University of South Florida

Religious Studies 3303

Course Syllabus

Judaism and Islam Two Religions of Law in Comparison and Contrast

1998-1999 Semester II

Friday, 1-4 P.M.

Professor Jacob Neusner

Professor Tamara Sonn

Religious Studies

University of South Florida

304 Cooper Hall, Tampa

Phone:

J. Neusner: 813 974 1875; JNEUSNER@LUNA.CAS.USF.EDU

T. Sonn: 813 974 1865; TSONN@LUNA.CAS.USF.EDU

Fax: 813 974 1853

Office Hours at USF-Tampa:

Professor Neusner: Wed 1-2 p.m.

Prof Sonn: Tues 12-1 p.m..

Office hours at USF-SP

Professors Neusner & Sonn: Friday, 12-1 p.m.

Students at the venues outside of USF-St Pete may reach the instructors by phone at that time. At other times they may leave messages at that number.

Fax (Tampa office): 813 974 1853.

Professor Neusner will hold other office hours at USF-SP: By appointment. 210 Coquina Hall.

Phone: 727 551 1530. Fax: 727 551 1526

The course meets at the Distance Learning Venues of

University of South Florida (Tampa, St. Petersburg, Lakeland, Sarasota)

The course is presented live at USF-ST PETE. Students who regularly attend the course at other locations are always welcome to join us in Poynter Library 210. One-way video and two-way audio is set up for the other venues. Questions from the other venues are encouraged, and class time will be set aside for that purpose. Every venue will be polled in the question period, to elicit student questions and make possible student participation.

In cooperation with

And the Distance and Technology Mediated Learning Office of USF

Contact: Mr. Larry McLaughlin

Campus Address: SVC 1072, Tel 813 974 2996. Fax: 813 974 5129

This course meets the USF Exit Level requirements.

It serves toward the Religious Studies major or minor at USF,

A Gordon Rule Course, involving at least 6,000 words of writing through the semester.

Course Objectives

Both Islam and Judaism constitute large and complex families of closely-kindred religious systems: way of life, world view, theory of the social entity formed by the faithful, held together in a coherent cultural statement. Seen as a whole, each of these families bears comparison with the other. That is not only because of long centuries of co-existence, when Judaism was practiced within the historical and cultural framework of Islam from Morocco to Iran, and Islamic Africa north to the Islamic Central Asia countries. It is mainly because both are monotheist religions, sharing a common world view, both rely heavily upon law to make their religious statements, sharing a way of life with counterpart components, and both in their classical and normative writings deem the political and social order as the critical focus of the religious life, concurring on the indivisibility of religion, politics, and culture. This course treats the classical writings of the two kindred religions, in a large-scale labor of comparison and contrast: how are they alike? how are they difference? what do we learn from the likeness? what do we learn from the difference? Issues of borrowings and dependence are not addressed, the two systems being described, analyzed, and interpreted and then compared as free-standing coherent wholes. These writings, for Judaism, took shape in the first six centuries of the Common Era, and, for Islam, in the first three Islamic centuries, ca. 600 to 900 C.E. The comparisons that we draw, therefore, rest not on historical but on logical and phenomenological bases: we compare religions of the monotheist type, religions that lay heavy stress on norms of behavior.

The course is framed within the academic study of religion, not within political science and foreign policy, and it does not concern itself with contemporary political differences in the Middle East. This course treats as Islam the normative statements of the Quran and related traditions, and as Judaism the authoritative statements of the Torah, oral and written.

Requirements of the Course

1. Attendance at all classes, reading to be done in advance of class

2. Each session of this distance-learning class involves two hours of lecture and discussion and the third hour is devoted to writing, to be done in class, based both on the reading completed before class and on the lecture and discussion of that class. The writing assignment involves a formal essay, of two to four pages, based on the proposition or problem presented in class. These papers will be returned with grades & brief comments. Students who want more extensive remarks in connection with their papers will be accommodated; they should submit their in-class essays together with a self-addressed stamped envelop.

3. In addition, there will be a two-hour in-class essay, written at the final class session.

4. The grade will be based (50%) on the best three in class essays, chosen by the student, plus (50%) the in-class two hour final. How are these grades registered? At the end of that session, each student is responsible to submit, in a single envelope, a portfolio of the four papers, the three best weekly essays and the in-class two hour final essay. If students want the papers back, they will include a self-addressed envelope.

