Overview
Submit a short (3-4 paragraph) essay about what you learned and felt about doing historical research and history’s relationship to the present. Be sure to directly reference the news article and the source you used, and things we talked about in class over the last 15 weeks.
Some sources/things we learned in class:
-Identity Card (Mahmoud Darwish 1964)
-D. Vladamir Jabotinsky, Let Us settle palestine and transjordan (1937)
-Ibn al-Athir (d. 1233) “Account of the Irruption of the Mongols into the Land of Islam”
-NIZAM AL-MULK: ADVICE TO GOVERNORS [from Siyasat-nameh, The Book of Government]
-Babur Nama Journal of emperor babur translated from the turkish by annette susannah beveridge
Required Texts
There are two required texts for this class, one by Vernon Egger and one by James Gelvin. Both are available in paperback and e-book form below, and should be at the campus bookstore as well. You are welcome to use whichever format works best for you. Just be sure you have the correct edition with the correct ISBN number!
Egger, Vernon. A History of the Muslim World to 1750: The Making of a Civilization. Second Edition, Routledge, 2018.
ISBN: 978-1-138-21593-1 This is a link to the paperback and e-book versions.
Gelvin, James. The Modern Middle East: A History. 5th Edition, Oxford University Press, 2020.
ISBN: 9780190074067 This is a link to the paperback and e-book versions.
Syllabus for more information:
Introduction to the Course
Unit 1.1: Muhammad and Revelation
Unit 1.2: Pre-Islamic Arabia
Unit 1.3: The Early Believers Movement in Mecca & Medina
❖ Egger, Part I Intro and Ch. 1: “Origins”
F/Aug 29 Discussion
o Hadith Handout (front) – “Hadith on Revelation”
o “The Umma Document”
** Syllabus quiz due Sunday, Aug 31 at 11:59pm on Sakai
Week 2
M/Sept 1 W/Sept 3 No Class Meeting – LUC observation of Labor Day
Unit 2.1: Succession to the Prophet and the Arab Conquests
❖ Egger, Ch. 2: “Arab Imperialism”
Unit 2.2: The Umayyad Caliphate and sectarian divisions in early Islam
❖ Egger, Ch. 3: “The Development of Sectarianism”
2HIST 209 – Fall 2025 – v2 – updated 9/22
F/Sept 5 Discussion
o Ibn Ishaq, on the death of Muhammad in 632 (Egger, pp. 29-30)
o Al-Tabari (d. 923), on the death of Husayn ibn Ali in 680 at Karbala
Week 3
M/Sept 8 W/Sept 10 Unit 3.1: The Abbasid, Fatimid, and (Cordoban) Umayyad Caliphates
❖ Egger, Ch. 4: “The Center Cannot Hold: Three Caliphates”
Unit 3.2: Law and Theology
❖ Egger, Ch. 5: “Synthesis and Creativity”
Unit 3.3: The decline of centralized rule in the West and East
❖ Egger, Part II Intro and Ch. 6: “Filling the Vacuum of Power, 950-1100”
❖ Egger, Ch. 7: “Barbarians at the Gates”
F/Sept 12 Discussion
o The Quran – Selected Suras
• Quran 2:164-170, 255-257 (al-Baqarah)
• Quran 19:16-35 (Maryam)
o Hadith Handout (back) – “Hadith on What it Means to be a Muslim”
o Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (d. ca. 757) on the proper conduct of leaders
Week 4
M/Sept 15 Review Day
W/Sept 17 Exam #1
F/Sept 19 Movie Day #1
Part Two: Diversity and Development of Early “Islamicate” Empires and Cultures
Week 5
M/Sept 22 W/Sept 24 Unit 3.3: The decline of centralized rule in the West and East (carry-over from Week 3)
❖ Egger, Part II Intro and Ch. 6: “Filling the Vacuum of Power, 950-1100”
Egger, Ch. 7: “Barbarians at the Gates”
Unit 5.1: Mind, body, and soul
