Oriental Languages and Cultures

Knowledge This course aims at providing students with hands-on knowledge of the main thematic and stylistic features of texts representative of classical Islamic intellectual tradition through a direct approach to sources, partly in Arabic, partly in translation. Another objective is to provide a practical understanding of the peculiarities and working principles of some specific research tools of Islamic studies. Skills This course aims at planting the following skills in the students’ minds: - Using some research tools, developed either by Arabo-Islamic or Western scholars, in either paper or digital format: Qur’an and hadith concordances, specialized encyclopedias, bibliographical annuals, repertoires of works and authors, biographical dictionaries, etc. - Dealing critically with open questions of religious historiography, taking the issues analyzed throughout the course as a starting example. - Recognizing some distinctive thematic and stylistic features of texts representative of different religious and secular sciences of classical Islam, such as theology, philosophy, law, sufism, Qur’anic exegesis; being able to distinguish the relevant elements within composite texts. - Presenting and discussing a classical Islamic religious book before an audience (in this case, before the class) based on precise directions, and relying on a translated edition with a few passages in the original language. - Reading, understanding and analyzing classical religious texts in Arabic (or, for those not studying Arabic, in the Oriental language of their choice). The objective here is that students reach at least an introductory level of knowledge, working on passages studied under the teacher’s direction, and that they overcome that complex and that sense of awe that classical Islamic texts usually inspire even in the most motivated and well-versed. - Using in an appropriate way some more technical terms from religious studies, especially from Islamic studies, in addition to the ones already learnt during their bachelor studies, including Arabic terminology; all this, without neglecting more general propriety of language, as far as both lexicon and syntax are concerned. - Being able to pursue their study of this discipline independently (and feeling motivated to do it) at a scientific research level, building both upon bibliographical suggestions provided throughout the course, and upon some examples of open debates in Islamic studies which will have been shown by the teacher.