Choose one of the following topics and discuss it 1500-2000 words using no outside sources. Please double space, paginate, staple, and have a cover sheet with a title. The cover page should be the only place where I see your name. Please include the word count and also type the following sentence on the cover page indicating your adherence to the honor code. 1. Write an essay comparing the lives of Ibn Rushd (Averroes, ) and Sir Thomas More as they are portrayed in the films Al-Massir () and A Man for All Seasons. 2. Write an essay comparing and contrasting medieval art in the Islamic, Jewish, and Christian traditions. Please make sure to use the films we watched together in class by Ori Soltez. Write an essay on 1,001 Nights. For example: What is the role of women in the book? What is the role of lying or deception? Are the kings just? Does 1,001 Nights teach us anything about religion? 3. Write a paper examining any aspect of Averroes Decisive Treatise. For example: Why, according to Averroes, is Al-Ghazali so dangerous? Based on Rescuer from Error, how would Al-Ghazali have responded to the attack that Averroes mounts on him in The Decisive Treatise? Is the attack convincing, or can Al-Ghazali be rescued? What has Averroes taught us about the various ways that one can understand the Law, or any revealed text for that matter? How should one read a text that claims to be revealed? Is interpretation ever necessary? If so, what are the limits on interpretation and what are the sources of the limits of interpretation? 4. Write a paper on Hayy Ibn Yaqzan. For example: Does the novel Hayy Ibn Yaqzan contain a political teaching, or is it avowedly apolitical? What, if anything, does this book teach us about the possibility for a well-ordered political community? What does Hayy Ibn Yaqzan teach us about the relationship between mysticism and traditional religion? Can we infer anything about the relationship between philosophy and traditional religion? Or between philosophy and mysticism? Both Ibn Tufayl and Al-Ghazali speak metaphorically of the mystical experience as tasting. One possible conclusion is that Ibn Tufayls novel is meant to address the same phenomenon, and another is that Ibn Tufayl means for his work to speak directly to Al-Ghazalis account of mysticism. Is Hayy Ibn Yaqzan a novel that celebrates mysticism or a book that criticizes mysticism? Perhaps it would be useful to compare both authors on the question of rationality, or philosophy, as well. In the Attainment of Happiness, Alfarabi claims that an isolated individual cannot achieve all the perfections by himself and without the aid of many other individuals Therefore, to achieve what he can of that perfection, every man needs to stay in the neighborhood of others and associate with them [This] is why [the human being] is called the social and political animal (18). How does Ibn Tufayls philosophical tale respond to this claim? Alternatively, how does Al-Ghazali respond? (Note well: This is a paper on Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, not a paper on Alfarabi) Juding by the full title of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, Ibn Tufayl seems to indicate that Absal and Salaman are just as important as Hayy. Is that impression mistaken? Why or why not? Is Hayys life a model for human flourishing?

Choose one of the following topics and discuss it 1500-2000 words using no outside sources. Please double space, paginate, staple, and have a cover sheet with a title. The cover page should be the only place where I see your name. Please include the word count and also type the following sentence on the cover page indicating your adherence to the honor code. 1. Write an essay comparing the lives of Ibn Rushd (Averroes, ) and Sir Thomas More as they are portrayed in the films Al-Massir () and A Man for All Seasons. 2. Write an essay comparing and contrasting medieval art in the Islamic, Jewish, and Christian traditions. Please make sure to use the films we watched together in class by Ori Soltez. Write an essay on 1,001 Nights. For example: What is the role of women in the book? What is the role of lying or deception? Are the kings just? Does 1,001 Nights teach us anything about religion? 3. Write a paper examining any aspect of Averroes Decisive Treatise. For example: Why, according to Averroes, is Al-Ghazali so dangerous? Based on Rescuer from Error, how would Al-Ghazali have responded to the attack that Averroes mounts on him in The Decisive Treatise? Is the attack convincing, or can Al-Ghazali be rescued? What has Averroes taught us about the various ways that one can understand the Law, or any revealed text for that matter? How should one read a text that claims to be revealed? Is interpretation ever necessary? If so, what are the limits on interpretation and what are the sources of the limits of interpretation? 4. Write a paper on Hayy Ibn Yaqzan. For example: Does the novel Hayy Ibn Yaqzan contain a political teaching, or is it avowedly apolitical? What, if anything, does this book teach us about the possibility for a well-ordered political community? What does Hayy Ibn Yaqzan teach us about the relationship between mysticism and traditional religion? Can we infer anything about the relationship between philosophy and traditional religion? Or between philosophy and mysticism? Both Ibn Tufayl and Al-Ghazali speak metaphorically of the mystical experience as tasting. One possible conclusion is that Ibn Tufayls novel is meant to address the same phenomenon, and another is that Ibn Tufayl means for his work to speak directly to Al-Ghazalis account of mysticism. Is Hayy Ibn Yaqzan a novel that celebrates mysticism or a book that criticizes mysticism? Perhaps it would be useful to compare both authors on the question of rationality, or philosophy, as well. In the Attainment of Happiness, Alfarabi claims that an isolated individual cannot achieve all the perfections by himself and without the aid of many other individuals Therefore, to achieve what he can of that perfection, every man needs to stay in the neighborhood of others and associate with them [This] is why [the human being] is called the social and political animal (18). How does Ibn Tufayls philosophical tale respond to this claim? Alternatively, how does Al-Ghazali respond? (Note well: This is a paper on Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, not a paper on Alfarabi) Juding by the full title of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, Ibn Tufayl seems to indicate that Absal and Salaman are just as important as Hayy. Is that impression mistaken? Why or why not? Is Hayys life a model for human flourishing?