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HUMA 3817 3.0

Memory, Authority and the Transmission of Knowledge in the Muslim World

Winter 2015

Abu Zayd, a reader and his audience at a library in Basra. Maqamat of al-Hariri, written and

illustrated by al-Wasiti, 634 AH/1237 CE. (Image taken from Alen George. “Orality, Writing

and the Image in the Maqamat: Arabic Illustrated Books in Context” in Art History, Volume 35,

Issue 1, pg. 18.)

Course Director:

Selma Zecevic (selmaz@yorku.ca)

230 Vanier College (phone: 416 736 2100, ext. 77398)

Office hours: Tue. and Wed. 1 pm: 2 pm.

Administrative secretary:

Rita Parente (rita@yorku.ca)

210 Vanier College (phone: 416 736 2100, ext. 77389)

Course format: Three- hour seminar (Thursday 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. CB 122)

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Course Description:

From the establishment of the first Islamic library and research center (Bayt al-

Hikma) in Abbasid Baghdad in the early ninth century until present day, Islamic

primary religious schools, colleges (madrasas), and libraries have played a pivotal

role in the transmission and preservation of the knowledge of Islamic authoritative

texts. These institutions trace their origin to the courtyards of mosques, which

emerged as sites for memorizing, studying and copying Islamic sacred texts. Over

time, they have become important social spaces in which notions of authority,

tradition and knowledge have been continuously re-negotiated.

This course focuses on the modes of transmission, acquisition and reproduction of

knowledge in the Muslim world from the ninth century to the present.

Interdisciplinary in approach, this course brings together the works of historians,

anthropologists, social scientists and Islamic scholars and philosophers who have

addressed the significance of writing, memorizing, commenting and transmitting

Islamic scholarly texts in the process of the negotiation of authority and tradition

among different classes of ‘guardians’ of Islamic religious knowledge. The main

goal of this course is threefold: First, it provides a comprehensive overview of the

history of those Islamic educational institutions which played a key role in the

formation of the educated Islamic religious elite (ulama’). Second, it exposes

students to the institutional strategies which served to preserve and negotiate

authority and knowledge in various pre-modern and modern Islamic societies.

Third, it examines the complexity of the process of ‘learning’, which was itself

grounded in several interrelated processes such as memorizing, listening, silent and

loud repeating, writing, commenting, and so on.

A contextual examination of the rise and development of Islamic institutions of

higher education, madrasas, is central to the analysis of these issues. While

concentrating on examples of pre-modern and modern Sunni and Shi’i madrasas,

the students focus on the similarities and differences in the modes of acquisition

and transmission of knowledge of authoritative religious texts in various historical

and ideological contexts. In the course of examining the history of various

madrasas, the students engage in the analysis of different genres of primary and

secondary source material, including biographical dictionaries of Islamic scholars,

curricula from primary and secondary Islamic educational institutions,

autobiographical narratives by legal scholars, mystics and philosophers, college

diplomas, and so on.

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Required Readings:

1. Jonathan Berkey: The transmission of knowledge in medieval Cairo: a social

history of Islamic education (Princeton, NJ.: Princeton University Press, 1992)–

available at York University Bookstore

2. Dale Eickelman. Knowledge and Power in Morocco: The Education of a

Twentieth-Century Notable (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press,

1985) – available at York University Bookstore

3. George Makdisi. The Rise of the Colleges: Institutions of Learning in Islam and

the West – (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1981)York University E book

(CLASS PROJECT)

4. Weekly readings supplied at course’s Moodle website

Useful databases: Encyclopedia of Islam (York University on-line resources);

Index Islamicus (York University online resources)

Grade Distribution:

1. Attendance: 10%

2. Class participation: 10%

3. Group project presentation (a chapter from George Makdisi’s The Rise of the

Colleges : Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West): 5%

4. In-class presentation of a scholarly article or book-chapter: 10%

6. Weekly questions (derived from the required readings), submitted every

week in class: 10%

7. Research essay proposal (summary and selected bibliography, due March

12, 2015): 10 %

8. Research essay (12 pages inclusive, due April 17, 2015): 25%

9. Final exam (last day of classes, April 2, 2015): 20%

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HUMA 3817 3.0 Memory, Authority and the Transmission of Knowledge in

the Muslim World

Winter 2015

Course Syllabus:

I. January 8, 2015: Introduction

No readings are required for the first meeting of the class

Required viewing:

1. Al-Ghazali: The Alchemist of Happiness (DVD)

II. January 15, 2015: Memory, Authority and the Transmission of

Knowledge

Required readings:

1. Gudrun Kramer and Sabine Schmidtke, “Introduction: Religious Authority and

Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies. Critical Overview” in Speaking for

Islam: Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies, edited by Gudrun Kramer and

Sabine Schmidtke (Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, Inc., 2006), pp. 1-14.

