Day: November 24, 2025

The Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence

This course offers a comprehensive study of the principles of jurisprudence, a foundational discipline for all Islamic narrative sciences. Students examine four main areas: Language and Meaning, addressing textual interpretation; Rational Correlations, exploring the role of reason in deriving rulings; Authority, assessing valid sources of law and their evidentiary weight; and Procedural Principles, guiding legal reasoning lacking clear proof. The course combines close reading of a major original text—Arabic proficiency required—and analysis of modern English-language scholarship. Emphasis is placed on historical development, theoretical foundations, and comparative perspectives.

 Religion and Science

The course discusses the relationship between religion and science from four perspectives: religion and ‘the history’ of science, religion and ‘the method’ of science, religion and the ‘theories’ of science, and ‘philosophical and theological’ reflections. Although it explores the relationship between religion and natural sciences in general, the focus sciences are four in addition to their metaphysical/theological implications: biology (Darwinism and evolutionary theory, natural theology, and randomness), physics (quantum theory and relativity), astronomy (the Big Bang, creation, design, and chance), and cognitive psychology & neuroscience (perception, and brain mechanisms).