Muhammad Ali, one of the most well-known American Muslims, famously said: “I am America. I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.”

His is just one of the many articulations of what Islam in America looks like, and it introduces a whole set of questions: How do Muslims fit within the American narrative? Who articulates that narrative? How has that narrative changed over time, and who has helped to reimagine it?  Which articulations are privileged and celebrated, which institutions—secular, religious—authorize it, and how do these narratives relate to cultural and political ideas of freedom, agency, dissent, race, class, immigration, gender, pluralism and equality?

These are some of the questions we will begin to unpack in this class. The course is structured to explore the diversity of the Muslim American population in the United States and to discover the depth of its history. The course will also thematically introduce some of the debates and concerns that are brought up about Muslims—such as terrorism—and those brought up by Muslims—such as gender equality. We will visit these topics through scholarship and, in many cases, will examine our questions further through literature, music, and film, such as Wajahat Ali’s play The Domestic Crusaders, rap by Lupe Fiasco and Mos Def, and Spike Lee’s 1992 film Malcolm X.

This course provides students with a “blueprint” for Islamic learning and spiritual development by studying the three core concepts of islām, īmān, and iḥsān and their associated sciences, Fiqh, Aqida and Tazkiyya. Students will learn the integrals of worship (islām), the essentials of belief (īmān), and the way to attaining moral and spiritual excellence and beau-ty (iḥsān). By the end of the course, students will establish a roadmap for greater immersion in each of these areas in subsequent courses.

This course, open to students who have already studied the foundations of Islamic belief (`aqida), involves a close study of selected, advanced topics from classical Islamic theology, with three main objectives in mind: (1) to appreciate the intellectual sophistication within traditional Islamic scholarship. (2) To see the continuing relevance, to issues we face in today's world, of some of the principles and techniques of analysis that were used by medieval Muslim theologians. (3) To gain familiarity with major theological debates and diversity of views among Muslims in the past, and to thereby better understand the historical background and theological positions of different Islamic schools and sects that we encounter today. Topics discussed include: The Existence of God, God's Attributes, Moral Accountability, the “Problem of Evil,” interreligious polemics, and the interplays and tensions between theology, philosophy and mysticism.