Discusses old and new debates on the viability, illness, and death of the Shari'a. The Shari'a is broadly understood as the laws of Islam, though this concept is fine tuned considerably in the course of our discussions. The course places on a continuum two kinds of debates: debates in the Islamic tradition about the end of access to divine guidance and debates in modern scholarship in Islamic legal studies about the end of the Shari'a. The resulting continuum covers what access to divine guidance means and how it relates to Shari'a.
4
UnitsOptional
Grading1, 2, 3
PasstimeUpper division only
Level LimitLetters and science
CollegeHands down the worst class I've take, not even Econ 140A and no one likes steigerwald, I literally took his class almost 2 years ago but I came here to be petty. His lectures were unorganized and he seems to get a kick from picking on students who aren't knowledgeable about islamic law. He gave us a midterm the day, no warning.
Ahmad Ahmad gave us a 3000 word essay with a 12 hour notice that made up our ENTIRE grade and told us that we all did a terrible job in his class. Not a single person has any idea what he taught us in the class because of his poor organizational skills. He is a smart smart man however he should not be a professor.
Took RGST125A. The class was graded with 50% participation plus two papers worth 25% each. There were a lot, and I mean A LOT of moments in this class where I didn't understand anything that was going on. With that being said, Ahmad is a nice guy, and while he goes off-topic more than he actually lectures, it was an interesting class.
not a religious studies course. The professor is obviously very smart but bases his class off of comparative law and anything relating to law because that is what he enjoys. Also doesn't communicate well with the students and dropped a ten page paper on the students for a final after saying the final would be either 300 or 1500 words.
His off topic digressions are the most interesting parts of the class because he knows an incredible amount about history and philosophy and is as well read as anyone you'll ever meet. The readings are short but dense and the course objective was a little unclear but he'll notice if you put in the effort and give you the benefit of the doubt.
He does digress off topic and the course objective is not very clear but you only have to read 20 pages per week so as long as you do that you should do well. He can come across as intense or condescending but he's an easy grader and dropped the lowest of 3 pop quizzes for everyone in class.