Prospectus

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First year

Compulsory for all students Religious Students: Workshop Endnote – Master Religious Studies – date and location to be announced.

Students are advised to contact their supervisor well before the start of their master year, so that a suitable programme can be put together in good time: Masterplanning

Course EC Semester 1 Semester 2
Interpreting Islam: contemporary ijtihad in economics and biomedical ethics 5
Islamic Jurisprudence for Muslims in Europe: The Role of Fatwas 5
Piety, Modernity, and Gender in Islam: Anthropological Perspectives 5
Required General Course Religious Studies 5

Elective courses

Course EC Semester 1 Semester 2
Anthropology of Islamic Law 10
The Islamic Book. From Manuscript to Modern Media 5
Christianity in the Middle East (1800-present) 5
Comparative Religion: Themes and Topics in the Study of Religion 5
Culture and Society in the Medieval Muslim World 10
Ethics and Religion: Questioning Life and Death 5
Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 5
Philosophy of Religion: Religion and the Natural Sciences 5
Psychology of Religion 5
Religion and the immigrant experience 5
Religion, art, and identity of Christian societies in the Middle East 10
Sociology of Religion 5
The Courage To Be Modern: Religious Liberalisms 1850-1950 5
The Halakhic Process: Studies in Jewish Biomedical Law 5
Translating God(s): Islam and Christianity in Southeast Europe 10

More info

Prospective students of the program are advised to contact prof.dr. M.S. Berger, m.s.berger@religion.leidenuniv.nl

This programme focuses on the study of both the historical, normative and the institutional sides of contemporary Islam as a minority religion within the secular context of the Western states. Legitimate subjects are, among others, the history of Muslim minorities in Western and Eastern Europe, the presently ongoing development of a new branche of Islamic jurisprudence called Fiqh al- Aqalliyyât, and the evolving political and legal views on Islam and the Muslims within the Western states.

The programme is interdisciplinary and makes use of the instruments of philology, history, and social sciences (especially of the anthropology, sociology and psychology of religion). It is based on the most recent results of the ongoing research of the development of Islam in the West. Students are expected to participate not only to the study of the features of Islam as a living religion witrhin the Western secular context in a general sense, but also to concentrate more specifically on the position of Muslims and the development of Islam within a certain geographic area.

Students with an interest in a more philological/ theological approach towards Islam in Europe might opt for admission to the Islamic Theology programme.

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. M.S. Berger, email: m.s.berger@religion.leidenuniv.nl

Programme Structure

1. Common Course (5 EC)

2. Compulsory Courses (15 EC)

  • Course focused on contemporary approaches and discussions in the comparative study of religion oriented around an anually changing theme, for example the function of dress and bodycare in various religious traditions

  • Course on the phenomenon of conversion to Islam in the West. Central question is what kind of general theories and typologies are available to us that help us explain contemporary developments in the conversion of Islam?

3. Additional Courses (20 EC)
For example from the master programme Islamic Theology and the Islamic Studies programme at the Faculty of Arts

4. MA thesis (20 EC)