RELI 4304 / 6304

The Koran: Sacred Text of Islam

Spring Semester 2007

RELI 4304 / 6304: Spring 2007 Assoc. Professor: K.L. Honerkamp

Classroom: Peabody Hall. room 219A

Time: 11:00 - 12:15 Class: Tuesdays and Thrusdays

E-mail: hnrkmp@uga.edu

Office: Rm. 201 Peabody Hall

Office hours: Tues. and Thurs. 12:30 to 3:00; after 3:00 by appointment. Wed. 11:15 to 1:00

COURSE DESCRIPTION

An in-depth study of the Qur<ån:

I. As text: its names, definition, and a historical overview of the text itself, its revelation, compilation and the stages which led to its eventual printed form, from the Islamic sources and including the views of western scholars on these sources. Students will also be introduced to Arabic script and phonology.

II. The major themes of the Qur>ån from the early revelations.

- 1. Epistemology : What does Qur>ån affirm as sources of valid knowledge?

- 2. Ontology : What the Qur>ån says on the nature of reality?

- 3. Anthropology : What the Qur>ån says on the role of human beings?

- 4. Psychology : What the Qur>ån says are the centers of human conscientiousness?

- 5. Teleology : How the Qur>ån defines the purpose human existence?

- 6. Methodology : What is the Quranic methodology that allows human beings to attain their purpose(s) in life?

III. Important issues raised by the Qur<ån:

- Jihåd, “Holy War”

- Women in the Quran

- Inheritance

- Christians in the Qur<ån

- Jesus and the Mary in the Qur<ån

- Jews in the Qur<ån

- Moses and the Torah

- Licit and Illicit in the Qur<ån

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The Koran: Sacred Text of Islam has a twofold purpose. The first is to provide the student with essential material needed by anyone involved in research in the Islamic World. The second goal is to is to open a window for the student upon the “Muslim world view” as perceived by Muslims themselves with an aim towards increasing our understanding and appreciation of this rich and diverse culture. It is also hoped that the view through the “window of the Muslim world view” will also provide the student a window from which to view his or her own world.

Texts: (1) Sells, Approaching the Qur<ån, The Early Revelations (AQ)

(2) Reading packet available at Bel-Jean’s Copy/Print Center

Format: The class will be conducted with a combination of lecture and full classroom discussion.

REQUIREMENTS:

A UGA/MyID ACCOUNT, you must try to logon to WebCT this week, if you are unsuccessful, e-mail me. Note that the only valid e-mail address you can use for WebCT is our UGA MyID.

READING ASSINGNMENTS: Read the assigned readings from the texts and the text package as listed in the reading schedule.

MIDTERM: One midterm given on TUESDAY, FEBRURARY 27^th. The exam will cover the historical study of the Quranic text as well as the framework for the study of the major themes of the Qur<ån. This will include the material covered in the lectures, films, and the required readings in Sell’s and the course packet. .No makeup will be given without a dean's or doctor's excuse. If you do obtain such an excuse, you have one week after you return to make up the exam.

FINAL: The final will be given in accordance with the Finals Schedule. The final will cover a summary of the three aspects of the course; text, themes and issues, with an emphasis on specific issues. If you do not take the final exam you will receive an F for the exam. An incomplete for the course can only be given if you have a dean's or doctor's excuse. Both the midterm and the final will be objective and will largely consist of fill in the blank, true/false, word bank and short answer questions, The final will include between 1 and 3 essay questions that will be given prior to the final.

ATTENDANCE: Attendance is obligatory, Three unexcused absences will be reason for a 10 percent decrease in the total grade in this course.

WEEKLY WRITING ASSIGNMENTS (Due every Tuesday)

You will be asked to write an academic summary (content oriented) on one of the assigned readings each week. (Two to three page minimum, 1.5 spacing in a number 12 font). These will be turned in to the professor on a weekly basis. Evaluation will be on a “20 percent basis” which means I will check 20 percent of the writing assignments on a weekly basis and assign a final grade based on the four or five that I have been able to read carefully. Summaries that I have not read will be checked off on a done/not done basis. Missing summaries will be counted as zero. I will however drop one writing assignment when calculating the final grade average. Summaries will be graded over 20 percent and will be evaluated on completeness of content and academic evaluation (how is the article relevant to the study of the Quran?). These summaries are not the place to express your judgement of article.

Make sure to include the name of the article, date of assignment and your name at the top of each summary.

