TISKNMI15U Non-Muslim Islam

Volume 2026/2027
Education
Content

In contemporary Europe, many of the most visible and influential interpretations of Islam come from non-Muslims: politicians, commentators, influencers, journalists, bureaucrats, and conspiracy theorists. These actors define the essence of Islam, cite the Qur’an as evidence, and articulate competing visions of “what Islam really is.” Their interventions are often dismissed within academia as inauthentic, Islamophobic, racist, or politically opportunistic. Yet such labels do not help us understand what non-Muslim actors are actually doing when they produce Islamic discourse, nor why these discourses are so powerful. In this course, these practices are referred to as Non-Muslim Islam.

 

This course examines how non-Muslim interpretations of Islam are produced, circulated, and institutionalized across multiple domains: law and governance, media and journalism, party politics, popular culture (including music, video, and literature), social media, and international relations. It also considers how AI further influence and accelerate the production and spread of non-Muslim Islam.

 

As non-Muslim Islam is an emerging field of research, the course literature mainly consists of research articles and the edited volume The Production and Consumption of Non-Muslim Islams. The course also engages foundational texts that Non-Muslim Islam scholarship challenges or reconfigures, including Shahab Ahmed’s What is Islam? and Aaron Hughes’ Theorizing Islam. In addition, a substantial part of the teaching materials will consist of primary sources such as political speeches, music, journalism, excerpts from novels, and legal documents.

 

The course is taught through a combination of lectures, seminars, and workshops, integrating theoretical readings with hands-on analysis of contemporary materials and case studies. Students will gain tools for examining how Islam becomes a public object shaped by actors who are not themselves Muslim—and what this means for questions of religious authority, expertise, representation, and power.

Learning Outcome

The objective of the elective course is for the student to achieve:

  • advanced and specialized knowledge of selected topics,
  • skills in independent and critical analysis and discussion of issues related to the chosen topics,
  • skills in identifying and applying relevant literature and in communicating academic content both clearly and with an awareness of underlying issues, as well as in discussing this content in a current societal context,
  • competencies to independently take responsibility for their own academic development and specialization.

 

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to critically analyse non-Muslim Islams: that is, interpretations and representations of Islam produced by actors who are not themselves Muslim. Students will gain theoretical and analytical tools from the study of religion to examine how non-Muslim Islams are produced, circulated, and institutionalised across legal, political, media, and cultural domains. The course equips students to analyse questions of religious authority, representation, and power, and to apply these perspectives to contemporary primary sources such as political speeches, media texts, and digital content, strengthening their ability to assess how Islam is constructed as a public object in contemporary societies.

Ackfeldt, A., & Petersen, J. (Eds.). (2025). The Production and Consumption of Non-Muslim Islams. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Curtis, E. E. (2014). Ode to Islamic Studies: Its Allure, its Danger, its Power.  Bulletin for the Study of Religion.

Hughes, A. W. (2012). Theorizing Islam: Disciplinary Deconstruction and Reconstruction. London: Routledge.

Mas, R. (2017). Has Politics Let Us Off the Hook?  Bulletin for the Study of Religion.

Petersen, J., & Ackfeldt, A. (2023). The Case for Studying Non-Muslim Islams. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 35(2-3), 241-259.

Safi, O. (2014). Reflections on the State of Islamic Studies.  Retrieved from https:/​/​www.jadaliyya.com/​Details/​30175

Stenberg, L., & Wood, P. (2022). Introduction: What is Islamic Studies? European and North American Approaches to a Contested Field. In L. Stenberg & P. Wood (Eds.), What is Islamic Studies? European and North American Approaches to a Contested Field: Edinburgh University Press.

Excerpts from:

Ahmed, S. (2016). What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Sheedy, M. (2018). Identity, Politics and the Study of Islam: Current Dilemmas in the Study of Religions. Sheffield: Equinox.

Womack, D. F. (2025). Re-Inventing Islam: Gender and the Protestant Roots of American Islamophobia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

In order to be eligible for the summer course, you must meet at least one of the following requirements:
You must be enrolled at a university at the time of the summer course, and have completed studies equivalent of at least 120 ECTS points.

If you are not enrolled at a university at the time of the summer course, you must:
1) hold a university degree, either a bachelor's degree, a master's degree or a professional master's degree, AND
2) you must be a citizen of a European Union-membership country.
Class Instruction
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 44
  • Preparation
  • 300
  • Exam Preparation
  • 30
  • Exam
  • 40
  • Total
  • 414
Written
Individual
Credit
15 ECTS
Type of assessment
Home assignment
Examination prerequisites

For courses organized as compact courses or international summer courses, the following requirements must be met in order to pass the course:


a) A syllabus comprising 1,200–1,500 pages. The syllabus includes both the course literature covered during teaching and the literature forming the basis of the written home assignment, which the student identifies and has approved by the lecturer. The total syllabus (course literature and assignment literature combined) may not exceed 1,500 pages.


b) Active participation (at least 75% of the scheduled teaching hours, documented via attendance records) as well as the completion of a written home assignment of 36,000–48,000 characters, i.e. 15–20 pages, based on 800–1,000 pages of literature agreed with the lecturer. The total syllabus (course literature and assignment literature combined) may not exceed 1,500 pages.

If the requirements under b) are not met, the student must submit an elective course assignment on a self-chosen topic. The assignment must be 60,000–72,000 characters (approximately 25–30 pages) and based on a syllabus of approximately 1,500 pages. The topic and literature must be approved by the course teacher.

The assignment is assessed by the lecturer.

Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Exam period

The written assignment must be submitted no later than 1 October

Criteria for exam assesment

The student’s performance is assessed on the extent to which they demonstrate:

  • the ability to critically analyse and discuss questions related to the chosen topic, showing clarity of argument, methodological awareness, and academic independence, and
  • the ability to select and apply relevant literature and communicate the acquired insights clearly, coherently, and convincingly, including the capacity to situate and discuss these insights within current societal contexts.

 

The grade reflects the degree to which these competencies are demonstrated in the written assignment.