The Islamic World, c.600-c.1300
- Course Code
- HIST 0150
- Course Type
- Tutorials
- Subject Credit
- Course Availability
This tutorial explores Islamic history from the life of the Prophet Muhammad in the early seventh century, until the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century. This was a period marked by the dramatic expansion of Islamic political control, as Muslim armies conquered an enormous swathe of territory extending from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to Central Asia in the east. At the same time the first Islamic empire was formed by the Umayyad dynasty, who were then overthrown and replaced with the Abbasid dynasty in 750. The Abbasids in turn were succeeded by a number of other dynasties, formed by Arabs, Persians, Turks and others. The nature of Islamic politics and society was not static: possible tutorial topics include the role of political legitimacy, dynastic politics, economic life (including coinage), urban life, and military organisation.
Introductory Reading:
Cook, Michael et al., ed., The New Cambridge History of Islam (Cambridge University Press, 2010)
Hodgson, Marshall G.S., The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization (University of Chicago Press, 1974)
Berkey, Jonathan P., The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600–1800 (Cambridge University Press, 2003)
Kennedy, Hugh, The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the Sixth to the Eleventh Century (second edition Pearson, 2004)
Crone, Patricia, Medieval Islamic Political Thought (Edinburgh University Press, 2004)
Robinson, Chase, Islamic Historiography (Cambridge University Press, 2003)