Introduction to the Islamic Religious Sciences
A public service course with Dr. Laury Silvers
This course will be an introduction to the Islamic Religious Sciences. We will be learning the major terms, concepts, and methods in the traditional study of the Qur’an, Hadith, and Islamic Law: such as the Qur’an’s recitative traditions and collection, Hadith collection and methods of authentication, and legal methods of extracting rulings from the Sources. As we gain familiarity with the issues at stake in each religious science, we will move on to discuss our own concerns with the traditional methods. In particular, we will focus on the ethical questions that arise from the process of interpretation. We will be reading some primary sources, but for the most part our course readings will be secular in orientation with a deep appreciation for traditional methods. In readings and discussions our goal will be to integrate secular and religious intellectual methods in order to become “traditionally literate.” In other words, I hope that during this course we will become comfortable having informed and mutually beneficial conversations with other Muslims and non-Muslims on these difficult topics.
Time: 1:00 – 3:00 pm
Location: upper classroom, Noor Cultural Centre
Fee: $250 (special rates available to students, seniors, and the underemployed)
Class cap: 20 students
For more information or to register, please email [email protected].
SESSION 1 January 11, 2009
Introduction to the Course: Bridging Traditional and Secular Thought
SESSION 2 January 18, 2009
The Nature of the Qur’an, the Recitation Traditions and Collection
SESSION 3 January 25, 2009
Our Issues: Grapes or Houris? Talking about the Divinity of the Qur’an
SESSION 4 February 1, 2009
The Qur’an Commentary Tradition and New Readings
SESSION 5 February 8, 2009
Muhammad’s (S) Example, Hadith, Transmission, and Collection
SESSION 6 February 15, 2009
The History and Methods of Hadith Criticism
SESSION 7 February 22, 2009
Our Issues: The Ethics of Telling the Story of the Sunna
SESSION 8 March 1, 2009
The Qur’an and Hadith as Sources for Islamic Law
SESSION 9 March 8, 2009
Characteristic Features of Shariah and the Leading Schools of Law
SESSION 10 March 15, 2009
Our Issues: The Ethics of “Best Practices”
Laury Silvers is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department for the Study of Religion at University of Toronto for the 2008-2010 academic years. Her scholarship focuses on Islam in the Formative Period in particular Sufism, Sufi Metaphysics, and Gender. Her book, A Soaring Minaret: Abu Bakr al-Wasiti and the Rise of Baghdadi Sufism will be published by SUNY Press in 2009. She is preparing a second book, Simply Good Women: Gender in Early Piety and Sufism.