(Moodle)

2. George Makdisi, “Authority in the Islamic Community” in La notion d’autorité

au Moyen Age: Islam, Byzance, Occident, Makdisi,Sourdel, Sourdel-Thomine, eds.

(Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1973): 116-126. (Moodle)

3. Yusuf H. R. Seferta, “The Concept of Religious Authority according to

Muhammad 'Abduh and Rashid Ridha” Islamic Quarterly 30:3 (1986), pp. 159-

164. (Moodle)

In-class discussion: Al-Ghazali: The Alchemist of Happiness (Film)

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Presentations:

1. Wilfred Madelung, “Authority in Twelver Shism in the Absence of Imam” in La

notion d’autorité au Moyen Age: Islam, Byzance, Occident, Makdisi, Sourdel,

Sourdel-Thomine, eds. (Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1973):162-173.

2. W. Montgomery Watt, “Authority in the Thought of al-Ghazali” in La notion

d’autorité au Moyen Age: Islam, Byzance, Occident, Makdisi, Sourdel, Sourdel-

Thomine, eds. (Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1973):57-67.

III. January 22, 2015: The Rise of Authoritative Texts and the

Construction of Authority

Required readings:

1. Gregor Schoeler, “The Beginnings of Religious Scholarship in Islam: Sirah,

Hadith, Tafsir” in The Genesis of Literature in Islam (Edinburgh: Edinburgh

University Press, 2002): 40-54 (Moodle)

2. Shawkat M. Toorawa.”From Memory to Written Record” in Ibn Abi Tahir

Tayfur and Arabic Writerly Culture: A Ninth Century Bookman in Baghdad

(London and New York: Routledge, 2005), 7-18. (York University E Book)

3. Jonathan Berkey. “Origins and Early Controversy” in Jonathan Berkey, Popular

Preaching and Religious Authority in the Medieval Islamic Near East (Seattle :

University of Washington Press, 2001), pp.22-35. (Moodle)

Presentations:

1. Jacques Berque. “The Koranic Text: From Revelation to Compilation” in

George N. Atiyeh (ed.) The Book in the Islamic World: The Written World and

Communication in the Middle East (Albany: State University of New York

University Press, 1995), pp. 17-33.

2. Asma Afsaruddin, “The excellences of the Qur'an: textual sacrality and the

organization of early Islamic society” The Journal of the American Oriental

Society Vol. 122 No. 1 (2002), pp. 1-24. (Two Presenters)

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IV. January 29, 2015: The Places of Learning: Madrasa

1. Jonathan Berkey. “Introduction” in The Transmission of Knowledge in Medieval

Cairo: A Social History of Islamic Education (Princeton: Princeton University

Press, 1992),pp. 3- 20.

Class Project: George Makdisi: The Rise of Colleges: Institutions of Learning in

Islam and the West (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1981) York

University Library - E Book

V. February 5, 2015. Madrasa, Mosque and Library

Required readings:

1. Jonathan Berkey. “Institutions” in The Transmission of Knowledge in Medieval

Cairo: A Social History of Islamic Education (Princeton: Princeton University

Press, 1992), pp. 44-94.

2. Johannes Pedersen. “Libraries” in The Arabic Book (Princeton: Princeton

University Press, 1984): 113: 130. (Moodle)

Presentations:

1. Christopher Melchert. “The Etiquette of Learning in the Early Islamic Circle” in

Law and Education in Medieval Islam: Studies in Memory of Professor George

Makdisi, Lowry, Stewart and Toorawa, editors (Cambridge: E.J.W. Gibb Memorial

Trust, 2004): 33-44. (Moodle)

2. Michael Chamberlain. “Madrasa, the production of knowledge and the

reproduction of elites” in Michael Chamberlain. Knowledge and Social Practice in

Medieval Damascus, 1190-1350 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006),

pp. 69-90. (Two Presenters) (Moodle)

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VI. February 12, 2015: Students, Teachers and Patrons of Learning

Required readings:

1. Jonathan Berkey. “Professors and Patrons: Careers in the Academic World” in

The Transmission of Knowledge in Medieval Cairo: A Social History of Islamic

Education (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), pp. 95-127.

