RELS 206: The Islamic Tradition (Rev. C5) Report a Broken Link

Unit 3: The Prophet Muhammad


Ishaq, Ibn. The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Isḥāq’s Sīrat Rasūl Allāh. Translated by Alfred Guillaume. Oxford University Press, 1955.

Please read the following excerpts. The page numbers given are the page numbers of the PDF linked to above, so to get to each page, do a page number search in the PDF.

The Beginning of the Sending Down of the Qur’ān (page 79)

Khadīja, Daughter of Khuwaylid, Accepts Islam (page 79)

The Prescription of Prayer (page 80)

‘Alī B. Abū Ṭālib The First Male to Accept Islam (page 81)

The Companions Who Accepted Islam at the Invitation of Abū Bakr (page 81)

The Apostle’s Public Preaching and the Response (page 82)

How the Apostle Was Treated by His Own People (page 89)

The Coming Down of “Why Has Not an Angel Been Sent Down to Him” (page 114)

The Coming Down of “Apostles Have Been Mocked Before Thee” (page 114)

The Night Journey and the Ascent to Heaven (page 114)

The Ascent to Heaven (page 116)

How God Dealt with the Mockers (page 117)

The Hijra of the Prophet (page 133)

The Beginning of the Apostle’s Illness (page 364)

The Apostle’s Illness in the House of Ā’isha (page 364)

Akkad, Moustapha, dir. The Message. Filmco International Productions, 1976. (2:51 hr)

Unit 4: The Qur’ān


Haleem, Abdel M. A. S., trans. The Qur’ān. Oxford University Press, 2015.

Please read these sūrahs. Click on “THE QUR’AN” near the bottom of the Table of Contents to find the first sūrah.

1. The Opening (page 3)

4. Women (pages 50–66)

17. The Night Journey (pages 175–182)

21. The Prophets (pages 203–208)

22. The Pilgrimage (pages 209–214)

23. The Believers (pages 215–219)

24. Light (pages 220–226)

33. The Joint Forces (pages 266–271)

35. The Creator (pages 277–280)

47. Muhammad (pages 331–333)

49. The Private Rooms (pages 338–339)

50. Qaaf (pages 340–342)

55. The Lord of Mercy (pages 353­–355)

59. The Gathering [of Forces] (pages 365–367)

75. The Resurrection (pages 399–400)

103. The Fading Day (page 435)

107. Common Kindness (page 439)

112. Purity of Faith (page 444)

Ernst, Carl W. “The History and Form of the Qur’an and the Practices of Reading.” Chap. 1 in How to Read the Qur’an. University of North Carolina Press, 2011.

Please read from the beginning of Chapter 1 to the end of the paragraph at the top of page 51, and then the section “Ways of Reading the Qur’an: Ritual Reading of the Qur’an,” starting on page 58 and ending at the beginning of page 61.

Unit 5: The Five Pillars of Islam


Calis, Halim. Five Pillars of Islam. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women, edited by Natana J. DeLong-Bas. Oxford University Press, 2023.
Afsaruddin, Asma. “Views of Jihad Throughout History.” Religion Compass 1, no. 1 (2007): 165–169.

Unit 6: The Sunnah of the Prophet—The Prophet as Moral Exemplar


Ayoub, Mahmoud M. “The Religious Sciences.” Chap. 7 in Islam: Faith and History. One World, 2012.
Schimmel, Annemarie. “Muhammad the Intercessor, and the Blessings Upon Him.” In And Muhammad Is His Messenger: Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety. University of North Carolina Press, 1985.
Schimmel, Annemarie. “Poetry in Honor of the Prophet.” In And Muhammad Is His Messenger: Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety. University of North Carolina Press, 1985.

Unit 7: Islamic Theology and Law


Razavy, Maryam. “Canadian Responses to Islamic Law: The Faith-Based Arbitration Debates.” Religious Studies and Theology 32, no. 1 (2013): 101–117.

Unit 8: Shī‘ism


Malekpour, Jamshid. “Islam and the Ta’ziyeh.” Chap. 2 in The Islamic Drama. Frank Cass Publishers, 2005.
Jackson, Roy. “Sayyid Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–1989).” In Fifty Key Thinkers in Islam. Routledge, 2006.

Unit 9: Sufism


Ernst, Carl W. “The Names of God, Meditation, and Mystical Experience.” In The Shambhala Guide to Sufism. Shambhala Publications Inc., 1997.
Dakake, Maria Massi. “‘Walking Upon the Path of God Like Men’? Women and the Feminine in the Islamic Mystical Tradition.” In Sufism: Love and Wisdom, edited by Jean-Louis Michon and Roger Gaetani. Worldwisdom Inc., 2006.
Chittick, William, ed. “The Music of the Spheres.” In Sufism: A Short Introduction. Oneworld Publications, 2000.

Unit 10: Islamic Responses to Modernity


Jackson, Roy. Fifty Key Figures in Islam. Routledge, 2006.

Please read

Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905) (pages 172–176)

Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938) (pages 181–186)

Sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi (1903–1979) (pages 190–196)

Hasan al-Bana (1906–1949) (pages 196–201)

Unit 11: Women in Islam


Ahmed, Leila. “Women and the Rise of Islam.” In Women and Gender in Islam. Yale University Press, 1993.
Bullock, Katherine. “Multiple Meanings of Hijāb.” In Rethinking Muslim Women and the Veil: Challenging Historical and Modern Stereotypes. The International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2003.
Wadud, Amina. “Aishah’s Legacy.” New Internationalist, May 2, 2002.

Unit 12: Islam in a Global and Post-9/11 World


Cesari, Jocelyne. “Islamophobia in the West: A Comparison Between Europe and the United States.” Chap. 2 in Islamophobia: The Challenge of Pluralism in the 21st Century, edited by John L. Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin. Oxford University Press, 2011.
Nimer, Mohamed. “Muslims in American Public Life.” Chap. 11 in Muslims in the West: From Sojourners to Citizens, edited by Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad. Oxford University Press, 2002.
Karim, Karim H. “Crescent Dawn in the Great White North: Muslim Participation in the Canadian Public Sphere.” Chap. 17 in Muslims in the West: From Sojourners to Citizens, edited by Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad. Oxford University Press, 2002.

While this reading provides excellent information on Muslims in Canada, the population statistics that it presents are very out of date. Before reading this article, please take a look at the Statistics Canada infographic Muslim Population in Canada, which was released at the end of 2024.

Ramadan, Tariq. “Interreligious Dialogue.” Chap. 9 in Western Muslims and the Future of Islam. Oxford University Press, 2004.
Ramadan, Tariq. “Conclusion.” In Western Muslims and the Future of Islam. Oxford University Press, 2004.