This course covers key concepts, theoretical principles, and doctrines of Islamic Ethics. The course examines how these principles and their applications can address contemporary issues related to various fields including finance and business, social and political affairs, inter-cultural issues, as well as biomedical sciences. By the end of the course, students will work on developing a framework for ethical reasoning around a specific ethical dilemma, as part of the training in problem-solving.

The course teaches students how to work with the major sources and methodological approaches in ethics research. The particular focus is on research-based writing. After situating Islamic studies and ethics in the broader context of academic research, basic research skills will be reviewed and applied. The course provides an overview of methodological approaches and major sources on ethics and leads students to develop a research proposal on ethics.

This course provides a foundation in Scriptural ethics by examining various approaches to the two major scriptural sources in Islam, namely the “Qur’an” and the “Hadith”. In Quranic ethics, attention will be given to morality in Quranic discourse and commentaries. As for Sunna, morality in canonical collections of Hadith will be examined. The relationship between these two sources of ethics is analyzed through the lens of classical and modern scholarship.

This course presents a comprehensive survey of ethics in the Islamic theology and philosophy. The main focus here is to examine the anthological and epistemological questions related to ethics. This course covers different theological approaches to the human action, obligation (taklīf) and ethical judging. In the philosophical part the course covers the main Greek ethical themes and its effect on the classical Islamic philosophy and the later developments. In this course students will get knowledge about the history, concepts, doctrines, and philosophers in the Islamic tradition. It is not only discusses the classical period but also on the modern and contemporary trends of moral philosophy.

This course covers reasoning in the Islamic tradition, covering shifts from discipline-centered reasoning to interdisciplinary reasoning. It examines the principles and priorities of ethical reasoning, the arguments for a goal-oriented or a value-oriented approach to ethics, the contemporary emphasis on the context of the ethicist and reconfiguring the sources of knowing good and bad. The course examines how to critically analyze argumentation in ethical judgments in applied case studies.

This course is a rigorous engagement with the nascent field of Islamic Bioethics. On the one hand, the attempt here is to do service to the field of Bioethics by maintaining the rich meaning of the term bioethics - an ethics concerned with bios (literally life). We examine biomedical sciences and the value systems that shape and guide the scientific enterprise within the larger context of planetary health, climate change and environmental concerns. On the other hand, this broad approach to Bioethics is linked with the richness of the Islamic tradition, according to which ethical questions and dilemmas should ideally be approached at their macro levels and through the prism of communitarian and responsibility-oriented, rather than individualistic, perspectives.

This course analyzes the relationship between Islam and migration in an ethical and contemporary context. Two semi-autonomous areas will be explored, namely: 1) Forced Migration (displaced, asylum seekers and refugees) and 2) Voluntary Migration (economic migrants). Theoretically, the course will compare migration discourses in Islam with modern western theories of migration with particular focus on international human and labor rights conventions. Students will be given applied case studies to analyze and provide innovative solutions that include gender-based problems of migration.

The course covers both theoretical and applied ethics in business, and a critical analysis comparing Western business ethics, Islamic tradition and contemporary field of Islamic economics. First, the general conceptual field asks: "What is Islamic in Islamic finance, Islamic economics and Islamic banking?" Second, the ethical foundations of business, based upon perspectives from Islamic law and the new field called business ethics. The third dimension will challenge students to apply the ethical principles to practical applications in individual and organizational behavior from the region.

This course will introduce the multiple dimensions of Islamic ethics in politics, peace and war from a comparative perspective. It covers theoretical and applied aspects while addressing historical and contemporary political values. The first part discusses issues related to state and society, including the public good, political legitimacy and good governance. The second part locates Islamic political ethics within the broader global context, shedding light on the borders of the Muslim moral community with the challenge of consistency, humanism and ethical pluralism. The third part focuses on the ethics of peace and war in historical and contemporary discourses.

This course will familiarize students with the principles of gender research. It contains four parts. 1. Feminist Theory: from liberal feminism to Marxist, post-structural and post-colonial feminism; feminist epistemology and its explanatory power. 2. Masculinity Theory: covering the theorization of hegemonic masculinity and subsequent critiques and modifications. Specific focus will be on masculinity in the Muslim world. 3. Islam & Gender as an ethical approach: the Islamic perception of gender and related concepts such as matrimony personal status and equality. 4. Contemporary Gender Issues in the Islamic world: ethics and feminism, a woman’s right to her own body, gender bias in politics, law, media, and empowerment policies

This course provides the students interested in Islamic Ethics with the necessary knowledge and skills to critically engage with the global bioethical discourse on pandemic including covid-19. It will be divided into five main parts: (1) historical overview of the ethical discussions on early plagues, (2) the types of ethical approaches and discourses on covid-19, (3) key ethical issues, (4) critical reading of relevant texts and (5) writing a research paper.

