Winter 2017

Juan Cole

History 231

Peace and Peace Movements in Islam

Instructor: Juan Cole
Office hrs. 2:30-3:30 pm Weds., Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, 1080 South University Ave., Suite 3603
U-M uniquename: jrcole

Course Description:

Peace has been a central concept in Islam from its inception, addressed extensively in the Qur'an and the sayings and doings of the Prophet. Throughout Islamic history, philosophies of peace and conflict resolution have been important parts of this tradition. As in the Bible and in Judaism and Christianity, peace thought and practices have co-existed with ideas about war. With regard to the study of Islam, however, Western scholarship has been one-sided in concentrating on war. This course attempts to address this imbalance through a series of case studies. It surveys ideas of peace the late antique world, in the Qur'an and early Islam, and in medieval Sufism. The course then addresses the age of European empire and Muslim peace movements, from Gandhism to Senegalese Muridism. It concludes by looking at modern Muslim conflict resolution, anti-terrorism and youth movements. This course will be based on class attendance and participation (mandatory), a midterm and a final.

Readings

Books at Barnes and Nobles, Wolverine Access outlets

Fred M. Donner, Muhammad and the Believers (Cambridge, MA: Beklknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010).

Amitabh Pal, "Islam Means Peace": Sources of the Muslim Principle of Islamic Nonviolence Today (Santa Barbara, Ca.: Praeger, 2011)

David Whitten Smith and Elizabeth Geraldine Burr, Understanding World Religions: A Road Map for Justice and Peace (London: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014, 2nd Edition

The Study Qur'an, ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr et al. (New York: HarperOne, 2015).

SYLLABUS

January 4 Orientation: Islamic Peace Studies

January 9 Religion, Peace and Violence

Smith & Burr, Intro "The Study of Worldviews,

January 11 Peace, Judaism and the Biblical Background

Smith & Burr, ch. 3 "Jewish Worldviews"

January 18 Peace, Christianity and New Testament

Smith & Burr, ch. 4, "Christian Worldviews"

January 23 Peace in the Late Roman Empire

Thomas Renna, The idea of peace in the West, 500-1150," Journal of Medieval History Vol. 6, Issue 2. Date: 1980 Pages: 143-167.
Vern L. Bullough, " The Roman Empire vs. Persia, 363-502: a study of successful deterrence," The Journal of Conflict Resolution (pre-1986) Vol. 7, Issue 1 (1963):55-69
Donner, Muhammad and the Believers, ch. 1

January 25 Just War Theory in Late Antiquity

Smith & Burr, ch. 12
Andrej Zwitter and Michael Hoelzl, " Augustine on War and Peace," Peace Review Vol. 26, Issue 3 (2014): 317-324.

January 30 Muhammad at Mecca

Donner, Muhammad & the Believers, ch. 2
Study Qur'an, suras 114-53 (read backwards)

February 1 Believers and Pagans

Patricia Crone, " The Religion of the Qur'anic Pagans: God and the Lesser Deities" Arabica T. 57, Fasc. 2/3 (2010), pp. 151-200
Daniel J. Shoemaker, The Reign of God Has Come": Eschatology and Empire in Late Antiquity and Early Islam" Arabica Vol. 61, Issue 5. Date: 2014 Pages: 514-558.
Clive Foss, " The Persians in the Roman Near East (602-630 AD)" Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Third Series, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Jul., 2003), pp. 149-170 .
Qur'an, suras 53-20

February 6 Muhammad at Medina

Donner, Muhammad & Believers, ch. 3
Qur'an, suras 8, 5, 2

February 8 Early Muslims and the other Religions

Pal, ch. 2
Qur'an Surat Maryam, Surat Taha

February 13 War and Peace and the Caliphs

Donner, Muhammad & Believers, pp. 144-154
A. L. Tibawi, "Christians under Muhammad and his First Two Caliphs," Islamic Quarterly Vol. 6, Issue 1. Date: 01/01/1961, pp. 30-46

February 15 The Umayyad Empire as Multicultural

Donner, Muhammad & Believers, pp. 155-226
John bar Penkaye (d. 690), Summary of World History
Alan M Guenther, " The Christian experience and interpretation of the early Muslilm conquest and rule" Islam & Christian Muslim Relations Vol. 10, Issue 3. Date: 10/01/1999

February 20 Class Review toward Midterm

February 22 Midterm

March 6 The Sufi Tradition to Rumi

William Chittick, "The Pluralistic Vision of Persian Sufi Poetry," Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations Vol. 14, Issue 4. Date: 2003 Pages: 423-428.

