OLLI101555 - Middle East and the Muslim World - Reflections on Politics, Law and Violence. (ONLINE VIA ZOOM)
Course Description
MIDDLE EAST AND THE MUSLIM WORLD- REFLECTIONS ON POLITICS, LAW AND VIOLENCE
Instructor: Ifthekhar Houssain & Ahmet Tekelioglu
Day of Week: Tuesday
Dates: Jan 30 – Mar 26 (8 sessions)
No Class: Mar 5
Time: 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Location: Online via Zoom
With specific focus on the Middle East and the world events, this course will explore the historical development of statecraft and political movements in Muslim societies and how source text, textual interpretation and real-politick have influenced the course of that development. Following Harvard law professor Noah Feldman’s crucial book The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State we will review a brief history of how Islam and politics interacted over centuries before delving into the birth and development of Islamic Law. The decline of the practice of Islamic Law will be explored next; this will be followed by an extensive look into the rise of political Islam as a consequence. We will talk at length about questions around allegiance, reform, and the more recent trend to conflate extremism and politics.
Maximum Online: 100
Instructor Bios:
Iftekhar Hussain, born in Bangladesh, earned a BA and an MA at Texas A&M and worked toward a PhD at Penn State. Currently he oversees a Montessori education system in the Main Line area. He is engaged in local interfaith educational initiatives with a focus on basics of Islam and Islamic jurisprudence. In addition to serving as the Board Chair of CAIR-PA, Iftekhar has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the ACLUPA and advised AFSC’s Middle East Peace Building Unit.
Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu, PhD, political science, Boston University. His research focuses on the American religious landscape and Muslim minorities in America. He has conducted fieldwork with Muslim congregations in Boston, San Francisco, and LA. He has been cooperating with the Historical Society of PA to feature Philadelphia’s Muslim landscape and has taught classes on race, ethnicity, international relations, and Islamic studies at Boston University and George Mason University.