RELI 5559: Islamic Theological Texts

Fall 2017
Time: Thursday 2:00-4:30pm
Location: Nau Hall 152

Instructor: Ryan Schaffner

Email: rschaffner@virginia.edu
Office: Nau Hall 152
Office Hours: Thursdays 10:00-12:00 and by appointment

This course examines developments within Islamic theology in the classical and medieval period
in Arabic Islamic texts. Sources covered include the Qur’ān, Hadith, creeds of theological
schools, the works of rationalists and traditionalists, and the intersection of theology with other
major religious disciplines such as exegesis, mysticism, law, and philosophy.

Through reading Islamic theological texts, this course will consider the concerns of theology
(i.e., God’s existence, nature, and actions in regard to humanity), as well as the two primary
approaches to theology, i.e., rationalism (kalām) and traditionalism, with heavy attention on the
former. In addition to primary source texts, we will also read pertinent secondary literature on
these topics.

This is a graduate seminar and you are expected to attend regularly, complete the assigned
material, and be prepared for each class. This is not a lecture course, and every person in the
class will be responsible for contributing to the discussion. The culmination of the course is a
research paper that requires careful research and thorough editing.

Prerequisites: This course assumes a reading knowledge of Arabic and a general knowledge of
Islamic history and beliefs.

Readings: All readings will be available online, on reserve at the Library, or on UVa Collab in
PDF. Readings are listed in the syllabus, but there might be times we diverge from the stated
texts (I will give you sufficient warning if this is the case). November 16th is listed as TBD; if
circumstances allow, this date will be used to explore a particular text or topic decided upon by
the class. The syllabus generally lists entire works for the primary sources, but I won’t be
expecting you to prepare the entire text. I’ll let you know which selections to prepare.

Attendance – I expect you to be present in class. This is a graduate seminar with only a few
students and your attendance is important to ensure the success of the class. Please inform me (as
soon as possible) of any planned absences. In the event of an unplanned absence, please let me
know as soon as possible if something prevents/prevented you from coming to class.

Participation – In addition to attending, it is important that you come to class prepared. There
will be secondary readings you will be required to present/discuss and primary texts you will
need to prepare each week.

Presentation – During the semester, you will be working on a research paper. On our last day of
scheduled class (Nov. 30th), you will be required to present your research to the class. You will
have 20 minutes or so to present, and then time for questions. You are welcome to use any aids
that will help convey your information (powerpoint, handouts, etc.).

Research Paper – You will be required to write a 20-page research paper that will be due at the
time of the normally scheduled final. I do not have any set deadlines for various components of
the paper, but I am happy to give feedback during the semester on any aspects with which you
would like help. I will check in regularly with you to see how your progress is going.

Evaluation:
Attendance: 25%
Participation: 30%
Presentation of research: 10%
Research Paper (20 pages): 35%

Students with documented disabilities: Students with disabilities documented by the Learning
Needs Evaluation Center will be given reasonable accommodations to complete required
assignments. If you have a circumstance that may affect your performance, please see me as
soon as possible so that we can make the proper arrangements.

Academic Integrity: I trust every student in this course to comply fully with all the provisions
of the UVa honor system. Plagiarism is considered a violation of the honor code. Plagiarism
constitutes any attempt to take credit for work done by another person. All scholars must rely
upon the work of others to shape their own knowledge and interpretations. In your writing, you
must acknowledge the importance of other works through footnotes and/or direct textual
references to books, articles, and ideas. Failure to acknowledge the work of others, or
transposing sentences, words, and concepts into your own work without using quotation marks
or citations, may constitute plagiarism.

Class Schedule

CIT – Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology

OHIT – Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology
EI2/3 – Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second/Third Edition

August 24: Introductions, syllabus review, mapping the semester

August 31: Growth and Development of Theology

Readings:
• al-Shāfiʿī, Muḥammad b. Idrīs. al-Risāla fī uṣīl al-fiqh. Pp. 116–122, 285–303.
• CIT, “The Early Creed.”
• al-Ashʿarī. Maqālāt al-Islāmiyyīn, “Creed,” pp. 346-350.
• Watt. Islamic Creeds. Pp. 41-47.
• Goldziher, Ignaz. Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1981. Pp. 67-115.
 • Jackson, Sherman. On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam. Karachi:
Oxford University Press, 2002. Pp. 3-34.
• CIT, “The Developed Kalām Tradition.”
• Wolfson, The Philosophy of the Kalām. Pp. 1-43

