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Muslim Life through Fatwas, Ancient and Modern*

Summer 2013

Legal opinions issued by Muslim scholars relate to all individual and collective aspects of the material and spiritual life of the believers who ask for them. When used with an appropriate methodology, they offer great avenues, sometimes even amazing ones, to explore the everyday realities and interrogations of Muslim societies, past and present. Coffee, tobacco, cannabis, opium and other drugs, music, dance, trance and sex, marginality, extremism and violence, pious practices and social conventions, relations with non-Muslims and jihâd are among the topics considered in this course. Mamlûk, Ottoman and modern sources (both from books and the internet) will be read and commented on. No knowledge of Arabic is required for this course. A basic knowledge of Islam and the history of Muslim societies would be useful.

Monday through Friday, June 10 through June 21, 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (two weeks)

Yahya Michot

Yahya Michot
Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations
(860) 509-9530
ymichot@hartsem.edu
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Syllabus
Syllabus: 

Course Objectives

  1. Students should be able to find their way around in the major reference works on fatwā jurisprudence.
  2. They are expected to gain an acquaintance with some major social-cultural debates in classical and modern Islamic societies.
  3. They should also be able to have an informed opinion on some modern religious controversies.
  4. They should be able to benefit from the methodological approach adopted in these classes and apply it for their own studies and/or research projects.

Course Requirements

  1. It is strongly recommended that the student arrive at the first class already having a general knowledge about the religion of Islam, as well as about the history and geography of Muslim peoples. They should also be able to find their way around in the major reference tools for Islamic Studies (Encyclopaedia of Islam, Index Islamicus...).
  2. Daily preparations and readings (THE ASSIGNMENTS ARE ESSENTIAL), class participation, final group presentation.
  3. Attendance in class is required. If you know that you will be unable to attend a class please inform the professor in advance. Missing two classes will result in an automatic lowering of your final grade by 20%. Missing three or more classes will result in automatic failure of the course.

The final grade will be based upon the following:

  1. Active class participation (60%).
  2. The presentations during Class IX-X (June 20-21). Depending on the number of persons taking the course, students will be responsible, alone or in groups of 2 or 3 individuals, for the oral presentation, commentary on, and discussion of some fatwās, past or present, and their social-cultural context. This oral presentation (20%) will be based on an original written research paper (10 pages for an individual, or 15 pages for a group*, 20%), to be submitted to the teacher, and circulated in the class, before the presentation. The topic should be chosen by the end of class V in consultation with the professor.

* All written work is to conform to the seminary writing guidelines, which can be found online here. The Hartford Seminary Grading Guidelines will be the standard of evaluation for work in the course.

IMPORTANT: Plagiarism, the failure to give proper credit for the words and ideas of another person, whether published or unpublished, is strictly prohibited. All written material submitted by students must be their own original work; where the words and ideas of others are used they must be acknowledged. Credit will not be given for work containing plagiarism, and plagiarism can lead to failure of a course. Please see the Hartford Seminary Catalogue for the full plagiarism policy.

 

Class Schedule

  1. Monday, June 10 - Introduction: Muftis, Their Fatwas, and Muslim Societies
  2. Tuesday, June 11 - Music, Dance and Trance
  3. Wednesday, June 12 - Cannabis, Opium, etc.
  4. Thursday, June 13 - Coffee and Tobacco
  5. Friday, June 14 - Marriage, Love and Sexuality
  6. Monday, June 17 - Astrology, Charlatanry, and Medicine
  7. Tuesday, June 18 - The City, The Market, and The Countryside
  8. Wednesday, June 19 - Tyranny, Jihad, Muslims and Non-Muslims
  9. Thursday, June 20 - Be Your Own Mufti, Group presentations I
  10. Friday, June 21 - Be Your Own Mufti, Group presentations II