Religion 3786:  Introduction to Islam
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ISLAM'S HISTORICAL RISE AND DEVELOPMENT

Brown, 1-68

I. Introduction and Overview

	A. Islam as a Civilization

		1. "Islamicate" analogous to "Christendom."

		2. Is more than just a faith or religion.

	B. Faith and Culture

		1. One can be a Muslim either by faith or by culture.

			a. Born to a predominantly Muslim country.

			b. Born to a Muslim family.

II. Theoretical and Methodological Approaches

	A. Methodology and Historiography

	B. Historiography: the study of the history and methodology
	of the discipline of history.

	C. There is no objective historical truth.

		1. Especially when writing history about "the
		other."

	D. Nineteenth Century

		1. Most of the Muslim world was colonized by the
		western European powers.

		2. Religious Polemics

			a. Christianity was written by the European
			colonial powers as the "true faith."

			b. Islam was written by the European colonial
			powers as "heresy."

	E. Twentieth Century

		1. Edward Said, "Orientalism" 

			a. Work based on Foucalt's work on power
			and hegemony and caused a stir in the
			academic community.

				1)Hegemony refers to a force that
				dominates a particular sphere.

				2)In a marriage of power and
				knowledge, the colonial powers
				control the studies.

				3)Example: CNN and FOX news.

				4)Example: the Internet as an
				alternative to CNN and FOX, but on
				the "fringes."

			b. Said picked upon Foucalt's work and
			turned it back upon the Western European
			colonial powers.

			c. Said's work reflected more about the
			Western powers than the Eastern histories
			they were writing.

			d. "Orientalism" and "Orientalist" is used
			as a 'dirty word' by academics.

			e. Don't 'blanket' all western scholars as
			"orientialists."

	F. East Versus West

		1. East

			a. Agrigarian

			b. Irrational; mystical.

			c. Despotic

		2. West

			a. Industrialized

			b. Capitalist

			c. Reason and Empiricism

			d. Democratic

			e. Materialistic
			
			f. Quantitative

III. Early Setting

	A. J a h i l i y y a

		1. "Age of ignorance" before Islam.

	B. The Arabian Peninsula

		1. Northern Arabia - Largely Nomadic.

			a. "Arabia Ferax"
			
				"Land of heresies."

			b. Many different pretenders to prophecies.

			c. Why so many?

				1)Located at a cross-roads of
				several different Empires.

				2)An ethnically and racially mixed
				population that is economicall and
				culturally insecure and is in a
				constant state of transition.

			d. Northern Arabian Economy

				1)Tribes raiding other tribes by
				a strict set of rules.

					a)Some of the best poetry
					to come out of Arabia were
					written about these raids
					and hostage-takings.

				2)Hostages were taken and given
				back for ransom.

					a)Very strict rules as to
					how hostages were to be
					treated.

				3)A blood feud may occur if tribal
				rules were broken.

			e. A trading society emerges and tribal
			bonds are breaking down in the cities,
			creating a dispossed urban poor.

		2. Southern Arabia - Largely fertile, settled.

			a. "Arabia Felix"

				"Happy Arabia"

			b. Agricultural Economy.

			c. Hijaz

				1)Mecca

				2)Medina

				3)Yemen

			d. Ka'ba

				1)"House of God"

				2)Always a center of pilgrmmage.

				3)Haram: a religious sanctuary
				around the Ka'ba, where no violence
				or tribal warfare is ever allowed.

				4)Economic traded is allowed.

			e. Pilgrammage and Circumabulation

				1)Pre-Islamc

				2)Circumnabulation was done while
				naked, now is done wearing two
				pieces of simple white cloth to
				unite all who circumnabulate the
				Ka'ba.

			f. Homogenous population engaged in
			agriculture and crafts.

			g. Were believed to be invaded by the
			Assyrians, by to one theory.

			h. May have suffered an agricultural disaster
			when the Ma'rib dam was destroyed, after
			which the people of Yemen could no longer
			sustain themselves through agriculture and
			craft, and fled elsewhere.

C. Pre-Islamic Arabian Religions

		1. Christian - predominant.

		2. Judaism

		3. Hanif: monotheists who do not identify themselves
		as Judaic or Christian.

			a. Daughters of the supreme diety, Allah.


				1)Al-lat

				2)Manat

				3)Uzza

			b. Allah means, "the God."

			c. Modern devout Muslims don't like this
			model, because it comes from "the age of
			igorance."

		4. Animism

	D. Tribal Solidarity

		1. Mawla: a client to whom a tribe offers protection.

			a. This is what one does when one belongs
			to no clan or tribe.

		2. Montgomery Watt: "tribal humanism."

			a. In the tribe or clan, a "shaykh" is
			"first among equals."

		3. We know aobut tribal solidarity from the vast
		amonunt of Arabic literature kept in Spain.

		4. Tribal solidarity collapses in the transition
		from nomadic to settled existence.

IV. Muhammad in Mecca

	A. Historiography

		1. The Prophet and the Statesman

			a. Muhammad was a real historical figure.

				1)Prophet

				2)Statesman

				3)Military leader

					a)Islam's first great general.

				4)Husband (of multiple wives)

				5)Slave-owner

					a)Maria, a beautiful Egyptian
					slave-girl given to him by
					the King of Alexandria.

			b. "Mahmud" prejoritave epitah, "devil."

				1)Perspective of Victorian-era
				Christianity.

		2. Biographers

			a. Ibn Hisham

				1)First official biographer of
				Muhammad.

				2)Not an apologist, Hisham wrote
				of both postitive and negative
				things about the prophet Muhammad.

				3)His biography suddenly "disappeared"
				with the coming of Modern Islam.

			b. Ibn Ishaq

				1)Wrote his biography 100 years
				after Muhammad's death.

		3. 20th Century Mistoriography

			a. Response to western historiographies.

			b. 20th century histiorogrpahers edited
			earlier biographies from the perspective
			of Victorian Era Christianity.

				1)The same perspective that once
				referred to Muhammad as "Mahmud"
				("the devil").


			c. Product of modernization.

	B. Sunna - doctrine of infallibility 

		1. As a prophet, Muhammad was infallible.

		2. As a human, Muhammad was fallible.

	C. Preaching 610 CE

		1. Became a merchant by trade and later hired by
		his future wife to trade on her behalf.

		2. Something of a mystic, Muhammad began preaching
		at the age of 40, around 610 CE.

			a)Foremost among his preachings, there is
			only one GOD.

		3. In Muhammad's time, prophecy was a critique of
		the current establishment.

		4. Muhammad's call for social justice was a critique
		of Meccan society.

			a. Muhammad had been marginalized and
			understood the needs of the poor and
			disenfranchised.

		5. His first convert was his own wife, to whom he'd
		been employed as a merchant, trading on her behalf
		as she was a wealthy, "private" woman who sent him
		out to do trade for her.

		6. Later early converts were former slaves, the
		poor, the disenfanchised, whose plight Muhammad
		well understood.

		7. Other converts include young men from wealthy
		families looking for upward mobility while they
		awaited their family inheritances.

		8. His relatives in the Quraysh tribe at first
		ignored him, but became hostile when he gained
		popularity with slaves and the poor.

			a. Quraysh hostilities were directed at
			slaves and the poor, who became the first
			martyrs for Islam in a vibrant martyr
			literature that was to follow.

		9. Upon the death of his protector - his uncle
		Talib - Muhammad leaves Mecca and asks for asylum
		in Yathrib (Medina).

	D. Hijra 622 CE (Migration, exodus)

		1. Muhammad's exodus from Mecca and aslyum in
		Yathrib (Medina)

		2. 622 CE is Year One in the Islamic Calendar.

		3. Yathrib is later re-named "Medina," meaning "the
		city."

	E. Death 632 CE

		a. Medina.

	F. Muhammad's Accomplishments

		1. He ideologically and politically unified otherwise
		warring and squabbling Arab Bedouin tribes.

		2. Chartered the "Umma" ideology that still resonates
		to this day.

		3. Launched a universal world religion that
		transcends, national, social, economic and ethnic
		boundaries.

		4. Secured for the Arabs and the Arabic language,
		a place in history.

	G. Muhammad in Islamic Theology

		1. An adored figure and a special mortal.

			a. S.A.A.W. a benediction for the prophet
			that also separates the secular from the
			religious Muslim.

		2. Seal of the prophecy.

			a. Denotes there will be no more prophets
			following Muhammad.

			b. Any to claim prophecy after Muhammad
			risks accusations of blasphemy.

			c. Ahmediyya, a Sufi Muslim in Pakistan
			who was considered a Saint by his followers,
			was misunderstood by Modern Muslims and
			persecuted mercilessly after being accused
			of blasphemy.

				1)Saints are not prophets.

				2)Prophets are considered worldly.

				3)Saints strive throughtout their
				lives to become other-worldly.

		3. Doctrine of Infallibility.

			a. Ma'sun: "free from error."

				1)Infallible to that degree to
				which he received revelation from
				the GOD.

				2)Fallible as a mortal.

		4. Sunna (pre-Islamic concept)

			a. "Way of the ancestors."

			b. How a role-model comes to be.

			c. Use of the prophet as a rold-model.

				1)Cultural homogeneity.

			d. Now exclusively refers to Muhammad and
			Muhammad's way.

			e. Leads to Hadith: narrative reports to
			things that Muhammad said or did.

THE ORAL and TEXTUAL TRADITION

I. Muhammad in Medina

	A. Medina largely populated by Jewish and Pagan Arabs, who
	were in a constant state of civil and tribal warfare.

	B. Famous for his prowess as an arbitrator (remember he
	started out as a merchant and was so successful, his future
	wife hired him to conduct trade on her behalf), Muhammad
	was granted asylum in the city.

	C. Constitution of Medina	(see handout)	

		http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Medina

		1. Marked the beginning of Umma ideology.

			a. Umma: community of believers.

			b. Includes the idea that all Muslims are
			related ideologically, politicially and
			religiously.

			c. Often used when opposing a secular
			establishment.

			d. Connotes a pan-Islamic empire.

			e. Commands more loyalty on the part of
			the Muslim than the nation-state.

		2. Drafted after relations had soured between the
		Muslims and tribes already in residence in Medina.

			a. The resident tribes believed that the
			Muslim presence in Yathrib (Medina) brought
			Muhammad's warring Quraysh relatives to
			the gates of the city.

		3. The disputes this constitution/charter attempted
		to resolve, were NOT religious, but were strictly
		tribal in nature.

		4. Among those to whom the constitution refers were,

			a. Native Medinans

			b. Meccans seeking asylum from the Quraysh

			c. Jews who follow Muslims

				1)"People of the book" who share
				a political commonweatlh with Muslim
				Arabs.

				2)Both the Muslim AND the Jew are
				considered to be "believers" in
				the Abrahamic traditions of one
				and only one GOD.

