Muhammad: from Early Muslim Accounts to Modern Biographies
NEJS 195A
Muhammad: From Early Muslim Accounts to Modern Biographies
M,W 2:00 PM–3:20 PM
Instructor: SuleymanDost
Email:
Office: Lown 209
Office Hours: W 12:00 pm-2:00 pm or by appointment
Course Description:
According to the 19th c. French historian Ernest Renan, Islam was born “in full light of history”, and “the life of its founder is as well known to us as those of the reformers of the sixteenth century.” Indeed, Muslim sources document Muḥammad’s life in great detail and the prophet of Islam has been depicted in a myriad of portrayals since the 8th c. This course will explore many “lives of Muḥammad” from the earliest references to him in Muslim and non-Muslim sources to modern biographies. In the course of a chronological and thematic progression, students will learn the milestones of Muḥammad’s life as outlined in Muslim sources and they will learn about different perspectives on Muḥammad’s life and legacy throughout the middle ages and the modernity. We will also explore the recent academic debates about the reliability of Muslim sources on Muḥammad’s life. Bodily descriptions and visual representations of Muḥammad in classical and modern sources will also be discussed from a theological and art-historical point of view.
As part of the course requirements, each student will read a biography of Muḥammad chosen from a list prepared by the instructor. At the end of the course students will present a brief review of the biography they read.
Required Readings:
Alfred Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, Oxford University Press, 2002 (Reprint)
Kecia Ali, TheLives of Muhammad, Harvard University Press, 2014
Reading materials outside of these two books will be made available before the class.
Evaluation:
20% Attendance and Meaningful Participation: You may have one unexcused and maximum two unexcused absences throughout the semester. Any more absences will affect your grade. You’re expected to do the readings and prepare visual or audio assignments before the class.
30% Book Review: Each student will choose a modern biography of Muḥammad and write a 1500-word review of it. In the final week of the class students will also present their book.
20% Midterm (ID questions about Muḥammad’s life)
30% Final (ID questions and short essays)
Success in this four- credit course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion sections, preparation for exams, etc.)
Disabilities:
If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.
Academic Integrity:
You are expected to be honest in all of your academic work. Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities for all policies and procedures related to academic integrity. Students may be required to submit work to TurnItIn.com software to verify originality. Allegations of alleged academic dishonesty will be forwarded to the Director of Academic Integrity. Sanctions for academic dishonesty can include failing grades and/or suspension from the university. Citation and research assistance can be found at LTS - Library guides.
Course Schedule:
Week 1 – Introduction and Organizational Meeting
Aug 30: General Timeline of Muḥammad’s life
Week 2 – Early Muslim Sources for Muḥammad’s Life, SīraLiterature
Sep 6: Muḥammad’s Genealogy, His Birth and Early Life
Ibn Isḥāq, tr. Guillaume, “The Life of Muḥammad”, pp, 3-4, 21-30, 66-87
Lawrence Conrad, “Abraha and Muhammad: Some Observations apropos of chronology and literary topoi in the Early Arabic Historical Tradition”, in LATTE
Week 3- Sīra Literature Continued
Sep 11: Muḥammad’s Call and Preaching in Mecca, Ibn Isḥāq, pp. 109-132, 191-207
Sep 13: Muḥammad in Medina, Military Campaigns, Ibn Isḥāq, pp. 219-236, 289-314, 370-391
Week 4 – Sira Literature Continued, Qur’ān and Ḥadith (Prophetic Traditions) as a Source for Muḥammad’s Life
Sep 18: Conquest of Mecca, Muḥammad’s Final Years and Death, Ibn Isḥāq, pp. 540-561, 648-652, 678-690
Sep 20: Qur’anic Verses and Ḥadīth on ʿĀʾisha’s Scandal, in LATTE
Week 5 –Earliest non-Muslim References to Muḥammad – Muslim Devotional Literature about Muḥammad in the Middle Ages
Sep 25: Doctrina Jacobi’s references to Muḥammad and Islam, Constantine VII’s Teachings to His son in De AdministrandoImperio, in LATTE
Sep 27: Panegyrics for Muḥammad, The poems by Ḥassan b. Thābit and al-Būsīrī,
Week 6 –Muḥammad in Classical Muslim Sources
Oct 2: Selections from QādīʿIyāḍ’sal-Shifā
Oct 4: Shamāʾil Literature, Appearance and Manners of Muḥammad, Selections from al-Tirmidhī’sShamāʾil, in LATTE
Week 7 – Early Encounters with Europe – Muḥammad as Impostor
Oct 9: Kecia Ali, The Lives of Muhammad, pp. 6-40.
William Bedwell’sMohammedisImposturae; that is, A discovery of the manifold forgeries, falsehoods, and horrible impieties of the blasphemous seducer Mohammed.
Oct 11: (Brandeis Day, no class!)
Week 8 –Colonial Encounters, 19th c. European scholarship on Muḥammad
Oct 16: Kecia Ali, pp. 41-78
William Muir, The Life of Muhammad from Original Sources
Abraham Geiger, Was hat Muhammad auf demJudenthumegenommen?, Eng. Tr. Judaism and Islam
Oct 18: Midterm
Week 9 –Muḥammad as a Romantic Hero, Spiritual Leader and Statesman
Oct 23: Kecia Ali, pp. 79-113
Oct 25: Selections from Montgomery Watt, Muhammad at Medina
Week 10 –Recent Biographies and Points of Contention: Muḥammad as Husband, Warrior and CEO
Oct 30: Kecia Ali, pp. 114-154
Nov 1: Kecia Ali, pp. 155-230
Week 11 – Did Muḥammad Really Exist? Quest for the Historical Muḥammad and the Revisionist Historiography of Early Islam
Nov 6: Patricia Crone & Michael Cook, Hagarism
Nov 8: Fred Donner, Muḥammad and the Believers
Week 12 – Muḥammad in Visual Media I
Nov 13: Medieval Depictions of Muḥammad, From Dante’s Inferno to Muslim Miniatures
Nov 15: Modern Depictions: Movies and Caricatures
Week 13 – Muḥammad in Visual Media II
Nov 20: Screening of the movie al-Risālah, The Message
Week 14 –Muḥammad’s Legacy: Classical and Modern
Nov 27: Sunna of the Prophet or ImitatioMohammedii: Muḥammad as a Role Model
Nov 29:Muḥammad as Legislator: Sharīʿa Explained
Week 15 – Book Review Presentations
Dec 4: Book Review Presentations
Dec 6: Book Review Presentations – Exam Prep