Schedule

Week 1 (February 21): Introduction and Induction; Establishing the Sunna

Week 2 (February 28): Holiday

Week 3 (March 6): Establishing the Sunna

Week 4 (March 13): Ab? al-?asan al-Ash?ar? and his Maq?l?t al-isl?m?y?n

Week 5 (March 20): Ab? al-?asan al-Ash?ar? and his Maq?l?t al-isl?m?y?n

Week 6 (March 27): Ab? al-?asan al-Ash?ar? and his Maq?l?t al-isl?m?y?n

Week 7 (April 3): Holiday

Week 8 (April 10): ?Abd al-Q?hir al-Baghd?d? and his Farq bayna al-firaq

Week 9 (April 17): Midterm (the first essay submission, by 17.00 pm)

Week 10 (April 24): ?Abd al-Q?hir al-Baghd?d? and his Farq bayna al-firaq

Week 11 (May 1): ?Abd al-Q?hir al-Baghd?d? and his Farq bayna al-firaq

Week 12 (May 8): al-Nawbakht? and his Firaq al-sh??a

Week 13 (May 15): al-Nawbakht? and his Firaq al-sh??a

Week 14 (May 22): al-Nawbakht? and his Firaq al-sh??a

Week 15 (May 29): Categories for Categorisation

Week 16 (June 5): Categories for Categorisation

Week 17 (June 12): Final Examination (the second essay submission, by 17.00 pm)

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Course Requirements/Grading standards

Students are expected to 1) have a good command of reading English and classical Arabic; 2) be committed to fulfilling the reading tasks; 3) engage in the discussion on the given theme.

Two Essays — 60%

Tutorials — 40%

Reading Assignment

Week 1 (February 21): Establishing the Sunna

J.A. Brown, Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World (Oxford: One World, 2009), 69–75; Patricia Crone and Martin Hinds, God’s Caliph?: Religious Authority in the First Centuries of Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 58–96; Ignaz Goldziher, Muslim Studies, trans. C.R. Barber and M. Stern, vol. 2 (New York: State University of New York Press, 1971), 17–37, 89–125.

Week 3 (March 6): Establishing the Sunna

Ignaz Goldziher, Muslim Studies, trans. C.R. Barber and M. Stern, vol. 2 (New York: State University of New York Press, 1971), 89–125.

Wad?d al-Q???, Al-Kays?niyya F? al-T?r?kh Wa-l-Adab (Beirut: D?r al-Thaq?fa, 1974), 14–40.

Ibn M?ja, Sunan, ed. Bashsh?r ?A. Ma?r?f (Beirut: D?r al-J?l, 1998), vol.1, 41–240.

Ab? D?w?d al-Sijist?n?, Sunan Ab? D?w?d, ed. Shu?ayb al-Arn???? and Mu?ammad K. Qurra Balal? (Beirut: D?r al-Ris?la al-??lamiyya, 2009), vol.7, 5–52.

Week 4 (March 13): Ab? al-?asan al-Ash?ar? and his Maq?l?t al-isl?m?y?n

Ab? al-?asan ?Al? b. Ism???l al-Ash?ar?, Maq?l?t Al-Isl?m?y?n Wa-Ikhtilaf?t al-Mu?all?y?n, ed. Mu?ammad M. ?Abd al-?am?d (Beirut: al-Maktaba al-?A?riyya, 1990), vol.1, 33–65.

Anvari, Mohammad Javad and Koushki, Matthew Melvin, “al-Ash?ar?”, in: Encyclopaedia Islamica, Editors-in-Chief: Wilferd Madelung and, Farhad Daftary. Consulted online on 12 December 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1875-9831_isla_COM_0300

W. Montgomery Watt, Islamic Philosophy and Theology?: An Extended Survey (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1985), 64–68.

Nguyen, Martin, “al-F?rak?, Ab? Bakr”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Consulted online on 12 December 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_27207

Week 5 (March 20): Ab? al-?asan al-Ash?ar? and his Maq?l?t al-isl?m?y?n

Ab? al-?asan ?Al? b. Ism???l al-Ash?ar?, Maq?l?t Al-Isl?m?y?n Wa-Ikhtilaf?t al-Mu?all?y?n, ed. Mu?ammad M. ?Abd al-?am?d (Beirut: al-Maktaba al-?A?riyya, 1990), vol.1, 65–105, 140–166.

Moojan Momen, An Introduction to Shi‘I Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi‘ism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985), 45–75.

Heinz Halm, Shiism (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), 3–23.

