Islam I am most familiar with (through my family background, my mosque,
my community, etc.)? How does a tridimensional Islamic framework (islam, iman, ihsan) change,
disrupt, modify or enhance a unidimensional presentation of the faith? How may an account of
ihsan alter our understanding of a given issue in Islam (e.g., marriage, children-parents relations,
Muslims’ relations with non-Muslim others, etc.)? What is the relationship between islam and
ihsan, or between iman and ihsan? In what ways and to what extent do I think contemporary
treatments of issues in American Islam integrate or do not integrate the three spheres of Islam?

Final Paper 30%

For your final ten-page reflection paper, you have the option to A) develop further an idea you
have explored in one of your three short reflection papers, or B) to explore a new question all
together. Regardless of your choice, this final paper is also based on a reflective engagement with
a question, idea, or concept brought up in class. As such, your engagement with the question
must reflect your presence and thoughtful engagement with class material and discussion. If you choose
option A, your final paper must demonstrate significant improvement and a deeper and broader
engagement with your original question (Feel free to use any of the suggested questions above).
Incorporation of secondary readings is required.

Final Paper Presentation 10%

You will have the opportunity to present your final paper topic in class. In this
10-minute presentation, you will explain why you picked your topic, how it relates to class
discussion, and its relevance to individual and/or communal religious practice or to a
contemporary issue in the Muslim American community.

Citizenship:

We proceed with the understanding that the intellectual community is both enriched and
enhanced by diversity along a number of dimensions, including ethnicity and national origin,
race, gender, class, and religion. Your language, modes of address, questions, and contestations
must be respectful and considerate of all other participants in this course and of the Islamic
spiritual and intellectual traditions generally and at all times. To enrich class discussions, your
participation in this class must be grounded in

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your direct engagement with assigned material; your comments and questions should incorporate
and direct us to relevant textual evidence and meaningfully engage the content of lectures.

*Unless used for classwork (reading, note-taking, viewing relevant course material, etc.), the use
of laptops, tablets, cell phones, and/or any other electronic means of communication is strictly
prohibited in class.

Schedule of Classes:
We will follow this syllabus as closely as possible. If, after class has gotten underway, I discover
that some revisions are necessary, I will make them accordingly. You will be told of changes in
advance.

Week 1. Introduction
The project of Hadith
Hadith Jibril
Thought Prompt: How has Islam been presented to me by my
family/mosque/community/popular representations? How does the
definition of Islam in Hadith Jibril relate to those representations?

Readings:
• Tarsin, Being Muslim, pg. 5-8.
• Brown, Hadith, chapters 1, 2, 5-7.
• Spevack, The Archetypal Sunnī Scholar, chapter 2.

Week 2. Adab or Etiquette of Seeking Knowledge

Intention in the pursuit of knowledge
Humility in learning
Collective learning
The art of listening
The art of inquiry

Thought prompt: How does one meaningfully prepare for the journey of knowledge?

Readings:
• Tarsin, Being Muslim, pg. 112.

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 • Al-Zarnuji, Instruction of the Student (select passages).
• Wright, “Understanding Sufi Discipleship”.

Week 3. Islam: Orthopraxy

Fiqh
Body-Mind-Soul connection
External submission
‘Ubudiyya: Surrender to the Divine

Thought prompt: What does God care about?

Readings:
• Tarsin, Being Muslim, pg. 40-96.
• Hallaq, Foundation of Islamic Law, chapters 2 and 13.

Week 4. Islam: Orthopraxy Cont.

Fiqh as the governing entity for correct practice
The edifice of fiqh as intellectual discipline
Origins of fiqh
Hadith/ra’y
Schools of law
Principles of Islamic law

Thought Prompt: What does God want us to do? Epistemology: How do we know?

Readings:
• Soufi, “The Historiography of Sunni Usul al-Fiqh”, 2018.
• Shabana, “Custom in the Islamic Legal Tradition”, 2018.

Week 5. Review Session and Q&A

Week 6. Iman (Part 1)

Intellectual submission and surrender
The Islamic worldview:
The Six Pillars of Faith
Ilahiyyat/Nubuwwat/Sam‘iyyat

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 Thought Prompt: What is the Muslim perception of existence? What is the reality
(haqiqa) of this life?

Readings:
• Tarsin, Being Muslim, pg. 18-39.
• Abd-Allah, One God Many Names.
• Ali, Concepts of God in Islam.
• Brown, Muhammad.
• Ormsby, Islamic Theology.

Week 7. Iman (Part 2)

Aqida as an intellectual pursuit
Dialectical Theology
Theology’s conversation with philosophy
Al-adilla al- ‘aqliyya (intellectual proofs)
Al-adilla al-naqliyya (textual proofs)

Thought Prompt: Does Islam encourage critical thought? What is the role of critical
thought in the Islamic intellectual heritage?

Readings:
• Burge, Angels In Islam, pg. 65-122.
• X, Autobiography of Malcolm X, pg. 325-348.

Week 8. Ihsan
Spiritual surrender
External/internal beautification
Spiritual anatomy:
Ruh (soul)
Aql (mind)
Qalb (heart)
Nafs (self)

Thought Prompt: If we believe in the existence of the spirit (and not merely the body),
what does an anatomy of the spirit look like?

Readings:
• Karim, IHSAN.
• Zaroug, Al-Ghazali’s Sufism (excerpts).

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Week 9. Ihsan Cont.
Takhliya/Tahliya: Ridding the self/beautifying the self
Practical spirituality
The path of spiritual beautification
Diseases of the heart
Akhlaq: building character
Morality (morality being grounded in spiritual conditioning)

Thought Prompt: Is spirituality a state or an action? What are the means to the
beautification of the spirit?

Readings:
• Tarsin, Being Muslim, pg. 97-112.
• Al-Ghazali, Forty Foundations (excerpts).

Week 10. Time/Context

Sacred Time
Signs of the Times
Muslims’ relation to the End of Times
The Nature of Time
Trials and Tribulations in Time
Iman/Ihsan/Islam within the spectrum of Time

Thought Prompt: What is the impact of sacred time on worldly and spiritual pursuit?
How does locating human action within sacred time (as opposed to
merely in secular time) alter its direction and meaning?

Readings:
• Tarsin, Being Muslim, pg. 33-34.
• Smith, The Eschaton, the Judgment, and the Final Dispensation.

Week 11. Case Study 1: Hadith Jibril Applied to Music

Readings:
• Tarsin, Being Muslim, pg. 187-216.
• Otterbeck, “Music in Islam”.

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Week 12. Case Study 2

Week 13. Final Paper Student Presentations

Week 14. Final Paper Student Presentations