Fall 2025 Course Offerings

This intensive Beginning Arabic I course in Modern Standard Arabic is aimed at students without any (or only little) background in Arabic; not suitable for heritage learners. Using multi-media tools, the course is devoted to the four skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing with a progression throughout the semester from learning of script and phonology to understanding a wide range of texts and topics that build vocabulary, grammar, and general communicative and cultural competence.

The intensive Intermediate Arabic I course is for students who successfully completed ARAB 012 (or equivalent placement). Using multi-media tools, the course expands students’ competence in the four skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing in Modern Standard Arabic through a variety of texts and topics that aim at promoting students’ acquisition of vocabulary and grasp of grammar to achieve general communication skills and cultural competence. Prerequisite: ARAB 012, or equivalent placement.

This course is designed as an introduction to Islamic civilization and thought and requires no prior knowledge of Islam or Middle Eastern History. It will focus on the political, social and religious institutions that shaped Islamic civilization as well as on the intellectual and scholarly traditions which characterized the Arab and Muslim world from the pre-Islamic time onwards. Beginning with the geographical, cultural and historical context of the rise of Islam, the life of the Prophet, the Qur’an, it will extend through the pre-modern time, with a special emphasis on texts. The readings consist of a selection of translated primary sources as well as complementary background essays. In addition to the political history of this period, we will discuss a wide range of social and cultural themes including the translation movement, science and literature, art and architecture as well as gender issues. Films and Audios will be also solicited. This course fulfills the College HALC (Humanities, Arts, Literature, Culture) requirements for undergraduate students. Required Session: one hour/week discussion session, which will be arranged at the beginning of the semester. Optional Session: one hour/week discussion session in Arabic.

Core: Diversity/Global

SFS/CULP Core

Core: HALC – Humanities, Arts, Literature, Culture

X-List: MVST

Core: Theology

This course focuses on authentic Arabic media, including print media, video, and computer-based materials. Activities include reading/listening for comprehension, and discussion of topics related to current events, politics, economics, society, and culture. Taught in Arabic. Prerequisite: two years of Arabic, or permission of the instructor. Prerequisite: ARAB 112 or placement by exam.

There is no pass/fail option for this course.

The intensive advanced Arabic I course is for students who successfully completed ARAB 112 (or equivalent placement). Using multi-media tools, the course advances students’ competence in the four skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing in Modern Standard Arabic. Through building vocabulary and grasp of grammar the course aims at enabling students to comfortably access a wide variety of texts and media that allows them to reach advanced communication skills and cultural competence. Prerequisite: ARAB 112, or equivalent placement.

There is no pass/fail option for this course.

The Arabic for Diplomacy course is designed for students who intend to pursue successful careers in the Foreign Service, government, UN agencies, local and international NGOs as well as in fields like politics, security, media and communication, economics and business. Students develop their communicative abilities and expand knowledge about Arabic for diplomacy, as well as customs, traditions and ways of life of the Arab world. This course is for students who have completed Advanced Arabic (Arab 2216) or its equivalent and focuses on conversation skills, speaking, listening, writing, reading comprehension, continued vocabulary acquisition and terminology related to diplomacy and international affairs.

ARAB 3303 is offered by departmental faculty on diverse topics in Arabic and Islamic Studies. Select a section, then examine “Cross Listed Courses” for a specific title and course number where a detailed class description and prerequisites can be found.

Cross-Listed Sections:

ARAB 3370

ARAB 4501

ARAB 4405

This course will focus on the close reading and interpretation of poetry texts including Free Verse and `Ammiyyah Poetry. Literary critical themes include such topics as (post)-colonialism, modernism, committed poetry, the influence of the West, poetry and identity. Final projects will allow students to pursue their individual interests. The instructor will assist students in choosing readings and essay and paper topics appropriate to their levels and interests.

