“The Islamic Reformation”

(Seminar on the Nineteenth Century Middle East)

ARBS 542-01
Fall semester 2001

Dr Mark Sedgwick
Office hours: Sundays and Thursdays 9:00-9:50, and Tuesdays 11:00-11:50
Office: 329 SS
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 797 6115
Home page: www.orientalist.org

The nineteenth century saw an unusual number of Islamic revival and reform movements,
some of old and some of new varieties, that fundamentally altered the nature of Islam, both as
practiced and as expressed in public life. The consequences of these movements became
fully apparent only in the twentieth century, but were dramatic, and included so-called
"fundamentalism." The purpose of this seminar is to explore the most important of these
reform movements, their origins and consequences, and to examine to what extent the
changes in Islam in the nineteenth century Middle East resemble those changes in Europe in
the sixteenth century Europe that are commonly known as "The Reformation."
The seminar will be divided into four parts. The first part will examine the nature of
religious reform, the nature of reform in Islam before the nineteenth century, and the context
and course of the European Reformation. The second part looks at three of the more "classic"
reform movements (the Wahhabis, Neo-Sufism and the Sudanese Mahdists). The third part
of the seminar moves onwards, looking at some more characteristically nineteenth-century
movements -- notably the Salafis and the Qadiyani Ahmadiyya. The fourth and final part
looks at the longer-term consequences of these movements, asks why some failed and some
flourished, and returns to the questions with which we started: whether the nineteenth century
saw an "Islamic Reformation."

Texts
Students are assumed to be familiar with the background to the periods and areas covered.
Students wishing to refresh their memories may wish to consult:
! Ira M Lapidus, A History of Islamic Societies
! William L Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East
Both of these books are in the bookstore.
This course is fundamentally a reading course, and there is plenty of reading. The
readings for each week are indicated below. In general, the main texts each week are either
on reserve in the library or photocopied in the course Reader (Artistic). Supplementary
readings for some weeks are shown at the end as “Also.” I will not expect you to have done
these supplementary readings, but recommend them for anyone who wants to go a little
further into things. These readings are not on reserve, but please -- for everyone’s sake -- do
not disappear with them!

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Sections of the course

Section 1 – Introductory (3 weeks)

Objective: to explore the nature and consequences of religious reform.
Covers renewal and reform in pre nineteenth-century Islam, and the European Reformation

September 9 – Initial considerations

No texts

September 16 – The European Reformation

C Eugene F Rice, The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460-1559. New York:
WW Norton, 1970. CB 359 R5 1970. On reserve.
C Also
C Owen Chadwick, The Reformation. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972. BR
305.2 C5 1972. Especially chapters 1-7 (up to p. 251).
C Mark U Edwards. Printing, Propaganda and Martin Luther. Berkeley: U of
California P, 1994. BR 325 E343 1994. Especially chapters 1 & 5.
C Steven E Ozment, The Reformation in the Cities: The Appeal of Protestantism
in Sixteenth-Century Germany and Switzerland. New Haven: Yale UP, 1975.
BR 305.2 O9 1975. Especially chapter 4.

September 23 – Reform in Islam

C Muhammad Umar Memon, Ibn Taymiyya's Struggle Against Popular Religion: With
an Annotated Translation of his Kitab iqtida' as-sirat al-mustaqim mukhalafat ashab
al-jahim. The Hague: Mouton, 1976. BP186.I2x 1976. On reserve. Pages 46-85 of
Memon’s Introduction, then chapters 2 and 19 of Ibn Taymiyya’s text.
C John O Voll, "Renewal and Reform in Islamic History: Tajdid and Islah." Voices of
Resurgent Islam, ed. John L Esposito. New York: Oxford UP, 1983: 32-47.
C Wael B Hallaq, "Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?" International Journal of Middle
East Studies 16 (1984): 3-41.
C Rudolph Peters, "Idjtihad and Taqlid in 18th and 19th Century Islam." Die Welt des
Islams 20 (1980): 131-45.
C Bernard Lewis, "The Significance of Heresy in Islam." Islam in History: Ideas,
People and Events. Ed. Bernard Lewis. Chicago: Open Court, 1993. 275-93.
All the articles are in the Reader.

