All readings in the syllabus with an * are primary sources.
*Muhammad Abdel Salem al-Farag, The Forgotten Duty
Key Jihadi thinker and ideologue who wrote The Forgotten Duty in 1970 in which he
argued that jihad is the forgotten duty, in other words the “6th pillar” of Islam
*Ali Shariati, “Cain & Abel”
An Iranian intellectual and preacher who was influential in merging Marxist and
Islamic concepts in the 1970s, paving the way for the Iranian Revolution. He frames
the story of Cain and Abel in Marxist terms
*Husayn-McMahon Correspondence
Correspondence between Sharif Husayn of Mecca and the British foreign officer
McMahon in which it appears that the British offer support for the creation of an
Arab state after World War I in exchange for Sharif Husayn calling on Arabs to revolt
against the Ottoman Empire. Critical document in terms of the creation of the
modern states in the Middle East and the sense of betrayal by Arabs when the
British and French carved up the region between them after the war
*Taha Hussein, The Future of Culture in Egypt
Influential Egyptian intellectual who argued in the inter-war period that Egypt was
essentially western and needed to embrace that identity in order to develop
*Hasan al-Banna
Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928. In his writings he argues for
reforms that blend modern science and technology with Islamic values. He
condemns the European imperialist designs on the region.
*Theodore Herzl
Authof The Jewish State and father of modern Zionism.
*Sayyid Qutb, Milestones
Qutb is universally regarded as the father of modern jihadism. His book, Milestones
is compared wth Lenin’s “What is to be done?” As a manifesto for Islamic revolution.
*Nasser’s Suez speech
Speech by Gamal Abdel Nasser justifying the nationalizing of the Suez Canal.
Typifies the anti-imperialist and pan-Arab ideas that propelled Nasser to the world
stage and made him a major figure in the non-alligned movement
*UN Res 242
UN resolution after the 1967 war that territory seized during the war (the West
Bank, Gaza, Sinai, and Golan Heights) must be returned. This resolution is the basis
of Palestinian negotiations till today.
*Qur’an excerpts