This course focuses on the moral questions raised by Artificial Intelligence (AI). It will be of interest for a wide range of students who are curious to understand how the rich Islamic moral tradition engages with global ethical discussions on cutting-edge technologies. It comprises five main parts: (1) Prelude: Artificial Intelligence (AI) & AI moral discourse (2) Governing policies and principles (3) Philosophical foundations & challenges (4) Main issues, approaches and applied fields, and (5) Research Paper.

Tutorial students will have one-on-one in-depth supervised reading of key and impactful writings (classics) in the field of Islamic Ethics. The program will make use of the research output and publications of CILE, including the Journal of Islamic Ethics and the book series Studies in Islamic Ethics, giving students access to (and reviews of) the key publications in the field. The tutorial may be used as a remedial program to assist students who are having difficulties in keeping up with readings. It may also be used to assist students in thesis-related problems.

The Internship is a program tailored for the students’ future work-plans. Students will benefit from existing approved institutions that may later provide them with employment opportunities after graduation.

Learners will be guided to understand the elements of the language, the exposure between them and the language will be through writing, by comprehending written symbols or images of letters and their sounds. To distinguish between vocabularies in the context used initially and then linking them in sentences and paragraphs. Aiming to understand the logic of the syntax and understand the grammar in a functional manner; to reach the desired competence in the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Students acquire a higher level of vocabulary and grammar through more advanced contexts and sets of cognitively and culturally rich texts. Texts on Arab history, contemporary issues, famous Arab personalities and landmarks, will be presented to provide a rich and varied dictionary. Students study fragmented press texts from newspapers published in Arabic on various topics such as: environment, politics, economics, community affairs and topics that suit the potential of students in order to help them to produce their own texts.

Student receive a wide range of high-level texts representing the Arab civilization and Arab thought, texts that address the current state of affairs in the world. All of this is invested in the service of conversation and writing, so that students take the greatest role in creating their texts and ‘adopting’ the language in dialogues derived from Arab societies, and then presenting them orally or in writing. Students will speak on important topics of diverse economic, social and political dimensions.

This course offers a thorough exploration of rules in Islamic Law, distinguishing between different types of rules and studying their authoritativeness, generality, and comprehensiveness. It covers the history of maxims in Islamic Law, major jurisprudential maxims and their inclusivity of other maxims, the rule of custom, and the public interest Islamic maxim. The course also discusses higher objectives of Shariah and jurisprudential reasoning, and their relationship with the principles of jurisprudence framework. Lastly, the course examines the higher objectives of Shariah in the constitutional field and human rights.

The course is concerned with studying the Islamic faith and its features and is concerned with identifying the science of theology and its impact on the contemporary world and its place, then weighing the ideas of extremism with the balance of revelation and reason.

This course covers the different aspects of Islamic worship, including prayer, fasting, zakat, hajj, and the philosophy of worship in Islam. The course focuses on the agreed-upon rulings of prayer, fasting, and zakat among major Islamic schools of thought, along with their significance from various perspectives. The course also delves into the provisions, status, and benefits of hajj and a comparative view of Islamic worship. Discussions on the texts of the major Islamic schools of thought provide a deeper understanding of the topics. The course also explores the educational, behavioral, and social benefits of zakat.

This course provides a detailed overview of family jurisprudence, Where it covers its most important issues, in classical and contemporary books, such as marriage, divorce, Khul’, Faskh, Rajah, Iddah, al-Ihdad, Breastfeeding, Custody, Family maintenance, etc. The course is also concerned with studying the provisions of these issues and their implication, and the difference between them, in addition to Explaining their dimensions from the perspective of contemporary social studies.

This course covers the basics of Islamic jurisprudence, including its sources, development, and methods of ijtihad. Students will learn about the history and development of the science of jurisprudence, its most important books, trends, and figures. The course will also explore the principles of jurisprudence, their modern relevance, and rules of legal text interpretation. Lastly, the course will discuss attempts to renew principles of jurisprudence in the Islamic world and offer perspectives from both Islamic and Western viewpoints.

The course provides an in-depth investigation of multiple intellectual traditions and debates within Islamic Civilization before the onset of modernity. The course is based on readings of key primary texts in philosophy, theology, law, Sufism and social thought. The course identifies major trends and directions of Islamic scholarship, demonstrates connections between fields of knowledge, highlights the changing cultural assumptions that have historically shaped the discourse of Muslim scholars, and explores the contemporary relevance of their works.

This course provides a contemporary treatment of the major scriptural sources in Islam, the Quran and the Hadith, and the salient methodologies for working with them. The course examines competing epistemological approaches to the history, composition, and content of these sources, as well as the interplay between them. Contemporary methodologies for working with these sources and their function in modern Muslim societies are then analyzed.