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Section 2 – Classic Movements (3 weeks)
Covers the Wahhabis, Neo-Sufism and the Sudanese Mahdists

September 30 – The Wahhabis

C Alexei Vassiliev, The History of Saudi Arabia. London: Saqi Books, 1998. DS 244
V37 1997. On reserve. Chapters 2 to 4.
C Michael Cook, “On the Origins of Wahhabism.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
2 (1992): 191-202.
C Also
C Esther Peskes, Muhammad b. 'Abdalwahhab (1703-92) im Widerstreit:
Untersuchungen zur Rekonstruktion der Frühgeschichte der Wahhabiya.
Beirut: Beiruter Texte und Studien (Franz Steiner), 1993.
Cook is in the Reader. Peskes, unfortunately, is not available in translation and is not in the
Library anyhow .

October 7 – Neo-Sufism
C Knut S Vikør, Sufi and Scholar on the Desert Edge: Muhammad b. 'Ali al-Sanusi and
his Brotherhood. London: Hurst, 1995. BP 189.7 S42 V55 1995. On reserve.
Chapters 5 to 10.
C Rex Sean O'Fahey, and Bernd Radtke, "Neo-Sufism Reconsidered." Der Islam 70
(1993): 52-87. In the Reader.
C Bernd Radtke and others. The Exoteric Ahmad ibn Idrîs: A Sufi Critique of the
Madhahib and the Wahhabis. Leiden: Brill, 2000. BP 188.9 A25 2000. On reserve.
Pages 13-43 of the Introduction, and then the texts of the Epistle and the Debate.
C Also
C EE Evans-Pritchard, The Sanusi of Cyrenaica. Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1949. DT238.C8 E85 1949.

October 14 – The Mahdists

C PM Holt, The Mahdist State in the Sudan, 1881-1898: A Study of its Origins,
Development and Overthrow. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1958. DT 108.3 H6 1970. On
reserve.
C John O Voll, "The Sudanese Mahdi: Frontier Fundamentalist." International Journal
of Middle East Studies 10 (1979): 145-166.
C Gabriel R Warburg, “From Revolution to Conservatism: Some Aspects of Mahdist
Ideology and Politics in the Sudan.” Der Islam 70 (1993): 88-111.
Both articles are in the Reader.

Section 3 - Modern Movements (4 weeks)

Examines the relationship between tradition and modernity and between religion and nationalism
Covers the Salafis and the Qadiyani Ahmadiyya

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October 21 – Modernity
C Gabriel Baer, “Social Change in Egypt: 1800-1914.” Political and Social Change
in Modern Egypt 1850-1950. Ed. PM Holt. London: Oxford UP, 1968 135-61. DT
43 C63 1965a. There are several copies in the library.
C Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid Marsot, "The Role of the 'Ulama' in Egypt during the Early
Nineteenth Century." Political and Social Change in Modern Egypt 1850-1950.
(above): 264-80.
C Reinhard Schulze, The Birth of Tradition and Modernity in 18th and 19th Century
Islamic Culture.” Culture & History 16 (1997): 29-72. In the Supplementary Reader.
C George N Atiyeh, ed. The Book in the Islamic World: The Written Word and
Communication in the Middle East. Albany: SUNY Press, 1995. Z 8 M63 B66 1995.
On reserve. Chapter 4.
C Also
C J Heyworth-Dunne, An Introduction to the History of Education in Modern
Egypt (1939). London: Frank Cass & Co, 1968. LA 1646 H4 1939.
Especially pp. 96-134.
C A Chris Eccel, Egypt, Islam and Social Change: Al-Azhar in Conflict and
Accommodation. Berlin: Schwarz, 1984. LG 511 C45 E3x 1984. On reserve.
Chapter 3.
C Fred De Jong, Turuq and Turuq-linked Institutions in Nineteenth Century
Egypt: A Historical Study in Organizational Dimensions of Islamic Mysticism.
Leiden: EJ Brill, 1978. BP 188.8 E3 D4x 1978. Especially chapter 1 to page
39.

