Ashley Mohan 6/4/12 IWS-191 B. Mbengue, Ph.D.

Islamic Studies The general field of Islamic studies is a relatively ambiguous and multi-faceted discipline, which can even appear quite over bearing to the traditional, well-versed Islamic scholar. When approaching the field, it is vital to consider that the elusive term of Islamic studies works as a comprehensive, all-inclusive umbrella of all that relates to Islam. The field of Islamic studies has evolved to include all relative forms of academia, in the Western secular context of science, economics, and historiography; to the traditional Eastern context of theology, culture, and philosophy. As a novice approaching the field of Islamic studies, a passionate and unsatisfied appetite to submerge deep into Islamic scholarship is the first and essential quality required to successfully navigate through this particular field. A yearning to immerse oneself in Islamic studies is imperative to adequately work with all of the sub-fields, sources, issues and challenges one will face when working in the field of Islamic studies. With a basic foundation of strong interest, a novice must then properly approach Islamic studies in a specific fashion in order to gain the most out of their initial scholastic experience. A novice Islamic scholar should enter the general field of Islamic studies by first gaining a good sense of the chronological Islamic history, various languages and geography. After these fields have been adequately studied, a novice scholar should extensively examine the Islamic scriptures of the Quran and the Hadith. Although Islamic studies can appear boundless to a novice scholar, a basic foundation can be established by studying Islamic history first. Islam as a religion and a scholarship holds its history in high regard which makes it an ample starting point when

approaching Islamic studies. In the journal article, Studying Islamic History from the Journal of Interdisciplinary History, the author Rodger Owen heavily considers how extensive Islamic studies can appear to a Western or novice scholar and supports the idea of extensively studying Islamic history to gain a good sense of the scholarship. He states by calling it a history of Islam, the editors have drawn attention to an issue of central importance to any serious examination of the state of field: the influenced exercised by the universal assumption that Islam is a viable unit of historical study (Owens 289). The author continues on to point out that Islamic history can be quite expansive in itself with various scholars distinguishing between specific periods of social, political, and economic histories, however the attempt to study Islamic history must be made because it is so relevant and is consistently being updated to increase its reliability. He states Only when it comes to the history of Islamic studies has there been any real activity in recent years. And this, although confined to a small number of authors, must certainly be welcomed which reveals the authors argument of the reliability and necessity of studying Islamic history (292). With Islamic history being consistently updated, studied, and explored by Islamic scholars, a novice may approach the history of Islam assured that their initial studies will provide them with a credible foundation to the extensive and ambiguous field. Once it is understood that studying Islamic history is a scholarly accepted, credible, and necessary starting point in the field of Islamic studies for a novice, specific periods of Islamic history should be correctly approached in the right order. It is to a novices benefit to initially gain a basic understanding of Islamic history from pre Islamic Arabia to the inception of Islamic religion regarding the Prophet Muhammad.

Understanding pre Islamic Arabia and the inception of Islamic religion provides a novice scholar with the general knowledge of the type of atmosphere surrounding the beginning of Islam. Historical features of culture, economics, social tensions, and various religious aspects are all features to the environment that directly led to the process of establishing Islam and Islamic society. The period before the revelations were presented to the Prophet Muhammad is commonly referred to as the Age of Ignorance and is consistently mentioned throughout Islamic religious scriptures (Leaman 594). This reveals the necessity and importance to studying early Islamic history for a novice scholar before approaching texts like the Quran or the Hadith. Furthermore, the Prophet Muhammad also lived for forty years prior to the revelations making early an understanding of Islamic history necessary to grasp a sense of the Prophet Muhammads character. Early Islamic history can be divided into various subfields by a novice scholar by first studying the Hijra in the year 622 CE, which is understood to be the migration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina. In the journal article, Archaeology and the History of Early Islam: The First Seventy Years, Jeremy Johns reveals the importance of early Islamic writings revolving around the Hijra and its effect on Islamic society and the Prophet Muhammad. He states non Muslim observers already perceived the Arabs to constitute a distinct religious community, with the Prophet Muhammad as its leader and observers regularly kept accounts of this historical time period (Johns 416). Furthermore, Johns implies that the Hijra marks itself as a historical cornerstone for non-Muslim and Muslim scholars because it marked the beginning of a centralized Islamic society and the beginning of the Muslim calendar. The next significant periods of history that are

