The Origins and History of Islam 600-1500 CE

Aim

After completion of the course the student will be able to:

• understand the tenets of Islam as one of the major world religions
• have a clear sense of the development of Islam and the main milestones in the history of the Middle East from the fifth to the fifteenth century CE (Common Era)
• understand the complex ways in which Muslim and Christian world came into contact and interacted with each other in the past
• identify the forces which have shaped Islamic history and the history of the Middle East
• analyse and contextualise the major historical themes which have emerged and circulated in the Islamic world
• analyse a diverse scope of primary sources, such as religious texts, chronicles, poetry, architecture, and works of art
• employ their gained knowledge of geography, society, economies, administrative institutions, and culture of the Islamic world for a more nuanced understanding of its role in the global processes

Content

Islam plays an important role in international relations. Many debates and issues which affect domestic and foreign policies of the countries in the modern Middle East can be traced back to the early centuries of Islam. This course is an introduction to the historical background of these debates. It tackles the religious, political, cultural, and social history of the main Islamic areas of the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Syria, Iran and Iraq covering the nine centuries from the time of the Prophet Muhammad to the end of the Christian conquest of the Iberian Peninsula.

The core topics studied in the course are:

• Pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula: sources, geography, and society
• Muhammad and the early Islamic state; sources of authority: the Qur’an and Hadith
• The Arab Conquests; relations with non-Muslim populations and non-Arab Muslims
• Islamic Urban Culture
• Islamic Golden Age: scientific discoveries, the development of the legal system
• Schisms and politico-religious thought, the Shia movement
• Sources of prosperity: trade and economy in the Middle East
• The Crusades, contacts between the East and the West 9) Islamic mysticism and the Sufi orders 10) Islamic art.