The course introduces students to the field of Islamic studies and teaches them how to design and prepare a research project which makes a meaningful contribution to this field and the particular focus of this course is on research-based paper writing. After situating Islamic studies in the broader context of academic disciplines, basic research skills will be reviewed and applied in the context of a self-identified research project. Major approaches in the field of Islamic studies will be surveyed taking the case of canonical prayer and significant contributions to the ongoing debates about Orientalism will be reviewed.

This course will focus on the development of decolonial and postcolonial studies and their applications to the study of Islamic Thought and society, including debates around orientalism and women’s studies. Through the study and analysis of key texts, students will engage significant trends in traditional and modern scholarship, navigate critically through the relevant academic literature, and analyze methodological developments in Religious Studies and Islamic Studies.

This course explores the surprisingly close relationships between the forces of media and religion in what is arguably a “secular” age. It will closely examine the evolution of ubiquitous religious content and examine how it relates to Muslim society. The course also considers qualitative methods in analyzing major media narratives that that include such topics as the use of digital media by a variety of Muslim groups, reactions and counter-reactions to extremism and Western discourses appropriating Islam for political advantage

This course examines relations between Islam and politics in the contemporary Muslim world. The course surveys foundational texts, and classical theories of political order, as well as key notions of Western political thought. On this basis, the course provides a contextualized analysis of central debates about the political order, while situating them in the evolving structure of the Muslim world.

This course explores the scientific tradition that developed in Islamicate societies and the complex interaction between scriptural revelation and experimental discovery. It traces the development of scientific enquiry that occurred due to interactions with the ancient traditions of learning and consequently, how the innovations that resulted may have influenced European scientific thinking. The rise of modern science in Muslim societies will be discussed and the epistemological challenges it presents will be explored through a series of subjects such as evolution and cosmology.

Diasporic Muslim communities have existed throughout history and while diasporic communities are integral part of Islam, they have often been considered a case apart. In the context of globalization, their specificity appears more limited than before. Taking diverse cases from the past and present, this course examines the formation of diasporas and their role in the spread of Islam, changing relations to the ‘homeland’ and the broader Muslim community, legal problematics relating to the minority condition, and the interplay of culture and religion in the formation of their identity.

The course offers an introduction into the history of the modern Muslim world with a focus on the Middle East and the Gulf region in particular. It surveys the emergence of the contemporary state-system since the early 19th century in relation to broader processes of social and cultural transformation. It retraces changes on the levels of identity and spatial organization and examines the competing visions of legitimate political order which continue to structure Muslim polities today. Looking at various nationalist and Islamic movements, the course examines the interplay between modernization policies, social change and intellectual developments, introducing students to key analytical concepts for their study.

This course provides a comprehensive treatment of the sources of Islamic law that are disputed with Islamic legal theory and clarifies their significance in contemporary ijtihad. The course clarifies the need for such sources as a criterion for deducing legal rulings in a way that counters the evident errors of literalism that characterize religious extremism. Thus, the course discusses the following non-textual legal sources: the action of the Prophetic Companions, public interest and its categories, juristic preference and its types customary practice preemptive prohibition, Madinan practice and the presumption of continuance.

This course discusses the fatwas related to the most significant contemporary issues concerning the family and society. It focuses on a methodological study of fatwa issuance, including the principles and modality of assessing such fatwas, while also considering the higher objectives of the shari’a and the changing practices of both families and societies. The course discusses issues such as the financial excesses of marriage expenses, divorce and spinsterhood, female employment, and the wife’s rights to the family assets, from the perspective of Islamic jurisprudence and contemporary social studies.

This course concerns the relationship between Islamic jurisprudence, politics and the state and covers three main debates: Islamic jurisprudence and political authority; politics and the law, and Islamic jurisprudence and the state. The first debate examines jurisprudential theories regarding society, the rulings related to political authority and the ruler, the effect of political change of the jurist and his understanding of his relationship with the state. It also discusses contemporary attempts to synthesize the political discourse that existed before the notion of the modern, nation state, and those that were produced consequently. The second debate concerns the difference between politics and Islamic political theory, the ethical principles that guide politics, and the application of public interest to politics. The third debate is related to differing manifestations of political authority such as the state and the caliphate, and how such concepts impact on subsequent Islamic legal rulings, whether they be in theory or in practice.

This course discusses the historical development, the most important writings and the theoretical methodologies, developed regarding higher objectives of the shari’a. It also sheds light on the importance of the higher objectives and their role in facilitating ijtihad as a tool to determine the scope and range of public interest. The course highlights the prerequisites required for the application of the higher objectives and elaborates how contemporary thinkers have applied these concepts. The course also discusses how the higher objectives may be applied in contemporary Muslim societies to address a range of critical issues such as: human rights, social justice, security and the preservation of human dignity.