necessary for a novice scholar to be made aware of are the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 CE and the civil wars which occurred during 656-661 CE. These defining events in early Islamic history reveal the establishment of a centralized Islamic society while describing the cultural, social, and economic climate of the Prophet Muhammad and his revelations. These historical events provide a novice scholar with a basic understanding of how and why Islam and Islamic society was established. The historical perspective allows the novice scholar to view Islamic studies as less general and ambiguous by providing a context. Once the novice scholar gains a good sense of Islamic history, the next step to adequately study Islam is to understand the amount of languages and cultures the field includes. In the journal article Islamic anthropology and the Anthropology of Islam by Richard Tapper, the extensiveness of Islamic society and Islam as a religion is heavily considered. The author states how the anthropology of Islam is understood to be the application of the methods of cultural/social anthropology to the study of Islam as a world religion and associated sets of social institutions (Tapper 185). Referring to Islam as a world religion demonstrates how it is extremely wide spread and encompassing of many different cultures. As Islamic studies evolved, it was first understood that Arabic was the fundamental language of Islam. However, as Islamic society gained a more prominent presence on the world stage and the conversion to Islam spread throughout the globe, other languages entered Islamic studies. Islamic texts, scholarship, and studies have been found throughout the centuries to include different languages such as Farsi, Greek, Indian dialects, and Chinese dialects. Studying different Islamic Greek texts or Chinese scriptures on Islam provide a novice scholar with a profound and overall picture

of Islam and its relation to different societies. Studying translations from different languages provide a more in-depth sense of Islamic studies by building an increasingly clear picture based on the different perspectives that make up Islamic studies. Also a basic understanding of the importance of the Arabic language in Islamic studies is necessary as well because of the religions focused intent to keep most of its scriptures uniform under this particular language. A novice scholar should seek out as many traditional and properly translated Arabic texts as possible in order to provide oneself with a proper traditional perspective of Islamic studies. The geographical make up of Islamic studies logically follows the understanding of its history and expansion to different cultures. Geographical analysis provided by Islamic scholarship provides a novice scholar with a physical illustration of the spread of Islam throughout different areas of the world and the progression of conversion throughout the years. In the publication of Iranian studies, the journal article on Geography by Eckhart Ehlers broadly presents the argument of the importance of studying geography when looking at Islamic studies. He states the intention of geography is to provide an overall scope to describe, explain, and understand the extremely versatile features and phenomena of the earths surface and their interactions and interdependencies, and at the same time geography has developed equally strong specializations in the fields of both human geography and physical geography (408 Ehlers). When studying the history, languages, and different cultures of Islamic studies, geographical analysis provides the physical depiction of where these societies were established and the physical means which led to various decisions. For example, Ehlers states how studying the topography and relief, deserts and salt flats, water and

vegetation, high temperatures and the lack or abundance of precipitation: these and other features influence todays society and economy of Iran and its neighbors; they have determined the historical, cultural, political as well as socio-economic development of this region even more in the past (Ehlers 408). Ehlers makes the strong case that understanding a geographical analysis of the Middle East and other Islamic societies provides a wider context to understanding the history and culture of a particular area. A novice scholar only benefits from seeking out a geographical understanding of Islamic studies. A novice scholar may proceed to analyzing Islamic scriptures once they have gained a basic and proper understanding of Islamic history, languages, and geography. At this point, a novice scholar can approach various Islamic scriptures with an adequate sense of the various features that led to the compilation of these specific religious texts. The challenge of the field of Islamic studies being too extensive is now slowly narrowing because the novice scholar has focused their attention to examining Islamic religious scriptures with the knowledge gained prior. Islamic studies include religious texts in its analysis and perspective because of the fundamentalism of these texts to Islamic society, theology, and religion. When finally approaching Islamic religious scriptures, the novice scholar should be initially guided to the Quran, one of the most central and fundamental texts to Islam. Studying the Quran provides an understanding the Eastern traditional context of Islamic studies. Anyone studying Islamic studies cannot possibly call their quest of knowledge complete without including proper analysis of this text. The Quran is made up of one hundred and fourteen suras, which were delivered to the Prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. Islamic communities and forms of scholarship have

