skip to content
 
Arabic text © Sir Cam/University of Cambridge. All rights reserved.

Islamic Studies

Islam was the most widely-diffused of the religious traditions of the premodern world, and its study today is often highly-segmented into forms of specialised historical and regional study.

Islam can, however, claim a core narrative, expressed in the most widely-influential literary works which sought to define the correct understanding of the Muslim scriptural canon; and the Faculty’s teaching provision in Islam directs its principal attention to these works, which are taught in the context of the chronological evolution of Islamic belief and practice in the central Islamic lands.

There is a particular emphasis on the metaphysical systems of Sufism and Islamic Philosophy, but students are encouraged to develop a wide and comprehensive overview of the history and intellectual interests of Islamic culture and to consider possible parallels and comparisons with other traditions where justifiable.

Papers in the undergraduate Tripos in the area of Islamic Studies include: