TRADITIONS, CULTURAL HERITAGE AND RELIGION IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD

The course in "Tradition, Cultural Heritage and Religion in the Islamic World" is part of the training activities of the Degree Course in "Religious Sciences" (SDR).
The teaching contributes to the achievement of the educational objectives of the CdS in the area of cultural and humanistic skills.

The aim of the course is to provide students with a general survey of the main cultural and religious dynamics characterizing the origins and expansion of Islam, and its diversified religious and political trends and movements that have concurred in shaping the history of Islamic civilization. The course will also deal with post-medieval political and religious currents that have had an impact on specific realities of the contemporary Muslim world.

The course will also focus on the forms of popular piety associated with pilgrimages and visits to shrines and tombs of Muslim holy men and women. To this end, students will be encouraged to select a specific case and produce a short essay (max 10 pages) that will be presented and discussed in class.

The course is primarily intended for students of the Degree Course in "Religious Sciences", and also for those interested in the knowledge and understanding of the complex political and religious history of the area broadly defined as the Near and Middle East.

At the end of the course students will be able to:
1) define and analyze the key factors related to the origins and expansion of Islam in the world of Late Antiquity as recorded in the primary sources.
2) make competent and specialized use of juridical-theological and political terminology related to the various political and religious trends and currents of Islamic history .
3) develop an in-depth comprehension of such relevant manifestations of Islamic popular piety and devotion as mysticism and the cult of holy figures.

No specific prerequisites are required beyond working skills with Italian and English study materials.

Sources and methodology for the study of the origins of Islam in Late Antiquity Near and Middle East.
The tradition of prophecy and the Prophet of Islam.
The Sacred Text (Qur’an); the concept of Community (Umma); the Caliphate.
“Orthodoxy” and religious dissent (8th-16th centuries).
Islamic mysticism (Sufism)
Forms of popular religiosity and devotion: pilgrims, pilgrimages and visits to holy shrines and tombs.

Agli studenti è richiesto di scegliere uno tra i seguenti testi, sulla base anche del rispettivo campo di interesse. Altro materiale (monografia e/o articoli) può essere richiesto in caso di specifici interessi.

A. Bausani, A. Solmi, Le Grandi Religioni: L’Islam, la religione Baha’i, la religione vedica, il buddhsimo, il jainismo, il manicheismo. Milano, Rizzoli, 1964.

P. Crone, M. Cook, Hagarism. Cambridge, 1977.
D. Sahas, John of Damascus on Islam: the ‘Heresy of the Ishmaelites’. Leiden, Brill, 1972.
M. A. Amir-Moezzi, M. De Cillis, D. De Smet, O. Mir-Kasimov (eds.), L’Esotérisme Shi’ite: ses racines et ses prolongements/Shi’i Esotericism. Its roots and developments. Bibliothèque de l’Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, vol. 177, and the Institute of Ismaili Studies. Brepols, 2016 (no less than three articles from this volume).

T. Karamustafa, God’s Unruly Friends: Dervish groups in the Islamic Later Middle Period 1200-1550. Salt Lake City, 1994.
E. Dermenghem, Le culte des saints dans l’Islam maghrebin. Paris, 1954.
H. Chambert-Loir, et C. Guillot (ed.), Le culte des saints dans le monde musulman. Paris, 1995.
J. Meri, The Cult of Saint Among Muslims and Jews in Medieval Syria. Oxford, 2002.

M. Campanini, Storia del pensiero politico islamico. Dal profeta Muhammad ad oggi. Mondadori Education, 2017.

The exam consists of a 20-25-minute oral exam including a series of questions (approximately 5-6 questions) on the topics covered during the course and on the suggested texts, chosen by the student.

The course is comprised of fifteen classroom-taught lectures.

Italian

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