Discussion: Sexual Ethics and Islam.

Discussion: Sexual Ethics and Islam.

In your paper, do not spend most of the time giving a summary of the book. Do that only as much as you need to situate your own thoughts.

Instead, focus on a chapter we did not read in class (choose from: chapters 2, 6, 7, or 8 – but not chapter 9). Analyze and critique Ali’s presentation of that chapter in light of the book as a whole (of course, you can and should read all of the other chapters of the book for this), as well as previous class readings on Islamic law, theology, and ethics (as appropriate to your argument) from the earlier part of the course.

The following might be some points you discuss, and/or you may come up with your own:

How does this particular chapter represent her overall argument throughout the book?

How does her approach challenge previous legal and theological claims about sexuality and/or gender in Islam?

How might her work here impact other dimensions of Islamic ethics?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of her approach?

Due: At the beginning of class, Monday, 1 May 2017. Also submit an electronic copy via SafeAssign on Blackboard.

Format:

Double-spaced, one inch margins on all sides, standard font (Calibri, Arial, Times New Roman, etc.).

Make sure to use page numbers.

References:

DO NOT !!!!! use sources from outside of our class materials. Do not cite our class discussions/your class notes unless it is specifically about something we discussed not in or beyond the course materials. If you need to cite that, write: (class notes, 4/18/17).

There is no need to provide a bibliography, nor footnotes. But when referring to the text for ideas that are not your own, use a parenthetical notation of author’s last name and page number(s) like this:

IS believes it has today fulfilled the conditions required to allow them to take slaves, including concubines (Ali, 71)

try to support the essay with a lot of examples from the book.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.