This course discusses the relationship between text and context through a variety of jurisprudential texts that display multifarious perspectives and views. The course focusses on the methodological tools required to critically analyze the intent of the authors, engage with their thinking, and place them in their historical, social and political context. Through selected texts, the course navigates a number of legal cases disputed across the ages, elaborates the Islamic legal perspective regarding them and compares them to prior systems such as Roman law and pre-Islamic norms.

This course discusses the most significant contemporary social issues that affect both the family and society such as smoking, sexual harassment, domestic violence and suicide. The course highlights the social dimension of such issues and proposes how they may be resolved using a variety of jurisprudential methodologies. The course emphasizes a practical approach and combines current sociological studies with innovative legal applications.

This course discusses various categories of financial transactions in Islamic law and demonstrates how jurists historically dealt with such issues. The course also links the higher objectives of the shari’a to these financial cases and shows how they have been applied in a contemporary context, particularly in the financial sector and in Islamic banking. The course distinguishes the objectives and reasons for such legal rulings from the financial perspective, and provides actual examples from the contemporary context, to suggest novel solutions to innovative financial transactions that are common in the modern age.

In a global context marked by growing inequality and precariousness, social justice has emerged as a major policy concern and popular demand around the world. This course highlights the resources available in the Islamic tradition to advance issues of social justice. The course shows how concerns about social justice were integral to classical Islamic legal scholarship, explores how Islamic concepts might improve on current practices of development and humanitarianism, and examines the challenges that modern structures (capitalism, the modern state, and globalization) pose to innovative solutions.

This course discusses Muslim social and political systems and institutions both in their historical contexts and in contemporary society. Such institutions have laid a heavy emphasis on both religious ethics and social values and this course engages with how they have had a positive effect on both the public sphere and social development. Islamic legal theory may be viewed as being at the core of Muslim social and political systems and institutions and the course evaluates the intrinsic relationship between this legal framework and social development in Muslim societies.

This course provides students the opportunity to develop and design a research project related to their field of specialization. As part of process, the student will initially develop a research question and defend a research proposal related to their chosen topic. Then the student will undertake the research, writing a dissertation that will be defended in an oral examination. The student’s work in this course will be supervised by a qualified faculty member with related expertise to the research area selected.

This course introduces students to institutions, concepts and processes centrally associated with modernity. Focusing on the fields of knowledge, government and economy, the course investigates what is new and distinctive about modern societal contexts. It will examine fields of conflict which have emerged in these contexts. Trajectories of modernity will be investigated in a comparative perspective.

The course provides an interdisciplinary exploration of law and society in the Muslim world from medieval to modern times. It presents the main figures and institutions of Islamic legal authority, showing how they have adapted to changing configurations of power. The course discusses various approaches to the study of law in society through case-studies ranging from crime and punishment, marriage and divorce, and economic practice. Particular attention is paid to the study of law and society in the contemporary Muslim world.

This course proposes to introduce students to the overarching principles that have generally governed Muslim interaction with various non-Muslim societies and how diverse Muslims communities have traditionally interpreted these principles under similar and varying circumstances. The course will highlight some of the best practices that Muslims were able to develop in their interaction with other societies which might be taken into consideration by non-Muslim communities in their encounter with others. Furthermore, contemporary models of successful interaction between religious communities would be examined to see what challenges they pose to Muslim communities and to what extent Muslims can benefit from such models.

This is an advanced-level course promoting practice-based learning and the development of problem-solving techniques, critical thinking skills and innovative practices to serve cultural institutions, governmental organizations or businesses. It offers the students an opportunity to work autonomously on a project of their choosing related to their chosen specialization. Students may choose a topic, art object, or a theme of relevance to cultural issues and societal needs, to be devised with the approval of their supervisor. This may involve engagement with industry or cultural organizations to deliver a small-scale tailored projects to suit their needs; the detailed investigation of a single object at the Museum of Islamic Art, using knowledge acquired in other parts of the program; or the creation of a display based on object replicas or images in the atrium of the College of Islamic Studies with a view to disseminating their knowledge to the broader HBKU community.

This course offers a comprehensive understanding of basic principles of research techniques and writing in architecture. Emphasis is placed on methodological and presentational aspects of architectural and built environment research. Fundamental aspects of communicating research are introduced, including writing and presenting research findings and concluding statements. It also involves knowledge of differentiating between research, reports, articles and critical essays; an investigation of various methods for descriptive, analytical, explanatory, and critical research. Research projects focus on applying research techniques and tools in visual, social and technical terms. An integral component of the course involves the development of a thesis proposal where students utilize selected research tools and techniques in shaping their research proposals.

