HOLY BOOKS AND MODELS OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

This teaching belongs to the Master's Degree Program in Languages ​​and Civilizationsof Asia and of Mediterranean Africa (LICAAM), Near and Middle East study area and Indian subcontinent.
It aims to provide students with the necessary methodological and critical tools for the investigation of the texts that found the Islamic culture (Qur'an, Sunna according to the main Sunni and Shiite collections). It also aims to enable students to identify and retrace the categories of thought that, starting from the founding texts, have led throughout history to the formation of some particular formulations of current social and socio-political interest. In particular, the course intends to introduce to the deepening of the relationship that links the Islamic "canon" to the sociological and political demands of the contemporary world.
Objectives of the course are: to develop a capacity for critical reflection on the texts and their collocation within the culture in question, to develop a capacity for critical reflection on the ways in which these texts have founded images and cultural paths, throughout history and up to the contemporaneity. The achievement of these objectives allows the student to approach, independently and with sufficient competence of the sources and analytical and critical skills, a text of religious inspiration and Arab-Islamic area.

1. Know the technical use of the religious terminology adopted by Islamic foundational literature; to know, thanks to a direct and personal approach, the textual and cultural bases of the cd. "Islamic civilization".
2. Ability to investigate the texts that base the culture of Islamic inspiration and the contemporary religious literature that invariably leans on the above text, and to identify and retrace the categories of thought that have led in the course of history to the formation of social categories -politics.
3. Be able to formulate and argue theses, own and others, about the culture in question, and know how to communicate these hypotheses and beliefs using appropriate terminology.

The specific curricular requirements, acquired through credits in certain disciplinary fields, giving access to the Master's degrees [LM20] LINGUE E CIVILTÀ DELL'ASIA E DELL'AFRICA MEDITERRANEA - Laurea magistrale (DM270) vicino e medio oriente e subcontinente indiano
and
[FM10] ANTROPOLOGIA CULTURALE, ETNOLOGIA, ETNOLINGUISTICA - Laurea magistrale (DM270), percorso orientalistico.is teaching.

1. Definition of the terms related to the course (the Islamic canon, the ideas of sacred Scripture and the heavenly book, of sacredness, of idea and ideal, of social and of society) The defining moment will compare the Italian terms - therefore concepts belonging to the Western culture - with similar Arabic terms - concepts related to culture - in order to identify convergences and divergences.
2. Koranic terminology of the sacred and the profane: prohibition, permission, purification.
3. Insights on some figures and themes such as, for example, the ideals of "muslim" and "umma muslima" and figure of Abraham; the ideals of: middle, solidarity, kindness and care of others, peace, mercy, hospitality, social justice.
4. The Islamic foundational literature and some gender issues (the creation of women, the figures of Sara and Agar/Hajar).

Preliminary reading of J. van Ess, The dawn of Muslim theology, Einaudi, Turin 2008 is recommended.
The material used in the lessons and necessary for the exam will be provided by the teacher.

The exam consists of two parts.
1. Each student presents, at the end of the course, a written essay in which he elaborated on a topic agreed upon with the teacher and concerning the general scope of the course. This paper is delivered before the exam and the exam briefly presented and discussed in the classroom in one of the last lessons.
2. the student converses with the teacher on the contents of the course, thus demonstrating the skills acquired.

Teaching organized in:
1) lectures;
2) thematic analyzes proposed to students who will have to discuss, analyze and report the results achieved in the classroom.

Italian

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "International cooperation" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development