Ethics of Jihad. CompLit 38Q, 2014 - 2015

Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 to 10:45am in Building 260 Room 012

For more information: https://canvas.stanford.edu/courses/177

Professor: Alexander Key (questions about content, grading, attendance)

Office hours in Building 240 Room 109: sign up at akey.youcanbook.me (Links to an external site.)

 or 650 723 9272

Course Goal:

To enable students to explore the competing claims of jihad.

Course Sections:

• The Quran
  • What the Quran says about jihad
  • The Quran on jihad redux
• Amina Wadud
• Sherman Jackson
  • African American Muslims
• Methodologies
  • American
  • Medieval
  • Reason and religion
• Cases and Choices
  • Al-Qaida
  • ISIS
  • New World Order
  • The Former Yugoslavia: Zilka Siljak
  • #MyJihad

Resources

Basic Islam Resources:

Quick and good reads:

Malise Ruthven's Very Short Introduction and Historical Atlas. In the library.

Michael Cook's Very Short Introduction to the Quran. In the library.

Adam Silverstein's Very Short Introduction to Islamic History. In the library and online.

Big searchable database:

Oxford's Islamic Studies Online.

More technical and specialized:

The Encyclopedia of the Quran (Links to an external site.).

The Pew Research Center on:

Muslim Americans (Links to an external site.).

Global Religious Diversity (Links to an external site.)

Charlie Hebdo:

Learning Outcomes:

1. Introduction to the development of a selection of jihad discourses from the seventh century to the present day.
2. Understanding of how ethical reasoning takes place in Islamic discourse.
3. Development of the skills required to share your newly acquired knowledge of jihad with others:
   
   1. Talking about ideas and facts with which you are not familiar / talking about yourself (Presentation A).
   2. Explaining in writing ideas that you have talked about and that you are still thinking about (Writing Assignment A).
   3. Giving a formal talk about completed research (Presentation B).
   4. Presenting completed research in writing (Writing Assignment B).
   5. Revising your writing after external input (Revision of Written Assignment B).

Student responsibilities, for which you will be graded, are:

• Attend every class and the two individual consultations with the professor.
• Do all the reading.
• Speak and participate in class. Participation involves asking questions of the professor and each other. We will be talking about how we do this.
• Complete the in-class presentations and write the formal written reports (including the revision of Written Assignment B).

 Grading:

33% for class participation sessions #2 to #20 inclusive. 
33% for individual in-class presentation of research of which: 
Presentation A: 10% 
Presentation B: 23% 
33% for formal written report on research of which: 
Written Assignment A: 13% 
Written Assignment B: 23% of which 12% is for the initial version and 11% is for the revised version.

The Stanford Honor Code

The Honor Code is an undertaking of the students, individually and collectively:

that they will not give or receive aid in examinations; that they will not give or receive unpermitted aid in class work, in the preparation of reports, or in any other work that is to be used by the instructor as the basis of grading;

that they will do their share and take an active part in seeing to it that others as well as themselves uphold the spirit and letter of the Honor Code.

The faculty on its part manifests its confidence in the honor of its students by refraining from proctoring examinations and from taking unusual and unreasonable precautions to prevent the forms of dishonesty mentioned above. The faculty will also avoid, as far as practicable, academic procedures that create temptations to violate the Honor Code.

While the faculty alone has the right and obligation to set academic requirements, the students and faculty will work together to establish optimal conditions for honorable academic work.

The Fundamental Standard

Students at Stanford are expected to show both within and without the University such respect for order, morality, personal honor and the rights of others as is demanded of good citizens. Failure to do this will be sufficient cause for removal from the University.

Students with Documented Disabilities

Students who may need an academic accommodation based on the impact of a disability must initiate the request with the Office of Accessible Education (OAE).  Professional staff will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable accommodations, and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in which the request is being made. Students should contact the OAE as soon as possible since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations.

The OAE is located at 563 Salvatierra Walk / (650) 723-1066 / http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/oae.