Page 1 of 10

ISLA 370 The Qur’an: History and Interpretation

McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies

MW 1:05-2:25

Instructor: Professor Sara Abdel-Latif Email: sara.abdel-latif@mcgill.ca Office hours: Wednesdays 10:00am-12:00pm (on Zoom)

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course examines the history of the codification of the Qur’an, its form, and modes of interpretation in both the modern and pre-modern periods. The course explores different schools of Qur’anic exegesis, including traditional hermeneutical approaches and modern approaches such as feminist interpretations of the Qur’an.

Page 2 of 10

COVID ACCOMODATIONS

Given the current pandemic, all in-person lectures and activities will be replaced by Zoom meetings. We will continue to meet online at the scheduled class time (Mondays and Wednesdays at 1:05pm from September 2nd, 2020 to December 2nd, 2020).

- STRUCTURE: Each online class will consist of a 30 or 40-minute lecture, then a 10-minute break, followed by a 30-minute workshop where students will work digitally with Qur’anic manuscripts and commentaries as well as practice important research-based skills.

- RECORDINGS: All lectures will be recorded through Zoom and uploaded on MyCourses. These recordings will remain live for the duration of the course. Please do not share these videos with anyone outside the course without prior permission from the instructor.

- CLASS PARTICIPATION: You have the option of EITHER attending lectures and workshops live and earning participation marks OR watching the recordings of the lecture later and responding to a question I will post each week on the class discussion board. If you are unable to attend and participate in class, lecture recordings will be uploaded by Thursday along with a discussion prompt and you will earn your participation marks through answering each week’s question by Sunday at 11:59pm. Given these options, the course can be completed successfully both synchronously and asynchronously.

- OFFICE HOURS: Office hours will also take place through Zoom and Instant Messages through MyCourses. If you cannot attend official office hours, please email me to set up an appointment for a different time.

- IN CASE OF PHYSICAL OR MENTAL ILLNESS: alternate accommodations will be arranged for you. Please reach out to the Professor by email to explain your circumstances and indicate any specific accommodation requests you have (e.g. deadline extensions, alternative assignments etc.). It does not matter how far into the term we are; accommodations can be made so long as the last day of classes has not yet passed. If you are struggling to keep up with the course for any reason at all, please reach out to me by email. It is my job to help you figure things out and help you have a fulfilling academic experience.

EVALUATION

This course contains four main grading components:

1. Infographics/Memes (20% total = 5 x 4% each): Using Canva.com or ImgFlip.com, you will need to create five infographics or memes that succinctly and effectively summarize key ideas about five of the following topics. You will be expected to submit one infographic/meme every two weeks beginning the third week of class. This means you have an infographic/meme due by 11:59pm on the Monday of Weeks 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. You can choose any five out of the following topics:

a. Meccan vs. Medinan chapters/verses, b. Qur’anic Structure and/or Organization c. the Codification of the Qur’an, d. the Occasions of Revelation,

Page 3 of 10

e. Qur’anic Orthography, f. African American Communities of the Qur’an, g. Sunni Tafsīr h. Shi’i Tafsīr i. Sufi Ta’wīl j. Feminist Approaches to the Qur’an, k. Qur’anist Approaches to Islam, l. Qur’an in Islamic Art/Architecture, m. Talismanic Uses of the Qur’an, n. The Qur’an as an Aural/Oral Tradition

2. Final Research Paper (60% total = 20% Annotated Bibliography + 10% Outline and Sample Paragraph + 5% Peer Review + 25% Final Paper): Your final paper will begin with a reverse image search of a Qur’anic manuscript that I will provide. You will need to analyze the manuscript, its country of origin, the orthography of the Arabic calligraphy style used, and the aesthetics of manuscript illumination. Then collate this information with research into how that community of the Qur’an approaches qur’anic interpretation as well as how they use the Qur’an in daily and ritual life. Construct an argument about the Qur’an in that specific community and produce a 10-15-page paper answering the question: What is the context of this Qur’anic manuscript? FORMAT GUIDELINES: 12 pt. Times New Roman font, double spaced, normal margins, title page with: essay title, your name, student number, course number, course title, professor name, and date of submission.