5. Students are responsible to submit the writing portfolio and the final, with their names on each page and the pages numbered, at the last session of the course. The weekly essays and the final should be kept together. If you want your writing returned, supply a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Grading Policy. Attendance Policy

1. The course involves weekly writing assignments. These will be graded and returned to students. At the end of the course, in the penultimate week, students will choose the three best weekly writing assignments and forward them to me at USF-SP as a portfolio. Half the grade will be determined by the portfolio.

2. There will be a two hour, in class final, at the final session of the course. The other half of the grade will depend upon the results.

3. We do not give Incompletes. Students whose work is not complete and in our hands receive an automatic F. However, they are permitted at a later date, for one full year, to submit a complete portfolio (three weekly writing exams and the final) and that will be graded, with a change of grade form filed by us at the student’s request.

4. Make up, missed work: students are responsible to submit any make up or missed work, if they wish it to be graded. What is required is only the writing portfolio and final.

5. Attendance policy: attendance will not be taken.

6. If you have to miss class: video tapes of each week’s session will be available via the Distance Learning Office at your university. You may review the missed class at any time.

Notes or Tapes Permitted for Purposes of Sale

Students are permitted to record the class, but notes and tapes are not permitted to be sold.

Examinations. Dates

The weekly writing assignment, the third hour of each meeting of the course, and the in-class final at the final session.

Paper

There is no formal paper requirement for this course. If you wish to submit an original paper of your own, propose in writing the topic, an outline of the way you propose to deal with the topic, and the books you plan to read or consult. A formal paper may serve in place of two weekly writing assignments. But it cannot replace the in-class final.

Preservation of Papers for this Course

At Professor Neusner’s office at USF-SP (210 Coquina Hall) he will keep the papers submitted for this course until Sept. 1, 1999. If you want your papers returned, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope along with your portfolio and final. On Sept. 1, 1999, the remaining papers and examinations will be discarded.

Academic Dishonesty Policy

The rules of USF, stated in the 1997-98 Undergraduate Catalogue on p. 41 and in the 1997-1998 Graduate Catalogue p. 34, apply in this course and will be enforced. Students at other campuses: you have the right to invoke the counterpart policy of your campus, should issues of academic dishonesty arise.

Senior Citizens

Senior citizens are most welcome to take this course, on the condition that they keep up with the reading. They are not required to do the writing assignments in the third hour of each session or to write the final. They are permitted to do so, and their writing will be read if they wish.

Sections

For technical reasons, the course is listed by the registrar in two sections, one in the name of Professor Neusner, the other in the name of Professor Sonn. Both sections will meet together at all times, and both sections will be graded by the same professor(s).

This course meets the General Education exit level requirement. The following remarks explain how that requirement is met and therefore spell out the educational goals of the course.

Bibliography

Introducing Islam:

Fazlur Rahman, Islam (Univ. of Chicago Press)

Introducing Judaism:

Neusner, Way of Torah, sixth edition (Wadsworth)

Comparing Judaism and Islam:

Neusner and Sonn, Judaism and Islam. Comparing Religions through Law. London & NY, 1999: Routledge.

Neusner and Sonn and Brockopp, Judaism and Islam in Practice. A Sourcebook for the Classical Age.

For spring, 1999, Neusner & Sonn and Neusner, Sonn, and Brockopp will be available in manuscript for purchase, via the USF Book Store, as of the first week of class (for Judaism and Islam: Comparing Religions through Law) and in mid-February (for Judaism and Islam in Practice). In addition, the instructors will provide source-readings for class discussion. The USF Bookstore in Tampa will make provision for the purchase of those textbooks at USF-SP and USF-Sarasota.

Friday, January 8

I. Introduction to the Course: Comparing Religious Systems, Defining Judaism, Defining Islam

READING:

Introducing Judaism: Neusner, Way of Torah, sixth edition (Wadsworth). Complete.

Introducing Islam: Fazlur Rahman, Islam (Univ. of Chicago Press) pages to be indicated.

