Truth,Goodness,&Beauty: The Transcendentals of Islam

Truth, Goodness, and Beauty: The Transcendentals of Islam

Instructor​: Professor Hamza Yusuf ( hyusuf@zaytuna.edu )

TA​: Dr. Aisha Subhani

Course Description​

This course presents the students with an introduction to the religion of Islam, its normative creed, practice, and ideals. We intend to examine the normative scholastic tradition, largely Sunni, but also some Shiah views when relevant. This course will cover some descriptive approaches when useful. We will examine the original Islam of the prophetic period, the Quran as revelation, the oral tradition known as Sunnah, and the we will look at the development of a tradition that emerges from the original sources: Quran, Sunnah, and the practice of the companions of the Prophet. This includes the three creeds that emerge as normative: the Ash’ari, Maturidi, and Athari respectively and the juristic schools of shariah as well as the spiritual schools that emerged out of the creedal and juristic approaches to the faith. The course will follow the book “The Vision of Islam,” which uses faith (​iman​), practice (​islam​), and spiritual realization (​ihsan)​ , derived from the famous Hadith Gabriel, as a wholistic approach to the major concerns of the religion. We will cover the five pillars of Islam, the six articles of faith, and the doctrine of gnosis (​ma’rifah​ or ​‘irfan​) as understood within the dominant schools of Islam: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, Hanbali, and Ja’fari.

Course Overview

This course is designed to provide students a wholistic understanding of the Islamic faith through understanding the three dimensions of the religion: truth (​iman)​ , goodness (​islam​), and beauty (​ihsan​).

Core concepts include:

Required Books

Vision of islam Creed

Suggested Readings (not required)​:

Course Expectations

Students are expected to follow and keep up with the reading assignments. Required postings must be submitted by the deadline time/date. All postings should be around 250 words, well-organized, and follow the standard rules of grammar as defined by the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition). This is a pass/fail course. All students must attend the on-campus weekend portion, ​April 26-27​, to receive a grade .

DateDayDetails
Apr 02, 2019TueHadith of Gabriel, Islam, the Five Pillars, and Concept of Judgments in Sacred Lawdue by 05:59AM
Apr 09, 2019TueTawhid, God and His Attributes, and the Angelsdue by 05:59AM
Apr 16, 2019TueDivine Decree, Prophecy and the Message; Rational Proofsdue by 05:59AM
Apr 23, 2019TueIslam and World Religions; Life and Deathdue by 05:59AM
Apr 26, 2019FriOn Campus Session 1due by 07:00PM
Apr 27, 2019SatOn Campus Session 2due by 02:00PM
May 07, 2019TueReflections from On Campus Sessionsdue by 05:59AM
May 14, 2019TueIntellectual Schools of Thought; Ihsandue by 05:59AM
May 21, 2019TueIslam and Historydue by 05:59AM
May 28, 2019TueIslam and the Modern Worlddue by 05:59AM