		5. The tribes to whom the constitution refers are,

			a. Nader: were expelled from the city.

			b. Qaymuga: received the same fate.

			c. Qurayza: were subjected to tribal warfare.

				1)All Qurayza men were killed.

				2)Qurayza women and children became
				slaves.

		6. The Constitution of Medina was signed after
		these events.

		7. Jewish tribes always faired best when subjects
		of Islamic civilizations.

			a. They were considered "believers" and
			therefore, subject to GOD's protections.

			b. Up until the Modern Era, Jews always
			fared better when in Islamic cultures,
			societies, political domains and civilizations.

	D. Battles with the Quraysh

		1. Badr 624 CE

			a. 300 Muslims against 3000 Quraysh warriors.

			b. Victory seen as a sign of divine
			intervention.

		2. Uhud	625 CE

			a. Resulted in a stalemate.

			b. Muhammad was nearly killed when some of
			his warriors broke ranks to go looting.

		3. The Trench 627 CE

		4. Treaty of Hudaybiyya 629 CE

			a. Pilgrimmage to Mecca allowed by the
			Quraysh.

		5. As Muhammad increases in popularity, the Quraysh
		start becoming more of a minority among the Arab
		Bedouin tribes.

		6. Muhammad conquers Mecca, then declares a general
		amnesty in his home town.

			a. Muhammad dies two years later in Medina.

	E. Muhammad and Liberation Theology

		1. Liberation theologists' promote Jesus as a
		revolutionary and freedom fighter.

			a. The idea of a celibate and pacifist
			Jesus stands as an anomaly among prophets
			of his time.

			b. The warring Muhammad was right in line
			with the traditionsn of the Abrahamic/Judiac/Mosaic
			prophets.

		2. Prophets of Muhammad's time were political
		activists against social injustices.

		3. Modern-Era Muslims tend to project their own
		values upon the life of the prophet, Muhammad.

		4. The historical Muhammad lived in a time that
		would not understand the Modern Musilm.

	F. Successor to the Prophet

		1. Argument and competition between cities and
		tribes for the Caliphate begins before Muhammed's
		body turns cold.

		2. Muhammed's only male child died, for which it
		is written that the prophet mourned for forty days
		and forty nights.

		3. Beginnings of the Sunni/Shi'a Split.

		4. Other tribes began to leave Mecca and Medina
		after the death of Muhammad, presumably to avoid
		the 2.4% Zakat (tithing) of their wealth.

		5. Ridda wars were fought to unite the dissenting/fleeing
		tribes into the Muslim political fold, to pay Zakat
		and to re-unify the Arabs into a single state.

			a. Imperialist movement.

			b. Ridda wars were strictly about the
			political preservation of the Arab state.

	G. The Rightly-Guided Caliphs

	* Term used by modern Sunni Muslims.

	* Caliph: political, spiritual and temporal authority;
	literally, "Shadwow of God on Earth" or "Deputy to Muhammad."

	* The first three are believed by Modern Shi'a Muslims to
	be usrpers, with Ali the one true Caliph.

		1. Abu Bakr (632 - 634)

			a. Forced upon the Medians by Umar.

			b. Appoints Umar to be his successor.

			c. The only Caliph to die in his own bed
			without being assinated.

		2. Umar (634 - 644)

			a. Creates a democratic council to choose
			the next Caliph.

			b. The "democratic council" were the heads
			of the elite tribes.

			c. Assassinated by a Persian slave for
			unknown reasons.

		3. Uthman (644 - 656)

			a. After his death, the *real* Sunni/Shi'a
			split began.

			b. Known for his nepotism, by appointed
			family members and relatives to high
			positions.

			c. Credited with starting the first Royal
			Dynasty of Islam.

			d. Assassinated by troops who had conquered
			Egypt.

		4. Ali (656 - 661)

			a. Cousin and son-in-law to Muhammad, and
			the first male covert to Islam.

			b. The Shi'a believe that he should have been
			the very first Caliph.

			c. A scandal arose for which a Quranic
			revelation was later written to forbade
			slander.

			d. Assassinated by Karifite (ousiders) in
			661.

			http://realmuhammad.info/ScandalAboutAisha.html

	H. Two Epics of the Prophet

		1. Muhammad in Mecca

			a. Prophet

		2. Muhammed in Medina

			a. Prophet

			b. Head of State

			c. Judge - solves tribal disputes

			d. Military leader

	I. The First Royal Dynasty in Islam.

		1. Was believed to have started with the Caliph
		Uthman, who appointed his family members and relatives
		to high positions.

		2. Hind, daughter of the man who Injured Muhammad
		and a member of the Ummayads and a quaryish elite,
		and a favorite villan in Islamic literature.

		3. Muayyad: son of Hind who later became the governor
		of Syria and challenged Ali for the Caliphate in
		the Battle of Siffin.

			a. At the request of Ali, the battle was
			arbitrated with the arbiter ruling in favor
			of Muyyad.

			b. After this political blunder, Ali's
			troops begin to break away to form the
			"Kharijite" (the "outsiders").

			c. Ali would later be assassinated by a
			Kharijite.

		4. Muayyad appoints his own son, Mu'awiyya as his
		successor.

		5. Ali had two sons, both of whom were Muhammad's
		grandsons:

			a. Hassan, who retired quietly to Medina.

			b. Hussein, a fire-brand idealist who refuses
			to keep quiet.

		6. Hussein put forward a personal challenge to
		Mu'awiyya for the Calliphate.

			a. Hussein was assassinated by Mu'awiyya.

			b. The day of Hussein's assassination is
			known today as Ashura.

				http://www.ashura.com/

		7. The Muayyan Empire declined due to the cosmopolitian
		nature of the people and tribes it ruled over and
		due to a revolt by Persian (now, Iranian) Arabs
		known as the Abbasids.

		8. Accomplishments of the Muayyan Empire

			a. A central Diwan to assist the Caliph.

			b. Taxation (Kargj)

			c. Official State correspondence.

			d. A postal service for the citizenry.

			e. A formal chancellory with official seals,
			clerks and archives.

			f. Qudat (law) board of justice.

			g. Military service.

			h. State building: Expansion of the Islamic
			Empire.

			i. An Islamic dynasty/empire that favored
			Arabs exclusively over others.

	J. Differences between the Sects (Sunni/Shi'a)

		1. Shi'a (12er Shi'as)

			a. Believed a descendant of the Prophet
			should rule over Islam.

				1) al-Bayt "people of the house of
				Muhammad."

			b. Clergy resemble Roman Catholic priests
			and are often compared to Roman Catholicism.

			c. Believe that Imams are the religious
			authority.

			d. Believe there are twelve Imams, hence
			the name "12er Shi'as."

				1) The last Imam should go into
				occultation.

			e. believe in occultation = "the hidden
			Imam."

			f. "7er Shi'as" or "Ismalis"

				1) Split with the 12er Shia's after
				the 6th Imam.

				2) Also known as "Ismalis" or "Agha
				Khanis" after their leaders.

			g. During the Persian dynasty, all of what
			is now modern-day Iran is Shi'a.

		2. Sunni

			a. Aslo believe a descendent of the Prophet
			should rule over Islam.

				1) Also adopted al-Bayt "people of
				the house of Muhammad."

			b. Are more democratically-minded than the
			Shi'a.

			c. To the Sunni, an Imam is simply one who
			leads prayers.

			d. Maintain a scholarly class known as the
			Ulama.


II. God's Word: the Collection of the Qur'an

 Qur'an: literally, "recitation" as done so by the Prophet Muhammad.

	A. Ayah "sign" a verse.

	B. Surah "book" a scripture

	C. Kitab/Mushaf book/collection

	D. Muhl (sp?)

	E. Choga

	F. Collection and Canonization

		1. Religious View

			a. Collected by Abu Bakr

			b. Canonized by Uthamn

			c. Necessary for collection and canonization
			because qurra ("reciters") would often die
			in battle.

			d. Zayd ibn Thabit: Muhammad's personal
			scribe.

			http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zayd_ibn_Thabit

			e. Reason for the Religious view: Uthman
			was the most hated figure in Islam and it
			was more politically correct to credit the
			collection of the Qur'an to Abu Bakr.

		2. Academic View

			a. Variant Codices

				1) Ibn Masud Kufa

					Refused to surrender his
					codice to Uthman.

				2) Ubayy Syria

					Consented to surrender his
					codice to Uthman.

				3) Abu Musa Basra

					a) His codice had two extra
					chapters.

					b) Pleaded that his codice
					has more text and the extra
					chapters should be included
					in the canon so that the
					Qur'an will be as complete
					as possible.

				4) Mashif (pl) "the Qur'ans"

				5) Marshaf (sin) "the Qur'an"

			b. Variant Readings

				1) Scriptura Defecta "defective script"

				2) Lack of vowels and diacritical
				markings in the ancient Arabic
				writings.

				3) "Here is your language from the
				tongue of a pigeon-speaker." preface
				to a book of diacritics on Arabic
				language.

			c. The acutal list of reciters killed in
			battle does not match the religious view
			and there is no evidence in the early
			literature that the religious view is
			authoritative.

			d. Uthman realized the need for a standardized
			version of the Qur'an to be collected and
			canonized.

	G. Abrogation

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Farooq_Ibrahim/abrogation.htm

		1. God's perogative to change HIS mind.

		2. Change can occur because GOD caused Muhammad to
		forget and GOD changed the passage.

			a. GOD abbrogates something better.

		3. Tabari: Two Goddesses of the Quraysh

			a. al-lat       al-ussa

			b. GOD cancelled out the Satanic intervention.

			c. Western historians have concluded the
			Satanic intervention never happened.

			d. Later generations of Muslim scholars
			made it up in the 9th or 10th century.

		4. Muslim scholars use abrogation as a legal tool
		for interpreting the Qur'an.

		5. Salman Rushdie, "The Satanic Verses."

			a. An insider's critique of Islam.

	H. Addresses those who accuse Muhammad as a charlatan.

	I. Influenced by both Christianity and Judaism.

	J. Carries the same old monotheistic message.

	K. Muhammad described as u m m i , meaning "illiterate."

		1. Not a good claim.

		2. We don't think he was illiterate.

		3. u m m i also means "without revelation."

		4. Given the Prophet was a successful merchant, it
		is 100% false that he was illiterate.

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Farooq_Ibrahim/abrogation.htm

	L. The Qur'an is a power emotional force in Islam and
	reciting from it is Islam's highest and most competitive
	form of art.

