Fall 2026
CMCU 3350: Syria Contemporary Religion and Politics
Taught by Daanish Faruqi
The fall of regime of longtime Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 has left the world with countless questions. In particular, the Islamist orientation of the coalition that took down Assad, the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, has led many analysts to probe whether an Islamist group can successfully transition Syria to proper stable governance. But questions like these can only be dealt with superficially unless one properly investigates the role of religion in Syrian politics and society. This course seeks to offer the necessary corrective, by offering a primer on the role of multiple religions in Syrian society from the 20th century to the present. It will briefly touch on antecedents from the late Ottoman period (19th century), but our focus will primarily be on the French colonial period, the formation of the Syrian Arab republic, and the eventual rise of Ba’athist Syria.
CMCU 3380: Saudi Arabia at a Crossroads
Taught by Taghreed Alsabeh
Saudi Arabia stands at a crossroads, balancing its traditional tribal structure, the influence of its ruling family, its immense wealth from oil reserves, its religious significance as the home of Islam’s two holiest sites, and its strategic alliance with the United States. This course explores Saudi Arabia’s unique characteristics and how they impact the country’s political landscape, particularly regarding the development of democracy. Students will analyze why Saudi Arabia’s political system differs from other Arab countries’ political regimes that were impacted by the democratization wave during the Arab Spring period, which led Saudi Arabia to survive the wave. The course will examine the challenges and prospects for democratic reform in the country.
CMCU 4001: Global Div Israel & Palestine
Taught by Nader Hashemi
The Israel-Gaza War is a transformative moment in global politics. It has produced heated debate and political commentary that recalls other watershed moments in international affairs, such as the end of the Cold War, 9/11 and the subsequent US invasion of Iraq, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Why does the Israel-Palestine conflict continue to generate intense polarization, bitterness, and acrimony on a global scale? This is the core question that will inform this course. Within Western societies, the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza, have produced deep divisions in universities, medical and law schools, newsrooms, in Hollywood, among intellectuals, in the Democratic Party, and within the American Jewish community. Internationally, a chasm has emerged between the West and the global south over this issue as reflected in UN General Assembly and Security Council votes and the January 2024 International Court of Justice ruling on the question of genocide in Gaza. How can we objectively understand this ongoing global divide over the Israel/Palestine Conflict? What are its historical roots, how is it politically perpetuated and can this chasm be bridged? These are some of the questions that we will examine.
CMCU 3397: Muslim Women & the West
Taught by Shenila Khoja-Moolji
Muslim women often appear in Western imagination as oppressed, silent, and victimized. This course offers an alternate account of Muslim women by centering texts and aesthetics produced by them, along with ethnographic studies that give us a glimpse into their lives in the West. We encounter Muslim women through non-normative frames of agency, joy, community-building, and care. We observe the myriad ways in which they construct preferred futures against racist, capitalist, and heteronormative logics. A major thrust of the course is studying the lifeworlds of Shia Muslim women (a minority interpretive community within Islam).
INAF 1010-26:American Muslims
Taught by Shenila Khoja-Moolji
There are about 1.8 billion Muslims globally. Yet, in America, they are defined through rather narrow tropes. This course introduces students to the heterogeneity and diversity of American Muslims through the case study of Shia Ismaili Muslims. We consider writings and media produced by Ismaili Muslims to contemplate larger questions around representation, anticoloniality, feminism, racism, and migrant and refugee resettlement. Accordingly, we discover how Muslims in America hope to dismantle exploitative hierarchies and the role that religious ethics play in this project.
CMCU 4354 – Health, Law, and Islam ** cross-listed with ARST 4354
Taught by Dr. Ghida Aljuburi
The Muslim view is that the origins of Islamic legal code are rooted in the Muslim holy text (the Quran) and Sunnah (the portion of Muslim law based on the prophet Mohammed’s words or acts), and it is this jurisprudence that gives Islamic religious practice its connection and sustainability in everything including health law and policy.This seminar provides an overview of where Islam as a rule of law and global health intersect through subject specific segments. The seminar will start by exploring Islamic law and the history of healthcare under Islamic law and move into segments that discuss food hygiene jurisprudence, prophetic medicine as Sunnah, bioethics and Islam, mental health and Islamic law, migrant health and Islamic law, and finally sexual, reproductive and human rights under Islamic law. It presupposes the Quran and Sunnah as the legal documents and where relevant, the seminar will discuss comparative aspects to western perspectives. This seminar supports the notion that global health law is part of a growing health diplomacy where it becomes vital to understand key aspects of how culture and religion can influence health, policy and the law locally and globally.
HIST 2109 – The Islamic World
Taught by Dr. Jonathan Brown
We can define the Islamic world in several ways: the regions in which Muslim populations predominate, states and societies in which the institutions of Islamic civilization flourished, or areas controlled by Muslim rulers. In the modern period, we can view the Islamic world through the lens of colonial experiences, religious revivalism (and its controversies) and efforts to negotiate and reclaim the heritage of classical Islam. The scope of this class is ambitious, but it is also rewarding. To understand the Islamic world one must understand the religion of Islam, its origins, internal debates and development. Exploring Islamic civilization means surveying how this faith brought about conversions and shaped institutions that redefined the world from Andalusia to Indonesia. Finally, understanding the Islamic world today means placing this legacy within the various geopolitical and religious contexts of the modern world. This course grapples with all these tasks.