Spring 2022 REL 279 Nature & Ecology in Islam

What are the Muslims views about the natural world, its origins, telos and its relationship to human beings? How did Muslims study the world of nature? How was the world of nature invoked and depicted in Islamic literature, art, architecture and urban planning? Encompassing these and other interrelated questions, this course is intended to be an overview and survey of the place of nature and its study in the premodern Muslim intellectual and cultural heritage. We will observe Muslim worldview, imagination and study of nature through its scriptural, mystical, philosophical, scientific, theological, and legal traditions and texts, but also in literary and cultural expressions such as poetry, storytelling, art, architecture, gardens, and daily life.