N.B. (nota bene, i.e. Note Well!) The texts designated for academic summaries are marked on the reading schedule with an asterisk (*). THERE ARE 20 IN ALL BUT SOME ARE SHORTER THAN OTHERS.

WEEKLY ONLINE JOURNAL ENTRY

Do one journal posting per week to be posted on the course WebCT discussion forum site that I will set up. Each entry must be posted by Friday. In the subject box for the posting of your message write your last name and a brief title of your posting.

The form of the entry should be numbered as in the following five sections. Make sure you leave a space between each section!

1) number and date of the posting

2) name of the article, chapter, or verse and page number of the quote

Then in the body of your entry:

3) type the quote you are addressing in your posting (be exact) that was the most interesting to you in the section you read. If the passage is longer than a paragraph, either summarize it in detail, or choose a substantial portion for your posting.

4) explain in your own words the meaning of the quote

5) explain in detail why it interested you.

DO NOT UPLOAD YOUR POSTINGS AS AN ATTACHMENT!! FIRST DO THEM ON A WORD PROCESSOR, THEN COPY AND PASTE THEM INTO THE APPROPRIATE FORUM.

ONLINE RESPONSES

B) Using the WebCT Bulletin Board, respond thoughtfully to at least two entries of other students per forum. (You may post your responses to your fellow students until the Friday of the following week.) You may post and/or respond to as many entries as you wish, but one posting and two responses are the minumum. If one of your fellow student’s posting has already received four responses, choose another student to respond to.

Note on grading criteria for A and B: As long as you complete the requirements; i.e. doing your postings and discussion entries on time and clearly indicating that you have put some effort and thought into the assignments, you will receive an “A” (25% of the final grade). To the degree that the instructions are not followed and to the extent that it is obvious to me that not too much effort and thought has been put into the assignments, your grade will decrease. For example, responses such as, “I agree,” or “Awesome quote,” or “This quote echoes my feelings,” will not receive credit..

N.B Given the initial concentration on reading in this course the journal entries will NOT begin UNTIL FEBRUARY 13,2007 AND WILL CONTINUE UNTIL, BUT NOT INCLUDE THE LAST WEEK OF CLASSES. They will be open to all textual material read throughout the semester, whether designated for academic summary or otherwise. The texts designated for general background reading are marked on the reading schedule as (reading). When we begin to read the translations of the early suras by Sells, I hope you will concentrate upon the material in the Quran itself.

GRADING : Academic Summaries - 40 %, Postings and online discussion - 10%, Mid-term - 25% and Final 25% . Grading will be on a curve.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

WRITING ASSIGNMENT

A paper: There are two options for this paper.

1) Develop, in a fifteen to twenty page paper, one of the issues that you imagine will be relevant to you in your future studies (this paper could be the core paper for a RELI 8700 research paper). Your bibliography is very important..

NOTE : Your topic must be approved by the professor, then there should be an orderly process of topic apporval, outline, bibliography, and initial, middle stage and final drafts. Some topics that may be of interest might include:

- Jihåd, “Holy War”

- Women in the Qur<ån

- Inheritance

- Christians in the Qur<ån

- Jews in the Qur<ån

- Moses and the Torah

- Licit and Illicit in the Qur<ån

2) Write a fifteen to twenty page paper entitled, “The Collection of the Qur<ån,” in which you deal in an in-depth manner with the history of the text of the Qur<ån. Include, comparisons with the textual history of the Bible, the Torah and western scholarly views on the Islamic sources. You should use the most up to date academic books and articles you can find. Your bibliography is very important.

MEMORIZATION: Memorize 3 short chapters from the Koran, if you cannot read Arabic then use the transliterated texts from Approaching the Quran by Sells and the CD included in the book.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Prepare an annotated/subject specific bibliography on the Qur<ån, including articles and chapters from anthologies. This may be a joint grad-student project. Present the instructor with you topic headings before starting work.

REGULAR MEETINGS: Meet every two weeks with professor Honerkamp as a group, question/answer sessions, and in-depth discussions of reading from course packet. I may suggest topics for these meetings.

Changes to this Syllabus and Reading Schedule

The instructor reserves the right to make any changes to this syllabus. Changes will be announced in class and posted on WebCT. This will also be true of the reading schedule, flexibility is a key to understanding and should be allowed for in all affairs of daily living.

This course will abide strictly by the standards of academic honesty set forth in the University of Georgia publication

“A Culture of Honesty”

Policy on Academic Honesty