Courses Taught (2009-Present)
Course syllabi and student evaluations available upon request
Judaism, Christianity, Islam
After coming to terms with the nature of monotheism and its relationship to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, this course will then survey these faiths’ central doctrinal, ritualistic, and spiritual expressions.
Interpretations of Religion
This course introduces the academic study of religion by drawing on the work of key theorists in the field of religious studies, as well as materials from a variety of world religions. Students will thus gain exposure to the discipline’s approaches to such phenomena as the sacred, myth and symbolism, religious experience, and religion and society.
Introduction to Islam
Situating the study of Islam in the broader academic discipline of religious studies, we will begin this course with an inquiry into the life and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and the revelation of the Quran. We will then go on to examine the most significant expressions of the classical and post-classical Islamic tradition: scriptural exegesis, Prophetic traditions, theology, philosophy, mysticism, law, art, music, and science. Due attention will also be given to developments in modern Islam, with particular emphasis on Western perceptions of Islam, Islam’ s encounter with the modern world, and Islam post 911.
Islam in the Modern World
After developing a proper understanding of Islam’s pre-modern interaction with the West and the image of Islam in the eyes of medieval Europe, we will turn to the complex set of circumstances which gave rise to Islam’s encounter with the modern world, paying close attention to the key debates amongst Muslims in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries over the modernization of Islam and Muslim societies.
Introduction to the Quran
Although the Quran is one of the world’s most widely read books, it is also one of its least understood books. In this course we will therefore attempt to come to terms with the Quran through a careful study of its content, form, style, central themes, and process of canonization. Emphasis will also be placed on the Quran’s vast interpretive tradition (tafsir), as well as the various theories and methods employed by modern scholars in understanding the Quran’s textual history, relationship to the Bible and Near Eastern culture, and its various stylistic and linguistic features.
The Life and Image of Muhammad
The first part of this course will offer a survey of the life and times of the Prophet Muhammad, paying attention to his teachings and the manner in which they were preserved and transmitted in the two centuries following his death. In the second part of this course we will study the Prophet’s “image” as it has been articulated in a wide variety of doctrinal and devotional texts from the classical period of Islam to the present era.
Classical Islamic Thought
This course offers a survey of the central ideas and schools of Islamic philosophy and theology from the middle of the eighth century to the end of the eighteenth century CE. After situating the early debates in Islamic theology within their wider social and religious contexts, we will study the main figures of early Islamic thought, such as al-Kindi, Farabi, Avicenna, Ghazali, and Averroes. This will set the stage for an in-depth examination of the later period of Islamic thought, with particular focus on such important figures as ‘Ayn al-Qudat, Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Ibn ‘Arabi, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, and Mulla Sadra.
Mystical and Contemplative Traditions
This course offers an in-depth investigation into non-Western philosophical and contemplative traditions. We shall explore such key topics as the nature of being and consciousness, the role of reflection and the cultivation of virtue in the quest for wisdom and understanding, the debate surrounding PCEs or “Pure Consciousness Events,” and the relationship between empiricism and ineffability.
Shi‘i Philosophy I
This course is an introduction to the doctrines and teachings of Shi‘i Islam. Situating the nascent development of Shi‘ism within its historical, theological, and political contexts, we will go on to study the emergence of the major branches of the Shi‘i tradition, paying particular attention to their distinctive approaches to questions of leadership, community, law, and scripture.
Shi‘i Philosophy II
This course explores Shi‘ism’s central intellectual and spiritual expressions. Beginning with a close look at the role of Neoplatonism in Islamic thought, we will go on to study several key Ismaili philosophical doctrines. The course will then shift its focus to the main outlines of Twelver Shi‘i thought, investigating its initial encounter with Mu‘tazilism, developed scholastic theological traditions, and culmination during the reign of the Safavids. The remainder of the course will trace the development of Shi‘i thought from the Qajar period into the modern era.
Contemporary Islamic Thought
After situating the development of Islamic thought in the twentieth century in its variegated contexts, will turn to the work of several leading contemporary Muslim intellectuals, investigating the manner in which they attempt to formulate Islamic responses to some of the most important problems which confront religion today: secularism as a social and political reality, the relationship between science and religion, the environmental crisis, and religious diversity.
Sufism
This course offers a survey of the origins, development, and various expressions of Sufism, Islam’s mystical tradition. We will begin with an inquiry into how the term “Sufism” has been constructed in modern religious studies, and will then shift focus to the historical manifestations of Islamic mysticism in a variety of linguistic and cultural zones. This will set the stage for a careful presentation of the major concepts, themes, and practices which have animated the Sufi tradition from past to present.
Al-Ghazali’s Niche of Lights
This course introduces students to the thought of the famous Muslim theologian, mystic, philosopher, and jurist Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (d. 1111). We will closely study (in translation) one of his last and most mature works, The Niche of Lights (Mishkat al-anwar). This text is particularly important because it concisely presents the main outlines of al-Ghazali’s worldview, bringing together a number of different disciplines ranging from ontology and cosmology to psychology and scriptural interpretation.
