MA Muslim Societies and Civilisations

The paramount aim of the module is to develop in the students an ability to think historically about the ideas, events and institutions that emerged in the Muslim world from its formative period until approximately the 10th century.

The module's aim is to develop students’ ability to think historically about the ideas, events and institutions that emerged in the Muslim world from approximately the 10th century until the recent past.

The module will confront a range of subjects and issues related to the Qur’an and its reception, from the meaning of the idea of Revelation to the process of the compilation of the Qur’an to the canonisation of the Qur’anic text as the premiere source of fiqh (jurisprudence).

The first aim of this module is to explore faith, not in the restricted sense of an idea or an emotional attitude, but as an integrated phenomenon consisting of ideas, affects and creative action in society, amid historically given circumstances. The module will then proceed to survey the elaboration of Qur’anic faith, religious authority and ethical ideas in several different genres which came to prominence in classical Islamic civilisation.

Literature in an important aspect of complex civilisations, such as Islamic civilisations, and the complexity of the civilisation is reflected in the complexity of its literary productions. This module will examine such complexity against the background of the uses of language in human societies.

The module will undertake a thematic examination of ideas, institutions, and socio-economic developments characteristic of the Muslim world from the beginning of the 19th century to the present. The module will also be particularly concerned with critically reviewing the long-prevalent assumption that modernity is a singular process dictated by the historically contingent events and circumstances of European history. It will be important to appreciate that, in fact, there are in the world today, potentially as well as in actuality, differing models of modernity. The issue of modernity in the Muslim world will be addressed in the light of this principle. Similarly, the view, once dominant and still persistent, that the Muslim world has been an essentially passive recipient of the impact of western modernity will be critically assessed with supporting evidence, highlighting a range of developments that emerged from within a variety of Muslim contexts.