Seminar, three hours. Readings in Arabic texts from variety of periods and genres, along with appropriate secondary literature. Topics include pre-Islamic poetry and oratory, Qur'an, Umayyad and Abbasid poetry and literary prose, Hadith and Fiqh, historiography, biography, geography, medicine, mathematics, theology, asceticism, and mysticism. May be repeated for maximum of 24 units. S/U or letter grading.