2. Alice Hunsberger. “Nasir Khusraw: Fatimid Intellectual” in Islamic Intellectual

Tradition in Islam, edited by Farhad Daftary (London: I.B. Tauris, 2000),

pp. 112-129. (Moodle)

Presentations:

1. Jonathan Berkey, "Silver Threads among the Coal": A Well-Educated Mamluk

of the Ninth/Fifteenth Century” in Studia Islamica 73 (1991), pp. 109-125. York

University Library – Online sources (JSTOR):

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1595957

2. Sabine Schmidtke, “Forms and Functions of ‘Licences To Transmit’ (Ijāzas) in

18th-Century-Iran. ʿ Abd Allāh al-Mūsawī al-Jazāʾ irī al-Tustarī’s (1112-73/1701-

59) Ijāza kabīra” in Speaking for Islam: Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies,

edited by Gudrun Kramer and Sabine Schmidtke (Leiden: Brill Academic

Publishers, Inc., 2006), pp. 95-127. (Two Presenters)

VII. February 14-20, 2015: Reading Week

VIII. February 26, 2015: Learning with the Sufis Masters

Required readings:

1. Qamar-ul Huda. “‘Awarif al-Ma’rif: The Sufi Manual of Shaikh Abu Hafs

‘Umar al-Suhrawardi” pp. 41-56 and 62-72, in Striving for Divine Union: Spiritual

Exercises for Suhrawardi Sufis (E-Book available through York University e-

resources).

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2. James Fadiman and Robert Frager. “Sufi Teachers” in Essential Sufism,

Fediman and Frager, editors (New York: Harper One, 1997): 127-151.(Moodle)

Recommended Reading :

1. Spencer Trimingham. “The Formation of Schools of Mysticism” in Spencer

Trimingham. Sufi Orders in Islam, pp. 1-30. (York University e-book)

Presentations:

1. Spencer Trimingham. “The Organization of the Orders” in Spencer Trimingham.

Sufi Orders in Islam, pp. 166-194. (E-Book available through York University e-

resources) – (Two presenters)

2. Elizabeth Sirriyeh. “The Making of a Scholarly Saint” in Sufi Visionary of

Ottoman Damascus Abd al-Ghani al-Nablusi, 1641-1731 – pp. 1-18.

IX. March 5, 2015. The Tradition of Learning in the Ottoman World

Required readings:

1. Ilk Arifin Mansurnoor, “Religious Scholars and State: Patterns of Recruitment

among the Ottoman ‘Ulama” Islamic Studies, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Spring 1992), pp. 35-

51. (York University e-resources)

2. Madeline C. Zilfi. “A Medrese for the Palace: Ottoman Dynastic Legitimation in

the Eighteen Century” Journal of the American Oriental Society Vol 113 no. 2

(April-June 1993), pp. 184-191. (Moodle)

Presentation:

1. Benjamin Fortna. Imperial Classroom: Islam, The State and Education in the

Late Ottoman Empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) (Four presenters)

RESEARCH ESSAY PROPOSAL IS DUE TODAY !

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IX. March 12, 2015. Women and Learning

Required Readings:

1. Jonahtan Berkey. “Women and Education” in The Transmission of Knowledge

in Medieval Cairo: A Social History of Islamic Education” (Princeton: Princeton

University Press),pp. 161-181

2. Omaima Abou-Bakr, “Teaching the Words of the Prophet: Women Instructors

of the Hadith (Fourteenth can Fifteenth Centuries)” Hawwa Vol 1. No 3 (2003),

pp. 306-328 (York University online source)

Presentations:

1. Mohammad Akram Nadwi. “Women’s Role in the Diffusion of ‘The

Knowledge” in Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in Islam (Oxford: Interface

Publication, 2007): 138-184 (Three Presenters)

2. Keiko Sekura, “Women’s Empowerment and Iranian-Style Seminaries in Iran

and Pakistan” in The Moral Economy of the Madrasa: Islam and Education Today

(London and New York: Routledge, 2011), pp. 32-58. (Two Presenters) (York

University e-book).

IX. March 19, 2015. Old Methods, Modern Times

Required readings:

1. Indira Falk Gesink, “Islamic Reformation: A History of Madrasa Reform and

Legal Change in Egypt” Comparative Education Review Vol. 50 no.3 (2006), pp.

325-345. (York University online sources, JSTOR)

2. Humayun Kabir, “Contested Notions of Being ‘Muslim’: Madrasas, Ulama and

the Authenticity of Islamic Schooling in Bangladesh” in in The Moral Economy of

the Madrasa: Islam and Education Today (London and New York: Routledge,

2011), pp. 59-84. (York University e-book).

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Presentations:

1. Jasmin Zine, Canadian Islamic Schools: Unravelling the Politics of Faith,

Gender, Knowledge, and Identity (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008),

York University e-book, (Four Presenters)

X. March 26, 2015. Book Discussion

Required reading:

1. Dale Eickelman. Knowledge and Power in Morocco: The Education of a

Twentieth-Century Notable (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press,

1985) (Two Students serve as moderators)

XI. April 2, 2015: Final Exam