This course is an introduction to the art and architecture of the Islamic world from the emergence of Islam in the 7th century until the Mongol invasion of Iraq and Iran in the mid-13th century. It focuses on major monuments and developments in the arts, such as calligraphy, mosaics and ceramics, under the Umayyad Empire, the Abbasids, and their successor states in the vast regions between North Africa and the Iranian world. In each context, objects and buildings will be studied both in relation to each other and as witnesses of the social life and cultural sensitivities of their time, using insights from textual sources. Issues of interpretation will be critically considered.

This course is an introduction to the art and architecture of the Islamic world from the Mongol invasion of Iraq and Iran in the mid-13th century until the fall of the Ottoman and Qajar empires in the early 20th century. It investigates such topics as the emergence of a new synthesis under the Ilkhanid and Timurid dynasties in Iran and Central Asia; the art and architecture of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt and Syria; and the three early modern empires of the Ottomans in the Mediterranean world, the Safavids in Iran and the Mughals in India. In each context, objects and buildings will be studied both in relation to each other and as witnesses of the social life and cultural sensitivities of their time, using insights from textual sources. Issues of interpretation will be critically considered.

This course aims to instill in the student a broad awareness of the diversity and the main achievements of Islamic architecture and the various typologies developed from the beginnings of Islam. It offers a chronological development of art and architecture in selected notable regions, the wide surveys will highlight the development of architectural designs of the Islamic world from the 7th through the 19th centuries, utilizing a wide spectrum of materials and production. The course examines the built form, functions, and activities relevant to the social, historical and cultural contexts, patterns of use, and evolving meanings attributed to buildings by their communities.

This course offers students an opportunity to build up skills specific to key media in Islamic art, such as manuscripts, textiles and carpets, mosaics, woodwork, ceramics, metalwork and glasswork. It will involve hands-on sessions with objects at the Museum of Islamic Arts in Doha. Students will thus gain direct exposure to these different types of object and knowledge of published resources to aid their rigorous analysis.

This course equips students with critical and practical skills to approach the display of Islamic in the context of museums. Issues related to the politics and socio-cultural context of display will be combined with aspects of exhibition planning, management and public interaction. This course provides an academic exposure toward the mechanisms of objects and art display in museums and exhibitions. The aim of the course is to explore and synthesize aspects of exhibition planning, management and public interaction either for physical and virtual museums. The course will covers systems and techniques of critical writing for exhibitions and displays for Islamic arts and objects. Students will gain the methods of organizing galleries and teaching spaces; this will include mounting displays and organization plus techniques and requirements for evaluating museum events and visits.

This course introduces the architecture of mosques in different regions from the Andalusia, North Africa, Middle East, Fareast, and contemporary mosques in western cultures. Different aspects of old and contemporary mosques are introduced highlighting the mosque as a building type that became a symbol that functions as a point of reference, and provides an umbrella under which people of a common belief may unite and interact for legitimate human activities. This course develops design propositions from a close and critical engagement with significant built and un-built architectural and mosques exemplars. Working with changing and enduring values and associated questions of style, longevity and contemporaneity, students design a mosque project that anticipate future needs and respond to existing built fabric. Reflective and analytical drawings of precedents inform the production of projects that engage with cultural and disciplinary histories. Constraints for designing mosques are discussed with supporting cases that address typological issues, detailed design, ornamentation, and the impact on the surrounding community.

Connecting the architecture of the Arab world to various interrelated issues such as Westernization, modernization, and the relationship between the architect and the state. This course discusses the evolution of architecture in the eastern Arab world during the 20th and 21st centuries. Its geographic scope emphasizes Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Fertile Crescent. The course examines the production of certain works of architecture in the region as creative undertakings that address specific functional programs and physical givens ranging from technological conditions to climatic factors. It also presents the architecture of the region within the context of prevailing social, cultural, economic, and political forces while taking into account the urban transformations that took place in the 19 century worldwide and in many Islamic cities as well as issues of East-West interactions, modernity, tradition and heritage. The course links that architecture to the volatile conditions that have defined the evolution of the region during the period under consideration, and that have given the region considerable (and some would argue disproportionate) weight within the context of international politics.

This course offers a series of positional interpretations and discussions of contemporary architecture in Muslim communities. It addresses the irony of identity, tradition, and modernity by critically outlining a number of aspects related to the status of architecture in selected Muslim cities including Aleppo, Cairo, Doha, Dubai, and other cities. Through a reading of trends that emerged over the three decades, students will be introduced to the concepts of Pan‐Arabism, Mediterranean‐ism and middle eastern‐ism, post traditionalism, post colonialism, globalization, post‐globalization, and the space of flows and their implications on the shaping of architectural identity in Muslim communities.