October 28 – Salafism
C HAR Gibb, Modern Trends in Islam (1945). Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1947.
BP163.G5 1947. On reserve. Chapters 3 and 4.
C Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939. Cambridge:
Cambridge U P, 1983. JA84.A6 H6 1983. On reserve. Chapters 4 and 5.
C Itzchak Weismann, Taste of Modernity: Sufism, Salafiyya, & Arabism in Late
Ottoman Damascus. Leiden: Brill, 2001. Chapter 8. In the Supplementary Reader.
C Muhammad Abduh, Risalat al-tawhid, transl. Ishaq Musa'ad and Kenneth Cragg as
The Theology of Unity. London: Allen & Unwin, 1966. BP166.M7513 1966. On
reserve. Chapters 11-16.
C Also
C Elie Kedourie, Afghani and Abduh: An Essay on Religious Unbelief and
Political Activism in Modern Islam. London: Cass, 1966. BP70.K4 1966.
C David Dean Commins, Politics and Social Change in Late Ottoman Syria.
New York: Oxford UP, 1990. BP 63 S95 C66 1990.

November 4 – Beyond the Arab World

C Adeeb Khalid, The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform: Jadidism in Central Asia.
Berkeley: U of California P, 1998. BP 63 A34 K54 1998. On reserve.
C Aziz Ahmad, Islamic Modernism in India and Pakistan, 1857-1964. London: Oxford
UP, 1967. BP 63 I42 A9 1967. On reserve. Chapters 1-5.

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November 11 – The Qadiyani Ahmadiyya
C Yohanan Friedmann, Prophecy Continuous: Aspects of Ahmadi Religious Thought
and its Medieval Background. Berkeley: U of California P, 1989. BP 195 A5 F75
1989. On reserve.
C Mahmud Ahmad, A Present to Kings. Quadian: Sadr Anuman-i-Ahmadiyya, ND.
BP 195 A5 B2x. On reserve.
C Also
C Mahmud Ahmad, A Present to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales from
the Ahmadiyya Community. [Qadian]: NP, 1922. BP 195 A5 A333x 1922.

Section 4 - An Islamic Reformation? (4 weeks)

Asks whether the nineteenth century saw an "Islamic Reformation"
Covers the Salafi-Wahhabi alliance and longer-term consequences of the movements
considered earlier.

November 18
No readings. TBA.

November 25 – Into the new century

C Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939. Cambridge:
Cambridge U P, 1983. JA84.A6 H6 1983. On reserve. Chapters 7-9.
C Daniel W Brown, Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought. Cambridge:
Cambridge UP, 1996. BP 136.4 B76 1996. On reserve.

December 2
Seminar paper presentations.

December 9
Seminar paper presentations.

Assessment of Students
Final grades will be calculated as follows:
! Participation: 10%
! Reading responses: 45%
! Research paper: 45%

Participation means more than just sitting in class: if you have not done the reading, there is
little point in coming to class just to sit there. Note, however, that more than three weeks of
absence for any reason (including illness etc.) may result in an F.

Reading responses are required for most weeks’ reading. Unless it is specifically stated that a
response paper is not needed for the following week, it is needed. Each reading response
must be
! one and a half to two pages long, and properly typed, documented and proof-read.
! analytical. Mere summary of the readings is not acceptable, and will receive a very
low grade.

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! handed in at the start of each class. No late papers will be accepted under any
circumstances whatsoever, but your worst response paper will be ignored when
calculating the final grade.

The Research paper should be about ten pages long and is due on December 13. Before
starting your paper, you must discuss your topic with me, and obtain my written agreement to
a 300-400 word abstract and proposed bibliography. The latest date for abstracts /
bibliographies is October 14. Incomprehensibility or sloppy presentation of the paper will be
penalized.

Notes
1. The university policy on cheating and plagiarism applies in this class, as deos the
university policy on mobile phones.
2. Changes to assignments, times, dates, etc. will be announced in class and reflected in the
web version of this syllabus. It is your responsibility to make sure that you learn of any such
announcement which might have been made during a class you miss.

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