	M. It is the political, legal, social and religious
	constitution of Islam.

	N. How one intepretes the Qur'an is EVERYTHING.

	O. With the exception of the story of Joseph, there are no
	complete narratives, only bits and pieces of them.

III. Documentary: Islam: Empire of Faith

	PART ONE: Prophet Muhammad and rise of Islam

		http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX3UHNhQ1Zk

	A. Messengers were ordinary human beings given an extraordinary
	task.

	B. The Bedouin were believed to be holders of traditional
	Arab values.

	C. When Muhammad's parents died, he was put in the care of
	his uncle.

		1. Now marginalized, Muhammad learned how to adapt.

		2. Muhammad became a child of everybody.

	D. Poets were some of the most important people in the
	tribe.

		1. Poetry bound the Bedouin people together.

	E. Even a prophet would wield a bow and arrow.

		1. Muhammad was trained in warfare.

		2. Blood feuds were fought over wells and pasture.

	F. Ka'ba is the Arab word for "cube."

		1. It was said to have been built by Abraham.

		2. The Bedouin celebrated a temporary truce during
		their pilgrammage to the Ka'ba, where trade - but
		no warfare - was allowed.

			a)One could not engage in tribal warfare
			when one was trading with other tribes.

			b)Economic and spiritually signicant.

	PART TWO: The Awakening

		http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1PxJomypQE

	A. Marks the greatest cross-feritlization the ancient world
	had ever known.

	B. Bayt altlikma: "house of wisdom."

		1. Translated books from every conquered people in
		the Islamic empire.

	C. 7 - 8 th Century, CE: the Arab empire spanned three
	continents as the largest empire in the known world.

		1. Promoted unity and equality.

		2. Arabia became an important trading center between
		the East and the West.

	D. Baghdad

		1. A wealthy city in the center of the Islamic
		empire.

		2. Scholars made it "the Jewel of the World."

		3. House of Wisdom becamed renowned for science.

			a. Translated the writings of the Greeks
			and made them available to the Western
			world.

		4. Arabic became the language of learning.

		5. Encountered paper between 700 - 750 CE.

			a. Allowed for the wide use of books and
			paper.

			b. Prompted the copying and re-copying of
			books.

			c. Had a unifying effect: the Islamic empire
			was now able to share its knowledge throughout
			its empire.

	E. The Process of Science was an Islamic accomplishment.

		1. Islamic civilzation had a need for
			science.

			a. Saw no contradiciton between Muslim
			faith and the sciences.

			b. Contrast with Christendom.

		2. Led to the study of germs.

		3. Led to the establishment of the first hospitals,
		funded by religious endowments.

		4. Islamic studies of anatomy were used in anatomy
		texts for the following six hundred years.

		5. Muslim scientists were intrigued by optics and
		the first to explain how the human eye actually
		works.

		6. Islamic innovations and ideas used in the West:

			a. Scientific Methods

			b. Hospitals

			c. Algebra

			d. The check

			e. Universities, colleges and campuses.

	F. Southern Spain

		1. Islamic civilization has its effects on European
		culture in Cordoba, a "Muslim city of light."

		2. The Alhambra palace is a famous example of
		Islamic architecture.

		3. Cordoba Cathedral - an example of excellence in
		architecture - was once a Mosque.

	G. The Crusades

		1. Al Hakeem, a notorious Egyptian king, burned
		down the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem,
		setting the stereotype of the Muslim as "uncivlized."

		2. Pope Urban II brought military service and
		religion together for the Crusades to the Holy
		Land.

		3. These began at a time when the Muslim world was
		in a fragmented state.

		4. At first, Muslim shepards thought the Crusaders
		were Byzantine raiders.

		5. The Crusaders first entered Jerusalem on July
		15, 1099 and there ensued a terrible massacre in
		the name of Christendom.

		6. The Crusaders were called "Franks" by the Muslims.

		7. Those who stayed behind built castles, made
		treaties with the Muslims and broke them.

		8. One benefit of the Crusaders presence was that
		they provided a market for souveniers.

		9. Islam remained united and flourished despite
		the Crusades and the presence of those Crusaders
		who stayed behind.

		10. What united Islam was trade.

			a. A trader could write a check to or from
			a central bank or loan organization.

			b. Textiles were the backbone of the Islamic
			trade.

				1) Muslim looms made the cloth that
				wrapped the bones of Christian
				saints.

		11. Islamic states often forged alliances with
		Crusaders states against other Islamic states.

		12. The Crusades - in the larger picture - were
		often viewed as a small skirmish in a part of the
		Muslim world ... a distant border war.

		13. The Muslim holy city is Mecca, not Jerusalem.

Brown, 69-86

IV. Conquests and Conversions

	A. Happened at a dizzying pace.

	B. Why did this happen? We don't know.

	C. Were called, F u t u h = "openings."

		1. Areas to be opened up to Islam.

		2. Propaganda used to justify the conquest.

	D. Who were they so successful?

		1. Other empires were in decline and suffering from
		internal opposition, especially in Byzantium.

		2. Christian Sectarianism

			a. Eastern

			b. Roman

			c. Coptic

			d. Nestorian

		3. All were bitterly persecuted by the empire.

		4. Christians were promised religious freedom by
		the conquering Arabs.

	E. Persia was a little different. They actually fought and
	there were bloody battles.

	F. After the conquest:

		1. Arabs did not want conqured peoples to convert
		to Islam, for purposes of tax revenue drawn upon
		non-Arabs.

		2. The Arabs maintained a sense of ethnic superiority.

		3. Islam was ethnically an Arab religion.

		4. Islam becomes a root for upward mobility among
		the conquered peoples.

			a. A simplified version of the Judeo/Christian
			traditions that appealed to middle Easterners.

			b. Egyptians, Christians and Buddhists
			helped the Arabs in their conquests.

V. The Interpretation of the Qur'an: Tafsir & T'awil

	A. Tafsir - primitive interpretation.

		1. Israelliyat: historical commentary by Jews and
		Christians.

		2. Tafsir al-Ma'thur: traditional commentary.

			a. Lacks analogies.

			b. Doesn't engage for alternative
			interpretations.

		3. Tafsir Bil-ra'y: interpretation based upon
		personal opinion.

			9th Century Tafsir Bil-ra'y

				1) Naskh - abrogation

					a) cancelling-out

					b) God caused Muhammad to
					forget so He can insert a
					different passage into his
					recitiation.

				2) Asbab al-Nuzu: literal school
				of intepretation.

					a) Search for the causes
					of a revelation.

					b) Example: the Medinan
					Period and motivation for
					the Muslims to continue
					fighting the Quraysh.

					c) Two perspsectives:

						i) Particular

						ii) Universal

					d) Asbab al-Nuzu requires
					that one be well schooled
					in:

						i) Phiology

						ii) Grammar

						iii) History


	B. Ta'wil

		1. Mystical Interpretation

		2. Allegorical Meaning of Scripture 

		3. Zahir "surface" explicit, exoteric interpretation.

		4. Batim "hidden" esoteric, inner meaning.

		5. Three meanings:

			a. Literal for the common masses.

			b. Allusion ("hints") for the elite.

			c. Hidden for the friends of the God.

				1) True believers.

				2) Mystics, Sufis.

					i) Sufism was the dominant
					tradition in Islam until
					the nineteenth century.

		6. Example: Rumi and the Qur'an as a bride.

			a. If one tears off the her veil to behold
			her with his eyes, he may find what he sees
			as unattractive.

			b. The lession is that here is more to the
			Holy Qur'an than what meets the eyes and
			if one seeks only what one wishes to see,
			he or she will miss her true beauty.

		7. Example: different interpretations of the story
		of Joseph and Zuilaykha in the Qur'an.

			a. Literal: women's lust and promiscuity.

			b. Mystical: (Sufi) a great love story.

				1) Zulaykha represents earth.

					a) She becomes a heroine.

				2) Joseph represents the sky.

				3) The physical is as important as
				the spiritual.

				4) The two lovers are reunited in
				Heaven.

		8. Example: Sodom and Gomorrah

			a. Literal: homosexuality is criminalized
			as original sin.

			b. Mystical (Sufi): socities of enlightened
			thinkers in enlightened cities.

				1) Islam held a generous tolerance
				for homosexuality up until the
				twentieth century.

				2) An enlightened one may violate
				the law because they have outgrown
				the literal law by attaining
				enlightenment.

				3) The "sin" in this interpretation
				is not homosexuality, but arrogance
				and the mis-treatment of guests.

				4) An additional lession prevails
				in terms of falling from enlightenment.

				5) Homosexuality is, if and of
				itself, not a sin and is not
				punishable by Islamic law.

		9. Example: Interpretation of the story of Pharaoh
		as a "true believer."

			a. The Mysical interpretation "pushes the
			envelope."

			b. Understands morality in a cosmic sense.

			c. Includes polytheists, idolatry, pagan
			religions and traidtions.

			d. Implies there is more than one way to
			a single universal Truth but there are many
			paths to the God.

	C. Modern Interpretations (and how they have changed)

		1. Modernist Reformist

			a. Advocates making the Qur'an compatible
			with modernity.

			b. Interpetations of the Qur'an in democratic
			socities.

		2. Modernist Islamist

			a. Fashions an Islamic modernity.

			b. Adovcates funamentalism, literalism.

			c. A "separate but equal" modernist
			interpretation.

		3. Modern Feminist

			a. Includes a radical re-intepretation of
			the Qur'an by Amina Wudud.

VI. Prophetic Example: the Hadith and Sunna

	A. Hadith: narrative literary report of the Sunna of Muhammad.
	
		1. Sunna: the traditions of an ideal role model.

			a. Hadith is the Sunna of Muhammad.

			b. Arabian culture venerates it's ancestors
			in the form of Sunna.
		
		2. Is the second  most important literature in Islam, after the
		Holy Qur'an itself.

		3. Is not scripture, but historical accounts
		transmitted over centuries and generations.

		4. Canonized the first 150 years after the death
		of Muhammad.

	B. Structure

		1. Isnad: chain of transmission.

		2. Matn: content

			a. Ugly Hadith

				1) Negative

				2) Disparaging

			b. Beautiful Hadith

				1) Positive

				2) Complimentary

			c. There is currently no scholarly science
			for ugly/beautiful academic debates over
			Hadith.

	C. Collections

		1. Sunni: 6

		2. Shi'a: 2

			a. Why?

			b. Only those transmitted by Ali were
			accepted by the Shi'a.

		3. When scholars Bukhara and Abu Muslim began
		collecting Hadiths, they discovered there were over
		900,000.

			a. Many were repetitions.

			b. Afterwards, the number was reduced to
			7,000 to 9,000.

	D. What do academics debate about Hadith?

		1. Are these genuine or are they fabricated?

		2. Fabricated Hadith are used to acquire a favorable
		ruling in an Islamic Court.

		3. There is also pious fraud to protect the reputation
		of the Prophet.

		4. Scholarly fabrications.

		5. Political fabrications.

		6. Cultural impact also shapes what is considered
		fabricated and what is considered genuine.

		7. When evaluating a Hadith, scholars look at the
		reputation of the transmitters.

			a. "Science of Hadith" study of the chain
			of transmissions of the Hadith.

