All students are expected to come to the seminar having read the relevant literature and taken notes. All the primary sources are mandatory reading. As for the secondary literature, you may to some extent choose what to read and prepare before the seminar, as indicated in the list below.
Curriculum texts that are not available digitally in Oria will be made available in Canvas before the semester starts.
Seminar 1: What is Islamism?
Mandatory reading
International Crisis Group (2005) Understanding Islamism. Available at: https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/understanding-islamism
Ayubi, Nazih N. Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Arab World. London: Routledge, 1991, ch. 3
Read at least one of the following
Rahnema, Ali. Pioneers of Islamic Revival. London: Zed Books, 1994, chs. Introduction, Introduction to first edition
Bayat, Asef. ‘Islamism and Social Movement Theory’. Third World Quarterly 26 (2005): 891–908.
Shehata, Samer S. Islamist Politics in the Middle East: Movements and Change. London: Routledge, 2012, chs. Introduction and 1.
Seminar 2: A clearing exercise: Islam and politics in historical light
Mandatory reading
Ayubi, Nazih N. Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Arab World. London: Routledge, 1991, ch. 1
Crone, Patricia. “Traditional Political Thought,” in Bowering, Gerhard: Islamic Political Thought. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2015, pp. 238-251.
Read at least one of the following
Yücesoy, Hayrettin, “Caliph and caliphate up to 1517”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Consulted online on 14 November 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_25459
Calder, N. and M.B. Hooker, “S̲h̲arīʿa”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Consulted online on 14 November 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_1040
Stewart, Devin J. “Shari’a,” in Bowering, Gerhard: Islamic Political Thought. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2015, pp. 219-237.
Seminar 3: The point of departure: Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida
Mandatory reading
Kurzman, Charles, ed. Modernist Islam, 1840-1940: A Sourcebook. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, chapters 3 and 6 (19 pages)
Hourani, Albert. Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939. Cambridge Cambridgeshire ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983, chs. 5,6 and 7 (pp. 103-192)
Rahnema, Ali. Pioneers of Islamic Revival. London: Zed Books, 1994, ch. 3
Seminar 4: Hasan al-Banna and the Muslim Brothers
Mandatory reading
al-Banna, Hasan: “Towards the Light”
Rahnema, Ali. Pioneers of Islamic Revival. London: Zed Books, 1994, ch. 6
Read at least one of the following
Mitchell, Richard P. The Society of the Muslim Brothers. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 209-295.
El-Ghobashy, Mona. “The Metamorphosis of the Egyptian Muslim Brothers.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 37, no. 3 (August 2005): 373–95. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743805052128.
Seminar 5: Salafism
Mandatory reading
Abu Qatada. “Condemnation on the Democratic Process, Voting, and the Islāmic Stances on These Issues.” at-Tibyān Publications, n.d.
Haykel, Bernard. “On the Nature of Salafi Thought and Action.” In Roel Meijer, ed. Global Salafism: Islam’s New Religious Movement, pp.33–51. London: Hurst & Company, 2009.
Lauzière, Henri. “The Construction of Salafiyya: Reconsidering Salafism from the Perspective of Conceptual History.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 42, no. 03 (2010): 369–89. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743810000401.
Seminar 6: Khomeini and shi'a Islamism
Mandatory reading
Ayatollah Khomeini: Islamic government (p. 1-66)
Enayat, Hamid. «Iran: Khumayni’s Concept of the ‘Guardianship of the Jurisconsult.’” In James Piscatori (ed.):Islam in the Political Process. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1989): 160-180.
Seminar 7: Sayyid Qutb and Islamic radicalism
Mandatory reading
Qutb, Sayyid: Milestones. Or in Norwegian: Qutb, Sayyid (2004): Milepæler. Oslo: L.S.P. forlag (120 pages)
Rahnema, Ali. Pioneers of Islamic Revival. London: Zed Books, 1994, ch. 7
Shepard, William E. ‘SAYYID QUTB’S DOCTRINE OF JĀHILIYYA’. International Journal of Middle East Studies 35, no. 4 (November 2003): 521–45. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743803000229.
