Humanities 387 Western Religions Fall 2003 Professor David A

Humanities 387
Western Religions
Fall 2003
Professor David A. Salomon
Islam Essay

Choose ONE and only one of the following questions. Some are more difficult than others; choose a question that you feel comfortable with and one that you feel you can discuss competently, completely, and interestingly. Answer it in a complete and thoughtful essay. Your essay should be a well-developed, clear, logical and complete idea developed from a definite thesis statement. Use texts where appropriate to support your answer, but not merely summarize your reading or the lectures. Secondary sources will be necessary; begin with your course text. Any sources you use in your paper must be properly cited according to the conventions of MLA style. Unless otherwise noted, do not use Internet sources. Use the conventions of good essay writing; if you have doubts as to what those are, see either the instructor and/or visit the Writing Center.

Essays should be typed (double-spaced) and approximately 4-6 pages in length–no fewer than 4 full pages will suffice for this assignment, and longer than that is undoubtedly necessary to answer any of these questions in any kind of depth. This paper is due on Friday, December 19 (at the final examination). Papers must be submitted on time. Papers handed in late will receive a one grade deduction for each class late. I will be happy to look at drafts ahead of time; in fact, I encourage it! Papers must be stapled; unstapled papers will be returned unread.

You must, by noon of the day the paper is due, upload a copy of the paper to turnitin.com, following the proper procedure. You have not completed the assignment until you have handed in a hard copy in class and uploaded a digital copy of your paper to turnitin.com.

Read the questions carefully. Proofread your work.

The goal here is to do more than merely summarize course notes and your text. Read the questions carefully. Proofread your work.

1) Perhaps no other issue is as contentious in contemporary Islam as the role of women. Many in the West focus on the practice of hijab as oppression of Muslim women. Nevertheless, the practice is based on at least one passage from the Qur’an: "O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women to draw their outer garments around them (when they go out or are among men). That is better in order that they may be known (to be Muslims) and not annoyed" (Qur'an 33:59). And the practice is also linked to three injunctions in Qur’anic interpretation: 1) Women must not dress as to appear as men; 2) Women should not dress in a way similar to the unbelievers; 3) The clothing should be modest, not excessively fancy and also not excessively ragged to gain others admiration or sympathy. Given this information (and other research you conduct), write an essay that defends the practice of hijab for contemporary Muslim women. (This is a difficult question.)

2) In what sense is Islam a "historical religion"? In other words, how is Islam innately linked to the history of its followers? This question requires a discussion of the various factions, including Shiism and Sunnism, that have arisen in the history of Islam.

3) First suggested in his groundbreaking work, Orientalism, Edward Said argued that there are actually "many Islams." Later (the book was first published in 1978), after the attacks of September 11^th, Said wrote again about the subject in "There Are Many Islams" (full text at http://www.counterpunch.org/saidattacks.html). In that essay, he writes,

Besides, much as it has been quarreled over by Muslims, there isn't a single Islam: there are Islams, just as there are Americas. This diversity is true of all traditions, religions or nations even though some of their adherents have futilely tried to draw boundaries around themselves and pin their creeds down neatly.

Discuss Said’s claim that there are "many Islams" in light of what you know about the history of Islam and the form(s) of Islam practiced in the world today.

4) Discuss the role of jihad in contemporary Islam. What does jihad mean? You might also treat the ways in which the term has been abused, by Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Because the Koran will be your most important source for many of these questions, it will be helpful to look at indices to find the sections in the Koran that discuss your topic. A helpful index can be found at http://www.umr.edu/~msaumr/topics/. There are many others available on the Internet. Do not use interpretations or commentaries on these web sites as sources in your paper; only use the indices to help find relevant passages.