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Classical Islamic History

Module description

Through this module, you will learn how historians understand the narratives of the origins of Islam and its development in the classical period up to the highest Abbasid period in the 10/11^th centuries in the central lands and the East and the rise of the Almohads and Almoravids in Spain and North Africa in the West. You will come to know the formation of Islamic civilization and cultures as a series of phenomena across the late antiquity world and its aftermath. You will learn to engage with and analyse historical documents that examine these phenomena. 

Module aims - intentions of the module

Building upon the understanding of Islam and its institutions which students acquired in Level One modules, this module will expose them to a more nuanced and profound conception of the subject based on civilisational and historiographical approaches. We will consider the history of the classical period in its most holistic sense comprising the politics of the nascent community and the conquests, the shifts in power and culture signalled by the different dynasties and the formation of 'Islamicate societies' in their cultural variation.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. demonstrate an understanding of the problematics of studying classical Islam and the contentious issues and historiographical debates that have not yet been resolved by scholars.
• 2. evidence comprehensive understanding of the methodological tools applied to the study of the history of the Islamic religion, culture and its institutions.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. critically explain the pitfalls of Eurocentric approaches to non-Western societies and culture
• 4. Demonstrate understanding of, and an ability contextualise, Islamic historiography within approaches to the study of Islam

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. solve various epistemological problems, whether or not related to Islamic studies, and evidence a capacity to examine critically and review existing historical literature
• 6. digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the assigned essay.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics

• The rise of Islam and the establishment of the Muslim polity
• Umayyads and Abbasids
• The pious opposition
• Rise of Shi'ite dissent and counter-narratives
• Conquest of the East
• Conquest of North Africa and Iberia
• Umayyads and successor states in Iberia
• Almorads and Almoravids
• Problematics of theology, politics and law in Andalus

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Chase F. Robinson, Islamic Civilization in Thirty Lives: The First 1000 Years (London, 2016)

Marshall G.S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam, vol. 1 (Chicago 1974)

Jonathan Berkey, The Formation of Islam (Cambridge, 2003)

Key words search

Islam, caliphate, Umayyad, Abbasid, Arabs, Persians, Mongols and Turks, Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Iran, India, al-Andalus (Islamic Spain) and North Africa