New Grad Seminar for Students in Middle East Or Islamic Studies

Law and Society in Muslim Contexts

LSJ 510

Winter 2010

Meeting Time: Tuesday 2:30 - 4:50Instructor: Arzoo Osanloo

Room: Smith 111Office Hours: Mon. 11-12:30

Credits: 5Office: 46 Gowen Hall

Course Description

This interdisciplinary seminar brings insights from socio-legal studies to the study of Islamic law. With the aid of post-structuralist theories of law and society, this course will trace the meanings of 'shari'a' loosely referred to as 'Islamic law,' and the 'umma' or 'Muslim community' in various Muslim contexts. In addition, this course will consider socio-legal issues in contemporary Muslim-majority nation-states by excavating and exploring state structures and civil institutions, especially the juridical fields, which include 'fiqh' or 'Islamic jurisprudence,' hybrid or plural legal systems, and the actual practices and operations of Islamic laws.

The primary focus of the course will be on unpacking the political, cultural and economic logics underlying these disciplinary and regulatory systems in order to gain a better understanding of how Islamic principles (shari'a) have been translated into law (qanun) through civil codes, how they operate legally and socially in contemporary Muslim-majority societies, and what kinds of subjectivities they engender. The readings for the course will examine issues related to post-colonial nation-state building and the integration of Islamic principles therein, family and personal status laws, and criminal sanctioning. Finally, we will delve into current jurisprudential debates among the 'ulama' or religious scholars, who, as the keepers of 'ilm' or knowledge, are increasingly called upon to offer guidance on the new and pressing issues with which Muslim communities are faced, such as human rights, torture, laws of war, death penalty and calls for gender equality.

Students should have some background in Islamic law or Middle East studies before taking this course.

Requirements

This is an advanced graduate seminar with five main requirements: weekly reading response go-posts, discussion facilitation, twobook reviews, a final paper, and vigorous participation. Discussion is the primary avenue of instruction. Readings, assignments and class meetings are designed to inspire you to elaborate new ideas and engage in critical thinking, discussion, and writing. Active and engaged discussion is critical to your success.

While I will provide parameters for discussion, and context for the course design and its topical trajectory, the substantive discussion of the readings is left primarily to the students.

Reading Response Go-posts – Prior to each class meeting, you should post a 1- 2 page (500-1000 words) reading responses essay (or go-post). These responses should contain an ‘annotation’ of the text. By this I mean a discussion of the key points, main argument, and especially, your critical reflection on the major themes of the book. Go-posts are aimed at prompting inquiry, analysis and discussion, both in class and on-line. Go-posts are due by 10:00 a.m. the day of class. Please print your post and bring it to class for reference. You should try to read one another’sgo-posts before coming to class. Go-posts which are posted late or contain less than the minimum number of words will not count towards the total requirement of eight posts. The address for go-posts is:

Discussion Facilitation – Each class students introduce the material by offering background, key arguments and questions for discussion. The main goal of discussion facilitation is to enhance the overall intellectual experience of the class. Facilitators may provide theoretical depth, historical background, or a different point of view. This will also help us all develop a better sense of the intellectual ‘genealogy’ of this field. I am happy to work with you to develop your facilitation. Students will sign-up to facilitate at least twice in the quarter. Additional guidance will be provided in class.

Book Review Assignment –Two 5-7 page book reviews aredue; the first by the fifth week of the quarter (2/2) and the second by the last day of class (3/9). The book review assignment is intended to give you an opportunity to trace the intellectual trajectory of one aspect of this field that will be useful for your future research. It is intended to allow you to begin building a body of literature on a topic of your choice. This assignment may be a collaborative project (as I am not opposed to students working together on this), but each student must turn in a separate and distinguishable piece of work. As a class, we will share our resulting literature reviews to allow everyone to benefit from a final, unified body of literature we produce. Additional guidance will be provided in class.

Paper –A 15-20 page final analytical paper is required. For final papers, you need to initiate your own investigation, but please do discuss topics with me. Papers should focus on a specific issue and contain analysis, but they might also include analysis of a theme from the course. Ideally this paper should be a part of your own research investigations. For this course, I am quite flexible about the nature of the writing requirements and will be interested in your suggestions for critically engaged papers.

Final Papers are due no later than Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at noon. Please hand papers in, in hard copy, to 46 GowenHall or my mailbox in the Political Science department. I do not accept emailed papers. Late papers will receive a .3 grade deduction per day. Papers turned in late risk not being graded by the end of the quarter, in which case students will receive an “I” on their grade report.

Participation – This course aims to encourage and enhance critical thinking and analytical skills. For this reason, discussion is a crucial component of learning in this class. While you will not be graded on the quality of statements made, ‘vigorous’ discussion is required.

Grading – Grades will be based on reading response go-posts (20%), discussion facilitation (2 x 10%), book reviews (2 x 10%), final paper (20%), and active, engaged participation (20%).

Texts – There are fivebooks for this class. All should be easy to find through numerous online bookstores. I have also attempted to place them on course reserves at the Odegaard undergraduate library.In addition to the books, we will have articles and selections of books in a course pack, which have been noted with the symbol cp. The course pack will be available for purchase at RamsCopyCenter at 4144 University Way NE.There are also some readings that will bescanned and linked to the course website. They are designated as pDF.