September 7: God’s Existence

Readings:
• Al-Qāsim b. Ibrāhīm. Kitāb al-dalīl al-Kabīr.
• ʿAmmār al-Baṣrī. Kitāb al-Burhān wa-Kitāb al-Masāʼil wa-Al-Ajwibah. Bayrūt:
Dār al-Mashriq: al-Maktabah al-Sharqīyah, 1977.
• Abrahamov, Binyamin. “al-Kāsim ibn Ibrāhīm’s Argument from Design,” in
Oriens 29-30 (1986), pp. 259-284.
• CIT, “The Existence of God.”

September 14: God’s Essence and Attributes

Readings:
• Ibn al-Jawzī. Kitāb akhbār al-ṣifāt.
• CIT, “God: Essence and Attributes.”
• Wolfson, The Philosophy of the Kalām, pp. 112-146.
• al-Ashʿarī. Maqālāt al-Islāmiyyīn. (I.291)

September 21: Anthropomorphism

Readings:
• Al Qāsim ibn Ibrāhīm, Anthropomorphism & Interpretation of the Qur’ān in the
Theology of al Al Qāsim ibn Ibrāhīm, Kitāb al-Mustarshid.
• Van Ess, Josef. The Flowering of Muslim Theology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 2006. Pp. 45-78
• al-Ashʿarī. Maqālāt al-Islāmiyyīn. (I.290)

September 28: The Qur’ān- Created or Eternal?

Readings:
• al-Jāhiẓ, Rasa'il al-Jāhiẓ, 4 vols. Ed. 'Abd al-Salam Hārùn. Cairo: Al-Kliànjî,
1384/1964-1399/1979. Vol. 3, pp. 285-300.
• Watt. Islamic Creeds. Pp. 29-40
• Wolfson, The Philosophy of the Kalām, pp. 235-278.

October 5 and October 12: Muʿtazilism: The Five Principles (2 weeks)

Readings:
• Caspar, Robert. A Historical Introduction to Islamic Theology: Muḥammad and
the Classical Period. Rome: PISAI, 1998. Pp. 167-196.
• ʿAbd al-Jabbār. Uṣūl al-khamsa. In Daniel Gimaret, "Les Uṣūl al- Khamsa du
Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār," Annales Islamologiques XV (1979), pp. 79-96.
• Richard Martin, Mark Woodward, and Dwi S. Atmaja, Defenders of Reason in
Islam: Muʿtazilism from Medieval School to Modern Symbol (Oxford: Oneworld
Publications, 1997), 59-115.
 • OHIT, “The Muʿtazilite Movement (Parts I, II, III)
• al-Ashʿarī. Maqālāt al-Islāmiyyīn.
• Abrahamov, Binyamin. Islamic Theology: Traditionalism and Rationalism.

October 19: Christian Theology in Arabic

Readings:
• Griffith, Sydney. The Beginnings of Christian Theology in Arabic. Please read
chapters 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9

October 26: Zaydī Theology

Readings:
• Al-Qāsim, Khamsāt al-uṣūl. In, Eugenio Griffini, "Lista dei Manoscritti Arabi
Nuovo Fondo della Biblioteca Ambrosiana di Milano," Rivista degli Studi
Orientali 7, no. 3 (1917): 605
• ʿAbd al-Jabbār. Uṣūl al-khamsa. In Daniel Gimaret, "Les Uṣūl al- Khamsa du
Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār," Annales Islamologiques XV (1979), pp. 79-96.
• OHIT, “The Shīʿī Reception of Muʿtazilism (I): Zaydīs”
• Cook, Michael. Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2001.

November 2: Debating about God

Readings: al-Qāsim b. Ibrāhīm, Kitāb al-radd ʿalā al-naṣārā.
Manuscript work if there is interest

November 9: The Theology of al-Ashʿarī

Readings:
• al-Ashʿarī. Maqālāt al-Islāmiyyīn.
• al-Ashʿarī, Risālat istiḥsān al-khawḍ fî ‘ilm al-kalām - A Vindication of the
Science of Kalām.
• Caspar, Robert. A Historical Introduction to Islamic Theology: Muḥammad and
the Classical Period. Rome: PISAI, 1998. Pp. 197-233.

November 16: TBD

November 23: Thanksgiving (No Class)

November 30: Presentations of Research

Final: Final papers due