MI week 5

Tuesday (5a)

Muslim discourses about the legitimacy of music and sound, in ritual or in general: historical debates

Due today

Two page report on the following readings: submit on eClass.

1. Read Nelson, The Art of Reciting the Qur'an, chapter 3: The Sama` Polemic. OR read "The samā' Controversy: Sufi vs. Legalist", by Arthur Gribetz, Studia Islamica, No. 74 (1991), pp. 43-62. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1595896 (or use this link off campus).
2. Read Shiloah, Music in the World of Islam, chapter 4 (pp. 31-44), as well as chapter 5, pp. 49-51 (section: "the ethical, cosmological and therapeutic approach"), and pp. 63-65 (sections: "the pejorative view of malahi" and "the cosmological approach").
3. Browse the following primary source: The chapter on "audition" (Sama`) in the monumental Ihya' `Ulum al-Din by al-Ghazali (d. 1111); the translation is online in the following articles (note: you definitely do not have to read the whole thing...just try to get the flavor and gist - what topics does he take up? what is the basis for his arguments? is he defensive? prescriptive? who is he addressing? who are the opponents?) . The chapter is: Emotional Religion in Islām as Affected by Music and Singing, translated by Duncan MacDonald, published in three installments: part I, part II, part III ...or download the whole from here.
4. Conduct your own research into primary Islamic sources concerning the debate over music and sama`. Try to locate a few passages from Qur'an, Hadith, or other traditional sources mentioned in the above readings, or find translations of books from the Muslim world on the topic - but only consider historical works more than 100 years old (next time we'll look at more contemporary instances). Use my list of websites for some online sources, or locate your own. In your report mention what you found, and how it has been (or might be) interpreted. Please come to class prepared to present and discuss what you've found. NOTE: please do not skip class if you don't feel you've done enough research!!! This is a variable length assignment which may help launch you towards a research project, and will give you a better feel for the historical record on this topic. Even if you just introduce one hadith, it's enough...but please come to class!

Note: I recently discovered that the Nelson is available online through google play or kindle: Nelson, Kristina. 1985. The Art of Reciting the Qur’an. Vol. 1st. Austin: University of Texas Press. Kindle, Google Play. Of course both Nelson and Shiloah are on reserve, and should be available in the bookstore as well.

Class

• Please Catch Up! I went to grade your assignments this weekend but found that I have received less than half of submissions thus far (1b=1; 2a=3, 2b=4; 3a=4; 3b=2; 4a=4; 4b=4); I really can't grade without having most of them at least. I realize some of you added the course late, and need time to catch up. Others may have been shopping for courses and now need time to come up to speed. That's ok -- it's still early in the term, there's time -- but you're missing out too by coming to class unprepared (or not coming). I therefore declare an amnesty on late penalties (extra credit for having gotten your assignments in on time!), but only until next Tuesday. So... please catch up!
• Reading Reports: you should do two things: (a) show me that you've actually done the reading - what is it about, what is its scope, what are the main points? Then (b) critique. Position it within a broader context. Why is it written (or filmed...) the way it is? Who is writing, for whom, when, and why? How is it biased by these contextual factors? Can you address any such biases?
• Research proposals are due Thursday.
  • We'll discuss topics in class - anything in the wide range of Islamic LP or Islamicate music is fair game.
  • The full proposal format I use for graduate students is here. You may find its instructions useful.
  • But for Thursday just submit just one page, about 3 - 4 paragraphs, for Thursday:
    • Topic: one phrase as title
    • Aim and significance. What issue or topic do you wish to investigate, and why do you think it's important?
    • Area (brief): provide some background on the people or sounds you intend to investigate - where, who, why, when....? Optionally: include a few secondary sources, links to online media, etc.
• Islamic LP, continued....
  • Group exercises:
    • Adhan in various maqamat (with responses) maqamat, following notation on p. 515 of this article..
    • Performing Qur'an 112, Surat Ikhlas.
      • teaching and learning online
      • comparisons among reciters
      • Malaysian woman recites Ikhlas (but note comments critical of the unveiled voice!)
  • Islamic LP genres
  • Creative work with adhan scapes. Adhan canon of distance, Adhan convergence
• The traditional debate about music and musical ritual in Islam. Introduce and discuss the traditional sources you have found! (For Thursday we'll look at the contemporary debate.) Review a few primary sources together.
• Islamicate Music and its multiple relations to Islam as religion.
  • Islam as catalyst (social connections, economic concentration) gathering and fusing local musical traditions
  • Islamic LP as training, conditioning, selecting
  • Local music likewise infusing Islamic LP (the sonic substrate upon which syntactic, semantic, pragmatic aspects rest)

Thursday (5b)

Due today

1. Short research proposal (1 page) on a relevant topic of your choice within the frame of the course, i.e. either (a) Islamic Language Performance, or (b) Islamicate music. Please include the following (a) a title indicating the topic and scope; (b) a paragraph documenting the aim and significance of your research project - what are the primary questions you seek to answer?; (c) a paragraph of background information, in which you should refer to a few secondary sources. Note that the research should be based primarily on scholarly secondary sources (but not encyclopedias!), combined with online primary sources, such as websites or youtube videos. Submit via eclass ("One page research proposal").
2. Searching the web, locate one contemporary pro-music online source (website, video, or text), and one anti-music source within Muslim discourse. For each of these two online sources, submit a link, plus a paragraph outlining the key points of its argument, and explaining how this argument is similar to--or different from--those of the classical Islamic sources you read for last Tuesday. Is there anything new in the argumentation, or do these sources fall back on the same old points? Submit via eclass (5b).

NB: If you didn't present your examples of classical sources (e.g. Qur'an, Hadith, and other early texts) supporting or rejecting sama` and music last Tuesday (assignment #4 above), please come to class today prepared to present them.

Class

• Note on missed assignments; please catch up! (all due Tuesday)
• Your proposals - let's discuss them.
• Islamic LP genres (concluded, including literature on tajwid and mawlid)
• The traditional debate about music and musical ritual in Islam. Contemporary sources (including booklets and cassettes). Do they tend to refer to the past, or introduce new considerations?
• Islamicate Music and its multiple relations to Islam as religion.
  • Islam as catalyst (social connections, economic concentration) gathering and fusing local musical traditions
  • Islamic LP as training, conditioning, selecting
  • Local music likewise infusing Islamic LP (the sonic substrate upon which syntactic, semantic, pragmatic aspects rest)