Week 6 (March 27): Ab? al-?asan al-Ash?ar? and his Maq?l?t al-isl?m?y?n

Ab? al-?asan ?Al? b. Ism???l al-Ash?ar?, Maq?l?t Al-Isl?m?y?n Wa-Ikhtilaf?t al-Mu?all?y?n, ed. Mu?ammad M. ?Abd al-?am?d (Beirut: al-Maktaba al-?A?riyya, 1990), vol.1, 160–162, 166–190.

Patricia Crone, Medieval Islamic Political Thought (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), 125–141.

Wilferd Madelung, The Succession to Mu?ammad?: A Study of the Early Caliphate (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 184–260.

Week 8 (April 10): ?Abd al-Q?hir al-Baghd?d? and his Farq bayna al-firaq

?Abd al-Q?hir al-Baghd?d?, Al-Farq Bayna al-Firaq, ed. Mu?ammad M. ?Abd al-?am?d (Beirut: al-Maktaba al-?A?riyya, 1995), 3–29.

al-Dhahab?, Siyar A?l?m Al-Nubal??, ed. ?ass?n ?Abd al-Mann?n (Beirut: Bayt al-Afk?r al-Dawliyya, 2004), 2315.

Ibn Khallik?n, Wafay?t Al-A?y?n Wa-Anb?? Abn?? al-Zam?n, ed. I?s?n ?Abb?s (Beirut: D?r ??dir, 1972), vol.3, 203.

Week 10 (April 24): ?Abd al-Q?hir al-Baghd?d? and his Farq bayna al-firaq

?Abd al-Q?hir al-Baghd?d?, Al-Farq Bayna al-Firaq, ed. Mu?ammad M. ?Abd al-?am?d (Beirut: al-Maktaba al-?A?riyya, 1995), 29–53.

Josef van Ess, Theology and Society in the Second and Third Centuries of the Hijra: A History of Religious Thought in Early Islam, trans. John O’Kane, vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 268–313.

Week 11 (May 1): ?Abd al-Q?hir al-Baghd?d? and his Farq bayna al-firaq

?Abd al-Q?hir al-Baghd?d?, Al-Farq Bayna al-Firaq, ed. Mu?ammad M. ?Abd al-?am?d (Beirut: al-Maktaba al-?A?riyya, 1995), 65–73.

Josef van Ess, Theology and Society in the Second and Third Centuries of the Hijra: A History of Religious Thought in Early Islam, trans. John O’Kane, vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 314–472.

Week 12 (May 8): al-Nawbakht? and his Firaq al-sh??a

al-?asan b. M?s? a al-Nawbakht? and Sa?d b. ?Abdallah al-Qumm?, Firaq Al-Sh??a, ed. ?Abd al-Mun?im al-?afan? (Cairo: D?r al-Rash?d, 1992), 11–23.

Kraemer, J.L., “al-Nawbak?h?t?”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Consulted online on 12 December 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_5861

Madelung, Wilferd. 2009. Bemerkungen zur imamitischen Firaq-Literatur. Der Islam. 43(1-2): 37-52. Retrieved 17 Dec. 2019, from doi:10.1515/islm.1967.43.1-2.37

Week 13 (May 15): al-Nawbakht? and his Firaq al-sh??a

al-?asan b. M?s? a al-Nawbakht? and Sa?d b. ?Abdallah al-Qumm?, Firaq Al-Sh??a, ed. ?Abd al-Mun?im al-?afan? (Cairo: D?r al-Rash?d, 1992), 69–83.

A.J. Newman, The Formative Period of Twelver Shi‘ism: ?ad?th as Discourse Between Qum and Baghdad (Richmond: Curzon, 2000), 19–31.

Heinz Halm, Shiism (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), 31–59.

Week 14 (May 22): al-Nawbakht? and his Firaq al-sh??a

al-?asan b. M?s? a al-Nawbakht? and Sa?d b. ?Abdallah al-Qumm?, Firaq Al-Sh??a, ed. ?Abd al-Mun?im al-?afan? (Cairo: D?r al-Rash?d, 1992), 84–109.

Mu?ammad b. Is??q Ibn al-Nad?m, Al-Fihrist, ed. Ri?? Tajaddud (Tehran: D?r al-Mas?ra, 1988), 223–226.

Week 15 (May 29): Categories for Categorisation

Najam Haider, The Origin of the Sh??a: Identity, Ritual, and Sacred Place in Eighth-Century K?fa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 189–230.

I-Wen Su. ‘The Family History of Ab? al-Faraj al-I?fah?n?: the Ninth-Century ?Abb?sid Political Elite and the ??libids in S?marr??.’Journal of Islamic Studies 29-3(2018): 417–448.

Week 16 (June 5): Categories for Categorisation

Shahab Ahmed, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic (Princeton: Princeton University Press), 2016, 176–245 (especially, 188–191).