This assignment will be scaffolded over the duration of the course and consists of four parts:

Annotated Bibliography (20%) DUE SUNDAY OCTOBER 11TH (11:59pm EST)

Paper Outline + Sample Paragraph (10%) DUE SUNDAY NOVEMBER 8TH

(11:59pm EST) Peer Review of Outline (5%) DUE SUNDAY NOVEMBER 15TH (11:59pm

EST) Final Paper (25%) DUE WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 2nd (11:59pm EST)

Further instructions on each component will be posted on MyCourses.

3. Class Participation/Discussion Board (10%): a) Attending live lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays and participating in the

discussions, workshops, and class activities. OR

b) Watching the lecture recordings and responding to a discussion prompt through MyCourses by Sunday night each week. In total, ten discussion questions will be posted (roughly one per week beginning Week 3) to help you earn the 10% asynchronously. OR

Page 4 of 10

c) Attending live lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays and participating on the discussion board by Sunday night each week.

4. Midterm One-on-Ones (10%): This mark is based on a one-on-one Zoom interview with the instructor. Each interview will last ten minutes and will consist of three portions: a) Short answer questions to review your knowledge of course content, b) An open-ended question to test comprehension and application of course knowledge, c) Feedback on your experience of the course thus far. INTERVIEWS MUST BE BOOKED IN ADVANCE. Details on booking your interviews will be announced in Week 4.

REQUIRED READINGS

1. Rippin, Andrew and Jawid Mojaddedi, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Qur’an. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2017. Available through McGill Library website.

2. Mattson, Ingrid. The Story of the Qur’an. Malten, M.A.: Blackwell Publishing, 2008. Available through McGill Library website.

3. El-Badawi, Emran and Paula Sanders. Communities of the Qur’an: Dialogue, Debate and Diversity in the 21st Century. London: Oneworld Academic, 2019. Print.

4. English Translation of the Qur’an (See note below.)

All other readings can be found through the MyCourses webpage or online through the McGill Library website.

NOTE: Which translation of the Qur’an should I use?

You can use any of the following translations of the Qur’an for this class:

- M. A. S. Abdul Haleem’s The Qur’an. - A.J. Arberry’s The Koran Interpreted, - Marmaduke Pickthall’s The Meaning of the Glorious Qur’an,

I personally prefer M.A.S. Abdel-Haleem’s translation. You can find an online version of this translation here (requires McGill login): http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com.proxy3.library.mcgill.ca/article/book/islam-9780192831934?sura=1&astart=&x=12&y=10

You can also use http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp if you want to compare different translations of specific verses.

CLASS SCHEDULE

WEEK 1 - INTRODUCTION

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 2 – STUDYING SCRIPTURE

Smith, Wilfred Cantwell. “The True Meaning of Scripture.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 11:4 (July 1980): 487-505. Available through McGill Library website.

Page 5 of 10

Hamza, Feras. “Tafsīr and Unlocking the Historical Qur’an: Back to Basics?” Aims, Methods and Context of Qur’anic Exegesis (2nd/8th-9th-15th C.) Ed. Karen Bauer. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013: 19-28. Available on MyCourses.

Q1:1-7, Q96:1-5

WEEK 2 – HISTORICIZING THE QUR’AN

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 – Holiday (Labor Day)

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 9 – HISTORICIZING THE QUR’AN

Rippin, Andrew. “The Construction of the Arabian Historical Context in Muslim Interpretation of the Qur’an.” Aims, Method and Contexts of Qur’anic Exegesis (2nd/8th-9th/15th C.). Ed. Karen Bauer. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013: 173-198. Available on MyCourses.

Q2:124-141, Q14:35-41, Q106:1-4, Q105:1-5

WEEK 3 - THE MEDIUM OF THE MESSAGE [MEME #1 DUE BY 11:59PM EST]

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 14 – THE MESSENGER

Berg, Herbert. “Context: Muhammad.” The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Qur’an. Eds. Andrew Rippin and Jawid Mojaddedi. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2017: 200-217. Available through McGill Library website.

