| Description |
This course is accompanying the lecture "An Introduction to Islam and Islamic Studies" and can only be taken by students who attend the lecture, to benefit from the knowledge acquired in the lecture and deepen it with the readings of the seminar. While with the lecture students are introduced to main concepts and intellectual debates, the seminar offers a more interactive space to better understand and reflect on them. The seminar also aims at allowing the students to get familiar with the different types of primary sources mentioned in the lecture (from Koranic verses to historical bibliographies of the Prophet of Islam, fatwas, Islamic philosophical texts, theological texts, texts of contemporary Islamic feminist exegesis etc., depending on the topic of the class), and acquiring basic knowledge to classify them.
Each class of the seminar corresponds to a class in the lecture. The course is interactive and requires the active participation of the students.
Each class of the seminar is divided into two parts.
In the first part of the class, we summarize and discuss in groups about the topics introduced in the corresponding lecture. In the second part of the class, knowledge is expanded mainly though the analysis of primary sources (in translation). In the second part of the class, each student, or group of students (depending on the number), in turn, will be responsible to present to the class a selected passage of primary source (in translation). The passage and eventual additional readings that may facilitate the analysis will be provided by the lecturer, in advance, to all students. All students will have to read the assigned texts in advance and to familiarize with the source. The students responsible for the presentation will be required to discuss with the class about the issue of authorship of the selected text and present the historical context of production. They will also trace the importance of such type of source in the Islamic intellectual tradition, with the help of the information and readings presented in the corresponding lecture. Finally, they will describe the structure and the particularities of the analysed passage, to find elements helpful in the recognition and classification of such type of source.
During classes we will use offline sources as well as get familiar with online tools to read textual sources as the Qur'an and Hadith literature, in different translations.
A written final exam will take place during the last regular class. In the exam, the students will be required to provide a basic classification of different types of primary sources (similar to those discussed in class) and to write three short essays on three selected sources (on their choice), reflecting on authorship, structure, particularities and relevance of the selected type of sources. |
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