Please obtain the following books, listed in the order we will read them (you have an extra week to obtain them and should be able to procure at least some of them from online book sellers at a discount from the list price):

Kamali, Mohammad Hashim, Shari’ah Law: An Introduction. Oxford: One World Press 2008.

Zaman, Muhammad Qasim, The Ulama in Contemporary Islam: Custodians of Change. Princeton, N.J.: PrincetonUniversity Press 2002.

An-Na’im, Abdullahi Ahmed, Islam and the SecularState: Negotiating the Future of Shari’a. Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press 2008.

Mottahedeh, Roy, The Mantle for the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran. New York: Simon and Schuster 1985.

Sachedina, Abdulaziz, Islam and The Challenge of Human Rights. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press 2009.

Course Outline and Schedule ofReadings

Due to the evolving nature of our discussions, this course aims to keep a flexible approach to the topics under consideration. Thus, readings and schedules are subject to slight changes.

Week 1 (Jan 5): Socio-legal approaches to the study of Islamic Law

Pre-assigned readings (these have been emailed to you):

PDFHallaq, Wael,“What is Sharia?”Yearbook of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law, 2005-2006, Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers 2007. vol. 12:151-80.

PDFDerrida, Jacques, “Force of Law: The ‘Mystical Foundations of Authority’.” In, Jacques Derrida: Acts of Religion, Gil Anidjar, ed. New York: Routledge 2002. Pps. 230-298.

Suggested for familiarizing yourself with the basics:

Abdullah Saeed, The Qur’an: an introduction. New York: Routledge 2008 (especially Pps. 162-234).

Week 2 (Jan 12): No Class

Please use this time to order books and to read background materials.

We will have a make-up class for this session during week 7.

Week 3 (Jan 19): Sources, Methods and Science of Jurisprudence

cpAl-Qaradawi, Yusuf, Approaching the Sunnah: Comprehension and Controversy. Jamil Qureshi, trans. The International Institute of Islamic Thought: Herndon, VA: 2006[1990]. Pps. 1-89.

Kamali, Mohammad Hashim, Shari’ah Law: An Introduction. Oxford: One World Press 2008. Chaps. 1-8.

Additional resources:

Al-Alwani, Taha Jabiri, Source Methodology in Islamic Jurisprudence. Yusuf Talal Delorenzo & Anas S. Al Shaikh-Ali. Trans. The International Institute of Islamic Thought: Herndon, VA 2003[1990].

Hallaq, Wael B. An introduction to Islamic law. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press 2009.

Week 4 (Jan 26): Intellectual Development of Islamic Jurisprudence

Zaman, Muhammad Qasim, The Ulama in Contemporary Islam: Custodians of Change. Princeton, N.J.: PrincetonUniversity Press 2002.

cpAmanat, Abbas and Frank Griffel, eds., Shari’a: Islamic Law in the Contemporary Context. Stanford: StanfordUniversity Press 2007. Chaps. 1-4.

Week 5 (Feb 2): Modern Nation-State Formations and Sharia

An-Na’im, Abdullahi Ahmed, Islam and the SecularState: Negotiating the Future of Shari’a. Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press 2008. Chaps. 1-3.

cpFoucault, Michel, “Governmentality.” In, The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality. Burchell, Gordon, and Miller, eds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1991. Pps. 87- 104.

PDFMitchell, Timothy,“Society, Economy, and the State Effect.” In, State/Culture: State-Formation after the Cultural Turn. George Steinmetz, eds. Ithaca, N.Y.: CornellUniversity Press 1999. Pps. 76-97.

Week 6 (Feb 9): Legal Effects of the SecularState

cpFoucault, Michel, “Society Must Be Defended,”: Lectures at the Collège de France 1975-1976. New York: Picador 1997 [2003]. Pps. 23-41, 239-264.

PDFPeters, R., "From Jurists' Law to Statute Law or What Happens When theShari'a is Codified." MEDITERRANEAN POLITICS. LONDON: FRANK CASS 2002. 7: 82-95.

An-Na’im, Abdullahi Ahmed, Islam and the SecularState: Negotiating the Future of Shari’a. Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press 2008. Chaps. 4-7.

Further reading:

Hunt, Alan and Gary Wickham, Foucault and law: towards a sociology of law as governance. Boulder, CO: Pluto Press 1994.

Week 7 (Feb 16): Family Law

cpFoucault, Michel, History of Sexuality. New York: Vintage Books 1978 [1990]. Pps. 103-131.

cpQuraishi, Asifa and Frank E. Vogel, eds., The Islamic Marriage Contract: Case Studies in Islamic Family Law.Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press 2008. Pps. 11-45, 87-122, 123- 135, 200-214, 331-347.

Furtherreading:

PDFOsanloo, Arzoo, “Islamico-civil ‘rights talk’: women, subjectivity, and law in Iranian family court,” American Ethnologist, 33(2): 191-209, May 2006.

Week 7 (Feb 19): Criminal Sanctioning

cpFoucault, Michel,Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage Books 1977 [1995]. Pps. 3-31, 73-103, 135-169.

cpPeters, Rudolph, Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-first Century. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press 2005. Pps. 6-68 & 142-185.

Kamali, Shari’ah Law, Chap. 9.