Q53:1-16

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 16 – THE MEMORY OF MUHAMMAD

Q3:31 Mattson, Ingrid. “The Prophet Conveys the Message.” The Story of the Qur’an.

Malten, M.A.: Blackwell Publishing, 2008: 25-75. Available through McGill Library website.

WEEK 4 – STRUCTURE AND STYLE

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 21 – MECCAN AND MEDINAN VERSES

Ernst, Carl. How to Read the Qur’an. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011: 76-98, 133-145. Available through McGill Library website.

Q92-5, Q5:1-11

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 23 – QUR’ANIC COMPOSITION

Cuypers, Michel. “Semitic Rhetoric as a Key to the Question of the Nazm of the Qur’anic Text,” Journal of Qur’anic Studies 13:1 (2011): 1-24. Available through McGill Library website.

Q12:1-111

Page 6 of 10

WEEK 5 – EARLY LEGACY OF THE QUR’AN

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 28 - THE CALIPHS AND CODIFICATION [MEME #2 DUE BY 11:59PM EST]

Q29:48-51 Gilliot, Claude. “The Creation of a Fixed Text.” The Cambridge Companion to the

Qur’ān. Ed. Jane McAuliffe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006: 41-55. Available through McGill Library website.

Motzki, Harald. “Alternative accounts of the Qur’an’s formation.” The Cambridge Companion to the Qur’ān. Ed. Jane McAuliffe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006: 59-77. Available through McGill Library website.

Optional reading:

Geissinger, Aisha. “No, a Woman Did Not “Edit the Qurʾān”: Towards a Methodologically Coherent Approach to a Tradition Portraying a Woman and Written Quranic Materials.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 85:2 (June 2017): 416–445. Available through McGill Library website.

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 30 – OCCASIONS OF REVELATION

Rippin, Andrew. Enyclopaedia of the Qur’an, q.v. “Occasions of Revelation.” Available on MyCourses.

Q24:11-17, Q80:1-10 Wahidī, Alī b. Ahmad al-. Asbab al-Nuzul. Amman, Jordan: Royal Aal al-Bayt

Institute of Islamic Thought, 2008: Q24:11, Q24:16, Q80:1-2. Available through altafsir.com.

WEEK 6 – THE VOICE AND THE PEN

MONDAY OCTOBER 5TH– ORAL TRANSMISSION

Q73:1-8, Q75:16-19 Mattson, Ingrid. “The Voice and the Pen.” The Story of the Qur’an. Malden, M.A.:

Blackwell Publishing, 2008: 76-136. Available through McGill Library website. Risser, Rita Elizabeth. “Qur’anic recitation and the aesthetic of piety.” The Journal

of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 76:3 (Summer 2018): 309-318. Available through McGill Library website.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 7TH – ORTHOGRAPHY AND THE WRITTEN QUR’AN

Q41:53 Deroche, Francois. “Written Transmission.” The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the

Qur’an. Eds. Andrew Rippin and Jawid Mojaddedi. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2017: 184-199. Available through McGill Library website.

Lings, Martin. “Calligraphy and Illumination.” The Qur’an: A British Library Exhibition, Selections. Available on MyCourses.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 11th, 11:59PM EST - ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE

Page 7 of 10

WEEK 7 - INTERPETING THE QUR’AN

MONDAY OCTOBER 12 – Holiday (Thanksgiving) [MEME #3 DUE BY 11:59PM EST]

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 14 – TAFSĪR: THE OUTWARD DIMENSIONS

Q3:1-8 Mattson, Ingrid. “What God Really Means: Interpreting the Qur’an.” The Story of

the Qur’an. Malten, M.A.: Blackwell Publishing, 2008: 175-219. Available through McGill Library website.

McAuliffe, Jane Dammen. “An Introduction to Medieval Interpretation of the Qur’an.” With Reverence for the Word. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010: 311-319. Available through McGill Library website.

