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Course Description
Learning Outcomes:
- The significance of studying Islam and Muslims.
- Muslim contribution to the world civilizations.
- The most significance turning points in the History of Islam.
- Critical thinking, during the course of this course students will face some issues be necessary to discuss and to use reasoning and critical thinking and form their own opinion,
- Teamwork, students will be trained how to work in teams. Each team will be asked to do paper and presentation on any issue discussed during the course. Students, who would like to discuss a subject of their won, please arrange with the instructor in advance.
Course Policy:
Required Texts
John L. Esposito, The Oxford History of Islam: Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Additional Materials:
Assessment:
Class Sessions:
Week one: Introduction to Islam:
The syllabus, policy of the class, the textbook, the additional readings, assessment...etc.
What is Islam?, why we have to study Islam and Muslims?
The geography, the climate of the Arabian Peninsula, Pre-Islamic era (jahiliyah), The Arabs: who are they?. Sources of the history of the Arabs. Poetry in the life of the Arabs. The Mu'allaqat and the ideology of the Arabs. Ayyam al-Arab, (record of the Arabs). The Arabs before Islam. Civilization of the Arabs before Islam. Sheba, Ubar, Himyar, civilization of what is now Iraq (Sumar, Babylon, Ashures, and others. The social, political and economic life of the Arabs before Islam. Trade and trade routs in the Arabian Peninsula. Roman and Persian Empires, and their influence on the Arabs.
Week two: Muhammad (570-633), and his message.
The Arabian Peninsula in the dawn of Islam (40 years). Judaism and Christianity. Falls idols, and the religious life of the Arabs The birth of the Prophet Muhammad (570).
His childhood and youth. Muhammad the shepherd and the trader, and effects in his da'wah of Islam. The Rise of Islam. Islam: the first turning points in the history of the Arabs. Muhammad in Mecca Muhammad in Madinah. The constitution of Madinah. The Qur'an. The Tradition (sunnah).
(Reading Chapter one)
Week Three: The Message of Islam
Week Four: The Caliphate:
Week Five: The Midterm Examination
Week Six: the Umayyad Dynasty.
Kinship: a turning point. Civilization: the Umayyad Navy.From the Umayyads to the Marwanids.: institutions in the Umayyad Dynasty.Expansion of the Jihad estate. The Mawali and the Arabs. Umar ibn `Abd al-`Aziz (the righteous fifth Caliph.
(Reading Chapter one)
the Abbasid Revolution.
The second major turning point in the history of the Arabs. Causes of the Revolution. The Abbasid Caliphs and achievements. The Paper, an advanced achievement in civilization. Knowledge (Ilm, pl. `ulum) of Islam. fiqh, hadith, tafsir ... etc.
(Reading chapter two)
Week eight: Ulum al-Islam Muslim Contibution to the world civilization.
Week Nine: The
Students choose to have an open discussion about the status of woman in Islam.
Week Ten: Islamic World between the two world wars
Week Ten: Contemporary Islamic World.
The map of the Muslim w. Definiof a Muslim country. The recourses of the Muslim World.
Islam and the European Colonialism
The issue of al-Quds (Jerusalem).
(Chapter 13)
(chapter 8)
Religious related knowledge
Other knowledge.
The era of writing or collecting, (Asr al-tadwin).Muslims' contribution to sciences.
Arts and Islam. Schools of thoughts: al-Basrah and Kufah: philosophy, exegesis... etc.
Islam in Central Asia, China, South and South East Asia (Philippines, Indonesia and others).
(Chapter fifteen. Defor papers and presentations)
Week ten: The discovery of oil. and its effects on the social life of the Arabs.
A guest speaker will be invited during the course. Date will be established
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Oil and its effects on the social life of Muslims.
The emerge fundamentalism.
Open .
Venture of Islam in Fares and North Africa. The Caliphate of Uthman, and the collection of the Qur'an.. The first civil war: a turning point in the history of the Arabs, the outcomes.
Method of teachings, Islam, Belief, the Qur'an.
Readings: "Islam", Encyclopedia of Islam, new edition, and Esposito's introduction.
Participation and attendance 10.
Midterm. 30.
Paper 20.
presentation 10.
Final. 30.
Any translation of the Quran and Hadith.
Philip Hitti,. The History of the Arabs, 9th ed., Beirut: Dar Ghandur, 1994.
F. E. Peters, Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982
William Baker, More Common than you Think: the Bridge Between Islam and Christianity, n.p: Defenders Publication, 1998.
Shawqi Abu Khalil: Atals al-tarikh al-'Arabi al-Islami, Damascus: Dar al-Fikr, 1993.
"Islam" in Encyclopedia of Islam, new edition.
WebPages.:
Please be present and on time each day. Observe the academic norms during the class session. Active participation in the class discussion is necessary. No incomplete please. Start work on your paper and presentation since the first day of the class.
By the end of this course, students will have learned::
This course is designed for students with a general interest in the Islam. In this course students will get an overview of Islam from the time of Muhammad (d. 632 ad) to the present. Attention is given to its distinctive beliefs and practices, its influence upon societies in which it became dominant, and its interaction with other traditions. It will introduce students to religious texts, thoughts, practice, and culture of Muslims. Emphasis will be given to the Islamic institutions and its contributions to the world civilizations. The approach to the Islamic civilization will be topical and regional rather than chronological. Also, the course will explore the social, economic, political and religious developments in the Muslim World from the rise of Islam until the present. Turning point events in the history of Islam will be highly emphasized. Each student will be able to determine what he/she considers a turning point and why. Important dates and events will be arranged chronologically and handed to the students at the first day of the course. A Web site will be designed for the course, as a pathfinder to help students to locate information about issues taught in the course. Please check it periodically for the latest information concerning assignments, readings, memos and other useful information. The class will be held twice a week. In the second part of each lecture students will engage in a useful discussion.
www.al-islam.com. www.islam.org. http://users.erols.com/zenithco/