		8. Is Hadith truth or falsehood?

			a. All of Hadith is false: Schacht; Crone;
			Cook; Wansborough

			b. Qualified or absolute acceptance that
			Hadith is true: Juynboll; Azni; N. Abbott;
			Sezgin; Kister

		9. Mostly academic/scholarly debate about Hadith
		concerns the status of women.

		10. Fatima Mernissi

			a. Investigated transmitter Abu Huraira.

				1) "Father of the little kitten."

				2) Transmitted ugly Hadith about
				women.

			b. Investigated transmitter Abu Bakra

				1) Flogged by a Caliph for lying.

				2) Aisha (Muhammad's young wife)
				transmitted around 2,000 Hadith.

				3) Bakra utters around four thousand
				Hadith.

				4) A corpus of doubt then exists
				in regards to the credibility of
				the transmitter, Abu Bakra.

			c. Called for the re-evaluation of the
			credibility of transmitters.

		11. Mernissi's argument is a big battleground for
		Muslim scholarship.

		12.The vast majority of Hadith are *very* favorable
		towards women.

	E. Classification or Categorization of Hadith

		1. Certain

			a. True beyond all doubt.

			b. Mutawatir: so widely diseminated throughout
			Islam, every Muslim knows or has at least
			heard of this Hadith.

		2. Sound "Sahih"

			a. There is a good probability the Hadith
			is true or authentic.

			b. The bulk of Bakhara and Abu Muslim's
			Hadiths fall under this category.

	F. Sociological and Cultural Functions of Hadith

		1. Guide-lines for behavior.

		2. Creates a universal Muslim culture based upon
		the exemplary model of Muhammad.

			a. Unifying effect.

			b. Unification through the Muhammad.

VII. Liturgy & Faith: Iman and its Three         Brown, 88-100

THEOLOGY and JUSTICE

I. Political Justice

	A. Theology: K a l a m 

		1. Literally "talk."

		2. Politically, "Talk about divine matters."

		3. Has it's very origin in politial matters.

			a. How can the despised Mu'awiyya elite be
			removed from power?

			b. How can the Muayyad elite be removed
			from power?

			c. How can these to be disqualifed as
			Musilms?

	B. Asks the question, "Who is a Muslim?"

		1. Is one a Musilm, regardless of one's actions?

		2. And what about one's actions?

			a. Are one's actions the work of Allah (the
			God)?

			b. Are one's actions the work of one's own
			free will?

			c. Should one be responsible for one's own
			actions or should one's actions be attributed
			to Allah (the God).

			d. If one is a Muslim by one's actions, it
			would be easier to disqualify the hated
			Muayyad elite for their (mis)rule and
			remove them from power.

			e. If one can attribute their actions to
			the God, then theirs are excused from
			repriment and/or punishment.

	C. Primitive Schools

	(7th - 9th Century CE)

		1. Qadri: the school of thought that maintains a
		belief that *everything* is pre-destined by the
		God and all are Muslim by belief and witness.

		2. Jabiri: the school of thought that maintains a
		belief that one is responsible for one's own actions.

			a. Grants license for political rebellion
			against the Muayyad elite.

			b. the Muayyad elite can be excommunicated
			based on this school of thought.

			c. By their 'despicable' actions the
			Muayyad elite could be disqualified as
			Muslims.

			d. Recalls the question of heresy in
			Christendom and the ensuing witch trials.

			e. Can result of charges of disqualification
			as a Muslim and counter-charges in response.

		3. Murji'a (lit, "to step back")

			a. School of thought that calls for a
			suspension of judgement as to who qualifies
			as a Muslim and who is to be disqualified.

			b. The idea is "to let the God decide" as
			to who is a Muslim and who is not.

			c. Calls for the prohibition of the inquiry
			about one's private life and prohibits
			excommunication.

				1) Even if one is a "bad Muslim,"
				one is *always* a Muslim, nontheless.

			d. A compromise and intermediate position
			that stipualtes no one has the right to
			accuse another of "not being a Muslim."

	(9th Century CE)

		4. Mutazili (lit, "breaking away")

			a. Wasil bin Ata: founder who was concerned
			about the very nature of the God Muslims
			worship, based upon his observations of
			tragic events for which innocent children
			perished in natural disasters.

			b. Ash'ari (school of thought)

				1) Asks, "Why should we try to
				comprehend the God by rational
				human reason?

				2) Divides divine knowledge and
				human knowledge.

				3) Divides divine justice and human
				justice.

			c. Bagillani 

			d. Doctorate of Compensation: a doctorate
			for which posits children who perish in
			natural disasters (read, "acts of the God")
			are exempt from judgement and shall go
			immediately to Heaven.

			e. Qur'anic passage: each soul shall be
			judged by it's own merit.

			f. Logical contradiction: experience the
			trials of life and judgement is considered
			a test of the soul.

			g. Why then, should a child be exempt from
			judgement and go immediately to heaven
			while others be required to face the trials
			of human life and judgment afterwards?

			h. Mutazili response: when a passage
			contradicts itself, the passage should then
			be taken allegorically.

				1) A way of harmonizing revelation
				and reason.

				2) Posits that the God is just ALL
				of the time.

			i. Doctorate of Acquisition

				1) Everything is pre-determined,
				but human interaction with that
				which is pre-determined is voluntary
				(free will) and humans have the
				free will to ask the God to tell
				them what to to.

				2) Criticism: this a paradoxical
				watered-down verison of "free will."

				3) Asks the questions, "Is the Holy
				Qur'an created or uncreated? Did
				the God's words existe before the
				Prophet recited them?"

					a) These questions provide
					scholars the academic
					freedom from secular kings
					and to thwart state ambitions.

	D. Occasionalism

		1. Ghazali: used pure reason and philosophy to
		rationalize Muslim theology.

			a) He gave occassionalism a lot more order.

		2. Response to "mechanistic theories."

		3. Posits the physical world is an illusion.

			a) The God's hand is in everything.

			b) Opposite of Asistotle.

		4. The God's intervention at the occasion of the
		moment is the cause of an outcome.

		5. "The Matrix" analogy

			a) The God creates a Matrix for us for
			which the physical universe is an illusion.

	E. Sunni Theology and Imamate

		1. Shi'a

		2. Kharijs: a group that turned against Ali.

II. Divine Justice      Brown, 172-186

III. Social Justice: the Shari'a

IV. Interpreting God's Will: Fiqh       Brown, 147-170

V. *Discussion of Semerdjian' s Book

THEOLOGY and KNOWLEDGE

Brown, 188-215, Fakhri (reserve)

I. Intuitive Knowledge: Sufism

	A. Introduction

		1. Esoteric/mystical tradition in Islam.

		2. Much like Gnosticism.

		3. "Sufi" meaning "wool" in Arabic.

		3. Tasawwuf: the traditional Islamic science of
		self-improvement and spirituality (sufism), focussing
		on one's relationship with Allah.

			SOURCE: http://www.tasawwuf.org/

		4. "Hippies" and "freaks" of the modern Muslim
		world.

		5. Sufi mystics withdraw from things worldly.

	B. Two Branches: Sober and Intoxicated.

		1. Sober

			a. Founders Jumaya and Hasan al-Basri.

			b. Ideas

				1) GOD is to be feared.

				2) GOD is transcendent.

				3) Legal-mindedness.

				4) Goal: Baqa, meaning "residing
				in GOD."

			c. Monotheistic.

			d. Believed by intoxicated Sufis they fear
			God for the sake of avoiding hell and a
			gluttony for heaven.

		2. Intoxicated

			a. "Intoxicated" with love for GOD.

			b. Famous Intoxicated Sufis

				1) Ibn Arabi

				http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Arabi

					a. Greatest Sufi.

					b. 2nd most important
					Muslim, next to the Prophet
					Muhammad.

				2) Rabia al-Adawiyya

				http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabia_al-Adawiyya

					a) Jesus-like figure.

					b) Mystical poet.

					c) "Torch and bucket" myth.

		3. Platonic Philosophy

			a. The created world is viewed as an
			emanation of the Divine out into the
			universe.

			b. Light-bulb analogy.

			c. Humans as among the created represent
			sparks of the Divine.

		4. Ideas of Intoxicated Sufism

			a. GOD is love.

			b. GOD is immanent (within each of us).

			c. Monistic (splintering of the Divine).

				1) There is no GOD-head.

				2) No theism.

				3) The Divine being created all so
				the Divine being can know itself.

			d. Antinomian ("against the law")

				1) Not quite against the law, but
				law is no longer *that* imporant
				to an intoxicated Sufi.

				2) The intoxicated Sufi is "spiritually
				mature" and does not need to live
				by the primitive letter of the law.

			e. Goal: fana: Unity with the Divine.

		5. Intoxicated Sufism let to a more human treatment
		of the mentally ill in the Muslim world.

	C. De-enlightenization of the Muslim World (19th - 20th
	century) in response to:

		1. Colonialization of weakened Muslim states.

		2. Modernity, based on rationalism and reason.

	D. Implication for Theology

		1. Tawhid: oneness of GOD.

			Sufism focuses on the unity of being.

		2. Philosophy/Revelation: If one can know GOD
		intuitively and from within, then what is the need
		for revelation?

		3. Judgement

			a. Sufism does away with "this for that"
			("deus ut des") theology.

			b. Idea of "hell" repulsive to Sufis.

			c. "Heaven" is "fana" or "baqa."

			d. "Hell" is "not-knowing" or "a soul lost
			in a vacum."

	E. Forms of Art

		1. Poetry

			a. Hallaj

			http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansur_Al-Hallaj

				1) I am truth.

				2) Compare with the Beatles' "I am
				the Walrus."

			b. Rumi

		2. Music

	F. Mendicancy
Religion 3786:  Introduction to Islam
--------------------------------------------------------------------

ISLAM'S HISTORICAL RISE AND DEVELOPMENT

Brown, 1-68

I. Introduction and Overview

	A. Islam as a Civilization

		1. "Islamicate" analogous to "Christendom."

		2. Is more than just a faith or religion.

	B. Faith and Culture

		1. One can be a Muslim either by faith or by culture.

			a. Born to a predominantly Muslim country.

			b. Born to a Muslim family.

II. Theoretical and Methodological Approaches

	A. Methodology and Historiography

	B. Historiography: the study of the history and methodology
	of the discipline of history.

	C. There is no objective historical truth.

		1. Especially when writing history about "the
		other."

	D. Nineteenth Century

		1. Most of the Muslim world was colonized by the
		western European powers.

		2. Religious Polemics

			a. Christianity was written by the European
			colonial powers as the "true faith."

			b. Islam was written by the European colonial
			powers as "heresy."

	E. Twentieth Century

		1. Edward Said, "Orientalism" 

			a. Work based on Foucalt's work on power
			and hegemony and caused a stir in the
			academic community.

				1)Hegemony refers to a force that
				dominates a particular sphere.

