Undergraduate Module Descriptor

ARA2146: Islamic Theological Traditions

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

This module is designed to provide through the study of translated texts an in-depth understanding of the main scholastic disciplines of Islam relating to theology, namely usul al-din, usul al-fiqh and systematic theology (kalam). From the starting-point of an exploration of the competing theories for the early development of Islamic scholarship, the history of the main genres of these disciplines will then be considered. Representative texts of these genres in translation, which are considered as key works in their own traditions, will be read and analysed in class, in order to gain a 'first-hand' experience of their form and content, and thus to gain an insight into the milieux which produced them, the epistemological basis of the disciplines, the structure of arguments and the main foci of debates in changing historical settings.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. Understand the characteristics of the main genres of Islamic scholarship, the prominent authors, the topics with which their works are concerned, and the competing academic approaches to interpreting them. 2. analyse and contextualise primary texts in translation from the different genres of theological production in Islam
Discipline-Specific Skills	3. Understand a religious and intellectual culture through the genres of its literary output,. 4. Compare this first-hand exposure to the academic descriptions in recent scholarship, in order to identify their relevant strengths and shortcomings.
Personal and Key Skills	5. Demonstrate transferable skills in analysis and interpretation, as well as in evaluating arguments 6. assess every approach from its own methodological basis and assumptions 7. Demonstrate the ability to find, digest, select and organise material to produce a coherent and reasoned argument in time to meet deadlines. 8. demonstrate the ability to work independently, within a limited time frame, and without access to external sources, to complete a specified task.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Muslim revelation and debates on authenticity: Qur'an and sunna

Introduction to theological schools

Arguing about God and its validity
Who is a believer? Community, creeds and heresy
Scholarly consensus
The imamate
Prophecy and miracles
Moral agency and moral value
Mystical theology

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
22	128	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	11	Seminar discussions and presentations
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	11	Lectures
Guided Independent Study	72	Preparation of each weeks reading
Guided Independent Study	56	Study to prepare for the formative and summative assessments

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Norman Calder, Jawid Mojaddedi & Andrew Rippin, Classical Islam: sources of religious literature (London/New York 2001), esp. Chs 5-7.

Ignaz Goldziher, Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law, trs. A. and R. Hamori (Princeton, 1980)

William Montgomery Watt, Islamic Creeds: a Selection (Edinburgh, 1994)

Binyamin Abrahamov, Islamic Theology (Edinburgh, 1997)

Tilman Nagel, The History of Islamic Theology (Princeton, 2000)

The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology, ed. Sabine Schmidtke (Oxford, 2016)

The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology, ed. Tim Winter (Cambridge, 2008)