What is the Muslim Histories and Culture Project (MHCP)?

The Muslim Histories and Cultures Project was born out of discussions between His Highness The Aga Khan and Texas Governor Rick Perry during the Summer 2002, when The Aga Khan was in Houston for the dedication of a new Ismaili Center. Both His Highness and Governor Perry agreed on the need for Texans to have a greater understanding of Islamic culture, and subsequently brought UT-Austin President Larry Faulkner into the discussions. Located in the state capital, Faulkner’s campus is well positioned to accomplish these goals. A series of meetings followed, with the project ultimately finding a home in UT-Austin’s College of Liberal Arts, under the guidance of Dean Richard W. Lariviere, in association with UT Liberal Arts (UT-LA), the college’s teacher preparation program.
In April 2004, the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and UT-Austin finalized a grant proposal that created the partnership that became known as the Muslim Histories and Cultures Program (MHC). Much has happened since the inception of the partnership. Creation and implementation of a model was of prime importance. MHC recruited and directly trained 80 teachers affecting approximately 15,150 students of World History and World Geography in ten key Texas districts during the two sessions conducted in 2005 and 2006. The purpose is two-fold 1) to fulfill Governor Rick Perry’s desire to better educate Texas teachers on Muslim topics and 2) to train teachers to use a cultural lens approach to understanding other cultures. Governor Perry was instrumental in getting this program off the ground.

The curriculum for this project was developed at Harvard University and modified at the University of Texas at Austin.

The responsibilities of the participants are:

• to attend the 10 seminars and complete the assigned readings.
• to attend the January, April, and June meetings in Austin.
• to create lessons concerning Islamic topics with a “cultural lens” approach tied to their grade level to share with other teachers.

Click on a Link Below to Visit a Session:

• Session One: Sources of Tradition
• Session Two: Muhammad through History
• Session Three: The Qur’an
• Session Four: Thr Qur’an: Major Themes
• Session Five: Communities of Interpretation
• Session Six: Communities of Interpretation
• Session Seven: Rise and Reach of Muslim Civilizations
• Session Eight: Religion, Politics & Modernity: Competing Visions of Muslim Societies from the 18th & 19th Centuries
• Session Nine: Islamic Modernism
• Lesson Plans and Strategies

Guiding Questions:

1. Each of these poems evokes an intimate relationship with Prophet Muhammad. In reading them, consider the significance of this means of devotion. What are the elements that make this type of poetry an effective means of communicating religious affections and pious devotion? The intimacy expressed in the poems allows a window into the poet’s and the audience’s particular understandings of Muhammad and his mission to humanity. How is Muhammad’s prophetic role appropriated and acculturated in each of these traditions? In other words, how is the mission made personally meaningful to the poet and the audience?

1. Consider these same questions as you read the selections from Mythology and Folklore of the Hui. To what extent do the myths of the Hui reveal Islamic and/or Chinese identity? How are these identities negotiated in the stories?

1. What influence do local artistic traditions have on the illustrations of the mi’raj? What can we tell of the aesthetic norms that have influenced the depictions of figures (the Prophet, the angels), their clothing, natural elements (the sky, clouds etc) and architectural features? How does this artistic tradition handle perspective? How do these illustrations reflect the intended audience (courtly and aristocratic circles)? How do cultural contexts and accepted aesthetic norms influence the representations of Jesus in Christian traditions around the world?

1. Why do some Muslims feel comfortable depicting the Prophet (especially his face)? Why would others consider this to be offensive and hence forbidden? What factors, aside from theological ones, could be involved in determining these attitudes? What is the difference between poetic and figural depictions of the Prophet?

Readings: Required

1. Asani, A, and K. Abdel-Malek. Celebrating Muhammad: Images of the Prophet in Popular Muslim Poetry. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995: 1-45.
2. Seguy, Marie-Rose. The Miraculous Journey of Mahomet. Translated by Richard Pevear. New York: George Braziller, Inc, 1977.

