What YOU’LL LEARN

• • • • Identify the major events, trends, and figures in Islamic history.
      • Become familiar with the key primary sources, both traditional and modern academic, on pre-modern Islamic history.
      • Prepare and teach surveys of Islamic history on their own.
      • Find stronger foundations for their faith as well as reasoning in and about the contemporary world.

DESCRIPTION

As Muslims, our Islamic history is a crucial part of our identity and the foundations of our heritage. Islamic education devoid of Islamic history is like a body without its skeleton. Studying Islamic history in-depth helps students understand the various ways Islam was applied to people and society, how Islam developed under diverse landscapes and how it transformed from generation to generation. It was through historical context that sciences grew, and the golden era appeared. This was received differently by different cultures and employed in many interesting ways. There are many lessons to be learnt from our history which inform us about how we should move forward in the postmodern era of plural societies and nation-states.

This is a course of history from the beginning of Islam until the end of the Mamluk period 500-1500. It will cover the expansion of Islam, the rise, fitan, futuhat, key figures, movements and issues faced by the Umayyads, the Abbasids and successor states. It will further provide an in-depth study on the emergence of classical Islamic societies and material culture (including architecture, arts, literature), the threats, invasions and Muslim societies’ response to it.