The Islamic Mystical Tradition (RELI 285)
Spring 2012
Tuesdays 2-4:30 Chapin Hall 205
Mentor Mustafa
Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion
Department of Religion
Amherst College
Office Hours: Tuesdays 11:30-1:00 Thursdays 8:30-9:30, and by appointment
Office Location: Chapin 209 Office Phone (413) 542-2921
Course Outline
Description
This course is a survey of the large complex of Islamic intellectual and social perspectives subsumed under the term Sufism. Sufi mystical philosophies, liturgical practices, and social organizations have been a major part of the Islamic tradition in all historical periods, and Sufism has also served as a primary creative force behind Islamic aesthetic expression in poetry, music, and the visual arts. In this course, we will attempt to understand the various significations of Sufism by addressing both the world of ideas and socio-cultural practices. The course is divided into five main parts: 1. Islam in Islamic mysticism; 2. central themes and concepts going back to the earliest individuals who identified themselves as Sufis; 3. the lives and works of medieval Sufis; 4. the social and cultural manifestations of Sufism and the Sufi Orders; 5. Sufism as a global and multifarious trend in the modern world. (Offered as RELI 285 and ASLC 356).
Required texts
Schimmel, Annemarie. Islam: An Introduction. 1992. State University of New York Press.
Sells, Michael. Early Islamic Mysticism. 1996. Paulist Press.
Al-Ghazali. Deliverance from Error. Translated Richard McCarthy. 1980. Fons Vitae.
Karamustafa, Ahmet. God’s Unruly Friends. 2006. One World.
Trix, Frances. The Sufi Journey of Baba Rexheb. 2009. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Ernst, Carl and Laurence Bruce. Sufi Martyrs of Love. 2002. Palgrave Macmillan.
Assessment
Attendance, Participation, Presentations 40 %
Discussion Leadership: Summaries and critical responses to assigned readings
5 Analytical Essays 30%
Critical summaries and responses to each of the five parts of the course
Research Project 30%
Due Date: By 5 p.m., Wednesday May 9th, 2012
By email only to:
Course Requirements
It is essential that students attend and actively participate in all weekly meetings of this seminar. Students are expected to demonstrate consistent class attendance, critical, in-depth understandings of readings of brief selections from scholars of Islam and works about Islamic mysticismfrom relevant disciplines such as religious studies along with social, historical, political, and psychological approaches to study of Sufism. Students are strongly encouraged to contribute their informed verbal participation in class discussions. Students are alsorequired to prepare and lead discussions onweekly assignments.
Additionally, students are required to hand in 5 three page long essays – generally these essays will be due a week after we cover each of the five components of the course (see description above) and due dates for these critical summaries and responses will be announced in class. These assignments should document salient themes about Islamic mysticism. Each critical response ought to offer an argument about the topic under scrutiny and make adequate use of assigned readings and class discussions about this topic. Additional guidelines will be provided.
The last and most important written assignments must address the broader themes of the course and present the findings in a research paper format (maximum of 15 double spaced pages); students should plan in advance and have their topic approved by the instructor.
Additional instructions about the above requirements will be provided, however please also note the following general guidelines:
1.Please spell-check your written work prior to submitting. All written assignment are to be composed in essay format.
2.Please write in a clear and concise manner and support your arguments with evidence from class discussions, readings, and lectures.
3.Attendance in all sessions is mandatory. Please consult with the instructor if there are any circumstances that may prevent regular class attendance.
4.Work that is handed in late will be accepted only when legitimate circumstances are communicated in advance with the instructor.
Below is a tentative plan of study. The instructor reserves the right to adjust the assigned readings, announce omissions to the list below, and/or assign new readings in an effort to better accommodate the backgrounds and interests of the seminar participants.
Week 1 (1/24)Curriculum Rationale /Tales of the Dervishes and the Insider Perspective
Shah, I. (1967). Selections from Tales of the Dervishes: teaching-stories of the Sufi Masters over the past thousand years. Harmondsworth, England, Penguin Compass.
PART I: ISLAM IN ISLAMIC MYSTICISM
Week2 (1/31)
SCHIMMEL 1992: 1-90. Introduction, Arabia Before Islam, Muhammad, The Expansion of Islam, The Koran and Its Teachings, The Tradition, The Law, Theology and Philosophy.
SELLS 1996: 29-74. Sources of Islamic Mysticism.
Recommended:
Schimmel, A. (1975). What is Sufism? In: Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, The University of North Carolina Press. Pg. 3-22.
Week3 (2/7)
SCHIMMEL 1992: 91-126. The Shia and Related Sects, Mystical Islam and Sufi Brotherhoods, Popular Piety and the Veneration of Saints.
Nasr, S. H. (1999). Shi’ism and Sufism: Their Relationship in Essence and in History. Sufi Essays. United States of America, ABC International Group. Pg. 104-120.
Recommended:
Heck, P. L. (2007). "Sufism - What is it Exactly?" Religion Compass1(1): 148-164.
Ernst, C. W. (1997). The Sacred Sources of Sufism. Sufism: An Introduction to the Mystical Dimension of Islam. Boston, Shambhala.pg. 32-57.
PART II: TRENDS IN EARLY ISLAMIC MYSTICISM
Week 4 (2/14)
SELLS 1996: 1-28, 75-96. Introduction: Spirituality and Embodiment in Islam, Four Phases of Islamic Spirituality and Early Sufi Qur’an Interpretations.
Schimmel, A. (1975). Historical Outlines of classical Sufism. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the University of North Carolina Press. Pg. 23-97.