❖ Egger, Ch. 8: “The Consolidation of Traditions”
❖ Egger, Ch. 9: “The Muslim Commonwealth”
❖ Egger, Ch. 10: “The Great Transformation”
F/Sept 26 Discussion
o Samples of Sufi Poetry
3HIST 209 – Fall 2025 – v2 – updated 9/22
o Nizam al-Mulk –
o Ibn al-Athir (d. 1233),
M/Sept 29 W/Oct 1 “Advice to Governors”
“Account of the Irruption of the Mongols into the Land of Islam”
Week 6
Unit 6.1: Islamic Identities - The 14th Century World of Ibn Battuta
❖ Egger, Ch. 11: “Unity and Diversity in Islamic Traditions"
❖ Egger, Ch. 12: “The Central Muslim Lands”
Egger, Ch. 13: “The Umma in the West”
Unit 6.2: the Umma in Central and South Asia
❖ Egger, Ch. 14: Central Asia and Iran
❖ Egger, Ch. 15: South Asia
❖ Egger, Ch. 16: The Indian Ocean Basin
F/Oct 3 Discussion
o Babur, on the Battle of Panipat, and the lands and people of “Hindustan”
o “Evliya Chelebi: Seyahataname” (2) (Gelvin)
o “Report of the Carmelite Mission,” ca. 1604 (on the Safavid court)
Week 7
M/Oct 6 W/Oct 8 Review Day
F/Oct 10 Exam #2
No Class Meeting – Midwinter Break
M/Oct 13 W/Oct 15 Part Three: Imperialism and State-Building in the “Modern” Islamic World
Week 8
8.1: Global Trade and Imperialism in the Indian Ocean and Beyond
❖ Gelvin, Ch. 3: The Middle East and the Modern World System
❖ Gelvin, Ch. 4: War, Diplomacy, and the New Global Balance of Power
❖ Gelvin, Ch. 5: Defensive Developmentalism
❖ Gelvin, Ch. 6: Imperialism
Unit 8.2: Being “Modern” in the Early Modern Middle East
❖ Gelvin, Ch. 8: The Life of the Mind
❖ Gelvin, Ch. 9: Secularism and Modernity
❖ Gelvin, Ch. 10: Constitutionalism
F/Oct 17 Discussion
o Cromer on British rule in Egypt
o Kemal, “Progress,” 1872
o “The Supplementary Fundamental Law of 7 October 1907” (Gelvin)
Week 9
M/Oct 20 9.1: World War I, the Mandate System, and Inter-War State-Building
4HIST 209 – Fall 2025 – v2 – updated 9/22
❖ Gelvin, Intro to Part III and Ch. 11: “State-Building by Decree”
❖ Gelvin, Ch. 12: “State-building by Revolution and Conquest”
❖ Gelvin, Ch. 13: “The Invention and Spread of Nationalisms”
W/ Oct 22 9.2: The Origin and Development of the Israeli Palestinian Conflict
❖ Gelvin, Ch. 14: “The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”
F/Oct 24 Discussion
o “An Arab Soldier in the Ottoman Army” (Gelvin)
o Jabotinsky, “Let Us Settle Palestine and Transjordan”
o Mahmud Darwish: “Identity Card”
Week 10
M/Oct 27 Review Day
W/Oct 29 Exam #3
F/Oct 31 Movie Day #2
M/Nov 3 W/Nov 5 Part Four: The Middle East and Islam in the neo-Imperial Age
Week 11
Unit 11.1: The United States in the Middle East, 1920-2020
❖ Gelvin, intro to Part IV and Ch. 15: “The Autocratic State”
❖ Gelvin, Ch. 16: “Oil”
❖ Gelvin, Ch. 17: “The United States and the Middle East”
Unit 11.2: 20th Century Islamism
❖ Gelvin, Ch. 18: Resistance
Unit 11.3: The Iranian Revolution
F/Nov 7 Discussion
o Saadi Youssef, “America, America”
o “Sayyid Qutb: Milestones” (Gelvin)
o “Ayatollah Khomeini: Islamic Government” (Gelvin)
Week 12
M/Nov 10 W/Nov 12 Unit 12.1: 9/11 and the “War on Terror”
Unit 12.2: The Arab Spring: Popular Uprisings and State Responses
❖ Gelvin, Ch. 19: The Arab Uprisings
❖ Gelvin, Conclusion: A New Middle East?
F/Nov 14 Discussion
o Project for the New American Century – 1998 letter to Pres. Bill Clinton
o Usamah Bin Laden’s 1998 “fatwa” against Americans
o Yassir al-Manawahly: “The International Monetary Fund” (Gelvin)