				2)In a marriage of power and
				knowledge, the colonial powers
				control the studies.

				3)Example: CNN and FOX news.

				4)Example: the Internet as an
				alternative to CNN and FOX, but on
				the "fringes."

			b. Said picked upon Foucalt's work and
			turned it back upon the Western European
			colonial powers.

			c. Said's work reflected more about the
			Western powers than the Eastern histories
			they were writing.

			d. "Orientalism" and "Orientalist" is used
			as a 'dirty word' by academics.

			e. Don't 'blanket' all western scholars as
			"orientialists."

	F. East Versus West

		1. East

			a. Agrigarian

			b. Irrational; mystical.

			c. Despotic

		2. West

			a. Industrialized

			b. Capitalist

			c. Reason and Empiricism

			d. Democratic

			e. Materialistic
			
			f. Quantitative

III. Early Setting

	A. J a h i l i y y a

		1. "Age of ignorance" before Islam.

	B. The Arabian Peninsula

		1. Northern Arabia - Largely Nomadic.

			a. "Arabia Ferax"
			
				"Land of heresies."

			b. Many different pretenders to prophecies.

			c. Why so many?

				1)Located at a cross-roads of
				several different Empires.

				2)An ethnically and racially mixed
				population that is economicall and
				culturally insecure and is in a
				constant state of transition.

			d. Northern Arabian Economy

				1)Tribes raiding other tribes by
				a strict set of rules.

					a)Some of the best poetry
					to come out of Arabia were
					written about these raids
					and hostage-takings.

				2)Hostages were taken and given
				back for ransom.

					a)Very strict rules as to
					how hostages were to be
					treated.

				3)A blood feud may occur if tribal
				rules were broken.

			e. A trading society emerges and tribal
			bonds are breaking down in the cities,
			creating a dispossed urban poor.

		2. Southern Arabia - Largely fertile, settled.

			a. "Arabia Felix"

				"Happy Arabia"

			b. Agricultural Economy.

			c. Hijaz

				1)Mecca

				2)Medina

				3)Yemen

			d. Ka'ba

				1)"House of God"

				2)Always a center of pilgrmmage.

				3)Haram: a religious sanctuary
				around the Ka'ba, where no violence
				or tribal warfare is ever allowed.

				4)Economic traded is allowed.

			e. Pilgrammage and Circumabulation

				1)Pre-Islamc

				2)Circumnabulation was done while
				naked, now is done wearing two
				pieces of simple white cloth to
				unite all who circumnabulate the
				Ka'ba.

			f. Homogenous population engaged in
			agriculture and crafts.

			g. Were believed to be invaded by the
			Assyrians, by to one theory.

			h. May have suffered an agricultural disaster
			when the Ma'rib dam was destroyed, after
			which the people of Yemen could no longer
			sustain themselves through agriculture and
			craft, and fled elsewhere.

C. Pre-Islamic Arabian Religions

		1. Christian - predominant.

		2. Judaism

		3. Hanif: monotheists who do not identify themselves
		as Judaic or Christian.

			a. Daughters of the supreme diety, Allah.


				1)Al-lat

				2)Manat

				3)Uzza

			b. Allah means, "the God."

			c. Modern devout Muslims don't like this
			model, because it comes from "the age of
			igorance."

		4. Animism

	D. Tribal Solidarity

		1. Mawla: a client to whom a tribe offers protection.

			a. This is what one does when one belongs
			to no clan or tribe.

		2. Montgomery Watt: "tribal humanism."

			a. In the tribe or clan, a "shaykh" is
			"first among equals."

		3. We know aobut tribal solidarity from the vast
		amonunt of Arabic literature kept in Spain.

		4. Tribal solidarity collapses in the transition
		from nomadic to settled existence.

IV. Muhammad in Mecca

	A. Historiography

		1. The Prophet and the Statesman

			a. Muhammad was a real historical figure.

				1)Prophet

				2)Statesman

				3)Military leader

					a)Islam's first great general.

				4)Husband (of multiple wives)

				5)Slave-owner

					a)Maria, a beautiful Egyptian
					slave-girl given to him by
					the King of Alexandria.

			b. "Mahmud" prejoritave epitah, "devil."

				1)Perspective of Victorian-era
				Christianity.

		2. Biographers

			a. Ibn Hisham

				1)First official biographer of
				Muhammad.

				2)Not an apologist, Hisham wrote
				of both postitive and negative
				things about the prophet Muhammad.

				3)His biography suddenly "disappeared"
				with the coming of Modern Islam.

			b. Ibn Ishaq

				1)Wrote his biography 100 years
				after Muhammad's death.

		3. 20th Century Mistoriography

			a. Response to western historiographies.

			b. 20th century histiorogrpahers edited
			earlier biographies from the perspective
			of Victorian Era Christianity.

				1)The same perspective that once
				referred to Muhammad as "Mahmud"
				("the devil").


			c. Product of modernization.

	B. Sunna - doctrine of infallibility 

		1. As a prophet, Muhammad was infallible.

		2. As a human, Muhammad was fallible.

	C. Preaching 610 CE

		1. Became a merchant by trade and later hired by
		his future wife to trade on her behalf.

		2. Something of a mystic, Muhammad began preaching
		at the age of 40, around 610 CE.

			a)Foremost among his preachings, there is
			only one GOD.

		3. In Muhammad's time, prophecy was a critique of
		the current establishment.

		4. Muhammad's call for social justice was a critique
		of Meccan society.

			a. Muhammad had been marginalized and
			understood the needs of the poor and
			disenfranchised.

		5. His first convert was his own wife, to whom he'd
		been employed as a merchant, trading on her behalf
		as she was a wealthy, "private" woman who sent him
		out to do trade for her.

		6. Later early converts were former slaves, the
		poor, the disenfanchised, whose plight Muhammad
		well understood.

		7. Other converts include young men from wealthy
		families looking for upward mobility while they
		awaited their family inheritances.

		8. His relatives in the Quraysh tribe at first
		ignored him, but became hostile when he gained
		popularity with slaves and the poor.

			a. Quraysh hostilities were directed at
			slaves and the poor, who became the first
			martyrs for Islam in a vibrant martyr
			literature that was to follow.

		9. Upon the death of his protector - his uncle
		Talib - Muhammad leaves Mecca and asks for asylum
		in Yathrib (Medina).

	D. Hijra 622 CE (Migration, exodus)

		1. Muhammad's exodus from Mecca and aslyum in
		Yathrib (Medina)

		2. 622 CE is Year One in the Islamic Calendar.

		3. Yathrib is later re-named "Medina," meaning "the
		city."

	E. Death 632 CE

		a. Medina.

	F. Muhammad's Accomplishments

		1. He ideologically and politically unified otherwise
		warring and squabbling Arab Bedouin tribes.

		2. Chartered the "Umma" ideology that still resonates
		to this day.

		3. Launched a universal world religion that
		transcends, national, social, economic and ethnic
		boundaries.

		4. Secured for the Arabs and the Arabic language,
		a place in history.

	G. Muhammad in Islamic Theology

		1. An adored figure and a special mortal.

			a. S.A.A.W. a benediction for the prophet
			that also separates the secular from the
			religious Muslim.

		2. Seal of the prophecy.

			a. Denotes there will be no more prophets
			following Muhammad.

			b. Any to claim prophecy after Muhammad
			risks accusations of blasphemy.

			c. Ahmediyya, a Sufi Muslim in Pakistan
			who was considered a Saint by his followers,
			was misunderstood by Modern Muslims and
			persecuted mercilessly after being accused
			of blasphemy.

				1)Saints are not prophets.

				2)Prophets are considered worldly.

				3)Saints strive throughtout their
				lives to become other-worldly.

		3. Doctrine of Infallibility.

			a. Ma'sun: "free from error."

				1)Infallible to that degree to
				which he received revelation from
				the GOD.

				2)Fallible as a mortal.

		4. Sunna (pre-Islamic concept)

			a. "Way of the ancestors."

			b. How a role-model comes to be.

			c. Use of the prophet as a rold-model.

				1)Cultural homogeneity.

			d. Now exclusively refers to Muhammad and
			Muhammad's way.

			e. Leads to Hadith: narrative reports to
			things that Muhammad said or did.

THE ORAL and TEXTUAL TRADITION

I. Muhammad in Medina

	A. Medina largely populated by Jewish and Pagan Arabs, who
	were in a constant state of civil and tribal warfare.

	B. Famous for his prowess as an arbitrator (remember he
	started out as a merchant and was so successful, his future
	wife hired him to conduct trade on her behalf), Muhammad
	was granted asylum in the city.

	C. Constitution of Medina	(see handout)	

		http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Medina

		1. Marked the beginning of Umma ideology.

			a. Umma: community of believers.

			b. Includes the idea that all Muslims are
			related ideologically, politicially and
			religiously.

			c. Often used when opposing a secular
			establishment.

			d. Connotes a pan-Islamic empire.

			e. Commands more loyalty on the part of
			the Muslim than the nation-state.

		2. Drafted after relations had soured between the
		Muslims and tribes already in residence in Medina.

			a. The resident tribes believed that the
			Muslim presence in Yathrib (Medina) brought
			Muhammad's warring Quraysh relatives to
			the gates of the city.

		3. The disputes this constitution/charter attempted
		to resolve, were NOT religious, but were strictly
		tribal in nature.

		4. Among those to whom the constitution refers were,

			a. Native Medinans

			b. Meccans seeking asylum from the Quraysh

			c. Jews who follow Muslims

				1)"People of the book" who share
				a political commonweatlh with Muslim
				Arabs.

				2)Both the Muslim AND the Jew are
				considered to be "believers" in
				the Abrahamic traditions of one
				and only one GOD.

		5. The tribes to whom the constitution refers are,

			a. Nader: were expelled from the city.

			b. Qaymuga: received the same fate.

			c. Qurayza: were subjected to tribal warfare.

				1)All Qurayza men were killed.

				2)Qurayza women and children became
				slaves.

		6. The Constitution of Medina was signed after
		these events.

		7. Jewish tribes always faired best when subjects
		of Islamic civilizations.

			a. They were considered "believers" and
			therefore, subject to GOD's protections.

			b. Up until the Modern Era, Jews always
			fared better when in Islamic cultures,
			societies, political domains and civilizations.

	D. Battles with the Quraysh

		1. Badr 624 CE

			a. 300 Muslims against 3000 Quraysh warriors.

			b. Victory seen as a sign of divine
			intervention.

		2. Uhud	625 CE

			a. Resulted in a stalemate.

			b. Muhammad was nearly killed when some of
			his warriors broke ranks to go looting.

		3. The Trench 627 CE

		4. Treaty of Hudaybiyya 629 CE

			a. Pilgrimmage to Mecca allowed by the
			Quraysh.

