Fourth-Level Arabic: Classical Literature

3 units

This class provides an overview of pre-modern Arabic-Islamic thought (i.e., Islamicate intellectual traditions expressed in the Arabic language). Topics to be covered include Pre-Islamic Poetry, Quran, Hadith, Islamic Law, Sufism, Philosophy, Natural Science, and Social Thought. Students will be introduced to these topics through focused reading and discussion of Classical Arabic texts by key thinkers like al-abari, Ibn ajar, Ibn Qudama, al-Ghazali, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd, and Ibn Khaldun. In addition to reading Classical Arabic texts, students will be given select exercises designed to strengthen their grammar, expand their vocabulary, and build their translation.