Seminar 8: Yusuf al-Qaradawi and contemporary mainstream Islamism
Mandatory reading
Qaradawi, Yusuf: Priorities of The Islamic Movement in The Coming Phase, chs. Introduction, 1 and 4 (field of intellect and knowledge, plus political and world levels)
Read at least two of the following
Chapter 3 and/or 6 in Zaman, Muhammad Qasim. Modern Islamic Thought in a Radical Age: Religious Authority and Internal Criticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
One or two chapters in Graf, Bettina, and Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen, eds. Global Mufti: The Phenomenon of Yusuf Al-Qaradawi. 1 edition. London: Hurst, 2009.
Seminar 9: Islamism and the public order in the Arab world
Read at least three of the following
Al-Azmeh, Aziz. «Islamism and the Arabs,” in Islams and Modernities. London: Verso, 1996, chapter 4, (20 pages)
Bayat, Asef. «Islamism and the politics of fun». Public Culture 19, nr. 3 (2007): 433–59.
Ismail, Salwa. ‘Confronting the Other: Identity, Culture, Politics, and Conservative Islamism in Egypt’. International Journal of Middle East Studies 30, no. 02 (May 1998): 199–225.
Krämer, Gudrun. “Modern but Not Secular: Religion, Identity and the Ordre Public in the Arab Middle East.” International Sociology 28, no. 6 (2013): 629–644. (25 pages)
Seminar 10: Islamism as resistance
Mandatory reading
Hamas. “The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement,” 1988. Available in translation at https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp
Hizbullah. “Open Letter to the Oppressed”, in Alagha, Joseph. Hizbullah’s Documents: From the 1985 Open Letter to the 2009 Manifesto. Amsterdam: Pallas Publications, 2011.
Seminar 11: A moving target: Islamism after 2011
Mandatory reading
Ghannouchi, Rached. “From Political Islam to Muslim Democracy: The Ennahda Party and the Future of Tunisia,” Foreign Affairs 95, no. 5 (2016)
Read at least two of the following
Brown, Amr Hamzawy, and Marina Ottaway, “Islamist Movements and the Democratic Process in the Arab World: Exploring the Gray Zones,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, March 8, 2006, https://carnegieendowment.org/2006/03/08/islamist-movements-and-democratic-process-in-arab-world-exploring-gray-zones-pub-18095.
Hizbullah. “The New Hezbollah Manifesto,” 2009. Available at http://www.lebanonrenaissance.org/assets/Uploads/15-The-New-Hezbollah-Manifesto-Nov09.pdf
Marks, Monica. “Tunisia’s Ennahda: Rethinking Islamism in the Context of ISIS and the Egyptian Coup,” Brookings Institution, August 2015, https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Tunisia_Marks-FINALE-5.pdf.
Yilmaz, Ihsan, Greg Barton, and James Barry. ‘The Decline and Resurgence of Turkish Islamism: The Story of Tayyip Erdoğan’s AKP’. Journal of Citizenship and Globalisation Studies 1, no. 1 (2017). https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/jcgs/1/1/article-p48.xml.
Complete curriculum
Primary sources
Ayatollah Khomeini: Islamic government (p. 1-66)
Al-Banna, Hasan: “Towards the Light”, in Euben, Roxanne Leslie, and Muhammad Qasim Zaman. Princeton Readings in Islamist Thought: Texts and Contexts from Al-Banna to Bin Laden. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009, ch. 2
Rached Ghannouchi, “From Political Islam to Muslim Democracy: The Ennahda Party and the Future of Tunisia,” Foreign Affairs 95, no. 5 (2016)Kurzman, Charles, ed. Modernist Islam, 1840-1940: A Sourcebook. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, chapters 3 and 6 (19 pages)
Qutb, Sayyid: Milestones. Or in Norwegian: Qutb, Sayyid (2004): Milepæler. Oslo: L.S.P. forlag (120 pages)
Qaradawi, Yusuf: Priorities of The Islamic Movement in The Coming Phase, chs. Introduction, 1
Shaykh Abu Qatada. “Condemnation on the Democratic Process, Voting, and the Islāmic Stances on These Issues.” at-Tibyān Publications, n.d.