		5. As Muhammad increases in popularity, the Quraysh
		start becoming more of a minority among the Arab
		Bedouin tribes.

		6. Muhammad conquers Mecca, then declares a general
		amnesty in his home town.

			a. Muhammad dies two years later in Medina.

	E. Muhammad and Liberation Theology

		1. Liberation theologists' promote Jesus as a
		revolutionary and freedom fighter.

			a. The idea of a celibate and pacifist
			Jesus stands as an anomaly among prophets
			of his time.

			b. The warring Muhammad was right in line
			with the traditionsn of the Abrahamic/Judiac/Mosaic
			prophets.

		2. Prophets of Muhammad's time were political
		activists against social injustices.

		3. Modern-Era Muslims tend to project their own
		values upon the life of the prophet, Muhammad.

		4. The historical Muhammad lived in a time that
		would not understand the Modern Musilm.

	F. Successor to the Prophet

		1. Argument and competition between cities and
		tribes for the Caliphate begins before Muhammed's
		body turns cold.

		2. Muhammed's only male child died, for which it
		is written that the prophet mourned for forty days
		and forty nights.

		3. Beginnings of the Sunni/Shi'a Split.

		4. Other tribes began to leave Mecca and Medina
		after the death of Muhammad, presumably to avoid
		the 2.4% Zakat (tithing) of their wealth.

		5. Ridda wars were fought to unite the dissenting/fleeing
		tribes into the Muslim political fold, to pay Zakat
		and to re-unify the Arabs into a single state.

			a. Imperialist movement.

			b. Ridda wars were strictly about the
			political preservation of the Arab state.

	G. The Rightly-Guided Caliphs

	* Term used by modern Sunni Muslims.

	* Caliph: political, spiritual and temporal authority;
	literally, "Shadwow of God on Earth" or "Deputy to Muhammad."

	* The first three are believed by Modern Shi'a Muslims to
	be usrpers, with Ali the one true Caliph.

		1. Abu Bakr (632 - 634)

			a. Forced upon the Medians by Umar.

			b. Appoints Umar to be his successor.

			c. The only Caliph to die in his own bed
			without being assinated.

		2. Umar (634 - 644)

			a. Creates a democratic council to choose
			the next Caliph.

			b. The "democratic council" were the heads
			of the elite tribes.

			c. Assassinated by a Persian slave for
			unknown reasons.

		3. Uthman (644 - 656)

			a. After his death, the *real* Sunni/Shi'a
			split began.

			b. Known for his nepotism, by appointed
			family members and relatives to high
			positions.

			c. Credited with starting the first Royal
			Dynasty of Islam.

			d. Assassinated by troops who had conquered
			Egypt.

		4. Ali (656 - 661)

			a. Cousin and son-in-law to Muhammad, and
			the first male covert to Islam.

			b. The Shi'a believe that he should have been
			the very first Caliph.

			c. A scandal arose for which a Quranic
			revelation was later written to forbade
			slander.

			d. Assassinated by Karifite (ousiders) in
			661.

			http://realmuhammad.info/ScandalAboutAisha.html

	H. Two Epics of the Prophet

		1. Muhammad in Mecca

			a. Prophet

		2. Muhammed in Medina

			a. Prophet

			b. Head of State

			c. Judge - solves tribal disputes

			d. Military leader

	I. The First Royal Dynasty in Islam.

		1. Was believed to have started with the Caliph
		Uthman, who appointed his family members and relatives
		to high positions.

		2. Hind, daughter of the man who Injured Muhammad
		and a member of the Ummayads and a quaryish elite,
		and a favorite villan in Islamic literature.

		3. Muayyad: son of Hind who later became the governor
		of Syria and challenged Ali for the Caliphate in
		the Battle of Siffin.

			a. At the request of Ali, the battle was
			arbitrated with the arbiter ruling in favor
			of Muyyad.

			b. After this political blunder, Ali's
			troops begin to break away to form the
			"Kharijite" (the "outsiders").

			c. Ali would later be assassinated by a
			Kharijite.

		4. Muayyad appoints his own son, Mu'awiyya as his
		successor.

		5. Ali had two sons, both of whom were Muhammad's
		grandsons:

			a. Hassan, who retired quietly to Medina.

			b. Hussein, a fire-brand idealist who refuses
			to keep quiet.

		6. Hussein put forward a personal challenge to
		Mu'awiyya for the Calliphate.

			a. Hussein was assassinated by Mu'awiyya.

			b. The day of Hussein's assassination is
			known today as Ashura.

				http://www.ashura.com/

		7. The Muayyan Empire declined due to the cosmopolitian
		nature of the people and tribes it ruled over and
		due to a revolt by Persian (now, Iranian) Arabs
		known as the Abbasids.

		8. Accomplishments of the Muayyan Empire

			a. A central Diwan to assist the Caliph.

			b. Taxation (Kargj)

			c. Official State correspondence.

			d. A postal service for the citizenry.

			e. A formal chancellory with official seals,
			clerks and archives.

			f. Qudat (law) board of justice.

			g. Military service.

			h. State building: Expansion of the Islamic
			Empire.

			i. An Islamic dynasty/empire that favored
			Arabs exclusively over others.

	J. Differences between the Sects (Sunni/Shi'a)

		1. Shi'a (12er Shi'as)

			a. Believed a descendant of the Prophet
			should rule over Islam.

				1) al-Bayt "people of the house of
				Muhammad."

			b. Clergy resemble Roman Catholic priests
			and are often compared to Roman Catholicism.

			c. Believe that Imams are the religious
			authority.

			d. Believe there are twelve Imams, hence
			the name "12er Shi'as."

				1) The last Imam should go into
				occultation.

			e. believe in occultation = "the hidden
			Imam."

			f. "7er Shi'as" or "Ismalis"

				1) Split with the 12er Shia's after
				the 6th Imam.

				2) Also known as "Ismalis" or "Agha
				Khanis" after their leaders.

			g. During the Persian dynasty, all of what
			is now modern-day Iran is Shi'a.

		2. Sunni

			a. Aslo believe a descendent of the Prophet
			should rule over Islam.

				1) Also adopted al-Bayt "people of
				the house of Muhammad."

			b. Are more democratically-minded than the
			Shi'a.

			c. To the Sunni, an Imam is simply one who
			leads prayers.

			d. Maintain a scholarly class known as the
			Ulama.


II. God's Word: the Collection of the Qur'an

 Qur'an: literally, "recitation" as done so by the Prophet Muhammad.

	A. Ayah "sign" a verse.

	B. Surah "book" a scripture

	C. Kitab/Mushaf book/collection

	D. Muhl (sp?)

	E. Choga

	F. Collection and Canonization

		1. Religious View

			a. Collected by Abu Bakr

			b. Canonized by Uthamn

			c. Necessary for collection and canonization
			because qurra ("reciters") would often die
			in battle.

			d. Zayd ibn Thabit: Muhammad's personal
			scribe.

			http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zayd_ibn_Thabit

			e. Reason for the Religious view: Uthman
			was the most hated figure in Islam and it
			was more politically correct to credit the
			collection of the Qur'an to Abu Bakr.

		2. Academic View

			a. Variant Codices

				1) Ibn Masud Kufa

					Refused to surrender his
					codice to Uthman.

				2) Ubayy Syria

					Consented to surrender his
					codice to Uthman.

				3) Abu Musa Basra

					a) His codice had two extra
					chapters.

					b) Pleaded that his codice
					has more text and the extra
					chapters should be included
					in the canon so that the
					Qur'an will be as complete
					as possible.

				4) Mashif (pl) "the Qur'ans"

				5) Marshaf (sin) "the Qur'an"

			b. Variant Readings

				1) Scriptura Defecta "defective script"

				2) Lack of vowels and diacritical
				markings in the ancient Arabic
				writings.

				3) "Here is your language from the
				tongue of a pigeon-speaker." preface
				to a book of diacritics on Arabic
				language.

			c. The acutal list of reciters killed in
			battle does not match the religious view
			and there is no evidence in the early
			literature that the religious view is
			authoritative.

			d. Uthman realized the need for a standardized
			version of the Qur'an to be collected and
			canonized.

	G. Abrogation

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Farooq_Ibrahim/abrogation.htm

		1. God's perogative to change HIS mind.

		2. Change can occur because GOD caused Muhammad to
		forget and GOD changed the passage.

			a. GOD abbrogates something better.

		3. Tabari: Two Goddesses of the Quraysh

			a. al-lat       al-ussa

			b. GOD cancelled out the Satanic intervention.

			c. Western historians have concluded the
			Satanic intervention never happened.

			d. Later generations of Muslim scholars
			made it up in the 9th or 10th century.

		4. Muslim scholars use abrogation as a legal tool
		for interpreting the Qur'an.

		5. Salman Rushdie, "The Satanic Verses."

			a. An insider's critique of Islam.

	H. Addresses those who accuse Muhammad as a charlatan.

	I. Influenced by both Christianity and Judaism.

	J. Carries the same old monotheistic message.

	K. Muhammad described as u m m i , meaning "illiterate."

		1. Not a good claim.

		2. We don't think he was illiterate.

		3. u m m i also means "without revelation."

		4. Given the Prophet was a successful merchant, it
		is 100% false that he was illiterate.

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Farooq_Ibrahim/abrogation.htm

	L. The Qur'an is a power emotional force in Islam and
	reciting from it is Islam's highest and most competitive
	form of art.

	M. It is the political, legal, social and religious
	constitution of Islam.

	N. How one intepretes the Qur'an is EVERYTHING.

	O. With the exception of the story of Joseph, there are no
	complete narratives, only bits and pieces of them.

III. Documentary: Islam: Empire of Faith

	PART ONE: Prophet Muhammad and rise of Islam

		http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX3UHNhQ1Zk

	A. Messengers were ordinary human beings given an extraordinary
	task.

	B. The Bedouin were believed to be holders of traditional
	Arab values.

	C. When Muhammad's parents died, he was put in the care of
	his uncle.

		1. Now marginalized, Muhammad learned how to adapt.

		2. Muhammad became a child of everybody.

	D. Poets were some of the most important people in the
	tribe.

		1. Poetry bound the Bedouin people together.

	E. Even a prophet would wield a bow and arrow.

		1. Muhammad was trained in warfare.

		2. Blood feuds were fought over wells and pasture.

	F. Ka'ba is the Arab word for "cube."

		1. It was said to have been built by Abraham.

		2. The Bedouin celebrated a temporary truce during
		their pilgrammage to the Ka'ba, where trade - but
		no warfare - was allowed.

			a)One could not engage in tribal warfare
			when one was trading with other tribes.

			b)Economic and spiritually signicant.

