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Class
Prep
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- The
Prophet Muhammad as Hero in Islam
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Today's readings from the Qur'an focus on the prophet Muhammad.
While he is treated with great reverence in Islamic history
and culture, it is considered blasphemous to create images
of him, as if he rather than Allah were the focus of attention.
Therefore, the great monuments in Islam are not decorated
with images or statues of him, but rather with geometric
and floral patterns often crowned with tiled, carved or
painted verses from the Qur'an. The Qubbat es Sakhra or
Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, pictured above, is the third
holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina, because of
its association with the Mihraj or night vision and
journey of Muhammed (surah 17).
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- As you read today's selections from the Qur'an and complete
the Esposito article, consider the following questions:
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- In what specific ways does Mohammed match or not match
either of our working definitions of the hero? Be prepared
to draw on specific ayat to illustrate the parallels
and differences.
- Compare the heroic attributes or cultural values we
found in the Epic of Gilgamesh with those found
in the Qur'an.
 Consider
the construction of the hero in radical Islam and prepare
to discuss whether this construct corresponds to the
portrait of the prophet Mohammed in the Qur'an.
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- Assigned Readings
- Primary: Qur'an, surahs 93—94;
7:157-158; 17:1-22, 73-77; 21:36-41;
27:67-93; 38:1-11; 46:7-14
- Secondary: Finish reading Esposito, "Mohammed
and the Quran: Messenger and Message" (ERes); online
class prep
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- Further Reading
Esposito, John L. Islam: The Straight Path,
3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
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Juergensmeyer, Mark. Terror in the Mind of
God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence, Comparative
Studies in Religion and Society 13. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1998.
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Newby, Gordon Darnell. The Making of the Last
Prophet: A Reconstruction of the Earliest Biography of Muhammad.
Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press,
1989.
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Partner, Peter. God of Battles: Holy Wars
of Christianity and Islam. Princeton, New
Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998.
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Renard, John. Islam and the Heroic Image:
Themes in Literature and the Visual Arts, Studies in
Comparative Religion. Columbia: University of
South Carolina Press, 1993.
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- Links
- The
Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, an online version
of the text we are using in class, translated by 'Abdullah
Yusuf 'Ali.
- CBS
News Timeline of 9/11 and its Aftermath
- Ann Coulter, "This Is War," National Review
Online, 13 September 2001, Online, http://www.nationalreview.com/coulter/coulter091301.shtml
- Coulter was fired from the conservative National
Review Online for this column, which concludes,
"We should invade their countries, kill their
leaders and convert them to Christianity." Coulter
has been on the New York Times bestseller list
this past summer for her anti-liberal screed, Scandal:
Liberal Lies about the American Right (New York:
Crown, 2002).
- Rev. Jerry Falwell's Remarks, 700 Club, 13 September
2001
- The Interview
- The Retractions
- Pat Robertson, "Pat Robertson Addresses
Comments Made by Jerry Falwell, PatRobertson.com,
17 September 2001, Online, http://www.patrobertson.com/
PressReleases/falwell.as, 18 August 2002.
- Kevin Hall, AP, "Falwell Apologizes for
Remarks," abcNEWS.com, 17 September
2001, Online, http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/WTC_falwellapology010917.html,
19 August 2002.
- Michael
Sell's response to the controversy over his book,
Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations (Ashland,
Oregon: White Cloud Press, 1999), assigned as summer reading
to incoming freshmen at the University of North Carolina.
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- Sources
- Photographs: Catherine Murphy, "Qubbat es Sakhra
(The Dome of the Rock) on the Haram esh-Sharif, Jerusalem
(O-419), 1995," and AP/Al Jazeera, from "Bin Laden:
U.S. 'Full of Fear,'" JS Online: Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel, 7 October 2001, Online, http://www.jsonline.com/
news/attack/oct01/binladen100701.asp, 9 September 2002.
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