Secondary sources
Ayubi, Nazih N. Political Islam: religion and politics in the Arab world. London: Routledge, 1991, chs. 1, 3, 6 (96 pages)
Al-Azmeh, Aziz. Islams and Modernities. London: Verso, 1996, chapter 4, «Islamism and the Arabs” (20 pages)
Bayat, Asef. ‘Islamism and Social Movement Theory’. Third World Quarterly 26 (2005): 891–908.
Bayat, Asef. «Islamism and the politics of fun». Public Culture 19, nr. 3 (2007): 433–59.
Brown, Amr Hamzawy, and Marina Ottaway, “Islamist Movements and the Democratic Process in the Arab World: Exploring the Gray Zones,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, March 8, 2006, https://carnegieendowment.org/2006/03/08/islamist-movements-and-democratic-process-in-arab-world-exploring-gray-zones-pub-18095.
https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/jcgs/1/1/article-p48.xml.
Enayat, Hamid. «Iran: Khumayni’s Concept of the ‘Guardianship of the Jurisconsult.’” In James Piscatori (ed.):Islam in the Political Process. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1989): 160-180.
El-Ghobashy, Mona. “The Metamorphosis of the Egyptian Muslim Brothers.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 37, no. 3 (August 2005): 373–95. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743805052128.
Graf, Bettina, and Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen, eds. Global Mufti: The Phenomenon of Yusuf Al-Qaradawi. 1 edition. London: Hurst, 2009.
Haykel, Bernard. “On the Nature of Salafi Thought and Action.” In Roel Meijer, ed. Global Salafism: Islam’s New Religious Movement, pp.33–51. London: Hurst & Company, 2009.
International Crisis Group (2005) Understanding Islamism. Available at: https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/understanding-islamism
Hizbullah. “The New Hezbollah Manifesto,” 2009. Available at http://www.lebanonrenaissance.org/assets/Uploads/15-The-New-Hezbollah-Manifesto-Nov09.pdf
Ismail, Salwa. ‘Confronting the Other: Identity, Culture, Politics, and Conservative Islamism in Egypt’. International Journal of Middle East Studies 30, no. 02 (May 1998): 199–225.
Krämer, Gudrun. “Modern but Not Secular: Religion, Identity and the Ordre Public in the Arab Middle East.” International Sociology 28, no. 6 (2013): 629–644. (25 pages)
Lauzière, Henri. “The Construction of Salafiyya: Reconsidering Salafism from the Perspective of Conceptual History.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 42, no. 03 (2010): 369–89. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743810000401.
Marks, Monica. “Tunisia’s Ennahda: Rethinking Islamism in the Context of ISIS and the Egyptian Coup,” Brookings Institution, August 2015, https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Tunisia_Marks-FINALE-5.pdf.
Mitchell, Richard P. The Society of the Muslim Brothers. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 209-295.
Rahnema, Ali. Pioneers of Islamic Revival. London: Zed Books, 1994, chs. Introduction, Introduction to first edition, 3, 6, 7 (175 pages)
Shehata, Samer S. Islamist Politics in the Middle East: Movements and Change. London: Routledge, 2012, chs. Introduction and 1.
Yilmaz, Ihsan, Greg Barton, and James Barry. ‘The Decline and Resurgence of Turkish Islamism: The Story of Tayyip Erdoğan’s AKP’. Journal of Citizenship and Globalisation Studies 1, no. 1 (2017).
Zaman, Muhammad Qasim. Modern Islamic Thought in a Radical Age: Religious Authority and Internal Criticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.