Middle Eastern and Gulf cities currently seem to be heavily under construction and rapidly globalizing. Some Gulf cities have been at the forefront of developing into a postmodern city, and other cities in the region have been presenting themselves as attractive locations and global hubs. While some are considered as Port cities, they are outstanding examples of integration into global networks. Evidently, economic ambitions – from fostering trade and production to stimulating tourism, sports and leisure industries – are important factors behind this. However, this brave new world is not without new ruptures, deepening fractures and increasing inequalities. Thus, this course will deal with manifold dimensions of contemporary urban development in the Middle East, with specific focus on the cities of the Arabian Gulf, including economic aspects and social consequences. To situate and interpret these case studies, the course will also engage in understanding and debating theoretical and conceptual approaches and recent interdisciplinary findings from comparative perspectives.

This course provides a comprehensive discussion of the changes in urban land use and the socio‐economic structure of urban settings in Muslim countries. Goals, plans and operations of adaptive re‐use and regeneration of traditional as well as modern districts are discussed. Case studies from historic Middle Eastern and European cities are analytically presented. The course involves a theoretical basis for the understanding of design in the built environment, and an appreciation of the evolving integration of aspects of design and regeneration in different types of environments. The theoretical material will include consideration of aesthetics, urban morphology, rural settlement, design methods and sustainable development, and will encourage multi‐disciplinary and critical perspectives on these aspects.

Since the development of various digital gazetteers, physical environments and spaces have been involved in the digital humanities studies to examine the people’s interaction and viability of spaces in digital forms. This module will explore this new phenomenon from a dual standpoint: (1) attention will be paid to the way our perception of physical and digital spaces evolved over the last years following the massive adoption of digital tools and platforms in our daily life and (2) the course will study how digital technologies interact with a spatially enabled database to retrieve and display results, and how they can add map-based interactive elements to various digital platforms. In this course, students will study how geographic information from history, archaeology and Cultural Heritage is organized using the appropriate digital tools in relation to ‘place making and consumption’. By using spatial data, students will elucidate people’s behavior and interactions toward the physical environments and help in reshaping liable places to suit the societal needs and traditions. In order to reach successful and reliable results, the course will look at the basics of digital imaging, Geographic Information System (GIS), Space Syntax Analysis, and 'Volunteered Geographic Information' which underpins the maps on our tablets and smartphones, and consider how geography features in digital literary and textual analysis.

This course explores the domestic sphere in an Islamic context. It aims to familiarize students with the history, structure, and social use of residential forms in areas that are now a part of Arabia, North Africa and Egypt, Greater Syria, Iran, Iraq, Turkey and the Ottoman Balkans. The course involves an overview of the ways these spaces have been imaged and imagined in art, literature, films, and scholarly texts. This course starts with the development of an aspirational design brief that accurately registers the culture and needs of existing and /or potential users. Skills are developed in the respectful apprehension of cultural and physical diversity and in the effective deployment of domestic architecture. Methods of communication that are accessible to lay audiences and which convey experiential qualities are employed at all stages of the design process in order to know how domestic architecture in Islamic societies contributed to the understanding of typological processes, urban fabric, and organisms.

Research Based or Design Project Based Thesis in Islamic Art, Architecture, and Urbanism: - This course counts 6 credit hours and is part of the core requirements. Either thesis students will be asked to consider potential topics for a research based or a project based work, preferably related to the core research themes adopted by the concentration chosen. Thesis will be required to be a substantial research piece, and to meet the normal international standards for this level of academic study. - Students who are eligible for undertaking a design‐based project of similar standard and length to the research thesis, although the specific requirements may vary according to the topic chosen. - Notably, students enrolled in a track will be required to select a thesis topic that relates directly to the concentration of such a track. Students will be allocated a supervisor early in the third semester, and will develop their thesis proposals by the end of the semester as part of the research methods class. They are expected to have undertaken significant preliminary research on the topic by the end of the fourth semester.

The onset of modernity shook the Muslim world reigniting debates and sparking renewed commitments and conceptualizations on the meaning and essence of an Islamic worldview. This course provides a foundation for understanding the Islamic worldview in comparison to other competing ideologies, such as liberalism, secularism and human rights. It examines some of the contemporary challenges, obstacles and opportunities for the Islamic worldview in the context of terrorism, globalization and universalism. Furthermore, it explores the real and perceived contestations between the modern and the Islamic worldview and the tangible impact this has on global affairs.

This course provides training in research methods from the perspective of the social sciences and Islamic studies. It aims to equip students with an understanding of the foundations of social scientific research. Students will be introduced to a range of core research skills that are necessary to undertaking research and designing research projects in various settings.

This course introduces the fundamental theories and concepts in understanding the nexus of Islam and global affairs. The course presents fun framework for understanding, practicing, and evaluating development, peacebuilding, human rights, governance and institutional reform, sustainability, global health, and related areas. It will begin by examining both the Western and Islamic theories and conceptual frameworks and provide a cross-disciplinary examination of issues central to global affairs, with a particular grounding in theories of international relations.

