Course
Texts and Readings:
The
main text for this course is Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat
Rasul Allah, translated as The
Life of Muhammad by A. Guillaume.
Other sources will be available on reserve in the Hartford
Seminary Library; some of these sources are available for purchase
in the Hartford Seminary Bookstore.
**Please
note: the readings
may be adjusted during the semester according to circumstances.
Class One (Sept. 9)
The
Prophet in the Qur’an: student search; Zarabozo, 103-147.
Class
Two (Sept. 16)
Pre-Islamic
Arabia: Ibn Ishaq,
3-28; Donner 11-49; Shahid, 3-29; Watt, Mecca,
16-30; Hodgson, 129, 152, 168.
Class
Three (Sept. 23)
Beginning
of Revelation:
Ibn Ishaq, 111-145.
Meccan
Opposition; Abyssinia; Boycott: Ibn Ishaq 143-194.
Class
Four (Sept. 30)
Pledges
of Aqaba; Hijra:
Tabari, v. 6, 112-152.
The
Constitution of Medina and the Position of Muhammad as Head of
State: Watt, Medina,
221-238.
Class
Five (Oct. 7)
Badr,
Uhud: Qur’an
(Badr 3:13, 3:123; Uhud 3:121-128, 152-155, 165-168); Lings,
135-154; Ibn Ishaq, 370-390.
Class
Six (Oct. 14)
Khandaq,
The Prophet’s wives and relationship with women: Ibn Ishaq,
bottom 493-487 (Slander against Aisha); Quran 24:11-34; 33:6,
33:28-35; Kahf, 147-171; Armstrong, 164-210.
Class
Seven (Oct. 21)
Treaty
of Hudaybiyah: Ibn
Ishaq, 504-507.
The
Return to Mecca: Ibn
Ishaq, 546-555; film: The
Message.
Class
Eight (Oct. 28)
Battle
of Hunayn: Ibn Ishaq 566-597 (skip the poetry).
Final
years in Medina; Farewell Pilgrimage: Lings,
317-345.
Class
Nine (Nov. 4)
Midterm
exam
Class
Ten (Nov. 11)
The
Prophet in the Hadith and Spiritual Life of Muslims:
Al-Ghazali, “The Book of the Conduct of Life as Exemplified
by the Prophetic Character,” Book XX of the Ihya
‘Ulum al-Din or Al-Muwatta,
437-492 or, Sahih Muslim,
Kitab al-Fada’al [my
edition: v. 4, 1230-1272]; Schimmel, And
Muhammad is His Messenger, 3-55. (Mawlids; Sufi music).
Class
Eleven (Nov. 18)
Medieval
Christian and Orientalist Image of the Prophet: Norman
Daniel, Islam and the West: the making of an image (Oxford: Oneworld, 1993), 35-129.
Nov.
25: No class
(Eid al-Fitr; Reading week).
Class
Twelve (Dec. 2)
Comparative
Studies on the Prophet: Rodinson,
23-85; Fueck, 86-98.
Class
Thirteen (Dec. 3)
Film:
Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet.