Review

All lectures are freely available on this site.

MFAS Baccalauréat 2015-2016

Baccalauréat Timetable 2015-16

The course begins on Monday 27th July and comprises a year's study, including time for written assignments and assessments. An understanding of the core themes of Root Islamic Education by Shaykh Abalqadir as-Sufi will be assumed, and will be the subject of a written assignment.

Baccalauréat Timetable

Sessions marked in red are to discuss the students’ own study of the recommended reading.

Hajj Term – 1

 

 

Dates

Monday 4:30pm

Monday 6:30pm

 

Thursday 6:30pm

 

 

Arabic Vocabulary and Lexical Morphology

The Grammatical Sentence

 

Modules

1

27/7/15

 

Overview

30/7/15

The History of the Khalifas: Introduction

2

3/8/15

Overview of the Arabic language

Phonology

 6/8/15

The History of the Khalifas: Introduction

3

10/8/15

Overview of the Arabic language

Morphology

13/8/15

Break

4

17/8/15

 

Syntax

20/8/15

The History of the Khalifas: Rashidun I & II

5

24/8/15

 

Syntax

27/8/15

The Politics of Power: Introduction

6

31/8/15

 

Syntax

3/9/15

The Politics of Power: Introduction

7

7/9/15

 

Semantics/Pragmatics

10/9/15

The Politics of Power: Lecture 5. The French Revolution III – A Template for Modernity

8

14/9/15

 

Semantics/Pragmatics

17/9/15

MFAS Politics of Power: 'The Question Concerning Corbyn'

 

Moussem Term – 2

 

 

Dates

Monday 4:30pm

Monday 6:30pm

 

Thursday 6:30pm

 

 

Arabic Vocabulary and Lexical Morphology

Mu’amalat

 

Modules

9

19/10/15

Society Through Literature: Lecture 1. Introduction – Story and History

The Way Forward

22/10/15

Society Through Literature: Lecture 1. Introduction – Story and History

10

26/10/15

 

The Way Forward

29/10/15

Society Through Literature: Lecture 2. Psychology; Lecture 11. The Presence of the Divine in Literature

 

11

2/11/15

 

The Way Forward

5/11/15

The Madhhabs of Islam: Lecture 2. A Classical Outline of the History of the Madhhabs

12

9/11/15

 

The Way Forward

12/11/15

The Madhhabs of Islam: Lecture 2. A Classical Outline of the History of the Madhhabs

13

16/11/15

 

Cash Awqaf

19/11/15

The Madhhabs of Islam: Lecture 3. Pre-madhhab fiqh and 'aqida

14

23/11/15

 

Cash Awqaf

26/11/15

Technique & Science: Lecture 6. Concerning Technique

15

30/11/15

 

Cash Awqaf

3/12/15

Technique & Science: Lecture 6. Concerning Technique

16

7/12/15
24th Safar 1437

 

Cash Awqaf

10/12/15

Technique & Science: Lecture 2. The Rise of Science

Mawlid Term – 3

 

 

Dates

Monday 4:30pm

Monday 6:30pm

 

Thursday 6:30pm

 

 

Arabic Vocabulary and Lexical Morphology

Mu’amalat

 

Modules

17

11/1/16
30th Rabi’ al-Awwal

Early Madina: Lecture 1. Madina – The New Matrix

Aḥkām as-Sūq by Yaḥyā ibn ‘Umar al-Andalusī

14/1/16

Early Madina: Lecture 1. Madina – The New Matrix

18

18 /1/16

 

Aḥkām as-Sūq

21/1/16

Early Madina: Lecture 2. Early Governance in the Islamic Umma

19

25/1/16

 

Aḥkām as-Sūq

28/1/16

The Question Concerning Economics: Lecture 1. The Prophetic Economy

20

1/2/16

 

Aḥkām as-Sūq

4/2/16

The Question Concerning Economics: Lecture 1. The Prophetic Economy

21

8/2/16

 

Aḥkām as-Sūq

11/2/16

The Question Concerning Economics: Lecture 12. Order and Location: What can we do?

