To see a complete list of courses offered and their descriptions, visit the online course catalog. Students can register for courses on the Student Information Services (SIS) website.
Note that courses other than those listed below may be approved by the Islamic Studies DUS for credit toward the minor in Islamic Studies.
Arabic courses are offered by the Center for Language Education.
| Course # (Section) | Title | Day/Times | Instructor | Location | Term | Course Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AS.010.330 (01) | Art of the Caliphates: Visual Culture and Competition in the Medieval Islamic World | TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM | Rustem, Unver | Gilman 177 | Spring 2023 | Despite its modern-day association with a fringe extremist movement, the term “caliphate” was traditionally used to describe the Muslim world at large, the political and spiritual ruler of which bore the title of caliph. The original Islamic caliphate was established in the seventh century as a vast empire centered on the Middle East and extending deep into Africa, Asia, and Europe. It soon broke apart into a series of competing powers, until in the tenth century, three rival dynasties—the Baghdad-based Abbasids, the Spanish Umayyads, and the Fatimids of North Africa—each claimed to be the rightful caliphate. This course will examine how these fascinating political developments and conflicts played out in the realm of art and architecture between the seventh and thirteenth centuries. As well as palaces, mosques, and commemorative buildings, the course will look at media ranging from ceramics and metalwork to textiles and illustrated manuscripts, with many of the artifacts being viewed firsthand in local museum collections. These works will be considered in relation to such themes as patronage, audience, ceremony, and meaning. Particular attention will be paid to how the various caliphates—both in emulation of and competition with one another—used visual culture as a powerful tool to assert their legitimacy. |
| AS.010.465 (01) | Renew, Reuse, Recycle: Afterlives of Architecture in the Ottoman Empire | Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM | Rustem, Unver | Latrobe 120 | Spring 2023 | Designed from the outset to be inhabited and used, works of architecture are inherently susceptible to changes in purpose, appearance, and meaning over time. This was particularly so in the Ottoman Empire (c. 1299–1922), a multiethnic and multireligious transcontinental polity whose territories were already marked by long and eventful architectural histories. Through such case studies as the Parthenon in Athens, the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople/Istanbul, the Citadel of Cairo, and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, this course investigates the ways in which buildings and sites have been appropriated, repurposed, transformed, and/or reconceptualized in response to changing sociopolitical and artistic conditions. Topics to be addressed include the conversion of places of worship, (re)decoration as a vehicle of ideology, and the phenomenon of spoliation—the recycling, whether for practical or symbolic reasons, of existing building materials. In addition to the monuments themselves, we will address the objects that filled them and the human activities they hosted. While our focus will be on the Ottoman context and its relationship to the past, the course will also consider comparable examples in other geographies as well as developments in the post-Ottoman era, including the current debate over the Parthenon marbles and the recent reconversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque. |
| AS.070.328 (01) | Ethnographies Of Iran | Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM | Haeri, Niloofar | Mergenthaler 426 | Spring 2023 | We approach Iran through building layers of understanding through works of literature, cinema, ethnography, and take particular note of the recent uprising and of some of the central works that are being produced on matters of environment and climate change. |
| AS.100.245 (01) | Islam East of the Middle East: The Interconnected Histories of Islam in Asia | TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM | Halladay, Andrew | Gilman 219 | Spring 2023 | Challenging the conception that Islam is synonymous with the Middle East, this course considers Muslim populations across Asia and interrogates how Islam and these regions have shaped one another. |
| AS.100.262 (01) | Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the medieval Middle East | MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM | el-Leithy, Tamer | Ames 320 | Spring 2023 | The course examines religious difference in the medieval Middle East, including everyday encounters and relations between members of different communities; the policies of some Islamic states towards non-Muslims; conversion to Islam and the Islamization of society and space. |