Rumi and the Way of Love
The famous Muslim mystic Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273) has been hailed by many as the greatest love poet of human civilization. The work of this seminar will attempt to understand why that is the case. We will do so by engaging in an in-depth examination of Rumi’s teachings on love, cosmology, use of symbolism, metaphysics, spiritual psychology, and poetic art through a detailed study of his writings (in translation), situating them in their appropriate religious, historical, and cultural contexts.
The Metaphysics of Ibn ‘Arabi
In this course we will study the thought of one of the medieval period’s most profound and controversial figures, the Andalusian Sufi Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 1240). We will first turn our attention to a detailed examination of Ibn ‘Arabi’s ontology and conception of imagination. This will then set the stage for a full-scale engagement with his theology, epistemology, hermeneutics, soteriology, and doctrine of human perfection.
The Philosophy of Avicenna
This seminar offers an in-depth investigation into the philosophy of Abu ‘Ali Husayn ibn Sina, more commonly known in the west as Avicenna (d. 1037 CE). Avicenna is widely recognized as one of the towering figures of medieval philosophy, his influence spanning not just the entire post-classical Islamic intellectual tradition but also Latin scholasticism. We will investigate the innovative ways in which Avicenna naturalizes materials from ancient Greek philosophy, the commentators of Late Antiquity, and Islam into his highly original, grand philosophical synthesis. Our weekly meetings will be devoted to a careful study of some key texts in the Avicennian corpus (in translation), covering topics ranging from metaphysics and psychology to eschatology and philosophy of religion.
Islamic Cosmology
This course offers an in-depth exploration of Islamic cosmological doctrines. Through close engagement with the work of both pre-modern and contemporary scholars, we will work to gain a better understanding of how the theoretical concerns of Islamic cosmology relate to such issues of global concern as the environmental crisis, animal rights, the nature of education and learning, and the relationship between religion and secularism.
The Philosophy of ‘Ayn al-Qudat
This course will focus on the life and thought of the famous Sufi master ‘Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani (d. 1131). A student of Ahmad Ghazali (d. 1126), ‘Ayn al-Qudat was a philosopher and poet who was put to death by the Seljuq government at the age of thirty-four, ostensibly on charges of “heresy.” Having come to terms with ‘Ayn al-Qudat’s life, martyrdom, and self-perception as a teacher and scholar extraordinaire, we will then venture into an in-depth analysis of his writings, focusing on his major philosophical ideas which shaped in many innovative ways the later trajectory of Islamic intellectual history.
‘Ayn al-Qudat’s Essence of Reality
In this seminar we will carefully read ‘Ayn al-Qudat’s masterpiece of philosophical mysticism, The Essence of Reality (Zubdat al-haqa’iq), which he wrote over the course of three days when he was twenty-four years old. The text, like its author, is remarkable for many reasons, not least of which that it is in all likelihood the earliest philosophical exposition of Sufism in the Islamic tradition. Written in a terse yet beautiful style, The Essence of Reality consists of one hundred brief chapters interspersed with Quranic verses, prophetic sayings, Sufi maxims, and poetry. In conversation with the thought of Ibn Sina and al-Ghazali, the book takes readers on a philosophical journey, with lucid expositions of questions including the problem of the eternity of the world; the nature of God’s essence and attributes; and the soul’s relationship to the body. All these discussions are seamlessly tied into ‘Ayn al-Qudat’s foundational argument—that Sufi knowledge lies beyond the realm of the intellect.
Divine Love in Islam
When we think of love in Islam, we normally associate this virtue with the likes of the great Jalal al-Din Rumi. Yet there were many Muslim figures well before Rumi’s time, such as the Brethren of Purity, Avicenna, ‘Abd Allah Ansari, Ahmad Ghazali, Rashid al-Din Maybudi, ‘Ayn al-Qudat, and Ahmad Sam‘ani, who wrote extensively on the topic. In this seminar we will therefore devote our energies to understanding these authors’ key teachings on love as the origin, path, and goal of human life.
Sufi Metaphysics of Nature
In this course we will explore the writings of some of the most important representatives of Sufi metaphysics, past and present, with an eye on coming to see how they viewed nature and its beauty as signs which point to ultimate reality itself. The two main questions that will guide our inquiry are the following: (1) What are the principles which inform the Sufi metaphysicians’ thinking on nature? and (2) How would their vision speak to us today, being as we are people who live in a world that has a very different kind of interaction with nature and for whom nature in turn behaves quite differently? Having sufficiently addressed these questions, we will then turn to an investigation into the environmental crisis, and the Sufi response to it.
Global Philosophical Traditions: Islamic Philosophy
This course will begin with an inquiry into what “philosophy” means in various civilizations and to large sectors of humanity beyond the Anglo-American and European worlds. We will then seek to highlight the depth, diversity, and creativity of one major non-Western philosophical tradition, namely Islamic philosophy. Areas covered include the nature of being and consciousness, cosmology, self-knowledge, philosophy of language, the cultivation of virtue, selfhood, death, and freedom.