Iranian Poetry 'Bani Adam'

Cyrus Masroori, "An Islamic Language of Toleration: Rumi's Criticism of Religious Persecution," Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 63, No. 2 (JUNE 2010), pp. 243-256

Ahmad Jalali, " Jalaluddin Rumi's religious understanding: A prelude to dialogue in the realm of religious thought" Diogenes Vol. 50, Issue 4. Date: 2003 Pages: 127-134.
Coleman Barks, "Rumi's Poetry: 'All Religions, All This Singing, One Song'"

March 8 Akbar and the Most Great Peace

Rajeev Kinra, "Handling Diversity with Absolute Civility: The Global Historical Legacy of Mughal Sulh-i Kull," The Medieval History Journal Vol. 16, Issue 2. Date: 10/2013 Pages: 251-295.
Muzaffar Alam, " The Mughals, the Sufi Shaikhs and the Formation of the Akbari Dispensation" Modern Asian Studies Vol. 43, Issue 1. Date: 2009 Pages: 135-174.

March 13 Muslim Sufism and Dialogue in South Asia

Smith & Burr, ch. 1 on Hinduism
Pal, ch. 4
Parvenu Babli, " The Eclectic Spirit of Sufism in India: An Appraisal" Social Scientist Vol. 42, No. 11/12 (November–December 2014), pp. 39-46
Juan Cole,  The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and Muslim secularism" Studies in People's History 3, 2 (Dec 2016):138-150.

March 15 Anti-Imperialism and 20th Century Active Nonviolence

Smith & Burr, Ch. 11
Maria J. Stephan and Erica Chenoweth, " Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict" International Security Vol. 33, Issue 1. Date: 2008 Pages: 7-44.
Hoda M. Zaki, " From Montgomery to Tahrir Square: The Transnational Journeys of Nonviolence and Utopia" Utopian Studies Vol. 26, Issue 1. Date: 2015 Pages: 203-219.
August H. Nimitz, " Violence and/or Nonviolence in the Success of the Civil Rights Movement: The Malcolm X-Martin Luther King, Jr. Nexus" New Political Science Vol. 38, Issue 1. Date: 20/16/1/2/ Pages: 1-22.

March 20 Gandhi and the Muslims I: Pashtuns

Juan Cole, " Empire's Paranoia About the Pashtuns" Tomdispatch.com, July 27, 2009.
Pal, ch. 6
S. Bala, " Waging nonviolence: reflections on the history writing of the Pashtun nonviolent movement Khudai Khidmatgar" Peace and Change Vol. 38, Issue 2. Date: 03/23/2013 Pages: 131-154.

March 22 Gandhi and the Muslims II

Pal, ch. 7
Hayat Alvi, " The Islamic Principles of Social Justice: Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Nonviolent Civil Disobedience" Contemporary Review of the Middle East Vol. 2, Issue 1-2. Date: 03/2015 Pages: 14-30.
Ralph Russell, "The Islam of Urdu Poetry" Midweek Review, April 17, 2004

March 27 Senegal and the Murids

David Robinson, "Beyond Resistance and Collaboration: Amadu Bamba and the Murids of Senegal," Journal of Religion in Africa Vol. 21, Fasc. 2 (May, 1991), pp. 149-171
Allen F. Roberts and Mary Nooter Roberts, "A Saint in the City Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal," African Arts Vol. 35, No. 4 (Winter, 2002), pp. 52-73+93-96
Eric Ross, "Globalising Touba: Expatriate Disciples in the World City Network," Urban Studies Vol. 48, Issue 14. Date: 02/09/2011 Pages: 2929-2952.

