SMNR: Islamic Law and Political Violence

Course Information

Registration Information

Meeting Times

Day Time Location
WED 3:00 - 6:00 pm JON 5.257

Evaluation Method

Type Date Time Location
Paper

Description

This seminar examines theories and approaches to the study of political violence. It starts with a survey of the juristic discussions on legitimate and illegitimate violence. It shows how Muslim jurists, by the 11th century, had developed a sophisticated discourse on the proper limits on the conduct of warfare, political violence, and terrorism. This seminar then explores how these juristic discourses are no longer part of the normative categories of contemporary Muslim societies. The seminar shifts attention to the rise of Islamism and the failure of the nationalist projects of the post-colonial era in Muslim majority countries. It addresses specific case studies of Islamist political violence in local and global contexts. Some of the central questions that this seminar examines include: How does violence differ from other types of political action? What are the reasons for Islamist political violence? How do Muslim jurists theorize rebellion, revolution, and order?

Textbooks ( * denotes required )

Jihad and Islam in World War I: Studies on the Ottoman Jihad on the Centenary ​of Snouck Hurgronje's "Holy War Made in Germany *
ed. Erik-Jan Zürcher
Leiden University Press , edition: 2016
ISBN: 978-9087282394
Landscapes of the Jihad: Militancy, Morality, Modernity *
Faisal Devji
Cornell ​University Press , edition: 2005
ISBN: 978-0801444371
A Fundamental Fear: Eurocentrism and the Emergence of ​Islamism *
Bobby Sayyid
Zed Books , edition: 2004
ISBN: 978-1842771976
Islam and Colonialism *
Rudolph Peters
De Gruyter Mouton , edition: 2014
ISBN: 978-9027933478
The Islamic Law of War: Justifications and Regulations *
Ahmed Al-Dawoody
Palgrave Series in Islamic Theology, Law , edition: 2011
ISBN: 978-0-230-11808-9
Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law *
Khaled Abou El Fadl
Cambridge ​University Press, , edition: 2001
ISBN: 978-0521793117

Instructors

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Important Class Changes

Date Updated
01/09/2019 Room(s) changed