REL 410/510 Apocalypticism and the Rise of Islam

Apocalypticism and the Rise of Islam

MW, 14:00-15:50

Professor: Dr. Stephen Shoemaker
Office: 348 Susan Campbell; Office Hours: MW 3:30-4:30 (or by appointment)  Telephone: 346-4998; Email: sshoemak (at) uoregon (dot) edu

Course Description

This course seeks to understand the beginnings of Islam by situating it within the trajectory of imperial apocalypticism that emerged in late ancient Christianity and Judaism. Among other things, this perspective explains how the Qur’an’s fervent belief in the imminent end of the world coincides with the importance that Muhammad and his earliest followers placed on worldly conquest and imperial expansion. The political eschatologies of early Byzantine Christianity and Judaism show that imperial ambition often went hand in hand with beliefs about the end of the world on the eve of Islam, thus offering important contemporary precedent for the imperial eschatology that seems to have fueled the rise of Islam. This approach to the beginnings of Islam brings a much needed historical critical perspective to the study of Islamic origins. Likewise, this integration of formative Islam with the religion traditions of Mediterranean late antiquity offers invaluable evidence for understanding the beginnings of Islam at a time when sources are generally scarce and often highly problematic.

Requirements

1.   Preparation of reading assignments prior to class and active participation in seminar (30% of grade).

2.   Each student will be responsible for initiating class discussion during one session. Students will be expected to summarize the main points of the readings for that class and raise specific issues from the material for class discussion (20% of grade).

3.   A research paper or comparable project (ca. 8-10 pgs.; 12-15 pgs. for graduate credit) due 3/22, 1:00 PM. Topics to be chosen in consultation with the instructor (50% of grade).

Textbooks:

Required

  • G. W. Bowersock, Empires in Collision in Late Antiquity (Brandeis Univ. Press; ISBN: 9781611683219)
  • Fred M. Donner, Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam (Harvard Univ. Press; ISBN: 0674050975)
  • John C. Reeves, Trajectories in Near Eastern Apocalyptic (Society of Biblical Literature; ISBN: 9781589831025)

Numerous other items are to be found online or in on Blackboard.  Please print out the online items and bring them to class.

Selected Bibliography for Islamic Origins

Course Outline  

Week 1

4/3 Introduction

4/5: Apocalypse and Empire

  • Shoemaker, The Apocalypse of Empire, Intro and Ch 1 (available on Canvas)
  • Daniel, 7-12 (NRSV)

Week 2

4/10: Roman Imperial Eschatology

  • Shoemaker, The Apocalypse of Empire, Ch. 2 (Canvas)
  • The Tiburtine Sybil: Shoemaker, “The Tiburtine Sibyl: A New Translation and Introduction.” (Canvas)

4/12: Roman Imperial Eschatology

  • Shoemaker, The Apocalypse of Empire, Ch. 2 (Canvas)
  • Kosmas Indikopleustes, Christian Topography, II.73-5 (Canvas)
  • The Apocalypse of Ps.-Methodius, 13-14 (Canvas)
  • Bowersock, Empires in Collision, Ch. 1

Week 3

4/17: Imminent Eschatology in Early Byzantium

  • Donner, Muhammad and the Believers, 1-38
  • Shoemaker, The Apocalypse of Empire, Ch. 3 (Canvas)
  • The Syriac Alexander Legend (in Budge, History of Alexander, 144-61: Canvas)
  • Bowersock, Empires in Collision, Ch. 2

4/19: Imminent Eschatology in Early Byzantium

  • Shoemaker, The Apocalypse of Empire, Ch. 3
  • The Syriac Alexander Poem (in Budge, History of Alexander, 163-200: Canvas)
  • Bowersock, Empires in Collision, Ch. 3

Week 4

4/24: Imminent Eschatology in Late Ancient Judaism

  • Shoemaker, The Apocalypse of Empire, Ch. 4
  • Sefer Elijah (Reeves, 29-39)
  • Sefer Zerubbabel (Reeves, 40-66)

4/26: Imminent Eschatology in Late Ancient Zoroastrianism

  • Shoemaker, The Apocalypse of Empire, Ch. 4 (Canvas)
  • Jāmāsp Nāmag 16 (Canvas)
  • Károly Czeglédy, “Bahrām Čōbīn and the Persian Apocalyptic Literature.” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 8 (1958): 21-43. (Canvas)