Sinai, Nicolai. “The Qur’anic Commentary of Muqātil b. Sulaymān and the Evolution of Early Tafsīr literature.” Tafsīr and Islamic Intellectual History. Eds. Andreas Görke and Johanna Pink. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014: 113-143. Available on MyCourses.

WEEK 8 – COMMUNITIES OF THE QUR’AN

MONDAY OCTOBER 19 - AFRICAN AMERICAN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE QUR’AN

Al-Deen, Aminah Beverly. “African American Communities of the Qur’an,” Communities of the Qur’an. Eds. Emran El-Badawi and Paula Sanders. London: Oneworld Publications, 2019: 27-38. Print.

O’Connor, Kathleen Malone. “The Islamic Jesus: Messiahhood and Human Divinity in African-American Muslim Exegesis.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 66:3 (Autumn 1998): 493-532. Available through McGill Library website.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 21 – FRIDAY OCTOBER 23 - MIDTERM INTERVIEWS

WEEK 9 – GENDER-SENSITIVE APPROACHES TO THE QUR’AN

MONDAY OCTOBER 26 – FEMINIST/WOMANIST APPROACHES [MEME #4 DUE BY 11:59PM EST]

Q2:228, Q2:282, Q 4:1-3, Q4:34, Q4:128-9, Q9:71, Q30:21, Q33:35 Wadud, Amina. “Musawah: Gender Equity through Qur’anic Discourse.”

Communities of the Qur’an. Eds. Emran El-Badawi and Paula Sanders. London: Oneworld Publications, 2019: 81-97. Print.

Hidayatullah, Aysha A. “Confronting Feminist Edges.” Feminist Edges of the Qur’an. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014: 178-198. Available through McGill Library website.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 28 – LGBTQ+ APPROACHES

Q4:15, Q7:80-84, Q11:78, Q24:31, Q26:165-8, Q24:60, Q42:49-50

Page 8 of 10

Kugle, Scott Siraj al-Haqq. “The Reception of the Qur’an in the LGBTQ Muslim Community,” Communities of the Qur’an. Eds. Emran El-Badawi and Paula Sanders. London: Oneworld Publications, 2019: 98-134. Print.

Shannahan, Dervla Sara. “Some queer questions from a Muslim faith perspective.” Sexualities 13:6 (2010): 671-684. Available on MyCourses.

WEEK 10 – SHI’I APPROACHES TO THE QUR’AN

MONDAY NOVEMBER 2 – ISMA’ILI SHI’I APPROACHES

Steigerwald, Diana. “Ismāʿı̄lı̄ Taʾwı̄l.” The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Qur’an. Eds. Andrew Rippin and Jawid Mojaddedi. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2017: 463-478. Available through McGill Library website.

Al-Qādi al-Nu’mān, selections from The Pillars of Islam. Available on MyCourses.

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 4 – TWELVER SHI’I APPROACHES

Q24:35 Rizvi, Sajjad. “The Speaking Qur’an and the Praise of the Imam: The Memory and

Practice of the Qur’an in the Twelver Shia Tradition.” Communities of the Qur’an. Eds. Emran El-Badawi and Paula Sanders. London: Oneworld Publications, 2019: 135-155. Print.

Hamza, Feras and Sajjad Rizvi, “Light of the heavens and earth: Tabrisi,” An Anthology of Qur’anic Commentaries. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Available on MyCourses.

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 8TH, 11:59PM EST – PAPER OUTLINE DUE

WEEK 11 – TRADITIONALIST EXEGESIS

MONDAY NOVEMBER 9 – SUNNI TRADITIONALISM [MEME #5 DUE BY 11:59PM EST]

Hadith on Qur’anic Exegesis “by opinion”: https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/47 Mattson, Ingrid. “How the Qur’an Shapes the Sunni Community.” Communities of

the Qur’an. Eds. Emran El-Badawi and Paula Sanders. London: Oneworld Publications, 2019: 179-194. Available through McGill Library website.