Arabic Proficiency Prep Course

What is justice perceived by Muslims and how do Muslim writers articulate their vision of justice throughout the ages? These questions are a common thread in this course which introduces students to wide variety of writings within the Islamic tradition, with an emphasis on the period from the 7th to the 16th century, though also touching on modern Muslim articulations. The course explores the theoretical and practical dimension of how to achieve justice, looks at the way conceptions of justice may change over time, and what factors drive changes in articulation. After situating the Islamic tradition into general conceptions of justice, ranging from Aristotle and Kant to MacIntyre and Walzer, the course focuses on original writings in English translation drawn from different fields of Islamicate writings, covering religious scripture, literary texts, philosophical treatises, historical writings, and legal works that address and reflect conceptions of justice. Students learn how to situate these texts into their intellectual and historical contexts and interpret their authors’ understanding of justice and the world in which they live. The course readings and discussions explore the dynamic interaction between the realm of the religious with literature, politics, law, and philosophy. The course is based on close reading and in-class discussion of these texts, and requires students to write throughout the semester three short papers (5 pages each) on questions raised by the course material as well as a final research paper (15-20 pages).

Core: Pthwys to Social Justice

Taught in English ENGL

X-List: GMST

Core:HALC – Hum, Art, Lit, Cul

This seminar explores Syria’s unique profile in the longue duree history of the Middle East. Students will learn how Syrian historical experiences have constituted an “archive” by which Arab and Muslim identities have been negotiated over time. Special attention will be given to Syria’s special role in the codification of Islamic tradition and the construction of Arab nationalism, and how these themes come to bear for understanding the legacy of Syria today.

X-List: HIST

Within the classical Arabic literary tradition, the textual variants known as Alf layla wa-layla have a truly ambiguous status, at once influential and marginal to the understanding and practice of adab. This course will engage with critical readings of Alf layla wa-layla, set into conversation with texts such as al-Tanoukhi’s al-Faraj ba‘d al-shidda and al-Ramhurmuzi’s ‘Aja’ib al-Hind. Readings will be in Arabic.

Core:HALC – Hum, Art, Lit, Cul

X-List: GMST

Muslim, Jewish, and Christian scriptures contain a number of shared prophets, figures, and narratives, which demonstrate both commonalities and profound differences. This course will explore the depictions of some biblical prophets and figures found in the Qurʾan and reacquaint ourselves, whenever necessary, with how these same figures are represented in the Jewish and Christian Bibles. Some of the figures to be explored include, but are not limited to, Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Lot, David, Solomon, Joseph, Moses, Mary, and Jesus. Through the exploration of prophets and other figures, this course will offer students a glimpse into the development of the early Islamic tradition. Students will also learn how different presuppositions can impact how the texts and their relationship are read.

Core: Theology

Core:HALC – Hum, Art, Lit, Cul

X-List: GMST

Core: Diversity/Domestic

Core: Diversity/Global

SFS/CULP Core

Taught in English

X-List: LING

X-List: MAAS

This course surveys concepts and strategies of liberation within the Palestinian literary tradition, and includes poets and authors working from historic Palestine as well as the diaspora, in a variety of languages, including Arabic, English and Hebrew. Texts include poetry, memoirs, fiction and film by M. Darwish, I. Hammad, J. I. Jabra, G. Kanafani, Adania Shibli, and others.

Core:HALC – Hum, Art, Lit, Cul

This course will familiarize students with the sources, research tools and methods used in the field of Islamic Studies. We will look at the history of the discipline and survey its major areas of research, covering history, language and literature, the religious sciences (Qur’an, Hadith, law, and theology), as well as philosophy and the social sciences. Students will be exposed to various approaches to the study of Islam and its major debates.

This course introduces the linguistics methodology of the major domains of Arabic linguistics. It covers traditional and current approaches to Arabic linguistic research. The course explores the state of the art of the major domains such as the traditional grammar theory, the current morphological and syntactic theory, the contemporary approaches to studying Arabic sociolinguistic, and the most recent approaches.

Core: Diversity/Domestic

Core: Diversity/Global

SFS/CULP Core

This course introduces students to early Arbro-Islamic texts from the formative period of Islam, up to the 3rd/9th century. Through selected readings, students will analyze excerpts from a variety of Arabic sources and genres, including the Qurʾān, tafsīr, qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ, al-sīra al-nabawiyya, fiqh, ḥadīth, and tārīkh. To deepen their understanding, students will also engage with critical academic scholarship that offers insights into the cultural, historical, and political contexts of this period. While instruction is in English, Arabic reading fluency is required.