1. 1. On the Way to Jerusalem
   2. Mahomet Enters the Sacred Mosque at Jerusalem
   3. The Angel Half-fire Half-snow
   4. The Prophet Meets Jacob and Joseph
   5. The Angel with 70 Heads
   6. The Angel with 10,000 Wings and the Four-headed Angel
   7. The Five Daily Prayers (conversation with Moses)
   8. The 70,000 Veils
   9. The Doorway to Hell
   10. The Falsely Devout

Divide and Assign:

• Asani: “In Praise of Muhammad I: Urdu Poems”

1. 1. Khalil [292]
   2. Dagh [125]
   3. Lutf [117]
   4. Nuri [315]
   5. Sa’il [163]
   6. Salim Ahmad [266]
   7. Kausari [146]
   8. Fani [157]

(Note: the last two poets are Hindus)

• Asani: “In Praise of Muhammad II: Sindhi Poems,” Valan Valhari [130-132]
• Knappert, Jan. “Mohammad’s Nocturnal Journey to Jerusalem and his visit to the Seven Heavens and to Hell” of Swahili Islamic Poetry, III. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1967: 227-275.
• Hiskett, M. “Prophetic Panegyric and Biography” of A History of Hausa Islamic Verse. London: University of London School of Oriental and African Studies, 1975: 43-51.
• Li, Shujian, and Karl W. Luckert. “Muhammad and His Companions” Mythology and Folklore of the Hui: A Muslim Chinese People. Translated by Fengian Yu and Zhilin Hou. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994: 83-93. (Originally published in 1946)

Recommended:

• Speight, R. Marston, “Hadith.” Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World ed. J. Esposito, v..2, 83-87.

Abstract:

Muhammad, Prophet of Islam, ranks amongst the most influential figures in human history. For millions of Muslims around the world, the Prophet Muhammad has become the paradigm, or role model, who is worthy of being emulated. As God’s chosen prophet and messenger, he best embodied how to live a life in accordance with God’s will. In this sense, he and the prophets before him, including Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Jacob and Jesus, are perceived as exemplary muslims, literally, those who have truly submitted [to the will of God]. Not surprisingly, Prophet Muhammad’s customary behavior (sunnah) is an important source, second only to the Qur’an, for determining the legal, societal and pietistic norms for Muslim societies. The hadith, or accounts recording the Prophet’s words and deeds, are an important source of Prophetic sunnah. For many Muslims, Muhammad is not only the guide but the intercessor, the helper in time of difficulty, the mystic, the friend, and even the beloved. For a better understanding of some of the roles in which Muslims have seen their Prophet, we need to focus not only on the historical figure of Muhammad, who lived in the seventh century Arabia (“the Muhammad of history”), but also on Muhammad as he has been interpreted by millions of Muslims over the centuries living in different geographic and cultural locales (“Muhammad through history”). The readings in Session Two help us explore interpretations of the figure of Muhammad across historical time and geographic space drawing on examples from poetry, folk literature and visual arts. By using literature and the arts as cultural lenses through which to view the figure of the Prophet, we are better able to appreciate the role that literary and artistic contexts play in influencing the interpretation and expression of religious concepts and symbols. Such an approach also allows us access to the personal voices of poets and the artists as expressed in their works, voices that are often drowned out by the voices of formal and official religious authorities and texts.

The selections for this Session draw on two types of literature depicting the Prophet Muhammad: poems from South Asia (the Indian subcontinent) and sub-Saharan Africa; and folk stories from the Hui, a Muslim community in China, which illustrate the manner in which the figure of Muhammad is interpreted within the framework of Chinese folkloric traditions.
From South Asia we have examples of poetry from Urdu and Sindhi, both Indo-Aryan languages written in a script based on the Arabic alphabet. In the course of their historical development, both languages have acquired significant vocabulary derived from Arabic and Persian. Spoken by over 150 million people, Urdu is the official language of Pakistan and also one of the national languages of India. Beyond South Asia, Urdu is routinely spoken as a first or second language in immigrant communities of South Asian origin in many parts of the world, including the United States. Urdu poetry includes a distinctive genre called na’t, or composition that glorifies Muhammad. These na’ts may be written in various poetic meters and forms. The selections of na’ts, included in the readings, illustrate the special relationship that exists between the composers of the poems and Muhammad, their beloved Prophet, a relationship that in some instances has a somewhat romantic tinge to it. Muhammad is portrayed as a helper and a friend, with poets seeking his intercession for the forgiveness of their sins. Such pleas reveal that Muhammad is conceived as having a mystical and spiritual dimension to his personality made possible by his special relationship to God. Writing na’ts, or poems glorifying Muhammad, was not confined just to Muslim poets; our sample shows examples of such poems written by non-Muslims as well.