| AS.140.387 (01) | Islam and Medicine: Histories, Debates and Controversies | W 1:30PM - 4:00PM | Ragab, Ahmed | Shaffer 2 | Spring 2023 | This course will analyze how “Islam” and “medicine” interacted and intersected from the medieval and into the modern and contemporary world. We will look at the rise of Islamic medicine in the medieval and early modern period, the modernization of medicine in the Islamic world, and we will also investigate questions and challenges facing Muslim physicians and patients in the US, Europe and inside and outside the Muslim-majority world. We will address questions related to modernization of medical education in the Islamic world, colonization and decolonization, questions related to gender and sexuality, issues related to Islamic bioethics from organ transplantation and clinical death to abortion, artificial fertilization among other similar questions. |
| AS.194.205 (01) | Islamic Mysticism: Traditions, Legacies, Politics | M 1:30PM - 4:00PM | Ziad, Homayra | 3003 N. Charles OMA Lounge | Spring 2023 | For over a thousand years, the Sufi tradition has been a dynamic force in Islamic social, political and spiritual life. The tradition offers a treasure trove of devotional literature and music, philosophical treatises, contemplative practices, and institutions of social and political organization. After unpacking the politics of the term “Sufi,” we will trace the historical development of the tradition from the early ascetics in Iraq and Syria to the age of trans-national Sufi orders, with case studies from South Asia, Turkey, and the United States. We will then move into some of the key constructs of the tradition of spiritual growth and character formation: the divine-human relationship, the stages of the spiritual path, contemplative and practical disciplines, ideas of sainthood, discipleship and ethical perfection, and the psychology of love. Throughout the class, we will explore the nature of experiential language and interrogate the tradition through the lens of gender. We will also experience Sufism through ritual and music. |
| AS.194.220 (01) | The Qur'an: Text and Context | T 1:30PM - 4:00PM | Ziad, Homayra | 3003 N. Charles OMA Lounge | Spring 2023 | For 1400 years, the Qur’an has played a central role in Muslim intellectual, spiritual, artistic and ritual life. This course will explore the sacred scripture of Islam through its foundational ideas, history of the text and thematic development, literary style, history and methods of interpretation, and role in Muslim spiritual and ritual life. We will also explore how the Qur’an weaves through literature, music and the visual arts. |
| AS.194.230 (01) | African-Americans and the Development of Islam in America | Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM | Fanusie, Fatimah | Latrobe 107 | Spring 2023 | Muslims have been a part of the American fabric since its inception. A key thread in that fabric has been the experiences of enslaved Africans and their descendants, some of whom were Muslims, and who not only added to the dynamism of the American environment, but eventually helped shape American culture, religion, and politics. The history of Islam in America is intertwined with the creation and evolution of African American identity. Contemporary Islam in America cannot be understood without this framing. This course will provide a historical lens for understanding Islam, not as an external faith to the country, but as an internal development of American religion. This course will explicate the history of early Islamic movements in the United States and the subsequent experiences of African-Americans who converted to Islam during the first half of the twentieth century. We will cover the spiritual growth of African American Muslims, their institutional presence, and their enduring impact on American culture writ large and African-American religion and culture more specifically. |
| AS.375.116 (01) | First Year Arabic II | MWF 9:00AM - 9:50AM, TTh 9:00AM - 9:50AM | Jafire, Sana | Krieger 306 | Spring 2023 | Continuation of AS.375.115. Introductory course in speaking, listening, reading, and writing Modern Standard Arabic. Presents basic grammatical structures and a basic vocabulary. Through oral-aural drill in classroom, tapes in Language Laboratory, and reading/writing exercises, students attain a basic level of competence on which they can build in subsequent years of study. May not be taken Satisfactory/ Unsatisfactory |
| AS.375.216 (01) | Second Year Arabic II | MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, TTh 10:30AM - 11:20AM | Jafire, Sana | Krieger 517 | Spring 2023 | Continuation of AS.375.215. Designed to bring students up to competency level required for third/fourth year Arabic. Students will consolidate and expand their mastery of the four basic skills acquired in AS.375.115-116. More authentic material--written, audio, and visual--will be used, and culture will be further expanded on as a fifth skill. Recommended Course Background: AS.375.215 or permission required. |
| AS.375.402 (01) | Fourth Year Arabic II | MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM | Jafire, Sana | Krieger 517 | Spring 2023 | This is an introductory course to different periods of the Arabic literature. Selections of famous Arabic poetry and short prose works are the substance of the course. Continuation of AS.375.401. Recommended Course Background: AS.375.302 or equivalent. |