Saleh, Walid. “Ibn Taymiyyah and the Rise of Radical Hermeneutics.” Ibn Taymiyyah and His Times. Eds. Yossef Rapoport and Shahab Ahmed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010: 123-162. Available on MyCourses.

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 11 – QUR’ANIST APPROACHES

Mansour, Ahmed Subhy. “Why the Qur’anists are the Solution: A Declaration.” Communities of the Qur’an. Eds. Emran El-Badawi and Paula Sanders. London: Oneworld Publications, 2019: 218-228. Print.

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 15th, 11:59PM EST – PEER REVIEW OF OUTLINES DUE

Page 9 of 10

WEEK 12 – SUFI EXEGESIS

MONDAY NOVEMBER 16 – TA’WIL: THE INNER DIMENSIONS

Q18:57, Q18:60-82 Godlas, Alan. “Ṣūfism.” The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Qur’an. Eds.

Andrew Rippin and Jawid Mojaddedi. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2017: 418-429. Available through McGill Library website.

Keeler, Annabel. “Sufi Tafsīr as a Mirror.” Journal of Qur’anic Studies 8:1 (2006): 1-21. Available through McGill Library website.

Maybudī, Rashīd al-Dīn. The Unveiling of Secrets. Amman, Jordan: Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute of Islamic Thought, 2015: 301-303. (Exegesis of Q18:60, Q18:65, Q18:67.) Available through altafsir.com.

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 18 – RUMI AND THE PERSIAN QUR’AN

Mojaddedi, Jawid, “Rūmī.” The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Qur’an. Eds. Andrew Rippin and Jawid Mojaddedi. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2017: 430-441. Available through McGill Library website.

Rūmī, Jalāl al-Dīn. “The Gift Brought by Joseph’s Visitor.” The Masnavi: Book One. Trans. Jawid Mojaddedi. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008: 227-230. Available through McGill Library website.

WEEK 13 – The Qur’an and The Modern World

MONDAY NOVEMBER – Modernism

Pink, Johanna, “Modern and Contemporary Interpretation of the Qur’an.” The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Qur’an. Eds. Andrew Rippin and Jawid Mojaddedi. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2017: 479-491. Available through McGill Library website.

Suleiman Ali, Ali. “Trends in Modern Qur’anic Interpretation.” A Brief Introduction to Qur’anic Exegesis. Herndon, V.A.: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2017: 137-147. Available on MyCourses.

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 25 23 – Interfaith Relations

Q49:11-13, Q2:62 Afsaruddin, Asma. “Hermeneutics of Interfaith Relations.” Journal of Religious

Ethics 37:2 (June 2009): 331-354. Available on MyCourses. Bevilacqua, Alexander and Jan Loop. “The Qur’an in Comparison and the Birth of

Scriptures.” Journal of Qur’anic Studies 20:3 (Nov. 2018): 149-174. Available through McGill Library website.

Page 10 of 10

WEEK 14 – OBJECTS AND LIFE CYCLES

MONDAY NOVEMBER 30 – CALLIGRAPHY, TALISMANS AND MATERIAL CULTURE

Asma’u, Nana. “The Medicine of the Prophet.” The Collected Works of Nana Asma’u. Trans. Jean Boyd and Beverly B. Mack. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1997: 102-117. Available on MyCourses.

Muravchick, Rose E. “Objectifying the Occult: Studying an Islamic Talismanic Shirt as an Embodied Object,” Arabica 64:3-4 (Sept. 2017): 673-693. Available through McGill Library website.

Optional reading:

Hamès, Constant. “L’usage talismanique du Coran.” Revue de l’histoire des religions 218:1 (Jan. 2001): 83-95. Available through McGill Library website.

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 2 – QUR’AN IN MUSLIM LIFE CYCLES

Mattson, Ingrid. “Blessed Words: The Qur’an and Culture.” The Story of the Qur’an Malten, M.A.: Blackwell Publishing, 2008: 137-174. Available through McGill Library website.

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 2nd, 11:59PM EST – FINAL PAPER DUE