The course examines various manifestations of global inequalities such as poverty, access to employment, basic human services, etc. The course sheds light on the state of Muslim economies and their performance in meeting United Nation Sustainable Development Goals and other globally accepted indicators of development. Furthermore, the course looks into the role of Islamic beliefs, values and ethics in addressing the challenges brought by global inequalities.

This course is introduces the students to the theories and practices of peace studies. It examines various theoretical and conceptual frameworks that shape the field and assesses their applicability within different contexts. The course also highlights critical issues that are directly related to the practices of peacebuilding and conflict transformation.

The course introduces students to the structures and actors of international Muslim organizational work against the background of the emergence of world polity structures since the early 20th century. It surveys the development of multilateral cooperation structures such as the United Nation and its affiliates and the range of Muslim organizational work ranging from international cooperation in different fields to educational and relief organizations.

This course addresses a wide spectrum of topics which may vary based on the time it is offered. Depending on the specific interests of the cohort, global trends and Integrative Lab Projects in partnership with global organizations affiliated with the IGA program, the course intends to equip students with pressing challenges, issues and areas that are of critical importance for Islam and Global Affairs.

This course examines the locus of faith based development as a form of protecting and promoting human security as a concept distinct from national security. Faith based development and the role religious organizations have been playing through transnational actors—from global elites to NGOs, intergovernmental organizations to supranational bodies—work together to promote human wellbeing fostered by faith based mechanisms, agenda and tools. The course emphasizes particular attention to integral human development and community building that promotes alternative forms of security in a transforming global order.

The course aims to provide students with an interdisciplinary introduction to the processes, events and policy debates shaping responses to war-related humanitarian crises, including emergency interventions in situations of ongoing-armed conflict, and post-conflict recovery in the Muslim world. It enables students to make independent, critical and constructive contributions to humanitarian policies and the implementation of humanitarian activities. The course will analyze humanitarian responses with a particular focus on the Muslim World offering insights into the complexity of local realities in afflicted regions.

Under the supervision of a faculty member, student is assigned to work in collaboration with a local or an international organization or a similar entity and conduct research that is useful for the thesis project undertaken.

This course offers a contemporary understanding of the Muslim city. It draws heavily on the writings of key scholars and the way in which each has developed his/her thoughts on the role of Islam in shaping the urban form, and the overall built environment. The course covers issues that pertain to Islamic perspectives to urban spatial structures, the physical aspects of the urban form, and the role of the socio-cultural factors and legal system in the formation of Muslim cities. <BR><i>This course is the equivalent of UDA 620 </i><BR>

This course provides an in-depth study of the different human civilizations relevant to the Quran in different contexts, including the historical, geographical, and environmental. It compares the content of the Quran with modern archaeological discoveries and prepares students to investigate the archaeological records mentioned in the Quran to understand the history of mankind and the evolution of cultures and civilizations.

This course familiarizes students with the essential research methodologies in Islamic Studies needed to write effective seminar papers, dissertation proposals, and dissertations at the doctoral level. Students will refine their analytical skills to design and deliver original and innovative research projects. The course focusses on the concepts, language, methods, and applications of research that will facilitate the formulation clear thesis questions. More practically it will familiarize students with the conventions of transliteration, citation, bibliography, literature reviews and textual analysis.

This course engages with the central themes of classical Islamic philosophy and theology and assesses its effect on the culture of Muslim life from the seventh century to the present. Students will learn the history, concepts, doctrines, and philosophers in the Islamic tradition, including modern contemporary trends in Islamic philosophy and theology. The course also addresses primary concepts promoted in the Islamic philosophy and theology, such as Divine Nature and the Existence of God, Ethics, and Epistemology and Divine Discourse, and their manifestation in various doctrinal standpoints.

This course will present a variety of epistemological and methodological approaches to the study of religions in academic discourse, with a focus on how these perspectives relate to Islamic studies, and how they may be employed in graduate research. Such approaches include those of phenomenology, psychology, history, sociology, anthropology, postcolonial and de-colonial studies and women’s studies. The course will also will explore a range of pertinent themes, including but not limited to, religious experience, the sacred and the profane, pilgrimage and ritual, tolerance, co-existence, and the “other”, and myth and mysticism.

This discusses the incremental evolution of Islamic legal theory to contextualize the juristic contributions of the foremost personalities who played a major role in its genesis. The course examines the sources of Islamic law (al-masadir), its evidence (al-adilla), its guiding principles (al-usul), its jurisprudential maxims (al-qawa‘id) and its underlying objectives (al-maqasid), which underpin the structure of Islamic legal theory.

This course equips students with the necessary tools to analyze the Quranic text using the latest developments in Quranic Studies. It critically examines the collection, compilation, and standardization of the Quran, exploring its main features, structure, and themes. Methodologies in Quran Studies are applied to key topics including the nature of God, the relationship between the Divine and humanity, prophethood and other religions, as well as death and the afterlife. Furthermore, the course delves into Quranic teachings on pressing issues like jihad and warfare, social justice, and gender relations.