regarded the Quran as the direct word of God and view the text as extremely holy and central to Islam. From its inception, the Quranic text established itself as one of Islams central texts because of the countless Islamic sub fields and areas of interpretation that have risen from studying it. In the journal article, The Dilemma of the Literary Approach to the Quran by Nasr Abu-Zayd, the necessity of studying Quranic interpretations to understand Islamic studies is revealed. The author states how discussions around the inimitability, Ijaz, of the Quran, which is an essential doctrine in [Islamic theology] had captured Arab imagination (Zayd 10). Analysis of the Quran, as described as an essential doctrine, by Muslim and non Muslim readers led to a vast compilation of interpretations of this ambiguous text. A novice scholar could utilize the provided interpretations and analysis of the Quran to attempt to understand different meanings, underlying motives, intentions, and religious connotation of this particular scripture. Analyzing the Quran and utilizing various interpretations of the text also provides insight into the early establishment of Islamic theology and scholasticism. Islamic scholarship was essentially founded through the consistent analysis and interpretation of the ambiguous Quranic text. With the knowledge of Islamic history gained prior, the novice scholar can chronologically understand how the Quran was put together. From a chronologically historical perspective, the religious scripture presents two types of verses. The verses distinguish themselves as the Meccan verses and the Medinan verses. The Meccan verses were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad while he was in Mecca and anytime before the Hijra in 632 CE. Studying the Meccan verses through a historical perspective contextualize the events that occurred at this time in early Islamic history. The novice

scholar gains a more complete and profound understanding of the Meccan verses in the Quran having studied the defining early Islamic events. The same type of historical analysis should be applied when analyzing the Medinan verses, which are distinguished by historical scholars to have occurred after the Hijra in the city of Medina. The ambiguity of the Quranic text is slightly diluted through a historical analysis. In addition, the extensive scholarship and sciences, which have arisen from Islamic studies of the Quran, can be utilized as a tool by the novice scholar to further work with this religious scripture. In the seventh century, a school of theology was established by Hasan al-Basri, a prominent figure in Islamic studies as well. The ambiguity of the religious text and the ability to interpret different meanings from the various verses led Hasan al-Basri to establish Quranic theology based on free will. In Early Islam between Myth and History: Al-Hasan al Basri and the Formation of His Legacy in Classic Islamic Scholarship, Suleiman Ali Mourad reveals that Basri largely helped to establish profound and credible Quranic theories. He states how Basri created the method and uncovered different understandings of the Quran in order to provide further understanding of the ambiguous text (Mourad 772). Basri provided interpretations of the Quran, which established a credible Islamic theology, based on human free will. A novice can use Basris interpretations and theories created in the same manner to further understand the Quran. Following the extensive analysis and various branches of academia pertaining to the Quran, the Hadith follows as an additional religious sub-text, which provides further understanding of the Quran, Islamic religion, Islamic culture, and Islamic theology. The Hadith was intentionally created to aid in Islamic studies and would provide a novice

