ARBC 3501 - Men and Women in Islam

ARBC 3501: Men and Women in Islam is a 3-credit course that focuses on contemporary gender egalitarian and anti-patriarchal interpretations of the Qur'an by Muslim scholars.

Workload

For the asynchronous version of the course in Spring 2021, the course consisted of weekly articles to read or videos to watch, as well as 300–400 written reflections on the discussion board. There was also a "midterm" essay assignment and a "final" assignment which could take a variety forms, such as an essay following an interview with a Muslim woman regarding the course topics. Each student presents at one point during the semester on the topic for the week.

Grading was extremely easy.

The median student spends about 5 hours per week on the course, according to SmartEvals.

Topic List

This list of topics is from Spring 2021.

1. Qur'an and hadiths
2. Creation of Adam and Eve
   1. Was Eve created from a rib?
3. Arab women before Islam
4. Women stories in the Qur'an
   1. Balkis, Queen of Sheba
   2. Sarah and hagar
   3. Zulaykha
   4. Mother of Moses
   5. Asiah, wife of Pharaoh
5. Polygamy around the world and in Islam
6. Khadijah and Aisha
7. Domestic violence
8. Maryam
9. Hijab
10. When the Qur'an speaks to women
    1. Khawlah bint Tha'labah, who successfully pleaded with God
11. De-linking FGM from Islam
12. Divorce and inheritance rights
13. Afterlife

The required books are:

• Wadud, A. (1999). Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective.
• Lamrabet, A. (2016). Women in the Qur'an: An Emancipatory Reading.

These are available online from the Georgia Tech Library.