Visual culture of Islam – Fall 2022

Participating Campuses: Host – University of Michigan | Receiving – Maryland

This course examines the art and architecture in the Islamic world with a chronological and regional approach. It starts with the establishment of Islam in Arabia in the seventh century, continues with the course of its spread throughout Europe, Asia and Africa, and ends with contemporary Islamic art and architecture…

Seminar on Rumi, Sufi Poet – Fall 2022

Participating Campuses: Host – Rutgers University | Receiving – University of Minnesota

Rumi is today the most well-known Sufi across the world. His legacy suggests that this is not undeserved, for he not only composed thousands of verses of poetry that have become revered internationally, but his disciples formed, on the basis of his teachings, a Sufi order that became highly influential for many centuries in three different continents.

African Muslim Societies – Fall 2022

Participating Campuses: Host – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Receiving – University of Minnesota

Today, one Muslim out of three is from Africa and one out of two Africans is Muslim. Through the study of secondary sources, in-class reading and discussions of primary sources, as well as documentaries, this course will provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to understand this central phenomenon…

Introduction to Islam – Fall 2022

View from the Milad Tower looking north over the city of Tehran, Iran (PC: Amir Pashaei, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Participating Campuses: Host – Michigan State University | Receiving – Penn State University

This course aims to provide students with a working knowledge of the religion and civilization of Islam. In addition to identifying the core beliefs, practices, scriptures, and sentiments that have defined Muslim communities…

Islam in Africa – FALL 2022

Participating Campuses: Host – Michigan State University | Receiving – Indiana University

This course provides an overview of “African Islam” through examining the work of scholars from Anthropology, History, Islamic Studies, and other related disciplines.