Spring 2017 Religious Studies Course Offering - RELS3600A

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Spring 2017 Religious Studies Course Offering

RELS3600A - Islamic Art, Architecture and Music
Instructor:  Atif Khalil
Day(s):  Thursdays
Time:  3:05 - 5:45 p.m.
Prerequisite(s):  RELS2600
Note:  students who are interested in this course but do not have the prerequisite should contact Atif Khalil (atif.khalil@uleth.ca)

If theology can be conceived of as the grammar of religion, then sacred art, it can be argued, is  theology in form.  It was for this reason that when the late scholar of Islamic art, Titus Burckhardt, was once asked how he would describe Islam to someone who had little knowledge of the religion, he replied that he would place him at the center of the Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo or the Alhambra Palace in Spain. 

The course will explore the science, symbolism and history of Islamic art, architecture and music as part of its study of the aesthetic expressions of Islam’s “theology in form.”  We shall begin by exploring the nature of sacred and religious art, and then proceed to examine ethics as art, the development of Quranic calligraphy, music in the Islamic tradition, and finally Islamic architecture.  There will be a special guest lecture by Professor Oludamini Ogunnaike (College of William and Mary) Islamic Art in West Africa as part of the University of Lethbridge’s Annual Khan Islamic Studies Lecture series.  The course will involve a blend of lectures, group discussions, and a practical component involving how to write Arabic calligraphy. 

(Image on poster: a student’s assignment from a previous year.)

 

 


Contact:

Bev Garnett | bev.garnett@uleth.ca | (403) 380-1894

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