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 fulfillment 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 shaped the history of the Islamic civilization.

The course is primarily intended for students of the Degree Course in "Religious Sciences", and also for students keen to understand the complex political and religious history of 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.
2) make competent and specialized use of the terminology related to the various political and religious trends and currents of Islamic history.
3) develop an in-depth comprehension of political manifestations of Islamic popular piety and devotion such as the rebellions of the Abbasid age.

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

Sources and methodology for the study of the origins of Islam in Late Antiquity Near and Middle East.
“Orthodoxy” and religious dissent (8th-11th centuries).
Forms of Iranian religiosity in Islamic popular devotion: Nayrūz/Nowruz and Mihrijān/Mehrgān festivals.
Sadhaq/Sada festival and the winter festival cycle in the Sirian-Anatolian region: Mār Jirjīs and Khiḍr-Ilyās.

Bibliography will be given in class.

Propedeutical reading:
Josef Wiesehöfer, Ancient Persia, I.B. Tauris

The oral exam will be a 25-30 min. discussion with 5-6 questions on the subject of the course and on the texts chosen by the student among suggested bibliography.

The course is comprised of fifteen classroom-taught lectures.

Italian

oral