This course is composed of three essential parts: the first examines the Prophetic Personality as it is represented in Islam’s primary textual sources of the Qur’an and Hadith. Emphasis is laid upon the genesis of Hadith as a genre within Islamic learning and its position as one of the fundamental sciences of this tradition. The second part discusses the genre of biographical writing concerning the Prophetic Personality and in particular, stresses the importance of sirah literature. The final part of the course focuses on the methodology of Hadith literature.

"Madinah" refers to the Islamic city founded by Prophet Muhammad (622-632). It signifies comprehensive knowledge encompassing legal, ethical, social, political, and religious aspects, surpassing individual experiences. The term embodies authority, submission, obedience, conformity, and consensus, shaping the nature of the Islamic City. As a culmination of generations' urban experiences, Madinah serves as a basis for critical reflection and reevaluation of the interdependent conditions of urban existence.

The course consists of three parts. Part one focuses on the foundational aspects of Islamic Ethics, including key contributions and theoretical principles. Part two explores the practical application of these principles to contemporary topics such as bioethics, socio-political issues, inter-religious and inter-cultural themes. The final part trains students in conducting research that embraces the interdisciplinary nature of the field and effectively addresses the ethical dilemmas arising in the modern age.

This course presents an overview of the key social and political issues currently facing the Muslim world. It is divided into four parts. First, it examines the transformation of traditional communal Muslim societies into modern nation states. Second, it analyzes the era of globalization and global governance and the variegated impact throughout the Muslim world. Third, it explores the different facets of humanitarianism, migration, and the refugee crisis in Muslim societies. Lastly, it analyzes the Muslim world in relation to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

This course introduces students to gender and family topics in Islamic foundational texts and Muslim societies across different time periods. It explores how religious sources portray sex, sexuality, and family dynamics. Additionally, the course examines historical and sociological studies on gender and family in various eras and locations, spanning from the early days of Islam to the present. It critically engages with contentious issues such as gender and religious leadership, financial matters, sexual expression, spousal relations, and laws related to marriage and divorce.

This course instructs students how to address the critical issue of climate change and develop models for sustainability from within the Islamic tradition. The course addresses the state of the environmental crisis and analyzes its philosophical underpinnings, which are then juxtaposed with the manner in which the relationship between God, humanity and the natural environment is presented in the classical Islamic sources. The course analyzes the development of contemporary “ecotheologies” and the movements towards sustainability and environmental justice in the Muslim world.

This course addresses the issues involved in the translation of Islam’s primary sacred texts and their associated fields of learning. It examines the translation of a range of Islamic texts in a number of disciplines such as Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), scholastic theology (kalam) Arab philosophy (falsafa) and mysticism (tasawwuf). The course identifies the plethora of problems of various levels and layers of meaning in terms of equivalence and transfer of intended message in the translations and will train students in the process of translation assessment.

This course offers a comprehensive exploration of manuscript arts spanning the early days of Islam to the early modern era. It delves into the study of materials such as binding and paper, as well as the layout, scripts, and decoration of manuscripts. Students will learn how to assess and read handwritten Arabic texts predating the 20th century. The course provides training in codicology, enabling students to describe the physical aspects of manuscripts. Additionally, it covers reading various texts, surveying Arabic manuscript collections through printed catalogs and online databases, and techniques for preserving and digitizing manuscripts.

The seminar presents a theoretical or practical topic proposed by the faculty beyond what is offered in existing courses. The seminar is exploratory and relates to the ongoing research of the instructor. It requires active and critical participation from the students with regard to discussions of the source material in the light of relevant theoretical and methodological approaches.

This course explores the development of the Arab-Islamic Intellectual tradition and traces the genesis of jurisprudential learning by examining the influence of Islam’s primary sacred texts and how they shaped the religion’s legal history. The literary production of this evolution will then be discussed by selectively examining a range of texts concerning the principles of Islamic jurisprudence (Usul al-Fiqh).

This course introduces the students to the methodology of Ijtihad in Islamic law through the study of principles and objectives of Islamic law. The course introduces the students to the various Sharia sources and explains to them how Sharia financial rules are derived from the sources. The course is also designed to help students understand the bases of differences in Islamic Fiqh schools, the reasons why jurists differ, and the weight of different legal opinions. This course also aims to equip students with the necessary knowledge of the most important concepts in Maqasid al Sharia and their applications in Islamic finance.

The course is designed to aid graduate students to improve their writing and research skills and is specific to Islamic and Sustainable Finance. It includes an overview of the writing mechanics and process, how to properly conduct research, cite sources and guidelines for writing papers. This course is more suitable for students who want to conduct a dissertation using qualitative and quantitative research techniques and extend the basic knowledge students learned in the general research methods course.