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Semester 2

Gender and Ethics in Islam (DIVI10114)

Subject

Divinity

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Visiting students are most welcome to enroll, as well as UoE students from other schools / departments.

Course Summary

This course explores how scripture, theology and social realities reflect the complex and competing claims around issues of gender, sexuality, and ethics in Islamic thought and society.

Course Description

Description: This course explores how scripture, theology and social realities reflect the complex and competing claims around issues of gender, sexuality, and ethics in Islamic thought and history. Students will engage with a number of human rights and feminist debates, and how they have been placed in a critical conversation with the Islamic intellectual tradition. Content: In terms of format, the course will be divided roughly between social history and textual hermeneutics. The first half of the course will seek to gender Muslim history, unearthing the realities, roles, and contributions of women and queer people in different 'moments' in Muslim pasts, in particular the formative period. The second half will pivot to hermeneutical method, exploring the creative ways in which female and queer theologians have reread key Islamic texts - including the Qur'an, hadith (prophetic traditions), Islamic law, and liturgical norms - in order to produce more gender inclusive and egalitarian spaces through an Islamic discursive framework. Throughout the course, broader ethical issues will be thematically engaged from a feminist perspective, including (but not limited to) ontological equality, leadership, religious authority, sexual pleasure and fulfilment, reproductive rights, and bodily well-being / harm. Student Learning Experience: Engagement with primary source material in translation - in particular the Qur'an and early Islamic texts - is a central part of the learning journey, supplemented by secondary source readings. The weekly lecture will provide a broader framing and contextualisation of the weekly topic, and the tutorials will be devoted to discussing the themes, debates, and engrained assumptions within the assigned texts. Through a critical review assignment and research essay - discussed below - students will have the opportunity to engage with existing literature in the field, focusing on topics of particular interest to them.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 90%, Practical Exam 10%

view the timetable and further details for this course