Islamic Texts: Language and the Synthesis of Classical Scholarship Part A

Key information

Start date
End date
Year of study
Year 1 or Year 2
Duration
Term 1
Module code
15PNMH063
FHEQ Level
7
Credits
15

Module overview

This module is principally designed for students with an interest in medieval Islamic thought. Its main purpose is to introduce classical texts and traditions of learning not necessarily covered in the Qur’an and Hadith module. Students read, translate and discuss examples of works from a variety of genres, diverse in form, yet all essentially concerned with the elaboration and transmission of classical Muslim scholarship’s understanding of its faith. Part A of the module focuses on the study of seminal literary texts from the disciplines of classical jurisprudence and theology. With a concern for both context and relevance, the module aims to provide a critical gauging of the conceptual constructs and discussions which featured in legal and theological thought.

Prerequisites

Given that this is essentially a text-based module, it is expected that students should be able to read and comprehend classical Arabic material.

Objectives and learning outcomes of the module

  1. Understand the historical form and content of the traditions of learning and modes of scholarship which feature in classical Islamic legal and theological thought
  2. Read, translate and competently analyse selected Arabic texts from the disciplines of classical jurisprudence and theology
  3. Appreciate the written legacy of the medieval Islamic sciences
  4. Engage with the academic discourses and theroretical issues which feature in the analysis and treatment of legal and theological texts

Workload

Total of 10 weeks teaching with 2 hours classroom contact per week consisting of a 1 hour lecture and a 1 hour seminar.

Scope and syllabus

Course readings and discussions are guided by, but not exhaustive of, or exclusive to, the following major themes and topics:

  1. Classical jurisprudence: standard compilations on substantive law (furu ‘) and the notions of ikhtilaf al-fuqaha'; treatises on the principles of law; linguistic bases of law
  2. Islamic theology: treatises on the precepts of faith and expressions of orthodoxy; and heresiographical literature

Method of assessment

  • 20% - PowerPoint presentation (10-12 minutes)
  • 80% - Essay (2500 words)
  • The exact assessment deadline dates are published on the relevant module Moodle/BLE page.

Suggested reading

Bibliography:

Encyclopaedias and Reference Works

  • Encyclopaedia of Islam, New edi. Leiden: E.J. Brill. This is now available on-line via the Library’s website. Also EI3.
  • Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, Jane McAuliffe. (Ed.), (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2001. 2002, 2003, 2004), (2006), (A-D), (E-I), (J-O), (P-Sh), and (Si-Z).
  • Gacek, Adam. Arabic Manuscripts: a Vademecum for Readers. Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2009.
  • Index Islamicus, 1976-2004. Pearson, J.D. (Books and Articles), (London: Mansell Publishing Company). The series has been continued by Roper, G., and Bleaney, C. Cambridge:  Cambridge  University Press, 2001. This is available on-line via the SOAS Library’s website.
  • Sezgin, Fuat. The Arabic Writing Tradition, an Historical Survey. Trans Joep Lameer.  Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2023.
  • Versteegh, Kees (ed.). Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. (5 vols.) Leiden: Brill, 2005.

Islamic Theology and Law

  • El Shamsy, Ahmed. The Canonization of Early Islamic Law: A Social and Intellectual History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  • Frank, Richard. Philosophy, Theology and Mysticism in Medieval Islam: Texts and Studies on the Development and History of kalām, edited by Dimitri Gutas. Aldershot: Ashgate, Variorum, 2005. (Vols.  1, 2, and 3).
  • Griffel, Frank. Al-Ghazālī’s Philosophical Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
  • Hallaq, Wael. A History of Islamic Legal Theories: an Introduction to Sunnī uṣūl al- fiqh. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  • Holtzman, Livnat. Anthropomorphism in Islam: The Challenge of Traditionalism (700-1350). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2018.
  • Khan, Ahmad. Heresy and the Formation of Medieval Islamic
  • Orthodoxy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023.
  • Kohlberg, Etan. Belief and Law in Imamī Shiʿīsm. Aldershot: Variorum; Brookfield, 1991.
  • Lowry, Joseph. Early Islamic Legal Theory: the Risāla of Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
  • Motzki, Harald. The Origins of Islamic Jurisprudence: Meccan fiqh before the Classical Schools (Translated from the German by Marion H. Katz). Leiden: E.J.Brill, 2002.
  • Nyazee, Imran Ahsan.  The Distinguished Jurist’s Primer: a Translation of Ibn Rushd’s Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa niyāhat al-muqtaṣid, reviewed by Muhammad Abdul Rauf.  Reading: Garnet Publishing 1994-6.
  • Rudolph, Ulrich (Rodrigo Adem trans.). Al-Maturidi and the Development of Sunni Theology in Samarqand. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2015.
  • Schmidtke Sabine (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
  • Shah, Mustafa (ed.). Islamic Theological Discourses and the Legacy of Kalām: Gestation, Movements and Controversies. 3 vols. Berlin: Gerlach, 2019.
  • Winter, Tim (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

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