Students will hand in four project assignments over the course of the semester. (All page counts assume double-spaced type.)
- Project 1, due Week 5: Response to the Qur’an and hadith (short media piece or pp. 5–6)
- Project 2, due Week 9: Response to a piece of Islamic art (short media piece or pp. 5–6)
- Final project proposal: pp. 1–2 plus some preliminary media (e.g., 3–5 still images, 1–2 short sound or video recordings); pp. 3–4 for written projects
- Final project: A paper (pp. 20–25) or equivalent media piece that critical explores one or more of the themes from the class (in consultation with the professor)
Whether composing an audiovisual piece or writing, responses and the final project should engage with the primary and secondary literature we read (and see) in the class. All material should be handed in or put online with an emailed link (for media) by the beginning of the class in which it is due.
Sample student work is presented courtesy of the students and used with permission.
Project 1: Response to the Qur’an and Sunnah Traditions
Sample student work:
- “Review of Omar The Epic Series and Selective Comparison to The Message” (PDF) by MIT student
- “Understanding the Temporal Contexts of Islam through the Qur’an and Hadiths” (PDF) by MIT student
Project 2: Response to Islamic Art
Sample student work:
- “Bismillah” (PNG) by MIT student
- “Expanding Beyond the Text” (PDF) by MIT student
MFA Visit and Response Questions
The week before Project 2 is due, students visited the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and submitted responses to these questions: MFA Response Questions (PDF)
Sample student work:
Final Project
All students are expected to meet with the professor in Week 10 to discuss ideas for the final project. Ideally this project will build on some of the themes or media approaches students have developed in the two response projects. Both writing and media projects will be graded on clarity and rigor of ideas, critical response to themes of the course, and polish in editing (regardless of medium!).
Final Project Assignment (PDF)
Due to copyright and privacy restrictions, we are unable to provide examples of student work on final projects. They included: a documentary video about a non-Muslim student’s experience getting to know Muslim students at MIT; and an interactive program using the Ren’py visual novel engine that simulates a novice learner’s challenges in memorizing and reciting Qur’an passages, making accidental substitutions of similar passages from other suras.