Sindhi is spoken predominantly in the region of Sind, southern province of present-day Pakistan, home of the ancient Indus valley civilization. The language is also spoken by scattered groups of Sindhis living in many cities across India. Sindhi Muslims use their native language to express affection and high esteem for the Prophet Muhammad. Many of the themes in Urdu poetry are also found in Sindhi poetry. A distinctive feature of Sindhi poetry is the tendency to praise Muhammad and represent him in symbols familiar to the local culture and literature. This is accomplished by poets incorporating folk tales and romances as allegoric references or following certain local literary conventions. A particularly striking convention has male poets adopting the female voice to address the Prophet as a longed for bridegroom or beloved. While appearing strange to contemporary Western audiences, such usage is completely in keeping with the ethos of devotional poetry in many parts of northern India and Pakistan in which the human soul is always imagined to be in the feminine mode in its devotional relationship to the Divine.

The poetry selections from sub-Saharan Africa are composed in Hausa and Swahili, widely spoken in West and East Africa, respectively. Both belong to the Bantu family of languages. On account of ancient cultural and economic ties with the Arabic speaking world, (Hausa through the trans-Saharan trade connecting West Africa to North Africa; Swahili through the trading networks across the Indian Ocean between the east coast of Africa and Arabia), both languages have absorbed a significant component of Arabic vocabulary. Historically, modified forms of the Arabic alphabet have even been used to write Hausa and Swahili. With the coming of European colonialism, however, the Latin alphabet was adopted as the official script. The spread of Islam among Hausa and Swahili speaking peoples has resulted in both languages becoming important vehicles for the expression of Islamic devotion.

The poem in Hausa is composed by Asma (d. 1865), daughter of the famous eighteenth century reformer of Islam, Usuman dan Fodio (d. 1817) (We will be learning more about Usuman dan Fodio and his reformist ideology in Session Eight.) Renowned for her piety as well as her learning, Asma wrote poetry in three languages, Arabic, Hausa and Fulfulde. She was particularly gifted in her ability to express Islamic concepts into local African idioms, writing as many as sixty works during her lifetime. Aside from her religiosity and literary abilities, Asma’s popularity rested also on her charitable works for the marginalized in her society as well as her contributions to furthering education for women. Her poem, “Ode in Praise of the Messenger,” an example of a type of poetry called madih, Prophetic panegyric, is one of her most famous compositions in the Hausa language.

The Swahili selection is a poetic account of the mi’raj or Prophet Muhammad’s ascension through the heavens. The traditional accounts narrate that one night, the Prophet Muhammad, mounted on a mythical creature called Buraq and with the Angel Gabriel as his guide, first went to Jerusalem, where after leading the other prophets in prayer, he ascended through the various heavens, culminating this journey in a face to face meeting with God. Muslims have differed among themselves as to the interpretation of this event, with the more mystically minded interpreting it as a spiritual allegory for the journey of the human soul, a kind of “Pilgrim’s Progress.” Muhammad’s mi’raj formed for the mystics of Islam the prototype of the ascent of each soul to higher spiritual realms. The mi’raj becomes a popular subject for Muslim poets in many languages, especially as it allows poets to imagine and depict creatively a highly esoteric experience. Incidentally, there is strong evidence to suggest that Muslim poetic accounts of the mi’raj, reaching Europe through the Arab courts in medieval Spain, inspired the Italian writer Dante to compose his famous work, The Divine Comedy.

As evident in the painting selections, the mi’raj has provided inspiration not just to poets but to artists as well. The illustrations included here are from a fifteenth century manuscript called the Mi’raj Nameh “Treatise on the Mi’raj.” It was one of the great masterpieces produced at studios attached to the royal court at Herat (currently in present-day Afghanistan). At these royal studios, calligraphers, illuminators and bookbinders produced lavish manuscripts for the vast and famous library of the ruler Shah Rukh (1396-1477), son of Tamerlane. It is believed that Mir Haydar, the author of the text, translated it into a dialect of Turkish from an Arabic original. The artwork is very colorful and depicts various scenes during the Prophet Muhammad’s heavenly journey. While the artists and the patron associated with this manuscript tradition were evidently comfortable with a figural representation of the Prophet, depicting even his face, there are Muslims who consider these depictions as constituting idolatry and hence should be forbidden. As such, they would prefer anionic representations of the Prophet perhaps through other art forms such as poetry and calligraphy.

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