Key facts

Type	Weekly Classes
Location	Oxford
Address	Rewley House 1 Wellington Square Oxford
Dates	Wed 10 Oct to Wed 7 Nov 2012 Day: Wednesday Time of meeting: 7.00-9.00pm Number of meetings: 5
Subject area(s)	Religious Studies
CATS points	5
Fees	From £90.00
Application status	Course ended
Course code	O12P752THW
Course contact	If you have any questions about this course, please email ppweekly@conted.ox.ac.uk.

Overview

The poetic tradition of Islam expresses an aspect very different from theological/legal understandings, and is centred on love, yearning and ecstatic union with the divine. This course will focus on four major poets from the classical period (12-13th C).

Description

Islamic mystical poetry is one of the world's great literary traditions, covering a period of 1400 years and encompassing a huge variety of cultures and languages - Arabic, Persian, Turkish etc. It is testament to the extraordinary depth and coherence of the vision of Islam. Very different from the theological and legal understandings, it speaks to all human beings of the inherent love and yearning for the divine, of devotion and the ecstatic experience of union with the divine.

In this second course, we will study the middle 'classical' period (13th C), focusing on the work of four major Sufi poets: Nizami (d. 1209), 'Attar (d. 1221), Kirmani (d. 1238) and Ibn 'Arabi (d. 1240). All poems will be studied in English translation, and the focus will be on drawing out their meaning and universal relevance to the human condition. No previous knowledge is required.

Programme details

Week 1: Nizami and the Persian tradition of love poetry
Week 2: 'Attar
Week 3: Awhad al-din Kirmani
Week 4: Ibn 'Arabi: Diwan
Week 5: Ibn 'Arabi: Tarjuman

Background Reading:
J. T. P. de Bruijn, Persian Sufi Poetry (Routledge, 1997)
Kenneth Avery, Fifty Poems of 'Attar
bn 'Arabi, Tarjuman al-ashwaq (The Interpreter of Ardent Desires), trans. Nicholson
Michael Sells, Stations of Desires (Jerusalem, 2000)
P. Lamborn Wilson, Heart's Witness: the Sufi Quatrains of Awhaduddin Kirmani
Nizami, The Story of Layla and Majnun, trans. Rudolf Gelpke (New Lebanon, 1997)

Staff

Course aims

Course Aim:
To provide a deeper understanding of Islamic mysticism and its rich poetic expression, to introduce some of the great poets who are otherwise little known in the West, and to investigate how such poems strike people in today's world.

Course Objectives:
1. To examine some of the major poets and poems of the classical Islamic period (12-13th c)
2. To gain insight into the major ideas of Sufi tradition
3. To explore through group discussion the relevance of these works to ourselves

Assessment methods

Students will be able to choose whether to be assessed by Option A, a collection of shorter pieces, a journal or short presentations based on the weekly discussion, or Option B, a long written piece (500-1000 words).

Teaching methods

Tutor-led seminar introduction followed by student reading of translated source texts and group discussion.

Teaching outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be expected to:

1. Have a grasp of the basic themes of Islamic mystical poetry
2. Have an understanding of some of the authors of the classical period
3. Be able to discuss the relevance of what they have learnt to contemporary issues

Fee options

Programme Fee

EU Fee: £90.00

Non-EU Fee: £90.00

Apply for this course