Middle East Studies Lecture Review Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key authors, main arguments, key terms, and analytical methods from the course material.

Abu-Lughod (Reading Topic)

'saving' Muslim women.

What are the 5 Pillars of Islam?

Shahada, salat, saum, zakat, hajj.

Abu-Lughod's Main Claim

After 9/11, 'saving Afghan women' was used to help justify war, and culture was used to explain things that were really about politics and history. Treating Muslim women as needing to be saved is problematic because it assumes the saver's way of life is superior.

Portable Seclusion

Hanna Papanek's concept describing the burqa as a local Pashtun form of covering for modesty and respectability, rather than a Taliban invention or purely a sign of oppression.

Cultural Relativism (Abu-Lughod's Critique)

The idea that cultures should be understood on their own terms without judging or interfering; Abu-Lughod critiques it as too passive in an interconnected world that ignores global power dynamics and responsibility.

Sells (Reading Topic)

The Qur'an as recitation.

Sells' Main Claim

The Qur'an is mainly experienced through recitation and sound, not as a book read start to finish. Understanding it means understanding how it is recited, memorized, and heard.

Huzn

A sense of sadness associated with Qur'anic recitation, such as in Sura al-Qari'a.

Hijra

The migration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622.

Keshavarz (Reading Topic)

Rumi as a bridge builder.

Keshavarz's Main Claim

Rumi built a 'language of companionship' that crosses religion, ethnicity, and class, so he still speaks to people around the world as a bridge between cultures.

The Grapes Story

A story used by Keshavarz where a Persian, a Turk, an Arab, and a Greek want the same thing but use different words.

Language Families of MENA

Semitic (Arabic, Hebrew), Iranian (Persian, Kurdish), and Turkic (Turkish).

Five Pillars of Islam

Shahada, salat, saum, zakat, hajj.

Sources of Shari'a

Qur'an, sunna/hadith, consensus (ijma'), analogy (qiyas), and new reasoning (ijtihad).

Hadiths

Reports of Muhammad's sayings and actions, serving as the second source of Islamic law.

Sufism (Tasawwuf)

The inner, mystical dimension of Islam (includes Rumi).

Crawford (Reading Topic)

City vs. village time.

Crawford's Main Claim

The idea that cities are fast and modern and the countryside slow and traditional is backwards in a deeper sense; the city's noise hides slow rhythms, while in the mountain village life and death move fast.

Kunzig (Reading Topic)

Dubai going green.

Kunzig's Main Claim

Dubai, once one of the world's biggest footprints, is turning toward sustainability mostly for economic reasons and thanks to decisive leadership, though contradictions and costs remain.

Bowen (Reading Topic)

Why Jordanian women wear hijab.

Bowen's Main Claim

Westerners often see hijab as oppression, but Jordanian women wear it for varied and even contradictory reasons (piety, family and peer pressure, marriageability, public space, fashion).

Hijab

Head and neck covering.

Niqab

Full-face veil.

Burqa

Covers all but the eyes.

Chador

Iranian full cloak.

Thurlemann (Reading Topic)

Staged photos of Cairo.

Thurlemann's Main Claim

19th-century photos claiming to show everyday Cairo were staged; Western photographers filled a visual void with fantasies of the harem, creating constructed fictions.

Mashrabiyah Screens

Wooden screens in Cairo that were actually 10+ feet above the street, but shown at eye level in staged 19th-century photographs.

Orientalism

A Western way of depicting the Middle East and Asia as exotic, backward, and different, which supported Western power and control (Said).

Representation

How a group is depicted in images, media, and writing, and who gets to control those depictions (linked to power).

Observation vs. Inference

Observation is what you can actually see; inference is what you assume or interpret from it.

4 Steps to Explain a Reading

PROBLEM (the question) -> CLAIM (main argument) -> EVIDENCE (specific examples and why) -> SO WHAT? (why it matters).

3 Steps to Analyze an Image

SEE (observe) -> INFER (interpret/assume) -> QUESTION (what would I need to know for a stronger claim).

MENA

Middle East and North Africa.

Solidarity vs. Salvation

Abu-Lughod's concept of working in alliance with communities' own goals and addressing global injustice instead of adopting a superior stance of saving Muslim women.

Shahada

The declaration of faith: belief in one God and in Muhammad as his messenger. It is the only requirement to become Muslim.

Salat

Ritual prayer, performed five times a day while facing the Ka'ba in Mecca.

Saum

Fasting, especially during the month of Ramadan.

Zakat

Giving a share of wealth to those in need, literally meaning 'purification'.

Hajj

The pilgrimage to Mecca, required once for those who are able.

Ramadan

The month of fasting, and the month during which the first Qur'anic revelations are believed to have been sent down.

Ka'ba

The shrine in Mecca (an empty square enclosure with a black rock in one wall) that Muslims face when they pray and circle during the hajj.

Zakat (meaning)

'Purification': giving purifies you and your possessions, and ties directly to the Qur'an's concern for social justice.

Pillars in Early Meccan Suras

The oneness of God, salat, and zakat.

Greater vs. Lesser Jihad

Greater jihad is the inner spiritual struggle; lesser jihad is the external struggle against injustice or in self-defense.

Non-Muslim Religious Groups in MENA

Orthodox Christians, Jews (Ashkenazi and Sephardic/Mizrahi), Zoroastrians, and minorities such as the Alawi, Druze, Baha'i, and Yazidi.

Ashkenazi vs. Sephardic/Mizrahi

Ashkenazi = Jews of European heritage; Sephardic/Mizrahi = Jews from the Middle East and North Africa.

Alawi, Druze, Baha'i, and Yazidi

Alawi: Shi'i-related group that venerates Ali (Syria, Turkey). Druze: Islamic roots but very different practices. Baha'i: related to Shi'i Islam, recognizes a prophet after Muhammad. Yazidi: blend of Islam, Zoroastrian, and other traditions.

Kurds

A stateless people spread across several countries (for example Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria).

Religious Diversity within MENA Countries

Every country has religious and ethnic minorities, and religion, language, ethnicity, and nationality overlap in complicated ways.

Origin of the Sunni-Shi'a Split

A disagreement after Muhammad's death in 632 over who should succeed him as leader.

Sunni Succession and Leadership Institution

A group meeting (shura) chose Abu Bakr by consensus. Sunnis follow the Sunna, and their institution is the Caliphate.

Shi'a Beliefs on Leadership

Ali (Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law) was the rightful successor, and the leader (Imam) must descend from Muhammad through Fatima and Ali. 'Shi'i' means partisan or supporter of Ali.

Shared Beliefs of Sunnis and Shi'a

The same Five Pillars, the same Qur'an word for word, and the same prayer times and direction (only minor differences, such as arms folded vs. hanging).

Fundamental Disagreement between Sunnis and Shi'a

Shi'a do not accept the first three successors (caliphs) recognized by Sunnis. The split is mainly about history and leadership, not doctrine.

Significance of Ali and Hussayn in Shi'ism

Ali was killed in 661. His grandson Hussayn died at the Battle of Karbala in 680 while claiming leadership.

Twelvers vs. Isma'ilis

Twelvers follow the 12th Imam, who disappeared in 874 and is expected to return (jurists lead in the meantime). Isma'ilis (Seveners) follow Isma'il and recognize a living Imam (the Aga Khan).