Smith, M. (1995). Some Early Sufis. Studies in Early Mysticism in the Near and Middle East. Oxford, Oneworld. Pg. 218-243.
Week 5 (2/21)
SELLS 1996: Selections from Early Islamic Mysticism.
Qushayri The Interpretation of Sufi Expression, pg. 97-150
Rabia Her Life and Works, pg. 151-170
Helminski, C. A. (2003). Women and Sufism, In the Heart of the Prophet, Early Sufi Women. Women of Sufism: A Hidden Treasure. Boston, Shambhala. Pg. xix-xxvi, 1-34
Peter (Rabia)
PART III: LIFE AND WORKS OF MEDIEVAL SUFIS
Week 6 (2/28)Al-Ghazali
McCARTHY 1980: 1-52. Introduction: Life and Works of Al-Ghazali (d. 1111)
AL-GHAZALI: 53-98, 245-283. Deliverance from Error. The Correct Balance.
Ben (Deliverance from Error)
Week 7 (3/6)Mevlana Jalal al-Din Rumi and Hajji Bektash Veli
Schimmel, A. (1993). The Historical Background.Imagery: The Sun, Daily Life. Theology: God and His Creation, Man and His Position, The Spiritual Ladder. In: The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalaloddin Rumi. New York, State University of New York Press.pg. 1-75, 131-153, 289-320.
Smith, T. D. (1971). Vilayetname-i Haci Bektas: The Treatise on the Sainthood of Haji Bektash the Saint (A Translation). Near Eastern Languages and Literature. Seattle, University of Washington.
PART IV: THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL MANIFESTATIONS OF SUFISM
Week 8 (3/13)
KARAMUSTAFA 2006: 1-64. Introduction. Renunciation through Social Deviance. Renunciation, Deviant Individualism, and Sufism. Ascetic Virtuosi. In: Dervish Groups in Full Bloom, 1200-1500.
Birge, J. K. (1994 [1937]). The Bektashi Order of Dervishes. London, Luzac Oriental.
Pages 11-86: Introduction to The Bektashi Order of Dervishes. The History of the Order
Week 9 (3/27)
KARAMUSTAFA 2006: 65-102. Dervish Groups in the Ottoman Empire, 1450-1550. Renunciation in the Later Middle Period. Conclusion.
Birge, J. K. (1994 [1937]). The Bektashi Order of Dervishes. London, Luzac Oriental.
Pages 87-218: Doctrines and Beliefs. Rites and Practices. Bektashiism in its Relation to Other Faiths.
Peter (Deviant Individualism, Ascetic Virtuosi)
Diya (rites and practices)
Week 10 (4/3)
GILSENAN(2008[1982]). The Community of Suffering and the World Reversed, The Operations of Grace. Miracles and Worldly Power. Sheikhs and the Inner Secrets. Forms of Islam in North Africa. In: Recognizing Islam: Religion and Society in the Modern Middle East. London, I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd. Pg. 55-169.
O'Brien, D. B. C. (1971). The Structure of Religious Authority. The Mourides of Senegal: The Political and Economic Organization of an Islamic Brotherhood. Oxford, Clarendon Press: 81-158.
Ben (Baraka and Secrecy)
Diya (Religious authority)
PART V: PATTERNS OF SUFISM IN THE MODERN WORLD
Week 11 (4/10)
ERNST and LAWRENCE 2002: 85-146. Core Chishti Practices. The Chishti Masters. Major Chishti Shrines. Colonial Chishtis. Modern Day Chistis.
Ben(Sufis on the move)
Week 12 (4/17)
Guest Lecture: Professor Frank J. Korom, Boston University
"The Charismatic Origins of a Transnational Sufi Family."
This lecture explores the life and teachings of an obscure folk preacher from the Tamil speaking region of northern Sri Lanka named Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. Later in his life, he achieved international recognition when he moved to the United States to continue his mission in Philadelphia. This account traces his movements back and forth between Sri Lanka and the US during the period 1971-1986, and then concludes by assessing the consequences of his charismatic presence on the global spiritual landscape.
Korom, Frank J. (2011) Charisma and Community: A Brief History of the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship. The Sri Lanka Journal of the Humanities XXXVII (1&2): 19-33.
Lindholm, C. (1998). Prophets and Pirs: Charismatic Islam in the Middle East and South Asia. Embodying Charisma: Modernity, Locality and the Performance of Emotion in Sufi Cults. P. Werbner and H. Basu. London and New York, Routledge: 209-233.
Week 13(4/24)
TRIX 2009: 1-124: Prologue. Welcome. Baba’s Bektashi Lineage. Baba’s Balkan Heritage. The Path of Exile. Waiting in Egypt.
TRIX 2009: 125-212. Coming to America. Early Decades at the Tekke. Later Decades at the Tekke. With Baba and Beyond.
Haddad, Y. Y. and J. I. Smith, Eds. (1994). Intoduction. Bektashi Tekke and the Sunni Mosque of Albanian Muslims in America. Muslim Communities in North America. SUNY Series in Middle Eastern Studies. Albany, New York, State University of New York Press: xvii-xxx, 359-380.
Peter tbd
Petertbd
Diya tbd
Week 14 (5/1) SYNTHESIS
Trimingham, J. S. (1998 [1971]). Role of the Orders in the Life of Islamic Society.The Sufi Orders in Islam. New York, Oxford University Press.
Masud, M. K., A. Salvatore, et al., Eds. (2010). Sufism, ‘Popular’ Islam and the Encounter with Modernity. Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press. Pg. 125-157.
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