	PART TWO: The Awakening

		http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1PxJomypQE

	A. Marks the greatest cross-feritlization the ancient world
	had ever known.

	B. Bayt altlikma: "house of wisdom."

		1. Translated books from every conquered people in
		the Islamic empire.

	C. 7 - 8 th Century, CE: the Arab empire spanned three
	continents as the largest empire in the known world.

		1. Promoted unity and equality.

		2. Arabia became an important trading center between
		the East and the West.

	D. Baghdad

		1. A wealthy city in the center of the Islamic
		empire.

		2. Scholars made it "the Jewel of the World."

		3. House of Wisdom becamed renowned for science.

			a. Translated the writings of the Greeks
			and made them available to the Western
			world.

		4. Arabic became the language of learning.

		5. Encountered paper between 700 - 750 CE.

			a. Allowed for the wide use of books and
			paper.

			b. Prompted the copying and re-copying of
			books.

			c. Had a unifying effect: the Islamic empire
			was now able to share its knowledge throughout
			its empire.

	E. The Process of Science was an Islamic accomplishment.

		1. Islamic civilzation had a need for
			science.

			a. Saw no contradiciton between Muslim
			faith and the sciences.

			b. Contrast with Christendom.

		2. Led to the study of germs.

		3. Led to the establishment of the first hospitals,
		funded by religious endowments.

		4. Islamic studies of anatomy were used in anatomy
		texts for the following six hundred years.

		5. Muslim scientists were intrigued by optics and
		the first to explain how the human eye actually
		works.

		6. Islamic innovations and ideas used in the West:

			a. Scientific Methods

			b. Hospitals

			c. Algebra

			d. The check

			e. Universities, colleges and campuses.

	F. Southern Spain

		1. Islamic civilization has its effects on European
		culture in Cordoba, a "Muslim city of light."

		2. The Alhambra palace is a famous example of
		Islamic architecture.

		3. Cordoba Cathedral - an example of excellence in
		architecture - was once a Mosque.

	G. The Crusades

		1. Al Hakeem, a notorious Egyptian king, burned
		down the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem,
		setting the stereotype of the Muslim as "uncivlized."

		2. Pope Urban II brought military service and
		religion together for the Crusades to the Holy
		Land.

		3. These began at a time when the Muslim world was
		in a fragmented state.

		4. At first, Muslim shepards thought the Crusaders
		were Byzantine raiders.

		5. The Crusaders first entered Jerusalem on July
		15, 1099 and there ensued a terrible massacre in
		the name of Christendom.

		6. The Crusaders were called "Franks" by the Muslims.

		7. Those who stayed behind built castles, made
		treaties with the Muslims and broke them.

		8. One benefit of the Crusaders presence was that
		they provided a market for souveniers.

		9. Islam remained united and flourished despite
		the Crusades and the presence of those Crusaders
		who stayed behind.

		10. What united Islam was trade.

			a. A trader could write a check to or from
			a central bank or loan organization.

			b. Textiles were the backbone of the Islamic
			trade.

				1) Muslim looms made the cloth that
				wrapped the bones of Christian
				saints.

		11. Islamic states often forged alliances with
		Crusaders states against other Islamic states.

		12. The Crusades - in the larger picture - were
		often viewed as a small skirmish in a part of the
		Muslim world ... a distant border war.

		13. The Muslim holy city is Mecca, not Jerusalem.

Brown, 69-86

IV. Conquests and Conversions

	A. Happened at a dizzying pace.

	B. Why did this happen? We don't know.

	C. Were called, F u t u h = "openings."

		1. Areas to be opened up to Islam.

		2. Propaganda used to justify the conquest.

	D. Who were they so successful?

		1. Other empires were in decline and suffering from
		internal opposition, especially in Byzantium.

		2. Christian Sectarianism

			a. Eastern

			b. Roman

			c. Coptic

			d. Nestorian

		3. All were bitterly persecuted by the empire.

		4. Christians were promised religious freedom by
		the conquering Arabs.

	E. Persia was a little different. They actually fought and
	there were bloody battles.

	F. After the conquest:

		1. Arabs did not want conqured peoples to convert
		to Islam, for purposes of tax revenue drawn upon
		non-Arabs.

		2. The Arabs maintained a sense of ethnic superiority.

		3. Islam was ethnically an Arab religion.

		4. Islam becomes a root for upward mobility among
		the conquered peoples.

			a. A simplified version of the Judeo/Christian
			traditions that appealed to middle Easterners.

			b. Egyptians, Christians and Buddhists
			helped the Arabs in their conquests.

V. The Interpretation of the Qur'an: Tafsir & T'awil

	A. Tafsir - primitive interpretation.

		1. Israelliyat: historical commentary by Jews and
		Christians.

		2. Tafsir al-Ma'thur: traditional commentary.

			a. Lacks analogies.

			b. Doesn't engage for alternative
			interpretations.

		3. Tafsir Bil-ra'y: interpretation based upon
		personal opinion.

			9th Century Tafsir Bil-ra'y

				1) Naskh - abrogation

					a) cancelling-out

					b) God caused Muhammad to
					forget so He can insert a
					different passage into his
					recitiation.

				2) Asbab al-Nuzu: literal school
				of intepretation.

					a) Search for the causes
					of a revelation.

					b) Example: the Medinan
					Period and motivation for
					the Muslims to continue
					fighting the Quraysh.

					c) Two perspsectives:

						i) Particular

						ii) Universal

					d) Asbab al-Nuzu requires
					that one be well schooled
					in:

						i) Phiology

						ii) Grammar

						iii) History


	B. Ta'wil

		1. Mystical Interpretation

		2. Allegorical Meaning of Scripture 

		3. Zahir "surface" explicit, exoteric interpretation.

		4. Batim "hidden" esoteric, inner meaning.

		5. Three meanings:

			a. Literal for the common masses.

			b. Allusion ("hints") for the elite.

			c. Hidden for the friends of the God.

				1) True believers.

				2) Mystics, Sufis.

					i) Sufism was the dominant
					tradition in Islam until
					the nineteenth century.

		6. Example: Rumi and the Qur'an as a bride.

			a. If one tears off the her veil to behold
			her with his eyes, he may find what he sees
			as unattractive.

			b. The lession is that here is more to the
			Holy Qur'an than what meets the eyes and
			if one seeks only what one wishes to see,
			he or she will miss her true beauty.

		7. Example: different interpretations of the story
		of Joseph and Zuilaykha in the Qur'an.

			a. Literal: women's lust and promiscuity.

			b. Mystical: (Sufi) a great love story.

				1) Zulaykha represents earth.

					a) She becomes a heroine.

				2) Joseph represents the sky.

				3) The physical is as important as
				the spiritual.

				4) The two lovers are reunited in
				Heaven.

		8. Example: Sodom and Gomorrah

			a. Literal: homosexuality is criminalized
			as original sin.

			b. Mystical (Sufi): socities of enlightened
			thinkers in enlightened cities.

				1) Islam held a generous tolerance
				for homosexuality up until the
				twentieth century.

				2) An enlightened one may violate
				the law because they have outgrown
				the literal law by attaining
				enlightenment.

				3) The "sin" in this interpretation
				is not homosexuality, but arrogance
				and the mis-treatment of guests.

				4) An additional lession prevails
				in terms of falling from enlightenment.

				5) Homosexuality is, if and of
				itself, not a sin and is not
				punishable by Islamic law.

		9. Example: Interpretation of the story of Pharaoh
		as a "true believer."

			a. The Mysical interpretation "pushes the
			envelope."

			b. Understands morality in a cosmic sense.

			c. Includes polytheists, idolatry, pagan
			religions and traidtions.

			d. Implies there is more than one way to
			a single universal Truth but there are many
			paths to the God.

	C. Modern Interpretations (and how they have changed)

		1. Modernist Reformist

			a. Advocates making the Qur'an compatible
			with modernity.

			b. Interpetations of the Qur'an in democratic
			socities.

		2. Modernist Islamist

			a. Fashions an Islamic modernity.

			b. Adovcates funamentalism, literalism.

			c. A "separate but equal" modernist
			interpretation.

		3. Modern Feminist

			a. Includes a radical re-intepretation of
			the Qur'an by Amina Wudud.

VI. Prophetic Example: the Hadith and Sunna

	A. Hadith: narrative literary report of the Sunna of Muhammad.
	
		1. Sunna: the traditions of an ideal role model.

			a. Hadith is the Sunna of Muhammad.

			b. Arabian culture venerates it's ancestors
			in the form of Sunna.
		
		2. Is the second  most important literature in Islam, after the
		Holy Qur'an itself.

		3. Is not scripture, but historical accounts
		transmitted over centuries and generations.

		4. Canonized the first 150 years after the death
		of Muhammad.

	B. Structure

		1. Isnad: chain of transmission.

		2. Matn: content

			a. Ugly Hadith

				1) Negative

				2) Disparaging

			b. Beautiful Hadith

				1) Positive

				2) Complimentary

			c. There is currently no scholarly science
			for ugly/beautiful academic debates over
			Hadith.

	C. Collections

		1. Sunni: 6

		2. Shi'a: 2

			a. Why?

			b. Only those transmitted by Ali were
			accepted by the Shi'a.

		3. When scholars Bukhara and Abu Muslim began
		collecting Hadiths, they discovered there were over
		900,000.

			a. Many were repetitions.

			b. Afterwards, the number was reduced to
			7,000 to 9,000.

	D. What do academics debate about Hadith?

		1. Are these genuine or are they fabricated?

		2. Fabricated Hadith are used to acquire a favorable
		ruling in an Islamic Court.

		3. There is also pious fraud to protect the reputation
		of the Prophet.

		4. Scholarly fabrications.

		5. Political fabrications.

		6. Cultural impact also shapes what is considered
		fabricated and what is considered genuine.

		7. When evaluating a Hadith, scholars look at the
		reputation of the transmitters.

			a. "Science of Hadith" study of the chain
			of transmissions of the Hadith.

		8. Is Hadith truth or falsehood?

			a. All of Hadith is false: Schacht; Crone;
			Cook; Wansborough

			b. Qualified or absolute acceptance that
			Hadith is true: Juynboll; Azni; N. Abbott;
			Sezgin; Kister

		9. Mostly academic/scholarly debate about Hadith
		concerns the status of women.

		10. Fatima Mernissi

			a. Investigated transmitter Abu Huraira.

				1) "Father of the little kitten."

				2) Transmitted ugly Hadith about
				women.

			b. Investigated transmitter Abu Bakra

				1) Flogged by a Caliph for lying.

				2) Aisha (Muhammad's young wife)
				transmitted around 2,000 Hadith.

				3) Bakra utters around four thousand
				Hadith.

				4) A corpus of doubt then exists
				in regards to the credibility of
				the transmitter, Abu Bakra.

			c. Called for the re-evaluation of the
			credibility of transmitters.

		11. Mernissi's argument is a big battleground for
		Muslim scholarship.

		12.The vast majority of Hadith are *very* favorable
		towards women.

	E. Classification or Categorization of Hadith

		1. Certain

			a. True beyond all doubt.

			b. Mutawatir: so widely diseminated throughout
			Islam, every Muslim knows or has at least
			heard of this Hadith.

