Biography and Thought: Study of the Life of Muhammad

The course will undertake a detailed study of Prophet Muhammad's biography in the light of the Qur'anic revelation and religious thought that became foundational for the development of legal-ethical and theological traditions. Students will study the life of the Prophet and relate it to his spiritual as well as temporal experience to investigate political theology of Islam. Our approach will be that of History of Religions (phenomenology), that is, aiming at a fuller understanding of the meaning of the concepts like "Apostle of God," "Seal of the Prophets," "The Mother of the Book," and so on, for individual Muslims and for Muslim thinkers over the centuries. In order to accomplish this task, students will study the entire Qur'an, in conjunction with the biography of the Prophet.