HIST 0753 - RISE OF ISLAM: 500-1200 CE

Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
This course seeks to impart an understanding of the Islamic tradition by exploring the religion’s formative period. It integrates two intertwined themes: (1) early Islamic empires as geopolitical formations; and (2) the development of ideas, from ritual to philosophy to law. The first centuries of Islam are fascinating for many of the same reasons they are complex and even controversial: Surviving primary sources are fragmented, partisan, and often retrospective; a tremendous range of voices competed to define the new religion; and nearly all subsequent Muslim thinkers would harken back to this period to legitimize their own positions. The central goal is to develop an understanding of the diversity of voices in this early period and consider why certain conceptualizations of religion displaced others; and then follow those voices beyond the Arabian Peninsula to examine manifestations in the North African and Central Asian borderlands.
Academic Career: Undergraduate
Course Component: Lecture
Grade Component: LG/SNC Elective Basis
Course Attributes: DSAS Cross-Cult. Awareness General Ed. Requirement, DSAS Diversity General Ed. Requirement, DSAS Geographic Region General Ed. Requirement, DSAS Historical Analysis General Ed. Requirement, Medieval & Renaissance Studies, SCI Diversity General Ed. Requirements, SCI Polymathic Contexts: Global&Cross Cul GE. Req., SCI Polymathic Contexts: Soc/Behav. GE. Req.

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