Week 5

5/1: Eschatology and the Rise of Islam: The First Reports

  • Donner, Muhammad and the Believers, 39-56
  • Shoemaker, The Apocalypse of Empire, Ch. 5 (Canvas)
  • Teaching of Jacob the Newly Baptized (Shoemaker, A Prophet Has Appeared: Canvas)
  • Sebeos, Chronicle (Shoemaker, A Prophet Has Appeared: Canvas)

5/3: Eschatology and the Rise of Islam: The Qur’an

  • Shoemaker, The Apocalypse of Empire, Ch. 5 (Canvas)
  • M. Kister, “A Booth Like the Booth of Moses” (Canvas)
  • Qur’an (selections): Suras 18, 30, 110 (Canvas)

Week 6

5/8 NO CLASS: Instructor at Berlin Conference on Islam and Eschatology

5/10 NO CLASS: Instructor at Berlin Conference on Islam and Eschatology

Week 7

5/15: Confessional Boundaries and the Community of the Believers

  • Donner, Muhammad and the Believers,56-89, 90-106
  • The Constitution of Medina (Donner, 227-32)
  • Sebeos, Chronicle (Shoemaker, A Prophet Has Appeared: Canvas)
  • Patricia Crone and Michael Cook, Hagarism, 3-9 (Canvas)

5/17: Confessional Boundaries and the Community of the Believers

  • Donner, Muhammad and the Believers, 106-44.
  • Apocalypse of Rabbi Shimon (Reeves, 76-89)
  • Uri Rubin, Between Bible and Qurʾān, 11-35 (Canvas)
  • Suliman Bashear, “Qibla Musharriqa and Early Muslim Prayer in Churches.” The Muslim World 81 (1991): 267-82 (Canvas)

Week 8

5/22: Jerusalem, the Holy Land, and Early Islamic Eschatology

  • Shoemaker, The Apocalypse of Empire, Ch. 6 (Canvas)
  • Sebeos, Chronicle (Shoemaker, A Prophet Has Appeared: Canvas)
  • John Moschos, Spiritual Meadow, Georgian version (Shoemaker, A Prophet Has Appeared: Canvas)
  • Arculf, On the Holy Places, 1.I (Canvas)
  • Robert G. Hoyland, Seeing Islam as Others Saw It, 561-73 (Canvas)
  • S. D. Goitein, “The Sanctity of Jerusalem and Palestine in Early Islam.” In Studies in Islamic History and Institutions, 135-48. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1966 (Canvas)
  • Ofer Livne-Kafri, “A Note on Some Traditions of Faḍāʾil al-Quds.” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 14 (1991): 71-83 (Canvas)

5/24 NO CLASS: Instructor at NAPS Conference

Week 9

5/29  NO CLASS: Memorial Day Holiday

5/31: Jerusalem, the Holy Land, and Early Islamic Eschatology

  • Shoemaker, The Apocalypse of Empire, Ch. 6 (Canvas)
  • Sibṭ Ibn al-Jawzī, Mirʾāt al-Zamān (in article below)
  • Amikam Elad, “Why Did ʿAbd al-Malik Build the Dome of the Rock?: A Re-examination of the Muslim Sources.” In Bayt al-Maqdis: ʿAbd al-Malik’s Jerusalem, 2 vols. Vol. 1, 33-58. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992 (Canvas)
  • Moshe Sharon, “Praises of Jerusalem as a Source for the Early History of Islam.” Bibliotheca orientalis 49 (1992): 55-67 (Canvas)
  • Ofer Livne-Kafri, “Jerusalem in Early Islam: The Eschatological Aspect.” Arabica 53 (2006): 382-403 (Canvas)

Week 10

6/5: The Early Islamic Apocalyptic Tradition

  • Donner, Muhammad and the Believers, 177-93
  • Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād, The Book of Tribulations (selections: Canvas)

6/7: The ‘Abd al-Malik and the Beginnings of Islam

  • Robinson, ʿAbd al-Malik, 1-9, 31-48, 59-80 (Canvas)
  • Donner, Muhammad and the Believers, 194-224, 233-35
  • Robert G. Hoyland, Seeing Islam as Others Saw It, 545-59 (Canvas)

Final Paper Due: In Class 6/7