Life of the Prophet

Religious Studies 4580/6580
CRN: 85975/85976

Fall, 2006
Tuesday & Thursday 2:30-3:45
Sparks 330

Office Hours, Tu/Tr 4:00-5:00 or by arrangement

Course Description:

This course is designed to make students very familiar with the life of the Prophet Muhammad, to address issues of interest and controversy in that biography, and to examine the ways that biographies change over time and in the hands of different authors with different agendas.

The selection of biographies will be read critically to unveil the various hagiographic or delegitimizing strategies of Muslim and Orientalist accounts of the Prophet's life. The readings will include Muslim biographical accounts, Western biographies and scholarship on the problems of historicity presented by the subject. The primary intellectual goal of this course is to encourage the student to approach historical and biographical representations critically. However, the course will also serve to acquaint the student with the classical Muslim narrative of the Prophet's life, as well as the most famous Western interpretations of it.

This class will be conducted in a mixed lecture/seminar format. In other words, some time every week will be devoted to lectures, and some time every week will be devoted to class discussion and presentations. The lectures will present an overview of the life of the Prophet, and much of the background information that is important for an understanding of the various biographies of the Prophet. Discussions will be based on our weekly readings. It is very important that you stay caught up with the readings, as you will not be able to fully participate in the class discussions otherwise.

• Aslan, Reza. No God but God. Random House, 2006.
• Cook, Michael. Muhammad. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.
• Haykal, Muhammad Husayn. The Life of Muhammad, translated from the 8th edition by Isma'il Ragi A. al Faruqi.
• Rushdie, Salman. Satanic Verses. Any edition
• Watt, Montgomery. Muhammad, Prophet and Statesman. London: Oxford University Press, 1974
  Note on Rushdie's Satanic Verses

• While reading parts of this book is required, you do not have to buy it if you don't want to for any reason, including your objection to Salman Rushdie's recent marriage to a supermodel a third his age. You can check this book out from reserve, or I can make the appropriate selections available to you.
  
  Course Reader, which will be available on electronic reserves or in hard copies on reserve in Library South

There are two important resources available in the library, which we will discuss before the writing of the paper. The first is the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the leading reference tool for Islamic studies. The second is Index Islamicus, which is a searchable index of all the articles and books in western languages on Islamic topics. Both are available in CD-ROM form, which makes them enormously useful for our purposes.

Reading will be required as per the course schedule.

There are two major assignments for this course. First, every week, there will be several assigned readings. Because class participation is dependent on you reading consistently and carefully, I will require that you turn in at least two pages (typed, double spaced) of notes every class for which a reading is assigned. In these notes, I expect you to make clear to me that you read the assigned reading, and that you gave some thought as to how a distinct aspect of or episode in the Prophet's life is represented by the biography at hand. You can do this by giving a fairly detailed outline, by summing up the main points, or by noting the various points made, with relevant page numbers. You must turn in these notes every class. No late notes will be accepted, with no exceptions. Because I understand that there may be circumstances in which you will not be able to complete the readings, you are allowed two excused days during which you do not provide notes. I highly suggest that you attend class in any case, to be sure that you understand what the text you did not take notes on is about. If you turn in all the notes, you will be rewarded with extra points towards your final grade.

The second assignment is a final paper in which you will pursue some aspect or episode of the life of the Prophet as it is represented in various biographical sources. The final paper should show how different interpretations of that aspect or episode contribute to creating a specific image of the prophet Muhammad. Bear in mind that the object of this class is not to provide evidence for "proving," or "disproving" the truth of the prophetic revelation, nor to affirm or deny Muhammad's prophethood, but rather to gain insight into the various understandings of the life of the Prophet Muhammad, and into some of the problems posed by the historical traditions about him. In the final paper, students will critically compare the various treatments of their topics, using both the material treated in class and additional sources, and charting historiographic patterns if possible. This paper is due on the last day of class.

Attending class is mandatory, and will impact your grade. Participating in class discussion is crucial to your grade, and so these two go hand in hand. I will be noting attendance, and those who do not attend, and therefore cannot participate, will be graded accordingly.

Tests and papers will take place according to the course schedule. In case of major medical or other emergency, for which there is documentation, please speak to me. Otherwise, there are no makeups, so please do not ask.

Graduate students will have some additional readings. They will also be required to meet with me outside of class over the course of the semester.

Please carefully look over the attached sheet on plagiarism and cheating. For your sake and mine, bear closely in mind that the following is plagiarism and will be treated as such by me, without exceptions: material taken without citation from the web; material taken from any book or other publication without citation; any ideas that I can trace to another source that you are not citing. These are all forms of cheating, and will subject you to very serious consequences.

I realize that some students do not feel comfortable speaking in front of others. If at all possible, I want to encourage you to do so in any case. If you have a very hard time participating, an alternative assignment of two short writings (critical book reviews) is available.