A discipline of Islamic studies and social sciences, Islamic Sociology studies human societies and relations among social phenomena and many parts of society through Islamic perspectives. Through lectures, discussions and field-work assignments, students explore sociological concepts and discipline from an Islamic point of view. Beginning with the origins of sociology, which, according to many, is Ibn Khaldun’s “Introduction” (Muqaddimah), students study and analyze social systems and structures, historical cyclical changes and social processes. Course participants build due foundation for further studies in the field of sociology based on the Islamic paradigm. Topics of investigation and learning from sociological and anthropological perspectives include Islam and Muslim communities, social, economic and political realities and experiences related to Islam and Muslims, Muslim contributions to sociology, the imbrication of Islam and ‘Muslimness’ with race, ethnicity, class, gender, etc. The course provides a contextual, multilayered and complex understanding of social, political and intellectual movements related to Islam and Muslims such as Muslim reformisms, Islamisms, Islamic feminisms, etc. Students are encouraged to investigate central questions in sociology in relation to contemporary Islam and Muslims such as the relationship between religion and secularism, postcolonialism and orientalism, and so on.
