Teaching Humanity

This book introduces Islam through a "humanistic" lens, by highlighting the affective traditions and expressions associated with Sufism and Shi'ism. While most introductory books emphasize the shari’a, and especially the “Five Pillars,” as the primary defining characteristic of Islam, Vernon James Schubel provides an alternative introduction which instead underscores the importance of humanity and the human being within Islamic thought and practice. The book stresses the diversity of Islamic beliefs and practices, presenting them as varied responses to the shared multivalent concepts of tawhid (the unity of God), nubuwwa (prophecy) and qiyama (the Day of Judgment). Readers are introduced to essential aspects of Islam including the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the Qur’an, the development of the shari‘a, and the emergence of the Sunni, Shi‘a and Sufi traditions. The book concludes with a call to redefine “mainstream” Islam, as a religious tradition focused on the centrality of love and rooted in the importance of humanity and universal human virtues. 

“A genuinely pioneering, brilliant introduction to Islam that draws on the richness, diversity and dynamism of the Muslim tradition through history. Foregrounding embodied and affective dimensions of this living tradition in ways that reclaim the deep current of humanity and humaneness at the heart of the Muslim tradition, Schubel enlarges the global archive of knowledge, beauty and meaning-making with analytical verve. Skilfully weaving major scholarly debates in the study of Islam and the study of religions more broadly, he provides a lucid, accessible and sophisticated introduction. Teaching Humanity will challenge, provoke and inspire students and specialists alike to ask fundamental questions anew. This is a truly pleasurable and edifying read that dismantles old hegemonies and provides creative pathways for the study of Islam.”

—Sa’diyya Shaikh, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Feminist Theory, University of Capetown, South Africa

"Embracing the full diversity of Islamic religious traditions, Teaching Humanity shows how the beliefs, ethics, practices, and sacred stories of Islam lead human beings towards love, justice, altruism, and other universal human values. It takes a different path than other textbooks do. We learn about all the topics that one might expect— from the Qur’an to Islamic law—but we do so by seeing how the elements of Islam work together to make us more humane."

—Edward E. Curtis IV, Plater Chair of the Liberal Arts, Indiana University, USA

"Humanity, in all of its messy and meaningful diversity, is the guiding theme of this new text designed to introduce the religion of Islam. Schubel’s work is full of fresh insights and informed by both scholarly and insider perspectives on religion and its ongoing explorations of the meaning of life. The work’s engaging narrative style incorporates sensitivity to story telling and awareness of lived Islam enriched by the author’sextensive fieldwork among Turkish Alevis, South Asia Shi’i Muslims, and Pakistani Sufis."

—Marcia Hermansen, Professor and Director of Islamic Studies at Loyola University, Chicago, USA

Vernon James Schubel is Professor of Religious Studies at Kenyon College where he also helped to establish its Asian and Middle East Studies and Islamic Civilization and Cultures programs. He is the author of numerous articles on Islam and the monograph, Religious Performance in Contemporary Islam: Shi‘i Devotional Rituals in South Asia.