Friday, January 15

II. Comparing Islam and Judaism in Particular

READING:

Neusner and Sonn, Judaism and Islam, Preface and Chapter One

I

The Law in Judaism and Islam:

Documents, Intellectual Sources, Decision-Making

Describing Judaism and Islam out of their own classics

Friday, January 22

A. Where Do We Look for the Law?

B. The Written Torah and the Oral Torah: Scripture, the Mishnah and the Talmuds

1. Scripture: The Written Torah

2. The Mishnah

3. The Talmuds

C. Islamic Counterparts

1. Scripture: The Qur’an

2. The Sunna

3. Tafsir (including naskh), Asbab al-Nuzul (Exegesis and Occasions of Revelation)

D. Conclusions

READING:

Neusner and Sonn, Judaism and Islam, Chapter Two

Friday, January 29

IV. The Intellectual Sources of the Law

A. How Do the Authorities of the Law Reason?

B. Islam: Ijtihad and Ijma`

1. Personal Opinion

2. Analogy

3. Consensus

C. Judaic Counterparts: Exegesis, Logic, Argument, Dialectics

1. Exegesis: Midrash Halakhah

2. The Mishnah’s Applied Logic of Hierarchical Classification

3. The Argument of Analogy and Contrast

4. The Talmuds’ Dialectics

D. Conclusions

READING:

Neusner and Sonn, Judaism and Islam, Chapter Three

Friday, February 5

V. The Working of the Law: Institutions

A. Institutional Authority

B. The Israelite Court in the Legal Narrative of Judaism

C. The Islamic Court in the Legal Narrative of Islam

D. Conclusions

READING:

Neusner and Sonn, Judaism and Islam, Chapter Four

Friday, February 12

VI. The Working of the Law: Personnel

A. Charismatic Authority

B. Islam: Mujtahids and Fuqaha'

C. Judaism: The Sage

D. Conclusions

READING:

Neusner and Sonn, Judaism and Islam, Chapter Five

II

Where the Laws of Islam and of Judaism

Compare and Contrast: Likeness and Difference

Between Individuals and God

Friday, February 19

VII. The Individual: Prayer, Fasting, Ablutions

A. The Topic

B. The Law of Islam

C. The Law of Judaism

D. Conclusions

READING:

Neusner and Brockopp & Sonn, Judaism and Islam Sourcebook. Chapter One

Friday, February 26: No Class.

Friday, March 5: No Class

Class sessions on Friday, February 26 and Friday, March 5 are replaced by the conference held on Saturday & Sunday, February 27-28: Religious Belief and Economic Behavior, including Judaism and Islam, at USF-SP.

Friday, March 12

No class: spring break

Between Human Beings

Friday, March 19

VIII. BETROTHAL, MARRIAGE, INHERITANCE, DIVORCE: HOW THE

FAMILY IS REGULATED

A. The Topic

B. The Law of Judaism

C. The Law of Islam

D. Conclusions

READING:

Neusner and Brockopp & Sonn, Judaism and Islam Sourcebook. Chapter Two.

Friday, March 26

IX. ALMSGIVING AND CHARITY

A. The Topic

B. The Law of Islam

C. The Law of Judaism

D. Conclusions

READING:

Neusner and Brockopp & Sonn, Judaism and Islam Sourcebook. Chapter Three

Friday, April 2

X. Society: Definition of the Community and of the outsider

A. The Topic

B. The Law of Judaism

C. The Law of Islam

D. Conclusions

READING:

Neusner and Brockopp & Sonn, Judaism and Islam Sourcebook. Chapter Four.

III

Where the Two Systems of Religious Law Do not Match or Do Not Intersect

Friday, April 9

XI. Disproportions

READING:

Neusner and Sonn, Judaism and Islam, Chapter Six

Friday, April 16

XII. Unique Categories

A. The Unique Category

B. Enlandisement

C. Jihad

D. Result of Comparison and Contrast: A Fresh Perspective on Judaism

E. Result of Comparison and Contrast: A Fresh Perspective on Islam

READING:

Neusner and Sonn, Judaism and Islam, Chapter Seven (pages to be designated) and Epilogue

Friday, April 23

In class essay (two hours) on the problem:

What do I learn about Judaism from the comparison with Islam that I should not have known about Judaism without the comparison with Islam

and

What do I learn about Islam from the comparison with Judaism that I should not have known about Islam without the comparison with Judaism

Your paper should follow a clear outline, and you are required to submit the outline along with the final paper. Students may consult any notes or readings they find helpful in composing the final class essay. Students who wish to review their outlines with the instructors are invited to do so at the office hours in USF-Tampa or USF-SP during the month of April. Students in Sarasota may submit the outlines via fax or e-mail.