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 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 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

• Catching up! I went to grade 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 realize some of you added the course late. Others are taking time to come up to speed. That's ok -- it's still early in the term -- but you're missing out too. 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!
• 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.
• More genres of LP. Group exercises: Adhan, Qur'an. Creative work with adhan scapes.
• The traditional debate about music and musical ritual in Islam. Be prepared to introduce and discuss the traditional sources you have found! (For Thursday we'll look at the contemporary debate.)
• 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

Short research proposal (1 page) on a relevant topic of your choice. 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.