		2. Sound "Sahih"

			a. There is a good probability the Hadith
			is true or authentic.

			b. The bulk of Bakhara and Abu Muslim's
			Hadiths fall under this category.

	F. Sociological and Cultural Functions of Hadith

		1. Guide-lines for behavior.

		2. Creates a universal Muslim culture based upon
		the exemplary model of Muhammad.

			a. Unifying effect.

			b. Unification through the Muhammad.

VII. Liturgy & Faith: Iman and its Three         Brown, 88-100

THEOLOGY and JUSTICE

I. Political Justice

	A. Theology: K a l a m 

		1. Literally "talk."

		2. Politically, "Talk about divine matters."

		3. Has it's very origin in politial matters.

			a. How can the despised Mu'awiyya elite be
			removed from power?

			b. How can the Muayyad elite be removed
			from power?

			c. How can these to be disqualifed as
			Musilms?

	B. Asks the question, "Who is a Muslim?"

		1. Is one a Musilm, regardless of one's actions?

		2. And what about one's actions?

			a. Are one's actions the work of Allah (the
			God)?

			b. Are one's actions the work of one's own
			free will?

			c. Should one be responsible for one's own
			actions or should one's actions be attributed
			to Allah (the God).

			d. If one is a Muslim by one's actions, it
			would be easier to disqualify the hated
			Muayyad elite for their (mis)rule and
			remove them from power.

			e. If one can attribute their actions to
			the God, then theirs are excused from
			repriment and/or punishment.

	C. Primitive Schools

	(7th - 9th Century CE)

		1. Qadri: the school of thought that maintains a
		belief that *everything* is pre-destined by the
		God and all are Muslim by belief and witness.

		2. Jabiri: the school of thought that maintains a
		belief that one is responsible for one's own actions.

			a. Grants license for political rebellion
			against the Muayyad elite.

			b. the Muayyad elite can be excommunicated
			based on this school of thought.

			c. By their 'despicable' actions the
			Muayyad elite could be disqualified as
			Muslims.

			d. Recalls the question of heresy in
			Christendom and the ensuing witch trials.

			e. Can result of charges of disqualification
			as a Muslim and counter-charges in response.

		3. Murji'a (lit, "to step back")

			a. School of thought that calls for a
			suspension of judgement as to who qualifies
			as a Muslim and who is to be disqualified.

			b. The idea is "to let the God decide" as
			to who is a Muslim and who is not.

			c. Calls for the prohibition of the inquiry
			about one's private life and prohibits
			excommunication.

				1) Even if one is a "bad Muslim,"
				one is *always* a Muslim, nontheless.

			d. A compromise and intermediate position
			that stipualtes no one has the right to
			accuse another of "not being a Muslim."

	(9th Century CE)

		4. Mutazili (lit, "breaking away")

			a. Wasil bin Ata: founder who was concerned
			about the very nature of the God Muslims
			worship, based upon his observations of
			tragic events for which innocent children
			perished in natural disasters.

			b. Ash'ari (school of thought)

				1) Asks, "Why should we try to
				comprehend the God by rational
				human reason?

				2) Divides divine knowledge and
				human knowledge.

				3) Divides divine justice and human
				justice.

			c. Bagillani 

			d. Doctorate of Compensation: a doctorate
			for which posits children who perish in
			natural disasters (read, "acts of the God")
			are exempt from judgement and shall go
			immediately to Heaven.

			e. Qur'anic passage: each soul shall be
			judged by it's own merit.

			f. Logical contradiction: experience the
			trials of life and judgement is considered
			a test of the soul.

			g. Why then, should a child be exempt from
			judgement and go immediately to heaven
			while others be required to face the trials
			of human life and judgment afterwards?

			h. Mutazili response: when a passage
			contradicts itself, the passage should then
			be taken allegorically.

				1) A way of harmonizing revelation
				and reason.

				2) Posits that the God is just ALL
				of the time.

			i. Doctorate of Acquisition

				1) Everything is pre-determined,
				but human interaction with that
				which is pre-determined is voluntary
				(free will) and humans have the
				free will to ask the God to tell
				them what to to.

				2) Criticism: this a paradoxical
				watered-down verison of "free will."

				3) Asks the questions, "Is the Holy
				Qur'an created or uncreated? Did
				the God's words existe before the
				Prophet recited them?"

					a) These questions provide
					scholars the academic
					freedom from secular kings
					and to thwart state ambitions.

	D. Occasionalism

		1. Ghazali: used pure reason and philosophy to
		rationalize Muslim theology.

			a) He gave occassionalism a lot more order.

		2. Response to "mechanistic theories."

		3. Posits the physical world is an illusion.

			a) The God's hand is in everything.

			b) Opposite of Asistotle.

		4. The God's intervention at the occasion of the
		moment is the cause of an outcome.

		5. "The Matrix" analogy

			a) The God creates a Matrix for us for
			which the physical universe is an illusion.

	E. Sunni Theology and Imamate

		1. Shi'a

		2. Kharijs: a group that turned against Ali.

II. Divine Justice      Brown, 172-186

III. Social Justice: the Shari'a

IV. Interpreting God's Will: Fiqh       Brown, 147-170

V. *Discussion of Semerdjian' s Book

THEOLOGY and KNOWLEDGE

Brown, 188-215, Fakhri (reserve)

I. Intuitive Knowledge: Sufism

	A. Introduction

		1. Esoteric/mystical tradition in Islam.

		2. Much like Gnosticism.

		3. "Sufi" meaning "wool" in Arabic.

		3. Tasawwuf: the traditional Islamic science of
		self-improvement and spirituality (sufism), focussing
		on one's relationship with Allah.

			SOURCE: http://www.tasawwuf.org/

		4. "Hippies" and "freaks" of the modern Muslim
		world.

		5. Sufi mystics withdraw from things worldly.

	B. Two Branches: Sober and Intoxicated.

		1. Sober

			a. Founders Jumaya and Hasan al-Basri.

			b. Ideas

				1) GOD is to be feared.

				2) GOD is transcendent.

				3) Legal-mindedness.

				4) Goal: Baqa, meaning "residing
				in GOD."

			c. Monotheistic.

			d. Believed by intoxicated Sufis they fear
			God for the sake of avoiding hell and a
			gluttony for heaven.

		2. Intoxicated

			a. "Intoxicated" with love for GOD.

			b. Famous Intoxicated Sufis

				1) Ibn Arabi

				http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Arabi

					a. Greatest Sufi.

					b. 2nd most important
					Muslim, next to the Prophet
					Muhammad.

				2) Rabia al-Adawiyya

				http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabia_al-Adawiyya

					a) Jesus-like figure.

					b) Mystical poet.

					c) "Torch and bucket" myth.

		3. Platonic Philosophy

			a. The created world is viewed as an
			emanation of the Divine out into the
			universe.

			b. Light-bulb analogy.

			c. Humans as among the created represent
			sparks of the Divine.

		4. Ideas of Intoxicated Sufism

			a. GOD is love.

			b. GOD is immanent (within each of us).

			c. Monistic (splintering of the Divine).

				1) There is no GOD-head.

				2) No theism.

				3) The Divine being created all so
				the Divine being can know itself.

			d. Antinomian ("against the law")

				1) Not quite against the law, but
				law is no longer *that* imporant
				to an intoxicated Sufi.

				2) The intoxicated Sufi is "spiritually
				mature" and does not need to live
				by the primitive letter of the law.

			e. Goal: fana: Unity with the Divine.

		5. Intoxicated Sufism let to a more human treatment
		of the mentally ill in the Muslim world.

	C. De-enlightenization of the Muslim World (19th - 20th
	century) in response to:

		1. Colonialization of weakened Muslim states.

		2. Modernity, based on rationalism and reason.

	D. Implication for Theology

		1. Tawhid: oneness of GOD.

			Sufism focuses on the unity of being.

		2. Philosophy/Revelation: If one can know GOD
		intuitively and from within, then what is the need
		for revelation?

		3. Judgement

			a. Sufism does away with "this for that"
			("deus ut des") theology.

			b. Idea of "hell" repulsive to Sufis.

			c. "Heaven" is "fana" or "baqa."

			d. "Hell" is "not-knowing" or "a soul lost
			in a vacum."

	E. Forms of Art

		1. Poetry

			a. Hallaj

			http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansur_Al-Hallaj

				1) I am truth.

				2) Compare with the Beatles' "I am
				the Walrus."

			b. Rumi

		2. Music

	F. Mendicancy

		1. Mostly intoxicated Sufis ("intoxicates")

		2. The REAL "hippies" and "freaks" of the Muslim
		world.

		3. Sought to present a reason for others' to "think
		outside of the box."

			a. Crossdressing to show the meaningless
			of gender.

II. Rational Knowledge: Philosophy

III. *Documentary: Islam; Empire of Faith

ISLAM CONFRONTS MODERNITY

I. Modern Muslims or Muslim Moderns?    Brown, 217-247

II. Nationalism, Secularism and the Abolition of the Caliphate

III. Revivalism: The Salafiyya Movement Brown, 249-258

IV. Theories of Political Islam

V. Islamism and Modern Rationalism: A New Vi. Theology (Kalam)?

Brown 259-324

VI. The Crises of Authority

VII. Abu El-Fadl available on moodle

VIII. Jihad in Islam

Moaddel and Talattof, pp' 71-94, 223-246 Moodle

IX. Women in Islamic History

X. Mernissi,

XI. The Birth of Feminist Movements

XII. The Veil (hijab)

XIII. Hajaji    available on moodle

XIV. Minorities in Islam

XV. The Covenant of Umar available on moodle

VI. Review for final Exam

		1. Mostly intoxicated Sufis ("intoxicates")

		2. The REAL "hippies" and "freaks" of the Muslim
		world.

		3. Sought to present a reason for others' to "think
		outside of the box."

			a. Crossdressing to show the meaningless
			of gender.

II. Rational Knowledge: Philosophy

III. *Documentary: Islam; Empire of Faith

ISLAM CONFRONTS MODERNITY

I. Modern Muslims or Muslim Moderns?    Brown, 217-247

II. Nationalism, Secularism and the Abolition of the Caliphate

III. Revivalism: The Salafiyya Movement Brown, 249-258

IV. Theories of Political Islam

V. Islamism and Modern Rationalism: A New Vi. Theology (Kalam)?

Brown 259-324

VI. The Crises of Authority

VII. Abu El-Fadl available on moodle

VIII. Jihad in Islam

Moaddel and Talattof, pp' 71-94, 223-246 Moodle

IX. Women in Islamic History

X. Mernissi,

XI. The Birth of Feminist Movements

XII. The Veil (hijab)

XIII. Hajaji    available on moodle

XIV. Minorities in Islam

XV. The Covenant of Umar available on moodle

VI. Review for final Exam

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