22

15/2/16

 

Aḥkām as-Sūq

18/2/16

MFAS Residentials: 'Aqida – Introduction

23

22/2/16

 

Aḥkām as-Sūq

25/2/16

MFAS Residentials: 'Aqida – Introduction

24

29/2/16

 

Aḥkām as-Sūq

3/3/16

MFAS Residentials: Forty Hadith – Introduction

1

March and April for Writing Assignments

 

 

Dates

Monday 4:30pm

Monday 6:30pm

 

Saturday 6:00pm

 

 

Creative Writing 

 

 

Root Islamic Education

 

 

 

 

19/3/16

Preface

 

 

 

 

26/3/16

 

 

 

 

 

2/4/16

 

 

 

 

 

9/4/16

 

 

 

 

 

16/4/16

 

 

 

 

 

23/4/16

 

 

 

 

 

30/4/16

 

 

 

 

 

7/5/16

 

 

 

 

 

12/5/16

 

 

 

 

 

19/5/16

 

 

 

 

 

26/5/16

 

 

 

 

 

4/6/16

 

 

Assessment Term – 4

 

 

Dates

Monday 4:30pm

Monday 6:30pm

 

Thursday 6:30pm

 

 

Arabic Vocabulary and Lexical Morphology

Mu’amalat

 

Modules

25

2/5/16

 

 

5/5/16

 

26

9/5/16

 

 

12/5/16

 

27

16/5/16

 

 

19/5/16

 

28

23/5/16

 

 

26/5/16

 

29

30/5/16
22nd Sha’ban 1437

 

 

2/6/16

 

MFAS Baccalauréat Assessment

With the conclusion of the MFAS Baccalauréat year, we have our Assessment. You should have already received the requirements for assessment of Arabic Vocabulary and Morphology. 

The student must prepare a fifteen minute presentation on one of the topics below and then lead a forty-five minute discussion. The presentation must be written coherently and serve as the starting point for discussion rather than presenting fixed conclusions. The student will be assessed both on the presentation and then on leading the subsequent discussion. 

Although the topics are not always directly related to the modules we have studied, the student is expected to draw on them in their presentation, quoting directly where appropriate or simply availing of the insights gained in them or in the extensive discussions around them. They may also draw on any relevant MFAS lectures or commentariat articles, particularly those cited during our studies and any of the recommended reading or viewing.

In addition, these discussions will be formally treated as practicals and therefore all students will be expected to attend  in order to be assessed individually on the quality of their participation.

The sessions will be held publicly in order to welcome the widest possible range of participants from the general community, and so that presenters will be confronted with something a little closer to the authentic experience of facing an unaccustomed audience.

Assessment will be entirely at the discretion of the Warden and the Dean. They will take into consideration a number of factors: standard of grammatical and rhetorical construction and presentation; coherency of argument; familiarity with those modules that relate to the chosen topic or thesis; spontaneity and flexibility of intellectual engagement and interaction with audience. In addition assessment will be based on attendance throughout the year and engagement during attendance.

The Warden and Dean will be available up until and throughout the assessment period for guidance and advice. 

The sessions will take the form of a weekend Symposium in August.

Topics

Some of the topics cover matters not included in the papers studied in the Baccalauréat and refer to other parts of MFAS Modules, and those interested are encouraged to extend their range by seizing the opportunity (under guidance) to further explore available Modules and related materials.

Each student is expected to choose one of the following topics which we hope will be covered in their entirety without duplication. 

The Fall of the Leader and the Rise of the Technocrat 

Freedom and Resistance: The Worker, the Stranger and the Anarch

Hadith, Sunnah and ‘Amal

Ihsan vs Professionalism

The Impulse Towards Muslim Reform

Islamic Banking: Mu’amalat, Economics and the Lizard’s Burrow

Islamic Education: So where, then, are we going?

Islamic State: A Modern Chimera

The Madhhab as Guild

The Nation State and the State of the Nation

A Reassessment of the Reputation of Banu Umayyad

Reflections on the Decline of the Osmanli Dawla

Technology: The Fullness of Nihilism?

Tying the Knot of Belief

   

 

1 Aḥkām as-Sūq by Yaḥyā ibn ‘Umar al-Andalusī is the first work historically solely about mu‘āmalāt. It comes from one of the major companions of Ṣaḥnūn who was the author of the Mudawwanah, the second source in the school of Madīnah after the Muwaṭṭa’ of Imām Mālik himself. The student will not be expected to memorise the rulings in this work in a detailed fashion but to grasp the outlines of the science of mu‘āmalāt and its ethos.