March 29 Camp David and the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Smith & Burr, ch. 8
Pal, ch. 10
Lynn Gottlieb, " Boycotts, Nonviolence, and Palestinian-Israeli Conflict Transformation" Fellowship Vol. 76, Issue 4-6. Date: 07/01/2010

April 3 Muslims vs. Apartheid in South Africa

Willie J. Harrell, Jr., "'We Shall Crush Apartheid': Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko and the Rhetoric of the South African Anti-Apartheid Jeremiad" Ethnicity and Race in a Changing World: A Review Journal Vol. 1, Issue 1. Date: 01/01/2009 Pages: 13-27.
Farid Esack, " Three Islamic Strands in the South African Struggle for Justice" Third World Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 2, Islam & Politics (Apr., 1988), pp. 473-498.
Gerrie Lubbe, "The Soweto Fatwa: A Muslim response to a watershed event in South Africa" Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs Vol. 17, Issue 2. Date: 01/01/1997 Pages: 335-343.
Muhammad Haron, "Christian-Muslim Relations in South Africa (circa 1986-2004): Charting Out a Pluralist Path" Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations Vol. 18, Issue 2. Date: 04/2007 Pages: 257-273.

April 5 Muslims against Terrorism

Sherman A. Jackson, " Domestic Terrorism in the Islamic Legal Tradition" The Muslim World Vol. 91, Issue 3‐4. Date: 2001 Pages: 293-310.
Stacy Gutkowski, " We are the very model of a moderate Muslim state: The Amman Messages and Jordan's foreign policy" International Relations Vol. 30, Issue 2. Date: 06/01/2016 Pages: 206-226.
The Amman Message.
Basia Spalek and Robert Lambert, " Muslim communities, counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation: A critically reflective approach to engagement" International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice Vol. 36, Issue 4. Date: 12/2008 Pages: 257-270.
Manfred Sing, " Dis/connecting Islam and terror: the 'Open Letter to Al-Baghdadi' and the pitfalls of condemning ISIS on Islamic grounds," Journal of Religious and Political Practice Vol. 2, Issue 3. Date: 09/2016 Pages: 296-318.

April 10 Peace tactics in the Arab Spring

Pal, ch. 9
Jade Batstone, "The Use of Strategic Nonviolent Action in the Arab Spring" Peace Review Vol. 26, Issue 1. Date: 01/2014 Pages: 28-37.
Juan Cole, " Egypt's New Left versus the Military Junta" Social Research Vol. 79, Issue 2. Date: 2012 Pages: 487-510.
Maryam Ahmad and James Deshaw Rae, "Women, Islam, and Peacemaking in the Arab Spring" Peace Review Vol. 27, Issue 3. Date: 07/03/2015 Pages: 312-319.

April 12 Islam and Conflict Resolution

David Thomas, " Islam and Conflict Resolution: Theories and practices" Islam & Christian Muslim Relations Vol. 11, Issue 2. Date: 07/01/2000

Uzma Rehman, " Conflict Resolution and Peacemaking in Islam: Toward Reconciliation and Complementarity between Western and Muslim Approaches" Islamic Studies Vol. 50, Issue 1. Date: 03/31/2011 Pages: 55-69.

April 17 Review toward Exam

Academic Integrity Policy: History 231 follows the academic integrity guidelines set forth by the College of LSA Academic Integrity site. Students should familiarize themselves with this document, which explains the standards of academic integrity and clarifies the prohibited forms of academic misconduct. Students in History 231 should utilize the Chicago Manual of Style Online [or alternative guides] for all issues of source citation, along with any specific guidelines provided in the course assignments. Clarifying the disciplinary standards of research ethics and source citation is part of the educational mission of this course, and students should consult the faculty instructor and/or GSI regarding any questions. The penalties for deliberate cases of plagiarism and/or other forms of academic misconduct are failing the course. Cases that the instructor judges to be particularly serious, or those in which the student contests the charge of academic misconduct, will be handled by the office of the Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Education. All cases of deliberate academic misconduct that result in formal sanctions of any kind will be reported to the dean's office, as required by LSA policy, which also ensures due process rights of appeal for students.