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Fall 2019 courses at Harvard that touch on Islam.

AFRAMER 171X: African Art and Religion

Instructor: Suzanne Blier 

African art and architecture frequently engage, represent, connect to, or communicate with spiritual forces. A wide variety of religious beliefs, including an array of both local traditions and broader regional and global faiths such as Christianity and Islam are practiced in Africa. The arts offer us an important lens into each of these faiths. 

ARABIC 245R: Classical Arabic Seminar: Introduction to Qur’anic sciences

Instructor: Shady Nasser 

A close reading of major selections from al-Suyūṭī’s work on Qurʾānic sciences (al-Itqān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān). Topics include history of the transmission of the Qurʾānic text, schools of exegesis, abrogation, occasions of revelation, inimitability, revelation, and rhetorical devices (ḥaqīqa, majāz, iltifāt, tajāhul al-ʿārif, etc.).... Read more about ARABIC 245R: Classical Arabic Seminar: Introduction to Qur’anic sciences

FRSEMR 37Y: Muslim Voices in Contemporary World Literatures

Instructor: Ali Asani 

What do Muslims think of acts of terrorism committed in the name of Islam, the mixing of religion with politics, the rights of women, the ``West''? This seminar investigates the viewpoints of prominent Muslim writers on these and other ``hot button'' issues as reflected in novels, short stories and poetry from different parts of the world.... Read more about FRSEMR 37Y: Muslim Voices in Contemporary World Literatures

FRSEMR 63J: Islam vs. Image? Visual Representations in Islamic Art

Instructor: David Roxburgh 

Is Islam against images? For reasons that are perplexing and hard to pinpoint, this notion appears to have been promoted by ideas about Islamic doctrine and an endemic hostility toward images which has only been magnified after recent years of religious extremism and terrorism. These include the Taliban’s destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan in 2001, and the Charlie Hebdo mass shooting in Paris 2015 over the cartoons representing the Prophet Muhammad.... Read more about FRSEMR 63J: Islam vs. Image? Visual Representations in Islamic Art

GENED 1123: Islam and Politics in the Modern Middle East

Instructor: Malika Zeghal 

The course critically examines the ideologies and political strategies of twentieth century Islamist movements, as well as their origins and evolution. It will relate the emergence of organized Islamist movements in the first part of the twentieth century to earlier Islamic reformist narratives, and explore the political and social contexts in which these movements emerged and evolved.... Read more about GENED 1123: Islam and Politics in the Modern Middle East