scholar with guidance in the general field of Islamic studies. Furthermore, the Hadith is regarded by traditional Islamic scholars as an important tool for truly understanding the Quran from a conservative Eastern perspective because it has been repeatedly evaluated and studied in order to provided legitimacy to it as a religious texts. The Hadith itself is a collection of recorded sayings by the Prophet Muhammad (Speight 265). The establishment of the Hadith increased the understanding of the character of the Prophet Muhammad and provided Islam with a more systematic approach to piety because it provided Muslim with insights into matters of Islamic law, culture, lifestyle, etc. In addition, the creation of the Hadith established a system of verification of the reporters within the Hadith text, which ultimately branched out as a distinct subfield of Quranic and Islamic studies. Hadith verification established itself as another form of Islamic scholarship because it was so systematic and specific. The new science of criticism applied to this field of Islamic studies was a method of distinguishing a reliable hadith from an unreliable hadith through the comparison of different versions of a single narrative, after which would be discarded as an anomaly (Melchert 249). This branch of Islamic studies would provide a novice scholar with a more systematic approach in studied the Hadith collections. A novice approaching the general field of Islamic studies will be faced with the initial challenge of having to face a form of scholarship which is extremely extensive, ambiguous, and culturally split between a Western secular perspective and an Eastern conservative perspective. Attempting to understand the general field of Islamic studies by a novice scholar is no easy task and must be approached in a specific way in order to make the most efficient usage of available resources, theories, scriptures and

perspectives. A novice scholar must first attempt to gain a broad understanding of Islamic history in order to provide a basic foundation to aid in studying other fields of Islamic scholarship. Once a historical foundation has been set, a novice scholar should be made aware of the different types of languages and cultural perspectives found in Islamic studies, which further contextualize Islamic history and provide different perspectives of the spread of Islam to other cultures. Logically following the introduction of the various languages involved in Islamic studies leads to the analysis of Islamic geography. Islamic geography marks itself as an important subfield in Islamic studies because it provides distinct physical and human features as to why certain communities in the Middle East were involved in their particular histories. After a broad understanding of Islamic history, various languages relating to Islamic studies, and Islamic geography; a novice can comfortably approach ambiguous religious scriptures. It is necessary for anyone engaging in Islamic studies to analyze and attempt to understand the Quran, which is one of the most central and fundamental texts to Islam. The Quran provides a novice Islamic scholar with insight into Islamic religion and also provides further subfields to understand different interpretations and theories surrounding the religious scripture. A novice scholar can conclude the journey through Islamic studies by engaging with the Hadith and Hadith science.

References Archaeology and the History of Early Islam: The First Seventy Years Jeremy Johns Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient , Vol. 46, No. 4 (2003), pp. 411-436 History of Islamic Philosophy Oliver Leaman Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London , Vol. 57, No. 3 (1994), pp. 593-594 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/619326 Narrative Structures in the Hadth R. Marston Speight Journal of Near Eastern Studies , Vol. 59, No. 4 (Oct., 2000), pp. 265-271 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/545783 Geography Eckart Ehlers Iranian Studies , Vol. 31, No. 3/4, A Review of the "Encyclopaedia Iranica" (Summer Autumn, 1998), pp. 407-416 "Islamic Anthropology" and the "Anthropology of Islam" Richard Tapper Anthropological Quarterly , Vol. 68, No. 3, Anthropological Analysis and Islamic Texts (Jul., 1995), pp. 185-193 Studying Islamic History The Cambridge History of Islam by Peter M. Holt; A. K. S. Lambton; Bernard Lewis Review by: Roger Owen The Journal of Interdisciplinary History , Vol. 4, No. 2 (Autumn, 1973), pp. 287-298 Early Islam between Myth and History; Al-Hasan Al Basri and the Formation of His Legacy in Classical Islamic Scholarship Suleiman Ali Mourad Journal of the American Oriental Society 128.4 (2008): 771-73. Print

The Dilemma of the Literary Approach to the Quran Alif: Journal of Comparative Poets by Nasr Abu-Zayd Literature and the Sacred No. 23 (2003), pp 8-47 JSTOR. Web, <http://www.jstor.org> The Development of Early Sunnite Hadith Criticism. The Taqdima of Ibn Abi Hatim AlRazi. Christopher Melchert Islamic Law and Society 38 (2001): 249-251. Print Research and the Challenges of Contemporary School Leadership: The Contribution of Critical Scholarship Gerald Grace British Journal of Educational Studies , Vol. 48, No. 3 (Sep., 2000), pp. 231-247 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Society for Educational Studies Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1555956