Peter Awn

Great section leader. He encourages much discussion, but keeps it pretty focused to the text. Before each class he emails out about a dozen topics for discussion. Each person has to pick a topic and be prepared to lead a discussion on it. This is GREAT for making the conversation flow, and for people to actually have something developed to say. If you're short on time, you can also use it to help focus your reading. He, unsurprisingly, really likes to bring up ancient Iranian and eastern religions and history, eg Zoroastrianism and such. His anecdotes can be a little repetitive, but if you've seen him talk much about GS you know he likes to repurpose his favorite lines/anecdotes. This can wear thin at times, but they're interesting and he's a great speaker. He's surprisingly available for office hours, but only by appointment. Most of the time you'll be talking about things besides the class, which is sort of the reason to take a section with him. His reputation for harshly grading essays seems exaggerated. I found that he expects you to make a clear, specific argument and use the text to support it. It doesn't have to be particularly insightful or revolutionary, although that helps. He doesn't have to agree with it. Just make a specific argument, and argue it. Then polish your English for typos, grammar, punctuation, etc. He is a stickler for that. The grading structure for h…

This class is terrible. Granted, Professor Awn warns you during drop week that his class is difficult, but drop it as soon as you can despite any interest you have in Islam. There is an abundance of reading, that the material is ambiguous and that the essay topics are difficult to analyze. HOWEVER, he does not tell you that the abundance of required and recommended readings are UNNECESSARY for an 2000 level, undergraduate course. His lectures are pompous God forbid you choose to be a Catholic! The worst part of this class, as anyone who has ever taken it can tell you, is that bad essay grades are inevitable. NO MATTER what you do or how great your general theses are, they are never developed enough to receive an A. Additionally, you only have four papers each worth 25% (at least, that's what happened in my class), so if you get a C or a D on one of them, you're doomed. By the way, the class average is usually a 75. He does not curve. He does not simplify anything, he's an unreasonable grader, and there is an unnecessary amount of reading. (I'm not talking articles here, I'm talking about having to read the entire Qu'ran.) On a good note, the TA's are amazing. People would most definitely fail this class if they did not exist. I'm definitely not the first to advise others not to take this class; it's awful. I recommend taking Intro to Islamic Civilization instead.

Professor Awn's course was extremely delightful. He shines as a beacon of subject-matter expertise and pedagogical genius. What sets him apart from other lecturers is his ability to connect with the students and not take himself or anyone else too seriously. His relaxed matter fosters a relaxed atmosphere in which the material does not feel like work. Some of the lectures were a bit dry, which he acknowledges. The majority of the lectures, however, were delightful to attend and very informative. He does not seem to be an extremely difficult grader, though that guess is mere conjecture. The key to success on the essays seems to be thinking critically about the material and writing coherent sentences with proper grammar and punctuation. No witchcraft here. Another nice part of the course is the reading list provided. For every topic on the syllabus, a list of recommended readings is included. I will be referring back to that list in the years to come to deepen my understanding. Professor Awn's class was a diamond in Columbia's occasional academic rough.

I can't believe anyone could say it's hard to get an A in this class. There is a lot of reading and I think 4 8-page essays, but Awn grades all the essays himself, which means he does so very quickly, and I never got below an A-. True, I was lucky enough to have Awn as my section leader as well, since our original section leader had to leave (and luckily, cause based on the first class he didn't seem to know anything about Islam). Anyway, watching Awn lecture is a treat, and he is fascinating, down to earth and hilarious. Plus it's a joy to listen to his arguments, which are always level-headed, without being anti-religion. He obviously loves lecturing, and tells stories better than any other religion professor I've had. I'll admit I got a bit lost in the history of Islam at some point, but I didn't really keep up with the reading. He does a good job of clearly providing basic points of interest in the history of Islam.

Heavy reading, as you all know. Each class you must pick a topic from the reading and be prepared to lead a short discussion on it. Participation is 24% 3 essays, 25% each. Final exam, which he doesn't care at all about.

The reading list is fantastic. Writing essays for this course greatly improved my academic writing and also helped me learn a lot more from the lectures and reading. The course is built to give an overview of a HUGE topic, and manages to do so almost seamlessly. I highly recommend you take this class. I don't want to set unrealistic expectations about the professor, though. Yes, he is an engaging lecturer. Yes, he has a fabulous collection of ties and suspenders. (My personal favorite was the red velvet pants, though.) And yes, somehow, he reads every essay and leaves a decent number of comments. However, those comments can be condescending and harsh. He has every right to be direct; it was just a bit disheartening for me personally. He's also an elitist. Those are kind of ridiculous ad hominems; I just thought I'd toss them in because it disturbs me how many people view Peter Awn as some sort of god. All that said, take the class if you're up for an above-average workload for a humanities course and/or are fairly relaxed about your GPA.

Peter Awn is a great man, and this class is dope. Whether he sticks to his lesson plan on a given day, or not, is neither here nor there; as his diversions, covering topics ranging from female circumcision to his favorite racist movies, are at least as interesting and educational as anything he planned at the outset. His offbeat background (which I haven't figured out entirely yet, but it appears to contain a stint as a Jesuit priest and frequent experimentation with what he lovingly refers to as "pharmacological delights," among other things) makes even the lectures concerning more mundane subject matter extremely entertaining. Awn uses Islam as a tool for confronting students preconceptions about both that particular religion and religion in general, and forced me to ask myself questions that I would never have thought of on my own. The TA session was a total waste of my time and Awn's paper topics are vague and very difficult to mold into anything of value, but if you can slog through that stuff this is a gem of a class.

Awn is a great lecturer. Other than that, there isn't anything that great about this class; and it's not really his fault since it's ridiculous to try and cram so much into a single semester intro. Problems that should make you think twice: -Too much material (readings weren't too heavy, but very scattered, without much context, and as a Muslim, still confusing without proper guidance; I found myself correcting things and suggesting alternatives that Awn and his TA's just didn't offer in class; consider that a warning for those of you who don't have any background in this religion;) -VERY vague topics: on both tests and papers, the topics were very strangely worded, and very amorphous so that there was little to grasp on to and structure an argument around; for Muslims: given the way you may have learned about Islam--that is to say with years of quotes and lessons from here and there, memorization, debate -- this class will be very strange. Awn does not allow for debate at all, just regurgitation of his (while certainly erudite) single view. -The amount of work for papers and tests is hefty, and you still might not do great. This is certainly not a very difficult class: an easy B/B+ but a very difficult A, no matter what your level is. Remember to write very simple, uncluttered papers; do NOT take any outside source or personal viewpoint (he will say "he doesn't understand it"…

Dean Awn is fantastic! In fact, one of his lectures was so effective that I fainted right in the lecture hall. Just like Dickens, right? I'm not sure if he noticed. Thankfully, I was assisted by my fellow classmates. My first words when I came back to consciousness were, "What did he say!?" The reading is great. I wasn't able to finish it, but I'm absolutely doing it over the summer! Also, Dean Awn reads EVERYONE'S essays! It amazes me that Dean Awn manages to read all those essays in the first place, not to mention return them so quickly! I love that he doesn't value examinations! Also, the four essays in this class dramatically improved my ability to craft a truly well-written academic essay. You should absolutely take this class!

The man is witty, entertaining, opinionated, and interesting to listen to. He peppers his lectures with fun anecdotes. Despite the large classes, he attempts to personally grade every paper submitted. He's also a nice guy to speak with.